Hello 2016! Did you ring in the new year with a bang?! I would venture to say that I did not. We were not awake at midnight (which I am not mad about), but we were up until 10:00pm to watch the ball drop in NYC! That’s not too shabby, right?
We had two different couples (plus two kiddos) come over and made fondue. Sweat pants or PJs were required. It was fantastic! We made a cheese fondue using jarlsberg and gruyere. We had bread, chicken sausage, apples, and a ton of different veggies to dip in it. Then we had a broth that had some green onions and peppercorns in it that you cooked small chunks of beef, chicken, and shrimp in. They were both fantastic!
We took a break from shoveling food in our mouths and made a chocolate-almond fondue. We had angel food cake, brownie pieces, marshmallows, strawberries, pineapple, and banana to dip in it. Holy cow, it was amazing. I love chocolate and banana together and so this was right up my alley!
We ended up having a very fun evening. Relaxed and a very good time with friends! Yay for a great end to 20-15.
Well let’s get to Anything & Everything Friday. My first post for 2016!
1.New Year’s Resolutions: Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I have never been big on making them. I tend to set goals for myself at other points in the year. I read somewhere that 50% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but 25% of those that do make them end up ditching them two weeks later! If you are going to make them (or already have) then let’s plan to stick to them. Here is an article by Nicole Nichols from SparkPeople.com with 31 Days to Unbreakable Resolutions. They are simple tasks such as writing down your resolution and your goals. Write yourself positive notes in places you visit often (fridge, desk, bathroom mirror) to encourage you to stick with it. A really important one is to have an action plan. Having a plan for any goal is super important!
2.Cutting out sugar: I mentioned my sugar hangover from the holidays and last night’s chocolate binge probably didn’t help. I’m not mad about it, but I definitely need to reel it in on the ol’ sweets thing. I have been craving it non-stop because I’ve been allowing myself treats every now and then. This article was put together by Kiera Aaron on FitnessMagazine.com and it is hilarious. If you have tried to ween yourself off sugar then it make total sense! Check out The 9 Phases of Giving Up Sweets. It is basically funny pictures with short captions explaining how it goes when you try to cut out sugar… so true!
3.Affordable Foods: Do you have goals of eating more protein? Or maybe you want to save more money. Well here are 6 Surprisingly Affordable Protein Rich Foods. These are all pretty much either on our weekly grocery list or are in our pantry most times. The #1 food on there was eggs. Eggs use to get a bad rap for being high in cholesterol and a lot of people won’t eat the yolks. The entire egg is so healthy! I do eat a lot of egg whites, but I like to eat 4-5 whole eggs per week as well. Not only are they cheap and healthy, but they are so versatile too! They are not longer only a breakfast food.
4.Denver 2015: I love the end of the year when all the “lists” start coming out from 2015. Here is one from Thrillist.com of Denver’s Best of 2015 . I want to go to every single one of these places so that I can decide for myself! Cho77 made the list as Bests Happy Hour! It is the more casual version of our favorite restaurant ChoLon. Both are fantastic!
5.Cart Driver: Donny is feeling a lot better and is getting around pretty well. He was upgraded to the cane just before Christmas so he can ditch his walker. His physical therapist is kicking his butt and he likes it. She is really pushing him hard and she doesn’t allow him to baby that knee anymore. Last night after the ball drop he walked up the steps one leg per stair! Before he was stepping up one step with his good leg, then meeting it with his bad. Not anymore! Go Donny. Regardless, he wants to get out of the house so he asked if we could go to lunch or dinner somewhere in Denver Saturday. Of course I said yes! We ended up drawing another name out of our cigar box and it was Cart Driver! Their menu is pizza and oysters…. random combination but I love it! We saw Cart Driver on some food TV show the other day so we were pumped about it. They give you the option of having a chick pea-crust that they make in a cast iron skillet. Sounds awesome! We’ll probably go for the regular pizza crust, but that’s a unique option.
Have a great start to 2016! I hope to have a ton of new recipes created this year and sent your way. This last year was fantastic and I am excited about this year.
