September 2010

A Game Changer.

September 30, 2010 · 144 comments

Welp… things are about to get a whole lot more personal on How Sweet It Is. Hold on to your boots bacon.

Something happened today that I am pretty sure will change my life forever.

Today, I gave my resignation for that place where I spend my time from 8am until 5pm every single day. I still don’t believe it. I think it was a dream. And my head really, really hurts.

Although this was not planned, it has been a long time coming. Only once last year did I truly express my unhappiness and my true passion in life. And unless you got up close and personal with me, you really would have had no idea the situation I was in.

My health has suffered. My positive attitude has suffered. My wellbeing has suffered. My relationships have suffered. My marriage has suffered. Last night, Mr. How Sweet told me that it’s called “work” for a reason. I’m sorry, but I just can’t accept that.

All I really want is peace.

The biggest thing that has stopped me from doing this until now? GUILT. Guilt for having a job when so many others out there are suffering and would do anything for one. Guilt for leaving my husband with the burden of “taking care of me” and being solely financially responsible for our lives if I can’t find another job. Guilt for wanting to pursue what I really want – because isn’t that just a fairytale? Guilt for getting to do what I want when so many others don’t get to. Why do I get to be so lucky? Or reckless? I guess it depends on how you look at it.

To me, being reckless would be to run far away and live on hope. Like here:

I didn’t quit my job to blog. I don’t want you thinking that I am just like every other blogger out there that is miserable in their job and then bucks up and heads out. I was miserable with my place of employment long before I began my blog. See, I can’t survive on my blog alone. And even more importantly – I don’t know if I want to. I love writing this website as a hobby and it has brought more joy and life into my life than anything else in the past 15 months. To be perfectly cliché: it has made me come alive.

(But this can get to be an expensive hobby. If I post ramen noodles will you still read? Please? What about ramen noodles with bacon?)

I’m pretty scared. Okay, I’m scared to death. I emotionally ate 36 oreos while watching 6 DVR-ed episodes of Boy Meets World hoping that Mr. Feeny would pass a few pearls of wisdom to me from the other side of the tube. All I got was the episode where he announces he is retiring to Wyoming, and says “there comes a time when change just feels right.”

Good enough for me.

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Chocolate Cherry Crispies.

September 30, 2010 · 75 comments

I’ve got one of the quickest, easiest, healthiest desserts comin’ at you.

It only takes 3 ingredients:

Hence the name.

Yep, that’s right. Cereal, chocolate chunks and dried cherries (or fruit of your choice!)

They come out looking like this:

And then you try not to consume 16 in one sitting. Having your significant other, friend or family member handcuff you helps. I highly recommend it.

Because all you will want to do is eat every single one.

Chocolate Cherry Crispies

makes about 12 crispies

3 cups rice cereal (white or brown)

1/4 cup dried cherries, chopped

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks, melted

Combine rice cereal and cherries in a bowl. Melt chocolate chips (I do it in the microwave) and pour over cereal mix. Use a spatula to combine and spread chocolate evenly. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out crispies and lay them on a baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

I’m going to make another batch.

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Ladies Night.

September 29, 2010 · 21 comments

One of my mom and aunt’s cousins was in town tonight and we had a little ladies shindig. Well, not all ladies, but mostly.

Check out the gorgeous autumn sky as I was headed over to my aunts:

I got really dressed up for the occasion, as you can see.

These pictures should teach you two things:

1. I am terrible at taking pictures of myself, hence why you never see any.

2. 98% of my wardrobe is workout clothes.

We had lots of yummy food:

And talked about many inappropriate things that are not blog worthy.

But the best thing we talked about was the “Green” gene. See, Mother Lovett was a Green before she became a Lovett. And the Green girls love sweets. It has always been perfectly acceptable to eat cake for breakfast. This must be why I crave sweets 24/7 – I have the Green gene! Everything makes so much more sense now.

Anyway: Lacy, Will, Chris and Andy I wish you were all there to witness this hilarious evening that can’t be fully shared on the internet.

And now I must head to bed, for I have a 4:30 torture wakeup call for the gym. Wine was not a wise choice.

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BBQ Chicken Pasta Bake.

I’ve had some requests to share more of our dinners and meal ideas with you, so without further ado – here is a recent dinner Mr. How Sweet hogged we shared. See that cheesiness up there? You can’t go wrong with BBQ and chicken and cheese and pasta and caramelized onions and… well, it just doesn’t get any better. Oh wait, yes it does. Add some panko for crunch. And of course I used smoked cheese. I have a mild obsession with smoked cheese. I just can’t get enough of it. Especially when it comes to BBQ dishes – it adds even more of the smokey flavor and compliments the BBQ sauce perfectly. We had a little smorgasbord of pastas going on in this casserole. I wanted to use up the remainders of a few boxes, so into the pot went elbow macaroni, penne and rotini. Ideally, I think penne would work best here. Perhaps this would also be tasty made into cupcakes? Mr. How Sweet and I both agreed that this could not be classified as mac and cheese. When I think of mac and cheese, I think of a delicious pool of artery-clogging cheese and heavy cream sauce. The [...]

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Eat What You Love.

I’m sorry to shout, but… WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Yes, this was my dinner tonight. Gah. I just have no words. Oh, and in the corner there is a toasted tortilla! I toast them on the stovetop in a skillet and they get a little crispy and bubbly – sort of resembling naan. Love them! Eating what you love I am a firm believer in eating what I love. I think it is pretty hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle when you don’t enjoy the things you are eating, right? Even for those who “eat to live” instead of “live to eat” must enjoy some of the things they eat, right? This is a huge factor for me when it comes to fitness competitions, and the main reason I haven’t done any lately, nor do I plan to do any more. I want to love everything I eat and eat everything I love. Gone are the days when I down protein powder and plain chicken. It just ain’t happenin’! I never played this game when it came to vegetables though. I have always forced down a few at least a couple times a [...]

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Moroccan Vegetable Stew.

Something weird is happening. I have come to enjoy a few vegetables, all in their charred-til-you-get-cancer and roasted-til-the-sugar-comes-out state after oven or pan roasting, and with lots of salt. Mr. How Sweet says anything tastes like a french fry when drenched in salt. He isn’t necessarily wrong. So, these… things that I’ve been eating are weird ones. Brussels sprouts, green beans, kale – I mean I don’t know anyone who likes those vegetables. At least, not anyone in my real life. (As opposed to my fake life?) I don’t know who I am. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m scurrrred. I wanted to freak myself out even more, so I made this vegetable stew. No biggie. I’ve been able to eat veggies in stew for a few years. But this was moroccan vegetable stew. I mean, cinnamon in soup? I wasn’t sure if I could hang. Lots of weird spices + many vegetables = me shakin’ in my booties. Plus, it also called for ground coriander, and I only had these ugly, little unground balls. That just meant I got to go to work with my mortar and pestle. I ground these up using lots of elbow grease. Holy fragrant! [...]

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Glazed Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins.

I made way too many whipped sweet potatoes yesterday for Mr. How Sweet’s belated birthday dinner and knew I had to come up with some way to use them up. Obviously it needed to be a sweet treat. And I figured that Mr. How Sweet would think that sweet potato muffins resembled pumpkin muffins and wouldn’t want to touch them. So I didn’t even tell him about these muffins. Oops. I think he would have loved them too. This was my first time using sweet potatoes in a baked good and I can’t even describe how thrilled I am with how these muffins turned out. They are so moist and fluffy, and that is with using all whole wheat flour. They are basically autumn in a cup. And since baked goods are never sweet enough for me, I whipped up a ginger glaze and topped it with some of the candied ginger that I bought on Saturday. This was an excellent idea. Or maybe not, since I ended up stuffing my face with 3 muffins in 60 seconds. If you are one of those people that likes their baked goods more savory than sweet, then just skip the glaze and go [...]

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Belated Birthday Dinner.

As promised, here is Mr. How Sweet’s belated birthday dinner! I’m sure it’s not hard to figure out what he wanted… steak, chicken, and a side of… steak. But I made some minor adjustments after a few glasses of this: And ended up with this: Whipped sweet potatoes. Roasted green beans. These were incredible. They almost tasted like… french fries?! His and hers filets. Bet you can’t guess which one is mine. A delicious birthday dinner. Made even better by some of this: Mr. How Sweet is trying to sneak a second bowl right now and doesn’t think I can see or hear him. It’s pretty entertaining.

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Sunday Breakfast.

My dad has always made really great pancakes. It is somewhat of a tradition. Ever since we met and Mr. How Sweet learned this, he always makes pancakes and asks, “are they as good as your dad’s pancakes?!” Obviously, I’m not answering that. Like many other mornings, Mr. How Sweet made pancakes (it is National Pancake Day!) and he just begged me to post them. He calls these “my pancakes that will kick your dads’ pancakes’ butt.’ I want no parts of this. Stay tuned: Mr. How Sweet’s belated birthday dinner coming up next!

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Shopping Stills.

Welcome to another installment of How Sweet groceries! I think it is fun to share, and if you guys want to see, I am glad to share. Since Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods is over the river and through the woods, I only head there once every 3-6 weeks and I stock up. On the off weeks, I get almost all of our produce at a local farm (Schramm’s) and have also been heading to Delallo’s – dare I say their produce section rivals Whole Foods? It does, and I’m thrilled that it is only 5 minutes away from us. Lots of goodies: The only veggies I can choke down. Actually… I’m looking forward to eating these. Score! Sweet potatoes, White Chocolate Wonderful, tomatoes, sprouted grain bread, avocados, my favorite quick go-to chickpeas, and bananas. Peppers, onions, shallots, garlic, fresh green beans (Mr. How Sweet is a fan) and cucumbers for salads and juicing purposes. I also grabbed a bag of mini gala apples (so cute!) because the honeycrisps looked as though they had been through the ringer. Some autumnal treats. Self-explanatory items: A few others: Fresh mozzarella, lite harvarti and roasted turkey. Chicken burgers and filet for Mr. How [...]