I Heart Faces Entry

This is the first time I have entered in a I (heart) faces blog photo. http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/. Nostalgia brought to mind so many entries but this is what I chose.

A young girl picking flowers behind Grandma's house. It could be me or my mom or her mom. (Its not, its actually my friend's adorable little girl) but what I love is even though she is picking flowers, she's got dirt under her fingernails, a sign of playing outside, not watching TV. Enjoying the smells of summer and the feel of the sun on her shoulders. It makes me want to go pick a few daisies myself!

My Birthday Adventure!

Last Friday for my 27th birthday, Jeremy surprised me and took me skydiving! Okay let me go back a few weeks.

We hang out with a group of friends once a week. Over two weeks before my birthday Jeremy had my surprise planned and was telling everyone...except me! The thing is, I knew they all knew, which was torture. Well, through comments he made I figured out how much he was spending. I started doing what I do and trying to figure it out! I thought it might be skydiving until the day I asked him if the activity depended on the weather and his answer was no! Well that threw me for a loop.

Fast forward to last Monday before my birthday and he came home with a gift bag. In it I found 4 little toy parachute men! What a cute way to tell me! Yeah he was yanking my chain about the whole weather thing.

So Friday we drove up to Xenia, OH to Greene County Skydiving. Its in the middle of a cornfield but Jeremy told me highly reccommended by lots of people. We were the first people there being that it was only 9:30. We walked in and "Shaggy" gave us paperwork. He is apparently the resident DZ (that's Drop Zone) hangout. He goes on a plane anytime there is an open seat. He also packs the chutes and usually signs everyone in. They got me suited up and explained a few things, oh and I had to watch this hilarious video and sign my life away basically.

The jump was awesome. I have no words to explain it. I have never felt that big of an adrenaline rush. Brandon was my tandem partner and Chrissy was the videographer, not from the ground, she jumped right with us! She actually hangs off that strut you see in the video until we jump! (By the way, still trying to figure out why the video is squashed and cut off on the sides.)

We did have a couple of funny/scary incidents! When Brandon pulled the chute I yelled up at him, " Are we good?".....no reply! yikes. I said it again...and then I could hear him struggling with the canopy. All of a sudden I felt it straighten up a bit and catch more air, then his reply, " Now we are! " Our strings or the canopy got a little twisted! Kudos to Brandon for fixing it! Then when we got down on the ground Brandon had me sign his jump log book and said, "I am glad I didn't look at this before we went, Do you know what jump # this was for me? 666! " HA! Just goes to show you God is bigger than a number!

All in all, the coolest birthday ever! I told Jeremy last night I am not sure how he is going to top that b/c that was pretty much the thing I wanted to do most! I love to travel and see places too, but I sure do love flying now! I will close with a couple of cool quotes. One funny and the last one that is now my favorite!

Saying you've flown because you've been in an airplane is like saying you've swam b/c you've been in a boat. Get in the medium!

"When once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth with
your eyes turned skyward, for there
you have been, and there you will always
long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci

Meal Plan from a Week or So ago.

This is a couple weeks ago but when I am looking for recipes it helps to have lots to choose from.

Meal 1: Porkchops and Baked Potatoes

The porkchops come from Sam's. They sell marinated pork loins...enough to feed an army. I bring them home, cut them into generous steaks and freeze two in a bag. I usually get 10-12 out of a pork loin. All you have to do is defrost and grill!

You can make your baked potatoes any way you like but this is how we do them. Poke a few holes in the potato, drizzle olive oil on the potato and sprinkle with kosher salt. Wrap up in aluminum foil and put on a medium grill for about 30 minutes. You will need to turn every 7 minutes or so. The olive oil and salt makes the skins crispy and yummy. Like momma always said, the skin is where all the vitamins are. So eat your vitamins!

Meal 2: Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf--Holy Moly

This looks like a heart attack waiting to happen but if your husband is as big a fan of meat and potatoes as mine, he is almost guaranteed to like this one.

I think we had potatoes of some sort with this and a salad. We did the meatloaf without the french's onions but you use your own tastes!

Meal 3: Greek Chicken- just like the Greek Wings but with a whole chicken. I can't for the life of me remember what I made with it. Try grilled zucchini. Slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/2" strips, season with olive oil S & P and grill. Yummy and easy.

Meal 4: Grilled Sweet and spice Salmon & Corn

Combine dried oregano, seasoned salt, parsley, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Just a little bit of each, Sprinkle on the salmon. We use filets with the skin on but don't put the seasoning on the skin side. Grill skin side down for about 5 minutes. Bring in and finish cooking in a skillet, skin side up. The heat of the grill usually causes the skin to be very easy to just peel off by hand. The skillet sears all the herbs onto the meat. Be careful not to overcook. Fish doesn't take very long

The corn is another easy one. I put these out of order on here b/c I woudl start the corn before the fish. Buy corn in the husk. This is important....LEAVE IT IN THE HUSK! I can't tell you how frustrated it makes me when I see people shucking perfectly fresh corn. People, the best way to cook fresh summer corn is to grill it in the clothes it comes in! There's a reason God made it that way. Seriously, don't do a thing to it, unless there are a ton of the silks hanging out the top, I usually rip those out b/c they catch on fire but just rotate it every so often and cook on a medium grill for about 30 minutes. Just be careful when you go to shuck it after its cooked. Oh and by the way, don't worry if the husks get brown and crispy, that's how you should know its done!

Meal Plan Late!

I know, its Wednesday. I had a meal or two left over so I didn't get this together on time this week and I only made it to the grocery store yesterday. So here goes:

Meal 1: This was easy, Grilled Sausages ( cheesy metwurst for Jeremy and Chicken, asiago, spinich ones for me) The ones I eat are from Sam's and are awesome! The package acutally says gluten-free, they have a ton of flavor and only 110 calories per sausage! Anyways, I digress. I just grilled these and cooked some french fries in the oven. Not a very healthy meal but it was quick.

Meal 2: I actually never got to the Chicken with Marsala Mustard sauce from last week so it made it to this weeks list.

Meal 3: Slow Cooker Pork Tacos

4 lb Pork Roast

5-7 Tomatillos, diced

1/2 vidalia onion, diced

1 Can of diced tomatoes

3-6 jalapaneos depending on how spicy you like it

1 pkg of taco seasoning

Chicken stock or water

Rub the pork roast with the taco seasoning and put everything in the slow cooker on low for about 6-7 hours. (mine cooks pretty hot so if yours doesn't you may want to adjust the time). Now I would say "shred" the pork but it usually just falls into pieces! Yum! I serve on warmed corn tortillas but if you aren't GF you can use flour ones.

Serve with rice, refried beans, sour cream, cheese and other toppings you like on your tacos.

Meal 4: Tilapia with a Shrimp "stuffing"

This one is going to be a trial. I will make pockets from aluminum foil to put the fish in. Probalby season with cajun seasoning. Chop up shrimp, oh and don't buy the expensive ones, the tiny ones will do since you are chopping them. Mix in GF bread crumbs and parmesean cheese and I will probably add some herbs. place that mixture on top of the tilapia. Put a dash of white wine in the packet and close up. Be sure to roll the ends up. Place on grill or in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Oh, the oven would be at 350 if you are doing it that way.

I will serve with yellow saffron rice and a veggie or a salad. Haven't decided yet.

Meal 5: Chicken Saltimbocca with seasoned potatoes

Meal Plans

A friend of my sister's starting putting her meal plans for the week up on her blog a while back. I thought it was great but wondered how she had the time! Well, now that I have been eating gluten free for almost 2 months (more on that later), I have found that I have to be more prepared for dinners or I won't eat! I can't just run down to Wendy's if I don't feel like cooking. (Well, I can, but I prefer not to!) Anyways, I thought I would share my plans and recipes, and recipes I steal from others. Enjoy!

By the way, I dont' always follow the days to a "T". I usually end up feeling different and switching them around.

Also, I just realized this is an especially Italian heavy week. I think I watched too many episodes of Giada's show last week. I also have a couple weeks past that I will post when I get to it.

Monday-Portebello Parmesean (like Chicken Parmesean with Portebellos), grilled zucchini

For the grilled zucchini i slice the zucchini lengthwise, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. I just grill them for about 5 min each side till they are a little mushy but still have a firmness to them. Feel free to sprinkle these with parmesean too! Pretty good and surprisingly good as leftovers. I thought they would be chewy but they weren't at all.

Tuesday- Migas from this fabulous web site. Fair warning, you may become addicted to reading her stuff, photography, cooking, farm life, this is a girl after my own heart. By the way, if you don't like brinner (read: breakfast for dinner) you may not dig this meal. Its not pancakes or anything but its a brinner meal all the way. These turned out great!

Wednesday- dinner out with friends

Thursday- Rachel Ray's Roasted tomato and garlic pasta (made with rice penne of course) and homemade meatballs. The link has her steaks, and feel free to make those too, I just couldn't find the recipes seperate.

For my meatballs, I use:

Ground chuck or ground turkey (1 lb)

About a 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (gluten free)

1 egg

handfull of basil, oregano, parsley

1 clove chopped garlic

1/2 tsp red pepper

salt and pepper

Combine ingredients with your hands, yes I said your hands. I have yet to find a kitchen tool that does better for meat stirring. Roll into 1" balls, put on cookie sheet and bake for about 30 minutes in a 350 oven. Please be sure to check for doneness, I don't promise my cooking time is accurate. Now, mix with pasta or cover with tomato sauce. Yum!

Yum, yum, and yum. I thought this dish was delicious. I added my meatballs to the pasta and sauce. The flavor was very sophisticated! Not at all like a normal tomato sauce.

Friday- Chicken with Mustard Marscapone Marsala Sauce This just looks yummy, no two ways about it. Not sure what veggie we will have with it. Maybe just mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. Yeah that sounds good.

Mashed Potatoes:

4-5 idaho potatoes cut into 1" or less cubes (this makes them cook faster, oh and you can leave the skins on if you like dirty mashed potatoes)

Sour Cream

Butter

Tony Cachere's Cajun seasoning

S & P

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water. Drain and add about 4 tablespoons of butter and 3/4 cup of sour cream. Again, I never measure this stuff so start small and add. Add in seasonings and mash to your hearts content. Sometimes I put cut up scallions and roasted garlic but I figure this chicken has too much flavor for that.

Branching Out

I have been doing photography on the side very sporatically for the last 3 or so years. I love photography....always have, even since the days of my polaroid and the funky disposable underwater cameras that I would take on vacation.

I would like to think I have progressed a little since those days.....:) With a lot of help from a good friend, I have finally gotten a website up for developing this little side business.

www.erinjacksonphoto.com

Its really just a blog right now, but you can view galleries of work and keep up with the shoots I am doing.

Right now is a great time for all sorts of pictures but especially senior portraits. If you know anyone needing them please feel free to pass my name on! Thanks for checking it out!

Baby Blues!

I photographed one of my friends and her beautiful family last night. Unfortunately I am at work this morning so I can't work on the edits yet, or so I thought. Our server is down so I couldn't resist at least posting one of the photos. Have you ever seen eyes that look like the ocean? Well here you go! (If you want to see them even closer up click on the picture!)