Project Life Tuesday - Week 1

Welcome to Project Life Tuesday 2011! If you are new to my blog, welcome! I hope you will stay awhile. I'm Jessica and I am participating in Project Life, a different way to record our lives by taking one photo a day.  This was inspired by the fabulous Becky Higgins who has put together a wonderful kit to make this challenge easier. 

I started Project Life in 2010 because:
•I was looking for a way to easily document the everything aspects of our lives.


•I was terribly behind in keeping my scrapbooking up to date.


•I wanted to improve my photography by looking at life at a different angle.

I loved every part about it and so I am excited to do it all over again!   

Here are a couple photos of my 2010 album. 


  

Don't worry, I'm not leaving traditional scrapbooking behind.  This just gives me the opportunity to focus my scrapbooking on trips and things that are important to me right now and not get all bogged down with every birthday, dinner, and holiday that comes along.

Each Tuesday, I will post my pictures/journaling from the previous week.  Project Life Tuesday was created by Jessica Turner over at The Mom Creative and she hosts a linky for readers to link up their pictures.  So if you want to join in or want to see others POTW, just click the Project Lift button at the top of this post. 

And finally, my POTW:

New Years day we went to my mother-in-laws for homemade Posole!  Delicious!!!!!

I've been making an effort to cook dinner during my time off work and tonight it was Herbed Chicken Parmesan.  It is from cooking light!  I used the boiler for the first time EVER!  How sad is that?  The recipe is below:

Ingredients
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 pound chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups bottled fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce (such as Muir Glen Organic)
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) shredded provolone cheese

Preparation
Preheat broiler.

Combine 2 tablespoons of Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, basil, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a shallow dish. Place egg white in a shallow dish. Dip each chicken tender in egg white; dredge in the breadcrumb mixture. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes on each side or until done. Set aside.

Combine 1/8 teaspoon salt, pasta sauce, vinegar, and pepper in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; vent. Microwave sauce mixture at HIGH 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Pour the sauce over chicken in pan. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining Parmesan and provolone cheese. Wrap handle of pan with foil, and broil 2 minutes or until the cheese melts.

One of my Yosemite layouts of the Mariposa Grove was featured on Let's Scrap as the Inspiration of the Week.  I'm new to Let's Scrap and I'm loving it!

Yet another new recipe tonight! This one was Grilled Pork Chops with Shallot Butter.  YUM YUM and it was also from Cooking Light.


Ingredients


8 (7-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops
1 teaspoon salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 1/2 teaspoons minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind


Preparation
1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
2. Sprinkle both sides of pork evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Combine oil, chives, thyme, rosemary, and garlic, stirring well. Rub oil mixture evenly over both sides of pork. Place pork on grill rack; grill 6 minutes on each side or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of pork registers 155°. Remove pork from grill; let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Combine butter, shallots, and lemon rind, stirring well. Spread about 1 teaspoon butter mixture over each pork chop; let the pork stand an additional 5 minutes.

Juan has been using our XBOX Kinetic with the Fitness program to do Tai Chi in the evenings.  It's very Zen and he is really enjoying it.

My sister, Vanessa, came over to scrapbook with me today and brought her new baby, Ashlyn.  She is so precious and such a good little baby.  She just slept on the floor at our feet all day while we scrapped away!

Today Juan brought me the most gorgeous Lilies.  He said it was to thank me for making all of these dinners for him lately.  How sweet is he?  How lucky am I?


Thanks for visiting!!!!