For Mike

This Recipe is especially for my Brother-In-Law Mike. Stewart and I LOOOOVE this recipe. We love the sweet & sour of balsamic and it has an amazing flavor once it is reduced down to a thick sauce. To be honest I dont know how P90X worthy this is, because there is butter in it. The sauce is way too yummy to have a drizzle and it is soooo good with the mashed potatoes, so you need to double it. Ok, so lets get down to it this is not P90X worthy at all, but, you gotta have an amazing Tilapia recipe, right Mike? I'll post a healthy recipe later. Here is my Fav!



Tilapia with Balsamic Butter Sauce, Thyme Mashed Potatoes, and Sugar Snap Peas

Thyme mashed potatoes
3 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, quartered
4 1/2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
6 tablespoons (or more) warm whipping cream
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme

Balsamic butter sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups sugar snap peas, strings removed

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 4- to 5-ounce tilapia fillets

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Preparation

For thyme mashed potatoes:
Boil potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain; return to pot. Add butter, 6 tablespoons cream, and thyme; mash. Season with salt and pepper. Do ahead Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm over medium heat, stirring often and adding more cream by tablespoonfuls if dry.

For balsamic butter sauce:
Simmer vinegar and garlic in small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to thick syrup, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Cook snap peas in boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 1 minute. Drain. Return to same pan; set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in each of 2 large skillets over high heat. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Sauté fish until golden, about 2 minutes per side.

Rewarm balsamic syrup over medium-low heat. Whisk in 1/2 cup butter 1 piece at a time. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter to peas; stir over medium heat until warmed. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide potatoes, tilapia, and peas among plates; drizzle with sauce.

So there are those days where you are able to have a little personal quite contemplation, where you mentally decide you aren't going to allow the unimportant temporal things get in the way of your spirit speaking to you. Then there are those days that compel you to make a day like the above happen. 2008 was a rough year for so many, the days drug on with too many trials and difficult moments. You swear you will not have another 2008 in 2009. Then you wake up, realize you are an adult and life goes on whether you choose or not. Recently some events that have occurred in peoples lives that I love and respect have compelled me to have a day of personal time out. To come closer to my Savior and the unknown plan of my life. What makes or breaks my future out come and what pivotal moments in my life separate my spirituality from that of my temporality. Have I been grateful enough and expressed that gratitude to the people in my life. Have I given my everything to my relationship with Stewart and does he truly know how much I love an appreciate his strength and his patience. Do my children know that I would give my life for theirs and that I want to create a loving relationship a loving friendship with them. Something of not only quantity but quality. If my time here was over would I have given my all and would people know me as such. I hope to find strength in the unknown days ahead and constantly convert myself to the knowledge that my Savior suffered for me and knows me personally, for my faults and my strengths and that I sincerely need him. I hope anyone who reads this will also find strength in the road ahead and find that one piece of self worth to continue strongly through another day. For those of you who are struggling at this time, I have probably at one point or another knelt in prayer for you and you can know that you have an ally in all this confusion we call life. I am so thankful for your part in my life, I am changed because of you. I am excited for the days ahead and pray that I may make the most of each. Life is short, there is a reason this saying is expressed so much, we realize it when we least expect it. All my love, Traci

Like Father Like Son

As if Stewart and Christian could look anymore alike! Stewart and I are in having a planning session to kick off our week and from Christians Bedroom we hear a loud scream. I rush in there to see what happened and a huge goose egg split in the middle was bulging out of Christians head. Finally I was able to calm him down, we still cant figure out what happened because we didn't even hear a crash and the room look perfectly put together??? I guess he just wanted his Daddy's forehead bumps (result of many years of hard hitting and crashing on just about everything). LOL I remember Stewart's sister Becca saying that he was a disaster magnet. Welcome to the family little man!


Ok so Recipe for the day: Drum roll please:



My Fave: Butternut Squash Soup. I love having something warm to eat when it is cold or when I feel tired and exhausted and I am feeling a little exhausted from the last couple of days. So here you go!

Butternut Squash Soup

PS do not eat bread and butter with this, please disregard the cute picture side dish !

1 tbsp minced Shallot

1 clove minced or pressed Garlic

3 c Butternut Squash, peeled and seeded

1/2 c fat-free, low sodium Chicken Broth

1/8 tsp nutmeg



Combine shallot and garlic in a nonstick saucepan and cook over low heat until translucent, adding a little water if necessary to prevent scorching. Add the squash and chicken broth and simmer until the squash is soft, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor and puree. Return the soup to the pan and place over medium heat until heated through. Serve. If desired, add protein powder just before serving.



1cup soup -1 tbsp protein powder



Nutritional Facts per serving 1-3 cups depending on caloric intake

70 calories

Total fat (1% calories from fat)

3 g protein

18 g carbohydrates

0 mg cholesterol

89 mg sodium



recipe is part of the P90X workout nutrition plan. check it out on the web at: http://www.beachbody.com/

Yoga and Caramelized Chicken

Ok so today was Yoga day, generally it is super easy for me to do as I happen to be the worlds tallest woman with super gumby powers, but with all the hard core work outs we have been doing on top of the yoga I was stiff as a board! There are a ton of guys out there who might ask you to turn in your man card if they found out a guy did yoga, but Stewy claims it is one of his toughest workouts! I cant wait to go at it again next week, hopefully the soreness will be gone and we can hit it hard again! Here is the recipe I chose for tonight it looked simple and easy. I am also going to serve it with a carrots and grapes side dish...stay-tuned for that recipe! Enjoy. Ps. you could double the sauce, but remember the calories and dont over do it *wink*!

Caramelized-Garlic Chicken

Garlic, brown sugar and olive oil caramelize during baking, creating extraordinarily tasty chicken breasts.

From http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/
Prep Time:15 min
Start to Finish:30 min
makes:4 servings

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons olive, canola or soybean oil
4 teaspoons packed brown sugar
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)

1. Heat oven to 500°F. Line shallow baking pan with foil; spray foil with cooking spray.

2. In 8-inch nonstick skillet, cook garlic in oil over medium-low heat 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until garlic begins to soften. Remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar until well mixed.

3. Place chicken in pan. Spread garlic mixture evenly over chicken.

4. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170°F).

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Bake 13 to 18 minutes.
Nutritional Information
1 Serving: Calories 210 (Calories from Fat 60); Total Fat 7g (Saturated Fat 1 1/2g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 85mg; Sodium 80mg; Total Carbohydrate 5g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Sugars 4g); Protein 31g % Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 2%; Iron 6% Exchanges: 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 4 1/2 Very Lean Meat; 1 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 1/2 MyPyramid Servings: 1 tsp Fats & Oils, 4 oz-equivalents Meat & Beans *% Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

New Year Resolutions

Ok its been a while since I posted something about our family and all the stuff we were up to, so I wanted to share a little bit about our current happenings. The past year has been a difficult, amazing, trying, strengthening, beautiful, humbling year. We are so grateful for so many of you and the roles you played in our lives this past year. Can we ever say thank you enough. While it was a year of change for so many we cant help but be grateful. You always question what will make or break your family or your life and mold you to the person you want to be. I am so thankful for Stewart and his staying by my side throughout the year. WE grew together, the road was hard, the road was long and still not over, but he has been an amazing source of strength and wisdom. I am so grateful for such an amazing guy to be mine. Thanks babe...and now for some dang exciting stuff!




Stewart graduated with his degree in Exercise & Wellness from ASU...WWWWAHHHHHHHHHHHOOOO! It does not matter how long it took him, he did it with full time jobs, building a crazy big house, successes, defeats, 3 kids, scouts, church service, bishopric meetings, and a wife who needs her man. I am so proud of his accomplishments. He has a couple premed prerequisites and then we are off to Physical Therapy School. Congrats Baby you are amazing!




We acquired a new family member and she is the sweetest ever. The big guy in red dropped her off at our house on Christmas Eve and made two little girls the happiest around. Ashlyn truly believes in miracles! There was nothing sweeter than to see my little ones face light up bigger than I thought they ever could. They are so responsible with her and take such good care of her. We named her Kaiya and she is connected to Ashlyn's hip, just like we knew she would! LOL.




Last but not least, I wanted to share a few of our New Years Resolutions with you all. We started up on P90X again. As always it kicks our you know whats. I have a lot of people asking me lately (now that Stewy's official) how we workout and how we keep up our nutrition. Well, I figured I would try and give recipes occasionally. I would love to add one a day, because it has taken a lot of work to figure out how to keep a healthy, good tasting, cost effective, easy eating regiment together; so I thought you might enjoy it. Stewart and I looked into P90X a while back and started doing it. He made mention that this program was an awesome program. Its all about muscle confusion, so you don't have the plateau affect. Just recently he came home and said that in one of The Physical Therapy Journals, they stated that P90X was the best at home program, they even stated to quite your Gym membership and do this workout. That was super exciting! We can workout at home together knowing we are getting just as fit as if we were at our gym. Ok so on to the recipe.





I am going to be using a brown rice on top of a bed of fresh romaine lettuce. Use its juices as a little sauce/dressing. (PS. I add a little nutmeg do enhance the peaches)

Peachy Chicken with Broth & Peaches (it said red wine, but use broth as your substitute)

Lend this festive dish a naturally sweet and fruity twist. From Prevention Healthy Cooking.
Prep Time:20 min
Start to Finish:40 min
makes:4 servings


4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons whole grain pastry flour

1 tablespoon olive oil (I am omit this and use water to saute it you don't notice its missing when the dish is complete, there is plenty of flavor)

3 shallots, thinly sliced

1/2 chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)


2 firm ripe peaches, sliced ok I am using canned peaches and rinsing off the syrup, try and find light syrup

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil, sliced


1. Use hands to flatten the chicken breasts to an even thickness. Season chicken with pepper and salt. Coat with flour, patting off excess. (again for quicker meals don't press the chicken down just cook it I know it lends for a more even cooking, but I have three kids and no time for a little patty-cake with the bird)


2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add 2 teaspoons of the oil. (go for the water) Add chicken breasts; cook 12 minutes, turning once, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest portion reads 160°F and juices run clear. Remove chicken to a plate.


3. Add remaining oil and shallots to the skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes or until shallots soften. Add broth; stir to scrape up any brown bits. Increase heat to medium-high; add peaches. Cook and stir 2 minutes until wine reduced slightly. Return chicken and any juices on plate to the skillet. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, or until chicken is hot. Stir in basil.



Nutritional Information
1 Serving: Calories 300 (Calories from Fat 70); Total Fat 8g (Saturated Fat 2g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 85mg; Sodium 230mg; Total Carbohydrate 21g (Dietary Fiber 3g, Sugars 8g); Protein 34g % Daily Value*: Vitamin A 25%; Vitamin C 8%; Calcium 6%; Iron 10% Exchanges: 1/2 Starch; 1/2 Fruit; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 1 Vegetable; 4 1/2 Very Lean Meat; 1 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 1 1/2 Pyramid Servings: 1 tsp Fats & Oils, 1/4 c Fruits, 4 oz-equivalents Meat & Beans, 1/2 c Vegetables *% Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
©Copyright 2008, Rodale, Inc.

This recipe can be found on http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/


Let me know what you think and I will keep adding great fast easy recipes to my posts!.

Christmas and the Hustle and Bustle

Here's just a little Holiday reminder...more of a note to myself...that christmas is in 2 days. As you can see the past couple of months have been jam packed with way to much work and busyness for me to keep up. I am amazed that my tree didnt end up like this one. or maybe it is and I am still spinning on my head. LOL! Merry Christmas to all of our loved ones; Family and Friends. May you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Things that make you go HMMM?

Well from everything that has gone on this year I just keep wanting to get back to basics, to remember when life wasn't so complicated. I go back to my funny high school years when life was trivial and enjoy the sweet memories of my first years with Stewart. All of the learning and growing that we made a part of our everyday routine. Stew and I were laughing at those days and we always go back to the funny songs that some how connect us even though we didnt experience them together. It is always a new chapter that we open up everytime we hear one of our "oldies". Its the way we relive and show each other our past and learn about what made us, us! I am so thankful for my mishap dancing partner with two left feet and his facial expressions as he watches me get down with the get down all by myself! Love ya babe here's to sweatin' to the oldies!

WE ARE STILL ALIVE!

Ok I have been really awful at updating my blog, this shouldnt be a surprise as I have never been good at keeping a journal. Anyhow, I just wanted everyone to know we are still alive and kicking. We celebrated Christian's First Birthday and Stewy's 31st Birthday. I will post pictures soon. Life has just been crazzzzyyy! Stewart is loving his job at the PT Clinic and is super busy with his last and final class for his exercise and wellness degree at ASU. I have started my card business thank you to the miracle of friends (shanon & summer I love you both). I also just started working with Glitz Design a new scrapbook company that is based out of good ole' AZ. I was hired as their Sales Exec and Graphic Designer! Yay! But all of that on top of three kids, one in kindergarten, one in preschool, one now walking. WE have no time to breath! Whew. Just an update for ya! We hope you are all well and have a very happy halloween. Ps just a little card plug. www.tracismithdesignstudioblog.blogspot.com ok I know its long just click on the link;) and send people my way! I'll will have a website soon!

I Love My Children!

***Disclaimer*** we do not watch this show, but we stopped on it because this was so hilarious. I just feel like this is a typical day and today is no exception! Here's to all my mommy friends!

9 Years & Counting

Today marks the 9th year Stewy & I have been married. I am so grateful for how clear my memory is of the day we met and what a blur the weeks leading up to our marriage were. Here we are today laughing at those memories and laughing at the horror our parents were probably in when we married only 10 weeks after meeting. I am still so in love with you Stewart and I am more thankful and humble today for you being in my life. We have had more than our fair share of roller coasters and I look forward to many more. Thank you for our moldy ceilings, green refrigerators, soapy stir fry, "N" Movie Night, blue spandex, flag football mom moments, inside out socks, hot huts, yellow bathtubs, wet pajamas & blowing fans, BYU football games, pinewood derbys, first houses, freedom from loud neighbors, halloweens, schmoozing parties, Saturday lunch dates, burning forests, blizzards, hikes, warm bubble baths & lime popsicles, first kisses, patience, understanding, laughter, tears, our children, noni, sisso wisso, tiny tiny, christian boy, your strength when I had none, your belief in me, teaching me, guiding me, letting me know what it means to be loved, mistakes, & successes. Thank you for giving me all of you! Happy Anniversary Babe, I love you!