Maple Turkey Cutlets

Calling all cooks, cook-wanna-be, or just those just in need of something different to make!!

This recipe was unbelievably easy. Like, if you are not a cook or you are just starting out, this will work for you. It is cheap and your taste buds will be happy. 

Whatcha Need Is...

1 pack turkey cutlets (about 4-5 in a pack)

1-2 cups baby carrots, rinsed

maple syrup (YUP, the kind you use for pancakes!)

olive oil

1/2 tsp garlic-pepper salt

Whatcha Gotta Do Is...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 13x9 baking pan, place cutlets and scatter baby carrots. Drizzle maple syrup over everything and lightly sprinkle with garlic-pepper salt. Flip cutlets and stir around carrots. Drizzle with more syrup and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle more garlic-pepper salt again. The syrup and seasoning is not to saturate them, just to give a thin coating to everything. Place in oven uncovered and bake for about 15 minutes then flip chops and stir carrots. Continue baking for another 15 minutes or until cutlets are completely cooked through (no longer pink). 

This is the drizzle....

Ready to bake!

Serve with a plain side like simple mashed potatoes or a salad to keep things light.

Put in cute serving dish and eat it up! :)

Enjoy!

~AMK

you make me happy when skies are...grey gray grey gray.

In the last few weeks, it has been especially grey gray grey gray outside. When the sun finally started shining yesterday and the temperatures were rising, I was feeling that springtime high. You know, having that high-on-life, filled-with-enthusiasm, spirits-lifted, ready-to-tackle-the-world high. I find it so amazing how much the weather can really affect (or is it effect?) you.

Today is grey gray grey gray again. Boo. Back to sleepy and ready to curl up on the couch with coffee in hand and watch a movie or take a nap. Winter does this to me. I just hide away sometimes because I don't like the cold or dreariness that winter brings. But having these random days thrown in there where the sun shines and it is teasing us that spring may be near is glorious. Way to be a tease, mother nature...

But I fall for it every.single.time. And I admit. I kinda like it.

~AMK

Not 36 hours ago...

Every have one of those days where you are completely overwhelmed and have so much on your to-do list that you just do nothing. Nothing. I mean, your list is screaming at your for attention, yet you sit on the couch, watch TV and eat like crap, when you know you should be up and moving and getting stuff done. You even have conversations about how you need to get so much done, yet you still sit there despite your best efforts to pump yourself up.  Instead, you watch 3 movies in a row and neglect grocery shopping, cleaning and all other things you need to get done on those precious 48 hours we have of our own called, the weekend. Yeah, that was yesterday. I sat on the couch ALL DAY. I think there is a permanent mold of where I was lounging. Well, I lie. I did shift from one couch to the other as the evening went on. Then fell asleep on the couch until 2 am when I finally made it back to the bedroom. OH Yeah, productivity at its best:)

But I will say, sometimes you need to have those days.  You get yourself so worked up and worried about all that needs to get done that you don't actually have any energy left to do those things. So Sunday, was my day of rest. I did some homework in the morning, but I did NOTHING the rest of the day. I didn't realize how much I needed it. I think I would have gone crazy crazier if I didn't just do nothing. It was so nice.

So now, I am refreshed. My task list doesn't seem as daunting as it did just 36 hours before. I am ready to tackle it now.  I am ready to do all those things that I set aside for some much needed rest and laziness.

So here is to revitalized energy and going full force into my to-do list....

 And here is to you too...because we all know everyone's lives are crazy at times....go you. :)

~AMK

Our First Christmas

KGK and I had our first Christmas as a married couple this year. Everything was going so wonderfully until an hour before his entire family was to arrive at our house for Christmas dinner. Cue the vomiting...  No, seriously. Let me explain...

The weekend before Christmas, KGK and I enjoyed a relaxing weekend, did some cleaning and organizing, and we were anxiously anticipating having our first Christmas Eve and Christmas as hitched folk. We also were excited to host his family on Christmas day for dinner (pot-luck style...took the pressure off!). Needless to say, everything was going perfectly. We decided to start a tradition to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, have a stay-in dinner of wings and beer (we are classy), and watch a movie. Perfect if you ask me. So we went about our first Christmas Eve traditions and woke up to a fantastic Christmas morning. Gifts were opened, Skype calls to family that lived away from us occurred, and we began the cooking for the evening meal.

Now, about 2 hours before his family was scheduled to arrive, I started to feel sick to my stomach. I thought it was from a richer breakfast than I was used to, but it wouldn't go away. It only escalated into more pain and nausea. It is now 1 hour before family is to arrive and I cannot stand up long enough to make my last few menu items. I wore a mask in case I was getting sick and tried to complete the last few projects. Then, it happened. I am standing there preparing the stuffing and I have to run to the bathroom. The time is around 3pm and I had my first vom session. Sorry, that's gross. But well, it was.

Fast forward about 2.5 hours, KGK has been entertaining family while I am violently sick in the back bedroom/bathroom. Then, he comes back. It is about 5:30pm. He feels it too. Vom session numero dos. For the next couple hours, both hosts are in the bedroom, quarantined from our guests. We appeared briefly to say we were done for the night and that they were welcome to use our living room for all the time they wanted.  His family is wonderful.  They picked up our living room, did a bunch of dishes and had an assortment of foods in foil in the frig for when we feel better and are ready to grub later on the Christmas feast.

The next 24 hours, after KGK came back into the bedroom (about 5:30pm), are a blur.  That was the worst stomach bug I have ever had. Ever. And man, is it going around! I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. It took me until New Years Day to feel like myself again. Needless to say, I got a lot of rest and caught up on several different shows that played in marathon fashion throughout those last days of 2012. I am ready for 2013 and no more bugs!

So that was our first Christmas together. Alternating turns in the bathroom. Lover-ly. But, as KGK said, at least we got to spend it together, even if it was back in the bedroom, miserable while the Christmas spirit lived on in the rest of our house.

So Happy 2013 everyone! I hope you escaped that nasty bug!

~AMK