This might brighten your January day.

This is Andrea Boccelli and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing, "The Lord's Prayer." It's really beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUm_OwfF_bQ&feature=player_embedded

Yummy Healthy recipes I promised.

It is so like me to come down with a cold and a fever the day after I make my proclamation to the world wide web to exercise, eat healthy, and loose weight. I'm feeling much better now and am ready to share my favorite recipe involving cauliflower. Honestly, my family loves it so much it's usually gone before I set the dish on the table. Shane discovered this while listening to the second greatest love of his live, NPR. What ever NPR tells Shane to do, he does it. And that is how the recipe came into the Hughes family repetior.

Preheat oven to 400 deg.
As thinly as possible, slice a head of cauliflower keeping as much as the cross section in tact as possible. Place cauliflower on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes of until cauliflower is soft and edges are crisp and golden.

I hope your family likes it as much as mine. We've even convinced ourselves they taste like french fries.


This week I made my favorite granola recipe. It's perfect for a morning breakfast. It can be found here:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cranberry-Almond-Granola-108238
Just a note, I usually substitute the brown sugar with honey.

I triple the recipe and sometimes make cookies out of it using this recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Granola-and-Dried-Cranberry-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies-13143

Here is a sneak peak of where I get to bake these wonderful recipes. It's only a sneak peak because Shane asked me not to post any pictures of the kitchen until it is completely done.
Since he is the one who does most of the work, I'll oblige.

Next project on our reno list: Earn more money!

Given the choice, I'd take something old over something new, nine times out of ten. Take this clapboard wooden house for example. It is far more interesting to me than the multi-million dollar homes a couple blocks from my house. (Ummm, not that I'd want to live here, just take pictures and think, "oh, if walls could talk.")




And for a second example, take this shocking orange number:

Please be honest. If you found yourself eyeing this at a garage sale and the owner of the home casually walks up to you and says, "That was my mother's swim suit from the 1960's"

Would your heart skip a beat slightly as you try to keep a calm, non-interested, negotiating type poker face as you realize you could become the proud owner of a 1960's retro bathing suit?

Would you say something like, "It's a great swimsuit, but I can't be sure it fits." and the owner responds "Is it worth finding out for $1."

Would you suddenly trip over yourself and knock a few things over trying to find a dollar in your pocket before asking your mom to spot you the buck?

I can only answer for myself that "Yes!" that is what I would and DID do at a garage sale last summer. And guess what, I might just be weird enough to wear and if you must know my entire New Year's resolution revolves around my orange bathing beauty. First, the perks of the swim suit:

I folded up the front of the swim suit to reveal a hidden panel that acts like a built in garter for an instant tummy tuck. That is one feature DEFINITELY missing from today's swim suits.

The second perk of the swim suit is that it is potentially worth $75. I immediately researched the label, "Cole Of California Original,"when I got home and discovered that it is indeed from the the 1960's and that some of these vintage numbers sell for as much as $75. I was pretty excited to see my $1 investment make such a prophet, but alas, I will not be selling her.

You see, remember when I told the garage sale man the swim suit may not fit? Sadly, I was right. It was really hard to squeeze myself into it. The fabric isn't the wonderful, stretchy, spandexy futuristic swimsuit material we all know and love today that designers back then could only dream of; it's more of a clothy, must fit your body to a T, type material the women of the 60's had to suffer through.

The good news is, I'm not too far away from a decent fit. I think if I loose 8 lbs I should reasonably be able to wear ole' orangey without scaring anyone. I've already lost about 5lbs since last summer while suffering through the grueling P90X videos for 3 months. My New Year's resolution is to spend the next 6 weeks (I really like resolutions that last only 6 weeks) eating right and exercising to lose 8lbs and be ready for my swimsuit's big comeback debut in Cancun Mexico. I can't wait!- for Cancun that is. So that's it, I have 6 weeks to loose 8 lbs. At first I thought that might be asking too much. But then I saw a repeat of the "Biggest Loser" finale a couple nights ago and one of the contestants lost 101 lbs in 7 weeks. Can you say inspiring!!

I would like to start sharing some of the healthy recipes I'll be making on a daily basis for the next few weeks so that I feel like I'll be accountable to someone or something. Even if I'm the only one reading, just don't let me know so I'll actually stick to this plan!

This post is long enough, so my first VERY simple, nutritious yet delicious recipe I'll post tomorrow. Just a hint: it involves cauliflower and kids love it.