Philly Cream Cheese Fondue

Do you remember the 70's? Disco, macrame, psychedelic colors, and fondue. The first three I can do without, but fondue, that's a throwback I'll keep revisiting.  

This fondue is one that my mom made for me as a kid and I still love it.  It goes together really fast too, so it's great for those lazy Friday nights when you're worn out from a crazy week.

The main ingredients are Carl Buddig thin sliced beef and a couple of packages of cream cheese.  I usually use one regular bar of cream cheese and one low fat version, and haven't noticed any effect on the taste.

Go ahead and slice the beef into strips and while you're at it finely dice about a 1/4 cup of onions.  Put your cream cheese and 1 3/4 cup milk into a medium saucepan and slowly melt it down over low heat.  Add 1 tsp. of dry mustard and then your beef and onion.

The whole thing should get thick and creamy and all of the lumps should smooth out.  Make sure to stir it fairly frequently so the bottom doesn't scorch.

If you have a fondue pot, go ahead and pour the fondue on in.  I'm not lucky enough to own one so we get really lazy fancy in my house and serve it out of the pan.

My favorite thing to dip into this is some cubed up french bread...it is just awesome!

Go to town, but only if you like cream cheese as much as I do.;)

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Fondue

1 3/4 cup milk

2 - 8 oz. packages of Philly Cream Cheese

2 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 c. finely chopped onion

2 pkg. thin sliced beef

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The 36th Avenue

Spring Table Runner

I am so excited to today! Stephanie over at Making of a Mom invited me to guest post.  She started a fun blog a little bit ago with all kinds of great ideas for us busy moms.

I wrote a quick little tutorial on how I kicked off some spring decor for my home with this cute little table runner.

 I love how it turned out so do me a favor and check it out!

Happy Friday everyone!

 

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Rice Filled Heat Pack

The last time I posted...I know, it's been awhile... I mentioned that I am doing an exercise program called Insanity.  Well, I'm almost to the end of my third week and seeing some results now.  I don't think I'm really losing weight but I'm definitely toning.  Also, I don't have to stop and pant like I'm gonna die quite as much.  Sore muscles are still with me all.of.the.time so I decided to make something that I didn't have and thought might help me out a bit.

It's one of those handy dandy rice packs that you can microwave for a couple of minutes.  That, or stick it in the freezer for a cold pack.  Either way, it's great for sore muscles, and can mould to the area you need to use it on.

The only problem is I knew I needed a way to throw it into the washer and dryer.  Things around here seem to get dirty rapidly with grubby little two year old hands that love to make messes!  The solution?  I decided I would make a sleeve for my rice pack that I can take off and wash.

I had a couple of fat quarters left over from some project I was going to do and never got to.  That seems to happen to me a lot.  I just folded the fabric in half, right sides together, and sewed along the long side and one short side.  After flipping it right side out, I filled it with regular white rice and then turned the edges in and sewed the final side shut.  One step down.

Next, I had to make my washable sleeve.  I hemmed one side of my fat quarter, folded the fabric in half, right sides together again.  A quick stitch down the long edge and the non hemmed short side and I was done.  I flipped it right side out and sewed my cute little red ribbon onto the top, inside, edge of the sleeve and them applied a button to each side to cover my stitches. 

Here are the two parts pre-stuffing...

And after stuffing... 

I think it came out pretty darn cute.  Plus, it works really well!  If you make one, just make sure you don't get it too hot and burn yourself.  The double layers help with that fairly well, but so does some good old fashioned common sense.

 Now, between my nice heat pack and the ibuprofen, I get much needed sore muscle relief.;)

 

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It's Time To Sweat

A couple of weeks ago I was released to start doing core workouts again.  Why am I bothering to mention this?  For those of you who don't know, I had a bouncing baby boy about 3 1/2 months ago.  He was delivered via c-section and I figured, since I was having surgery, I might as well get that umbilical hernia repaired that has been with me for about 3 years.

Well, the surgery left me with pretty much no abdominal muscle tone.  Guess that happens when they turn you inside out during surgery.  This is a big deal for me.  As a former gymnast, I've always taken great pride in having respectable ab muscles.  It makes me cry that they are now a bowl full of jelly.

I was under doctor's orders to wait 12 weeks before I could do any exercises to get my firm stomach back.  Boooo!  Not to mention, I still have 10 to 15 lbs to get off in post baby weight.  Something that is extremely difficult for me to do while breast feeding.

I have a plan though.

It's still cold here and I can't really take my 3 month old out in the running stroller. I need something I can do at home that will get me good results. Good enough to get me back in running shape so I can complete at least one half marathon this summer. I decided to do Insanity. Some of you may not know what this is. It is an insane cardio workout done over 60 days with the goal of getting impressive results.   If you want to know more, check it out here.

One more thing I need to do is improve my diet a bit.  I can't cut back that severely on calories without hurting my ability to feed Jack, but I figured I could do something.  You know those cleaning products from Shaklee?  Well, I pretty much love them and their organic approach to cleaning.  They happen to have a weight loss program called Cinch that I figured I can alter to suit my needs.  It is also something I can fit in my budget.  Here is the shake that I ordered.

I decided to start with the strawberry flavor.  If I like it and the results, I may order more.  I got this through Sarah over at Three Boys.  Check out her Shaklee shop for all of the products they have.  The plan says you should do one of these shakes and a snack bar in place of two meals and then have a healthy dinner.  I'm just going to be replacing one meal per day to make sure I'm getting enough calories.  Another reason I'm doing this is because I've been having a hard time eating healthily around my Home Health Nurse job.  The drive through has been my friend a bit too much.  This seems like the perfect, easy solution.

I figure that I may not lose weight very fast but I'll be toning and leading a healthier life.

I'm about a week into Insanity and it's kicking my butt!  You know where I hurt the most?  The love handle area!  What's up with that?  It is a V.E.R.Y demanding workout routine, so it better work.  I'm in pain here!  I haven't gotten the Cinch shake mix yet, but am excited to give it a try.  I'll keep you updated on my progress, but don't expect to see a huge before and after photo...that would be a bit embarassing.

Do any of you have great fitness/healthy eating routines that have worked for you?

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The Shabby Creek Cottage