The Shame Squad

This is the second part of my foray in to freezer meals - the first part can be found here  for Cheesy Shells and Italian Sausage. Today we're making a pork and apples recipe adapted from The Pampered Chef.  I love this one--it's so easy to assemble in advance, most of the ingredients you likely already have, and it couldn't be easier to fix the day you want to eat it (dump stuff in pan, bake). So yummy.  And pretty. Maple Pork Tenderloin with Apples For this you'll need the ingredients below.  You probably have the oil, vinegar, garlic, brown sugar, mustard, and bags in your pantry!  You can also easily divide this recipe if you usually only cook for 2-3 people at a time (that's what I do when I make it). 2 pork tenderloins , about 2 pounds total - they can be expensive, so pick these up on sale 3 apples - I prefer honeycrisp but use what you like, or take one of these suggestions 1 small red onion 1/4 cup canola oil 1 clove garlic , pressed o

A month ago, a coworker invited me to a Pampered Chef Freezer Meal party.  I will admit that I went in to it with a little bit of an attitude: " I'm going to have to buy all their seasonings and the meals will be full of processed goo and not taste great ."   Four hours of fun, three glasses of wine, $170 for groceries and seasonings, and 14 meals later, I was happily proved (mostly) wrong.  Here's how my thinking changed: 1) I'm going to have to buy all of their seasonings - well, yes.  This is a service they're offering after all, and I felt like the $70 was more than worth the ideas and ingredients I got, plus not having to do the dishes and getting a free dinner was a bonus!  I discovered a few ingredients I would have normally given the "side eye" to, like cherry balsamic vinegar, which costs the same at the grocery store as it does from The Pampered Chef. 2) The meals will be processed - I was expecting lots of Cream-of-Something-Soup r

This year has been busier than we'd like; hence, why you're reading this (exciting and informative?) letter after Christmas. Why so busy? 2014 has been filled with accomplishments. Namely: I won the "Rookie of the Year" award at work. I got a large crystal sculpture for my troubles, which can also double as a murder weapon if needed. I also passed the SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) certification exam, which is something you should study for if you don't value your sanity. Chris chose to remain married to me while I studied for the SPHR, which included feeding me at regular intervals, selectively ignoring the little nests of flashcards and textbooks that I made on the living room floor, and listening to me talk incessantly about the finer points of labor unions. I'm sorry, honey! I finished my Master Certificate in HR from Cornell, and then got promoted to Vice President at my job, which is a local division of Xerox. In exchange f

The Today Show recently asked Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski questions to recap 2014 . They are hilarious, so you should totally check out what they said.  Since Amy and I are also hilarious, we decided to answer as well. Royal baby No. 2: Boy or girl? Alyssa: Guuuuuuurl...I hope it's a girl. As I've said before, I hope they name her Diana or Beyonce. Diana Beyonce Cambridge. Wait, don't you get, like, four names when you're a royal? Diana Beyonce Alyssa Johnny Weir Cambridge. Love it. Amy: I also hope it's a girl, so I can see what a crazy toddler-size British fascinator looks like. What do you think of Prince George? Alyssa: I think that Baby King will one day rule us all. Johnny Weir is right, he does steal. He also throws things. He threw a toy Bilby in Australia. But to be fair to Baby King, I think he was doing that in protest of Kate wearing a dress recycled from a previous tour. Amy: I love his short pants and his chubby cheeks. It makes me wa

My girl Kate came to NYC, and I would be lying if I didn't briefly consider buying tickets to the Nets game or the St. Andrews benefit gala (which turned out to be $10,000 for the cheap seats so HA HA HA).  Alas, I decided to admire from afar on the internet. And I was overwhelmingly...underwhelmed.  Before we get to the commentary and analysis, let me say this: Yes, it's totally judgypants of me to commentate on the woman's outfits because she's pregnant and she's running around in the cold, wind, and rain trying to look perfect when she is totally entitled to yoga pants and a stained t-shirt. No one analyzes or cares about what William wears, and it's a complete double standard, kind of like when the male anchor of Australia's Today Show wore the same suit for a YEAR on air  and received zero commentary, while his female counterpart got lots of unsolicited advice. If anyone followed ME around and analyzed my hair, jewelry, and clothing, the commenta

I got to see lots of people at Thanksgiving that I hadn't seen in a while, and several asked "what's going on with the blog?!" The answer is: I've been busy. And I hate giving that answer, because I think "sorry, I'm just so busy" is just so lame.  While it's the current truth, it's not a truth I'm okay with.  So I'm working on that.  It's meant some hard things, like turning down the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors of a local charity.  (I discussed with Charitable Jesus, and decided that it wasn't what I'm meant to do right now.)  It's included some awesome things, like finding a reasonably priced massage therapy clinic less than 10 minutes from my job in Manassas.  It's involved some productive conversations with my bosses about how and where to focus my time and energy--and it's been great to have their support, or at the very least when things get bad, their beer. Truth. But enou

Weight last week: 155.6 Weight this week: 154.8 Slowly chipping away at it, people! Breakfast today was a piece of whole wheat toast (80) and two glasses of lemon water. Lunch was a large Greek salad (250), and two slices of the most delicious pizza ever made (520).  Where does one find this delicious miracle?   Fireworks Pizza in Leesburg.  This is the Black Sheep, and has lamb sausage, feta, spinach, tomatoes, and balsamic, and everything is sourced locally.  I also didn't eat the crust.  And I had four more glasses of lemon water. Dinner was taco night!  I made chicken filling (100) in a whole wheat tortilla (90) with fat free sour cream, tomatoes, and hot sauce (20).  I also had black refried beans (110) with a sprinkle of 2% cheese (45), a couple of tortilla chips (60) and salsa (10).  And four more glasses of lemon water. I drink lemon water because my yoga instructor and Jillian Michaels said so. I'm not sure if this lovely picture from the internet is

Today I picked out my SPHR-graduation-promotion present for myself, which is... a poppy! Specifically, it is a handcrafted poppy sculpture that is part of an amazing art installation in London that commemorates World War I called "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red."  There are 888,246 individual poppies, one for each British fatality during the war.  The installation is amazing--below is a picture of the poppies pouring out of the Tower of London. Here's an Arial shot: The poppies are then sold and the proceeds (all 25 Million Dollars) benefit charities that assist veterans and their families: Help for Heroes  – provides assistance to those who have been wounded in battle Confederation of Service Charities  (COBSEO) – is a single point of contact for organizations interacting with the Government, Royal Household, Private Sector & other members of the Armed Forces Community Combat Stress  – founded after the First World War, it is “the veterans’ m