Toning it up!

Today I am getting started on my new workout routine! And just to let you know; it is really taking me a lot of guts to post this, because it means that I will be held accountable for all of my fitness stuff here on out. So anything I say I'm gonna do, I have to do!

I feel like I am putting a big push on me, which is good because then maybe I'll actually stick with working out for once. With my kidney illness and hospital stays, I have really fallen off the exercise wagon (noooo, Wagooon, come back!). I also had a small surgery about two weeks ago, and now that I am past it and all recovered, my body is ready to be pushed. So, I hope that by joining the awesome Tone It Up community and keeping track of my fitness things on my blog, I'll be able to stay healthy and fit!

If you don't know what Tone It Up is, then you are missing out! Tone It Up is this awesome community of women led by two trainers, Karena and Katrina. They have created this great community where women can keep track of their meals, fitness goals, and just share their experiences with other women. It's really great! 

I don't consider myself to be in shape at all. I consider myself to be "skinny fat." I know, I know. You're probably looking at that picture up there like, "Wha?! No, you're not fat. Someone, please slap this girl." But, please. Let me explain! Yes, my body type is thin, but since I don't do any kind of exercise my body is not toned. At all. And I am totally half okay with that. I just want to work towards having a stronger body. My ultimate goal is to be able to hang from the monkey bars at any playground and just be able to pull myself up. (My reasoning for this is that if one day I am hanging off a cliff and about to be dead, I'll be able to pull myself up with my awesome arm muscles).

So, starting today on this awesome Monday, it is nothing but healthy choices here on out. Follow me on my instagram @errdaymari to see my daily check-ins and such. :)

Stay healthy everyone!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cheesecake

There's really nothing like a late-night run to a liquor store with your mom. It is definitely a memorable experience for sure! I don't remember where we were coming back from (that doesn't sound bad at all), but before heading home I decided that I wanted to make this awesome recipe the next day, 'cause I'm spontaneous and awesome like that. I had seen it in this Kraft magazine and I knew I had everything I needed to make the cheesecake except . . . maraschino cherries.

My mom, being a smart lady like she is, suggested that we could maybe find cherries in a nearby liquor store because everything else was closed. Yea, apparently I couldn't wait to make this cheesecake.

So, my mother and I stopped at the only liquor store that was open and walked in hoping to find cherries. 

AND CHERRIES WE FOUND! Yea, that's right, we found the cherries! But that's not the point of this story. The point of this story is how awkward it was to have my mom browse the store for another 20 minutes after we found the cherries and trying to convince her NOT to purchase the six-pack of tequila shot glasses, or any other beverage that was fruity, or margarita-looking-like, or "ooh-ooh, Mira, este tiene chocolate, o el de durazno a de estar bueno." It was like trying to reign in a six-year-old at Toys-r-Us. 

Thankfully, we only walked out with the cherries. And the next day, this amazing cheesecake was born! BAM!

I was so happy, because it ALMOST came out looking just like the one in the magazine. I mean, mine is a little rough around the edges, but for it being my first time making a pineapple upside-down anything, I think it came out pretty darn delicious, gosh darn it! It tasted (past-tense because this is long gone!) like graham crackers and vanilla, and for some reason it had a hint of banana pudding taste to me (I'm not sure where that came from). Nonetheless, it was creamy and had a great cheesecake consistency. I couldn't stop licking my spoon and I definitely had way more than I was supposed to. :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 tbsp. of brown sugar

5 tbsp. of butter, melted, divided

2 cans of pineapple slices in juice (this is what the recipe calls for, but I used fresh pineapple)

7 maraschino cherries

1 cup of graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup of granulated sugar, plus 3 tbsp., divided

3 pkg. of cream cheese, softened

3/4 of sour cream (I ran out of sour cream and used greek yogurt instead)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. condensed milk

3 eggs

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Mix brown sugar and 2 tbsp. of butter in a 9-inch round pan. Spread the mixture to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Top with pineapple slices (you might have to do some cutting to fit the slices in there nicely). Place the cherries in the center of the pineapple slices.

3. Mix the graham crackers, 3 tbsp. of granulated sugar, and the remaining butter until well blended. Pour over the pineapple slices and press gently.

4. Beat cream cheese and remaining granulated sugar with mixer until it is all blended. Add sour cream (or greek yogurt), vanilla, and condensed milk. Stir, stir, stir! Then, add eggs, one at a time. Beat at a low speed just until blended. Pour that sucker over the pineapple!

5. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until center is almost set. Run a knife through the edge to loosen the cake, and cool for 40 minutes. Invert cheesecake onto a plate and refrigerate for 3 hours. 

Gah, I love sweets so much! So bad. So bad.

Buen provecho!

Maria :)

Wonders & Worries: My Lucky Strike

Today I am skipping a recipe post to write about something very near and dear to my heart! And that is the place where I work and love. . . Wonders & Worries! I LOVE IT SO MUCH THAT I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START.

I truly believe I am extremely blessed and I just felt the urge to write about this wonderful organization I am lucky enough to work for (it's more like a calling really. It doesn't even feel right to call it my job. It's my calling)! I work as a child life assistant (a little more on what that means later) at Wonders & Worries and I have been there since June, and am completely in love with what I do!

Wonders & Worries is a local non-profit organization in Austin, Texas that provides therapeutic services for children who have a parent who has a serious or life-threatening illness. I work in an alternate child life setting. I know, I know. What does that mean, Maria? I've never heard of child life? What is that? Yea, unfortunately, not many people know about child life specialists. But let me fill you in! People who work in the profession of Child Life, or Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS), usually work in hospitals with children who are sick. However, Wonders & Worries was created to provide services for children of adult patients (in this case, the parent is the one who is sick). The role of a child life specialist at Wonders & Worries is to help the child by educating them on their parent's illness, preparing them for their parent's surgery/procedures, providing ways to express themselves emotionally, and finding coping techniques to help them navigate through this tough time in their lives. Yea, I know it's amazing.

W&W provides individual sessions with children, support groups, and parenting support (speaking to a child about their illness can be difficult for parents). And all of these services are free to families! We also have bilingual child life specialists, which is great for our Spanish-speaking families.

As a child life assistant, I provide assistance to the child life staff in any way. I take care of supply needs (which means I get to do arts and crafts shopping, etc.). That's right. I get to shop for arts and crafts as part of my job. You can be a little jealous. :) I also help facilitate some support groups, so I get to work with the children as well!

Play hospital inside one of the Wonders & Worries' playrooms.

It still blows my mind that I am now a part of the W&W team. I really cannot believe it still (I definitely see it as my lucky strike)! I was a practicum student at W&W for my last semester at UT. At the end of my practicum, I decided to apply for the child life assistant position and my supervisor, the program director, accepted me! The reason why I call it my lucky strike is because of three things: 1) child life is a very competitive field, 2) the people I work with are awesome, 3) I love what W&W does. First, there are usually a very small number of child life positions available for students in practicums, internships, and jobs, so it is definitely hard to find a spot. I feel so happy and fulfilled to be able to use my Human Development degree in the field that I love. I get to continue to learn about child development and work with families in a meaningful way. I truly feel I am making a difference in people's lives everyday. It just makes me extremely happy! :D

This is our brochure!

Also, the people I work with are amazing! I consider them all my friends and am always excited to learn from them. You usually cannot shadow child life specialists, so I feel that I am in an awesome secret club that gets to learn from them (mwuahaha, I get to pick their brains)! My supervisor is also great! She is the best mentor ever, and has helped me learn so much about myself, professionally and personally. In short, I have really found my niche at W&W.

Lastly! I just love the profession of child life. I am in love with what I do and I feel so blessed to be allowed to do it. When I was hospitalized, I was afraid that I was going to have to give up my position or that I was going to be let go (my biggest fear was losing what I love to do), but thankfully everyone was so understanding and caring. And now, I continue to do what I love. And I will continue to prepare myself to one day be a child life specialist. I am only more motivated to learn and develop my skills in working with children. I hope to be with W&W for a long, long time and I feel that I am running off an adrenaline rush and am just ready to do anything for this organization that I love so much.

I hope you guys have also found your calling. I would love to hear about it! I'm sure I'll be talking more about W&W on my blog, so be prepared.

These tissue flowers were used for the Que Maravilla! Gala, a fundraising event for Wonders & Worries.

Here is the Wonders & Worries website, if you guys want to read more about my awesome workplace: http://www.wondersandworries.org/

This has been Maria reporting.

Over and out,
Maria :)

Arroz con Pollo a la Margarita

Happy Friday, everyone! Let me tell you something. I'm not sure who this Margarita is, or why she has a chicken dish named after her, but it definitely doesn't matter because she sure knew what she was doing when she came up with this chicken idea!

I snatched this recipe from this Kraft Comida y Familia magazine, I receive in the mail. I knew I wanted to try it right away, because it is a low-sodium recipe and as you know with my chronic kidney disease, I practically live to try these recipes out!

What is so lovely about this recipe is the color and the spices used instead of salt to make it super tasty and healthy. As the daughter of a very traditional Mexican mother, it was a little hard to have my mom completely agree with my new "cooking adventures," because she has a very specific way of making her rice and her chicken. (She's also great at working with the low-sodium thing, but I love to help)! And when I'm in the kitchen, I think she is still a little scared. Fortunately, my madre is the bomb-diggity, bomb-bomb, and allows me her kitchen space when I am experimenting. And, then my dad gets to try it out. It really works out for everybody.

So without further wait! Here's how you can get started on dinner! :)

Arroz con Pollo a la Margarita

Preparation: 20 minutes     Total: 50 minutes      Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Kraft Zesty Lime Vinaigrette Dressing, quantity divided (I made my own)

1 chicken for baking or frying, cut into pieces (3 1/2 lbs.)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 can (14.5 oz) reduced-sodium vegetable broth

1 1/2 cup of white long-grain rice, not cooked

1 tsp. cumin powder

2 tbsp. cilantro, diced

Instructions

1. Heat 2 tbsp. of the dressing in a big pan on medium-high heat. Add the chicken, cook 4 minutes on each side, or until each side is nice and golden. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside for now.

2. Add the red bell pepper and onion to the pan, and stir for 5 minutes, or until it's tender. Add the broth, rice, cumin, and the rest of the dressing; stir. Let it boil! Place the chicken on top and cover the pan.

3. Cook the dish on medium-low heat, maintaining a soft simmer for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the rice is tender.

4. Remove from heat. Let the rice and chicken rest covered for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the dish with cilantro! And you are done! Enjoy and bon appétit!

I hope you guys enjoy this dish. My dad gave it a nod, and if you guys knew my dad that translates to "I did pretty awesome"! :)

Nutritional Information: Cal 470, Fat/sat 18/4.5, Sodium 390, Carb 42, Fiber 1, Protein 32 (I will try to include nutritional information from now on).

Peace out,

Maria :)

DIY String Bulletin Board

This fun DIY project has been Pinterest inspired! I am sure if you are on Pinterest (which if you are not, you totally should be, because I love and worship Pinterest) you have encountered some variation of this DIY. There are many ways to do it, and there are also a lot of cool "wall hang things" you can purchase at different stores like these here, but come on. . . who has the money to go buy expensive wall things? No one.

This wall decoration is really rustic and it was fun and SUPER easy to make. Here is what you are going to need!

Materials

thumbtacks

twine or any kind of string

cute paper clips of your choice

ruler

pictures to hang up

Instructions

1. First, make sure to cut out all your strings the same length. I chose to do four rows. 

2. Make a knot on each end, so that when you push the thumbtack through it stays. Pin the string on your wall.

3. Repeat for the following string. Make sure to measure with a ruler how far apart you want your strings to be from each other. That way your wall doesn't look all asymmetrical. Remember to leave enough space for the size of your pictures and notes!

4. Add some more decoration on top or at the bottom if you want. I added a "CAFE" sign on top of my bulletin board. I bought this little plaque at the dollar store for $2.00 on clearance! Who says you can't find awesome home decor at the dollar store?

I hope you guys enjoy this little DIY project and I hope it is inspires you to spruce up your living headquarters in some way. I am still adding things to mine, but I definitely want it to be a type of inspiration board with cool quotes and all things pretty! :) Let's get to working!

Peace out,

Maria :)

Cream-cheese Flan

Sometimes you have to mess up to get things right! Haha, what am I talking about? You always have to mess up to get things right!

I am talking about flan, people. Flan is one of my favorite desserts. (If not, my absolute favorite). The first time I made it, it was a disaster! And I mean a disaster. It tasted like nothing but eggs. My mom has used her own recipe for years, but I decided to be stubborn and use an online recipe that required WAY more eggs than she usually uses in her delicious recipe. So, the second time around I followed my mom's instructions. Mom's always DO know best.

So, along with my mother's guidance and this awesome website. . . I was able to make this delicious dessert. Here is the recipe. Good luck and enjoy!

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of sugar
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare a bain-Marie by adding about 2 inches of boiling water to a casserole dish. The flan mold will later go into this casserole dish. (I also placed the casserole dish on a baking sheet, so that it is easier to carry into the oven).
3. Caramelize the flan mold. You do this by placing 1 cup of sugar in a warm pan and heating it up on medium heat. Heat until the sugar browns and becomes golden like caramel. Then, pour onto the flan mold, making sure you get a little on the sides.
4. Beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer until it is nice and smooth.

5. Add eggs and mix some more!

6. Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend smooth, but do not overmix.
7. Pour the custard into the caramelized mold, cover with foil, and sit in the bain-Maire.
8. Place in the oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until done and knife comes out clean.
9. Let the flan cool down to the touch and place in refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight.
10. Then run a knife through the edge, flip over, and serve cold!

AND YOU SHOULD HAVE DELICIOUS FLAN!

Mrs. Field's Cookies

I was SO excited to make these cookies, because. . . well I always burn cookies. And this time I SWORE to myself that I would not burn them no matter what! Don't mean to toot my own horn, but THEY CAME OUT AWESOME!

I was so proud of myself, mostly because I didn't burn them. I got my recipe from this awesome blog lady, Ms. Abby.

Twist Me Pretty: Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, check her out!