It's been a fairly quiet week here at the Schnolls.  We're anxiously awaiting some snow here in Tahoe. Unfortunately the last snow we received was the day we flew to Minneapolis which was at the very beginning of December. While the warm, 50 degree sunny weather every day has been nice, it's supposed to be the middle of winter with lots of white fluffy snow everywhere!  So since we can't spend all of our free time skiing fresh snow, I've found a few other items to keep me busy this week.

I finally put together our wedding photo album from Mexico - yay! Gotta love Mixbook!

Discovered the show Scandal on Netflix and now I'm obsessed. Officially binge watching the series!

Dave and I also were turned on to the series Big Love, definitely an odd show but we're liking it!

I've also been cooking some new and old favorite recipes this week too! Everything from Sesame Noodles, Tortellini with mushrooms/spinach/sundried tomatoes, etc, Red Curry with chicken, and Grilled Chicken with Quinoa. I'll share some of these delicious recipes soon! :)  And on that note, I'm still not sure what to cook for dinner tonight! Any suggestions?

A Relaxing Weekend and Homemade Gourmet Hot Pockets

This weekend was a nice and relaxing way to kick off the new year. On Friday we headed out to dinner in Incline Village with Dave's mom, sister, and her boyfriend. One of our favorite restaurants, Bite is located in Incline and it's always a good time when we have an excuse to go there for dinner. It's an American tapas restaurant that is very innovative with fun twists on classic dishes. Some of my favorites include the Ahi Sliders, Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs, Pan Seared Sea Scallops, and the Prawn Wontons... it's just all so tasty!

Not a bad view from Heavenly!

We also had some of our ski lease friends up this weekend, so on Saturday we had a fantastic day hanging with them. We hit the slopes at Heavenly for a few hours, and then had a delicious lunch of homemade gourmet hot pockets, jumped in the hot tub, napped, watched Rush, and cooked some amazing spicy burgers for dinner and enjoyed time with some awesome friends. Definitely a great weekend to kick off the new year.

Now on to these delicious hot pockets! These are so much better than the frozen kind you find at the store, and the best part is you can customize them to fit your taste buds! You can also make them as large or small as you want, which makes it great for satisfying your whole family. We've already made these 3 times in the past week!

Gourmet Hot Pockets (serves 2 adults)
You'll need:
- 1 package crescent rolls (each additional package makes 2 large hot pockets).
- Mesquite Turkey deli meat
- Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Pesto
- Sun-dried Tomatoes
- Garlic Salt
- Paprika
- Parmesan Cheese

You can change up any of the filling ingredients to fit your preferences. Dave likes to make his with hot habanero cheese, turkey, and mushrooms!

1) Preheat the oven to Bake at 375 degrees F.

2) Open up the package of crescent rolls. They come perforated to make 8 dinner rolls. You'll want to separate the sheet into quarters, consisting of 2 rolls. Using your fingers, gently smooth the perforation out and blend the dough together.

3) Add in the filling! Start with a thin layer of pesto, and make sure to leave room around all of the edges to seal it. Next, add your cheese, then turkey, and top with some sun-dried tomatoes!

4) Take another quarter that has the perforation smoothed out, and place over the top of the filling. Then starting folding the bottom dough up and over the top piece around all of the sides, using your fingers to help smooth out the dough. You want to avoid any holes and gaps so that the goodies don't leak out while baking.

5) Sprinkle a bit of paprika, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese on top.

6) Place on a non-stick cookie sheet, and bake for approx. 12 to 15mins. Keep an eye on it as it is baking. You want it to turn a nice golden brown.

7) Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions

Since it's a new year, it's time for some New Year's Resolutions!  This year I've decided to try and stick to the following items:

1) Stop watching reality TV. This will be a tough one.  I am a sucker for reality TV from the Real Housewives, to The Bachelor, even Dance Moms!  You name it and I'll pretty much watch it. It's my guilty pleasure. But, it's about time I gave it up since it's just mindless junk.

2) Cook 1 new recipe per week.  It can be easy to get in a bit of a slump and cook the same thing week after week. We cook dinner about 5-6 times per week, but usually rotate through the same handful of recipes. This resolution will also help improve my cooking skills!

Making a pumpkin pie from scratch at Thanksgiving!

3) Continue working out at least once per week. Last year I got into an excellent fitness routine and was working out a minimum of once a week, but closer to 3x per week. I even ran in my first 12k race! I want to make sure that routine continues through this year too.

12k at Burton Creek!

**Updated 1/3/14**
I forgot to add another very important resolution!

4) Spend less time on my phone. I want to spend less time sucked in to mindless browsing on my iPhone. I find myself spending way to much time each day reading, and re-reading the news and checking social networks every few minutes to see what's new. I want to make my time more purposeful. There are too many good things in life to continuously be sucked in to my phone.

What are some of your resolutions for 2014?