Baked General Tso Chicken and November Shenanigans!

Ok people, I know.... I haven't been the best blogger lately, but my little business has kept me so stinkin busy! 

Oh, I'm NOT complaining by the way!  

I have been knee deep in poly-mailers, wrapping paper, and glitter... it has been fun and business is good! I am proud to say that I am always ahead of schedule and that my husband, Mr.Hooah, has actually taken on "post office runs" for me and has been helping me.. 

Just another step towards making my dreams come true and opening my little legit business and merging the one I already have going on now!

Moving on.....

I want to take a moment to say that I am a spicer..I think maybe I have mentioned it before, but just in case you missed it..I SPICE EVERYTHING. I'm all about cooking, and not to brag (ok, yeah, I'm bragging lol) but I am a great cook! 

Cooking is super important to me...

I think that dinner is most important because that's the time that family can sit together.. Eating good food while having good conversation, it is a time for connecting with your loved ones!
Now back to my spicing habit....I am the only one in my family besides my Aunt Nean that spices. I love salt. I salt everything most of the time lol. However, I swapped from regular salt to sea salt a few years ago and absolutely love it. Trying to be healthier=cutting back on all the sodium.

Which has now been made a WHOLE LOT EASIER with my recent discovery of Flavor God seasonings!
 
 My life has been changed forever people!

 Their seasonings are amazing and ground fresh daily! So there's no sitting around on shelves/being old, etc...

 And the sodium percentages ranges from around 1-2%! 

SCOOOOORE! 

If you haven't ventured over to their website at www.flavorgod.com and bought your own to try, you definitely MUST because you're missing out people! 

I have been so lazy lately with being sick, I guess I honestly had no choice but since I am feeling like I'm a human being again, I'm ready to get myself back on track! By the way, my test results came back and everything looked fine, so babies are in our future...somewhere... and though my red blood count has finally started coming back up, I will still be on a higher dosage of iron until it is where it should be. Thank god I didn't have to any transfusions or anything major, I would've freaked because everyone knows my fear of needles! Lol. Well, honestly, I had a great nurse who made all my needle sticks painless. I am blessed for sure and thanks so much for all the kind words, thoughts, and most importantly prayers! We have recently signed up with a new gym membership and I couldn't be more excited! I have been seriously getting my fitness on EVERY DAY except for Sunday, which is my rest day, and I feel amazing! I am actually going to start running again so I can travel around and do some runs with one of my friends, he has turned into quite the 5k'er! So, say a prayer for me for my run tomorrow morning lol. 

Also, I have been crafting and working on my office. It is coming along, slowly but surely! I am super into glittering and making all things sparkly at the moment lol. I know Mr.Hooah will be so happy when I move all my craft stuff upstairs so he doesn't ever have to see another drop of glitter ever again LOL! And I am SO excited about holiday packaging! I have SOOO much cute wrapping paper for packaging etc! I'm tempted to wrap the items I have going out this week with all the Christmasy-Goodness I have going on over here! Hahaha.

Ok, now for the good part of my post lol... FOOD!
I don't know about you but when you're dieting or trying to get healthy, IT IS HARD resisting temptation sometimes and not indulging yourself in a cheat meal or what you're craving can lead to falling off the wagon. Especially with holidays right around the corner! I have a love for Asian cuisine, which is to be expected, I guess, since I am half Asian myself! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE General Tso's Chicken! It is one of my favorite new dishes to make at home to cut out all the fried-calories and carbs from take-out since it is BAKED and doesn't involve a crazy sweet sugary calorie-filled sauce! I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, my post was a little long winded this go round, but I just wanted to fill my friends and family in on what I have been up to with all of my November shenanigans lol.

-Enjoy! XOXO

Baked General Tso's Chicken
1lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 2in. bites

1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 c. cornflakes crushed 

(I use my food-processor for the cornflakes and add in some Garlic Lover's Flavor God Seasoning!) 

 The sauce:
3/4 c. chicken broth
1/2 TBSP tomato paste

 (Sometimes I don't have tomato paste so I use 1 TBSP ketchup!)
2 TBSP low-sodium soy sauce
1 TBSP Hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce

3 TBSP rice vinegar
1 1/2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP cornstarch mixed with 2 TBSP water
Toss in at the end (optional):
Sprinkle of sesame oil
Dried Chili Flakes
Sesame seeds

Fresh or Dried Chives 

• Preheat oven to 450'...
• Cover a pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
• Take 3 bowls and set up in an line...first with flour, second with eggs, and last with cornflakes. Coat chicken with flour, then egg, then cornflakes--pressing to coat evenly. Place on pan.
• Meanwhile, put all ingredients (except for starch mix) for sauce in a small pan and bring to a gentle boil. Give starch mix a quick stir & add it in slowly to sauce.
• Pour chicken into a large bowl then pour sauce over & toss chicken to coat. If you are going to add anything else in such as the sesame seeds etc, now is the time. 

Serve immediately over rice!

A late Halloween post!

I am a little late posting this, but I have a good excuse, my Brownies (the besties) were in town for the long weekend and I was super busy running amuck with them! I am so blessed that they were able to come up and spend some time with us! 

I am also late getting photos of (and posting) our pups Halloween costumes! Tonka was a Green Crayon and Kizzie was a Banana...
And might I just say that they were the cutest little green crayon and banana that I ever did see!?! 
SO STINKIN CUTE!

Of course, they hated their life after I put those hats on them, so taking pics was a short & sweet process lol.

See... told you!

I have to say that for such a limited time, we fit everything there was to do into the time we had and made the best of it! I just wish they could've stayed a little longer! And the best part, my Brownie and I made a Halloween Box for one another! The goodies were amazing and it definitely took me back to my days of all the care package boxes I used to decorate for deployments! 

How cool did these turn out?!

I got a little carried away with hers lol!

And she made mine adorbs too! 

We got to eat some amazing Mexican food at our fav little spot..
And of course, Blue Margaritas were a MUST! 

Then we headed out to a haunted trail, which was AWESOME! 

If you're in the area and have never experienced the Stoney Point Trail of Terror, you're missing out! 

It is a definite MUST and was actually a lot of fun and worth the money for sure!
 And our monster photo-bomber was a bonus! Lol!

We hosted a little Halloween costume party and there was a pretty interesting mix of those who actually participated lol. 
We had a SNL Spartan Cheerleader, and some Pink Ladies...

A playboy bunny...

Jack Skellington and his owl! 

And even Mario & Luigi showed up lol! 

It was definitely a good time with good friends! 

Blessings? Yes Please!

I have been sitting here, staring at this blank screen for at least an hour... 

...sipping on my coffee... 

Coffee that I haven't had in a couple of weeks. 

(Lord bless my hubbies heart!)

Those of you who know me personally, know that coffee is a MUST for me to get me going in the AMs. I can thank my Granma for that. I have been weirdly busy these past few weeks. School, my business, and all the doctors appointments. I have been drained, pretty much to the point of exhaustion. Which led me to all my doctor appointments in the first place, to figure out what in the world is going on with me. Saying it has been an emotional roller-coaster would be putting it lightly!

And with all of that happening, I almost forgot to throw my husbands new orders into it the mix! 

With that being said though, I am happy to announce that we will be staying in Fayettenam for a little while longer...

We are finally at ease about not moving from our house we bought shy of three years ago and have since then made into our beautiful home.

 So, three more years Fayetteville, three more years! 

With recent downfall of my health, I decided it was finally time for answers, that I was tired of feeling the way I had for the past three months or so. I must say that we're praying it isn't anything serious, hopefully a minor fix. I never really open up about things such as this but so many of you guys and even some of my customers were writing me on FB, calling, or texting to check-in on me... 

Thank you all for doing so, it means more than you could ever know! 

After two rounds of testing, being poked and stuck, now all that is left is the sit around and wait game. In the mean time, after some med switch ups, I am feeling a little more back to my norm. 

Sweet sweet Mr.Hooah stepped up and was a soldier by day and a house husband by night. Cooking, cleaning, helping me in any way he could. Guys, if that isn't true love, I honestly don't know what is! To have someone strong enough to hold me together, hold himself together and to help face whatever is coming our way, TOGETHER, is just an unspeakable feeling of gratefulness and I cannot say how blessed I am to have lucked up and married this man.

With Mr.Hooahs upcoming insane hours and stress from these health issues, we decided that it would be an amazing idea to keep me busy by turning one of the guest rooms upstairs into an office for my business! I am already using a smaller room for packing/shipping/inventory but I will be expanding and adding to the business I am currently in so I need more space ASAP! I do not actually have an official launch date yet due to the fact I want to have everything 110% finished before I merge and launch, which will be a while until everything is done, but I am excited to see how everything will turn out and how much this will better our future. It is so funny how things work out and what blessings take place when you least expect them to...when one door closes, another one always opens bringing you better opportunities! I have learned that forgiving and letting go is the best thing one can do... I have learned so much about people and about myself in the past few months! At one point I honestly had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life, what passion really drove me, but with recent discoveries I have found myself..found that drive.. and I know with certainty finally that this is what I want to do! 

After working for and with a few bad apples here and there, the chance to be my own boss and make my own hours, is such a blessing! It not only gives me the freedom and availability to travel around, it also gives me the ability to make time to spend with Mr.Hooah no matter what kind of funky schedule he may have! And to travel to collaborate with other wonderful supportive business owners is going to be an amazing experience also! 

This is my dream! 

And with a little hard work and faith, blessings will come in abundancey to those who don't give up! 

-So many X's and O's loves!