This is how you do it!

Today was a particularly good day!  I closed on the sale of a house I had listed for some of the sweetest sellers a realtor could hope for.  I went for a run in 19 degrees on a snowy path to maintain my streak.  And I took leftovers for lunch that smelled so good to my coworkers came out of their offices and asked me what it was.

HOME

First week of the year and I closed a sale!  Not a bad way to start things off!  Not to overstate it - it was the third escrow on the same house.  But a lovely family just purchased themselves a really lovely home and my terrific sellers get to move on to their newly built home to start a new job.  Very exciting!  It is really the a perfect example of why I got into real estate - dreams coming true left and right!

RUN

Day 1153 of my running streak.  Yesterday I did my run at the Sparks Marina Park because they are super-diligent about keeping the walkways clear and we got 3-5 inches of snow )depending on the location).  Today I worked until after 4 and then planned to help a dear friend move sandbags to his house because of the flooding that is expected in the next few days.  That left a small window of time to go for a run.  So I squeezed in my 1.1 mile route around my neighborhood.  Cold and crisp but oh so beautiful.  The snow on the path was like running in loose sand except where it was a sheet of ice.  A treadmill would have been easier - but THIS is how you keep a streak going when your treadmill dies!

RECIPES

My sister shared this recipe for Mexican Lasagna with me recently. "You probably already have all the ingredients!"  She was almost right - I did have to buy a green pepper.  Sheila got this from her sister-in-law Diana so we have renamed it Diana's Mexican Casserole because Todd objected to the use of "lasagna" when it doesn't call for lasagna noodles.  It is so easy and delicious and is one of those meals that actually tastes better as leftovers!

Diana's Mexican Casserole

½ to 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1 green bell pepper, chopped coarsely (we’ve used red and yellow)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp chili powder (or to taste)

Dash cayenne pepper (optional)

1 c. whole kernel corn

One 16 oz. can pinto or kidney beans, drained (we’ve used black and it turns out great)

1 c. tomato sauce

Six 7 inch corn tortillas

1 c. low-fat cottage cheese

½ to 1 c. cheddar cheese (we use the shredded Mexican)

Saute bell pepper, onion, garlic until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the spices and saute 1 minute more.

Remove from heat. Mix in corn, beans and up to 1 cup tomato sauce.

Place tortillas in a 2 quart casserole dish, arranging to cover the bottom of dish. Spoon ½ the 

corn/bean mixture and spread ½ c. cottage cheese on top. Sprinkle with ½ the shredded

cheese. Repeat layers. Microwave uncovered on high until heated through, 10 – 15 min. (I microwave for half the time and then bake/crisp the cheese.)

My notes:  This is so easily adapted to what you like or what you have on hand.  We added olives and diced tomatoes because we had them in the fridge. We used more corn and beans than the recipe called for and cut 4 additional tortillas into strips and added them in between the other layers and sprinkled about a tablespoon of dried cilantro on top of the second layer of cottage cheese.

Try it and let me know what you think!