Garden Rocks

For our last monthly craft night I found this idea.  My husband loves to garden and so we have a small garden that is always taken care of and produces such yummy fresh veggies.  I dont do anything with the garden- it is my husbands baby.  So I always forget what is planted where.  The kid and I made these rocks that we placed at the end of each row.  (Onions, Radish, Cucumber, tomatoes, squash and lettuce)

http://www.pixbnb.com/images/4274.html

Classic Macorni Salad

I though this pasta salad looked refreshing.  It was OK.  Honestly, it was just a little boring.  I added cheese and lime juice but it was still boring.  I need to try something exciting now.

http://www.hellmanns.com/recipes/detail/2211/1/classic-macaroni-salad

Hot Corn Dip

We love dips.  This one was different than others we have ever had.  It had a little kick to it which we like.  Pretty good!!

http://ginamarieskitchen.com/2010/10/28/hot-corn-dip-2/

Dinner Rolls

I have been married awhile....and I have only made homeade dinner rolls ONE time!  And they didnt turn out all that good.  Well, they didnt turn out like my mom makes them.
I found this recipe on pinterest and gave them a try.  So easy and so delicious.  There is no store bought roll that can hold up to a homeade one.  Now that I know these are easy and so good I will not be afraid to make them more often!

http://www.howdoesshe.com/delicious-dinner-rolls

Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

CURRY.

I * am * a * fan!!  I have had indian food once.  So I've only had curry once.  But I love it.  It is so different than any other flavor.  Honestly, change is good with my menu.  Most everything I make seems to have the same type of flavor.  But this curry was so different.  Another hit with my family as well. Yum Yum Yum.  Now I need to experiment more with this flavor.

*This didnt make all that much sauce.  I will double it next time so we can have more leftovers over all the left over rice!

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/basil-chicken-in-coconut-curry-sauce.html

Daughters for a time

I love to read but I have not had ANY time lately to pick up a book.  Last week the kid had a 3 hour dance dress rehersal that I got to sit through.  So I looked through my kindle and tried to find what looked like a good book to read.  I found one with 5 stars and gave it a try.

This book did had some "pull at your heartstring" parts but I really enjoyed it. It was a quick and easy read.  I loved that I could connect with the main character, Helen, in ways that I can't with other characters.

She had awful things happen in her life that I did not experience, such as her mother dying when Helen was only 14 and having her father walk out on their family.

However, there were things that I understood.  Helen struggled with infertility for 4 years and suffered a miscarraige. I know first hand the pain and heartache that comes with both of these experiences.  I could relate to her as she stuggled to gain one of the greatest desires of her heart- bringing a baby into the world. 

 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/daughters-for-a-time-jennifer-handford/1108624667

Sweet Chicken nuggets

The recipe said these nuggets will tast like Chick fil-a nuggets.  They did not taste anything like Chick Fil-a.  However... They were still yummy.  The husband liked them and the kid L*O*V*E*D them.  And to me, that equals a success.  I've never seen her eat so much :)

http://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/2011/03/fabulous-food-friday-79.html

Kid fun

This weekend the kid asked me to get on pinterest to find some crafts.  I think it is silly that she even knows about that. She pays attention.  Here are 3 things that we did.

1.  We cut out these fun questions and put them in 2 jars.  We each took turns drawing a question from the jar and answering it.

http://declutteryourhomes.blogspot.com/2011/03/conversation-pieces.html

2.  All of us went on a scavanger hunt walk around the neighborhood.

http://pinterest.com/pin/18295942206143827/

 

3.  Painted our nails crazy.  Did not turn out like this picture but it was fun.

http://weheartit.com/entry/8983059

Summer Time Fun

We are so so so so excited for summer.  3 weeks of school left!!!  When the kid is home from school she gets bored....and fast.  It's hard for me to come up with ideas everyday to entertain her.  So check these out.  This is going to be so much fun.  She wants to start them today.

1 jar is "oh the places we'll go"
1 jar is "oh the things we'll do"
1 jar is "oh the things we'll eat"

She will choose a paper from each jar once a week so we will get to do all 3 things every week.

http://thecraftingchicks.com/2011/05/summer-activity-jars-and-grab-bags.html

Some ideas in the jar are:

Homeade ice cream
Muddy buddies
Fondue
Picnic
Feed the ducks
Swimming
Movie
Treasure hunt
Dress ups
Bike ride

Baby shower!

One of my best friends is having a baby girl; her first!  As soon as she got married I knew I wanted to throw her a baby shower- whenever that happened to be.
It was an open house and the only theme I did was with the colors- pink and brown.
We had fruit/yogurt parfaits and cookies and a yummy punch.

Invitations I found on pinterest- the names and dates were changed but it looked exactly like this

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84092042/baby-girl-shower-invitation-pink-words?ref=sr_gallery_4&ga_search_submit=&ga_ref=auto&ga_search_query=baby+girl+shower&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade


Punch is so easy and it's my favorite drink to make for showers/parties:
white grape juice, fresca and Sonic ice.  Easy Peasy.
Just a few pictures (after I had the table complety set up and ready to go, guests started arriving and I did not get a picture of the final table.

3 cheese chicken "alfredo" bake

I am infamous for putting in wrong ingredients when I cook (or miss the ingredients completely)

One time (which my brothers will NEVER let me live down) was when I made beef strogonaff for them.  It calls for 1 cup of sour cream.  I was thinking of something white and I put in 1 cup of crisco.  It was a big pile of greasy grease.  And there are other stories.

This recipe was really good.  As we were eating I thought "this is not very creamy at all?"  Then after we were finished I saw the jar of alfedo sauce that was supposed to be added.  Still sealed and in the pantry.  So, with the alfredo it would only make it better I have a feeling.  It was still good without because it was so cheesy!

http://www.plainchicken.com/2010/11/three-cheese-chicken-alfredo-bake.html

Man Pleasing Chicken

I think my man was pleased :)  We love grilling so we put this on the grill instead of the oven to bake. 
Side of rice and baked asparagus.  Made me feel so healthy. 

http://www.wittyinthecity.com/2011/08/man-pleasing-chicken/

good vs bad of pinterest

I have a 2-in-1 post.  A good and a bad that I found on pinterest.

The good:
I love canvas.  I have done a few things with canvas and there is so much more you can do.  I made these for the kids room in her colors.  I think they turned out great.

http://mylifeandkids.com/2011/08/scrapbook-paper-flowers/

Then the bad:
These things:

http://juicy-bits.typepad.com/juicy_bits/2011/02/173-unicorns-and-rainbows-party-part-1-the-details.html

DO NOT WORK!!  At our most recent craft night both my sister in law and I tried to make these.  Hers where small, mine were big.  Neither worked.  It was a huge sticky gluey mess.  Just so you know :)

Southwestern eggrolls with avacado dipping sauce

I have been wanting to make these for a long time.  My husband was a little nervous about these being baked and not fried, but he loved them!  I loved them.  My brother that had dinner with us loved them.  Everyone loved them except the kid, but she hates everything.  The recipe once again makes a ton.  I halfed the eggrolls and we still had left overs.  And the sauce made a ton!!  Since the sauce is a bit fattening we didnt eat all that much and threw away a lot.  I made this for a main dish with a side of rice.  Next time we need appetizers I am definately making these eggrolls.

http://www.chef-in-training.com/2011/12/southwestern-egg-rolls-with-avocado.html

Cordon Blue Pasts aka Firehouse!

This recipe tasted just like the pasta at Firehouse.  My husband gets this everytime we eat out here.
It was rich and cheesy and an A+!

http://amysnewkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/chicken-cordon-bleu-pasta.html

The Justice Game

This book reminds me of the John Grisham books I used to read.  I find this type interesting.  One unique thing about this book is that the author let the public choose the verdict.
"Before Singer finished writing The Justice Game a four minute interactive promotional video was created that presented the closing arguments of his fictional case. Then readers were asked to cast their vote on the verdict, and that would become the ending of the book. Their decision would be final." 

http://www.amazon.com/Justice-Game-Randy-Singer/dp/1414316348#_

The Vow

My mom and I have a date to the movie "The Vow"  Before we go to see the movie we wanted to read the book so we both downloaded it onto our kindles.  I read this book in 2 days.  It was a good book but an even more amazing story.  So many people give up so easily.  Whether in their marriage, or job, or whatever trial they may be facing.  These two people had to deal with tragedy in a way I can't imagine.  They never gave up on each other or their faith. Now I am even more excited to see the movie.

http://www.amazon.com/Vow-Kim-Krickitt-Carpenter-Story/dp/0805421300

Baked Potatoe Soup

'Tis the season for soup and I am really enjoying it.  This recipe is for the crock pot.  However, we have a super awesome pressure cooker that will cook the same thing in about 10 minutes.  So we tried this soup in our pressure cooker.  It turned out great.  We also added some corn... corn chowder is my favorite.  Other than the corn the soup really did taste like a baked potatoe!

http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/search/label/Soups

French Onion Soup

There is a nice restaurant that we sometimes go to.  They have the best french onion soup.  This recipe tasted just like the restaurants.  It was yummy.  Other than our house smelling like onions and our eyes stinging for a few hours, this soup turned out really well.

http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/search/label/Soups

Mama and Me

I love this!!  The kid loves to read and to write.  So this has been so much fun.  This is just a simple way to write small notes and letters back and forth.  Nobody actually sits and writes to each other these days.  It's either all by text or email.  It is nice to have a good note hand written on paper to read.
I know in 20 years we will pull this out and have a really good laugh. 

http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/2010/11/mama-me-journal.html

Country Club Chicken

YUM.  THE. END. 

http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/country-club-chicken

February Eval

My goals for February were "start food storage" and "scrapbook 20 pages"
Ok, the scrapbooking.  I used to be so good at keeing up.  I was caught up for years and years.  But now I am almost 2 years behind.  I just have not been able to get back into it (even though it is one of my favorite things to do.)  I just DONT HAVE TIME!!  So with a few days left of the months I whipped out a ton of pages- exactly 20.  Hopefully doing some scrapbooking will get me back into enjoying it.  But I'll be honest, it is so hard to find the time.  I need another goal that I will do a few pages a month.

And....the food storage.  This is something I have NEVER done.  I mentioned it before, it is so intimidating to me.  Where to start?  How to do it?  Instead of focusing on having a 1 year supply, I shrunk that down to a 1 month supply of food and 3 day supply of water.  Only 3 days for water because that is still a lot of water.  Once I got over that first initial question "How the heck do I do this?" it became so much easier.  When I filled up the first 2 pop bottle with water, I felt so good.  It felt great to know that if worse comes to worst, my kids will have clean water to drink.  And that is why I am doing this.

Before and after pictures of my storage shelves.  Ok, I told you I was awful at this.  The before shelves are so bare.  The afters are not much better, but it's a start and that was my goal.

This website is awsome!  I filled out the excel sheet (under 10 baby steps) to figure out what food to buy for storage and it helped me out so much.
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

January Eval

At the beginning of the year I made 1 or 2 goals for each month.  My one and only goal for January was to read the Book of Mormon every single day.  And I did it.  I know how important it is to read from this book daily but for some reason it is hard.  This was a very important goal for me because it got me into the habit of daily reading.  It has allowed me to remember just why this book should be a part of my life.  My days go more smoothly, I am happier and it is a reminder that I have a loving Heavenly Father and that my Savior lives.


If you do not know what the Book of Mormon is:  Click on this link:
 http://mormon.org/book-of-mormon/

The rest of the Hunger Games

As I said before I was ONLY going to read book 1 again.  But as soon as I finished 1, I picked up 2 and 3 and read them both again.  This series is awesome.  I actually enjoyed them more the second time.  I was not racing through to figure out the ending.  I was more attached to the characters this time.  After the 3rd book, Mockinjay, I was actually sad for the characters.  I did not get that involved the first time.  These books are a must read!

Minnie the Mouse

I threw the kid her first friend birthday party.  It was So.Much.Fun!!!  I did a Minnie Mouse theme.  From the invitations to the treats to the games.  This is why I LOVE pinterest so much.  They had so many cute minnie ideas.  The party was a complete success!  You know how I know?  Because the kid was so happy!

Bathroom

My very least favorite, ok- hate is a better word- chore to do is clean the bathroom.  To make it worse, our shower has little rivets/grooves all over the floor that all the gross residue nestles into.  I have kneeled on my knees and scrubbed until my arms hurt, but I cannot get the shower floor all the way clean.  My husband actually found this idea and he went ahead and tried it.  He sprayed the shower walls down, left it for an hour and then rinsed it off.  He did not scrub.  Voila, the walls were sparking clean.  He did not even put any of this on the floor, but as the walls were rinsed off and this went down the drain, it cleaned the floor on its way. Cleaner than I can get by scrubbing my brains out.  I will be using this once a month for a good shower cleaning!

http://lifecraftsandwhatever.blogspot.com/2012/01/dawn-vinegar-soap-scum-killa.html

Minnie the Mouse

The kid had her first ever birthday party.  We did a Minnie Mouse theme. This is why I LOVE pinterest.  So many ideas came from there.

Balsamic Basil Mayo on Caprese Grilled Cheese

A big fancy name for a super easy meal.  This is definately a busy day dinner. 

Our favorite thing to eat in the summer are what we call "good tomatoes."  Sliced fresh garden tomatoes, topped with mozerella cheese, balsamic vinegar, basil and italian dressing.  Broil until cheese is melted and golden brown.  We will eat just like this, or broil on top of thick french bread.  This recipe is just like these good tomotoes, just grilled.  So of course it was yummy to us.

http://www.sweettreatsmore.com/2012/01/caprese-grilled.html

Cordon Bleu

Since I have started to cook more new recipes I have found myself becoming a little more easy going about it, and I have learned to improvise.  We still had a tiny bit of ham left over from our Sunday dinner so I threw this recipe together; Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Blue.  I didnt have swiss cheese on hand, so I used mozerella cheese that we did have.  Since we only had a little bit of ham, the servings were small.  So I cooked up some rice to pour this over, and it turned into a hearty meal. It all worked out well.

http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-chicken-cordon-bleu.html

The hunger games

I read the Hunger Games series last year.  Since the movie is coming out next month (YESSSS!)  I decided to re-read only the 1st book for a refresher.  Well, I finished the 1st book and I got sucked right back in. I just picked up 2 and 3 to read again. I can't wait to read the next two and I am so excited for the movie!

http://www.thehungergames.co.uk/

Pizzie PIe

I made homeade pizza last night.  I made 1/2 the pizza; pepporoni, pepper, ham and olives for my husband, and the other 1/2 shredded ham and pineapple for me and the kid.  (we had a huge ham for Sunday dinner so I used that left over meat) Ended up pretty dang good.

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/10/homemade-pan-pizza-crust-pizza-night.html

Kitchen

A pinterest idea that was easy, fast and cheap to make. 

Here are mine in my kitchen colors:

Food storage

One of my goals I set for February was to start food storage.  We have been told over and over to have a good supply of food and water in case of an emergency, but the idea of food storage completely overwhelms me.  That is why I made it a goal, so that I would have to figure it out. 
So, I started looking around the internet to know where to start.  I found the below link that has a lot of good ideas on how to start a food storage as well as other items needed in an emergency. 
So the first thing you need is water.  And lots of it.  1 gallon per person per day.  I though that was crazy to have a whole gallon a day, but what I was not taking into account was that you need water for more than just drinking.  You need it for cooking and cleaning.  Ok, so 1 gallon per person per day for 2 weeks....when you put that into 2 liter pop bottles to store, that is 112 bottles for our family!!!  That is still so overwhemling to me.  So, I decided my first goal is to have a 3 day reserve of water.  That is still 24- 2 liter pop bottles, but much for realistic to me.  We usually have pop around the house, so I will fill one up everytime we finish a bottle.  It's a start.  And if I can start, maybe I can finish.  My next goal is a 2 week supply of food and water....then the next goal is a 3 month supply....and we'll see after that.

But for now, lets start at a 3 day supply.

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/getting-started/

S'mores in the winter

One of our favorite summertime enjoyments is roasting marshmallows over Grandma's fire pit and making a big, choclatey, gooey, messy s'more.  Oh....I miss summer.  Anyway, these little treats were easy to make and taste like real s'mores.  This recipe has you make them in a mini-muffin tin, which I dont have.  So i doubled the batch and made them in a regular 12 spot muffin tin.
(don't use as much butter as the recipe calls for.)

http://texascottage.blogspot.com/2011/08/smore-cups.html