Spring on my front door!

Door mat and patio plants coming soon! 

Good evening! Sorry for the major lack of posts this week, after last weekend's insanity I decided a little bit of a break was necessary, plus, I couldn't think well enough to come up with anything to post!

That, and the fact that I had a birthday, and discovered over the weekend, that that one little extra year made a big difference in my endurance level! An hour of strawberry picking and I'm still hobbling 2 days later! Doesn't help any that the 24 year old I picked with stopped being sore by the end of that day! Yep, age is kicking in!

Also, because of the birthday and the jam, my menu last week changed, so I'm rolling some things over.  Thursday became Tex-Mex takeout from my favorite place, BerryHill, and Sunday became breakfast with biscuits and jam being the focal food!

So, to start off this week on my standard food related note, here's this week's menu!

Monday- Grilled Turkey Club Sandwiches

Tuesday- Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Wednesday- Leftovers

Thursday- Burgers, Chips and Fruit Salad

Friday - Pasta of some form

Saturday- Homemade Pizza

It's a pretty low key menu this week, simple, staple recipes I know by heart and usually have all the ingredients on hand for.  I'm in a lazy mood of catching up this week if you can't tell.

Menu Monday

So I can get away with doing this a day late, because yesterday we went out with my parents, so tonight was leftovers night, thank goodness, because today was a MONDAY!!

Tuesday- Hawaiian Chicken over Jasmine Rice with Steamed Broccoli
Chicken Breasts, Honey BBQ Sauce and Canned Pineapple, left all day in the crockpot - AMAZING!!  So simple and tastes great, even reheated, or shredded and used with a BBQ Sauce base and cheddar blend cheese on a non-traditional pizza!

Wednesday- Spaghetti and Meatsauce

Thursday - Baked Ziti
(I'll do a big batch of sauce on Wednesday and re-use it for the Ziti

Friday - Couples Date Night for our LifeGroup
I'm making Fruit Pizza and Chocolate Fondue for dessert

Saturday - Homemade Chicken Strips and Fries (basically my husband's favorite food ever!)

Sunday - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Off to bed! Praying tomorrow is a typical boring mid-week Tuesday!

ENJOY!

If people wonder why I'm inhaling coffee.....

Here's why!

Friday-

• Got up at 6:00, made my husband breakfast for work
• Bleached the bathroom
• Went to work for 4 hours
• Ran 3 errands
• Shot Maternity Photos in Old Town Spring
• Ran 2 more errands
• Cooked dinner
• Baked cupcakes
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Edited Maternity Shoot
• Watched 2 basketball games and a movie with my husband

Saturday-

• Worked 9-2 at job number 2
• Ran to the bank, mall, Target, Michaels and Costco.
• Shot Baby Photos in a park
• Washed, dried and put away 4 loads of laundry and 1 load of dry cleaning
• Cooked dinner
• Edited Baby Photos
• Cleaned out the fridge
• Baked Banana Bread and Blueberry Muffins for our Lifegroup
• Washed 3 sink loads of dishes
• Scrubbed kitchen counters

Sunday-

• Church and Lifegroup
• Lunch downtown at California Pizza Kitchen with my parents
• Finished editing both photoshoots
• Worked at church for 2 hours spray painting props for the children's musical
• Came home and used an entire jar of sugar scrub to remove the "Smurf" look :)
• Went grocery shopping
• Cooked dinner
• Crashed on the couch in front of the laptop and Pinterest all night!

I'm just a little tired and sore today! Good thing I love my Mondays! Get to work straight up until choir rehearsal and then enjoy all the beautiful music the choir and orchestra make.  Love my Monday nights!

Menu Monday post coming tonight when I get home and double check the meat cuts in my freezer. :)

That will be post 175, 25 posts til my GIVEAWAY!

Project 1 and Photoshoot 1 Done!

Cupcakes worked! Though I didn't have the nerve to put as much food coloring in as the example on Pinterest, so they're pastel girly basketballs, but they're definitely basketballs.  And now, they're my consolation prize for a done and over with bracket. I mean two 15's beating two 2's???? It hasn't happened period in 11 year and it happens twice in one day??!!

Also, photoshoot was awesome! The weather was gorgeous, the mom was excited and into it and we had a ton of fun.  Just a few sneak peaks while I work on editing them.

Headed to my second (or third or fourth job priority wise) then another amazing photo shoot with an incredible new family to do their adoption announcement photoshoot! So excited to be able to be involved in this stage of their life!

So yeah......

My productivity this week hasn't been what it should have been.

Tuesday I had lessons and Bible study as usual.
Wednesday I stayed at work an extra two hours to cover phones and such so someone else could take the day off with it being Spring Break, then ran home, got food, ran back, did kids choir.

Yesterday, my phone was going psycho with texts as I was walking into work because turns out, my grandpa was getting a 5 inch section of his large intestine removed.  I only found out from my mom about 10 minutes before I got an email from our church staff prayer/hospital visit coordinator with my grandpa's name on it. So, since the person who was supposed to do the visiting works in the same office I do, I ended up being the one to go, even though as administrative support staff I'm not supposed to do hospital runs.  Needless to say, that cut into my work day quite a bit.  It also cut into my evening of errand running since I didn't even get back to the office to head home until 4:30 instead of my usual, get off at 3:00.  So I got a late start, and only half my running done.

So, I'm off at 1:00 today, thank goodness! It's been quite the crazy week considering it was supposed to be a really easy week!

Maternity Photoshoot at 2:00, do a few errands on the way home, dump card to computer from photoshoot, cook dinner, clean kitchen, bathroom, and put away the 5 loads of laundry I've managed to do without putting away this week.  Work Saturday 9-2, bake the cupcakes I've been promising my husband all week, edit maternity photoshoot, prep for a family/baby shoot that will be happening somewhat spur of the moment sometime between now and Wednesday.  Sunday church, food for Lifegroup, possible photoshoot, workday at church for kids choir musical sets. Monday, start all over again!

Somewhere in there I will decorate for spring, change wreathes, doormats, do my hanging planters and buy patio chairs, organize our closet and change out to spring/summer scentsy scents.  I also need to color my hair, find/make curtains for our dining area and get a couple new cloths for photoshoots.

Oh, and watch a few basketball games this weekend! March is my favorite month, birthday month and March Madness!

When we started dating I agreed to learn about one of my husband's 8 sports he loves, and turned out, I learned to LOVE this one! I'm almost worse than him when it comes to yelling at players/coaches/refs.  I get so into it.  He thinks it's hilarious cause I can be baking cookies, or doing my nails, or have a fashion magazine in front of me and then suddenly I'm stopping my girl thing and complaining about someone's stupid attempt at an ugly 3, or ranting about their free throw percentage.  Yeah, I'm weird!  But, I love my basketball, and I will watch a game or two, and definitely all of Duke's games. They're my team.

Back to work now that my copies are done.  Hopefully I'll have photoshoot previews by the end of the weekend and before and after spring decoration pictures for you.

Giveaway in the Works!

So I recently realized that if I'm going to be blogging more, I'd like to justify it with more followers, so, I'm wondering, what would you like to read about more?

Food - baking, cooking, budgeting, planning?
Fashion/Beauty - tips, coupons?
Clothing - discount/sale tips, re-purposing?
Spiritual - notes from Devotionals/Bible studies, Worship music tips?
Marriage - date nights, books?

Comment with any ideas, I'm up for whatever.

The plan is post 200 (I'm at 171) or 20 followers (I'm at 12), whichever happens first, and I'll host another favorite things giveaway, filled with my everyday life must-haves.

Last time these were the prizes (posts found - HERE, HERE and HERE)
It's been another year, so, there have been lots of new things I've discovered and made favorites!

I'm getting excited!

Lots of photoshoots coming up soon!

Maternity pictures this weekend.
Family pictures later this month and next month.
Mini shoots in late April.
Bridal portraits in May.
A fantastic wedding in July.

And those are just the contracted shoots!

It's going to be a good Spring!

Now, if only it would feel like Spring, instead of July already!
80 and sunny and windy and humid all week, ALREADY!

Menu Monday

So I've got an easy week here!  For one thing, I haven't cooked yet this week, which is actually kind of sad, but I don't mind every once and awhile, especially on Spring Break Week when alot of my friends are on vacations, or at least off work. 

We ate out Saturday night, used a Groupon for our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant on Sunday, and had the leftovers from there tonight.  Not a bad start to Spring Break week if you ask me!

 

So, here's the rest of my week's plan.

Tuesday-

Crockpot Cooked Whole Chicken, Rice and Broccoli

Wednesday-

Chicken and Dressing, and Sugared Carrots

(Literally, Stove Top Stuffing in a casserole dish, a layer of cooked chicken, a can of Cream of Chicken Soup, baked 20 minutes)

Thursday-

MARCH MADNESS KICK-OFF

Buffalo Wild Wings Takeout, Homemade Pizza, Fruit Salad

Friday-

Chicken Fajitas, Fruit Salad

Saturday-

Tangy Beef, Jasmine Rice and Steamed Broccoli

(Was supposed to hit the menu a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to set it up early enough.  Just stew beef, Italian Dressing and Parmesan Cheese in a crockpot all day.)

I'm actually off a little bit this week,, or at least have a reduced after hours schedule with it being Spring Break, so I'm hoping to experiment with a few baking projects in the evenings.  

I also have a photoshoot on Friday, so hopefully I'll have a few previews to show off by the end of this weekend as well.

I am working Saturday, and it's a pay week, so I have a short list of DYI projects for around the apartment as well. 

Basically this should be a very productive week.  I'll make sure to take pictures so that I can share any successes with you soon.

Have a great week!

 

Baked Potato Soup

So, originally I'd planned to use THIS recipe to the letter, but then, I noticed that it called for 5 POUNDS of potatoes.  I don't know about your house, but the 2 people in mine would have needed 2 weeks to eat all of that! I mean I love potato soup and all, but that much of it, even I couldn't eat before it started growing it's own green fuzzy stuff :)

So, I adapted it.  And here's how I did it.  I'm kicking myself for forgetting to take pictures now, so next time, I make it, I'll totally post the pictures, but this came out too good not to share the recipe now.  Seriously, it was good, my husband had two bowls, and he's so not a soup man!

In a Crockpot cook - 

4 Large Baking Potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
3 Cups Chicken Broth (24 ounces)
1/4 of a large Sweet Yellow Onion chopped into small pieces
Garlic Powder
Salt
Black Pepper
Paprika
(season heavily)

Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8.

Soften (to semi melted) 6 ounces of Cream Cheese.
Cook 3-4 pieces of Bacon. Crunch up into large "bacon bits"

Beat Cream Cheese into soup mixture in Crockpot.  Fold in 1/2 of the Bacon.  Re-season delicately.

Cook on high for 30 minutes.

Serve garnished with Shredded Cheese, and remaining Bacon.

ENJOY!!

I'm kind of loving things......

...when it comes to our small group at church and it's slow growth, we get new people, but only a few at a time, giving us a chance to get to know one couple before 8 more show up and baby step our way into a larger group.

...when it comes to my job, seriously, a year ago I couldn't dream of what I'd be doing now, looking back on that, I love my job more!

...when it comes to my Bible study ladies on Tuesday nights and our conversations, deep or pathetic and hilarious.  I love our bond of say anything in front of each other, whether it's just our core group or the bounce in and out stragglers.

...when it comes to my students, who pretty much all practice their hearts out and are ready to learn at every lesson.  Also, Thursday's I teach at home and it's my husband's day off so I never have to worry about getting the apartment ready, he makes sure it's spotless by 3:00 when I get home from work, and I love that! Start the weekend off with a clean house and I don't even have to do it!

...when it comes to our home and organization and downtime.  I love coming home at night and cooking for my husband.  I love throwing on my sweats and crashing on the couch next to him in front of something completely mindless on the TV and just being there.  Not having to have a plan, or schedule, or think about anything.  Just being in the room together, lazy and relaxed and us.  Yes, I called myself lazy, when I'm with my husband, I can turn off my OCD, Type A brain and be lazy for him, he's so worth it.

Menu Monday

I made it!! Barely!  It was a long day, I left church for about 45 minutes between work and choir/volunteer time.  I'm supposed to get off at 3:00 and choir starts at 6:45.  Yeah, long day. My menu totally starts on Tuesday this week because we had scrambled eggs, bacon and bagels for dinner at 9:15 when I got home tonight!

Tuesday- Tangy Beef, Rice and Steamed Broccoli
(Stew beef in Italian Dressing and slow cooked in the dutch oven or crockpot.)

Wednesday- Turkey Club Paninis

Thursday- Crockpot Baked Potato Soup thanks to THIS recipe found on Pinterest.

Friday- Grilled Chicken with leftover soup

Saturday- Takeout of some form (every other Saturday)

Sunday- Whole Chicken in the crockpot (yes, I do this every other week or so because it gives me 3 days of already cooked chicken to use for quick dinners!)

There you go!
ENJOY!

I would work out.....

• if I could only breathe through my nose.
• if I could sleep through the night without waking up 3 times to blow my nose.
• If my ears would stop being plugged from blowing my nose so much.
• If I wasn't afraid of face planting on the treadmill while running and sneezing at the same time.

I HATE Texas allergies!!! Spring started 3 weeks ago, and ever since we've had so very diverse weather.  60 and rainy one day, 80 and sunny the next, 70 and windy for a few days, then repeat.  Because the weather can't calm down, my allergies can't calm down and my sinuses feel like they're pushing my eyes out of my face.

I've been living on over the counter generic claritin, plus a sudafed/ibprofen combo (essentially advil cold and sinus, but cheaper) in the morning to kick start it out of my face, and then again at night so I have a 50/50 chance of sleeping. I've done more Afrin nose spray than is suggested and quit that for fear of rebounding worse, but every once in a while I get desperate in the morning when I'm completely plugged and use it once. 

My question is, since nose sprays seem to do the most good, does anyone know of one that you can use longer term than 3-7 days? At the rate I'm going, I'll be a mess until April, and seriously, this runner needs to run! It's just really hard to do when you can't breathe or you're trying not to sneeze yourself into a faceplanted position, or freak out the people at the gym with my sniffling sneezing.

Any ideas?

Currently, my reality is.....

Due to everyday chaos, life stress, and brain deadness on a Wednesday night, I'm stealing this concept from a blog friend at "Us Just Playing House"

My reality is....

• Husband's slow season, lots of projects around the apartment.
• Husband's slow season, lots of cheap dates at home or out for free, dinners in, and DIY projects.
• Spring/Summer weather hitting and destroying my sinuses.
• NEEDING most lightweight pants, skirts, cool things that aren't dressy after the job change!
• Cooking and Baking experiments.
• "Pinning" 1000's (literally!) of pins that I will get to eventually!
• Spending lots of nights in cuddling and watching movies and TV shows together.
• LOVING my Coffee/Bible Study nights with my girls!
• Getting excited about our two couple friends weddings and two couple friend's babies coming in the next few months! I love showers!
• Spending roughly 45 hours a week at church between work and church and volunteer time and loving every second of it! I love the worship department and helping kids praise God! (Even when they're so goofy I can't really praise through the distractions!)
• Secretly (or not so much now) dreading my husband's busy season returning in 2-3 weeks even if it means more money because it means less time with him :(

Let me know if you play along with this idea! I may have to make it a weekly thing!

Menu Monday has returned!

 

 "Menu Monday" was a part of my weekly routine for about a year and a half on both this blog and my old one, and I have to say, I've missed it!  The button is a bit simple for now, but feel free to grab it and link back if you're doing a menu on your blog as well!

I try to buy only what I need each week as far as fresh foods go.  I keep meats in the freezer at all times, as well most basic non-perishables, so once a month a restock one category, (dry goods, canned/bottled things, baking products, frozen, meat, etc....) and just buy fresh produce and dairy every 3-4 days.  It majorly cuts back on weekly spending, usually I only spend about $40 a week on food, and then once every month about $80 on a stock up trip that lasts a few months.  I'm also a stacking coupon on sales fan, though I'm not extreme to any extent!

I'm a simple, totally informally trained, cook on instinct (color, texture, smell) without a formal recipe cook.  I love looking at recipes, but I'm not a measuerer, so I basically look to see what flavors and ingredients they're suggesting and then wing it.  Plus, I'm cheap and don't buy ingredients if they only go in one dish, so I ad-lib alot of things.  I'll try to provide as many "recipes" as I can, just realize that all measurements are only approximate. :)

So, here goes!

Monday- Homemade Pizza  

      Which my husband will then be able to have as leftovers for lunch for the next two days.

Tuesday- Whole Chicken in the Crockpot, served with Brown Rice and Broccoli

      Literally just as it sounds.  Clean the yucky stuff out of the inside of a whole chicken.  Sprinkle generously with equal amounts salt, pepper and paprika, cover with one can sodium free chicken broth, cook on high 4-6 hours, or low for 8.

Wednesday- Chicken and Rice Stew Served with Yeast Rolls

     Made with the dark meat and some white meat from the leftover chicken, chicken stock, corn, carrots, onion, black pepper and the leftover rice from the night before.  Combine everything but the rice in the crockpot 5-6 hours before serving. Cook on low.  Add 1 Cup Cooked Rice and 1 Cup Water, cook on high for 30-45 minutes.

Thursday- Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

      Chop up all remained white meat from Tuesdays chicken, saute in butter, garlic salt and parmesan cheese, set aside.

      Cook 1/2 Pound Fettuccine, drain and set aside.

      Alfredo Sauce-

      1/2 Stick Butter

      1/4 Cup Milk

      1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

      Garlic Salt to taste/smell

Melt Butter in small sauce pan, bring to low boil add garlic salt.  Whisk in milk, simmer on low until it reaches boil.  Remove from heat, beat in cheese with wire whisk.

Combine all ingredients in bowl greased lightly with olive oil.  Serve with fresh bread and a side salad or steamed green veggie.

Friday- Meatloaf, Potatoes and Broccoli

Saturday- Chili (using leftover meatloaf as ground beef)

I'll add the recipes for the meatloaf and chili later this week as I'm running out of time tonight. 

ENJOY!

Recipe Expirimenting

So I'd seen a few Strawberry Muffin recipes on Pinterest that looked interesting, but they all involved alot of fat.  Sour Cream, Shortening, Cream Cheese, (most of which I don't even keep on hand) etc....so I decided to make up my own recipe.  I combined another muffin recipe I had with my own general knowledge of cooking and baking and I have to say, they turned out really well!  So well in fact, that I got 18 muffins from the batter at 9:30 last night, I've only had 2, and there are only 8 left!  Guess my husband is a fan!

So, I thought I'd share my lucky little creation!

1/4 Cup Butter, melted
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Egg
1 Ts Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Ts Baking Powder
1 Cup Chopped Strawberries
2 Tbsp Confectioners Sugar

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
Line 18 muffin cups with liners or spray thoroughly with non-stick cooking spray.

Chop strawberries, set aside in small bowl.
Mix Butter, Cream and Milk, Add Egg and Vanilla, beat thoroughly.
Add dry ingredients, combine until everything is wet, do not over mix.
Dust strawberries with confectioners sugar, fold into matter.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake 17-20 minutes or until tops are golden.

Next time I think I may pull them out 5 minutes early and sprinkle the tops with raw sugar to make them a little fancier, but they don't really need any extra sweetness.  They're more of a scone flavor than a rich buttery muffin flavor, so you could serve them warm and buttered too, but I'm kind of a purest with my bread products and prefer them as is.  Just a couple of suggestions in case you like options.

Enjoy!

Full menu for this week coming tomorrow.

New Layout

I'm doing a little playing with my blog, let me know what you think, it may keep changing, but for right now, I think I like it.  I think, but you never know. :)

Cream Puffs

Last night we had a couple of friends over for dinner. I love having people over for dinner because it gives me a good excuse to make foods that are hard for two people to eat before they go bad.  Case in point, Double Chocolate Cream Puffs!

 
Cream Puff -

1 C Water
1/2 C Butter
1 Cup Flour
4 Eggs

Preheat oven to 400.

Bring water and butter to a rolling boil in a medium sauce pan.  Add flour.  Remove from heat, beat in eggs, all at once.  You can use a handheld electric mixer or a whisk, the dishwashing-hating me chooses the whisk every time!

Drop 1/4 cup fulls 2-3 inches a part on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.   Bake 30-35 minutes or until they're puffy and golden.




Chocolate Mousse Filling-

1 Large Box Chocolate Pudding
2 C Milk
1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream.

Beat Milk and Pudding Mix until blended and thickening.  Add Cream, beat one more minute. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes.

**Use half chocolate milk for extra rich mousse!

White Chocolate Sauce Drizzle-

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Melt chips in a microwavable bowl.  Start with 30 seconds, remove, stir, and then add another 15-20 seconds if needed.  Don't heat until completely smooth or chocolate will burn to bottom of bowl.  Add cream and beat with a spoon until mixture is smooth.    Use immediately, or refrigerate and reheat (15-20 seconds) to use within 2 weeks.

To serve-
Split the cream puff, fill with mousse, drizzle with white chocolate, though I'm pretty sure that's pretty self explanatory!

ENJOY!

Go figure.....

As soon as I get into a blogging rhythm/schedule/whatever our computer dies and gets shipped off to mac depot!  Can't win! As soon as it's back I'll post my weekly blogging plan for accountability's sake. I can't commit to anything without a computer at home though, since pictures are a pain from my phone.

Anyone else miss football?

I never thought I'd say it, but this afternoon, I actually found myself missing football.  Mainly because, without football, my husband's channel surfing after church landed us on the Discovery Channel and some special about how the Bermuda Triangle came about and how it creates time space portals and makes planes fly at "lightspeed" and other garbage like that. Am I the only one who assumes that people who believe that garbage and are dead serious about being warped into other dimensions must be tripped out on some crazy drugs?  I'm not sure how you'd say you were time warped into another dimension and then returned to your original portal and destination by a space force with a straight face without some crazy lsd type drugs in your system.

Anyways, I finally got him off the Discovery Channel and onto a James Bond marathon, thank goodness for that!

It's been a lazy weekend, hence the lack of a blog post.  I was planning to write more Thursday, but my headcold filled husband kept me a bit occupied, you know how sick men are. :)  Sad thing is, I enjoy him needing me so much.  I'm pathetic, I enjoy fixing all of my husband's food and cleaning up all his mess and doing all of his laundry and everything else.  I feel bad when I don't take care of him.  Is that weird?  I've been told he's an adult and it's not my job, I've been told it encourages him to be a man-child/weak leader, but I don't believe any of it.  I believe it's my privilege as his wife to also be his helper, and I help in the ways I know how. 

Anyways, the point of this blog is that without the structure of football, Sunday afternoons are actually quite boring, and I'm not a football girl at all.  I couldn't tell you who was playing who, what was going on or what teams records were, I could barely name most of the quarterbacks.  But, I miss the reliability of coming home from church to lunch and football.

Because it's freakishly cold for Houston (45) and gray as all get out, I have very little motivation to leave the house so I think I'll go back to just enjoying my husband's company on the couch and be thankful Pierce Brosnan is such a good looking Bond if I'm going to sit through them for the hundreth time.

Maybe lazy Sundays are so bad after all. :)