The Scott's

Frozen Nutella Pie

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

No bake Nutella pie that is cold and creamy like ice cream and simple enough to make that I must tell you about it.

I recently discovered the amazingness of Nutella. When I spent a summer in Australia it was popular there. But for whatever reason I never tried it. It's popular here in the US, too. Even though I've seen commercials about it I still hadn't tried it. Just a couple of weeks ago I purchased a jar. I spread it on toast for breakfast. It was way too sweet for my breakfast tastebuds so I put it aside.

Then one evening I was craving chocolate. My eye spotted animal crackers in the pantry and I decided I needed to dip them in Nutella. Korey found me out and joined me in my discovery. Together we enjoyed the awesomeness of "cracktella."

But then something bad happened. I decided I needed to get rid of the Nutella in my house because it was too good to keep around. "Aha," I thought. I'll make a pie with it. But not just any pie. A no bake, frozen pie. How could I resist?

Frozen Nutella Pie
(click for printable)

1 graham cracker pie crust
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 to 1 cup Nutella
8 oz Cool Whip
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk

Beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Then beat in nutella and powdered sugar. Slowly add in milk blending thoroughly. Fold in cool whip with spatula. Pour into pie crust and freeze for two hours.

Cold Day at the Park

2012-02-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we had absolutely nothing planned. This is rare in our house. Well, for me it is. We took a break in the afternoon and took Hunter to the park. It was cold. And super windy.

This boy loves to climb. At home we catch him trying to climb on everything.

We brought along some bubbles because this is his new favorite activity. The wind made it a little challenging. We were trying to get some shelter from the wind on the side of the building.

The little dude doesn't full out run yet which is good but he tries.

Avocado Salad with Homemade Balsamic Dressing

2012-02-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

Creamy avocados, sweet cranberries, crunchy walnuts, crumbled feta, diced tomatoes, and homemade balsamic dressing all combined in a delicious salad!

Do you need something light to eat after the Super Bowl? I do.

Would you believe that I actually started craving this salad? I pictured it in my mind and I had to have it. I don't know what made me crave it. I didn't even add chicken to it which you can but it was filling as is. I stopped at the store and purchased all the ingredients, intent on making it that night. To top it off, my grocery store had avocados on sale.

The true winner is the homemade balsamic dressing. It is super simple to make. Just a couple of ingredients poured into a jar. Shake it up and pour it on this salad.

Avocado Salad

(click for printable)

Hearts of Romaine lettuce, diced

1 avocado, diced

1 Roma tomato, diced

Crumbled feta

Cranberries

Walnuts

Combine all ingredients and serve with the balsamic dressing.

Homemade Balsamic Dressing

(click for printable)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3/4 cup olive oil

1 T brown sugar

2 small cloves minced garlic

Pour all the ingredients into a glass jar. Cap with the lid and shake vigorously until ingredients are combined. Store in the refrigerator.

Dressing recipe adapted from Emeril

Turkey Noodle Soup

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Roasted turkey, carrots, celery and pasta all combined together for a light, but hearty soup.

At the end of January, I realized that I needed to make a decision about the huge frozen turkey I had stashed away in my freezer after the holidays. My mom happened to be there that day so she offered to roast it for me. Since our house had been undergoing lots of sickness, I knew Turkey Noodle Soup would be the perfect remedy.

For me, this recipe was really a pantry meal. I happened to already have carrots and celery on hand. Add in the roasted turkey and some pasta and it became the perfect meal.

Turkey Noodle Soup
(click for printable)

8 cups water or chicken broth
4 cups shredded, roasted turkey
3 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 cups cooked pasta (I used leftover sliced lasagna noodles)
Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Bring 8 cups water to a boil. Add in turkey, diced carrots and celery. Add in 2T Italian seasoning, 1T salt (might need more or less depending on whether or not you used chicken broth), 2tsp pepper. Let simmer over low heat for an hour until carrots and celery are soft. Add in cooked pasta and adjust the seasonings as needed. Let simmer for another 30 min on low. Serve with crackers and enjoy.

Oatmeal Bars

2012-01-31T07:30:00.000-08:00

These bars have four layers...an oatmeal shortbread crust, chocolate, caramel, and topped off with another layer of oatmeal shortbread mix that results in a crumbly topping. These are melt-in-your-mouth divine. So divine in fact that I was tempted to eat one for breakfast one morning. After all, it did have oats in it but I refrained. Only until lunch.

Korey and I recently attended a gathering of his friends that was potluck-style. I brought lasagna. Well, really Korey did because he made it from start to finish. It's his specialty.

The true food winner, in my mind...er mouth, was the dessert made by our hostess. It was a bar layered with oats, caramel and chocolate. I love bar desserts. I knew I had to make these soon!

The next weekend I dug through my recipe box and found a similar recipe I had stashed away and had been wanting to try. It just so happened that it resembled what I had tasted the previous weekend.

I'm so glad that I split half of the pan with my parents because who knows how many we would have eaten in just a short time.

Oatmeal Bars

(click for printable)

1 pkg caramel bits (in baking aisle)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups oats
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter, cut into pieces
1 pkg chocolate chips

Melt caramels and milk in pan over low heat for 5 min stirring until the caramels are melted and the milk mixed in. Let cool. Stir oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt together. Using a pastry cutter or fork, blend in the butter pieces until the mixture is crumbly. Press half of mixture into lined 9x13 pan. I used parchment paper. Foil would also work. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips and then pour the caramel mixture over the chocolate. Top with the remaining oat crumble mixture and bake in the oven for another 20-25 min. Remove from oven and let cool. Lift out from the pan and cut into squares.

Carrot Cake in a Jar

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

My Pinterest obsession has led me to the discovery of using jars as serving dishes. For Hunter's half birthday, I decided to make him a cake in a jar. I thought this might be difficult and I fretted over putting a glass jar in the oven, but after all, I needn't worry because you bake pies in a glass pan all the time.

I found this method to be quite simple because you just pour the batter in the jar, bake it, and then when it's cooled enough to be frosted there is no neatness required for icing the cake. (I confess to not being the world's best cake decorator.) I just spooned some icing on top and voila I was done!

Carrot Cake in a Jar

Cake:

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots

Icing:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, beat together eggs, oil, and sugar. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly mix in with the wet ingredients. With the mixer on low, add in the carrots until blended.

Pour batter into glass canning jars** (without the lids), filling halfway since it will rise, and bake for 40 min. Mix ingredients for icing together on medium speed until creamy.

Remove jars from the oven and attach the lids. This will seal in the moisture as they cool. Once jars are cooled, remove the lids and spoon icing over the top. Serve and enjoy!

**I used 16oz canning jars which I purchased at Target. I have also seen these at Albertson's.

Cake recipe adapted from Allrecipes

Banana Crumb Muffins

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Another recipe with a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture included! I've decided that the topping on these reminds me yet again of a donut. I'm addicted to this flavor, I tell you.

I had intended to make Banana Bread for a friend but as I flipped through my recipe box I found this recipe. Banana muffins with a crumb topping. Yes, please!

While all sorts of sickness has hit our house this week, I did not get to deliver these but have ~~selfishly~~ enjoyed them for breakfast every day. I added oats to these to make these more healthy and I increased the amount of cinnamon because I'm a huge fan of the spice.

Banana Crumb Muffins
(click for printable)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oats (optional)
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 T ground cinnamon (you can reduce the amount)
1 tablespoon butter

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salts and oats together in a bowl. Then in a separate bowl mix bananas, sugars, egg, and butter until creamy. Combine the wet with the dry ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into greased muffin pan or a muffin pan lined with cupcake papers.

Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle over the batter. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes.

Adapted from Allrecipes

18 Month Party

2012-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we celebrated Hunter's half birthday. Why? Because he's our first child and I'm allowed to spoil him! And to me, 18 months is a big milestone.

The guests included my parents and my sister and her husband. These pics are in random order.

This is the birthday boy with his Carrot Cake in a jar. I'll do a separate post on this.

In order not to go overboard with decorations, I hung up some of Hunter's art work he had done at preschool so that my family could see it. I used mini clothes clips I had to hang them on the blinds.

Chocolate or vanilla cake to celebrate? I went with Carrot Cake! I made it in a jelly roll pan, iced it, and then used the back of a spoon to make the scallops.

I made chili and served it with toppings, cornbread, and fritos. Little man decided he needed to taste test the fritos.

This is the cornbread I baked up. I used a baking pan that had square muffin shapes in it that Korey had bought me one year. I used a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and added in cheese and diced green onions.

I served me and my sister's famous Cranberry/Sprite drink in glass bottles. Although, Sprite wasn't on sale so I used 7Up. Next time I'll add ice.

This was Hunter' Carrot Cake in a jar. I'm on a let's-buy-glass-jars-because-everything-will-look-prettier-in-them kick. Just ask Korey.

My feeble attempt at a chain thingy. I took an old gift bag and cut it into strips and linked the strips into a chain using tape.

Fabulous! These were leftover candles from Hunter's first birthday I had purchased at the dollar store.

And these were the chili toppings. Cheese, sour cream, and green onions...all served in jars! These made for super-easy cleanup because we just had to put the lid back on and put them in the fridge.

A little bit of a fuzzy photo, but here is our birthday boy with his grandparents.

Thanks to my family for helping us celebrate and for indulging my "he-needs-a-half-birthday-party" whim!

Caught in the Act

2012-01-23T07:28:00.000-08:00

I did a lot of cooking this weekend. So did Korey. We spent most of our weekend in the kitchen when we weren't home. We had a potluck social on Saturday night and then on Sunday we celebrated Hunter's half birthday. In a matter of two days our kitchen produced lasagna, cookies, a big pot of chili, and carrot cake. All homemade. Korey gets credit for the lasagna because it's his specialty. Besides I'm messier than he is when I cook so I'm sure he was glad to be the one in the kitchen.

We ate chili to celebrate his half birthday. I set out a big bowl of Fritos as a topping and accidentally put it too close to the edge of the table. I guess this is proof that Hunter has grown an inch in such a short time.

Because we were cooking so much food this weekend, I needed to free up space in our fridge so I baked up some leftover cookie dough I had just made. This was about ten o'clock in the morning and I guess Hunter spied the cookies and decided he needed a mid-morning snack. Or maybe he had seen his daddy sneaking cookies. Like father, like son.

18 Months

2012-01-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

Maybe because Hunter is my first child, I've decided that I want to make a BIG DEAL out of the fact that he turned 18 months. As with all festivities in my family they tend to stretch out over several days. This is part one.

Before I leave the house in the morning I make sure Hunter eats breakfast. Korey never eats breakfast on weekdays so it's usually just the two of us. On this particular morning he was so fussy that he had to have his milk before he ate. I usually wait until after just to ensure he eats.

He is reaching for his monkey that is sitting on the kitchen table. Hunter doesn't like to leave him in the crib when he gets up. He also has been letting us know that he's a true toddler. Many times he will scream out loud and we've realized he's just trying to get our attention. Or he'll do a fake whiny cry and of course we call him out on it. "Faker!" And I'm so surprised, but time outs actually do work with him. He understands what it means that he needs to sit down without toys and be still. He sits there quietly! We try not to leave him for more than a minute or two. One time Korey asked him if he need a "time out" and Hunter sat himself down without being made. Haha! It will be this easy when he's a teenager right?

After I got home from work I took more photos of him. He's such a poser! Not sure why I never used this chalkboard before to record his months.

I tricked him into looking up.

He's wearing a fireman hat his Nana brought him. Then he took it off and put it on my head.

This is true Hunter. He loves his "Bibles" as he calls them. He is saying "Bible." I'm not sure what other 18 month olds are like, but this kid asks us every day, a million times a day, what stuff is. He points to everything in the room and asks, "Dat." A bajillion times a day. Ask us how many times we've told him what the light is called. He is super curious and wants to know what everything is, everywhere. All the time.

I sat in the rocking chair with the book, "Goodnight Moon" and he pointed to things on the page and asked me what they were.

This book is called "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and has a story about the letters of the alphabet.

Cheeks!

A shoot from the hip photo. I think.

I finished the night by making chocolate chip cookies. Here he is enjoying his late night snack. Yes, he got to eat chocolate! (My family gives me a hard time about being overly cautious about what he eats.)

To top it off, this kid grew an inch in 3 months! He's set to tower over me. Sigh.

Apple Crisp Pie

2012-01-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of the fact that ice cream and apples were on sale and I decided to make Apple Crisp. But then I realized I had pie crust in my freezer, so Apple Crisp Pie was born.

I made this very rustic...no skinned apples and no gooey pie filling. Just simple baked apples with an oatmeal crumble topping. Yum!

Apple Crisp Pie

(click for printable)

1 frozen pie crust

4-5 sliced apples (I used Granny Smith)

1/2 cup sugar

1 T flour

1 T cinnamon

1/4 cup water

Topping: (Next time I will double this!)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup softened butter

1/2 cup oats

Preheat oven to 350. After pie crust has thawed, unroll and press into pie pan. Combine sliced apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, and water. Pour into pie crust. Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle over the top of the pie. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm topped with ice cream!

Mamarazzi

2012-01-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to announce that I am part of the first-ever "Mamarazzi" class hosted by TinStar Photography. The purpose of the class is to improve your picture-taking skills complete with encouragement, critiquing, and fellowship with other mom photographers. I'm in the first week and so far this is the easiest class I've ever taken. It's not meant to be stressful at all...just fun! Here are some photos from our first assignment....capturing a picture of your child doing everyday things. I had to choose one to print out to take with me and so far I can't decide on just one!

Every night we read a Bible story to Hunter before he goes to bed. We all pile into our bed and usually a ticklefest ensues before we get settled down. On this night Hunter happened to have a toy with him.

Saturday mornings at our house are typically lazy. If I don't have anywhere to be I like to just have some playtime with Hunter. We worked puzzles together and he asked me a million times what each animal was.

This boy can't get enough of our remote controls. This one controls our fan and lights. He loves pushing the buttons and watching what happens.

Sometimes when I'm getting ready and Hunter is in our room I shut the door all the way so he can't escape and I can keep an eye on him. He decided he wanted out. A little fit followed.

My sweet boy playing on his toy cellphone. The nasty cut is from a run-in with our fireplace. He pulled the padding off and fell against it all in the same instant. We got to avoid stitches but the dr did put some skin glue on it and squeezed it together.

Stay tuned because hopefully we'll see my pictures improve over the next few weeks!

Honeybun Cake

2012-01-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

This is one of my absolute favorite cakes made with a cake mix. While I try to keep my cakes made from scratch, I make the exception with this recipe. This is so moist, and best of all, it tastes just like a donut to me because of the glaze. The cinnamon and brown sugar filling will remind you of a cinnamon roll.

You can have it for breakfast or dessert!

This is also a simple stir and bake recipe. I didn't even use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this.

Honeybun Cake by kSk

Honeybun Cake

(click for printable)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 container (8 oz) sour cream
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk

In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients by hand or using an electric mixer on low. Once everything is well combined, pour HALF of the batter in a greased, 9x13 glass pan. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon together in a separate bowl and then sprinkle over the bottom layer of batter. Pour remaining batter over the top and spread it out with a knife. Bake for 45 min at 350. Mix one cup of powdered sugar with the milk and pour over the cake once it's done cooking, while still warm.

**I only had 3 eggs at the time so I increased the amount of vegetable oil to compensate for the missing egg. The original recipe calls for four eggs and less oil.

Adapted from Betty Crocker

A Recent Study...

2012-01-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

A recent study suggested that children's obesity was linked to boring playgrounds. We would like to dispute that study.

Banana Bread

2012-01-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since Hunter discovered his love for bananas, we have a multitude of bananas that reside at our house every week. We try to eat them all before they go bad, but as soon as they start to turn brown I toss them in the freezer so I can use them to make banana bread.

This is my favorite banana bread recipe...no adaptations needed. Although you can add nuts if you like, cinnamon, or even a cup of chocolate chips. I face much protest if I try to alter the recipe so here it is in it's classic form.

This is a simple stir and bake recipe. Your whole house will smell delicious as it bakes!

If you decide to freeze your brown bananas, set them out to thaw before you use them in this recipe.

Banana Bread
(click for printable)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (or 2 - 3 bananas)

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2.In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3.Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Source: Allrecipes

Spicy Pepperoni-Jack Chicken Panini

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

A four ingredient meal! Six, if you count the condiments. We've been eating "pantry"meals lately before we make our next grocery shopping trip. This is helping us to save some money plus eat what we have. And who doesn't want to eat a chicken panini sandwich?

We absolutely love our panini pan and use it all the time. Every time we make a sandwich we comment on the fact that we're eating an $8 sandwich, just like you would find in a gourmet cafe. This is homemade gourmet on a budget.

The chicken is first grilled and then layered between the bread, cheese and pepperoni and then the whole sandwich is grilled on the panini pan or press. What results is a delicious, melted-cheese chicken sandwich.

I recommend not using a regular sandwich bread as the bread, once grilled, will become very thin. If you use a bakery bread such as Sourdough or French, the bread will maintain it's thickness.

Spicy Pepperoni-Jack Chicken Panini

Makes two sandwiches

Olive oil
Mayo
4 slices of Sourdough bread
1 Chicken breast
Pepperoni slices
Pepperjack cheese

Lightly spray panini pan with olive oil and grill chicken breast until it's thoroughly cooked on medium heat. Cut open with a knife to make sure it's not still pink inside. Cut chicken breast in half to use for each sandwich. Spread the bread slices with mayo (or your condiment of choice) and layer the chicken breast half, pepperoni slices, and pepperjack cheese. Brush both sides of the outside layer of the bread slices with olive oil. You can use a knife or a basting brush. Put your sandwiches on the panini press and top with the lid. Grill until both sides are lightly browned, flipping it once during cooking to ensure both sides get browned.

Slow Cooker Pork with Mushroom Wine Sauce

2012-01-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Now before you run away because you saw the words mushroom wine sauce, know that this recipe is a simple stir-the-sauce-ingredients-together and pour it in. I did sear the meat before I put it in the crockpot as this adds more flavor. If you want to skip this step, go for it.

I didn't even measure, but for you I'll provide measurements! This was really a pantry recipe and I had made something similar before in the oven but I wanted to try it in the crockpot. And the pork came out so tender that my husband told me he snuck some out of the crockpot before we ate dinner.

I do realize that there should probably be rice on this plate but we don't do a lot of extra sides as we like to keep it simple in our house. So serve this with whatever you like.

Slow Cooker Pork with Mushroom Wine Sauce

(click for printable)

1 pkg bone-in pork chops

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1/4 cup chopped onions (you can increase if you like onions)

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup white cooking wine

Pour 1-2 Tbs of olive oil in a pan and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Lay the pork chops on top and sprinkle the top side with salt and pepper. Let it brown on both sides for about five minutes each. Sprinkle your chopped onions and mushrooms in the bottom of the crockpot. Lay the browned pork chops on top. Mix 1 can of cream of mushroom soup with the wine and pour on top of the pork chops. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Serve with your favorite sides.

Spicy Citrus Dressing

2012-01-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

While I wanted to wow you by recreating the awesome citrus dressing I had recently, it didn't turn out like I had wanted it. But I am eating it atop the salad you see in this picture while I type.

I will attempt this again at some point because I still have memories of the awesome salad I ate at Texas Spice. In the meantime, I'll just let you enjoy my practice photos.

2012: Getting Organized

2012-01-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Hunter loves to color. Or really just take the crayons out of the box and put them back in. We bought him some toddler-size markers for Christmas and all of these items were starting to get scattered around the kitchen. I bought this plastic tote at Walmart and used foam letter stickers to label it. The foam stickers I had previously purchased at Walmart. Simple, easy and contained!

Our pantry is scary. It's not even a real pantry but a cabinet. I'll never do that again. It's very deep and it's so hard to find things in that dark cavern. After getting inspiration from a picture I saw in Better Homes and Gardens, I invested in these Oxo containers (with a coupon) and I absolutely love them! I don't need to label them because I can easily identify what's in them AND I can actually see through them to what else is lurking behind. Best of all they are air tight so Hunter's Cheerios will never go to waste.

Last, but not least, I am always yelling, "Save the bows" whenever anyone unwraps a gift. I decided that all of these stray ribbons and bows needed a place. I purchased a Snapware ornament storage container and used the cardboard dividers to divide it up into the spaces I needed. Now all of my bows and ribbon are in one place.

How are you getting organized in 2012?

The Last Day of 2011

2011-12-31T21:27:00.000-08:00

Today I spent most of the day playing with Hunter. It was nice having all day to just be a stay-at-home mom. I put him in his block toy container and piled the blocks around him. A bonafide block party!

Daddy made a shake and Hunter drank straight from the blender.

We found Hunter like this in the living room. The lawnmower became a riding one and a place to catch up on his toy smartphone.

His shirt says "Play Date? Text me." Hahaha which is perfect to go with his phone.

The Omni Hotel Dallas

2011-12-31T21:08:00.000-08:00

The Maurtizen's blessed us with an awesome Christmas present for me and Korey to share. They gave us a night at the new Omni Hotel in downtown Dallas and they booked us a room for the night after Christmas! The hotel was offering room specials since they had just opened in November.

We packed up Hunter and dropped him off at Grandma's house and then drove to the hotel. When we walked in our TV was on and had a welcome message on it with my name on it. A nice touch!

Then I walked into the bathroom and found this...a TV built into the bathroom mirror. I'd never seen that before anywhere. We never stay in hotels this nice!

This was our view from the room.

And our view at night. The building to the left with the green is the Bank of America building. The building to the right with the x's on them is Renaissance Tower where I used to work.

This was part of our present so we busted out the bubbly after dinner. We ate dinner in the hotel at Texas Spice at which I had the most awesome appetizer salad. Yum!

The next morning we had breakfast sent via room service and I had to capture the cute array of mini condiments.

This was the fireplace in the lobby.

These gigantic Christmas ornaments were out in front of the hotel so we went and took pics in front of them.

As modest and shy as he can be, he sure looks like he's trying to strike a model pose!

Another awesome view from the front of the hotel.

And finally, some of the awesome decorations in the lobby! We had a fabulous 24 hours thanks to the Mauritzen's!

Christmas

2011-12-31T20:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning came early for us. We had to wake up at 6:30am so we could have our Christmas before we left for my mom's house to have our family Christmas there. Hunter wasn't quite awake yet and was sporting some awesome bedhead.

He and Daddy are peeking over the edge of the couch to see what awaits.

He got a new toy phone and was busy calling his grandma.

After we opened our presents Hunter was off to get ready. This year we had an awesome Christmas morning. Last year Hunter needed a nap in the middle of the morning but this year he persevered! We ate homemade cinnamon rolls, made by yours truly, after we opened gifts and read about Jesus's birth from the book we read to Hunter every night. We didn't get to read it to him the night before so we read at the breakfast table.

Then we were off to my mom's where I got distracted from picture taking but not long enough to capture this beautiful ham!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-31T19:43:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Eve tradition includes snacks, church, sub sandwiches, and a gift from "Santa." This year my sister hosted Christmas Eve so we went to her house for snacks and then we ventured off to her church, The Village, for the service.

My sister found these kid size Solo cups at the store so Hunter enjoyed playing with his.

Dad do I have to look at the camera?

Dad, really, I'm trying to eat my snack.

And finally, there's both of them!

Before we left for the service we took some family photos. Here are the Mauritzen's.

Here's our first failed shot.

Success!

After our photos, we went to the service and at the last minute we decided not to put Hunter in childcare. We knew he would be fine during the music it was just the quiet moments we were worried about. We weren't prepared for there to be a thirty minute sermon though! But we had plenty of Cheerios that kept Hunter entertained. And every now and then we would let him play with the unlit candles. I only heard half the message but what I did hear was great. And praise the Lord Hunter made it the whole hour. Yes, one hour!

We went back to the house after the service for sub sandwiches. It may be weird to some but our mentality is that we always eat light the day before our big feast.

Apparently Baby Mauritzen requested our mom's famous Italian Cream Cake. Famous in our family, of course. And you can't argue with Baby Mauritzen! It was delicious!

Hunter's First Haircut

2011-12-31T19:11:00.000-08:00

A couple of days before Christmas we took Hunter to get his first haircut. We had just taken him to see Santa earlier that day which didn't go well so we knew we were in for it by attempting to have his hair cut, too. However, this went much better than Santa!

I had to put his cape on and tell him it was a bib but halfway through the haircut he started pulling it off.

Thank goodness he was in the racing car seat because that was a good distraction. Dora was playing on the TV but he isn't a TV watcher.

We're almost done!

I think he was looking up at his dad at the time. Such a cute face. There were no tears for his haircut just some fussing and squirming.

Don't forget my sides!

The finished product. While I think we paid way too much it was great for his first time. I love the new look!

17 Months

2011-12-23T18:38:00.000-08:00

I think this picture speaks for itself!

Saltine Cracker Toffee

2011-12-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

I simply call this Toffee in my book because I haven't yet attempted to make real toffee with a candy thermometer. The surprising ingredient is saltine crackers. Really? Yes, crackers. It's the perfect combination of sweet and salty. It also makes the perfect gift for neighbors for Christmas or an easy dessert that everyone will love.

I've seen this floating around the internet for awhile but I like to think that my sister and I discovered it first. This is my go-to recipe every Christmas.

This recipe is not complicated but it does require you to babysit it while it's in the oven lest it burn. And burnt toffee is not good. Bleh.

I first lined a baking sheet with foil that overlaps the edges and laid out saltine crackers on it. If there's an inch of space left in your pan that won't hold a whole cracker you can cut a cracker in half with a serrated knife and finish lining your pan.

I then microwaved one cup of butter and brown sugar until they melted.

Then stir, stir, stir it all up until it's one color. I used a whisk for this. Stir, stir, stir, I tell you!

Then you pour your butter/sugar mixture over the top of the crackers and spread it thin with a knife so that every cracker is covered. No cracker left behind!

Then you place it in the oven for FIVE MINUTES at 350. It will start to bubble and turn light golden brown. Don't walk away and let your oven keep beeping. Take them out at the buzzer! This is what they look like after they came out of the oven. I used a knife to push the crackers back into line.

Then I dumped a bag of peanut butter and chocolate chips (the combo one) over the top. Since the pan is super hot the chips started to melt so I spread them out with a knife. I could have used an offset spatula for this but I forgot to tell Santa I needed one. Once the chocolate was spread out I sprinkled crushed pecans on top and pressed them down with a piece of foil. This is less messy than using your hands. Trust me on this one.

Freeze or refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, maybe an hour. Then peel the foil off FIRST before you break the sheet into pieces. And voila! You have toffee!

I like to keep mine in the freezer and pull it out when I need something sweet to munch on.

Bag it up and hand it to your neighbors!

Saltine Cracker Toffee

(click for printable)

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 sleeve of saltine crackers

1 bag of peanut butter/chocolate chips

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Line a large baking sheet with foil that overlaps the edges. Line the foil with saltine crackers. Melt butter and brown sugar together in the microwave for 30 second increments until both are melted. Using a whisk, stir the two together until it is all one color. Pour over the saltine crackers. Bake for 5 minutes until light golden brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on top and spread with a knife. Sprinkles with pecans, pushing them down with a piece of foil on top. Remove the foil and refrigerate the whole pan until firm. Once chilled, peel off the foil from the back and break into pieces.

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

2011-12-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

If you still need a holiday recipe then try these! A combination of molasses, spices, and white chocolate all rolled up into a simple cookie. These were absolutely DIVINE! My first thought in comparing it with a flavor was that it reminded me of a cinnamon roll followed by the taste of gingerbread. I am definitely keeping these in my recipe book!

A combination of late-night internet surfing and a need to make something for an upcoming Christmas party led to this find. And I knew I had to make these because cookies are my specialty!

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies by kSk

There were no extra steps or waiting time for these. I just put all the ingredients into my Kitchen Aid mixer and let it go to work. I did debate about whether or not to add an extra egg but in the end I went with the recipe as it suggested. I think next time I will add two eggs and adjust the recipe around that.

Korey mentioned he wanted to eat these topped with whipped cream. Yum! I thought these were best right out of the oven. I typically like to wait for a cookie to cool down but these were even better warm.

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies by kSk

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

(click for printable)

1 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup molasses

2 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 package white chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix shortening and brown sugar until creamy. Slowly add in an egg until it's mixed in. While the mixer is running on low speed pour in the molasses. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients. Stir in white chocolate chips. Using a large ice cream scooper, scoop out on onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let them sit on the baking sheet for a minute longer and then using a spatula move them to wire racks to cool.

Adapted from Hanging on by a Needle and Thread

Boys and their Wrapping Paper Tubes

2011-12-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

Need something to do with your leftover wrapping paper tubes? Why not let your men engage in a Star Wars-like battle.

Gladiators ready?

Hiyah!

I have prevailed!

Round two!

Hunter and the Christmas Tree

2011-12-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

Such a precious face!

Skillet Parmesan Chicken

2011-12-13T21:18:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I came home from work, raided my pantry, and served up Parmesan Chicken for dinner. We always have extra cans of tomatoes on hand and they came in handy.

I had already thawed two chicken breasts in the fridge so I was ready to go. I dipped them in an egg and then Italian bread crumbs and set them to cook in a skillet with some olive oil. Once they were halfway done I added a can of stewed tomatoes (that's all we had on hand) and let it simmer.

Then I topped everything with cheese and set the lid on top so the cheese would melt. Dinner was done in about 30 minutes!

Skillet Parmesan Chicken by kSk

Skillet Parmesan Chicken
(click for printable)

2 chicken breasts, thawed (or thighs)
1 egg
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 T olive oil
1 can of stewed tomatoes (or crushed or diced)
Mozzarella cheese

Heat up 1 T of olive oil in pan on medium heat. Set up two bowls. One for your egg and one for the bread crumbs. Beat egg with a fork. Dip chicken in egg and then dip into the bread crumbs until both sides are well coated. Place in skillet and let them brown on one side before flipping it over and browning on the other side. Once chicken is mostly cooked through add your tomatoes and turn down the heat to let it simmer. I cut my chicken in half at one point to make sure it was cooked. Top with mozzarella and let it melt and add the lid so the cheese will melt. Serve with pasta and veggies.

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells

2011-12-11T12:26:00.001-08:00

This is the most glorious, wonderful Italian dish you will ever eat. I promise. It's not lasagna. It's not spaghetti. It's stuffed shells!

Chicken...yum.

Spinach...healthy.

Cream cheese, ricotta and mozzarella...yes, please.

Tomato sauce...the icing on top.

See? How can you resist?

This recipe makes a ton of food (a 9x13 plus an extra casserole dish) so make half for yourself and the other half you can freeze or give away.

The filling can be made a day in advance and then the shells stuffed the night of your dinner. I came home from work determined that I was not going to eat beef stew for one more night so I got this together and into the oven after work. We did eat a later dinner but it was absolutely worth it!

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells by kSk

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells
(click for printable)

1 box uncooked jumbo pasta shells (we got by with one but you could probably use two)
2 c chopped cooked chicken
1 box frozen spinach
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15oz) container ricotta cheese
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (5oz) package shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1 2/3 c.)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tb dried parsley flakes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
26 oz can crushed tomatoes (I make my own sauce. See below. You can also use jarred spaghetti sauce).
Thaw spinach and press papertowels agains the spinach in a colander to drain excess liquid.

Cook shells according to package directions. Drain and let cool.

In large mixing bowl (I did this in my Kitchen Aid), combine chicken, spinach, onion, garlic, ricotta, cream cheese, egg, spices and one cup of mozzarella.

Pour half of tomato sauce into bottom of two 9x13 pans. Place stuffed shells on top. Top with remaining sauce.

Cover pans with aluminum foil. Bake one and freeze the other. Or bake two and eat two.

To bake: Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Uncover and sprinkles remaining one cup of mozzarella on top. Bake another five minutes until cheese has melted.

To freeze: Cover pan with aluminum foil until ready for use. Thaw in refrigerator and bake according to the directions above.

Tomato Sauce
Saute two cloves of garlic and however much onion you like in a pan with some olive oil. Stir in can of crushed tomatoes. Add whatever Italian seasonings you like. I use basil and Italian seasoning. Let it simmer for about ten minutes and then use in whatever recipe you need it for.
Makes 8-10 servings.

Adapted from The Sisters Cafe

Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-12-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

Korey asked for Peanut Butter cookies last week so I obliged. I asked him if he wanted me to add chocolate chips. He said no. He wanted simple peanut butter cookies.

I strongly recommend refrigerating the dough once it's mixed. Otherwise, your cookies will spread and be huge. I used my large ice cream scooper to scoop out the dough and once I saw how big they turned out I had to reduce the size. Drastically!

Grab a glass of milk and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies

(click for printable)

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars together on low speed. Add in eggs one at at time until well blended. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Slowly add those to the wet ingredients at low speed. Place a layer of plastic wrap over the top of the dough in the bowl and refrigerate for one hour. Scoop out enough dough and roll into balls and place on your baking sheet. Use the back of a fork to press down. This will make the criss-crossed lines in the dough. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

This made a lot of dough so I decided to save the rest. You can freeze whatever amount you don't want to use. Scoop out the remaining dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Bring up the bottom layer over the top and form it into a log. Wrap it up and freeze. Then when you want to use the dough you can "slice and bake."

Kerusso Retreat - Part 2

2011-12-06T19:20:00.001-08:00

(My computer has been acting up thus the delay in posting part 2!)

If you missed Part 1 of the Kerusso Retreat go here!

Now where were we? Hunter was acting as the local horse whisperer. The black horse loved having us around. I think if there hadn't have been a fence Hunter would have probably hugged the horses's legs.

I noticed there was a nice, clean line of grass at the edge of the fence where the horses had eaten it.

Again, I have a thing for barns.

I tried to move to another part of the Ranch but Hunter decided he'd rather be with the horses.

Mmmm...clover!

This was the inside of the barn.

We found a pinecone tree and I had to take photos.

This is the bear skin that greeted us in our cabin. The light quality isn't very good but you get the idea. I took a picture of the bathroom but for some reason it wouldn't upload. The bathroom cabinet literally was so tall that it came up to Korey's waist. So that was probably about four feet? I think it came up to my chest. Korey loved it because he didn't have to bend over. I was miserable.

Then there was the bed. It was super tall too. There were no steps up to it just a little bench at the foot. When I tried to climb up onto the bench in the dark, I fell. Take two. Korey had to hold the bench while I catapulted myself into bed.

This table sat near the door and had the guestbook, a large basket of chocolate candy, and the cabin rules. Check out the beautiful colors outside the window!

This was the front porch of the cabin which connected to the stone building. That building is called the Loft I think and was a hunter's dream and a vegetarian's nightmare. There were full-size animals everywhere that I guess the owner had hunted and then had mounted.

This was the view right off of our porch. Gorgeous!

I found a little chair perfect for Hunter's size in our living room and we had a mini photo session.

Here are the men of Kerusso. They are looking at someone else's camera so I just snapped a quick photo. The guy in the middle is Jay who is the founder.

It's a sippy break for Hunter. Check out his sick face. Yep, sick again. No fever though. And on Saturday I woke up with another round of a dreaded crud that I'm still not over. We didn't stay the whole weekend though for which I'm glad. We drove back Saturday night once the meetings and dinner were over. On Sunday we all stayed home so we could conquer our sickness.

This was the front porch of the bunkhouse. Love this red rocker!

I think this was called the Guest House. It's where we would have our meals and our meetings. There was a screened-in porch off the back that led down to the dock. I loved the back porch because Hunter could run around, explore, and he was contained!

Thanks to the Tuttle's for letting us crash their Ranch for the weekend!

Kerusso Retreat - Part 1

2011-12-05T20:59:00.001-08:00

It is a little known fact that I do non-profit accounting on the side, in addition to my day job. The organization is called Kerusso and the founder is married to a girl I went to college with. Since I have mad accounting skills (haha) they had recruited me to help and I've been with them for about a year now.

This past weekend was a combined Board meeting and retreat out near Canton, TX at a placed called Tuttle Ranch. Korey and Hunter picked me up after work and we set off down Hwy 80 towards Terrell with a sick, fussy toddler. Fun times.

However, we stopped for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Terrell called Dos Aces which provided great food, the MOST FRIENDLY people we've ever met in a town (we're going to move there now), and some fun music provided by an old country soul named Bob Dilley. We would have stuck around but adventure called.

After we made it to Grand Saline I realized our directions specified that we should have been heading to the ranch from Canton and not Grand Saline. Our directions also specified that we should be looking for a specific Country Road and a meat market sign to turn near. Can anyone see sign landmarks in the dark? We couldn't and it produced many "lively" conversations. But we made it and after saying Hi to another college friend we headed off to our cabin. We were greeted by a huge bear skin displayed on our living room wall. I'll show you that pic tomorrow.

The next morning we joined everyone for breakfast and then some acoustic praise and worship and devotion time. This is Shane and his wife leading us.

After a long day of meetings and no pictures, we ventured outside to play. This little guy soaked in the outdoors.

He discovered this big guy and proceeded to feed him lots of clover at the fence. Hunter is definitely not shy around animals.

I couldn't ignore this rustic barn nearby.

Korey took our picture by the barn. Hunter is probably trying to take his hood off.

Korey claims he also took this photo. This was the other horse that was on the ranch that Hunter was fascinated with. We compared them with our Harley and Camo because of their colors and personalities.

And this photo I get to take credit for! This was our gorgeous view on the grounds of the ranch.

And back to that old barn. I have a thing for architecture, but only in photo-taking.

And then it was back to the horses. Stay tuned for more photos!

Christmas Tree

2011-12-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Korey's mom gave Hunter an ornament to hang on the tree. She gives us one every year and since this was Hunter's second Christmas she gave us a Hallmark keepsake ornament with the number 2 on it.

After we got home from Houston I was in the mood to get out our Christmas decorations. Korey climbed up in the attic and started handing them down while I turned on Handel's Messiah (one of my yearly Christmas traditions - it's the best!). There was a certain little one perched at the bottom of the ladder rung wanting to see what all the fuss was about.

The first year we put up our Christmas tree I was worried about what the dogs might do around it...if they might be tempted to mess with the ornaments. Turns out they ain't got nothing on our toddler.

Here he is with his game face on.

I think it took us about 30 minutes to get him to hang his ornament on the tree. However, a toddler doesn't understand the concept of gently placing an ornament on the tree. He does understand yanking it off. Repeatedly.

All Christmas tree ornaments must be hung while holding Mommy's car keys. Because even though you have the background music of Handel's Messsiah, there's nothing like hearing the sound of doors unlocking and locking over and over again.

Pardon Korey's scary eyes! I think Hunter was in the process of yanking the ornament off.

Success!! All he needed was his momma's help. Love this!

After the ornament hung successfully on the tree, Korey and I were too worn out to hang any more ornaments. Turns out the night that we did hang up the rest of them was the night that we should have waited for Hunter to first go to bed. Our poor ornaments may not make it until next year.

Once Upon a Mutant

2011-12-01T20:42:00.001-08:00

Another book illustrated by Korey is out!

He got contacted by a friend of someone he had already done a book for. We love referrals! She had just finished writing a book and needed an illustrator. The fun part is that she lives in Saudi Arabia and her last name happens to be Sultan!

The book is called "Once Upon a Mutant" and is the story of a boy who comes across a town of non-accepting mutants.

Here is the cast of mutants:

Here are copies of the book. On the author's blog, she mentions that the book is in a store in Jeddah. Jeddah is near the Red Sea. So cool to have one of his books that far away!

She also mentioned that it's for sale in a candy store. (Korey says she knows alot of people so that's why it's in places like these). There it is on the vertical rack on the wall. Eat some candy and read a book!

Here is a picture from one of the pages Korey illustrated. This depicts the green mutant...notice how the whole picture is cast in green?

This is available to download on Itunes!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T14:33:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving we ventured down south with this guy. It's typically a five hour drive but even with leaving in midday it turned into over five hours. I lost count at 4 hours when this little guy had had enough. No nap, snack, toy, or even a couple of breaks to let him walk around would do. Enough was enough, he screamed! So we stopped at the gas station and loaded up his sippy cup with milk. He fell asleep - literally - five minutes before we pulled into the driveway. Just as I predicted.

After making pink salad for our Thanksgiving festivities, we all ventured outside so Hunter could play on the deck.

He swang...

He moved furniture...

He sat...

He got down...

He executed the most adorable baby face ever...

And he sat some more to show off his awesome photogenic skills.

Meanwhile, Korey's mom smiled because she loved watching Hunter play and Korey slipped into his "I'm at my momma's house" coma. The kind of coma that involved hanging out in the recliner after he ate lots of turkey later that day. And the kind of coma that involved just that sense of peace you get when you're at your momma's house.

Korey's mom smiled some more as she pushed Hunter in the swing. We/she still doesn't know her Grandma name yet. It was Nana but that's what Hunter calls a banana. We'll get there!

Then Korey found the sit and spin thing on the deck. Hunter didn't quite understand the sit part. He was more content just to push the buttons that played the music.

Korey borrowed my camera and took some family photos.

Korey told us to look off in the distance. I think we're checking out the fence.

Since Hunter doesn't sit still he only lasted on the deck for so long before he figured out that there was more to explore beyond it. After this photo my battery died and then we ate our Thanksgiving lunch so insert feasting photos here.

The next day we went outside again. The deck was our favorite place to hang out.

I have no words for this photo! Korey just told me to take a picture of them facing the brick wall.

AMAZING!! We are all three smiling. You can't tell that Hunter is starting to squirm either! Family photo 2011!!

Since Hunter had had enough of family photo time he went back to exploring. He loved touching the solar lights in the yard.

We showed him the cat up in the tree.

Later that day we went to a nearby park so Hunter could get even more outdoor time.

He slid down the slide with Korey and then we let him slide down by himself on a smaller slide. Since it took both of us to manage that I don't have any pictures.

That wraps up our Thanksgiving 2011!

16 Months

2011-11-22T19:30:00.001-08:00

This little guy doesn't sit still. As you can see in these photos he is constantly on the move. He says, "Hi" to everyone. Everyone. And he keeps saying, "Hi" until you say it back. It's so funny to see how people will be in a fog but will look up when they see that Hunter wants their attention.

And he says, "Hey" alot. It means "I want that...Give me what you're eating...Hand me that remote control/cell phone/car keys." We've seen a few tantrums lately, too. I thought it was too soon for that. Last night in the middle of a crying fit, Korey went to get him some milk while I sat with him. When Korey handed him the milk he stopped crying long enough to say, "Doh" and then started drinking his milk. We think "Doh" is his way of saying "Thank you." But it was just funny to see him have manners in the middle of a crying storm. We think his crying fit was just a plot to sleep in our bed. As soon as he drank his milk he turned over in our bed and went right to sleep. We're on to you Hunter!

One of his weird things he does is look at what's above him. Last night as I was rocking him before bed he noticed the fan wasn't on. So he looked up and pointed at it and started saying a word. I figured out he wanted it on.

I've been trying to teach him some sign language so that he can communicate with us. Right now we're working on "All done" and "Please." He'll communicate "All done" most of the time if I prompt him, but "Please" is another story.

Here's his sweet, but blurry face.

Happy 16 months to the little dude that can make us irritated and laugh all in the same minute!

PB Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-11-15T18:56:00.001-08:00

Today is Wednesday and you need a cookie to get through the rest of the week.

Oh, that's just me?

The good news is that these are good. As in moist with every sweet thing you like to eat all rolled up into a cookie. The bad news is that these are gone. As in we ate them all. We would have had more but we decided to share them with someone.

Speaking of sharing with someone, I like to be nice like that. And when I do decide to share, I have to find the PERFECT recipe. Something they wouldn't normally eat that would just wow their tastebuds. (Darn the need to be perfect!) When I saw this recipe I knew it was a winner!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The only changes I made were to double it because we like to make our cookies BIG.

Cousins

2011-11-15T18:51:00.001-08:00

Saturday Hunter's favorite cousin was in town...Brandon! His parents had come up to Dallas for a wedding so Uncle Kevin and Brandon came and hung out with us.

Here, Hunter is checking out Brandon. I know Brandon felt right at home with all the toys to play with. Hunter was just fascinated with watching Brandon play.

Brandon thought all of Hunter's toys were cool.

Then Korey tried to play hide-and-seek with Brandon. Here he is sneaking up on him. Brandon wasn't a total fan. He would say, "Scared, scared."

After the boys played we went out and ate dinner. When we got home I gave both boys a bath (how do moms of twins do it?) and then they played some more.

Hunter found one of my stretchy exercise band things that you use around your legs and Korey took it and made it into a Rambo sling. See the sippy cup hanging off the back?

Here's Uncle Kevin with his favorite nephew!

"Hi"

2011-11-15T04:45:00.001-08:00

Sunday afternoon I took this little guy out for a couple of errands. As we were heading into one store, a female worker was coming in behind us with some shopping carts. When Hunter saw her, he said "Hi." So simple and so sweet. He says "Hi" or "Hey" to anyone he sees when we go out. When we go to the grocery store, I won't know there is someone behind me until he says, "Hi" to them.

But here's the point...after Hunter said "Hi" to her she smiled and said "Hi" back. Then I overheard her telling a coworker that a little baby said Hi to her and it made her day. One word made her day. I don't know who she was or what her story is but a sincere word made her day.

When I was at A&M it was typical for Corps guys to say "Howdy" to you as they passed by. Sometimes other students took up that tradition, too, but it was mostly kept intact by the Corps. And just hearing it made me step a little lighter as I walked across campus.

Imagine how many people's days we can make, just by saying "Hi" to them. It shows we care about them even though we may not know them.

15 months and already God is using him to teach me so much! Love this little dude!

Sunday Morning

2011-11-14T19:06:00.001-08:00

Sunday morning I stayed home with Hunter while Korey went to church. He's had a runny nose and I thought it best to keep him out of the nursery. Since I work during the week, we don't get alot of quality playtime. So we spent that time just playing.

His newest love is our broom. He loves to push and drag it across our kitchen floor. It's not like I sweep our floor every day (even though, ahem, I should) so it's just funny to see how attached he is to it.

Then we decided to watch some TV and that lasted all of ten seconds. He prefers the remote. Or the car keys or my cell phone. Did I mention he's managed to conference call my mom? Didn't even know I had conference calling!

Then after playing in his room for a little bit, we played peek-a-boo.

Whhhheeeerrreee's Hunter?

There he is!

He also spent time watching our dogs outside. I know this picture isn't very bright but if I had some photo editing software (Hi Santa!) I could fix it!

The Table

2011-11-14T18:12:00.001-08:00

This is my new Sunday dinner tradition.

No mail on the table, none of Hunter's recent school art projects, or other random things are gracing this table. Just simple loveliness.

And I even folded the napkins, semi-candlestick style.

Doesn't this table make you feel invited?

Here's to peace and order are being restored in our house.

Cayman Islands - Part 3

2011-11-10T19:07:00.001-08:00

(I'm detailing our vacation in the Cayman Islands. You can catch up with Part 1 and Part 2.)

After the dolphins, our bus driver brought us here. Behind this wall lies a bar....

...and behind the bar is this! A black limestone formation. Don't blink because you might miss it! The back deck of the bar overlooked this. The patrons sure looked thrilled to see us (insert sarcasm). We snapped a quick picture and went on our way. I guess Korey and I can say we've been to Hell and back! haha

Our last stop was the turtle farm where we saw all sorts of beautiful turtles. These are between 60 to 70 years old.

Look at that gorgeous shell! They change colors as the turtles get older.

The tour guide/trainer guy standing behind Korey let us hold some turtles.

While you are holding it you can feel the shell expand as they breathe.

We walked around some more and looked in all the different tanks of turtles. When we were done we sat outside to wait for our bus and were entertained by these little guys.

That night Korey and I had our last dinner by the beach. I tried to capture the beautiful colors but it's blurry.

The next morning we boarded our flight and headed back to work and reality. It was an awesome trip and we are so glad we got to go to a place we might never have vacationed in.

Cayman Islands - Part 2

2011-11-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

Back to the Caymans....see Part 1 if you missed it.

This is us....getting rest and relaxation. I had a friend comment about how long we slept that first full day. Let me just say that I made us get up when I realized what time it was. That's how tired we were. And I dont' think there was a time difference while we were there. Maybe one hour. I wasn't keeping track of time.

We ate! Every night we would pick a different dessert. Our favorite was sticky toffee pudding. I don't think I'd ever had it but it was soooo good. So good in fact that we ordered it again on our last night. And then the kitchen sent mine out cold so I sent it back. Nicely, of course. Then they gave us two more sticky toffee puddings. Four in all! I only ate my one while, ahem, someone else ate two.

This was one of Korey's dessert choices one night. It's banana cream pie with ice cream and a banana that's been caramelized with sugar. I wish I had gotten to taste it.

After 3 days of R&R my Type A kicked in and I was ready to venture beyond the hotel. We booked a trip to swim with the dolphins followed by a trip to the turtle farm. One of the other fun things to do in the Caymans is to swim with stingrays but I had experienced that previously as an excursion on a cruise. Korey didn't want to do that either...it made him nervous since Steve Irwin died.

This is the area where we got to swim with the dolphins. They literallly gave us a lifejacket and told us to jump in the water. That was the scariest part! We were able to make them dance, they swam under our hands so we could feel their skin and we gave them a kiss. Their mouth is very hard! Best of all, we were able to grab their fins and go on a short belly ride up to the dock. One of the dolphins had a shark bite scar on its side. The trainer said that she had been a rescue. All the rest were born in captivity, I believe. At the end of our time they had the dolphins do the Sea World type jumps. So cool to be in the water just feet away from them!

They took pictures of us while we were doing all of this and of course the photographer captured pics of me making weird/surprised faces because one of the dolphins snuck up on me! Hahaha we didn't buy that photo!

Here is a photo of us with one of the dolphins. Our hands are underneath like we are holding her up.

If you look below where the guy is standing you can see a few dolphin heads peeping out of the water. They were taking a break with the trainer.

After the dolphins we headed over to the turtle farm so I snapped a quick picture of the town around us.

Then our bus driver decided to take us here!

To be continued...

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

2011-11-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Three years ago today, November 8, I married my best friend. I'm so excited that it's been three years of marriage...of fights and laughter and love...and singing the wrong lyrics to 80's songs at random times!

Since we're still in vacation mode we dined at Jasper's tonight at the Shops at Legacy. It was delicious! I ate the ribs and I still have some left for lunch tomorrow. Oh and the mac and cheese was so good.

We each got our own dessert and the one of the left was mine. But apparently Korey thought it was his, too.

Happy Anniversary Korey...I love you!

Cayman Islands

2011-11-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

Korey and I had the awesome privilege of spending five days in the Cayman Islands for vacation. My company rewards its employees every year with a trip somewhere and the Cayman Islands were this year's destination. Spouses were invited! We had the option of bringing Hunter since he was under two but we opted out. We wanted it to be worry-free.

For those of you who are geography-challenged like me (I had to look it up), the Cayman Islands are west of Cuba.

The timing for this vacation was perfect. I'll just be brief and say that I had a miscarriage in the middle of October so this was a chance for us to relax, reflect and get some much needed rest. And after the miscarriage happened I was in desperate need to get away. I only had one breakdown while we were gone so I know God was healing my heart.

The morning before we left for the airport I knew I'd be leaving this little guy behind.

Our first of many pictures...we are sitting at the airport gate waiting for the plane. If you look towards the back of the picture you'll see a crowd of my coworkers.

We arrived! It's the beach! And it's overcast because Hurricane Rina was lurking nearby.

These turtles are prominent on the island. They were in a pond in the courtyard area of our hotel.

The Cayman Islands are British so I just had to take a picture in the telephone booth. I hope I get closer than this to England!

Even though there was the beach to enjoy there was wonderful food! This is a picture of an appetizer we had one night, compliments of the chef. It's caprese salad on a stick.

This is us at dinner the first night. We ate at the hotel every night and we loved it. We were able to choose anything we wanted off the menu so I had this awesome mixed greens salad with roasted pecans every night.

See...signs of rest and relaxation!

This is the outdoor restaurant right by the beach where we ate lunch and dinner every day.

Hello! It's October so of course I'm drinking coffee. And I'm on the beach so it can't get better than that. Plus, it was still overcast so it wasn't quite warm yet.

A view of the beach outside the hotel.

This is the hotel pool and the beach just beyond. Still overcast. It rained alot the first full day we were there. Korey and I were so tired that we both slept till 1:30pm on that first day. We had nowhere to be, after all.

While everyone else ordered drinks we would sit at the bar and order lattes and cappucinos. Yum! The first night we arrived it was Game 6 of the World Series so they set up TVs in the hotel lounge so we could all get together and watch the game. And then we did it all again the next day for Game 7. And then we invaded the lobby and the bar again for the Cowboys game on Sunday. That's what happens when a bunch of Texans go out of town.

This is the main courtyard of the hotel. One night we were walking through and Korey stumbled. I thought he had walked out of his flip flop. Nope. He had tripped over a turtle crossing the path. The turtle and Korey were both fine!

And we're back on the beach again this time with more sunshine!

To be continued...

Text Messages from Hunter's Sitters

2011-11-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

While I'm at work I stay in touch with Hunter's "sitters/caregivers/those in charge of chasing him" via text message.

Here's a couple I received this week.

Sitter: "Hunter and I almost had a fight a min ago -- he tried to run off with my peanut m&m's!!!! The whole point of stealing from the trick or treat candy during nap is so you don't have to share."
Me: "Do we owe you m&m's?"
Sitter: "No way - I wrestled mine back."

Two days later...

My mom: "Whew! Man size toots from your baby."
Me: "Is he laughing?"
My mom: "No, more like sneaky smell."

Me: "How is he?"
Korey: "Opening my trunk and honking horn." Haha he had found the car keys.

We love this little guy and all his antics!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Before we left on vacation, Korey's mom came up for a visit so we ventured out to a pumpkin patch. Now that Hunter is walking and never still we knew this would be a good opportunity for him to enjoy it.

This is the entrance shot. Note the policeman Hunter is holding. It's always with him when we go out. I guess he's not too sure about this pumpkin patch thing. He wasn't feeling 100% either which seems to be the story of our life lately.

When we got inside it was a parent paparazzi fest. All the kids were dressed in their cutest boutique clothes so that the parents could take pictures of them. It was hot, crowded, and we were all vying for the nearest farm decoration so could place our child near and take his picture. Craziness!

We sat Hunter down on the ground near some pumpkins and Korey started drumming on them so he could try it out.

If it weren't for the shadows and the snot this would be an awesome picture!

Here's Nana! Hunter is NOT pickig his nose haha. The boy would not be still so she's probably holding tightly onto him because he had places to go.

As part of our entrance fee they gave us feed for the animals. Hunter LOVED feeding these animals and was not scared at all. He kept trying to snatch our feed cups to get food out so he could feed the animals.

Now he's up close and personal. Maybe it's because we have two dogs at home who he constantly talks to and lets out of their crates, it makes him unafraid.

Korey decided to take advantage of the open space and chase Hunter around so he could burn off some energy. He mentioned he should just bring him there every day so he could wear him out.

So excited about the pumpkins, mama!

Our family photo. Hunter wants down!

Eeeekkk cuteness! Such a little man.

By this point Korey had stolen my camera and taken his own photos of Hunter.

We found Bevo in the back of the property and Hunter was super eager to feed it. He even got a big cow lick on his hand.

Korey, maybe we should just go live on a farm? I know who can feed the animals.

And he's off! He never stops.

There were lots of pumpkins to go and see and he did not want to hang out with us. The little dude doesn't like you holding his hand either in public. Sigh.

I'm holding his hands so that he won't run off!

I saw this wind mill on the property and had to take photos. So cool!

We took a snack break and hung out in some rocking chairs. Hunter was close to being done.

This is Korey and Hunter's rock band album cover pose. Or is Hunter whistling for that cow to come over?

We finished up 3 hours later - yes 3 hours - on the hayride. By this point Hunter was done and ready to go. He fell asleep about ten minute into our car ride home. We had a blast and we will definitely go again next year!

Peanut Butter S'mores

2011-11-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

Who says you have to use Hershey bars to make s'mores? Not me! For all those peanut butter lovers out there this is the perfect, simple dessert!

I came up with this a couple of years ago when I was craving dessert but didn't have any chocolate chips on hand. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has put this together. If you like peanut butter and are a fan of s'mores then this is for you.

Dig out your leftover Halloween candy and let's get started.

Here I have graham crackers, Reese's PB cups, and marshmallows (which happen to be stuck together).

I then stacked one Reese's PB cup and a blob (or Tablespoon) of marshmallows in between two graham cracker squares. I heated mine up in the microwave for about 25 seconds but you could also broil or toast these.

If you like to keep your PB cups in the freezer like we do then let them sit out for a few minutes so they will melt well once you cook the s'more.

Chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallows, and graham crackers, amen!

Peanut Butter S'mores by kSk

Peanut Butter S'mores

(click for printable)

1 sheet of graham crackers
1 T marshmallows
1 Reese's PB cup
Break cracker sheet in half to make two squares. Stack marshmallows and one PB cup in the middle. Place another graham cracker on top. Heat in microwave for about 25 seconds until marshmallows start to expand. You can also toast these for the same amount of time.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

Korey and I are back from vacation and arrived just in time to let Hunter celebrate in today's festivities.

Last week my office hosted a Halloween costume contest and pumpkin carving contest. This is Julie our receptionist dressed up like Napoleon Dynamite. She's doing the dorky dance he does.

I loved this pumpkin! So simple yet so creative! You can tell a girl did it haha!

And the winner of the contest! Lego Star Wars man. It took him several minutes to get this thing on.

And "Deb" part of the Napoleon Dynamite group. This is Doni, one of the executive assistants.

Our flight landed this afternoon and then Hunter met us at the airport! With my mom, of course. I immediately reverted out of vacation mode and was ready to go somewhere so we went to the Fall Festival at Cottonwood Creek. Since Hunter was really too small to participate we just let him run around the church.

My parents attend this church so they were volunteering at the food tables. My dad always mans the cotton candy machine every year.

Hunter loved all the people and getting to walk around. He did not want us to hold his hand so we could keep up with him. We found an empty hallway and let him go.

Vacation pics, pumpkin patch pics, and what to do with your leftover Halloween candy pics coming soon!

Classic Waffles

2011-10-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

On the weekends we like to eat breakfast. And by we, I mean the three of us. Korey doesn't eat breakfast during the week. Fine by me!

But on the weekends he's ready to eat a good breakfast. He will typically make fried eggs and bacon if we have it. But lately I've been on a waffle kick. He bought me a waffle maker last Christmas after I had asked for a simple, small waffle maker. We do have a small kitchen after all. But he decided if we were going to have waffles we needed one that made good waffles. He bought me a Belgian waffle maker and I'm telling you even though it's a big honking piece of kitchen appliance to store, we've gotten our money's worth out of it.

In the amount of time it takes for it to heat up, you can have your batter mixed up and ready to go without ever using a hand mixer. The result? Ummm...we never have to go to IHop for our waffles because we can stay in, have a lazy pj morning, and eat delicious waffles.

The recipe I use calls for milk but I usually make it into buttermilk. You can do this by adding one tablespoon of vinegar for every one cup of milk. Just stir and let it sit for a few minutes and get sour. Eeewww! But oh so worth it in the end.

Here we have our main ingredients. From left to right, the dry ingredients, buttermilk, two eggs, and oil.

I like to mix all of the dry ingredients together and all of the wet ingredients together and then slowly incorporate the two. The batter will still be lumpy like pancake batter but no worries. Don't mix it until it's smooth.

And then in just a few minutes (I've actually never counted the cooking time) you are left with glorious, thick, delicious waffles. No wimply waffles in this house! I love to top mine with butter and peach honey but my supply has run out. Kitchel please send more!

Classic Waffles by kSk

P.S. Who says you can't eat these for dinner?

Classic Waffles
(click for printable)

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Turn on waffle maker to preheat. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

If you don't have buttermilk on hand mix 1 3/4 T vinegar in 1 3/4 cups of milk and let it sit for a few minutes. Mix all dry ingredients into large bowl. In separate bowl beat eggs with a fork and then stir in buttermilk and oil. Slowly stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. The batter will be lumpy.

Pour 1/2 cup of batter into waffle mold. When it beeps that it's ready remove with a spatula. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Batter can be refrigerated for approximately two days. Stir before using again. If you make all the waffles at once they can be reheated in your toaster.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes

Fish Sticks

2011-10-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

Tired of eating chicken? Choose another healthy alternative - fish! I made breaded fish sticks last week because I knew Hunter would eat them and they would taste great.

I used seasoned bread crumbs, grated parmesan (the kind you sprinkle on your spaghetti), salt, pepper, and some extra basil seasoning as the basis for my breading.

Then I melted some butter and mixed in my sliced up tilapia. You could also use an egg or egg whites if you don't want to use butter.

Because I didn't really want to get my hands messy with the breading part, I dumped the bread mixture into a ziploc bag and added the buttered fish. Now comes the hard part....shake it up!

25 minutes later you have breaded fish sticks. You can even see the one Korey taste-tested. These were healthy, tasty and my toddler ate them so this was a winner for us. Serve this with a side of veggies and dinner is done.

Fish Sticks - by kSk

Fish Sticks

(click for printable)

2-3 Tilapia filets

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 tsp basil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Slice up fish into one inch wide strips. Melt butter and dip fish in until it's well coated. Combine bread crumbs, cheese, and seasonings into ziploc bag. Toss in fish strips and seal bag. Gently shake the bag so the fish filets get coated in the crumb mixture. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 min at 350.

15 Months

2011-10-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Hunter. I took over Mommy's blog because I like to taptaptap the keys on her computer. I'm good at getting into things I'm not supposed to. Is that why Mommy and Daddy put these things on the cabinets so now I can't open the doors? There were so many fun things to touch and now I can't. But they didn't put a lock on the tupperware cabinet. Oh man you should see how I like to throw those containers all over the kitchen floor. When Mommy is cooking dinner she has to step over all of those. And usually a dog, too. I like to say the word dog alot. It sounds like "daddog." Mommy says I say it one hundred times a day. What's one hundred?

Did you know I can climb, too? Yep. Sometimes when Mommy and Daddy aren't looking I like to climb on the fireplace. I get told "No" alot for that. Speaking of the word, "no" sometimes I like to pretend I don't know what it means. Hehe. But they do let me climb on a big box in front of the couch. I like to go up and down, up and down. I sit and I stand. Mommy sits next to me to make sure I don't fall. I like to climb!

This is a picture of me. I like to pose and show off. I'm not shy at all. Sorry for the drool on my shirt. I'm still teething. I try to bite Mommy and Daddy's toes but they won't let me. Hehe.

I like to go outside. If I see the front door open and Mommy doesn't open the door, I cry. So Mommy told Daddy to take me outside alot. Hehe. I play with the leaves and eat some dirt. If we are at the playground I put rocks on the slide. I like the sound it makes which makes me laugh.

Shouldn't I get a cupcake or something since I'm 15 months? I know Mommy made cookies last night but she didn't share any with me. Sniff, sniff.

Butternut Squash Soup

2011-10-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make this soup for awhile now for two reasons. One, squash is in season and two, I knew this would taste soooo good!

Friday night I decided to conquer this. I don't know what I was afraid of because this simply came out to peel, chop, cook, puree, and enjoy!

I first peeled and chopped up a HUGE butternut squash. It was probably around 2 to 3 pounds. And then I chopped up some carrots, onions, and one clove of garlic and boiled them all in some chicken broth.

After ten minutes or so they were done and I poured them in my blender with a couple of chopped up basil leaves. While the blender was going I poured in some half and half until it thinned out enough but was still creamy.

And it was done! Hunter ate this. Korey ate this and even kept asking me all weekend if we had more soup.

I served this along with ham and cheese paninis. This even made enough for lunch leftovers this week. What better way to eat your vegetables than this soup!

Butternut Squash Soup by kSk

Butternut Squash Soup

(click for printable)

1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped up into squares
1/4 cup chopped onion (I don't like tons of onion)
3 carrots chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
32 oz chicken broth or water
salt and pepper to taste
2 chopped basil leaves (optional)
1/2 cup half and half

Peel and dice your squash and carrots and add chopped onion and garlic to chicken broth or water in large pot. Boil for ten to fifteen minutes until the veggies are fork tender. Pour all of liquid and veggies into blender, add seasonings, and start the blender pureeing on low. Slowly add in half and half until it's the consistency you want. Dish out and enjoy!

Adapted from Paula Deen

Menu Planning Monday

2011-10-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

Leftover homemade Spaghetti

More fish - I think I'll make fish sticks!

Any suggestions? We're not having a typical week in our house so I'll be sending Korey to the grocery store soon.

Playtime

2011-10-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last week I met Korey after work at a local bookstore because he wanted to read some children's books to get inspiration for ideas he wants to write about. I agreed to entertain Hunter.

He stacked blocks.

He played with this toy set.

He restacked the blocks.

Korey read but he kept looking over at us so I told him, "We aren't here."

More blocks! He cried when we left the children's area. So sad!

But then we went to his next favorite place - outside!

He played with the pumpkins.

And he held his policeman toy the whole time.

Lieutenant Rad!

He checked out the hay.

And I finally got one good shot!

Korey's Surprise Parties

2011-10-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, parties is plural! Korey does not like to celebrate his birthday so I did what any good wife would do...I threw him a surprise party times two!

The first party was on a weeknight. We met my family at Freebird's. It was dark and I only have one picture of him from that night after my camera battery ran out. So just take a moment to imagine his surprise...

Ok done! Now on to party # two. Korey spent all day Friday and Saturday at an art conference. He got to meet with an art director from Simon and Schuster and show him his work. This was an opportunity for him to meet face to face with an art director to see his portfolio because most of the time he sends postcards with samples of his new work to different publishers so you never know if that postcard gets buried in a stack of mail on someone's desk. He also attended writing sessions because he would love to one day write and illustrate his own book. So while he was working on his dream I was running around like mad to get ready.

Korey actually got home 30 minutes before the guests arrived so I went ahead and told him what was going on. I had already cleaned and cooked so he didn't have to worry about that.

Here's our first set of guests that arrived. Luke and Christy and their two daughters, Lucy and Jillian.

Ronnie and Luke are enjoying their second bowl of chili. Ronnie is about to graduate from DTS. It's taken him 7 years because he's been working and enjoying having a family. I told him we'd have to have another party to celebrate.

I was a little worried that the older girls wouldn't want to play with all the baby toys we had but they entertained themselves! And actually I don't have pics of them because they were off playing their own game.

Below is Jenny, Ronnie's wife watching the kids play.

And then little Miss Jillian decided that she needed to fit into the smallest space possible. Go figure.

We also ate pumpkin pie for dessert, one of Korey's favorites, and chocolate chip cookies which I made for the kids.

Happy Birthday!!

2011-10-11T20:15:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Chili

2011-10-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I invited some of Korey's friends over to have dinner for his birthday without him knowing. Which meant I had to feed a crowd. And since the weather was starting to turn I decided chili would be the perfect dish.

The recipe calls for Sazon Goya which is a spice packet found in the Mexican food section of the grocery store. I already had some on hand because I had previously used it for a Latin pork dish. There are no beans in this recipe but if you like beans in your chili feel free to add them.

These are the main spices...

and Rotel now makes tomato sauce so I used this!

I know this is a messy looking bowl of chili but I didn't have time to get a picture before the guests arrived so this is Luke's (one of Korey's friends) third bowl of chili. He said he preferred it over the chicken taco chili I also made.

When I finally got to sample this I thought it had the right amount of heat and spice. I thought it was perfect!

Or if you don't want to eat a bowl of chili you could make chili bites with Tostitos Scoops as an appetizer!

Chili - by KSK

Chili

(click for printable recipe)

3 lb ground beef
1 can Rotel tomato sauce with green chili
1 can fire roasted, diced tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
2 cups water

Spices:
1 packet of Sazon Goya (in Mexican food section of grocery store)
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Chili Powder
Cayenne
Black Pepper
Cumin
Garlic Salt

In a large pot brown the meat and drain grease. Then combine beef broth, water, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and browned beef and simmer for a few minutes. Then add 1 T onion powder, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 T paprikia, 1 packet of Sazon Goya, 1 T chili powder, and two shakes of cayenne over the top. Let it boil for an hour.

Then add another 1 T of chili powder and 1 tsp of cumin and boil for 45 minutes.

Finally, add 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic salt, and 1 T cumin. Boil for 15 more minutes.

Serve topped with cheese and a side of cornbread!

This fed 6 adults plus kids!

Adapted from Deb's Hot Rod Chili

P.S. I don't read Esquire!

Menu Planning Monday

2011-10-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

Leftover Chicken Taco Chili from Korey's party

Broiled fish - again!

Baked Chicken and Butternut Squash soup (no recipe for the soup, I will make one up)

Chalkboard Banner

2011-10-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend I decided to make a chalkboard banner for Korey's birthday. He was at an art conference all day Friday and Saturday so I threw him a surprise birthday party.

I would say this is simple if you know what you're doing but since I didn't research how I should do this it was more challenging than what I thought. I did know what the end goal would be but getting there was somewhat difficult.

My original idea was to have these wooden chalkboard circles with magnets on the back that would be lined up on a metal bar to display the message. That is what was a challenge. I bought a can of magnetic spray paint and painted a wooden board I bought at Michael's. After two coats there was no way a magnet was going to stick so I had to resort to Plan B. Plan B involved me hitting up Target and Home Depot for magnet tape and a piece of metal that could be a board I could hang. I could only find the magnet tape. The only metal type stuff at Home Depot was some pipe looking thing. Umm no. I'm sure if I'd had more time I could have found something over the course of a couple of weeks.

So then I went to Plan C.

These are the packages of wooden disks I bought at Michael's. They were $.99 per package. Ignore the can of spray paint because I forgot I was going to use chalkboard paint. Just a side note - I was under a time crunch with Korey being gone and I was also cooking and baking up a storm in the house, running back out to the grocery store because I didn't have sugar or sour cream, and trying to get Hunter to take a nap because he decided he didn't need a morning nap. It was a crazy day.

The can of chalkboard paint is off to the side which I purchased at Home Depot for my chalkboard menu. I used a foam brush this time to paint on the chalkboard coating. It was less than a dollar at Michael's. I only did one coat on these and I think they dried pretty quick.

When the metal board idea didn't work out (I wanted to be able to add or take away letter disks on this piece of metal), I resorted to gluing ribbon on the back of each disk and letting it dry. I did write my letters on the front first before I glued the ribbon on. Then after letting it dry I hung it up over our mantel! If I want to change the letters for next time I can glue on more disks and use a wet paper towel to erase the original letters.

How to:

1. Purchase packages of round discs (available at Michael's)

2. Purchase can of chalkboard paint (I got mine at Home Depot but Michael's does have spray chalkboard paint)

3. Brush paint onto round disks using foam brush (this makes it streak free)

4. Let dry and then write letters on the front in chalk

5. Glue ribbon to the backs of each. I did short little pieces to connect every 2 discs and then one long piece on each end.

6. Hang up over your mantel and tell yourself that you're a super crafy person!

Little Drummer Boy

2011-10-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

Korey is/was/ a drummer. He has a drumset that we hauled off in pieces from his mom's house to our house. Since we don't have the room to set it up (sigh) it's stashed away. Recently, Korey pulled out his drumsticks and cymbals so he could start teaching Hunter how to play.

Dad, I think this is fun.

Rock On!

Smoked Mexican Chicken

2011-10-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

Mexican food in a slow cooker!

I had the opportunity to make dinner for a friend who I knew was having a stressful week. When the guys decided to take over the living room watching football, I scoured my freezer for ingredients because I was nervous they would be staying for dinner and I would need to come up with food FAST. I decided to split what I had on hand with my friend for dinner and the guys.

This is two frozen chicken breasts in my crock pot. On top I added some homemade taco seasoning I had on hand, salsa, and chipotle chiles in adobo sauce. Chipotle chiles are sold in a can in the Mexican food section of the grocery store. The dishes I use them in only require about one or two of these so I keep the rest stored in a container in my fridge. Then I have them on hand to use whenever I want. Two is the max I would use on a dish because the more you use the spicier it will get. However, I don't attribute the spicy flavor to SPICY flavor. It's more like a smoky, spicy heat that doesn't burn your mouth.

I cooked these on high for 3 hours in the slow cooker and then shredded the meat....

which I turned into enchiladas! The only ingredients I didn't have on hand were the tortillas and the cilantro. Everything else I had. The filling is the shredded chicken mixed with a combo of black beans and kidney beans. The beans I had previously cooked in my slow cooker and then stored and frozen in ziploc bags. I poured queso I had on the top and ~~chopped up~~ sprinkled them with cilantro. I gave up on trying to chop it up because it just never seems to do well for me. Pop in the oven for 30 minutes and dinner is served. Or rather delivered to my friend.

And I ended up not having to feed all the guys from this split so that means more for us.

We used the leftovers in soft tacos the next day because Korey doesn't like enchiladas at home. But he'll order them at a restaurant. Go figure. Maybe he just doesn't like my enchiladas.

Smoked Mexican Chicken by KSK

Smoked Mexican Chicken
(click for printable recipe)

2 T taco seasoning

2 chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (found in Mexican section of grocery store)

1/2 cup salsa

Put two thawed chicken breasts in a slow cooker.

Top with 2 T of taco seasoning, 2 chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, and salsa.

Set on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3 hours. Shred when cooked.

Our Saturday

2011-10-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

We started the day off bright and early because a month ago we decided to have a garage sale. We have gone back and forth about what to do with some of our extra furniture since we keep going back and forth on whether or not we're moving. Well, we're staying so the furniture is going.

Korey and Hunter are about to greet one of our customers. Since we had mostly a Hispanic audience I told everyone in Spanish that my husband spoke their language. One guy speaking in Spanish, said the English word Mexican, as in "You speak Mexican?" Haha

As the minutes crawled by, and no one wanted to take our awesome stuff, we had to find ways to pass the time. Korey and Hunter played while...

I took pictures. Isn't he handsome?

Korey's friend, Kacy, came over....

and Korey told him stories.

Hunter drank a Dr. Pepper....(kidding)

and then we got a tour of our neighbor's garage. He builds model airplanes. I never try to be too nosy about what's in his garage...

but when Korey's friend, Joel, showed up they got into aerodynamic discussions and who knows what else. Joel can get anyone to talk. Later, Joel and I discussed Blogger and HTML code.

After we cleaned up from the garage sale, the guys invaded our house to watch football. So I retreated into the kitchen and made dinner for a friend. Recipe post coming soon!

Meal Planning Monday

2011-10-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

- Leftover Smoked Mexican Chicken soft tacos (recipe coming soon)

- Korey's Homemade Spaghetti (for real he makes this from scratch)

- Tilapia with Sweet Potatoes (we never ate this last week as our roasted chicken gave us 3 meals)

No set days for any of these as I just adjust what to make based on how that particular day goes.

Pink Salad

2011-10-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month I decided to share one of our favorite family recipes. We call it Pink Salad and it's a concoction of cherry pie filling, cool whip and some other yummy ingredients! We serve it at every holiday meal and it's a family tradition.

The recipe we use calls for canned pineapple but since I forgot to take my list with me to the store I forgot to buy it. So we'll just pretend that there is crushed pineapple in this photo.

It's a simple recipe that doesn't even require a mixer. All you do is stir the ingredients together and you are left with this beautiful dessert!

Pink Salad by KSK

Pink Salad

(click for printable recipe)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can cherry pie filling

1 can crused pineapple, drained

1 cup of marshmallows

1 cup of chopped pecans, optional

8-12 oz Cool Whip

Mix all ingredients together and top with pecans or stir them in. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Sweet Sleep

2011-09-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

Peach Walnut Bread

2011-09-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Peaches and roasted walnuts tucked away in a delicious bread!

I was recently inspired to make this after a visit to the McKinney Farmers Market. I sometimes walk there, pushing Hunter in the jogging stroller, as part of my Saturday morning walk.

I came across a vendor who was selling all kinds of breads and after tasting his sample I knew I could recreate it.

Even though summer is technically over, peaches are still in full array at the grocery store.

First, I peeled, sliced, and diced 3 peaches.

Then I took one cup of chopped walnuts, laid them on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven while it was preheating to 350. When the oven beeps that the preheating time is over then you can remove your pan of walnuts. I tossed these with 1 tablespoon of real butter and a little bit of kosher salt.

After I diced the peaches, I mixed them in a bowl with some lemon juice, cinnamon and allspice. Gotta love how fall is an excuse to spice it up!

Then I made the batter, mixed in the peaches and walnuts, and got this beautiful result. See those gorgeous flecks of yellow peaches? Yum!

Peach Walnut Bread by kSk

Peach Walnut Bread

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (used solely on roasted walnuts)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 T sour cream
2 eggs, beaten
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
3 peaches, peeled, and diced

In a bowl mix the diced peaches with the lemon juice, cinnamon, and allspice. Set aside. In the bowl of your mixer, combine butter and brown sugar. Beat until creamy. Mix in sour cream and beaten eggs. In another bowl combine flour and baking soda and then slowly add in to batter. Fold in peaches and walnuts. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes at 350.

The Heard Museum

2011-09-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was able to get free tickets to the Heard Museum, courtesy of Museum Day. We had never been and I had always wanted to go since we pass it at least a hundred times as we travel to and from my parent's house.

The Heard is comprised of nature trails, a museum and an animal exhibit. There are plenty of picnic tables on the property and by the time we left there were several families having a picnic before they set out.

The path less traveled... Hunter discovered rocks.

Korey and Hunter scaled the ampitheater. Our boy loves to climb lately! I caught him trying to climb one of our bookcases at home.

The two pausing after their victory.

We saw lots of beautiful butterflies. We walked through the enclosed butterfly exhibit but all of my pictures turned out dark. I ended up chasing the butterflies outside.

And we encountered dinosaurs! The museum was getting these set up for their Dinosaurs Alive exhibit coming up in Oct.

Me and my sweet boy took time to pause for a pic.

Our family photo.

Meal Planning Monday

2011-09-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here's what's cooking up in our house this week:

Monday - Homemade macaroni and cheese and veggies

Tuesday - Roasted Chicken, Veggies, and Pasta with Homemade Alfredo Sauce

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - Broiled Tilapia with Baked Sweet Potatoes

Friday - Pepperoni Stromboli (made with frozen bread dough)

Koreyscott.com

2011-09-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time my husband decided he wanted to illustrate for a living. Growing up he was always content to be drawing. Some kids like to read or play video games. He liked to draw.

Up until 2010 he had two jobs. One was a regular ol' day job and the other was being a freelance illustrator. When we got married in 2008 he was able to build up his business over the next couple of years to where he decided he wanted to quit his day job and be a freelance illustrator full-time. This was not an overnight decision but came after two years of discussion, budget crunching and prayer. Shortly after our son was born, he took the plunge, quit his day job, and said goodbye to that steady paycheck.

He has three websites that display his portfolio of work. The biggest one is Childrens Illustrators. There are over 700 hundred artists all displaying their work. If you take a look you will see they are all GORGEOUS illustrations.

For Korey to get contacted by a client to illustrate a book, I believe, is a matter of prayer. Here's why:

When someone decides they have a book they want illustrated they will start scouring portfolio sites to find the illustrator's style that might best capture the characters in their book. They already have an idea of what the characters will look like. It's just a matter of finding the illustrator who they think will do the best job. Did I mention there are over 700 illustrators on just one site?

Once they find someone they like, as in Korey, they contact him and ask about his prices, etc. Then Korey will respond with his time frame, price per page, etc. A lot of his business comes from clients who want a book to be self-published. It seems everyone has a story to tell.

After Korey responds, we wait. We pray. Then we rejoice when they want to proceed. At this point, Korey sends them a contract and starts working on sketches.

Besides his amazing talent that stands out, I think prayer is the key to his steady stream of clients.

You can see Korey's portfolio here, on Creative Shake, and on Hire an Illustrator.

A Sharefish Tale

2011-09-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a glimpse of one of the pictures Korey illustrated for the book, A Sharefish Tale. It's not published yet but I just had to show off one of the gorgeous illustrations! I have to brag on my husband because he's got some mad drawing skills!

A Sharefish Tale

Honduras 2011

2011-09-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

Back in April, Korey got contacted by someone to illustrate a book for him. More on what was involved in this process in another post. He found out it was for a nonprofit agency, Sharefish. When Korey found out the author was going to Honduras and taking a group with him, he decided he wanted to go, too.

I'm borrowing the following from Korey's blog about his trip to Honduras.

"I just got back from a trip to Honduras. I illustrated the book, A Sharefish Tale, for the non profit group Sharefish.org. The book will be out in print sometime in December or January. The goal is to use the money from the book sale to buy more books for the library in El Corrizo, Honduras.

Sharefish was created as organization to improve education, nutrition, housing, medical and economic opportunities in impoverished communities. Sharefish is currently focused on improving the lives of children in two small communities in southern Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

On our trip, the goal was to celebrate "Dia del Nino" with the kids. "Dia del Nino" is a national celebration to honor children. The kids were able to make crafts, jump rope, read new books, and draw pictures. I took down some of my Doodlin' Pads to donate to the library.

When the book is available, I will let you know. Below are a few pictures from the trip. My goal as an illustrator is to hopefully do more of these trips. I want my art to be more than a picture. I want to use it to help others."

Here is my husband!

This is a prototype of the book he illustrated.

The kids are in one of the churches drawing pictures. Every day they would go hang out with the kids, play soccer with them, and give them time to draw.

This was a scene on the busride from the airport. I love how green it is!

Here is one of the librarys located inside a church in a small town. Korey said one of the towns they went to only had 300 people in it. Many of the families can't afford to pay for their children to attend school. Sharefish is just doing what they can to help further the education of these children so they can have the skills necessary for life.

Korey took this picture for me. In Thai this is a a tuk tuk. I rode in one of these taxis when I lived in Thailand. Not sure what they are called in Honduras.

A typical Honduran home.

This is the founder of Sharefish, Oie (pronounced Owey). The school gave him an award for his dedication to furthering education. Through his organization you can sponsor a child so that they can afford to attend school. Their organization reminds me of what Compassion does.

When Korey got home he talked nonstop about his trip and mentioned going back next year and taking me!

Be a Sharefish!

FROM THE HOMELESS TO THE HOPELESS, THERE IS OVERWHELMING NEED IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, OUR CITY, OUR COUNTRY AND OUR WORLD. We’ve heard the question “How can I possibly help?” and we’ve come up with a simple answer. Share. By sharing something of yourself — a little time, a little money, a little love — you can make a drastic difference in someone’s life. This site gives you the opportunity to share with people in need in Honduras, but you can be a Sharefish anywhere. Put some money in a parking meter that's expiring. Hand a bag of food to a homeless person. Volunteer at the Food Bank. Buy 5 cups from the kid's lemonade stand on the corner. Once you start sharing, the world instantly becomes a better place.

14 Months

2011-09-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

Daddy's home, my camera is back and this kid is walking! And talking. He calls the dogs "dog, dog" which I guess is appropriate since we have two. And banana is "nana."

Here, he is sitting in the rocking chair and somehow he figured out how to rock it himself. He's getting a kick out of pushing the back of the chair to make it rock. Genius, I tell you.

He actually posed for us!

Such a sweet face!

And he's off! He still hasn't figured out the freedom that he has in walking because sometimes he just wants to crawl. We're so excited about this milestone! Now if we could just conquer our fears in the church nursery then all would be golden.

$10 Restaurant Coupons

2011-09-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

I am minus my camera for a few days (I do need to pull out the big one) but I just thought I'd mention that I've received two $10 off coupons at restaurants in the past month!

How did I get these? A long time ago I signed up to receive their emails (also called e-club) so I could get coupons and updates. Then I got an email asking me to update my profile and for doing that I would receive a $10 coupon.

Two seconds of time = FREE MONEY! We're all about free in this house!

The restaurants:

Maggiano's and Uncle Julio's

Lunches: Round Two

2011-09-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

From L to R: Animal cookie (Beechnut says it's junk-free), homemade chicken salad (made from leftover roasted chicken), grapes, banana bread, and then cheese crackers. The compartment on the left is empty. I ran out of ideas!

I haven't tried any liquidy foods in these yet like applesauce or yogurt. Knowing Hunter he would fling it everywhere and I'm just looking out for all parties involved.

Amanda's Cheese Crackers

2011-09-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

Homemade cheese crackers that are kid-friendly!

Because Hunter is my first child I'm super picky about everything he eats. I read labels. I examine costs. And then I determine that I don't want him eating stuff I can't pronounce.

Plus, I'm now having to make him good lunches twice a week that he can eat without help so I'm on a mission!

I found a recipe back in the DMN by a mom who makes her own cheese crackers. I made these a few months ago for Hunter and he loved them! I decided I needed to make them again to have on hand for his lunches. These are only 6 ingredients and probably would be easier if I had a food processor but since I don't I used my pastry blender to mix these up.

I mixed these up, rolled them out, and cut them all while talking to Korey. I guess that means it wasn't too time or mind-consuming.

I used my mini biscuit cutter to cut these out. They are about two inches in diameter. I was going to use something smaller to cut these but I couldn't find it. I tear these into pieces for his lunch since I'm not there to be in control/supervise. :)

This is the finished product. My point and shoot is not good for food pictures.
Here's the actual recipe with the link above to pretter pictures.

Amanda's Homemade Cheese Crackers

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour (all whole wheat or half whole wheat/half white)

3/4 stick cold butter cut into pieces

1 cup grated sharp cheddar

1 egg, beaten

3-4 tablespoons ice-cold water

1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F. Put flour in a food processor. Place the butter cubes around and pulse a couple of times until the butter is mixed in.
Reserve 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg for brushing on top and mix the rest into the flour. Add a few tablespoons of ice cold water, cheese and salt. Mix until dough forms.
Using a rolling pin, roll dough into 1/8 of an inch thickness. Cut out using whatever shape you want, or cut into strips.
Brush tops with beaten egg. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
Cool and store in an air-tight container.
Amanda Dittlinger
Published in The Dallas Morning News on April 26, 2011

Date Night

2011-09-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Korey and I hoard gift cards. We are hoarders. There I said it. We have been saving a Maggiano's gift card since probably Christmas to use. Well this past weekend we got to use it for a fancy date night in addition to a $10 coupon I got over email from them. We were set. We even got a little dressed up. It was nice to go to a place that didn't involve someone calling your name over a loud speaker to come and pick up your order.

Korey got his favorite appetizer - Calamari - and I/we ordered our favorite dish which is Rigatoni D. You know you think too much about your food budget and how much food costs when you start calculating the cost of the ingredients in the dish and figuring out how you can make it for much cheaper. Hello? Chicken, pasta, button mushrooms, cream, and some white wine. Not expensive! Stay tuned. I will conquer making it.

Our date night pic: This got taken in our car because I have a husband who shys away from making a scene in public. The car was our compromise.

Next time I won't wear my skinny pants. We did enjoy the leftovers for lunch AND dinner the next day. Now that's a yummy bargain.

Bath Time

2011-09-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

After dinner, it's bath time which I'm in charge of since Korey does the dishes. After all, I made dinner. I think I've got the easy job!

Bath time means the dogs are near. They like to observe what's going on. And I've had to keep a towel on the floor because Hunter is known to dump water overboard.

See? Camo is never far from Hunter.

Then there's my other baby, Harley. He doesn't like to be far from Camo. Where two or more are gathered, then Harley will come.

After the bath "we" brush our teeth. Lately, Hunter has taken over this duty and doesn't let me help. He's such a big boy!

One Thousand Gifts

2011-09-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

I have seen Ann's website mentioned on a couple of blogs I read so I decided to check it out. She is a farmer's wife and has six kids. You know she's got to be tired! She wrote a book that I'm currently reading now and it's simply amazing. I'm planning on reading it again once I'm finished because I know there are parts that still need to sink in.

The subtitle reads "A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are." I know for me I'm constantly complaining/whining about not having something or not being where I want to be in life. Ask Korey how much he enjoys this part of me! Well, this book talks about how to be thankful for what you have - now. And it's not written like a self-help book that says, "Do this, think this." It's written very poetically, actually in a style I've never seen before and it just keeps you spellbound. Ann writes it from the point of what she's learned and how she went through this learning process.

I just finished reading a chapter on how she encountered tension between two of her boys and how she had to encourage and remind one that he simply needed to practice changing his attitude. She also encourages him by sharing how he sees her struggling with the same thing. I want to be this kind of mom! One who is constantly striving to be closer to God but also "loudly" (visibly?) teaching her kids the same lessons. To me, she is a female John Piper because you just want to absorb every word but, trust me it's written like it's a poem. Amazing!

First Day of Preschool

2011-09-06T20:25:00.001-07:00

We sent our baby off to his first day of preschool and of course being the newbie that I am I don't have a picture with his backpack and lunchbox or a picture of his teachers. But here he is before we left the house.

Why am I so scary looking in this pic?

Korey and I both took him this morning and I went in late to work. I felt dumb saying to the teachers that they would never see me bring him or pick him up since I work in Dallas but oh well. When Korey picked him up he said he was playing with the blocks and was excited to see him and wasn't fussy at all. On Sunday mornings when we pick him up he starts crying as soon as he sees us. I'm hoping this is a good start! We got a note saying he rested quietly haha meaning he didn't sleep, poor thing. And he ate most of his lunch. I'm so glad he had a good day!