Hearts & Arrows...

According to my 5 year old, a heart is just a heart, until you put an arrow through it and the you're in love! Oh how he makes me laugh!
My husband and I got a date night this month and we decided to grab a quick dinner and then take a couples dance class currently offered at the studio I teach at. We really enjoyed it, I didn't think my husband would have been as into it as he ended up being, he had fun with it and seemed genuinely bummed when we didn't continue going every saturday lol. We will definitely be making time to do it again :) It had been about 5 months since we had a date so we were well over due, when I explained to our boys that we were going to go out for a little while and that their sitter would be coming over to hang out with them My 5 year old was thorughouly confused,"You're going somewhere alone?" "Why yes, mommy and daddy need some time out together too." His respones... "Oh for romance!" it was priceless...lol.
Yes son... For romance! If not that, just for the sake of our sanity!



We did a fun project for Valentines day at my 3 year old's playgroup that I want to share. Way cute and easy for little hands.
Heart shaped bird feeder
All you need: Cardboard cut out heart, margarine, and bird seed, hole punch and ribbon.

We just punched a hole in the top of the heart (you can use scissors too), layed out a paper towel and covered both sides of the heart with the margarine and then sprinkled the seed over it. strung the ribbon through the hole and hung it up. We don't have any trees in our yard so our porch rail had to do :)

Everytime we walk up to our front door my 3 year old walks up to the bird feeders and says "Oh mommy, look at my Vantines" lol
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I took my first wack at fried chicken earlier this month, and we've had it every week since then, has definitely been a HIT! With my mcdonalds and KFC loving guys I am happy to find a homeade version of a favorite. Thanks Pinterest.com!

I get a pack of boneless skinless chicken tenders and marinade them in:
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
*If you can do it overnight than GREAT, A few hours works good too

For the breading mix together:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons buttermilk

Heat up a large pot of 3 cups vegetable oil. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and another one with paper towels. Take each tender out of the marinade and coat it with the breading mixture, really press them into it to get a good coating, then lay them out on the aluminum foil pan. Then I transfer the tenders to the pot 2-3 at a time, flipping them, and getting them golden brown, then remove and lay out on the pan of paper towels.
A fryer would probably work great for this too, I am hesitant to use my fry Daddy for anything I bread myself though, lol, plus the large pot allows me to do more at a time.
And WOW! These turned out GREAT!

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This was a good month, went by too fast like they always do. I had my whole first month of classes at my new studio and am absolutely loving it. It's always humbling being somewhere new, starting with a new studio, new kiddos and hoping everything goes well, and I was not dissapointed. I'm at a beautiful facility with the greatest people. Full classes with great kids with loads of potential, already planning for the spring recital and I just know it's going to be great!

Landon tackled potty training this month, we had a late start with the move and getting settled and well just gaining the energy to face it, took a little bit but he is doing awesome! We've seen some grusome days of course, scrubbing underwear and the play room floor, but he has gotten the hang of it and I can't complain. We also signed Aiden up for Tball this month, so he will be starting that next month sometime, his first experience playing a sport so we are super excited, last week we got him a tball set, his bat and glove... gosh they grow so fast!


"Happiness is in the taste, not in the things themselves; We are happy from possessing what we like, not from possessing what others like." -La Rochefoucauld

Favorite recipes of 2011

I love to cook, I have a picky husband and a picky 5 year old, and then there's me and my 3 year old that are the "garbage disposals" of the family! We eat just about everything :) Although, he is starting to pick up on some of the habits of his older brother, so I will be out numbered soon in the attempt of trying new, tasty, people pleasing dinners!
I tried a lot of new recipes toward the end of the year, between the wonderful site Pinterest.com, recipes from friends, and my own personal experimenting... Some were misses and some were HITS!

Starting with the best...

Mexican Stuffed Shells
Pound of ground beef
4 oz. softened cream cheese
taco seasoning
salsa
taco sauce
salsa
Jumbo pasta shells
Shredded cheese

I am a huge taco bell fan, so when it comes to taco seasoning that's always my go-to, and when looking for taco sauce the first time I made this recipe they were completely out in the wonderful small town walmart here lol... Turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I stumbled upon something I had never seen before, Taco Bell Mild sauce in the bottle!!! Best store find of 2011 I must say :) Of course on a following trip to walmart I had the opposite result, with the taco bell resteraunt sauce no where to be found, and I ended up using normal red taco sauce. So whatever you preffer is equally yummy!
So you cook up the ground beef like your making regular tacos, brown it, follow the taco seasoning instructions, which usually requires adding the seasoning and water and let simmer. THEN you add in the cream cheese and heat until all blended, let that cool for a minute.
Meanwhile you should be boiling up your pasta ( I always add oil to my pot of water, to prevent noodles sticking) Boil those up, drain, and let cool.
Put a thin layer of salsa in your baking dish. Then fill the pasta shells with your meat filling. Drizzle your taco sauce over the stuffed shells, cover with tin foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 25mins. Then remove foil, add your shredded cheese and cook for another 15 minutes uncovered.
I serve with refried beans, sourcream, and green onion... But that's just my mexican dish staple :) Enjoy!

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Buffalo Ranch Chicken Sandwiches
Definitely fell in love with my crock pot all over again the last few months of 2011, got a little addicted to new recipes for it.
We loved these spicy sandwiches! They pack some heat, I recall describing it to my husband as like that "hot cheeto" heat, you know? That heat that's addictive and delicious, not the heat that ruins the meal. You can also use less of the sauce if you are wimp like my mom ;)

3 or 4 chicken breasts
Franks redhot Buffalo sauce
Hidden Valley Ranch "Dips" Seasoning
2 Tbsp butter
Hoagie rolls

Just throw your chicken (frozen or thawed) into the crock pot, pour your bottle of buffalo sauce and ranch seasoning into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. About an hour before my husband was due home I took out each breast and shredded on a plate and added it back into the pot to soak up all that yummy sauce, add the 2 tbsp on butter and let cook a little longer. We loved this sandwich dipped in ranch dresing (Best ranch is the Hidden Valley dressing seasoning, 1 cup milk, 1 cup mayo... delish)
Definitely made my 3 and 5 year olds a seperate meal that night, but it was yummy all the same!

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Pork Tacos
My husband often goes on "chicken strike"... I favor chicken a little, you can do so much with it, you can buy it in a big cheap package and well it's just easy and yummy... however I have to make sure to divide up the chicken nights with some beef and pork, as my husband gets chickened out pretty easy :)
I loved my chicken taco recipe, however I figured I would try pork out to change it up. Found this recipe on Pinterest and it turned out yummy!
The recipe called for a 1lb pork tenderloin, however I had no luck finding one at walmart that wasn't already seasoned. So a pork roast worked just fine.

1lb. pork tenderloin or roast
1 12oz jar salsa (or 15 oz tomato sauce) I used salsa and a little left over tomato sauce I had in the fridge.
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tsp salt
3 cloves minced garlic

Throw the pork in the crock pot, mix all the other ingredients up in a bowl and pour over your pork. Cook on low for 8hours, and serve on tortillas and your favorite toppings.

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Italian Chicken and pasta
4 chciken breasts
1 pack zesty Italian dressing seasoning
8 oz. cream cheese softened
2 cans of cream of chicken

Throw it all in, cook on low for 6 hours (If sauce is too thick add milk) And serve over pasta. So easy and so yummy!!!

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Salsa chicken
1 lb chicken breast
1 can cream of chicken
1 cup salsa
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 cup sourcream

Place chicken, soup, salsa, and taco seasoning in crock pot and cook on low for 6hours. I shredded it up a little and let cook some more. Right before dinner time add in the sourcream and heat until blended. Serve over rice and it is DELISH!

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Bacon cheese chicken

So I definitely had chicken in the freezer with no plans for it (The OCD radar must have had a delay that week). But it led to me to just wing something and it turned out yummy. I defrosted the chicken in warm water. they were larger breasts so I halved them just to get more out of it. I flattened them out by pounding on them inside the ziplock bag. hammered them out flat, and then added some Bbq sauce, a few splashes of Teryiaki sauce, and a couple squirts of dijion mustard. Primarily I used the bbq to be safe ;) let them marinate for a couple hours, then I preheated the oven to 350 degrees while I pulled out each flattened marinated breast, I had in the fridge some of that precooked bacon (the kind you can just throw in the microwave) and some misc packs of cheese (a provolone slice and some shredded mozzerella) So in each breast I layed a couple slices of the cold bacon and some cheese. rolled it up as tight as I could (which wasn't very tight at all) and used 2 toothpicks in each one to hold it in place. Then I put all the chicken rolls into a asserole dish and cooked uncovered for 30-40 minutes. Whipped up some homeade mashed potatoes and boy oh boy was it yummy! For something that had no recipe and was simply improvised with what I had on hand it was a hit! Definitely an accident I will be repeating :)

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Corn Dip
This is my favorite dip in the whole wide world! Got this recipe from a good friend back in Texas and I get so excited when I get to make it for pot lucks or parties. My husband has yet to try it because he is picky to the ingredients, but everyone else that has tried it has given much praise! I could eat this everyday! lol.

3 cans of mexican corn
1 cup mayo
2 cups sourcream
1 cup cilantro
lots of chopped green onion
1 jalepeno diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cayanne pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
1 2cup pkg of fiesta blend shredded cheese

Best made the night before.
For more heat you can add more jalepeno and cayanne pepper.

SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!
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I defintiely enjoyed these new recipes, and it's like once you find one good new one, you need more new ones! lol. So these among the normal usual dinners we are used to we've added these into the mix permanently :) Pinterest brought me to the pizza casserole, my first hack at brocolli and cheese soup, a yummy egg, potatoe and meat breakfast that cooks in the crock pot all night (we tried this out christmas morning), a yummy baked ziti recipe, and bacon ranch chicken mac n cheese.

One of my favorite holiday treats that come to find out my husband has never had... so I'm not sure if he doesn't remember trying them, or if it's really been that long since I've made them. But the classic recipe from chex...

Snow Buddies
9 cups of chex cereal
3 cups of powdered sugar
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut buetter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 tsp vanilla

Pour cereal into large bowl and set aside. Combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, vanilla, and butter into microwave safe bowl and microwave until melted. Cover cereal with chocolate mixture and stir until all coated. Then I get a freezer bag and pour hald the powdered sugar into it and half the coated chex and shake until covered with sugar, and empy into serving bowl, then I do the remaining half. (splitting it made it easier for me personaly) Regardless it's a simple yummy treat that I love around the holidays :)

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The best recipe and most simple one this past christmas was by far the one consisting of a pkg of Swiss Miss hot chocolate a couple heaping handfuls of mini marshmellows, 2 straws and my 3 year old :) It was his first time trying hot chocolate and we enjoyed it together over a big pyrex glass :) Was some of the good stuff :) Easy recipe for happiness!

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Wishing everyone a happy and yummy 2012!
Tonight on the menu is my favorite recipe from my mom (aside from the best enchilladas) is pork and rice pillaf :) One of the great ones that all my picky eaters will inhale!