Weekend Recap

Hello, friends! Happy Monday!

I hope you guys had a great weekend! We mostly just bummed around the house for the most part.

Saturday was Yard Day. Yard Day is the first day in Spring when we clean up the yard from the prep that wasn't done during the Fall.

Let me explain, what we're supposed to do around our yard in the Fall is:

• Rake leaves and mulch them, then toss in garden to compost over winter.
• Rake remaining leaves to the curb for city pickup.
• Sort through broken/outgrown yard toys and dispose of/donate
• Mow one last time so snow will be pretty when it falls
• Fall clean the shed to make holiday decorating easy
• Sweep roof at the end of Fall to mak sure we don't have tree litter on the roof.

Okay, those are some of the things that I would like to get accomlished before we're cooped up for the winter.
However, what usually gets accomplished is the mowing and the leaf mulching.

So we spent our Saturday raking leaves and going through  yard toys.

While raking, we saw our first snake of the season. It kind of surprised me, but it definitely didn't scare me, since it's just a little garter snake.

Hey, there, little guy!

After the kids finished their hard work of picking up sticks, Josh made them a shooting target out of the back of an old chair. Unfortunately, the material was too thick for a BB to go through, but it was an awesome idea!

The rest of the weekend was captured in short shots here and there,

like....

Josh getting our garden tilled

 

Our first fire pit use of the year

My family's inability to all pose for a picture at once.

 

Like... Ever.

My discovery that wet chalk works better.

Therefore, I had to chalk everything that was chalkable in the house.

This happened to be one side of Josh's tool cabinet in the back. I painted it with chalkboard paint so he could write measurements down on it. 

 

Now he can never have it back.

 

I've been daffodil crazy for the last two weeks. It's added such a fresh feeling to the house. 

I love Spring.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I woke up this morning and did this. Yes, it's certainly homemade looking, but I didn't have any tacks or stencils around, so I improvised...

...because I'm impatient.

No, this isn't my picture. Here's the link to the pin.

We had potluck this Sunday at church. Usually I don't attempt recipes that I haven't tested yet when other people will be eating it, but I lucked out this time.

They were good.

So, this was my weekend wrap up. How did your weekend go? Hope it was great!

Happy Monday!

-Heather

 

Recipe: Fake-It-Til-You-Make-It Chicken Parmesan

  I haven't been grocery shopping in, oh, about three weeks. I've picked up ingredients here and there, but as far as having cohesive and relevant ingredients in my pantry and fridge, well, I'm falling down on the job. So, when lunch time rolled around, I looked to see what exactly I had to work with. I had spaghetti noodles, sauce, grated Parmesan cheese, and ONE grilled chicken breast left.
Spaghetti is fine by itself if you're a child, or me, but like I've stated before, my husband needs meat for it to be a meal.

*scoffs* Men. How dare they need protein!

So I decided to get creative and try my hand at make a super quick version of chicken Parmesan where one chicken breast would stretch to feed a family of five. Here's what I came up with.

Fake-It-Til-You-Make-It Parmesan Chicken:

Sauce:
1 jar spaghetti sauce of your choice
1/2 C grated parmesan  cheese

Chicken breading:
1 C bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
dash pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

And the rest:
1 C milk (I used almond milk and it worked just fine)
1 grilled chicken breast cubed
1/2 box whole wheat spaghetti
1/2 C olive oil (for frying chicken)

First, combine your two sauce ingredients in a sauce pot and simmer as low as your burner will go.

Next, follow cooking instructions for your spaghetti noodles.

Then, mix together all of your chicken breading together in a bowl using a fork, then set aside.
Pour your milk into a bowl.

Now you're all set to get your fingertips nice and gross!

Alrighty, now you cube your chicken breast. My chicken breast was already grilled, so the cooking time was cut in half. But, you can of course use raw cubes as well. (However, I like to cheat so I don't burn my breading.)

Heat your olive oil in your skillet on medium-high.

Dip your chicken cubes in your milk and then immediately roll them around in your breading. I set my finished ones on a plate so I can cook all of the chicken at the same time to prevent burning.

Place your chicken in your hot oil and kind of stir them gently every 30 seconds or so. Once all sides are nice and golden brown, take out of skillet and place on a plate.

PLEASE make sure it's a different plate than you used for the raw chicken!

Now you can combine your cooked noodles and sauce together. Spoon into an oven safe dish. place your breaded chicken cubes on top and sprinkle generously with grated Parmesan cheese.

Set under a broiler for about two minutes until the tops is a very light brown.

Then simply enjoy!

Happy cooking!
-Heather
 

Quick and Easy Meals

 As the kids get older, the homeschool lessons get more involved, and the husband's schedule gets all kinds of crazy, I find my typical meal planning and scheduling getting all kinds of messed up. I eventually find a new routine, but by golly does it takes awhile for a 'new normal' to get set in stone. 

Lately I've wanted to throw in the towel and resort to sandwiches and salads for every meal. 
Those are two of my favorite meals, so I'd be fine. My husband, however, would never be able to live off of light meals. He's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so I must oblige his primal menu, right?

To get myself back into the swing of things, I've been tying to find quick meals or meals that allow me to set it and forget it for a bit.

After speaking with some of you guys, I figured that these recipes would be worth a share.

First off we have Pioneer Woman's Eggs in Hash brown Nests:

Link to original recipe here.

 I've linked the original recipe under the picture.

Here' are a few things that I did differently because:
A) I'm cheap and make food stretch.
B) I'm busy and like to find the lazy-man way of doing things.
C) I wasn't fond of the hash brown flavor in the original recipe.

• I baked the potatoes in the microwave.
• I used a potholder to hold the potato when I grated my hash browns because I couldn't wait ten minutes for them to cool.
• Next time I'll season the heck out of the hash browns using salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• Instead of using an individual egg per nest, I made a batch of scrambled egg mix and poured on top.(Eggs can get expensive!)

Here's my basic scrambled egg recipe:
5 large eggs
salt and pepper to your liking 
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder (a total guesstimation)
1 tbsp chopped green onions
1-2 tbsp sour cream
*optional* dash of hot sauce

Beat the fire out of the eggs using a fork until ingredients are blended well. Pour mixture on top of nests.
Then simply follow the rest of the recipe.


Next we have mini pancakes:

Recipe link

My friend, Jerian, introduced me to the joys of mini pancakes. They cook more quickly and kids can dip them in syrup or jam instead of dealing with the mess of tons of syrupy pancakes that have to be cut.

Recipe: 
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp white sugar
1 1/4 Cups milk (I used almond milk and used about 1/4 cup more than this to thin out that batter and it turned out just fine)
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted

Mix ingredients together and use a spoon to plop little circles of batter on the hot griddle. wait until you see bubbles in the batter on the top side of the pancake, then flip. Wait another minute or two and your pancakes should be done!

My kids eat theirs with a side of strawberry vanilla jam.


Finally, we have Santa Fe Chicken Salad Wraps:

Recipe link

• 10 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 lime juice, juiced
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• dash crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 (12 oz) cups cooked chicken 
• 1 (11 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1/2 green pepper, finely diced
• 1/2 cup finely diced celery
• 1/2 container grape tomatoes, halved
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro (2 tsp dried)
• 1 can Black Beans

In medium bowl whisk together mayonnaise, lime juice, taco seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and red pepper flakes.  Stir in remaining ingredients. Coat evenly.
Cover and refrigerate 25-30 minutes before serving.

We  served ours in with lettuce on a whole wheat tortilla wrap, but it's also yummy on a bed of lettuce for a salad or on sandwich bread.



I was going to post my quick stir-fry recipe, but it occurred to me that I've never measured out my recipe, so that post will come later.

I hope y'all have a happy Thursday, friends!

Happy eating!
-Heather

Things I'm Obsessed With: Sewing Projects

First of all, whatcha think about the new blog look?!
I'm pretty stoked about it.

Now, back to business. I'm not quite sure what hit me this week, but I have been wanting to sew like crazy! Of course I took to Pinterest to locate all kinds of impossible-to-finish projects. Okay, well, not impossible, but time consuming and easy-to-mess up projects.

However, I plan on getting these done because, well, they're so practical and they're much-needed items around here.

First on my list is this wallet phone case. I've seen these sold, but there's something gratifying in making your own things. I have my material layed out for this project, I simply need to focus long enough to start and finish it.

 

Pin link here...

                                                       I mean, how cute is that?






Next is a pie carrier. Since I married a pie enthusiast, this is kind of essential to me. *sigh*

                                         

Pin link here...

Then we have a casserole carrier.
I mean, I'm Southern Baptist. I know casseroles and potlucks. Yet another essential.

Pin link here...

 Then we have possibly one of the most genius ideas ever. It's a Velcro bed skirt tutorial! It just Velcroes to your box spring mattress. I can't tell you how many times I went to put on my bed skirt and ended up an anxiety-ridden, sweaty mess after my mattress fell on me and I couldn't get out.

I. Could. Have. Died.

So this... this is life-saving, people!

Pin link here...

Yep... It's getting to be that time where my oldest is about to lose some baby teeth. I probably should hustle on this one then. I plan on making two, so I can just switch out pillows, therefore, have minimal chances of waking the child.

*sings*
I'm a geeeenius!

Pin link here...

Finally, we have a gorgeous purse/ bag/submarine (that last one is most likely what my husband would call it on account of it's size). I have a slight obsession with purses that I have managed to get under control throughout the years.
By 'under control', what I really mean is my husband asks me, " Do you really need another purse?" so often that it sucks any kind of fun out of buying one. Now I must resort to making them, because I haven't tired of hearing the same question asked about fabric yet.

So there...

Pin link here...

These projects should keep me busy for a couple of months (fewer if I had it my way).

Thanks for taking a peek at these fun projects!

Happy sewing!
-Heather

Thank God for Fridays

Hey, friends! This week has been a bit of a roller coaster, but it was nothing that we couldn't handle.

HOWEVER, I personally am thrilled that it's the weekend. Hello! I finally get to hit the yard and get it looking nice again. 

It's our year of living intentionally at our house (we have gotten a late start though) and we're trying to make the most of the time we have. 

Here's a little how our yesterday went:

What we did:

I had an eye appointment early for CONTACTS! Woo hoo! I can't tell you how nice it is to not have my glasses sliding down my face constantly. I went to push my glasses up the other day like I usually do and I managed to stab myself in the eye.

I'm a genius. 

That evening, the kids and I went to Papaw's to teach them how hard work in the yard earns them Oreos. 

Unfortunately, too many Oreos kept Sofia up with a tummy ache last night. 

Be glad I don't have a picture of that...

Josh and Sofia worked on replacing our headlight in the car.

She didn't learn much other than how to be ridiculously cute....

While Josh was at the store getting the headlight parts, he surprised us by buying Frozen! We've watched it 3 times already. When we aren't watching it, we're singing the songs. 

Our poor Josh. 

What we ate:

While I was waiting for my eye appointment, I was researching and thinking of snack ideas for the kids that involve fruit (since it's about to  be pretty affordable) but I wanted it to be more than just fruit. 

I like to complicate things. 

I found some strawberries on sale and grabbed two boxes and some vanilla Greek yogurt. 

Snack #1:

Yogurt dipped strawberries

Yeah, it's basically what it says. 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Dip strawberries in Greek yogurt a few times and lay on the cookie sheet. 

Let freeze about an hour. 

(I say an hour because I'm lazy and forget to check on things for a substantial amount of time sometimes. This was one of those times. They may be done sooner.)

When fully frozen, cut tops of strawberries off and cut in half. 

I stored mine in a freezer bag. 

Snack #2:

Strawberry frozen yogurt pops:

Take half a container of strawberries and 1 cup Greek yogurt and place in a blender. 

Liquify the fire out of it. 

Pour into ridiculously cute Popsicle molds and place in freezer. 

I didn't measure when I made these and ended up with a yummy smoothie afterwards. Kind of like a "good-job-at-making-these-fun-snacks-Mom" reward. 

Snack #3 

Peanut butter dipped banana slices:

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Take two bananas and slice each slice thick enough to stick a Popsicle stick in it. 

Melt 3/4 cup peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. 

Stick popsicle sticks into your banana slices and dip into the beanit butter until covered.

 Lay on cookie sheet for an hour or until frozen. 

Again, I stored these in a freezer bag. 

For lunch I made lemon chicken on a garlic butter/ Parmesan covered bed of noodles and garnished with cherry tomatoes and basil. 

I don't have a recipe for this because I threw it together and then decided to take a picture because I thought it was pretty. 

Oops

What we read:

Our lesson books for our first Sunday school class!

We teach our first class tomorrow. We're nervous, of course, because we don't know the youth well, and they don't know us. But we'll manage!

So, there's our Friday, friends!

Have an awesome weekend!