Favorite Recipes, How was your weekend?, Learning with A & J, Philosophical Cupcakes

This and That

May 21, 2019 No Comments

This is my new Summer tea towel that I picked up online on sale from Anthropologie (it’s the cutest):

This is our redwood that we planted in the ground this fall and it is flourishing!

This is J playing catcher in his last game of the season:

He has grown so much in his playing ability this year! By the end of the season he was hitting at every at bat, and got multiple runs! Most importantly he loved playing and is excited about next season.

This is the boys with their fresh haircuts that they got at our local barbershop. They look handsome and are ready for summer vacation now!

After their haircuts we headed over to the food trucks that are set-up in our downtown during the weekends for May-August, A most enjoyed the milkshake for dessert:

Then on Saturday I ran to Costco with my sister and got one of my favorite stress free dinners:

Chicken alfredo pasta, French bread, and frozen corn. Sooooo simple, and the boys eat it up!

This is the adorable eagle J made at school:

And finally, this is J entering into the toothless club! He lost his first tooth this weekend:

Favorite Recipes

Shrimp Florentine Pasta

May 13, 2019 No Comments

A flip on one of our favorites, this will actually take you even less time than the original recipe! We had everything to make this recipe one weekend, except instead of chicken I had a pound of shrimp. I cooked the shrimp just like the chicken, but it will only take about five or six minutes for the shrimp to cook through. After that the recipe is very similar to the original, just using mini penne pasta and a box of arugula and spinach! An easy Saturday night meal, with some crusty French bread it is perfection!

Favorite Recipes, Recipes

Stuffed peppers

April 16, 2019 No Comments

Our mid-week meal from last week, these stuffed peppers are healthy and delicious! Super simple to throw together and I had enough left over mix to freeze for another meal down the road. The boys both ate it really well (J better than A), and an extra stuffed pepper reheated well the next for leftovers. I served it with jasmine rice (yes the frozen kind from Whole Foods) and that was it! The peppers themselves are loaded with ground turkey, beans, corn, and tomatoes, so you don’t really need anything else:

One last note, I cut the simmering time down by about half, and they still turned out fine. I hadn’t planned for an extra thirty minutes before the oven cooking time, and so I sped up a lot of the simmering, but they ended up delicious anyway!

Favorite Recipes, Recipes

Low carb garlic parmesan chicken bake

April 10, 2019 No Comments

On Tuesday, J’s baseball game got moved to Friday, which means we needed to move our “quick meal” of the week to Friday, and I was left without a meal for Tuesday dinner. Thanks to my following numerous bloggers on Instagram, a meal popped up that I had everything for, except the chicken. I ran by Wal-Mart on a work break and picked up a package of thin sliced chicken breast, and we were good to go. J loved this meal, A liked it only okay, but it was quick to put together and also low carb! Here’s the recipe:

Here is my collection of supplies:

I did spray the pan first with canola oil, then layered in the chicken:

Then I mixed the remaining ingredients together and topped the chicken:

In the last six minutes of baking I prepped the sides:

If you haven’t tried the frozen rice from Whole Foods it is life changing. Seriously. It’s so fluffy! Then the chicken was ready to go:

It was creamy and delicious, perfect with the rice and broccoli. It’s hard to find a casserole type meal in our house that everyone can eat, and this was a great take on a casserole!

Family Style, Favorite Recipes, How was your weekend?, Philosophical Cupcakes, Seriously. Fashion. Love.

What’s Up Wednesday

March 27, 2019 No Comments

I always enjoy these monthly check-ins on my favorite blogs to follow, so I thought I’d join in on the fun!

1. What we’re eating this week:

S- freezer white chicken chili with corn bread

M- tomato soup and grilled cheese

T- freezer pork chops with sweet potatoes

W – cilantro lime chicken with brown rice

Th- penne with marinara and salad

And these AMAZING cookies:

2. What I’m reminiscing about:

Painting class with my Mom! I can’t wait to go again.

3. What I’m loving:

My new lamp in our reading corner

And my one tulip that survived the cold snap and winds out front:

4. What we’ve been up to:

Work, school, baseball

5. What I’m dreading:

The pile of papers that is about to flood my grading inbox.

6. What I’m working on:

My new Crisis Communication course I’m teaching this fall, and grading all those papers I just mentioned. I’m happiest when my inbox looks like this:

7. What I’m excited about:

Heading to the beach in just a few months!

8: What I’m watching/reading:

I’m binge watching Schitt’s Creek and it is hilarious and my new favorite show.

I’m finishing up reading A Bite Sized History of France:

And I’m really enjoying the daily study on She Reads Truth.

9. What I’m listening to:

Forver 35 Podcast & Matt Goulding’s interview on Milk Street Radio Podcast

10. What I’m wearing:

My current favorite Spring sweatshirt and jean skirt.

And my trio of Nordstrom sandals (beige, striped-updated version here, orange):

11. What I’m doing this weekend:

Dinner with friends! We’re making penne alla Betsy, salad, and crusty bread.

And we’re probably sitting at a baseball practice at some point.

12. What I’m looking forward to next month:

Easter! I’m already working on the boys’ Easter baskets and I’m particularly excited about these devotional studies I found for them (and one for me).

Bonus Question: what’s my favorite Easter side dish:

Deviled eggs, no question!

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Favorite Recipes, How was your weekend?, Philosophical Cupcakes

This and that

February 25, 2019 No Comments

This is B teaching the boys how to play Go:

These are my picks from our new (very close, eek!) Ulta:

Cotton swabs, NARS Bettina lip pencil, NYX creme brûlée butter gloss, MAC soft ochre painterly pot, Revlon Not Just Nudes creme palette.

These are all of our little duckling friends that we made this week:

We have thoroughly enjoyed these sweet babies:

This is the Museum of Ice Cream vanilla with rainbow sprinkles that the boys and I had for dessert:

This is how the boys spent their first time of no rain in a WEEK:

And lastly this is my favorite Sunday dinner, so easy!

Salmon from Costco, baked potatoes, pre-sliced Italian bread from Publix. Cook it all at 400 degrees, put the potatoes in for thirty minutes, then add the salmon, then in the last ten minutes of cooking add the bread wrapped in foil.

cooking beginnings, Favorite Recipes, Recipes

The Pioneer Woman’s Comfort Meatballs Remix

February 20, 2019 No Comments

I’ve made The Pioneer Woman’s comfort meatballs so many times, the binding on my cookbook has broken in that exact spot. They are the boys very favorite type of meatballs, and we make them at least once a month, if not more often. However, over the years I’ve streamlined the recipe so it is faster to put together because I rarely have time to individually cook the meatballs in a skillet before baking them in the oven. Here are some of my favorite tips for making them a little quicker. First, I make the normal meatball recipe, but I leave out the diced onions (food allergies) and add a tsp of garlic powder instead. I then divide the meatballs out onto a nonstick foiled lined pan:

And bake them for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Then, I take them out of the oven and turn the temp down to 350 degrees. While the meatballs are cooking, I make the sauce that goes with the recipe, and line the bottom of the pan with about 1/4 of the sauce:

Once the meatballs have “pre-cooked” I put them on top of the sauce:

Then I add the rest of the sauce on top:

And then I bake them in the 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly, and the meatballs are cooked through. We serve them with mashed potatoes, corn, or sweet potatoes depending on the week. Either way they’re delicious!

Favorite Recipes, How was your weekend?, Learning with A & J, Serious reads

This and That

February 18, 2019 No Comments

This is my Target order haul from the past week:

Since it’s been a pain-ish to get to Target right now, I’ve been adding things to my cart throughout the week and then I order it all at the beginning of the next week. I also may need to stop following so many blogs that I keep discovering new things to try.

J is reading Sarah, Plain, and Tall out loud with his reading group at school and at home to me:

This was one of my favorite books when I was his age, so I love that he’s reading it and that I get to hear it all over again!

My Mom had baby chicks hatch in her classroom this past week, and J really loved them so:

This kiddo has a heart for animals!

On Friday we braved the rain to pick up new baseball equipment for J, and for the boys to spend their Christmas and birthday money at Target:

These are the newest Elite Trainer Pokémon boxes. They were excited about them, I was excited there were two boxes!

This is the salmon sheet pan supper that is so, so easy:

Salmon, asparagus, lemon. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook at 400 degrees until done (about 12-15 minutes).

And finally, this podcast got me intrigued by A Color Story App, which I promptly downloaded and have had fun trying out!

My first in-app purchase was At Home and I love it! It creates amazing filters that look natural, but just a tad brighter, truer, better. I definitely recommend it! Have a great Monday!

cooking beginnings, Favorite Recipes, Recipes

Making pasta

January 23, 2019 No Comments

B gifted me a pasta maker for Christmas, and while I’m still getting the hang of it, it’s alot of fun to test out! Our favorite current recipes are from the fall edition of Magnolia Journal:

The pasta was good, but the sauces were amazing. I’ve got to step-up my pasta skills to match the sauces!

You can get a copy of the Magnolia Journal Fall 2018 here! I highly suggest picking it up, you’ll refer to it again and again!

Favorite Recipes

Hermits

January 8, 2019 No Comments

Don’t ask me how they got their name, because I have no idea. However, these little spiced cookies are my Dad’s favorite and my Nannie (my Dad’s Mom) used to make them every year. Now my Mom makes them, and we have all joined in at one point or another to help make multiple batches of these throughout the holiday season. Even though the holidays are over, you can still make a batch and enjoy the fact that they are slightly healthy because they have raisins.

Hermit Cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp clove
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbs milk
2 large eggs
1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and salt. Set aside.
On medium speed cream shortening for about three minutes.
Add sugar to butter and mix until light and fluffy about 3-4 minutes.
Scrape down the sides and then add in the eggs and milk. Mix until it resembles cottage cheese (so slightly lumpy, but well mixed).
Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. Mix just a little by hand (so it doesn’t puff out when you start the mixer), and then mix on low speed only until blended, then add in raisins and mix.
Divide by scoopfulls onto parchment lined pan.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.
Will keep in an air tight container at room temperature for 5 -7 days. In our house they rarely last that long.