Good Stuff

Since I've been home a lot with my Mom, I've been on Pinterest and blog reading a lot. 

I've definitely come up with a few things that I really, really want (hubby-are you reading this???????????) Didn't mean to put that many question marks but my sweet husband spilled Coke in our keyboard so it gets stuck, and I thought it was rather appropriate!  Here's the list of the things I just must have in the near future:

1.  Project Life by Becky Higgins-A simplified scrapbook kit.  I don't have time for those complicated scrapbook layouts anymore.

(copied from Becky Higgins website)

The point is this: You can use Project Life however you want.

I can't emphasize this enough: Project Life is meant to SIMPLIFY the process of memory-keeping. If you use it at the most basic level, you are more likely to succeed in "keeping up" - if that's your goal - and you'll still have an amazing album. For inspiration on keeping it simple, please be sure to see THIS blog post.
Yes, of course you can get creative if you'd like. Many people love adding their own flair with extra embellishments, etc. We love to share inspiration and ideas. In fact, we have a whole Creative Team that is full of talented women who regularly share their amazing Project Life pages. By the way, we'd love to see more from guys and kids - trust me!
However you make this system work for you, the Core Kit has everything you need: The title cards are intended to label your layouts. The journaling cards allow you to write notes & memories to accompany your photos. The bi-fold cards are for when you have more to write. The filler cards are designed to be placed in the 3x4 pocket where you don't have a journaling card. The arrow stickers and day + number stickers are all included to label and identify journaling that accompanies the photos.

Keep it simple or get creative or maybe a little of both. This is your life, your style, your approach... your Project Life.

2.  Erin Condren planner

3.  Urban Decay - Naked Palette II - the first Naked Palette was the single best palette of eyeshadow I have ever used in my life!  I cannot wait to see this next palette of colors!

I've also found a great etsy site with the cutest home decor products....jennasuedesign.etsy.com. - Adorable!

Also this site on Etsy-Oldnewagain

You can customize your state!

I also found a great smoothie recipe for the boys smoothies in the morning.  We have to very careful what the oldest drinks before school in the morning since he has off-season football first hour.  We don't want to encourage any first hour puking while running.  This smoothie works out great because it's filling but also on the light side.

Oatmeal Smoothie-PreventionRD.com

1 cup ice

1 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 plain 0% Fage Greek yogurt

1/2 cup instant oatmeal

1 banana

1 tbsp honey

1 cup of milk, we use 2%

260 calories, 2 g fat, 51.5g carbs, 7.5g fiber, 12.5 protein

Coconut Curry Chicken - New Favorite!, Visits and Fishing

I found a new favorite recipe on allrecipes.com last week and tried it for the first time this evening. 

Let me tell you - it is soooo good! And surprisingly so simple! 

Here's the recipe-you have to try it tomorrow!

Coconut Curry Chicken
Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil and curry powder in a large skillet over medium-high heat for two minutes. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken, tossing lightly to coat with curry oil.

3.  Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.                                                                                                                                  4.  Pour coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar into the pan, and stir to combine. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes.               

I had to find something quick to make because we have been fishing fools lately!  Small Fry is really on the fishing kick!

My brother came to town last weekend because he had a business meeting here (he lives in Atlanta). 

 My big brother, me and our Momma (with her life alert necklace-stylin'!)

My brother with the posing baby Boxer

 When he was here, he bought the boys an airsoft gun and fishing tackle, lures, and bait.  They were so excited.

We went to our favorite neighborhood, my dream neighborhood, which is a planned community with a huge man-made lake stocked with a ton of fish.  The first time we cast into the lake, a huge fish, hooked on and broke the 30 lb. line.  That means it was a huge fish!

 The lake even had a beach for me to sit on!

 The sand was a little hot in 104 degree heat!  Had to use my sandals as heat padding.

 The boys over by the rocks fishing their hearts away.

 After an hour and a half of 104 degree heat, this is what I think.

 But originally, this was my happy face.

 One of the big fish they caught.  It was sandy 'cause it flopped around after they unhooked it.  Then we threw it back in.

 Small Fry waiting on the big one!

Tater Tot with one of the big ones!

The Best Sliders!

I saw this recipe for slider style burgers on allrecipes.com the other day and knew my crew would just love it!  I'm not a huge hamburger fan, but these really surprised me.  They are full of flavor and very filling.  I think next time, I'm going to half the recipe for our family of four.

Enjoy!

French Onion Sliders (allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
1 (1.25 ounce) envelope onion soup mix
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
24 dinner rolls, split
1/2 cup sliced pickles (optional)

Directions
1.Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

2.Mix together the ground beef and onion soup mix in a large skillet; cook and stir over medium-high heat until the beef is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain and discard any excess grease. Remove from heat. Stir the mayonnaise and Cheddar cheese into the ground beef mixture.

3.Lay the bottoms of the dinner rolls on the prepared baking sheet. Spread the cheese and beef mixture on the bottom half of each roll. Replace the tops. Cover with another sheet of aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray.

4.Bake in the preheated oven until the burgers are heated through and cheese melts, about 30 minutes. Serve with sliced pickles.

Day At The Doctor

This morning when we woke up it was actually stormy looking outside.  I was so excited considering it hasn't rained here in weeks.  I drove the boys to the bus stop and let them sit in the car while it started sprinkling, then when they got on the school bus, the skies opened up.  I loved it!  I actually went back to the house and laid down for a little while with the dogs.  There is nothing like taking a nap when its thundering and pouring rain.  After my little nap, I got ready and took my Momma into the big city for a doctor's appointment.  She fell and broke her shoulder last November while visiting Ireland with my sister (yes, it was very stressful).  She's been having problems with it since then and needed to have another x-ray.  Thankfully the doctor said it was looking good.  Anyway, it was pouring outside and I just didn't want my Mom driving on the highway in those conditions.  It makes me worry that she's now in her seventies and doesn't get around as well as she used to.  She needs me to help her sometimes and I'm glad to do it.  It's one reason why I think I might just look for a part-time job while the boys are in school.  I think from now on, I'm going to have to help with my Mom more.  It just doesn't feel comfortable with her doing some things by herself.  I guess I'm now in that generation that's taking care of their widowed parents.  That's ok, she's done plenty for me and my boys!  It was nice to be able to talk to the doctor with her just for my piece of mind.

When my Mom and I got home, I had to pick up the boys and take Tater Tot's bike with us to the local bike shop.  He loves to jump curbs and little ramps with the bike his Dad bought him but he pops the tube in the tire when he does that.  This is the second tube we've replaced.  I really can't say anything though because I remember being a little girl and loving to ride my bike and jump curbs.  I think he came by it naturally. 

The weather cleared up in the afternoon and the high temperature today was 84 degrees.  It felt like Fall it was so cool after 115 degree heat indexes the past couple of weeks. Crazy!

I made the best dinner tonight.  I had found pork steaks on sale at the store for $1.99/lb. and thought of the Chili Verde that I love to order at our little Mexican restaurant in town.  I found a jar of Chili Verde salsa in the Mexican aisle and hoped that was the same Chili Verde they used. This morning, I put the steaks in the crockpot with the salsa and about a cup of water, cooked on High for about 8 hours and it was the best thing I've ever eaten.  I served it with white rice but flour tortillas would have been yummy too.  There's nothing like a super simple crockpot recipe.  You have to try it!

Wordy Wednesday

It's been an interesting week so far.  We've had one kid, Small Fry, home sick on Monday with a stomach virus.  I had to stay home from work for that one, but actually got a lot of work done around the house during the quiet time when Small Fry was just laying around.

On Tuesday, he went back to school and felt much better.  So good in fact that we decided to stick with our menu plan and make chicken enchiladas.  I had grabbed a large can of Las Palmas red enchilada sauce at Wal-mart on a whim. I'd never used it but decided it looked good enough to try.  I looked up a recipe for chicken enchiladas on the Las Palmas website.  The only addition I made was to mix a can of cream of chicken soup with the enchilada sauce.  I thought it would stretch the sauce and make it just a little thicker. I actually had about a 1/4 of the can left that I didn't use.  The recipe turned out so good!  We will definitely be eating this recipe again.  It's going in the rotation of our favorite meals.  I think next time, I'll serve Rice-a-Roni Spanish rice on the side and maybe some homemade guacamole. 

Laspalmassauce.com - great site for enchiladas

Yummy chicken enchiladas- some without cheese for low-fat version

This morning when the boys got up, guess who thought he should stay home because his brother was sick and got to stay home??? Yes, that would be older brother, AKA, Tater Tot.  You have to love brothers...what do women with 5 or 6 kids do? I have no idea because it's hard enough getting two boys to feel good everyday and go to school.  I always worry when one of them is sick because the other thinks he's sick too.  And usually, on the day they get to stay home, the 3:00 o'clock elixer hits and when all of their buddies are getting off the bus and going out to play after school, they forget they're sick at all.  Of course, I never acted sick to stay home and watch TV all day. Never, not me.

On the diet front, that's the perma-diet that I always seem to be on, we are doing really well.  Mr. Hautemama and I have been trying to watch everything we eat.  We've cut back on portions and stopped all of the mindless snacking.  It seems to be working, Mr. H has lost twenty pounds since Christmas (don't you just hate guys) - HA!  I've lost 16 pounds since the first of December.  For a couple of weeks, I'd been losing and gaining the same 3 pounds but Monday night, I lost 4 pounds overnight.  I have no idea what I did except try to drink a ton of water. 

I did find a great yogurt that I hadn't tried before - Yoplait Lite and Fit.  It's so good and only 60 calories. I had been buying Wal-mart's generic yogurt but it's 120 calories.  The Lite and Fit is half that!

Tonight was leftover night so Mr. H decided we needed to go out to eat.  We went to Mazzio's to have their salad bar.  It's the pizza place in town and it's the best salad bar in town.  That's really not saying much since we live in such a small town, but it's all we've got here.  The boys get tired of Mazzio's but it's cheap and yummy!

(Photos courtesy of google images)

We're spending the rest of the night watching the Olympics.  The boys are excited to see Shaun White snowboard.  I think Tater Tot loves him because he's a red head just like him.  The Flying Tomato - what a cute nickname!

The Best Enchiladas Ever!

I'm getting ready to share the easiest, yummiest enchilada recipe ever. We have been making this dish in our family for 40 years...for the record, that's before I was born.

The back story goes like this:

My Uncle Hugh and Aunt Novella moved to Riudoso, New Mexico for Uncle Hugh's new job in the oil field in the 60's. Those were the days before Mexican restaurants on every corner, especially in Oklahoma. Those were also the days when people moved and didn't travel back to see family a lot. Well, when Uncle Hugh was transferred back to Cushing, Oklahoma (the oil pipeline crossroads of the world) the whole family got together for a big party. They had been gone for about 4 years and everyone was so excited to see them. My Mom always told me that all of the family members thought Aunt Novella was so cultured after getting the chance to live in New Mexico. It seemed like another world. Aunt Novella wanted to make a dish for the party, so of course she made a Mexican dish - Green Enchiladas. It was an instant hit! For people used to eating chicken fried steak and fried chicken, enchiladas were so adventurous.

Here's the recipe:

2 lbs. ground chuck

2 tbsp. Dried Oregano

2 small cans diced green chilis

3 cans cream of celery soup

1 package burrito sized flour tortillas

lettuce-shredded

tomato - chopped

onion-chopped

shredded cheddar cheese

salsa

guacamole

sour cream (optional)

Brown ground chuck in a skillet. When meat is almost browned completely, sprinkle in dried oregano. In a separate saucepan, combine cream of celery soup, green chilis and 1/4 cup water. Heat just until warm and combined well. Spray casserole dish (large size) with cooking spray. Fill each flour tortilla with meat mixture and roll into an enchilada. Fill casserole dish with rolled tortillas, then spread soup mixture on top of the tortillas. Sprinkle top of enchiladas with desired amount of cheese. The more cheese, the merrier. Bake until sauce is bubbly, approx. 30 minutes at 350 degrees. We serve one or two enchiladas, topped with the desired veggies and salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Yum!

I usually serve this dish with Spanish rice (usually Rice-a-Roni). It's the perfect meal!