A little bit of Fall

This week I finally decided it was time to pull out all my "Fall" stuff. I honestly don't have much, so it didn't take too long to put everything out.  Most years, I pull my fall decor out at the end of September, but this year I told myself that I wouldn't be in a rush.  This is my favorite season of the year but bringing things out too early and then having to look at it all until after Thanksgiving is just too much for me.  Aside from that, the other "issue" is the fact that my girls like to be naughty and start touching and taking everything down!

That leads to broken stuff and an upset Mommy, which is no fun for anyone! Instead of getting upset, I've come to realize, it's just better not to invest in anything too nice until the kids get a little bigger.  It's a work in progress to teach them how to take care of and be respectful of those kinds of "special" things.  I have to laugh because the first sorta potted plant looking decoration you see in the pic above wasn't actually up on my kitchen counter where you see it until this morning.  It was in my front room on a little table with a little fall tablecloth. Only, a certain little person decided to start biting off the little berries in the hopes they were real or something. Oops!

And speaking of that certain little someone...

Miss Alivia turned 19 months old today!  Don't you just love her crazy hair?  As hard as I try, it's just too hard to keep in under control. Until it grows out, she's pretty much having to rock the baby fro! :)

This morning, since I already had the camera out, I decided to see if I could get a couple of pics of Audrey and Alivia together.  My simple request was "give sissie a hug" but that didn't yield much of anything I could work with.

They both smiled for me individually but the hug part never really worked out.  Take a look for yourself, lol!

My girls sure are characters!

Well, this post turned more into a my girls post but I just thought I'd end it with a really great recipe I love.  I love, love all things pumpkin and now that it's that time of the year for pumpkin everything, you can bet I'll be making me some yummy pumpkin bread.

Sorry for the red container in the background. This is the only pic I could find and it was from Christmas of last year!

I will warn you right now that it has a sinful amount of sugar so if you're trying to be good like me, maybe you can treat yourself and have just a little slice!

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

--3 c. flour                                                                             --1 1/2 tsp. salt

--3 c. sugar                                                                            --2 c. pumpkin puree (not the pie mix)

--2 tsp. baking soda                                                               --1 c. vegetable oil

--2 tsp. cinnamon                                                                   --2/3 c. water

--2 tsp. nutmeg                                                                       --4 eggs

Directions:

Sift together first six (dry) ingredients.  Add remaining ingredients. ( I actually like to mix all the wet ingredients together, separate from the dry and then add that to the dry mix).  Mix together until combined and then divide batter into two separate well greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.  

All ovens are different, so just be sure to keep an eye on the bread towards the end of the baking time to take care not to over cook.  You'll know when it's done when a toothpick comes out clean.  I also find that allowing the bread to sit and rest overnight yields a sweeter and more tasty bread!

It's super easy and SO yummy.  You'll have to give it a try!

A week of yummy recipes: Chicken Pot Pie

Continuing with the yummy recipe theme of the week here on the blog, today's recipe is so, so good and WAY easy!  My MOPS friend Jennifer shared it with us at our MOPS recipe Swap and I've made this for dinner several times over the last few months.  At first the girls weren't too sure about eating a savory type pie since they'd only been used to "sweet" pies but after several times of making it and changing they type of veggies I put in it, it's finally a hit!

I hope you'll try this a see how good it is.  Prior to trying this recipe, I always thought making pot pies had to be hard and complicated.  I was totally wrong!

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

Two large pie shells (Pillsbury ready-made from the dairy case works great!)

1 large can boneless chicken in broth, undrained (for a heartier pie, use two cans chicken, one drained, one undrained...I prefer the two can option...or leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken, etc.

2 or more cups frozen mixed vegetables (do not thaw) I use a mix of carrots, peas, green beans and corn
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp. celery flakes or celery salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
Grated sharp cheddar cheese (1/2 cup or more)  I usually use closer to a cup. We're big cheese lovers over here!


Directions:
Put one crust into pie plate.  Combine chicken and the rest of the ingredients and spoon into crust.  Top with second crust and crimp edge.  I usually find that the best way to make the edges all pretty is to take the top crust and tuck it under the bottom one a bit and then take my finger and crimp the edges together like you normally would the edges to a pie.  Cut slits in top to vent. Beat one egg and brush over top of crust for even browing.  Place foil strip around edge of crust to prevent burning.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes and remove foil about 15 minutes before end of bake time.

Alongside yesterday's recipe for Tater Tot Casserole, this is one of my favorite comfort foods. SO good! :)

A week of yummy recipes: Tater Tot Casserole

Here's another super easy and yummy recipe! I made this last night for dinner for my Hubby and the girls and they loved it.  With things always being so busy, I've found casserole type dishes to be lifesavers!

I originally found this recipe in a cookbook a blog friend named Sue sent me way back when I first started this blog.  I changed the recipe up a bit from the original (since I prefer using ground turkey, instead of beef when I can) and it turned out great!

Tater Tot Casserole



Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey

chopped onion (optional)

1 cup (or more) Cheddar cheese (grated)

1 can cream of chicken soup

milk (fill soup can)

1 bag Tater tots

Directions:

Brown ground turkey in skillet. Add in chopped onions to turkey while browning.  (I just add in a small amount for flavor). Pour into greased 9x13x2 baking dish.  In a small bowl, mix soup with milk and pour over turkey.  Sprinkle with cheese then top with Tater Tots.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.  (The picture above doesn't show this, but I also like to sprinkle a little more cheese (a 1/2 cup or so) on top of casserole in last 15 minutes to make it a little extra cheesier.  (Thanks Amanda, for the tip!)

So yummy!

MOPS Recipe, Day 3...String Pie

Well, this week turned out to be all about birthdays on the blog so I didn't really have a chance until now to post any new recipes, like I had originally hoped I would. Today I thought I'd finally get back on track and share a  new one I tried out last week while I was on a roll in new recipe land!  This week I've been lazy about taking pictures (well, except for the birthday girl) and trying out new recipes too.  Seriously...our weekly staples here are tacos and spaghetti, and we've already covered those bases this week!  I'm such a boring cook and that's why I'm really excited about continuing to try out the new recipes that my girlfriends at MOPS shared a couple of weeks back.

So...speaking of spaghetti.  I know we're not the only house who loves eating spaghetti.  It's fast and easy to make and it involves pasta, something my kids are down to eat any day of the week!  If you eat as much spaghetti as we do, you'd totally agree that it gets really boring after a while and that's why I really like this new recipe my MOPS friend Christina shared.  It's a spin on spaghetti without being it's traditional spaghetti self.  Think of it as spaghetti meets casserole.  I know that sounds kinda weird but it was actually really good!

String Pie 

Ingredients:

*1 pound ground beef (you could totally use turkey instead)

*1/2 cup chopped onion

*1/4 cup chopped green pepper ( I omitted this because my kids aren't big fans of peppers)

*1 jar (15 1/2 ounces) spaghetti sauce

*8 ounces spaghetti cooked and drained ( I just used a handful, and same amount I'd usually use for making regular spaghetti.

*1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

*2 eggs, beaten

*2 teaspoons butter ( I melted mine)

*1 cup cottage cheese

*1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese ( I had to cheat and use what we had on hand...colby jack...and it still turned out yummy!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook beef, onion and green pepper in large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is browned.  Drain fat.  Stir in spaghetti sauce. Combine spaghetti, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and butter in large bowl; mix well.  

Place in bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan. Spread cottage cheese over top; cover with sauce mixture.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake until mixture is thoroughly heated and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.

I served our String Pie with 

a green salad and that's it. Super easy!

Hope you enjoy this recipe and if you end up making it, be sure to let me know what you think!

P.S.  I know Christina will probably not read this but I still wanted to say thanks for passing along the recipe!

MOPS Recipe, Day 2...Chicken Enchilada Casserole

So I really have no clue if these recipe posts will be fun for anyone else but here we go with Day 2.  I made this one last night and didn't have the chance to post it because I didn't make it early in the day like I had with Wren's pork chop recipe I shared here.  In fact, I had to run to the store at the last minute to pick up a couple of things I'd forgotten the last time I'd gone shopping and when I finally made it back with all three girls in tow, let's just say, I had some hungry little people on my hands and only about 30 minutes until I usually like to have dinner on the table. And speaking of that...is there anyone else out there like me who likes to serve dinner at  a specific time every day? Call me crazy for trying to being a stickler to a dinner schedule but I have learned over the years that for my own sanity, I have to serve dinner on or around 6:00 o'clock.  By then, the girls are usually freaking out with hunger which is always strange to me since I usually give them a snack not long after they way up from nap!  Anyways. :)

I usually like to give myself at least a one hour cushion to prepare/cook dinner and coming back from the grocery store late set me back a little.  Thankfully, this recipe was super easy and required almost no time to put together.  The majority of the time it took to make this dish was the baking time and that's pretty much it. Anyhow...I'll go ahead and be quiet now and give you the info on this yummy casserole! My friend Lesley shared it with us at our MOPS recipe swap and it's a recipe she got from a friend of hers, named Robin, who happens to have a fun food blog called Food Finds With Robin!

One last thing I should mention before I get started....beware of my not so wonderful photography skills in the kitchen. Seriously, I did not realize just how hard it was to photograph food. And make it still look appealing.  I promise, it ended up tasting a lot better than it looked!  Moving along.... :)

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients:

*Corn tortillas (18 pack will work fine)

*1 large can of Las Palmas green chile enchilada sauce

*1 bag of shredded cheese (I just shredded my own and used close to 3/4 of a block)

*1.5-2.5 lbs chicken breasts (depends on how many servings you want) (I just used one whole rotisserie chicken and shredded it)

 Optional sides:  sour cream, guacamole, salsa, & tortilla chips

Directions:

*Boil and shred chicken.  (In my case, I just shredded my chicken)

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

*In a casserole dish, pour enough enchilada sauce to coat the bottom of pan.  Then, line with corn tortillas, flipping them over to make sure each side is covered.  (Side note...my SIL suggested to me it would be a good idea to put the tortillas in the microwave for just a few seconds to help soften them up a bit.  I didn't do that this time but I think I may the next time I make this).

*Top with chicken.  Then, layer with cheese.

*Begin a new layer of corn tortillas, top with enchilada sauce, flipping tortillas over and pouring on more enchilada sauce.  Ensure both sides are liberally wet.

*Layer with chicken, then again with cheese.

*Add final layer of tortillas and top with enchilada sauce.  Flip tortillas over, pour more enchilada sauce, again ensuring that both sides are wet.  

*Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

*During last 5-10 minutes, uncover and top with lots of cheese.

And that's it!  Super simple and WAY yummy! 

 I ended up serving it with beans and salad, although you could totally do any other sides you like!  We ended up having my SIL and nephew over and everyone liked it!  The only thing I may change for next time is adding a layer of olives to the top. Yum, yum!

Thanks so much to Lesley for sharing this yummy recipe! I have several more new recipes to try from our recipe swap and even had a friend who's not in MOPS give me a recipe of hers to share on here as well!  I'm thinking that I'll be taking this thing into next week sometime.  Hope that's okay!

Busy Day Porch Chops...Day 1 of recipe fun!

It's gonna be a crazy busy week for us over here, so I decided that this week, despite the busyness, I will make time to blog!  Even if I only have a couple of minutes, I'll be posting tidbits of my day and sharing the progress being made on moving, that sort of thing!  I miss being in the blogging loop when I'm away, so I'm determined I'm gonna make it happen!

Today is the first day of three days this week that Alyssa will be having a t-ball game!  We usually only have two games a week plus a couple of practices, but they've added on some additional games to the schedule to make up for some games we missed a while back due to rain.

One thing I've been learning with this new t-ball schedule is that I have to be even better about planning ahead, especially for dinners and things like that.  We're usually out in the late afternoon and by the time we make it back, it IS dinnertime. I decided this week, it would be a great time to try out some of the new recipes I got at the recipe exchange we had at MOPS the other day.  I also thought it would be fun to share those recipes on here this week too!

So...this morning I set out to make dinner and decided to make the recipe my MOPS leader Wren shared!  I made sure to ask her if I could share her recipe on here and she was sweet enough to say yes! It was super easy and I know the family is gonna love them! Here are the details:

Busy Day Pork Chops

Ingredients:

*pork chops (I used the package of five, thicker cut, boneless pork chops)

*1 cup ketchup

*1/2 cup water

*3/4 cup brown sugar

*1/4 cup lemon juice

Instructions:

Place pork chops in large baking dish.

*I also added some salt, pepper and garlic blend seasoning to the pork chops before pouring on the sauce.

 Mix together rest of ingredients and pour over pork chops.

*I didn't have enough ketchup so I just used what I had.  I think it was close to 3/4 cup instead of the whole cup called for in the recipe. 

Bake at 250 degrees for 2 1/2 to 3 hrs ( I cooked mine for 3 hrs) and this is what mine looked like after baking...

I sampled a little bite and they were good! :)

To  complete the meal, serve with rice and veggies and that's it!  I already made my rice and veggies so now all we have to do is warm everything up when we come back home!  Super easy!!!

Well, I'm off to our game!  Thanks so much Wren, for letting me share the recipe and I'll be back tomorrow with the next recipe! This should be fun! :)

Turtle Treats

Today I thought I'd share how to make some yummy treats I made last week for my nephew's housewarming party!  I'm not really sure what the proper name for these are, actually. All I know is when my sister made them for me for Alyssa's birthday party back in June, she referred to them as "turtles."  If you're a big fan or chocolate/caramel and nuts, then these are for you!  I think they're a fun little addition for a party or a shower!  I'm just gonna call them Turtle treats!

Basically, all you'll need is three ingredients... round butter flavored pretzals, Rollo candies and walnut halves...

First what you'll  need to do is set your oven to 250 degrees.  Then while the oven is pre-heating, arrange your pretzals on a baking sheet covered in wax paper.  Then you take your rollos and put one on each pretzal, just like this...

Once all the rollos are on the pretzals, place them in the oven for about three minutes.  This will allow the rollos to get soft but not melt them completely.  Once the three minutes have passed, carefully take the pan out of the oven and take your walnut halves one at a time and gently push each walnut into the softened rollo. 

Here's what you'll get when you do that...

Continue doing that for as many as you wanted to make and that's it!  I allow mine time to set and that's pretty much all there's to it!

They are so easy to make and SOOOO yummy!

Cream cheese goodness

Today I wanted to finally get to posting the recipe I found for some delicious cream cheese frosting like I mentioned making the other day.  Since I've been obsessed with all things cupcakes lately, last week, I decided to go to TLC's website to check out some videos from the gals from DC Cupcakes.  I rarely get to watch the show when it's on TV, so I thought it would be cool to watch the videos they have on TLC's site.  I was so excited when I watched one of their videos and found that they shared one of the actual recipes they use at their bakery, Georgetown Cupcake.  So cool!  I tried it out the day of our little cupcake party and let me just tell you...it was AWESOME!  It was creamy and delicious and piped on so beautifully...

The girls got to have fun decorating that day, but these were my pride and joy! :)

I tried a different technique this time for the piping and I think it turned out well.  Instead of doing the swirl starting on the outside like I did in my vlog a while back, I started in the middle, squeezed a bunch on, and then made a quick swirl at the top.  I think I'll probably be using this technique from now on!  Anyhow, here's the recipe I just wrote down after watching the video.

Easy Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 c (one stick) unsalted butter

6 oz cream cheese

*4 c sifted confectioner's sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

~Cream butter and cream cheese together on medium-high speed for about a minute until light and smooth.

~ Beat in confectioner's sugar one cup add a time.

~When all the sugar is added in, beat in vanilla.

~Whip together an additional one to two minutes until frosting becomes light and fluffy.

*Please note that when I first wrote this post I accidentally said 6 c sifted powdered sugar.  It was actually supposed to be 4 cups.  So sorry for the typo!

And that's it!  Seriously, it's that simple and it's so, so good!  If you want to go and watch the video yourself, you can go HERE to check it out! 

I also want to mention really quick that in the video, they say you'll need 1/2 a stick of butter, not a 1/2 cup of butter like I mentioned above.  If you bake a lot you'll see that what they showed to be 1/2 stick of butter really looked a lot like a stick of butter which is the equivalent to 1/2 cup of butter.  Also, they mentioned that you need six ounces of cream cheese.  I just used one 8 ounce block like you'd find at your grocery store and it turned out just fine to me.  You'll have to watch the video and decide for yourself what works for you!

Homemade buttercream delciousness!

I decided to try out a new recipe I found HERE for homemade buttercream frosting.  I was a little hestitant about it at first because I wasn't sure how everyone would like the taste compared the the usual whipped cream frosting I use.  Turns out I was worrying for nothing because the cupcakes were a big hit!  I was so happy to hear everyone's reactions and it make me excited to make more cupcakes with buttercream frosting in the future.  Here's what they turned out looking like...

I ended up using the spray on color like I showed in my Friday post.  The finished product didn't turn out exactly what I had initially envisioned but I decided just to go with it and stop being so critical of myself.  I really am my own worst enemy.