Breathtaking

This started off as a facebook post, but it kept getting longer and longer. So I decided to resurrect the blog. Its only been almost a year...and instead of going to bed as I've been wanting to since I woke up, I decided to spend an hour after my kids have gone to bed writing.

A friend shared a link on Facebook:

http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/164477/dad_takes_breathtaking_video_of

When I clicked this link and started watching, I was thinking in my head, "Breathtaking? What is breathtaking about a baby born premature? Breathtaking is something beautiful, premature births are sad." And yes while premature births are sad, it is beautiful to see the joy on the mother's face, beautiful to see how this teeny baby gets stronger.

And somehow, that made me think about how breathtaking my life is.

I have an amazing husband. I have a worthy priesthood holder in my life (several actually) who does everything he can to take care of our beautiful family. He is the most loving, caring, wonderful father I could ever ask for. And I don't say that enough. Through this deployment I've realized what it really means to have a better half, and I'm so crazy excited to be whole again. I'm so overcome with emotion to see our family reunited, and I'm so anxious to see the love that know exists between Michael and Emily, even though they've not met yet. AND I'm so excited to see how happy Amelia will be when she sees her daddy again, especially now that she can talk!

Speaking of my daughters, I have two, absolutely beautiful, strong, and spiritual daughters. For whom my love grows every day. I'm reminded everyday of how incredibly lucky I am to have these little firecrackers in my life.

Amelia, who is truly the most...joyful person in my life. She makes me smile every day, no matter how much of a toddler she's being. She is so polite and thoughtful, that it just boggles my mind. I was always worried about how she was going to learn how to be a kid. What if I didn't teach her properly and she's a bully, or can't speak, or just is a terrible kid. But I guess I'm doing something right because she amazes me every single day with how smart and imaginative she is. She reminds me how important it is to laugh and smile. And I absolutely love her more every day.

Emily, though only 3 months old, lights up the room wherever she is. She is so happy, and so cute and chubby, and so amazing, that I just can't stand it. I cannot express fully enough how much joy she brings me. And to think how terrified I was the day she was born. Terrified my husband wasn't there. Terrified that I had a toddler who really didn't yet understand anything about being a big sister. Terrifed that I couldn't handle two kids "alone".

But I wasn't truly alone. Not only did I have the rest of my family, which truly has been a blessing, Michael was still with me in heart and mind. Which brings me to something else I've been meaning to do.

Thank you family. Thank you mom and dad for letting me and my (awesome) kids live with you for the last 7 months. Thank you for putting up with your house being  constant reminder a toddler lives here. And thank you for being here for me.  I could not have done this deployment without you.

Thank you to my sister Jennilee. She has been just as much help, peace of mind, my rock, anything you can think. Thank you for helping with Amelia when I was about to pull my hair out when I was super pregnant. Thank you for being here for me when I needed advice and love and comfort, and just someone to complain to.

I'm grateful for my other siblings as well, Nicole, Kevin and Caitlin. I haven't spent as much time with you as I should, but I'm so glad now that we're all "grown up", that we have the relationships we do. I hope that while we move apart we continue to grow closer together.

Gah! I'm sorry this turned out to be so long, but I was feeling a little ungrateful today. Then when I walked in the door after not seeing Amelia for a good 8 hrs, she said "Mommy! I miss you!" And she warmed my heart and filled my soul with delight. So I decided to share my happiness with the world!

Our family is soon to be reunited. And I couldn't be more thrilled.

Because my life, is breathtaking, and I love every minute of it.

Hear me Roar!

Today. I am ranting. And raving.

 Probably not exclusively, but that's how we're starting this off.

About what you ask?

Pinterest. Soooo many things that drive me nuts about that confounded website.

1. And I think that there needs to be a law, or something to fix this. At least I really wish that my antivirus and junk would take care of this. Today it happened again and it really just ticked me off. Several times, and I know I'm not alone, I have been surfing on there and all of the sudden...BAM!! Some jack wagon posted their nasty fetish in the middle of the crafts category.

You get my point, right? I don't want to look at that crap. I understand why Pinterest can't filter it out, because they allow you to upload pins from ANYWHERE, but seriously. They need to get on that. We don't need to see that garbage. Nor does anyon's children.

Some days I really hate the internet. I really hope that it becomes a little less relied on when my children are old enough to use it.

I'm about to go on a "When I was your age rant" here so hang on.

You all know how it was though, back in middle school and high school. We still used these things called libraries. Google was still new. You didn't do research on the internet (well not exclusively). I still used an encyclopedia. And a dictionary. A real one. Not urban dictionary. Not Google.

But now our kids can be surfing the web looking for stuff for school and outta nowhere they're hit with pornographic images.

Yes, yes I know, there are filters and parental blocks and yada yada yada.

I know. I have them on my computer.

But that didn't stop some jerk from making it visible to everyone!

So if you don't know the importance of protecting your children from psychopaths and pedophiles. Learn about all the ways to stop it.

Set up as extreme of controls and parental blocks on your computer. The church speaks very strongly about protecting our families from these attacks.

Here is an excellent talk that I hope inspires you to persevere in the fight to protect our children.
It's by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, and it's awesome.

Preventing and recognizing an Addiction

I don't expect you to watch the video, but here are the highlights from it:
Steps You Can Take Now

• Prevent
• Recognize
• Overcome
• Support

Preventing an Addiction

President Thomas S. Monson offers three specific steps we can implement to battle pornography.

1. Return to Righteousness. An understanding of who we are and what God expects us to become will prompt us to pray. We can yet be guided by that still, small voice.
2. A Quest for the Good Life. He speaks not of the fun life, the sophisticated life, the popular life. Rather, he urges each to seek eternal life—life everlasting with mother, father, brothers, sisters, husband, wife, sons, and daughters, forever together.
3. A Pledge to Win the War. As we encounter pornography, let our battle standard and that of our communities be taken from that famous ensign of early America, “Don't tread on me.”

Recognizing an Addiction

Though you may already recognize that pornography is a part of your life, the questions in the article “Is My Pornography Use a Problem?” may help you determine whether it is time for you to seek help. If you answer yes to any of the questions or if you are troubled by other pornography-related thoughts or behaviors, you may benefit from discussing your pornography use with your parents, your bishop, or a professional counselor.

Overcoming an Addiction

Pornography use thrives in secrecy. To overcome one's use of pornography or involvement with other immoral behaviors, one should discuss these problems openly with appropriate priesthood leaders. Here are some suggestions that may help.

1. Disrupt the Cycle of Pornography Use. When attempting to overcome pornography use, find something to take its place; otherwise, you may be tempted to engage in other unacceptable behaviors to fill the void.
2. Control Thoughts. The First Presidency issued this statement: “We remind you of scriptures that make clear the relationship between one's thoughts and actions (see Matthew 15:19; Mosiah 4:29–30; Alma 12:14; 3 Nephi 12:28; D&C 121:45).” As thoughts are kept clean and pure, the temptation to view pornography will decrease. Any desire to use will diminish.
3. Stop Rationalizing. Replace rationalizations with true statements such as “I know that I am hurting myself, my spouse, my family, my relationship with the Lord and His Church, and my spiritual well-being every time I choose to indulge in pornography.”
4. Study and Apply Gospel Principles. A deeper understanding of gospel principles will help to overcome the use of pornography. Important topics to study include faith in Jesus Christ, the Atonement, repentance, and forgiveness.
5. Fully Disclose the Problem. Be completely honest and open when discussing pornography use with your bishop. A forthright confession will help the bishop understand the extent and seriousness of the problem and how he can best help.

Involving Others for Support

As those struggling with pornography work to recover, seeking necessary support from others, they will also benefit from the sources listed below.

1. Family Members. Family members can most effectively be a source of support by offering love and acceptance and by applying the same treatment steps to their own lives.
2. Recovery Meetings. In these meetings, newcomers hear participants describe how they apply recovery principles and practices in daily living.
3. Professional Counselors. When seeking professional help, it is important to select someone who is supportive of gospel principles as well as recovery methods consistent with those taught in the Addiction Recovery Program.
4. Ecclesiastical Support. Never forget or underestimate the power of ecclesiastical stewardship.
5. A Support Person. A support person helps those in recovery put their “lives into perspective and avoid exaggerating or minimizing [their] accountability” (Guide, 29).

I would apologize for babbling on about this one topic for so long. But I feel very strongly about it, and I hope none of you shrug it off. It can happen to your family, or a friend. And every time you log into Facebook or Pinterest, you are opening your computer to a slew of attacks from these crazies.

It's sad, but you can't give back the innocence of a child. You can't take back them seeing a harsh image. You can only protect them. You need to protect them.



Item numero dos.

I really. I mean really, HATE all of the "thinspiration" crap floating around out there. It is sending such a bad message to our youth, even to ourselves.

Every time I get on Pinterest, I see these sickly thin girls all over. With captions of "this is hands down the best work out ever" or "I would die to have this body". Well chances are, the things you would have to do to get it, will get you closer to that promise.

I'm not saying everything on there is bad, but there is a limit.

You don't have to be stick thin to be beautiful. Or healthy. Or in shape. Or anything.

I'm throwing this all out here, because I think people need to know the reality of being in shape.

When Michael and I got married, I weighed a whopping 125 lbs. I was itty bitty. Then I gained five pounds...and then ten.

And then when I found out I was pregnant with Amelia, I weighed about 140.

That's not bad.

By the end of my pregnancy, I had gained almost 60 pounds. I weighed in at 196 pounds. Yikes.

But hey, growing a human being is hard work. Men- I'd like to see your excuse.

After Amelia was born, I had a goal that I would lose all of that baby weight, and be back to 140 in three months.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Some of you can do it, and I applaud you. Congratu-frickin-lations. It's awesome. More power to ya.

Over a year later and I'm still about 15 lbs shy of that goal.

But let me tell you something. I am healthy. My baby is healthy. I have been able to nurse my beautiful daughter for her entire life thus far. And I am beautiful.

And Michael will tell you that my boobs are ah-mazing. Because, well they are.

Anyways. I think I may have lost what I was trying to say.

My point is, am I in shape? No, I do not have a 6-pack, nor do I have a desire to have one. But I am not un-healthy.

I look gooooood. And you better believe it. :)

So screw you Pinterest. And pinners. For making people who are perfectly healthy feel bad about themselves.

We as women, are all beautiful. In our own ways, with our own talents, and features, and personalities.



Moral of the story. Beware the internet. I know we've been warned time and again. But seriously. Take care of it.

Side note- when you are Walmart, or any store for that matter. If your kid is cute enough, and mine is. You can get away with anything.

Such as accidentally cutting someone off when coming out of an aisle.

Or reaching the car, and realizing that your kid has "accidentally" snuck stuff into your purse. And then having to go back inside to pay for it.

People just smile and laugh and try to get your adorable kid to interact with them. However, while she may not understand what is going on, she will high five you and blow you kisses to charm your pants off.

Fin.

Emergency Preparedness featuring Recipes Galore!

Okay, so clearly this blogging every day thing is not working out. So I am resolved to at least once a week, if we're lucky, twice. So I'm sorry I got your hopes up! Next time you'll know better than to trust me :) So let's just make a new pact. I promise not to promise any more blogs on a certain schedule, and you promise not to be annoyed when I don't write one for a week. But let's face it, the only people checking regularly to see if I've written, are my family. They're obligated :) love you guys!

So my good blogging buddy Heather, has an amazing blog about budget-conscious, green living. It is fabulous and if you've ever been curious about going green, or just making an effort to better your family living style, you need to check it out.

http://moderatelycrunchy.blogspot.com/

 



This past week (okay I'm a little behind on the blogging), in light of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, many people can attest to the importance of being prepared for natural disasters. Unfortunately too many of us aren't ready. We think we are, but most of us have never been affected by hurricanes or earthquakes. For which we can most certainly be grateful, but you should never risk your family's safety and well-being by not being prepared for disasters.

Heather has written several well thought out blogs on the importance of being prepared. I love all of it, because it gives you a place to start. I think that's the problem for many of us, we just don't know where to start. Thanks to Heather's awesomeness, Michael and I have have decided to work on our 72 hour emergency kits. We are incredibly lucky that in the almost 2 years we've lived in South Carolina, that we haven't been hit by the massive hurricanes that have reeked havoc on our nation. I feel a fool to not be as prepared as I know I should be. Without further ado, I present you the links to
getting your family prepared for the emergencies.

Essential 72 hour kit
  I think all of us have heard of a 72 hour kit, but what do you put in it? I think you can leave your blow dryer at home, but did you bring clean undies?
The 10 things you need in your car
  Everybody should have an emergency kit in your car, you never know where you'll be when disaster strikes, and you may not be home to load up! The only thing I would add to this collection, is a first aid kit. You should always be ready for injuries.
Emergency Identification Cards
  I am so very glad that she included this quick tutorial for Identification cards. Heaven forbid you get separated from your loved ones, while you may know your phone number and where your family is, your little ones may not. I feel that this is a crucial piece of emergency preparedness! Do not dismiss it!

Please take the time to go over these important issues with your family. Sit down and make a plan. Make sure everyone knows the plan.

Also, when you're all caught up on emergency situations, check back with Heather from time to time! She has excellent tutorials, discussions on important topics, and the occasional give away!

Onto the food!

Well I've been...pretty good about my menu. Except for not. Well kind of. I've only missed 3 of the meals since the beginning of the month. And they're not even awesome recipes. They were all easy, fast dinners, that I substituted with leftovers and pizza. I think that's a good solution.

I attempted to make these pizza stuffed garlic rolls that I found on the Pillsbury website. But I could not, for the life of me, find the type of rolls that the "recipe" suggested. So basically I ended up making mini pizzas on rolls. I really don't think I need to provide you with a recipe for that, but since I'm a week behind, I'll do it anyways! Secondly, these are not a meal, they are more of a snack.

Pizza Stuffed Garlic Rolls

          2  frozen garlic dinner rolls (from 13.3-oz bag)                                           

4  teaspoons pizza sauce                                     

6  small slices pepperoni (about 1/3 oz)                                     

2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese

1.Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 2 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray. Place rolls on cutting board; let stand 10 to 15 minutes to thaw.

 

2. Make a horizontal slice in side of each roll, cutting almost all the way through and making a pocket, but leaving attached 3/4 of the way around. Spoon 2 teaspoons pizza sauce into pocket in each roll. Place 3 slices pepperoni over sauce in each roll; carefully spoon 1 tablespoon cheese into each. Place in muffin cups; press gently to close.

 

3. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm.

 

So I didn't make these proportions, I made the whole bag of rolls, and we had them for lunch.

 

                                   and they looked like this :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, Michael made enchiladas. I am not the chef when it comes to Mexican food, or meatloaf. However I can make meatballs just fine, I'm not sure why I can't successfully make a meatloaf while following a recipe, but I can make meatballs without one just fine.

 

Speaking of meatballs, I happen to have a recipe for ya, because I had to vary slightly due to bad hamburger. I had defrosted my Italian sausage and my hamburger, and when I went to make my meatballs, the hamburger was nasty. So instead I made just Italian meatballs.  They turned out pretty darn good, but I think I like using both hamburger and sausage because its not as strong.

 

So here is the recipe for the meatballs I made this week,

 

Italian Sausage meatballs  

 

Ingredients

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1 lb ground Italian sausage ( I used Johnsonville

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a large bowl, combine the egg, bread crumbs, KRAFT Grated Parmesan cheese, milk and onion
• Add sausage to the bread crumb mixture and mix well
• Shape into 20 meatballs; arrange on a shallow baking pan.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through (160°F).
• Serve with your favorite sauce and spaghetti or as meatballs for subs!

Here is the recipe for the sauce I made to accompany our fabulous meatball subs, which for once is of my own doing!

 

2 - 8 oz cans tomato sauce

3 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp paprika

dash of cayenne pepper

 

Add all ingredients into pot, simmer on low-medium heat, stirring frequently.

 

We also use this sauce recipe for pizza :)

 

One more recipe and I promise that is all the recipes for tonight!

 

Today I made two dinners. Well kind of. Last night, Michael made meatloaf at 10:00 pm. Today I made roasted potatoes and green beans. It was a good joint effort for lunch today :)

 

For the real dinner I made Potato Corn Chowder, and it was friggin delicious!

 

This is definitely not my picture, I mean mine looked good, but not this good! This picture is courtesy of our good friends at pillsbury.com, and you can find this recipe here- Potato Corn Chowder

3 unpeeled medium red potatoes (3/4 lb), cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 ½ cups Progresso® chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

¾ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

               pinch ground red pepper (cayenne)

¾ cup Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ Niblets® frozen corn

2 tablespoons chopped roasted red bell pepper (from a jar), well drained

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ cup milk

½ cup shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese (2 oz)

1/3 cup Yoplait® Greek Fat Free plain yogurt (from a 6-oz container)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 medium green onions, finely chopped (2 tablespoons)

2 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled

                                          

1 In 2-quart saucepan, place potatoes. Add water just to cover. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Cover and boil gently (simmer) about 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. Drain. Reserve 1/2 cp potatoes; return remaining potatoes to saucepan. In small bowl, mash reserved potatoes with fork.

 

2 Stir reserved mashed potatoes back into remaining potatoes in saucepan, along with broth, sugar, garlic salt, pepper, ground red pepper, corn and roasted red bell pepper. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

 3 In small bowl, stir flour into milk with whisk until well mixed; stir into potato mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and boils. Stir in cheese until melted. Remove from heat; stir in yogurt, cilantro and green onions. Serve topped with bacon and, if desired, additional green onions.

 

The only changes I would suggest, is using a low sodium broth, because this recipe is crazy high in sodium. Gotta keep those families healthy!

 

 

I can't leave out crochet corner! Just kidding, I feel like such a granny saying that. You can ignore the sardonic implications here, it's 11:00...a little past my bedtime.

 

This week I'm working on a blanket, just for kicks and giggles. I decided I needed a project to utilize my extra yarn. And boy, do I have extra yarn. I could probably clothe a small village with all the leftover yarn I have.

 

The pattern I'm using is called the Wooleater Blanket.

It can be found here:Wooleater blanket pattern

 

It is a great pattern for even beginners!

 

 

 

Alright well I've left you with a little bit of everything! I hope you really do check our Heather's blog!

 

Captain's Log Stardate -310159.3630464481

So I know I already failed at blogging everyday this month, as I missed yesterday. However I have a good reason. I was really tired. And I didn't make dinner. I was going to. I really was. So I didn't even have anything good to blog about. So really I did you a favor by not posting about boring junk.

Good news though. You're reading this because I tricked you with my really cool post title. Or you actually like me and enjoy reading this. Either way, thank you.

Today I will not be cooking dinner either. We are going to one of Mike's friends' houses...cool story huh?

But I am leaving you with a recipe. I am currently making buckeye brownies. Which is like a buckeye bar, but with brownies underneath. Genius right? And if you've never had a buckeye bar, you probably should because they are the bomb. Except for you Nicole....and anyone else allergic to peanuts...or awesomeness.

As usual, this recipe did not come from my own recipe box. But it came from Susie QT Pies Scrap of Life Blog, found at this link here :) go ahead click on me!

Buckeye Brownies, from Almost Homemade cookbook, submitted by Heather Prentice of Mars, PA

19-1/2 oz. pkg. brownie mix
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. plus 6 Tablespoons butter, softened and divided
8-oz. jar creamy peanut butter (yes 1 cup or 8 oz not 18 oz)
6-oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

 

 

 

Prepare and bake brownie mix in a greased 13"x9" baking pan according to package directions. Let cool. Mix powdered sugar, 1/2 cup butter and peanut butter. Mix well and spread over cooled brownies. Chill for one hour. Melt together chocolate chips and remaining butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Spread over brownies. Let cool; cut into squares. Makes 2 to 3 dozen.

 

 

 

 

 

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

 

 

OH! I owe two days of thankfuls.

 

Day 2:

Yesterday I was thankful for the scriptures. Well I'm thankful for those every day, but yesterday I had the opportunity to attend an Institute class. Which is like bible study. And it's really awesome. We are very lucky and have an awesome teacher, Elder Benedict. Who is currently serving a mission in the Charleston Area with his wife. They are pretty cool people. Anyways. Yesterday we were studying in the Book of Matthew about Jesus ministering to the multitude. The particular story was where he feeds the five thousand with 5 loaves of bread and two fish. I mean come on. That's ridiculously cool. When was the last time you fed that many people, period?

 

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to study the scriptures and strengthen my testimony with it's teachings. We are so blessed to have these records in the world and learn what they have to offer.

 

Day 3:

Today I am grateful for a clean house! Well mostly clean house :) I cleaned my kitchen. Which my husband is about to make dirty by cleaning his guns in it. Awesome. Let's put it a different way, I am grateful that I am able to clean my house. I have been sick for several weeks now, and am finally feeling better! I haven't done anything in quite a while, so it was nice to feel productive!

Honey Mustard Chicken served with a side of Thankfulness

Okay so I am thus far staying true to giving you a recipe every day for the month of November! Woohoo! Go me! One day down....twenty-nine to go!

So I was really excited to try this recipe. One reason being, several years ago, when we lived in Pocatello, my Uncle Dan made this really delicious honey mustard chicken. Now me, not being anywhere close to quality of chefsmanship (yes, I made that up) that he is, knew that my chicken would not be nearly as good.

Anyways...I'm following my recipe...and I make this honey mustard sauce. I'm about to slather my chicken in it, and I stop and think to myself, "I should probably try this first, before I go ruining perfectly good chicken." Oh man. I am so glad I did. That sauce was possibly the worst thing I've made to date.

 No I take that back, I can think of two dishes that have been pretty awful. First was this greek skillet supper that I made, it had feta cheese, tomato sauce and cinnamon. Cinnamon. You heard right. Not only did it have unappetizing appearance of vomit, but it had the unfortunate luck to smell like it also. Numero dos. Last night's dinner was pretty bad. However I take no responsibility in it. The chicken, which I did make on my own, was delicious. The pasta sauce junk that came out of a can. Not so much. I decided to try one of those new, "Progresso" Recipe Starters, thinking that I couldn't go wrong. Well apparently I went way wrong. I mean I don't see how I could have screwed it up. I opened the can, emptied the contents into the pot. That's it. Nothing else had to be done. I used the roasted garlic alfredo. I think it could have been good. If I had used it for its intended purpose. But I mean come on. It's sauce. It should be good if you put it over pasta, or if you make a pot pie (like the can suggests). Well this "sauce", was crazy pungent. I like garlic. I mean I looooove garlic. It pretty much goes in and on everything I make. But this stuff had Edward Cullen running. It was so strong and just overpowering that I made the entire dish inedible. It didn't even taste bad. It just didn't taste good.

I digress. Just so you know what NOT to make, I have included a handy dandy picture and the recipe that is a culinary disaster.

So if your honey mustard sauce looks like this...just toss it.
Save your tastebuds.

1-3/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons stone ground mustard (with seeds)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup Panko Crispy Bread crumbs (Italian Style)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, stir together honey, mustard, vinegar and sour cream. In a second large shallow bowl, add Panko bread crumbs.

Swirl your chicken breasts on both sides in the honey mustard mixture. Leave sit in the mixture for a couple of seconds. Dip in the breading mixture coating both sides well.


I'm not entirely sure what is wrong with this recipe, other than the fact that it tastes like garbage. So not knowing where to start, I googled several different recipes and they all said pretty much the same things. Equal parts honey and prepared mustard. Well...the only prepared mustard I have, is spicy brown. Which is yummy. So I used that. 

1/2 c honey
1/4 spicy brown mustard
1 tbsp ground mustard

Mix well, drown chicken in sauce. It should look something like this >>>>>>>

Now here's where I went wrong. I took from the original recipe, the idea of using the panko bread crumbs. I have never used these so called panko bread crumbs in my life. I followed the forbidden recipe, and just coated the chicken after I had thoroughly drenched it in honey mustard sauce. Threw it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

This is pre-baking.









It came out kind of crispy. but only on the edges. the rest of it was just a soggy mess. So if you know how to bake with panko bread crumbs, go for it! I think you need to pan sear it or something first to get it nice and crispy and then bake it.

Anywho... mine came out looking like this...basically the same as before baked, just with a little more brown to it. Not bad. But not entirely appetizing. I scraped off the soggy bread crumbs and the chicken was actually pretty good. I got an approval from the husband, who so it was pretty frickin' good. Which is like 3 Michelin stars from him.






In another part of my November Menu Plan, for once I have included sides on my whole menu. Which doesn't happen very often. So tonight's side dish was some good ol' rustic garlic mashed potatoes. I would share a recipe, but I don't really have one. I always just wing it. I can try to tell you what I did....but it might not help.

So...you cut up some potaters. Oh you should probably warsh em' first. I didn't peel mine, because I used baby reds. Right right, so ya cut em up. Boil em in some salted water for about 20 minutes. Drain and return to pan.

Pour a bit o' milk in there, maybe a half cup. Add half a stick o' butter. Tonight I used about a dollop of Daisy. Yeah I said it! Now you have the Daisy jingle stuck in your head. Mwah ha ha ha ha. And season with some garlic, pepper, salt...etc. 

Oh don't forget the mashin' part. That's kind of the key part in mashed taters.

Well. That's all for this evening's dinner service. Hope you enjoyed this segment of Dinner Disasters.



Alright. So I have issued myself a new challenge. And I would love for any who wish, to join me. And that is for the month of November, to share a thankful moment, thought or anything. You know what I'm talking about. Post it on here as a comment. Write it in your journal. Share it on Facebook for the world to see. Just do it.

My goal along with sharing my dinner recipes for the whole month, is to share my thankful thought at the close of each post.

So tonight I am thankful for my beautiful family. For my daughter Amelia, who makes me smile and laugh all day every day. I only hope that I was as charming and adorable as a baby, and made my parents laugh and smile. I am so very thankful for my smoking hot husband, Michael. He is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm grateful that he reminds me of who I am, and why I'm here. I look forward to spending all of eternity with him. He's pretty cool :) And of course I am thankful for my parents and siblings. Who have helped me grow and learn through all of life. And helped me become the person that I am today. I love all of you so very much.

Good night all! Happy November!

Happy Halloween!

First off!

I sincerely hope that everyone keeps their Halloween, and others, as safe as possible! Keep an eye on your little ones, know where your bigger ones will be and make sure they have reliable rides! Those of you that will be out on the town, partyin' it up..cough...Adam...cough. (It's okay, I doubt he reads this!) Please, please, please be safe! If you are planning on have a few drinks, or even just one, have a designated driver, and know where you are going.

For you parents taking your little ones out for some super Trick or Treating, here is a website with all sorts of handy and common sense kind of tips. Some of them may seem silly, but they also are all important.

http://www.halloween-website.com/safety.htm

For those of you that follow my crochet page already know that I am hosting a Costume Contest! Those of you that don't- well you should :) You can enter by submitting a photo online, like CuteLoops, and share your photo for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to CuteLoops! Follow the link and like my page!

CuteLoops Halloween Costume Contest Extraordinaire!

So we already celebrated Halloween. I know, how lame. However, with Michael having to work nights, it was much easier to take Amelia to our little church Trunk or Treat. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but at least I got our costumes. And with Amelia being too little to really understand or enjoy Trick or Treating, we're forgoing any sort of thing tonight. It doesn't help that I've been dying of some undetermined disease. Okay not really, but our household has been plagued with coughs and colds and all sorts of awesome ailments for the last month or so.

16 years ago, my beautiful, wonderful mother was diagnosed with colon cancer at the young age of 32. She fought for her life and won. Today, I am proud to say that I am the daughter of a survivor. Doctors suggest that the children of people who have had cancer, get tested for that cancer ten years prior to the age the parent was when they had cancer (if that makes sense). Well I am a few years past that, and talked to my doctor about it last week, and sure enough that's the correct action. Either way, I get to have a colonoscopy in two weeks. Hurray! Just kidding. I'm a tad nervous, mostly because the procedure involves a camera being shoved up my bum. But I'm sure all will be well.

Anyways, last week as I went in for my colonoscopy consultation, I sat in the waiting room....waiting. There was an elderly couple waiting, and the woman was knitting. Now obviously, I know how to crochet. But I've been kind of wanting to learn to knit, because there are a lot of things you can do with knitting that you can't do with crochet. So I sat next to her, and was asking her about what she was making (a baby blanket), and I mentioned that I crocheted. She was very sweet, and was telling me stories about how she knit all her children mittens, hats and scarves every winter. They had a dog who would always steal the mittens off their hands, even from the neighbor kids. She said that she made dozens of mittens every winter, and they could never find what the dog did with them. Well I was asking her about knitting and mentioned how complicated it seemed. She laughed at me and said, "If you can crochet, you can knit. Knitting is much easier that crocheting. There are only two stitches, knit and purl." Where as with crocheting there are dozens of stitches.

So I went out and bought a little learn-to-knit kit, and have been trying to teach myself to knit all week. Holy. Cow. It is stupid hard. Maybe it's just me, and I'm just so crochet-oriented, that I can't wrap my brain around the knitting concept. But I can't do it. I've been trying for days and cannot figure it out. So I think I will just stick to crocheting.

Also, I've issued a new challenge to myself. That is to have a family dinner prepared every day for the month of November. I've made up my meal plan, and it looks pretty good. So hopefully, as long as I maintain my health (wishful thinking) I will have a new recipe for you every day! I know you're so excited!

Okay well I had hoped to make this blog longer and little more productive sounding, but my child is begging for attention.

So don't forget to submit your entries for the Costume Contest, and remember to be safe tonight!

TGIS!!

Busy busy busy!

That's what this week has been. It has been long, and draining, and fun, it's almost over!

Amelia has had an awesome cough and sniffles for the last two weeks, so I've been trying to not share her germs with the rest of the world. Nothing says "Hi" better than your kid snotting all over someone elses. Not going to lie, I definitely have unkind thoughts to other moms, when their kid's nose is like faucet and they're playing and phlegming up the place.

 I think she is finally getting better though, she's still being Amelia and getting into all sorts of toddler shananingans. She's just awesome like that.

We've been working on Halloween costumes for one. And I must say they are looking awesome. I don't want to post pictures yet though, and ruin the epicness of my creativity. But I will share what we are doing. I made a minion costume, from Despicable Me for Amelia. I originally wanted to make her a hat, since ya know I'm kinda good at crocheting that sort of thing. But she hates wearing hats, so I decided to make her a little hoodie sweater, so that way she doesn't have to have the hood up all the time, but when people ask what she is, I can just throw it up :)

Tamra, a.k.a. the best wife ever haha, has been helping me with my costume. We are making a dress so I can be Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. It looks pretty flipping sweet. I was half tempted to die my hair, but I've managed to leave it alone for so lone, so I decided not to mess with it. I broke down and bought this super cool wig. I'm pretty stinking excited about it.

Also, I just realized that I've reverted to saying awesome a half dozen times already. For which I apologize. These nighttime hours are not kind to my sanity.

As for Mike's costume, he is going to be Anakin Skywalker. My mom made this legit Jedi robe for him, and it is going to be epic. We are also going to attempt round 2 at a Deathstar pumpkin this year. However we are scaling it down a bit, because unlike last time, I don't have 4 days to carve it. And I kind of sort of have a baby to take care of :)

This is the Death Star pumpkin I carved two years ago

 

 

And this is the Death Star after we took it to the rifle range :)

 

 

 

 Hmmm... oh and here are some of the projects I finished this week also :) Okay this week and last week.

 

 

These are some rainbow sock monkey hats that I made for a friend. They turned out pretty cool, I think



and this is a goat hat that was requested from another friend. It turned out so much cooler then I had pictured in my head.

 And below are some really cute leggings I made for an order. I really want to make a pair for Amelia now, but I doubt she'd wear them

I have a ton of projects coming this week, at least 6 that I can think of. Oi vey. I can do it! I'm hoping to have them all done by Halloween. So we'll see how that turns out.

 

 

As for the more appetizing side of life. I made some really rockin' pulled pork the other night. For those of you that shy away from your crockpots...DON'T!!! It is the best thing ever. Ever. I love using my crockpot, because you can literally throw just about anything in there and badabing! With the pork, I'll write it out in recipe format, in case you want to try it :)

 

BBQ Pulled Pork

1.5-2 lb pork loin (honestly, you can used pork roast, chops, ribs, anything!)

onion soup mix

salt and pepper

1 tbsp chicken bouillon granules

about 1 c water

favorite BBQ sauce

 

So I peppered my pork loin with pepper and salt, then I threw it in the crockpot. I sprinkled the chiken bouillon over it, and then emptied the onion soup mix into the cooker. Pour the water over, cover and set on low for 6-8 hrs. When checking your pork, it should just fall apart. If it does that, then you are ready to "shred" it. I mean if it's falling apart, it won't take much effort shred it. I just use two forks and pull it apart. Hence the term, Pulled pork. Ya learn knew stuff everyday huh? After you've shredded your pork, you'll want to drain the liquid out of your crockpot. Return the pork to the crockpot and add a bottle of you're favorite bbq sauce. We like Texas style, its got just the right amount of kick to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well folks, that's all I got for now. Hopefully I'll be able to update more this week with all of our fun projects and Halloween coming up. Stay tuned for tomorrow's dinner, Cheesy Chicken and Rice (surprise!! It's in the crockpot!)