Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Hello all! Happy Cindo de Mayo weekend! There are a lot of things going on this weekend...Cinco de Mayo, The Kentucky Derby and the One America Mini Marathon in Indianapolis! Since we wussed out and didn't run in the Mini and we aren't rich enough for the Derby, we are only celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

In honor of this sort-of holiday, we are, of course, making a couple of Mexican inspired recipes for the week. I'm such a nerd...I write out all the meals that we're having for the week and then all of the ingredients that I need before going to the store. I thought that's what everyone did, but apparently I'm a huge dork all by myself. We're trying to eat better here at our house, so there was a LOT of produce on the list. I'm telling you what, I'm going to have to start gardening because produce is EXPENSIVE. I don't think we've ever spent as much on groceries as we did today! I'm thinking of growing some herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and jalapenos. Maybe some strawberries as well...we'll see. I need to not be lazy and get it done. Maybe next weekend...hmmm...

Anyway, here is the list of meals for the week:

Cinco de Mayo (Sunday): Fish Tacos with Stuffed Poblano Peppers and guacamole
Monday: Avocado Chicken Salad with fingerling potatoes
Tuesday: Buffalo Shrimp Sandwiches with cucumber salad
Wednesday: Gazpacho
Thursday: Arroz con pollo (Mexican chicken and rice)
Friday: Probably leftovers. :)

Every recipe that I am trying this week is new for us, except for the Arroz con Pollo, which is my father-in-laws recipe, and the cucumber salad, which is my Grans. The guacamole recipe is all mine. I've tweaked it to perfection (for us, anyway) over the years. I'm excited about the new recipes for the week! I seem to follow recipes well, but the second time I make it, I add or subtract ingredients based on our personal preferences. I'll definately have to update everyone on how they all turn out! I wish I was a better food blogger/photographer. Maybe I'll work on that at some point too. :)

Late-o!

Mrs. Dub

More Thoughts

1. Everytime I turn Avery upside down, she says she's "ups down".
2. I think I'm losing my passion for making food.
3. My husband is being extra awesome lately. He's always pretty awesome, but lately it's been super aces.
4. Today Kennedy told me she didn't want anyone (Avery) coming between our love. SO sweet!
5. And then we held hands and walked down the sidewalk. Me and my almost-as-tall-as-me 10-year-old.
6. Bryan bought me a huge bouquet of tulips last week. They look great in matching ball jars on the kitchen window sill.
7. I've got a theory: The reason time goes fast when you're an adult is because you aren't looking forward to anything. As a kid, you're looking forward to summer/spring/Christmas break, birthdays, being old enough to date, etc so time seems to DRAG. As an adult, you are indifferent to birthdays (except me...I <3 my birthday!), holidays can be a hassle, and you don't get many breaks, if any at all. You are dreading the day your kids grow up. When you are dreading something in the future, time speeds up. It's a fact.
8. When I feel anxious, I watch tv shows or movies that were popular when I was a kid. Who's The Boss is great for anxiety. :)
9. I'm craving my family's cashew chicken!! I need to make it soon.
10. I told Avery she couldn't have cake unless she went to the potty. She said, "I no want go potty I just want cake."

Just a little something to brighten up your Monday!

25 Things

1. Avery doesn't say "remember"...she says "nember". I love when she says, "Nember, Mommy?" So cute!
2. If I didn't love bbq chips a TON, I love them more after having BBQ Chip Crusted Chicken from Taste of Home.
3. I LOVE my job. I hate needles, but poking people's veins all day long suits me.
4. Kennedy is quite possibly the most talented 10-year-old artist on the planet.
5. I'm really upset that Kennedy is already 10-years-old.
6. Princess Bride was the super #1 best choice for family movie night. K said she is going to talk about it ALL day at school tomorrow.
7. When we saw Disney on Ice last weekend, the look on Ave's face when Tinkerbell came out was so priceless I had to fight tears.
8. I wish I could spend my neice Brooklynn's 3rd birthday with her this week.
9. I really need a day off.
10. I can't wait for Deborah Harkness' third installment of her Witches trilogy!!!
11. It makes me happier than almost anything that K's favorite book right now is The Wizard of Oz. it was my fave when I was her age.
12. I just watched the first 28 minutes of The Wiz. Hated it.
13. I forgot how awesome That 70's Show is. Watching all the episodes on Netflix!
14. Netflix is a gift from the tv gods.
15. I haven't put gas in my car in TWO WEEKS. (Yay for working close to home!)
16. I have super tons of baby fever.
17. Bryan does not.
18. I wish I kept up with my blogging, if only for myself.
19. I want to go back to school. Maybe this summer....
20. Have I mentioned how AMAZING my husband is?
21. My dog smells like Fritos.
22. I wish I could hang out with my parents, grandparents and sister more.
23. I can't WAIT to meet my new neice and nephew! They need to hurry up and be born!
24. Hugging my babies is the best part of my day.
25. I <3 Murder, She Wrote...and I watch it on my tablet at night while I'm drifting off to sleep.

Just a few thoughts before I kick it to bed. I could really do 25 more, but I think I'll save those for another night. Here's a super awesome picture that is a blast from the past and makes me super happy! PS...look how super lame my sunglasses are....

Monday Monday, Can't Trust That Day (otherwise titled: Nobody Likes a Whiner)

Ugh. Here we are. Monday. AGAIN. I swear the weekend was about 30 seconds long. I don't remember my parents complaining about Monday on Sunday night like we do. Is it a generational thing? My mom was a stay-at-home mom and my dad was a salesman...Both worked hard, but didn't complain. I complain. A LOT. It's not that I don't want to work; I do. I'm a hard worker and I like my job. I'd just RATHER be at home with my family sometimes. Is it a generational thing that we complain about the week starting already? I think so. I think our parents knew that complaining wasn't going to make a difference so why do it?

But today, I am reminded of something I used to say to my twin cousins when they were little (and then I'd make them repeat it because it was too cute): Nobody likes a whiner!

So, Kristen, have some coffee, get your butt in gear and let's go.

This weekend we went to a pumpkin patch.

It was fun, but the pumpkins and other goods were SO expensive that we only got a couple of pumpkins then got the rest at Walmart (same size, less than half price. Score one for Walmart!).

 

 

Anyway, so Kennedy colored her pumpkin with Sharpies and Avery painted hers. Then we had a lovely, rainy, windy Saturday evening with movies and games. I loved it!

Sunday we went to church, had another windy rainy movie afternoon, then I took Kennedy to Girl Scouts where she carved a pumpkin and we learned about all the fun activities planned for the year. I don't know who's more excited....Probably me. I <3 Girl Scouts! When we got home, that's when Ave painted her pumpkin. We wound the weekend down with hot chocolate and cider. It was so cozy!

For this week, we are having:

Broccoli Cheese soup
Three cheese pasta bake
Italian sandwich bake
Chicken noodle soup
(and if we need another meal, chicken and stuffing because it's awesome and I can't get enough of it!)

I made the broccoli cheese soup on Saturday and it was AWESOME. I doubled the recipe (but not the cheese) because I knew we would eat it all if I didn't and I wanted left overs!So then we ate the rest last night for dinner. The chopped green pepper gave it a little something extra awesome. We served it with garlic texas toast and it would have served 8-9 people if they'd only had 1 bowl each. However it served 2 people over 2 days because we're unashamed gluttons. ;) Try some of these recipes and I PROMISE you won't be disappointed!

SMH (Shakin My Head)

*I felt that I needed to put the definition of SMH in parenthesis for all of you who aren't in the know... ;)

OK. So. We just got back from Colorado yesterday. I don't even know what to say. It's a state full of CRAZIES. If you are from CO, and you aren't crazy, I'm sorry, but you are WAY outnumbered. I'm going to save you all the long story for 2 reasons: a) I'm not about to bad mouth people, even if they are ridiculous, fake, narcissistic, conceited, dbags. b) I don't want this post to be 364 pages long. Maybe I'll write a book about the experience later. Let's not talk about Thursday and Friday of the trip. We'll just skip to Saturday and Sunday because those are the only days worth mentioning, and the only days that don't make me want to punch people when I talk about them.

It was officially the Three Musketeers together again on vacation. Kennedy, Bryan and I haven't gone anywhere just the three of us in about 3 1/2 years. Saturday was basically taken up by finding a rental car and a hotel room. God bless our friend Brandon who got us a great rate with the hotel company he works for! So we got up, went to lunch at a restaurant called the Purple Ginger. If you are ever in the Denver area, I recommend looking it up (in the Englewood area). Just a helpful hint, Enterprise rentals don't pick you up on the weekend unless it was previously scheduled. It's not a last minute thing, apparently. Also, all their offices are closed on the weekends except for the airport offices. So anyway, after a lunch of hot and sour soup and crab and cream cheese stuffed salmon, we went to get a car. Then we took Kennedy to buy a bathing suit since I didn't think to bring one since we weren't supposed to BE at a hotel. We had dinner and she got to swim all evening. I read a little at the side of the pool when I wasn't scoring her cannonballs and counting how many seconds it took her to swim from one side of the pool to the other.. It was lovely and peaceful.

Sunday morning we got up and ate a hot breakfast, then spent the morning and early afternoon at the Denver zoo.

For Bryan and I, if you've seen one zoo, you've pretty much seen them all. But Kennedy really had a good time, so it was worth it to us to go. It was a lovely fall day, cool in the shade, warm in the sun.


We spent Sunday afternoon driving up into the Rockies. OH MY. Let me just say, living in a flat state your whole life, you don't appreciate mountains unless you see them live and in person. Our actual destination was the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel, which was once the longest and highest auto tunnel in the world. It is still the highest in the country though. Just a short drive out west of Denver and we were well into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Every time we drove around a bend, there were more mountains, and the further we got in, the bigger and more impressive they became. These views are what we wanted out of this whole trip. At first, Kennedy didn't want to go for the drive, then she was speechless at the beauty of it all.

 

We even parked the car on Ute Pass and walked into the forest on this tiny narrow trail. The forest is SO thick that it deadens any sound from the roadways. However, we were so far out that there wasn't much noise from the road anyway. I never realized how big of a difference there was between 'woods' and 'forest' It's INSANE how beautiful it was. Kennedy said it reminded her of a Disney movie, and I'd have to agree.

 

 

 

We are trying not to hate Colorado. I never want to return to Denver because of the first 2 days of our trip. HOWEVER, the drive through the mountains made us decide to give the state another chance in the future. So at some point, we would like to return to the mountains to hike the Ute trail up to the peak and camp out for a couple of days. Then we also want to go fly fishing, horseback riding through Garden of the Gods, white water rafting and tour a ghost town. I think there were moret things on the list, but I don't recall just yet.

 

*Kennedy looks terrified in the last picture because I just made the comment, "Maybe we shouldn't go too far on this trail...it's heading towards sunset, and aren't there mountain lions here?" HAHA!

Here's what's for dinner this week, just in case you're all missing the food posts:

Monday - Tuna casserole (we had everything to make it and Kennedy loves it)
Tuesday - Homemade Chicken Stuffing and mashed potatoes
Wednesday - North Woods Wild Rice Soup
Thursday - Italian chicken (I can't find the website, but you know I'll post the recipe)
Friday - Cheesy Potato Soup

Here's to a better week than the last one!!!

Much love,
Kristen

Best Chicken Sandwich EVER

Whew! This last weekend was a complete whirlwind! I never got around to blogging, but there wasn't much to talk about. The whirlwind was because I had to work all weekend, not because I was doing so much fun stuff. Well, I guess some of it was fun. The time that I got to spend with my family was good.

Before work on Saturday, I took Kennedy fishing after I made breakfast for everyone. Then I paid Kennedy $5 to babysit Ave so Bryan and I could hang out for a few minutes. I feel like I don't get to spend any quality time with any of my family anymore. Then Sunday we went to church and then had brunch and hung out a little while. The rest of the time was work. Bryan and Ave came to have supper with me at the hospital Sunday night. That was nice. Except Ave was really upset when they left. She's always sad when I leave. Most of me hates that. Part of me loves it. ;)

Monday was my day off, so I spent all day with Avery. We made PB&J Blondies (YUM!) and watched TV and played. Then later on we went to my little cousin Aiden's 6th birthday party. It was such a cute party! It was Super Mario Bros themed and the cake and decorations were great!

Ok ok...most of the people who read my blog have told me that they like the food part the best, so I'll just get on with that. On this week's menu:

Grilled chicken sandwiches
Chili
Lasagna
Tacos
B's & G's (HOLLA!)
Enchiladas

Now if you remember, I make dinner in the late morning/early afternoon before I leave for work so Bryan doesn't have to worry about it later. Last week the only dinner that Bryan made was pizza because it only takes 15 minutes to make the crust. I'll have to post the crust recipe sometime. It's delish! Anyway, my goal is for Bryan to not have to make dinner at all this week.

Monday I made Grilled Chicken Sandwiches for Bryan and I (the girls had eaten at the birthday party). ERMAGERD they were FAB. I had one for dinner last night at work too. Mmmm...

The original recipe can be found at the link above, but here's what I did:

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tsp. dried thyme leaves, divided
• cooking spray
• 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 3 small (4 oz.) chicken breasts
• French steak rolls
• 8 oz. brie, thickly sliced

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, and half of the thyme leaves. Set aside.
2. Spray the cooking spray to a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook a few minutes or until wilted. Add the mushrooms and the remaining thyme. Stir together well, reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook until the onions are caramelized and the mushrooms and cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the chicken breasts and cook, turning occasionally, until done.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Assemble the sandwich:
4. Slice the bread through the center. Remove most of the soft interior of the bread leaving a thick wall around the outside edge. Generously spread the cut sides of the bread with the mayonnaise mixture. Top with the thick slices of brie, sliced chicken breasts, and the caramelized onions and mushrooms. Place the top on the loaf and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on center rack of oven and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the brie has begun to melt.
5. Remove from the oven and cut in half.

I didn't have any regular bacon, and I didn't think turkey bacon would do the sandwich justice, so I opted to leave that out. But this sandwich is DELICIOUS. I don't think I even chewed mine, that's how long it lasted on my plate. I'm excited today because I get to have chili for my dinner (that's what I made for the fam yesterday). It's pretty basic: hamburger, chili beans, pinto beans, chili tomatoes, onions and tomato juice. I use McCormick's White Chicken Chili seasoning packet on the meat, then I add a little extra garlic powder and cumin. Throw the cooked/seasoned meat in a crock pot with everything else and cook it on low. Done. Easy Peasy. I love chili and right now, it's the perfect weather to have it.

 

Well kids, I'm gonna go hang with The Aves since I won't get to see her again until tomorrow :(

 

Kdub

GLEEEEEEEE!!! *Caution: Spoiler*

Today was my first weekday off since starting at the hospital. I spent a glorious lazy day with the Aves and ran some errands, we ate lunch with Kennedy at her school and then took a nap. It was a short nap, but a nap is a nap! I jokingly posted my status update as "My day off is the day of the Glee season 4 premier. Jesus loves me this I know, for my schedule tells me so." I was really upset because I thought I was going to miss it and have to watch it the next day online. But, crisis averted.

I would just like to say that the new girl on Glee (Marley) is SO adorable. Also, Brittany still makes me laugh out loud. I was happy with the song choices for the week, except for the Adele song (Chasing Pavements) at the end. I like it ok, but I'm kind of Adele'd out. However, the new girl sang it well. And I was super psyched when Kurt surprised Rachel in NYC. I just loved the whole thing! Can't wait for the rest of the season, even though I'll have to watch the rest of the episodes online the day after. *frowny face*

Last night was leftover night. we have SO much pulled pork and Caesar salad left! So since I didn't have to make tonight's meal ahead, and since I didn't want something with a ton of leftovers, I made chili-rubbed swai. Swai is similar to tilapia...a flaky, mild white fish. I thought that I got the recipe from Paula Deen, but when I tried to search for it, I couldn't find it anywhere. So just know that I can't take credit for this recipe, as it is not my own.

For the rub:
2 Tbs chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil

Mix seasoning together in a shallow dish and dredge 3 large fillets through it. (The fillets I had made 2 sandwiches each, so they were big.)

Pan sear in a skillet with olive oil, 5 minutes per side. The fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

I cranked up the broiler and toasted up some buttered buns (careful not to burn them!), and then smeared on cilantro lime Mayo.

Cilantro-lime Mayo:
2-3 Tbs Mayo (we're actually a Miracle Whip family, so that's fine too)
Juice of 1 lime
A handful of chopped cilantro

I just add juice and cilantro until it tastes good to me, so how much you use is totally according to your taste.

On the side, we had some Zatarain's Yellow Rice. I would just like to give a shout out to this rice right now. It is SO good. We always get the family size box so we can have some for lunch the next day. We heart rice in our family.

So that was it. Simple, and to the point. Nothing fancy, just tasty. Kennedy always asks for more fish (and rice) and Ave...well she's unpredictable. Last time I made it, she gobbled it down. Today she only took a few bites.

I also made some Breakfast Cookies (there is NOTHING wrong with that!), recipe courtesy of my co-worker Ina. They are so full of good-for-you stuff that it's totes acceptable to have one for breakfast with some fruit on the side. And coffee, of course!

Breakfast Cookies
1/2 cup mashed banana (1 large banana)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup milk powder (I just used an equal quantity of milk)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup honey
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1 cup rolled oats
2 tsp cinnamon

Mix it all up, drop 1/4 cup of dough 3 inches apart and bake at 350 for 14-15 minutes. Makes approximately 10 cookies.