February 28, 2012

Spicy Ranch Pretzels

I know I said I would post the recipe for the pound cake I made this weekend, but that's going to have to wait.  I haven't mastered it to taste like it did when my student, Emily, gave it to me.  So stay tuned...

BUT, these are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  I mean, you won't be able to stop eating them.  I got this recipe from my friend, Meredith (the potato soup Meredith).  Sooooooo good & soooooo easy!

Ingredients
bag of pretzels (any kind you like)
packet of Hidden Valley Ranch mix (the powder)
1 cup of Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 tsp. of cayenne (less if you like less heat)
1 tsp. garlic salt

Pour pretzels into a 9x13 dish or anything that will hold the pretzels.  Whisk together the oil, ranch mix, cayenne & garlic salt.  Pour mixture over the pretzels and toss to coat.  Cook for 2 hours at 225 degrees.  Toss the pretzels every 30 minutes of the cook time. 


Linking up with:
33 Shades of Green
Not Baaad Sundays at LambAround

February 26, 2012

Font Snob

I am a font snob.  Period.  I love them and use them all the time.  I use them at school on all my assignments I give the girls and they love them.  I could sit and download them for hours upon hours.  I thought I would share with you some of my all time favorite ones that I use the most.  The links below are where you can download them for FREE!  Please share in the comments your favorite font(s).  I'm always looking for new ones!!  Enjoy!



February 25, 2012

Meal Plan 02.26.12

Hitting Pinterest hard this week! :)

Saturday - Chicken Tacos & Spinach Queso







Sunday - Ham & Cheese soup...definetly a family favorite!

Monday - Ham & Cheese Soup leftovers

Tuesday - Grilled chicken salads

Wednesday - Crockpot pork chops w/rice



Thursday - Tilapia Vera Cruz...yes, we have an addiction. :)

Friday - Tuna sandwiches w/tomato soup


I'm making an incredible pound cake today to eat on for the weekend.  I will post the recipe on Tuesday.

February 22, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving Revenge.  This was not appealing to me at all when it first started & Rick made me watch the first epidsode and I'm HOOKED!



I'm loving sitting on the patio in the evenings with Rick & Spencer. The weather has been beautiful IF the wind isn't blowing 597 MPH!

I'm loving Pinterest. I can't get enough. The ideas are fab. I'm afraid I'm going to end up having 1,000 boards before too long. So, follow me! ;)
At the top on my my side bar ------------------->

I'm loving that this little guy is so sweet with something that could be so violent. Ha!  Rick got him this gun at Gander (Spencer's favorite place on the planet) and Spencer has been too much fun with it.  Doesn't this look like a scene straight out of A Christmas Story??





I'm loving the Bailey's hazelnut coffee creamer.  I think I've fully switched from Coffee Mate.  This stuff is so good and about $1.00 cheaper than Coffee Mate!  If only it had real Bailey's in it...


I'm loving Adele's 'Set Fire to the Rain'.  I love her so much and this song is the BOMB.COM!



February 21, 2012

Green Chili Pork Potato Soup

There is NO better potato soup!  Period.  This is the best you will ever eat!  I got the recipe from my friend, Meredith.  She actually took a basic potato soup recipe and "dolled" it up herself.  I'd say she did a FANTASTIC job.  I did change some things up (what I put in red).  SOOOOO GOOD!

1 can of cream of chicken
4 cans of chicken broth (or 2 boxes)
3 cans of chopped green chilies (I had some roasted Hatch chilies on hand and used them too.  It just depends on what level of heat you want.)
1/2 of an onion, chopped (whole onion)
3-4 celery sticks, chopped (5-6 sticks)
1 1/2 packages of cream cheese cubed (2 packages)
6-8 baking size (med-lg) potatoes, washed and sliced (I used 8 and cubed them)
1/2 cup of half/half
4-6 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 green onions, chopped to garnish
shredded cheddar cheese to garnish

1. Combine cream of chicken, chicken broth, onion, green chilies, celery, half and half, and salt/pepper in a large stock pan.

2. Heat on med-med high.....when bubbling add potatoes. Stir often.

3. Brown the pork chops with a bit of canola oil, salt, and pepper with a lid until cooked through. Cut them into bite size pieces.

4. When potatoes are starting to become soft add the cubed cream cheese. Cook with a lid stirring often. Add the pork chops when they are done.

5. Cook until cream cheese is melted and mixed in good.

6. Serve with cheese and green onions.


This will make enough to eat on for days!  You can eat left overs, freeze or even cut the recipe in half if you don't want so much at one time. 




Linking up with 33 Shades of Green!


February 19, 2012

Valentine's Day Party

It seems like I've posted about Valentine's Day a million times, but I promise this is the last one.  ;)

Rick gets to go to all of Spencer's parties at school which I'm so thankful for.  It's completely across town for me and so hard to get off in the middle of the afternoon.  Looks like he had a great time though!!




February 18, 2012

Meal Plan 02.19.12

Saturday - Green Chili Pork Chop Potato Soup (will be posting the recipe Tuesday)
Sunday - fish tacos
Monday - taco salad
Tuesday - stuffed jalapeƱos (yes, we eat these as a meal); we stuff them with chicken and cream cheese, wrap them with bacon and grill them
Wednesday - grilled chicken salads
Thursday - tilapia Vera Cruz
Friday - chili dogs (went out to eat last week, so we still have stuff for chili dogs)

I'm having smoothies for breakfast this week (and maybe next) using this concept:





Making this dessert Sunday to take to school on Monday...yes, it's insane and I've been dying to make it for some time.  I had an extra package of Oreos left over when I did Oreo moon phases with my 8th graders last week and what better way to use them up! 




February 17, 2012

Valentine's Day Goodies

We did lots of fun things this year.  I don't know what I would've done with my Silhouette Cameo!!  LOVE IT!

We made special cards for his grandparents and his aunt and uncle.  I meant to take a picture of them using our good camera and realized I hadn't done that when I was on the way to the post office with them.  So, blah pictures from my phone will have to suffice.  I just traced his hands and attached them with an accordion-folded piece of card stock.  I signed his name on the back and let him "sign" it as well.  They are working on writing their name at school and all he makes are P's, R's and E's.  Of course I forgot to take a pic of that too. 




Spencer's Valentines were a MUST when I first saw them (on Pinterest, of course!). Spencer picked out what bug he wanted for each of his friends.  It was precious to sit and watch him really think about it.  He had in his mind which bugs for were girls and for boys.  I guess that made it easier for him!


We had to make a Valentine's box for the first time this year.  I searched for Darth Vader box ideas and found this and went with it!  The box is two cereal boxes put together and then I spray painted them.  The cape is an old black t-shirt.


For his treats for his Valentine's party, I made chocolate rice krispie treats on a stick.  So yummy & easy.  Got the idea here via Pinterest (of course).

Spencer was "helping" me and I turned around and found this little guy in the rice krispies.  Spencer said he was really hungry.  Ha!





For his teachers, Spencer & I made sweet & salty Valentine popcorn.  Pinterest to the rescue again. :)
 I caught someone trying to steal some...oh, what a sweet boy!

I put them in Chinese take-out boxes and made the tags on...you guessed it...my Silhouette!

We had lots of fun this year making all of this and our snow day at home sure did help with getting them done!

February 14, 2012

My life is Valentine's Day...

...and I couldn't be more lucky!  

Valentine's Day is definitely a day for Spencer, but not his parents.  We are lucky in that every day is a Valentine's Day for us, so we don't do the chocolate, roses, blah, blah, blah...  I'm so glad Valentine's Day is an every day occurrence for Rick and I.  I have no idea how I got so lucky, but thank God every day that I have the best husband ANYONE could ask for.  Now for Spencer, it's a different story.  He was so excited when he woke up this morning because he knew he was having his Valentine party today and got to take his Valentines & his box to school.  So cute!

 So, to my Valentines...



February 13, 2012

Snow Day

We thought snow was a thing of the past.  We usually get a handful of good snows each year, but when the high has been in the 60's, snow doesn't really come to mind.  We got a good snow Sunday...the dry, fluffy, skiing snow.  We got about 2 inches. 

This was the first time Spencer has EVER played in the snow because we usually get wet, messy snow.  It was all we could do to keep Spencer in the house.  He had to wear his big jacket from last year and Rick's gloves.  We didn't buy those things for him this year because he has never needed anything other than a light jacket this winter. 

He had a blast!  We was DYING to make snow angels (and makes them quite frequently in the living room floor year round).  I guess he's seen that on TV and he's just always done it.  Well now he can really make one!





Our little snow bunny!


They've cancelled school today (completely unnecessary if you ask me because the high is 60, but we'll take it)!  Time to get some things done around the house.


February 11, 2012

Meal Plan

I have to start this post off by tell you DO NOT MAKE the lemon baked chicken that I posted about last week that I got from Pinterest.  It's the worst stuff EVER.  You can acutally taste the olive oil in everything and it's GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Coming up for this week:

Saturday - going out with friends...can't wait!
Sunday - good ole hamburgers on the grill
Monday - shrimp salads
Tuesday - Buttermilk chicken with butterscotch carrots
Wednesday - Turkey pesto burgers with salad
Thursday  - Sour Cream & Bacon crockpot chicken



Friday - chili dogs


A babysitter is coming to stay with Spencer for the first time ever tonight.  She's the sweetest girl and is one of his teachers at school.  He just loves her, so we're hoping this is a smooth "first" for him (and us!).   I'll keep you updated how it goes.

February 10, 2012

Breakfast

Breakfast is something I have to be real creative with.  I don't eat lunch every day until 12:50, so I can't even think about skipping breakfast.  My breakfast also has to be something I can eat/drink in the car on my way to school each morning.  I have a tendency to burn myself out on food/drinks because I will find something I like and won't let go!  Thankfully for good ole Pinterest, I've been able to mix up my breakfast each week and not burn  myself out. 

I wanted to share with you some of my breakfast finds that I enjoy in the morning...

Spinach & Egg Quiche Cups - my all time favorite!  It makes enough for me to eat on for 2 weeks.  Just freeze, pop them in the microwave as I'm headed out the door!  I add way more veggies than this calls for, but it's just whatever you prefer.



Peanut Strawberry Granola Wrap - eating these this week and last...super yummy!  I leave out the bananas because I'm not a huge banana fan.  The only downside to these is that you have to actually make them in the morning.  Half of a wrap is plenty for breakfast!




Oatmeal Cupcakes - yummy!  Makes enough for 2 weeks worth of breakfast.  Keep them in the fridge and pop them in the microwave before you walk out the door.





These are next on my hit parade.  I make a low carb smoothie that I enjoy, but these just make it look so much less time consuming in the mornings.




What are your favorite on-the-go breakfasts?


February 6, 2012

Blogging Lull & Weekly Menu

This past week to week in a half have just been a whipping for the most part.  I've had multiple people ask me when I was going to start putting our menu up on the blog again because they look at it before they make their grocery list.  Ha!  Well, we always cook no matter what, but we've just been sticking to some things that we've made for a long time.  I've not made anything new off of Pinterest in the past week, so I haven't really posted anything.  But, now I see that other people are looking at this trying to get new ideas from dishes that may not be so new to us, so I'll continue to the menu posting.

Our menu for this week:
Saturday - spaghetti (get the meat sauce from Orlando's, make your own noodles and buy the Texas Garlic Toast and this is super good and cost effective)

Sunday - roast w/carrots, onions and potatoes

Monday - roast salads (Sounds gross, but we had brisket salads last week which were the bomb and this is pretty much the same thing except I'm not spending $28 on two pounds of brisket like I did last week! Eek!)

Tuesday - Tilapia Vera Cruz (we cannot get enough of this and could eat it every week)  Recipe here.

Wednesday - Sausage Squash casserole (oldie but goodie of ours...very low carb)

Thursday- Lemon baked chicken w/green beans & potatoes (from Pinterest!)




Friday - Turkey, basil & tomato paninis (We <3 our panini press!)

Most of our last week has been crazy deluxe:
  • Our computer in the computer room crashed!  Thank goodness the hubs is an IT manager and can fix that stuff, but took about 3 days.
  • Spencer had a rough week at school which resulted in a requested teacher conference by us.  We just know that this week will be much better! :)
  • Decided to go to a smiley face chart system at home due to the previous bullet point.  Crossing our fingers that it works!
  • The amount of grading I did this past week was INSANE!
  • Zach passed his NCLEX exam - yay!
  • Rick did our taxes...not paying into social security is a killer!  Such is the life of a teacher I guess...
  • I had our middle school UIL competition Saturday and our school won Sweepstakes!
  • I'm sure there's so much more, but I need to focus on this week and what great things lie ahead!
And I leave you with this picture of our very own Santana...


Spencer has really gotten into all of his guitars.  Yes, all of them...he has 4!  We really think we will put him in guitar lessons when he's old enough.

February 2, 2012

Last Week

Just realized I hadn't posted these pictures from last week.  It's been one of those weeks!  Enjoy!

January 22: Love this!  Spencer was so excited to show me the picture of a church he drew.  See the two crosses?


January 23:  Caught the ear infection before it got out of control. 


January 24: Poser galore.


January 25: Tilapia Vera Cruz made by my sweetie!  Man this stuff was good!


January 26: Southwest airlines nightmare...opened my suitcase in San Antonio to find this. 


January 27:  Great experience in San Antonio at the YWLA school there. Found me a good electrophoresis kit!


January 28:  No picture...too tired to even think about it.  :/


 
 
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