Recipe of the Week

This week's recipe is a side dish. I was so impressed with how this turned out.
I got the recipe here: http://seajayscupcakes.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-most-delicious-way-to-cook-green.html

Green Beans.

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh green beans

3-4 cloves of garlic

2-3 tbsp. olive oil

2-3 cups of chicken broth

3-4 tbsp. butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.    Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and melt 3-4 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat.

2.    Wait for all the butter to melt and look foamy.

3.    Next, add the chopped garlic.

4.    Let the garlic cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the green beans.

5.    Stir them around and get them as flat as possible in the pan. Cooke them until they turn bright green.

6.    Then add some salt and pepper.

7.    And cook for a couple more minutes, stirring occasionally.

8.    Next add enough chicken broth to cover them and stir.

9.    Let it come to a rapid boil.

10.         Next, cover them and turn the heat to medium low, venting the pan so steam can escape. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until most of the chicken broth has cooked out. Serve warm.

The Final Weekend

This has been a great weekend, I had lots of fun and did lots of hard work.
Friday started with a co-worker giving me some of the cutest dresses from her closet. She and I have the same sort of style and the dresses are perfect for summer wear. I have realized that I would rather wear a skirt or a dress over jeans and shorts.Friday night my wonderful hubby was feeling under the weather that day so after work I had to make sure he was taking all his medications and he was resting.
Saturday was another rainy day. I had to get the oil changed on my car and do my grocery shopping.
Kroger's has brought back it's 2X gas points if you shop on the weekends!
The hubby was feeling a lot better however he decided to camp out on the couch and watch T.V. I did a bit of sewing with my quilt. (ALMOST DONE!) I also got my list done for everything in our pantry so that my upcoming monthly shopping will go easier. I also got my kitchen cleaned from top to bottom.
Sunday came and my to-do list was still full.

Sunday morning from 8 to 9:30 am this is what my stove looked like.

I love the colors of this dish!

 I also had 2 dishes cooking in the oven at the time, my rice cooker going and something in my small crock pot. After I cleared out everything cooking in the oven I made some breakfast muffins and boiled some eggs. Shredded all the chicken that I cooked (it for 2 of our lunches next week) and made deviled eggs for a quick snack with protein,

So in 1 and 1/2 hours I had made or have still cooking (crock pot)
1. Orange Ginger Chicken (Crock Pot)
2. Mashed Sweet Potatoes
3. Black Bean and Rice Burritos (I haven't made the burrito part of it just cooked the main ingredients)
4. Chicken Salad
5. Pasta Salad
6. 6 Deviled eggs
7. The Chicken for our Tex-Mex Chicken Club Wrap.
8. 6 Banana Nut Muffins

Not to bad huh! I have learnt my lesson about waiting until the night of to cook dinner and lunches for the next day. All I'm going to have to cook during the week for lunch is Bacon to go with the Tex-Mex Chicken Club Wrap. This makes the work nights easier on me.
While all of this cooking was going on I had to make sure that my washer was full of clothes and the dry was going. (My hubby said it was entertaining to watch me run around)
Of course after cooking I had a bunch of dishes to wash. (I'm the dishwasher!) And I got the Dinning room  cleaned from top to bottom.
 I also picked out all my outfits for the week. (I do this every Sunday, it's so much easier on me in the morning time)
I went to Michael's Arts and Craft store to get inspired for my June wreath. BOY DID I! I can't wait to make this wreath. Also at Michael's I saw they have classes for a ton of different crafts they even have a class for kids. The classes are cheap to!
http://www.michaels.com/

Sunday also had 3 huge car races. F1's Monte Carlo, Indy 500 and Nascar's Coke 600. So the Hubby was busy watching the t.v. Don't get me wrong, I watched the Coke 600 and the end of the Indy 500 I like racing as well.


Monday

 Even though it's a day off I was up at 6 am. We were going to the last day of the renaissance fair. The link below has a list of renaissance Festivals around the U.S. It's a great place to take the family for an outing.
We knew going out there we were in for some nasty weather in the afternoon; but man, when it started raining it was a storm. They closed the fair early due to this. We left with some great memories of not only the day but the season.

http://www.renaissancemagazine.com/fairelist.html
Now I know I am not going to get much done due to being worn out from the fair. I woke up hoping maybe I'll clean our living room when I get home with dinner is cooking. I did have to get the lunches packed for Tuesday. I was sad to see the 3 day weekend was gone and I would be off to work the next day.

Monday's Menu

Last week was a hectic week. Here in Dallas it has been very rainy which is messing with me not wanting to do anything. I started my new workout program last Sunday and I was so sore from what seemed like millions of squats that Monday and Tuesday all I did was come home and lay on the couch. My poor family had to fend for themselves. It was also end of the month for my work so I was not only sore but worn out after work. If you noticed I didn't post any crafts I did on Saturday because I did not do any crafts this week except Saturday I did work on my quilt for an hour but that is it.
 This coming up week is going to be busy as well. Memorial Day is the last day of Scarbough Fair so that where we will be for Monday.My son is graduating high school on the 30th and my family will be up that weekend. So we (the entire family here) will be cleaning our house and I will be pulling everything out of my pantry, Fridge and freezer to take inventory for my monthly shopping trip. (hopefully I do better than May)

So far I have spent $355.96 on groceries. I've very proud because I'm trying to stay under $400.00

Saturday:

Crockpot Cheese Tortellini
http://littlefellows.blogspot.com/2011/11/best-crockpot-meal-ive-tried-yet.html

Sunday:

Sausage  and Fresh Green Beans and Baked Garlic Parmesan Potato Wedges
http://lecremedelacrumb.com/2015/04/baked-garlic-parmesan-potato-wedges.html
http://seajayscupcakes.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-most-delicious-way-to-cook-green.html


Monday:
Chicken Fajitas 
https://newlywedcooks.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/hubs-made-dinner-twice/

Also I making a dish for one of the performers at the fair.
Crispy Black Bean and Rice Burritos
http://gimmedelicious.com/2014/03/25/crispy-black-bean-and-rice-burritos/



Tuesday:

Spaghetti and Baked Squash and Zucchini
.

Wednesday:

Oven Hot Dogs
http://alyssabyoung.com/blog/2010/12/17/oven-hot-dogs/

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

Chicken Marsala with Steamed Vegetables
http://www.bakeatmidnite.com/2012/03/chicken-marsala.html?m=1

Sprouts had a great sale this week on their fresh vegetables. I love shopping at Sprouts.
What were you plans for Memorial Day? Is there anything on your menu this week that your looking forward to?

Peter Lamas

I hit 40 years old, my youngest is now 18 and all of this made me want to fight my ageing BIG TIME! Now I'm not going to run out and dye my hair because I'm getting white (not grey) hair. I love my natural red hair and so does my hubby, but when it comes to my skin I am going to put up a big fight. I try to stay out of the sun if I don't have some sort of SPF on. Taking care of my skin like this has kept my skin soft. I love that. My poor face has started showing lines. Now they are happy lines (that's what I call it) because I have laughed a lot in my life. However I wanted to take extra steps to take care of my face. IPSY had on sale Peter Lamas  Detoxifying Citrus C Facial Cleanser and Exfoliating Pumpkin Facial Scrub for 22.00. I thought I'd try them and try them out.

http://peterlamas.com/

 I have be alternate between the 2 every day. Mornings the Pumpkin and Evenings the Citrus. I have been using them for 2 weeks and I have seen a big difference. My face is smoother and cleaner after I use them. They both smell wonderful and it came in a good sized bottle.  I think it was worth the $22.00 and would recommend it to all my friends.

Recipe of the week

I had been looking forward to cooking this recipe all week. It was a way to redeem myslef from the mishap of the baked potatoes, No one was disappointed with these Patty Melts! They were mouth watering good.

This is where I got the recipe at:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/08/patty-melts/

 The pioneer woman's website has some great recipes. It's one of my go to places for menus.
This meal took 25 minutes to make. It's perfect for summer dinners.

Ingredients

• 1 stick Butter
• 1 whole Large Onion, Halved And Sliced
• 1-1/2 pound Ground Beef
•  Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 5 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• 8 slices Swiss Cheese
• 8 slices Rye Bread (I used Multi-Grain and it was GOOD!)

Preparation Instructions

In a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat. Throw in the sliced onions and cook slowly for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden brown and soft.

In a medium bowl, mix together the ground beef, salt & pepper, and Worcestershire. Form into 4 patties.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a separate skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties on both sides until totally done in the middle.

Assemble patty melts this way: Slice of bread, slice of cheese, hamburger patty, 1/4 of the cooked onions, another slice of cheese, and another slice of bread. On a clean griddle or in a skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter and grill the sandwiches over medium heat until golden brown. Remove the sandwiches and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the skillet. Turn the sandwiches to the skillet, flipping them to the other side. Cook until golden brown and crisp, and until cheese is melted.

Slice in half and serve immediately!

Monday's Menu

Last week's menu had some mishaps. Monday I put the potatoes in the crock pot and turned it on and left for work. When we got home I noticed I forgot to plug in the crock pot! Opps! Quick thinking I took chips, re fried beans and cheese and made bean and cheese nachos. Then came Wednesday night, Abby had her final project at school Wednesday night and we got home late so we had ordered a pizza on the way home for a quick dinner.
 The good thing about that is Menu planning this week is easier than last week! Plus I am using the last of the meals I froze a month ago.

Saturday:

Mexican Chili with Corn Bread Topping 
This is one of my meals I froze a month a go.

Sunday:

Crock pot Baked Potatoes with LLOYD's BBQ meat 
This was on the menu last week. This time I'll plug in  the Crock Pot


Monday:
Black Bean Beef Chili
This is one of my meals I froze a month a go.


Tuesday:

Beef Vegetable Soup
This is one of my meals I froze a month a go.

Wednesday:

Chicken Fajitas 
This is a new Recipe

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

Sausage and Potatoes


My Grocery list this week has only 8 things on it. None of it is anything on this menu I had all the ingredients here at the house.

Crafty Saturday

I wasn't able to complete the how-to video. I'll upload it once it's done!

May 2015 BirchBox

I think the idea of trying things before spending a lot of money for them is a GREAT Idea. BirchBox sends you samples of new products to try before and I loved that idea. The cost was $10.00 for the monthly subscription.
I got my box on Saturday May 9, just in time for Mother's day! However I wanted to test some of the products out so I could give an honest review of the box.

 I love the box it came in. I have already set it aside in my Christmas gift pile I figured I'm always needing a box to wrap my gifts and this is such a pretty box why not re-use it!

The inside was neatly package with a card about the guest for this month's BirchBox, and on the back side of the card was printed details about each of the samples and the cost of the full sized product.

Now the 1st product I tested was Noabay's Oxygenation Cream Moisturizer.

 I added this to my morning routine right after I washed my face. The 1st thing I noticed was how pleasant it smelled as I started rubbing it on my face. (it's made with avocado and olive oil) The 2nd thing was this moisturizer wasn't sticky but very smooth. I loved that! My face is still soft after hours of putting it on. The full size bottle is $36.00.

The 2nd was Number 4's super comb prep & protection.

This left my hair silky smooth. I was very impressed with this product! The full size bottle is $32.00

The 3rd product was Juice Beauty's Stem Cellular CC Cream

Now this product states it multi-task 12 different things for the ultimate age defying skin perfection results. I can't say it works yet I've only used it 3 times. However I didn't like the way it smelled. It was a chemical smell. Even though it states it's skin perfecting color I had to use my concealer after I had put it on my face. The full bottle is $39.00

The next 2 I tried was Harvey Prince "Sincerely" and Coastal Scents Revealed 3 Eye shadow Quad

Harvey Prince's Sincerely smells very floral and spicy. I love the smell. It's Scented with Indonesian clove bud, Indian tuberose and Japanese orange flower. I'm not really a perfume girl but I do like this scent. The full bottle is $26-55

My Favorite piece was the Coastal Scents Revealed 3 Eye shadow Quad. I love the colors in this palette. A little bit goes a long way and it's the colors I would normally wear. Truly impressed!  The full size palette is $20.00.

Over all I enjoyed this box and will use everything in it.

For my Mother

Hello all! This week I wanted to share with you what I bought my mom for Mother's Day, I started thinking about getting my mom something historical, If you don't know my mom she loves history, I mean she LOVES history. It's so bad that if we don't do well in our history classes we feel like we let her down even when she's giving us words of encouragement.

I had found on etsy a cast iron heart shared box that was made in the Soviet Union. Seeing how the Soviet Union is no longer around it was something from history. Then a few weeks ago my mom mentioned she wanted a dress from Lindy Bop. So I was off to Amazon to find a dress for my mom.
http://www.lindybop.co.uk/

 If you have never heard of Lindy Bop they are from the U.K. and have wonderful dresses. The quality is great, me and mom are always impressed when we order from them. They were having a sale on a bunch of their dresses as well, Super score for Abby. It cost me 40.99 for my dress. When it came in I noticed the material that was used was not cheap but it was a thick material. It was a bit wrinkled but my mom (because she is smart) Told me because it was heavy material just to hang it up and gravity would do the work. (IT WORKED!)
The dress fit her perfectly and my mom was so happy!
So score for Abby!!! Now the picture I took was after a long day at work and my mother was just wanting to go into the house to put her feet up plus I was making her laugh and she never really smiles for pictures.
 Happy Mother's Day, Mom I am so glad you loved the dress!

How was everyone else's Mother's day? Did you get surprised with your gift?

Recipe of the week

I'm going with a simple recipe this week. A recipe I feel most people over look when trying to make a healthy quick meal. This is a great lunch for those hot days we have in the summer.

Tuna Fish Sandwiches

How I make mine:

1 can of Tuna Fish

2 hard boiled eggs

1/3 cup of Mayo

1 tablespoon of mustard

a pinch of cayenne pepper

Bread of your choice

Mix everything together and place in fridge overnight. The next morning spread Tuna fish on your bread (Mine was honey wheat) and enjoy for lunch!

SUPER SIMPLE!!!!

Mother's Day Weekend

As I sit here listening to The Ink Spots on my computer and thinking about this weekend there was so many things that we did I am afraid I'll forget everything.

Saturday The Hubby and I went to Scarborough Renaissance Fair. (After this weekend there are only 2 weekends left!)
I seriously think we walk about 8 miles every time we go! My legs feel it the next day. I got to stock up on my favorite body wash there at the Roman Bath. I bought 6 bottles of Temple Smoke for $30.00. That's a year's worth of body soap.  They made my order there for me. I love this stuff. This is their website: http://www.soapmagic.com/

I bought some flavored honey sticks for my teas. It's peach honey, ginger honey and sour apple honey. I mixed them up on purpose so I could be surprised.

Plus a candle from the Royal Candle maker.This Candle smells so good! I like it better than my Yankee Candles! Also you can watch them make candles while you wait to be rung up. It was Fascinating!

www.royalcandlemaker.com

I got myself something for Mother's Day. I got a over bust corset from My Favorite Dress Shop. It is last season's style so it was way cheaper then the new corsets! I love the color and it fits perfect! I also Love their dresses they are so pretty!

http://myfavoritedressshop.com/

My wonderful husband surprised me with a few things! First I have been saying for years I wanted a strand of pearls. My Daughter got me an awesome Mother's Day gift ( She is going to blog about it Thursday Stay tuned!) and he wanted to add to it with this necklace. WOW!!!! other than our wedding bands this is the 1st piece of jewelry he has ever bought me. I was SHOCKED!

But it didn't stop there! He things chain mail it cool looking. I have to agree with him it is cool looking. So when he got me this I was super Stunned!

While we were in the shop he was talking to the person ringing him up and asking about how hard it was to make chain mail pieces. She told him they sell everything there to start making chain mail. He looked at me and said "well your always crafting something wouldn't it be nice if while you cross stitching I could be there making chain mail" EEEK (my happy sound)yes it would and now I know what to get him for Father's Day!

Saturday Night we went to the movies and watched The Avenger's. It was a good movie! I was so worn out I was having a hard time towards the end of the movie staying a wake. But I did it!

NOW SUNDAY!

 Woke up to a huge storm so everything we had planned for to work on the front yard was pushed back for another day. 

 I did my grocery shopping and tried to buy as much as I could to get us through the month.(I am slowing working my way to once a month shopping)

 I also cooked all our lunches for the week. This makes it so much easier to get lunches ready for the week. Also I spent time cutting up veggies and cheese for snacks. I feel if it's I have healthy snacks that are  ready to eat everyone will eat them instead of looking in the fridge and stating "there is nothing to eat!"  

 I basically just did my chores for the day and tons of cross stitching and loads of snuggling on the couch with the hubby. It was a Great weekend!

Monday's Menu

You would think that since we live in Dallas and it's May the weather would be hot! It's not, well not really it's been humid up here but I'm from Houston and can take the humidity. One day it will be almost 90 degrees the next day 70 degrees. Planning a dinner menu has actually become a bit difficult due to this. (do we make a salad or a soup) However I have finally planned it all out!
This weeks Dinner menu has 2 crock pot dishes due to the weather. If it going to be a hot day I don't have to heat up the house cooking in the kitchen and if it not going to be a hot day we have something from the crock pot that isn't like a stew but still warms the belly! Kind of a win win for me. Also we  are eating out twice both are because of Mother's Day.

Saturday:

Panda Express 

Sunday:

Crock pot Chicken Black Bean Soup
I have all the ingredients in the chicken for this meal. 
Cost This week: $0


Monday:
My Daughter is taking us out to eat for Mother's day!!!


Tuesday:

Crock pot Baked Potatoes with LLOYD's BBQ meat 
This is one of the freezer meals I made a few weeks back. 
http://newleafwellness.biz/2015/02/17/17-freezer-meal-prep-sessions-that-will-change-your-life/
Cost this week $8.89 

Wednesday:

 Patty Melts
This is a new Recipe
Cost this week $4.83
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/08/patty-melts/

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

Chicken Enchiladas

Cost this week $7.62
New Recipe! Stay Tuned

So when I went grocery shopping this weekend I went with this in mind: Lets buy all the meat, dog food for the month of May, and try to get as much as I can so that the rest of the month I don't have to do much shopping.
My Hubby's eyes almost popped out of his head when I came home.I told him with Summer approaching I'm going to have to make sure breakfast and lunch and snacks are planned out for all 4 kidos so I am starting early.
 With that in mind I spent $118.45 at Sam's and $109.95 at Kroger's. I know I will have buy a few things but the expensive stuff has been purchased for the month. 
The goal is next week to only have maybe 3 items to buy and week 3 and 4 only buying fruits, vegetables and bread. I want to work it up to where we are shopping 1 time a month.

Sam's cart what isn't pictured is water, Dog food or the 15lb bag of potatoes.

Kroger's cart. There is some much stuff that I couldn't fit it on the table without piling it up. The best buy at Kroger's was Jeanie-o Sweet Italian Sausage for 1.00 each package and 4 came in a pack. I bought 2 packages.

Update: The year long crafting project

The goal was to have completed 1 box from my Spring at Hawk Run Hollow pattern. I am happy to say:

 GOAL WAS MET! 

Talk about last minute to I completed it at 9:30 last night. (May 8, 2015) I had even told my hubby earlier in the week that I was worried I wouldn't get it done. He gave me words of great encouragement that helped me out a lot! He knew I could do it I had been working on it all month and was almost there, so what did this wonderful man do? He played movies on the TV that I could listen to while stitching my little heart out sitting next to him.
 I changed the color of her dress to a darker purple and I almost changed her hair color to red, because I'm a red head.  That's the wonderful thing about this if I don't like the color I can change it. My favorite thing to stitch was the cats and the big tree.

Now it's on to the next box! This box it a very simple box and I KNOW I can get it done in a month's time.

I get so excited when this blank canvas starts to show a picture and I have been looking forward to stitching this box for a while! I think the thing that will feel like it takes the longest is the outline of the box itself.

Cute Book Markers

Hello all. Over the next month I am going to reviewing items I have purchased, the good the bad and the ugly!

 For today I first feel I need to express my love for books. I have tons of them and are known for reading more than one book at a time. Yes, I do have a Kindle but it's not the same as holding a big book in your hands or the way it looks on your bookshelf.

 With all these books I have I am always on the lookout for book markers. I found these online and fell in love with them! Yes I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.

When they arrived I was impressed the case they came in was a nice wooden box with a glass front. They are really cute, tho they seem a bit flimsy; However they work really well. Plus I can, if I choose to display them on my bookshelf. Win/win!

Recipe of the week

First off, WOOHOO it's my 100th post!

The recipe for the week is great for those spring and summer afternoons. A nice cool Chicken Salad Sandwich. I have to say I was amazed at how delicious this was and how full 1 sandwich kept me through the work day. This recipe was easy to make.

Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked chicken (I boiled mine and used chicken tenders)
1 hard boiled egg
2 tbsp of sweet relish
1/3 cup of mayo
salt & pepper to taste
a pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of mustard
Bread of your choice

Directions:

Combine chicken, mayo, mustard, cayenne pepper, egg, salt & pepper.
Add chicken salad to bread.

 It's that simple.

and I packed them for our lunch

What is coming in May

Well last weekend was way relaxing. We did not do much except plan what we want to do for May.

 May's room makeover is, well, it's the front yard. The hubby and I have been debating about making flowerbeds and putting some curb appeal to our front yard.So after an extremely long talk about what we want to do we have finally come up with a plan. The hardest thing about our front yard is that there is a lot of shade (7 huge trees) so we have to be very picky about what plants to pick!
Also we will be cleaning out the garage. YIKES!!

My daughter Abby is going to be posting here ever Thursday. I can't wait to she what she has!

 May also bring's Memorial Day and my son's graduation! 

So get ready and bring on MAY!!!

Monday's Menu

For May I am going to be focusing for my Monday Menu's on Dinners. If I have a recipe I will put the link under the dinner. 

I was surprised after I made my menu the amount of groceries I did not have to buy!

Everything on the left side of the list is everything I need for breakfast,dinner's and lunch's. Right side is things that are on sale or things that we use weekly. All the numbers on the pages are the sales going on at Kroger's.

This list is before I ask kids and hubby if they need anything!

Saturday:

 Popeye's Fried Chicken (It was a treat for everyone! I bigger treat for Momma!)

Sunday:

 Mexican Chili with Cornbread Topping 
This is one of the freezer meals I made a few weeks back. 
http://newleafwellness.biz/2014/10/06/crockpot-mexican-chili-cornbread-topping/  
Cost this week $0

Monday:

  Chicken Alfredo
Cost this week $3.81

Tuesday:

Nacho Casserole
Cost this week $1.00

Wednesday:

 Chicken Roll-ups
I'm looking forward to  making this again!
Cost this week $4.01
http://amylynntitus.blogspot.com/2010/10/chicken-roll-ups.html

Thursday:

Leftovers

Friday:

Meatloaf
Cost this week $2.50

This is new recipe!

http://dancingthroughtheminefield.blogspot.com/2012/03/secret-ingredient-meatloaf.html

So the total cost that I had to spend at the stores on dinners only was $11.32. That is not counting Popeye's that was $32.00.