Odds and Ends

I realize I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I've been busy...well not really busy but occupied.  My recovery took a bit longer than expected, but I'm doing great now!  I feel good and that is always good!

Shawn and I picked up Logan from daycare the other and we had such a great day!  We always do when we have Logan :)  We took him to the park then came home and Uncle Shawn blew bubbles on the porch.  Logan has recently become fascinated with bubbles.

Of course Logan needed some time with his best friend, Marcie.  They played and looked out the window together.  So sweet.

And it certainly would not be a good day for Logan if he didn't get to watch Dinosaur Train while playing with his favorite trains.

The weather has been so nice the past few days (80 degrees!) Marcie has been hanging out of the porch again...her favorite place!  Thank goodness for the doggie door!

I got this "cactus" type plant at the Farmers Market over the summer and is has always been fairly small.  Then, when the weather got cold I brought in my other plants but left this one outside.  Apparently, I have a cactus that likes the cold.  It has flourished!  It has been getting huge and then last week it sprouted some little yellow flowers!  I didn't know it would do that!  I love it!  My other plants are doing well inside...I guess I have more of a green thumb than I thought!

Surgery

This week has been a bit rough for me.  This past Wednesday I had laproscopic and hysterocopic surgery.  Everything went really well...better than I expected and even better than my doctor expected!  I have been home recuperating for the last few days (Shawn, Mimi, Mom, and Eric have been taking turns taking care of Marcie for me) but I am still not 100% yet.  The pain in tolerable though and the nausea comes and goes, but I should be ready to get back to work on Tuesday. 

I won't bore you with the details of the surgery, but it will hopefully put us one step closer to our goal:  becoming parents.  I will have a post-op check up with my doctor a week from Wednesday and we're hoping for good news!  The surgery I had will by no means make our journey easy, but we're just hoping for easier...

Snacks, cupcakes and quiche!

As you all are aware, I have become fascinated with Pinterest.  Particularly for the recipes.  I am constantly on the lookout for delicious foods to make to help break my family out of our dinner rut.  I decided to make some new snacks, as well as some old favorites for the superbowl.

Starting on the far left and moving clockwise you will find:  Judy Moulton's Taco Dip, White Queso,  Blueberry Lemon Loaf, Brownies, Pigs in a Blanket, and Honey Glazed Chicken and Bacon Bites.  Some of these are pinterest recipes, so I linked to the original site.  The brownies were a box mix...I can't make everything from scratch! 

Judy Moulton's Taco Dip

This is my favorite dip. Judy Moulton is a woman from my childhood church and she was the foods teacher in my high school. This is her recipe and I have stolen it over the years and I love it!  I always make it for parties because it is crazy easy and delicious.

Ingredients:

2 cans refriend beans

1/2 cup mayo

1 pkt taco seasoning

1 cup sour cream

Mix all ingredients well. 

Top with shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, sliced black olives, and green onions. 

Serve with tortilla chips.

Pigs in a Blanket

These are another crazy easy party food!  You just take crescent roll dough and cut it into 1/2" strips.  Wrap the little smokies in the strips in a "x" pattern.  Bake at 375 for 15 minutes and enjoy.  Heavenly!

So the superbowl snacks were a success and one of the Manning brothers won...good day all around.

Quiche

Yesterday, Mimi was here with me and she has been asking for quiche for awhile.  Mom and I have different recipes we use, but I wanted to share mine because I think it's better :)  I got this quiche recipe from my college boyfriend's mom, Karen.  It is the best quiche ever.  The recipe is for 1 quiche, but I usually make 2 at a time.

Ingredients:

1 pie shell

4 oz cream cheese

2 eggs

1/2 tsp baking powder

dash white pepper

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 pkg shredded cheese (any variety)

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 clove garlic, minced

Mix all ingredients into a large food processor until blended.  Pour into pie shell,  Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Optional ingredients:

1 cup smoked sausage and 1/2 cup frozen peas OR

1 cup broccoli and 1/2 cup frozen peas OR

1 cup crumbled bacon

If you do add smoked sausage or bacon, you can cut out the salt because those meats are so salty.  This recipes makes it really easy to customize based on who will be eating it!

Vanilla cupcake with Caramel Frosting

I also made one othe pinterest recipe today.  A quick dessert.  It is a vanilla cupcake with caramel frosting.  The cake mix is from a box (I was not in the mood to make cake from scratch) but the caramel frosting was delicious.  The frosting didn't turn out as pretty as I had hoped, but I know better for next time.  It tastes perfect though!

After the cupcakes are cooled you start the frosting.  In a medium saucepan mix 1 cup dark brown sugar and 5 Tbsp unsalted butter over medium heat.  Add 1/4 cup milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly then add 1 cup powdered sugar and mix thoroughly.  Take off heat and dip the cupcake tops into the caramel and quickly replace back on the cooling rack.  This must be done quickly as the caramel hardens quickly.  I think it will work better if the caramel is left on the heat at a low level while the cupcakes are being frosted.   Not sure though.  Anyway, they are tasty!

Pinterest

I held off as long as I could.

I tried to keep from peeking at it, knowing I would become addicted.

I fought.  I lost.

I am on pinterest and I LOVE it!

This past week, I decided to try pinterest recipes each day (except one day where I made my favorite chili from the recipe from dad - tweaked slightly).  These are not my pictures...these are the ones from pinterest.  I was a silly girl that did not take my own pictures of my beautiful foods :(

French Toast Breakfast Muffins

These were delicious!  Especially while warm, so be sure to put them in the microwave for 15 seconds or so.  Big hit with the guys in my house.

Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta

Super easy crock pot recipe.  My family didn't so much enjoy the whole wheat pasta I used, nor the substitution of turkey bacon for "real" bacon, but they all still ate it!

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The frosting was the best part of this recipe...and of course I left off the nuts on top.  The cake was a bit dense for me (too much like banana bread) but still really good and a nice change from banana bread for those bananas that are about to hit the trash!

French Dip Crescents

This was probably the easiest recipe and everyone really loved it!

Sparkling Peach Sangria

Gotta throw a drink into the mix!  This was delicious and again, crazy easy!  I used Moscato for the sparkling part and when I made my drink I mixed in a bit of beer to cancel out a tad of the sweetness.

 Stuffed Zucchini

Of course the guys didn't eat this one, but Mom and I did.  I did make a few tweaks with the spices, but it turned out really good!  I think I will put back into the mix only half of the zucchini pulp though next time.  There was too much stuffing to put back in the zucchini boats!

Three-Cheese Pasta

This is what the guys got instead of the zucchini.  It was really creamy and cheesy!  I definately reccomend it as a side or add some chicken for a meal!

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Healthy, easy meal!  The filling was enough for 10 rolls, not 8 like the recipe says.  Also, I would make a few extra noodles incase they break or rip.  I used more cheese on top too :)  Shawn though I was trying to poison him with spinach!



Overall, good eats in my house this week thanks to Pinterest!!