Utah

Next Friday we are going to Utah. We are leaving about 3 in the morning and we will come back on Sunday. Its going to be a super short trip but I am excited to see my family. My dad has some trees he wants to have Danny cut down so we are going to help. The girls don't know we are going. It will be a fun surprise. Especially for Emily. She loves going to Utah. She misses it as much as me.

Egg Bake

I got this recipe from www.thatswhatchesaid.wordpress.com
I can not for the life of me figure out how come sometimes blogger will let me link things and sometimes it won't I am not doing anything different.
Anyway I was looking on her blog last week and Hailey saw this and wanted me to try it. We did it today. I am usually not a fan of eggs cooked like this but it was yummy.
Items Needed:

•1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls
•8 eggs (I used 9, its what I had and why leave just 1 egg?)
•1/2 cup milk
•Mix-ins (I used ham and i cooked bacon yesterday)
Shredded cheese
•Salt/Pepper to taste
•cooking spray
Begin by preheating your oven to 350°F. In a 13 x 9 pan lightly spray it with cooking spray. Open the crescent roll tube and unroll it and spread the dough across the bottom of the pan being sure to patch any holes in the dough.

I scrambled the eggs and the milk. Then I added my bacon and ham and mixed it in with the eggs. Then I poured it over the cresent rolls. Then I topped it with alot of cheese.
Cook for about 25 minutes. Check it after 25 it may need another minute or 2.
The girls loved it and want me to make it for dinner tonight. To bad I am not. At least there is some left over that they can eat for a snack after school.

crockpot lasagna

Today I made this. I got it from crockpot365.blogspot.com (n i don't know why it won't link it. I keep trying)
1 pound lean hamburger. browned and grease drained.
1 (28-ounce) jar prepared pasta sauce
25-30 frozen cheese or meat ravioli (I used gluten free; please mind labels!)
2 cups shredded cheese (I used Italian blend-- mozzarella, parmesan, etc)
2 tablespoons warm water


Use a 4-quart slow cooker. After browning the meat in a skillet, drain well and add the pasta sauce (save the jar!) to the meat in your saute pan. Stir to combine.


Scoop a large spoonful of meat sauce and spread into the bottom of an empty slow cooker. Add a layer of frozen ravioli. Then add another layer of meat sauce. Continue layering until you run out of ravioli and sauce. Sprinkle cheese evenly all over the top.


Put 2 tablespoons of water into the empty pasta sauce jar, and shake. Pour this water over the top of your "lasagna."


Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for about 4. Your lasagna is done when the pasta on the ravioli is tender and the filling is heated through.

*My notes, I wish I would have had 2 packages of ravoil. I had a lot of exra hamburer sauce i would have liked to have made another layer with. Oh well. Its starting to smell yummy.

i was able to get 2 layers out of 1 package. maybe my crockpot is just bigger then the one she used? it was really easy to make and probably took 15 mintues from start to finish and I only had 2 dishes to wash. Having a green salad and french bread to go with it.

Sour Cream Enchalidas

This is a recipe that I like alot.
Ingredients:
4 or 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (10 3/4 oz)
4 medium cans diced chili's
1 15oz Sour Cream
1 large block Pepper Jack Cheese
2 Cups Fiesta Blend Shredded Cheese
10 flour tortillas
1 Tbsp. Cummin Seasoning
1 small yellow onion (optional)
1/2 cup skim milk
1 Tbsp Garlic Salt ( to boil chicken in)

Preheat oven to 350. Boil chicken breasts in water and garlic salt. Shred cooked chicken and sprinkle with Cummin seasoning. In a medium sauce pan, mix chili's, cream of chicken soup & sour cream. Gradually add milk to thin the mixture. Simmer on low heat. Layer each tortilla with 1 tbsp. of the soup mixture, shredded pepper jack cheese and chicken. Roll and place in single file rows in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Use the remaining soup mixture to cover the tops of the tortillas. Top with shredded fiesta blend cheese and bake covered for 35 min. Remove from heat and cool 5 min. before serving.

Maggie on her first day of big girl Preschool

Maggie started Big Girl Preschool last week. She loves it. She goes 3 mornings a week for 2.5 hours a day. So far, all the things that Maggie has brought home have been fun projects and I think she is learning alot which makes it easier for me to pay the 150.00 a month. In Utah the other girls went to a great preschool for the same amount of hours and it was only 65.00 a month. We loved Miss Kristy. Mrs. Scholes Maggies new teacher seems just as great. And Maggie has 3 friends from church in her class too.

From Freezer to crockpot

I was on www.thekrazycouponlady.com and she had posted some easy freezer meals that you can just throw in your crockpot. And since i had just bought 5 pounds of chicken this morning and I had everything here at home to make them I did. It took me about 30 minutes, there was no mess to clean up except for 1 measuring cup and a garlic press. i mixed everything in the bag and then added the chicken. I added 4 breasts to each bag.
Now on a day that I don't have dinner planned I will just throw these in the crockpot and be done with dinner for the most part. just cook up some rice or noodles and a veggie (I am thinking steamfresh veggies for an even simpler dinner and 10 minute boil in bag rice)
* next time i make these kinds of food, I am going to buy the reynolds crockpot liners and put all the stuff in the liner and then put it in a freezer bag. Makes clean up a breeze.*
So, I hope you enjoy the recipes.


Beef Pepperoncini Sandwiches (my version on a French Dip)

•2 lb Chuck Roast
•16 oz Jar Peperoncinis
•1 Good Seasons Italain Seasoning Packet
Add all three ingredients into a Gallon Size Freezer Bag and put in freezer. When you are ready to cook this, put all ingredients into crockpot and let cook for 8 hours on low. Once the meat is cooked, shred it and serve on rolls or hogies with swiss or provolone cheese. YUM!

Brown Sugar Chicken (Don’t Judge me)

•Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, I did 4
•1 cup Brown Sugar
•1/4 cup Sprite (I will add this once I add everything to the crockpot)
•2/3 cup Vinegar
•3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
•2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
•1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
Add all ingredients to Gallon Size Freezer Bag, except for the Sprite. When you are ready to cook this, put all ingredients into a crockpot, add the sprite and let cook for 3-4 hours on high.

Honey Garlic Chicken

•Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breats, I used 4
•3 Garlic Cloves, smashed and chopped
•1 Teaspoon Dried Basil (I used Fresh)
•1/2 cup Soy Sauce
•1/2 cup Ketchup
•1/3 cup Honey
Add all ingredients to Gallon Size Freezer Bag. When you are ready to cook this, put all ingredients into a crockpot and let cook for 3-4 hours on high.

BBQ Chicken

•Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breats, I used 4
•Chopped Green Pepper
•Chopped White Onion
•BBQ Sauce, I used Sweet Baby Rays (but use whatever you have in your stockpile)
Combine all ingredients in a Gallon Size Freezer Bag. When you are ready to cook this, put all ingredients into a crockpot and cook for 3-4 hours on high.

Veggies in a Bag

•Chopped Onion
•Chopped Banana Squash
•Chopped Red Potatoes
•Chopped Green Pepper
•Garlic
•Fresh Basil
Put all ingredients in a Gallon Freezer Size Bag. When you are ready to cook this, cook the veggies by themselves (if you are going to Grill Meat) or add meat to the crockpot as well.

Its quiet

Well, today Hailey, Emily and Abby went off to school. Maggie will start pre school tomorrow.
The house is quiet. I said to Maggie this morning I miss your sisters. She said :Me too, but good news mom your with me and not alone. She is so funny.

Abby is in 1st grade, Emily is in 2nd and Hailey is in 4th.
I was worried about Abby because she is really clingy but she did great. She went to her room, found a desk and then she just wanted to go out and play. Emily was the one that was a little shy. But she will be fine. Hailey was great. She got the teacher she wanted, her best friend Lexi is in her class so didn't even want me to walk her in.

Smoothies

The girls get to go to school Tuesday. Today I made a ton of pancakes to put in the freezer. Yesterday I made a loaf and a half of french toast to put in the freezer, and today i made them smoothies.

This is 2 cut up bananans

Then I added 2 cups of frozen berries

I added 4 table spoons of vanilla yogurt. (and a few pinches of spinach, I had to add that quick cuz little girls were in the kitchen)

Half a cup of quick oats (not the instant kind)

2 cups of apple juice. you can also use milk. I also poured in some honey.

Then you blend together.

Then I put them in little cups like this and i am going to put them in the freezer. Pull them out in the morning, add to the lunch box and the girls have a healthy drink.

Lima Bean Wreath

I saw this idea on another blog this morning and I thought that looks easy. We went to the dollar store and got the wreath, got the lima beans and paint at walmart. this is what i did:

then i took glued the beans. I started with the inside first. Try and do one edge first, getting the beans as close to the edge as you can. then when your working, keep the beans as close together as you can. I wish mine would have been a little closer.

Half way done. It took me about 2 hours to glue them all on. I turned on Mad About You Season 1 and watched that too.

then you can spray paint it. I did mine orange for Fall. The blog I saw them on had lots of different colors. So just whatever you want.

And that is all.
I hung mine in my entry way, however you can also hang them on your front door. Some I have seen also have the first letter of their last name. I don't have the stuff to do that so I won't. (for now)
This was a pretty easy project. One anyone can do. It was pretty inexpensive to make also. And I am going to try and make a pumpkin from dryer vent and I will spray it orange too so I don't feel bad spending 4.00 on a can of spray paint i may never use again.

September 1st

I can't believe that it is September 1st already. My how the year is flying by. The girls start school next week and I will have 3 mornings a week to myself. Maggie will be going to school from 9-11:30. How nice. with my time, I plan on actually keeping up on laundry, the grocery shopping, the house being a little cleaner and I am really going to try to meal plan better.

We had a fun summer. Andrew came for 6 weeks, Kim and Kevin came for a week over the 4th of July, we went to the lake and parks with friends, IN August we went to 7N Ranch Resort for my family get together. We went to the Idaho Falls Zoo, we went to Heise Hot Springs, we went on a hike, and more. Then Hailey and Emily went back to Utah with my parents for 13 days. We picked them up in Island Park when we went to Yellowstone for a week with Dannys Family. We did Yellowstone park 4 days, went to Mesa Falls one day and we went to the Grizzly Bear discovery center and West Yellowstone one day. Our cabin was nice. The weather was nice. The company was nice too.

Now it will be fun to get back into a schedule.
Look for me again after Labor Day.