My Menu

Last week started out really well with my menu...then at the end of the week I didn't do a very good job following it. But that was okay we just didn't feel like having what I had on the menu and I didn't have some ingredients that were needed for the particular dishes. Here is my menu for this week

Sunday: Ribs, baked potatoes and corn (the ribs were given to us and they were really gamey so we didn't eat them, we had hot dogs instead :) )

Monday: BBQ Chicken, salad and fresh green beans

Tuesday: Penne Spaghetti Bake, Sweet Sausages and Garlic Bread

Wednesday: Tilapia, rice and corn on the cob

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner, pancakes, hash browns and bacon

Friday: Pulled Pork in the crock pot, twice baked potatoes and salad

Saturday: Finger steaks and fries

Have a great week!

Flashback Friday

Here I was a year ago....so uncomfortable and HUGE!



Looking back I am not sure how I got through June with this belly, it was so hot outside. Not to mention soooo uncomfortable to "sleep". I do have to say I miss the movement and the kicking (for the most part) and it makes me a little sad to know that I am not ever going to feel that again.

11 Months

Wow, 11 months have already gone by since Cameryn and Jaidyn were born. It is hard to imagine that next month they will be ONE!!! They are growing up so fast! Parts of this last year were a bit of a blur well because with one newborn you don't get sleep, but with 2 newborns you really don't get sleep and then throw an active 3 year old in the mix and it is constant go! Here is what the girls have been up to.

Cameryn Paige:

Still by far the HAPPIEST baby I have ever been around. The only time she cries is when she is hungry or if you take something away from her that she shouldn't have. She is loves to be tickled and loves to play Patty Cake and she even claps her hands on her own to mimick. She is standing up on everything, even my back when I am changing Jaidyn's diaper. She has taken a few steps while hold on the furniture as well. She has also already climbed up 3 steps!! Cameryn currently has 7 teeth and is getting her 8th, which leaves us with a very drooley baby. She is also still a chunk, she can fit is 18 month size clothes as well. She is pretty much over baby food and prefers finger foods. Her favorites are club crackers and the little cheesy puffs that you can get from gerber. She loves to be in her car seat and usually falls asleep in minutes when she is in there. She also LOVES Morgan. Whenever Morgan is around she usually follows her where ever she goes and if she is on the couch, Cameryn is right there standing up and giggling at her.

Jaidyn Elliott:

Jaidyn has changed into such a clown. She started as our "fussiest" baby and has now turned into a sweet, funny, little snuggler. She loves to talk to you, she will let out a "ahhh" and if you say it back to her it will go and go and go like that for a few minutes. She just started to pull her self up on certain things. She won't pull up on the coffee table or the couch, but she will pull up on my back, the toy box and chairs. She LOVES to stand on her head as well, she does it all day long and it cracks me up every time! Jaidyn only has 4 teeth so far, and what is really weird is the one upper tooth she has is a side tooth, not a front tooth. I think that she is as well just about to get a few more as her gums are really swollen and her nose has been running a lot! She is still the lightest, tiniest baby that I have had. She can still fit in 6 months sizes!!! She LOVES her fruit with the baby food, she would eat fruit all day if I let her. She also loves Puffs, they are by far her favorite, she gets really excited when she sees me bring them out! She also started waving, not at us, but at herself! I definitely think she is going to have Tyson's curly hair, she has so much of it and always after a bath it is SUPER curly, which I am excited about, I always wanted curly hair.

It is great to see them interacting as well, if one is doing something the other one has to be right there, they have even started to "wrestle" with each other, it is so cute. Every once in a while they will "talk" with each other and giggle at each other. In fact if one is up before the other from sleeping they just aren't the same until the other one wakes up! I hope this is a good sign that they are going to get along for their whole lives!
I am now starting to plan their 1st birthday party. I got the invites all made up, my parents and nephew Tyler are coming out for the party so I am excited about that! We are going to have a big BBQ with some water toys for the older kids. I love summer birthdays! It is always hard to be creative with Morgan's since it is right in the middle of winter. I just can't believe they are turning ONE!

My Menu

Here is to another week of meal planning. I again stuck to my menu last week with the exception of last night. We had gone camping but had to return on Saturday for numerous reasons. It was raining and we weren't able to get in the camper to get our taco stuff out so I ordered Chinese instead (which I was craving anyways and we get leftovers for lunch)

Sunday: Taco's (we found some taco marinated beef at the grocery store so we are going to try it)

Monday: Pork Chops, rice and asparagus

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes and fries

Wednesday: Chicken, cous cous, and corn

Thursday: Tilapia, noodles and green beans

Friday: Ribs in the crockpot (new recipe for me) and twice baked potatoes

Saturday: Carne Asada, grilled veggies and roasted potatoes

Last week I tried homemade chicken lo mien from my new cookbook and I think it turned out pretty good for my first time. There was some ingredient that was "missing" that we couldn't quite figure out but it was still tasty! Have a great week everyone!!!

Headed to the Hills

It is the middle of June and we are just now able to get out of town and do some camping. Now this is not due to schedules but because of Weather. It just hasn't been warm enough for us to go w/ the kids. Now that it is the middle of June our next problem is schedule. Tyson is on call every other week and going through our summer schedule we realized that if we didn't go this weekend we are not going to be able to go till the end of July. We are not big campers on holidays so the 4Th of July was out, then he is on call, then my parents are visiting for two weekends. So camping we will go. I have to say that I am pretty nervous how it is going to be w/ Cameryn and Jaidyn this time around. They are crawling and I really don't want to have to deal w/ the whole dirt in their mouth etc. We never had to go thru that with Morgan, she was tiny the first camping year and walking the second camping year. They have been camping once before, we got one trip in after they were born, but they were content in their bouncy seats. I have to say that first trip with them was the funnest as they were not sleeping thru the night so it made it for long days especially since Morgan wanted to be able to do things so it wasn't like we could nap when the babies napped.

But, I am just going to go with the flow and see how it goes. I have to say I am excited to get out of town, away from the computer, TV, all the distractions and to just sit, relax and clear my head.

My Menu

Here is my menu for this week. For some reason I struggled with picking out what to eat even though I went grocery shopping. I guess I am not in the "cooking" mood right now. We are going camping this weekend as well so that helped as we always have a few go to items for what we cook. It is our first trip this summer and Cameryn and Jaidyn's 2ND trip ever. It should be interesting since they are crawling.

Sunday: Steak, mushrooms and onions, baked potatoes and corn on the cob

Monday: Spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread

Tuesday: Were going to Idaho Pizza Company since Jamie is going to be in town

Wednesday: Chicken Lo Mein (new recipe) and egg rolls

Thursday: BLT's, salad and fries

Friday: CAMPING!! Chili cheese hot dogs and chips

Saturday: CAMPING!! Taco's

Ted's Tasty Chicken

Here is another recipe for me to share. I make this a lot during the summer and it is really easy and tasty! The inspiration for this recipe started from when my husband talked about a chicken recipe that his dad used to make, so this is what I have created.

Chicken (you can use any kind, legs, tenderloins, breast, it doesn't matter)

1 Can of Beer

1 packet of Italian seasoning

1/2 cup of teriyaki

3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Kickin Chicken

Place chicken in a Ziploc bag, add seasonings to your liking (Kicken Chicken is a Weber product and you can find it in your spice isle at the store), and the whole packet of the Italian seasoning.

Pour 3/4 of the beer in the bag along with the teriyaki and Worcestershire sauce. Place in fridge and let marinade for 6-8 hours.

Place on grill and once you flip the chicken pour more of the marinade over the chicken. I repeat this process 2-3 times. This is great for leftovers as well, you can add it to a salad or make a club sandwich out of it as well. You really can't go wrong with this recipe and it is so easy to do!!! Hope you all enjoy this recipe!!

Taco Soup

If you know me you know how much I LOVE to talk about food, how I LOVE to eat food and how I LOVE to try new recipes. I decided to start posting some of my cooking adventures along with the recipes so I can share with everyone if they decided they wanted to try something new. I have to say one of my FAVORITE recipes that I have created is my Taco Soup recipe. I had never made it before last year and I have to say that it is probably one of my best creations I have done so far.

1lb of ground beef

1 onion chopped

1 can of stewed tomatoes

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of corn

1 can of kidney beans

1 can of black beans

1 can of black olives

1 can of mild green chilies

1 QT of chicken stock

Taco Seasoning

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Cumin

Brown hamburger and onion together. Drain fat off beef and add taco seasoning. I use bulk taco seasoning to my taste but it is usually 2-3 packets. Add chicken stock. Add tomatoes, corn and green chilies with the juice. Drain and rinse kidney and black beans and add. Chop olives and add.

As far as the seasonings go, I just add to my liking of taste. I love Cumin but you don't want to over do it on this soup as it can get really spicy so add the seasonings to your liking.

Let simmer 2-3 hours prior to eating. It is best served with shredded cheese and sour cream mixed in. We also eat with tortilla chips. I recommend Juanita's chips as they are the best. This does make a TON of soup so you can even freeze some for later. It is also better the next day as it sits over night!

I hope you all enjoy this!!

My Menu

I actually stuck to my whole menu last week and I have to say it was refreshing to not have to worry about what we were making. Plus it was so much easier to get the meals cooked rather than change our minds and have it take longer to get it prepped, etc. Here is my menu for this week.

Sunday: Beer Can Chicken, corn on the cob and salad

Monday: Taco Soup and leftover salad

Tuesday: Pork Chops, rice and green beans

Wednesday: Grilled Chicken, noodles and mixed veggies

Thursday: Ravioli w/ homemade Alfredo sauce garlic bread

Friday: BBQ Day (I am thinking steak, not sure yet)

Saturday: Appetizer night, Chicken wings, potato skins, and marinated shrimp on skewers

Have a great week everyone!

Flashback Friday

I totally forgot about this picture. This was taken at our first house. Notice the trash that Abbie had ripped up in the front yard. She looks like she knows the cops were there....they weren't at our house, they had parked there and walked down the road to arrest our nasty neighbor for a warrant.