Cats Out of the Bag-Taco Soup & Applesauce Cornbread

I loved the idea of doing "What's for Dinner Wednesdays", but it is totally revealing my weakness in the kitchen!! I am the only one who has not posted, but it is probably because my usual recipes are as follows:

Tuna Helper-Alfredo & Broccoli (with a bag of frozen broc & cauli)
Rotisserie Chicken From Costco (Fully-cooked), Instant Mashed Potatoes, & Green Beans
Pizza (Either Papa Johns, Domino's, or Costco)
Hot Dogs, or Chili Dogs
Breakfast for Dinner
Chinese Food in Can with Instant Rice (I know it sounds TOTALLY GROSS, but we LOVE IT)
Corn Dogs & French Fries

Value Menu or "cheap stuff" from any of the following spots:
-Taco Bell
-Wendy's
-Sonic
-KFC
-A&W

So yes, the cats out of the bag on me!! Now don't get me wrong, I do cook...it just isn't as authentic as I would like it to be. Plus I always want to have a cute pic of the meal to post with it's recipe, but I never have one. All excuses aside, here is a recipe I love & fall back on often.

TACO SOUP

1 lb Chicken or Ground Beef
1 pkg Taco Seasoning
2 cans Corn Undrained
2 cans Diced Tomatoes Undrained
2 cans Kidney Beans
2 cans Pinto Beans
1 cup water

Toppings
Cheese
Sour Cream
Corn Chips

Cook Chicken or ground beef with one cup of water and taco seasoning. Once cooked shred the chicken & add all other ingredients. Cook for about 20 minutes & serve with cheese, sour cream, and corn chips.


I love making this & can do it in a slow cooker ahead of time if I need to. I also like to have cornbread with it & tried this recipe for the first time on Sunday. I didn't know if I liked it at first, but all 4 of the missionaries, Matt, & the girls LOVED it!!

Applesauce Cornbread

4 C flour
2 Tbsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 C cornmeal
3 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter or margarine
3/4 C applesauce
2 2/3 C water

Cream eggs, sugar, and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add applesauce. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add alternately to creamed mixture with the water. Pour into large flat pan (large cookie sheet) Bake at 350* for 25 minutes. It will not be as dark as normal cornbread when it's done.

Ok Ladies...ENJOY!!


PS-We are on our way out the door, so I'll update our fun soon!! You guys have fun & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

What's for Dinner Wednesday

Ok guys. I really need some recipes, so YOU gotta do some What's for Dinner posts too!!

This is a recipe my mom started making and I LOVE it. I tried it for the first time last night, and while its not the fastest recipe (it would be if you used canned chicken but I had to cook my chicken breasts), its SO easy and so delicious.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

4 cooked chicken breasts, cubed
1 can cream chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 rolls ritz crackers
1 1/2 tbs poppy seeds
1 cube butter (melted)

Preheat over to 350.

Combine 1st 3 ingredients, and put in 9x11 baking dish.

Crunch up Ritz and add poppy seeds. Pour over top of mixture.

Pour melted butter over the top and cover baking dish with foil.

Bake for 35-45 minutes covered in foil. Then for about 5-10 without foil. Watch so the crackers don't burn.

For a little twist on the recipe:
You can add cooked rice to the chicken mixture. Prepare 2 cups uncooked rice. Increase soup and sour cream and even add a little milk so it's not too dry after cooking. It's yummy this way too (and a little more hearty).



Casseroles are great because you could prepare this whenever you had time during the day and then just pop it in the oven at dinner time!

Well - hope you have a fun New Year's Eve! Any fun plans? Josh and I are meeting Morgan and Josh up in SLC for the night. We're staying at the Little America, going to Bucca de Beppos and then on New Year's Day we'll go see a movie, go to Ikea, and meet Christian and Marci for dinner! It's going to be very fun and I'm very excited!! :)

See ya!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Toaster

This story begins on Sunday morning. We woke up late (as usual) so we are trying to hurry and get ready. I was in the bathroom doing my make-up and Jared was in Ethan's bedroom getting him dressed. I came in to take over so that Jared could jump in the shower really quick. While I'm buttoning Ethan's shirt I start to smell something and I realized that is smells like burnt toast. So I grab Ethan and walk to the kitchen.

Now I need to interrupt my story to give you a little back ground about our toaster. Many, many, many months ago our toaster broke and wouldn't pop the bread up when it was done toasting. BUT it would pop the bread up if you unplugged the toaster. So instead of buying a new one we've just been using it like this.

Now back to my story. I walk into the kitchen thinking that Jared forgot he had bread in the toaster and that the bread would be over done. Well to my surprise the bread is not only over done it's on FIRE! I quickly unplug the toaster in hopes that the flames will go out but they don't so I think to myself do I pour water on it or do I put baking soda on it. I'm some what stunned that this is even happening and I run to the hallway and yell to Jared that the toaster is on fire. I put Ethan down and the go back to the kitchen. Now the flames are getting bigger and I'm really freaking out. So I grab a kitchen town, open the back door and then throw the toaster into the snow. Then I start opening all of the windows and doors because our whole house if full of smoke and I mean real smoke. It's so smokey that I can hardly see. Then I start turning on our ceiling fans and I look out side to see that the stupid toaster is still on fire! I grab a pot from the sink fill it up with water and walk outside in my garments and dump the water on the toaster. After a big hissing sound the flames are gone. But just to make sure I dump too more pan fulls of water on the toaster. At this point Jared is finally out of the shower and comes into the kitchen. I tell him what has just happened and he laughs...and then I start laughing. Jared said that he put the bread in the toaster and then went to change Ethan and totally forgot about it.

We then spent the next hour trying to get the smoke out of our house and I'm still trying to get rid of the burnt toast smell. It's horrible! One good thing came from this wonderful experience. We found out that our smoke detectors don't work. Not one of them went off! Check your smoke detectors my friends and make sure they work! And if your toaster is broken throw it out and buy a new one.

This is the toaster sitting in the snow

This is the burnt toast

This is the bottom of the toaster. The whole thing melted and burnt away. It was made of plastic and as I threw the toaster outside melted plastic got everywhere.

Here is where the toaster use to sit.

And this is what the cupboard above the toaster looks like. We were so lucky that our whole kitchen didn't start on fire.

Leslie's Spin around the Playlist

GAME RULES:

Put your music player on shuffle (ALL MUSIC).
For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!


1. IF SOMEONE SAYS "HOW ARE YOU?", YOU SAY: 7 Minutes in Heaven-Fall Out Boy

2. HOW WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? When You Wish Upon a Star-Musical Reflections

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY? Hand in My Pocket-Alanis Morissette

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? Ready to Run-Dixie Chicks (I wish-maybe then I'd get into shape!)

5. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Hello Goodbye-The Beatles (haha)

6. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Pump It-Black Eyed Peas

7. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Hound Dog-Elvis Presley

8. WHAT IS 2 + 2? Break on Through to the Other Side-The Doors

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Long Time Gone-Dixie Chicks

10.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LOVE? Hello, I Love You-The Doors

11.WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Something in the Way She Moves-James Taylor

12.WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Father of Mine-Everclear (I guess I want to be like my Dad??)

13.WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LOVE? All you Need is Love-The Beatles (Awe-sweet)

14.WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Yellow Submarine-The Beatles

15.WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? To Where you Are-Josh Grobin

16.WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Cowboy Take Me Away-Dixie Chicks

17.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Dance, Dance-Fall Out Boy

18.WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Thriller-Michael Jackson

19.WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON? The Way You Look Tonight-Bing Crosby

20.WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? People Are Strange-The Doors

21.WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? The Streets of Laredo-Johnny Cash (haha, that answer made me laugh)

22.WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? She Will be Loved-Maroon 5

23.IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? You Can Do It-Ice Cube

24.WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Heal the World-Michael Jackson (hmm-how fitting)

25.LAST WORDS . . . Jailhouse Rock-Elvis Presley

What your music says about you . . .

Hey girlies. This is fun.  The answers were cracking me up!! Do it!!

GAME RULES:

1. Put your music player on shuffle (ALL MUSIC).
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!


IF SOMEONE SAYS "HOW ARE YOU?", YOU SAY: Patient Lies    (Kalai)

HOW WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?  Stick Shifts & Safety Belts  (Cake)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY?  Bad (U2)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? Ball & Biscuit   (The White Stripes)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?  Fumbling Towards Esctasy   (Sarah McLachlan) 

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?  See The Light  (EFY 2004)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?  Kill  (Jimmy Eat World)  

(YIKES!!)

WHAT IS 2 + 2?  Wish (Alient Ant Farm)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?  What Have You Done For Me Lately   (Janet Jackson)
(hahahah!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LOVE?  We Look Like Giants   (Death Cab for Cutie)
(ha!)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?  Everlasting Love   (U2)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?  Passat Commerical Song (I'm not kidding!  I have this on my iTunes! Why?!)  Apparently I want to be a passat?  Or own a VW dealership.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LOVE?  Long Time Gone   (Dixie Chicks)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?   Donut Lady   (Brian Regan)
(sad!)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?  Too Late - No Doubt
(yikes)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?  Up Around the Bend   (Creedence Clearwater Revival - Remember the Titans Soundtrack)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?  Canon In D   (Pachabell)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?  Bleed American    (Jimmy Eat World)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON?  F-Stop Blues  (Jack Johnson)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?  What If I Loved You   (Return to Me Soundtrack)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?   In The Navy (The Village People)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? Put Your Dreams Away (Frank Sinatra)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?  Kiss Kiss   (Stella Soliell)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?  Red Sweater   (Aquabats)

LAST WORDS . . .  This Everday Love  (Rascal Flatts)

Now you try!

Monkey See Monkey Do

I was sitting on the couch today after Church feeding Grayden & Brinley came and sat down on a little step stool in front of me. She had one of her baby dolls wrapped in a blanket (washcloth) and was just watching me. I don't use a blanket when I'm nursing Gray at home because then the girls want to pull it off or know what I'm doing with Grayden under it. So, I guess you could say I am pretty open with the girls about breast feeding. ANYWAY...after Brinley had been staring at me for a few minutes she shook the blanket off her baby, pulled her own dress up so her belly was sticking out, and pushed her baby's face into her own belly. When she noticed that I was now watching her she smiled bashfully. Trinity walked into the room at that point & the conversation between the three of us went something like this:

Me: What are you doing Brin?
Brin: Feedin my baby.
Trin: I feed my baby like that sometimes too! (with a proud smile)

(At this point I listen as the conversation continues between the girls)
Brin: I don't have 2 bobbies
Trin: Yes you do!
Brin: No! I don't have 2 bobbies
Trin: Oh, I do

I was trying so hard not to crack up laughing!! I don't know why but Brinley has always referred to Boobs as "Bobbies" & aparently Trinity now calls them that too. Ah, what cuties!

Its cool to be a Mormon

My friend had this posted on her blog and I thought it was kind of funny :)

Back on Track with Flashback Friday

Look how fun! This is from the Shower that Mandy and I threw for you @ the Pinnacle building. I felt bad that there wasn't a bigger turn out, but I also remember having a lot of fun with our intimate little group!

I still have the papers from all the games we played at the shower somewhere in all my scrap booking stuff-Ha! I was going to give them to you I think-who knows maybe someday I will!

Whose Got a Birthay?

Who has a birthday shout Hooray

We want to sing to you TODAY

One year older and wiser too!

Happy Birthday TO-YOU!!

HaPpy BIrThdAY BriTTnEy!!!

Flash back for Les

Here's one for you Les!

(I'm going through all of my wedding pics to try and find the inspiration to make my wedding book...it's not working so well. Mostly I feel overwhelmed at the amount of pictures I have)

Flash Back Friday

Look what I just found. I didn't even know I had these in my wedding photos!

A little something to make you smile :)

Cup of Tea

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe 2-1/2 years old and had just recovered from an accident. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up. Then she says, (as only a mother would know.. :)'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?'

What's for dinner Wednesday

Hello my friends today I'm going to share 2 yummy recipes. The first one is super easy and I use it all of the time.
Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast

INGREDIENTS
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water or beef broth
5 1/2 pounds pot roast

DIRECTIONS
In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

This is so yummy and the roast is so tender by the time it is done. I usually serve it with mashed potatoes and some veggies.

The second one is delicious! We just made these as part of our Withers' Christmas candy tradition.

Easy OREO Truffles

What You Need
1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz.) OREO Cookies, finely crushed, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

Make It
MIX 3 cups of the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese until well blended. Shape into 42 (1-inch) balls.
DIP balls in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover melted chocolate can be stored in tightly covered container at room temperature and saved for another use.) Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.
REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store any leftover truffles in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

Up to no good

Hello ladies-yes I also have been missing you guys! My efforts to post every day for 30 days has been a little overwhelming & I think this blog has suffered because of it! (Not that I am a fantastic post-er, but I didn't have the urge to post here when I'd already posted to my other blog!) Any way...I'm back.

I don't have any exciting stories or fun things to tell, but here are a few of the things I have been keeping crazy with:

Mommy Preschool for Trinity
Book Babies for Brinley & Grayden
Play Group Coordinator
Teaching R.S. on Sunday-SO SCARY!-Glad it was a one time deal-
Aerobics 3x's a week at 8am (I've made it once so far!)
Early Christmas gift from my Mom & Dad-Yoga-LOVE IT!
Cleaning, CleaNinG, CLEANING...
Dave & Buster's for Matt's B-Day
Pampered Chef Party on a Snowy Night
Parade of Lights
Midnight Puke Party with Brinley
Book Club Hostess Plans for December

I don't know why I am involved in so much stuff lately, but I feel a little frazzled!! Oh, and Grayden thinks he needs to learn to crawl at 5 months instead of 8 like the girls!! I DO NOT need a crawling baby yet!! So far he just does the army crawl, but that is plenty of movement for him to get into EVERYTHING & put all of it in his mouth!! SHeesh!

When will it end?

Have you missed me? I've missed you guys. We been battling sickness for the past 10 days. It all started the Monday before Thanksgiving when Jared and I were getting ready for bed and heard a terrible noise coming from Ethan's room. We both ran in there to find Ethan covered in vomit. Jared grabbed Ethan and cleaned him up while I cleaned up his bed. He continued to be sick for the next few days and just when I thought things were getting back to normal I got sick. Wednesday night I was throwing up and by Thursday (Thanksgiving day) I was feeling well enough to eat crackers and water so we packed up the car and went to St. George (we were supposed to leave Tuesday night). We made it just in time for dinner and I ate very little be was able to hold everything down. Ethan seemed to be doing just fine but the next day while Jared and I were eating breakfast Ethan looked at me and threw up AGAIN! So Jared took Ethan to the bathroom to clean him off while Jared's mom and I cleaned up the throw up. I HATE THROW UP! More then I hate poop!

So then Ethan seemed to be getting better but on Sunday Jared and I were rushing to get ready for church when we realised that his parents were sick in bed. They had been up all night sick and not only were they sick but Ethan had terrible diarrhea. I went from stinky throw up to gross poop! So by Monday night we knew we had to go home. Jared parents were feeling better and Ethan seem to be doing good. Just as we were getting ready to leave we realized that Ethan had a fever and was not doing so well. We gave him some Tylenol and hoped he'd sleep the whole way home. About 30 miles outside of Nephi Ethan woke up screaming and I could smell something very stinky...he pooped! So Jared had to pull over and I had to change his diaper on the front seat of the car. It was lovely! Poop had leaked out so not only did I have to change is diaper but his clothes too. Ahhh! When will this end!

Well we made it home and Ethan slept through the night but come Tuesday he was barfing again along with his fever and then there was more barfing on Wednesday and he still had his fever and for a bonus he got a runny nose. I took him to the doctor today and she told me that he could have a number of things but that they were all viruses so I just have to wait it out. Good news was that he didn't have an ear infection. He's sleeping now and I'm praying that he's getting better. I don't know how much for of the crying and whining I can take. I just wish my little boy was feeling better.

Oh and to top things off my house is covered in dog hair! While we were gone Jared let Chad and his dog stay in our house and because Ethan has been so sick I have not had a chance to clean my house. GROSS!

What's for Dinner Wednesday

OK - we talked about sharing recipes on Wednesdays and I'm officially starting it!! :) Here is a recipe I like to make. It's yummy and easy.

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion - chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (undiluted)
1 cup of sour cream
Hot Cooked Noodles

Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet until meat is browned, stirring to crumble meat. Drain.
Stir in flour and next 3 ingredients; cook and stir 1 minute.
Stir in soup, simmer 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add sour cream and heat thoroughly.
Serve over noodles.
(Yield: 4 Servings)

I actually dump the sour cream and soup in at once and just make sure its all hot and it works fine. But thats just me trying to get done as fast as possible! haha This makes like a thicker, not soupy, stroganoff. I like to serve this with green beans as a side veggie.  Mmm!  I think I might make this tonight if I can get myself to the grocery store today.  Enjoy!! :)