1st House guests

Now that we are finally settled in our house we are having our first guests this weekend!! We are super excited to spend time with Anna, Matthew & baby Cameron.  All will be quiet on the home front this weekend.  I will be back in action on Monday with some pictures from this weekend.  I hope you enjoy your friday & weekend:)

Broccoli & Cheddar Quiche

Well…here it is 9pm and I am just sitting down to blog.  First of all, I do want to say I never got a chance to make this quiche.  However, it does look amazing and that is why I am sharing it with you! I found it the other day while surfing the web ;)  If you do end up making this, let me know, as I want to know how it turned out:)


Broccoli & Cheddar Quiche


1   cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1

cup each chopped onions and broccoli

5

  eggs

1/3

cup miracle whip 

1/3

cup milk

1

cup shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1

frozen deep-dish pie crust (9 inch)

• HEAT oven to 375°F.
• COOK vegetables in skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat 5 min. or until crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
• BEAT eggs, dressing and milk in medium bowl with whisk until well blended. Stir in vegetable mixture and cheese; pour into pie crust. Place on baking sheet.
• BAKE 40 to 45 min. or until center of quiche is set and top is golden brown. Let stand 10 min. before slicing to serve.

Next week I hope to have more time to actually prepare a dish and share it with you! 

Fat Tuesday

Happy Fat Tuesday :) 


How do you celebrate Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras?  Did you know that Fat Tuesday always falls the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent?  Do you normally “give up” something to “do” something for Lent?  This year I have decided to give up wine & soda…and there will be NO cheat days! For my ALL TIME FAVORITE holiday, St. Patty’s day, I will enjoy some vodka if I REALLY want to drink:)  


Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys Fat Tuesday and the beginning of Lent tomorrow! Don’t forget to get your ashes tomorrow! 


Stay tuned for a meatless quiche tomorrow! I can’t wait to share!

My loves

There are many things in this world that make me smile… but a few of them are :

• Grey’s Anatomy & Private Practice
• Bottles of wine
• Coasters
• Big wine glasses

All of which I am enjoying tonight.  Super excited for the cross over event :) 

OH and yes, you are probably thinking…didn’t she give up wine… YUP! I am indulging and breaking that little rule.  I am just going to measure every ounce I drink and count my points.  Everyone has to have their vices :) 

Spring Fever!!

Do you have it?!  I know our family does! We are SO ready for some nice…hot…spring weather;) I saw my sister in law’s picture on facebook yesterday of her toes in the sand while wearing flip flops…why oh why can’t we live down south?!  I guess I can wait another 1-2 months for some spring weather!

Wednesday’s Recipe this week will not contain an actual recipe but a theme of CHICKEN.  Two days ago I roasted a chicken and It was WONDERFUL! I normally buy a 5-6lb roaster…and its good for about 2-3 dinners for 4 ppl. You REALLY have to dissect it though for all its worth;) I HIGHLY recommend purchasing a Deep Covered Baker by Pampered Chef… I use it all of the time especially for roasting chicken:)

Tonight I am making a fresh salad and putting chicken on top for Scot and I.  The girls will also have chicken, mashed potatoes & green beans.  There are million different things you could do with “leftover chicken” but here are a few if you are lacking any new dishes...

1. Chicken Enchiladas
2. Chicken & biscuits (Scot’s FAV…my MIL’s recipe..and I have FINALLY perfected it…will post the recipe another week…stay tuned”
3. Chicken Salads
4. Chicken, cheese & spaghetti sauce (basically cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and put chicken in a 13x9 pan…pour sauce on top and top with mozzarella cheese…bake at 400 for about 30 min until the cheese on top is melted and a browned.  Add a little penne/spaghetti and you have a nice left over dinner
5. Chicken taco’s
6. Chicken Nacho’s
7. Chicken quesadilla’s (another one of our favorite dinners!…saute green peppers & onions in a little bit of olive oil…season with salt & pepper… once sauteed make your quesadilla that contains…the mixture, cheddar jack cheese, chicken, chopped tomatoes, and anything else you want to add to the mix…) 
8. Chicken soup
9. Buffalo chicken dip (rather then use the can…use fresh!)
10. BBQ Chicken sandwiches!

Hope you can use at least one of the ideas if you are in a pinch for left over chicken :) 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

First off let me just tell you, I despise this “holiday”… but for the sake of my children & hubby I try to embrace the day :) There's no real reason I am not “in love” with this holiday…just not one of my favorite days… BUT I AM learning to like it :)  This year the hubby & girls went over and beyond with the gift giving.  They bought me a new…

Handheld video cameara!!!
Thank goodness it’s waterproof:) 

With a little video already on it…

I love it already and can’t wait to use it this summer at the beach!!!  

Jaja’s 30th…

Things I have learned in the past 24 hrs

1. Do not take a random taxi from Queens to Manhattan without a meter…it will set you back 45 $…it was 4 miles away!!! 
2. I can’t party like it was 2001… 
3. My feet, legs, stomach & head hate me… 
4. Having a pulled pork sandwich & jalapeno poppers at 3 am is the best…Unless you are Lindsey ;) 
5. I have the best girlfriends EVER…
6. Jaja and I haven’t seen each other in 6 years…and it was as if we never missed a beat. 

Last night we celebrated Jaja’s 30th bday in STYLE at Taj II in Manhattan.  Enjoy some pictures from our evening:) 

Kicking the Habit

And no I don’t mean smoking…I do not smoke.  I am going on 3 days of no

…and I want to SCREAM! The caffeine headaches are crazy! With giving up DC I am trying to drink more water… That also sucks too…I DESPISE water!  Does anyone have any tips on how you drink more water during the day?!

On a good note.  I have completed day 4 on Weight Watchers…and feel great! I also ran/walked 3.89 miles in an hour on the treadmill this afternoon… not great…but not bad since I haven’t been on the treadmill since early August.

Wednesday’s Recipe…Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps

This past weekend we went to a super bowl party at Chris & Steph’s house:) We had such a great time and enjoyed the delicious food!! We just want to say thanks to our great hosts for an awesome super bowl party.  


I am featuring one of the recipes that Steph’s, sister Rebecca made. Rebecca made Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps.  They were AMAZING! I didn’t get a picture because they went like hotcakes! However, if you do want to see what they look like, go to the food network and look it up.  


Wednesday’s Recipe:


Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
• 1 (1-pound) package sliced bacon
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons chili powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden pick. Stir together brown sugar and chili powder. Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture. Coat a rack and broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken wrap on rack in broiler pan. Bake 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp.

You will not be disappointed with this crowd pleaser! Hope you enjoy the recipe and the photos down below from a great day! GOOOO GIANTS!!!! 

Steph made the BEST guac:) 

Grace is enjoying the game with Uncle Chris!!  

WOOHOOO

THE GIANTS WIN… THE GIANTS WIN… THE GIANTS WIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!

OK, I think I have it out of my system…well for the 5 minutes that it will take me to write this blog.


Now, on to more important things like trying to lose weight and Weight Watchers.  A month ago I was going to start back on WW.  Well, I just wasn’t into it.  Now, looking at the scale and realizing I have a wedding to attend in a few months…I am wayyyy more motivated now.  I am trying to organize my life so that I clean on a weekly basis, work out every other day, make healthy meals & have fun w/ my kiddies & husband. It all starts today.  In a few minutes when Scot comes home from bringing Haley to school I will be jumping on the treadmill. Lets hope that I live and will be able to blog another day;)  Until tomorrow, enjoy today :)

Game Day Chili

What do you make for Super Bowl Sunday???  My favorite is chili. My recipe comes from my sister-in-law Caryn.  I LOVE the recipe and have been making it for years. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


Chili 

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup water
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t hot pepper sauce (or to your liking)
3 t chili powder
2 cloves of minced garlic
28 oz crushed tomatoes (undrained)
1 can tomato soup
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced green chiles
1 can red kidney drained & rinsed

Directions:

Brown the ground beef then add peppers & onions for about 5 minutes… stirring frequently.

Add all of the ingredients to the crockpot for a minimum of 2-4 hours on high.  I usually cook it for 6-8 hours on low.

Just call me a slacker

Slacker here…

UGH, this move has been a great one, but very time consuming! Yesterday, I babysat from 6:30am-4pm.  While I LOVE the little girl I sit for, it was pure chaos in my house yesterday. It had nothing to do with babysitting, but the fact that I was exhausted after she left and had to take Grace to the dr’s.  While changing Grace’s diapers I found she had a horrible rash all over her legs!! 2 hours later and PM Pediatrics to the rescue we had a diagnosis.  Grace had a horrible ear infection (NOT the reason we went) and has eczema.  So… hence the delay in the recipe category! I PROMISE I will be back on track next week.

I am hoping to get snapshots of the new house tonight.  No guarantees though;)

Until then, have a great day…and make SURE YOU are rooting for the BIG BLUE this Sunday!!!