Celebrating Mother's Day

Sunday morning we drove home. I got to the house around noon. We had a really chill afternoon and it was PERFECTION!! I came home to flowers, a sweet card and homemade chocolate covered strawberries. It was just what I wanted! I always tell Justin that him spending time on something for me is so special. 

We played for awhile and then it was afternoon nap time. I put Ascher down and decided that since it was Mother's Day I would just take a nap with him. It was nice. (One day I'm gonna take a nap by myself though.) After nap time we went outside and played in the backyard. It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed the weather while Daddy cooked a DELICIOUS dinner for us!

Bubbles & a Ball- two of his favorite things

A boy & his dog.

Sweet boy. After playing- we came inside and devoured the deliciousness Daddy had made. 

Herb Crusted Chicken in Basil Cream Sauce

After dinner we all just had a normal, low key evening full of sweetness from both my sweet baby boy and my sweet hubby. I am so blessed to be a Mother and I am thrilled beyond words that I get to be Ascher's mom. I am blessed to have such a wonderful mom who has shown and taught me so much about being a mom. 

Children are a heritage from the Lord,

    offspring a reward from him.

Psalm 127:3

Mama's Weekend Away

So I have blogged before about my NANNNY and this weekend was no different. I love being with the girls. Its like college all over again. : ) let me back up...

Friday Justin had off so Natalie & I went and saw The Great Gatsby. I was a little nervous because I just re-read it and I hate when movies don't stay true to the book but I think they did a fabulous job not only sticking to the book but the filming, casting, set, everything. I truly enjoyed it! At one point in the movie, I leaned over to Natalie and told her I wanted to be friends with Gatsby. : )

After the movie Justin went with Carson & Lee to the shooting range and I made soft monster cookies. (Delicious) 

When they got back from the range we all went and ate Cici's for dinner. (Yum- let me tell you.) Ascher passed out when we got home so Justin and I just enjoyed a night hanging out. 

Saturday morning we had a low key morning- Justin mowed, I showered & went to the mall and got ready for Lauren's bachelorette party. While Justin was mowing Ascher was banging on the bathroom window saying DADADA!! It was super cute.

Chelsea & Kimberly picked me up around 12:45ish and we headed to Dallas- after a stop at Chikfila. The drive wasn't that bad at all and before we knew it we arrived at Lauren's house. She has such a beautiful home in Dallas- she is moving to Arizona is two weeks though. : ( We hung out and got ready for her lingerie shower at her sisters house. 

We drove a quick 3 minutes to her sisters house where they had decorated everything so cute! Her best friend will write a blog post about it- I'll link when she does. It was a lot of fun and she got a bunch of super cute things! We ate some yummy food, drank some mimosas and headed to dinner. 

We went and ate at Manny's Tex- Mex. We had a private room and its was fabulous! We all had a card at our seat that said who has the groom!? Whoever had him won I prize. I had Drake, Chelsea had Bieber, Lauren had Efron and Kimberly had Paul. It was cute. We all ate lots of queso, told funny stories & had a blast. We didn't leave the resturant until after 10. 

We decided to just go back to Lauren's house and put on our pj's and hang out. It was such a perfect plan for us. We aren't big bar people so it was perfect! Before we changed I made us take a few more pictures

It was good catching up with Lauren and I can't wait for her wedding!! Less than a month away!! Woot Woot!! Sunday morning we got up early (boooo- mama didn't get to sleep in) because we wanted to get back early so we could spend mothers day with our families. Granted, Im the only one who is a mom but Chelsea & Kimberly wanted to get back to go eat with their moms. It was a fabulous Friday & Saturday!! I'll do a separate Mothers Day post. 

Being Domestic

So I have been addicted to Pinterest for some time and I barely ever get on facebook anymore because I immediately go to Pinterest before going anywhere else and stay there forever. : ) Anyways, I have found so many wonderful recipes on Pinterest and have been trying some of them out. My pinterest is here.

I started with a basic chicken crock pot dinner found here.

It was okay. I probably won't make it again. It was good for a crock pot meal but not much flavor. I served it over rice. It did make A TON! I even cut back the chicken since it was just Justin and I and we still ate it for two dinners and a lunch for me.

Next we made the chicken goat cheese quesadilla. They were my favorite thing we have made. I LOVE GOAT CHEESE so add in some chicken and cheese- delish! I served these with an avocado sour cream dip. Also, delish. 5 stars for this meal. And again we had leftovers. They are found here.

For lunch I am making these. I'll let you know how they turn out.

For the sweets I have made Pink Lemonade Funfetti Cookies- they were DELISH and super easy.

I am going to the store this afternoon to pick up the ingredients to make...

- Strawberry Nachos- *I can't wait for these*
- Baked Ham & Cheese Sliders with Poppy seed dressing
-Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Nutatella Puff Pastry
- Lime Sherbet without an ice-cream machine
-Homemade fondant

To see all of these recipes go to my pinterest and look under the cooking board and/or sweets board. ADDICTED!

Also just for fun--- so I was in the kitchen getting the baked potato ready and when I came back into the living room Pip was laying on the couch watching "The Dog Whisperer" with his paw right on the remote. Apparently, he is in charge of the remote today.

Cake Balls

I know this recipe is all over the Internet but I just wanted to post mine so that I will have it for future reference and will be able to put it in my blog book for this year.

**Cake Balls**

1 box yellow cake mix

1 can cream cheese frosting

Bakers chocolate for melting

Make cake as box calls. Let cake cool completely and then break it into pieces (I leave bigger chunks so it doesn’t get too mushy). I made my cake in two round pans. I broke one cake up into bowl, added can of frosting then broke second cake up. I feel it made it easier to mix everything together.

After mixing put in fridge to get hard. Once you are ready/cake mixture hard, make them into balls. I made 4 plates full. Put in freezer and let freeze.

After balls are frozen dip them into chocolate and put back in fridge/freezer for chocolate to dry and harden.

I didn't have near enough chocolate to coat all my cake balls. I put the leftover balls in the freezer for safe keeping until this weekend when I will go get some more chocolate and dip the rest! : ) 

What I've Been Up Too

This is me in my friends awesome purple ski suit with Pip inside the suit. It has been freezing here.

Pip has been cold- hence his snuggie

True Love

YIPPIE! Fire in our fireplace

Justin worked hard all last Saturday putting these together.

My baby & me enjoying the fireplace

Tater Tot Casserole

The Recipe card- so good

Friday night I was in a cooking mood- I made homemade chocolate cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese icing.

Icing:
 1 stick butter,
1 block of cream cheese
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup puree strawberries



YUM!

 The chocolate cupcake recipe was Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes. So there you have it- my exciting life. Today I have been doing laundry, picking up, thinking about making some heart shaped sugar cookies- but think I might wait until the chocolate cupcakes are gone.

Peanut Butter Kisses

So I love my Wii and Wii Fit Plus but with these cookies in the house, I can work out and it still tells me I have gained a few so if you are watching the calories...this recipe isn't for you but OH MY is it good! and super easy.

Peanut Butter Kisses

1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Chocolate Kisses

Mix together the first 3 ingredients together. Spoon into little dolups onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cook 8-10 minutes on 350 degrees. Once they are out of the oven push a kiss into the middle and watch it melt into uber goodness!!

Let me know if you try them and what you think! Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

I am trying to enjoy my last few days off so I sleep in as long as possible then got busy. I went and got my nails re-done, then went to Dillards and tried to exchange something which they didn't have so that was NOT a success. I came home and cleaned up the apartment a little. Organized the extra bedroom, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, started laundry then started dinner. Natalie came over to get our old vacuum and helped me with dinner then ate dinner with us! Tonight I made my mom's super easy beef stroganoff...

she didnt want me to take her picture...lame

Beef Stroganoff from the kitchen of Mom

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion
1 can of mushroom whole/pieces (drained)
1 can of cream of chicken
1 small container of sour cream
salt & pepper to taste
egg noodles- *I used spiral noodles, it was all I had*


Brown the ground beef & onion. Add the mushroom, cream of chicken and the sour cream. (Once the sour cream is in, make sure you don't boil it). Simmer until heated thoroughly. Prepare egg noodles as directed on the package.


Place the beef mixture over the egg noodles. Tomorrow night...hot chicken salad

Taco Soup

Tonight I made Taco Soup and Carla and I were discussing how I should be like Julie & Julia and blog all my good recipes from my first year of marriage so here goes nothing...

Taco Soup from the kitchen of Lauren Clegg:

1.5 lb. ground beef
chopped onion (small)
2 cans ranch style pinto beans (undrained)
2 cans corn (undrained) ~ 30 oz.
1 can tomato sauce
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 small can chopped green chillies (I can never find this so I just leave them out)
1 cup water
1 small package taco seasoning mix
1 small package ranch dressing mix

Brown meat with onions. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil- simmer for 15 minutes.

Top with cheese, fritos, and sour cream, etc.

It looks like a lot of ingredients but they are all cans so its really simple & cheap!P.S. I chopped all my hair offhad to throw in a picture of Justin making his corned beef hash

Chef in the Budding

Ya know we are getting married in 13 days but...I have been cooking away! : ) First, for the 4th of July I made peanut butter chocolate rice krispie treats! amazing!! I took the picture tonight, therefore the pan is already basically empty between Justin, Me and Kason! : ) Here is how super easy it was!!

1 cup Karo syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
5-6 cups rice krispie (store brand)
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix the Karo syrup and sugar on the stove until boiling. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. Add the rice krispies and press into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals and then spread across the top! Then place in the fridge until hardened! AMAZING!

Tonight I made Chicken Ranch Tacos. Jessica has been giving me all sorts of recipes she has gotten from one of her friends at work, so I decided to try this one, even though Justin wont be home until 11, his dinner will be waiting! This recipe is also SUPER easy!
1 rotisserie chicken
1 taco seasoning mix
tortilla shells
ranch dressing
shredded cheese

First pull all the meat off the already baked chicken and shred it. I used our new kitchen knive scissors and chopped away until it was shredded but it could have easily been done by hand, but I was getting some aggression out on the chicken : ) After shredding it I placed it in a big pot and added the taco seasoning and water and mixed together until all was blended. Then added a dash here and a dash there of ranch dressing and stirred it up. (so basically add ranch to your taste). Then your done! How easy is that! Then I put the chicken on the shell, added some more ranch, and some shredded cheese and chowed down! It would have been good with some lettuce also!

So there you have it, my recipes for today! I am sure I will be back in wedding mode as soon as I get back to Kingwood. There is something about being in College Station that makes me forget I am getting married in 12 days and still have 8 million little things to do!! Yippie...12 days and I will be Mrs. Knight!! Could not be happier...nothing could ruin this!! God is good and I am blessed! and oh yeah.. I AM MARRYING THE MAN OF MY DREAMS!!