January 31, 2009

Awesome Recipes


This is one of my favorite pictures from this week! Ethan was standing and using Jared's hair for support! He made some of the cutest faces!

I have been really getting back into cooking now that Ethan can kind of play by himself. I have decided to share some of my favorites this week!



Chicken and Corn Chowder


Ingredients:

1/6 cup butter, unsalted

2/3 large onion; chopped

2/3 cup chicken broth

1 1/3 cup potatoes; cut in 1' cubes

2 cups frozen corn

1 1/3 tablespoon sugar

2/3 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

2tablespoons flour, all-purpose

1 cup evaporated milk

2 chicken breast fully cooked and cut into cubes


Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery and saute 5 minutes until soft but not brown. Add chicken broth, chicken cubes, potatoes, corn, sugar, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until potatoes are barely tender, about 30 minutes. Whisk flour into 3/4 cup evaporated milk . Stir into soup. Add remaining evaporated milk and simmer until soup has thickened to creamy consistency, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if needed. If too thick, add a little milk; if too thin, simmer 5 to 10 minutes more.





BAR-B-Q CHICKEN PIZZA




This is my favorite from this week! I didn't think I would like it but it was really good!



1 Pizza Crust

1/2 pound chicken breasts cut up into strips

1/2 cup Sweet BarBQue Sauce or your favorite kind

3/4 cup mozzarella

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

2 tb olive oil




Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Cook Chicken slices till no longer pink on the inside. (don't over cook) Put the chicken slices in the frig till completly cool. Add 2 Tablespoons Bar-B-Que Sauce to Chicken slices, put back in Frig. Cover raw pizza crust with the rest of the sauce then add onion slices and cover with parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup mozzarella. Then add chicken slices and cover with the remaining cheese. Put in oven for 8- 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!!




Jared loved this next one! I only had bacon and chicken breasts so I didnt use three meats and it was still great!

Paula Deen's Three Meat Pasta

Ingredients
1 pound angel hair pasta
2 cups cooked chicken, off the bone
2 cups cooked sausage, cut 1/2-inch thick
2 cups cooked ham, cubed
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded
16 ounces cottage cheese
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup hot water
1 to 2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot, boil salted water for angel hair pasta. When cooked, drain and set aside.
In a large bowl mix together the chicken, sausage, ham, onions, cheddar cheese and cottage cheese.
In a separate small pot, dissolve bouillon cubes with hot water and pour over the meat and pasta.
Pour mixture into a 9 by 12 by 2-inch greased baking dish and top with the parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the bubbling around the edges.

January 29, 2009

Snow Days are GREAT days to play!



All snuggled in for a nap!

Crawling!



Sitting up!


Grandpa Jim and Ethan in his Levi's











Sitting with mommy!
We have been snowed in lately so I have a lot of pictures to post!




January 23, 2009

More Moving

I don't know whether to consider this crawling or not but it is sure cute to watch!

January 22, 2009

GREAT DAY FOR A WALK!!


Bright sunny day!


The suns in my eyes!

I love my stroller! He can now sit up like a big boy!

Today was a very very nice day! Ethan and I went for a walk around the block before his nap and it was so nice to get out and about! We also had a visit from Great Grandma Sue and Papa Bob! They brought Ethan the cutiest little hat, which is a little big but I think it is so cute I put it on him for our walk!

January 20, 2009

Card Making Time




This is a card I have been working on! I am so excited, I love to make this kind of stuff! I am still getting the hang of it so it isn't as perfect as I would like!


A NEW HOBBY!



Well, Monday was very busy for me around the house so I didn't post anything yesterday. Jared and I had a wonderful date on Saturday! We went out to eat and talked about old times! We have been together four years and man we have had some good times. We ended up spending the night with A and R Saturday because Jared was really tired! We had an awesome time playing The Office game. Man I love that show, it just doesn't get old!


In other news Jared and I were discussing new improvements to the house and we both decided it needs curb appeal! I guess I watch to much HGTV! (Property Virgins is our favorite.) I read that curb appeal could increase the value of your home 10 to 40%. Anyway I have been looking through a gardening magazine to see how I can improve the landscaping around our house! It doesn't have any so anything would be an improvement! I have never really done actual landscaping so this is all new to me, but I am bound and determined to do it right! I went out and bought a Better Homes and Garden Book that has everything you need to know about improving your lawn. I have a lot of reading to do, but I am super excited to get started!

Look at how much this little guy has changed!
The picture below was taken a few days ago!

January 16, 2009

New Video!



Well Thursday night was awesome! Jared and I really enjoyed this weeks Office although it seemed to fly by! I stuffed my face with pizza rolls, PEPSI and chips! I love PEPSI! I also tried a new pastry recipe out, Spinach-cheese rolls. They turned out pretty good! I got to use some of my pampered chef stuff! I love pampered chef! Jared and I have big plans this weekend! I am so excited! We are going on our first real date since Ethan was born! Grandma Lynn is going to watch him for the first time! We might watch a movie, but there really isn't one that we want to see all that bad! Hopefully we have a good time and Ethan behaves while at Grandma's house! Ethan is really doing a lot of cute things so I am adding a couple of my favorites from this week! The picture of Ethan in the walker shows his new sneakers I just had to get him! They are so cute on!

Ethan is doing well sitting up, although he would rather be moving around! He loves to have his picture taken as you can tell from these pictures! I take the camera out and his smile comes right out! He has been such a blessing!
I am so excited to share with you a new video! I think that it is so cute ! I have added music to my site, hopefully you enjoy it! If you aren't into the classics little Nat King Cole you can just pause it! Have a great weekend!





January 15, 2009

Another week of new things!

This is Ethan with his new walker! His feet don't touch but he loves it anyway. He gets in it an his little feet move like crazy!



So I was messing around with the set up of my blog and I put one of our wedding pictures up! It cracks me up how big it is! It is one of my favorite pictures so I am going to leave it! Ethan had his 6 month well baby visit on Tuesday and everything is wonderful with him! He is 15 lbs which I can't believe, he is just getting so big! He can sit up with some support and now he is trying to crawl! We taped him scooting and it is so cute! I am going to post it when I download the video later today! Something Ethan has been doing since he was like 3 months is grab his pacifer and put it in his mouth all by himself! Well the other day I put him in the car and I had no idea where his pacifer was. When I went to take him out he had it in his mouth! I was like where did that come from!


Yesterday I had lunch with a high school friend Audrey! We ate at Panera Bread which was really good! I had never been there before so it was something exciting and new! I got my pampered chef stuff yesterday, so I went crazy! I wanted to make ravoli but I didn't have enough time. I guess I will use my pastry cutter another day! I did how ever get to use my potato masher which worked very very well!
For fun this week I designed an Office shirt for a contest NBC is having on their website! Mine is not the best by far but I thought it would be fun to submit one! If you are interested in looking at it here is the link! http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/photos/gallery#item=58414 Anyone can vote if you want to ! LOL or you could vote for someone elses! I love the Office and it is actually new tonight so I can't wait! Jared and I try to make Thrusday like a party night and I try to make fun finger foods to eat while we watch! We always went to a friends house on Thursdays and had a big get together, but since moving to Joplin we just do our own thing! It is fun to kind of have a family tradition even if Ethan doesn't understand or care about the Office!
Well for those of you that follow my blog have a good day!

January 12, 2009

6 months old!!
















This little guy is 6 months old today, and I just can't believe it! Everyday he is doing more and more things that just amaze me! I started sign language with him about a month ago and even though he can't sign to me he understands when I sign to him. I have a feeling that pretty soon he will be signing back! He can also scoot across the floor to get his toys, which will soon turn into a crawl!



Jared and I had a pretty exciting weekend! We put all of our Christmas decor up Saturday morning! Then I made a whole lot of food for a pre-fight party! We didn't actually go to the fight, but we watched Justice while Andrew, Rebecca, and Jason went to watch! Jared and I watched Heroes, which has to be one of our favorite shows now! Sunday Jared finished putting insulation in the addition area and then we went to the mall and I bought some more books for Ethan to read or chew on! I have started a new hobby, which I love! Scrapbooking for picture frames! I worked on that all Sunday morning and will probably do it today also!



January 09, 2009

New Year!

My little brother and I !

What a doll!

Playing around with my new camera!



Grandma TT loving on Ethan Christmas Day!


My new workout machine! I am working out
pretty hard!




I think that I have waited long enough for my next post! I can't believe that it has been over 3 months! Well a lot has happened since my last post. We finished our bathroom and have started on our addition, which is coming right along! Christmas time has come and gone, which is a little sad because it is my favorite holiday! I love to spend time with family and friends around a big table of junk food! Ethan's first Christmas was all I could have hoped for. We got plenty of pictures of him for the scrapbooks and also video to watch in the years to come! Jared got me some pretty fantastic gifts that I use daily! An elliptical machine and a NEW camera! I added some pictures of Ethan who will be six months old this Monday! Man when people tell you time flies they are right! He is growing bigger by the minute! He has started moving across the floor, so we have to really watch him!