Spice Organization

I hate my kitchen and you will probably see me mention that a few times.  I have two small drawers on each side of my stove, one is 7 inches wide and the other is 8 inches wide.  Really?  I'm also tired of not being able to find my spices in the cabinets so I decided to use the drawers.  Plus they are easier to spoon out and if they are kept in alphabetical order, easy to locate.

Supplies:

Chalkboard vinyl
2" circle cutter
Silver Sharpie
4 oz canning jars

I just punched out the amount of circles I needed then put them on the lids and wrote the name of the spice on there.

So far it has been a great change for me.  No one can find the pot holders anymore since I moved them!  HA!

Chicken Taco Crescents

Some nights when Mike works, I just want to find something easy and quick for he kids and I to eat. There are some items I always keep in the kitchen. Crescents, biscuits, chicken, taco seasoning, pasta, etc. Last night Mike had to do security at the Oak Mountain Fair (used be called the Alabama State Fair), so I just thought about what I had that I could whip up quickly because we had been out of town all weekend and there was a ton of laundry to do.

Chicken Taco Crescents

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts
1 can of 8 count crescent rolls
1/2 pack of taco seasoning
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I used my kitchen scissors and cut up the thawed chicken breasts into bite size pieces.  Then I sauteed them in a little olive oil until they were browned just a little. Then I added 1/2 pack of taco seasoning and about a 1/8 up of water and let that simmer for a few minutes.  I rolled up about 3-4 pieces of chicken and a little cheese. Let them cook for 12-14 minutes.  I put a dollop of sour cream on the plate for dipping.

The kids loved it and if Sarah likes it then I feel like I've accomplished something. She is my somewhat picky eater.  Enjoy!

Grand Cayman (Spring Break)

We are very fortunate to have my in-laws living in the Cayman Islands.  They have lived there for about 18 years, but will soon move back to the States.  They live in West Bay at a great condo right on the water.  It's not on the beach, but you can walk down to the water and the view is spectacular.

If you ever go to Grand Cayman, you have to take a day and drive the scenic route to Rum Point, which is about a 2 hour drive on the other side of the island.  The drive itself is just amazing.  The shore line is beautiful and you drive through several little towns are just picture perfect.  We stopped and got out of the car at my favorite spot, the blow hole.

The beaches are amazing too.  I live in Alabama, our beaches are pretty with the "sugary white sand" but honestly, I hate it.  The sand is so fine, you can think about going to the beach for the day and you are covered in a thin layer of sticky sand. The sand on Cemetery Beach (you walk through a cemetery to get to this part of the beach) and most of the beach areas is a not as fine and "sugary".  It's like millions of tiny shells and you can actually get in your car after a day at the beach and not bring the beach with you, if you know what I mean.  The water is crystal clear and cool.  

Of course, you can't visit Grand Cayman without going to Margaritaville!  The restaurant, pool and slide are on the 2nd floor of a strip mall and it's so much fun.  They have 3 cabanas by the pool you can lounge in while having a Cheeseburger in Paradise and a loaded Landshark.  It also has a swim up bar, but they only use it when the cruise ships are in. We have always chosen a day with no ships to visit Margaritaville.

Now to Rum Point.  It's the most tranquil beach I've ever been too.  You have a little bit of everything there.  Sun, shade, beach volleyball, bar area, restaurant area, bath house (which is actually clean), hammocks, jet skis, and kayaks.  You can walk out in the water about 300 yards and it never gets more than waist deep.   It's my most favorite place ever. I could stay there always.  

And let's not forget the GORGEOUS sunsets.  It's different every night and equally as beautiful as the one before.  There's just something about the peacefulness of the ocean after all the boats and ships have moved on and the beauty of this Earth that God gave us.  

Although Grand Cayman is one of my favorite places I've been to so far, I don't think I could live there.  It's really expensive and they don't have a Target!  

The Best Lemonade

My little Sarah LOVES to make things in the kitchen and I love that she loves it!  She's been wanting some "real" lemonade so I finally decided to give it a try.  I've never done it before.  I'm not a huge fan of all things lemon, so it's never on the top of my list to try.  

I bought a bag of lemons and we squished them and rolled them around to loosen the juice.  

We had recently bought a juicer from Ikea and this is the first chance I've gotten to use it and I loved it!  Sarah loved helping me.

Ingredients:

1-1 1/4 cups of fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup of hot water

4 cups of cold water

Directions:

1.  Roll and squeeze the lemons to loosen up the juice.

2.  Dissolve the sugar in the hot water.

3.  Depending on if you want pulp or not, strain the lemon juice into the sugar water.

4.  Add 4 cups of cold water.

5.  Pour into a pitcher and garnish with sliced lemons.

6.  Sit back and enjoy!  

Homemade Granola

Let me just start off by saying that I love granola!  It's a great snack and I love it in yogurt too.  I've been wanting to make my own for awhile and just never did.  My kitchen isn't the best place for baking and such.  I just have no counter space and it gets me frustrated. 

The granola turned out wonderful and I will just make my own from now on since it's so easy!

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped walnuts

3 cups of old fashioned oats

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/3 cup of honey

3 tablespoons of coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of almond extract

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.  Pour the oats, salt, brown sugar and walnuts into a bowl and mix it up.

3.  In a small microwave bowl combine the honey and coconut oil.  Heat for 45 seconds and stir to          dissolve the coconut oil.  Add the almond and vanilla extract.

4.  Pour the honey mixture over the oat mixture until everything is coated.

5.  Put the oat mixture on a parchment lined cookie sheet

6.  Baked for 5 minutes, remove and stir.  Baked for another 5 minutes and remove from oven.

7.  Pour the granola onto a sheet of wax paper to cool.  After it cools completely, break it up and store      it in an air tight container. 

Enjoy!

Organizing My Kitchen

I love to organize.  I really don't have time to organize the way I want, but I should get an A for effort!

I took the day off in November 2013 to completely reorganize my kitchen.  I moved everything around to make the most of the little bit of storage space I have.  It turned out really good and I've happy with the change over the last year.  This time around I really just needed to do a little "housekeeping".  Lids to Disney cups need a home and pantry and food cabinet needed to be straightened up.

I've done a few more changes that I will post over the weekend.  

Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie.  There is nothing better than some good ole southern comfort food.  I’ve made this before with a pie crust, but it gets too soggy when I have leftovers.   YUCK.  I’ve gotten to where I love boneless skinless chicken thighs.  I just think they are easier to cook and a lot juicier and tender.  I’m sure Mike will love this when he gets home from work in a bit.  

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 cans of mixed veggies, drained

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 cup of milk

Topping:

2 cups of Bisquick

1 tablespoon of mayo (I used Duke’s)

1 beaten egg

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a big bowl, mix the veggies, soup and milk and set aside.  Brown the chicken and shred, then add to the veggie mixture.  Pour the mixture into an 11x7 baking dish.  Mix the Bisquick, mayo and beaten egg until it’s crumbly then sprinkle over the chicken mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the top has browned and sauce is bubbly.

Enjoy!

Morning Routine {Printable}

I hate mornings at my house.  It's very very stressful.  Maggie won't get out of bed, I have to tell her 5 or 6 times and Sarah....oh Sarah.......She does great until it's time to get dressed then it all goes south. She is very particular about her clothes, socks and shoes.  Everything has to feel just right or she's not wearing it.  It's a horrible battle every morning and one or both of us end up crying.  It's really awful. This morning she missed the bus because she fiddle farts around and fusses and whatnot, so I told her from now on, she will be ready to leave at 6:30. Her bus comes between 6:40 and 6:45.  It's really exhausting.  SO, I have posted about this before, but I made us a new printable for our morning routine.  I shouldn't have to pay my child to do what she is supposed to do, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.  Judge me if you want, I don't care.  I need some sanity in my life.

Click HERE to download

Head Over Teal

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, in case you didn't know.  I know because my sweet mother has been fighting this nasty beast for the last three years.  Her story is here and I think you should read it.  It's the third one on the page.

I feel like ovarian cancer is looked over so much, but it really shouldn't be.  There are no monthly or yearly exams that detect ovarian cancer.  Please read through the Laura Crandall Brown website to see how you can help.

At the end of September every year, there is a Head Over Teal 5K Walk/Run and I was very honored to have been able to walk the 5K, my first one by the way, and I am lucky to have done it in HONOR of my mother.  My Dad, brother and future sister in law and her mom and a bunch of my Mom's co-workers were there also.  Now I'm not saying this just because she's my Mom, she let me tell you, she is one special lady.  

I really like this picture of me and Mom.

These are some pictures from the photobooth after the run.  The quality is horrible because I was taking a picture of a picture.  You know how that goes. 

I'm not real sure what Mom is doing with the green glasses in this picture.  We have laughed and laughed about that.

It was so funny....we were all scrambling between shots to switch props we were all cracking up and screaming like crazy people.

I guess Dad thought he didn't need any props...goof ball.

We really had a great time and it is for a really good cause and I can't wait until September rolls around again so we can do this again!  I wish there was more awareness about ovarian cancer.  BUT please, once again, head on over to Think of Laura and check it out, read and be informed.

DIY Monogram

I've been wanting to do this for a while and I've had the materials for a while.  I got the wood letters and paint at Hobby Lobby and I always keep sponge brushes on hand.  Hobby Lobby is my favorite store for craft supplies, among many other things!

I used a sponge brush and had to put about 3-4 coats of silver on the "W", but it turned out looking pretty good.

I hot glued the letters together and hung them on the wall with THESE beauties that I just recently discovered.  I think it looks great on Maggie's wall.   She has had a purple room for a bit, but is thinking of changing to a lighter teal color.  This will still match because she will keep her black and white damask bedding and her furniture is white.

Disney World Day 1

We, reluctantly, decided to take the kids out of school the week of Labor Day and make our way to Disney World in Orlando.  It's really only about a 9 hour drive for us.  To me, that's not bad, I love road trips and our kids travel really well.  I just always make sure I have pillows, blankets, chargers and ear buds, for them of course.

We started off on Saturday August 30 and headed for Jacksonville, FL where my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Terry live.  We haven't seen their new and I was definitely coveting.

We got there in time to watch the Alabama game and visit with some other family who live in the area that I haven't seen in quite a while.  It was a nice evening.  We got up really early the next day and headed for Orlando!

It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive.  Not bad at all and the weather was turning out to be gorgeous.  Still a little warm for my liking, but I can tolerate the heat a lot better now.  

Finally, we arrived, but we haven't updated the GPS in the car so it was a little rough finding our resort.  We stayed at The Caribbean Beach Resort.  It was our first time staying here and we opted to wait for one of renovated rooms with queen beds.  We were getting a little antsy because it was getting late in the day, we weren't in our room yet, we needed showers and all of our luggage was in the car and snacks were melting.  

We finally got in our room and showered quickly and took off to Hollywood Studios so we could get to dinner at Hollywood & Vine, which was a first and let me say, it was delicious.  Then after dinner we headed over to see the Fantasmic show.  Mike and I have seen it before, but it's been a long time and the kids had not.  We wanted this trip to be full of new experiences and new restaurants.  The kids are older and no stroller needed so we were ready to conquer Mickey and Friends.

Stay tuned for Day 2 of our trip!  It was a loooong day but so very fun!  

 

Menu Plan and Weekly Goals July 21-27

I really feel like things are about to get kicked into high gear!  Believe it or not, our schools start back August 7 and I feel a little panic setting in.  I think keeping myself organized and making menu plans every week is going to be a huge help.  Instead of having a huge list of things I want to do, I'm going to have small list and not let myself get so overwhelmed.  I do that to myself then I shut down and won't do anything.

So here's my menu plan for the week:

Breakfast choices:
Pancakes (frozen)
Biscuit waffles
Nutella/Cream Cheese
Bagels
Fruit with agave nectar
cereal

Lunch/snacks choices:
Ham/turkey wraps
Lunchables (the small ones)
Yogurt
Nutella to go
Fruit
Veggies
Mini muffins

Dinner:

Monday
BBQ Pork Roast sandwiches
Parmesan Roasted potatoes

Tuesday
Spaghetti squash with grilled chicken
Red or white sauce
Garlic bread

Wednesday*
Tilapia
Corn on the cob
Fried green tomatoes

Thursday*
Chicken pot pie

Friday
Not sure

Saturday
Taking dinner to Mike's mom

Sunday
Stuffed bell peppers
Baked sweet potato

*Subject to change!  Mike is working security at the Luke Bryan concert two nights this week!  We may eat sandwiches!

Our weekly summer schedule looks a little like this:

Monday: work/camp/body pump class
Tuesday work/camp/barre class
Wednesday: work/ camp/Sarah at gymnastics
Thursday: catch up night at home
Friday: all clear
Saturday: all clear
Sunday: Mike working extra job every other Sunday evening

My goals for the week are:

I really need to work on my recipe binders.  I have SEVERAL binders and a million printed recipes. So, I'm going to work on my breakfast binder this week, getting the recipes in alphabetical order and creating a table of contents.

Of course, this goes along with laundry, floors, etc.  This is my weekly cleaning schedule.  I don't always stick to it, but I do my best.

Hope you have a fantastic week and while you're at it, check out other menu plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie!  Not only can you get great meal ideas, she has a million great ways to get and stay organized!  

Before and After (again)

If you will remember this post a while back, I was down 80 pounds.....well, it's been a year since I've had surgery and here are the results!  I couldn't be happier!