And the Weekend Begins...Now!

It's a long weekend here...Memorial Day weekend to be exact. We have lots of barbeque fun and outdoor relaxation lined up for the next few days, I'm so excited! I hope you can get outside a bit yourself and enjoy the sunshine...and maybe some pretty flowers

like these...

And these...

Ahhh, so pretty!

And I hope you can enjoy something yummy on the grill, maybe even some s'mores...

It's loads of fun to bite into all the chocolate-y, marshmallow-y goodness!

Or just take 'em apart and lick 'em till there is no more middle to be found...

Graham crackers are so over-rated!

Happy weekend to you!!

What the Whaaat??

Okay, two things...have you ever had Swedish Fish before?

So, I have never had them until last week. Whaaat!? Yeah, that's right. Never.Had.Them. Until last week that is. Now, let's just say I'm addicted. I bought my second bag of them already...the big bag, the giant bag, the super-sized bag. Ughhh, I can't believe it. It's almost gone already. Ughhh. But now I know what I've been missing this whole time. Every time I would go to the movies and see them sitting in the candy case next to my beloved Reese's Pieces but never bothering to look twice at them. I'm so sorry Swedish Fish. I never knew what I was missing...until now. Ughhh! So.Freakin'.Addicting.

Second thing, my other food addiction right now are/is Reese's Puffs.

Double Ughhh! We normally don't buy this type of cereal so I don't know what possessed me to buy it the other day. But darn it, it's good. All chocolate-ly and peanut butter-y and full of crap-loads of sugar. YUM! But seriously, the box is almost empty. Not good.

Ok, that's it. Just wanted to share...not sure why.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

So here is what we had for dinner last night...Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. They are a favorite at our house, soooo cheesy and creamy and they taste like they are soooo bad for you but in reality they are a fairly healthy meal! Can you believe it?! Yup, you just need to use low-fat cream cheese and sour cream and a fat-free cream of chicken soup and you are all set for a deliciously healthy dinner! Woot Woot! for a healthy meal!

Creamy, cheesy goodness...SO good!

Wanna put some on your table tonight? The fam will love you for it, for realsies!!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups cooked chicken

1/4 cup diced onion

2 tbsp butter

1 4 ounce can diced green chile peppers, drained

4 ounces (1/2 a block) of cream cheese (I like to use low-fat)

1 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp cumin

12 flour tortillas

1 can cream of chicken soup (I like the fat-free variety!)

1 8 ounce container of sour cream (low-fat of course!)

1 cup milk

3/4 cup shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese...or pepperjack if you like the spice!

In a saute pan, heat up 2 tablespoons of butter and cook the onions and 1 tablespoon of the green chiles until the onions are translucent. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, mix softened cream cheese, cumin and the tablespoon of milk. Shred your chicken and add into the bowl along with the onion and green chile mixture. Place 3-4 tablespoons of the chicken mixture in the middle of each tortilla and roll up. Place seam side down in a greased baking pan and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, the rest of your green chiles and milk together. Pour on top of your tortillas and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Take out of the oven and sprinkle with cheese and then bake an additional 5 minutes with the foil off the pan. Cool a little bit until you can wait no longer and then dig in, plating is optional...Super Yum!

First, dice up your 1/4 cup of onion. If you already have some cooked chicken you can just place the onion into a saute pan with some butter and a tablespoon of green chiles and cook until the onions are translucent.

Or...

If you don't already have cooked chicken, go ahead and cook your chicken up in your saute pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil instead of butter.

I like to add in my onion and the tablespoon of green chiles when my chicken is almost completely cooked through. Then, just cook just until the onions are translucent...oh, and your chicken is cooked all the way through (yeah, that's a for sure!)

Then, take a shot of your trusty little sidekick who is always at your feet when you are cooking up meat!

Awww, Olivia is such a hairy little begger, isn't she!?!

Next, in a medium bowl, mix up your cream of chicken soup, sour cream, the rest of your green chiles and your milk and set aside.

Then, in another bowl, mix up your cream cheese, cumin and tablespoon of milk and...

When your chicken is all done cooking, shred it and add the chicken, onion and green chile mixture to the cream cheese mixture you just made above.

Then, dollop 3-4 tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto your tortillas and roll up...

Place the rolled up tortillas seam side down in a greased baking dish.

Pour your soup mixture on top, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes...

Then, sprinkle with the 3/4 cup of shredded cheese and place back in your oven for another 5 minutes (without foil).

All done!

Oh yeah, now that is lookin' good!

Que Bueno!

Now, it's time to eat!

A Secret to Share

Oh boy, Oh boy! I am so happy to finally be able to share a little secret I have been hiding from you (and no, I have no clue if we are actually having a boy or not!) I wanted to tell you that all last week I have been hard at work cleaning up my blog! Who's excited with/for me!?! Annnd let me tell you that, Yippee Skippy, I am finally done!! Aren't you just so excited for me? C'mon, say you are!

Yeah, I know it looks the same at first glance but remember looks can be deceiving ;) If you dig a little deeper and hit the tabs at the top of the page, you know, 'Recipes'...'Projects for Little Ones'...'Tutorials', you will see vast areas of improvement!! Instead of just having you scroll through every.single.post relating to those tabs I put up picture boxes for each section so now everything is nice and organized...yuppers, that's right, my nesting is now taking over my blog! So, ladies and gents, all you have to do is click on a picture and it will take you right to the post, cool-io! Surfing the web, okay my blog, has never been easier!

Alrighty, that's it...just wanted to tell you all to check out the changes, finding a Recipe or Tutorial or Project for Your Little One is now a whole lot more fun :)

Me Likey!

Goat Cheese Bruschetta

Ummm yeah, I love bruschetta. It's so good. I love the crispiness of the bread and the little chopped up veggies sitting on top. It's the perfect snack, a great lunch, or an awesome appetizer. In my family we make it simple, you only need 4 ingredients...yeah, just 4 little ingredients are needed to make this beautiful looking and great tasting dish:

Doesn't it look so pretty?

We spread Goat Cheese on the bruschetta we eat around here, it's super yummy. I love to use a Basil and Roasted Garlic version so I don't need to add extra herbs or seasonings, it's my little short cut :) If you are a little weird-ed out by goat cheese, don't be. It lends a nice creamy component to the crunchy bread. You will love it, really.

Alright, so stop licking your computer screen and start cutting up your bread. Crunchy goodness is only mere minutes away.

Goat Cheese Bruschetta

1 loaf french bread

2 large tomatoes or a pint of grape tomatoes

Chevre aka Goat's Cheese (I LOVE the Basil and Roasted Garlic kind, really I LOVE it!!)

Cooking spray or Olive oil

Slice your loaf of french bread in 1/2 inch slices on the bias, so that way you have fun angled bread pieces. Spray your bread on one side only with the cooking spray or lightly brush with oil. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 200 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly toasted.

Next, spread some goat's cheese on top of each piece. Chop up your tomatoes and place on top of the goat's cheese. Warm in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Now you are ready to eat, and eat, and eat, and eat...YUM!

Chop up those tomatoes...OK, so I do this step first!!

Slice up your bread, spray with cooking spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Toast in a 200 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Slather on that goat's cheese and top with those lovely tomatoes you just chopped up!

Then, place your bruschetta back in the oven for 5-10 minutes just to warm it up.

Ahhh, time to eat...or wait for company to come over...any minute now.

So good!

Munch, Crunch, Crunch!

A Getaway?...No Way!

OK, so here is a post that may bore you but I so wanted to share cause I love you guys, you're like family after all...didn't you know that! We decided last week to take a mini-vacation to Minnesota, can I get a WOOT WOOT for us actually taking a whole FOUR day vacation! We just got back and I just had to share some pictures from our trip, hope you don't mind.

We had such an amazing time, the weather was perfect and so were the kids...well, for the most part! We were more than a little nervous to have them in the car for so long but they did really well. Thank goodness for junk food as special treats and Leapsters to entertain them! Oh, yeah and DVD players playing the same Caillou DVD for hours on end...not sure how I could forget that!

We headed to the Minnesota Zoo first because I absolutely love this zoo! It's one of my all time favs. The set-up they have is great for seeing all the animals up close yet it's super expansive so you can get some good walking in. I love the fact that they have a monorail train system there for a enjoying a whole different zoo experience, I always loved riding it as a kid and was really excited for Noah and Penny to go on it and see everything from a bird's eye view.

Noah couldn't get enough...he kept calling it 'Thomas' whenever he would see it go by!

Sitting on a turtle cause if it's there you just have to, right?

A happy smiling zoo face! Love it!

We also stopped by Chutes and Ladders in Bloomington, MN. It's this huge outdoor play land in the Hyland Recreation Park Area that has loads of climbing structures and slides...yup, that's right, lots of chutes and ladders! Some of the slides are 50 feet long!! It was super fun, still not sure who had more fun there, the hubs and I or the kidlets.

Who said you can't climb rope ladders at 30 weeks pregnant?

(Ok, just don't tell my midwife!!)

We spent a good chunk of hours at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, well mainly the kiddie playland :) It was hours of entertainment for the kids. They have all these little kiddie rides there that Noah and Penny could go on all by themselves. It was hilarious to watch them all buckled in and yelling "hi moooomm, hi daaaaadd" whenever they would pass by us. If you ever get to the Minneapolis area, you definitely should check this place out. Aside from the kiddie playland there is a free zoo, a conservatory, and a huge park to walk around and picnic in.

Noah and Peanut, going up, up, up and down, down, down on the Aladdin ride!

One of the last places we had to check out was the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (since we love the one in Illinois so much!) It was the perfect place to let the kiddies burn off some energy, letting them run wild through all their different hiking trails, before we hit the long road back to home.

A picture with Daddy in the Japanese Garden

Here is my weekly preggie shot at 30 weeks along

(gotta get the picture in even when on vacation, little Bean III you should be proud!)

Wow! Why do another 10 weeks seem so short yet so very long?

All and all, it was a great trip! The kiddies were a perfect age, no strollers or diapers bags needed...can't say that for very long now! I wasn't too huge to chase them down and the meltdowns and tantrums were really at a minimum. Yay us! We did it! A last vacation before the new baby arrives!

Hey, can I get a pat on the back!?!

Tiffany-Inspired Jewelry Bag Tutorial

OK, my bad...I never posted the little bag I gave these necklaces in...ugh, pregnancy brain is at it again! Hopefully, I will have my fully functioning brain back in a few months...wish me luck on that one.

Here is the cute little bag I made:

Pretty in Pink!

It was a pretty last minute sewing project, like say I did it the hour before we gave the gift! Noah was all 3-year-old-stubborn on being the one to give this particular gift and at what seemed like the last minute I thought to myself, 'I can just see him dropping the necklace and breaking those pendants to oblivion'...so I came up with this darling little bag.

It's the perfect size to hold a sweet little necklace or even a ring!

It reminds me of the little blue bag I have from my one and only piece of jewelry from Tiffany's which I adore...Thank You hubby!

Here is how to make a few of your own...a super easy project, it'll take you less than 15 minutes to make them I swear!

Tiffany-Inspired Jewelry Bag

3 x 7 inch piece of felt

1 inch piece of velcro

coordinating thread

sewing machine

**You could also use no-sew velcro or even hot glue to place the velcro on the flap portion so you don't see any stitch lines...I only had sew-on velcro in my hutch!

Cut your felt to 3 x 7 inches and then get yourself a 1-inch piece of velcro.

Center the soft-side of your velcro to the top portion of the felt, like the picture above.

Then, flip the felt over and place the rough-side of your velcro at the center top portion. So, basically the two pieces of velcro are on opposite sides and opposite ends of the felt.

Then, bring up the felt, lengthwise, to where it is folded over about 2 inches or so and sew each side in place.

To make it look extra cute, snip the edges of the flap slightly like the picture above.

Super Fancy!!

Then, just open up that pretty little bag and see what's inside...

Sometimes the best things come in little packages

:)