Friday Favorites

Oh, hey there! Silly me thinking I could keep up with my blog during the months of August-October. This is my toughest time of year as a teacher. I cannot tell you how much I LOVE teaching though - I just need constant reminders at this time of year.

It's also been REALLY difficult to get my head in the game when I am just a few short weeks away from Thanksgiving, Christmas vacation, and maternity leave! 

I'm happy to have a few moments to return to my blog for now though and look forward to the holidays and maternity leave, where I will hopefully be able to post more often. 




One. Zoey. We happened upon the Frisco Arts Walk one weekend in early October and Zoey's whole 2.5 years of life was made when she ran into Anna and Elsa. She still talks about it.

 

She also dressed as Elsa for Halloween and enjoyed her first trick or treating experience at Trick or Treat the Square in Frisco.




Two. Halloween. Speaking of Halloween, this year we found an 80 pack of Play-Doh at Costco back in August and purchased it for our Trick-or-Treaters at home. I have to say, even the middle schoolers were psyched to get Play-Doh over candy. We will definitely be doing this again next year! #TealPumpkinProject



I also put together treat bags for Zoey's Halloween party. It took me two years, but I finally caught on to the untold treat bag thing Zoey's classroom seems to do at holidays. I was proud of myself. If you can't tell, we don't do candy in this house...Halloween is tricky.



Three. Pantry. It's been over 2 years since I last organized our pantry! I finally got brave and tackled that one weekend in September. My genius husband took it to the next level by installing some lighting in the darkness of our pantry. Glorious.





Four. Weekends. I live for the weekends with my family. Nothing better than cooler (slightly) weather, college football, and precious time with my little family.





Five. School. As luck would have it, our annual flu clinic occurred during my third trimester, which meant I was able to get my flu and TDAP shots knocked out in one go, on the clock, fo' free!!



I also had the pleasure of making my favorite recovery meal for a coworker. It beats the casserole and it's so easy to prepare. Seasoned taco meat {my taco seasoning recipe}, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, shredded lettuce, cheese, sour cream, soft and crispy shells, refried beans, Mexican rice, chips, salsa, and a little dessert!



Six. Nursery. At 31 weeks pregnant, we are finally starting Luke's nursery. We've been moving and consolidating our guest rooms - which, of course, entails some renovation (removal of "decorative" shelves surrounding the room, addition of a ceiling fan, and paint (the very last room of the house not painted by us!)). Luckily the nursery is already painted and ready to be Harry Potter-fied as soon as the guest room furniture is moved out! I AM SO EXCITED.

My Sooners are about to wrap up a sloppy win against Iowa State tonight. I am looking forward to wrapping up my Friday by chaperoning a sixth grade dance and then heading out later this weekend for a little solo time with Chris to see Doctor Strange. 

That's it for this week! Have a fabulous weekend!

              

Crock Pot Freezer Meals - Part 1

As I mentioned in last week's Trial Tuesday post, we've gotten back into crock pot cooking now that the weather has cooled down. So as I officially enter my late twenties today, let me share with you my love of crock pot cooking.

A lot of people shy away from crock pot cooking during the week because there is usually a lot of prep involved. If you're not a morning person it's hard to handle a full dinner prep, eat breakfast, and get dressed and be on time for work. 

Prepping for an hour or two over the weekend and freezing those meals makes crock potting a breeze! 

I usually start by picking 5 or 6 recipes and gathering all of the ingredients. 

Then I cut and prep all of my meat, then veggies, then sauces. 

I label everything and freeze it.

It takes about 2 hours to make 6 of these by myself but then it takes just 5 minutes to make dinner during the week! Worth it!

Here are some tried and true crock pot recipes we've discovered over the years. All frozen and cooked to perfection. Of course there are a bevy of recipes out there and we're trying new ones all the time, so expect a part 2, 3, etc. of this post. What freezer meals work for you?

Chicken & Rice

2 Cups Wheat Minute Rice
1 Can Reduced Fat Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
1 Can Water
1 Packet of Dry Onion Soup Mix
4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up into strips or chunks

I usually start by cutting up my chicken and placing it in a freezer Ziploc bag, then I add the rest of my ingredients, mix it up and freeze it! Thaw it in the freezer overnight and cook in the crock pot on low for 8 hours. Be sure to label your Ziploc with the name of the recipe and how long to cook it.

Creamy Chicken and Chives - Betty Crocker
1 Can Reduced Fat Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 8 oz container of Chive and Onion Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup White Wine
1/4 Cup Butter
1 Packet Italian Dressing Mix
4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up in strips or chunks
1 box Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta

Again, I start by cutting up my Chicken and placing it in a freezer Ziploc bag, then I add the rest of my ingredients. With this recipe, you'll need to melt the butter in a sauce pan and combine your cream cheese, dressing mix, cream of chicken soup and white wine - stirring until well combined. When the mixture has cooled, pour it into your freezer bag with your chicken and freeze. Defrost in the fridge overnight and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over pasta.

Chicken Curry

4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up in strips or chunks
2 Bottles of Trader Joe's Yellow Curry
4-5 Red Potatoes sliced or cut into chunks

This one is easy - Cut up your chicken and potatoes, toss them in a Ziploc freezer bag and pour in your ready made sauce. Freeze. When ready to cook, defrost in fridge overnight and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with Trader Joe's Microwave Jasmine Rice.

The Most Amazing Pork Chops Ever - Crockin' Girls

You must make this one...they truly are AMAZING Pork Chops. I added potatoes to the mix this time - I'll let you know how that turns out. The gravy is so, so good! I imagine they would be incredible with mashed potatoes.

Crock Pot Hawaiian Chicken - Saving You Dinero 

This one is also quite delicious and so easy to put together! Try it!


Most people recommend freezing your bags flat for more freezer room but I like to freeze mine upright so it kind of takes the shape of my crock pot. I find it doesn't defrost that much overnight and its hard to make it fit in the crock pot if it's frozen flat. Just a thought.

Happy Crock Potting! I'll be back with more recipes soon!

Trial Tuesdays - Fruit Water

I've been seeing a lot of pins for flavoring water with fruit and veggies lately. I've pinned quite a few but never tried any of them, so when we hosted our most recent OU watch party last weekend I decided to make a batch in my fancy drink dispenser.

To make this batch of fruit water, I used an entire container of very ripe strawberries (on sale for $.99), 3 medium sized lemons, and a few sprigs of mint.

First, I washed the strawberries, lemons, and mint thoroughly. Then, I sliced the lemons and strawberries and place everything in the bottom of a drink dispenser. Finally, I added water and ice and stirred it up. It wasn't extremely flavorful at first but the longer it sat the more the fruit diffused into the water and the better it tasted. I also found that when you get low, you can add more water to the fruit mixture and it still tastes delicious. Next time I would add a few more strawberries and more mint, but overall I was very pleased! Plus it looks pretty.

The flavor possibilities are endless. I'm thinking melon water could be delicious. Maybe apples? Raspberries? Oh and another bonus? It's healthy! Try it!

Trial Tuesdays

Source: Unkown

I'm a Bacon lover! I'm convinced I could be a vegetarian if it weren't for delicious Bacon. I don't enjoy frying it though - It's messy, can be dangerous, and it smells up the house. So imagine my excitement when Chris discovered the age old secret of oven cooking Bacon. Apparently everyone knew this trick but us and it changed our lives.

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For Oven Bacon: Simply line a cookie sheet with foil, lay out your bacon, and cook at 350 for 15-20 minutes. No need to slave over a hot stove to enjoy delicious, crispy Bacon! I've found that if you put the Bacon in a cold oven, then heat to 350...it takes about 15 minutes and cooks to crispy perfection.

If you didn't know you could cook Bacon in the oven...go try it! It will change your world.

Happy Tuesday!

Gameday Queso

College Football is upon us and in our circle of friends that means OU watch parties!

My current go to for pot luck watch parties is queso (& cupcakes). A coworker shared this recipe with me last year and it's been a big hit! I've adapted it just a little bit and in honor of the return of our old friend college football, I'm sharing it with you today.

Gameday Queso

1 (32 oz) box Velveeta Queso Blaco

1 Can Fat Free Evaporated Milk

3-5 Jalapeños

1-2 habaneros

1 medium sized White Onion

Chop peppers and onion. The amount of peppers you use depends on your tolerance for spicy things. Ours is medium to hot spicy with 5 jalapeños and 2 habaneros. 

Add peppers and onions to sauce pan and cover with water. Simmer until peppers and onions are soft. 

Drain excess water and blend until smooth.

Melt Velveeta and Evaporated Milk in microwave. Add pepper and onion mixture, stir, and enjoy! 

For the Crockpot: prepare peppers and onions, blend, and add to Velveeta and Evaporated milk. Heat on low until melted. 

Yum!

Happy Labor Day!

Trial Tuesdays - Cookie Cake Edition

Chris LOVES cookie cake. He had a cookie cake as his groom's cake at our wedding - with a penguin and OU logo, of course.

J Hodges Photography

I love baking and I'm pretty good at it but cookie cake is not one that I'm familiar with, nor do I really know how to make one from scratch. Last year I made a so, so version for his birthday, but this year, for his 30th, I gave it my best effort and boy was it delicious! I had several guinea pigs from Chris' party tell me it was good so I'm going to confidently share my recipe with you.

This was truly an accident that it turned out well as I really just combined a bunch of recipes to try and make it work for my needs.

 

The number one thing you need to know and believe in is your chocolate - use good quality chocolate in your baking and its bound to come out tasting great. Anyways, on with the good stuff.

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Serves: 12 people

Ingredients:

2 sticks - Unsalted Butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

Lots of Sprinkles

1.5 - 10 oz bags of dark chocolate chips (the really good dark chocolate)

1/2 Can of Icing

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy and light.
2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt together.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, to sugar mixture. Mix well.
4. Add vanilla to sugar mixture. Mix well.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture. Mix well until dough is formed.
6. Toss in a ton of sprinkles (because it makes the cake festive) and your chocolate chips. Stir until evenly distributed in dough.
7. Spread dough evenly into a parchment paper lined 12" round pizza pan (like this one) and bake for 20 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 15-20 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely before icing.

How does the cookie get done in the middle? It finishes cooking while its cooling in the pan - so don't panic if the middle of your cookie is still a bit gooey on the inside after taking it out of the oven.

Ice your cookie and Enjoy!

**I have not mastered the art of making my cookies perfectly round nor am I an icing artist...and that's okay. I'm all about my food looking edible and tasting delicious.

Trial Tuesdays

Delish and Mostly Healthy Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese (with Bacon and Apples)

I won't lie, I pin almost everything that has "Bacon" in the title, but we're always on the look out for healthy, easy to make recipes and this fit the bill so we gave it a try. 

The original recipe is from Pinch of Yum - Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions, Bacon and Apple. 

Oh my goodness! It is SO good! I try a lot of Pinterest recipes and some of them are TERRIBLE but not this one, it's amazing! Apples - good, Bacon - good, Cheese- good!

Here is the adapted recipe for my picky eater - aka my husband. We also double the recipe for healthy lunches during the week.

*The Rotini holds the sauce so much better than the elbows!
**We couldn't find canned butternut squash, so we use the boxed soup. It works.
***We omit the onions for my picky eater, along with the butter and salt. It's plenty salty.

ENJOY!! It tastes like fall and it's so incredibly good, you'd never know its slightly good for you. This trial was definitely a win.

Holiday Cheer

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As summer comes to a close and a new school year begins, it's time to start looking forward to the holidays! With Fall comes cooler temperatures, football, and the beginning of the holiday season. 

Here are a few holiday inspirations to bring some cheer to your Thursday.

Make Your Island Festive for a Football Watch Party

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Watch Party Ideas for the Kiddos

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Pretty Fall Decor

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Amazing Costume Idea

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Awesome Pumpkin Pie Dip

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Pumpkin French Toast - YUM

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Adorable Turkey Wreath

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The Christmas Card Holder that's been on my to do list for years!

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Christmas Lights Cupcakes

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Perfect Garland for the Banister

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Beautiful Mantel Display

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Hopefully this post gave you some warm fuzzies to get you through the week! The holiday season is coming soon!

Make Your Own Taco Seasoning

We've been making this Taco Seasoning for a few years now and it's just too easy and delicious not to share! Not only is it much cheaper to make your own taco seasoning but you can also control the sodium, which is what makes those taco seasoning packets just slightly unhealthy. 

You can tweak this recipe to your own tastes by making it more or less spicy or by adding more garlic, salt etc. As long as you add the Chili Powder, it's hard to mess this one up! We adapted this recipe from Plain Chicken. 

Taco Seasoning
 (per 1 lb ground beef)
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Mix spices and stir into cooked ground beef. Add 1 cup water, stir, and let simmer over low heat until water has cooked down.

**Quick Tip** Make a few batches of this seasoning and store them in sandwich baggies for quick use later.

Salsa is the perfect companion to your Tacos!

Visit my fabulous sister's blog, Bubbles and Icing, for her AMAZING salsa recipe!

Enjoy!