MNO

Last night, my friend hosted a Mommy's Night Out for any moms who wanted to participate from our mom's group. Well, everyone was all excited about it, but when my friend, Ria, created the event, not many people responded! Well, it just ended up being me, Ria and one other mom, Megan.  I think that it turned out great, because with such a small intimate group, we were able to have some great ADULT conversation! LOL!  We ate, drank and sat and talked for hours!  Thanks, honey, for letting me go out!

We met at Mimi's Cafe. I hadn't been to Mimi's in years.  We all three ended up ordering something off of their limited time only 3-course Bistro meals for $9.99! It was such a bargain.

For the first course, I had clam chowder soup, it was Friday after all! ;)  It was very tasty! 
For the second course, I had the balsamic shrimp salad.  The description from their menu: It is grilled balsamic glazed shrimp skewers, romaine, tomatoes, feta cheese (which I asked them to switch with parmesan cheese instead) and honey walnuts with a balsamic vinaigrette.   The salad was super good!  I ended up setting the walnuts to the side, because they were sort of candied and they kept sticking to my teeth! LOL!
For the last course, it was vanilla bean ice cream with your choice of sauce. I choose caramel and it was yummy too! I don't know what it is about vanilla bean, but it is so good!

My salad

 

Me and the yummy salad

 

 

My lime margarita with a shot of grenadine and Ria's mojito

Ria's french onion soup - isn't it pretty?

The soul picata that Ria and Megan had

 First of all, I got all dolled up, because I was going out on the town, and how often does that happen?!? I put on my face, meaning, I wore makeup! Shocker!  It was fun getting ready, I was just sad that it wasn't me and the hubby who had gone out! But I had a fun time with the girls! I look forward to doing it again! 

Me!

Pink slip! (a good thing)

First of all, this is my 100th blog post! For someone who never thought that she would be one to write a blog, I've come a long way, baby! ;)  It is has been fun writing this blog! Ok, enough about me! Here's my new post!

On Monday, September 24 I had my follow up appointment at the ortho clinic at Riverside County Regional Medical Center.  It was also Eric's birthday, my cousin and my great-aunt's birthdays (my Aunt Jean's first heavenly one, since she passed away last year) and my daughter's picture day! Busy day!

My appointment was for 12pm, so my dad picked me up again and took me. We got to Moreno Valley around 11:30ish and quickly grabbed something to eat.  We got to the clinic right at 12.  I got my number and had NO issues this time with the billing department, as my insurance has now been approved! Praise the Lord!   They took 3 x-rays and I had to wait for the doctor to see me. I saw a Dr. French this time.  He was a very nice doctor.  He told me that my arm fracture is healing nicely and it is still perfectly lined up (no surgery required).  I don't have to wear my sling anymore and I can go back to work!  He showed me some exercises to do, to help straighten out my arm more and break up all the scar tissue I have. Even by the end of the appointment, my arm was straighter than it had been!

So, guess what got the pink slip? My arm sling!  Yippeee!

My pink slipped arm sling

All in all, my dad and I only spent 3 hours at the clinic this time, instead of over 6!  I still have some stiffness in my arm, but that is due to scar tissue. As of today, it is feeling pretty good. It still gets sore, and if I turn it the wrong way, it hurts, but it is so much better now!  I can almost completely straighten it out! Thank you, Lord!   I have been doing the exercises the doctor gave me and will continue to do them!  I am not supposed to pick up anything very heavy with that arm, but I'm getting there!

Soft Taco Bake

On Wednesday, September 25, I made a soft taco bake. I had bought an Old El Paso kit, but modified it a bit! Much better!

 The kit came with tortillas and they smelled nasty and were kind of dry, so I threw those out. I used wheat tortillas that I had already.

 I made some refried beans to go in the bake. I added a few dollups of butter, some milk and LOTS of cheese. So creamy! My daughter and I were eating them out of the pan!

 

We hardly eat beef, so this is ground turkey cooking, with the sauce mix

 

For easy cleanup, I put foil in my 9x9 glass pan.  First layer of wheat tortillas down

 

Then some beans

Then some cheese (that came with the kit) and the saucy meat mix on top of that

 

 

I then put some regular cheese on top of that.  So, the layers were tortilla, beans, cheese, meat, more cheese and then next layer. I think there were 6 layers in all.

After all the layers were done, it went into the toaster oven.  Even though it's fall technically, it is still over 100 degrees here, so I use my toaster oven all the time! 

 

This is what it looked like with it was done. The tortillas curled up on the edges a little, but that's ok! 

 

My slice of soft taco bake with a bit of sour cream on top

I really liked this alot! It was super good and oh my gosh, filling! It was like a Mexican lasagna!  Which for those of you who don't know, lasagna is my absolute favorite dish ever!!!!  I will not buy that kit again, but will totally do it myself! Easy to do! 

Chicken in the crockpot

On September 25, I made this again for dinner. I changed a few things this time around. 
 
http://adventuresofhhh.blogspot.com/2012/09/back-to-crock.html

Chicken in the crockpot
5 chicken breasts (frozen or fresh). This time around, I added 5 chicken breasts, because it seemed like we didn't have enough chicken last time. 
4 small onions
8 red potatoes
a ton of baby carrots, I added extra this time, because we love carrots!
4 tubs of Knorr's chicken homestyle stock
3 cans of chicken broth

Put it on high for 4 hours
When the timer had about 30 minutes left on it, I add some Pastina stars. I had never used them before and poured over half of the small box that I had, in the crockpot. Not even thinking about it, they are pasta, so they sucked up almost all the liquid and I had to add some more broth (a total of 3 cans).  They are super cute little, tiny stars! 

It doesn't look very pretty, but it sure was yummy!

I have tons of leftovers of this, this time. In fact, I think this is what we are eating for dinner tonight!

Tuna casserole

Sorry that I've been slacking on writing posts! A lot going on, but I will catch y'all up on that too! 

On September 22, I made tuna casserole for dinner.  I had not made this in a while, so it sounded good! 

Tuna Casserole
1 can tuna
1 can of cream of mushroom (chicken works too). This time, I used 2 cans and it made it extra creamy!
1 cup of peas (optional).  I used peas and carrots
8 ounces of noodles, whichever kind you want. I usually use small shells, because it's easier for the kids to eat, and this time I used about 3/4 of a 16 ounce box.

Cook the noodles and the peas and carrots, drain them and put them in a casserole dish. Add tuna and the soup. I put cheese in the soup mix to make it extra cheesy. I mix the soup, cheese and tuna together and then fold in the noodles and the peas and carrots. Sprinkle the top with lots of cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

The pasta and the peas and carrots cooking

The tuna, soup and cheese all ready to mix together

All ready for it to go in the oven

All done and ready to eat! 

As always, it was yummy! Total comfort food at our house! Cheesy and creamy goodness! My daughter loved it! My son, not so much! LOL! He hasn't been feeling great, so I can't blame him! =(

Life of Pi

Every once in a while, I like to go on www.imdb.com and watch trailers for up and coming new movies.  I watched the trailer for Life of Pi.   It looked really interesting, so I googled it. It was based on a book. I reserved the book at the library. Last Saturday, I picked it up and I have already finished it! 

It was really good! The author, Yann Martel, has a great way of telling a story! It was funny, it was exciting, it was sad, it was adventurous and most of all, it was a great read!

Life of Pi tells the story of Piscine, "Pi" for short, Patel, and how he survives a shipwreck at sea, with a 450 pound Bengal tiger!   A 16 year old boy, Pi was living in Pondicherry, India, with his family.  His father ran a zoo.  His father decided to sell all the animals and move the entire family to Canada.  They had to transport some of the animals and so they took a freighter ship headed for Canada.  One thing led to another, and the ship sank, leaving Pi the sole survivor, along with an odd variety of animals!   

I don't want to ruin the story for you, so I suggest you read it! I could not put it down! I wanted to see how Pi survived and see how his story ended!   I kept reading passages to Eric, because the author had a really funny way of how he told things! 

I can't wait to see the movie and see how it compares!

Something new!

Time for a change!  I hadn't cut or colored my hair in a while, and thankfully I have an AWESOME best friend who will do it for me and I all I have to do is pay her in candy corn! LOL! Love you, Shelby! 

Since my daughter got her adorable haircut, I have been thinking about chopping my hair off. Mind you, my hair is to the middle of my back (about my bra strap).  To cut it short, like my daughter's hair, would mean several inches cut off and I wasn't quite ready for that! My best friend thought that I should chop it to my shoulders, but I opted for no this time! LOL!  So, we started with two inches and I was like ok, just a little bit more, so another two inches it went. Four inches later, I am happy with the length and maybe in a few days might take just a smidge more off!

Remnants of longer hair past! (tehehehehehe)

A week or so ago, I was able to get several of these for free couponing at Rite Aid.  We decided to try one of these out for the first time.  It is a foaming hair dye and my best friend said that it was great! It is funny, because the mixing tub looks like a milkshake bottle! LOL!  

Right now, as I am typing this up, I notice that the box says 100% grey coverage. I want to clarify, that at 35 years old, I have no grey hair yet, but I am coloring my hair for the fun of it and because I want to! LOL!

I have been coloring my hair red or some red color for over a year now, but this was the first time for an Intensive Red. Oh my....  what had I gotten myself into?

My best friend kept calling me Carrot Top and I was scared! 

 

Close up of the end result

That's me! I like it! 

Thanks again to my lovely best friend, Shelby, who not only cut my hair, colored it and watched my kids while I took a shower when we were done, and she still had a smile on her face, even though she wasn't feeling the greatest! And all for some candy corn and some best friend time!  Priceless! xoxo

No-bake cookies

Growing up, my grandma and my mom would always make these no-bake cookies!  I love these cookies! The best part about these cookies is that it is all done on the stove! No need to heat up the big oven, which is a huge plus where I live! 

Now, I love to make these cookies with my daughter! I also make them every Christmas too, because my husband's step-dad's wife loves them!   I have never met anyone who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter! How can you go wrong?!? ;)

No-bake cookies
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 cube stick margarine

Combine and boil them 2 minutes in a large pot, until they are all melted together. Then add.

3 cups quick oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter (which I don't even measure, I just put a huge dollop in, because we love peanut butter!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend well and drop by spoonful onto waxed paper. Let harden and enjoy!

 7 simple ingredients!

Butter, cocoa, sugar and milk, all melting together! 

 

Everything all starting to boil 

Once you add the oats in, this is what it looks like

And the best part is that it is all done on the stove! ;)

All done! 

Nom nom nom, don't mind me, just eating a cookie! ;) I hope that you all enjoy!

Chicken enchiladas

I took my daughter to school this morning and went and did some grocery shopping at Vons. I picked up some things for our dinners this week. I have been craving Mexican food like crazy lately, so I thought that I would try out this Old El Paso enchilada kit and I had a coupon! ;)

 

I took about a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts and cut them into little pieces and then let them cook until there were no longer pink.  I added the seasoning packet from the kit and some water.

Once the sauce thickened up, I added the meat to the tortillas.

I added some cheese to the inside, because I like my enchiladas super cheesy!

I then rolled them up, poured the two bags of sauce over the top of them and SLATHERED them in cheese, again, because I love the cheese! LOL!   Put them in the toaster oven (too hot to use the real oven) at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

This is what they looked like when they were done!

I made some cheesy refried beans and Spanish rice to go with and dinner was done!

So very very yummy! 

I had never made these before and it was quite simple. My best friend said that I don't need the kit. Next time, I will try to make it from scratch!  My daughter and husband loved it, and so did I, but my son wasn't so thrilled!

Back to the Crock!

My arm was super sore today, so I had my dear hubby pull out the good ole crockpot for me!   I had an idea of what I wanted to throw in there, but wasn't totally sure. 

I am in great foodie group on Facebook called What's for dinner? I have no idea!   People are constantly posting yummy food in there, that I drool over.  Well, I posted that I had certain ingredients and asked for suggestions.   I got some ideas. 

This is what I cam up with! I put in 4 chicken breasts, 3 small onions cut into fourths, 3 or 4 big handfuls of baby carrots, 8 red potatoes, 2 cans of chicken broth and 3 little tubs of Knorr's chicken homestyle stock.  And that's it! Put it on high for 4 hours and went about my day!

Knorr chicken homestyle stock

I had never used this before. It has been sitting in my spice cabinet for months!  I didn't put any other seasoning but this in there and it has great flavor! The chicken turned out very flavorful! 

My daughter really loved everything and ate it all gone! My son ate his carrots and picked at the potatoes and chicken. He is 3 and has been a bit picky sometimes when he eats.  But today, he had ate a big breakfast (2 bowls of cereal) and a big lunch (hot dog, big slice of cheese, grapes and a plate of Ritz Bits peanut butter crackers), so maybe he just wasn't that hungry!   LOL! My hubby came home from work for lunch and ate 2 plates worth!

The smell and the flavor reminded me very much of a stew. All the veggies just melted in your mouth! The chicken just broke apart! It was super super yummy and I'm glad that my family liked it!  

It felt nice to use the crock pot after not using it the whole summer. Now that school has started back up again, I hope to use it more! Got lots of new recipes to try!  =)

Change: good or bad?

It was time for a change.  I had my blog background for a while and wanted something different. What do you think?

Change is not always easy. For my whole adult life, with the exception of when I had my kids, I have always worked. In fact, I have been working since I was 13 years old! My very first job was helping a real estate broker do different things at her office. Of course, I babysat. I was a tutor. I was a nanny. I was a camp counselor.  I was an after school care giver.  I worked in the layaway department at Walmart. I am a secretary for a financial broker (almost 15 years now!).  

Since I fractured my arm bone, I have been home, not working.  I am applying for disability. You would think that this would be a dream come true! To be home, with my kids and do nothing! But to be honest, I am a bit bored! I want to do things around the house. I want to organize anything or to catch up on some scrapbooking.  But I can't! My arm hinders me from doing any of those things. So, I sit at the computer and am on Facebook most of the day! I have gotten pretty good at playing my games and typing with my left hand! LOL!

But there is a reason for everything and God has a plan! 

Kiss The Toad Creations

There are several pages that I like on Facebook. One of my favorites that I have been following for some time now is HinckleDoodle. Jessica Hinck is the owner and head fabric sculptor. She creates adorable plushies and magnetic doll sets.  Recently, she created this amazing and unique magnetic doll set for Kiss the Toad Creations. 

Harper and Emma

I had never head of this organization and went to their Facebook page, Kiss The Toad Creations, to read more about them.   From their About section on their Facebook page, this is what their mission is, "Our mission is to encourage & recognize children who are battling a life threatening illness by presenting them with their official superhero cape."   Their description is, "It is our belief the the real superheroes in this world are the children who are battling a life threatening illness and it is through their courage and superhuman strength that we are inspired to help support them in their fight by presenting them with their official superhero cape."

This organization really touched my heart! I have never dealt with something like that, but I think that it is a great way to reach out to someone who is hurting! I really hope to someday be involved with this group!

I am so grateful to God everyday that my kids are healthy! I can't imagine having a child who has a life threatening illness! 

So please, if you feel it in your heart to maybe sponsor a cape, donate or even like their page, any way gets the word out about this awesome organization!

Phil.4:13

I just had to share this. I have a kid's worship tape from when I was a kid.  I play it for my kids and they love it! Well, lately, I have had this song stuck in my head and it seems very fitting for what I am going through right now! Our God is an awesome God and that is exactly how God works!

I can do all things, all things, all things, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

How many things can you do? ALL things! 
How many things can you do? ALL things! 

So, you know what? I am trusting God and believing that I can do ALL things!