Change in Blogging

Ok well I know that it definitly has been a long long long time since I have posted anything. I think that I am going to start posting other articles/videos that I read/watch that I think are interesting and trying to get God's word out there to everyone. I have seen so many people that I thought of as very strong christians that have fallen away from God's word. It saddens me deeply that they twist God's word to fit their life style when they should be transforming their lifestyles to fit God's word. This is a very good video on school dances and the prom. Its very good to watch and has alot of interesting points to consider. I hope the link comes up. Please take the time to watch it. If it doesnt come up please type in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZy_Ss2XuG0.

Chicken Parmesan

OK- If you love Chicken Parmesan, then you will absolutely love this easy recipe. My family fell in love with this and Chase even ate 3 helpings of this, which was a first. This is a crock pot recipe so you put it together and leave it. (My favorite kind of meals to make)

Chicken Parmesan

2 C. Italian-style Japanese breadcrumbs(panko) (down the baking aisle with the bread crumbs.)
6 skinned and bones chicken breasts
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 (44oz) jar tomato and basil pasta sauce
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 (8oz) package shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 C. shredded Parmesan cheese (or you can use the regular Parmesan)
Fresh oregano (optional)

1. Spread breadcrumbs on a large plate. Dip chicken in beaten eggs, 1 breast at a time. Dredge chicken in breadcrumbs, pressing gently for crumbs to adhere.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Cook chicken, in 2 batches, 2 minutes on each side or until browned, adding remaining 2 Tbsp. oil with second batch.
3. Pour pasta sauce into a lightly greased slow cooker over sauce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on HIGH 3 1/2 hours. Add cheeses; cover and cook on HIGH 5 more minutes or until cheese melts. Garnish with oregano if desired.

I also then cooked angel hair pasta and then when it was done I added it to the crock pot and mixed it all together. Oh its so yummy.....please try it- this is by far my favorite out of all my new recipes. Hope you all enjoy.

Poppy Seed Chicken

OK- another great recipe that everyone loved. I am loving that my kids will try just about anything at least once.


Poppy Seed Chicken

6 skinned and boned chicken breasts (I used breast and thighs and more than 6)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 C. of milk
1 Tbsp. of poppy seeds
36 round buttery crackers, crushed
1/4 C. butter

1. Place chicken in a lightly greased slow cooker. (I have a 6-qt. one)
Whisk together soup, milk, and poppy seeds in a medium bowl; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on HIGH 1 hour.
2. Reduce heat to LOW, and cook for 3 hours.
3. Combine cracker crumbs and butter, stirring until crumbs are moistened. Sprinkle over chicken just before serving.

I made rice with this and put the chicken on top of the rice, and I also sprinkled some Cheddar cheese over the chicken as well- which Kori loved. Hope you all get to try it.

Oh and here is a picture of the Smoked Paprika Pork from the other night as well.

Smoked Paprika Pork

OK well I would have updated this sooner, but over Labor Day we decided to take a nice 6 hour trip up to my sister Holly's house. In my Tahoe was me and the 3 kids, by brother Travis and his wife Tessa, and Jamie. It was a very fun trip and we had lots of fun hitting flea markets, antique stores and of course the Thrift stores. That is our all time favorite new thing to do, and maybe I should post the good deals that we find at these places as well. I will think about that one.

So the pork dinner that I made was another huge success with the family and soooooo easy to make. Here is the recipe and I hope that you enjoy.


Smoked Paprika Pork

3 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 (2lb.) package pork tenderloin
1/2 C. whipping cream
2 (8.8oz) pouches ready-to-serve long-grain and wild rice mix
2 bacon slices, cooked and coarsely crumbled
Chopped fresh chives

1. Combine first 5 ingredients. Stir in oil. Pat tenderloins dry with paper towels. Rub paprika paste over tenderloins. Arrange in a greased 5 or 6 qt. oval slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH 1 hour. Reduce heat to LOW and cook 3 1/2 hours or until very tender.
2. Remove pork from slow cooker;cover and keep warm on a serving platter. Pour meat dripping into a large skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add whipping cream; boil until slightly thickened, 6-7 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, microwave rice according to package directions. Spoon on platter, and top with pork. Remove sauce from heat; drizzle over pork. Sprinkle with bacon and chives.

Funny thing is that as I was writing this blog, I realized that I completely did not do step 2. hahahaha Anyways What I did a little different was when I put the pork in the slow cooker I completely covered it in the bacon- by just wrapping bacon all around the pork. Next time I try this I will make the sauce that goes with it and let you know if it is any better or not. Oh and I just used regular white rice and it was still very good. Hope everyone enjoys-I'll have to look over some more recipes that I have done to try. Yeah!!!!

Lets Try This......

Ok- Well since it seems that I can't keep up with posting a blog updating on my life or my kids I figure I will try something different. I know how hard it is to find some good recipes that everyone might like- so I thought that with new recipes I find and try out on my family aka the guinea pigs- I would share with all of you.(The few that actually do look at my blog)

OK so first the update on the family- We are all doing great right now. Summer went by way too fast for me and I can't believe that school has actually started again. Chase is 7 years old and in the second grade. He loves his teacher, but not so thrilled at the amount of homework that 2nd graders are bringing home. Kori is 6 years old and in the 1st grade now. She LOVES school, teacher, homework, and everything that has to do with school. She was soooo beyond ready to go back and didn't even want me to take her to her class. Just told me, "Mom, you can just drop me off." sniff sniff. Reef is 3 years old and let me tell you he is a handful. He needs to be in school all day every day. I don't think I was quite prepared for the handful that he is. He makes Kori look like a very calm, obedient child. lol Clint still works at the car dealership as the financial director. And last but not least I am still at home with Reef and enjoying every minute(well not every minute) And that is basically it- really we are very boring people and lead very boring normal lives which I am fine with. Ok now on to a couple of recipes.

If I can try to get pictures in here of what it looks like I will- but right now its just the recipe:

First one I found in a recipe book at my aunts house when we took the kids to Houston to go to NASA, the Health Museum, and the Museum of Natural Science. (Highly recommend these places to any and everyone even with kids. We all enjoyed this trip.) Anyways so I borrowed(stole) this book from my aunt and have fallen in love with the tons of recipes that i have written down to try. I promise that I will return the book to her.....one day.

Cheesy Chicken Breasts

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8-10 green onions, chopped (I don't like anything green, but I put these on anyways and even ate them)
2/3 Cup evaporated milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper
Flour to dredge
1 stick of butter

Melt butter in the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. Dip chicken breasts in flour and place in the baking dish. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Turn chicken breasts over and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer. Remove dish and pour off excess grease. Sprinkle chopped green onions over chicken breasts. Mix evaporated milk, soup, cheese, salt, and pepper; pour over chicken and onions. Cover with foil and bake 15 to 20 minutes at 325 degrees. (When I put it on the plates to serve I top with more cheese just because I like cheese.)

This has become our new once a week dinner, and the kids eat every last bite of this and ask for more. Huge success!!!!!! Tonight I am trying another new recipe called Smoked Paprika Pork. I will let you know how it turns out.

New Year.....New Commitments

Alright- well first of all Happy New Year to everyone out there. Its the time of year where everyone says that things will start fresh, whether its with diets, to get more accomplished, etc. Well I have made a commitment to my self and also to my husband that I will start a new diet and actually stick with it this time, I have started a cleaning schedule of the house, and plan to stick with that as well, to prepare my kids for Bible Bowl every night before bed, to read more bible stories to Reef during the day and to get back on track with my daily bible studies. Wow!!! Writing that down seems like alot but I am up for doing it, and hopefully writing this down for people to see I can maybe get either help or encouragement from y'all to help me stick with it this time. See that is my downfall is to start something but can never seem to finish it. Alot like this blog, but I am going to work at that as well. One of my first things to do this year is to seriously consider getting off Face book. I am tired of all the drama, seeing people who claim to be Christians posting pics of late night parties with alcohol, immodestly dressed apparel, and the offensive words that they use. And when I sit down and after much thought and prayer to write them a letter of encouragement I sometimes get blasted by not only them but by their family members who think that it is none of my business, and then don't talk to me at all for a whole year. Now I must say that there are those who take what I say and go back and reexamine themselves and the decisions that they are making- which I am so happy for them. But it is just very disheartening to see alot of the times. But I will miss from Face book the people who I am able to sit down and have a bible study with, all the family updates on what everyone is doing in their lives, some friends who I have moved away from and we catch up from time to time. But I think it will be better for me to be off and to just email everyone like back in the day......lol So I figure a new year a new start to things around here. I will try my absolute best to be a better sister, daughter, mother, wife, friend and most importantly a better Christian to myself, those around me and to God. I just ask if there is anything that anyone sees in my life where I am not doing something pleasing to God please I actually insist on you to bring it to my attention. I need all the help that I can get to Heaven and having good strong christian friends around to lift me up will be a big help. So here is to the start of a New Year.....

Summer Recap

Well we have had a busy busy summer so I will just do a quick recap of what we did. On the last day of school we left and went on our yearly family vacation to the river. We had a blast, the river was up and flowing, the kids were exhausted by the time that it was over. Chase lost his very first tooth while we were there and it was very traumatic for him. He doesn't want to lost any of his teeth. He is very attached to them and he was most upset when it just fell out one morning. He has since lost another one and getting a little better about letting them go but does write a note to the tooth fairy to give his teeth back to mommy so that she can keep them and he can look at them whenever he wants. We came home and got to relax, hang out with friends and family all the time, go to the beach and just enjoy the summer. We did a little bit of school everyday this summer mainly for Chase, but I let Kori do some too, just so that he wouldn't forget anything he had learned the past year. They seemed to enjoy it- but I realized that I could never home school my children. We just did about 30-45 minutes a day and some of those days were filled with whining and complaining. And I thought I was going to lose it. So to those that do I give you credit, but its just not for me. I guess if I had to I would but as long as I don't have to I am perfectly happy and content. In July, me and Jamie took the kids up to Dallas to go and visit Holly for a few days. My kids have always been great travelers and I am so thankful for that. I guess all those trips from College Station to Portland almost every month since Chase was born got them used to being in the car for hours at a time. And plus the DVD players don't hurt any as well. We went to dinosaur world again, the kids watched movies, and me and my sisters managed to finish 2 puzzles in the time we were there. Very fun. We came home and got ready for VBS here. That went very well. The kids loved it and I had a great class this year. I have taught 1st and 2ND grade for the past 3 or 4 years now and I like the change from the 2 year olds that I teach every Sunday morning. After VBS we went to the beach some more, went shopping for school clothes, got all of our school supplies(which is getting a little out of control if you ask me.) The last weekend of the summer me and Clint took the kids to the beach for the last time before school started and had a great family day there where Clint fished, and the kids played with the fish that he caught until they had well past died, Reef sat on the boogie board and just let the waves move him around. I went and found shells for Kori, and wrote the kids name in the sand real big and took their picture by it. It was a great day. And finally came the first day of school. Chase started 1st grade, and was actually very excited about starting school, and Kori started Kindergarten. She was very excited as well to start, especially to eat in the cafeteria. They both did great, no one cried when it was time to say goodbye, although Reef asked all day long where Chase and KoKo were. I think he was a little lonely. We finished the first week and Kori got her name on the board the 1st three days of school for talking. What can I say she is my daughter. But these last 3 days she has been very good- so hopefully we can keep this track going on. She lost her first tooth on Sunday evening. The complete opposite of Chase she let Clint pull it out and went around showing any and everyone that she could. So excited about losing her teeth. I have been extra busy since school started I am treasurer of PTO and I really thought that all I was going to be doing was just keeping the books and writing and depositing checks, but I was in for a real surprise. The first week I was up at the school everyday cleaning and organizing the PTO room(which I love to organize), getting all the paperwork and separating checks and making charts, etc. Getting ready for the 1st Friday fun sales that we had on Friday which is a concession stand after school for the kids. They loved it and so did I. Reef thinks he owns the school now since he is up there all the time too. He walks all into the office, going through drawers and so on. So I am a little bit more involved than I wanted but so far am enjoying it b/c I get to be up at the school without my kids knowing and get to keep somewhat of an eye on them. Well hopefully now that I have just 1 child at home now a little extra time I can get into doing this more on a regular basis. So until next time.....