An EASY meal

Want to make something tasty, healthy, easy and beautiful?
Here's a delightful meal.
Main Dish: Honey Orange Glazed Chicken (quick prep but cooks 45 min in oven, make sure to allow for cooking time)
Sides: Fresh Spinach Salad, greenbeans, potatoes (boiled new potatoes red or white are wonderful!)

Fresh Spinach Salad:
prewashed baby spinach leaves
dried cranberries
drained light mandarin oranges
toasted almond slices
feta cheese crumbled
store bought Balsamic Vinegrette Dressing

Greenbeans:
Just from the can but if you have a little bacon fat (I know not the healthiest ingred but just use a tiny bit and it will go a long way to add flavor)
add a few toasted almond slices for easy added flare!

Ok the Chicken:
4 Chicken Breasts
1 Tb Olive Oil
4 green onions, chopped
1 Garlic clove, minced
3Tb honey
4 Tb Orange Juice
1 Orange peeled and segmented
2 Tb light soy sauce

Preheat oven to 375
place chicken in a shallow pan, I use a 9x9 pan the chicken should just fit and not touch each other.
Heat oil in a small saucepan. Fry onions & garlic until soft. Add honey, OJ, orange segments, and soy sauce. heat until honey is dissolved.
Pour sauce over chicken & bake uncovered for 45min.
Remove from oven and cover dish tightly with foil and let set for 5-10min. This will lock in the juices of the chicken. Plus it will be too hot to eat right away.
Serve with sauce.

I'm Offically Crazy...or Stupid!

I love foodgawker (see my fav blogs) and I saw these really cute cookies I thought I would give a try. Now making sugar cookie dough, chilling it, rolling it, cooking it, making frosting, and then frosting them is quite a challenge with my non napping baby and the fact I keep forgetting about finishing my project in the evenings. Well today I finished what became a 2 week process, only to yield a minor 13 cookies! Really, that's all I was able to make with the dough recipe! Disappointing! In the end the cookies are cute and they taste good but the effort required did not win me over. Oh, I forgot to add that I bought fondant and colored it and made balls to make snowmen heads and "carrot" noses. After all this complaining here are the results...

Picture of the cookie I found on the internet:

Pictures of my final result:

Christmas

Here are some pictures of our Christmas so far. We still have Christmas with extended family to celebrate on Jan 1 and Jan 3!
Funny story - my family always tells the story of my first Christmas Eve service at church. I was 4 mo old and sucking on a pacifier or a bottle - anyway they were having prayer and it was very quiet. I started making loud funny sucking noises so my grandma pulled the pacifier out of my mouth so I wouldn't be loud during prayer - my response.....SCREAMING! So much for being quiet. :)
So my husband and I take our little angel to our Christmas Eve service. There was a group of gals doing special music - they are awesome. Baby K is sitting on her daddy's lap enjoying the music and movement on the stage. I guess she started dozing off, but we hadn't noticed. The gals hit a loud high note and baby K threw her hands up in the air and started SCREAMING her head off! I guess they startled her. It was hilarious. Daddy put her up over his shoulder and she went to sleep quickly so we made it until the end of church.
Like mother like daughter I guess.
Baby K and I got daddy a low profile floor jack he has been wanting. He was surprised and it looking forward to working on his 1974 GTO without worrying about hurting the cross something underneath it - I can't remember what he called it but he has scratched it up before with a jack that wasn't low enough. I had the jack delivered UPS to the house and then had to call a neighbor to help me get it in the house - I had no idea the thing would weigh 98 lbs!
We are loving our extra family time together this week and have had many chances to stop and reflect on how thankful we are for God's special gift of Grace and Love to His people and to be thankful for each other and the wonderful family he has given us. We are SO BLESSED!

The dreaded day has come...

What day is that? The day my child has her first fever! Ok, so it's not too serious, her fever was 100.1 when taken from her armpit. But still I have been hoping it would be a long time before our little girl was sick, really sick and now at just 15 weeks, she's sick. Poor baby!
She has been congested for over 2 wks now. The past 7 days she has been sleeping in her carseat in our room. Ever since she has been congested she has been sleeping with a humidifier on (in addition to the whole house humidifier we have. We have been giving her saline nasal drops and suctioning out her nose often. And then.....last night she got a fever, just when I thought we were about to kick this thing. I called the dr. he said we could give her some tyl*nol. I just couldn't sit and do nothing so I decided to give her a bath.
I drew her a bath of luke warm water and kept luke warm washcloths on her so she wouldn't get chilled. She relaxed in the tub for 30 min just as calm and happy as could be. By the time she was out of the bath and dressed again her temp was back to normal. She made it all night with no meds and no fever and then at 8am she had a fever again.
She is being such a trooper, still managing a smile and a laugh here and there but her eyes are a little glazed over and she cries like she is uncomfortable at times and she is napping more during the day. Luckily we don't need to leave the house for a few days so we can stay home and rest and get healthy. We may go to the dr tomorrow to rule out an ear infection.
My grandma said that 2 of her children started teething at 4mo old so maybe there are teeth on the way??? I hope not, I'm so not ready for teething yet! :)

Look alikes?

We think Baby K looks like her Grandma Susan. Baby K looks like her daddy and some say she has mommy's eyes but she does look some like grandma too! They even hold their hands the same. :)

SO Sweet!

Cinnadoodles!

I found this recipe via Foodgawker.

After weeks of searching for Cinnamon Chips I finally found some at the Niffty Nut House. My husband said last night, "These are the best snickerdoodles ever!" Then I learned that he doesn't even like snickerdoodles but he loves these.

(Pet Peeve! When Blogger changes the direction of my photo - Grrrrrrr!)

Cinnadoodles

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies

2 3/4 c flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 c(2 sticks)unsalted butter, softened 1 1/2c sugar 2 large eggs At least 1c of cinnamon chips 3 Tb sugar 3tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Add in cinnamon chips.

2. Stir together cinnamon and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into round balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.

3. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Don't overbake. Let cool on cookie sheet for a minute or two, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Gift Update & our Big Girl!

Ok - well my scrapblog turn traveling coffee mug worked! It would take a little explaining that I am too lazy to type but basically I exported my scrapblog as a .jpg and then plopped it into photoshop. In photo shop I changed my image size to fit the mug template and then made the canvas size 8x10 and had the 8x10 image printed at Walgre*ns then traced the template that came with the mug and inserted it! GG likes to buy coffee at McD*nalds when she travels so I am going to put a McD gift card inside - what a fun gift for the woman who has everything but who also loves her great granddaughter! I can't wait to see her open this gift! No one show GG this blog entry until after Christmas you hear! :)

Finally,
Until reading M&Em's connection I had kind of forgotten we had a Bumbo - so I pulled it out and Baby K had a great time hanging out in it for a while. I can't believe she is 14 weeks Big! We sure love our happy girl.

Gift Idea

I made this on Scrapblog.com and I am hoping to print it off and fit it in a travel coffee mug for Great Grandma and it will be what Baby K gives her GG for Christmas. GG loves to travel and usually keeps a small McDonald's coffee cup with her b/c it has a lid. I'm thinking this will make a cute upgrade from her McDonald's cup.

I found an 8oz travel tumbler on Bodum.com however it is out of stock and I'm not sure how long it will be until they have them. I can order a 16oz tumbler but GG likes small cups...but in the end all GG's like to show off pictures of their grandkids so maybe size doesn't matter.

Christmas is so close...maybe I'll just order the 16oz mug and call it good.

Help

So we took some pictures that I plan to use for a "Happy New Year" card
Some are really sweet, some are so-so...I can't decide for sure which are my absolute favorites so I thought maybe you could vote.
I need one of the family and one of Baby K by herself.
There are a few candid shots of the family so I could use more than 2, maybe 3-5 pictures total...can you tell I am undecided? I will need to crop some of the photos as well.
I tried to add captions to most of them so you can vote via the caption name. I would love some input.



**If you drag your mouse over the slide show you will see the Picasa tool bar, click on the album name or the multicolored circle and it will take you to a website for easier viewing of the pictures.

Thanksgiving & Dedication

Here are a few pics of our family with Baby K and pictures from her baby dedication.
So many friends and family came to be with us as we dedicated ourselves to teaching K about Jesus and are committed to praying she grow up to be a woman of God. Such a special day!

As we thought about what we would name our baby it was important that her name have special meaning. The meanings of her first and middle name mean
From the earth (created)
Forgiveness
and God is gracious

We found the perfect Bible verses to sum up the meanings of her name and our heart for her to know God.

Ephesians 2:8-10
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

We do believe that God has created baby K and pray that she will do good works for His kingdom, that she will know Jesus is her Savior and the forgiveness of God her Father. We pray she has a kind heart and loves others with the grace and forgiveness that God offers her.

Will Post...

Hopefully tomorrow I will post baby dedication pictures of Baby K.
We had a wonderful time spending the past few days with family and topped off our time with baby K's dedication. Several family and friends joined us today and we loved that you were all there to share this special day with Baby K.
Thank you for your support and love; we are SO blessed to have you in our lives!
Can't wait to share pictures of our little princess with you.

Merry Christmas from a Crazy Fan!

Ok, if you know me, you KNEW this post was coming! I'm not sure what I am fomore fond of; K-State football or Coach Snyder. It's strange, I am aware of this but for whatever reasons I am so fond of Coach, his integrity, his leadership, the way he seems to "father" the young men on his team. I actually had a dream after Prince was fired that Bill was rehired and I was appointed his administrative assistant. In my dream he pretty much thought I was awesome and although stressed I was learning to do my new job and be a great mommy too. Like I said - it was a dream and a crazy one at that!
I am totally going to a game in 2009 and dream of having season tickets once again... Bill if you are reading this I would love to have you and Sharon over for dinner.
Merry Christmas and GO CATS! Redemption is on the horizon! To the neh sayers I say - oh, it's not that bad and it's not that crazy that Coach is back - watch and see, we'll get some good coaches in there and restore some confidence to the players and off we'll go...winning seasons here we come.
As a disclaimer to those of you who don't know me, I still believe that Jesus is #1, the real gift of Christmas and spiritual truth is more important than football and that Coach Snyder is an imperfect human like the rest of us.
K-state football is my not so guilty pleasure and probably always will be. :)

Pumpkin Waffles - Oh Yeah!

Pumpkin Waffles with Maple Pecan Apples!

I took a picture of the last quarter of my waffle because at this point I knew I HAD to share this recipe with you! These are heavenly! I made them for dinner tonight and served with bacon. I have been wanting to cook them for almost a year after finding the recipe on the food network website. So yummy and seasonal! Great for breakfast, brunch or anytime.

Waffles: 1 1/4cup flour, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon fine salt, 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup melted shortening, 1 large egg and 1 large egg white

Topping: 2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 crisp apples peeled and sliced thinly, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I just used Aunt Jemima), 1/2 cup toasted pecans

For the waffles: Preheat a waffle iron to medium heat.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, spice and salt together in a large bowl.
Beat together the milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and melted shortening, egg and egg white, in a large measuring cup. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk together to make a slightly lumpy batter.

For the topping: Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the apples and let cook until slightly browned, but still crisp, about 4 minutes. Add the maple syrup and pecans and toss to coat.

Pour and spread about 1 cup batter into the waffle iron. Cover and cook until crisp and a rich golden brown, about 7 minutes. (Try to resist the temptation to open the waffle iron too soon. Steam will puff out of the iron while the waffles cook, when this stops the waffle is cooked.) Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve hot with the apples.

Basement Project...

My Amazing Husband has been working away to finish our basement. He is so talented and such a hard worker. I only wish he could take a couple of weeks off work to work on it so it would get done faster. I am SO SO Proud of his hard work and you have got to check out these pictures of our fireplace mantle he made and his tile work!
It's still a work in progess but hopefully by January it will be done or close to it.

So sweet...

I just LOVE this girl!I'm sad that Blogger is posting this pic vertical and not horizontal. Bummer, it lost some cute factor.

Coffee and Fireworks?

This is not a picture from our date, but it will give you an idea of what I am talking about.

My Husband and I went out to eat for our anniversary - not so creative, but it was fun and we enjoyed dressing nice and eating at a nice place while some friends watched the baby.
At the end of our meal we ordered dessert coffee's and although not on the menu the waiter told us about Flaming Coffee and that it would involve a little show at our table.

I thought, cool. I also thought it would be some coffee with a little alcohol on top and they would light it on fire and then the flames would go out and ta da there ya go....

NOPE, that's not how it was...

SO they bring out this tray of "supplies" a carafe of coffee, tall wine glasses, cream, sugar cubes and a lighter. The wine glasses already had a little alcohol in them. The waiter takes a glass and tips it to the side and strikes it with a lighter. Blue flames swirl in the glass. He has also been hiding something in his right hand, clutched in a tight fist, as the flames are going he starts doing some fancy things with his hands, swirling the glass to make the flames dance around and tossing a dust, he has been hiding in his hand, directly in the flame causing gold sparks to fly around the glass - seriously it looked like gold fireworks in and around the glass. We figured out later that the "dust" was cinnamon. When the fireworks were over he poured coffee in the glass then sugar and cream and ta da the show was over - and the coffee was yummy! Although you do have to wait for the glass to cool down so you can hold it long enough to take a sip. You can eat one of their yummy desserts while you wait.

I'm telling you this was a fun end to a wonderful date. If you like coffee you should go check it out, impress someone you love, spice up a girls night, or if you don't like coffee invite someone who does so you can watch the show. I'm not sure why I am so excited about this, I think b/c someone did something with food that was cool and out of the ordinary.
Check it out.

2 Wonderful Years

Happy Anniversary!

In just 2 years we have....
gotten married

Gone on a fabulous honeymoon

Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up




And added a 3rd member to our little family

We've experienced a lot more and shared laughter and tears. I love our little family and couldn't think of a better man to share life with. You are a wonderful husband.

I love you!

10 Weeks

Terry Cloth

I just have to share with you Baby K's favorite things.
Mommy & Daddy
Smiling, smiling and smiling!!!
If you really want to see this kid come alive, get her ready for bath time. She loves loves LOVES being naked and then wrapped in a terry cloth towel.
Oh, she'll smile if wrapped in one of those hooded Carter brand towels but she has two homemade hooded towel made from big terry cloth towels and they are so much more fluffy and evidently Baby K loves fluffy textures because I am telling you she laughs and coos and totally comes alive when she can be naked and wrapped up in her favorite towel.

I love bath time with my baby girl.

Get Up and Dance

Well, if you know me you KNOW that I LOVE my old school Paula Abdul workout video.
I'm telling you no amount of going to the YMCA has ever trimmed up my hips and butt like this fun dance video. Plus the cool down at the end of the tape has an awesome (put killer) ab workout.

I keep intending to hang out with Paula 45min 3times a week and since having the baby I have only made it half way through the tape one time. I always have good intentions but then the baby has needs or I would rather make a cake or take a nap. :) Not helping!

Today, I did it! Baby K is always happiest in the morning so after she had breakfast and a clean diaper I placed her in the bouncy seat in front of the TV facing me and she watched her mommy "Get UP and Dance." Now I am sure it was comical and maybe horrifying at times but she hung in there with me. I laid her on the floor next to me while I did the cool down and she actually fell asleep for 15min. which is a fabulous nap!

Now I have to figure out how to take a shower...but I am on my way to shedding this baby weight. Old pants, I miss you and I'm determined to get you back on as soon as I shrink this bottom.