The Big News

Remember the big news I said we had, but I wanted to make an announcement via video? 

Well, check it out!

Would this be considered J-Walking?

Good Food

I will admit it – I am a sucker for good food. Especially when I made it.

So it is, by default, that I love great recipe sites. Now, I try not to push sites too much on my blog because I don’t get enough traffic to send them elsewhere, but this is really one I love! I have mentioned their site a few times in passing, but today, I’m going to give you an overall review of the site.

Our Best Bites

Have you ever made Jambalaya?  I mean on your own – Zatarain’s, although yummy, doesn’t count.  I haven’t – until this past Monday.  

Now, I honestly believe the true test of a good recipe is whether you can fake it and make it or not.  What do I mean?  Well, Superhero doesn’t like celery and I don’t like green onions, so we left those out.  And I don’t have any Cajun seasoning – but according to Recipezaar, I could use seasoning salt in place of Cajun seasoning.  It isn’t as spicy, but it worked…it worked really well!  I did use 1/2 chicken broth, 1/2 water to boil the rice – mainly because I had the chicken broth to use.

I had processed the green peppers and onions together in the food processor, as well as the sausage and ham.  I bagged them separately and stuck them in the freezer over a week ago.  It was perfect – all I had to do was pull them out a day before so they defrosted and then pop it in the pan Monday night.  I didn’t have to work Monday, but it would have been a perfect work night meal because it was ready in about 30 minutes – if that.

I know what you’re thinking – one easy recipe – big whoop.  But then you don’t know about the popcorn!  I made the stove-top kettle corn and bagged it for the people at work as Christmas gifts.  I filled Baby J’s Christmas gift to everyone this year (which was jars with her handprints on them) with OBB’s Fruity Candy Popcorn.  I was totally addicted to the candy-ing goop for the Fruity Candy Popcorn.  After I coated the popcorn, I desperately scraped what I could out of the bowl.  Pathetic – I know.  We made the stove-top kettle corn sans the sugar to coat for the Fruity Candy Popcorn. 

Now that I know how to make it, stove top popcorn, sugared or not, is a favorite family treat.   There is a learning period in there where a batch or two got slight scorched – but as long as you keep shaking and don’t leave it over the heat too long, it is delectable yumminess and a whole grain snack for you health gurus out there.

While I didn’t follow their exact recipe, I was inspired by OBB’s taquito recipe when I had some leftover chicken for Baby J.

I can’t wait to try so many recipes of OBB’s other recipes!  Someday, when I get my dream KitchenAid mixer, I’ll definitely be making marshmallows.  I love the different popcorn recipes and they have GREAT party finger food ideas. 

What is my favorite thing about OBB?  While the quips are great (I especially enjoyed the post by Sara’s husband) and the pictures superb, it’s the fact that the ingredients are what real people have.  If I find a recipe I really like, I don’t usually have to go to the store to make it.  Or, I can plan it into my next month’s menu and not have to buy a ton of extra items that I’ll only use this once.

If I haven’t convinced you to get on there and cruise around yet – what more does it take?  Are you not drooling?  Go find out how to make yummy food for yourself!

In other news, we did have a big development in our household last week, but I want to announce it using video and I have not had the chance to upload the video since we went to Cincinnati to visit friends last weekend.  Great trip and I will be posting about it as soon as possible.

Little Thing Happy Note #4

I will admit it – this one I don’t have a picture for.

I got to go grocery shopping last weekend.  That’s right – grocery shopping.  I am sure you are thinking “Weeee!” in a very sarcastic tone.  I happen to like grocery shopping and I only get to do it once a month – if that.  We really stretched our last trip out.  I am not talking run to the store to grab bread and milk, I am talking plan out a menu and figure out everything I need to make all those meals for a month.

Our big grocery trip goes in three (sometimes four or five) stages.  First, we hit the meat market.  Baby J has never had meat from anywhere else.  All their meat is grain fed and, most of the time, it’s cheaper than the grocery store.  Plus, it’s GOOD!  They have an incredible Slovenian Smoked Sausage that I used to make a great stew this past Saturday (that’s a little thing happy note all by itself – a new recipe that was SO good – even after we simplified it to fit in our budget and tastes). 

However, the best part of the meat market is the atmosphere; they’re family owned and customer service oriented (which is hard to find anymore).  Everytime I go, they carry everything out to my car for me.  They package things down how I need them packaged and, most importantly, they are friendly.  It is just a pleasant experience – and it smells so good in there!

After the meat market, we go to the market for produce.  The selection in the summer is AMAZING!  You can get a flat of strawberries for $5!  The winter is a little bit different; the outdoors aren’t quite as inhabited because, well, it gets cold here.  But there is still great deals on produce – like eight pounds of bananas for a dollar (which made some very yummy banana bread).

From there, we hit the regular grocery store for some staples.  Now, occasionally, I can’t get what we need at Save-A-Lot, so I have to go to Giant Eagle too.  In fact, sometimes, I even have to head across the street from Giant Eagle to Seven Grains to get things like yogurt for Baby J and anything wheat free.

Needless to say, my grocery shopping takes a full day.  But I like it – even more now that I have Baby J to tag along with me.  Of course, I spend the rest of the weekend in the kitchen preparing things, pureeing fruits to mix with yogurt, baking – dirtying every dish in the house.  The good stuff!

Are you a daily, weekly, or monthly grocery shopper?  Do you plan out a menu?  What’s your favorite recipe?

Little Thing Happy Note #3

Alright, this little thing is a little random – and, unfortunately, a very blurry picture.  I had to take it at work.  Why?  Because this little guy sits on my desk at work and he makes me happy.

My mother and I went to Legacy Village back in November and discovered this amazing little gallery with a whole case of little tiny hand blown glass animals.  If you don’t know me, you don’t know that I have a massive hippo collection at home.  I have three hippos on my desk at work now – including my teeny tiny hand blown glass hippo – and he is definitely a little thing that makes me happy.

I hope you all are safe, happy, and warm.  We are getting buried in snow at the moment – but it wasn’ t so bad I couldn’t get into work today.  I don’t know about getting home though.

Little Thing Happy Note #2

This little thing happy note was unplanned…but check it out here.  Do you see the list of winners names?  Do you see my name on there?  Life is beautiful!  Alright, I know, it doesn’t take much to amuse me.  But still…I never win anything I actually want to win – this is great! 

And it’s all thanks to the great Christmas gift idea that Sew Mama Sew gave me – which my mother LOVED!  No…it’s not the baby doll head.  Although I am sure you were all confused.  It is the five beautiful shopping bags I made her out of the fabric she found in her basement last year and gave to me. 

Ironically enough, I wrapped them all up in the red bag – which happens to match the bench my mother was sitting on when she opened it.  I am disgusted at the coordination!

What are your little thing happy notes?

Little Thing Happy Note #1

Alright, I know I missed a few days of the week – and I will make up for it later.

However, I have a great little thing happy note to start out with.  I love when dinner is ready when I get home – especially when I cooked it.

There it is – my dinner, which was piping hot and ready for me when I get home.  I will admit it – I have an addiction to my crock pot.  So, for your little thing happy note, I am going to provide you with one of my favorite crockpot meals.

 

 

 

Sweet & Sour Chicken

2 tbsp. corn starch
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 full breast of chicken (usually about 1 lb – 1 1/2 lbs)
1 bag Broccoli Normandy frozen vegetables (the broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot mix)

Combine the corn starch, brown sugar, water, vinegar, and ketchup together in a sauce pot. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often, until thickened. 

Place chicken breasts (I find they stay moister if they go into the crock pot frozen) and bag of veggies in the crock pot.  Pour the sweet and sour sauce over the top and cook on low 6-8 hours.

I usually get all of this into the crock the night before and then stick the crock in the fridge the night before.  That way, all I have to do in the morning is pop the crock in the crock pot warmer thingy (technical terminology, of course) and turn it on.  Much easier on those hectic workday mornings.

Serve over rice or noodles.

New Year’s Resolution

Why do these become a requirement at the end of the year?  Inevitably, we set up these great, and rarely obtainable, goals at the beginning of the year and then by February 1st forget, get discouraged, or become to busy to actually work towards them.  I think we set ourselves up for failure to begin with.  But does that stop me from setting a New Year’s Resolution – of course not!  In fact, I am so un-discouraged, I set six New Year’s Resolutions!  Take that!

New Years Resolution #1: Goodbye last 7 lbs of baby weight.  That’s right – Baby J is almost a year and a half old and I haven’t lost all of my baby weight yet.  When I tell the ladies at work, they guffaw at my piddly little 7 pounds.  But I figure if I set my goal low, I can set a new one once I obtain it.

New Years Resolution #2: Clean my car – and keep it clean (thanks to my friend that I stole this from).  Okay, I’ll admit it, I am in my car much more than the common man (I put an average of 20,000 miles on it a year).  It bugs me when it’s messy – and it’s always messy.

New Years Resolution #3: Stop worrying about money.  I don’t know how – but somehow we are making it.  And we will continue to make it.  So, why at the end of every month to I start to turn into a worry wart?  Okay, I know why – seven letter word: P-E-R-I-O-D (the fact that it falls with all the bill due dates is a cruel joke).

New Year’s Resolution #4: Love like crazy.  If you haven’t listened to the song at the link I posted yesterday – listen to it.  I want to be 100 sitting next to my husband in a little rocking chair someday.  It’s not that I don’t currently think we’ll make it (okay – in reality, Superhero is probably not going to make it to 112 and I’m probably not going to make it to 100 – but however long we last, I want to be happy).  I just want to make sure that we don’t drive each other crazy along the way. 

New Years Resolution #5:  Don’t be so critical about myself.  See Resolution number 1 – get my point?

New Years Resolution #6: Laugh more.  It makes you feel good – I think this should be everyone’s resolution.

Well…until 2010 (doesn’t that look funny – try saying it!)…so long and be safe.  Please, please, please don’t drink and drive.  I know it’s been beaten into our brains at this point – but I want everyone to make it to 2010.  And I mean everyone. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Cool Purse Club

That’s right…I’ve  joined the cool purse club.

Check this baby out:

My very own Vera Bradley purse!  Complete with matching wristlet.  Thanks to my mother’s very savvy (and generous) Christmas gift, I am SO styling!

How was this Christmas for you?  My Christmas was great!  And it wasn’t just the gifts – although everyone seemed so giving this year.  It was the warmth and the spirit that really made it a wonderful Christmas.

I have found several articles like this one, that highlight the good things about a bad economy and I find more and more each day that they are true.  I find happiness in the little things now.  Which inspired me – I have decided to kick off the new year on a happy note – a little things happy note.  Join me, won’t you?  Share the little things that make you happy with us next week.  I’ll add pictures from Flickr or links to whatever you suggest, just let me know by emailing me or leave a comment below.

To get us started (I know, it’s not next week yet, but deal), as I was typing this up, this great song came on the radio.  That’s my little thing for today; “Love Like Crazy” by Lee Brice.  When you find a song that moves you like this one moves me, that’s a good thing.  Check out the song at Lee Brice’s website.  You have to scroll down and it’s in the bottom right hand corner.

More Christmas

I will admit it – I am at work.  I work for the city and I think very few people know we are open today.  So I am just kind of doodling around today.  At some point I will start my NIMS training, but first I blog.  You have to have priorities in life!

In case you’re not in the mood for Christmas yet, I thought I would share our Santa Clause pictures from this year.  Now, let me forwarn you, these are not the heart-warming-make-Mommy-cry-tears-of-happiness Santa pictures like last year.  These pictures are the make-Mommy-laugh-so-hard-the-first-picture-didn’t-come-out Santa pictures.  And what made it even funnier?  When my two year old niece came running up to comfort her cousin.

Now for the good Santa photo – let me preface this by stating, Baby J is not in it…lol.

I Believe in Santa Claus

That’s right – I said it.  I believe in Santa Claus. 

Quick disclaimer:  No small children should read this post – I don’t want to be blamed for the all-to-early corruption of someone’s innocence – let them be little.

I’m going to share something that I tend to avoid talking about on here because this is my happy place and I don’t want to think about our hardships when I’m on here.  But, it is important to know when reading the rest of this post.  Without going into details, my husband has been in the ranks of the thousands of unemployed since just before Baby J was born.  I am not going to give you a sob story because, comparitively, we don’t really have one.  We are not behind on any of our bills and pay our mortgage monthly.  The only problem we have is that once all the bills are paid, there isn’t much left for food, necessities, or gasoline. 

The other thing that really isn’t in our budget is car registration.  However, every paycheck I get has $5.00 deducted and put into a Christmas account.  So when I pulled out my Christmas money, I had to use some of it for my car registration and my license renewal.

I got all of the family bought for and even came up with a cute idea for Superhero’s gift.  But when it came to something for Baby J, I just didn’t have the money.  Superhero and I tossed around the idea of wrapping up an empty box – she’s 14 months old, she’ll never remember it and she loves boxes.

This is when Santa Claus came to save the day.  

First, some PartyLite gals of mine put in an order.  When I was delivering said orders, one of the ladies, who has two little girls, had some toys she was looking to get rid of.  Superhero and I cleaned them up (not that they were that dirty) and wrapped them.

Then, when I came into work on Tuesday morning, this is what I found:

That’s right, four gifts straight from Santa himself.  Obviously, he had to deliver them earlier because he delivered them to my work.

Santa has been at work in other ways this season to.  I was at a loss for a coat this year – I just don’t have one.  I have been using various hand-me-downs for the last couple of years but their either ripped beyond recognition, way to dirty, or just too big. 

One of my coworkers is an avid Cleveland Browns fan – yes, there are some people in Ohio who still route for the Cleveland Browns.  Santa came for them too and gave them a win over the Steelers for Christmas – that was so nice of him. 

Back to the point, she bought a really nice winter coat earlier this year that is her favorite color – yellow – with black.  She wore it once and everyone kept saying it looks like a Steeler’s coat.  Well, thanks to my husband, I’m a Steelers fan (dirty joke coming: I say I’m a Steelers fan by injection – hey, I warned you).  So she gave me the coat – just like that; nothing in return.

Top it off, Santa has brought us several different grocery cards from different people.  Side story (I’m good at tangents, if you have ever met my mother, you would understand why):  For Baby J’s first birthday, one of my cousins gave me a gift.  She said the first year is hard on Mom and Dad and we deserved to celebrate.  The gift was a beautiful sweater and $120 in gift cards to Save-A-Lot.  I cried.  Grocery cards get me in that soft squishy place of your heart that makes you cry tears of happiness.

So there it is – Santa does exist.  He may not be a big man in a red suit who slides down your chimney at midnight on Christmas Eve, but he is out there.  He’s in those wonderful people who give so selflessly.  He’s in the spirit of the season and someday, when Baby J is past the big man in a red suit phase, we’ll sit down and explain how blessed we are.