Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Coupon Goddess

I have been reading The Coupon Goddess' blog for several months, & she had great couponing tips as well as stories about her family. Then in the beginning on July she got hit by a car. I don't mean she was in a car accident, I mean she was walking & got hit by a car. You can read about it on her blog. But the reason I'm writing about this today is that she is now home with a long recovery ahead of her. She said in her most recent post that she can only sit up in her wheel chair for 2 hours at a time & other than that she is laying in bed staring at the ceiling. So I would like to request prayer for Melanie, The Coupon Goddess. If you would like to you can subscribe to her blog so you can follow her progress, & maybe leave her an uplifting comment. I know she can use all the kind words she can get right now.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Things I've been meaning to tell you...

1) Elias is doing amazing! He turned 6 months on the 10th, but since he was a micro-preemie he looks & acts more like the almost 3 month old that he should be. He is however off the oxygen! :) Actually has been for awhile, but I forgot to tell you. I wanted to post a couple of pics, but my computer is hating me, so the pics will have to wait.

2) Remember when I told you hubby & I were gonna restart out diet soon? Yeah I almost don't either...and it hasn't happened yet...I only have myself to blame. But today hubby expressed interest in starting again, so I'm gonna stop being lazy & start cooking healthier! Wish me luck!

3) If you remember me telling you that Hubby needs a new job, then you should know that his ex-boss & his wife have found jobs & seem to be doing well :) Hubby is still working the same job, but now that emotions aren't running so high he feels better about being there. He doesn't want to up & leave without knowing he's going into something right for him. So he's still looking, but he's not miserable where he is :)

4) I got 3 of my 5 crafts finished that I wanted to do this summer...the other 2 will have to go on my list of crafts to do this fall :)

5) I know it seems like a long time ago now, but I never told you what hubby & I did to celebrate our anniversary :) Well since it was a Wed we knew we would be at church that night & hubby didn't want to take off work since we are trying to save money, so we went to dinner together that Tues, Wed, & Thurs :) 3 days of celebration! It was a nice time.

6) I did try to make fruit smoothies with my frozen peaches, blueberries, strawberries, some Greek yogurt & a little honey. They were good, but the frozen fruit was difficult to blend in my Magic Bullet. Yes I saw the infomercial & called in...don't judge me... :) Hubby wants to try it again with the pitcher attatchment & see if that helps.

7) I still have not told you about my Belly Dancing class... that's because there hasn't been one yet :( there were to few people showing up for the class so they cancelled it altogether. However, she told me that a new schedule is coming out in September & she said there will be more of a selection of daytime classes starting then. So hopefully, after September 1st I can start taking a class & getting some exercise in :)

8) Lastly, I would like to apologize for my Spinach Enchilada recipe, after rereading it I realize just how rambling it is! I have discovered just because I love recipes & love cooking doesn't mean I actually know how to write a recipe. So if you attempt to recreate my enchiladas, I really apologize for the state of the recipe.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Halloween already?

Well yesterday I decided to create a Halloween mini album to put on Etsy. My reasoning for this is that usually by the time I decide to make a holiday themed item its to late to post it in time for someone to get it before the holiday is over. So this one I did in plenty of time :) I finished the Halloween album today & thought it was so cute that I wanted to share it with you.
This is the cover, I made those flowers :)
Pages 1 & 2 Boo with a black cat & a witch flying in the moon light
Pages 3 & 4 Trick or Treat with a frame for a picture of someone Trick or Treating, Toil & Trouble with a raven
Pages 5 & 6 Beware of Bumps in the Night, & spooktacular
Pages 7 & 8 A witch brewing something spooky, ghosts, PARTY, boo, spooky, Oct 31 (Put it in your calendar, that's Halloween)
Pages 9 & 10 Trick or Treat Beware of the Dark, Its Halloween
Back cover lots of stars :)

I bound the album with my Bind It All, which I love! One of my favorite purchases for my scrapbook station!

So what have you been working on? Do you think it is to early for a Halloween album? Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Using up the Spinach

This weekend I bought spinach at Kroger because it was buy one get one, and the great thing about spinach is you can use it in your salads, & then when it starts getting to the use it or toss it stage you can throw it all in a skillet with some butter. So my spinach was getting to that use it or toss it stage yesterday, so I decided to make spinach enchiladas. No, I have never made spinach enchiladas before, but I had an idea of how it might be good :) So instead of turning to my bookshelf of cookbooks, I decided to wing it. I was very pleased with what I came up with, so I wanted to share it with you.
First I made mexican shredded chicken, which was the only thing I didn't wing, because I was chicken ;) While that was simmering I cut up one large purple onion & sauteed it with about 1/2 Tbsp of butter (when I put measurements in recipes that I create you should know they are approximate & only for your benefit because I'm really bad about not measuring while I cook, whatever looks good is how I measure). Then once the onion was slightly translucent I added my spinach & sauteed it all together.
Once the chicken was finished cooking & shredded like the recipe said, (& tasted for good measure, which let me tell you I will be using this chicken recipe for all my Mexican chicken dishes!) I added the spinach mixture to the chicken & stirred it all together. Then I added a spoonful of the chicken/spinach mixture to a corn tortilla & sprinkled about a tsp of pepper jack cheese in it. I continued until I had emptied the pot of all chicken & had filled 2 cake pans with enchiladas :) Next I folded each enchilada up & covered them with sour cream to keep them closed & sprinkled about 1/2 cup of pepper jack cheese over the top. Then I baked for 20 minutes at 350.
So If you can make since of that rambling recipe then I hope you decide to try it. They were very good! Hubby & I discussed next time they should be cooked a little longer, maybe 30 minutes, but we were so hungry we didn't want to wait any longer. We also thought they could have used more cheese, but there isn't anything that wouldn't be better with more cheese.
Let me know if you give these enchiladas a try, & if you made any changes to the recipe. When I make new recipes I usually change them a little every time I cook them until I perfect to mine & Hubby's liking :) So I will be happy to try out any changes you think of.