A Little Knitty

I mentioned in a meal planning blog post that I was testing out Hawaiian Haystacks in the freezer and the outcome was GOOD!!!! So, here's my recipe....the original is here  (there are beautiful photos there....that I'm not capable of!) Makes 2 dinners, 4 servings each 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter 2/3 cup all purpose flour 2 tsp salt 1 cup sour cream 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 48 oz chicken broth (I used leftover homemade turkey stock once) 3 tsp dry Ranch Dressing seasoning packet 1/2 tsp garlic salt 4 cups cooked shredded chicken breast Cooked brown rice, enough for your family Here's where it gets fun...the toppings. The following is a list of the offerings we have put on our haystacks, but not all at once...that's just crazy talk! This last time we put a little Greek twist on things and it was fantastic too. My favorite is any combo that is sweet and salty....mmmmm. I know some of it might sound funky...but give it a try, it is now a family favorite in this hou

I tend to stay away from hot button issues. My beliefs are my beliefs (mind you, they have changed a lot over the years) and I usually keep it to myself. But this topic has weighed heavy on my heart the last few days. I have witnessed (via the news) the aftermath of a young man who did the unthinkable. I don't understand why he did it, if he had mental problems, if he was on medication or not on medication, if he was raised in an amazing home or a horrible one, if he was afforded every luxury in the world or kept locked in a basement. Honestly, for me no reason makes it forgivable, but I am not the judge . Twenty-six people lost their lives and the least we can do is learn something and make sure they leave a legacy of love and courage. I know if my child had been in that classroom last week, I wouldn't want his death to be paraded around for news ratings, religious bashing or political gain...I would want people to stop, reflect and see how they can be the change they want to

As I mentioned before, I recently received an early Christmas gift of a Silhouette Cameo. I LOVE this thing...it's amazing! I have made a ton of gifts, but I can't show them because it will spoil the surprise!! BUT, I can show you this... These are the gift tags I made on my Silhouette. Instead of signing our names on every gift, I just have to put TO: So-and-so and they know who it is from!!! Last year when I was wrapping gifts I started getting lazy writing all our names (it was the first year with four family members) and that is when I realized our initials are PBn'J (like the sandwich) so of course I had to do it in this order again! :) Yup, this is how I spend my evenings...I'm one wild and crazy girl!!!

I had no intention of making fudge today, but B was cruisin' the net and decided his mission for the day would be fudge. I wasn't going to say no, and when he scooped up both kids and took them on his fudge ingredient finding mission...I was ALL FOR IT!!!! So the recipes we used were here and here ....but I tweaked it a bit... Fan-freaking-tastic Fudge Servings: Should be a lot, or just for you! Ingredients -3.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips -1/4 cup butter -14 oz sweetened condensed milk -1/3 cup Bailey's (Omit if you are giving this to young children or pour yourself a drink if you are dealing with young children) 1. Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds at a time until completely melted. 2. Over low heat, warm condensed milk and butter. 3. Add melted chocolate to condensed milk and butter and stir until completely incorporated. Then continually stir until it is a little shiny (I know that might be strange, but that seems to be about th

Lately I haven't been meal planning like I usually do. Partly because I had lots of freezer meals hanging out....and didn't really have to cook/grocery shop much. However, when I'm lazy that leads to it being 5:00 pm and I have forgotten to pull anything out of the freezer, so we have pizza! So this week, I made sure I actually wrote things down and tried to stay ahead of the game...here's what I came up with! Monday : Man Pleasin' Chicken (from the freezer), brown rice & sauteed kale ---Since I was making rice for this meal, I just tripled the batch so that I could have rice already made for Tuesday night's dinner and have another helping to freeze for a meal next week or whenever. ---Also, since I found myself at home all afternoon and I knew that the next day would be super busy, I threw some beans in the crockpot. The beans were dried beans that were soaked overnight for this recipe. I soaked a TON of beans...so the large amount that was left over after

Tuesday, December 11th - N's bedroom Wednesday, December 12th - Day #19 Before bedtime, N requested that Freddie hide up high, I think it stresses N out when the elf is anywhere in toddler territory! Ok...I lost track and the elf did stuff and left on Christmas Eve. I asked him to wait a bit next year...a whole month of Freddie was just a bit too much!!!!

More Freddie Adventures... Day #13 Freddie was a naughty little guy and got into our fridge and dyed the milk green! I thought the kids would really love this. I waited until the milk was low though, just in case it wasn't as appreciated as I thought it would be...I did NOT give thought to the fact that you can't see through the jugs from Sam's Club. Whoops! Here's Freddie hanging out in the fridge (next to the wine of course!) P enjoyed it, N looked me right in the eye and said "Please tell Freddie to never do that again". Hahahhaa....killjoy Day #14 Freddie wanted to relax a little in the bathtub...I surely wouldn't mind a day of relaxation!   Day #15 This morning we found Freddie ziplining from the top of N's door, into the laundry room. N thought it was pretty cool! Day #16 Snowball fight with Luigi...N says that Freddie won! Day #17 Before bed, N asked Freddie if he could hide in his stocking the next morning. So, he was extremely excited when he

And the saga continues... Day #9: The husband helped the elf hide tonight, I was so sick and would have forgotten about him completely. Freddie was found sitting among the apples in the basket on the wall. This is when I learned a valuable lesson...DON'T SET THE BAR TOO HIGH!!! If I had done a Pinterest worthy elfing from the beginning, my kids would have expected that every day. Do yourself a favor people...set the bar low!! N found the elf and after a few days of fun things like drawing on faces and bringing cereal....he was like "that's it?". Day #10: I had been meaning to set up these little Christmas Trees we bought last year (because we thought P would be climbing the tree if we got a real tree...little did we know, she would STILL be trying to climb the tree this year). Anyway...these two little trees I had been meaning to set up in each of their rooms...since I never got around to it, Freddie took it into his own hands...and decorated them with gift tags. Thes

I ADORE The Ellen DeGeneres Show . I watch when I can (read: when my kids are forced into quiet time, being not so quiet) and yesterday when I was watching the 12 days of giveaways, I was daydreaming about how freaking cool it would be to have her job. I mean, giving away stuff that you didn't have to pay for and making some very lucky people VERY happy...that would be fan-freaking-tastic! So today, I was approached to do a little give away on my blog and I thought....O.M.G. THIS IS MY CHANCE!!! Ok, so it's on a very small scale and only one item (not 12 days) but it's still pretty cool! First of all, have you heard of Origami Owl ? They make these amazing lockets that I have fallen in love with. Truth be told, I'm completely in awe of the Founder of the company...meet Bella... She is the ripe ol' age of SIXTEEN!!!!! You can read all about her, and her company, here . I am green with envy that I didn't come up with the concept...it is pretty stinkin' cleaver

I had everything figured out before Little Miss P came bounding into the world. Sure, not everyday was all roses for me and Mr. N (like potty training!!!!!!) but other than his dramatics and fits (and potty training!!!!) he was very easy. He rarely made a mess, didn't wear a bib for long because he was so clean, I could go days between cleaning under his high chair, he never EVER wrote on anything other than paper, and only stuck stickers to paper or clothes because that was a rule. He would gladly wash his hands and was not a fan of finger painting. Oh, and until recently he could not have pj tops and bottoms that did not match and I still cant convince him to wear a shirt that was previously a 'day' shirt as a 'night' shirt. He is my little type A rule follower, and I totally get that because that's how I am! Having a child like this, I saw kids who wrote on walls and pondered, how does that even happen? You just say, 'we only write on paper' and that&

Bet you were wondering what our little Freddie has been up to, huh? He has gotten a little more bold and a tad bit more naughty...which the kids are loving. Day #4: I struggled with this one. I saw it on Pinterest and I have dry erase markers laying around and knew it would come right off....but I work so hard on getting my kids (mostly the little one) to follow the rules, did I REALLY want to encourage naughty-ness? I decided to go with it though, it was the elf after all, not me!!! I did thoroughly enjoy drawing on the pictures...it was more fun than I expected! I did keep checking the pen to make sure it was indeed dry erase and not a sharpie, wouldn't that be awful?? I tacked Freddie up with a little of that blue putty stuff you use to hang posters...that stuff rocks! My son found him in the morning and was shocked at what a naughty elf he was. I explained that ONLY Freddie can do that stuff and he was cool with that, but still looked a little concerned. He then asked if I was

As I'm Christmas shopping for my kids, I'm contemplating my favorite gifts as a kid. I don't remember them all...I mostly remember trying to sneak a peek in the middle of the night and the super funky fruits (that we had never heard of) that Santa would leave in our stockings. I do remember the Barbie head that I wanted badly (Barbie head makes me sound barbaric...it was like a lifesize head and you could style her hair and do her makeup), the DJ set (because that's what I wanted to be when I grew up) and the telephone I nagged my parents to death about (and honestly, they shouldn't have gotten it for me, I was a brat). But my favorite "gift" wasn't originally wrapped at all...it was the gift of reading this book every night at bed time. I loved this tradition and it is my favorite memory! Fast forward a whole buncha years...Christmas 2007 I was pregnant with my son. My dad handed me a gift that was obviously a book, and when I unwrapped it, I instantl

Are you with me? I started on day #3...so I'm making myself do 20 & 25 to catch up...but I just did my 30! :)

I wanted to partake in the Elf pandemonium last year...but I was too cheap to pay full price and figured they would go on sale after Christmas. I was wrong...so I bought our little friend and stashed him away for this year. Yup, I'm totally one of "those" moms. Now, I don't go crazy because I'm just too lazy to pick up messes in the morning...but I have been finding fun things to do, and my husband has even gotten in on the fun!! Here's Freddie's first few days with us... Day #1: Freddie was found hanging out in the laundry room. Just hanging, not doing anything thrilling...but he was out of reach of the toddler. I didn't think to take a photo until a few days in...I didn't think I would even last past a day or two. Go me! Day #2: We picked up the Christmas Tree the night before, so Freddie climbed to the top (again, out of toddler reach). Simple and easy! Day #3: Hanging from the ceiling with our MistleToad. Do you see the out of toddler reach the

I'm not a huge fan of baking. I love crafting, knitting, cooking, and even tolerate sewing...but I do NOT dig baking. It makes a big mess, takes too long, is too exact and I end up eating way too much butter and sugar in the end product. But...it's the holiday season and it seems like baking is something I should do with my kids (well, kid....I'm far too type A to let P help me out here....it's something I'm working on but I'm not quite there yet!) Anywhoodle....I found the PERFECT compromise...all the mess (oh goodie) of baking. All the rolling and cutting and baking and decorating...but none of the eating!!! YAY!!!!! So what the heck are we baking? ORNAMENTS!!! Here is what you will need: 1 Cup ground cinnamon (Costco or bulk spices is the way to go!!) 1 Tbsp ground cloves 1 Tbsp ground nutmeg 3/4 Cup applesauce 2 Tbsp white glue Directions 1. In a medium bow, stir together the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Mix in the applesauce and glue. Work the mixture with

Today (and by "today" I mean a few weeks ago, because that's when I started writing this) I am doing a freezer meal exchange with my sister in law, cousin & a friend. The four of us are preparing meals in our own homes and then getting together and trading them and heading home with 6 yummy meals ready to freeze then enjoy whenever we please. I have participated in a few of these and have always enjoyed them (and my husband is a huge fan too!). Here are a few reasons I love them... #1. Batch cooking rocks. It's pretty much just as easy to make 3 meals as it is to make 1..and the clean-up is virtually the same. #2. Getting together with friends for any reason is fun. #3. Food made by other people is just yummier. #4. Meal planning is a lot easier when you have meals ready to go in your freezer. Now, you wanna do it too, huh? I put together some resources and FAQ's to help you batch cook at home and maybe plan your own freezer meal exchange. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUE