A day at the beach...

Last weekend we went to HB to watch a play my friend's daughter was in. She was great. We weren't allowed to have camera's in the show though so I have no photos. It was so nice to see everyone though. I miss my friends over that way. Our kids have all gotten older and we just don't see them that often anymore. So after the show we had a late lunch at Jeff's favorite restaurant at the beach. We love Woody's. Although it's gotten a lot harder for me to eat there. When I was pregnant with Amelia I would eat chili fries and a chocolate shake for lunch. Gee I wonder why I gained so much weight? lol. It's always fun to take cell phone pictures in the booths...



After lunch at Woody's we headed to the real beach. I love the pier in HB. It was nice and cool out. Not a ton of people on the beach (the pier and downtown HB were packed though) I didn't get a lot of great pictures because it was sunset so the light was weird. And J was obsessed with getting a picture of the kids and I in front of the curfew sign. I think he took seven of them.









It was such a nice day. I love the beach. And I love it even more when it's peaceful. We looked for shells, wandered around, got sand all over and just had a nice time as a family. I need to remember to spend more time at the beach in the winter.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what we're eating this week, what are you having? Some of the recipes can be found below.

Monday: BBQ chicken sandwiches, on wheat sandwich thins, with sweet potato fries, cucumbers
Tuesday: Salmon, brown rice, broccoli,
Wednesday: Cowboy Stew (new recipe, we'll see how it goes) Salad
Thursday: Creamy Red Potatoes and Chicken (another new recipe,)
Friday: Leftovers/Eat out
Saturday: Broccoli chicken casserole
Sunday: Enchiladas


I have this huge list of slow cooker recipes that a friend sent me years ago, it's got hundreds of recipes. However, there's no mention of where they came from originally. Both of these recipes come from this list. If you know where it came from or if this is your recipe, tell me and I'll give credit. :-)

Creamy Red Potatoes and Chicken
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 8 hrs
Ingredients
1 1/2 Pounds Red Potatoes -- chunked
8 Ounces low fat cream Cheese
10 3/4 Ounces can Cream of Potato Soup
1 Envelope Ranch-style Dressing Mix
12 Ounces Chicken Breast Without Skin -- cut into strips
Notes / Directions
Place potatoes in slow cooker. Beat together the cream cheese, soup and salad dressing mix.
Stir in chicken strips and spread over potatoes (or just stir all together). Cover and cook on Low 8
hours, or until potatoes are tender. Stir once after 5-6 hours. Stir before serving.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 381 Calories; 15g Fat (35.5% calories from fat); 25g
Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 84mg Cholesterol; 626mg Sodium.

Makes: 6 servings
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 8 hrs
Ingredients
1 1/4 lbs beef stew meat
4 potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 4" pcs.
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 (28 oz.) can Baked beans in BBQ Sauce
Notes / Directions
Mix beef, potatoes, onion, salt and pepper in 3 1/2 qt. to 4 qt. slow cooker. Spread beans over beef
mixture. Cover and cook on LOW 8-10 hrs. or until beef is tender.

Per serving: cal 370, fat 12g, sat fat 5g, chol 65mg, sod 1030mg, carb 46g, fiber 8g, prot 28g
Points: 7

Did you post your menus this week? Need more menu inspiration? Go visit Laura at orgjunkie.com for more great menu plans. And leave me a comment if you planned your menu this week and I'll stop by and visit you too.

The ice cream cone cupcakes

Amelia wanted ice cream one cupcakes for her birthday. I remember having them one year when I was a kid, so I went on a mission to find a recipe. Here's what I ended up with.



I made two batches way ahead of time because I wanted to make sure it was going to work how I wanted it to. Make up a batch of cake batter, just like you would for cupcakes. I used boxed cake mixes. I tend to splurge on the icing, not the cake for my kid's parties. For the party I made two dozen chocolate and two dozen white with sprinkles.

Use a cupcake pan and put the ice cream cones in the pan. Fill 2/3 or so full with batter. It's okay if you have batter left over, you don't want to fill them too full. if they get overfilled, the cupcake will cook over the top and make the cone all icky.



Bake them according to your cake recipe directions for cupcakes. I cooked 24 at a time, with the cones in two pans on one rack in the oven. Because they're taller than cupcakes, that seemed to be the best way.



After they cool they just need to be frosted and decorated. I used the same buttercream recipe I always use for my kids cake. Half got dyed pink and half I left white. I had a hard time storing the finished ice cream cone cupcakes. My cupcake holders weren't tall enough. So I had 2 dozen in a cupcake holder with foil over the top, and toothpicks holding the foil off the icing. The other batch ended up in a big cake holder, and they kept falling over. I'll have to figure out a better way to store them next time.

Happy 7th birthday Mia!

Where'd the time go? How on earth did I become the mother of a seven year old? I swear I just had her. I went back and found some old pictures from my blog from the first few years. I forget how grown up she is, until I see her as a baby.

Her party turned out great. I was a little sad that she had an opinion on who came this year, we invited mostly friends from school instead of my friends and their kids. We also had Jeff's mom and my Grandpa here. It was nice.

She's making me crazy..

Amelia has really gotten into the party planning for her birthday this year. The only problem is all the stuff she's planning doesn't really go together. She wants a PJ party during the day, but she wants a bouncer too. I'm not sure if parent's want their kids out playing in my yard in their PJ's. She wants to do girly stuff like makeup, and painted nails, but now she's got 2 boys she wants to invite. I'm tempted to tell her to just pick one kid and I'll take them both to Disneyland for the day and just be done with it. Or I could just do what we normally do for parties, have a bouncer and pinata, lots of food, lots of our friends and leave it at that. Maybe we'll save the sleepover style party for next year. What do your kids do for birthday parties? Are they big and crazy parties? Small family only gatherings? Tell me all about it. :-)

What I ate Wednesday #4

It's Wednesday! Time for what I ate. And since I'm getting new visitors around here, I thought I'd share a little disclaimer. I had stomach surgery in August. I'm still on a pretty limited and small portioned diet. I'm eating super small quantities but I'm under a doctor's care. Don't send me emails that you're going to eat like I eat so you can lose weight okay? lol.

I didn't really have breakfast, it was more of a brunch. It was blackberries and Chobani Greek yogurt. This was my first time trying the Chobani yogurt. It's good because it has a lot of protein, but it's also got a lot of sugar. I ate half the container and was okay, I think if I ate a whole container it might make me sick.




Dinner was a small baked pork chop and some veggies. It was yummy. I was just released by my surgeon to have pork, after not being allowed any for like five months, so pork chops are pretty exciting. lol.


Blackberries are one of my favorite foods from my childhood. They grew wild all over the place where I grew up, but that's not the case where I live now so they're a rare treat. So of course I had to have them twice in one day. My snack was blackberries and cottage cheese. Nom. Nom. Nom.

What WIAW isn't about

Comparison - Judgement - Restriction - Guilt

What WIAW is about

Celebrating one of the glorious things we all have in common: We all eat!

WIAW is about food and fun! It's about making new friends, breaking out of a food rut, inspiring yourself & others, embracing fruit & vegetables, finding new ways to eat your favorite foods, and so much more <3

Celebrate blogging. Celebrate Food. Celebrate Individuality.
[Cause over here, we like to party!]

Menu Plan Monday

It's been ages since I played. I plan my menus every week but I've been too lazy to post them. Well here's this weeks plan. Jeff is not going to be home for dinner this week so it's pretty simple stuff, silly to make big meals for my small appetite and the kids don't eat a ton anyway.

Monday Meatball and Vegetable Kabobs
Tuesday Baked Pesto Chicken, Broccoli, salad
Wednesday Simple Turkey Chili, corn bread
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Shrimp and White Bean Salad
Saturday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, baked sweet potatoes, Sliced cucumbers and Carrots
Sunday: Out





Meatball and Vegetable Kabobs
Makes: 4 servings
Time: 20 mins

Ingredients
1/2 6-oz. can tomato paste with Italian seasonings (1/3 cup)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, crushed
16 1-inch refrigerated or frozen Italian-style meatballs, thawed (I buy the turkey meatballs from Trader Joes in the Frozen section.)
2 small zucchini
8 large cherry tomatoes
Nonstick cooking spray
8 metal or bamboo skewers

Notes / Directions
directions

1. Preheat indoor electric grill or broiler. In a medium bowl combine tomato paste, water, and Italian seasoning to make a thick sauce. Add meatballs to sauce, stir to coat; set aside.

2. Using a vegetable peeler, cut 4 evenly spaced strips from zucchini. Cut zucchini in 1-inch cubes.

3. On skewers, alternately thread meatballs and zucchini; thread a tomato on each end. Lightly coat kabobs with nonstick cooking spray. Grill or broil (3 to 4 inches from heat,), for 4 to 5 minutes each side or until meatballs are heated through and vegetables are crisp-tender. Brush remaining sauce on kabobs during last 2 minutes of cooking.
nutrition facts

Baked Pesto Chicken
Makes: 4 servings
Time: 25 mins

Ingredients
4 chicken breast halves (about 5 oz. each), skinless
1/2 cup BUITONI® Refrigerated Pesto with Basil
2 plum tomatoes, sliced (optional)
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Notes / Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheet with heavy-duty foil.

2. Place chicken and pesto in medium bowl; toss to coat. Place chicken on prepared baking sheet.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove from oven; top with tomatoes and cheese. Bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Simple Turkey Chili
Makes: 8 servings
Time: 1 hr

Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
2 cups water
1 (28 ounce) can canned crushed tomatoes
1(16 ounce) can canned kidney beans - drained, rinsed, and mashed
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Notes / Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Place turkey in the pot, and cook until evenly brown. Stir in onion, and cook until tender.
2. Pour water into the pot. Mix in tomatoes, kidney beans, and garlic. Season chili powder, paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.

Shrimp and White Bean Salad
Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package frozen cooked shrimp, thawed and tails removed
1 (14 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cherry tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup red onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic salt
6 cups salad greens

Notes / Directions
1. Toss the shrimp, cannellini beans, cherry tomatoes, and diced red onion together in a bowl.

2. Whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, and garlic salt together in a small bowl until well blended; drizzle over the shrimp mixture and toss to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator 4 hours to overnight.

3. Put the salad greens in a salad bowl, and top with the chilled shrimp mixture to serve.

BBQ Chicken
Makes: 4 servings
Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients
Onion, chopped
2-4 Chicken breast, boneless skinless
1 bottle Barbecue sauce, kc masterpiece
1 cup Chicken stock
4-8 Onion rolls, toasted

Notes / Directions
Put chicken stock in crockpot with chicken and onion diced. Cook on low 6 hours. Shred chicken. Add BBQ sauce. Cook1-2 more hours on low. Serve on toasted rolls with sharp cheddar.

Happy New Year!

We had so much fun on New Year's eve. Good friends, good food, and sore bodies from too much Just Dance on the Wii.


The kids actually managed to stay up until 12. Well 1:30 for Anthony. Crazy boy. He was just so excited. This is us at midnight with our apple cider.... I was so tired. I look intoxicated but I actually wasn't. lol



Anthony had issues with the dog gate. He refused to open and close it, instead he'd sit behind the gate and make sad faces and tell us he was trapped.


The poor dogs needed a nap too. Or they were just sick of the karaoke...


I took a bunch more pictures, but well, a lot of them are kinda goofy. Not sure I'd want pictures like that of me posted online, so I'll do the same for my friends. lol

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe New Year's!

What I ate Wednesday #3

Week three! My food was not great the day I took pictures. I thought about waiting a day and doing it on Tuesday, but I like the idea of posting my food from a set day every week, whether I meet my nutritional goals or not.
I didn't actually eat these cream puffs, I just made them for New Year's. I had to post a pic though, don't they look yummy?

Half the food I ate this day was leftovers from New Years. This is a frittata with peppers and beans and all sorts of yummy stuff. Oh and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.


More leftovers. Shredded beef with barbecue sauce and some provolone cheese.


Dinner was a little spinach with a hard boiled egg, some diced chicken breast and tablespoon of raspberry vinaigrette dressing.


I did have a couple cups of tea on this day, that's good since I didn't drink any water, and I only got in one serving of my vitamins. I'm supposed to take them 5 times a day. Eep. The next day was better though with water and vitamins, although they're still something I struggle to get enough of each day. It's a challenge when all I can do is sip water, I can't chug it the way I'm used to.

What WIAW isn't about

Comparison - Judgement - Restriction - Guilt

What WIAW is about

Celebrating one of the glorious things we all have in common: We all eat!

WIAW is about food and fun! It's about making new friends, breaking out of a food rut, inspiring yourself & others, embracing fruit & vegetables, finding new ways to eat your favorite foods, and so much more <3

Celebrate blogging. Celebrate Food. Celebrate Individuality.
[Cause over here, we like to party!]