Easy Chicken Pot Pie

 1 bag of frozen chicken tenderloins

2 cans of cream of potato soup

½ cup skim milk

1 bag of frozen mixed veggies

1 tsp thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can of Pillsbury light crescent rolls

Thaw the chicken. Mix all ingredients in the crock pot, except for the crescent rolls. Add the thawed chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the chicken is done. Transfer the cooked chicken mixture from the crock pot to a corning ware dish. Roll out the crescent roll dough and press the triangles together to form one large sheet of dough. Top the chicken mixture with the crescent roll dough and back according to direction on the Pillsbury package. Easy and delicious chicken pot pie! Serves approximately 8, or a family of 4 twice.

Italian Chicken in the Crock Pot

1 bag of frozen chicken tenderloins

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes

Smart Taste spaghetti noodles

Fresh shredded Parmesan cheese

 

Thaw the chicken. Mix all of the ingredients, except for the cheese and noodles, in the crock pot and then add the chicken. Cook this on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is done. I served this over pasta. Add the fresh Parmesan cheese after plating. Superb! Serves approximately 8, or a family of 4 twice.

Creamy Mushroom Chicken in the Crock Pot

 

1 bag of frozen chicken tenderloins

1 can of light cream of mushroom soup

1 container of fresh mushrooms sliced and washed

1 onion sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded light cheddar cheese

 

Thaw the chicken. Mix all of the ingredients, except for the cheese, in the crock pot and then add the chicken. Cook this on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is done. I usually serve this over brown rice or barley. Add some light cheddar cheese after plating. Scrumptious! Serves approximately 8, or a family of 4 twice.

Chicken and Dumplings in the Crock Pot

1 bag of frozen chicken tenderloins

1 can of light cream of chicken soup

8 oz. chicken broth

5 celery stalks cut sliced

1 small bag of carrots sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

I small can of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits

 

Thaw the chicken. Mix all of the ingredients in the crock pot and then add the chicken. Cook this on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is done. Now for the dumplings! Tear the biscuits in half and toss them in to the crock pot. Turn the crock pot on high and let cook uncovered for one hour. The dumplings will probably be ready in a little under an hour. Delicious! Serves approximately 8, or a family of 4 twice.

Apricot Chicken in the Crock Pot

 

This recipe was shared with me from my sis. It is delicious! I usually serve it over brown rice or barley.

1 bag of frozen chicken tenderloins

1 jar of apricot preserves

1 package dry onion soup mix

1 fresh onion sliced

 

Thaw the chicken. Mix all ingredients in the crock pot and then add the chicken. Cook this on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is done. Yum! Serves approximately 8, or a family of 4 twice.

BBQ Chicken in the crock pot

This is one of our family favorites! You can use this BBQ chicken to make tasty sandwiches or quesadillas.

 

1 bag of frozen chicken tenders

1 jar of your favorite BBQ sauce ( I use Kraft Honey BBQ sauce)

1 onion sliced

Half a can of Coke or Dr. Pepper

 

Thaw the chicken tenders first. Sometimes I just take the bag out of the freezer and let it sit out for a bit. Or, if I'm in a hurry then I place the frozen tenders in a large bowl in the sink and run luke warm water over them until they are thawed. Mix all of the ingredients in the crock pot and then add the chicken. I put a good coating of salt and pepper on the chicken too. Usually I let this cook on low for most of the day. By the time I get home from work it is ready. Wonderful! Serves approximately 8, or a family of 4 twice.

 

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas:

 

BBQ chicken cooked in the crock pot

pineapple chunks sliced in half

provolone cheese (I use the light)

Your favorite tortillas!

 

You can assemble these and then use the microwave or you can warm them in the oven. I like my qusadillas to be a tad bit crispy so I use the oven. You will love this tasty and easy dinner!

Daddy's Car

Merit really loves Daddy's corvette. He constantly talks about it and says that when he is a really big kid that he will get to drive it too. He told me the other day that I can ride in the seat next to him. Ha! I am definitely not ready for that! These pics were taken Tuesday morning when we went with Daddy to drop the corvette off at a shop in Fort Worth.

 

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes

You can use any flavor yogurt in these pancakes. The original recipe, found at this link,

http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2013/01/greek-yogurt-pancakes.html

uses blueberry and we like blueberry too, so that's what I used. The only modification I made in this recipe is that I used King Arthur white whole wheat flour. These pancakes were absolutely delicious! I will definitely make these again as my boys loved them!

 

Scooter

The weather was so beautiful this weekend. After nap time on Sunday we headed across the street to play at the playground. Merit is doing pretty well learning to ride the scooter we bought him for Christmas. He is having a bit of trouble with turning but we are working on it. He looks like such a big kid riding on this!

 

Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies

I made these yummy treats this weekend. They are packed with protein and chocolate flavor! When you're looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth these would be a great choice! My modifications are below but you can find the original recipe on this website. Enjoy!

 

http://ittybitsofbalance.com/2012/01/28/double-chocolate-chip-protein-cookies/

 

Yields: 10 cookies (depending on size)

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats (not quick-cooking oats)
• 1/2 cup protein powder of choice (I used chocolate)
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup light peanut butter
• 1-1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp honey (I used buckwheat honey)
• 2 tsp Stevia
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Combine all ingredients in a single bowl. Stir to combine.

3. Spoon out balls onto greased baking sheet and form into cookies. Bake for 5-8 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

4. Enjoy!

Saturday Fun!

Merit and I made hand print snowflakes on Saturday morning. What was funny is that after we made them he wanted to paint my hand to make some more. He had so much fun painting my hand and then pressing it onto the paper. Our snowflakes turned out quite nice too! After painting we got out the felt crafts I made last year and put together the train, the spaceship and the car. What a great way to start our day!

 

Happy Birthday to Amber!

JP and I met Amber, Tony, and baby Trey for dessert and coffee at Breadwinners to celebrate Amber's birthday. Merit was spending the night with Mimi so he wasn't with us. I got to love on sweet Trey since Merit wasn't with us. He is so adorable and quite the little cuddle bug. He was perfectly content to sit in my lap and watch all that was going on. What a blessing to be able to celebrate such a wonderful friend's birthday! Amber, you and your family are certainly loved by our family!

 

Barnes & Noble with the Sykes

We had a great time with the Sykes on Friday. The fun began at Barnes & Noble where Ashleigh and Merit played with the train, LEGOs and read books. Baby Madelyn even got in on the action. After B&N they came over to our house. We ate lunch and the kids had a little more time to play. What a special time with special friends!

 

Apple Raisin Bread

I made this yummy bread on Friday. It really turned out wonderful! It is moist and very flavorful! I modified this recipe just a bit.

My modifications include:

1. vanilla flavored Greek yogurt instead of plain

2. all whole wheat flour and not any white

1/2 cup of dates instead of raisins (I had dates on hand but no raisins) :)

And, I used 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of Stevia instead of 1/2 cup of white sugar

 

http://www.peanutbutterandpeppers.com/2012/04/10/apple-raisin-bread/

 

Balloons...they make anyone smile!

On Tuesday, we did a little shopping together. We went to Nordstrom Rack, Marshall's and some other store that the name escapes me at the moment. The nice lady at Nordstrom Rack gave Merit a blue balloon and completely made his day. Love that smile!

 

Prints on Canvas...easy and inexpensive!

I have a ton of framed pictures in my home. Maybe some would say too many pictures! So, I decided to try something new. I found a blog that had information on how to adhere pictures to canvas. I ended up printing these black and white pictures on my computer at home and I used just bright white paper. First, I used black paint and painted the sides of the canvas black. I then painted a good thick coat of Mod Podge on the canvas and then adhered the picture to the front. You have to be really careful in order to get it smooth without bubbles but it is possible. :) After I smoothed out the bubbles I let it dry. I painted three coats of Mod Podge on top of my picture and made sure I used plenty on the sides too. You can see a picture of the finished product below. They turned out wonderfully! Then I used my two new pictures to make a beautiful collage for my new family room. Lovely!

 

A couple of blogs I used:

http://www.mommymodelsblog.com/?p=2051

 

http://howtonestforless.com/2012/09/24/mod-podge-photo-canvas-prints/

 

 

 

Stickers, Basketball, and More!

We worked on Merit's Toy Story sticker/activity book this morning and Merit said he really needed to wear his Woody hat while we worked. :) Silly boy. He looked so cute. We also played a little basketball with his new McQueen hoop set that Nana and Popo gave him for Christmas. What a great way to start our day!

 

Love This Weather!

After Merit woke up from his nap on Sunday afternoon, we headed straight to the playground. We soaked up as much sun and warmth as possible!

 

Car Wash with Giraffe

Merit used to now enjoy going to the car wash. However, he now loves to go and often takes a friend with him. Today he chose to take Giraffey. He loves watching the car move slowly through the wash. I'm so glad he enjoys the little things in life!

 

Love These!

Alicia and I have great memories of playing with these while we were on our family ski trips. I can remember buying packages of them at the toy store in Breckenridge and then being so excited to take them back to the condo. Well, I introduced these to Merit a while back and he is always excited to get a new package. He loves to watch them slowly grow and see what they become!

 

Movie with Mimi

Daddy was in Las Vegas for a conference this week so Mimi came to visit us for a couple of days. Merit wanted Mimi to see the movie Hook because that is one of his favorites right now. Merit held Mimi's hands so she wouldn't be too scared of captain Hook. So cute!

 

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

We really, really want it to snow again! However, there is no snow in sight so we decided we would create some snowflakes of our own. We used snowflakes made out of foam and pressed them in white paint and then pressed them on paper. The finished products are beautiful!

 

Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies

I made these yummy cookies Sunday afternoon for JP and Merit. They were a big hit! Merit's favorite part was pouring the chocolate chips into the mixer and JP's favorite part was eating them of course! Thanks to Cookie and Kate for the recipe!

http://cookieandkate.com/2011/chocolate-chip-banana-cookies/

Hat to the Back

Merit likes to do everything that Daddy does. This morning he turned his hat backwards and said, that's how Daddy dos it. Not "does" it, but "dos" it. So cute! We all went to the donut shop and then came home and enjoyed our weekly treat together.

 

Happy 1st Birthday Madelyn!

We had a wonderful time celebrating baby Madelyn's first birthday. Merit was really excited about getting to see his friend Ashleigh. The highlight of the party was the pinata. Merit loved whacking at the butterfly and waiting for the candy to fall out.

Happy birthday to sweet Madelyn!

 

Friday Fun!

We enjoyed some time outside on Friday. The weather was beautiful; 70 degrees to be exact. I put the Christmas decor boxes back in the shed and Merit drove his car all around the yard. It was a great day!

 

Big Boots!

Merit and his cousin Aidan both got Big Boots for Christmas from Grammy and Papa 'D'. Merit absolutely loves this new toy. He thinks it is definitely a big boy toy. He and Aidan had so much fun playing with Big Boots on Christmas day. We had fun watching them! Thank you Papa 'D' and Grammy for this cool toy!

 

January Wreath

I absolutely love the look of yarn wreaths. To me, they look warm and fuzzy. I made the white yarn wreath last year and used it for the months of January and February. For January, I made pretty gray and white felt flowers adorned with clear rhinestones in the center of each flower. This year, I added some pretty turquoise blue felt flowers because I've recently incorporated this color into my living room. I think the wreath looks perfect now!

 

 

Pretty January Votives

I took some of my clear glass votive candle holders and made them look a little more wintry. I painted them with a good coat of Mod Podge and then sprinkled rock salt to cover. The rock salt is harder to work with then Epsom salt but I think it looks much prettier. :) After they were dry I put a couple of them inside my large hurricanes which I filled with Epsom salt. I really like how this project turned out!

 

 

 

Nana's House

Merit has been asking if he can spend the night at Nana's house. We decided to have dinner with Nana on Friday night and then let Merit stay for the night. We  had a great time spending time with Nana. Popo was not there, he was in Midland. Nana fixed us a delicious dinner of homemade chicken soup and I brought cornbread and some sweets to go with it. Merit really liked playing Nana's keyboard and pretending to fight with Nana using the inflatable bats.

JP and I left around 9 to head back home and Merit stayed with Nana. Nana called us around 11:30 because Merit was still not asleep and he said he wanted to go home. She put him on the phone and it was so cute. He told me he wanted to go home to Mommy and Daddy's house. I reminded him of how much fun it would be to wake up at Nana's and get to play the next morning. Nana calmed him down by letting him make a big palate of pillows in her living room and watching the Cedarmont Kids video. He ended up falling asleep there and sleeping all night. We were so proud of him! Thank you Nana for loving our sweet boy!

 

Trains with Nathaniel!

Merit and Nathaniel got to see the Trains at Northpark together on New Year's Day. Mimi and Merit met Aunt Nancy and Nathaniel at Northpark while I was busy getting ready for our New Year's Day party. Looks like these two little guys had way too much fun together!

 

More CARS!

We used money from Pimpa and Grandma to order Merit this really neat set of Lightning McQueen cars. All 5 have different paint jobs. He absolutely loves these! We had to order them because the Disney story literally had none of these sets left on their shelves. Every day after we ordered them Merit asked if his new CARS were here. This was yet another lesson teaching him patience! Thank you Pimpa and Grandma!