Yummy Salad

Well, it seems my blog is becoming a recipe blog...not what I intended, just what I seem to be posting lately :) I just had to post this salad recipe before I forget to write it down somewhere. Thanks to my SIL for sending the recipe. It's quite delish!

I don't even have a title for what it's actually called, so I'm just going to call it...Yummy Salad.

Ingredients:

1 bag spring mix greens

Candied Walnuts (or I used candied pecans because I prefer pecans and I couldn't find any other candied nuts at Walmart)

Thinly Sliced Apples (my favorite are Gala Apples)

Craisins (Dried Cranberries)

Honey Mustard Dressing (I used Newman's Own Salad Dressing...Light Honey Mustard).

Mix the above ingredients, drizzle on however much dressing you like and enjoy. Such a yummy combination for a salad. I've become addicted to it. Especially since Aldi is selling a nice mix of small lettuce heads in their veggie section only for $1.99. It stays fresh longer than the bagged stuff.

Other than that, it's been an interesting week here. The boys have had colds and I finally took Seth to the doctor on Thursday morning. Turned out he has a double ear infection and has now been diagnosed with bronchitis/asthma. So he's been on breathing treatments every 4 hours and the morning and evening treatments will continue indefinitely. So that was a bit more than I expected when I took him in. The treatments make him all hyper afterward. Joe & I just laugh because he's running all over the place with this big grin on his face. It's quite funny to watch. Thankfully when I have to get him up for his nightly treatments he doesn't wake up much and actually falls back asleep while I'm giving him the treatment. I'm exhausted to say the least. Being pregnant, getting up 3 times a night and oh, Isaac's cough is back and he ended up throwing up last night in bed...so that was a nice thing to add to the evening. Basically it's been a long week with not a lot of sleep for this prego momma. Thankfully I just have the sniffles since Joe has gotten the cold too. Hopefully mine doesn't get worse.

Well, I'm off to make sense of the pile of medical bills since we just got another one that wasn't on the insurance statement. I get to call the insurance company again on Monday and find out what's going on because this bill has put us way over what we should have to owe. Oh the joys.

I shouldn't complain so much. I am so thankful to have my health back. I know it could be so much worse. We are definitely blessed beyond measure. Just some days it's hard for my human mind to see that. Thankfully God shows me in His way that He is a gracious, good, loving God that is in control of all things. May I strive to keep my eyes on things eternal where in the end there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more health issues, etc. Where we will be one day worshiping and praising our Lord.

Honey Mustard Chicken

Our pastor's wife made this meal for us awhile back and it has become one of our favorites. I've made it in the crockpot (like I'm doing today) and it works great that way also. The sauce and flavor is so yummy and it's such an easy recipe. Enjoy!

Honey Mustard Chicken

6-8 chicken thighs (I've used breasts too...any kind of pieces of chicken will work)

1/2 c honey

1/4 c mustard

1 tsp salt

1 tsp curry powder

Mix ingredients together and pour over chicken in a baking dish. Baste ever 15 min. Bake the chicken at 400 degrees for 45 min to an hour. Serve with rice. The sauce is great to pour on the rice.

Crockpot version: Put chicken in crockpot. Pour mixed ingredients over the chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4. Serve with rice.

Creamy Tortellini Soup

First I have to say (and I may have said it before), that I LOVE Pinterest! It's one amazing site. Anyways, back to my original post. I made Creamy Tortellini Soup (from www.bhg.com) today for the fellowship meal at church. It was an easy recipe and tasted pretty yummy. Two things that I love in a recipe....easy & yummy. Here's the recipe for those interested. and I loved dipping french bread into the sauce..yum!

Creamy Tortellini Soup

ingredients

• 1
  1 1/2 - 2 ounce envelope white sauce mix
• 4
  cups water
• 1
  14 ounce can vegetable broth (I used half chicken broth, half beef broth bc I didn't have veg broth)
• 1 1/2
  cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2
  cup chopped onion
• 3
  cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2
  teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1/4
  teaspoon salt
• 1/4
  teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/8
  teaspoon cayenne pepper (I just put a dash)
• 1
  7 - 8 ounce package dried cheese tortellini (about 2 cups)
• 1
  12 ounce can evaporated milk
• 6
  cups fresh baby spinach leaves or torn spinach
• 1/2 lb
• ground turkey, browned (I added this - so you can add it or leave it out---optional)
• ground black pepper (optional)
• finely shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)
  
  
  directions

  1.Place dry white sauce mix in a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker. Gradually add the water to the white sauce mix, stirring until smooth. Stir in broth, mushrooms, onion, garlic, basil, salt, oregano, and cayenne pepper.

  I also browned ground turkey and added it to the mix.

  2.Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2-1/2 to 3 hours.

  3.Stir in dried tortellini. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 1 hour more or high-heat setting for 45 minutes more.

  4.Stir in evaporated milk and fresh spinach (I cooked my spinach in the pan I used toc.

  cook the turkey and added it to the soup after it had been on low 2 hrs). If desired, sprinkle individual servings with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings (I'd say more like 6-8 servings...unless you eat huge bowls of soup...this recipe filled my regular size crockpot).

A good laugh...

I was on this blog...if you haven't been to her site before then you must.go.now. She's quite talented and has awesome recipes. I was on her blog and clicked on this post and all I can say is...I can totally relate and all I can do is...laugh. So if you need a good laugh, go read this post.

I recently made her salsa...YUM! Let everything marinate after you make it, and if you don't like a lot of spice then only put half the jalapeno in. I usually can't handle spicy stuff, but I'm addicted to it and ate so much this afternoon that I actually got a tummy ache.

Hope you all (or now that I live in the South I should say "ya'll") are having a good weekend!

New Recipes and New Resolutions

I came across this website and I think I may have a new list of recipes to try out and they all look easy and so delicious!!! Go check it out...I'm loving this. I'm hoping to get better this new year with meal planning. I always try to plan ahead and then seem to rush through when it's time to make my grocery list. I think I need to try to plan further ahead than just a week or two, but more like a month or two at a time so it will be easier for me to do my weekly grocery list. First I hope to use any extra ingredients in my pantry and then go from there. Having a big pantry area in my new home is lovely, but I feel that things have gotten lost in there that I forget that I have. So starting this new year I'm going to use them up and hopefully this recipe blog will help me with that.

My New Year's Resolution...get this house organized. We've lived here for a year now and I'm not happy with the junk I have in some of the closets and some boxes still unopened in the garage. So I'm looking to this lady for help..since she seems to be the queen of organizing. So 2012, let's hope I get things in gear and get my home organized and functioning as I would like it to be. Plus, with a new little one that will be, Lord willing, arriving this Summer (due to arrive July 10) I really need to get things in place before then. Yes, you read that right...I'm 12 weeks pregnant and feeling great. Hoping for a sweet, quiet little girl to calm my boys down. If I get another rambunctious boy that will be fine too. I love my boys.

I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2012.

Happy New Year everyone!