Thirty

Thirty.  That's what I am now.  I just don't know what to think about it!  On the one hand I feel so old!  My twenties were some good times and hold some priceless memories.  I can't believe that time in my life is over.  But on the other hand, thirty doesn't feel near as old as I always thought it was.  And thirty has a level of wisdom and experience that I'm so happy to have (please do not mistake this for me thinking I am the epitome of wisdom or have learned anywhere close to everything I need to know...that is not at all what I mean...I still have a long way to go).  But I am so very thankful for the life lessons I've learned through my twenties and I pray that God will help me to use that wisdom for His glory through my thirties...all the while learning even more this decade! 
My 30th birthday was wonderful.  I had a perfectly relaxing day with my hubby doing some of the things I love the most...

It began with a lunch date at Benihana followed by a movie...Man of Steel (thanks to my sister and her in-laws for entertaining our kids all day) .  Yes I realize it was my birthday and not Jason's.  One thing I have totally learned about myself...when it comes to movies...I'm not much of a chick-flick movie kinda gal.  My favorite kind of movies are action packed and suspenseful.  I am NOT talking about movies like The Matrix or The Fast and the Furious (or any of their sequels).  I am talking about movies like The Bourne Identity or Oceans 11 (or any of their sequels).  Saying all that to say...Man of Steel was right up my alley and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Then we did a little leisurely shopping and headed back to my parents' house to meet up with our children and some family for pizza and cake!  My mom made the cake homemade and it is absolutely the best cake you will ever put in your mouth.  Usually, I'd rather have a homemade chocolate chip cookie or a brownie over cake any day, but not this cake.  This cake is the best.  The kids gathered to sing happy birthday, so we had them smile for a picture.  They got a little carried away saying cheese...

So the day was great!  I'd say a perfect entrance to my thirties!

Eating...kid-style!

One night last week-ish, I decided to let the kids make dinner.  Yup...you read that right....the kids made their own dinner.  Years ago in college we went on a retreat where we made these foil dinners over the fire.  So I decided to re-create that with the kids one night for something different.  I made the ground beef into balls; cut up some onions, carrots and potatoes; and set out all different kinds of seasonings.  I gave each kid a piece of foil and let them put all their stuff on their foil and then season it!  I kinda forgot to get some pictures of them actually making their dinner...I guess the combination of a 7, 5, and 4 year old with raw ground beef made me a little cautious.  But here's a few right after...

 They said it was the best dinner they've ever eaten....they're kinda conceited if you ask me ;). The ground meat was actually deer meat and on top of that it cooked too long so it was actually not even close to the best meal we've ever made.  It's amazing what having kids help does to their overall dining experience.

I also thought I'd randomly share our breakfast experience the other day.  We dropped Jason off at work one morning and ran some errands after that.  We didn't have much at home to eat for breakfast, and I had to run by Kroger anyway, so we decided to grab some breakfast in there...

 The minute we started to step out from under the awning it started pouring rain.  I mean pouring.  I can handle some rain, but I in no way, was about to attempt to get 4 kids in the car in that.  So we plopped ourselves down right in front of Kroger and enjoyed our breakfast while waiting for the rain to let up.  Perfection. :)

 (side note: no, I did not feed my 8 month old baby a hard, crunchy cereal bar). :)

The kids enjoyed it and it saved us from the rain!  So there we go!  Who says you can't have fun running errands and making dinner with 4 kids? :)

Thanksgiving Day

Well, traditionally we always spend Thanksgiving with either Jason's family or my family.  But this year, we weren't able to make the long trek to Tennessee.  We really missed our family a bunch!  But we were so incredibly thankful to get to spend the day with some of our good friends, the Spurrier's!  They don't have their family very close either, so they invited us to come spend the day with them, and it was lovely!  We started the morning off at CVS and Walgreens...isn't that how everyone spends Thanksgiving morning? :)  We were serious about getting some deals...we waited outside for them to open!

 The man you see with the newspaper over his face will remain nameless...he was our bouncer. :)  Don't judge him...he wanted some deals on some toilet paper too! :)  We had fun.
After Walgreens, we headed to our own homes and finished up our last minute cooking.  I had a blast cooking for Thanksgiving this year.  Usually, my mom and aunts, or Jason's mom cooks (depending on whose family we are with of course).  I've decided that I am going to cook at least something next time we spend it with our families!  So around One-ish, we got the kiddos together and headed over to the Spurrier's for Thanksgiving lunch.  This was our feast...

 And this was most of our company...(Deb was taking the picture)...

We had a good ole' time!  After we ate we relaxed for a bit and then around 5:30, Debra and I (along with her sweet daughter Madison) met up with another one of our friends and hit the stores for some Black Friday shopping.  We had a good ole' time waiting in some lines and getting some good deals!  All in all, I'd say Thanksgiving was a success!  A huge thank you again to the Spurrier's for having us over and spending the day with us!  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Catch Up

 Hello friends! Those were several pictures of what's been going on here the last few weeks.  Toe-nail painting, baseball playing, Mother's Day lunches, playing outside...etc.  Not anything too exciting but we've stayed busy.  And today's about the same.  We went grocery shopping yesterday, so today I spent the majority of the morning cleaning lettuce...

 Making these yummy little snack crackers (I got the recipe from Pinterest of course)...

 And making some delicious freshly squeezed lemonade (recipe found on foodnetwork.com...courtesy of Gina Neely).

 

And while I was making it this little cutie walked up and wanted to help...

 And then he decided he wanted to lick the lemons after I'd squeezed them.  I don't know what my kids' fascination  with lemons is, but they love them.

 

And as for the rest of the afternoon...the plan is to go through most of the tubs in the basement!  Then we will be getting ready for Lily's last dance/gymnastics class tonight where we'll get to watch the class and see what she's learned!  I will be posting pictures of that soon I hope!  Well, I hope you're having a productive Tuesday!

What's been cookin' in the Heath household?

I haven't done a post in awhile about food, so I thought I would do that now.  Especially since food is so important to me these days.  :)  Here are a few new recipes I've tried recently...(some more recently than others)...
This was my copycat of the Chipotle burrito...Cilantro lime rice (I actually didn't have cilantro, so I used ground corriander instead...it's close to the same flavor), left-over roast beef, refried beans, guacomole, salsa, cheese....that's what I had on hand.  So naturally...it wasn't exactly Chipotle, but it hit the craving none-the-less.  This was thrown together with what I had on hand...I will try to make this again actually planning out my ingredients (since the closest Chipotle is 2 hours away).

 This is a Zucchini tot.  It was super yummy.  I got this one from Pinterest.  These were sooo good...they really tasted a lot like tater tots, but it has shredded zucchini and cheese in it.  Mmmm.

 This is another Pinterest find...Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken.  This was super yummy, and very easy, and required very minimal ingredients.  Definately will make this again!

 These are homemade baked chicken nuggets and homemade baked french fries (also Pinterest).  I love meals like this because they are easy and kid-friendly, but also healthy.  The nuggets were delish...even though I used regular breadcrumbs instead of panko breadcrumbs, and the fries were pretty much your classic baked fry, but I love those so I was pleased.

Here's a few other meals I've made recently that I didn't have pictures for...
-Cheesy chicken and rice...this is a Pinterest find.  It was done in the crockpot and was super easy and cheap.  I'll definitely make this again.
-Baked "fried" Chicken....this was soooooo yummy (Pinterest).  The flavor of the breading is amazing.  It also requires ingredients I usually have on hand anyway.  This will definitely be my "go-to" chicken dish when all I have is chicken and I don't know what to do with it.
-Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes...This is not a Pinterest find, but instead came out of one of my Betty Crocker cookbooks.  I have officially found the best meatloaf recipe ever.  Let me know if you want it...it's sooo good.  And the potatoes are pretty yummy too. The secret to good mashed potatoes is...butter.  My theory...the potatoes are still healthy...you're just adding the unhealthy butter to it...but it doesn't mean you're not getting the nutrients from the potatoes, right?  Well, that's what I tell myself when I really want something tasty....like butter.  :)
-Tacos...my kids love 'em...so we've been killing it with the tacos lately.  Plus..you can buy "great value" brand taco shells for $1 a box (12 ct.), so we either cook up some ground beef or chicken with some taco seasoning ($.30 a pack)...add some fixins' and there you have it!  A cheap meal the kids (and parents for that matter) will love.
-Oh, and I did make some white beans with that left over Easter ham.  Crock pot, dried beans, ham and ham bone, salt, pepper, a tablespoon of bacon fat...oh yum.  Throw some homemade sweet cormbread muffins with it and there you have a good ole' southern dinner.
And last, but certainly not least I will share my Pinterest dessert that I've recently tried.  I had it at a friend's house and LOVED it, so I made a few recently for a dinner at church...ok, so here goes...LEMONADE PIE.  I've told you how I love lemonade lately.  So this....was amazing!  Frozen lemonade concentrate, sweetened condensed milk, cool whip, a graham cracker pie crust...I mean really folks...Y-U-M!
So there you have it...the Heath menu lately.  We've been trying to go cheap, easy, and healthy around here.  Ok, so not every recipe is exactly what I would call "healthy", but most are (we usually throw in some stir-fried broccoli, green beans, or raw carrots in there with some of those dishes too).  Anyway...I know you've been dying to know what we've had for dinner, so there you have it!

Pittsburgh

Ok, I know...I get so behind on the blog. I go through good spells, but I still have several pictures (one including DANIEL'S BIRTHDAY...yes it's in December) from awhile ago that I want to post about. But...one step at a time. So about 2 weeks ago I went to Pittsburgh with several ladies and youth girls from our church to the Revolve Conference for teenage girls. We had a lot of fun!! The conference was really good AND I have never been to Pittsburgh before, so that was fun too!
We ate at Five Guys for lunch. Another first for me! It was yummy!!

I took all my pictures from my iPhone, so the quality is not fabulous, but it will do. This was either while we were waiting for someone to come on stage or during one of the concerts. The music was a lot of fun...the praise band was good, and of course we enjoyed KJ52 and Jamie Grace. The speakers were good too; and spoke about issues that teenage girls face every day.

The teenagers...

And a group shot afterwards...

It ended up being a lot of fun! AND another plus...we ate at Chipotle for dinner. Oh, man was it good! I have been craving it ever since. I actually tried to copy-cat one of their burritos one night this week. OH...and we stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way home and I had my first ever "hot off the belt" Krispy Kreme donut. "It's like eatin' a baby angel!" (Tim Hawkins on Krispy Kreme donuts). I promise, even though I really enjoyed the food, it wasn't my most favorite part of the day. I really did enjoy the conference and the fellowship! Every girl needs some girl time! :)

More Pinterest Meals!

Ok, so as I've stated many times before...I pretty much do all of my cooking from Pinterst these days. Before Pinterest, I was so in that rut where I had tried almost all of the meals in my cookbooks that didn't require tons of ingredients/was super expensive. Cooking was becoming such a burden...not because I didn't like it, but because I got so tired of coming up with budget friendly ideas for meals! And then came Pinterest. And now cooking is fun again. I've had lots of ideas and nothing I've tried has been an absolute bust. Most everything I've tried I can see myself making again. So here are a few things I've tried lately.
#1. Bourbon Street Chicken...
This was very good....I slightly over-cooked the chicken (I am VERY picky about dry chicken)..but that is easily fixed and the flavor was great. However it was too spicy for the kids. I cut down on the red pepper in the recipe, but it was still pretty spicy. The best part...it didn't require real bourbon!

#2. Fruit Tea...

This was delish. I made it twice. The first time I followed the recipe exactly (requiring me to puree a peach). Not that it was a hard task, but the second time I didn't feel like getting the blender out, so I left that part out. Definitely was better with the peach..but despite the lacking peach flavor we still drank the whole gallon.

#3. Ham and Cheese Sliders...

Oh, boy...these were good. MOST definitely will be making these for lunch again. Basically its just your hot ham and swiss sandwich, but on yummy Sister Schubert rolls and with a very yummy poppyseed sauce poured all over the top. Sooo good!!

#4. Ranch Pork Chops and Stuffed Zucchini...

Yes we had potatoes too, but those aren't from Pinterest (however they are still very yummy and a family favorite). The pork chops only require 3 ingredients and are cooked in the crockpot. They had great flavor however the meat was a little dry for me (again though...I'm extra picky about that). But the yummy sauce really helped with that...plus the meat was falling off the bone. I think my favorite consistency of meat is grilled (on a grill or in a pan) just until its done. (Just trying to give you a thorough review). Now the stuffed zucchini...we've already made it again since this. It was absolutely wonderful. We will make this a lot this summer!

#5. Alice Springs Chicken and Zucchini Parmesan Bites...

This meal was delicious. I will MOST definitely be making both these dishes again. The chicken, modeled after Outback Steakhouse's Alice Springs Chicken, was wonderful and fairly easy to make. The sauce was made with ingredients I already had on hand. The only thing I needed to buy was the mushrooms (I usually have the cheese and bacon on hand as well). The zucchini was good too...but I let them bake a little too long. A little less time and these will be super good!

#6. Grilled Bacon, Guacomole, and Cheese Sandwiches...

Oh. my. word. Need I say more. I am craving these right now. Of course for me...guacomole is simply wonderful by itself. So adding melted cheddar cheese, bacon, and two buttery grilled pieces of bread can ONLY create something utterly delectable.

I have tried quite a bit of other recipes as well but don't have pictures for them. They include...

--Twix Bars....really? Need I make a review on those? Ok, I will anyway becuase I must talk about anything chocolate...they were wonderful. Next time however, I will be adding peanuts and a little more caramel to make them even better!

--Cheesy Bacon Potato Rounds...Very yummy. Again I baked them too long (I think my oven cooks faster than others)....but oh man...great flavor. Again, can you go wrong with potatoes, bacon, cheese, and butter? I didn't think so.

--Rosemary Garlic Chicken Skillet...I made this awhile ago, and can't remember if I blogged about it. But it was sooo delicious as well. Definitely will be making it again too.

--Mongolian Beef...This was a good meal. The beef was really tender. The sauce was good, but a little sweet. I might add a little less brown sugar next time.

--Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup...This soup had a great flavor. And it was SUPER easy. I even stuck the chicken in there frozen and it turned out just great!

Ok, so that's all I can think of for now. As you can see, I've been cooking Pinterest meals almost every night. And its been extremely fulfulling....probably even more so since I'm pregnant. Oh, and since I'm talking about food, Saturday I went to Pittsburgh with our youth girls and some ladies from the church for a conference. When it was over, we ate at a place called Chipotle for dinner. Basically (for those of you southerners like myself) its the same thing as Moe's. Oh yummy! I got a big ole' chicken burrito and am ashamed to admit (but not really) that I ate the whole thing... (well I did leave about 3 bites). My stomach literally felt like it was about to pop. But it was worth it (and so was the pound I gained the next day). Ok, so enough about food for one day. Now I need to go plan my meals for the week. :)

Week 15

Well this pregnancy is speeding right along. I am 15 weeks now, and definitely developing a baby bump, as you can see in the above picture. Now that I'm in my second trimester, I have finally gotten some of my energy back and am sleeping a little better at night. However, I have developed a very irritating cough and cold...which I was so graciously told by my doctor will possibly last 3 weeks. The one part of pregnancy that's always the most enjoyable and I have a nasty cold. Oh, well...at least I can eat. That is the most important thing, right? As I have stated before I am LOVING Chinese food. Other things I have been craving are lemonade, lemonade popsicles, coke (don't judge me), and since Friday night....fish tacos (we had dinner at a friend's house and she made fish tacos that were delish and I have been thinking about them ever since). Quite frankly though...I am thoroughly enjoying all kinds of food this pregnancy. We'll deal with the results of my decisions after I'm done nursing....(notice I am giving myself several extra months of eating what I want). :) One last thing...I will be having my next ultrasound on March 29th where we will be finding out....yep, you guessed it...THE GENDER!!! I am super excited about finding out whether God is blessing us with a baby girl or a baby boy. So stay tuned! Oh, and one more thing....speaking of genders...for all you pregnant mommys out there....my doctor told me another "old wives tale" of how to know what you're having. If you are feeling like you have to shave your legs less often than usual, you are having a girl. I thought it sounded pretty odd. But since I know so many ladies that are pregnant right now, I thought it'd be funny to share on here (in case any of you are reading). I'm sure it's just like every other theory, but still fun to test it. So like I said...if any of you are reading, let me know how it proves out...just for fun!

P.S. Bourbon Street Chicken was a hit. I also attempted Egg Rolls and Egg Drop Soup this week. Neither were great. The egg roll recipe I did get from Pinterest, but I wanted to make considerably fewer than the recipe called for, making it hard to half it that many times. Also...I didn't roll them tight enough. So I'm thinking with a little critiquing, I will have them down by the time I run out of the egg roll wrappers and the cabbage mix I have. The Egg Drop Soup...well it was a bust....edible, but not enjoyable. I am going to work on a whole new recipe for that. I got that recipe from foodnetwork.com and it was a general recipe...not done by one of their chefs. I am usually never disappointed by their recipes when it's from one of their good chefs (like Tyler Florence, Guy Fieri, Sunny Anderson, Ina Garten, The Neely's, ok, so I like a lot of them). This week, I'll be trying Mongolian Beef. I'll let you know how it goes.

Pinterest Cooking

Before I begin talking about the best recipes I've ever made, let me just share with you a new love of mine...
I have loved the natural peanut butter for awhile now, but notice this jar has 2 wonderful little words attached to the end..."with honey." I actually got this jar on accident the last time we needed peanut butter. One of the best things ever done by accident.....one of them. :) Anyway...so on with my post....

Pinterest has sort of become a new love in my life. It all started with mere pinning. And then I ventured into the world of trying the recipes. And OH. MY. GOODNESS. Almost everything I've tried has been delish. Here are two of my favorites (and the only 2 I could easily find a pic of)...
#1. Pineapple BBQ Chicken...

Basically all it is...a bottle of BBQ sauce, a can of pineapple, some frozen chicken breasts, and a crockpot for 8 hours. You serve it over rice and boom (and I added some stir-fried broccoli)....easiest meal I've ever made, and quite yummy too.
#2. My all time new favorite...Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice...

Oh my word. In case some of you haven't seen on Facebook, I am totally obsessed with Chinese food this pregnancy. AND, we don't have a good Chinese place any closer than 45 minutes from where we live. So, I needed to do something. And once again, I went to Pinterest and found this. It was oh, so yummy. There will be a LOT of this for the next 5 1/2 months. The egg roll was not homemade, however since then I have found an egg roll recipe and went out and purchased all the necessary ingredients. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll also be making egg drop soup soon too. Ok enough about Chinese...it's making me hungry.

Some other Pinterest meals I've made have been...

-Taco Cupcakes..(Very good the night of, but not so good left over)

-Mini Lasagnas...(Very good...haven't had the left overs yet, so not sure)

-Crock pot Chicken Fajitas...(Delicious...very messy...and very good left over)

-Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets...(Very good....not quite Chick-fil-A nuggets, but I think after making them a few times I could get it closer)
I have also tried a cookie, oreo, brownie bar..made by a friend off of Pinterest (those are delicious)....and will soon be making...

-Burbon Street Chicken (I'm very optimistic about this)

-Chicken Tortilla Soup (...This too)

-Oreo Poke Cake (Seriously can anything with oreos be bad)

Ok...so there you have it....MAKE PINTEREST MEALS! You won't regret it! :) Happy Leap Day!

FOOD!!

Do you ever have a day when everything you make just hits the spot? I love those days. Well, Thursday was one of those days for me...(well for lunch and dinner anyway). I started lunch off with my homemade chunky tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches....
Sooo delicious. So since I know you want to make it yourself....here's the recipe....straight out of my favorite Betty Crocker cookbook given to me by my very first "secret pal" at Beaver Baptist Church over 7 years ago....
Hearty Tomato Soup:
2 tbsp. butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. fresh basil OR 1/2 tsp. dried basil
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups milk
2 cans condensed tomato soup
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1. Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic in butter about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in paprika, basil, and cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese is somewhat smooth. Gradually stir in milk and soup. Beat with hand beater or wire whisk until cheese is melted and soup is smooth.
3. Stir in tomatoes. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until hot.

And there you have it! A delicious bowl of soup in under 30 minutes. YUM!!

So then for dinner I had thawed some ground beef and wanted to make some hamburgers. I had opened a can of rotel tomatoes the day before and had some left over....and got an idea. How about a burger, with guacamole and rotel tomatoes?

So that's what I did! Burger, cheddar cheese (I would recommend pepper jack, but I didn't have that on hand), rotel tomatoes, a drizzle of ranch dressing, and LOTS of guacamole! Delish! The other thing I would have done had I thought about it earlier is season the beef with a little more "southwesty-like" seasonings to really round out the flavor. Oh well....there will be a next time for this burger! AND....what better way to finish off the remaining guacamole than atop some salty tortilla chips....P.S. All I did to make the guacamole is make your classic guacamole mix (an avocado, half a lemon, salt and pepper)...and add some of the rotel tomatoes and a chopped up garlic clove. Sooo good. As Rachel Ray would say....YUMMO!! I love good food!!