Happy St. Patrick's Day!....

What up my peeps? I hope you all have had a wonderful week. I had another recipe to post about, but I figured your guys are probably thinking this is turning into a food blog. I do not have the street creeds OR photography skills for that type of blog. I DID how ever make this TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE and it was delish! I made it almost as is, but I added peas instead of celery, (I really don't love me some celery) and I used french onions as my topping! I'm not big on tuna but we in need of some variety over here. So I tried it out and LOOOOOVED it! It did take a while to prepare so I recommend it for a day when you have time to make dinner, but definitely check it out!

This week I have begun preparing for my little man's first birthday. I cannot believe it! Check out his Birthday Invitation :)

I give credit where credit is due and I have to give a BIG thanks to JAMIE HEALY IMAGES for taking the little guy's photos. She does great work with kids!

We are throwing a mustache bash/ little man party. I will post the shindig after the celebration. 

Are you guys doing anything fun for St. Patricks day? Do you have any traditions? I've never done anything which the leprechaun visiting because Kamden hasn't been old enough. I might this year, but I'm not sure what I want to do. We DO however make green pancakes for breakfast and corned beef and cabbage for dinner. It sounds terrible but it is what I look forward to most for the month of march! ( I guess now that Hudson was born this month he might have to compete ) My picky MIL loved it! She said she would even make it which is HUGE!

Here is my recipe if you want to give it a go- ha ha...so much for no recipe today. But it is THAT good!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

 3 lb. corned beef brisket (make sure it comes with package of seasonings)

1 cup water

1 small bag of baby carrots

about 6-8 red potatoes halved ( depends on size )

1 medium onion chopped

1/2-1 head cabbage, cut into wedges (depends of how much you like cabbage)

1 cup maple-flavored or pancake syrup

1/2 cup yellow mustard

1 Tbsp. KRAFT Prepared Horseradish

Place corned beef in crock pot. Add water. Mix together maple syrup, mustard, and horseradish. Divide in half. Use half to glaze the corned beef and reserve the rest for serving. Sprinkle the seasoning packet on top of the corned beef. Add potatoes and onion and cook on low for 8 hours. Half way through ( 4 hours ) add the carrots and cabbage. 

Serve with remaining glaze as a sauce to top it off! YUM-O. Or should I say O'YUM!? Bahh ha ha :) In the words of my son Kamden "I am awesomeness"!

Happy St. Patty's Day Everyone!

P.S> Ya'll still need to tell me what YOU enjoy reading about most. Is it food? Hair? MY problems? ha ha. Let me know!

Quick and Easy Corn-Dog Muffins

Some of you are going to look at these and think they look DI-SCUST-ING! I'll admit it seems weird at first, but really, what is the difference between these and an actually corn dog minus the grease? In my opinion these are a healthier alternative. I found this recipe on Pinterest, obviously, and I adapted it to my reality. While hers look fantastic (and I'm sure they even taste better) we don't always have time to make everything by scratch. My husband and I are longtime fans of Jiffy muffin mix. He won't even let me try to make him homemade blueberry muffins because he is convinced they will not compare to Jiffy's. And so it was, my quick and easy corn-dog muffins were born :).

Prepare corn muffin mix as directed. Make sure after you have it mixed to let it set for a good 4-5 minutes, stir, and then fill your muffin pan. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full. I used a regular sized muffin pan and I got 8 muffins out of it. I like to use cupcake liners but that is totally your preference. 

Make sure you use fully cooked hot dogs because you will not be cooking them for very long.

Cut your dogs into thirds and place one in the middle of each batter filled cup. (Flat side down so they will stand up)

Throw them in the oven @ 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Check them for sure at 15 minutes with a toothpick because you don't want to cook these too long or the corn bread will be very dry. 

Serve with Ketchup and enjoy!

Kamden LOVED helping me with these! His favorite part was getting to put the hot dogs it. It is a very kid-friendly recipe and it makes it that much more fun for them to eat something they helped create. How cute and fun would these be for a birthday party? Or even a cousins party this summer? You could even go bite-sized and use a mini muffin tin!  I'm trying really hard to do more baking like this and have him help me instead of the easier route, McDonalds. Seriously, we go there at least once once a week! Is that terrible? How often do you go? Or are you an awesome mom and never subject your child/children to that crap? If it's the latter, please teach me your ways :)

Oh, I should also mention that these are pretty crumbly and messy, so be prepared to sweep after! Unless that's just my boys....which is very possible.

Corn-Dog Muffins
1 Box "Jiffy" corn muffin mix
1 egg
1/3c. milk
3 hot dogs
*ketchup for serving

Prepare corn muffin mix as directed. Make sure after you have it mixed to let it set for a good 4-5 minutes, stir, and then fill your muffin pan. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full. I used a regular sized muffin pan and I got 8 muffins out of it. I like to use cupcake liners but that is totally your preference. 

Make sure you use fully cooked hot dogs because you will not be cooking them for very long.

Cut your dogs into thirds and place one in the middle of each batter filled cup. (Flat side down so they will stand up)

Throw them in the oven @ 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Check them for sure at 15 minutes with a toothpick because you don't want to cook these too long or the corn bread will be very dry. 

A Little Spring Cleaning and Family History

I think I might have fallen off of the face of the earth the past few weeks. Just ask my friends and family. I grew another one of those wild hairs and decided to get started on my family genealogy. IT CONSUMED ME! I literally went to bed with visions of ancestors dancing around in my head. Maybe next post will be a little on doing your OWN genealogy! Is that lame? It might sound that way but I can tell you that it is very exciting not knowing who or what you are going to find next. How about your great grandmother's birth certificate that no one living has ever seen? And finding out she was born right where you grew up? AMAZING!

I have also been on a bit of a spring cleaning kick. It started when we sold our dining room table and I lifted up the rug that was under it that hadn't been moved for 2 1/2 years. Check this out...

NIce looking tile and grout. Then I looked at the rest of the floor.

Look at that!

Do you see this? DISGUSTING! I promise we are not filthy people. Or are we? It's been 3 years this month since we moved in this house and we have never cleaned our grout. I've really never thought about it. It wasn't until I saw what my grout was SUPPOSED to look like that I was completely grossed out and spent 6 HOURS on a saturday with these:

Grout Magic from Lowes and a stiff bristle brush (plastic, NOT wire! The wire will remove your grout!)

You spray it on, lead it sit for 5 minutes, scrub it, wipe it up with a warm wet rag, and then mop your floors with whatever you like to use. It worked pretty well I think. It was just a lot a of work. I couldn't even go to church the next day because my back was killing me! My guess is that if we had been better about cleaning our grout that it wouldn't of been such a project. Are there any special remedies you use?

BEFORE

Ha ha, SOOOOOOO gross!. 

AFTER

How often do you guys clean your grout? We mop regularly, but had never cleaned what lies between. I honestly couldn't see myself doing this more than once a year. If you are a 16 year old kid and wanting to start a business, boy do I have an idea for you! ;) I'd do it, but I'm too dang old and my back and knees would divorce me. 

I think I could seriously lick my floors right now and wouldn't bat an eye. 

Let's Celebrate Our Presidents With Some Hawaiian Pancakes!

Happy President's Day! I hope you all are spening some wonderful quality time with your loved ones. I wasn't going to blog today, but since my kids are sickies and Kyle ran to Lowes, I figured I'd jump on real quick!  Can someone tell the these dang germs to go jump off a cliff?!! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! We tried to avoid them but they found their way into my little guys anyway. :(

Our super awesome friends Cade and Kelsey just went to Hawaii a couple weeks ago and brought us back this delicacy:

That people, is COCONUT SYRUP straight from Hawaii.

She told me about these pancakes they ate for breakfast while they were there that had pineapple, bananas, white chocolate chips, and they were smothered with this crack sauce. So I went a searching and no one had a recipe for them! Can you believe it? So friends, my gift to you on this day of celebration for our presidents is... 

HEAVENLY HAWAIIAN PANCAKES. 

And let the hallelujah choir sing.......

Heavenly Hawaiian Pancakes

2 c. of your favorite pancake mix
1 c. milk
1/2-1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. crushed pineapple (not drained)
2 very ripe bananas
1/2 c. white chocolate chips (or more if you are feeling dangerous)

Place all ingredients in a bowel and mix together using your mixer. That way you don't have to pre-mash your bananas.
Heat your skillet to medium heat and butter/grease. Using a 1/4 c. measurer, scoop up the batter and pour it on your skillet. Let cook until you start to bubbles and then flip. Cook for a minute more or so. Immediately top with butter and then your Coconut Syrup!
Makes about 18 5in. pancakes.
***If you you don't have coconut syrup that's ok! Just use light Kayro syrup and you will still be in heaven!

I'm going to be way sad when my delicious syrup is gone, so I am going to attempt to make my own coconut syrup. If I can figure it out I'll be sure to post! 

Happy President's Day!

Bang Bang!

If you were totally saying "BANG BANG.....POW POW DADDY" From the movie Couples Retreat, you are AWESOME. I wanted to thank all of you who have been reading so far and leaving comments! They mean a lot and give me great motivation to keep on trucking with this bad boy! So THANK YOU! :)

Now onto the bangs.

Don't you hate when you wake up and your hair looks great, besides yo greasy bangs. Who wants to wash their hair just because one section is funky. Waste-of-time. The reason why your bangs are the first to go whack, is because you are are always moving your bangs out of your face. It's a natural habit. When you do this you are transferring the grease from your fingers to your bangs and also whipping the hair against your greasy forehead. Resulting in some nice greasy bangs. (they are also a big contributor to acne on the forehead) So lets Talk about some hair styles your can do or products you can use to make your hair go at least one more day. 

WARNING: Please note that I am talking about prolonging having to wash your hair, not your whole body. Please continue to shower.

Dry Shampoos work perfectly to help absorb grease. The powder is supposed to absorb the oils in your hair, letting you go longer between washings. A little goes a long way with this product. Just spray on your roots and work it through to the ends. Here are some of my faves:

TIGI Rockaholic Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo

BIG SEXY HAIR Volumizing Dry Shampoo

KMS Hairplay Makeover

Now onto styles. First there is the simple pinned back bangs. Up and out of the face. 

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THIS:

For the love. NO.

A little backcombing is fine ladies. Just try not to get carried away with the balloon on your head. 

Moving onto my favorite is the braided bang. There are so many possibilities with this style. 

aaand for those of us who don't walk around in our model poses....

And for the Braid illiterate, there is always the twist. It's only 2 strands.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you would like specific tutorials or you can just figure it out on your own :). 

Have a beautiful weekend. I get to go film something special tomorrow with Kamden! It is going to be amazing! More on that later. I also have been remodeling my bathroom so I'll do a before and after big reveal with that! <3

Valentine's Day 2012

How was every one's V day? I think we did pretty well considering that we have 2 kids now. We knew that  there was no way we were going to find a babysitter on Valentine's Day so we made the best out of what we could do at home. Besides, I couldn't spend all my time with Kyle when I had two other Valentine's that I said yes to ;). So we had these DELICIOUS Grilled BBQ Hot Dogs.

Seriously don't knock 'em til' you try 'em. The coleslaw and pickles throw ya off but the combination together is amazing.

Then my darling Husband had gone to the store after work and surprised us with sparkling grape juice and all the stuff we need to make our own chocolate fondue. (Sorry no pictures. My camera was the last thing on my mind while I was inhaling all the deliciousness I could stand.) He just googled how to make your own fondue chocolate and then we dunked marshmallows, brownie bites, and bananas. Boom. Valentine fun for the whole family.
I always tell him I don't want flowers on Valentine's Day because that's an easy gift and it is expected. But I never can help but smile and get all excited like a 16 year old when I open my door to these...

I know right? Stunning. They are from Signature Floral in Ogden, Utah. They did our wedding flowers and I have never been disappointed. Not even once. And my buds ALWAYS bloom. He got me my favorite flower, Lilies. When I die can I just be surrounded by them? I swear they just do something to my soul. In fact maybe I will try my green thumb (ha ha, yah right, it's black really..) and plant them in my garden this spring. Can they even grow in Utah? I suck at gardening and honestly don't know a thing about it. My sweet grandma, who lives in Kansas, came to my house last summer and planted my ENTIRE garden. Yup. I'm THAT good.

Now for any of you that have not bought a silhouette yet. Maybe this can motivate you. It will change your life! It has definitely changed mine. My husband has been skeptical of the machine and it's worth until yesterday when I made him this from scratch.

This, my friends, is an entire card I made from scratch. It took me maaaaaybe 10 minutes. Now I know all you scrapbookers are like "so what?" "big deal!". But I don't have patience to cut out crap by hand and use a million different hand punches and stamps. With just a few clicks I was able to make the envelope, card, even all the cute writing and mail stamp. All in the comfort of my own home. No standing in front of a card section with screaming kids for a hour while I try to find the perfect card. I was able to make it especially for him and know that no other man on earth got the same one. Unless we have some weird doppleganger type thing going on. (sorry, yes I do love me some Vampire Diaries)

Anyway, when I handed it to him he said 

HIM: "did you make this?" 

ME: "ya, with that "useless" purchase ha ha" 

HIM: "Even the envelope? Like it even does the folding lines? You really made the WHOLE thing?"

ME: "Yes! The whole thing"

HIM: " didn't know it did that, that's pretty cool!"

Then I laughed and shook my head. It only took a year but I think I finally convinced him as to why I needed it! 

I have the Silhouette SD but they have a newer machine out now called the Silhouette CAMEO that actually cuts 12" wide instead on the 9" like mine. You can get yours here.

Seriously check it out, it can even cut fabric ;)

Oh and P.S. I am not getting payed for my thoughts on their products, I just love them that much! 

This was the inside of the card. I made him a punch card from RomanticMarriages.com.

They have all sorts of fun printables for date nights.

All in all it was a dang good day. Just spent with my Valentine's. I certainly love them so dang much. That is one of the great things being in a house full of boys. I sure get spoiled :)

I can't even handle this picture and all the cuteness it contains. 

Does anyone else watch Glee? I was watching their latest ep. last night when I was cought off guard. I found out I have a strange attraction to dudes with tattoos and dreds! Sometimes I think my brain still thinks I am 18 ha ha. Weird.

Anyway, check out the newest member of the glee cast Joe in this awesome rendition of "Stereo Hearts". 

Stay tuned for Friday when we chat about what to do with those greasy bangs.

Zucchini Pizza Boats

What did ya'll think of the Grammy's last night? Did your favorites win? I seriously wanted to be at the party on stage with Rihanna and Coldplay! Pure awesomeness. I love Nikki Minaj....but the whole religious/exorcisim thing? Disrespectful. I get that you are an artist and everything your do is a metaphor for something, but can we PLEASE just leave that out of it. It was uncomfortable for me to watch and it wasn't even my religion. Anyway...Adele stole the show which was no surprise. She is just lovely and uber talented. So, good on her!

 I hope ya'll had a fabulous weekends and are getting ready to celebrate Valentine's Day with your loved ones. It doesn't have to be a day of romance, it can also be a day that you take the opportunity to let those you love know it. Sometimes we don't do that enough. So to whoever is reading this..I LOVE YOU! :) Yes, even you ;)

Zucchini Pizza Boats

I stumbled upon this recipe and the fat girl inside me totally thought that those were pepperoni on top, not tomatoes. The heart wants what the heart wants. So I changed...pretty much everything ha ha. 

Zucchini

Pizza Sauce

Cheese

Pepperoni

 Wash and rinse your zucchini well with dish soap to remove any wax residue since you are leaving most of the skin on. Cut the ends off and then slice in half. Take a spoon and lightly remove some of the seeded making a shallow trench. 

It doesn't take much. This is just to have a nice place for your cause to lay.

Lay them out on a baking sheet that you sprayed with non-stick spray. 

Using a knife or a vegetable peeler, cut a strip off of the bottom of the zucchini so they will lay nice and flat on your pan.

Using a spoon, be as generous as you like and fill the trenches with your sauce.

Now add the cheese

Add your pepperoni and then sprinkle a little more cheese on top!

Bake at  350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. 

Viola! A health(ier) and carb free pizza! Perfect for you and the kiddos. These really are delicious. And can you imagine how awesome these would be if you had fresh zucchini straight from your garden? Y.U.M. Then they wouldn't be all wimpy in size like these from the store. This is a very easy recipe. You can use pretty much whatever you have on hand. Whatever sauce, or cheeses you please. You can even make then similar to individual pizzas and use what ever toppings you like! Endless possibilities I say. So feel free to get creative! 

Zucchini Pizza Boats

Zucchini

Pizza Sauce

Cheese

Pepperoni

 Wash and rinse your zucchini well with dish soap to remove any wax residue since you are leaving most of the skin on. Cut the ends off and then slice in half. Take a spoon and lightly remove some of the seeded making a shallow trench. 

It doesn't take much. This is just to have a nice place for your cause to lay.

Lay them out on a baking sheet that you sprayed with non-stick spray

Using a knife or a vegetable peeler, cut a strip off of the bottom of the zucchini so they will lay nice and flat on your pan.

Take a spoon, be as generous as you like, and fill the trenches with your sauce.

Now add the cheese

Add your pepperoni and then sprinkle a little more cheese on top!

Bake at  350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Depending on your oven.