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.