Crockpot creamy Italian Chicken

New recipe time!

With fall in the air and days seem to be getting shorter with daylight, I wanted to get the most out of my day and not standing in the kitchen.  So out comes the crockpot!  

This is a super easy recipe that has 5 ingredents - that is right 5.

Crockpot Italian Chicken

• 4 Chicken breasts
• 1 packet Zesty Italian dressing seasoning
• 1 8oz cream cheese block 
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 package of fresh sliced mushrooms

Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot and spread the Italian dressing seasoning packet over the chicken breasts.

I then poured the fresh sliced mushrooms over top of the chicken

Add the condensed cream of chicken soup over the chicken and also the cubed cream cheese

Place the lid on top and cook on low for 4 hours.  Serve over pasta and we are having with some veggies on the side.

This turned out YUMMY!  We enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a finished picture before eating.  

~On a side note, if you don't like mushrooms then don't add them.~

But I have a few adjustments to make to the recipe - 

• Next time I will cube the chicken prior to placing in the crockpot; this would make it easier to dish out when the meal is complete.
• Also I think that I would combine the soup with the cream cheese (softened) in a separate bowl and then pour into the crockpot.

Fireplace makeover

Well we have been working on different things around our house; painting, changing light fixtures, and updating some things here and there.  One of the things that has been bothering me is our fireplace.  It is major focal point of our living room and I felt like it was this dark blob on the wall.  A traditional fireplace  - which is fine with us, but it just needed something new.  So between checking out things at Lowes, the internet and Pinterest; I decided to paint the brick and give it a "facelift".  The people in the paint department at Lowes are a wealth of knowledge; I often wonder how much training people get prior to working in their departments.  Anywho, Abigail and I ventured off to Lowes to see what they told tell me about painting bricks.  They were able to supply me with a nice primer and some useful tips.  Now painting with a 1 year was not going to be happening here so I was able to tape off the area around and await for nap time.  

before

Once I got Abigail down for a nap, Anna and I went to work on the fireplace.  I had to put 2 coats of the primer on the brick, as you can see from the picture above it was a rather dark red brick.

I sanded the wooden mantel with a very fine grade sandpaper.  Then I painted over the already painted mantel, it was the same color as the rest of the trim used to be prior to the room redo.  It was more of an antique white and we went with a "white" white.  And I also got to down to business with painting the brick too.  Again I did two coats of paint over the bricks.  

Ta Da!  the finished look

Now what to do about the brick on the floor...

Vanity seat up close

Up-cycle project #2

     As i had mentioned in a previous post; I had another up-cycling project to get my hands on.  This one was the good ole vanity and seat that this mommy had in middle school/high school (circa the early 90s). It is a stable piece and made of metal, so it can withstand the test of time.  So the other day I went to my parent's house to retrieve this beauty.  It has been in their basement and needed a bit of some TLC; a good wipe down and the screws tightened.  A few weeks earlier while we were at the store I let Anna Grace pick out some colors to paint the vanity and seat.  She choose a nice vibrant purple and lime green; at first I was a bit thrown by her color choice but glad we are branching out from the "50 shades of pink" that seem to occur in my house.

Before 

     Once the girls and i got home and the set uploaded, we got to work!  I washed down both pieces and this time i used a fine grade of sandpaper and lightly went over the vanity.  On my last project I had some bubbling issues and thought I would try this since all 3 were from the same set.  And since this is our second time of using spray paint on furniture i figured what did i have to loose if it did not work out.  I learned from my first experience that if you spray too much you will have some drips and running.  Better to do short light spray strokes and lightly go back over to cover parts you missed or need to darken up a bit.  So we went to work on the vanity, and it went well.  I set up the pieces outside in a shady area of the  yard and started at it.  Got most of the vanity painted and then left it alone - key is to walk away and let it dry.  A couple hours later we went to check on it and finished off the vanity.  One down and one to go.

    Now the seat not only needed to be painted and but i needed to reupholster the cushion.  Not that the current one was damaged but it was a boring white vinyl; and my AGB is anything but boring.  First i unscrewed the the cushion from the base and then was in search of some fabric in my craft nook.  Something I learned from my Grandma Fritzie was if you find a good fabric on sale get a couple of yards, you never know when you will need it.  So i had a few different patterns of a great frabic I had purchased.  I let Anna pick out her favorite and then sent her to play with some toys.  The spray painting of the seat did not turn out as great as the vanity but the lime green still looks good.  I had some issues with the actual spray paint can - some spatter and then I got a little too over zealous with spraying it.  I did not go slow and steady, I then when i went back over to try to fix i bubbled a little in some spots.  

     The reupholster of the cushion went better than i thought that it would.  I have never reupholstered before.  I have watched it occur on tv and read a few segments on pinterest.  I just laid the fabric flat on the dining room table and stapled on the side in the center first, then pulling the fabric snug i did the same thing on the opposite side.  After this i stapled the first side secure in 2 more places and repeated on the opposite side.  I moved to the corners next, i was not too sure so i just decided to staple like then you make a bed and do the corners.  

Lay fabric flat on table

working on first corner: pulled tight and stapled 

pulled tight and stapled this part down 

once corners were complete I stapled the bottom like I had worked on the sides 

I folded over the raw edge so the it had a more finished look on the underside 

cushion completed

     Now that i had completed the cushion all we had to do was wait for the paint to dry and then reassemble.  As weird as this may sound the fabric on the cushion and the lime green paint match perfectly!  It was as if these were meant to be, and I have one very happy little girl who loves her new vanity!

 

the finished project

Abigail Quinn Bennett

     On the eve of your first birthday, and all the guests have gone home. I sit surrounded by birthday cake and torn wrapping paper, while wondering where this year has gone.
     A full year has passed and I honestly can't believe it is thru. I remember going to bed a year ago anxious to meet you. Daddy and I wondered if you would look like your big sister Anna Grace; a bald one or with any hair? You came out with a full head of hair, our dark raven beauty With the deepest blue eyes I have ever seen. My teeny tiny princess or twiddle buggie as I call you.

     Your first Halloween you were dressed as Boots the monkey and your sister was Dora. This may be the start of us dressing you 2 in outfits as a pair of special friends. You had such fun; but we had to pass on the candy that year. Then over Thanksgiving weekend you were baptized at the Cathedral of Christ the King. All of our family was there to be part of your day and watch as God washed over you.

Halloween 2011

Your baptism

   Then came Christmas time! You had a fun first Christmas - spending it with both sides of our families and sharing the "first" title with your cousin Isabel. You got to participate in the Quinn Christmas day non-traditional dinner for the first time too; hibachi dinner! It is a fun relaxing time had by the family. At the end of the month, we headed down to Gatlinburg TN to ring in the New Year.  It was your first "road trip".  You got to meet your "family" that lives far away and also see some really wonderful fish at one of the coolest aquariums in the country (who would have thought that Gatlinburg TN would have such and exquisite aquarium.

Christmas 2011

     The new year started out with a bang!  You got to go to the Newport aquarium for Anna Grace and mommy's annual birthday trip, and eat for the first time at Johnny Rockets (well you had a nice meal of the Gerber variety), in February you went to your first Valentine's Day party and in March you got to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the Irish Rover in Louisville KY for the first time.  Before we left Louisville that day you got to meet baby Molly Gregory who was born in the wee hours of St. Patrick's Day (I have a feeling that in about 20 years you girls will love using Molly's birthday as an excuse to celebrate that day).  In April you got to celebrate your first Easter and the bunny brought you and AGB a pink wagon which has been so much fun all summer - it has been great on our evening walks to the park and to Orange Leaf.  In May you went to the beach for the first time and LOVED the sand, the ocean...well not so much.  We spent many of days at the pool in June, trying to stay cool and survive the many days of 100 degree weather.  In July you got to experience your first 4th of July; and needless to say the fireworks did not faze you.  You laid back on my lap and watched the show in awe.  And here we are back to August, one year later.  You started to crawl and you are fast as lightening, you pull yourself up on the Fisher Price shopping cart but have yet to try to walk with it.  I am thinking walking is just a matter of time in your near future.

Summer 2012

Orange Leaf

   
     You, Abigail, are our quiet laid back child.  You take things in and observe what is going on around you.  You do have moments that you let us know when something is making you mad but not in crying or yelling.  It is this blowing raspberries type thing; the madder you get the faster you blow them.  You love your sister so much it is such a joy to see how excited you get when we get Anna out of her room in the morning, I wonder how much you will miss her when she is in school...and your Charlie dog, boy do you love him!  It is so sweet to watch you to silently play together, you sit there and pat him and he loves to lick your feet.  And your obsession with dumping his water bowl may drive me batty, but boy is that area of the kitchen floor clean.  And your daddy, when he comes home you love to lean over to have him hold you as you coo "dada" and yes I guess this will get listed as your first word, because "gee" is more of an expression that you use for every thing.  You have added a part to our family that we did not know was empty until you came and filled it.  We are so blessed to have you in our family and I look forward to all the milestones and memories we have to come.  Happy Birthday sweet girl!  We love you!

August 26, 2012

Photo challenge complete!

     Shewww!  I finished my photo challenge.  A picture a day for 30 days, and in my case I had 31 days since i chose July to do this challenge.  It was one that I was glad I did.  Will I do again, yes.  For a full year, I am not sure.  It wasn't that it was difficult, who doesn't take pictures.  To be honest there were a couple of days in there that I know I did not capture the best photo but I took the picture to make sure I had a photo for the day.  I did not want to miss the goal and if I could not complete 31 days there would be no chance for 365 days.
     There were many positives out of it though.  I got to use my cameras a lot more than I usually do.  I tried to make sure I had my little one or the big one on my at all times.  And there were a few times that I did use my iPhone camera.  I captured more pictures of Anna Grace and Abigail and Charlie than I do on a regular month.  It was great because those are moments you can never get back, moments that will be frozen in time forever.  I would say that I will most likely I will do the 183 day photo challenge,  that would be one every other day.  It is a more manageable challenge and one that I will set up for success vs failure.  So on that note I am going to run, I have to chase down those 2.5 children of mine and take some more photos!  Good thing I have some subjects that are a ham for the camera!

What to do with all these veggies???

     As summer is in full swing, and sadly on the decline of "summer vacation" all these great gardens we have all been working on are bursting at the seams with wonderful treasures.  And somehow we have gotten some great reaping of our friends glorious gardens.  (We are still waiting for some of ours to ripen).  But the question is - what do I do with all these veggies???
     We have had tomatoes in our salads, tomato salad, salsa, squash made into homemade baby food, zucchini with dinner on the side, and added chives to anything that needs seasoning.  But I still had a lot left over, and I don't like when things go to waste.  So one evening I decided (with my mom's input) to make my version of succotash.  I have only had it once and never made it myself but really it is just a bunch of veggies cut up and cooked in such a way you want to eat more.
     So my ingredients were: Sweet onion, tomatoes, yellow squash, and zucchini.  It took me about 20 minutes to prep and make this yummy side dish and I had both little ladies eating it (still working on the husband to eat more veggies)

I sliced the onions so that they remained mostly in a circular shape and placed them in the pan with some olive oil and a bit of salt to "sweat" the onions and also get them cooking more since they take longer than my other veggies

sweet Vidalia onion

     Then I chopped up the remaining veggies in to chunks, about bite size pieces.  We had to cut them smaller for the children.

yellow squash and zucchini

     I added the squash and zucchini to the pan after the onions had been cooking for about 5 minutes.  They were not transparent yet but were much softer.  I kept the chopped tomatoes to the side because they will be added in at the end since they take the least amount of time for this dish.

cooking nicely for about 5-10 minutes

    As the three veggies were cooking nicely I added some salt pepper and seasonings that I know my family loves.  I made it more of an Italian flavor with the seasonings that I put into this.  I also wanted the squash and zucchini to be warm all the way thru but not get mushy.  I wanted more of a stir fry texture to this dish.

     Lastly I added the tomatoes to the pan, and by waiting to do so at the end it created a "sauce" for the whole dish.  You get the juices from the first three veggies to combine with the tomatoes and their natural juice.  As i mentioned earlier the tomatoes take the least amount of time to heat thru and this was great because it did not take away from the firmness and texture of the squash and zucchini.  

Finished dish

    And voila! My finished dish.  Healthy, yummy, and delicious!  And you can make this with your own spin, or whatever veggies you may have on hand.  I was glad we were able to use the veggies up and have a new side to our grilled pork tenderloin.

     Now off to find a Pesto recipe and tackle all this basil we have growing in the garden.

Recycle and reuse...up-cycling

     As you all know we have two little girls. And Anna Grace is an all out "girlie girl". She will play outside; loves to run bare foot, dig for squirmie wormies, and run races with boys however all must be done with a dress or shirt on and clip in her hair. Well we have a play room that has all sorts of goodies in it but not a ton of storage. So I went to Mimi's (my mom's) house and looked at what things I may still have there. Low and behold I found a bookshelves/nightstand thing that I had in my old room. You know the kind, white metal with brassy caps and screws. Very circa the early 1990's.
     So home it came with me, and boy was Mimi happy to get more stuff out of her house. And off to get some spray paint I went. Now I have been reading different blogs that I have found bc of Pinterest and found that Krylon has a great selection of paints for a variety of textiles. And the color choices are wonderful. So we purchased a great pink shade - as if we don't have enough pink in our house. And off to work I went.
     Now per the many blogs it has said not to worry about sanding the piece prior to painting. So I applied the first coat and it went on really well. The color wasn't quiet as vibrant as I wanted so we went on to apply coat two and that is where I ran into some problems. The second coat did not dry as smoothly as I would have liked and then it did a bubbling blister thing. So I did some research and found out that I had applied the second coat when the temperature was too hot outside. And I had let it dry in the sun which was another "no-no" in spray paint schooling. Note to self don't up-cycle an item outside during a heat wave. But at the end it turned out ok, this is just going in the playroom. It the shelve just has a bit of a textured finish in some parts.
     Next up is the vanity and bench seat; did I forget to mention it was a set?!?! Anna Grace said she can't wait to be able to put her make-up on and fix her hair in her own vanity area.

Before

After

15 days down...

     Well I am at the half way point of the photo challenge, and i can honestly say that it hasn't been too bad.  There are some days that I take 30+ pictures and others that i take about 10 if I am lucky.  Too bad the iPhone didn't have better cameras in them.  (Ha)  But I have loved discovering Instagram too, it makes some of the quick no camera photos pretty nice.
     But seriously this challenge has been a positive.  I think more about the photos that I am taking; from the ones of my sweet girls to the ones of nature and our garden.  I do feel like I need to broaden my subjects that I capture in a photo but I am getting there...baby steps.  I will say that I have begun to realize how to change what the subject is and what needs to be faded out more in the photo.  And then in editing some of my pictures I have kicked myself in the rear that I did not get the picture more crisp and less grainy/blurred.  I have really liked not using the flash on the camera - thank you ISO setting and playing around with that.  It is amazing what you can try to get with the natural light and changing things on the camera.  But I am so novice on all this I know there is huge room for improvement.
     I am still trying to give the aperture settings a whirl.  I love how the professionals can get the subject to be super clear and backgrounds blurred.  I have read, re-read, and re-read the information the the Momtographie class gave me and I think that I may need to invest in a different lens to capture that look in the photos that I am trying to achieve.  And I also have problems with getting the camera to capture fast enough when I alter certain settings in this aperture change.  I am not giving up, rather just stumped at the moment.  Has anyone out there ever used a 35mm lens on these cameras?  Or what about the portrait ones?  I am almost more afraid to buy the new lens than I am to try it.  I am foreseeing a trip to Murphy's camera store in the near future.
    Well stay tuned, I have 16 days to go and if it is successful I may do another month.  Who knows I may end up doing this the full 365 Challenge.  And maybe it will be with a new lens or the tried and true one that came with my camera.  Now if only certain subjects would hold still...

new accessory for the "fancy" camera

Some of you know I took the photography class to use my "fancy" camera better, and at that class we were given get information on the camera, editing sites and places to find things to personalize our camera.  I got home and decided to check out some of the sites that Beryl had given us and I came across a wonderful site on Etsy.  The Poppy Shoppe.  It is great!  Rachel is the owner and has a large selection of patterns to choose from for camera strap covers - the item that was in my search goal that day.  I love the fact that you can "cover" the basic black strap and make it more you.  As a mommy with two little ones, you tend to have that camera around your neck more often than you thought.  I dabble in sewing but honestly I just don't have the extra time to make something for myself; plus having never made one of these I could foresee this 1 hour project taking me 4 hours and in the end cursing that I should have bought it online.

The Poppy Shoppe quality is fantastic and her shipping was reasonable and fast!  Rachel does this out of her home and is located in North Carolina.  I purchased an average length strap cover - the ones you see if you visit her site.  And it covers the ENTIRE basic strap (you know the one that makes you feel like a giant billboard for the camera brand you have) and then some.  You only see the part the you loop thru the actual camera, maybe about 3 inches on either side depending on how short you make that part of the strap.  And don't think that you are left out if you don't have a "fancy" DSLR camera - Rachel makes adorable straps for the point and shoot camera too!  As a picky shopper I am super pleased with my new purchase!  Did I mention that Rachel can do custom orders too???  Just send her an email and she can answer any question you may have.


If you get a chance check out Rachel's site on Etsy -> shopthepoppyshoppe or on Facebook -> the Poppy Shoppe.    

New camera strap from The Poppy Shoppe

My photo challenge

As some of you know I recently took a momtographie photography class taught by Beryl Young. She is a wonderful photography from VA, DC area. Beryl taught us mommies how to use that great fancy camera(DSLR) that most of us have and most of us don't know how to use except on the pre-programmed settings.  This class was FULL of information and so many details that my brain was on over load.
One of the things that Beryl was telling us was that she had some past students decide that they were going to do a 365 photo challenge. That's right folks one photo a day for 365 days. She said it was pretty amazing how these former students were making progress and when you look at Beryl's facebook page some of them have shared their pictures. You can see a difference in one woman's from photo from day 10 to that of day 165.
So I decided I am going to try a photo challenge. But with a twist. I am going to start out slow, baby steps if you may. Instead of a 365 challenge I am going for a 30 day challenge. And if I can tackle that successfully then I will continue on. 30 more days at a time. The best thing about this challenge is that I will be getting more shots of those 2 sweet girls of mine AND I will hopefully master this DSLR camera a bit better. I figure if I take it day by day, I just may be able to figure out the aperture and ISO and shutter speed settings. Not to mention play around with some editing, Beryl gave us a name of a great site she uses and likes - Picmonkey.com. You can do all sorts of editing! Something else to distract me in the evening after the girls go to bed.
Stay tuned, you never what photos may turn up!

30 day photo challenge

Day 31

Day 30

Day 29

Day 28

Day 27

Day 26

Day 25

Day 24

day 23

day 22

day 21

day 20

day 19

day 18

day 17

day 16

day 15

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1