Cheddar Cheese Baked Chicken

Typically, I see a recipe with more than 5 ingredients and I just get discouraged. I always think that it will be too complicated, I will just get frustrated, and the meal will not come out right! My anxiety level just shoots up when I see that flour is required!! But this chicken recipe just sounded so good, I had to take the time and make it!

My husband helped me out with this one since we had a late start on making dinner. My son really enjoyed it and kept calling it chicken nuggets!! I totally loved this one and can see myself making it as a monthly meal. May even try substituting the rice crispies with those onion fries that are on top of the green bean casserole.

We served it with a side of rice and fresh/steamed broccoli.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
• 1 pouch Shake n Bake Extra Crispy
• 1 cup Rice Krispies
• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Pour your melted butter to coat the baking dish.
2. Mix the flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the  egg and milk.
4. In a third bowl, combine the cheese, bread crumbs, and cereal.
5. Keep your bowls in that order and work down the line.  First, dredge your chicken in the flour mixture, dip in the eggs, then press it in the bread crumb mixture to coat.  Really push the chicken down in the bread crumbs.  Transfer to your baking dish.
6. Bake for 32-35 minutes or until coating is golden brown and chicken is done. 

Baked Spaghetti with Cream Cheese

Such an easy Monday evening meal to make!!! When I started making it my husband asked, "Is that the spaghetti with the cream cheese??? That was so good last time!!" 

I love to hear compliments like that yet, always scared it won't come out as good as the last time! But, this recipe is pretty hard to mess up -- even when, This Mama Can't Cook!!

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole
adapted from Food.com and salad-in-a-jar.com

12 oz spaghetti (I used thin spaghetti and angel hair pasta -- it was what we had in pantry)
1 (28 ounce) jars prepared spaghetti sauce (Used ragu, but we love sauce so I used 1.5 jars)
1 lb lean ground beef
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced (I have never bought fresh garlic, so I used the stuff in the jar)
8 ounces cream cheese (didn't have plain cream cheese so I used the chive & onion flavor)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through; drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce.  Set aside.

Cook spaghetti according to directions on packet. Scoop spoon fulls of the cream cheese into a large bowl. Drain and place cooked spaghetti in large bowl.  Add Italian Seasoning and minced garlic to spaghetti mix.  Stir until cream cheese is melted and the spaghetti is thoroughly coated. Get ready for a workout - this can be tough stirring!!

Lightly grease a 9x13" pan.  Spread a small amount of meat sauce in the bottom of the dish.  Put spaghetti on top of sauce and top with remaining meat sauce.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

adapted from Food.com and salad-in-a-jar.com

Crock Pot Stove Top Chicken

This was seriously such an easy meal to prepare. My husband loved it so much he said it was like Thanksgiving!!

Ingredients:
*  1 lb chicken
*  1 box of stuffing
*  1 cup Chicken Broth
*  Water
*  1 can of cream of chicken soup

Directions:
* Take 1 lb of chicken and place it in the crock pot.
*  Pour 1 cup (I actually just used the whole soup can of chicken broth) over the chicken
*  In a seperate bowl mix the stove top stuffing, cream of chicken soup, and water together.
*  Layer the stove top mixture on top of the chicken.
*  Cook for 6-8 hours on low (or if you are like me 3 hours on high and probably 1/2 hour on low). 

Serve with a side of corn and side salad and there you go!! Easy easy dinner!! 

I will have to admit, this Mama can't cook but I can throw together an easy meal the crock pot!! It did taste a little like Thanksgiving -- just needed some green bean casserole and maybe some cranberry sauce!! 

***Original recipe was from Pinterest -- I went to give credit to the original person who posted it and it informed me that it could be spam or virus. Unfortunately I can not give credit to the person***

First REAL family Vacation

The time finally came for our first "real" family vacation!! We went down to North Myrtle Beach for a full week of beach, ocean, sun, and fun!!

We had been planning this trip for quite some time. It not only included our immediate family, but my husband's extended family. It was a family vacation that included 12 people. My husbands mother & her husband, father & his 2nd ex wife, sister & brother in law, brother & girlfriend, then our 2 kids. I like to say 2nd ex wife just because everyone thinks its funny (and cool) that Jason's dad went on vacation with both of his ex wives!! Not many people can get along after divorces, but this family sure can!! It's nice to see how well everyone gets along and can have fun together!  

This was my first experience with a large family vacation. I have always traveled, but never in this size group. My anxiety about how, or if, I would enjoy myself started early on. I wasn't sure how I would cope with not having my own personal space to retreat to. Doesn't help that I'm an only child and an introvert!! Thankfully the house we rented was big enough to have plenty of privacy -- if needed... Which I really didn't need much of. But this is where I came if I just needed a few minutes to myself... Off our bedroom was a nice private balcony... Awesome view too!

Was all good until I would go missing for too long and Jason and Alex would come searching for me!!

The vacation was awesome! North Myrtle Beach was a great choice. The house that we rented was amazing! 3 stories of just fun! Private pool, game room in basement, plenty of living space, and just 2 very short blocks to the beach. The fact that the house came with a golf cart made things so much fun - especially for Alex who insisted on going on "golf cart ride" at least 4-6 times a day. The golf cart by far was Alex's favorite part of the vacation.
Although you can't tell by his facial expression -- he loved the golf cart!

We kept ourselves busy with sight seeing, beach time, and family time. The guys did a lot of golfing and a day of deep sea fishing. The girls hung out at the beach/pool and did some shopping. I took Alex to few different sites in the area just to get out of the house and do something. He seemed to really enjoy himself -- especially if we were eating breakfast out!!  Toledo friends just happened to be in North Myrtle Beach at the same time so they came over for a cook out. Here is Alex and his friend/classmate Brooklyn (aka Brookee or Brookabee). It's funny that out of everyone, Alex is the one to have a friend over in a different state!!

I loved hanging at the beach, yet Jason and Alex weren't as excited about it -- love how the sand feels against my toes!!

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium and saw the sharks and all -- Awesome aquarium tunnel with fish surrounding you, yet, a little too $$$$ for the little bit that they have to see. Wasn't that impressed with it and honestly, you could go to the piers and see more wildlife excitement then the 1/2 hour of viewing in the aquarium. 

Jason and I were able to have a well overdue date night!! That was awesome! We went to Dick's Last Resort which Jason just found to be hilarious... He laughed until he cried at the entertainment. I think he could have stayed there all night. But we walked around and found fun things to get into at Barefoot Landing. 

So many other things we got the chance to do and see. Had a wonderful vacation -- even if the car ride was waaayyy too long with a toddler!!

Traveling with a Toddler

Two weeks ago we went on our first family road trip. 

Our estimated 13 and a half our trip turned into 17+ hours. Traveling with an almost 2 year old can slow things down quite a bit!

On the way down we decided to travel through the night. We traveled caravan style, with other 2 car fulls of other family members. We left our house at 9 PM. It wasn't long after our departure that my toddler son, and myself, settled into a less than comfortable sleep. 

We started off pretty good! Had some issues traveling through some construction zones in the "big" cities. But for the most part my son did a great job. When we stopped for restroom breaks, he woke up. We got out to change diapers, stretch, and run around. Alex thought it was cool that his grandparents were also following us in different cars so he wanted to say "hello" to everyone. 

The hard part was getting Alex back into his car seat. He was restless and didn't want to get back in the seat. He cried and fussed, but was easily distracted. Thankfully I found this awesome traveling carrier from One Step Ahead that held so many books, toys, cds, portable DVD player, and other snacks & drinks.  It was perfect for such a long trip. And it was on sale so that made the purchase even better!!

 
Before leaving I did a lot of research about traveling with toddlers. Many good blogs out there with a lot of helpful hints. I started a list of things to buy and also things to pack in the car with us. Luckily, on the way down to South Carolina we had an empty seat. It really helped keep my stress levels down because I had easy access to everything Alex may need. I just reached over for a new book, toy, or snack! It seemed like there was a lot, but the travel organizer really held a lot. I'm so glad that I had access to everything on the way down. 

Here is just a summary of things that I packed - most fit in the oranizer or on the floor of the empty seat.

Things to Pack IN CAR:

·         First Aid Kit                              *  Books                                   *  Phone charger

·         Toys                                         *  Diapers                                *  GPS

·         Wipes                                      *  Sippy cups                           *  Tylenol/Motrin           

·         Snacks                                     *  Water                                  *  Medical Bag

·         Extra pair of clothes               *  Crayons                                  *  Coloring Books

·         Flashlight                                 *  Towels                                 *  Paper Towels

·         Juice boxes                              *  Plastic bags                         *  Play dough

·         Plastic puke bucket                 *  Blankets                                *  DVD player

·         Small cooler                            *  camera                                *  magazines

·        Ball                                        * Clorox wipes                       *  CDS & DVDS

On the way home we had a completely different experience. We left early in the morning, which meant a lot more awake time with Alex. We also didn't have an extra seat available for the travel organizer -- which meant it was in the front seat in the middle. I didn't have easy access to it so I pretty much had to grab things out of it when we made stops. Wasn't horrible but, just made things a little more crowded and less organized. 

BEven though we had more awake time, Alex did an amazing job. More fussing and let's just say it, screaming & kicking when he had to get back in the car seat after a stop, but all in all, he did a great job. Just took a lot more effort on my part of entertaining him with reading books and playing with toys. Distracting him was key to the long car ride. When he wanted out of the seat, he wanted out!! Worked himself up a couple times so much that I thought for sure the plastic puke bucket would be used!!  At one point he got so worked up he choked on a chip or cracker -- in the middle of the rest stop parking lot, my kid is choking!! 

Needless to say, we took a risk going on such a long road trip for our first family trip. Next time we may need to fly!!! Just kidding!! It's all about keeping new things available for the kids and lots and lots of snacks!!

                                   

It's been awhile....

It has been a long time since my last post... 

Not even sure how long, maybe even a month. 

We have been staying busy with different things!! Alex continues to amaze us every day. He is just such a curious, verbal, funny little boy. Since it has been warm outside we pretty much spend all evening outdoors. He gets so excited when we all go "outside," although there was a time when he was scared of every little bug that crawled or flew by! He enjoys playing basketball, baseball, and helping us do yard work! He wears us out with his active life! And thankfully, all the fresh air and activity, we wear him out for bedtime!

Weekends have also been busy. May is a busy month for my husband's family. There are 5 birthdays in May -- plus my Mom's is also in May! Lots of celebrating, cookouts, and parties! This year my husband turned 40 so I put together a surprise birthday party with his siblings and friends. Great time and I'm just so happy that he was completely surprised!! His friends did an amazing time helping out!! 

We finished up our last Kindermusik class for the fall session last weekend. The kids were so cute and even received certificates of participation. I of course teared up!! Alex on the other hand, didn't want to go up and get his certificate - stubborn and being shy? We are moving into a new activity on Saturday mornings -- trying something a little more active! Time for soccer!! Will play for the summer and then see if we will continue in the fall. I'm sure he will love it though -- and he has a few friends from Kindermusik that will be joining him. 

Gearing up for summer and all of the things we will get into. Already have a trip to the zoo planned, and have a huge family trip planned!! Let's see how the introverted only child does on a trip with 14 other people!! It will be fun, and a learning experience.