A sweet lunch date :)

  When I work 7 days straight I get Monday and Tuesday off. Kaya HATES when I do a 7 day stretch but she sure does love it when I have two days off during the week ;) She gets to be a car rider in the morning and night...which eliminates a VERY long bus ride and sometimes we surprise her by either swinging by Magic Morning or.......today we came to school for lunch. We had a blast. Steve and I sat with her and at the adjoining table was three of her buddies. Listening to all that chatter cracked us up. Then we walked her back to class and got asked if we'd like to help with recess duty since it was an indoor day due to the rain. Of course we volunteered ;) and had a blast. It's a bit hectic ...they set up stations around the gym room with dolls, school stuff, cars you name it or the kids can just play in the middle of the gym room. Time out is done on the bleachers and I have to admit the sweet little guy that was right under my elbow the whole time....yes I could have taken him home with us LOL
  Kaya was very happy to have the extra time with us and to have us there. One of her school buddies had told her "Kaya, don't get upset and cry if your parents don't come. Sometimes parents don't come when they say they will"...he was trying to protect Kaya's feelings. Of course our girl told him "When my parents make a promise they keep it. They'll be here". And we of course was.
  We had to play with her buddies too (Kaya sometimes is a bit shy about sharing "HER " parents lol but after a bit she's fine )
  All around nice day. Very thankful for every moment we have with this wonky wild child :) :) 

Easter!

 One long week (on a 7 day stretch!!) and it finally wrapped up today. Very thankful that Steve did the turkey breast and Kaya helped make the green bean casserole ;) We had my Mom and my mother in law in for supper and it was delicious. Along with with Steve and Kaya made I added mash potatoes and gravy, potato salad, mac n cheese, pasta salad, rolls, southern fried corn, Amish butter noodles, and deviled eggs. My Mamma made bake beans (she makes the best!!) and my mother in law pitched in two desserts and pop. It all came together nicely. I was raised to do dishes as you cooked so once everything was in the oven and going etc I had no dishes ;) to do lol We did one dozen dyed eggs and a dozen plastic eggs stuffed with candy and one with a quarter in it. Kaya loved her basket of goodies and her note from the Easter Bunny answering her questions LOL
  Very nice day weather wise, food wise and family wise :) 

Report card day!

Gotta brag on our girl. Report card day. 95% in Reading, 94% in Math. We started bragging on her and told her "You did great, you got A's!!", she drops her head and says "B means Better. I need to get B's!!" Finally got her to understand that an A is the highest you can get and means she's doing great!! lol She mastered all her skills for this term, scored 97% on sentences, sentence structures and mastered all the basics. Her only room for improvement was "follow directions and do work neatly"...(never saw that one coming LMBO). She is doing better on that so we give her points for trying to improve and take her time. She missed writing the letter Z because she did it backwards and the number 14 because she wrote it as 40...otherwise no missing of any!! smile emoticon 100% on her reading comprehension for Little Engine that Could. Very proud of the little miss. I hate how hard she is on herself ("I did horrible. I missed like 4 things out of the 15 page test!!") but very proud of her and glad she is doing so well smile emoticon

Ok...where did February go??

    Life sure never stands still that is one thing for certain. Every few days I fully intended to get on here and do an update...now Feb is gone and March is ...literally marching out the door too lol
  Feb was full of fun and love of course. We got to help out at the Valentines Day party and it was simply just a great time! Kids, desserts, drinks, valentines cards and lots of excitement lol The teacher did an excellent job on crafts and it was the same parent crew as usual. The kids had a ball and I love Kaya's face when she sees us come in the room. Wouldn't trade those moment for anything!!
   We broke Kosher this year lol and had a Valentines date just me and Steve. Kaya was a bit unhappy at first but then after playtime with Mammaw she was ok ;) It was nice to eat at our favorite place, talk and laugh. We've come to learn with a busy life, MS, a wild 6 yr old and work...whether it's a nice meal out or just five minutes over the kitchen sink...just talking and being together is nice. Life really is about the small things :)
  Feb was cold, snowy and..cold. Did I mention cold? I battled one snow storm after another it seems this month. When a barely 15 min drive to work turned into almost 40 minutes..that is insane! Road crews have done excellent...just a crazy winter.

New Years Day :)

   Kaya made it to 11 o'clock last night and then was out like a lightbulb. Steve tried to wake her to do her noise maker but she was out. She loved the little plastic wine glasses with sparkling grape juice. Steve and I did our traditional midnight toast and kiss. We've always said that it might not bring luck but who turns down a kiss from someone you really love?
   We've started a tradition of doing steaks on New Years Day. We are all steak eaters. Kaya and I usually split a steak..this year we are having Tbone. Steve has his own steak....porterhouse lol Steve makes his own rub and preps the steaks in the morning then grills them for a late lunch. Oh my! He does an excellent job! We all eat ours on the med rare side. We added in baked potato (for him and Kaya) and a baked sweet potato for me. I did a pan of rolls that came out wonderfully and used a good recipe for homemade cinnamon butter (butter, powder sugar, honey and cinnamon) for my potato and the rolls. Add in you HAVE to have cabbage in some form for the New Year so we had homemade coleslaw. Steve refuses cabbage period sooo just us girls had it lol
  Here's to hoping everyone's New Year is awesome and fun. Full of health, love, family and prosperity! 

and more recipes....

This picture doesn't do it justice...but I've been searching for a Spanish or Mexican rice that would rival our local Mexican restaurants. Steve will barely eat rice but LOVES Mexican rice. Soooo I tried this recipe and man alive..it's awesome. Not too sticky, not dry...just tastes like I got takeout!
  3 Tbsp veg oil 1 cup uncooked white rice
1 tsp minced garlic (one clove of garlic diced small)
1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup tomato sauce (just reg ole can sauce or your own home canned...don't use tomato spaghetti sauce!)
1 14oz can of chicken broth 3 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
  Heat 3 tbsp veg or canola oil in your skillet. Add 1 cup of white rice (I use GV white rice quick cook). Stir the rice around in the oil and let cook till it begins to brown slightly (I won't lie..mine didn't turn too brown but it still came out great!). Add in  garlic, kosher salt, and cumin. Stir to mix and then let cook till it turns a golden shade. Add tomato sauce and broth and turn your heat up to bring it to a boil. Stir often. Add cilantro, reduce heat and let cook about 20 to 24 mins stirring occasionally. This rice is awesome!

    Of course no Mexican meal is complete without tortilla chips and white cheese sauce ;)  We fried up our own chips (much to Kaya's amazement) and we found a cheese sauce recipe we all gave a big thumbs up.
   White Cheese Sauce1/2 lb White American cheese (you can use sliced in the cheese section or get it at the deli in a large chunk. I used the sliced and it worked fine)
1/8 cup green chilies (I used canned chopped ones)
2 to 4 slices of pickled jalapenos, diced
1/3 cup whole milk (I used 2% and added a bit of heavy cream to it..worked fine)
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 oz pickled jalapeno juice (I just tipped a bit in it and didn't measure)
    Dice up the white cheese and put in a microwave safe bowl. Add milk to it. Microwave in 30 second intervals until cheese melts. Stir together with cold water. Really get your whisk into it. Add all the other ingredients and whisk till fairly smooth. As for the chips..simply get your oil to 350 degrees (I used a candy thermometer to keep my oil right at temp). Take a tortilla and cut into desired size chips making sure to cut in triangles. I simply cut across, then the opposite way and made say 12 chips or so out of each shell. Drop into oil and let it begin to turn golden. BE QUICK. It takes mere seconds for it to cook, flip once and then put into a towel lined bowl. Salt as desired. Again..be fast or you'll get some ugly nasty chips LOL
  We decided for New Years eve this year to have these dishes and it was awesome. Not a ton of prepping and cooking and everyone loved the recipes :)

White cheese sauce

homemade tortilla chips

Recipes.....

 I cook and bake..ALOT..lol and I love doing new recipes. We are not huge go to restaurant folks so I like to try something from a restaurant but make it at home. I have found some hits! First up I'll give you the recipe for White Sauce Enchiladas. Simple, hearty and actually taste like what you would get at a Mexican restaurant.
   Warm your skillet up and put a couple tablespoons of oil in it. I normally use canola or olive. Add 1 clove of garlic, diced to oil. Also add 3 lg diced fresh mushrooms, half a med onion diced, a bell pepper diced (I used half orange, half yellow just for the color) and 2 small diced tomatoes. Fry till onion and garlic are softer.Add about 2 cups of chunked chicken (I boil mine before frying..just easier to make sure it cooks through) or beef (use stir fry or fajita beef or even beef stew meat, just cut into smaller bits)Cook till completely warmed through (if you use raw chicken chunks then you'll have to cook till completely done). Take two good hands full of shredded cheese and put in meat mix. It should seem "stringy". I use whatever cheese I have on hand. Cover. Heat oven to 350.
  In a sauce pan put 3 Tablespoons of butter. Melt slowly. Slowly whisk in 3 Tbsps of flour It will thicken and almost look like sugar cookie dough. DO NOT freak out lol It's ok. Stir in 2 cups of chicken broth and continue to whisk until blended.Add about 1/4 a cup of diced green chilies, four slices of diced jalapeno and just a tip of the bottle of pickled jalapeno juice. Whisk. Remove from heat, stir in 1 cup of sour cream until smooth. Sit aside.
  Take a cake pan and lightly spray it. Take a soft tortilla shell and put a scoop or so of meat mix into it. Gently roll up and place seam side down in pan. Repeat till shells or meat mix is gone. Pour white sauce over shells. Spread it out so it's all really covered...over edges, between shells etc. I then sprinkle a tsp of fresh diced cilantro over the top and add a decent hand full of shredded cheese over the top.  Bake at 350 till cheese begins to brown slightly. Enjoy!!!


   To compliment the enchiladas you gotta have refried beans. But...no one likes that stiff out of can style. In a sauce pan dump your can of refried beans. When it begins to warm through stir in 1/3 cup of sour cream till smooth. Once it begins to get hot (NOT bubbling) remove from heat, sprinkle either mozzarella or Mexican shredded cheese on top and cover. Viola you have restaurant style beans :)