Quick lunch/dinner or snack!

So I love a good cheesey, gooey grilled cheese.  To me it's a good comfort food and the cheesier the better :)  And I LOVE pizza.  I haven't met a pizza I don't like-ever!  Other than when I was pregnant with our daughter, which then I could not stand the sight or smell of pizza.  But after 9 months that went away thank goodness!  So when I stumbled across the recipe on Pinterest I knew it needed a spot on my Yum-O board.  And we've had this a few times for lunch. 

 

Pizza Grilled Cheese


We ate at my mom and dads last night and mom made this after I had told her how easy it was.  Everyone had their choice of pizza grilled cheese, reubens and hot ham and cheese.  My little brother found his new favorite food with the pizza grilled cheese and one of my sister's boyfriends ( I have a lot of sisters, not one sister with many boyfriends lol) was giving out high fives and ate his fair share of this new food!

So whether you need something new for lunch or dinner or just a quick snack, chances are you probably have all ingredients on hand.  Enjoy!

**Side Notes**
I've used both regular size and mini pepperonis.  No difference in the two when making the sandwich.
I always have shredded mozzerella in the fridge.  It's just as easy as slices.

Maybe you've found a new comfort food...

2 pins in 1 dish!

So if you've been to eat at my house lately chances are you've entered "the experiment kitchen".  Whether it's a main dish, dessert or side, I'm probably trying something new from Pinterest.  If Josh hasn't ever seen it before, first words out of his mouth are "is this something from Pinterest?" and I just smile and say "try it". 
And this is what happened last Thursday night.  And it was a HIT!
http://millerfamilyorganizer.blogspot.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-salsa-chicken.html

And since this blog is new, I forgot to take pictures...oops!
Addi loved it!
 Reid ate it (but that's not saying much since that boy eats anything!)
Josh said "it's make again worthy"
and Amanda was visiting and she's already repinned it!  That should say enough.  :)

Notes:
I shredded the chicken in the crockpot and then added the sour cream.  The juices from the chicken while it cooked helped to thicken everything up. 
We served it with tortillas, shredded lettuce, cheese, salsa and sour cream.
Some ate their second helping as a dip and just ate it with tortilla chips.

The recipe calls for taco seasoning and I made my own.  My mother would fall over dead reading this because I used to NEVER cook!  But not only did I make dinner (which I do quite often now) but I made something on my own that you could very easily buy in a package for about a dollar. 

http://www.5dollardinners.com/homemade-taco-seasoning

Crazy this was so easy, I had all ingredients on hand (that's rare) and it smelled sooooo good.  It made more than what the chicken recipe called for, so I stored it in a air tight container (aka rubbermade bowl) and it's just waiting for me to use again!

So, who's making slow cooker salsa chicken for dinner next week??
Enjoy!

So I'm gonna try the new blogging technique.  As I said, it only took me about a week (ok, maybe 2 days!) to become hooked to Pinterest.  I set up my boards, followed my friends and before I knew it I was a pinning fool :).  From recipes, to kids crafts, party planning and a honey do list, I was in craftiness heaven.  If I get everything done that I've pinned I'll have one organized and decorated home.  My kids will have memorable birthday parties, and my recipe books will be overfilled with yummy deliciousness!  And I'm sure everyone else out in Pinterest-world is the same way.  And I'm proud to say that I've tried quite a few things on my boards. 
So here's my blogging goal.  For every pin (or interesting one) that I do, I'm going to blog about it.  Maybe you have the same craft or recipe or what have ya pinned and you're wondering "I wonder if this recipe is as easy as it sounds" or "how kid friendly is that craft" and although I haven't tried a lot of the cleaning tips, I'll give those a whirl too.
So here goes....
This was one of the first recipes I tried and man oh man has it become a favorite in our household. 
E-A-S-Y! and very very good.
Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork
Put this baby in the crockpot and walah-6ish hours later you've got dinner!
I made this dinner Mother's Day weekend when we had my husband's side of the family over and it was easy and GONE!  Big hit with the family.  And little cleanup.  What more can you ask for? 
Went to a girls night out and we had a recipe swap.  Guess what this momma made?  Yep, pulled pork.  And it was a hit there too!
So go on, pull that crock pot out, get the few ingredients together and let your family think you slaved over dinner....

**side notes**
I haven't used a butt roast-you can use a pork tenderloin if you want
Don't shred your pork in the crockpot.  Do it in a seperate bowl and then add your bbq sauce.
I was new to liquid smoke (we now always have some in the pantry :) ) you can find it in the same aisle as condiments
Because my husband likes a little kick (or punch) to his food he likes to add a good splash of buffalo sauce to his.
My kiddos LOVE this! :)

Happy Crocking!
Emily

Things are a little different! Maybe!

So I LOVE blogging.  Actually, I think it's just the writing part, but nonetheless, I enjoy it.  And unfortunately I slack quite a bit on our family blog.  I feel like I bore people with my endless pictures of my kids doing everyday things.  Don't get me wrong, I think those things are adorable, but I'm sure it can tire many out quickly.  So I'm changing things up a bit. 
     To say I avoided Pinterest in the beginning would be an understatement.  I wouldn't click on any link on Facebook that had to do with Pinterest.  People would talk about it and I'd avoid it like the plague.  Why you ask?  Because I was honestly afraid I'd get hooked.  And you know what?  I did!  A friend pretty much made me sign up for it and the rest is history!  I'm addicted.  And I really only try to "pin" things that I'll try.  Not just "oh that looks cute" or "surely I can make that--in the next 10 years!"  So I've tried several recipes, lots of crafts, little things here and there.  Some have become favorites and some have been epic fails. 
     So because of these "hits and misses" I came up with this idea.  After every pin I try, whether good or bad I'll blog about it.  My thoughts, how it turned out, or didn't turn out, easy/hard, pictures to show if mine turned out even close to what the actual pin looked like and to put my own spin on things, a kid rating and husband rating.  Did my kids enjoy the food, did Josh say "ummm, it's ok (which is polite for "don't ever make this again"), was the craft kid friendly, those sort of things.  I'll have the links to the original post (or as good as I can get it).
     So what do you think?  Should I go for it?  Would you read?  And don't just be nice, be honest.  Tell me what ya think!  And the name of the blog will change, but not just yet....

Splish Splash

 So today Reid is 18 months old (gasp!) and the CATS won and are Final Four bound so what better way to celebrate than by washing the vehicles and taking a bath at the same time-toddler style!

 He had more bubbles on him than what was in the bucket and on the cars!

 He loves to pose for the camera!

 Soapin it up!

 He found if he clapped his hands the bubbles would go EVERYWHERE!

 And then he tried tasting them

Look out world! I'm a handful and mommy and daddy are loving every minute of it!

Addilyn's SDRAWKCAB Birthday Party

     So I'm a little behind in my blogging updates.  But nonetheless, here is Addilyn's 5th (yikes!) birthday party.  I can't believe she is already 5!  I know I say it all the time, but seriously, where does the time go?? 
     I came across this cute idea on Tipjunkie.com for a backwards party.  Mentioned it to Addi once and she was sold on the idea.  I don't have a pic of the invites but we used different colors of cardstock and typed out the invitation for a wild and crazy time backwards.  It was a little more difficult than I had imagined because someone seriously needs to come up with a backwards font.  It just doesn't exist.  So after copying and flipping and pasting and resizing font after font, Josh and I finally got the invites done. 
     We split the party up into 2 parties.  One for friends and one for family.  I didn't wanna be cramped and overwhelmed here at the house and I wanted to be able to entertain everyone and not have anyone feel slighted.  It worked out perfectly.

Here is a pic of the girls being silly at the party.

     And if you look closely you can see the girls wearing their gumball necklaces they made.  They were a huge hit and each girl got to make their very own with as many gumballs as they wished.  We had very long rope like ones and some that resemebled chokers.  Lots of fun either way :)

Lunch time consisted of ham and turkey sandwiches and chips and instead of eating AT the table, you guessed it, the girls ate UNDER the table.

They thought this was so neat and all you heard was lots of giggling and an occasional munch!

And what kind of game pretty perfect for this day of craziness?

Yep! TWISTER!  I'm not sure how many rounds they played but there was do doubt it was lots of fun!

Our favor bags consisted of necklaces, bracelets, smarties, LOTS of gumballs, and balloons.  And each girl had her own personalized bag with her name spelled backwards!

Our decorations were few, but one of my favorite because I just liked the way it looked was our "Balloon Chandelier".  We had 2 of these.

They were easy to do and no helium required.  And of course, they were hanging upside down!

We had an arrangement of cookies on a stick and any kind of cupcake you could want.  And of course it had to spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDILYN but backwards!

And the dress attire was a HUGE HIT!  We had everyone dressed from normal to clothes backwards, to pig tails in the front, jewlery worn backwards, wearing pajamas, bathrobes, swimsuits and Uncle Evan even wore a dress and heels! :)

Aunt Ericka and Aunt Angela got in on the crazy fun in many ways.  They each wore 2 different shoes, their glasses upside down, short over their pants, mismatched socks that they cut holes in to wear as gloves and side pony tails!  And I love Angela's scarf as a belt!

Here is Nonnie and PawPaw with their clothes on not only backwards but they are even wearing eachothers shirt!  PawPaw had on Nonnie's and Nonnie had on PawPaw's!  So silly!

And of course Reid just looked so cute in his backwards (GO CUBS) hat and adorable overalls!

I took Addi's picture with each guest and we used those as her Thank You notes.  Turned out super cute and everyone had their own personalized thank you and way to remember the fun time!

By the end of the weekend this mommy was wore out but I know the birthday girl was happy and she still talks about her Backwards Party!

Happy Birthday Addi Dale!

My lenten sacrafice SUCKS!

So for Lent I gave up my Diet Mt. Dews, or rather sodas in general.  I knew it would be hard (don't judge me on this.). Having a diet dew first thing in the morning is my coffee.  Simply put, I gotta have it.  But I decided to make it my lenten sacrafice.  And as petty as it sounds it has definitley been a sacrafice.  It's only been 12 days since I've had one, (I had an ice cold one about 10:00 the Tuesday night before Ash Wednesday) but man oh man are the next 34 days gonna be killer.
      And killer is exactly what my headaches have been.  I used to never get headaches, or at least rarely.  I've pretty much had a constant one for 11 days now.  I now know what a crack addict feels like going through withdrawls--seriously.  I find myself telling myself "just one can will make this headache go away".  Really Emily, it's coming to that?  You CAN and WILL do this I tell myself over and over and over.  I just don't really believe that little voice yet.  And I can only drink so much water until I feel as if I'm gonna just float away. 
     I put a post out on facebook about the headaches and how agonizing they are and I had a friend make a good point.  "If something can give you headaches that bad then you know it's gotta be pretty bad for your body" .  Thanks dear friend, I hadn't looked at that way, didn't and don't want to and now that makes me feel worse for wanting a diet dew so bad! lol  I was told to drink lots of water, please see above comment about floating away.  And another one told me the headaches could last a couple of months.  No thanks, because if that's the case I will be asking the Easter Bunny for a big fat PolarPop of diet dew on Easter morning!  Another comment said that after this "giving up and doing without" I probably won't want to touch another soda in my life.  Yeah right!  I so don't see that happening! 
     When I mentioned that to Josh his response was "if you can make it the 40 days why would you start drinking them again"  Geez I don't know Josh, maybe because as I sit here and type this I can feel the cold of the can in my hand and the pure bliss of it's taste as I think about drinking one?  Why don't you hop on my lenten bandwagon and join me?!  Then we can both have horrendous headaches and bite one another's heads off?  (of course I say all this in pure love:) ) 
     And my poor kids.  Talk about biting heads off.  Every day I lose my patience a little more and more.  (It's really not that bad, I just feel like it sometimes).  And all over a silly one (or 5) 12 oz can of Diet Dew. 
     So I ask you people who proudly boast "I haven't had a soda in over a year" "It gets better I promise" "you can do it".  Is it really gonna be that easy because I like to think I'm not a quitter but I'm thinking this stuff is for the birds!
     But I'm just gonna keep telling myself, I CAN and WILL do this!