mister's birthday

This weekend we celebrated Mister's birthday. On Saturday we went to the Jazz game. We lost, but it was a really fun game to watch. Before the game with ate at Crown Burger. It's our Jazz game tradition. Did you know that you can park at Crown Burger for events? All you need to do is buy $18 worth of food and ask for a parking pass. We figure if we are going to pay for parking we might as well get delicious food out of it.  Sunday night we had Mister's siblings over for some dinner and ice cream cake.

Lately we have been so over winter in our house, and been going through a huge salad phase. Cobb salad is one of our favorites. This time we couldn't get to the grill because of all of the snow. We ended up using our George Foreman grill, and it worked out perfectly. This salad it plenty filling with the grilled chicken, hard boiled egg, and bacon. For those of you who hate de-shelling hard boiled eggs check out this post. 

Cobb Salad

Ingredients

Tomatoes, diced
Hard boiled egg, sliced
Grilled chicken, sliced
Croutons
Bacon, crumbled
Lettuce
Ranch dressing (or dressing of your choice)

Instructions

Placed desired amount of lettuce (I use Romaine) on plate. Top with remaining ingredients and drizzle with ranch dressing. You can also add bleu cheese (we just aren't fans at our house). Enjoy!

creamy caramel apple dip

Creamy Caramel Apple Dip

Ingredients

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup apple butter
1/2 cup caramel sauce
1/2 -1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup toffee bits
sliced apples

Instructions

Head over to Six Sisters' Stuff for the directions. Enjoy!

slow cooker loaded potato soup

Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Ingredients

5 lb russet potatoes (washed and diced - not peeled)
1 medium onion (diced)
10 cloves garlic (minced)
64 oz chicken stock or broth
16 oz cream cheese
1 Tbsp salt
Garnishes: bacon, chives, cheddar cheese (optional)

Instructions

Head to Mama Loves Food for the cooking directions. This soup was very thick. I thinned it out using some milk and chicken broth until it was the desired thickness. Enjoy!

the secret to boiled eggs

It snowed more this weekend. We have mounds of snow in our front yard that are taller than four feet. It's insane. It doesn't help that we have a north-facing house, so the snow never melts. Elle loved coming out and helping Mister and me shovel the snow. I don't know for sure, but I feel like we got 6-8" of snow. It really was crazy! I am more than ready for winter to end. Spring could come today and I would cry tears of joy. Today's recipe isn't really a recipe, but it is the most successful way I have had with boiling eggs. I hate when it comes time to peel the shell off the egg, and by the time you are done your egg looks like it has been through the war. This method has proven to create easy to peel eggs time and time again.

Easy to Peel Boiled Eggs

Ingredients

Eggs
Water

Instructions

In a sauce pan, place the amount of eggs you would like boiled. Make sure there is enough room for the eggs to lay in a single layer. Cover the eggs with cold water. Place on a burner and turn it on. Once the eggs start boiling wait 1 minute then turn the burner off. Cover the pan with a lid, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes. After the ten minutes, drain the water out of the pan and immediately run cold water over the eggs. I just fill up the pan with cold water then drain again, and repeat a couple of times. Fill the pan with cold water one last time, but don't drain it out. Take each of the eggs and crack them (but don't peel), then place them back in the pan of cold water and let them sit for about 5 minutes. After they have been in the water for a bit you can go ahead and peel them. The shells should come right off!

how are you making a difference in the world?

Before I had Elle I was an elementary school teacher. It was the most rewarding and challenging job I have ever had. I loved teaching and I loved the students. I hated the hoops and all the people I had to please. I had to please the parents, the principal, the district, the state, and the list went on and on. Let's focus on what I loved. I loved seeing students light up when they finally caught on to a math concept. I loved seeing the pride in a child when they moved up a reading level. I loved seeing the surprise on a girl's face when she received 100% on a spelling test for the first time.

I loved the challenge of building a relationship with students that have been down on their luck for years -- who were known as the "bad kid". I have story after story of challenging students, and the transformation they had throughout the school year. I can testify that the children that are the hardest to love truly are the ones that need it the most. I also can attest to the fact that once you have earned their trust they will stay by your side forever. There are some students that will always have a piece of my heart. I won't ever forget them. I can't possibly forget them. They have helped make me who I am today. I never thought I could say that about nine and ten-year-olds, but it is true.

Although I am no longer a teacher, my influence on children remains. I have an influence on my own child, and hopefully future children. I have the opportunity to teach them how to be good people. I can show them the importance of integrity. I can prove to them that nothing feels better than honest, hard work. I can help them see that fairness doesn't necessarily mean equality. I can be an example of sympathy and kind-heartedness. I'm not a perfect parent, not will I ever be, but you better believe that I will try my hardest. The world needs that.

what is your perfect day?

My life is good. I really can't complain. Of course there are things I wouldn't mind changing, but I am so blessed. Mister is amazing, and Elle is the sweetest little toddler. We live in a great area with neighbors that would do just about anything for each other. However, if I could pick a perfect day it would probably look like this:

It would begin with me waking up on my own. No cat pawing at my face, no toddler yelling, "Mommy!" I would go downstairs and find Elle eating her breakfast perfectly. I would eat my own magically appearing plate of French toast with a glass of orange juice. The dishes would clean themselves, of course.

The morning weather would be sunny and beautiful. Elle and I would go for a walk, and when we got home she would play perfectly so I could take a nice shower and have plenty of time to get ready for the day. My mom would show up and we would shop the rest of the morning away. We would go to lunch and chat forever because Elle is eating her lunch like a champ.

When Elle and I get home we have some quality coloring time together before her nap. During her three hour nap I will read a good book while taking a bubble bath. After my bath, I would watch American Housewife while making a wreath. Mister would get home early, and we would drop Elle off to a babysitter so we could have a date night.

To start out the date Mister would take me to the mall and help me pick out a new outfit. We would then eat a delicious dinner. After dinner we would make our way to a Jazz game, then spend the night at a nice hotel.

Oh, man. That is what dreams are made of.

mom's meatloaf

It keeps snowing. It never stops. I have needed to go to the grocery store for days, but refuse to go in the snow. Luckily I'm a hoarder and we have a overloaded freezer and pantry. Lately, I have refused to make dinner meals focused on what Elle will eat. We have a standing rule in our house that if she won't eat dinner then she just doesn't eat. She doesn't get a snack before bedtime either. Last night I asked her if she wanted to come eat dinner. She responded, "No thank you." At least she was polite, I guess.

Meatloaf sounded so good tonight. A nice comfort food meal for a snowy day. As I was looking at the recipe I realized I didn't have some of the ingredients - that was not going to stop me. The nice thing about meatloaf is that it is really hard to mess up. As long as you have beef, and you make sure it is the right consistency you are probably good to go. Here's how much I deviated: we didn't have sausage, so I left it out. We didn't have eggs, so I substituted 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. We didn't have bread crumbs, so I ground up saltine crackers. We didn't have tomato sauce, so I used ketchup. I also added a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder because I'm obsessed with garlic powder. Guess what, it still turned out great! Elle even ate tonight!

Mom's Meatloaf

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb sausage
1 egg
1/4-1/2 cup bread crumbs (finely ground)
small can of tomato sauce (divided)
3 Tbsp dried onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl combined beef, sausage, egg, half of the can of tomato sauce, onion, and seasonings (I use my hands). The mixture should stick together like you are making a giant meatball. If the mixture is too wet, add more bread crumbs. If the mixture is too dry, add more tomato sauce. Press the meat mixture into a 5x9 bread pan. Pour a thin layer of left over tomato sauce on top of meat. Cover with foil and bake for one hour. Half way through remove foil and finish baking. I like to broil my meatloaf at the end for a bit to make sure the tomato sauce isn't liquidy (nice English, I know). If you choose to broil, make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.