Easy Salsa

Who doesn't love some good old homemade salsa?

I came across this recipe online and tried it. My friends, it's amazing! The fridge is always stocked with it at our house. It's easy, it's delicious, and it tastes a lot like the Chili's salsa, which I love. I can't get enough of it!

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 10 oz can original rotel
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, mashed
1/2 jalapeño pepper (I used the jarred kind and add a few slices. Much easier)
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
Handful of cilantro
Juice of one lime

Add ingredients in a blender and blend until desired consistency. You won't regret it! I like it best with cream cheese and corn tortilla chips.

Slutty Brownies

I'm not a huge sweets person. My sweet tooth is pretty small. But every once in a while even I will crave something chocolatey, gooey, and oh so bad for you. I have just the thing for such occasions. A couple bites of these babies and you'll be in a sugar coma for a week!

Behold, the creation Pinterest has named "slutty brownies". And they are pretty dang slutty. But worth the ride!

Ingredients:
1 large tube cookie dough (or homemade if you're ambitious)
1 package of Oreos
About 20-24 Reese's peanut butter cups
1 box of brownie mix (made to package directions)

In a greased 13x9 pan, layer bottom with about a half inch think of cookie dough. Then place the OREO's down first. I know this is different from the picture but the peanut butter cups struggle if you put them under the Oreos. So, Oreos first. Then place peanuts butter cups on top of the Oreos. Cover whole mess with mixed brownie batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean between the Reese's and Oreos and somewhat clean in the Reese's and Oreos. Let cool and enjoy. Seriously, these are sweets heaven.

Christmas Presents

I was at a local wood crafting store and they had plain wood blocks for sale. I didn't need them, but since I'm a woman and we always buy things we don't need just because it's on sale, I bought them. It didn't take long for me to come up with an idea on what to do with them. A little paint and yarn ribbon and BAM! Presents!

I didn't distress the edges or anything super fancy. I figured they'd get natural distressing done over the years with kids banging them against furniture and whatnot. At first I tried just wrapping a whole piece of ribbon around the block and up the other sides like you'd do with a real present but the cross-section on the bottom made the blocks wobbly. They wouldn't sit evenly on a flat surface. So I cut them and glued them to the sides like so:

It's not perfectly flat but it was a lot better than the first option. Plus with them being glued on, it's harder for the ribbon to be pulled off. So easy and so cute!

House Cleaning

I've seen pins on Pinterest that say "How To Clean Your House" and similar nonsense. At first I kept thinking, you really need to have someone tell you how to clean your house? I thought it was a little odd. But then I saw one with a better description that said "How To Clean Your House Throughout the Week". I didn't read the pin, so this may be exactly what that pinner said, but it got me thinking. Cleaning your house throughout the week? Hmmm that's new.

I usually knock out my cleaning in a day or two but it's very time consuming. It ends up taking the whole day and I don't get to spend time doing much else, which takes time away from my daughter. So doing a little each day intrigued me. Why hadn't I ever thought of that? It makes perfect sense! Yes I'm cleaning each day but I usually do anyway in a disorganized way. Plus each day only takes 30 minutes to an hour tops. So I devised a plan that I wanted to share with you. Let me point out that this idea is for major cleaning, not just tidying things up. It's to help you deep clean your house once a week, every week, without it taking forever and to help make sure you cleaned everything. If the kitchen floor is gross and it's not the day to mop, do it anyway :). Normal upkeep isn't included in this.

Step 1:
Sit down and make a list of everything that needs cleaning. Avoid writing things like "clean sink, tub, and shower, and sweep and mop the floors in the bathroom". That makes the list look overwhelming. I broke it down into rooms. I already knew what needed to be done in each room, I didn't have to list each individual task. I didn't include vacuuming or dusting as part of each room though because I didn't want to vacuum each day. I included those as their own task. Personalize your list to your liking and what you want to do.

Step 2:
Arrange the list in order from the tasks that take the longest to the ones that take the least amount of time. My kitchen and master bath take the longest so they were at the top of the list. Dusting takes 5 minutes, so that was at the bottom.

Step 3:
Group a hard task and an easy task together and assign those a day. Repeat. It may take some tweaking to get everything to fit evenly throughout the week. Adjust it according to obligations you know you have on certain days to avoid being overwhelmed. Remember, this is supposed to be easy :)

Here's an example of my list:

Monday: vacuum and dust the whole house. I vacuum everything from the stairs to my cosmetic drawer because sometimes hair gets in there. I hate hair. It takes about 30 minutes.

Tuesday: kitchen, living room, and front room. We hardly ever use our front room and I just vacuumed and dusted it on Monday so I just tidy up if needed and sweep and mop the entry way. In the kitchen I clean off the counters, wipe everything down, clean the stove, oven, and microwave, wipe off dirty handprints off the fridge and pantry door, sweep and mop, etc. you get it. I also tidy up the living room and pick up toys.

Wednesday: laundry and small bath. Clean laundry room, sweep and mop the floor, and clean the small guest bath. Easy.

Thursday: master bathroom and bedroom.

Friday: blinds and windows. I dust the blinds and clean the windows that need it. On this day I also organize anything that needs it.

You'll notice I didn't include laundry. Some people like having a laundry day but I just do it as needed. So that's up to you. Also our bedrooms don't get that messy ever so dusting and vacuuming and putting some random clothes away or arranging things on a shelf are all that's needed. I put that as part of the Monday dusting. If you have kids who need their rooms cleaned, assign them a day and make them help! Or even make them do the whole thing alone. That way you can make sure it gets done. Each house is different so arrange your list to fit you. This may seem like an obvious plan and I don't think I'm sharing some earth shattering secret with you, but I've been trying this for a couple weeks now and it's really helped de-stress the cleaning process in my home. I feel much more on top of things. Happy cleaning!

Quinoa Pancakes

I tried this recipe last week and I'm in love. They're nothing like amazing, buttermilk pancakes but they are very good for being healthy. I tried them with raspberries on top this morning. Yum! (Recipe found on Pinterest)

Ingredients

1 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet
1/4 cup low-fat milk
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus more for serving
Fresh fruit or fruit preserves (optional), for serving
Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together quinoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, egg white, butter, milk, and syrup until smooth. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and whisk to combine.
Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter and heat over medium-high. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into skillet. Cook until bubbles appear on top, 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter (reduce heat to medium if overbrowning). Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit or preserves if desired.

Say What?!

My life just got a million times easier. This may be old news to some of you but for me, it's not and it has saved the day!! I wanted to share this with fellow iPhone, iPad, and itouch users. (iOS 6 versions only, which is the newest update)

I let Kennedy play with my phone a lot, but since she's too young to do much with the apps, she just loves to push the home button over and over. This was fine until she figured out how to unlock my phone. I hated putting a pass code on it because it was a pain for me. But now there's an easier way!

You can enable what is essentially a "kid mode". Go to settings, general, accessibility, and then learning.

You want to activate guided access. Create a pass code, because that's how you will turn guided access off. I also enabled the screen sleep so my battery doesn't die when she's done playing with it.

So what guided access does is it allows your children to play in an app without accessing anything else. Open the app and click the home button three times in a row. This will start guided access. You can now lock certain parts of the screen and the home button will automatically be locked. Your child is free to play with the app and you don't have to worry about them exiting out of it!

Here's an example:
I have some Fisher Price apps that teach Kennedy animals and numbers and whatnot. The picture changes just by touching the screen. She never does though because she was always hitting the home button and exiting out of it. With guided access, I can now lock the home button and keep the screen accessible so she can tap to change the pictures and songs. It's genius!! You can even lock the whole screen so they don't touch anything they shouldn't. Another example is I have an app that plays children's songs and shows pictures. I can now essentially lock the screen and home button and she can hold the phone and watch and listen without her touch causing any effect. It's amazing!!

To exit guided access you tap the home button three times again and enter the pass code. If you want to change a locked area you can or you can end the whole feature in the upper left hand corner. Didn't this just makes like wonderful??

Thanksgiving Mantel

No doubt thanks to Pinterest, every mantel in the neighborhood will look just like this one, but here's my rendition of the the popular pin. I think it turned out way cute! I'm very excited for Thanksgiving.

Shoes Are Supposed To Be Fun

Am I the only one who is having a heck of a time finding shoes for their small-footed toddler? Oh my word, it's been a nightmare!!

My daughter is starting to outgrow her size 3 shoes which were also a pain to find. Thank heavens Kid to Kid had some! The world thinks if your child's feet are that small then they aren't walking yet and they make booties. She now needs size 4 and the hunt for them has been unreal. I've tried all kinds of stores:
Ross
Nope.

Marshall's
Nope

Target
Nope

Online target
Nope (discontinued)

Walmart
Nope

Smith's Marketplace
Nope

Kid to Kid
Nope

Gah!!! And the most annoying thing was every single one of these stores had ALL KINDS of shoes in EVERY size for boys. Nothing for girls, but you could be picky for boys and still find something. Adorable boy shoes in sizes 2 and up. What gives, people?! Girls don't need shoes? Only boys? What is a mother to do? We finally decided to check Famous Footwear. It makes me sad to spend so much on shoes she won't wear very long but she can't go barefoot! And there aren't any other options really. So I ran into Famous Footwear and asked the lady if they had size 4 toddler girl shoes.
"Yes, I do!" She said.
I about kissed her.

We walked back to the shoes and they had all kinds of adorable shoes for girls that were $30 and up (ouch!) but I didn't really have a choice anymore. I got really excited until.... Guess what? They were all out of every size four! She went and looked on her computer and told me to check the clearance rack just in case. I happened upon the ONLY pair of size 4 girl shoes that were still too much than I want to spend but I bought them anyway. She knocked off $5 for my trouble and gave me a 30% off coupon for two weeks from now to come buy more. Yay! The store 20 minutes away from me had them but I'd rather go when I can use the coupon and get more pairs for cheaper. She also said they could be shipped to my house if they were out. Fantastic!

Shoes should not be this hard to find. I don't understand the mentality of department stores. Oh well. At least they're cute, right? And in two weeks she'll have two more pairs of cute and functional shoes she can ruin in minutes.

Cold Remedies

My daughter came down with a cold last week. After all the preventative measures I took, I still ended up getting it. I needed to be better very, very fast for an event I have coming up this weekend. So, I asked around and got home remedy tips from people and tried them ALL. Although I felt like a medicine woman or a drug addict, everything I've tried has helped. This is the third day and I feel tons better. So, I thought I'd share my tips with you.

•Lots of rest. I was in bed by 9 every single night.
•Hot, HOT baths. Don't scald yourself, obviously, but I took two hot baths on the first day and one last night. I sat in there until I started sweating profusely. I was told that sweating is what helps your body get rid of toxins and infections. It worked!
•Over the counter pseudoephedrine. You have to get it from the pharmacist because it's a controlled substance but it's cheap and works wonders! I took a twelve hour pill day and night.
•Vitamin C and D3 tablets.
•Lots and lots of orange juice.
•I drank echinacea tea 4 times a day. I used two bags. One brand contained more vitamin C and zinc and the other one didn't. So I used both. I also added some honey in with the tea.
•My neighbor gave me some essential oils that helped relieve symptoms for a short period but that was about it.
•We had a Vicks Vapor humidifier going day and night. I put it by our bed while I slept. We also added the inhalant on the top to help put menthol in the air.
•Eating healthy. I ate lots of fruits and protein and things to help rejuvenate my body to keep it going and give it energy.

I'm amazed how much better I feel already. I'm not 100% yet, but I'm starting to have more hope that I'll be alive and kickin this weekend.

Chicken Lasagna

We tried another phenomenal recipe tonight.

Chicken Lasagna

2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
1 can artichoke hearts
1 8oz pkg Kraft mozzarella cheese with a touch of Philadelphia
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
2 pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup basil
Box of lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions.

In a large bowl, combine chicken, artichokes, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and tomatoes.

In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese, milk, and garlic powder. Stir in 2 Tbsp of basil. Pour half of the cream cheese mixture into the chicken mixture and stir until coated.

Spread half of the remaining cream cheese mixture along the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Cover the bottom with noodles, and top with 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Repeat twice. Place one final layer of noodles on top. Place remaining cream cheese mixture and mozzarella cheese on top, cover dish, and bake for 30-40 minutes. When it's done baking, sprinkle with remaining basil.

Dinner Recipe

Garlic Pesto Chicken with Tomato Cream Penne

There have been many really bad recipes that I've tried on Pinterest but this one was really, really good so I wanted to share.

Chicken Ingredients:
1/2 bottle Lawry's Herb and Garlic Marinade
2 large spoonfuls of pesto
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" strips.

Marinate chicken overnight

sauce ingredients:
8 oz penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 spoonfuls of pesto
1/2 cup chicken broth
8 oz of tomato sauce
1 cup half and half

Boil water and cook noodles.

Pour entire batch of chicken and marinade into a large skillet and cook until chicken is done. The Marinade will cook down.

In another skillet, heat olive oil and cook garlic until it is soft. Add the pesto. Add chicken broth and simmer until half has cooked down. Add the tomato sauce and milk. Simmer for 5 minutes or until hot. Add pasta and add flour if the sauce needs to be thickened.

Place pasta on a plate and top with the chicken.

Bacon Tip

I love hot, crispy bacon.

But I hate cooking it. It's greasy and messy and the splatters always end up on my skin or clothes.

But we found a tip a few years ago I thought I'd share:

Cook bacon on your George Foreman!

The slope obviously helps there be less grease, and there's a lid, so you won't get splattered :). Everybody wins! We've never looked back since trying this method. Love it!

Magnetic Letters

I may be the only one anal enough to try this idea, but in case I'm not, I'm sharing it.

This is my first original idea that wasn't inspired by someone from Pinterest or elsewhere. This is all me, baby! Granted, someone else may have already done it, but whatever.

I have a very busy 14 month old daughter and I am always looking for ways to keep her entertained. I wanted to buy those plastic letter refrigerator magnets to play with but I wasn't sure I wanted the bright, florescent colors radiating from my fridge every day.

So I had this idea in my sleep. Why not make my own letters? I can paint them any color I want and then they can match!

I headed to Michael's and found a bag of small, wood letters for $3.99. I also purchased a roll of magnetic strips. I believe that was $3.00? Not sure... I know it was cheap.

I picked out paint colors from my craft paints that matched my kitchen and living room, separated the letters into three piles, and started painting.

After they dried I glued the magnets on the back with wood glue. The magnetic rolls come with self-adhesive but it was not nearly strong enough to stay attached to the wood, so I glued mine.

I'm pretty pleased with the end result. It matches and keeps my child busy. Win, win, right?