june

three times of posting in one week is unheard of for me. just so you know.

our memorial day weekend was uneventful. dan had to work, so it was just me and the kiddos. i tried to do some cleaning, but while i was doing some organizing, jake went and dumped all the fish food on the floor and threw a matchbox car on the floor. this was after he broke a jar of green beans on the floor. so i gave up.

lindsey found her recorder. not that i had hid it from her but...well, let's just say that i hadn't gone out of my way to look for it. so she's been walking around the house alternately playing that or strumming on her guitar. i'm happy that she got the musical gene but dear god, i'd love it if she could actually play rather than just make sound.

last night some of my friends from school came over for a barbecue. dan and vanessa's boyfriend kenny braved the rain and went out to use the gas grill by the pool for burgers and dogs. i made my yummy pasta and potato salads and some corn on the cob. vanessa and kenny brought cake, bonnie, jessica and mark brought appetizers, then kristin and christie brought chips. it was great. we ate and played apples to apples until almost midnight. the potato salad was well received. it's so easy that it's pathetic and i always get compliments on it.

beck's potato salad

6-8 potatoes, peeled, cubed, boiled (about 10 minutes-ish)
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped into pieces
1 cup-ish mayonnaise (i kind of eyeball it, enough to coat)
1/4 cup mustard (again, eyeballed just until it begins to turn yellow)
salt and pepper to taste

makes about 12 servings. and 1 serving equals about 209 kcals.

so dan is at work again today and tomorrow, then we have a weekend with him all to ourselves. can't wait!

two days in a row? that must be a record.

nothing has happened, it was a rainy day today, just one of those blah days where you don't want to do anything. kids played, i read a little bit, watched some tv, fooled around on the internet.

the reason i'm coming on here is to share my banana nut muffin recipe! YUM.

beckie's best banana nut muffins

Ingredients

1/4	cup butter, softened
1	cup white sugar
1	egg
3	ripe bananas, mashed
2	cups all-purpose flour
1	teaspoon baking soda
1/2	teaspoon salt
1	cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
   
   
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and mashed bananas. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt just until combined. Mix in chopped walnuts.
   
   
3. Pour into muffin cups.
   
   
4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. If top begins to brown too quickly, decrease heat slightly. Center should be soft and chewy, while the outside, crisp and crunchy. Makes about 18 muffins
   

they are AWESOME, downside is one of them is 180 calories, even worse when you slather them with butter. eh. sometimes the kcals are worth it.

I forgot I had a blog.

see what happens when nursing school takes over your life? you forget that you have a blog and then come on to find 33 new followers. so HI new followers! i'm glad that you found me.

we moved into an apartment a couple of weeks ago. i love it. it's nice to have all my stuff around me again. my dad and sisters came this past weekend and i thoroughly enjoyed having them here. we explored greenville, went to a drive baseball game, hung by the pool and went out for hibatchi, along many other things. it was great.

i picked up a new book to read at the pool and i'm in love with it. the series is called The Hunger Games and it's by Suzanne Collins. i really enjoyed reading about a strong and self-reliant heroine rather than a girl who is so dependent on a man to make her happy like bella in the twilight series. i also read percy jackson and the olympians while i was finishing classes, and what a great series. i love to read, so any suggestions for books would be greatly appreciated. i'm enjoying this break from school because i get to read and write for a little while.

as far as writing. i've done some stuff, but i haven't worked on my book at all. i keep meaning to, but alas, it just doesn't come. i'm about 2/3 of the way through it though. i'm sure i can finish it by the end of the year if i devote the time to it.

***

so i tried out a new recipe the other day for breakfast at dinner (aka "b at d" at our house), and it was so tasty that i'm going to share it, partly to share, but mostly so i can remember what i did the next time i make it.

beckie's breakfast skillet

• 6 slices bacon (i used turkey bacon and it was still tasty)
  
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 6 cups cubed cooked potatoes
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 6 eggs
  
• salt and pepper
  

in a large skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat until crisp. remove the bacon to drain. pour off all but 3 tablespoons of dripping.

heat the drippings remaining in the pan until sizzling. add the bell pepper, onion and potatoes; cook, stirring gently, until the potato cubes are browned.

make 6 holes in potato mixture and drop 1 egg into each hole, then cover. let cook until eggs are firm (it took about 6 minutes i think). sprinkle the shredded cheese and bacon over it and cook until melted. season with salt and pepper. serve immediately. makes 6 servings.

***

my husband brought this to work the day after and he said that it heated up really well, even though i'd had my doubts. it was a win with my kids too. i just made sure to serve it with ketchup because my disgusting family members like ketchup on their eggs and potatoes *vomit*.

i'm going to *try* to blog at least once a week, but i'm not holding my breath.

Out like a lamb.

i'm embarrassed to admit that i've only blogged once this month. and that sucks. this whole new year's resolution thing is failing epically. i can only say that i'll try harder, but i'll fail. i can't help it. it's inevitable.

let's see. i'm on spring break from school this week and i'm enjoying it. we took a little mini vacation and stayed with friends up in charlotte (read: we drank way too much, sang american idol on the wii and passed out) and we made some really yummy easter rice krispy treats:

easter egg rice krispy treats (microwave)


3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 bag of jumbo marshmallows
6 cups of rice krispies (or the store brand works great)



melt the butter and marshmallows together in the microwave for 2 minutes, stir, then heat for 1 more minute in the microwave. add the 6 cups of cereal and mix well. scoop 1/3 cup of mixture at a time onto a piece of wax paper and shape into an egg with buttered hands.

let cool for a little bit, then dip half of the egg into melted chocolate and put sprinkles on top. put them in the fridge so the chocolate to cool, then enjoy. YUM

we're just hanging around for the rest of the week. i have a to-do list a mile long, but i've been crossing things off left and right. my mother in law made dinner tonight, perhaps living with the inlaws is quite nice in some aspects :)

Pork recipe and Fall precautions

I hurt myself yesterday. Basically what happened was that while carrying the baby in one hand and the computer in the other, I slipped in the mud, fell in a hole and twisted my ankle. I started to go down but I didn't want to hurt the baby so I did one of those weird try-to-save-yourself moves. And I hurt.

My ankle swelled up like a baseball, but I didn't hear any cracking or anything. I can't put weight on it and it is black and blue and not pretty. So I decided I would elevate, ice, compress...it still hurts like a bitch today. So after class i'll be heading to the doctor to make sure there isn't a fracture there.

Anywho...Tonight I will be making:

Super Yummy Pork Chops!

2 cups italian dressing

1/4 c soy sauce

minced garlic to your liking (i like a lot)

1/2 onion

1/4 teaspoon pepper

boneless pork chops

Mis dressing, soy sauce, pepper and garlic in a bowl. Brown chops in olive oil for a couple of minutes, then place in a glass dish with sliced onions. Pour sauce over top and bake at 375 for about a half an hour.

We'll be having this with some rice pilaf and yellow squash. Yummmm.

Recipe

Check out what I'm making for dinner tomorrow!

Awesome Crock-Pot Pot Roast

Ingredients:

• 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
  
• 1 package onion soup mix
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 c red wine
• 1 cup beef broth
  
• 5 1/2 pounds pot roast
• carrots, celery, red potatoes and sweet onion

Directions:

1. In a slow cooker, mix together the cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix, Worcestershire, wine, broth and water. Put pot roast in crock pot and coat with soup mixture. Add in vegetables.
   
2. Cook on low setting for 8 to 9 hours.
3. Serve with some crusty bread...YUM.
   

February update

It's already February? What's up with that? I feel like time just flies by now. It's so unfair. I've only got 11 more months to finish my resolutions! Unfortunately the whole blogging thing seems to be an epic fail.

Maybe that can be my new February resolution.

I don't have that much crap to write about. My life is a bit depressing. Work, school, kids, husband...yeah that's about it.

Today is my Grammy's birthday! She's the big 7-0 today. I hope that she has a wonderful day and I wish that I could be there to help her celebrate. My mother is also having surgery, another reason why I wish that I could be in New Hampshire. But we made our decision to live down here so I need to suck it up.

Oh, so I'm trying this recipe today:

Pizza Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
• 1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 package (32 ounces) frozen Tater Tots
  
  Directions
  
  
• In a large skillet, cook the beef, pepper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the soup, mushrooms and Italian seasoning.
• Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with cheese and potatoes. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 6-8 servings.

I've got a crapload of stuff to do today, so I'll blog more tomorrow.

Happy Chocolate Cake Day!

January 27, 2010 is National Chocolate Cake Day. In celebration, I will share a delicious recipe I have come across and tweeked for my own benefit.


Too Much Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 1 package devil's food cake mix
• 1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (i use the mini ones because they don't sink)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate Top with chocolate frosting, garnish with strawberries.
   

I've been having a lot of issues with Jake lately. He's been kind of sick, running a low fever, runny nose and cough. He's such a brat though. He's into everything, he doesn't listen when we say no...he's an extreme baby. He literally drives me insane. However, this morning I finally figured out why he was being a complete tool today: he popped through 4 molars. I bet that freaking hurts!

Jake is my high maintenance kid. Like I just had to stop blogging so I could stop him from putting his fingers in the outlet. and i just had to yell at him for pounding on the desktop keyboard. and to stop messing with my papers on the end table. and again with the keyboard. I take things away but he just finds something else to get into and then i have no idea where my shit is.

Lindsey was a good baby. She listened, stayed out of trouble, and cuddled when I wanted her to. Now I've got this hellion and I'm wondering what I was thinking.

And also wondering why when I'm away or he's napping...I miss him and just want chaos back.

OMG SCAMPI!

So I made yummy shrimp scampi and since my little sister has been begging for the recipe, I figured I would share with everyone. Everyone loves my scampi. Every time I go up to New Hampshire I end up making it for my family :)

Beckie's Super Scampi

depends on how much shrimp you have but...

2 sticks of butter
1/2 c-3/4 c white wine
2 cloves of garlic (ish)
2 T flour (for thickening sauce)
1 1/2 T scampi seasoning if you have it. if not, it's okay. still tastes yummy
41-60 count shrimp

mix together, let shrimp cook all the way through then pour over cooked noodles.

Serve immediately with vast quantities of white wine.

So in other news, I finally organized my coupons and cleaned Lindsey's room. This is big. Now I'm in the middle of writing a little something, it appears as if my writing block is over. WOOT!

Weekend Update and Recipe

So Lindsey spent the weekend with her grandparents this weekend. She had Friday off from school and so we went up to Greenville and had dinner with Dan's dad befor eleaving Linds there for the weekend. Saturday morning I had to work but then I got out at 5:30, leaving Dan and I with an entire evening of...sitting on the couch and playing on the computer. Sunday I had to work from 7a-3p, so Dan got a lot of qaulity time with the boy. I came home and Dan went to sleep, leaving me with my kids. We had dinner and bathtime before Jake went to bed and Lindsey and I made a bed on the living room so we could have movie night and a sleepover. I also kept an eye on the Golden Globes so I could see this:



Anywho, I'm still taking medicine from the discomfort of sleeping on the floor. We went to a playdate today with my friends Kim, Mandy and Jen along with their kids. It was crazy and insane but so much fun. I've missed my friends a lot since we've moved to Anderson.

For dinner tonight, I made a Taco Pie. It was really good, but Lindsey was being picky because i added salsa to it and she didn't want the tomatoes. GRRRR.

Taco Pie:

Ingredients

• 1 package refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 jar of salsa, any temperature
  
• 1 package taco seasoning mix
• 1 container sour cream
• 1 cupshredded Mexican-style cheese blend
• 1 package crushed tortilla chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Lay crescent dough flat on the bottom of a square cake pan and bake according to package directions.
3. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the taco seasoning and stir together well. When dough is done, remove from oven and place meat mixture on top, then layer with salsa sour cream and cheese, and then top off with the crushed nacho chips.
4. Return to oven and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

YUMMY. It was so good. I topped it with lettuce for Lindsey and Dan, then added tomatoes and black olives for Jakers and I. Jakers ate way more than his share and was all Buddha-bellied when he was done. I'll have to take a picture of the belly, it's hilarious.

So now Dan is off to work and I'm off to bed, because my glasses broke and my neck is starting to hurt from having to hover 6 inches from the laptop screen just so I can see this post. That's dedication right there.

January 12th

My first day of class was great! Since I already completed my Patient Care certificate, it looks like I'm going to be able to skip the next five week session that starts in February, meaning that I'll get to move up to the next class and graduate five weeks ahead of schedule. This is very exciting to me.

I'm already laden with homework. In crazy amounts.

Today was class picture day, so I put Lindsey in a cute little outfit and did her hair all pretty with bows. She hated it. HAHA. My girl is definitely not into the dressing up thing. I put her in dress pants...with sneakers. I wasn't willing to fight anymore.

I went to the grocery store today, spent $90, saved $87. Have to grab some stuff I forgot when i get to work tonight, but that's no biggie. I like saving all the money that I can, it makes grocery shopping almost a game. And it isn't like we don't use the food, because we definitely do! Sales=Beckie's best friend.

In honor of the great deal on chicken I got (1.99/lb!) here's the recipe of the week!

Dan's Chicken Nastiness (aka Easy Cheesy Chicken Bake)

1 pkg. Chicken Stuffing

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 bag frozen broccoli florets, thawed, drained

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1/2 cup milk

1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar

Make stuffing as directed on package.
Mix chicken and broccoli in 13x9-inch baking dish. Stir in soup, milk and cheese; top with stuffing.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 min. or until chicken is done and casserole is heated through.

January 6th-7th

Well, that was an epic failure. I'm so bad at keeping my resolutions. But, I can still try to keep up. And I'm doing well with my vow to take a picture of the kids at least once a day.

Jake climbing on his Laugh and Learn front door

Lindsey shows off her super loose bottom two loose teeth.

Lindsey had school both yesterday and today. I tried to do some housework, but then I got a copy of the leaked script for Eclipse. And I spent the entire day reading it. Like...the entire day. I cleaned the kitchen. Woot. Then I had to get Lindsey and play before going to work. I worked from 5-11pm and of course, once you get home from work, you can't go right to bed.

I'm dragging today. I need to do all the work I didn't do yesterday, but here I sit on the computer. I did a little writing, a little editing, but nothing major. And where I should be doing the housework while Jake naps, I will probably nap myself, because 5 hours of sleep and the Bex do not get along.

So tonight is family fun night. We have a movie, or play games, or go out...whatever. All phones, computers, etc get turned off and we focus on what is the most important to us. Tonight we're playing Operation, a game that Lindsey got for Christmas. I'm making sugar cookies, and decorating them with parts from the game, like a bread basket, a wish bone, a funny bone, etc. Here's my recipe:

Beckie's Sugar Cookies

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
2. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

I'm sure it will be a great time. Dan is off tonight, his work cut him to NINETEEN hours this week. I have more hours this week than he does. Ridiculous.