Homemade Dinner

.........in a B-A-G!

Ok, I love to cook just as much as the next girl, but sometimes with a full of energy 2-year old, nice weather, cleaning, packing, etc., the time passes too quickly, and I'm left with about 15 minutes to prepare dinner. Do you ever have those moments.....you've got approximately 30 minutes before your hubby will be home (or before your stomach eats your backbone), nothing is thawed out AND you have no clue what you are going to fix for dinner? Well, have I got a solution for you! I recently discovered Bertolli's and Stouffer's frozen dinners in a bag. Not only are they completely done and ready to eat in about 10 minutes, but they are actually pretty tasty, too, AND really not that expensive (Bertolli's might be $6 or under and Stouffer's is under $4. When time is against you or you just don't feel like cooking from scratch, try one of these selections. Here are two we have tried that we really enjoy:

It's FOOTBALL time in OKLAHOMA!

With all the craziness that's been going on (and no people, I am NOT pregnant!), I did not make it around to getting our annual OU Football Schedules done. Don't fret--they will hopefully make an appearance in your mailbox next year! Until then, enjoy these pictures from last year:

BOOMER SOONER!

Rival teams, but great buddies!
(Thank you, April, for taking these last year!)

Big Boy Underwear

To say I'm a little behind on blogging would be a major understatement.....and I will blog about reasons why soon...haha. First of all, how BIG is he looking these days?!


Second of all, I don't remember exactly when it happened when it comes to time/day/month, but I am VERY happy to say that our sweet little 2.5 year old boy is potty-trained! Luckily, some of my friends (Saradee and Deanna) had already went through the potty-training process with their little ones, so I got to use some of their tips. The one that worked the best was a sticker chart. Once Chalin filled up his sticker chart, Chad and I took him to Toys-R-Us and let him pick out a toy, which he was very excited about.

Here he is with his full sticker chart.

The Rescue Center he picked out, which actually looked pretty cool, and he did like it a lot.......
........but after spending 2 hours of trying to put it together and it continuing to fall apart, Mommy and Chalin made a trip back to Toys-R-Us to exchange toys.

Here is the 2nd toy he picked out: A car transporter. Come on, is anyone even surprised?

*Note to self--read product reviews before making purchases! The reviews for the Rescue Center were A-W-F-U-L, hilarious, and true. If anyone knows where to get a GOOD rescue center, please let me know :)

Cream Cheese Chicken

Three Things:
1. Tried it.
2. LOVED it.
3. Sharing it.


Cream Cheese Chicken

4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg Dry Italian Dressing Mix
2 tbsp Butter, melted

1. Place chicken in the crock pot (can be frozen).
2. Melt butter and pour over chicken.
3. Open pkg of dressing mix and sprinkle evenly on top of chicken.
4. In separate bowl, mix soup and cream cheese until blended smooth.
5. Pour mixture over chicken and DO NOT MIX.
6. Cook on low for 6 hours, 7-8 if frozen.
7. When chicken is done, remove from crock pot and place in another baking dish/platter.
8. Stir sauce and then drizzle over chicken. I loved the sauce so much, that I actually just poured it on the chicken after stirring.
9. ENJOY!

Once again, sharing another recipe that one of my good friends posted on her blog, because I want my other friends and family to know how good it is. Thanks for sharing your's here, Saradee!

Sweet Selection

I took Chalin shoe shopping after MDO on Wednesday. Much to his Daddy's liking, and not so much to mine this boy--like the majority, I'm sure-- gets in, points to what he wants, and he's 0utta there. Which lucky pair of shoes did this boy choose? Here they are. I think he made a pretty "sweet" selection (as his Daddy would say). :)

"Look at this new trick I can do in my new shoes! Upside down, and no hands!"
(and yes, those are big boy underwear, and there will be a post soon to tell you all about them!)

Cook for the Cure

Melissa, a good friend of mine from church, passed along the Cook for the Cure plate to me last Sunday. If you were like me and have not heard of this before, let me tell you how it works: 1. Fill the cute plate with one of your yummy culinary creations. 2. Pass the plate and yummy creation to a friend or loved one. 3. Register the plate online at CookfortheCure.com/PassthePlate. 4. Have your friend or loved one repeat steps 1-3. Each time someone passes the plate and registers it online, KitchenAid donates $5 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Is that not an AWESOME, AMAZING, WONDERFUL (and any other fabulous word you can think of) idea?!?

Here is the plate of baked goodness that Melissa gave to me.
And here is the plate of deliciousness (hopefully!) that I'm passing along to one of my best friends, Saradee, who loves to bake!
First of all, I know I need to work on my "Bake it Pretty" skills. Now for the 2nd most important information in this blog: the RECIPE.

Pretzel Turtles or a.k.a. Turtles for Ta-tas (ha!)
(found at allrecipes.com, but I adapted it)

Pkg of Dove Chocolate Caramel Candies
Pkg of White Chocolate Chips
Small amount of Crisco
Pkg of Snyder's 'Snaps' Pretzels
Pkg of Pecan halves
Red Food Coloring (optional)(Don't mind Edward. He likes to watch me bake. HA!)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place pretzels on cookie sheet.
3. Unwrap Dove candies, and place one on each pretzel.4. Put in oven, and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Take out of oven, and gently press a pecan half on each chocolate.6. Chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
7. Melt white chocolate chips in microwave (I used a cup for about 35 pieces of candy) with a tiny bit of Crisco in 30 second intervals until all melted.
8. If you wish, add a tiny bit of red food coloring, and drizzle over turtles. (I put the icing in a plastic baggie, and cut a small hole in the corner to make it easier to drizzle.)
9. Chill in the refrigerator until the icing cools and hardens.
10. Enjoy and share with friends and loved ones!

Runza for Robertsons

A friend of mine posted a blog a few weeks ago that included a recipe for Runza casserole (You can read about it here.) It sounded yummy (and after reading it, it sounded super easy to make, too), so I decided to cook it for our little family. What a great decision because it was super delicious! Thanks, Deanna, for sharing so that my family could enjoy it, AND so that I could pass it along to family and friends! (Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it already, Chad got me a new camera for our anniversary--doesn't it make the casserole look mouth-watering?!

Layered goodness waiting to be baked.

Covered in crescent rolls, and headed to the oven...
Finished product. Y.U.M.M.Y.

And here is the recipe:

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef

1/2 head of cabbage

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 cans crescent rolls

1 cup shredded cheese

1.Preheat oven to 400.
2.Brown beef and drain.
3.Chop cabbage and add to ground beef; cook until cabbage is tender, add salt & pepper (and I always season with garlic salt, too).
4.Add cream of mushroom soup.
5.Press one can of crescent rolls into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
6.Spread beef mixture on top of the rolls.
7.Sprinkle cheese on top and top with other can of crescent rolls.
8.Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Hope you enjoy it as much as Chad, Chalin, and I did!