{Pinned there, Done that} Chicken & Artichokes in a White Wine Sauce

Another pin is completed! We made this awesome looking Chicken & Artichokes in a white wine sauce from Annie's Eats for dinner the other night. Hubby LOVES artichokes lately so I figured this was the PERFECT dish.
I mean, honestly... how YUMMY does this picture look?! (um... not tooting my own horn)

 AND for the final product...

It was pretty good, however I cooked the sauce down too much... so there wasn't enough to go around. My bad.

Also, I don't think I added as much seasoning as I was supposed to throw in there... so next time, we will definitely use more.

But all in all, I'm pleased with this recipe.

Linking up: Homework, Not Just a Housewife, Shwin and Shwin, A Bowl full of Lemons, Chef in Training,

{Following MooreBabies} plus Weekly Meal Plan #19

Google friend connect is going away, blah blibity blah blah; yeah, we get it. BUT... for the 411... read this.

While I AM on blogger, I wanted to let you know all the fantastic ways you can still follow this blog without google friend connect.


First we have Facebook; all posts and tweets are shared here:

Next, of course, is Twitter. All posts are shared here, plus comments on daily dinner menus, and random thoughts... not to mention links to the various giveaways that I enter.
Follow @themoorebabies

Up next is RSS feed; which is my favorite because I can still go through my google reader which I have become quite accustomed to. (click the orange RSS button to open up my RSS subscribe page)

Pinterest, while not a place to follow my blog posts themselves still deserves a mention.



AND lastly, I jumped on the Linky bandwagon (I'm such a follower aren't I, heehee)...

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ONTO the meal plan... Ok, so this week is a cheat for me because we are going to...
DISNEY WORLD
 Tuesday evening through Friday!

By the way, the girls are SOOOO wearing the Minnie ears I made for Charlotte's 2nd Birthday party.

It's going to be hubby, myself, the girls, and Mimi; Grandpa was supposed to be joining us on the girls first-ever Disney trip, but he will be watching over us from Heaven instead.

Charlotte is super excited about seeing "where Mickey lives"!

That being said this weeks dinners are as follows:

SUNDAY was...
Corned Beef, Potatoes, Cabbage, and Carrots

MONDAY
Soup and Salad

TUESDAY
DISNEY WORLD

WEDNESDAY
DISNEY WORLD

THURSDAY
DISNEY WORLD

FRIDAY
... recovering from DISNEY WORLD

SATURDAY
mmm... maybe Pizza Night!

Last weeks recap:

Florentine Chicken Soup

Chicken Boursin Bundles with green beans

Salmon with a Honey-Mustard Glaze

Red Beans and Rice

 

How does one run out of gas...

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... is what I USED to ask myself all the time. I mean, really, you have half a tank, a quarter of a tank, then the light goes on and... what do you know, there's a gas station. Go get gas.

Well, I wrote the word "used" for a reason... it finally happened (about 3 hours ago).

I ran out of gas!

Let me set the stage for you.
Yesterday (um... yes... yesterday) my light goes on on the way home from the gym, BUT I need to run to the post office real quick before getting Charlotte. I'll get gas later.

On the way home from getting Charlotte, the kids are rather... um... unhappy. So, I'll just get gas later.

Today, on the way to drop Charlotte off as school (for her school birthday party), I notice the light again. Crap. We're going to be late. Later.

On the way home I realize I forgot my phone and hubby is going to call me when he's going to pick up Jillie so I can go and see Charlotte's birthday party in school. So I run home.

After sitting at home for an hour waiting for hubby or mother-in-law, my mother-in-law finally comes. I need to get the cake, ahh... so off to the store I go.... but.. oh ... wait...

My. car. stops. accelerating.

My. car. stops. dead.

Img Src

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

In swoops my mother-in-law to save the day. We switch cars and Jillie and I run to pick up the cookie cake and come back to meet my mother-in-law. Then AAA comes, gives me a gallon of gas (apparently we can use this "I ran out of gas" 4 times a year for free... NOT that I plan on doing it EVER EVER EVER again), we push the car a few times to get it off the little bank we were on.... and off to the gas station I go.

I'm still quite flustered when I get to Charlotte classroom (in plenty of time) to observe them play and have her school BIRTHDAY PARTY!

School Birthday Party

Needless to say.... Lesson Learned.
I think I absolutely needed to learn this lesson because we are always within like 2 miles of a gas station and I tend to "push" my car further than it can go.

I now have opened myself up to my family (and probably friends) to never ending ridicule.

Last thing hubby just said on the phone... "hey babe... do you need to go get some gas?".
Yeah.... very funny.

 

Blueberry Muffin CakePops {birthday preview}

For Valentine's Day, my dear mother-in-law got me the As seen on TV Bake Pop Cake Pop Pan, well actually she got more than one... but that's a different story. She was super excited because it looked like something I would use, which is funny because JUST last week I was in JC Penny debating whether to spend the money on the pan. But I'm stingy frugal cheap, so I didn't buy it. Plus, for the past few months I have been feverishly entering Cake Pop Maker giveaways to no avail. So... YAY! I now can make cake pops (oh, I am not a huge fan of the mix-cake-with-icing-roll-into-a-ball cake pops. They are WAY to sweet for me).

Let's jump ahead to the fact that Charlotte is having her 3rd birthday party ON SATURDAY (ahh!). Well, I have to fit in some cake pops right? Of course I do. The problem is I am already making a cake for the Strawberry Shortcake themed party. AND (shh don't tell) I am going to have a food from each of her "berry best friends"... as in Raspberry, Blueberry, Orange, Lemon, and Plum.

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I came up with Blueberry Muffins for, well... Blueberry Muffin (that is the friends' name anyway) so off to google I went with "muffin mix in cake pop pan" and didn't get many results. However, I did see in some random comment that someone used actual blueberries in their cake pop maker and it burnt on real bad. Yikes! But I have more than one of these pans AND I'd rather use a mix, so what the hey. Off to the grocery store I go and I find a blueberry muffin mix that uses just water.

I replace the water with milk (this was a tip from the instruction book) and I fill up my pans a little less than halfway. The cake mix we used the day before for a "trial run" of the pans TOTALLY overflowed.

On goes the lid.

15 minutes later... hmmm. Well, I guess I under filled them this time.

BUT... if you roll them over... voila!! It works!! Woo hoo.

I added a glaze which was oh-so-yummy that night... but it kinda soaked in by the next morning.

I think for the party, I will either throw these on a stick and glaze them right before the party OR roll them in a cinnamon crumb topping.

Enjoy! Happy Cake pop-ing!

Linking up: Homework, Not Just a Housewife, A Bowl FUll of Lemons, Vintage Wanna Bee, Chef in Traingin,  Shwin & Shwin, Elizabeth & Co,  Romance on a Dime, Trophy Wife,
My Girlish Whims, Handy man Crafty Woman, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Much Ado, Twin Dragon Fly Designs, Raegun Ramblings, Gingersnap Crafts,  Vintage Gwen, Someday Crafts, Trendy Treehouse, 
Turtles Life for Me,   Gluesticks, 
House of Hepworths, Momnivores Dilema,  It's a Keeper, 
Somewhat SImple, Crafty Blog Stalker,
 

Weekly Meal Plan #18

WOW, my weekly meal plan is up on a SUNDAY! Yes!

SUNDAY we had...
 Spaghetti with Grilled Italian Sausage (sale)

MONDAY
Florentine Chicken Soup

TUESDAY
Chicken Boursin Bundles with a Salad

WEDNESDAY
 Pork Tenderloin with Asparagus

THURSDAY
Chicken & spinach stuffed Shells

FRIDAY
Pizza Night

SATURDAY
Birthday party day... so.... yeah, I have no idea!

Last Weeks Recap:

Mushroom Chicken Bake

Tilapia with Spinach and Tomatoes

Steak, Smashed potatoes, and asparagus

Chef Salad

Chicken & Artichokes in a white wine sauce

Smokey BBQ Brisket

Portobello Pesto Pizza
Stay tuned for a post about THIS awesome recipe

 

 

{Pinned there, Done that} Apple Cinnamon Crescents

I completed another pin, woo hoo!!

How yummy do these Apple Cinnamon Crescent Rolls that Lindsey over at Love, Lindsey shared on her blog look? Awesome right?! 

Src: Love, Lindsay

Clearly, I did not take any pictures before they were devoured which is why 
the picture that Lindsey so kindly posted is also posted on my blog. My bad.

 Well, they are.

I made these beauties for my Friday Morning Ladies Bible Study last week and they were a HUGE hit!  Super easy too.

I peeled and sliced the apple, soaked them in OJ so as not to get brown, and then wrapped them up with cinnamon and sugar and popped them in the oven.

12 minutes later I tossed them in a serving bowl and walked out the door.

I highly recommend this recipe. Super yummy!

Linking up: Naptime Crafters,  Finger Prints onthe Fridge, Delicate Construction,  Pocket Full of Pink, 
Ladybird Ln,  Finding my way in Texas, Crafty Moms Share,  Young and Crafty, Creating my way to Success, 

Featured:


 

Weekly Meal Plan #17

Soo... I kind of flaked on the meal plan this week (seeing as how it's WEDNESDAY)...

SUNDAY was
Mushroom Chicken Bake

MONDAY was
Tilapia with Spinach and Tomatoes

TUESDAY (Happy Valentine's Day) was
Steak, Smashed potatoes, and asparagus

WEDNESDAY
Chef Salad

THURSDAY
Smokey BBQ Brisket

FRIDAY
Pizza Night -- I need to come up with a fun new pizza to try...

SATURDAY
Chicken & Artichokes in a white wine sauce


Last weeks recap

Football empanadas

Pesto Stuffed burgers (yum!)

Easy/hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

Corned Beef Potatoes and Cabbage

Ham, Mushroom, asparagus frittata

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day blog land, I hope you have something lovely planned (if you want it).

I don't do much (correction... this year I did NOTHING) in terms of decorating for Valentine's day, but I did squeeze in some craftiness:

Photo Valentines

Teacher Gifts
PS - I have an obsession with paint penning... and I'm ok with that

The girls in their matching outfits today with...



... the doily painted t-shirts that I made
(I believe I saw this in the Parenting Magazine)

In last year's valentine's post I shared how this is NOT really a holiday that hubby and I celebrate ... and I'm ok with that. We don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on dinner, flowers, and gifts (although I do insist hubby picks me up a card).

To add onto last years list of our Valentine's Day's throughout our dating and married life, this year is much of the same; low-key and not romantic:

2012: Dinner with hubby, the girls, and hubbys mom at our house.

2011: Hubby leaves ON Valentines Day for a 10 day Air Assault Course

2010: Charlotte and I go to Texas to see hubby for a few days before he flies over to Kuwait.... we're together, yes... but his parents joined us in Texas
2009: It is 10 days before I had Charlotte AND Hubby is at a 2 week army drill... I ended up going to Lindsay's for dinner because her hubby was out of town at work
2008: By this time we have determined that Valentines Day was NOT our holiday, so apparently Hubby had rugby practice
2007: A good friend of ours, Lindsay, was living with us temporarily while her and her husband were in the process of moving to the area... so it was a romantic dinner for... er... 3
2006: This was before we got married so I was living in Miami and fiance was up here
2005: I was in Clemson, boyfriend was in Texas at Army Officer Basic Course
2004: We had recently started dating and boyfriend had an away rugby game... although for this year he DID make it back to his apartment by 11:30pm ...

Happy Valentine's Day!!
Linking up: My Girlish Whims
Gingersnap Crafts , Trophy Wife, 
Elizabeth and Co , Someday Crafts , Little Lucy Lu , 
A round Tuit 

{Pinned there, Done that} Oven Baked "fried" Pickles

Cute title, huh? Sooooo not an original thought, though.

I was trying to find a cute way of saying "completed pins" so I googled "pinned and done" and a few results down was this link to a pinterest board called "Pinned there, Done that"by Stacy at she's {Kinda} Crafty so I borrowed it. Actually, more googling found a website actually called Pin there, Done That... but I digress.

SO... hubby is at drill all weekend so I decide to try out these Oven Baked Fried Pickles (see, it is in my "Completed Pins" board, what what!). This is from the blog Schilling Times but the original pin that she was inspired by was deleted.

Not my results
original src: unknown

Oven baked "fried" pickles

Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 jar pickle slices
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
• Ranch dressing + hot sauce for dipping

Directions

1. Turn oven broiler on high.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and flour. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning, and pepper. Mix well.
3. Place panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Dunk each pickle slice into the egg mixture, than dredge it in the panko bread crumbs.
4. Place coated pickles on a rack set above a baking sheet and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Place pan in the middle rack of the oven. Broil for about 3 minutes on each side.
5. Serve with Ranch dressing and a dash of hot sauce.

I of course did not have pickle slices on hand... I had spears. SOOOO I sliced those, meaning I had a LOT of pickles to dunk and dredge (although I did half the recipe since it was just the girls and I).

My version.... less pleasing to the eye than the original :)

Yum! Very tasty... we all loved them (even my 16 month old, but the ranch might have had something to do with it)

Enjoy! Happy Pinning :)

Linking up: CRAFT,  Sarahndipities, 
My Girlish Whims
Someday Crafts
Little Lucy Lu  ,