{Pinned there, Done That} Sweet Chicky Nuggets

I completed another pin; These "Sweet Chicky Nuggets" (um... aka *almost* Chik-fil-a nuggets) from the blog Hello my Name is Snickerdoodle.

While I do not think they totally tasted like Chik-fil-A chicken nuggets, they were FANTASTIC! Hubby even enjoyed them.

I will definitely be keeping this recipe.

{Pinned there, Done That} Corndog Bites

I completed another pin, these Corn dog Bites from The Trendy Treehouse.

In fact, the second I saw this pin, I ran to my pantry because I in fact HAD corn muffin mix (score!!). So I get my mini hot dogs out, get the girls ALL excited for a fun new snack and then I realize the corn muffin mix expired liked... 4 months ago. How bad can that be, right? So I continue.... until I realize I am out of eggs and NONE of my neighbors are home. BAH!

Unfortunately, this fun snack had to wait until the next day.

So, the NEXT DAY... using my bake pop pan, I filled each cavity with some corn muffin mix and placed a mini hot dog cut in half in each.

After they came out, I realize that I should have pushed the hot dogs down more, and added maybe another half to each.

 But when you turn them over... they look perfect, right?! Sweet.

The girls loved their fun snack.

Meal Plan #23

SUNDAY ...
I was in Charleston

MONDAY 
Meatloaf, compliments of my mother-in-law

TUESDAY
Tilapia

WEDNESDAY 
Taco Night

THURSDAY 
Orange Glazed Pork Chops

FRIDAY
(a much needed) Pizza Night

SATURDAY
Going out for a friends birthday!!! NO Clue on dinner plans :)

Last 2 weeks review

Chicken Caesar Florentine  (AWESOME!!!)

Chef Salad

Chili

Chicken, Veggies, & Pasta in red sauce

Salmon with Sriracha Sauce

Chicken Boursin Bundles

Crock Pot Chicken Parm (meh... it was ok)

 

Weekly Meal Plan #22

Clearly, getting the meal plan out on Sunday or Monday is way too difficult for me... oh well!

SUNDAY was...
Chicken, Veggies, & Pasta in red sauce

MONDAY was...
Zesty Tortelinni Soup (WAY too zesty)

TUESDAY
Salmon (sale)

WEDNESDAY
Crock Pot Chicken Parm

THURSDAY
Ranch Italian Pork Chops

FRIDAY
This mama is heading up Charleston with the girls for my neice's birthday

Last weeks recap... will be shared next week.

Strawberry Shortcake Birthday ::. The Cake

 In case you missed my guest post over at Between U & Me the other day... here it is!

Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Cake

Ok, I'm not gonna lie... I'm really proud of this cake.

Like, SUPER proud of this cake.

So much so, that I would like to share with you how I did it.

1. Start with a strawberry cake (boxed... which was FANTASTIC!!)

2. Put on a crumb coat using whatever icing you want. I used canned because I didn't feel like making half a dozen batches of icing. This was buttercream.

3. I baked a white 8"x8" cake (plus a dozen cupcakes) because I figured that not everyone would really like strawberry cake. Once cooled, I cut 1/3 off, then cut that 1/3 in half.

4. Put the 3rd layer on (secured with skewers... we should have leveled the cake, but we didn't) and crumb coat and chill.

5. NOW using my Grandma's Wedding Icing recipe, cover the whole cake in green.

6. Smooth the cake using step 4 on Wilton's site (or after googling, this method looks awesome). I also added the icing for the pond...

7. ... then smooth the pond out and added the pathway (PS I used valentine's m&ms)

8. Next came the grass using tip 33. And then I took a break because my hand got sore. Back to the fridge went the cake.

9. Finally, I added in some color with some flowers; I made drop flowers (yellow) with tip 18 I believe and I made rosettes with tip 16.

Now we are ready for PARTY DAY!

I almost couldn't cut into it...

but with 17 3 year olds hovering around begging for cake, I had to give in.

Linking up: Crafty Mom Share, Young & Crafty, Tatertots and Jello, Lolly Jane, Around Tuit, Under the Table Dreaming, Crafts Keep me Sane, CRAFT, The Girl Creative, Delicate Construction, Making the World Cuter, Homework, Not just a Housewife, A Bowl ful of Lemons, Chef in Training, Vintage Wanna Bee, Blackberry Vine, Gluesticks,  Our Delightful Home

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(super late!) Weekly Meal Plan #21

Ok, so I am SUPER late on this meal plan, but.. .better late than never, right?

SUNDAY we had...
Tilapia with Spinach and Tomatoes

MONDAY we had...
I had a Junior League meeting so the girls and hubby had leftover Vegetable Soup

TUESDAY
Chicken Caesar Florentine (new recipe)

WEDNESDAY
Feta Topped Chicken

THURSDAY
Chili

FRIDAY
Zesty Chicken Tortellini Soup (new recipe)

SATURDAY
this mama is at a wedding so the hubby and kids are on their own.


Last Weeks Recap

Pork Tenderloin

MeatLoaf

Oven Fried Tilapia with Roasted Asparagus

{Pinned there, Done That} Cleaning your Dishwasher

I was putzing around on Pinterest the other day and came across this pin that one of my college sorority sisters had pinned on "How to Clean your Dishwasher". I immediately realized that my dishwasher was not working like it should... actually... my dishwasher is SERIOUSLY slacking!

Every time my parents come visit, my mom comments on how foggy and dirty my dishes end up after they are washed. Soooo... when I saw the "How to Clean your Dishwasher" pin I dropped everything and started working on it right then.

Want to see something gross? No?

Oh... sorry.

Yes, that is my filter in the door. Clearly I did not know this needed to be cleaned. YUCK! I have been in this house for nearly 6 years and this is the first time it has been cleaned. Who knows if the previous owners ever cleaned this filter either. Sheeesh!

So anyway, I cleaned the filter with an old toothbrush and water, scrubed the ledge right under the door (where all the food gets stuck), and checked the holes in the spinning arms. I haven't removed the spinning arm on the bottom of the dishwasher yet to clear out the drain... I'll do that soon.

The dishwasher is not running perfect yet... but it's much better, see...

{Pinned there, Done That} Homemade Jello Playdoh

I went to Pinterest to find ideas for my daughters strawberry Shortcake birthday party, I mean... who wouldn't, the resource is there why not use it?

I am not a super fan of party favors that are silly little plastic nic nacs that end up getting broken the 2nd time you play with them. So after pinning this jello playdoh recipe from from Playdoh Recipe.org I decided to make jello playdoh as the party favors...

... and making different "flavors" based on the characters. (you gotta stick to the theme right?)

I only made 4 different "flavors" because, well, I didn't need to make THAT much and I split each batch into 4 pieces. I used strawberry jello for Strawberry Shortcake, Blue Raspberry jello for Blueberry Muffin, Raspberry Jello for Raspberry Torte, and grape jello for Plum Pudding (what? there's not plum flavored jello... and I was sticking with the color versus the flavor)

Then I went off to photoshop to make these cute labels for the top of the containers.

There we go, another pin moved to the "completed pins" board.
Woo hoo!

Linking up: Delightful Order, Crafty Blog Stalker, Between u & Me,  Finding my way in TX, Sun Scholars, Delicate Construction, Ladybird Ln, Faith Trust and Pixie Dust, Bacon Time, Naptime Crafters, Trendy Treehouse, Pocket Full of Pink, Crafty Moms Share, Lolly Jane, Tatertots and Jello, Young & Crafty , Not just a Housewife, Chef in Training, A Bowl ful of Lemons, Shwin and Shwin, How to Nest for Less, Elizabeth and Co, Homework, Vintage Wanna Bee, Blackberry Vine, Trophy Wife, Rae Gun Raegan, DIY By Design, Gingersnap Crafys, My Girlish Whims, Sew Much Ado], Dragonfly Designs, Trendy Treehouse,  Someday Crafts, Momnivores Dilemma, A Turtles Life for Me
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Finding my way in Texas

Recipe ::. My FIRST Frittata

Do you have a recipe that you haven't made because you are intimidated by it? "Intimidated" by a recipe... Sounds weird... I know. But frittata's were like that for me (Actually, frittata's and lasagna... but that's another post). I mean, I consider myself to be a pretty good cook and I am ALWAYS trying out new recipes, but never a frittata.

See, at first, I didn't make frittatas because I didn't have one of those fancy shmancy pans that you can also put in the oven (yes, I know you can do them stove-top... shhh). Then I got one; and there went that excuse.

Excuse #2 was that hubby does not like "Breakfast food" for dinner (yes, he's a weirdo... but I still married him). Well... then the other weekend hubby had his weekend national guard drill and he was gone for dinner. So... yes... there went excuse #2.

So I decided to bit the bullet and give it a go. In my frittata recipe searching I came to one conclusion... Anything goes (I think that's what intimidated me the most actually). Start with eggs, cheese, and milk... and you are good to go (this is a good recipe that I came across after-the-fact).

For my VERY FIRST FRITTATA (woohoo!)

 I used:
Cheddar cheese
asparagus
mushrooms
diced ham that I had in the freezer (thawed)

1. First thing I did was saute the asparagus and mushrooms in butter until there was no more liquid and the mushrooms and asparagus were tender.

2. Next, while the pan was still on the stove, I threw throw in my (thawed) ham, cheese,  and pour beaten eggs/splash of milk over the mixture. I cooked this on the stove for a few minutes and then I moved it into a 400* oven and bake until set and browned.

3. This is what it looked like coming out of the oven. YUM!

4. And... less pretty, this is my frittata turned out on a plate.

I liked it a LOT and so did the girls.

Now that I have overcome my intimidation by frittatas, I think there will be a lot more in my future (sorry hubby!)


Enjoy!

Linking up: Shwin and Shwin, Elizabeth and Co, Homework, Not Just a Housewife, Chef in Training, Vintage Wanna Bee, Blackberry Vine, A Bowl full of Lemons, Tales of a Trophy Wife, DIY by Design, Gingersnap Crafts, Raegun Ramblings, Trendy Treehouse, Dragonfly Designs, Sew Much Ado, Romance on a Dime, Blue Cricket Designs, Handyman Crafty Woman, Someday Crafts, A Turtles Life for Me, Momnivores Dilemma, Gluesticks, delightful order, Crafty Blog Stalker,  Between U & Me, Delicate Construction, Ladybird Ln, Faith Trust and Pixie Dust, Bacon Time, Naptime Crafters, Pocket Full of Pink, Crafty Moms Share, Lolly Jane, Tatertots and Jello, Young & Crafty , Not just a Housewife, Chef in Training,

Weekly Meal Plan #20

Sunday we had...
Chicken Noodle Soup to recover from food poisoning (ugh!)

Monday
Pork Tenderloin

Tuesday
Meatloaf

Wednesday
Sausage and Mushroom Flat bread with Salad

Thursday
Crock Pot Pork Chops

Friday
Hubby has weekend drill... again...
TBD

Saturday
Hubby has weekend drill... again...
TBD

Last week's recap:

Well, between the birthday party and being out of town... I only really cooked one dinner last week...

Corned Beef Potatoes, Cabbage, and Carrots