Drunk History Christmas

This video gave me a loud chuckle and I'm sure it will give you one too!  Check out Funny or Die's video of Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, and Jim Carrey in Drunk History Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  We sure did, and we still have one more Christmas to go this weekend back home.  Our little nugget celebrated his first Christmas and while I don't think he completely understood all the chaos going on, he sure loved the paper and is now playing with all the toys and books he got.  Next year, I will probably need to be a little sneakier and not literally wrap his presents in front of him....shoot.  Through all the craziness, I hope everyone stopped to remind themselves what the season is all about- the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Merry Christmas.

Recipe: Moo Goo Chicken and Baked Crab Rangoon

So Scott and I had planned a Mexican meal and an Italian meal for the next couple of weeks and Scott said, "We need a Chinese dish".  This is where I proceed to SCREAM with delight.  Yes, I literally did as I remembered I had a recipe for my mom's Moo Goo and a recipe from Pinterest for Baked Crab Rangoon I have been wanting to try.

Moo Goo was a meal my mom made for us MANY MANY times when were little cause it was always a hit.  There is a lot of preparation cutting up all the veggies, so my mom would always let us help which was really fun for us.  Any time we got to help in the kitchen, we would!  I got the recipe from my mom recently and decided to change it up a bit and just use chicken, brocolli, and carrots.  I still used all of the ingredients of the sauce, which is the star of the show anyway!

One of my favorite Chinese appetizers is Crab Rangoon and I have yet to find any that beats Holdrege's Gourmet House Crab Rangoon.  It's just so yum.  I saw this recipe on Pinterest for Baked Crab Rangoon that I knew I had to try and it is from Weight Watchers which makes it even better!  It is baked and not fried so you save some calories there.  I am sure that I could have found Won Ton Wrappers at Hy-Vee, but people online say they are difficult to find so you might as well make them yourself.  They are made with the most ridiculously simple ingredients, there is no reason not too!  And I love playing with dough.

The meal took a little while to make. I made the dough during one of Nolan's naps earlier in the day as it has to sit out for a little while on its own and I rolled it out and cut it during his next nap. I would advise making the wrappers in advance, even the night before or the weekend before you make it cause they can be stored in the freezer and refrigerator before use.

I gotta say, these Crab Rangoons tasted absolutely amazing.  The wrapper wasn't as crunchy as what you would get at a restaurant because these are baked and not fried but the middle (the essence, mind you) was almost spot on.  If I would have had Gourmet House's sweet and sour sauce, I would have been in heaven.  We settled for soy sauce and it worked just fine.  This little treat combined with the Moo Goo was a lovely meal that warranted leftovers for days and days and days.  It is quite a healthy meal depending on how much soy sauce you decide to use to drizzle on top.  It is also quite a therapeutic meal to make with the dough rolling and the veggie chopping so treat yourself to this dandy of a dish!

Recipe for Moo Goo Chicken:
1 1/2 lb chicken breasts- boned, skinned, cubed
1/2 tsp salt and paprika- sprinkled on chicken
1/4 cup oil- stir fry meat until done, then remove
Add Vegetables to hot oil- stir fry until partially cooked, then add sauce (see sauce recipe in next paragraph)
Vegetables in recipe:  (We just used broccoli and carrots)
1 green pepper cut in strips
4 cups celery
2 cups broccoli
1 cup sliced green onions
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts

Sauce: Add to vegetables and cook until clear
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
2 Tblsp cornstarch
2 Tblsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp sugar
Garnish with slivered almonds (optional)

Serve over hot rice or chow mein noodles

Recipe for Won Ton Wrappers can be found here at AllRecipes.com
Recipe for Baked Crab Rangoon can be found here at Weight-watcher-recipes.net

Recipe: Stuffed Shells with Crispy Pancetta (Bacon) and Spinach

I have been trying to plan more meals that warrant more leftovers so we can spend less and make less.  The enchiladas lasted about a week of leftovers cause instead of the regular two enchiladas I would have stuffed myself with, I had half of one with some black beans.  More food leftover and less calories to worry about burning off!

This time, we went the Italian route with some of Giada's Stuffed Shells, and they were so good!  They looked and tasted like restaurant quality food in both of our opinions.  I was a little hesitant about the nutmeg that is in there, but we both agreed it adds something very different to the dish.  There isn't a lot in there, but it goes a long way. I might even half the amount to 1/8 the next time so it's a bit less of that flavor.  Very good though. We also get all of our groceries for the most part at Target and they don't have pancetta, so I settled for it's poorer man's counterpart, bacon.  Also, we looked a few places for cream (Target, Walmart, and McKinney's) and all they had was half and half so I used that instead and it worked just dandy.  The recipe also asks for 2 lbs of spinach, but I just used a 10 oz container and it was enough. Everything tasted and looked great!  We only had about 4 shells per serving so these will last us a few days!  Give them a whirl, they won't disappoint.

Recipe courtesy of Foodnetwork.com

We Are Young

 

It's Music Monday!  It's a Monday and I am sharing some music.  Last week's episode of Glee (Yes, that show again.  I promise there is more depth to me than that.) talked about growing up too fast and to enjoy life while you are young.  It got me thinking about who exactly this applies to.  Does it apply to everyone up until they graduate high school?  College?  Or is it before you get married or have children?  When is it acceptable to be young and carefree?  Is it something that is within us or something that society tells us is okay? 

The video above is the original version of the song sung by Janelle Monae from her new album.  Click here if you would like to hear Glee's version.  I have listened to this song over 100 times since last Tuesday. I wish I was joking.

For me, I would say it applies up until I graduated college.  It was before my job consumed my 8:00-5:00.  It was when I had classes and could take naps in the middle of the day.  Not to mention the craziness of living with 60 girls along with the 40 others that lived outside the house.  I also got married a week after college graduation so that added on another level of responsibility to not only me, but to another human being.  Since having Nolan, that has stepped up even further.  He is the center of our lives and if that means we are in bed at 9:00 PM (knowing he will be up at 6:00 AM regardless) just to get a good solid night of sleep, so be it.  Some things are just worth "growing up" for.

I am a Basket Case

And no, I'm not talking about the 1982 horror flick "Basket Case" which I didn't know existed until I Googled whether basket case was one or two words.  Basketcase...yeah two words makes the most sense.  Anywho.

So, I have always loved Dollar General but we have recently rekindled our romance within the past couple of weeks.  I went there to pick up a few things and was walking around noticing that some things are cheaper here than at Target and Walmart- specifically some cleaning products, paper goods, toiletry items, etc.  Usually things seem to be a tad more here but since we have really been looking at prices lately, like REALLY looking, I knew how much things cost and where. I was so excited to find that some of these things were cheaper as DG is only a minute or so from our house and I am usually one of two people who are in there at one time.

A recent trip to the old General left me with an overflowing cart of baskets!  Blue baskets, brown baskets, small baskets, and big baskets! I then proceeded to go home and throw all the baskets in the air and cry out "Baskets, so many baskets!" as they poured all over me. Not really, as some of the baskets are woodenish and would have caused some unnecessary scratches/possible bleeding.  Who has time for that.  See, they had a sale on baskets- half off.  Baskets cost a lot of money, like a ridiculous amount, and I have been looking for some to fill our home for various reasons.  So, they were half off which meant they were a couple dollars a piece when normally they would be at least $10 anywhere else.  One basket in particular struck my fancy as I have been looking for baskets to fill in the little cubby holes in our bathroom.  I check out and said basket rang up as one penny.  ONE CENT!  They said sometimes they do that if they are really trying to get rid of things.  I thought I was going to have a heart attack as one other thing I bought also rang up as a cent.

Full of adrenaline, I proceeded to go to DG the next day to push my luck. I got two more baskets like it to fill in the other two slots cause I loved how it looked.   I did two different colors to mix it up a bit and because it was all they had left. Another one rang up as a penny and the other one rang up half off at 1.50.  So a look that should have cost at least $15-$20 (my estimate I don't really know) cost me a total of $1.52.  And it is GLORIOUS.  That is a freaking deal right there.

Now, I told Scott to take good care of these baskets.  Most of the time you say to take care of things because they are expensive, but in this case they look so perfect and were so cheap, I know I'm never gonna find a deal like this again.

Baby, It's Freaking Cold Outside

One of the good things about this time of year is the music and the spirit of the holidays.  I came across a very beautiful song - "Winter Song" by two of my favorite artists- Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles. Enjoy.

Recipe: Chicken Enchiladas

There are so many different recipes for chicken enchiladas out there, it could make your head spin.  One recipe, though, holds a special place in my stomach.  Sarah has always made these enchiladas so she gave me the recipe this past weekend and we didn't waste much time making them. We decided to shred the chicken as that is what is most appetizing to me. I'm not a big chunks o' meat kinda gal.


Recipe:
2-3 chicken breast chopped and cooked
2 small cans of green chiles (4 oz. cans)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
Grated cheddar cheese (at least 12 oz)
16 oz of sour cream
Green onions chopped to taste (we omitted this)
8'' flour tortillas (about 12 of them)

Preparation: Mix cooked chicken, soup, sour cream, onions, chiles, and part of the cheese. Use part of the sauce in the tortillas, wrap, and place in a baking dish.  Pour the rest over the top and sprinkle on the cheese.  Bake approximately 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

You can tell that this is a family recipe when things say "about" and "approximately".  We ended up using a 9x13 baking dish and used 8 filled tortillas.  And remember to cook the chicken first.  SARAH. :)

Good Old Fashioned Comfort

Before you have children, traditions between a married couple sort of seem silly, don't they?  Maybe not, but it's easy to say they aren't as fun.  Since having Nolan, we have thought a lot more about traditions and how we would like to start some with him.

One tradition that my family always had was to open Christmas presents after a big Christmas dinner with immediate and extended family on Christmas Eve and we would open Christmas presents from "Santa" on Christmas morning.  TWO days of presents and always something to look forward to in the morning.  Except for the impending doom that Santa brings into the home in the middle of the night of course.  Oh the nightmares I had every Christmas Eve until we were told Santa wasn't real. Nights where I would share a bed with both my sisters as other family had the other rooms and having to hold my pee in as I was so scared to leave that room for fear I would come across Santa while he is breaking into our home... ANYWAY (deep breath).  Scott's family opened all Christmas presents on Christmas morning.    We both think each way is the best and what we will end up doing as Nolan gets older is still up for debate.  Why wouldn't we think that each of these traditions are normal though? It is what we grew up with, it's what happened every single year of our lives, and it was what we felt comfortable with.

Scott has mentioned that every Sunday his family would eat grilled cheese and mac n' cheese for lunch after church.  My family would always go out to eat after church.  Maybe this is something that we could compromise on.  After all, there are 52 Sundays every year.  Sometimes you just need that reminder of being young again with your family when life was easy.  Sometimes you just need some good old fashioned comfort.