my little ladybug

No trick or treating for this little gal, but she sure did look precious!

Grammie

a little sign to welcome Grammie.

Pardon us if we're absent for a little while. Grammie is on a plane as we speak and we are leaving shortly to go pick her up from the airport.

Hip, hip, hooray!

We love you, Grammie!!

Turkey Burgers and Broccoli

This meal might perhaps go down as one of our favorite meals as of lately.

The turkey burgers have been a hit ever since my mom came to

stay with us after Molly was born.

Chris loves these turkey burgers so much,

he's even said he'd take these over a "regular" burger any day.

Here's the rundown...

2lbs turkey, ground

3 eggs

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp minced onion

1 tsp salt

1 T soy sauce

1 cup uncooked oatmeal

3/4 cup ketchup

Mix it all together and form into patties. Spray your skillet and cook until they're done! I usually have to do these maybe four at a time, then freeze them individually before putting into a freezer bag. This recipe makes maybe 20 turkey burgers. They take a little while to make, but then they're awesome to have in the freezer and just pull out for a quick meal.

We enjoy these either by themselves or on thin sandwich buns like these:

Now my schpeel on the BROCCOLI.

It is so incredibly appropriately titled:

The Best Broccoli of Your Life.

Ya know how usually, in order to make your veggies taste delicious, you have to add a whole bunch of crap that's probably negating any bit of nutrients the veggie provides? (e.g. broccoli smothered in cheese, sweet potatoes doused with brown sugar, basically anything with loads of butter....)

Well this recipe? Yep, nothing bad in here. I could probably go on and on about this broccoli (maybe I already have) but this stuff is seriously so good. And SO easy.

Do I have y'all drooling? I could be mean and leave you recipe-less.

But I won't.

Follow the link:

The Best Broccoli of Your Life.

You are welcome.

Friday Highs.v11

Fresh flowers. always.

Surprising a friend a few days early for her birthday.

With age comes wisdom. *grin*

Discovering new places with said friend.

Pistacia Vera- in German Village- a new favorite.

Had my first ever macaron there. And about four more.

Delicious!

Read a verse this week that I've never read before:

2 Chronicles 16:9

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those

whose hearts are fully committed to him.

I want my heart to be one of those hearts.

Have a blessed weekend, friends.

Fall Fun

Last weekend, there was a fall fun day at Chris' work, so we stopped by for a little bit to see what it was all about. There wasn't a ton going on, but we got some food and picked out Molly's first pumpkin. :)

Molly chowing down on some apple. (or rather licking it.)

She's not sure what to think of the "pumpkin patch."

Oh, and my camera screen broke. You can see how happy I am:

Actually, I'm quite thrilled, because I think this is the perfect excuse to finally purchase a fancy camera. Yippee!

Molly: four months

Chelsie has done it again. Is she not amazing? 

We had an impromptu photo shoot yesterday with Molly, and I am absolutely in love with these photos! Please be sure to leave Chelsie some love.  :)

her blog.  her website.

Distractions

I wonder what I would put under my bowls.

Recipe: FAIL

Ready for another laughable failure?

I saw these on Pinterest a while back, bookmarked the page, and bought all the ingredients last week to make it. 

I mean, don't they look amazing?

image found on her blog.

Reading the ingredients, they sounded easy enough, so to the kitchen I went. I cannot begin to describe to you how excited I was to make these. Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations, second to chocolate and raspberry. Anyway, here is the recipe:

**************************************************

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

by Greta White

Combine:

1 pkg. plain yellow cake mix

1 stick melted butter

1 c. creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

Press this into a 9X13 pan reserving 1 1/2 c. of the mixture to crumble on top.

Melt:

1 (12 oz) pkg. chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 T. butter

Melt on low heat in a small pot. Remove from heat and add:

2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. coconut (optional...my sister did not like the texture of it in there)

Spread chocolate mixture over the mixture pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 of reserved cake mixture on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325 degrees. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

**********************************************************

I'm sure they're amazing. Problem is, when you "reserve 1 1/2 c. of the mixture to crumble on top", I totally read that to mean take out a cup and a half of the yellow cake MIX, because that would crumble, right? A mixture of cake mix, butter, peanut butter, and eggs wouldn't crumble. RIGHT?!?! I'm trying to assure myself that I'm not crazy. 

Anyway, in case you make this, you're supposed to mix those first four ingredients, and take a cup and a half of THAT mixture to SPREAD on top.  Powdery cake mix will not bake in the oven. Just to let you know. It's all in the details, folks.  :)

My masterpiece.

Which was still delicious, I'll have you know. :)

Green Smoothie

Let it be said, that this is the BEST green smoothie I've ever made. I seriously LOVED this combination. Absolutely delicious. 

large handful of spinach

frozen peaches

a few frozen grapes

pineapple juice

a few pineapple chunks

water

ice

Blend and Enjoy!

Friday Highs.v10

a little late, I know, seeing as how in 10 minutes it'll be SUNDAY. and in 6.5 hours I have to wake up. haha.

Anyway, I've felt a little under the weather the last few days, hence the delay in posting. But I've still got a few things to share...

My sweet, sweet hubby brought me a mocha Friday night. I wondered why it was taking him a little longer to get home. That sneaky guy. :)

The other night, we all took a late night outing to Whole Foods for a few things. We didn't get a bag, and somehow, our goods ended up in Molly's seat. Or rather, ON her. Clearly she doesn't mind...

Molly girl's first pigtails.

Oh, one more. I wish I had a picture, but it was honestly one of those moments that I just had to sit there and soak it all in. Molly girl rarely snuggles, but the other night after Chris fed her a bottle, he had her up to burp her and she laid her head on his shoulder. It was the most precious moment. Love love love my family. *grin*

scenes from our saturday morning.

This was two Saturdays ago. Gosh, I love Saturday mornings. *grin*

Dresser: FAIL

This past weekend I was trying to finish up some projects for Molly's room.  My original plan was to wait on refinishing this dresser until the spring, but I had already bought the spray paint and I started getting really impatient. 

So I had Chris drag this thing out to the back porch, and I went to town....

Isn't it beautiful?

JUST like I was hoping it would turn out.  :)

only NOT.

Clearly, I should have looked up some spray painting tips online BEFORE I started this project.

 Luckily, I was only out the $5 that the can cost. And I had some other paint on hand that I quickly brought out and covered all this right up. 

You'll have to wait for the end result, but let me just say I'm thrilled with it.

Oh, and if you're wondering the proper way to use spray paint, John and Sherry just shared some tips today. If only I would have waited....

Chick-overs

I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure of the exact recipe here. Even though I keep all my recipes in one place, I seem to have misplaced it. Ooops. 

But here is the gist of that which makes up Chick-overs.

Ingredients:

One package (8 ct) crescent rolls

1 can shredded chicken

1/2 pack of cream cheese

minced onion

parsley

Mix together the chicken, cream cheese (softened), 

minced onion (I don't know, maybe a Tbsp?), and parsley (maybe a teaspoon??? haha). 

Open the crescent rolls and divide into 4 squares. (So keep two triangles together). You may have to smash the seams together. Next put a spoonful of the chicken mixture in the center and pull the four corners up to the top. Then pinch together the seams again so that you close it all up. Now just put all four on a pan and into the oven at whatever temperature and for however long the crescent roll package says.

Easy and pretty delicious, if I can say so myself. Enjoy! :)