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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday



Crispy Baked Buffalo Tenders - delish! Made these over the weekend and they were a big hit!  


Definitely loving this white and orange chevron top - especially with football season right around the corner. This one has been out of stock for weeks though - boo.


I think this would look so cute Hadley's playroom!


Loving some inspiration I found for Hadley's upcoming 2nd birthday - You are my sunshine theme!

I realize it's just August, but how cute is this? A felt tree and ornaments that kiddies can decorate over and over. I can't wait to make one of these this Christmas!


Absolutely need one for the front door! 


Loving my sweet, sweet girl!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

A few new faves...


Broccoli Quinoa Casserole


Ingredients:
One 10 oz can condensed Cream of Broccoli soup

1/3 cup reduced fat mayonnaise (original called for 1 full cup. WOW.)
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/4 cups reduced fat shredded cheese (cheddar, colby-jack, etc)
1/2 teaspoon Splenda/sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups cooked broccoli
1 1/2 cups COOKED quinoa
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a shallow (8×8 casserole dish – or individual ramekins) with cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine the soup, mayonnaise, milk, shredded cheese, Splenda, pepper, and nutmeg until well mixed. Stir in the quinoa and broccoli.

Spoon mixture into casserole dish.  Sprinkle on a couple tablespoons of Parmesan and bake for 35-40 minutes (20-25 minutes for ramekins) or until bubbly on the edges and golden. Makes 8 generous 1/2-cup servings.

This was really good and made great leftovers!


Avocado Chicken Salad



Ingredients:
Chicken, cooked and shredded

Avocado
Reduced fat mayo, just  maybe a tablespoon or so
Green onion, sliced
Cilantro
Lime juice to taste
Salt/pepper to taste

Directions:
Sorry there aren't any measurements. Probably had 2 cups of chicken and then just threw the rest in until it tasted good. I used 2 avocados but if you really love avocados. I loved the lime juice, so I kept adding more of it little by little. You definitely need a little salt, but the pepper is just if you want to. I used a lot of cilantro and a moderate amount of green onion. Probably 2-3 of them. You can serve this in pitas or just eat it with chips. We loved it and it was really good leftover, too!
 

Monday, July 30, 2012

Sweet summer time

I need to clean...I need to blog...blogging won!

Our weekends have been spent outside having fun!  Sweet Brooke turned 4 this month and we had a great time at her pool party!  Here are the girls singing to the birthday girl. Check out the Ariel cake Rachael made!



We had the pleasure of meeting Nolan, Karah and Ryan's beautiful new baby boy.  He is absolutely precious and made me want another lil babe (fleeting moment until one of Hadley's 'precious' moments).



One of Hadley's favorite things is to play with Mardi Gras bead and my sunglasses.  Not sure why I even buy the girl toys because she likes things around the house more than anything.



She loves playing in water so I got her a water activity table for outside.  She's had a bit of diaper rash from antibiotics she's been on so I let her play naked which she really enjoys!



This weekend we went to the zoo and love the new splash pad!  You can see my kids playing around in the water - note the little girl in the red bathing suit was knocked down by my 'big kid' shortly after I took these, hehe.





Magpies, my favorite bakery in town, just started selling their cakes and cupcakes at my local Kroger. Uh-oh as Hadley would say!



I've been trying lots of new recipes (thanks, Pinterest!).  Here are a couple goodies - Quinoa Farmer's Market Skillet and "ice cream" (using just frozen bananas and raspberries in the food processor).




And, last but not least, Hadley pee-peed in her potty for the first (and second) time over this weekend!  I'm not sure of the last time I was SO excited!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Summer days...


Busy summer. Fun summer!

As of late….

Celebrated Reese’s first birthday party…such a fun party! Kandi did a FABULOUS job with everything at the party. Check out Kandi's website to see more of the party here!








I went to NYC for work.  I haven’t been since I was probably 10 or so.  Had awesome weather and managed to run 4 miles through Central Park which was AMAZING!  Ate everything in sight too J
 










Hung out at home with my sweet girl…





She’s had her fair share of terrible two “moments” lately…



Been hanging out with Gabe….they even shared their first kiss after a pool date J





She’s also had a couple swim dates at the Bennett’s and at the McMahan’s!




Even snapped green beans with her momma on the patio…




And always love a good snack time – crazy hair!




I ran my first 5K on July 3rd with a few of our new neighbors. Completed in 27:45 (pace of 8:51)!





Happy Summer Y'all!