Pinterest Inspired Cooking

Both girls are napping, so instead of being productive, such as doing some house work, I thought I would blog instead! :)

I went through my recipe board on Pinterest last week and decided to try out some new recipes and share!

Last night we had Southwest Black bean Casserole. I got the recipe from here http://pinchofyum.com/southwest-black-bean-casserole. I made a few changes. I omitted the bacon and I used a tablespoon of homemade taco seasoning instead of the cumin and salt it called for. It was very good and I will definitely make it again!

I made this incredible salad over the weekend. It was excellent and we were able to eat from it several times! Here is the recipe: http://www.greensnchocolate.com/2012/04/southwestern-chopped-chicken-salad.html. Of course I made a few changes to this one too! For the chicken I used a rotisserie chicken from the store, I did not add the crushed tortillas chips (just forgot to buy them!), I used a bag of romaine lettuce instead of chopping up my own, and I added shredded cheese. For the salad dressing part I used the homemade taco seasoning recipe ( I will share that too) and I also added some milk to thin the dressing out some.

These are balsamic roasted carrots = AMAZING! I love any vegetable roasted. It just gives it such a rich and different flavor. For these, all you do is set your oven to 400. Toss your carrots in a little bit of olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast them on a cookie sheet for about 20 min. Pull the carrots out and  mix the following ingredients together: 1 T of olive oil, 2 T of honey, 1-2 t of balsamic vinegar and 2 t of brown sugar and drizzle over carrots. Put them back in the oven for 5 min. I used a small bag of baby carrots. We had salmon with it. I put the salmon in some aluminum foil with a little olive oil, lemon slices, salt & pepper and about a teaspoon of dried parsley flakes. I set the wrapped salmon on the same cookie sheet as the carrots and they were both done at the same time. A very easy and quick healthy dinner!

Here is the recipe for the homemade taco seasoning. The source said it is from Rachael Ray. It doesn't have all the sodium that the store bought ones do! I will never buy the store brand again! :)

1 T chili powder
1 T ground cumin
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1/4-1/2 T crushed red pepper ( I did not have this, so I just used 1/4 teaspoon of ground red pepper)
*(T=tablespoon)

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container!

Hope ya'll enjoy these recipes! Let me know if you try any of them out!

Instagram & Glasses

I finally started using the instagram app I have had on my phone for a while now. I love it! Here are some pictures I have taken recently of Kinley & Brooklyn. 

Here they are on the 4th of July! Love putting them in matching outfits! And nothing sweeter than little girls in red, white & blue! Kinley did not like the fireworks at all. I'm guessing it was the loud noise, so we didn't stay out long. 

Melt my heart!!!

Love that she's holding 2 babies!

So, little Miss Kinley had to get glasses. We had noticed one of her eyes turning in. We have had the glasses for a little over a week now. She was wearing them pretty good, about 4 hours a day. But, the last several days she has not done so well. I put them on her first thing in the morning and let her wear them for however long. I don't force it, because I think that would just make things worse. I'm hoping over time she will adjust and want to wear them more. But, I think she is so stinkin' cute! ;)

 I decided to take her to CFA and let her play. It has been a few weeks since she's been around any other kids and she had a blast. She did not want to leave!  I may or may not have had to drag her out screaming! I felt so bad, but we had already been there for almost 2 hours. 

Ha! This picture cracks me up! Brooklyn looks terrified about something and Kinley is all smiles! Love these girls!!

I'm taking Kinley to a Gymboree play & music class tomorrow. You get to go your first time for free. I'm excited to see what she thinks! We are also meeting up with a local playgroup on Friday. Looking forward to hopefully start making some friends! 

Back to blogging!

Well, I started a blog and then totally quit blogging! I don't really know why and it does make me kinda sad that I didn't keep up with it. That's ok, going to try and keep it up now!

So, we have moved to Shreveport, LA! I thought it would be good to get back into blogging to keep all the family and friends up dated and grandparents will enjoy the pictures! Also, maybe try to connect with some people in this area too.

I'm not going to lie, it's definitely starting to get a little lonely here. We've only been here a few weeks, but Jared is now working all. the. time......so it's just me and my girls! Yes, 2 sweet girls! Kinley is now 22 months and just as sweet as she can be and Brooklyn is 2 months and keeps me busy! She is growing too fast and sweet girl loves to be held! Having 2 so close together is fun and a challenge at the same time! But, I've just learned to just go day to day. I just have to accept that its okay if my house stays a mess! These 2 girls need me more than trying to worry about keeping a "perfect" house!

I'm really missing my playgroup now! I know Kinley is too. I'm hoping to find one here soon! We will start visiting churches this Sunday. I'm excited about that, but also a little stressed too. It's so hard finding a church home! And I know there will be many Sunday it will be just the 3 of us. It's going to be hard to go by myself (without Jared), but I know how important it is for us to go! Oh my, will this take some major preplanning the night before to get us all out the door on time! It will be great way to get to know people too.

So, Shreveport is nice. I'm impressed so far. There are so many big beautiful trees here. Of course it's incredibly hot and humid. So, we definitely stay inside a lot and not to mention the horrible huge mosquito's! Ugh!!

Ok, time to get dinner started before sweet Brooklyn wakes up from napping and wants to be held! Poor baby had 2 month shots today, no fun!

Talk to ya'll soon!!

SUYL Sinlges

Today on Kelly's Korner she is doing Show Us Your Life Singles!! This will be my first time to participate in SUYL. I'm so excited. I'm hoping to help my sweet brother-in-law out. So, meet John. I have known John for 13 plus years now. To say he is beyond one of the nicest people I know is an understatement. John has a huge heart and is seriously just such a nice guy. He is always willing to help anyone out.

John is from Fayetteville, AR and has lived in Arkansas his whole life. He grew up on a farm and has one brother. He has a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, as well as a Masters in it too. He is a graduate from the University of Arkansas. John used his degree for a few years, but just wasn't getting a lot satisfaction from his job. So, he decided to go to Medical school. John is getting ready to start his 3rd year of Medical school at UAMS in Little Rock.

John is a great uncle too! He only has one niece, Kinley. He loves her so much and is so sweet with her. John comes by our house just to hang out and play with Kinley.

John is also a twin. I'm married to his twin, Jared! They are best friends. They do everything together. Jared is one year ahead of John in medical school. I know they are going to both be amazing dr's one day.

Some of John's hobbies would include, fishing, reading, traveling, cooking, and working out. Right now, he doesn't have a lot of time for stuff like this. He also loves animals. He would love to have a dog, but lives in an apartment right now and wants to wait to have a yard. He was raised in a wonderful Christian family and his faith is definitely an important role in his life. He loves the Lord and is hoping to serve Him better through his future career.

Ok, so I guess that is enough of details for now. Here are a few pictures. If you want to know more about John, just leave me a comment! Again, I can't tell you enough what a great guy John is! I also might add, he's pretty cute too! :) Thanks for stopping by!

John is on the left! They are identical twins!

Uncle John and Kinley!

Playgroup and Recipes

We are part of an awesome playgroup! We usually get together a few times a week. This is such a great group of kids and moms. Kinley and I always have a great time. On Tuesday we met up with Ashley & Addi and Sara & Lola at CFA for some lunch. My friend Trisha came too.

I let Kinley have a few licks of a ice cream cone. I pretty sure she really liked it.

Let me tell you, the people at this CFA were SOOO nice and friendly. They brought all of our food and drinks to the table for us. Lola dropped her passy on the floor and a lady brought a cup of super hot water to clean it off. We were asked at least 3 times if we needed refills and then they brought us 2 kid cones for free.

On Thursday we all went over to Leslie and Brilee's house. We had a great lunch of bbq chicken and pork, mac & cheese, baked potato salad and baked beans. Another great thing about our group is we have some awesome cooks! We always have great food. Leslie had a couple of kid pools and sprinklers set up and we tie dyed t-shirts too.

Tara and Ava, which are also our neighbors!

Sweet Hadley, she is always making us laugh!

The hostess, Leslie and Brilee.

Hollie teaching us how to fold our shirts to tie dye. Leslie looks like she is really concentrating! Ha! I think Hollie ended up folding most of our shirts for us. Thanks Hollie!

Spraying our shirts and cutie pie Lilly is right in the middle of the fun! :)

Autumn and Eliot.

Last night I took dinner to a sweet couple at our church that just had baby Jackson. Oh boy is he a cutie!! I made them smothered enchiladas and blackberry cobbler. I got both of the recipes out of my Southern Living cook book and they were wonderful. I kept half for our dinner since it made so much.

Smothered Enchiladas:

2lbs of ground beef ( I used lean ground turkey)

1 package of taco seasoning

1 4.5 oz can of chopped green chiles

2 cans of cream of chicken soup ( I used the healthy request)

1 16oz container of sour cream ( I used light)

8 (8-inch) flour tortillas

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese ( I used the monterey jack cheese with the hint of philly cream cheese)

Cook ground beef (or turkey) until done. Add taco seasoning ( and water that it says to add on back of package) and half of the chopped green chiles. Set aside

Stir together remaining green chiles, soups and sour cream. Pour half of the mixture into a lightly greased 13x9 baking dish. Spoon meat mixture evenly into flour tortillas, roll up and place seam side down over sour cream mixture. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over tortillas and top with cheese. Bake uncoverd at 350 for 25min or until bubbly and heated through.

Blackberry Cobbler:

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 (14 oz) bags frozen blackberries, unthawed

1/2 (15 oz) package refrigerated piecrusts

1 tablespoon sugar

vanilla ice cream (optional)

Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Gently stir in blackberries until sugar mixture is crumbly. Spoon fruit mixture into a lightly greased 11x7 baking dish. Cut piecrust into 1-inch-wide strips in a lattice design over blackberry mixture. Sprinkle top with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Bake at 425 for 45 minutes or until crust is golden and center is bubbly. Serve with ice cream.

These were so good and easy recipes!!

Our Weekend

We had a great weekend! Last weekend my sweet niece, Ashton came back to LR with us for the week. My sister came down Saturday morning for the weekend. We went down town to the Farmers Market. It was soooo HOT. We were all pretty miserable, but had a good time. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures. We ate at Flying Fish and it was so good. I cheated big time on my diet though and had fried catfish and fries. We just went back to our house and hung out in the cool for the rest of the day. Jared and I did go meet up with a few friends for the evening. We had a great time. My sister called me at 11 and Kinley woke up crying and she couldn't get her to quit, so we went home.

Sunday we got up and I made eggs and blueberry pancakes. My sister and Ashton left around 11:30. Ashton was so sad to leave. She is leaving next weekend to go to a Christian Camp for a month and she won't see us for 5 or 6 weeks. She is sad that she won't see Kinley for so long. She is SO good and sweet with Kinley. She was such a big help and we will definitely miss her!!! Kinley loves her so much!

I had a baby shower to go to that afternoon. Jared stayed home with Kinley. There are 5 pregnant girls in our small group at church and they are all pregnant with boys!!



This was Jared and Kinley before I left. So sweet. When I got home Kinley was in a different outfit and so was Jared. She had a major diaper and he said it got everywhere. He had to give her a bath. We went to US Pizza for dinner and then just hung out the rest of the evening.

We had fun taking a few pictures together!

Memorial Day

Over Memorial Day weekend my whole family and Jared's parents all went to a place called Har-ber Village in Jasper, OK for the afternoon. I wasn't too sure what to expect. I was told that it was an outdoor antique museum. It was the most interesting place and had some very unusual things. Everything there was either collected by Harvey and Bernice Jones or the items were donated by people from all over. We all had a good time. It was a hot very windy day, but nice to be outside.




Kinley and her Papa (my dad, if you couldn't tell :) )




There were over 150 exhibits and they were all in these cabin like buildings and everything was behind glass.



Kinley with her Uncle Brian and Uncle Brad, my brothers.



They had all sorts of old tractors. I'm not exactly sure what this crazy looking machine was. But I thought it was a little scary looking!



My two very favorite people! :)