Keep it coming!

This weather can keep it up, we are loving it! So much so that we played hooky last night from karate and story hour to spend more time outside:) after a delicious dinner, another perk of this nice weather. Jeramey made steak fajitas in the smoker along with his famous rice and my beans, made for a amazing dinner! Oh it was so good! Sorry no recipes here, secret family recipes, Jeramey hardly ever tells!

 Walks and bike rides, even early morning bike rides in the garage:)

 Daddy has been practicing with Jay to get her ready for tiny tots softball this summer!

 Yummy dinner!

 two goofy girls at Gma & Papa's after our walk

You can bet we will be outside as much as possible as long as this weather continues!

Sister's Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla's

I had got this recipe from my sister, fast and easy was what we needed last night and this was perfect! This would be great for a appetizer for a party or a game, so here's the recipe

Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla 

*this makes 3 large quesadilla 

package of large burrito size flour tortillas

large can of precooked chicken breast

3 cups of shredded cheese

can of rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies

2 teaspoon cumin

Heat the chicken in a skillet breaking up the chicken as you heat it, add rotel, I  only used 1/2 a can. Add as much as you like heat, I skipped the rotel in the girls' and used half a can in ours, that was the perfect heat for me, add the cumin and stir until the chicken is heated through. Take a tortilla and place on a hot griddle put down a layer of cheese, followed by the chicken mixture followed by more cheese on top of that and then place another tortilla topping it. heat for about 2-3 min or until it starts getting a nice crisp then flip doing the same to the other side. Cut, plate, top with your favorite's and enjoy:)

Updates

Yesterday Jeramey had his last chemo treatment for this round! He goes back tomorrow to get unhooked then he is done! Hopefully done for good, we go at the end of the month for a scan to check the progress then we will figure out where we go from here. I couldn't be more proud of him! He has done amazing!! So there will be some serious celebrating going on, he deserves it!Thank you all for your love and support we cant tell you how much it means to us, keep praying:)

So after a long day in Cleveland Daddy got the night to himself to rest without the craziness of his two favorite girls as I took Jaylee to karate and my Mom took Lex to story hour

Yesterday morning I put together a new recipe for dinner as I knew it would be a busy day. I have wanted to try it for a while now, this is my mom's recipe and I have to admit I really wasn't to thrilled about it, but Jeramey wanted to try it and my mom and sister love it. So I made it, gave it a try and was surprised it was really good. Normally i wouldn't even try things like that. This fed our family of 4 perfectly.

Mom's White Chicken Chili

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced

1 tablespoon oil

2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth

2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (if you like less kick, add just one can)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whipping cream

Fresh cilantro, for garnish 

DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan, saute  onion and garlic powder (or fresh garlic, if using) in oil . Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. This is especially good served with tortilla chips.

 This picture doesn't look the best but trust me it's good:)

Now onto those house updates, 2 weekends ago Jermaey was hunting all weekend and went to the Michigan so I was home basically the whole weekend just me and the girls.So what to do while the husbands away paint the kitchen and entry way of course:) I painted the cupboards got new knobs for them and painted the walls I love the look of it now, looks so warm and inviting.

This was before

 and now

 and here is the entry way before

now here after

So there you have the updates to the house, I may or may not be doing the green in the living room this weekend a little darker green:) I guess you'll have to wait and see!

Broccoli, Cheddar and Chicken tator tot casserole

If you need something quick and easy and more importantly kid approved, well at least my kid's approved you need to try this, Jeramey and I thought this was pretty yummy too!

2 small cans cream of chicken soup
2 small cans cheddar cheese soup
1 1/2 Cups milk
1 large bag of frozen broccoli
2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 bag tater tots, frozen
1/2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place soup and milk into a large bowl  Whisk until smooth . Stir in broccoli , chicken,  salt, pepper and garlic seasoning. Pour mixture into 11×7 inch baking dish that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. Top evenly with tater tots and cheese; bake for 20 minutes then cover with foil. Bake for an additional 15 minutes with dish uncovered with foil. Remove from oven and serve.
Enjoy!

Chicken Enchiladas,Karate & some good news

I made these the other night and just have to share this recipe, they where so good and pretty simple to make so if you want restaurant style enchiladas you have to try these. and the cilantro is a must, it makes this dish!

Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chile Sauce

1 medium onion, chopped fine

2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine- i didn't use this just because the girls where eating too

1 teaspoon canola oil

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 teaspoons sugar

1 15-oz can tomato sauce

1 cup water

1 large beefsteak tomato, seeded and chopped

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 large breasts)-i used a can of chicken

1 cup extra sharp white cheddar, shredded

1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro

12 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas

cooking spray

salt and ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine the onion, jalapeno, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and oil in a large saucepan. cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the onions and peppers have softened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar, and cook until fragrant, less than 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, and chopped tomato. Bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 5 minutes.

Nestle the chicken into the sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through (thickest part reaches 160 degrees), about 12-20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and set aside to cool.

Strain the sauce through a strainer into a medium bowl, pressing the onion mixture to extract as much liquid as possible. Transfer the onions to a large bowl and set aside. Season sauce with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to the onion mixture, and add 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce, 1 cup cheese, and the cilantro. Toss to combine.

Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with plastic wrap; Microwave on high until warm and pliable, 40-60 seconds. Spread the tortillas on a clean work surface, and spoon 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture evenly down the center of each. Tightly roll each tortilla and lay seam-side down in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.

Lightly spray the tops of the enchiladas with cooking spray. Place in the oven, uncovered, for about 7 minutes, or until the tortillas start to brown slightly (skip this step if you don't like the crunch).

Reduce heat to 400. Remove enchiladas and pour sauce evenly on top. Top with the remaining cheese. Cover dish with foil, and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until heated through.

Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese browns. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, additional cilantro, etc.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did:)

Last night I took Jaylee to karate, it was a test night for her 2nd stripe. She got her 2nd stripe and broke another board, after class I was telling her how proud i am of her and she said "mom I broke that board like a beast"! I about died, really where does she get this stuff. So one more stripe and she's onto the orange belt!

Now for the good news update. Jeramey had his 10th treatment yesterday and met with the doctor before treatment. Bryan hospital had finally sent the original CT scan that was done in May before treatment was started so Dr. Shepard could finally do a side by side comparison of the liver from the scan he did 2 months ago and the scan before treatment. He said that there is a lot more healthy liver now than from before we started! So that means the chemo is defiantly working and shrinking the spots in the liver! Best news we've had in a long time, I'm hoping after the 12th treatment that scan will show even more improvement, which i know it will, this husband of mine let me tell you he's a fighter and he WILL beat this! So that's our good report for the week, thank you all for your continued support and prayers that means so much more than we could ever tell you!

A little bit of everything kind of post

We had a busy night last night so this was the perfect meal to have. You can't beat throwing everything in a crockpot in the morning and not having to do anything else with it until your ready to eat!

Italian pot roast

1 English Roast
Fresh mushrooms
Carrots
Onions
Cherry tomatoes
1 packet of dry Italian dressing
1 packet of onion soup mix
14 oz beef broth
8 oz tomato sauce

Place all your veggies on the bottom of the crock pot

set the roast on top

then sprinkle the packets over the roast followed by the beef broth and then tomato sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours. I like to use the leftover liquid for a gravy over homemade mashed potatoes.

With a meal like this you have to have some sort of warm dessert to go with it so when I threw the roast together I peeled up some apples for crockpot applesauce, along with tasting amazing it gives the house a wonderful smell all day long, I love it! This is by far the easiest recipe ever for applesauce I make this quite often during the fall and winter, everyone loves it! So here's the recipe for that again.

Crockpot applesauce

5-6 apples pealed and cut
1/4 cup of apple juice
Lemon juice from one lemon, I just used the liquid lemon juice and guessed how much I though would be from one lemon.
4 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla

Place apples in the crock pot then just add all the other ingredients give it a quick stir and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

You can either leave them whole or mash them with a potato mashed depending how you like your applesauce. We like ours on the chunky side:)

We also had a big breakthrough yesterday, Jaylee learned to tie her shoes! She is so proud of her self!

As you can tell:)

 I had gotten her this board with shoes on it to help her learn and about 10-15 min of doing it with her she had it down!

When I was little I learned on something similar we had a wooden shoe with laces that my sister and I learned on, and I still remember it to this day, I wish my mom had held onto it so the girls could have used the same one.

Lex has also done great with the potty training, I think it's safe to say we are pretty much there:)

Potty in the living room Ipad and all, hey whatever works:)

We have a busy weekend ahead of ourselves, Friday night Jeramey and I are going out with one of his friends for the night, then on Saturday morning we are tearing out our driveway and sidewalk. We have been planning for this for about 2 years now, it needs to be repaired so badly. The downspouts under the concrete had broken years ago and have caused the concrete to fall and break. We have put it off as long as possible but if we don't get it fixed we will have some major problems with the foundation of our house. Jeramey insists on doing as much of the work as we can ourselves to make it as cheap as possible. Thank god we have some great friends and family who are willing to help out with the hard physical labor:) if Jeramey had his way he'd do it all himself. So the plan is to tear it out get it reformed and then repoured within the next week along with repairing the broken downspouts that caused the problem in the first place. So we will have a mess for a week or two. Here's a look at the current state of our driveway to give you a idea

After all that work Saturday morning we have my 10 year class reunion, so we are meeting some friends for dinner then headed to the reunion for the night. 10 years it seriously doesn't seem possible!
Sunday we plan to hopefully finish up the prep work for the driveway and at least relax a little before heading into the week. Then Tuesday we are off to Cleveland for treatment number 9! So busy busy we will be.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend:)

Pizza Casserole & Story Time!

Pizza Casserole

Ingredients:

1/2 bag of egg noodles

1 jar of sauce

2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

5 slices of swiss cheese

1 lb of hamburger

pepperoni

Brown the meat and drain.

Boil noodles until soft. Drain

Preheat the oven to to 350

Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a greased casserole dish

Second layer half of the noodles

Half of the meat

swiss cheese

half of the sauce

rest of the noodles

rest of the sauce

rest of the cheese

and then the pepperoni

It should look a little something like this..

Cover and bake for 30 min.

After 30 min uncover and bake for a additional 15 min

And there you have it

 Let it set for about 10-15 min before you cut into it so it doesn't fall apart, Enjoy:)

I have to throw this one in , here's out little cutie last night before her 1st night at story time.I was a little worried at how she would do but she was pretty good i think story time was a success well the first one anyways:)