Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken & Rice

My husband really likes pineapple. Simple Pineapple Chicken is one of our favorites. I usually make it in the slow cooker. Our old version is good and all but this new recipe I found from Jamie Cooks it Up is GOURMAZING! Ha, my sister Justine and I like to see how many times we can use the word GOURMAZING in our day to day life. My 4 year old now describes her food as DELISH or GOURMAZING!

I know I will make this many more times.

Serve over Coconut Rice!

Walking Chicken

Last night we had a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Violet loves chicken. One of her favorite foods. Well, she obviously hasn't put 2 and 2 together yet. Here was our dinner conversation...

Violet eyes the whole chicken that has not been cut yet. Guess she's never seen it that way before.

Violet~Eww, gross. That looks like a walking chicken! I don't want to eat that.

Me~You like chicken and have eaten this kind before.

Violet~Well, only big people eat walking chickens like on Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs.

I know I should have explained where chicken comes from. We have done that before and she just laughs like were kidding. It's all gross when you think about it and so I don't. Because I like chicken and hamburgers. She just turned 4. If she ever decides to become a vegetarian I will support her decision. I don't blame her, the chicken guy on that movie creeps me out too!

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom. Hope you had a wonderful day! Thanks for letting me do your makeup yesterday. It was fun and your beautiful. Love, Jillian

Meal Plan for the Week of July 25, 2011

Just finished creating my meal plan for the week. What a relief! Makes me feel so much better about how the week will go. Tonight I didn't have a plan and I thawed out some ground turkey. As I'm browning the turkey my 8 month old was in the jumperRoo. He was really fussy and was doing the "rescue me mommy" look. So, I was going back and forth entertaining the turkey and my baby ;) Then I noticed the turkey smelled funky and I threw it out. Was not gonna risk anyone getting sick! Was one of those days! Then I started over cooking a different meal.

1. Ham & Cheese Biscuits with hash browns and fruit.

2. Chicken Pesto French Bread Sandwich with side salad.

3. Caramel Apple Pork Chops, mashed potatoes and green beans.

4. Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos with black beans. I've been seeing these all over the interwebs, can't wait to try them!

5. Spicy Honey Chicken Thighs, corn on the cob and rolls.

Lunches will be leftovers or chicken salad with crackers. I'm also making a batch of babyfood for Zander..maybe summer squash with pasta.

I'm linking up with Organized Junkie!

Happy Birthday to the Husband and I

Yep, we share a birthday. This year we celebrated by spending a Sunday at my parent's house swimming and grilling. Well, my dad did the grilling. Then a couple days later we met Matt's family at Babe's for dinner.

My family on birthday dinner night. 7.19.11.

My mom made Paula Deen's Chocolate Sheet Cake. Yums.

I made an appetizer to take to their house. Pioneer Woman's French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms. You know what's funny? I hate mushrooms and will not eat them alone or sprinkled on stuff. But I will eat them stuffed with cheese!

Aunt Jordan with my bebe.

The Food~ toasted bread, smoked ribs, grilled chicken, cabbage salad, potato salad and my mom's famous deviled eggs! My family loves to cook.

I love this look on Zander's face!

Dominos kept Violet entertained for a while.

Aunt Justine having fun with Zander.

Cake & Ice Cream!

28 feels pretty good! I got some great gifts-a kindle, vintage porcelain angels (I collect them), gift card, sports bra, new wallet and money. Matt told me not to get him anything but I had to do something! So, I got him a shirt, sunglasses and beef jerky. I know beef jerky is a strange gift. I don't know why I always grab him some for his birthday and Christmas. He always laughs when he opens it but you know he eats it!

It's been a good birthday week!

Make Baby Food! Chicken, Rice & Peaches

Chicken, Rice & Peaches for Baby~recipe adapted from wholesomebabyfood.

You will need-

ice cube tray
1/4 cup white or brown rice
1/2 cup cooked boneless chicken-diced
1 ripe peach, take the skin off
1 T. apple prune juice
1 T. water

Save some of the chicken broth that you used to boil the chicken to thin out the puree if needed.

Throw it all in a bowl. Mix on HIGH with a hand held blender. (I love this blender and have used it many times!) Puree until you get a consistency suitable for your baby. Baby Zander only has 2 teeth so I made it a soup like texture.

Pour into an ice cube tray and freeze until solid. Then divide 3-4 cubes into baggies. Store in freezer. I grab a baggie every morning to thaw out in the fridge. It's ready to warm up at dinner time. Usually takes about 20 seconds.

Easy peasy and saves money!

Summer Bucket List

We made a list for the Summer. Violet and I had so much fun creating this together! Found the idea over at the blog Whatever. Lots of cute ideas there. Think this will become a family tradition in our house.

Most of the ideas I came up with and asked what she thought. She really wants to go fishing and go to a water park. I recently finished the book Deep Dish so one down, 2 to go! I should be able to get a lot of reading done on our drive to Port Aransas, can't wait.

Lovin' Summer!

ps. yes, I know most 5 year olds have better handwriting than me.

Weekly Meal Plan for July 11-17

Slow Cooker Chicken Tostadas with Mexican Rice.

Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken over Pasta with Garlic Bread. *family fav*

Pineapple Pork Chops with Sesame Noodles. (rolling over from last week)

Ground Turkey Mushroom Soft Tacos with baked fries.

Chicken Cordon Blue, mashed potatoes and salad.

breakfast- granola bars or waffles.

lunch- chicken tenders or BLT's

I'm linking up with the Organized Junkie!

Thrift Store Love

I love thrift stores! It has been forever since I've visited my local Goodwill. I went today looking to find a chair, wooden bench or hutch to paint. Milk Glass was on my mind as well. I want to find a hutch and paint it bright blue and fill it with milk glass.

What I came home with for 5 dollars~
a tiny lotus bowl for 1.00, now I have 2 of these.
milk glass bowl for 1.00, I love!
and a tall porcelain jug for 3.00

Think I will put my cooking utensils in here.

Flowers, candy, fruit! All looks pretty in milk glass.

Have you been thrifting lately? Tell me about it!

A Princess and Knight Party

We all had a great time at Violet's 4th birthday party! Everything was made by me, my mom and sister Jordan. The theme was very princessy. Can ya tell?! My girl loves PINK.

Here are the invites that Jordan created and I had printed at Walgreens up the street.

The 6 layer Princess Cake made by Mom. That was some work! Halfway through we joked that we should have given in and bought the Barbie head cake from Target.

But it turned out so pretty and tasted great! We copied this cake from a blog but I can't remember which one. Someone send me a link please!

Violet woke up to see a bounce house in the backyard. I'm not sure who had more fun in that..the kids or us big kids!

My mom made her outfit. We were inspired by this outfit from BellaGraceCreations.
The table all set up. I forgot to fix those falling streamers on the right. Mom sewed the streamers together to get a more frilly look.

I found the sweet pink polka dot fabric at Hobby Lobby 40% off.

The flowered up "4" was made using this tutorial from Prudent Baby. I couldn't wait to start this project. Very cheap to do and took less than an hour. The Princess Violet cake toppers were made by Jordan. That was one of Violet's favorites from the party.

Cupcake Push Pops!

Pink Lemonade and Tea.

Princess Pom Pom Wands. These were fun to make. I have leftover tulle maybe I will make a tutorial.

Glow in the Dark Swords found at Target. My mom made all the labels.

Candy Kabobs! These were a big hit. You can find them on Etsy. Jordan and my mom surprised us with them. They said the trick was to spray the sucker stick first with cooking spray before sliding on the candies to prevent a gooey mess.
We served lots of food. I didn't get pretty pics of it all but there was cheese & crackers, fruit, popcorn chicken, Ina's Chicken Salad, Spinach Artichoke Dip, Chips & Salsa, cookies and cake!

Thanks for stopping by to see Violet's party!

Violet is 4

Happy Birthday Violet !!

I thought it would be fun to interview her.

What's your favorite color? PINK
What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy that has 3 babies that go in a stroller with 3 seats.
What is your favorite thing about having a brother? holding him.
What is your favorite food? strawberries and watermelon.
Favorite song? Twinkle Little Star..that has been her favorite forever!

3 years, 11 months.

3rd birthday

2nd Birthday

1st Birthday

Brand New, July 7, 2007.

We are having a Princess-Knight Party this weekend. She is super excited about the bounce house! We love you Violet !

Weekly Meal Plan for July 4-10

Trying something new! I'm linking up with The Organizing Junkie to share my meal plan for the week. I've been meal planning for a while now. But this looks like a fun way to share my menu and get ideas from others.

I've planned out 5 dinners. This weekend is Violet's birthday party so I have a whole different menu for that as well. Then Sunday is our 2nd wedding anniversary. Thinking we will go out to eat or get take out.

I don't assign specific days to the meals because we just pick off the list what sounds good that day.

1. Giada's Orecchiette with Turkey Sausage Broccoli Rabe, side salad and rolls.

2. Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches with baked fries.

3. Tostadas made with leftover shredded beef with mexican rice.

4. Crock Pot Creamy Italian Chicken over rice with garlic bread.

5. Pineapple Pork Chops with Sesame Noodles.

Breakfast~ I made a large batch of breakfast burritos and froze in baggies to reheat. And bought a chocolate chip muffin mix to make.

Ready for this fun & busy week!

Jill