Halloween Festivities

Over the weekend we went out to the pumpkin patch for trick or treating. D finally let me put his Wilson costume on him! He'd freak out every time I tried. He looked adorable, and only 1 person knew who he was supposed to be LOL. He did great using his manners, and I was super proud of him. He's not very fond of the candy (win for mommy!) unless it's chocolate.

We finally got around to doing a few Halloween crafts Monday while S took a day off from work, last night a local church had fall fest, so we took D in case they switch trick or treating to Friday due to predicted bad weather. We've got a wedding tomorrow night, so unless its over early we wouldn't be able to make it out. 

 I love this fabric so we got some to make a bag for his candy. We sewed up the sides and made a bag and then just used an embroidery hoop to hold the bag open, also creating a handle. It worked out well because he's not so good at holding the bag open just yet, and everyone commented on how cute and smart it was!

At the fall fest, D got to play some games, trunk or treat, and RIDE A PONY! He loved it, I thought for sure he'd freak out *he wouldn't pet the animals in the petting zoo* but he did great. He was excited to tell my parents about it last night.

This has to be the cutest donkey ever!

Unfortunately my van decided to bite the dust on the way home last night, so we get to spend our weekend trying to see if its worth fixing it or not. Our best friend is having a super small wedding tomorrow night and asked me to take pictures, so we've got a pretty busy weekend. 

Please remember to use caution when trick or treating this weekend. People in cars don't seem to pay much attention to children walking, and remember if your littles have allergies to look out for those TEAL PUMPKINS! 


                                            Have a safe and Happy Halloween! 
                                                            *Save some candy for me!!!*
                                                                             Kay

Lunch Date

Years ago, I worked on a food truck making wraps. I loved it. I have a history of working in  food establishments that made wraps and sandwiches, so I'm pretty good at rolling them up if I do say so myself!  My mom's best friend was in visiting from Texas this week, and requested Shrimp Wraps so I went over yesterday and made lunch for us.

A few weeks ago, my parents bought 50 lbs of shrimp and mom and I cleaned it all and put it all in the freezer to be able to use over the next few months. It took us all day to get it all cleaned and bagged up, and we ended up with 21 lbs of shrimp and many bags of shells for stock. 

I started with 2 lbs of shrimp, seasoned them up with some Cajun spice blend and sauteed them in a little olive oil. I also made a remoulade sauce, which is a french condiment normally served with seafood. I didn't measure anything for my sauce, you just taste as you go. I served this in a spinach wrap, I love the flavored wraps, they add an extra layer of flavor. 

We had lettuce, cherry tomatoes and avocado in our wraps as well. 

Remoulade : Mayo, Ketchup, Spicy Mustard, chives, green onions, and parsley and cayenne. Some people put horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, capers, hot sauce. It's a very simple and flavorful sauce. And that's saying something because I hate ketchup and mustard! 

J made us some yummy fruit salad to go with our wraps. Crushed Pineapple, sliced peaches, mandarin oranges, sliced strawberries and bananas. The "sauce" is peach pie filling. Top with whipped cream and it's so good. You can use any fruit you want.

Hurricane Patricia

Living in Southern Louisiana, we are all to familiar with hurricanes. While Patricia will not be a direct impact for us (I'm hearing it should be bringing some needed rain, but hopefully not too much) I was thinking about hurricane preparedness this morning while reading about it. Mexico is bracing for a VERY STRONG storm. It's the strongest storm ever recorded with winds over 200 mph. Definitely keep the people of Mexico in your thoughts as they ride this out.

Hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. Thankfully we haven't been impacted by anything major since Isaac in 2012. My family has never left for a hurricane, and hopefully we never have to. We aren't in what is considered a "flood zone", and we don't really get many tornados in these parts. Normally when a storm is coming, the stores run out of water, bread, gas and batteries. Power can be out for days (in horribly hit areas, WEEKS even.) It's very important to prepare because you just never really know how bad it will be.


Ready.gov  has tons of information on how to prepare for a storm. *It also gives tips on other natural disasters as well if you aren't in a hurricane prone area*. We live in an apartment complex, so with the exception of removing any items we may have on our balcony, we don't need to prepare the outside area of our home. However, its VERY important to secure things that could become projectiles. The wind with a hurricane can be unreal! *See comment above about TWO HUNDRED MILE AN HOUR WINDS!!!* This also means removing any tree limbs that aren't in good shape, they could fall on your house, car or get swept up in the wind. A generator is a great idea to be able to have a fan available, and keep your fridge going. Once the power goes out, you have no idea how long its out for, and you are likely to lose everything in your fridge/freezer if you don't prepare.

We are a few hours away from New Orleans, so Katrina didn't really get us like she did them. She was a devastating storm for that area, as they are already below sea level. There are still areas that haven't bounced back. Hurricanes are no joke, and you can't stop them. But you can prepare.


Thankfully our season is almost over, and we haven't had any storms. Mexico won't be that lucky this year. Here's hoping they are heading all the warnings they can and getting to saftey.


Stay safe! 

Kay

Crock on.

I love my crockpot. It's great during the summer, when you just really don't want the extra heat from the stove, or on busy (or lazy) days when you just won't have time to cook a meal for your family. There are so many things you can do in it, meals, stock, cake, bread, yogurt! 


I knew I'd be out of the house most of the day today, and while I can make this on the stove (or even the power cooker  *I'll try to post about the wonders of that thing another day!) in about 30 minutes, I knew I wasn't going to want to come home and mess with that at 5:30 with a toddler who didn't take a nap so I tossed this soup into the crockpot when I got up at let it cook on low for 9 hours. S got home before me and tossed a cornbread in the oven and dinner was done! 

This can be done in the crockpot (I've always done it on low all day) or on the stove in 30 minutes, or you can let it simmer longer than that to develop more flavors, like most soups, its not picky about how long it cooks for. The only real difference between stove and crockpot, besides being able to set and forget it is that on the stove, I brown off my chicken and onions. I tossed everything into the crockpot frozen. 

I started with frozen chicken breasts (you could totally use beef too), I tossed in about 7 or so (they weren't very big) because we love to freeze this and have leftovers. ***Due to the chipolte peppers the spice intensifies while frozen, you can omit them or cut back, use a less spicy pepper.* I chopped up 2 onions, and used frozen bell pepper because its what I had. I don't really normally measure these things. If I have fresh bell pepper sometimes I will char it, to add extra flavor. You can also roast your corn, but I just toss in frozen whole kernel corn. The heat level is up to your tastebuds. We like it SPICY, so I use a lot of chipolte peppers. 2 is usually plenty, but I'm a glutton for punishment. The first time I made this, I used half a can..and boy was it HOT. We ate it, and loved it but couldn't feel our tongues for a few days. Chicken broth, and tomato products plus some seasoning finish it up. 

At this point, you can really add in anything else you think would be good. My mom adds zucchini to hers (which is AWESOME) but S is allergic, so we omit it. Beans would be good as well.

Nothing ever really looks good when you first toss it in the crockpot...

We top our soup with shredded cheese, sour cream, green onions and tortilla chips. We didn't have any chips today so we just tossed together a cornbread to serve with it. 

Perfect for a cold night!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

chicken breasts (I'd say about a pound.), *normally I'd cut them into chunks, but I left them whole since they were frozen, and cut before serving*
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, either chared and diced or just diced 
1 tbsp minced garlic
1-2 chopped chipolte in adobo peppers  *remember these are SPICY* 
28 oz stewed tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce
3 cups chicken broth 
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
salt and pepper
corn ( I never measure and just use what looks like enough.) 

Toss this all in the crockpot on low for about 9 hours, or high for about 4.5. You can also cook it on the stove (brown chicken, and onions and toss everything else in the pan) for a minimum of 30 minutes. 

Top with sour cream, cheese, avocado, tortilla chips, raw onion. Serve with cornbread. 


                                                                       Enjoy! 
                                  Kay

My little brother got married today! Congrats to you guys (even tho I doubt either of you read this lol) I hope you have a long beautiful marriage. 

We ate great gumbo, chili and of course cake (well, cupcakes and cake). We took lots of pictures, danced a little and had great family time. I always love it when we are able to get the whole family together. We laugh and have so much fun. We may not always all agree on everything, but I think its safe to say we all agree our family is one of the most beautiful and important things to us. **I'm not comfortable posting a picture of all of us on here, but if you are on my fb page you will definitely see some there over the next few days.**

Right at the start of the wedding I noticed my vision seemed off,  I thought maybe it was just due to more eye makeup than I'm used to but I quickly realized at the start of the reception I was coming down with a migraine. I haven't had one in quiet a while, but I was in the kitchen getting D some dinner together and suddenly couldn't feel my arm. It was completely numb. And I was slurring my words a bit. Next my face started going numb, its such a SCARY feeling. I couldn't form a complete sentence when trying to tell my sister about our anniversary dinner last night, and felt off. Unfortunately, I've been getting migraines like this since I was 8 years old and fell off a swing resulting in a concussion but it doesn't change the fact that it's terrifying ever thing. I quickly got some ibuprofen and amazingly it worked pretty fast, I'm normally down for about 2 hours and need to sleep them off. I'm so glad I didn't miss their whole wedding!

 D realized about an hour into the reception that there was a little girl there around his age and quickly became friends with her. They were super cute together. They chased each other, and hugged and sat together. 

Welcome to the family officially M! 

Kay

Festivals and Pumpkins

My in-laws came in this last weekend for a visit. We had dinner together Friday night after they arrived, and Saturday we went to a local festival, and then took a trip to the local pumpkin patch. 

The festival was held at a park, so D got to go play for a bit, and of course we ATE. Crawfish Ettouffee Stuffed Potato, Beignets, Jambalaya. Delicious. There was Cajun music, and dancing. 

The local children's museum had a section set up for the kids to make a "washboard". D had a blast making one, and I think its a craft we could easily replicate at the house with friends.

Our pumpkin patch is set up at a church, and they have photo opportunities set up throughout for you to take pictures, so we got MIL to go with us, so she could take some family pictures. There are never any pictures of me, because I'm always taking them! We also picked up a pumpkin while we were there.

Last night I made Roasted Sweet Potato and Sausage "hash" to go along with some Chicken we grilled with Southwest Chipotle Seasoning, Edamame and some Mexican Corn Muffins I froze a few weeks ago for dinner.

Tonight we roasted a pumpkin, and I'm making Pumpkin Bisque, with Candied Bacon and Roasted pumpkin seeds, to go along with some Spicy/Sweet glazed Pork Sausage, S is making. Hopefully the soup turns out great and I can come back to share with you how I did it. 

                                          Hope you are having a great Monday!

                                                             Kay

There is no friend as loyal as a book - Ernest Hemingway

We spend a lot of time at our local library. I loved it as a little girl and D seems to enjoy it as well. They just recently spent a few years remodeling our main branch. We have been going to story time for a few months, and recently they have started a Toddler Time on Wednesday's. Story time, some songs/activities and then it becomes free play for about 30 minutes. D LOVES it. He constantly ask to go to "lotta books" as he calls it usually. They also have a pajama storytime (sometimes they allow your stuffed animals to spend the night, super cute!) and movie times. It's a great FREE resource for stay at home (or not!) parents. This is a great article from What to Expect about taking your little ones to the library.

I came across this article our local library shared on FB. 

Read more HERE

These are a bit advanced for D, but I love these for when he's older. 

This can be found HERE

We could maybe do this "bingo"game : 

I like the interview the librarian list too! 

Books about reading! I'll be requesting a few of these from our library over the next few weeks. We try to pick themes to read about as well as just whatever books D grabs himself.     

These are geared towards toddlers, but I'm sure you can find books for older children about reading too

                     

Go enjoy your library! 

Kay

Trick or Treat

Last year we took D (almost 1.5 at the time) trick or treating with some friends. We decided last minute to go, so we didn't have a costume. He was into Handy Manny at the time, so we just tossed on a pair of jeans, plaid shirt and a tool belt with a few toy hammers and called it a day. 

A few weeks ago, I found a Wilson (Chuggington) costume but D won't let me put it on him, so no clue what we will end up doing this year. We live on an end building of our apartment complex so no one can see any decorations so we don't put anything out, and no one trick or treats here so we will have to  go out someplace. A few neighborhoods around here do a whole trick or treat thing for the kids, so we may try to go to one of those. Our zoo also does a big Halloween party. I can't wait to be in a house so we can decorate and do it big!

Since I don't have any decorations of my own to share, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites I found from Pinterest. 

I just requested a few of these from the library to read to D. 

I absolutely love this. I think we may do this if I can find a decent white pumpkin. When I looked for pumpkins this weekend to carve with friends they were not in good shape at all. And I don't know that I've ever actually seen a white pumpkin at any of our grocery stores. Hoping to make a trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend and maybe find one there. 

This is beautiful! I've thought about letting D just paint on a pumpkin (obviously I can't give him a hair dryer LOL) 

This next project is just too ridiculously cute! We currently only have colored popsicle sticks, but I'm really thinking of doing this craft with D anyways! I think it will give it more character. 

Haunted House

These finger puppets go along with a book listed above

Time to pull out the felt and get to work making these! 

There are so many cute and tasty sounding treats on pinterest. I hope to make a few over the next couple of weeks as snacks for D. Eventually I hope to be able to have a small Halloween party and include some of these. 

                                            
                                                             Have a safe and Happy Halloween! 

                                                                             Kay

Cleaning with a toddler around is like raking leaves in a hurricane.

Housework is just that, WORK. Especially with a toddler tornado. It seems like as soon as I get one mess put away, there is another ready to be cleaned up. I used to clean houses for a living, it is so much easier to clean a house when you get paid for it.

D has some toys in his room, but he mainly plays in the living room. I pick up the toys a few times a day, but normally by late afternoon I'm tired of picking up the same mess so I leave it until after dinner. Some nights it gets put away where it all belongs, and other it gets thrown into the kiddie pool that has taken up residency in our living room (ball pit). I also keep a small basket in the living room to toss things that don't belong in the living room in. I feel like a play room is a MUST when we move. I want a room I can just shut the door to and ignore the mess if I need to. 

I've been working on small chores with D. He loves to help, and of course loves the praise he gets for doing something for someone. He has an obsession with dumping small trash cans, every time we go to my parents house he is always doing it for them. So we started doing it at home, he is responsible for dumping the bathroom trash. He also helps clean up his toys (usually). He also helps sort out his laundry into a basket.

This was  a good read 

Everyone has a different "method" or "schedule" they follow. I sort of just take care of whatever needs my attention first (or catches my eye first). Usually that's unloading the dishwasher or getting to any dishes that I may have neglected the night before.  I usually wait until after lunch to vacuum, because D is always having snacks out. I try to dust a few times a week (we have 3 cats so its usually pretty hairy in here). I never clean my house the same way. Some days it all gets done, other times it can be a few days between cleaning. I'm trying to get into a good routine (I can't do a strict schedule) but I really like keeping our lives very open and have the ability to just drop everything and go do something we want to do. We live in a small apartment, so its not like there is much to clean anyways. It only takes about 30 minutes to have the place picked up.

Tips and Tricks : *As I think of more I'll try to come back and update, these were just on the top of my head*

Coffee filters and isopropyl alcohol clean mirrors and windows with no streaks.

Place a cup of vinegar in your microwave, and run for 5 minutes. This makes all the grime wipe right off.

I toss my dish sponges into the dishwasher a few times a week. 

Meal Planning

I had posted on my other blog (which I still can't access!!) about meal planning and thought I'd post about it again since I lost my post. I thought I'd include some info about freezing and the things I make myself.  We are 2 adults, and a toddler so your amounts may be way different than ours. Sometimes my husband takes leftovers for work, or we make other meals from them or freeze for later use.

First off, let me say I am not always on top of my meal planning/budget. There are times when we just don't feel like sitting down and making a plan, or looking through the cabinets/freezer to find out what we already have. And our budget suffers from it. Meal planning really does save money. It also eliminates the "What's for dinner?" conversation. I'm also able to plan meals based on our budget. Some pay days, we are able to splurge at the grocery, sometimes we have to really budget carefully.


I keep a master list of our meals, which I'm always adding to (We try to incorporate at least 2 new recipes a month). It makes planning going much faster have a place to start from. We just sit down with our list and pick however many we need for that plan.

I used this printable

Some meals end up getting dropped because we just don't feel like eating it. Because we get paid every 2 weeks, we try to plan for at least 2 weeks. If we know we can budget more for groceries, sometimes we will plan or at least shop for a month. We pretty much buy the same things, just in bigger amounts. We don't plan a specific meal for specific days (with the exception of things that need my husbands attention ie : grilling. We do those on the weekends when he is off of work.)

We try to keep an inventory sheet of what's in our freezer/pantry (there are tons of printables available on pinterest). It helps when its time to make your grocery list, if you already know what you've got on hand. I keep a list on the fridge of what we are running low/out of, so I grab that as well when its time to sit down. Saves me the time and trouble of having to dig through everything.

We have started buying some of our meat in bulk at Sam's. We buy a 10 lb tube of ground meat, and portion into a few meals. We normally use 2 lbs to make a big batch of spaghetti, which we eat 1 meal out of (plus a lunch for S) and freeze the rest. 2 lbs go to taco meat. D (the toddler) is a huge taco meat fan, I make my own taco seasoning so I can control the spice and sodium level. After my taco meat is cooked, I lay it out flat on a cookie sheet and over with foil and freeze, this way it doesn't clump together. Once its frozen I  put it in a ziploc bag in the freezer and just pull out as little as I need for D's lunch or dinner. The rest of the ground beef is portioned into 1 lb rounds (we leave the plastic wrap on so we can freeze more than 1 round together).

We've been buying chicken breasts in bulk as well, and prepping it all before we freeze it. Some gets cut into strips, nuggets. Some may be pounded out for Chicken Cordon Bleu (that's actually dinner tonight). Or we just portion it and write on the bag that its for Grilled Chicken, or my lunch. If I know it's for a specific meal I can write on the bag so I'm not digging through the entire freezer trying to find the chicken portioned out for whatever meal. This last grocery trip we bought a 10 lb bag of leg quarters and took this past weekend to grill them all up. We seasoned 2 quarters a few different ways, and froze them for meals later. We can either pull them out, heat it up and just serve with a side (great for a busy day or when I'm sick and S has to take care of dinner after work) or we can shred it for salad, soup.

We also buy 1-2 Pork Loins at Sam's. We can usually get 7 meals from 1 loin (plus some small lunch portions for me and D), for 20ish bucks. We cut them up ourselves, pork chops, some we leave in small loins. Prep for scallopini, or cut into "stew meat" chunks. It is time consuming but saves alot of money.

I forgot to take pictures of all the other meat we portioned out. But this is the pork. 

I've recently been baking a little bit. I try to double the recipes so I can freeze whatever is left. Corn Muffins, breakfast muffins. We keep all our chicken bones and freeze them to make stock. I also make our yogurt (D is a huge yogurt fan) and turn some of it into cream cheese.

A few helpful links : Properly Freezing Produce and 11 things you should never freeze.

I'm sure I could come up with tons more to post about this, but this is already really long (sorry about that!). If you have and questions feel free to comment and I'd be glad to answer!


 Kay