Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Monday, May 4, 2015

Mexican Lime Chicken Soup

For Cinco de Mayo this year I wanted to do something different.  And easy, since it's a work night.  I made this soup the night before so we can just heat it up after work.  

I found the recipe on Pinterest here.  The only thing I changed was that I used 2 limes instead of one because I couldn't taste any lime with just one.  

If you love Mexican food flavors (like I do) than you will love this soup!  If you hate cilantro or cumin you better skip it :)



  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 2 stalks celery 
  • 1 medium jalapeno 
  • 4 cloves garlic 
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 1 can diced tomatoes w/chiles
  • 1 tsp oregano 
  • ½ Tbsp cumin 
  • 2 medium limes 
  • ½ bunch cilantro 
  • 1 medium avocado

Dice the onion, celery, and jalapeno (scrape the seeds out of the jalapeno before dicing). Mince the garlic. Cook the onion, celery, jalapeno, and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until tender.
Add the chicken breast, chicken broth, canned tomatoes with chiles, oregano, and cumin to the pot. Bring the whole pot up to a boil over high heat then reduce the heat to low, place a lid on top, and let simmer for one hour.
After simmering for an hour with a lid on, carefully remove the chicken breast from the pot and use two forks to shred the meat. Return the meat to the pot. Squeeze the juice of one lime into the soup. Get as much juice as possible from the lime by using a spoon to scrape the inside of the lime.
Rinse the cilantro and then roughly chop the leaves. Add to the pot, give it a quick stir, and serve. Dice the avocado and add a few chunks to each bowl.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Christmas 2014

Picking out our tree.


Two visits to Santa both resulting in this...



 Cookie decorating party at a friend's.


Our tree once it was decorated.


Waaaay too many presents.



The exterior of our house.




We hosted one of the family dinners that week.







And then we hosted Christmas morning breakfast.  
Blake and my grandma MiMi.


Taking a break in her car seat wearing her new boots and hanging with her new Elmo.


Me having a little rest after the chaos before the next family function.


Christmas night.






Checking out lights on Kyle's aunt's amazing street.  It was freezing so we got really bundled up.



Friday, December 19, 2014

Halloween 2014

Blake picking out the perfect pumpkin ;)


Our obligatory family pumpkin patch photo.



Us getting our "real" pumpkins at Pavillions after visiting the pumpkin patch.  Seriously, they were way cheaper and a lot better looking.


Blake's costume #1.  She was a doctor, in her official hospital scrubs and a head mirror that I whipped up, for the Main Street daytime trick or treating.


Then in the evening, both of us were bumble bees.  We passed out candy and waved to all the neighborhood kiddos.





Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds



  • 1 tbs butter
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
Toss pumpkin seeds in mixture and spread out on baking sheet.  Bake in 300 degree oven for about 50 minutes.


Saturday, June 14, 2014

Father's Day


What do you get for your Dad of the Year?
How about a cake made of ice cold beer...

This was one of the easiest craft gifts ever.  It took 30 beers, 3 cake rounds from Hobby Lobby, some ribbon, Washi tape, bakers twine, and 2 cake pop sticks.  Done and done.  Voila!



Thursday, December 26, 2013

Homemade Apple Butter

This year's Christmas craft is apple butter.  I was shocked at how many people didn't know what I was talking about when I told them I was making it.  I grew up on the stuff.  To clear things up if you don't know what it is...
1. No it is not apple flavored butter
2. It's like jam but apple and cinnamon flavored
3. You can use it on toast, for pb&j, on vanilla ice cream, in oatmeal.  The possibilities are endless.







  • 12 apples- peeled, cored, and sliced (an apple slicer makes this really easy)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp all spice
Step 1:  Throw everything in the crockpot on low and cook over night.  I let mine go until the apples were really soft and falling apart.  I left it on low all night and most of the next day.  
Step 2:  Crack the lid or remove it and turn crockpot up to high to cook off the water and thicken it up.
Step 3:  Put in blender and blend until smooth.


Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas Candy



It's that time of year again.  I'm making holiday English Toffee for gifts.  This year I used walnuts instead of almonds because they came already chopped at Target so it saved me a step :)
My recipe is here.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

DIY Mug Cozy

I have been seeing these mug cozies everywhere.  They are so wintery and cute for a cup of hot cocoa.  I was at Hobby Lobby the other day and came across a long garland of cable knit sweater material.  I wrapped it around a cheap plain mug and secured it with some holly berries on wire.  I would have done buttons but I didn't have any and I didn't want to have to sew anything.  If you can't find the sweater material at a craft store, you could always cut up an old sweater. 
Reduce, Recycle, Reuse ;)


My inspiration
My version.  Not too bad for a 5 minute craft :)

Sunday, March 17, 2013

St. Patrick's Day



I’ve traded in green beer for green whole wheat pancakes. 

My how things have changed J