A little of this, a little of that....

1/2 of a real party...

Finley was 6 months old last Friday, June 24th. Jim and I wanted to celebrate her little milestone with a family get together (her little half birthday party was at half past five).

She took a nap Friday afternoon, but was still a little tired for the party.

I made her a 1/2 birthday party hat, but everytime I tried to put it on her head, she threw a fit. I think the elastic maybe pinched her skin.  I tried to just sit it on her little head, but she still wasn't having any of it.

With her Auntie Deb...

With her cousin Kendall...

I didn't have a birthday cake for Finley, but everyone got to see how much she loved Bananas...

Kadin and Henry had some fun with Sidewalk Chalk. Kadin was testing his new "Catch-A-Toddler-In-A-Chalk-Circle" trap....

It worked!

I had every intention of getting Finley's picture with everyone, but she tuckered out before I could.

I had lots of fun planning the menu and getting everything ready (I love to entertain!).

For Finley's half birthday party, we had: half Sub Sandwiches, Chips & Dip, Baked Beans, Macaroni Salad, Smoked Salmon Dip with Everything Bagel pretzels, Greek Dip (hummus, cucumbers, feta cheese and sliced black olives) with Pita Chips. Special thanks to Felicia for serving the Smoked Salmon Dip/Everything Bagel pretzels and the Greek Dip/Pita Chips at our scrapbook weekend- I loved your snacks so much, I served them at this party!

I also served Antipasta Skewers (I got this idea from Pinterest):

 

These are super easy: cook a package of refrigerated tortellini. Once the tortellini are cooled, skewer them along with black and/or green olives, cherry tomatoes, marinated artichokes, salami, pepperoni, and fresh mozzarella balls. Then pour Italian dressing over the skewers and refrigerate until ready to serve!

I also found a way to get more use out of my cupcake stand...

 

I served the Veggie Cups with Bacon Dip and Avocado Ranch Dip (another new recipe I found on Pinterest!). I liked the Veggie Cups because you could spoon the dip right into the cup on top of the veggies!

For desserts, we enjoyed round Brownies (I cut Brownies with a circle cookie cutter), Lemon Cheesecake cheeseball with Cinnamon & Honey pretzels, and Ice Cream. We washed it all down with Mango Margaritas, Summer Shandy beer, Long Island Iced Tea and Peach White Tea. 

I wanted to take more photos of the food, but things always get hectic at a party! 

Special thanks to Finley's biggest fans for being at the party: Nonni, Pap, Auntie Lisa, Ed, Kendall, Brett, Auntie Deb, Jack, Auntie Chris, Kadin, Brandon, Grandma, Granny, Leslie and Henry.

I think the party was a success, and perfect practice for her BIG party in six more months!

Salsa Chicken...

Yesterday I made one of our favorite dinners- Salsa Chicken. The recipe is as easy as pie... 

Pour a jar of salsa over some chicken (I use three trimmed/boneless,/skinless chicken breasts) and bake (covered) at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover chicken and top with shredded Pepper Jack cheese. Bake (uncovered) for another 20-30 minutes until cheese is nice melty.

I recommend Tostitos salsa...

I actually use the Restaurant Style, not the chunky, but any salsa will work!

As the salsa bakes, it combines with some of the cheese and makes one tasty (T-A-S-T-Y) and flavorful dish. The extra sauce is perfect to layer atop make-your-own Chipotle Cilantro & Lime Rice. Click here for the recipe!

(Not a bad photo, eh? I broke out my speedlight!)

I also serve refried beans and add a dollop (or two) of sour cream. We usually have homemade guac, but my avocados went bad!

Crunchy Biscuit Chicken Casserole...

I made this for dinner last week and wanted to share the recipe. I'll take a picture the next time I make it so you can see how yummy it looks!

This casserole is pretty easy to make, but there's a lot of ingredients you'll need.

CRUNCHY BISCUIT CHICKEN CASSEROLE:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts 

2 cans Cream of Chicken soup

1 can green beans, drained

About 1 cup celery, chopped/sliced into small pieces

About 1 cup matchstick carrots

2 packs of sliced Portobello mushrooms

About 2 cups chicken broth

About 1 cup onion (I use red onion), cut into small pieces

1 can refrigerated biscuits (I use the Pillsbury Original)

1 pkg. of shredded cheddar cheese

1 pkg. cheese flavor croutons, crushed

Olive Oil (EVOO)

Pepper

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

 

Before you start to make this recipe, make sure you have a HUGE baking dish. You'll need one at least 3" deep. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the chicken breast into small cubes. Cook the cubed chicken with some EVOO and pepper in a skillet (use the biggest skillet you have). I omit salt, because the sodium from the condensed soup seems to be enough for the end product.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove from pan. In the same pan, cook the celery, carrots, mushrooms and onion. If you need some additional liquid, add a little EVOO to the pan, or a few tablespoons of the chicken broth. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the cooked cubed chicken back in the skillet. Add the chicken broth and mix together. Add the two cans of Cream of Chicken soup and mix again. Add the can of drained green beans and mix again. This is your casserole 'filling'.

Pour all of your filling to your baking dish. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the filling. Next, open the can of biscuits. Flatten each biscuit with your hands and place all of the biscuits on top of the cheese. Use the melted butter to coat each biscuit. Next, sprinkle the crushed croutons on top of the biscuits (I usually end up sprinkling the crushed croutons over the entire dish, not just the biscuits).

Put your dish into the oven (you'll get an arm workout here... at this point the casserole feels like it weighs ten pounds!). Bake for about 25 minutes.

The nice thing about this recipe is how easy it is to adapt to your own family's taste. You can substitute any of the vegetables, or even add more vegetables (like a can of corn).  I got this recipe from the Pillsbury website, but have adapted it drastically! I've also served this casserole with mashed potatoes, but usually this dish is enough by itself. Enjoy!

Herb Braised Carrots...

I used my freshly snipped rosemary and sage in tonight's dinner. I made Herb Braised Carrots. I always make these along with meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Here's the recipe...

You'll need:

10 carrots, peeled and cut into 2" pieces on a diagonal

1 cup chicken stock

2 stalks rosemary

6 sage leaves, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon sugar

salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

1. Place all ingredients except salt and pepper in a saucepan over low heat.

2. Cover and cook until tender, about 25 minutes. Check for doneness by piercing with a knife or skewer.

3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Discard rosemary stems before serving.

Enjoy!

Valentines Day 2010...

We didn't make any big plans for Valentines Day...since the anniversary of when we first met is also in February, we think that's more romantic than Valentines Day. I did put up some decorations- a couple of my Valentines Day shadowboxes for the mantle and then some red tulips in a cute red metal vase.

We did decide last minute that we should at least buy each other a Valentine's card. We headed out on Valentines Day to have a traditional Sunday-morning Panera breakfast and then to Target. Once we got home, we realized the cashier had put our Valentines Day cards aside to scan later, but never did. So we ended up saving $6 and just told each other Happy Valentines Day instead.

We also bought two red plates and two red glasses at Target. I planned on making dinner rather than going out to a restaurant.  We opened a bottle of our favorite Hogue wine and had one tasty dinner.

I made Crab Crepes Mornay...

Filling:

16 oz. crab

6 oz. cream cheese

4 tbsp. sour cream

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

4 tbsp. sherry

Mornay Sauce:

2 tbsp. flour

2 tbsp. butter

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

1/4 c. grated Swiss cheese (I used Gruyere)

1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese (I added about 1/4 cup more)

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

12 crepes (I bought the prepackaged ones, there's no way I was going to try to make crepes)

In a saucepan, soften cream cheese over low heat. Add crab, sour cream, garlic salt and sherry. Blend well. Remove from heat. Melt butter and stir in flour until well blended. Add the rest of the ingredients (I also added 2 cups of fresh spinach to the sauce mixture). Assemble crepes by putting a 1/3 cup of filling in the center of each crepe. Roll and place seam side down on serving platter. Spoon heated sauce over each crepe.

I spread the filling on half of the open crepe and then folded into quarters (I didn't roll them). I also added sauteed mushrooms and diced tomatoes on top of the crepes.  The crepes were tasty, but very rich.

Hope your Valentines Day was filled with love and laughter!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Flax Seed...

I made a batch of these recently...

 

They were really good and not too sweet (wait, did I just say that!?).  I found the recipe from Rose Petal Betty's website.  Go here if you want to get the recipe and make a batch for yourself!