Mexican Rice Bowl

So my aunt and grandma have made this for two recent baby and wedding showers and I have loved it! It is a great dinner because the young kids love it, and so do the adults! I seriously ate so much that I got sick. I love mexican food so that might be why I lost self control. 

Anyway, it is supposed to be served over rice. At the showers, we did it rice-bowl style and we added whatever mix-ins we wanted (all the options are listed below). Mixing it with Fritos is actually amazing, and obviously the kids LOVED that. Guacamole and olives are my favorite mix-ins other than that. If you try this and hate it, don't tell me please. :) 

Ingredients: 

4 pounds cooked, cut up chicken

2 large onions, chopped

3 to 4 garlic cloves, crushed

3 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

2 (7-ounce) cans diced green chilies

3 (15 ½ -ounce) cans pinto beans, undrained

1 ½ Tablespoons oregano flakes

1 Tablespoon cumin

Juice of 3 limes (add just before serving)

Mix together and cook at 325 degrees in large roaster for 2 to 3 hours.  Squeeze lime juice into mixture just before serving.

Serve with:

Rice

Corn chips (Fritos=best)

Chopped tomatoes

Grated Cheddar Cheese

Guacamole

Sliced olives

Shredded lettuce

Sour cream

Salsa

Monster Cookies

These are my new favorite cookies.  They don't have any flour in them, just oats, and lots o' peanut butter-so Natalie they are gluten free!  Anyway, Will loves them too.  He really isn't a cookie eater, but he eats these like crazy, and so do I. :)  This makes a ton of cookies, so I just made them into balls and put them in the freezer for later.  They turned out great when I cooked them, and they are perfect for when I want cookies without the mess.  I put them on the cookie sheet frozen, and just added a min or two to the cooking time.  

Monster Cookies VI (from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon corn syrup * I didn't have this, so I just left it out.  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter *I also only added half the butter
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 4 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup candy-coated milk chocolate pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a very large bowl, beat the eggs.
3. Add the remaining ingredients in order, mixing well.
4. Use an ice cream scoop to put on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

I posted this on my blog... but I want your input too!

For the life of me, I canNOT decide on nursery colors. Well, to my defense, I did have a color scheme picked out but I cant seem to find a cute yellow crib sheet ANYWHERE.

What I have already bought/decided to do for nursery:

- White furniture

- No overall "theme"- like princess, frogs, dogs, etc

- I dislike most crib bedding so I am making my own bumper and skirt in the boring color of WHITE. Deal with it.

- I will add colored ribbon to the bumper for the ties, once I decide the nursery colors finally.

- I will use accent colors in pink and purple through out the nursery to make it more obvious that the room belongs to a baby girl. :) However, pink will NOT be a dominant color in here... why is baby pink the only color used to decorate for girls?

What I need to decide:

1)  Should I use tan or yellow as the secondary color to white? I originally was set on yellow and white as the main nursery colors, but I cant find a cute patterned yellow crib sheet.... I might just make one. I am, however, able to find several different options for cute tan crib sheets.

2)  I could use a plain yellow or plain white crib sheet if I really want yellow and dont want to make a crib sheet... would that be too.. white? See below pic, they added just yellow ribbon... hmmm

3)  We already have a tan glider for the nursery, so would that clash too much if I did yellow? Should I buy a new one to match?

Click here for examples of nurseries in yellow.

Click here for examples of nurseries in tan.

I couldn't get the pink to come out how I wanted... but you get the idea. 

Some input would be great!!!

NEED I SAY MORE...



Just a little more...I saw this in the store today, and there was no choice, I had to buy it. It wasn't even an option. It is sooooo good. I even took the time to take a picture to inspire all you good people to enjoy this amazingness with me.

Visit from Uncle Danny=frogs

I am alive

I finally did a post on my blog and will do one on here when I make something worth sharing I guess! :)

It's a Girl! Probably a big one. :)

So that is a picture taken on my phone... of a picture. So it is awful. They gave us a CD with over 60 photos of her, and I love them all. It was so awesome to see her moving and even swallow! She is a feisty one for sure, the lady kept apologizing for taking so long but it was because she was moving around so much! 

When we first found out we were pregnant, mathematically the due date would be January 19th. At the first ultrasound at 8 weeks, he said she was actually measuring to be due January 17th (so that is my official due date).  At the 19 weeks one, the lady said she is measuring to be due on the 15th. What is she eating in there?!?!? I asked my aunt who does fetal ultrasounds for a living and she said to go off of the initial ultrasound due date (so the 17th). She also said that if the baby measures to an earlier due date it is usually a sign that she will be a big baby. Not too surprising, I mean, my nick name for the first year of my life was "Slimer." Yep, I was tenderly named after the fat green ghost in Ghost Busters that just eats and drools. Looks like she might take after me- fat and hyper.  :)