Tasty Tuesday-Cornbread chicken pot pie

This is my special version of chicken pot pie that's a tried and true favorite with my husband. It brings a bit more southern taste into a traditional chicken and dough staple!

You'll need:

1 can Campbell's condensed cream of chicken soup

1 can whole kernel corn

2 cups canned chicken

1 cup frozen mixed veggies

1 package Jiffy corn muffin mix

3/4 cup of milk

1 egg

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Stir the soup, corn, chicken, and veggies in a 9-inch pie plate. Stir the muffin mix, milk and egg with a fork in a small separate bowl until mixed well then spoon over the chicken mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until cornbread is golden. Sprinkle with cheese before serving.

Do good with a click!

If you want a quick fix for your daily dose of feel-good, it can be as simple as clicking a button. The Greater Good Network has a few different click-to-donate sites to appeal to anyone's particular charity interests so I wanted to share the news with anyone who would be interested. Sponsors pay for the donations based on page hits, so it requires no money out of your own pocket and also only takes seconds of your time! I've included links to a few of my favorites below, but there are a whole host of other ways you can help from getting books to children who are learning to read to providing food for the hungry. Just click one of the links below to be directed to a page with all the different opportunities to give and pick your favorite. You can even set the website as your homepage so you remember to click every day! Easiest way ever to make a difference :)

Tasty Tuesday-Cheesy Smashed Cauliflower

The hubs and I recently dined at a local upscale southern restaurant that served this side dish. I loved it so much I asked for the recipe...and they happily obliged! So now I'm passing this delicious recipe on to you. Vegetables are great on their own, but they're even better mixed with cheese as you will soon taste.

You'll need:

1 head of cauliflower

2 oz. cream cheese

3/4 cup of sharp cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon pureed oven-roasted garlic (I just used garlic powder)

1 teaspoon unsalted butter (softened)

A dash of salt and pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower for 10 minutes until tender. Place the cauliflower in a bowl and mash with a potato masher or a mixer whisk. In another bowl, combine cream cheese, shredded cheese, garlic, salt and pepper, and butter. Pour the hot mashed cauliflower on top of the mixture and stir using a large spoon until cheeses are thoroughly melted. Serve immediately.

So I guess I'm a FlyBaby

I recently picked up a self-help-type organization book at a yard sale titled "Sink Reflections" by Marla Cilley (aka the FlyLady). It was published back in 2002 and apparently has a cult following in the online world, so I know I'm way behind in just now getting around to reading it. The writing style isn't great by any means, and there's a lot of "fluff" you have to read through to get to the actual important material, but I'd be lying if I said my house wasn't cleaner and more enjoyable because of this book. I've always been a perfectionist and that applies to doing household chores as well. I like things a certain way and I like to finish what I start or else it gives me a feeling of anxiousness. Well with working crazy hours at my full-time job and being busy with newly started side jobs I've discovered I don't have time to finish much of anything lately, especially when it comes to housework. So with that mindset of not wanting to start something until I could finish it fully, I ended up in a rut of not working on anything because I didn't have the time to complete a task to my liking. I found myself putting things off for a day when I'd have more time to focus my efforts on all the chores that needed to get done, but with a busy schedule like mine that day never came! I just ended up finding myself overwhelmed with how much stuff had accumulated on my to-do list and then I had no idea where to start. Cue the FlyLady. I learned from this book to let go of my urge to wait for the right timing so I could do everything perfectly and instead just work on doing something in whatever short amount of time I have, because even the tiniest bit of progress still gets me a step closer to having a beautiful, de-cluttered home. I'll now be carrying this way of thinking over to my remodeling and redecorating so that slowly but surely I'll have some more pictures to show off here of my completed projects. And that's good news for all of us!

For any of you who are struggling with balancing work and family time and housekeeping as well, I highly recommend checking out this book. Don't expect literary genius, but do expect some tips that can really help to get a good routine in place.

Tasty Thursday??

I'll be the first to admit I have been a horrible blogger lately. Life got a little hectic! We had company up this past week and I've also been working long hours in a co-worker's absence, so I missed posting my usual Tasty Tuesday recipe. Luckily for you all though, Thursdays happen to be just as tasty! In honor of my busy week, I'm posting a recipe for broccoli salad. It's a super quick and easy to prepare side dish that goes great with pretty much any meal.





You'll need:
4 cups broccoli florets
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups Italian dressing
Half of a red onion-chopped
10 strips of cooked bacon crumbled
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white sugar

Mix sugar, mayonnaise, and Italian dressing in a small bowl. Pour over broccoli florets and toss lightly. Top with cheese, onion, and bacon crumbles.

Yay awards!

A big thank you to Coley over at whatyoumakeit-coley.blogspot.com for honoring me with the Versatile Blogger Award :) Very exciting stuff! Her blog is fabulous and you should all definitely check it out. There's some great DIY stuff to be seen over there! Thanks again, Coley!

For these awards, the blogger must:
*Thank the person who gave the award and link back to their site

*Tell seven things about themselves

*Pass the award along to five newly discovered bloggers

*Contact those bloggers and let them know they've won the award

Soooo without further ado, here are seven things that you all don't know about me!

1. I'm an adrenaline junkie. I love bungee jumping, zorbing, zip lining, and traveling across the US to ride new rollercoasters. I've currently ridden over 80 and have plans to add to that list this summer.

2. I love to dance. I attended a dance school for 9 years and dabbled in jazz, hip-hop, tap, and burlesque. I also cheered for 8 years and so I now use those combined experiences to choreograph competition routines at the high school level. I had two teams place first this past February!

3. I'm obsessed with chewy Runts; especially the banana-flavored ones. I could eat my weight in those things! I stock up every time I'm at a gas station.

4. My husband and I met in seventh grade when his family relocated from Florida. We were best friends until tenth grade when he wrote me a letter confessing his feelings for me and asked me if I'd be his girlfriend. The rest is history!

5. I type super fast. When I was in college lecture classes I found it much easier to bring my laptop and type the notes the teachers were giving rather than try to write them out by hand. Over time I started picking up speed to the point where I could type as they were talking and still keep up with them. I now type 115 wpm.

6. I have a huge soft spot for animals. I'm a mommy to two rescue dogs and a bunny, and just finished training to be a foster parent to abused and special needs dogs. I'm going to be posting lots of pupper pictures in the upcoming weeks!

7. I'm a recycling nazi. I get on to DH if he doesn't recycle something and I've actually been known to sift through the trash to retrieve plastic bottles and such in order to get them into the proper bin.

Now here's five other blogs I'm passing this award on to that you should also check out:

1) mandeefofandee.blogspot.com

2) prettycitythings.blogspot.com

3) newlywedmcgees.blogspot.com

4) datesandquinces.com

5) goinghometoroost.com

Some of them are repeat winners but oh well! That just means they're really worthy of checking out :)

My resourceful little city

I absolutely love the city we've chosen to set roots in, and I find new reasons to love it every day. People here are very aware of their impact on the environment and try to find innovative ways to minimize any damage and get creative with their recycling. Here's 5 things I've learned in the short time I've lived here that make me appreciate my city and its efforts even more:

1. During a trim at a local salon I noticed a stylist was sweeping up hair clippings from the floor and stuffing them into bags. I thought it odd that she wouldn't just sweep them into a dustpan and dispose of them so out of curiosity I asked what she was doing. Turns out hair clippings can be recycled into absorbent mats that are used to soak up oil during spills, and this salon sends their clippings each week to support the cause. Who knew?!

2. One of the malls here is expanding and needed to clear out some land that was filled with brush and overgrown weeds. Normally one would rent some type of machinery for a project like this, but the developers decided to hire goats instead. Goats like to eat weeds anyway, and they will consume even more invasive plants like kudzu and bamboo. They're also better for the environment and leave behind free fertilizer!

3. There's an abundance of farmer's markets here and I haven't yet heard of a single locally-owned restaurant that doesn't get their food from these farms. It's great to see this because it stimulates the local economy, the food tastes better, and it reduces global warming by eliminating the need for transporting crops from hundreds of miles away.

4. Almost everything is considered reusable here. Even flowers donated from weddings, funerals, and other events are repurposed into arrangements by a local non-profit for patients in hospice care and nursing homes to enjoy. Such a better option than throwing them away!

5. Most cities have recycling services, that's nothing new. Here, though, they've found a way to recycle items that typically aren't accepted by local recycling companies. Number 5 plastics like butter and yogurt containers are usually not on the list of recyclables these companies are willing to accept, but there is an organization that uses the material from these containers to make toothbrushes. The city caught wind of this and have now set up various drop-off locations around the area so that these plastics can be shipped off rather than take up space in the landfill.

Tasty Tuesday-Oreo Truffles

I make these all the time for family gatherings, church functions, office parties, you name it. They are deliciously rich and super easy to make, which is a good thing considering once you let your friends taste these they will be begging you to make more!

You'll need:

1 8oz. package cream cheese

1 package regular Oreo cookies

1 24oz. package chocolate Almond Bark

1 6oz package Baker's white chocolate baking squares

Take oreos out of the package and place them into a large freezer bag and seal. Using a rolling pin, roll over cookies until they are finely crushed. Mix crushed oreos with cream cheese in a large bowl until no white color remains. Microwave the Almond Bark as per instructions. Shape oreo mixture into 1-inch balls and dip into the melted Almond Bark. Use a fork to roll the balls around and coat them entirely. Place the coated balls onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper and refrigerate for half an hour. After truffles have firmed, remove from refrigerator and melt the white chocolate per instructions. Use a fork to drizzle white chocolate over the truffles. Refrigerate for another half hour.

Caulking trick

Maybe it's just me, but I find caulking to be a little difficult. It should be easy in theory-squeeze it in a straight line, wet your finger, smear it, done-but I somehow end up getting too much on the wall and it looks messy to me. It could be the fact that I'm OCD and have a need to make everything down to even this little detail perfect haha But either way if anyone else is struggling with this or just wants a way to make the caulk lines look more clean and less gobbed I found a video that shows an easy way to get professional-looking results using painter's tape. It's a simple, genius solution that I would have never thought of!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TFqzLWdyUE

Tasty Tuesday-Baked Spasagna

If you love spaghetti and also love lasagna there's no reason to settle on one or the other when you can have both! The texture of this dish is great and the taste is phenomenal. It's also very easy to make it a vegetarian dish by eliminating the meat sauce.

You'll need:

1 1/2 lbs spaghetti noodles

2 lbs mozzarella cheese

8 ounces ricotta cheese

8 ounces sour cream

1 1/4 cup half and half

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 tablespoon basil

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

2 teaspoons of kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spaghetti noodles according to directions then rinse with cold water and drain. Place noodles in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl stir together ricotta, sour cream, half and half, mozzarella cheese, oregano, garlic, basil, salt, and half of your parmesan cheese. Add that mixture to the noodles and gently mix together with your hands. Rub a 9x13 glass baking dish with the olive oil to keep everything from sticking. Slowly pour spaghetti into dish and sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese on top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. After the spasagna has cooled, cut into squares and top with marinara sauce for a vegetarian option or your favorite meat sauce.

*Meat sauce recipe for those who want some inspiration!

You'll need:

1 lb ground beef

1 chopped onion

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 jar of tomato sauce

1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

Combine ground beef, onion, and garlic powder in a saucepan. Cook and stir until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain the grease. Stir diced tomatoes and tomato sauce into the pan. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste if needed. Simmer sauce for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.