pinwheels

Our lunch today was inspired by this pin on Pinterest.

I used crescent roll dough, rolled out smooth so there were no seams.

I used what we had on-hand...so instead of ham we had buffalo chicken deli slices.

And I am always looking for ways to sneak spinach into our diet so I added some baby spinach leaves too.

This was yummy!!!

The kids only ate one each, but if I cooked only to please our children we would live on ramen noodles and boxed mac & cheese.

There are so many combinations you could do with these! 

Ham & Swiss with arugula.

Roast Beef & Cheddar.

Bell peppers & provolone for the veg lovers.

YOU CHOOSE! :)

Pinwheels Your Way

(All of these ingredients are open to your own taste buds! Pick your favorites!)
1 can crescent rolls
6-8 slices deli meat
handful (or so) fresh baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup (or so) shredded cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Roll out the crescent roll dough with a rolling pin so it's smooth and thin. Put the deli meat over the dough in a thin single layer. Spread the spinach leaves over the meat in a thin layer. Sprinkle on the cheese, salt, and pepper. Roll everything together until you have formed a log, be sure to seal the edge. Using a pizza cutter, cut the log into slices. Bake 15 minutes or so, until the dough is browned and done in the middles.

two {christmasy} tidbits

Piper and Mama had a date Saturday.

We went to the matinee performance of The Nutcracker by the Fort Wayne Ballet.

This was Piper's first experience with a "real" ballet.

Apart from getting bored during intermission

and not understanding why Mama wouldn't take her to the lobby to 

buy her everything her little heart desired,

I think it was a hit!

This pin is one of the first I ever pinned...if not THE first.

So this year I was determined to try it.

In case you don't care to click the link...

these are tomato cages wrapped in lights.

I would like to add some more strands to the red one,

but at the moment all the stores in our little town are completely

sold out of red Christmas lights.
While I realize mine are not nearly as good as the original...
we like them!

merry happy greetings {'tis the season}

(I should probably mention we took inspiration for this pose from this Pin. Thank you Pinterest!)

it's not about the soap!

Have you read this article?

It might be old news to you. It was kind of all over the place the other day.
But it really really encouraged me on a day when I really needed to hear encouragement.
Sooo I want to share it just in case you missed it!

Here is my favorite part:

"There’s something deeper going on in family life than can ever be expressed on a social network. Whatever it is we feel we are lacking, can we collectively decide–as deliberate mothers–that we are not going to sit around feeling discouraged about all the things we’re not?

Can we remind each other that it is our uniqueness and love that our children long for? It is our voices. Our smiles. Our jiggly tummies. Of course we want to learn, improve, exercise, cook better, make our homes lovelier, and provide beautiful experiences for our children, but at the end of the day, our children don’t want a discouraged, stressed-out mom who is wishing she were someone else.

If you ever find yourself looking in the mirror at a woman who feels badly that she hasn’t yet made flower-shaped soap, please offer her this helpful reminder: “Your children want you!”"

via

I find myself wishing I were someone else far too often. Wishing I could be thinner, kinder, gentler, more creative, smarter, more Christlike, not so lazy. I fall into the trap of comparing myself with other women and always finding I come up short. But if I say something out loud, venting to Jason, and Mack hears me, he looks at me with this expression of being completely flabbergasted and says "MAMA! That is NOT true! You are the BEST Mama in the whole world!"

Do I need anything more than that?! Even more important, I am who God made me to be! I am not anything other than that! I believe when Mack corrects me, it's Jesus using him to remind me what is important. I have laid these insecurities and neurotic narcissistic behaviors at His feet so many times. I am seeing changes, slowly, I am growing. I wonder if I will be free of this on this side of Heaven?

me

not mine

Heather posted this as her response to one of my eleven questions and I can relate to it so much I just had to re-post it.

the green monster

I recently found Katie. She's adorable and I love reading her equally adorable posts. But when she made this post about a smoothie, I said, and I quote, "But that means getting out my blender (do I even HAVE a blender?!) and making a giant mess I will then have to clean up!"

Sweet, adorable Katie emailed me back and said "That's what dishwashers are for!". I chuckled at her cuteness and thought "She hasn't seen my 25 year old blender."

But her words of praise about that smoothie wouldn't go away. They kept nagging at me. And I added to them with thoughts like "You know, you would probably love that smoothie. And you eat too much McDonalds and not enough good stuff...what a perfect way for YOU, Cheeseburger McFriespants, to add some nutrition to your life."

I told Jason about the smoothie, expecting him to laugh along with me at how silly it would be to pull out that old clunker of a blender. But alas. No. When will I learn not to assume what goes on in that head of his?! His response was "Yeah! You should try it! Then I could use my Magic Bullet!"

Ohhh the Magic Bullet. That should have been a post all in itself but I believe the purchase was made in one of my blogging slumps. Here's a quick run-down:

Jason: I want the Magic Bullet and it's on sale at Kohl's and Geoff has a coupon.

Me: Yeah, great plan. It will get used as often as the food processor I thought we "needed". 
(I hope you can detect the sarcasm in that sentence)

Jason: I will use it ALL. THE. TIME. Look! You can make whipped cream and alfredo sauce in it!

Me: I can make whipped cream with my Kitchen Aide and my alfredo sauce ROCKS as it is! I don't need some silly contraption to whirl it around in!

I don't remember exactly how it happened but somehow he coerced me and we own a Magic Bullet. He made whipped cream in it. Once. And maybe a milkshake. Since then, it's been sitting in the cupboard above the stove...the very same cupboard that houses the 25 year old blender.  

Fast-forward to today and my whole purpose of this post...the Green Monster Smoothie...and the fact that THIS GIRL now uses the Magic Bullet every single day. Shhh...maybe he won't remember I never wanted the darn thing.

The author/creator/owner of the Green Monster is Kristin at Iowa Girl Eats and she calls it her "top secret diet weapon". You can see her post and her recipe HERE. I tweaked the recipe a bit since my Magic Bullet is smaller than a blender:

1T Peanut Butter - 90

1/4c vanilla yogurt - 47.5

1/2c 1% milk - 50.5

1/2 banana (frozen) - 50

raw, fresh, baby spinach leaves

(I do not know how much spinach I use...I just cram it in until I can't cram any more in)

238 calories!

I cut my bananas in half, slice them, and freeze them in saran wrap so every day I just grab a pouch and it's ready to go. The supplies you see in the top picture last two whole weeks of me having the Green Monster at least 5 days (that's 10 smoothies in 2 weeks!) for lunch.

I Magic Bullet that stuff until it's liquefied.  It is pure green deliciousness, I PROMISE. It feels like I'm eating dessert.  It tastes like a yummy peanut butter & banana milkshake.  And it fills me up! I don't eat again until supper (unless you count coffee and water). 

Spinach? What spinach?! Leave me alone while I have a milkshake for LUNCH!

President's Day

Piper & Jason engrossed with Pinterest...Mack engrossed with Lego Star Wars.  This is how we spent a bonus day at home (last Monday)...my favorite. Love. (Jason has asked me to be sure and explain he ONLY looks at food on Pinterest. Apparently that's manly and approved.)

Hot Corn Dip?!

I saw this floating around Pinterest and thought it looked like something the Bakers would thoroughly enjoy. Last night we had some friends over so I decided to try it out. It's wonderful!!

The original recipe can be found HERE. I cannot take any credit for this...not even for the picture! :)

Hot Corn Dip:

2 cups shredded chedder cheese

1 cup shredded Montery Jack

2 tbs chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced small

1 small can (4oz) diced green chilies, undrained

1/2 cup Mayo

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 11oz can of corn, drained

1 small tomato

2 tbs cilantro, chopped

2 tbs green onions, sliced thin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cheeses, chiptole and green peppers, mayo, garlic powder and corn together. Pour into an oven safe dish. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Top with diced tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.

I know "Hot Corn Dip" sounds really weird...but trust me, you'll love it! The kids ate it with forks like a side dish. HA

More Pinspiration

I really really love Pinterest. It has introduced me to so many new ideas, recipes, tips, tricks and fashion. The latest pinspiration is this Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili from Plain Chicken (incidentally, I've tried several of her recipes and have yet to be disappointed!) I digress. This chili is FABULOUS and will be a new staple in the Baker house.

The recipe:

1 can black beans
1 can corn, undrained
1 can Rotel, undrained
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
2 chicken breasts

Drain and rinse black beans. Place chicken at bottom of pot, then pour out whole can of corn (undrained), rotel, and black beans. Top with seasonings and ranch mix. Stir together. Place cream cheese on top. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir cream cheese into chili. Use 2 forks to shred chicken. Stir together and serve.

Could it BE any easier?! I think not.

And it was DELICIOUS. We had zero leftovers, so next time I will more than likely double the recipe. Yep. We like to eat...no surprise there! :)

We put a little cheese and crushed tortilla chips on top when we ate it. That's the only change to the original recipe I made. Seriously...TRY IT!

(Sorry for the horrible pictures. I didn't know where the camera was and I was too hungry to go searching for it so I just used my phone. I think you get the gist of it!)

Cookies!

My darn frosting separated! Boo! They're still cute...but they could have been prettier with frosting that wasn't all lumpy and runny and weird. (I got the reindeer idea from Pinterest!)

Beautiful artwork by the kids on their cookies!

Pinspired Again!

I kept seeing pictures of these little deep dish pizzas...but couldn't find a recipe. So I thought "I'll just wing it!" and I'll be darned if they didn't turn out pretty stinkin' yummy! :)

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas

1 pkg refrigerated pizza dough

pepperonis

tomato sauce

cheddar cheese

onion powder

garlic powder

Italian seasoning

olive oil

cooking spray

Preheat your oven to 450. Liberally spray your muffin pan with cooking spray. Unroll the pizza dough and cut in half, put half back in the fridge for another day. Lightly coat each side in olive oil. Sprinkle on seasonings, to your liking. Cut the dough into 12 squares. Push the squares into the muffin pan...you may want to stretch them out a bit with your fingers. Put a spoonful of tomato sauce on each crust. Top with 2 pepperonis and fill with cheese. Add another pepperoni to finish. Bake for 10-15 minutes (or longer...depending on how you like your crust). Enjoy!

(P.S. I may or may not continue the play on the word "Pinterest"...it depends on how nerdy I feel! ha!)

Pinspiration...

I have been bitten by the Pinterest bug. I realize I'm a late comer to this party...I'm ok with that! :) I just signed up yesterday and I. am. hooked.

This Christmas season, I have been pining for a new wreath for our front door. But I just put it aside, there are other things more important than wreaths! HOWEVER...Pinterest gave me inspiration to make my own! I love it! And so does my family!