What's for Dinner?- Taco Fajita Crockpot

Yesterday was a busy day.  There was school to teach, a house to clean, meals to make and company coming over.  That was all piled up on top of very little sleep because a certain little baby decided she didn't want to sleep, nor did she want to be awake.

I wanted something easy to throw into the crock pot that would make dinner super easy.  I looked around to see what I had on hand and just dumped it all in.

Taco Fajita Crock Pot Recipe

3 Chicken Breasts
1 can diced tomatoes
1 bag frozen corn
1 bag diced onions and 3 peppers (frozen)
1 package taco seasoning
1/2 cup of water.

Just dump everything in and cook on low for 6-7 hours.  Shred chicken and service over rice with shredded cheese.  You can add sour cream if you like as well.

It was delicious and baby approved!

Book Review: Wither

What would you do in a world where everyone only lived until they were 20 years old?

Seems like such a short life.  A life that can't be lived fully right?

This is how the world is in Lauren DeStefano's novel Wither.  Girls live until 20 and boys 25.  There are one set of people that were lucku enough to live past this age.  They are known as the first generation and they are well into their 70's now.  But every generation sense has died by 20 or 25.

But this story is about Rhine and what happens to her as she waits for certain death.  She is sixteen years old and kidnapped away from her twin brother and forced to marry a man she has never met and far away from home.  He also marries two others when he weds Rhine.

All Rhine wants is to run away.  She wants to find away to escape this life that she has been forced into.  But there were many things that she did not plan on, becoming friends with her sister wives or falling for one of the household servants.

Wither is part of a trilogy and I honestly don't thing I will venture beyond this first book.  There were times that the story was beautifully written and kept my interest.  It started off so well. It caught attention and made me want to keep reading, but then suddenly it slowed down.  It was like reading the same thing over and over page after page with no change or progression in the story.  And then it abruptly ends.  I know this is to make you want to move on to the next book but for me, I have no desire to see how the story ends.  It will be forever left as a simple cliffhanger.

I do recommend this book for teenagers.  It is a perfect young adult novel.  I think I may just be too old for this trilogy.  Oh the joys of 31.

What's for Dinner?- Oven Fried Chicken Drumsticks

The other night I make some chicken drumstick goodness.

We were getting ready for the Super Bowl and we had planned on having sandwiches and chips.  A really easy night.  But Michael was in the mood for a little something more.  He wanted at least something to be hot.

So, it's Pinterest to the rescue!  I found this recipe at foodloverr.com

I changed it up a bit but the end result was marvelous!

For my seasonings I used garlic salt, cajon seasoning, oregano and pepper.  Loaded that up with some flour in a freezer bag.  I threw the drumsticks in a shook it all together.  Put some butter in a couple of 9X13 dishes and put in all in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.  I flipped them and cooked for another 30 minutes (they were really big drumsticks) and flipped one more time for 10 minutes.

The end result was delicious, moist chicken drumsticks that added just what we needed to watch some football!

What a sad blurry picture.  It was a last minute after thought to take a quick picture.

Michael approved!

What's for Dinner?- Creamy Marinara Chicken Pasta Pasta

I love when I can make a meal on a whim that feeds a large group. Our kids had friends over the other night and it added three extra mouths at the dinner table.  After searching my cabinets to try to find something yummy for all of us to eat I finally decided to try my hand at my own concoction.

I had read on other blogs on how mixing alfredo sauce and marinara makes an easy creamy sauce.  So that's when my mind started working.

First I chopped up 4 chicken breasts and sauteed it in a little oil with salt and garlic.

While the chicken was going I boiled some pasta.

After the chicken was cooked through and the noodles were drained I added two cans diced tomatoes, one package frozen spinach, thawed, 1 jar alfredo sauce and 1 jar marinara all into a 9X13 dish that was lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  I cooked it in an oven on 350 until bubbly, about 45 minutes.

I then served it up and topped with a little shredded cheese.

And you know it's good when the baby gobbles it all down and asks for more. 

It was a hit and left tons of left overs even though we were feeding 8.  The leftovers were awesome as well.

Recipe

1 lb pasta

4 chicken breasts, chopped

garlic and salt

1 package frozen spinach

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1 jar alfredo sauce

1 jar marinara sauce

shredded cheese, as desired.

Book Review: Legend

Another distopian novel.  Big surprise here, huh?  But really, it's just most the most fun subject to read right now.  I love seeing different authors take on when society will break down.  Kind of creepy, right?

Well, let's get down to business (cue Mulan...)

Legend by Marie Lu started off slow but quickly became a page turner for me.  The story is told from the views of Day and June.  Day if a criminal from the wrong side of the tracks.  His family thinks he is dead and he is doing his best to hide while still taking care of them.  The Republic is after him but they also know nothing about him other than they want to make an example out of his unruliness.

June, in the Republic's opinion is practically perfect.  Perfect test scores and athletic.  She is smart and crafty. She is sent to find Day after the death of her brother, the last relative that she has.  She quickly succeeds.

This is a book that shows a governments need to control their citizens.  What it will do to keep its people in line and what they do to those who defy the system.

I enjoyed reading it.  The story was interesting and makes me want to move on the the next book in the trilogy.

2014 Goals

I've been thinking long and hard about some goals that I want for myself for this year and I've come up with a list of 31 long and short term goals for myself.

Why 31?  Well, that's how old I am.  I figured 31 goals for my 31st year would be a good starting off point.

I'm pretty excited about them.  Some of them can't be done without first doing others.  I think that I haven't gone too crazy with them and they are not completely out of reach.  I'm even going incorporate some rewards for some of the goals to keep me motivated to complete them before the end of the year.

So here they are:

1. Lose 10 lbs.
2. Lose 25 lbs.
3. Lose 50 lbs.
4. Run for 1 minute without stopping.
5. Run for 2 minutes.
6. Run for 5 minutes
7. Run 1/2 without stopping
8. Run 1 mile without stopping
9. Complete a 5k.
10. Read 10 books
11. Read 20 books
12. Do 30 Day Shred level 1 without stopping.
13. Do 30 Day Shred level 2.
14. Do 30 Day Shred level 3.
15. Drink 100 oz of water in one day.
16. 100oz of water a day for 7 days in a row.
17. Write a poem
18. Write a short story
19. Knit a blanket
20. Make a quilt for Sidda
21. Make a quilt for MJ
22. Make a quilt for Anya
23. Make 5 aprons
24. Make 10 aprons
25. Try 1 new recipe
26. Try 10 new recipes
27. Do P90X at least once.
28. Memorize 10 Bible verses
29. Complete 52 week savings challenge.
30. Walk 5000 steps in one day.
31. Walk 10,000 steps in one day.

So there they are... 31 goals.  Now for my reasoning behind my goals and my rewards for myself (with hopefully the participation of Michael, since I haven't talked about this with him yet.).

Lose the weight.  This one is for obvious reasons.  Let's get the weight off.  50 lbs for the big goal for the year is reasonable I think.  Of course I would love it to be more but let start with the 10 and move on from there.  When I reach the 50 lbs lost mark I will get to buy myself a new outfit.  Since I'm always the last one to get new clothes in the house, this is a pretty big deal to me.  It's always nice to feel pretty in something new.

Running goals.... I have no endurance anymore.  I'm surprised at this point that I ever did.  But I've never, ever, ever have had endurance when it comes to running.  I've always hated it, but it is so good for you.  There is a pretty good chance that I can already run 1 minute without stopping.  When I get on the treadmill I usually run 30-45 seconds.  I could push myself in to running for that extra 15 seconds.  I just gotta get out of my own head.  When I can run 5 minutes without stopping I'm going to get 2 hours of kid free time.  To just be alone and do whatever I want.  When I can run 1 mile I get a coffee date with Michael, kid free.  We will need to find a babysitter for a couple of hours.

Read!  I love to read but I just haven't been making it happen for about the year or so.  Basically since I was pregnant with Anya I lost all concentration and focus.  I want it back.  I will read!  It's going to happen.  When I read 20 books, I get to buy a new one.  I mainly use the library so I rarely buy myself new books anymore.

For each level of 30 Day Shred that I can do without stopping I will get to get a new nail polish.  Mine are super old and I need new ones.

Drink 100 oz of water!  This is huge because there are days that I swear I don't drink a single drop of liquid, only to sit down at night to guzzle down tons of water.  This is not cool.  I'm sure that I'm super dehydrated.  If I can do it for 7 days in a row I will get a cool water bottle to encourage me to keep it up!

Write...  I used to love writing stories and poems and feel like it has just ran away from me.  I don't really have a reward for this but I would love to still do it.

Make stuff... I have some craftiness in me but it has been put to the side with all these kids running around.  I want to get back to it.  Also, I have made stuff for just about everyone in our family except for my kids.  That is just rude of me.  I want to make quilts for my kids this year.  Every quilt I finish will come with a parent child date night.  One for each kid, one date for each kid.  That will be fun!

Let's cook!  I love to cook, but some days it can be exhausting!  I will try 10 new recipes and then Michael can cook dinner for a night! (Come on, Michael!)

Complete the 52 week savings challenge.  This one will be fun!  I think the savings is prize for itself.

When I walk 10,000 steps in 1 day I will get a pedicure.  Perfect!

So, there you go.  And here I go!  You can keep up with my goals and progress here.

Book Review: The Walking Dead- Compendium One

Michael finally got me to start watching The Walking Dead with him.  The show is interesting and dramatic.  It has you hooked the minute you begin watching.

Well, since we've been watching it I decided to get Michael the comic for Christmas.  But instead of buying each one individually I went ahead and got The Walking Dead: Compendium One. It has issues 1-48 of the comic in it.

Michael sped through it and almost didn't put it down.  I can't remember the last time he read something so fast.  So I thought that I would give it a read.....

And let me tell you.....

source

I couldn't put it down either.  It just sucks you in.  There are some parts that I absolutely HATED seeing.  There are somethings I could have gone my whole life without ever thinking about.  But at the same time it was just fascinating.

Personally, I like the TV show better.  It's way mild in comparison to the comic.  Much more my speed.  But if you enjoy the show and want to get a taste of the original, pick it up and give it a shot.

Be warned, it is GRAPHIC and INTENSE.  And do not bother getting attached to anyone.  No one is safe.  Even if you've seen the show.... even if you think you know... don't get to like ANYONE.  You'll thank me for it.