When your turning 4

C is turning 4 this month....Last week, right after we ripped into piles of presents from Santa, I started brainstorming a party for him.  Sadly, because his birthday is right after Christmas, the budget for a party for him is nil.  I am a retired crafter, but I usually try to do something for his party!
So, after brainstorming, I walked into my basement and it hit me!  C loves Lego's, we own one million of the little boogers and I had my party idea! I will be turning MY house, into "Lego City".
Thankfully, one of my BFF is crafty in a photoshop kind of way and I called her first.  She happily agreed to make his invites!  Easy!  She gave me some instructions, I gave her in the info and within 24 hours, the invites were complete and sent to Walgreens to be printed!  Then I started with my lists for decorations, games, cake etc!  All will be done by ME...and I am NOT A BAKER!  Thanks to other Blogs and websites I was given the encouragement I needed to pull this off. 
Another BFF found  this

and is sending it for the favor bags!  LEGO CANDY!  WOW! I need to get out more!
I found online this LEGO font and after I played with it enough I made coloring sheets, all the letters I will need to make a Happy Birthday banner, and other things I will need to print out for the cake, the door decorations etc.  This was a good find!
Then I found this Lego Cake and totally knew I could do that with a couple of boxes of cake mix, some frosting, some food coloring and some cupcakes! See, I am getting this done! :)
Sure, there is more to be done, and I will track my progress for you, but for now I am feeling good on the list I have made.  The next couple of evenings I will be cutting out lots of letters for the banner to make next week.  Stay tuned.....

Meal Plans

So each month, I take 1 - 2 hours to attempt making a healthy and yummy meal plan for this family.  It is hard since J & C tend to request chicken nuggets 7 days a week, but I try none the less. I get giddy when I find new recipes in my cookbooks or online. I love to try new meals out on our family (or really on M) and get his thoughts.  With each new dinner I mark it as good (and will cook again) or bad and never look at it again.  I have a lot more goods than bads. 

M is a meat lover and would rather eat steak 7 days a week, where I am more adventurous with my eating. I love to look at the photo's of food and decide if it looks good if it will be tried.

So this evenings dinner is easy and healthy....Crispy Chicken Tenders with roasted cauliflower!  I commonly use chicken tenders when I cook chicken for a number of reasons:
1) I can tell the kids they are nuggets!
2) They cook faster!
3) I buy them in bulk and are cheaper!

It is super easy to make this dinner and it all cooks at the same time, and at the same temperature! 

Crispy Chicken Tenders
8 - 10 tenders
Olive Oil
2 C of crushed corn flakes
1 C of parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 350.  Spray non stick spray to a 9 X 13 baking dish. 
In 2 shallow pans put some oil in one and the corn flakes and parmesan cheese in the other. Dredge each tender into the oil and then into the dry pan.  Place into the baking dish and use a little extra oil drizzled on top of chicken. 
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and serve with whatever dipping sauce you like.  We love BBQ Sauce our Smoky Ranch!

Roasted Cauliflower
(I use frozen for this but you can use fresh too!)
1 bag or large head of Cauliflower
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese
Kosher salt

Place cauliflower onto a rimmed baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil  & sprinkle with salt.  Toss gently.  Place in the oven (with the chicken) and cook at the time same.  Mix 15 minutes into cooking.  The last 5 minutes you should sprinkle the cheese on top and place back in the oven. 

When Chicken is done, plate it first and then bring out the cauliflower!  I plate everything in the kitchen so I do not use bowls and spoons making for more of a mess.  We eat this with a salad!  There are rarely left overs! :)

Prep time is 15 minutes and cooking is 30 minutes! Easy , healthy and delicious! 

Happy New Year

So it's not the first day of the New Year, but I thought it was time I had an outlet for all the things I do on a daily basis and share them with anyone interested....

I cook daily, I clean daily, I am organized and I am a mom....And I get tips and Ideas from those around me everyday.  I thought I would try sharing some of the best things I know online....It could work, it might bomb, but at least I can say I  tried!

So with the oldest back at school today, the youngest still home til Wednesday and hubby starting his new position at the same job he had last year it was time for me to find something new!

Let me start out with some background....

My oldest is amazing, but sometimes eggs his little brother on.  He is my first born and I adore him.  I will call him "J" on this blog. My middle child sadly passed away shortly after birth. I miss her everyday.  She will be "A" for all of the little moments I miss her.  Then there is my handful youngest child "C"....He is funny and shy but babied by me the most.  My amazing husband "M" keeps me well balanced and also frustrates me to no end. We are the perfect match.  We live in the burbs of Chicago in our old and drafty house.  We love our summer cottage, our neighbors and our friends and family. 

I love my family, I love my home, and I love to find new outlets for all of the crazy ideas in my head...Perhaps that is what this is for.....