Recipe: Fish Tacos

I'm so excited about what I made for dinner tonight! It was so delicious, so easy and Kevin, Kyle and I absolutely LOVED the fish tacos I prepared. As I have mentioned on several occasions on my blog, I love to shop for food at Trader Joes. The ingrediants for these tacos all come from TJ's.

Ingrediants
1-2 boxes of battered halibut (each box has 6-8 pieces)
1 pkg corn tortillas
1 jar Cilantro Salad Dressing (Trader Joes has a "great on fish tacos" sign above the display for this dressing.....now I see why, it is yummy and perfect on the tacos!
1 bag Shredded Green Cabbage
optional (salsa of your choice)


Following the  instructions on the side of box of halibut pieces and bake as instructed. When the fish is done cooking,  remove from oven and set aside. Heat the tortillas by wrapping them in dampened paper towels and microwaving for 30-40 seconds. Then put one piece of fish in the middle of a tortilla and pour the cilantro dressing on. This pic shows only about 1/2 the amount we ended up putting on. The dressing is amazing. So yum-O!!!

Then add the cabbage and salsa (optional) I ate one with salsa added and one without. Both fabulous. TJ's battered halibut is seriously delicious. All white meat, not "fishy" at all.  You can also squeeze a little fresh lime juice on as well.

ENJOY!!!

Recipe: King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Here is a kid friendly, crowd friendly all around AWESOME mexican style casserole recipe. Here's what you'll need:

Ingrediants

1/2 c. butter
2. cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2. cups water
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped (I used a 1/2 cup of frozen chopped onion (defrosted)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can 10oz of MILD RO*TEL Diced tomatoes and green chilies (Look for it near the cans of whole tomatoes) If you don't use the mild you will have an EXTREMELY spicy casserole on your hands.
2 cups cubed chooked chicken
12 corn tortillas, cut in strips
2 cups shredded cheddar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* degrees. In a large sauce pan, boil 2 cups of broth with 2 cups of water. Poach the chicken breasts in the boiling liquid for 15-20 minutes. (check the chicken for doneness at 15 min) Set chicken aside to cool. (poaching in chicken broth gives chicken wonderful flavor) When cool enough to handle, cut into cubes. Cook pepper and onion in melted butter until tender (5 min. approx)  Add soups, RO*TEL and Chicken, stirring until well blended. In a 13x9 casserole dish, spray with non stick cooking spray then, alternately layer tortilla strips, soup mixture and cheese repeating for 2 layers of each ending with cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbling. I like to serve this with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Our new home!

It's hard to believe we have been in our new city for a year. It seems like only yesterday I was unpacking boxes and setting up the rental house we have been living in. However with our lease coming to an end, we have decided that the home we have been living in does not suit our needs for a variety of reasons. When Kevin was offered his job a year ago, we had 3 days to find a home and we knew very little about the city we are living in. You may remember that we pulled Kyle out of the Middle School that our current home is zoned for back in Sept. I just finished home schooling him for his 8th grade year. We've decided that Kyle will return to public school for High School and Kyle is very excited to go in the fall. What we don't want however is for Kyle to go to the HS that the home we are living in is zoned for. One of the three bullies that bothered Kyle lives in this neighborhood and has continiously bothered Kyle over the past year. The boys have had 2 fist fights (iniated by the boy) in which both ended up with black eyes, AND the boy has assured Kyle that he and the other 2 bullies from Middle School will be waiting for him on his first day of HS to make his life hell. We've decided that we do not want a repeat of last year and we want Kyle's HS experience to get off to the right start. Luckily, our city has three HS's to choose from. Kyle has made good friends with two boys from his church youth group. Blane and Trevor are both starting HS in the fall. Like Kyle, Blane has been homeschooled this past year. Blane and Trevor will be going to the HS in the North part of town. (CHS) I have researched CHS and although all HS's have their issues, I find that this school has a lot to offer and is a "our state" Distinguished School. A few months back I put in for a intradistrict transfer so that Kyle could attend this CHS instead of the HS our current home is zoned for. Unfortunately I missed the deadline to apply by a week and my request was not considered/denied. It is very important to us that Kyle be able to start CHS with his buddies Blane and Trevor and so at this point the only option has been to move to the North side of town so that we can live where the zoning is for CHS. In addition to this all important schooling issue, here are a few other reasons we have decided to move.
1. It's too big! At 2,800 square feet with 5 bedrooms and 3 baths...our current home is just much too big for the three of us. We only use 1/2 the house.
2. The high cost to live here. Not only is the rent way too high, but the utility bills are outrageous. Due to it's large size and ultra high ceilings, it cost us $500 a month to air condition it last Summer.
3. The stairs. A two story has been difficult with my old back injury.
4. Time to clean. I like an ultra clean home, and in the past have typically cleaned once a week. However, this house takes over 6 hours to clean and again...it's too much on my old back injury.
With all that being said, we decided back in December that as soon as our lease was up in July that we would look for a smaller, single story home that was in the area zoned for CHS. Since that time We've been praying for months that the Lord would provide us with a single story home that meets all our needs. We've also prayed that the owner of our current rental home would agree to let us out of our lease a month or two early as long as we could find new tenants for the property. Once again I'm literally speechless and in awe to find that God has answered our prayers. Not only has the owner of our current home agreed to let us out of our lease on July 1 (if new tenants are found ie: our lease officially ends on July 30), but in addition we have found the PERFECT home in one of the best neighborhoods of the area zoned for CHS. Here it is!

Isn't it sweet!? Kev and I looked at nearly 60 homes from the outside and walked through over 10 and none of them could hold a candle to this gem of a home. It is 10 years old and in a beautiful country club community. (T___Hills) It was owned by a single man who never used the oven and kept such pristine care of the property that the home seems to be brand new. This house is a formal model home and each room has beautiful window coverings, upgraded flooring, beautiful two toned paint, wall paper, built ins etc etc... The front and back yards are impeccable and the potted flowers with drip systems stay with the home as does the lawn mower! The refrigerator and washer and drier are less than a year old and in like new, perfect condition. Another great feature is that the home is directly accross the street from the club house which has a pool, exercise room, billiard room, tennis courts, basket ball courts and even a restaurant! Honestly, we could not ask for more. This house is just ideal for us. It's 3 bedroom 2 bath 2,100 sq foot home. Here are some more pics:

The front courtyard area.  The screen door to the left goes into what will be my new scrap book room/office.

all these potted flowers/plants stay with the home and are on a drip system!

dining room..love the hard wood ( up graded laminate) flooring and built in hutch with mirror

standing in the dining room looking through to the hall... love the iron and wood work

                                        standing in the dining room, looking into the living room.

                                                                   the laundry room

    hall bath, check out the wallpaper, tile work and window coverings with matching shower curtain.
 (all stay with home!)

just outside the hall bath, looking into my new scrapbook room/office

built in desk and book shelves in office

walking into the office, more built in cabinets!

the fabulous kitchen!

Granite is my preference, but this tile is in like new condition. I love the hand painted fruit!

Maple cabs are my preference, but these country oak cabs are in such like new condition that they are just fine! I love the built in desk ,wine bottle storage and plant shelves.

family room

Love the fireplace with mantle, built in entertainment center, wood shutter blinds and upgraded tile.

standing in family room, looking into the living room/dining room (love the arched door ways)

standing at entrance of family room looking towards the backyard.

close up of window valances in family room

Master Bath

Master Bedroom (furniture is for staging purposes only)

back of house

love the small, but beautiful backyard. The landscaping is gorgeous!

more views of the yard

\

We are super excited to be moving in the beginning to middle of July (date not yet determined) Now for the not so fun part....packing!

(not pictured Kyle's room)

The Mother and Other Tea

This past weekend my church held a special event for women called the "The Mother and Other Tea" The idea is for each woman of the church to bring their Mother or "other" to the dinner. The "other" can be a woman who has been a mentor to you in some way. Some women brought their mother n laws, some brought friends. Other ladies brought their daughters. Although called a "tea", the event was so much more. We had a fabulous dinner which was made by the ladies of the church, there was a speaker and some fabulous cupcakes and cookies for desert. The highlight of course was the "tea" A local spice and tea store donated many wonderful teas for us to enjoy. Many of the ladies signed up to decorate and host a table. I decided this sounded like a lot fun and jumped at the chance. Below are pics of my table scape.

It was fun to break out my pastel china. This was our wedding pattern and I was fortunate to receive ten place settings of this pattern Mikasa Monet so I can use them for special events like this.

I found this center piece at one my favorite home stores, "Home Goods". It was on the clearance rack for under $20. Talk about luck...it matched my dishes perfectly.

I placed a small pink box in the center of each plate as a party favor for each woman at my table. Inside each box was a chocolate truffle. I loved being a part of this special event and look forward to decorating another table next year!

"Other" table scapes

Here are just few of the "other " table scapes done by women in my church. These four are my personal favorites.

.

Recipes: Green Salad with Orange Vinaigrette AND Spinach, Fruit and Poppy Seed Salad (gluten free)

There was a lot of chopping, assembling and tossing involved in making salad for 75 women, but I was up for the challenge and enjoyed making these two salads for the church event. I additionally made a Caeser Salad which is not pictured here. My Caeser salad is nothing more than romaine lettuce, Girard's Lite Caeser salad dressing, medium whole olives and shredded parmesan cheese. It's simple and delicious. Below are the other two salads I made. The recipes I'm providing serve four.

Green Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

1/2 c. candied pecans or walnuts
1 T. red wine vinegar
1 T orange juice
1 T honey
1 t. orange zest
1 t. dijon mustard
1/2 t. salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2-3 cups romaine lettuce or mixed salad greens
1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges
1 cup red grapes, halved
1/2 c. chopped red onions (optional)

For dressing, combine vinegar, orange juice, honey, orange zest, mustard, salt and pepper with a whisk. Slowly whisk in oil. For salad, wash and chop or tear romaine lettuce into bite size pieces. Combine lettuce with mandarin oranges, grapes, nuts and onions (optional). Toss with the dressing until all the leaves are just coated. Be careful not to drown it in dressing.

                                                Spinach, Fruit and Poppy Seed Salad

1 pkg spinach or baby spinach (about 8 oz)
1 contanier strawberries, hulled and quartered
2 apples, diced
1 medium cucumber, cut in half and sliced
craisins (dried cranberries)
1/2 c. slivered almonds
Brianne's Poppy Seed Dressing

Put the greens into a large bowl. Add all of the sliced and diced fruit. Pour in dressing a little at a time until all leaves are coated well. Sprinkle the salad with almonds. Enjoy!    

Recipe: Red Velvet Cupcakes

I received this fabulous recipe from my friend Beverly two years ago. We made them together for her daughter Kenna's first birthday party and I've been making them ever since when the occassion calls for cupcakes. These are simply one of the most delicious deserts I've ever tasted and the requests for the recipe every time I make them is proof positive of their yum factor! (I had 6 requests at the Mother and Other Tea alone!) One of the very unique things about these is the peppermint frosting. It just gives these cupcakes that little extra something.

Red Velvet Cupcakes1 pkg German chocolate cake mix (18.25 oz)
1 pkg Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix (3.4 oz)
1 cup Sour Cream
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 bottle red food coloring
3 eggs
2 c. miniature chocolate chips
1-2 cans of vanilla whipped frosting (any brand)
2 capfuls of peppermint or mint extract

Preheat oven to 350. Place cake mix, sour cream, water, oil, food coloring and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Conitnue mixing on medium for 2 min. Fold in 1 cup of the chocolate chips (do not use your mixer, use a spoon... reserve the other cup of chocolate chips for decorating) Spoon batter into cupcake liners filling 3/4 of the way full. Will make 24-27 cupcakes. Bake 18-20 minutes.

FROSTING: put 2 capfuls of the mint extract into each can of frosting, stirring well. I either use an easy accent decorater from Pampered Chef to swirl frosting on top of each cupcake OR this time I spooned the frosting into a gallon size zip lock bag, pushed all the frosting down into one of the corners, snipped the corner off and swirled the frosting on. This will give the cupcakes that "in" look like what you pay 4 dollars a cupcake for at Sprinkles! (stay tuned for a tutorial on how to do this soon) If you choose to just put on a thin amount of frosting on each cupcake with a knife you will only need one can. Sprinkle the top of each cupcake with mini chocolate chips.

Scrap Book pages: Kyle's 14th birthday

Here are the pages I scrap booked of Kyle's 14th Birthday last January.