Getting older is mandatory, Growing up is optional

Now cooking in the crockpot is Creamy Italian Chicken. I will serve it with no yolk egg noodles and a veggie. I love having dinner cook on its own all day. I need to run and pick up the birthday cake for the hubby. It is chock full of yummy geekiness. Pictures to come. In the meantime, here is the recipe for dinner:

Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 envelope of Italian salad dressing mix
1/4 cup water
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can 8oz mushrooms

Put chicken in the crockpot. Mix dressing and water; pour over chicken. Cook on LOW for 3 hours.

Soften cream cheese in microwave for 30 seconds. In mixing bowl beat cream cheese and soup until blended. Stir in mushrooms. Pour over chicken stirring to combine the dressing with the soup mixture. Cook 1 hour longer or until chicken juices run clear. Serve over rice or noodles. Serves 4-6

NOTE: I have 6 people to feed. 5 of those are males. 4 of the 5 males are growing. I am using 2 packages of boneless skinless chicken thighs and doubling the sauce. Plus I use 1/3 fat cream cheese and fat free soup. I would have to advise against using fat free cream cheese because it tastes wrong. I can spot NO difference between 1/3 fat or regular cream cheese. Just a personal opinion though.

This is a yummy recipe.

Thursday afternoon Ethics

Well, it is Ethics class day. I really have enjoyed this class. It is very nice to have people in the class with the same major as me. Also, I will be with most of the throughout the BSW program which is nice.

In case you are interested in the UHCL BSW program you can look into it here:

http://www.uhcl.edu/portal/page/portal/HSH/HOME/HSH%20Programs/Social%20Work



Tonight I will go to Denny's and have coffee with Ella. I enjoy our weekly evenings out and this one will be great since I had to cancel last week. I wasn't feeling well and did not go to class either. Plus the boys had just found out that they were moving the night before. We wanted Thursday night to be a family night. I even made a cake for dessert.

I hope you all have a great day!

DnD, Blogging, Academia

The children and their father are gaming tonight at home. They killed a whole carton of strawberries. I took off with the blueberries. WOOHOO!

I really need to go get another gallon of milk for breakfast. Milk does the body good.

I still have not managed to get through 'Never Been Kissed'. We were going to watch 'Captain America' but Daddy decided to run a game. Maybe Friday night we can watch it and the boys can have bacon flavored pop corn. Our last hurrah for a few weeks.

I spent the evening reading my friends blogs that I have neglected.

My partner in academia is pissed pouting not particularly thrilled that he waited until the last minute to talk to me about our presentation and paper and I have stuff to do this weekend. We will figure it out tomorrow before or after class. I'm not sure he likes my attempt to fit him in Saturday morning. Of course, I can hook up with him Monday too. I told him I am open until 3 PM on Saturday. I will even get up early. I don't think it should take that long to share notes and work on the Power Point for our presentation Tuesday night. Tomorrow we need to clarify if we need to write one paper or 2.

To the grocery store.....

Been a long time....so let's bake spaghetti.

Wow, I haven't been here in a while. I didn't fall off the face of the earth or anything. In fact, things are going really good for the most part.

On May 12, 2012 I graduated from College of the Mainland with my Associates of Art degree in General Studies. June 11, 2012 I began my first class at University of Houston- Clear Lake. I sent off my application to apply for the Bachelors in Social Work program yesterday and now I wait. It can take them up to 30 days to decide whether to accept me at this time or not. I am pretty sure I will get it, I just don't know if it will be in time for the fall classes. It would be probationary for now anyway until I finish the other class that I need. I have some general education classes to take as well. Advanced Writing, Behavioral Statistics

The boys are all great and getting BIG. B is 12 and going into the 7th grade. J is 11 and heading to 6th grade. C is 8 1/2 and heading to 3rd grade, and little N is 6 and heading to 1st grade. The big boys have moved down to our side of town again which means no more 3 hour Sunday rides for us. My Pop-in-law was picking them up on Fridays for us so we wouldn't be in traffic all night on Fridays. It was a very kind thing to do. I know he is glad that is over now. I hope the boys like their new school. I know change is an adjustment but it seems best for everyone.
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We have had the big boys since June 29th and Saturday they go back to Momma's house and off to Boy Scout Camp on Sunday for a week. B wasn't all that excited about Camp after he found out that Momma was moving but now that he has seen the new place things are better. I think he was worried about his Momma and there being more radical changes when he got back. Completely understandable. Now that they have seen the new place they seem to be doing better. It has been a good summer. We got stuck inside for a week with the rain but they were very well behaved.
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Tonight I made Baked Spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread for dinner. J gorged on salad as usual. I wonder if he was a rabbit in a past life? Not complaining though, there are worse things to gorge on for sure.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil water for spaghetti.

My Baked Spaghetti is was just Ragu sauce simmered while the noodles cook. Mix the sauce and noodles together. Put 1/2 of noodle & sauce mixture in a baking dish and add a layer of mozzarella cheese. Add remaining noodle & sauce mixture and top with more mozzarella cheese. I like a lot of cheese and add it liberally. You can make it to your liking. You could even do more layers if you like.

Then put in oven for 8-10 minutes until cheese is nice and melted. It perks up regular spaghetti nicely and the kids love it.
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I can't promise that I will keep up with this but I will try. Even if it is only to add more of our favorite recipes. Tomorrow the kids are eating at their grandparent's house. Friday is Creamy Italian Chicken and birthday cake for my husband's upcoming birthday. His birthday is Monday but the older boys are leaving Saturday so we shall celebrate early.

Red Beans & Rice!

* 1 pound dry kidney beans (approximately 6 cups cooked)
* 2 quarts of tap water
* 1 pound turkey sausage
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 4 stalks of celery chopped
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
* 2 teaspoons salt
* Good shot of Tabasco Sauce
* Hot Cooked Brown Rice or White Rice (double the recipe for the rice)

Soak the kidney beans overnight in the tap water, or you can use the quick soak method. Bring them to a boil in the tap water, and then let them sit, covered, on the back of the stove for an hour or two.

After you have done the initial bean preparations let them boil for about an hour or until they are getting tender. While they cook you can prepare the vegetables and the meat. The onion, celery and garlic will need chopping.

Fry the turkey sausage in a large skillet. Crumble it up with a fork as it cooks. Set the sausage aside until the beans have cooked at least an hour.

After the beans have softened up and are getting close to tender, it is time to add the rest of the ingredients. If your sausage is spicy, you may not want to add the Hot Sauce, so taste it before adding any willy-nilly. If your sausage is not spicy then a small shot of Hot Sauce will marry nicely with the rest of the dish. Simmer the beans, sausage and vegetables for about a half an hour longer, or until the beans are all the way tender. I put the brown rice on to cook right before I add the vegetables and sausage to the beans. This gets them both done at about the same time.

Serve this by scooping up a big glob of rice into a cereal bowl. Next ladle a goodly amount of the bean mixture on top of the rice.

Beef Barley Soup!

2 qts water
2 tbsp powdered beef soup base
1 c. barley
2 small diced potatoes
1 chopped celery
3 diced large carrots
1/2 lb ground beef
1 chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic minced

Saute onion, garlic and ground beef. Drain fat. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 1-2 hours.

If mushrooms are cheap they add a nice touch.

This is a great filling winter stew. Everyone loves it, including the men in the family. It really stretches a small amount of meat to feed everyone.

Still here...

We are getting ready to move next month (FEB) so I am only really making simple meals right now. I am currently working on using up things in the pantry right now so it isn't anything fantastic and sadly not the most healthy things around either, but it will make moving easier.

In other news, I started back to school on Jan. 19th so I am really busy right now. I go to school 4 nights a week and so my days are packed, except today when I spent most of it with a sinus headache. SO hopefully I can resume putting up our recipes after we get moved and begin the cooking process again.

For tonight though, we are returning to the scene of the crime and having our all time favorite of Turkey Taco Soup. Delicious, nutritious, and chocked full of protein goodness! I can't wait! It even makes Algebra seem better after a meal like that.

Take care everyone!