Monday Meal: Roasted Parmesan Potatoes

Yesterday for dinner we grilled up some burgers since the weather was so nice.  Along with the burgers I made some roasted parmesan potatoes.  They were so delicious!  All we needed to buy was the parmesan cheese and the potatoes, both which were relatively inexpensive.  We picked up a ten pound bag of Idaho potatoes for $2.99 and the parmesan cheese was only $3.06.  Not too bad since we can make the dish again if we wanted.

Here are the potatoes with their seasonings and right before I sprinkled the parsley on top.  Don't they look absolutely delish?

And here they are in the serving bowl with parsley on top.  Yummy yummy in my tummy!  Here is the recipe for the yummy goodness!

Roasted Parmesan Potatoes

3 lbs. baby potatoes (I used Idaho potatoes and just cut them into coins)

3 tbs. olive oil

1 tbs. Italian seasoning

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/3 cup parmesan

2 tbs. parsley

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up.  Add potatoes in a big bowl and drizzle with the olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Toss the potatoes together until everything is evenly coated.  Bake for ten minutes.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.  Bake for another 30 more minutes or until potatoes are done.  Garnish the potatoes with potatoes.

Voila!

Until next time!

25 Thursdays: Things That Baffle Me

It is Thursday again.. and that means it is another week of 25 random things!  This week I will be sharing 25 things that baffle me.  

1. With modern technology the way it is, why don't we know who really killed Kennedy?  Surely with the footages that were recorded they could help us figure it out.

2. Why do cars pass me only to go slower?  It makes no sense to me at all.

3. Why can't we figure out what happened to all the planes and boats that mysteriously disappeared in the "Bermuda Triangle"?  I don't believe in the whole conspiracy behind it.

4. Where is Jimmy Hoffa's body?  My theory is he got killed and the killer threw his body in the wood chipper and buried the remains under concrete somewhere.

5. Laundry.. I don't understand how I feel like I am always doing laundry and it seems like the pile never seems to go away.

6. Why am I always so tired when my kids are awake and then once they're asleep and I'm laying in bed, I am left wide awake?  Ugh, that drives me crazy!

7. Have you ever noticed when you're driving in an unfamiliar area and you need to find an address or a house, you turn down the music?  I do it all the time and I don't know why!

8. When you're stuck in traffic, do you ever sit there and look at the cluster of cars and wonder who is the idiot that is in the front that is causing the traffic?  I do all the time!

9. People who ask stupid questions.  I'm sure to them it might be a legitimate question, but really, who are you kidding, it is stupid.

10. Why do women overpack their suitcases when they travel?  I don't understand.  I guess because they want to be prepared for anything.

11. Why my children decide to put up such a fight when it is bed time.  I miss the days when they used to sleep all night and so easily.

12. Why are people constantly glued to their cell phones?  It's like everywhere I go, I see people playing on their phones.  

13. I will never understand why kids and adults bully others.  It truly saddens me when I see or hear about people getting bullied.

14. How can a human being do such horrible things to another child is beyond me.  I will never understand how a man or woman can abuse a child!  They're so defenseless.

15. With that being said, I don't understand how a human being can abuse animals either.  As a dog owner myself, I could never even think to hurt my sweet dog.

16. Sometimes I am so hungry that I could eat in huge quantities, but as soon as I have a plate full of food in front of me, I am left eating like a bird.

17. If water is supposed to be good for you and help you lose weight, how come I'm not super skinny?  I used to drink a lot of water and I never even lost a single pound!

18. Where do our fears of things come from?  I used to have an irrational fear of clowns but I don't know why because I never saw them anywhere.

19. How do some people wake up in the morning and dress themselves?  I look at their poor choice of unmatched clothes and think did you just pick up random things and put it on and think you look good?

20. In school, we are taught all these random things and the teachers all say the same thing, "you'll use it when you're an adult".. blah, blah, blah.  All the things I learned, I have really never used it in my adult life.

21. Why do people disrespect people that are different?  If you think about it, we are all different in one way or another.  Why treat others like they're different?

22. How come when I look at a word it looks like it is spelled wrong?  It drives me crazy because I am left wondering if I spelled it right or wrong.

23. Why do people even bother make appointments for doctors only to get turned down because they are booked and you can't be seen for two weeks?  Like do you plan to get sick two weeks in advance so you can see the doctor?

24. And on that note, why is it that you wait forever to see the doctor in the waiting room and then when you finally see your doctor, he's only in the room with you for like less than two minutes?  And they're so quick to prescribe medicine for you even if you don't really need it!

25. I also really don't understand people who are into being with multiple people at once.  I think it's called polygamy.  I don't understand how people can't just remain faithful to one person.

Anyway, those are some things that I am just totally baffled by.  Some may seem stupid, some may seem decent, but it's what I feel.  

Until next time!

Wednesday Rant: Parking lots

Here is another weekly Wednesday rant for you today.  I tried to think of something to rave about since last week I ranted about something, too.  But I couldn't think of anything.  Warning: This entry in my blog may contain some explicit name calling.  If this offends you, please ignore this post.

I don't know about you, but my daughter's school has the worst parking lot ever.  Either that or people just don't know how to drive and give others respect when they're driving.  Case in point, the other day I was leaving her school and this idiot of a driver next to me decides to cut me off!  I am on the left lane getting ready to turn left and he's in the right lane trying to turn left.  Here is this douchebag who thinks it's totally okay to cut everyone else off who is in the left lane and he tries to turn left while he's in the right lane.

Then there are other dumb idiots who leave the school parking lot by driving on a one way road to leave instead of going around a few extra feet to take the right way.  I watch them take the wrong way a lot and think in my head that I hope an oncoming car comes so they're stuck.  But I know I shouldn't think that.

I just seriously don't understand how these people.

Cream Cheese Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Here is the recipe for the yummy cream cheese lemon blueberry muffins.  They are seriously so good that I may make more this weekend.  I forgot where I found this recipe so I can't give credit where credit is due unfortunately.  Anyway, we got invited to a housewarming party this weekend and I think these muffins might be a great treat to bring.  Without further adieu, here is the yummy recipe!

Cream Cheese Lemon Blueberry Muffins

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

4 tbs. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 tbs. lemon juice

2 tbs. lemon zest

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup whole milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 pint fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tbs. fresh lemon juice

1 tbs. lemon zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and continue beating until combined.  Add milk and eggs and beat until well blended.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.  Gradually add flour mixture to cream cheese mixture until combined.  Fold in the blueberries.  Scoop the batter into the muffin tins until about 3/4 full.  Bake for 30 minutes or until just starting to turn golden brown.  Let cool slightly.

Lemon Glaze

Whisk together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Add additional powdered sugar to thicken or additional lemon juice to thin.  Drizzle over the top of the muffins.

Enjoy!

Burgers and Muffins

Over the weekend we grilled burgers.  For some reason, grilled burgers always taste so good to me!  On Saturday my husband made his apple muffins again and I made cream cheese lemon blueberry muffins.  Both came out really good!

Here is my yummy burger!  Doesn't this look so good?

And here is my new favorite muffin.  I made Cream Cheese Lemon Blueberry Muffins!  They taste so good, too!  Not too sweet and not too lemon-y.

They are really good!  Here is the batter.  Even that was so good by itself.  Too bad I couldn't just eat that!

And off in the oven they go to bake their yummy deliciousness!

Seriously so good!  I will share the recipe tomorrow!  Stay tuned.  Until next time!

25 More Random Facts About Me

Here we are.. it is Thursday.  I have decided that on Thursdays, I will be posting 25 random things.  It can be about any certain topic.  Today is a slightly windy day here but the weather is getting warmer.  I think spring is slowly approaching.  I am doing some laundry today while my daughter is in school.  So.. here we go with 25 more random facts about me.

1. I love putting clothes in the washer and dryer.. but I hate folding and putting them away.

2. My feet kept growing until I was in college.  

3. I have an irrational fear of flying.  I don't like any part of flying.

4. It amazes me, still, that I have two beautiful and healthy children.

5. I went bungee jumping once to overcome my fear of heights.  I had fun and I overcame my fear of heights.

6. I went to church camp as a kid and had lots of fun.

7. I am still surprised by the little things that my husband does for me on a daily basis.  I am so blessed I have such a wonderful man.

8. I didn't play sports growing up, but I sure do love watching it.

9. Because my dad has no sons, I took it upon myself to watch sports and get involved in things that my dad enjoyed so he had someone to bond with.

10. I was two years old when I was able to recite my alphabet forward and backward.

11. I have a very good memory.  Sometimes it is a blessing, other times it is a curse.

12. One of my least favorite things in the world is when I am in a deep sleep and I get woken up by the need to pee.  But when my kids wake me up, it's definitely okay.

13. I drink two cups of coffee every single day.

14. When I was eight years old, I got stitches in my head because I did something stupid.

15. I went to prom three times.

16. I absolutely hate even numbers.  

17. I eat my candy by color and by number, I have to have them be a total of an odd number, and by color as well.

18. My favorite dessert in the world is yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

19. I am a pretty good speller, but sometimes when I look at a word long enough, I start second guessing myself on the spelling of it.

20. I don't know how to whistle with my fingers.

21. I have never seen a professional sporting event live.  I have only been to college games.

22. I learned how to ice skate for the first time when I was stoned.

23. I can't skip rocks.

24. I have only lived in Arizona and Nevada.

25. I hate moving because I hate packing, but I love unpacking things.

There you go.. 25 more random facts about me.  Until next time!

Weekly Wednesday Rant: Really Kim?!

This is going to be something new I will be doing every Wednesday.  It will be my weekly Wednesday rants or raves.  Right now, this week I am going to be ranting about something.  Next week I could be raving about something, but not this week.

A few days ago I read somewhere that Kim Kardashian was complaining that raising two kids is "so hard".  Give me a flipping break!  I have two kids around her kids age and it is really not that hard.  She says she hides in the closet from her daughter while pumping milk and she's so tired.  While I get that being tired is exhausting.. but it doesn't excuse her for hiding from her daughter.  There are days and times when all I want to do is find a room and hide from my kids but they're so little, I don't want to scar them when they can't find me.

Kim Kardashian is a wealthy woman.  She's famous for practically nothing.  She has more money than I will ever see in my lifetime.  She can afford to have a nanny watch her kids.  I don't have the luxury of having a nanny.  I am also tired but I truck on because I have to for my kids sake.  Thank goodness for coffee and thank goodness for the weekends when my husband is home all day to help me with the kids.  Otherwise I will lose my sanity.

End of rant.

Apple muffins.. how I love you so

I think my husband should have been a baker.  I mean, really.  These are some very delicious apple muffins, if I do say so myself.

With that being said, I just have to say I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!  I am still getting over a cold.  I have a runny nose still and a cough here and there.  But I definitely feel a lot better than I did over the weekend.  I think my son is finally back to himself.  He's no longer constantly burning up and he isn't so lethargic like.  Thank goodness he's better.  But over the weekend he did nap a lot.  I didn't mind since my husband was home and I didn't have to worry about waking up at 5:30am and the kids not getting enough sleep.  We all got to sleep in which was nice.. even though we only slept in until 7am.  

As far as crafting wise goes.. I haven't really posted any new items on my shop yet.  But I am in the process of making a few things to share on here and to post on my Etsy page as well.  I should, hopefully, have everything done by this weekend.  I need to figure out how to make more time for myself.

Until next time!

Cute birthday cards

These were the cards I made for my customer last week.  The card on the left is the one I was selling, but she wanted ten.  I didn't have five extra patterned papers to use for that same card, so she said she will settle for a green, blue, gray color for the last five.  So, I made the card on the right.  Please ignore the baby monitor on top.. I was working on her order while my son was napping and wanted to take a picture real quick before I packaged it up.

I love those cards.  It's really cute.  The hippo and flower cut out is from Create a Critter and the sentiment is from My Pink Stamper.  I think they turned out really cute.  I can't wait to make more cards over the next few weeks.

Last night for dinner we had leftover steak and salad.  I think with the rest of the steak we have left, we are going to make some steak fajitas with them.  Not too sure yet.  Tonight for dinner will be pasta and chicken of some sort, I think.  All I know is chicken will be the main star of the dish.  

So much to do today and so little time.  Until next time, folks!

Super Bowl weekend

Last weekend was Super Bowl 50.  The Super Bowl is one time of the year where my husband and I get really into it.  This year we were going to have a little get together with a couple of our friends but we had to cancel last minute because the kids were not up to par.  This year my husband made this delicious pull apart bread.  I made these apple dumplings.  My dad came over though and he brought some steaks with him.  So we grilled that up, and I made a side of salad to go with the steaks.

This apple dumpling isn't my recipe though.  I stole it from the Duggar family website.  I have been wanting to make it for a long time because there is a certain ingredient in the recipe that has had me intrigued to make it.  Here's the recipe if you're interested.

Apple Dumplings

2-3 cans crescent rolls (or biscuits)

3-4 apples, peeled and cut into chunks

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 (12 oz.) can Mountain Dew (or 7-up)

1. Flatten biscuits with hands, put apple chunks in and pinch sides shut. 

2. Place in a 9x13 baking dish.

3. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes (until they are no longer gooey).

4. In small saucepan, melt butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour over dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew over all.

5. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Here is what they look like when they're ready to go in the oven.

Here is what they look like after you take them out of the oven, the first time.

Look at that yummy deliciousness!  It was bubbly and smelled so good!  Now, here is what it looks like when it's all done!

Voila!  I hope you give it a try and let me know what you think!  Until next time!

Something new perhaps?

This is one of my favorite cards for two reasons.  One.. it has a dog and anyone who knows me knows I love dogs.  And two.. it has some cute bling on the collar.  I want to make a card like this for my best friend but she's already seen this so I have to come up with something else.  But right now I am actually in the process of making something so I will post that when I finish.  I am hoping that I will be done by Tuesday.  But I doubt it.

I just want to share that I am going to start something completely different with my blog starting next month.  It could go over well, but then again, it could be a complete bust.

I have not been inspired to make any cards lately.  I don't know why.  But I need to make something for my sister-in-law whose birthday is coming up in two weeks.  I have been in this mood to make this cool thing I saw on YouTube, but I can't disclose what yet as it is a surprise for a certain someone.  I don't know if they read my blog or not but if they do, I don't want the surprise to be ruined.

Until next time!

Hot cocoa

Days like today, I could really use a cup of hot cocoa.  Today my morning coffee tasted off for some reason.  I don't know if it was because my husband bought a different kind of coffee or if it was because I practically chugged it down in less than five minutes.  But whatever the case, it was not the best coffee in the world for me.  I miss Starbucks.  I made a rule for myself that I would only buy Starbucks when I go on a road trip with my husband and kids.  

Road trips aren't that few and far between for us, surprisingly.  We visit my mother three times a year and she lives an hour and a half away.  We visit her during Christmas Break, Spring Break, and once or twice during the summer.  And she comes up here once a month and we eat dinner with her and my father.

Today we have a severe cold front going on.  It has been cold the past three days.  I hate the cold but I also hate the heat.  I like when it's just perfect.  Who doesn't?!

Last night I made a stir fry of some sort for dinner.  I might do the same for tonight.  I will post a picture tomorrow.  Until next time!

Been a cold one

I don't know about you but I absolutely love Panera Bread's broccoli cheddar soup in their bread bowl.  It's got the right texture and taste to make for a great meal.  My husband took me and the kids out to breakfast last weekend.  We had to go get my engagement ring cleaned and while we were there, he decided to take us to breakfast, too.

It was such a gorgeous morning that we parked at Panera Bread, ate breakfast, and walked over to where the jewelry store was at.  After that we walked back to the car and saw Party City and they were selling balloons for $0.94 and since our daughter loves balloons, we went in so we could get her one.  The kind man at the store didn't charge us for it which was nice and totally unexpected.

On Sunday while the kids were napping, I finished working on my customer's order and mailed it off on Monday after I dropped my daughter off.  I hope she likes her cards.

This week I am going to do another deep clean to the house since we will be having our friends over for Super Bowl.  I can't believe a month has past already in this year.  Time just keeps flying by!