Friday, October 24, 2014

Italian Sausage & Peppers

This low carb meal is one of my favorites that I found on Cutthewheat.com. It is also very easy, so that is a plus in my book!
You need: Sweet Italian Sausage (like brats) We use 2 packages
                      2 Red Peppers cut in slices
               1/2 onion cut in slices
               2 tablespoons olive oil
               3 tablespoons butter
               3/4 cup white wine (we use chardonnay)
               salt & pepper
               thyme, basil, & parsley
               minced garlic


Heat up the oil and butter, then add peppers & onions. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, basil, and parsley. Also add 1 tablespoon minced garlic. Mix that up and cook on medium/heat.


While those are cooking, cut up the sausage into bite-size pieces:


Add sausage to the pan. Stir occasionally until sausage is cooked all the way through.


When the sausage is cooked, add wine to the skillet. Stir it in and let it cook for 3-5 minutes.


Serve immediately.


This is such a yummy dish and also makes great leftovers!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Fabric Covered Benches (That the kids made)

Warning: This is not an actual tutorial on how to make a bench. ;0)

So, a few weeks ago, when Jeff & I went out to dinner & my parents were watching the kids, my dad let Lily & Riley build benches out of scrap wood in the garage. They were so proud of these benches! But the wood alone was not good enough. No, we needed to cover them with fabric and make them soft too. ;0) So, I bought some cotton batting and fabric to cover the benches.
Here is Riley with his bench:


He measured out and cut the cotton to size:


Here is Lily's bench:


She measured and cut her cotton and then they both glued it on:


Then they laid their fabric on top of the benches to see where they needed to be cut. This is where we realized Riley's was way too short. We continued with Lily's and Ri had to wait until we got more fabric.


We used a staple gun to attach the fabric:


After doing one side, Lily cut off the excess fabric and stapled the rest:


Here is her finished bench:


I think it's a bench for Barbies. ;0)

A few days later, we got more material for Riley. Yeah!


He cut his fabric....


and stapled it on:


Riley's bench:


They are both SO proud of their benches!! Thank you Granddad for letting them build something! :)

Monday, October 20, 2014

Haloween Family Movie Night!

Last Thursday (the kids didn't have school on Friday) we had a family movie night that was Halloween themed!
We started out with making our own pizzas! 


The kids watched Halloweentown while eating their pizzas and waiting on the sun to go down.


As the sun went down, Jeff got the projector out and I got the snacks ready.
We had Monster Eyeballs:


(square pretzels with green candy melts and m&m's)

Witch hat & Frankenstein suckers:


(from Dollar Tree)

Skeletons in the graveyard:


(chocolate pudding, crushed chocolate cookies, candy pumpkins, and candy skeletons)

Individual apples & caramel dip:


(from Wal-Mart)

And Vampire Punch:


(strawberry pop & vanilla ice cream)
(The glasses are from dollar tree, the straws & vampire teeth are from Walmart)


They filled their plates and got ready to watch the movie!



We were going to watch Hocus Pocus, but I accidently sent the DVD back to Netflix instead of another movie. Ooops! So we found A Monster in Paris on Netflix streaming. It was kind of a weird movie, but the kids liked it, so that's all that mattered! I think we might have started a new Halloween tradition for our family!

Friday, October 17, 2014

Chicken Parmesan Casserole

I found this recipe for chicken parmesan on Pinterest. I like chicken parmesan, but I don't like all of the carbs with all of the breading and then the pasta that is served with it. When I saw this, it looked filling and low carb. Win!
All I needed was cut up chicken breast (I used 5 breasts of varying sizes), olive oil, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese (not pictured), oregano, garlic powder, basil, bread crumbs, and spaghetti sauce.


I put the cut up chicken in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, oregano, garlic powder, and basil. ( I just sprinkled them on. I also added salt & pepper.) I cooked them until they were completely done, then I set the pan aside.


Then I mixed up 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I used roasted garlic, but you can use plain), 2 teaspoons olive oil, basil, and oregano. I stirred it until it was crumbly. 


Next, I sprayed the a baking dish with cooking spray, spread out the chicken and topped it with sauce. I used about 3/4 of the jar.


Then I sprinkled 1 cup of parmesan and 2 cups of mozzarella over the sauce.


The breadcrumbs go on last. Just sprinkle them on top.


Bake in the oven at 350* for 30 minutes, let sit for 5 minutes, and serve!


I actually made mine in the morning, so all I had to do was pop it in the oven before dinner. We had ours with a salad. It was very yummy!

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Painting Party!

On Sunday, my mom, sisters, sisters-in-law, and I all went to Paint The Towne for a painting party! It was so fun!! I selected the painting we were going to do, which was witch feet since it is close to Halloween. (I got to pick because I planned it.) ;0)
When we got there, everything was set up for us; easels, canvases, paint, brushes, etc.


Since that was all done, we set up our stuff: drinks and yummy snacks!



I was very thankful that the shoe for the witch was a stencil!


We all got settled in and ready to paint!




The instructor was good and it was sun to sit and talk with my family while painting! 
Here is my finished picture:


All of our paintings!!
Kathleen, Mom (Jan), Kandra, me, and Amy (top row)
Mary, Dianna, Udrika, and Tonya (bottom row)


It was so fun and I can't wait to do it again!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Pumpkin Patch!

So, I am just now getting to posting about our trip to the pumpkin patch over a week ago. Last week was crazy busy!!
Anyway, we headed to our favorite pumpkin patch, Walter's in Burns, Kansas! It is huge!! And we have been going there since Riley was a baby. (He's 9 now...)



My kids are now conditioned to take pictures here. They just go from one place to another at the beginning standing where they know I will take their picture. :0)



This kid needs to stop growing!!


Zach didn't want to be an animal, so he was the farmer....


Scary Spiders!!




The zip line is one of the boys' favorite parts.





Then Emma & David got there!!
(Oh, and their parent, Amy & Sam.) ;0)


Lily & Emma had fun on the barrel train.




While they were riding that, the boys & I jumped on the giant jumping pillow!
 





Cousin pictures!!



We have been going to the patch with Amy & Sam since Emma was a baby!

We went over to the smaller jumping pillow for Lily, Emma, and Amy to jump on.







Zach decided he needed to jump with Emma too!


David was trying to figure out whether he liked the pumpkin patch or not. ;0)


Another favorite? Boo Mountain Slide!








I have no idea why climbing on hay is fun, but apparently it is.




The kids also like feeding the animals:











Obligatory horse pictures....




Yes, this is a yearly thing now. :0)


Amy didn't want to be left out....


We left that section and headed to punkin' chunkin'!












After that it was corn maze time!





As Amy put it, Emma suckered Jeff into carrying her. ;0)



After walking on her own again, She needed a shoulder ride, this time from Zach:


We found the middle!!


Now to find our way back out again....


Amy giving Zach a little ride. ;0)


We cheated and came out a little before the actual end. Corn mazes are overrated. ;0)


Lunch time!


Jeff bought the kids sarsaparilla. Yum!


After lunch, we waited for the tractor to take us out to the patch.




Obligatory patch picture: 


Searching for just the right one:












This was Amy's Pumpkin. ;0)







Amy, Sam, and the kids headed home for naps (I'm not sure who needed them more, the kids or the adults....)
But our kids were still full of energy (yeah....) so we let them run some of it off at the playground.








We stopped off at the little patch on our way back to punkin' chunkin' to spend the last of our tokens.




After chunking our pumpkins, we watched the pumpkin cannon shoot a pumpkin out over the fields!


Jeff & I:


Lily & Zach:


Then Lily & Zach thought it would be funny to switch places. They're so goofy!


On our way out, we saw a bride and groom:


a scarecrow:


a pumpkin snowman witch:


and a man riding a giant rooster:


It was another fun day spent at the pumpkin patch!