Pasta with Zesty Pecan Sauce

So, the good news is no raccoon eyes! I still have a little bruising, but nothing that's too bad. :)

Last night I tried a totally new recipe and it was a big hit! I made a couple changes though... you'll notice the title is "Pasta with Zesty Pecan Sauce." I used walnuts. I didn't have pecans and wanted to use what I had on hand. I also didn't have linguine, so I used penne. I wanted to have some more protein in it, so I added some cubed chicken breast (I just boiled it and stirred it in).

The sauce is made up of cream cheese, artichoke hearts, grated parmesan and garlic..it blends into yumminess! :)

It was a hit... even with the kids. My 1 year old actually seemed to like it the most.

You'll find the recipe here. It originally came from "Southern Living" magazine.

"On the Job" Injury ;)

Looks like I got my first (and hopefully my last!) broken nose today.

I was relaxing in the family room while my oldest, Camden was just outside the back door playing on the patio. He sarted yelling and I thought something was wrong. I ran out there and was so relieved to find he was just excited over a helicopter. Just as I was thinking about how much fun it is to be excited over a helicopter and was reaching over to hug him, BAM! He jumped up one more time in excitement and his noggin hit me square in the nose! I literally heard a "crack," reached up to my nose and discovered lots of blood. Ugh. I don't do really well with blood. Luckily, my paramedic husband does. He thinks it's a cartilage break (is that the right term?). There's a small area of bruising across the bridge of my nose now and it's just a tad swollen. We'll see in the morning if I wake up with raccoon eyes or not.

Pioneer Woman's Crispy Yogurt Chicken

First, if you're not familiar with Pioneer Woman, you HAVE to check it out! Ree Drummond has delicious recipes, ideas for home and garden, photography and life living on a ranch. She also has her love story, which is sooo good. Once you start, you'll want to read straight through, so be prepared!


I have tried a few of her recipes so far. We love chicken around our house and I'm always trying to come up with new ways to get my kids to eat it. They all loved this recipe! You dip the chicken in a yogurt, garlic and parsley mix and then coat with Panko bread crumbs. Bake for an hour. Very easy! On her recipe, she uses drumsticks. I used chicken breast tenders. My breading turned out a little "soggy." I'm wondering if I put a little bit too much butter on the dish, but nevertheless, they were delicious!


You can find the recipe here.


This photo is from the Pioneer Woman's site. Her chicken is prettier!

Command Center Completed!

I'm so happy to have this project completed and even better, love having clean countertops! My husband, Kevin, likes having a place to check for his mail and a place to put his receipts so I can file them.

Our Command Center is in our kitchen, since that's pretty much where my days start and end. You can put a Command Center anywhere that works for your family... maybe in the laundry room that you might enter and exit your house, near the front door, in the office, whatever works for you!



A magnet board is on top. Here I will put our weekly menu, upcoming invitations, the kid's memory verses from church, etc.



The checkered box on the top shelf holds stamps, envelopes, paper clips, etc. The little pail next to that holds pens.




The bottom shelf has file folders for:
- My husband's mail/follow-up
- My follow-up
- To Be Filed (once we're done with the papers, they'll
go into our file cabinet in our office)
- Bills for the 1st payday of the month
- Bills for the 2nd payday of the month

The toile box on the bottom shelf is for coupons. I have a close-up of it below. The pail next to that is for change.

The binder hanging from the shelf holds important phone numbers, take-out menus, school calendar and other papers we want on hand for easy reference.

Close up of the coupon box. It has the cutest coordinating folders inside.

I hung the binder with binder rings that you can get at any office supply store. I just used a plain black binder and then placed coordinating scrapbook papers in the front/back covers and spine. I embellished the rings with some coordinating ribbon:

The boxes, file folders, shelf, magnet board, and pails were purchased at Hobby Lobby. If it wasn't on sale, I used a coupon for it.

Your turn! If you complete a Command Center, I'd love to see pics!

"Life" on Discovery

I will be posting pictures of our "Command Center" tomorrow. Tonight the boys and I will be snuggling up on the couch with some popcorn to watch "Life" on the Discovery Channel. We read Genesis 1 this week and they loved hearing about all the animals and how everything was created. Thought this would be a fun opportunity to show them some of His creations. I'm looking forward to seeing it! :)

Creating A Command Center

Do you find that your kitchen counter or another area of your home gets bogged down with clutter? Things like the mail, papers from school, stuff from cleaning out my purse or diaper bag, just piles up so quickly! Today I bought a cute shelf at Hobby Lobby (my favorite store) to hang up in the kitchen to become our "Command Center." I hope to have the project done over the weekend. I'll be including a calendar, file folders, place for my husband to put receipts, a holder for change, etc. I was inspired by "Organized Junkie"s site on creating the command center. She has some great tips here. Stay posted for the results!

St Patty's!

I'm a little Irish (I'm a mutt mix of several different European ethnicities), but I grew up eating Corned Beef and Cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. It's one of those meals that the aroma fills the house. It's a comfort food for me. I haven't made it in years, but thought I would this year. My hubby is fasting, so poor guy won't be having any, but I'm hoping the kids will like it.

Update: The kids loved it! Even my 1 year old like it. Definitely a culinary success! :)