Food

Sometimes I get creative in the kitchen.

This most often happens when the cupboards are bare and I am putting off the dreadful chore of  grocery shopping. (ugh)

Such was my plight yesterday as I realized the evening was going to be a busy one and I needed to have dinner prepared in advance. 

So here is my new recipe.

We named it: Mexican Cowboy Beans (because we thought that by putting the word "cowboy" in there...the boys would like it better...and there are green chilies in it...hence, the "Mexican") :)

Get out your crock pots amigos cuz you're gonna wanna try this one!

Mexican Cowboy Beans

1-2 bnls/sknls chicken breast(s)

2 cans of Northern beans

1 can of corn

1 sml can of green chilies 

1 handful of dehydrated onion (or about 1/2 a cupish of chopped fresh onion...or leave the onion out...whatever you want.  

Season to taste with:

cumin (don't use too much for you'll regret it...a teaspoon tops is my advice!) 

garlic salt

pepper

I put all ingredients (including seasonings) into the crock pot on high for about 3 hours....then turned it to low for probably another 2-3 hrs. Basically I put it in at 1pm and we ate around 6:30pm. I don't think time matters as long as the chicken is cooked and tender.  The chicken can be frozen when you put it in. Mine was. And leave the juice in with the beans, corn and chilies. Just turn the crock pot to low after the chicken is cooked so that you don't scorch the beans.

I ate mine in a bowl with cheese on top and dipped tortilla chips in it. Brandon ate his with cheese corn tortillas.  Oh. We also diced up some avocado to go with it.

  Pruébelo! Te gustará!

Where does the time go!?

We are just pluggin along with life over here! School, callings, meetings, kids performances, family gatherings. It gets busy but when I stop and think about it...I wouldn't have it any other way!

The weather is nice and cool. We woke up this morning to frost on the ground. This about as close as it's gonna get to being a white Christmas here in the Valley. My kids love the cold. (Brandon and I do too! After enduring our first summer back in the "Valley of the Sun" I am relishing every second of cold outdoor air!

Weston put on his snow coat this morning and just stood in the back yard enjoying the chilly morning. (I was busy getting breakfast on the table...so there no pictures.). Weston really wants it to snow!

The changing of seasons makes me homesick for Snowflake.

Kaitlyn is 11 now! Holy COW right!? She is such a fun girl. I love that she can babysit now. She does a good job at helping me out when I need it. She plays the violin and is really starting to enjoy it.

Adelin turns 8 in nine days!!!! We are planning a party for her! Adelin is a great help to me. She is SO good with the baby. She loves playing the piano for him...and she is great at calming him down...and making him laugh.

Connor is 3 1/2 and I tell ya....he is either so darn sweet or so darn sour! He really hates it when Brandon and I go somewhere without him. He throws a huge fit and tries to run out of the house and chase whoever is leaving down the street...while screaming his head off. It's dreadful! Brandon and I know try to sneak out of the house. The thing is...when we take him with us, he is really well behaved. He is a good shopper. He doesn't ask for anything and he is content to just sit in the cart. Other than that...he is a great kid! :) He loves to eat cereal and he just found out that he kids bananas! He likes to play with his brothers, jump on the trampoline, ride his bike or scooter and go for walks to the park! :) (that almost sounded like a classified ad!)

Does that cover all the kids?

Oh! Cameron! The baby! He is so stinking cute! How could I forget him! He's my sidekick! He crawls all over this house now! This week he discovered the kitchen cupboards and has climbed in and out of a few. He can open drawers...and stand up to furniture. He says, "ma ma" now! He's said "da da" for a while...and now he will finally say "ma ma" too! He is learning to wave "bye bye"....but isn't consistent with that trick yet! This boy also loves to eat. He isn't picky. He eats whatever we offer him. (He loved the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving dinner!)  He also begs food off the other kids. He especially likes frozen GoGurts.

My nephews wife took family pictures for us last weekend. We haven't had a family picture in a long time!

I guess that's all for now. Sorry there aren't any pictures....but that's just the way it goes. Our other computer that I download pictures to is not hooked up to the internet right now anyways...so even if I had time to post pictures, I couldn't!