After the Baked Chicken Dinner ...

So, I made that delicious baked chicken dinner a few weeks ago, and guess what happened the next morning? 

Yeah, I went into labor (on my own) and had a baby 7 hours later. :)
Now, I'm not saying the dinner made this happen, but it was a pretty awesome "last meal".
(Compared to the baggie of dry cinnamon toast crunch I ate the next morning)

So my blogging will be sporadic over here for a bit, while we get settled in.
You can follow our family adventures at MommaEmu .

Baked Chicken Dinner

I forgot to take a pic before I started chowing down.

Baked Chicken, Scalloped Potatoes, and Green Beans.

This was a pretty easy meal, actually. And my husband came home and ask why I cooked such a fancy meal. Also, I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've ever made baked chicken. I am usually not a huge fan of baked chicken, for 2 reasons: 1 - it's hard to tell if it's fully cooked and 2 - the breading gets all soggy on the bottom.

{Does anyone have any suggestions for preventing the bottom side of the chicken from getting soggy?}

To make the breading I just ground 2 handfuls of 'crunchy onions' and a few crackers together, and added a bit of salt, pepper, red pepper and parmesan cheese. (I baked 3 med. chicken breasts with this, adjust how you need)
I coated the chicken in a honey mustard/bbq mix, then the breading mixture, and baked for 30-35 minutes at 425 degrees. The chicken was perfect, fully cooked but still moist in the center, and the topping was crunchy without being too hard. The only problem was that the breading on the bottom of the chicken was soft and soggy.

And I made chocolate peanut butter cookies, too!

{ Cake Mix Cookies }

Getting Organized : Warranty Receipts and Product Manuals

I have been working on organizing our paperwork around the house, making things easier to find, clearing out what I know we don't need to keep, working on a 'family binder' for us; all kinds of projects.

So, here is how I chose to organize our product warranty information, and our product manuals.

To organize the manuals, I used an expandable file and manilla file folders.
I just grouped my manuals how I thought they worked best for us, labeled each folder, then stored them in the expandable file. On the front of each folder I wrote each product/manual that is inside, so you can just pull the file, and not have to search through each folder just to see what's inside. We really don't use the manuals that often for things (only when something's smoking, leaking, won't work...) so the expandable file frees up space I can use in a cabinet for other things, and can easily be tucked into a drawer or our "file storage" bin until we need it.
I broke down the files into these groups:
~ Small Kitchen Appliances
~ Large Kitchen Appliances
~ Washer & Dryer
~ Small Household Appliances
~ Small Household Electronics
~ Large Household Electronics
~ Computers
~ Outdoor Items

The warranty receipts are organized pretty much the same way as the manuals. I always make a copy of the receipt, then attach the original to the paper copy. On the copies I make sure to highlight the date of purchase, and write out exactly what we purchased, along with any important warranty information (like, 1/2/5 yr warranty).  Each of the receipts are organized into files, and labeled with what's in each folder. These files I keep in the cabinet with our more important info. We don't want these getting misplaced somewhere.

Is it spring?

 

My bulbs seem to be a little confused as to what season it is. They have already started to sprout.
I bought them on clearance last year at wallymart, and it looks like they are doing well.
Once we work on our flower beds this spring, they will get transplanted.

I can't wait to have gardens of tulips and hyacinths. 

2012 Goal - Organization

One of my goals for this year is to better organize our office.
This was one of my goals last year, and it didn't exactly work out.
Plus we bought a house and moved, which makes it harder to stay organized.

Here is the breakdown of our office :

Our office serves 2 purposes for us:
1 - it's our office
2 - it's also my closet/ dressing room.
(and 3 - catch all for everything that can't go downstairs)

In our office I have a dresser with clothes and accessories, and I use the closet as well.
Since getting pregnant I also keep my maternity clothing scattered throughout the room too.

But, we also need to use the room as an office. Not just a random catch-all room.
So I would like to get this looking a bit better and more organized.

But my number 1 issue is our filing system.
It is horrible.

Yeah - I currently have our files stored in a paper box.
Our file cabinet was broken before we moved, and it didn't get any better when we moved.
So we now just use it to hold our printer and extra supplies (paper, ink, cardstock...).
And, the box only holds our files up until we moved. Everything else is piled on the table waiting to be filed.
Which, may or may not be pointless for a lot of items now.
I do like to keep everything until I have done our taxes and know we don't need things anymore.
And there are some files I keep forever (like taxes, account records, and stuff with hubs work). 

I'm not sure how I would like to better organize everything, though. A file cabinet? Filing boxes?
A plus would be getting super organized for very little money!

Any ideas?

I've been stalking out i heart organizing.

Top Secret Family Fudge

Family Secret Fudge

Whenever I set out to do a food post, I do 3 things :
* Get out the recipe/instructions
* Gather my ingredients & supplies
* Grab my camera

When I do a post, I take pictures as I make it. I don't make a special 'pretty' version just for pictures, or make 18 batches of something, to get enough perfect pictures. What you see is what we eat.
Making fudge today was no different, except my husband was home, and he knows the 'family secret' to our fudge. Yup. So he asks me:

' Are you really going to take pictures of you making fudge with the recipe off the container? '

Umm... yes.

That's my family secret. We can read.
No ... (Story time...)

Growing up, my Nini always made fudge for the holidays. No one else could make fudge, it was Nini's territory. Once she was too old to be making fudge, one of my aunts took over the fudge making, and the 'family secret'. Nobody else dared to make fudge, and if they did try, it never turned out like Nini's fudge.
So, we all assumed it was some top secret fudge recipe, only to be really known by a select few.
Until a few years ago, when Nini passed away, and I got tired of waiting around for fudge, so I said Screw it, I'll try to make some myself, and, if it's not like Nini's, oh well, I'll keep trying. And so I set out on the great fudge adventure. Luckily I got it on the first try. 

(And, I've tried other fudge versions, meh, I still like this one the best. It's like Nini's.)
As I made my first batch several years ago, my dad started telling stories of making fudge with Nini when he was little and the different jobs he had helping her.

So now, every year at the holidays, I make fudge, because it's yummy, and to remember Nini.

And, yes, I took pictures of me making family secret follow the jar fudge.

Just follow the directions on the jar (I get the "big" container - it makes more fudge).
Also, I use 12oz of milk, not 10.
And I only use 4c of sugar.

And I like to make flavors other than just chocolate.
Use silicone utensils when making fudge, they are easier to clean in the end,
and don't melt into your hot fudgey mix (don't ask how I know this).

And, use metal pans. Coat in butter and put in the fridge or freezer until you're ready for them.

(A tip my dad told me about, that he used to do. He was the butter-the-pans-boy.)

Shortbread Sugar Cookies

I follow this recipe, just, half as much. Since I'm not baking for an army.  I also use cookie cutters, instead of a cookie press.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/shortbread-cookies-ii/detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla; add flour and mix well.
3. Put through cookie press and form cookies onto baking sheets. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

If you're using a cookie press, after you make the dough, you can fill your press and go.
If you're using cookie cutters, form dough into a ball, wrap in clear-wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 mins. {I also place the cookie cutters I'll be using, and my silicone mats in the fridge to cool}
After 30 minutes, roll out and cut your cookies. (I also keep a dish of oil nearby, to dip my cookie cutters into, so they don't stick)  Bake, cool and decorate.

I used wheat flour this time, and added more vanilla extract (and some almond). You can actually use any extract you want, add food color, even add cinnamon, nuts or chocolate chips if you want.
{And, since there is no raw egg in this, its safe to eat as you go}

Cinnamon Ornaments

I like Martha Stewart's 'recipe' for cinnamon dough the best.


http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/cinnamon-bird-ornaments#

I didn't have enough cinnamon, or any apple sauce - so I made my own version. Follow Martha's directions for the dough. They are much better than what I ended up with (mine have almost no cinnamon smell).

Mix together 1 cup cinnamon, 1/4 cup apple sauce, and 1/2 cup craft glue. Roll into a ball and let set about an hour. {Or, roll into ball, wrap in clear-wrap, and pop in the fridge for 15 mins. or so} Roll out dough and cut out shapes. Use a straw or skewer to place a hole in each ornament (so you can hang it up). You can let dry out over night, or place into the oven on 200 for about 2 hours (flip over at 1 hr).  Let cool, place ribbons through, and decorate.

Cake Mix Cookies

Probably some of the easiest cookies you can possibly make - Cake Mix Cookies.
(I found this recipe on the internet years ago, I'm not sure what site it was from, but there are probably tons of versions if you search google)

1 box cake mix (apx. 18 oz)

1 egg

½ cup butter (1 stick) – softened

2tbs water (if using chocolate mix)
frosting & decorations

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, combine all ingredients, drop on cookie sheet and bake 9-12 minutes.
Let cool and decorate.

It's begining to look like ...

... A warm, rainy Christmas.

Seriously, it's about 60 degrees here, and pouring down rain. No cold, no snow, just yuck. It doesn't even seem like the holidays. I've had no motivation to really do anything seasonal, just because it doesn't seem like winter. It's like Christmas in Florida or something. But I've sucked it up and have been decorating and wrapping gifts. Last week I put up lights outside, and today I did some inside decorating and wrapping. It's all a lot harder to do when you're 8 months pregnant. 1 trip downstairs is now about 5 trips. 

The lights outside

Front door wreath

Our Winter Evergreen Bush

Our Evergreen Bush isn't a christmas tree. It's not. It's a tree to hang the ornaments I've been given over the years on and put our gifts around.

{ I have my views on what Christmas is, which I''m not going to go into here, but there is a Hanukkah bag under there too}

And, every year I look forward to putting out my cinnamon ornaments. I made them when I was working at a private school, and they smelled so good, year after year. And the smell of cinnamon just puts you in a holiday mood.  Umm, except this year ...

Here is what I found when I opened the box.

Granted, this is probably my fault, usually I put them in a baggie, then into the box. But that's not the point.
The mice that keep getting in our basement decided to eat cinnamon us. Yup. They took off John's head and arm, and both of my arms. And snacked on the candy cane and present too. A serious bummer. I had made cinnamon us the christmas before we got married, and now we're mangled. But, I will make more. And when I do I will post the directions.

I'm also hoping to do a post on Fudge soon. :)