Glory Green Bean Casserole!

2-27oz. cans of Glory Foods Seasoned Country Style Green Beans, drained.
2-10 3/4oz. cans of Cream of Mushroom WITH roasted garlic.
2 cups of milk
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 2/3 cups french fried onions, halved

Preheat oven to 350

Mix soup, milk, Worcestershire, and pepper in a bowl. Add green beans and half of the french fried onions and mix well. Pour into a casserole/baking dish and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Add the remaining fried onions to the top and bake for an additional 5 minutes uncovered.

This recipe is portioned for a party. You can half the recipe for a family meal :)

Lety's Cranberry Salad

1 8oz can of crushed pineapple (1 cup)
1 11 oz. can of mandarin oranges
1 cup diced celery
1 cup chopped pecans
1 small apple diced
1 can Cranberry sauce
1 3oz. package Black Cherry Jello
1 3 oz. package Strawberry Jello

2 cups boiling water

Mix both packages of Jello into 2 cups of boiling water. Dump in all remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into a bowl or mold and chill for 8 hours.

Top with cool whip if desired. 

Bah! Humbug!

'tis the season...

I love helping people. Everyone knows that. Some people think I am easy to take advantage of. Others appreciate me for who I am, and what I do, regardless of motive.

Every year it's like a broken record. People needing help. They didn't need help when they took a vacation over Spring Break with their tax return. They didn't need help when they were buying that $200 video game system with their bonus. Nope. They had the money to spend. But now? Now they need help. Just like last year. And the year before that.

You know what the problem is? It's not that you have fallen upon hard times. It's that you have fallen upon hard times and you did absolutely nothing to prepare yourself financially. You had $3000 at tax time. You could have placed it into savings for those car repairs, birthday gifts, and for the holiday season but no. You decided you "deserved" a vacation. Your family "deserved" quality time together.

Guess what? We ALL want time off. Most of us have EARNED a vacation. We choose to do the responsible thing as adults. As parents. We set back some money knowing that throughout the year we will likely have unexpected expenses.

There was no way for me to know that my son would suddenly need glasses this year. Shit happens. Shit that costs hundreds of dollars. No one told me my oldest would wreck our car. $500 deductible. That sucks big fat donkey balls. I'm sure glad we put my husbands bonus in savings. It still sucks but...at least we can take care of business.

I'm sorry. I normally try to keep things positive on my blog, and I rarely write anyway so like...sorry to all 5 people who will read this but...DAMN! Why are so many people asking for help year after year? Do they just not know how to be financially responsible or do you think they just know someone will bail them out every year?

It aint gonna be me. Not this year. Not again. No way. I'm done with helping those who refuse to help themselves.

Sticky Note Control Panels

As I was cleaning up the sun porch today I noticed that the boys missed a whole lot of play dough when they swept the rug last night. I pulled out the chairs to sweep under the table while I was at it and I saw some small toys shoved under the trestle of the table. Since none of the kids are home I had to get on my hands and knees to get the toys out of the way so that I could get down to sweeping. As I dunked my head under the table I found command central!

My little guy (age 5) spends a lot of time under the table. He likes to stash toys under there and I think it's kind of like his great big cardboard box. Some days it's a rocket ship and other days it's his tent. He likes to use his imagination and I adore that quality even more now that the older ones are "over" that sort of play.

When I dunked under the table I saw that he had placed sticky notes on the table legs with little shapes drawn on them with marker. My immediate reaction was frustration. This is an expensive piece of furniture. Those sticky-it notes are for school supplies, not for play. There had better not be any marker on the table!!!

Stop. I had to stop myself. I had to appreciate what I was seeing. He had spent so much time drawing on lights, or buttons, or something on this paper in effort to create something with his imagination. I'm just glad I found it before he got home and took a second to think about the situation.

I refuse to let my obsessive compulsive tendencies squash his imagination. He's like the only one left in the house who has an imagination anymore!!!

So, I left the sticky it notes on the table. If the epoxy from the glue ruins the stain on my heirloom table...oh well. When he gets home I will ask him what exactly is this thing he has made, and I will tell him that I love it and I will gently remind him next time that he should ask before using mom's school supplies and that we can't just tape things willy-nilly. We have to make sure it is to a surface that will not be ruined by it...and them I'm hoping he invites me to play with whatever it is that he has going on under there!

Crock Pot Enchiladas

Crock pot Enchiladas? Say it isn't so! I am the enchilada queen so I am really excited about having an easy cheat for enchiladas when I don't have all day to make them!

The ingredients list is very forgiving. These ladies used 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, a can of green chilis, a can of green enchilada sauce, 20 corn tortillas, shredded cheese, and about 2 cups of leftover cooked chicken in theirs.

I would imagine this would be super tasty with taco meat, and pinto beans too!

Slow Cooked Teriyaki Chicken

I am so excited about trying this out! When I think of crock pot I don't usually think of Asian cuisine. I am hoping this turns out great and that all 4 kids will eat it!

6 Boneless Chicken Thighs, frozen (you can make it 8 if you wish)
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
1 Can Crushed Pineapple, undrained
1 Bottle Teriyaki Sauce
Salt & Pepper
3 Dried Bay Leaves
Sesame Seeds (you can use toasted too by pan frying until fragrant)

Here is the YouTube video that I found this recipe from:

The Most Amazing Pork Chops Ever

I haven't made these yet but plan to make them this week. I just discovered these ladies via a link on Facebook and I am looking forward to trying some new recipes out!

Ingredients
4 bone-in thick cut pork chops
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 envelop pork gravy mix
1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Place the pork chops in your crock pot, mix remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour on top of the pork chops. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Here's the video for this one on YouTube. I love their southern accent. <3

Gray Park

Over the summer our community took a piece of land and came together to build a park. It's not the kind of park with a playground, or any amenities, so to speak. It's really just a nature trail with some park benches for sitting, and there is a creek running through it. Our family went out to help clear debris and collect branches to mulch and we had not been back to see the finished trails so today we decided to go check out our new Gray Park!

This boy loves to run, and run, and run. He may be the next XC runner in the family! 

I am always looking for the fun guy ;)

The kids enjoyed the widened trails.

There seems to be quite a bit of beaver activity around the creek.

Dane found several skipping rocks

Daddy shows Dane how to throw the rocks for the best skipping action.

Dane got a 4 skip throw!

This tree has lots of spiky bits!

This is my daughters friend. She is a fun girl!

She does not like having her picture taken

 Unfortunately for her she met her match in me. I have 3 squirly boys to follow. 

Getting hard to capture smiles is something i have learned to do. ;)

...and again

Dane found a sycamore tree nearly as wide as his arm span!

The tree had a bump which the girls deemed a 'baby bump' and I have to agree, it did kind of look like one!

Jon and the monkey's climbing on low lying limbs. 

Tree hugger!

 Dane looks so smart in his glasses!

 This little monster...such a ham! Take a picture of me, take a picture of Meeeeee!

The little creek that runs along the trail was flowing a lot more rapidly than I would have expected. 

I love how organic this knotted mess of roots looks. 

 I think it would make a really awesome end table!

Aiden loves checking out insect life

There will be no texting when enjoying nature, young lady!

Peek-a-boo!

That's a mighty tall walking stick.

I don't know why. Sometimes there is no rhyme nor reason.

One more bit of beaver activity