Chicken and Rice Casserole... aka Dinner for the Neighbors

Ingredients:

• 2-3 chicken breasts
• 3 cans cream of chicken, mushroom, or celery soup
• 3 cans of water
• 3 cups of rice
• salt and pepper
• celery (optional)
• 2 tbsp. butter

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Add 1tbsp. butter to saute pan. Add chicken. Cook chicken on medium heat until brown on outside (inside does not have to be cooked). 

While chicken is browning, mix your 3 cans of soup with 3 cans of water and 3 cups of rice. Salt and pepper generously. Butter your glass casserole dish. Dice your celery and mix in. 

Remove chicken from heat and place in casserole dish. Pour soup/rice concoction over the chicken. Cover with tin foil. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove tin foil and place back in oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove and let cool. 

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Holy Momma.

This recipe was good. And I'm talking finger lickin' good. I loved it. And our neighbors loved it! And Devin loved it! A+ for me, right?

And the best part of all? It literally takes 10 minutes. Did you hear me? 10 minutes! In a world where I don't even have time to shower in between homework, teaching, and wiping my puppy's butt, 10 minutes for dinner rocks.

So here's the recipe. Go paint your nails. Or take a nap. Or praise the heavens. I know. I know.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1/2 cup BBQ sauce
2 TBSP Butter
1/4 cup Honey
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Hamburger Buns/Large Rolls

Directions:

Start by boiling the chicken. Mix all of the rest of the ingredients together in a microwavable bowl. Mix until blended (there will be some chunks). Microwave for 30-60 seconds. Mix again until well blended and creamy.

Once the chicken is done, shred it and add into the bowl of sauce. Mix together and serve on a bun!

And that's it. Your family will thank you! Enjoy!

Bacon Ranch Chicken Casserole

I wasn't sure how this one would turn out, as Devin's all-time favorite meal is the hamburger helper cheeseburger version (did I mention he's 5 years old?). Anyway, I didn't think anything I could cook would beat out hamburger helper for him... but sure enough, it did. I had him begging me for seconds! For a picky eater, I felt like I hit the jackpot this time. I thought it was really good, but a little rich. I don't imagine making this too often (or I'll probably put on 15 lbs) but, it's a go-to when I want to do some hubby pleasing!

Anyway HERE's the recipe and the site I got it from. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2lb chicken, cooked and cubed

1 box (10oz) Rotini noodles
7-8 slices of Bacon cooked and chopped up
3 cloves of garlic, minced (I substituted w/ garlic powder)
2 tbsp flour
1 cup of Milk (I used 2%)
3/4 cup of Ranch Dressing (I used Kraft)
3 tbsp of butter
2 cups of Mexican Cheese Blend
1 small can of Green Chile (I used Hatch Green Chile)

Directions

Cook your chicken thoroughly. I sauteed them for 7-8 minutes, but time will vary depending on the size/thickness of your chicken.

While your chicken is cooking, make your bacon and make the noodles per directions on the package. Chop up your bacon and chicken into bits. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Keep a small bit of your bacon drippings in the pan.   Heat your garlic powder (or cloves) and butter just until melted (don’t brown). Toss in the chicken and the flour and cook for about 1 minute mixing it all together. Dump in the milk and ranch. Mix over medium/low heat for about 2-3 minute until slightly thickened.

Add in 1 cup of cheese. Mix it all together throughly. Then fold it in with the noodles. Get it all mixed up together.  At this point you can add the green chile — I actually used half a can of green chile as I did half the casserole with the green chile and half without.

Dump the casserole in a large casserole dish. Pour the remaining cup of cheese over the top of the casserole. Cook for 15 minutes at 350 until cheese is nicely melted.

Enjoy! We had it with salad. So good!

The Start of a New School Year

Today was my last first day of school... well being a student that is... unless of course I go to graduate school... well, you get the point!  I have this semester left of classes and my practicum, and then I student teach second semester (January-April). Boy am I excited! This semester might be a drag though... I mean, I'm psyched for my classes, I'm just not psyched that I have to take so many. And because this is my last semester. It also means I have all of my capstone and senior courses, which are hard. Here are the classes I'm taking:

Practicum - 4 credits
D&C - 2 credits
Shakespeare - 3 credits
Teaching Reading - 3 credits
American Lit to 1800 - 3 credits
The Senior Course (devotional lyric) - 3 credits
= 18 whole credits.

I just have mixed feelings really. I'm SO ready to be done with school and just WORK already, but at the same time, I want to learn as much as I can before I have to teach. I feel ready and not ready at the same time... Sometimes I seriously consider graduating with just an English degree. But then something always pulls me back to this insane major, and I stick with it. I think I'll be glad when I'm done.

Our student teaching/practicum assignments were revealed today! I will be teaching at Vista Heights Middle School in Saratoga Springs (Alpine School district). My mentor teacher's name is Natalie Thomson. She looks super cute and close to my age, which is exciting. It'll be nice to be teaching up near Lehi where I might be able to get a job next year! (Fingers crossed)

I was going to post of photo of what I looked like on this first last day of college pic, but I was so exhausted I came home right away, let Zeus out, played with him, changed (it's 90 degrees outside), and collapsed on the couch. So the picture I post today might be a little scary, honestly. Let's hope tomorrow is less exhausting and I might put one in here.

5 Ingredient Chicken Enchilada Lasagna

I tried this recipe out the other day and it was so yummy! Devin couldn't get over the fact that I had made it and not gotten it from some Mexican restaurant. He said it was his favorite meal I had ever made him. And that's what I call a kitchen success! I wish I had pictures but Devin ate it all so quickly I didn't get a chance to take any.

Ingredients:

• Two 10 oz. jars of medium red enchilada sauce (I used Old el Paso)
• 4 cups mexican style blend shredded cheese (I get mine from Costco)
• 8 small corn tortillas
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 small cans of green chiles

Directions:

Cut each chicken breast into smaller strips (so that it cooks faster) and put them in a small pot. Pour the enchilada sauce over them, stir in the two cans of green chiles, and cook on low to medium high until they are cooked through, about 20 minutes. No water is needed. Stir occassionally.  

Remove chicken and shred. Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees. Spray your glass or metal baking dish with Pam, and then start layering. Put 4 corn tortillas on the bottom of your baking dish, pour a layer of of enchilada sauce over them, spread 1/3 of the chicken on top, add 1/3 of the cheese, and start over again with another layer starting with the corn tortillas. End with a thick layer of cheese on top. Bake for 20-30 minutes uncovered until the cheese has melted and is bubbly on top. Serve warm and enjoy!

Weekend with the In-Laws

Devin and I just got back from our trip to Redding, CA for his family reunion. It wasn't that exciting, but it was really fun!  Everyone was there (except Christian and Chantelle- in Mexico for Dave's 50th birthday):

Us, Charlene, Chrissy, Malena, Sophia, Robert (son), Robert (husband), Marci, David, Sam, Riley, Curtis, Mandi, Claire, Grant, Michelle, Quinn, Emily (granddaughter), Meg, Deniss, and Aunt Karen.

It was a ton of people, and a ton of fun. We played games (Nertz-of course, Dice, and Tripoloy-which I won!). We swam, ate a TON of food, took pictures, and played with the kids. It was nice to go because I was able to put faces to names, finally. I feel like I know Devin's family so much better now!

Hello beautiful

This month has been a little crazy.

Even getting ready just to start this month felt a little overwhelming. We moved last Tuesday from our old basement apartment in the McQuarrie's house (41 E 1820 S) to our new condo (1485 S. 110 E)! Packing was crazy, but we moved everything within 2 hours. It was insane. And great. I will have to post pics of the new place soon!

So the day after we move, I get a phone call from Devin asking me if I want a new BMW? Uh.. duh. Is that even a question? However, the stress of moving, going to Vegas, getting a dog, visiting Cali for Devin's family reunion, and spending a whole week in Lake Powell....all within this one month. This one month where we aren't working as much so we aren't getting paid as much... well it all just seemed a little overwhelming.

But, I ignored the overwhelming and feeling and had him send me pictures. And of course I just fell in love with it. So we went and test drove it, and we had to get it. Devin originally wanted to surprise me with it, but he knows how I feel about surprises... so we decided together. And man oh man. It was a great decision!

I was sad to see the Xterra go. We were planning to hang onto that baby forever. But, alas, the BMW came along. And who can say no to a beautiful BMW at a great price? And that my friends, is the beauty of your husband working at a dealership. We've only been married for a little over a year and we've already gone through 5 cars...

You heard me right. 5 cars. But, I guess as long as we keep upgrading... who cares right? Here are some pics of the new baby. I think we will be looking for a nice new car for Devin pretty soon!

She, Roxy, (yes I already named her) is amazing. She has navigation, (no bluetooth-we are adding that soon), seats in the front and back that move forward/back, a sunroof, automatic lights and windshield wipers, seat adjustment memory, backup sensors, a beautiful sound system, and she's white! And basically in perfect condition. I seriously don't think we could have gotten a better deal on this car. Plus, we have a 100,000 mile warranty and road side assistance. It's pretty great.

So there she is. The beauty. Can you tell I'm in love?

We picked out our Puppy!

And here is what you have all been waiting for....

Meet Zeus!

He was so excited to see us.. he couldn't stand still when were leaving!

Alex and I traveled down to Vegas on Thursday. We checked into the Luxor and then headed over to see the puppies. They were adorable! It was so hard to choose. There were three little ones (all boys) that I was supposed to choose from. But, there was also this bigger puppy, that was pure white, and so happy! They took him away and I played with all the other puppies, but  I couldn't stop thinking about the bigger boy. They brought him back to the pen and he was so happy to see me. He was working it. I picked him up and he snuggled into my neck immediately. Then he licked my face.

And I just knew. I knew it had to be him. He's a little bit older and we have to wait until Aug 4 to get him, so he will be 3 months by then, so I'm a little sad that he will be big, but he has the cutest personality ever. And he was just GORGEOUS.

Plus... when I left, he jumped up and stared at me as I left, with his big paws just hanging over the pen.. It was so cute and so sad! I seriously contemplated how I could take him home the next day, but I didn't feel right about it. We have two trips coming up (Cali and Lake Powell) that we would have to find someone to watch him during.  And, when puppies come home, that first month is extremely important for bonding with family members. So if we were gone every other week, we might really mess him up... 

Thus... we will be waiting to pick him up on August 4th, and we CAN'T WAIT!!!

Table Redo

Hey there! I'm excited to share this post with all of you today.

Drum roll please........

I restained and painted our kitchen dining table!

This was a major redo project that I have been just DYING to do this summer, but I've put it off, until now. I'm not going to lie... I was scared. Really scared actually. I didn't want to start this project and mess it up because I had no idea what I was doing... so I researched, and researched. After a few weeks of building up the courage to destroy my table and then basically refinish it to look like new, I decided to just start one day. And I did it!

So... for those that are looking for instructions on how I did it, here's the instructions!

First, gather your supplies. Here is a list, but I also provide pictures because when I was researching to do my own table, pictures really helped me see exactly what product they were using.

• Black and Decker Random Orbit Sander: I got it from Amazon here
• Mirka Hook and Loop Sanding Disks (these were awesome because it came with 10 of 5 different grits): I got them here
• Medium Grit (80 is fine) Sanding block/wedge
• Minwax Wood Finish Stain in Dark Walnut
• Minwax Wipe on Poly in Clear Satin
• Rustoleum High Performance Spray Paint in White
• Paper Towels
• Disposable Vinyl Gloves
• Tack Cloth (I recommend buying 2)
• Cheapo Foam brushes (big pack from Walmart)
• Cheap Respirator Mask
• GOGGLES/GLASSES (you need these unless you want your eyes to water all day-trust me, I know now)
• Newspaper
• Painter's tape

Optional:

• Zinsser Spray Primer in White
• Minwax Finishing Paste

          

Now! Let's get started.

1) Stripping the Table

Wash down your table and chairs with a warm soapy rag and then dry it. Put on your respirator, goggles, and gloves. Get out your random orbit sander and put an 80 grit hook and loop sandpaper on it. Start sanding with the grain in long sweeping motions up and down wherever you want to stain your wood.  It should look very birchy and smell like raw wood once all of the veneer is off. Do the same to your chairs. Take your medium grit sanding block/wedge and go over the legs and the rest of the wood pieces that will be painted later.  They just need to be roughed/scratched up enough (don't take off the veneer-too much work!) so the paint will adhere better.

Before 

 After

 2) Staining the Table

Get out the warm soapy rag again, and possibly a vacuum. Wipe down the table, floors, all surrounding areas (or if you have the room, move the table to a new area). Vacuum up as much dust as you can. This is important for staining because you don't want any dust flecks to dry in the stain. Now, get out your tack cloth and go over the table and chairs once more. Once you are sure there is no dust anywhere in sight, crack open your can of Minwax Wood Finish Stain. Stir well. Using a cheapo foam brush, dip it into the can and "paint" the table in long strokes with the grain. Let sit for 15 minutes, then take a paper towel and wipe it off with the grain. Your table is probably thirst so not a ton will come off, although your paper towel should look dark brown/black. Let dry for the allotted time on the can (I believe 4 hours). Do this with the rest of the chairs.

After the 4 hours, take a 120 grit sanding paper and lightly sand--with the grain. Use your tack cloth and wipe off the extra dust. Now, stain the table again. Wait 4 hours, sand, and stain. You can pretty much do this as many times as you like until you get the right color and feel... the trick is sanding in between coats. It is what will make sure your table comes out nice and smoooooth.  And to be honest, I did this process 4 times...

3)  Painting the Table

Now's the fun part! Using newspaper and painters tape, completely cover and tape off the chair tops and table top (I took the legs off my table top). Be extremely meticulous with this part! Any parts showing will become white and then you will have to sand/restain all over again. And that just sucks. So make sure every inch that has been stained on the tops is covered. (I chose to stain first, rather than paint later because in other tutorials, the stain dripped and was much harder to fix over the already white painted parts)

Wipe down your chairs one more time-just to be sure they are clean. Put your furniture in a well ventilated area, put on your gloves and mask, and grab either your bottle of primer or paint. I chose to prime first, but I feel it's really optional. I wanted all the extra durability I could get, but I have a feeling these chairs would hold up well without the primer because the spray paint is very durable itself. 

If you choose, put your chairs down forward with their legs sticking up backwards. Spray the legs, then flip them up and finish.  Prime your chairs and table using long feathery strokes back and forth. You don't need to get every inch, but definitely focus on areas that will be touched/handled the most. Let dry. I waited 15 minutes and then began spray painting. Using the same feathering technique (stay 8-12 inches away), and lightly cover the chairs, table, and legs in one coat. Wait 15 minutes, then do it again. I did 3 coats, and retouched areas individually after they were pretty much dry. 

Let dry for an entire day. Take off the newspaper... and whala! You have yourself a brand spankin' new set of table and chairs that look beautiful and will last forever! (I didn't choose to finish the table with poly or wax because I have used this spray paint forever, and it lasts on it's own pretty well.. But if you want, I would finish with Minwax finishing paste) Plus.. the best part about spray paint is that you can fix any nicks or scratches extremely easily thereafter! Enjoy your new table set... I know I will be!

Look how pretty that table top is! I just love how the stain brought out the individual wood pieces in the top.... It's gorgeous!

 And here is my adorable husband taking a nap after a long day of helping his wife destroy and redo their furniture... How did I get so lucky!?

Getting excited!

Because we have first pick of the puppies, Gabi (our breeder in Vegas), wants us to come down first so we can pick our puppy out before everyone else shows up to get theirs. We are going to be gone for two different vacations (the dates we are supposed to pick him up), so she will hold him for us until we can pick him up after all of our cray cray vacations. So the girls and I--Alex and Tiff--are going down to Las Vegas on Thursday July 10th to pick him out! We have booked a room at the Luxor.. woo woo! (Can't wait to ride them sideways elevators!) Then we come back on Friday, and we move. Like that day. I can't believe how fast everything is happening!

This is how it goes down:

July 10-11: Vegas trip to "pick out" our puppy
July 11-13: Moving/Dev's family is visiting (Fun-but crazy I'm sure!)
July 18-21: California- Dev's family reunion
July 29-Aug 3: Lake Powell
Aug 4: Bring Zeus home

I'm not sure how we managed to cram every possible "big" thing that could happen to us this summer in one month, but we did: 3 vacations, moving, and bringing home a puppy. If my hair is pulled out in August... you'll know why!

So, as a stress reliever... I hit TJ Maxx today and got Devin a great shirt, me some new curtains, some new bath rugs, a tommy bahamas candle, and some great new pillows! I even picked up some cute stuff for our puppy :) 

The cutest food and water bowls ever! 

 Bag for dog toys, brush, and toy

Zeus' first toy! A little gray raccoon! 

Maybe I'm going a little overboard... but you only get a new puppy a few times in a lifetime.. right?

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a puppy!

 
This was last Thanksgiving... Brody (big boy) and Luna (puppy girl) are the sweetest dogs ever.

How cute is she??? (this isn't my sister-in-laws puppy- I just wanted a close up
of a puppy and didn't have any.. so I stalked the internet and found one)

As I'm sure you know... I LOVE my sister-in-law's english cream golden retrievers! When Devin and I first got married we knew we wanted to get a big dog pretty quickly (to hold off on those babies!). I thought I wanted an Australian Shepherd (he hated them) so we decided on a Husky (so cool!). We actually met one and realized we would be giving up all cleanliness if we ever adopted one--they shed so much! And they are also VERY independent. Which doesn't work well for me, the cuddler. Devin told me that I would fall in love with his sister's dogs when we met them. I wasn't so sure, but they had my heart the second I saw them.

We actually just decided we wanted to move a few months ago and the search for a new apartment began. I had given up on finding a pet friendly place. I just wanted somewhere nice near our friends. We ended up finding a 2 bedroom condo in our same ward, literally next door to our friends. It has a pool, hot tub, volleyball court, basketball court, barbecue area, huge open grass area, little park, RV parking, and a dog park..... The best part? It was PET FRIENDLY! So we jumped on it.

And the next day I was calling breeders. Unfortunately they don't have litters in Utah that will be ready to go home in August--English Creams are highly desirable but not very popular in the states yet (you have to import studs and bitches from Europe, so it takes time)--or the ones they did were already called for. So I started looking elsewhere. Turns out, there is a breeder in Vegas that charges less than the breeders here, and it worked out perfectly with our timing. The puppies will be ready to go home July 23rd, but because we will be in Lake Powell, she will hold him for us until Aug 4, which is when we will drive back from Lake Powell and pick him up on the way home. Plus, we get FIRST PICK of the litter.  Pretty big deal! We are moving in on July 14, we go to Cali the next weekend, Lake Powell the following, and then we pick up our puppy up in Vegas the day after! We are psyched!

He will be a male puppy named Zeus (Devin's pick for the name). I don't know that there is a puppy in the world that has more people waiting for him to come home. Dev and I are dying! My little brothers can't wait. My sister-in-law is so happy! And all of our friends at the condos can't wait!

I've already ordered a million books on dog training and golden retrievers, I've picked out material to make a dog bed, and I've order tags, leashes, collars, etc. Maybe I'm going overboard? But it's like my baby? They don't do puppy showers do they?

But seriously. If you are thinking about getting a dog- get an english cream golden retriever. They are pricey (save up!), but they are the best family dogs. They become a kid! They love people and aren't aggressive. They are very smart and easily trained. They love to cuddle (yay!). They also have better health than American goldens (check out this website for more info). Basically they look like little polar bear dogs. And what gets better than that?

Material for the dog bed :)

 

The dog tag our puppy NEEDS- of course it will say Zeus.

Matt's home

I can't believe it! I really can't believe how fast the time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday he left on his mission and I got married. But now we've passed our one year anniversary and Matt's home. Shut the front door. (I feel like that's something he would say).

As I'm looking back through our photos to pick the perfect one for this post, I can't help but laugh. We were some weird kids. Okay, okay. Truth is... we still are. But that was the thing about Matt. He could always bring out the real me, the me I hid from a lot of other people. When we were together, I didn't care what he or anyone else thought. We were just friends and that was all that mattered. And that's how we became best friends.

To the past and the future Matty, and for whatever it holds in store. Now get down to BYU. asap.

Devs Birthday

Devin's birthday was Friday, May 23rd. And... he turned 24! He kept telling me how he's almost a quarter of a century old, and how that's supposed to be really freaky. He also pointed out that he is 10 years older than freshman in high school right now. That really freaked me out. But, at the same time, I still feel like we are sooo young. 

Devin's dad came to town a week early for his birthday. We made homemade pizza, went to Texas Roadhouse, watched Tyler compete in his motocross race, watched Harry Potter and the Heat game, and went on a hike! All in all, it was a great weekend! Here's a pic of Dev and his Pops on our way to Stewart Falls. 

On his actual birthday, I told Devin we would go to the movies and dinner just the two of us. And if you know Dev, I could tell was a little bummed out--and I say a little because he is the nicest person on the planet and he didn't want to hurt my feelings--that I didn't have anything more special planned with friends. Because Devin is a social butterfly.  Anyway, I let him think he was going to come home after work, change and go to dinner. But, when he walked in the door, we had a bunch of people waiting to surprise him! We hung out and ate pizza and cake and talked and had fun. It was a blast and he was totally surprised. He loved it.

And here's my attempt at a basketball cake that I made. The coolest part about this cake was that it was his three favorite things: a basketball, the color blue on the inside, and (blue) velvet flavoring! He was pretty thrilled.

Tyler enjoying his blue and orange cake!

On Sunday, everyone wanted to see Devin so my entire family joined us for a hike. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went home and had ribs that my mom made (Dev's favorite) and watched basketball. Devin was pretty elated.

And this is my favorite picture of the entire day. Cooper mimicking Devin, watching basketball and eating food. They are adorable. <3