A little bit of my gallery...

Letters to your mini!

Recently I saw someone post about how they have friends and family write letters to their child. So grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, cousins, and of course mom and dad. Anyone that you want to of course add in to the mix would be fabulous also! I would have loved to read letters from family and friends from the beginning days!

So where do you keep them? A blog is always a good place to keep note of things as you go along. Family and friends could have the info to the blog to make posts about the fun times and special moments! I know a lot of family, especially the older ones have trouble with the internet, haha! Just get a nice box and simply do it the old fashion way, a letter!

Maybe it would just be for special events, or maybe a monthly thing. Whatever you do is up to you! But do it. Your little one will appreciate it down the line!

What better way to show your husband how proud you are...

To have his last name and be a family! I made this plaque with Father's day in mind but it also makes a great gift for thatr special guy for almost any occasion!

Not for dad? It can be made to pretty much anything! It would so cute and different to make this plaque to say your little one's name and put it up in a nursery! I will def. be going to make one for little boy!

Great for weddings and bridal/baby shower!

Message me for more info! Or visit lilyshop  to place your order now!

Polka Dot fun letters!

There is just something about polka dots that is so fun! It is so lively and playful.  Add some bright colors and you have the perfect mix!

So simple, yet so BOLD!

A Very elegant color scheme! So simple but so bold! 

My mini vaca to Lake Arrowhead...

Our first family vaca is so amazing so far! Just wanted to post an amazing pic!

As much as I could stay here forever, I have so many fun projects to start working on when I get home late tom! It has been very relaxing but it's time for me to get back to work!!! :)



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Never leave the dogs out!! Home made Dog Treats!

So why would you leave your furry little (or big) family members out of all the fun? They deserve some treats too! My girls LOVE food, especially chunky monkey Marley. But their stomachs can't always handle treats. They both LOVE sweet potato. So what else would I make them besides sweet potato bone biscuits!!

They of course loved them!

I just cooked sweet potatos on a baking sheet for 60 minutes. Put in the fridge to cool off for about 20 minutes. Then used a bone cookie cutter, scooped away the excess SP and put in freezer for another 20 minutes. Then finally, put in the fridge for a half hour. They were pretty formed and had hardened enough to be "biscuit like"! There were some happy little four legged kids in the house for sure!! 

Jungle Theme!

I absolutely "LOVE" my newest project!

These can be made in any color/design to match any room...

Wooden Letter with hair bow holder

My two favorite girly colors together!!

Cream Cheese frosting filled brownie pops dipped in Chocolate!! T

A new website I like to call amazing!! Food related!!

So thanks to Kari I am now addicted to this website, Say Mmm. It is the best! You can meal plan and for the week and even generate a grocery list! How awesome is that?! Instead of wondering every what to cook for that night, you can "plan" it out! We all know that I am def. a planner... so of course I am completely excited about this. SO check it out and make your cooking life easier!

My Letter Gallery...

 This was my inspiration for Ryan's letters. His nursery is a jungle theme! Cute!

Caiden's nursery was more of a Chic nursery. His bedding was the main color scheme that I tried to stick to. Here is a link of what it looked like.

 http://www.cocalo.com/item.asp?id=1047&brand=6&g=&coll=&cat=1

Maya's letters were put in a shadow box to be a little different. This was a fun project!

Winnie the Pooh theme, minus the actual characters. Used the color scheme though

Stuffed Jalapeno Chicken Rolls!

Ok, seriously, I really need to take a break from the chicken! But this recipe, I will tell you was SO good! The recipe calls for 1-2 Jalapeno peppers but Brian can not do spicy (wimp) so I only used a little over 1 pepper. It was def. not spicy so if you can deal with some spice, I would recommend using at least 2 peppers! You can either use chicken breasts or chicken tenders. I would highly recommend the tenders. It is way easier to fold and make in to a perfect roll!

I added a salad with spinach, thousand island dressing and some shredded cheese of choice. I used mozzarella. I also drizzled some fried onion strings over the top of the salad.  Also, a 7 grain lemon rice served with it was perfect! It was def. a fattening dinner :)

Not the greatest picture but it was amazingly good!

Stuffed Jalapeno Chicken Rolls

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1-2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 t. garlic powder
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins, pounded flat
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 T. melted butter
• 1 c. breadcrumbs
• 1. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, diced jalapenos, salt and garlic powder. Use immediately or refrigerate for a while to allow the flavors to combine.
  
  2. Spread some cream cheese-jalapeno mixture down the center of each piece of chicken.
  
  3. Roll up tightly and secure with a toothpick. Season each roll with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Dip the chicken in the melted butter and then roll in the bread crumbs. Repeat until done. Place in a casserole dish and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken, until fully cooked.

Chicken Pesto Pizza with homemade dough

This was super fun to make and was extremely delicious! I had never made homemade dough before so I was pretty surprised that I pulled it off. I cooked mine for a little longer than it said to because I like it a little crispier.

Here is the recipe. Let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2-3/4 cups bread flour, divided
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/2 each small green, sweet red and yellow peppers, julienned
• 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons prepared pesto
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Beat in the 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon oil, sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the remaining flour; beat until combined.
• Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the chicken, onion, peppers and mushrooms in remaining oil until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat; set aside.
• Punch dough down; roll into a 15-in. circle. Transfer to a 14-in. pizza pan. Build up edges slightly. Spread with pesto. Top with chicken mixture and cheese. Sprinkle with pepper and remaining salt.
• Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until crust and cheese are lightly browned. Yield: 8 slices.

Garlic breaded chicken breast with Cous Cous!

Do not even remember what the recipe was, or if there even was one... 

Just dip chicken breast in egg, then the flour, and finally the bread crumbs. I grated some fresh garlic into the bread crumbs before I coated the chicken and added more garlic (you will soon find out, if you do not know already that I LOVE garlic) on top of the chicken with some melted butter before I cooked in the oven. For a last touch I added some grated fresh parmesan on top and it was ready to serve over some hot lemon cous cous. 

As you will see below, I had a great little helper! 

Brians Birthday and Bday BBQ

So Brian said that he wanted to do something simple for his birthday, like a BBQ. Ok, great! Well, when it comes to ANY party, it is an EVENT. I can't help it, thats what I love to do... PLAN!! So I tried my best to incorporate just a "simple" BBQ into something a little, not so simple! Simple is boring people! Of course Brian would have been happy with just some burgers, some beer, and some friends and family. That is all fine and dandy but come on, lets make it a "little" more than that!

I was super excited to make caramel and chocolate dipped apples! I was going to make a candy apple bar but it would have been a little too crazy for the BBQ, so I just made them myself! I also made some carrot cake and red velvet cupcakes! Yummy!!

Gavin's home made baby food!

So when people asked me if I was going to make Gavin's baby food when he started eating solids, I said no. I really did not put much thought in to it. Well, I really don't know what I was thinking. Did you know that the first year of a babies life is the time that their tissues and cells are at its most delicate and most important time? Crazy, right? It obviously makes sense to me. They are growing like crazy! Their bodies, their minds, and the way they "think" about food and it's association. They need good nutrients. They need good food, REAL food. Why wouldn't I make his baby food? I feel as a mother, I want only the best for my little man!


It makes me SO happy to make it for him, to feed it to him, and to know that I am taking great care of what he puts in his mouth. Besides, before we know it, he will be sneaking in all this processed and crappy food
at his friends houses and wherever else... I want to do what I can, for as long as I actually can. With that said, I posted some pics of a few things. His favorite food is sweet potato! I don't blame him :)

Below is squash and sweet potato. Just cut in half, put face down on 400 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Sprinkle some water before laying them face down to give it a caramelized taste. Yum!

Sweet potato and squash