Here we go again...

So I tried this once before with the organic thing...um...yeah here's the update on that:

I drink organic milk, eat organic cereal, gravitate towards organic other stuff when I see it, and well that's about it. Reason: started the organic stuff the last week of March; opened the pool the first week of April, there went the money and the time!

What has changed to get me back to here?

I got a new computer (yay!) so I'm not at my OLD dinosaur anymore thus making it easier (even easier when I get the wireless router hooked up). Plus I have found several blogs that I am becoming mildly obsessed with, plus I think I'm kind of funny and hopefully you agree! Not to mention I'm going to need somewhere to vent over the next semester with all that's on my plate (a plate that looks like a compulsive over eater at a $2.99 buffet by the way...more on that shortly). I also plan to interject what I have learned about pool maintenance over the last few months as well (those are the REALLY funny stories!).

Tomorrow (well Saturday, may be today by the time I finish this) is the last day on my phone calendar that has nothing on it until December 11. Here is what we have:

• Working 40 hours per week (including a MAJOR move at the end of September to combine two offices into one)
• Taking 9 hours of grad school (which is full time, Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-9, and one online class)
• Becoming a new member of the Junior League of Norman
• Helping with CrossTimbers’ (my church) youth group
• Prayer Team at CrossTimbers
• Book Club at CrossTimbers
• Planning a charity golf tournament (though I don't play golf!)
• Keeping up with the pool
• Relay For Life (though I will miss all the meetings this semester due to class)
• My adopted son (friend Michelle’s 12 year old)’s football games
• Landon’s (friend Lisa’s 16 year old) football games
• Spoiling my new “nephews” (my beautiful friend Valerie’s little one, JJ, born July 6 and my beautiful friend Brittany’s little one, Chase, born August 17)

I think that’s it…oh and breathing and sleeping from time to time :)

I did say “no” to something though! I REALLY wanted to apply for Leadership Norman, but the deadline was today and I did not do it. I have time in the future, when I’m done with school. Hopefully I don’t regret that decision!

So for my last week before school starts I had a very exciting week! Baby Chase made his grand arrival. His mommy, Brittany, is one of my very favorite people. She understands the power of a great pair of shoes! (She’s one of my blogging inspirations!) We go to church together and Chase is just adorable; the only problem is that he was supposed to be CHARLOTTE! We were so very convinced that this baby was going to be a girl and were so very surprised when the ultrasound revealed otherwise. I even walked into the hospital and said “so he really was a Chase not a Charlotte?” Nonetheless I positively adore him and will spoil him rotten. It will be quite fun for him to have JJ to grow up with at church and I will be secretly be turning them both into OU fans! (Brittany is a Texas Tech fan and Valerie is an OSU fan!) Tonight I took dinner to them tonight and will share my newly tweaked recipe (recipe sharing is my favorite part of blogging!) I will get better of taking photos of stuff to post on here! And when I get a release from Mom I will post baby Chase pictures!

Easy Chicken Enchiladas (started at a Tasty Tuesday with a few minor adjustments!)

1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4)

1 cup shredded cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup salsa

1 cup nonfat organic Greek yogurt

1-2 tsp chili powder

8 burrito size whole wheat tortillas

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken into manageable chunks and cook on stove until cooked through. Allow chicken to cool and shred into bite sized pieces. Meanwhile combine soup, salsa, yogurt (originally sour cream, but a whole lot less fat and calories!), and chili powder. Combine a little more than half of salsa mixture with chicken and cheese. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture and place in 9x13 pan. Cover enchiladas with remaining salsa mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until heated all the way through. Serve with Mexican rice.

Generally one enchilada is plenty for a meal for me! I hope that the Pillers enjoyed these tonight, with my healthy tweaks. I told Brittany to be honest, so we’ll see! :)

Tomorrow is going to consist of a lot of sleeping in and then even more pool work. It has been the dreaded 8 weeks since I last cleaned the pool filter so that has to happen. I really would offer food, alcohol or maybe other things to get someone to do this for me. This time I will backwash before I open the filter (now that’s a fun story for another day!) More to come! :)

Poppy Seed Chicken

I am on a roll! I visited the little niece Eby on Saturday (oh and her mom and dad too) and Mary made dinner (I helped though!) and made this amazing recipe! It was so good!

Beware, Mary ate this the night before she had to take a drug test for a new job and the drug testing agency made her reschedule! (poppies are what they use to make opium!)

When I typed it up I made a few strategic changes (Greek yogurt, one of my favorites and brown rice)

Poppy Seed Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 16 oz container plain Greek yogurt

1 can 98% reduced fat cream of chicken soup

1 sleeve reduced fat Ritz crackers, crushed

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

1 stick butter, melted

Precook chicken breasts in boiling water until thoroughly cooked. Remove breasts from water and let cool (save the broth for other things!) Tear cooled breasts into bite sized pieces. Mix together with Greek yogurt, cream of chicken soup and poppy seeds. Mix crushed Ritz crackers and melted butter. Sprinkle cracker mixture on top. Place in preheated 350°F oven until warmed through and cracker topping is golden, about 20-25 minutes.

Serve with brown rice.

Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies!

I guess I am on a baking kick, but I was in the mood to make cookies again tonight. These are mine and Haley's famous Chocolate Chip Cookies, with a twist. When I babysat Haley we would bake ALL the time. She had this cute ABC cookbook, which included this recipe (C for Chocolate Chip Cookie, of course!) I made a double batch and made half milk chocolate/Heath chip and the other half Andes mint chocolate chip...so yummy!

Wendy and Haley's Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar, packed
1 c margarine, softened
1 egg
2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 package chocolate chips (of whatever kind, for the batch of chocolate/Heath I did 1 bag of each!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugars, margarine and egg until thoroughly combined. Add flour, soda and salt. Stir in chips. Bake 8-10 minutes (in my REALLY cool oven it was more like 18 minutes).

They are yummy!

I am a SUCKER for kitchen gadgets! These are my two favorite though:

My Kitchen Aid mixer! I don't think even I thought I would use it as much as I have. I even painted my kitchen to match it, before I got it!

This may have been the best $12.99 I ever spent at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It is a spring loaded cookie dough scoop. It is wonderful. If you bake, go buy one, now, go, I mean it!

And I cannot forget my two, adorable baking assistants who are not so happy that I did not drop anything for them! Ty on the left and Kai on the right!

These are going to some of the most helpful people I know tomorrow or the next day!

CrossTimbers Pot Luck, A New Recipe and Four Boys!

My dear friend Michelle had to go out of town this evening, so I offered to take her youngest four (out of eight!) boys to the CrossTimbers Pot Luck tonight. These boys are the best kids ever! And not just for boys. They are Sheldon, age 12, Baley, age 10, Ashton, age 5 and Brantley, age almost 2. They all have nicknames too:
Sheldon=Hoofie or Moose
Baley=Chunk
Ashton=Squirmworm or just Squirm
Brantley=Goobs
Tonight they got new nicknames from me: green, purple, blue and orange! Yes that would be the colors of their shirts! I really don't know how she does it, especially having more than just those four. I love those kids, but I'm just fairly certain I'm not a "boy mom"!

I took a new recipe to the pot luck as well. I think that is what started my fascination with blogs, as I found this recipe when I was randomly looking at blogs of friends of friends of friends!

Cream Cheese Chicken

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 package Italian dressing mix
1 can 98% fat free condensed mushroom soup
8 oz. neufchatel cheese, softened (this is a lower calorie, lower fat cheese that tastes just like cream cheese)

Here's how hard this recipe is...brace yourself:

1. Insert chicken in slow cooker
2. Pour butter over chicken
3. Pour dressing mix over butter
4. Combine soup and neufchatel cheese until smooth
5. Pour soup mixture over chicken, DO NOT STIR
6. Turn on slow cooker to low and cook for 6 hours if chicken is thawed or 7-8 hours if it is frozen (yes people you can have frozen chicken!)
7. After it cooks remove the chicken and whisk the sauce
8. Serve with a starch: brown rice (healthier!), white rice, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, etc.

SOOOOOO simple, SOOOOOO good!