Addicted to Pinterest!

Like so many of you, I am hopelessly addicted to Pinterest! I have been whipping up projects left and right - mostly cooking. I thought I would share my lighter twist on a yummy pinterest recipe I recently tried... It was based on the recipe I saw here

Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole - the lighter and smaller version

Serves 4
Time: 45 Minutes

 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Cup plain greek yogurt, fat free **
1 Cup whole wheat Ritz crackers, crushed
1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1/4 Cup unsalted butter

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil Chicken in water with a little salt and pepper just until cooked. Allow chicken to cool while mixing other ingredients.

In a medium bowl, mix cream of chicken and yogurt. Cut up chicken and layer in the bottom of lightly greased 8x8 baking dish. Top chicken with soup/yogurt mix.

In a small bowl, combine crushed crackers, poppy seeds and butter. Spread over casserole. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

I didn't make rice to go with this, but I think rice would be a good addition.

According to www.myfitnesspal.com 's recipe builder, here is the nutritional break down:
Calories: 310 Carbs: 16g Fat:18g Protein: 24g Cholesterol:90mg Sodium: 390mg Sugars: 6g Fiber: 1g

 I said it was lighter, not perfect, right? But it sure was yummy.

 **If you have never tried plain greek yogurt, you should. I think it tastes a lot like sour cream, which is what I substituted it for here. :)

 

Baby Shower Favors

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I love babies and baby showers.  I am so honored to be hosting a baby shower for my sister in law with my mother in law and brother in law's girlfriend.  I have been working a little at a time to put together all the pieces of the puzzle.

I started with the tissue paper flowers and although those are not done, I have also been working on the favors.  I found a lot of my ideas on pinterest, including this one.  These little "mary janes" will be filled with candy for the guests to take home and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out!

These are the starting pieces: 

Lots of patience and glue dots later + one cute brad, and voila! ADORABLE!!!

Pumpkin Spice in March?

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Kyle goes to a video game auction once a month, and late last year, he took along some leftover pumpkin spice cupcakes with cinnamon vanilla cream cheese frosting.  Since then, the guy who runs the auction, Mark has been asking for more.  Kyle and I made a batch up for him and needless to say, he was a happy camper! 

Pretty in Pink

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One of the lovely ladies I work with has a birthday coming up and I learned the hard way last year that she may be "kidnapped" by her husband on her birthday and not make it into work.  They are having a mandatory meeting today, so I figured that was my best shot to make sure she got some this year!

And of course, I had to make sure they were fit to eat... :)

Baking, Baking

Over the weekend we had a house full of family.  My mother in law, sister in law, brother in law and niece were all here Saturday and Sunday.  We had a fabulous time together and of course enjoyed some great food.

Kyle made some great spaghetti and meatballs.  I mean, truly awesome stuff, using my Great Aunt Mary's recipe... mmmm, mmmm! And I made this cake:

I forgot to take a picture before I cut it, but yum, yum.  This is a chocolate pecan praline cake.  It is a very light chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache between layers and all over with a so-sweet pecan praline topping. As a side note, I learned the hard way when it says to line the pan with wax paper, you better do it! :)

And tonight, I will be whipping up some yummy vanilla cupcakes for a dear friend and at work who has a birthday coming up!

Creativity Is All Around

I got all jazzed up about doing something creative everyday and blogging about it and I haven't really held to that.  Like many things, I get all excited and then it sort of fizzles.  Today I was thinking about this and realized that my creativity is not necessarily tied to making some amazing project, but my creativity comes in many forms, from the dinner I prepare to clothes I pick out, every part of my day involves some creative inspiration.

So, my new goal is to find the creativity in the everyday... although I will be pumping out some pretty amazing projects over the next few weeks.  I have the great honor of giving a baby shower(with my mother in law and my almost sister in law, Shelby) for my sister-in-law, Jessica and baby Anniston at the end of this month.  I have lots of things planned, but here is the first project:  Tissue paper flowers/pom poms:

I am planning on doing these in pink and purple to decorate the tables/ceiling and anywhere else that needs a pop of color!  I think it will be just great!

I am back and looking for fun!

Christmas was amazing and now that everything is put away and my house is in a little bit of order, I am ready to get creative again.  

I originally purchased this material to make a scarf, but it was too stiff for that and then I had the idea to turn it into a wreath.  I think it turned out pretty good and it will make a great spring wreath!

What do you think?