Mar 31, 2011

Baked Taquitos


I know, right. Fancy picture today. I got a little carried away. Okay truth be told...my photo was a little plain Jane. Too vanilla. WAY too much white. So I played around a little with the photo.

Not to be side tracked though...

This recipe is AH-mazing. I had seen it a couple of times while perusing Our Best Bites, but had never actually bookmarked it to try. Then my SIL blogged about it on her blog. Hubby noticed and said, "hey those look grand" (okay he said that more or less). Then my mom tried it. Again the recipe got rave reviews.

So I decided to try it when we were inviting two of our Churchs' Missionaries over for dinner. Let me tell you, these little creamy baked taquitos were quite the hit. This recipe caused one Elder to say to the other, "I told you that she was the best cook, and has the best meals". 

BLUSH.

So thank you you little wrapped chickeny tortilla-y goodness. Thank you for helping me live up to my culinary reputation.

Give this recipe a go. Make sure to pair it with the Cilantro Lime Rice and a side of fresh pineapple (not pictured, I don't know why).

Creamy Baked Taquitos 


1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (I used their Taco Chicken Recipe...YUM)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese 

Small flour
Salt and Cooking Spray

Make chicken according to recipe ahead of time, basically about 4-5 hours before you start.

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.
Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.
Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.  Then roll it up as tight as you can.
Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.
Serve with Cilantro Lime Rice
Cilantro Lime Rice
Food.com


1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white Jasmine rice
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 lime


In a saucepan, heat oil over low heat. Add rice and lime juice, stir for one minute.


Add water and salt, bring to a full boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes.

Add in the cilantro and fluff rice with a fork.

Mar 30, 2011

Littlest Little Man

Two years ago today, you came into our lives. You were so chubby and so squeezable. You melted your Momma's heart right away.


Why does time have to fly?

Look at you now. Such a Little Man.


You have the most incorrigible and delightful personality. Who knew that just your tiny kisses could make all trouble go away...trouble I am having or even trouble you are in.  Your facial expressions are pretty much priceless. You know you are cute. You use that to work towards your advantage. You are so much fun.  All you want is to be like your brothers...since they are the best I fully support your desire. Your hugs are like medicine. You are the BEST hugger. When your little arms wrap so tightly around my neck, you squeeze all of the grump/sad/stress away and leave only sunshine, giggles, and joy.

Some of your favorite things:

going with out pants
balls
cars
throwing afore mentioned balls and cars
smacking yourself in the face to make us laugh
kisses, right on the mouth
blankie
bunnies (Max & Ruby)
fruit (that's is about the only food)
shoes (that is my boy)
being outside
being anywhere your brothers are
itsy bitsy spider
baby Lincoln
baby Owen
Caroline
Jacob
writing, on paper and yourself
being sneaky
Momma and Daddy

My list of favorite things about you is too long. Everyday you do something new that makes me smile. As cheesy as it may be, when I sing to you "You are my Sunshine", I can't think of anything that is more true.

Happy Birthday my Littlest Little Man.

Mar 29, 2011

Party In the Works

FIRST, thank you, thank you for all of your awesome Spring Break ideas. Many of them will be happening over here in our neck of the woods. My Little Men appreciate the boredom this will save them from.

Littlest Little Man has a birthday coming up.

Idea is settled on.

Color theme picked.

Target raided.


Menu planned.

Color coordinated treats gathered.


Fabric purchased.


Party shirt made.

Sneak peek...

I am having fun. I love finding random things and working them into my theme. I LOVE me some color coordination. I also LOVE a fun understated theme.

I will have some fun party tips and a tutorial for my shirt after his little gathering.

Okay, now back I go to getting stuff ready.

Mar 27, 2011

GIVEAWAY: Super Baby Store


So excited to show you this shop today. I first "met" Angela when we both competed in American Crafter. I fell in love with her cute shop, Super Baby Store right away.  Her tee's are just the kind of clothes I would put my Little Men in. Simple, graphic, and totally ROCKIN'.



Her shop also has just about the cutest bibs EVER. This one is my FAVORITE, makes me wish I had a wee one to put a bib on.


Look at some of her other bibs.




Love. Them.

Today Angela is offering Just Another Paradise Readers something super fun. One of you lucky girlies will win one of her tee's.

Say what? Yup, one of her super cute tee's.

How cute would a Little Man in your life look in this 'stache tee?


Here is all you have to do to enter-

Mandatory Entry: 
Head over to Super Baby Store and look around. Tell me which tee you would pick

Additional entries:
Be a follower of Just Another Day in Paradise

It is Spring Break here, leave me a fun Spring Break idea I can do with the kiddos

Remember, leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway ends April 1st (no foolin' hehehe) at 11:59 pm est

Good Luck! 

In a Nutshell: Baby, it is Cold INSIDE

We woke up this morning, and I swear I could see my breath. You know Kate Winslet floating in the ocean Titanic style. First I thought, "What the heck? Isn't it almost April?" Then as I slowly emerged from my sleep stupor I realized, "Hey, wait, don't we have a heater?" That thought was immediately followed by, "Crappity Crap, Crap!"

If you haven't followed my somewhat illogical train of thought, I will just say it...

We here in the House of Crazy officially have a broken heater!

This shouldn't be a huge emergency and/or a pain in our frozen fannies, since it is supposed to be spring. We should be able to throw open the curtains and let the warm sunshiney goodness flood into our home and heat our house.

BUT...

We are in the 30's here. Yowzer. Weather like that outside, makes for one cold house inside.

So we are bundled up. Extra socks. Extra clothing. Extra blankets.




We shouldn't have to worry our pipes are going to freeze at the end of March. I shouldn't have to worry about losing a toe due to frostbite in my own home. Brrr. Right now my fingers are lethargically typing in a hypothermic state...okay that may have been a little melodramatic...you get it...I am COLD.

Extra thankful to get to go to church today...AH a warm chapel. Maybe we will go early!

I think we will be having soup and hot chocolate for dinner.

Mar 24, 2011

Empanadas


Hubby served a two year service mission in Argentina. He always fondly remembers the place, the people, and OF COURSE the food. Steak this, homemade pasta that, chimichurri, and don't forget the empanadas.

For years I have been trying to perfect the art of the empanada. Once I even tried making the dough from scratch...HUGE mistake. For years I failed making a yummy empanada. Success didn't come until we found actual empanada shells at a specialized food store.

The shell made ALL the difference.

The shells we now religiously use are made by Goya. We have only been able to find them at specialty stores (in other words not your local grocery store).

I know it might be a pain to find them, but find them you must. Try out these little fried pockets of goodness, you must. Really once you have the shells, the possibilities of fillings are endless.

I am going to share our version of the traditional filling.

Empanadas

1-2 packages of Goya empanada shells (meant for frying)
1 lb of ground hamburger
1 med onion, minced
2-3 hard boiled eggs. sliced
2 Tablespoons of sugar

*further options for TRULY traditional empanadas
handful of raisins
green olive, one per empanada


oil, for frying

Cook ground hamburger. Add eggs, onions, and sugar (add optional ingredients here too)



Place a large spoonful of mixture in the center of a shell. With your finger, dampen the edges with a small amount of water.


Fold the shell in half, making sure to seal the edges. Crimp the edges, by starting at one end and folding over small sections of the edge. Keep folding on itself until your empanada looks like this.



Heat oil. Fry 2-3 empanadas at a time. Fry until golden brown. Just a minute at the most.


Now serve and watch them disappear.

Once you got the hang of it, you can fill these babies with just about anything. We have even done cream cheese and cinnamon and sugar. DE-lightful.

Mar 23, 2011

Plates, Projects, Pimples, Photography

Oh, my!

What is with the random post title? You might be asking yourself...

Well first, I hung up some plates. This is not the first time I have hung up plates on a bare wall. I might just heart myself a good plate collage. It totally accessorizes a plain jane wall. When it comes to hanging plates I am totally of the school of thought that random is better, see the random splattering of plates?. Which I found out later, hubby is not of the same school of thought. Oops. Haha, oh well he puts up with me.

It is staying up...cause I like it...I just need to fix the little "springy" sound that comes from the plates every time one walks/runs/jumps/talks/breathes. Again, sorry hubby.


My little plate decorating is one of the only projects on my schedule this week. My project list is pretty minimal this week. Not that it should be because I have TONS to do, but I am pretty much in a just sit on my fanny and read a book-go to a friends house-watch a movie kind of mood. Since Littlest Little Man's bday is coming up quickly I really can't be lazy for too long. However, I am pretty sure I am going to stretch out my laziness up until the last second.

I think that this time to be lazy will be good for me...I think everyone should take just a little time to be lazy. I definitely go in cycles of being too busy...mostly of my own doing...and then getting stressed, which lead to cryface days. Sometimes I am really good at recognizing the signs of my too chaotic life, other times it takes me awhile. Case in point...my face has been breaking out like I am a 13 year old girl. Pimples, I have TONS of pimples! I just figured it was you know....that time of the you know what...hormones...but then when the one week time period (pun intended) turned into well four weeks...I knew I probably should assess the situation. 

So yes, it is definitely a good week to be a little lazy.

I really want to just curl up and read some books. I love reading, but I haven't done it forever. I will be honest I LOVE a good fluff read. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy a poignant, dramatic, life-themed novel, but when my time is short and I am in a lazy mood, I LOVE a fluff read.  Something CLEAN. Something funny/romantic and spellbinding. I love getting hooked. I have about exhausted my own library. Any suggestions blogging friends???

I have also decided I am going to spend more time reading "how-to" books. I am craving knowledge. I want to know how to do the things I love and do them WELL. I want the skills, baby. My first "how-to" is to learn to use my camera. I know it is a photography sin to own a fancy camera and only use the auto. Forgive me. So that is next on my to-do list, to not be a photography ignoramus. I am lucky enough to have been given a photography how-to to review. I can't wait to read and then share with you my new skills.

I do have a lot of really fun ideas floating around in my head. My brain is practically on overload with some good project ideas. After my little bout of laziness I will excitedly share all of Little Man's Bday and all of my other projects with you.

I know...try not to die from excitement....hehehe.

I will have a recipe up tomorrow, something yummy of course.

Now off I go to slather my face in pimple cream!



Mar 20, 2011

In a Nutshell: Walking To School Weather






We had walking to school kind of weather this week. Glorious. I think it warrants some play time. Hopscotch it is. It is a wonderful week when Little Men can run around outside.

Who is Gonna Smell D-vine?


Thank you, thank you Rachael for this great offer. Isn't her SHOP just lovely? I really hope that you go and visit her shop. As many of you noticed and left comments...her soap is beautiful and SO reasonably priced. SO if you are not the winner...or even if you are...I hope you go take another look at her shop.

AS for that winner...

The lucky girl who gets her own soap...out of 58 entries...

was lucky #18

Larissa (no NOT myself...just some other really fortunate person to have the same glorious name), who said

I'm a follower here! =)  

Congrats Name Buddy! You have won some wonderful soap. 

Leave me a comment or email me with your contact information so we can get you this delightful soap.

Mar 19, 2011

Bookmarkin' Away

I get a little carried away with bookmarking all the lovely things I find online.

No seriously, I need a support group...

"Hi, my name is Larissa and I am a bookmarking-aholic."


I primarily have four categories that I bookmark:

blogs that are new to me and that are complete eye and/or project candy
tutorials or projects that I MUST do...yes most of them are NOT done
recipes that make me drool just at the sight
and last
shopping places, etsy shops, clothing, craft, if you can buy something from it, I bookmark it

So I thought I might be fun to occasionally share some of the things I am bookmarking. Look at it as me sharing just one more site/project/recipe/shop you can become obsessed with...I know aren't I nice???

Have fun!

blogs

See Kate Sew-





This is a de.light.ful blog that immediately is beautimous to one's eyes. She has all kinds of projects and loveliness. She has great tutorials. She has a sewing 101 section...which I need. Go check it out. I am sure you will like it.




A Little Sussy- Oh the photography!!!! Sigh...I wish I could take pictures like that. Absolutely breathtaking.

Under the Sycamore Tree-


Again, PHOTOGRAPHY. Not only does her blog have delightful photos, but her style is so whimsical and lovely. Definitely one of those people I might wish I was.




Three Men and a Lady-



All I have to say is...I want her house when I grow up. She is AH-mazing. Every room of her house, every idea is utterly gorgeous and completely inspiring. I might have a ton of her ideas saved to my "House Ideas" folder.





Kristen Duke Photography- Yup, more photography. Can you tell what one of my goals is this year??? I immediately wished I lived in TX when I came across her site. The photos hooked me, but her charm humor kept me reading.

just to show you my obsessive habits with bookmarking...while writing this posts I was multitasking...okay blogsurfing and came across one more site to share with you...

The Daybook-





Oh double sigh. HOW CUTE IS SHE? I might wish I had every piece of clothing she owns. Maybe I should stop wearing my drawstring pants that are just one step up from sweatpants...Maybe tomorrow.













tutorials and projects 


money cuff from Lemon Squeezy Home

























I actually finished this one.


dragon tails from Running with Scissors via Tatertots and Jello

































to.die.for.


he's all boy baby blanket by This Mama Makes Stuff
















her pictures of this project are so lovely, go and check it out


fort kit by Saltwater Kids


















oh mercy, how my Little Men would freak out if I put one of these together


recipes


Brazilian Cheese Rolls by Our Best Bites






















have been dreaming of these ever since leaving UT...6 years ago




Cheesy Jalapeño Rolls by Rae Gun Ramblings

















ummm...I like bread...I like cheese...sign me up for cheese bread


Birthday Cake Fudge by Mrs. Betty Rocker
















for real, right...awesome


shopping


Le Mode Accessories






















so many lovelies...you will want them all


Ruffle Fabric


















not sure what I'd do with it since there aren't many ruffles in our house...but oh how I want it


Sweet Peas Pattern Shop
















I will be buying this pattern and I will be making these shoes

Mar 18, 2011

Ready for Spring

 Two days in a row of spring like weather. Can I get a "HOLLA"?

Spring represents so many things to me. Freshness, newness, green, joy...and the list goes on and on.

I am excited to be getting ready to freshen up my house and our yard (okay only marginally excited about the latter...I loathe yard work). I am excited to start getting our garden ready. I even have a special garden project for our Little Men this year, which I will share soon.

As I was mentally getting ready for spring and reminiscing I remembered this project...






 This was one of my FAVORITE projects last year. It was simple, fast, and GORGEOUS. The herbs grew fabulously in my canning jars. I actually kept them inside on my kitchen window sill, a little piece of outside in.

I am going to redo these jars this year, in a color that actually coordinates with my kitchen. I am planning on doing some beautiful variations too. Wanna join me? Gather and save up your canning jars. Get ready to purchase your favorite herbs.

Look for a tutorial in the first week of April and we will make some fresh and lovely herb gardens together.

Linking this idea:

The CSI Project: Spring

Mar 17, 2011

St. Patty's Day

 I don't do hardly anything for St. Patrick's Day.

I have tried to make a shirt for at least one of the boys each year, this year it was Oldest Little Man.

I did a subway art stencil using my Silhouette 

I did a little favor for teacher.

 idea found here

I always dress the boys in GREEN...even if I forget to dress myself in GREEN.





Here is a Happy St. Patrick's Day to ya...at what ever level you celebrate it.

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