Happy Mardi Gras!

The crew!
Ninja mardi partiers
Mmmm Fried Shrimp Po' boy samiches and cheesey creole grits

Our cooking night for Feb was Mardi Gras themed! We even made a king cake, if you look closely you can see it on the table in the group shot! This last pic, I got on my knees to be at the same level as Liam and then he got on the floor on his elbows because he saw me get lower to the ground...lol...it was so stinkin cute! We all of course had to be festive and wear masks, even Lorelai!! She had it on her face but totally wasn't looking, maybe next year! Thanks guys for another fun cooking night, looking forward to our Irish Feast next month!

Never ever start your dryer without checking....

I went to fluff up our bowling shirts before we headed out and it's a good thing I checked the dryer before I just threw them in there and started it!! I guess I didn't close the dryer door the last time I was using it and Abbie found herself a new little home!! Now we have to check alll the time, she runs in there everytime she hears you go in the laundry room!!

Tomorrow we are having our cooking night with the Woods, Mardi Gras theme it is!! We can't wait! 

Surprises from my hubsies....

On Valentines Day morning we exchanged gifts and had breakfast together, then I had to get ready for work and he went to bed since he worked all night. Well while I was at work he called and told me I had another surprise when I got home from work for Vday. I was so excited and couldn't wait to get home! I get home to a made from scratch dessert and a bottle of wine!!! Dan has never baked anything in his life and the dessert came out PERFECT! He made the chocolate dessert that is cake on the bottom and top and melted chocolate in the middle!! He also fessed up and told me he called about the flour because the first time he made it he used the powdered sugar on accident and it wouldn't bake right! lol ahhh he is so silly! I love you bubs, thanks for making me the best surprise EVER! xoxo

Happy Birthday Momma!! Happpy Vday Everyone!

Ok, so I am just a liiiiittle behind on my blog! lol Feb 8th was my momma's bday, we celebrated with steak and kidney pie (YUM) and instead of a cake I made a yummy new low calorie dessert she wanted to try. Notice my hands are criss crossed with the desserts, yeah totally came out with them saying 35!! lol Happy Birthday Mom, I love you so much!

The day before that I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with Sonia!! Our good ol days go back to being cheerleaders for West Middle School together...ahh the days! Sonia drove alll the way from Topeka just to meet up with me at the Legends for some shopping and lunch. I had a blast, can't wait to see you again, sorry I had to leave to go to work!! (don't mind the whisping hair, it was sooo windy!)

Happy Vday everyone!! We are half celebrating today, with a cute breakfast and presents, then I have to work...sigh...so we are celebrating in full tomorrow. I did make brownie heart cupcakes that I took to a few people for Vday this week, they were a Martha Stewart recipe I tried from scratch, icing and cupcake! Lots of work but very yummy and cute! Hope everyone has a great Vday and weekend!

Plenty of laughs and smiles going around here....

Our Chewybear is finally looking at the camera instead of hiding.
Our silly explorer girl
Mmmmm new recipe we tried, very tasty

Our Abbie is keeping us laughing day by day. I opened the pantry to get bread out to make my sandwich and when I went to put the bread back pic #2 is what I saw. She squished herself between the shelf and wire rack we have for more space in the pantry. I really don't know how she even fit. She is at the age where she gets into EVERYTHING!!  So, needless to say she is quite silly these days. All of our fur kids LOVE sunning in front of our sliding glass door, I was able to get some cute ones of her and Louie the other day. Louie is doing better than we expected on his pain meds. It almost makes me forget anything is wrong with him.  He is just getting so gray.... 

Our new recipe we tried was from kraftfoods.com and it is called creamy chicken, bacon and tomato pasta. I even used turkey bacon instead of the real stuff and it was sooooo good. Dan HATES tomatoes and he LOVED it, and no I didn't leave the tomatoes out, they were almost the best part!! 

Madelyn Grace

Madelyn Grace Witzleb   01.09.09

A few weeks ago we got to visit our friend Eric and his wife Melissa with their new baby girl Madelyn. We wanted to go see them in the hospital but our sickies prevented that! So we finally got to see them at home. She is soooo cute and once again I had to fight my hubsies to hold her too! lol Congrats guys, she is so precious.

For those of you wanting the baked crab rangoon recipe....please visit......

http://www.recipezaar.com/Baked-Crab-Rangoon-131062 

The only tweaks I made were I used 8oz fat free and 8oz 1/3 less fat, I use the imitation crab that is cold in the meat section, not the canned stuff, I added a little garlic powder and omitted the butter and sprayed the rangoons with my no stick spray to make the calorie and fat content lower. Oh and I lowered the temp to 400. Good Luck!

Happy Chinese New Year and we are on a bowling league!!

mmmmmmmmm crab rangoons
Our little chinese feast
The blue balls

So the Chinese new year isn't officially until 01.26.09 but we both have to work so we are celebrating today! We made baked crab rangoons, fried rice and teriyaki chicken.  We tried the baked crab rangoons to be a little healthier, wow the fat content difference is crazy. For all you weight watcher pointers they are only one point a piece, just one! It's fantastic! So, you can tell that they are not fried but they are really good. I kept my same crab rangoon mixture recipe, just used 1/3 less fat and fat free cream cheese. Mmmm so good. Definitely  gonna make these again soon. The teriyaki chicken and rice was awesome too. 

We also joined a bowling league the beginning of the year, we bowl on our only day off together, every sunday night. We have had to miss a few of the first ones due to sickness so I didn't get any pics until tonight. All four of us even have matchin bowling shirts with our names!! Yes, we are the only nerds in the whole entire league that have those, but it's so much fun! This league is totally for fun, otherwise I would not be on it, I SUCK at bowling, but we have such a great time!

Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers Recipe....

From EatingWell Magazine August/September 2005 --

NUTRITION PROFILE: Low Calorie | Low Carb | Low Sodium | Low Sat Fat | Heart Healthy | Healthy Weight VIEW COMPLETE NUTRITION GUIDELINES » Instead of batter-dipped, deep-fried nuggets, we coat chicken tenders in a seasoned almond and whole-wheat flour crust and then oven-fry them to perfection. With half the fat of standard breaded chicken tenders, you can enjoy to your (healthy) heart’s content. Makes Makes 4 servings ACTIVE TIME: 20 minutes TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy Canola oil cooking spray 1/2 cup sliced almonds  1/4 cup whole-wheat flour  1 1/2 teaspoons paprika 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard  1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 4 large egg whites  1 pound chicken tenders (see Ingredient Note) 1. Preheat oven to 475°F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Set a wire rack on the baking sheet and coat it with cooking spray.  2. Place almonds, flour, paprika, garlic powder, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a food processor; process until the almonds are finely chopped and the paprika is mixed throughout, about 1 minute. With the motor running, drizzle in oil; process until combined. Transfer the mixture to a shallow dish.  3. Whisk egg whites in a second shallow dish. Add chicken tenders and turn to coat. Transfer each tender to the almond mixture; turn to coat evenly. (Discard any remaining egg white and almond mixture.) Place the tenders on the prepared rack and coat with cooking spray; turn and spray the other side.  4. Bake the chicken fingers until golden brown, crispy and no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes. NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 174 calories; 4 g fat (1 g sat, 2 g mono); 66 mg cholesterol; 4 g carbohydrate; 27 g protein; 1 g fiber; 254 mg sodium; 76 mg potassium. Nutrition bonus: Selenium (31% daily value). 0 Carbohydrate Servings Exchanges: 3 very lean meat, 1/2 fat Enjoy! Let me know if anyone makes these and tell me what you think! You can go to eatingwell.com and find it there to print it off!