The Laughing Cow...

Light, French onion that is.  Has anyone tried these?  They are wonderful.  Creamy and delicious with only 35 calories and with 8% of RDA of Calcium!!  I bought a little round of these jewels about a week ago and I am hooked.  They are the perfect little pick-me up and are oh so good with some buttery crackers.  There's also pretty good without crackers....some people might eat them with their fingers.  I don't know who would do that, just saying.  I've been wondering why I've avoided trying these for so long and it probably was the 35 calorie deal.  I mean, most low-fat dairy products are pretty gross.  Believe me, there's nothing low-fat about the taste of this product.  Check it out!

A simple, yet indulgent treat!

I'm gonna clue y'all in on my favorite snack.  It's quick, easy and so good.  You only need three things and about 30 seconds to make this.  Sounding good so far right?  Cinnamon graham crackers, marshmallows and Nutella should be kept in any home at all times.  Seriously.  If you have not tried Nutella, you have not lived and I firmly believe it should be on everyones bucket list.  I'm thinkin' by now you've figured out that I am making a glorified s'more and you would be correct.  I've really never gotten the whole smore fascination.  For one, I do not like Hershey's chocolate--it is mediocre at best and it never seems to to melt quite right, it either seizes or stays semi-hard and melted around the edges only.  Then you have the plain-jane honey graham crackers, to me it's all just so-so.  Part of the lovely experience of camping out, but not something to eat regularly.  One day, I decided to build an "Ina Garten" smore.  You know, to take a standard recipe and take it over the top.  I decided to use cinnamon graham crackers because happen to love the taste of cinnamon and chocolate together.  Next I started thinking about the chocolate and decided to try Nutella....it was an instant success.  I just don't know if it can be improved upon.  So give it a try and tell me what y'all think.  I think you will be making these often :)

Ahh, what a simple cast of characters...gotta love it!

Take a generous amount of Nutella (or in my case the Kroger knockoff with macadamia nut chunks) and schmear it on....

Add your mallows are stick in the microwave for about 15 seconds on high.  You may have to experiment a bit, but make sure you do not overdue the time as the mallow will get hard.  Nobody like hard marshmallows!  You want to take this baby out when the marshmallows start to melt.  You won't have any trouble doing this because you will be standing right in front of the microwave watching in anticipation any way!

And finally, the end result.  Wow!  So good.  Nutella is wonderful and I use it in a lot of different ways.  It is amazing on top of Breyers strawberry ice cream, eaten directly from the spoon when no one is looking and it pretty tasty when schmeared all over your hubby on your anniversary weekend.  Oops, forget that last line!

Another Anniversary post :)

Probably will be my last post for a few days as the end of week/weekend will be a bit crazy.  Unfortunately, my babygirl is having a few health issues and will need a bit of surgical intervention asap (prayers are appreciated).  My actual anniversary is on Sunday and we have tentative plans, but I fully expect them to change.  Change is okay....even if we are huddled on the couch watching a movie while nursing a sick babygirl, life is good.  Anyways, few things in my life are as important to me as food, but music is right up there at the top.  When I think about my hubby, several songs are special to me....I'm gonna share them with you!  Again, I'm gonna go with the twelve theme again ;)  Aren't I so imaginative!?!  Lol.

12.  Hold me- Jamie Grace and Toby Mac.  I just love this song and even though it is fairly new, this song makes me think about when my husband and I were dating and were young and carefree.  Take a listen here.

11.  God Gave Me You-Blake Shelton.  First of all, I feel Blake Shelton's music.  He is amazing.  This song makes me think about how my hubby can right almost any bad mood I have.  When I am sick, he comforts me, when I am off course in my faith, he sets me straight.  He is the one I go to when I have a problem and he never lets me down.  listen.

10)  It's Your Love-Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.  This song was played in our wedding and I still love it!  Here's a link for your listening pleasure.

9.  I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing-Aerosmith  This was also a wedding song and I can still picture our pastor tearing up because he had never heard the song before-he loved it!

8.  At Last-Etta James  This song has long been a favorite of mine.  It's just amazing and has such an intimate feel.  Wow.  And no, Beyonce can not do it better, sorry!

7.  Let's get it on-Marvin Gaye  Seriously, who doesn't love this song and think about their love when hearing this?  I'm thinking this needs no explanation, so just take a listen.  Do try to control yourself!

6.  Kiss an Angel Goodmorning- Charlie Pride  Charlie Pride and his silky smooth voice=pure love.  It's a great song and my hubby think he rocks this song out, so he sings it to me often.  It's sweet and I will forever love having it sang to me.  Whether or not he actually sings it well, is our little secret.

5.  Zac Brown Band-Free.  You know, this song means a lot to many different people.  For me, it symbolizes the kind of life we enjoy.  We aren't huge on all things materialistic.  We don't need a lot to get by and are happy with our little family of three.  This is an awesome song.

4.  You and Me Going Fishin' in the Dark-Nitty Gritty Dirt Band  First of all, who doesn't love the NGDB?  This song floats my boat and describes the perfect "date night" for me and my hubby.  Love it!

3.  Love song for a Savior.  Jars of Clay.  So this is not a secular song and doesn't really describe our love, but before hubby and I were officially date (we were very interested!), we attended a Christian concert together with my youth group and were able to see the Jars in concert.  When this song was performed, I felt a stirring in my heart telling me my hubby was to be mine.  It scared me!  It took me a while to talk to him about this and he told me he had felt the same.  A match literally made in heaven.  This is "our" song.

2.  So This is Love-Disney (Cinderella)  "So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of..."  The song is wooey...is that a word?  This was actually played in our wedding too.  Allow yourself to feel wooey :)

1.   Before introducing number one, it must be said that these are in no particular order at all.  I just added as I had that "OOOOHHH" moment and as they popped into my head.  It's really quite hard to narrow a song list down to 12, but I just did the best I could, dang it!  Anyhoo,  my final pick is Kiss Me, Sixpence None the Richer.  I just love it, it's happy and I love that after 12 years, a kiss from my hubby makes me feel like I'm still 17!  Enjoy!

A top twelve for my hubby of 12 years....

Almost 12 years!!  Our anniversary is 4 days away and I decided he might just be important enough to blog about ;)  I met my hubby almost 13 years ago at the tender age of 17 and let me tell ya, I was not ready to be hitched.  Little did I know after four dates and two weeks, my heart would be his.  Disgusting, isn't it?  We were engaged in two months and my parents surely wanted to die.  As a parent of a little sweetie, I just can't even imagine what they went through, not do I want to attempt to empathize with them.  Our engagement was a bit longer....18 months.

My husband is about as country as they get....I was always attracted to the country boys.  They were always so fun....not full of themselves and really down to earth.  They were usually respectful and kind and what you saw was what you got.  Did I mention most farm boys had natural tans, nice muscles and big ole' farm trucks?  Lol.....I'm a sucker for boys like that!  Lol....anyhoo, my husband fit the category well!  He's never been afraid of hard work, loves the Lord with all his heart and is an amazing daddy.  He is real.  It's pretty safe to say he floats my boat on a daily basis....(think Kangaroo Love!!!).  As I was saying earlier, he is very country.  Now, I grew up on a farm, y'all.  I drove tractors, worked in tobacco, whatever needed to be done, but I wasn't anywhere as country as him.  His southern drawl is so strong it's scandalous, he can totally rock a pair of chaps, he can do it all :)  Seeing as we are getting ready to celebrate our anniversary, I thought I would do a list of 12 reasons why I love him more now than I did then....

12)  He is the only man I know who can rock Navy cologne.  It stinks on most people, but his body chemistry + Navy is amazing.

11)  He reaches for my hand first and often...sigh.  He is not afraid to hold my hand in public and initiates it often.
10)  This is somewhat related to 11, but it is so big to me I think it is worthy of it's own number.  His hands are rough and strong.  He is a hard working provider and his hands reflect that.  NO sissy, smooth hands for me.  GROSS!

9)  He like a good chick flick now and then.  Mr. Macho wouldn't openly admit this in his circle of friends, but he loves to watch a chick flick with me every so often!!

8)  He is my best friend.....he's not ashamed that I am his.  My hunny is the first to admit this.

7)  He tries his best to make my dreams come true.  If I want something, he makes it happen if possible.  He REALLY listens when I talk and will get me something I mentioned casually in a conversation months before just to make me happy.  I am always shocked and most often, I have forgotten even mentioning the item.

6)  He tells everyone I'm the best cook he's ever known...and he means it ;)  He told me after we married he always thought his momma was a good cook, but he was convinced he was wrong about that...aww!

5)  He is committed.  This needs no explanation.  I am blessed.

4)  He will forgo shaving for a few days every now and then because he knows I like stubble.

3)  He reads Dr. Seuss books to babygirl religiously because he knows she loves them.  He hates Dr. Seuss.

2)  He is adamant we pray together as a family every night before bedtime....he is a man that is secure in his faith.

1) Finally, every year for our anniversary, he sings me our song at 6:43 pm....the exact time when we were pronounced husband and wife. 

Now you see why he floats my boat?

Picky, picky eaters :(

I struggle on a day to day basis with a household of picky eaters.  Grr...I'm sure I'm not the only one, but it gets annoying to say the least.  Babygirl, started off loving all vedgetables and fruits.  I never worried about her nutrition because she would eat ANYTHING I put in front of her.  Heck, she had never even had a hotdog until she was two (wretched things!).  What her grammy gave her when I wasn't looking is unbeknowst to me and I choose to not think about it ;)  Somewhere around the age of Four, she started deciding she no longer liked anything healthy.  Now, it's an absolute struggle to get her to eat decently.  This is surely a typical kid thing, but I hope and pray she changes back into her old self!  I refuse to let her eat things that are fillers only!  My hubby on the other hand, likes all fruits and vegetables, but he is so picky about how things are prepared.  He doesn't like cheese, anything spicy- really he likes his food bland.  He likes canned biscuits much more than homemade and he doens't like sausage in his gravy.  WEIRD!  Despite the fact that he has been a southerner his whole life, he has some strange eating habits.  I'd never allowed myself to think or dwell on their pickyness until I started thinking about bloggable recipes.  Every single recipe I make is changed in someway to suit their preferences.  This week, I decided I was going to start cooking a meal one night a week that is just the way I like it.  Selfish?  I don't think so and my man and babygirl can eat or go hungry!  Lol.  We'll see how this goes!  I"m going to include a recipe below that is easily changed up.  You can use any combination of cheeses that suit your taste or even make this when you have a bunch of cheese you need to use up!

Homemade pimento cheese

4 ozs. Velveeta cheese (no substitutes), softened
1 1/2 cups shredded colby cheese, divided
1 small jar diced pimentos, undrained
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Miracle whip to taste (no substitutes)

Start off by making sure your cheese is room temp first.  I set mine out about 1/2 hour before I'm ready to use them and it works well.  Room temperature cheese will mix well.....you cannot do anything with cold velveeta!  Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until everthing is combined.  When I say Miracle Whip to taste, I usually use  about 2/3 of a cup.  I realize this might be a bit heavy for some, so just play around with it.  I like my end result to be creamy.

Notes:
*Some things in life are too good to mess with, when I say no substitutions on MW and Velveeta, I mean it!!!  They are far superior to any other brand, either store brand or name brand, that I have found.  I'm all about saving a buck when I can, but this is not a place I can do it!

*If, I were making this for my hubby, I would use sharp cheddar instead of colby.  It def gives the mixture more of a bite.  Sometimes I will use half colby and half sharp.  You can really use any kind of cheese you like!  Do try to grate your own cheese, it really is better! 

*Consistensy is important to me and you may have noted that I wrote in that the cheese should be divided.  I like Pimento cheese to be creamy, but I don't want it to be mush either, soooooo.......I mix everything together and add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese at the end and stir it in with a spoon instead of a mixer.  This allows a bit coarser texture.

Pimento cheese is a staple in the South and it is so good with a hot bowl of vegetable soup or chili

Out of the mouth of babes....

Well, not exactly babe, my babygirl is almost 6 (I must come to terms with that!!), but she still pulls some pretty cute sayings out of her hat every now and then.  Babygirl was born premature and was born to a mother who already had an adoption plan in place for her.  Only premature by a couple of weeks, she needed no additional care and was taken to the newborn nursery immediately.  My husband and I went straight to the hospital when notified of her birth, but unfortunately, she spent 12 lonely hours in the nursery-alone.  She had no one to bond to, hold her close or whisper "I love yous".  Don't get me wrong, her nurses were wonderful, but they are not able to provide the care that a mother gives.  It's always broken my heart when I think about her laying in that nursery in a bassinet while all the other babies were in their mothers rooms.  As soon as we were able to bring her home, my husband and I began practicing Kangaroo Love.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, Kangaroo Love is skin to skin contact.  We would sit in the recliner with her in her diaper only and lay her across our chests.  We would cover up with a soft blanket and she would cozy up and fall asleep.  It was precious and I really believe it helped to create a strong bond.  Studies have shown that Kangaroo Love is very effective and doctors recommend it highly. 

Long story short, I was telling babygirl all about her birth and how we used to hold her.  She thought the concept of Kangaroo Love was hilarious!  Out of the blue she ask "Mom, do you and dad ever practice Kangaroo Love on each other!?!  She thought she was being pretty funny and enjoyed the flush of my cheeks immensely.  About that time, my hubby walked in the room and I told babygirl to ask him.  Being the typical man, my hubby says "anytime we get the chance!".  HAHA!  Babygirl and my hubby continued to laugh at my expense, but it was a cute moment.  Hopefully she won't go to school today and talk about mommy and daddy practicing Kangaroo Love! 

Tell me one again who I am to you.....

Does the title sound familiar?  I'm thinking it does if you listen to CCM at all.  This is Jason Gray's new song.  I just love Jason Grays testimony and his music.  He is so real, I've seen him in concert in Louisville and he just touches my heart.  For those of you who do not know, his life has been filled with adversity and he is frank about it.  One of his main issues is a speech impediment...he stutters quite badly.  As a singer myself, I cannot imagine how this problem has impacted his life.  Through it all, he has been a light for all who hears his music and his last release is not different.  Listen here if you like.  Sometimes we need to be reminded just who we are in Christ.  We are children of the KING!!!  We were so important that we were uniquely made in his image....isn't that amazing?  If that wasn't enough, GOD sent Christ, his only son, to die for our eternal promise.  Even on our lowest days, when we feel lost, we should reflect on the love Christ holds for us.  I am thankful for being able to rely on GOD's holy word for instruction and encouragement in my daily life. 

I'm still here...

Sorry for the lack of posting.  My babygirl and I have been enjoying her fall break.  We haven't done a whole lot, but we have done everything together and that is the main thing.  We have went to the lake and fed ducks and geese, had picnics, snuggled on the couch and watched movies.....you know, the things we don't always take time to do when school is in session and hectic.  I however, have not been on fall break.  It has been soooo hard to find time to study and do my assignments!  To make matters worse, this week and next week are midterms :(  Ack!  As usual it always comes at the worst time (is there a good time!?!?)  My GPA after this week will probably take a dive...lol.  I have several posts lined up for next week, so stay tuned!  as for now, we are heading out to grow our family a bit.  We are adopting a sweet, male Shih-tzu and we hope he is a good fit for our family!  Pictures to come later....he is a doll!