Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (61-65/75)

All of these found on Pinterest! I really do love finding recipes on that site!

Crock Pot Orange Chicken (I've had better homemade that wasn't made in the crock pot)
Baked Asparagus (This was pretty good!)
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff (I'm a big fan of stroganoff, this was a 7)
Dried Strawberries (Yeah, 2 hours at 210 - not even close to being dry. I think I had them in there for over 4 hours and they were still not dry. No pepper)
Grilled Mediterranean Chicken Packs (I used capers instead of the olives and baked instead of grilled. Tasty)

I've been busy!

I like to think that spring is fast approaching here. It's still pretty cold. This weekend was nice though! I've been trying to get all my spring cleaning done while it's still cold because once it warms up I'm breaking out! I'm tired of being inside. We went from being outside 9 months out of the year and 3 inside when it's cold to 9 months inside and 3 outside. That's an exaggeration but, it is cold most of the year. Boo!!!

Anyway, here's some new recipes I've tried. Mostly thanks to Pinterest - which I love! Follow me!

11. Try 75 new recipes (49-60/75)
Roasted Chicken and Potatoes (this was another one of those McCormick's Recipe Inspiration Cards. The chicken was really good. I didn't add all the paprika because Ryan was eating it.)

Banana Bread third recipe down (no sugar, no oil. I forgot to add the applesauce! It still had good flavor but was super tough. Woops!!!)

Greek Chicken (Thanks Betta!)

Greek Style Quinoa (I made up this recipe - add ingredients to your taste - Cooked Quinoa, 1/2 cucumber, sliced, 1 small can black olives, 1 chopped tomato, 1/4 red onion diced, +/-1 tsp. Italian Seasoning, 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, salt & pepper, 1/3 cup Feta cheese, 1 T. olive oil, 1 T. balsamic vinegar)

Smashed White Bean and Avocado Club Wow! So good! Glad I had this all to myself :)

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole (excellent!! very, very cheesy)

Rigatoni with Tomato-Ricotta Sauce (it was missing something. a little disappointed with the lack of flavor but Ryan ate it.)

Oatmeal Cookies (Dairy, Oil and *refined sugar Free, no flour)
Recipe: 1.5 cups of oats 2-3 super ripened bananas 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce handful of craisins to taste cinnamon (I used 1 tsp) Pretty much just throw everything together, mix it up pretty well, throw it on a baking sheet at 350 for about 35 minutes and then go to town!

Carrot, Tuna & Avocado Salad Delicious, healthy! I used Herb & Garlic tuna in the pouch since I couldn't find Italian Tuna. Never heard of it...

Frozen Yogurt Bites (just drop yogurt onto wax paper and freeze - I used soy vanilla yogurt and Ryan and Lucas LOVE these!)

Taco Pasta This was really good. All the sour cream and cream cheese kind of drowned out the taco seasoning but Ryan ate it and Lucas did too! He was sucking the sauce off the pasta.

French Dip Crescents Yummy, easy. Can't complain! Another hit with Ryan. I'm beginning to think he'll eat just about anything.

13. Visit my sister in Texas
A few weeks ago I flew with both boys, by myself, to Texas to see my sister and her family. I know, I'm crazy. The flights weren't really that bad. The kids didn't sleep and Lucas wanted to just be down crawling around which I was absolutely NOT going to let him do. The Benadryl didn't work. #$#%$!!!

Ryan was so excited for getting some new toys for the plane ride.

Crazy boy!

Ryan took this picture.

And this one.

This one.

That one too. 

The crew at the airport. Welcome to Austin!

I got all the kids Valentine's Day shirts (since we arrived on V-Day). Ryan's said "Most Eligible Bachelor", Lucas' said "This Guy is a Ladies' Man" and Ethan's said "Handsome Little Devil".

We played at the mall...

Built a Bear for Ethan's 1st Birthday

Made it just past intermission at Sesame Street Live

 We celebrated Ethan's 1st Birthday!!

I didn't think they were going to be able to take this cake away! Darryl even let him smear it on his face. He's a good sport!

We had a great time. This kids played, they fought like brother and sister at times. They also had their sweet moments.

(Sorry that one's blurry!)

Ryan was sad to leave and when we got home he kept asking where Amaryl went. I wish we lived closer so they could see each other more often.

6. Read 50 books (13/50)
I read "The Hunger Games" trilogy and it sure was a page turner! It was pretty violent for a teen book I thought. I'm not sure if Ryan was a teenager right now if I'd let him read it. I can't wait to see the movie. I hope it doesn't disappoint. 

29. No TV for a week
Jimmy took Ryan to Florida with him last week which gave me a lot of quiet time. I just had Lucas so I decided to tackle two of my most dreaded goals. No TV and no Electronics for a weekend. Turning off the TV was not so hard. I listed to a lot of Pandora though!

35. No electronics for a weekend (phones, internet, tv...)
Pandora....until the weekend came. What was I thinking? This goal was really hard for me. I felt like I was having withdrawals. I use the iPod a lot and having it turned off and put away was tough. Aside from a few quick texts and a couple of phone calls from Jimmy I didn't use any electronics. Glad that's over... It was nice to unplug and have a lot of quiet time but I'm so used to the kids running around, the radio on, the tv on, some noise, that I found myself quite bored and since the book I was reading was on the Kindle App I couldn't read that one.

Here are a few more pics I wanted to share.

While Ryan was in Florida he did a lot of swimming. Jimmy said that he would "swim" around by himself with the life vest on. I'm so glad he wasn't scared! He is however, scared of toys floating in the pool and the bath tub. He's scared something will happen to the toys (like they will go down the drain). I hope this phase passes soon.

Ryan also had his first dentist appointment. He was so excited. I know, weird kid right? He was as good as you can get in the dentist chair. He has even asked to go back a few times. I know this makes his Gigi proud (she's a hygienist).