Day 4

Thankful Challenge 4 Day:
Today I am thankful for my Church. We had a great time at AWANA and then we went to the Church Appreciation Dinner put on by our youth group. Such a fun, fun time!

Day 3 - My Husband

I know that Day 1 I was thankful for my marriage, but today I am thankful for my husband because it is his birthday! He is such a wonderful husband, and an awesome father to our son. I am so thankful that God gave him to me :) Happy Birthday, my love!

(I am also thankful for my football team who JUST beat LSU in the last minute of the game...ROLL TIDE!!!)

30 Day Challenge - Day 2

Day 2: I am thankful for my son. From the most crazy times...(see cartoon below):

to the calm times (few and far between):

he has my heart completely!

30 Day Thankful Challenge

For the month of November, I will be attempting to report what I am thankful for each day. Today, November 1, 2012,  I am thankful for my marriage.

I am so thankful for the sanctity of marriage and for everything that marriage between one man and one woman means to me. <3

Nanananananananana BATMAN!

Starting in July my 4 year old son kept saying that he wanted to be a cowboy for Halloween...SO, with the help of one of his aunts and uncles in Illinois (Shout out to Kyle and Sarah!), we began outfitting him with cowboy apparel. Fast forward to the week before Halloween and he changes his mind and wants to be....BATMAN! Now, my son has NEVER seen a Batman cartoon or anything so I'm not even quite sure how he knew who Batman was, however, one night at AWANA he got a Batman mask from the AWANA store and, well, that was all she wrote. So I had to figure out how to make a Batman costume on a tight budget (I refused to pay $20 on a costume that is cheaply made that probably won't make it to next year). Since he already had the mask, that was taken care of. Believe it or not, I have a Bat Girl costume that I wear on AWANA costume night (it is a costume that was not very conservative and I made it become conservative and appropriate by adding material to it) at our Church, so I had a Batman belt he could use. So that left the shirt and a cape. I spent $3 on a plain black long sleeved t-shirt, $0.20 on a yellow square of felt, $0.20 on a gray square of felt, and $0.97 on a yard of plain black material. I had all of the other material at our house, including: hot glue gun, glue sticks, and some velcro.

Here is what I did:

First, I used a Superman cape from last year as my template. I wanted this year's cape to be a little longer so after I pinned the cape to the fabric I made sure to allow extra material at the bottom and just did a free-style cute to scallop it.

Then, I added Velcro to the neck:

Now I have a basic cape and I need to decorate it up a little bit. I went online to Google Images and typed in Batman Symbol. I used red tissue (the kind that you put in with gifts), folded it on top of itself so that it would be doubled, and used a permanent marker to draw the symbol onto it. Then I pinned it onto the fabric and cut the shapes out.

I glued two symbols of the symbols together with my hot glue gun, then I did the same with the duplicates that I made. I adhered one set with hot glue to the cape first. Here is the finished cape (the material I used was basically the cheapest you can buy, so it is slightly transparent):

I arranged the duplicate copy onto the shirt to my liking and adhered it with straight pins, then I turned the shirt inside out and proceeded to pin the symbol to the shirt with safety pins, like so:

(I safety pinned it on because I want the option to be able to remove it later and let my son use this black shirt for other things). The way I pinned it, you cannot see the pins, so it looks like it is permanently adhered:

Here is the final product (this took me less than an hour to do!...actually, come to think of it, it took me almost as long to type this post as it did for me to actually make it!):

The total cost of this was LESS THAN $5! If I had to buy the mask, and make a belt, the whole project would still have been less than $10. On Halloween night, Braxton will be wearing black pants with it instead of blue jeans, but when he woke up from his nap and saw it he just HAD to put it on. He was beyond excited! :) Makes me feel super good...kind of like a Super Mom...now where is MY cape...

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast

We had Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast for Breakfast this morning and it was Husband-Approved! My 4 year old even ate every bite! I found the recipe through Pinterest and you can find the original post here. This recipe takes a little bit of planning because you have to start the custard a day before you cook it. I forgot to take a picture (it looked and smelled so yummy that we just immediately dug in!), so if you want to see what it looks like I encourage you to go to the blog where this was originally posted (www.phemomenon.com)

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French ToastAdapted from La Phemme Phoodie

1 smallish baguette or crusty loaf of bread, cut into 1-inch slices (about 1 lb loaf)

FOR THE CUSTARD:
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of sea salt

FOR THE SUGAR COATING:
1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1 Day Ahead:
Butter a 9×9-inch pan on the bottom and sides. Place the bread slices, standing up, in the pan. Set aside while preparing the custard.

In a large measuring cup or pitcher, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, cinnamon and salt until well combined. Pour the mixture evenly over all the bread slices in the pan. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Next Morning:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the french toast casserole from the refrigerator and set it on a baking sheet.

In a large microwave safe bowl or heat proof large glass measuring cup, melt the butter in the microwave till just melted (about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on high). Add the brown sugar and corn syrup, whisk well to combine. Microwave on high again in 30-second bursts (two to three times should be enough) till the sugar is melted and the mixture is bubbly and hot. Gently whisk in the vanilla extract. (Alternatively, you can do this process in a pan on your stovetop.)

Carefully and evenly pour the sugar mixture over the french toast casserole, covering each slice well. Place the casserole, on the baking sheet, into the oven and bake until puffy all across the pan like a good bread pudding, and is golden and baked through, about 40 to 45 minutes depending on how packed your pan was. The casserole will deflate as it cools. Serve warm with mixed berries.

First Post - Paula Dean Taco Soup

The other day I found this recipe that sounds SO delish: Paula Dean Taco Soup!!! Here is the original recipe that I got from Paula Dean's Website:

Servings: 12 to 16 servings
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 8 hours crock pot, 1 hour stock pot method 
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

Jalapenos
Chopped green onions
Grated cheese
Sour cream
Corn chips
1   1-ounce package ranch salad dressing mix
1   1 1/4-ounce package taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup green olives, sliced (optional)
1   small can black olives, drained and sliced (optional)
2   4 1/2-ounce cans diced green chilies
1   14 1/2-ounce can tomatoes with chilies
1   14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
1   14 1/2-ounce can mexican tomatoes
1   15 1/4-ounce can whole kernal corn, drained
1   15 1/2-ounce cans pink kidney beans
2   15-1/2 ounce cans pinto beans
2 cup diced onions
2 lb ground beef

Directions
Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large crockpot or a stockpot.  Add the beans, corn, green onions, tomatoes, chilies, olives, and seasonings, and cook on low setting all day (6 to 8 hours) if using a crockpot, or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a stockpot on the stove.  To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them.  Top with sour cream, cheese, and jalapeños.

I made a few changes, so here is what I substituted: I did NOT add the 2() 4 1/2 ounce cans of green chilies (my 4-year old does not like spicy things, so I left this out to keep it from being too hot), instead of adding 2 cans of pinto beans I did one can of pintos and one can of black beans, I only used one cup of diced onions, and I used chicken instead of beef. I went ahead and cut up my chicken into large chunks, boiled it until it was cooked all the way through, then added it to the soup mixture. I did not add the olives or the jalapeños, because my husband is not too fond of them. I also saved four of the cans from the beans and tomatoes so that I can use them for a craft later on this month. :)

Taco Soup with Chicken after about 2 hours of slow cooking