Southwestern Chicken Salad

A few weeks ago we went to O'Charley's for dinner and I had a southwestern chicken salad. It was HUGE! and very good! So last week I decided to try to re-create it for dinner--for Daddy and I anyway (the kids had popcorn chicken and mac & cheese). It was actually really easy to make and was very good. I did take a lot of help from the store (as Rachel Ray says). I would say it was really healthy too. So here is my very own recipe.

*1 bag of salad (I chose romaine, purple cabbage, and carrots)
*2 chicken breasts (we had some leftover from grilling out; that would be the best tasting option), cut into thin strips
*Taco blend shredded cheese (amount would be your preference)
*chopped onion, red pepper, green pepper (again, according to your preference; Daddy didn't do the onion and I was very light on the peppers) I found in Wal Mart's produce section, these "pre-made" salad kits. These peppers were already diced (which was more economical for me then buying 2 whole peppers) which was really nice.
*Corn--I bought one ear of corn and "grilled" it on my George Forman. Next time I would like to grill it on the grill and would probably get more than one ear. I lightly sprayed it with cooking spray and sprinkled it with taco seasoning.
*I also added chopped tomaotes (could use cherry ones) and sliced mushrooms--not so for Daddy.
*1 can black beans, rinsed well (we had a lot of beans leftover, but I don't know if I could have bought any smaller can)
*chipotle Ranch dressing-we made this ourselves. I looked at W-M for a bottle of it and didn't find anything that was close to what we wanted. We just mixed some Ranch dressing and some Chipotle sauce (made by Tabisco) and viola' our own dressing.
*tortilla strips: this was my favorite part of making this salad! Again, I looked for these at W-M and couldn't find them. So I made my own. I bought corn tortillas and cut them into very thin strips with a pizza cutter. I then put them on a sprayed cookie sheet, sprayed them with cooking spray and sprinkled them with Taco seasoning. Then I baked them at 500 degrees until they started to brown. For just a few seconds I put them under broil (I wish I would've done that longer). They were very yummy! The kids and I snacked on them all morning. They were the prefect topper to the salad.

So there you have it. My very own recipe. It was good. I had fun making it. It was mostly healthy. And we will have it again!

School Is In Session!

C started school Tuesday--well actually Monday--kinda. OK. Long story short.

Late Monday afternoon I got a phone call asking if I could babysit 2 kiddies from church (their names are the names of the 2 main characters from Star Wars--no kidding. And at one time they had a black great dane named Vader. Seriously.) Anyways. They weren't going to be "delivered" to my house until 10:15, so I thought C would still be able to finish school for the day. Usually the first week of school is MUCH shorter than normal. But just in case, he did 2 subjects Monday afternoon and then finished his day Tuesday before they got here.

I am also babysitting on Thursday--4 extras for a total of 6 kids! Call me crazy! But remember, I have been praying for some money. God's just making me work for it (I tried to win the lottery; but no luck. JK!) And I have a possibility of a semi-steady babysitting "gig" starting end of August. Hopefully that will come to pass. It will be nice to have that "steady" income again. Especially right before Disney World.

So C will actually only have 3 days of school this week. But that's the benefits of homeschooling, right? Since his first day was split and since it was much shorter, I don't think it seemed like real school. At least to me anyways. I'm sure he thinks different.

K girl is wanting to start school this year too. But in her mind, school is watching it on TV. So I think I am going to have her watch C's Bible class and then she and I will do some papers, crafts, etc. It's hard to believe that she will be doing K4 next year!

So that is how our first week of school will be defined. At least I do NOT have a beginning of the year surprise like Momma! Love to her! And BIG CONGRATS! No, mother-in-law---not interested!

Space Balls

We finally got the kids bike helmets. I know, I know; safety is important. But I think they look kinda silly--but don't tell them that. I never grew up wearing them and I'm OK (I think). Oh well. They think they are cool; I guess that's all that matters.

So here are the kids in their helmets. (Daddy says they look like Space Balls; BTW he loves that movie--right dear?!)

She matches so well, doesn't she?

Now Daddy's trying to be a space ball. Silly Daddy!

Organization

I have been trying to get many different things organized. And in the process, I have made some messes!

I have been trying to figure out how/where/etc. we are going to do school since the TV in our room died. I rearranged some stuff in C's room and I think it will work. He has a desk in there (our old computer desk) that he usually plays Legos on. I'm going to have him do school there. Eventually next year when K does DVD school, she will be in our room in front of the TV. So C would have to move to his room anyway. This way, we can get all the "bugs" worked out this year. I am going to have Daddy hang a bulletin board over the desk for me to tack stuff up that he might need to see, i.e. his Cursive Writing cards. Right now I kinda decorated it for school (thanks Momma!).

Every morning I will have to take our laptop in there and set it up. I'll also have to take in all the school stuff that he'll need (pencils, scissors, crayons, papers, etc) I don't trust K enough to leave it all in there. She'd get into it somehow and do something with it--not good I'm sure. But I have a basket that I can pile all that in and just have to carry that over to his room. I am very jealous of a separate school room (Handy Family!) Maybe I'll just stop doing laundry (any other takers?) and turn our laundry room into a school room. If we were to ever move, I would LOVE a separate room. But for now, this is our plan.

Anyways. On to the organizing part of this post. I am also trying to organize the school stuff that is in my room. I have a pile of stuff that I am planning on working with K this year. Pre-school type stuff. She's excited about that. Plus all my scrapbook stuff is a MESS! I've also been trying to organize all my pictures on my laptop. I vowed to keep up with them when we got this new laptop, and well, let's just say, it's getting there. Plus we are still staining the fence and staining the boards for the swing set. So the garage is full of boards all laid out to dry and staining paraphernalia is out there in the midst of it all.

Throughout all of this, I have discovered that it would very nice to have a lot of money to spend on coopy holes (that's what I call all kinds of organization type containers--any and all get called that). But alas, I don't have that kind of money. So it all stays unorganized.

When everything is finally done, I'll be sure to let you know. We'll have a party. Since everything will be organized, I'll be able to find your address. Now, to find my youngest child. Where did I put her? Hmmm.........

The Bride to Be

The other day I was sorting through some tulle' that I've had since my wedding. We use tulle' for Dei Gratia and I wanted to see what I had--if we could use it. (We can)

In the midst of it all.......

........K wanted me to make her a dress. She wanted me to make her look like "that person, ya know with the white on her head, and a white dress." Oh you mean a Bride? "Yeah, her." So here is my creation. I made her shoes too. And I found my veil (just tulle' surged around the edges).

So here is the beautiful bride 30 YEARS TOO EARLY!