A new award

I received a very generous award yesterday from my good friends over at This Stop Willoughby and over at the 5th Sister, both are wonderful ladies and have some very neat blogs that aren't strictly dedicated to cooking which is a nice break from all of the food consumed blogs I frequent.
The rules for this award are to simply answer the questions as I have below using only one word.

Thanks again Ladies!!

Where is your cell phone? desk

Your hair? ponytail

Your mother? Consumed
Your father? Loving

Your favorite food? Pasta

Your dream last night? Emotional
Your favorite drink? Water
Your dream/goal? Cook

What room are you in? Work

Your hobby? Cooking

Your fear? sickness
Where do you want to be in 6 years? successful

Where were you last night? Hospital
Something you aren't? Active

Muffins? Blueberry

Wish list item? TV

Where did you grow up? Dayton

Last thing you did? Phone

What are you wearing? Clothes
Your TV? Big

Your pets? Dogs
Your friends? Different

Your life? Happy

Your mood? Hungry

Missing someone? Husband

Vehicle? Equinox
Something you're not wearing? necklace
Your favorite store? grocery

Your favorite color? blue
When was the last time you laughed? Sunday

Last time you cried? Clueless

Your best friend? Tie

One place that I go over and over? Work
One person who emails me regularly? Dad

Favorite place to eat? Kitchen

I have chosen to pass this award on to Cassie at Cassie Craves as well as Kathy over at Three on Food.

Dylan

We are still patiently awaiting Dylan. Nikki was admitted to the hospital last night to start the procedures for induction. They started her pitocin drip this morning at 4 a.m. and guess what...not a darn thing happened. She had contractions pretty strong but she didn't dilate but maybe half a centimeter. They stopped it late this morning to give her a break and allow her to shower and eat but it's being started back up this evening so hopefully this little guy will make his appearance tomorrow on his own. From what I understand he is coming tomorrow whether he likes it or not, if nothing further happens for her she is getting the big "c" word...c-section! She was a nervous wreck about it but I think she is so tired and miserable that she is actually to the point where she will welcome one. Hopefully when you stop back by this little blog of mine tomorrow a nice picture of him will be up to show the world, ok maybe not the world, but maybe the handful of you who are faithful followers which I appreciate greatly by the way.

On a side note I spent a few hours with her last night while they got everything started and selfishly it was kind of nice. We are birthing at the same hospital and chances are may have the same nurses. It was nice to get a feel of the place while not being escorted around on a tour and her nurse last night was kind enough to offer me some guidance and answer some questions that I had concerning the dreaded epidural. I still can't believe that in four months I am going to be the one in the bed while Nikki is the one in the chair looking on. I just pray that Addison is a little bit more generous when it comes time to making her grand entrance into the world. I keep telling her, "don't make me come in there and get you". I wonder if she plans on listening? My fear is that the wonderful cold weather in Ohio during the month of February will keep her in way past her due date. I mean who can blame her, I don't want to be in the cold Ohio weather during that month let alone should a baby whose been snuggled inside of my nice warm womb for almost ten months.

Chicken Spaghetti

I have been trying to come up with new meals for us to try since I was not only getting sick of eating the same things but sick of cooking the same things. I stumbled upon this one on allrecipes.com and I must say it was good but not something that I could eat a lot of. Does anyone else make the Rotel dip where you use a brick of Velveeta and melt along with a can of Rotel tomatoes and green chilies? I make it on occasion and I must say that was the only thing I could think of while eating this dish. I kept thinking I should dip my tortilla chip in. We served ours along with garlic bread and it was good for leftovers. Daniel enjoyed it but like I said it's not one of my favorites, maybe it will be yours??



Chicken Spaghetti
~allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
1 pound processed cheese food (eg. Velveeta)
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch garlic powder

Directions:
1. Boil chicken in a large pot of salted water. When chicken is done, remove from pot, keeping water/broth at a boil. Shred chicken and set aside. Put spaghetti in boiling chicken broth and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente. When done, drain broth.

2. Return pot with cooked spaghetti to stove, put over low heat. Add shredded chicken, soup, diced tomatoes with chile peppers and cheese. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. When cheese is melted, dinner is ready!

Instead of boiling the chicken I actually chunked mine up and browned it in a skillet on top of the stove, I thought it would obtain more flavor this way. Since I didn't have any water with chicken flavorings in it, I added a few chicken bouillons to my water and then added the spaghetti noodles to boil. Also, I am not sure which size block of cheese I bought, but I purchased the bigger one and I only used half of it. If I would have used the full thing this meal would have been drenched in cheese.

Serve with a side salad and a hunk of garlic bread and you are set!! Hope your family enjoys!

It's official...

Please visit my baby blog to find out which team we are on...blue or pink!

We're on team...

PINK!!!!!!!!!

We have a healthy, very active little girl on the way and we are ecstatic!! Daddy got a kick out of watching her box with both arms in my belly, no wonder my tummy is always sore where she's hanging out.

I guess mother's intuition was right this time. I have had a gut feeling since we found out that we were pregnant that this little one was going to be a little girl. So glad I was right, I would have hated to put away all of those little pink outfits that I have already bought!

Stuffed Red Peppers

My family loves stuffed peppers, we have those that only eat the stuffing and we have those that eat the whole darn thing. Thankfully Daniel and myself are in the group that eats the whole pepper, stuffing and all. Most people that I know use the green peppers however whenever I make my stuffed pepper rings with an assortment of colors everyone always says the ones made using the red peppers are the best so last night I thought I would do it with the red peppers. I sort of winged these so I hope you enjoy them...I know we did.

Stuff Red Peppers~
Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
2 cups white rice, cooked as instructed on box
2 15oz. cans of tomato sauce
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. parsley flakes
2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 cup shredded cheese
5 md. red peppers

Directions:

1.) In a medium skillet brown ground beef until cooked. In a separate pan boil water to cook rice, cook until done.

2) Mix ground beef with white rice, dry ingredients, cheese, and about 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce.

3.) In an 8x8 baking dish spread some of your tomato sauce on the bottom. Cut tops off of each pepper and scrape out the insides. Stuff peppers with mixture. Place each pepper in the baking dish and top with remaining tomato sauce. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours or until peppers have softened.
Sorry about the horrible picture, this picture was from today's lunch and the tomato sauce splattered in the microwave...guess what I get to clean when I get home...lol. Also please note, I keep my peppers whole when baking them however today I cut it in half in order to speed up the warming process since I only have an hour for lunch and am also responsible for feeding the boys at that time.

Two Days

People, we have two days left until we know whether Jack or Addison will be coming to the family. It will be nice to actually call the baby by it's name and not feel guilty for saying Addison for the past five months when in fact it is Jack in there or just saying baby like Daniel has been doing. The goal is to wait to tell everyone on Saturday night so that everyone finds out at once but something tells me that since my husband was on the phone with everyone and their brother five seconds after the pregnancy test came back positive, that keeping either of us shut up for over 24 hours is going to be very hard to do. Plus Nikki still hasn't popped Dylan out yet and something tells me it is going to happen this weekend whether he likes it or not. The poor girl had been dilated to two for the past several weeks and then found out in the early part of this week that she had gone from two to ZERO...what??? Aren't you supposed to go forward and not go back? I guess it's possible but right now it's a very touchy subject with her and she informed me this morning that during her appointment tomorrow she is going in there to plead her case for induction and if pleading doesn't work she's dropping to the floor and starting the water works. Thankfully my baby will be here right on time, no later, no sooner...isn't that right little one?

Little one...isn't that right??

Come on now, work with Mommy, you will be here on February 10th correct???

Shit...I got no response. The good news is I am willing to give this kid until the 14th since I think it would be cool to have a valentines day baby, but that is between me and you, don't tell the kid though!!! Thankfully being due in the second week of February means that more than likely, unless I go early, that I am for sure having a February baby. Unlike my poor sister who thought she was having a September baby but has now decided he would rather be an October baby.

On another note, I think it's time for us to renew our membership to Sam's Club. Did you know that a Twix bar a day out of the vending machine at work at seventy cents a pop calculates to roughly $140 during this pregnancy? I wonder how much money I could save if I bought them in bulk?

I also didn't realize how much diapers cost. I mean really, is it necessary to charge someone almost $20 a box for something that is going to be shit in and then tossed? We will literally be throwing money in the trash with these things. I have received one package so far as a birthday gift from my Grandparents, and I guess I should really start buying a package with each pay check but man it tears me up to spend that kind of money. Guess that is something I should have thought about before I let my husband knock me up...lol. So far to date we have received or bought the following items for the baby; crib, rocking horse, excasaucer, 1 package of diapers, two tubs of baby wipes, two pacifiers, several outfits, one toy/rattle, two baby books, and three bottles. I think we better start shopping don't you? Look out Babies R Us, Mommy is going to be on the prowl on Friday!!!