Kitchen Madness & Mice...Again...

Wow - twice in less than a week. I mean, what in the world is up with this craziness? I don't know, I can't really answer that. I like writing about food though, that definitely interests me, so I've got two more recipes that I tried this past week...so let's get on with that!

I signed myself up to get a daily recipe from Kraft & months ago I got a recipe for Creamy Baked Ziti. I printed it out, brought it home & haven't looked at it in months but about two weeks ago I stumbled upon it & decided that I'd take a stab at it. It was really simple & really delicious. You need:

1 package Ziti pasta
24-26 oz jar of marinara sauce
3/4 bar of cream cheese; cubed
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Cook your Ziti according to the package directions & strain. Preheat the oven to 350.

In a saucepan, you heat the marinara sauce & mix in the cream cheese, cooking until it is smooth & creamy. Mix the Ziti in with the marinara mixture.

Put down a layer of the Ziti mixture into your pan, top this with a very light layer of sour cream. I went really light on this because I was really kind of thinking that sour cream with a pasta dish seemed a little strange, but I try not to veer off course too much when cooking. I spread a very thin layer of sour cream & then topped it with Parmesan cheese & mozzarella cheese. Layer the remainder of the noodle mixture into the dish & top again with sour cream, Parmesan & mozzarella.

Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes & then enjoy!

Got all the ingredients...

Just a cooking....Looks a little funny at this point...

Just layering together my stuff....

Ready to go in the oven...I can't wait!

Yeah, this was looking absolutely delicious & it smells amazing too.

Time for supper!

 I really liked this dish & I'll most certainly make it again. It wasn't as amazing to me as the chicken enchiladas were, but it is for sure a keeper on the food rotation at my house. I found another recipe on Pintrest that was for some Cinnamon Sugar pretzels & they just sounded too good not to try, so tonight while my red beans & rice were cooking for supper, I whipped up those. All you need:

Pretzel twists (I used about half a bag)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 cup of vegetable oil

You pour your pretzels onto a roasting pan & preheat the oven to 300. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon & oil & then toss it onto those pretzels. You stir it together to mix it all over the pretzels, making sure it evenly coats them. Lastly, cook them at 300 for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to make sure everything gets evenly coated.

Yep - delicious!

I seriously had to step away from the bowl that I put these in. They are addicting & I would have probably sat in the chair watching "Four Weddings" & eating these things all night...so I just had to step away.

I have been battling a mouse - or more likely mice - for the past few weeks. They aren't in my kitchen or bathroom; I keep finding them in the living room. I've killed 3, so I'm really getting worried. This seems to be a major problem for me here in this house & I'm eager to find a solution. I started my morning using the Swiffer to mop blood off my floor. It was all very much like a clandestine murder clean-up, only the victim weighed about a pound. After some investigation, my Mom & I discovered something called Fresh Cab online & after reading rave reviews, we ordered some. Supposedly you sit the bags of Fresh Cab out in your home & the smell (which humans can't smell) will repel the mice from ever coming into your house. I am hoping & praying this is the truth...because I am getting tired of writing about killing mice on my blog. So, until next time...I'm about to go get some sleep, just in case I have to clean up another murder scene tomorrow morning. 

Football Anticipation & Food Review.....

So, I've been told by several people (namely, Miss Abbie Odom) that I don't update my blog enough. I wasn't intending to update it today but here I am....now how did I get here? You see, I went to town hunting an Air Force blue dress at Belks for the first football game of the season - which I will be in just 2 short weeks - hallelujah! I do love some football. I also love Colorado Springs, the whole spirit of the Air Force Academy & most importantly, I love spending time with my wonderful family! It must have been divine intervention because the first dress I found was blue, in my size & it fit like a dream - which any girl can tell  you really is a miracle. You almost never go into a store looking for one particular item & actually find it like that. To make things even better, it was on sale. That's right - I got a $66 dress for just $21. Don't say the Lord isn't still working miracles, because he is! I also went hunting for some certain Halloween decorations; which I didn't find, and I also bought groceries. I managed to drag everything inside before the weather decided to start up. I got hooked on Titanic, which was on HBO & so I was watching that...but the weather conspired against me & the torrential downpour outside killed the satellite. Which is really okay - I've only seen Titanic about 15 times. The ending doesn't change: the boat sinks, Rose won't scoot over & let Jack on the piece of wood, tears ensue... Seriously Rose, help Jack out. Alas...with that entertainment option gone, I decided that I'd blog. And that is where I'm at now, sitting at my computer with my semi-terrified dog (he hates bad weather) sitting at my feet while I type.

I stole this from Lindsey - because I'm ready to be in Colorado Springs again.

I decided I'd share a recipe that I cooked earlier this week. It was super easy & absolutely delicious. I found the recipe on, where else? Pintrest! I know some people have had bad luck with stuff on Pintrest but thus far I haven't had any duds when it comes to recipes. Forgive the rambling, without any further ado, the recipe.

Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas with Green Chile Sour Cream Sauce

2 large cans of chicken

2 cups shredded cheese (your preference, I used cheddar)

3 Tbsp. flour

3 Tbsp. butter

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

1 4 oz. can of green chile's (the smallest I could find was 7 oz. but it worked just fine)

5-6 soft shell tortillas

You start by combining your chicken with 1 cup of shredded cheese. Since I used canned chicken, I warmed it up in a skillet & mixed in some onion flakes, pepper & cumin, just to give it a little flavor. You don't have to do this. Completely up to you. Mix together the chicken & 1 cup of cheese. Fill the tortillas with the mixture & layer them in a greased 9x13 pan. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine butter & flour, whisking until it forms a smooth paste. Slowly add 2 cups of chicken broth, stirring continuously so that the sauce doesn't stick or burn. This should start to form a creamy sauce. Add in the 1 cup sour cream, continuing to stir so that everything mixes well. You will want to add the sour cream a bit at a time so that everything mixes together well. Add in the can of chile's. Be sure not to let the sauce boil because you don't want the sour cream to curdle.

Pour the sauce over your enchiladas & sprinkle the other 1 cup of cheese on top of this. Bake in the oven for 22 minutes at 350 degrees. Use the broil setting for 2-3 minutes to crisp the cheese on top. Take out of the oven, let cool & then dig in! 

These are seriously so good & extremely easy! I took some pictures of my adventures in cooking - check them out below!

Got all the ingredients ready....

Chicken & cheese - that can never be wrong.

Mixing up the sauce - I probably should have used my bigger pan, but it turned out fine.

Ready to go in the oven!

Once it came out of the oven - it made the whole house smell delicious!

Yes please - I'll have a big bite!

Well, there you go. You should probably get out to the supermarket as soon as possible & get the ingredients to make these bad boys, because they are so absolutely yummy! I've got some other recipes to try & I'm thinking to buff up my blog, so that it gets updated a little more frequently, I might keep adding in posts about the things I cook up! That being said, I think I'm actually going to go make sure I have all the ingredients I need to make some Creamy Baked Ziti & see how that turns out. Then my precious dog & I are going to spend this rainy Saturday evening watching "The Hunger Games". 

Taking a nap on this rainy Saturday afternoon....

Sister...Sister..

My family is here visiting for the next few days & this morning I was marveling as to how Lindsey & I just immediately fall back into our normal, completely goofy routine as soon as we are with one another. We started out goofy way back in the day & we have continued in that fashion ever since...


I started training her early.....

Obviously...the training stuck.





I know we used to fight like cats & dogs; this makes me all the more happy that we've got such a great relationship now. I'm lucky to have Lindsey as a sister - because in her I not only got a sister, I also got a partner in crime, a confidant, an ally in the battles against our parents (most of the time) a travel buddy, someone to listen to when things get rough...but mostly I got a best friend. And hey, she has to love me because she's my sister. Haha! Seriously though - some of our adventures...



Partners in crime.....

We really manage to amuse ourselves fairly well....

I'm sure we were supposed to be behaving for this picture....

We both have excellent taste in men.....

Fashion forward? I certainly think so..this look is Smokey Mountain Hiking Chic!

I think we get it from our Dad...the need to act crazy. See him? He so totally photo bombed us...

We're definitely party animals....

We are frequently told by our parents when taking pictures "Guys, really? Chill out & act right."
I think that usually just inspires us to act even more ridiculous...

There really are no words. Because we are just that awesome....



Anyway - hope these pictures gave you a laugh. I don't get to spend nearly as much time with my sister as I used to, so I'm thankful for the time we get to have together & all the pictures I have that showcase the 21 years we've been making memories. Love you Lindsey! :)

Marking A Milestone

I have reached a milestone in my life - and it has gotten here faster than I thought it would; but then time flies when you're having fun, right? As of tomorrow I will have been living in my house for a whole year! I remember this time last year when I thought that I'd never get in my house - everything seemed to be taking forever. And now a whole year has passed. So much has happened in that year...so I thought I'd post a look back at my first year in my house with some pictures....

Officially a homeowner - this was sometime in late June.

A whole lot of dirt...a sign that things were moving right along.

What a giant mess - getting all this in the house made for a long, hot day. Moving in July in MS. Blegh

Getting into my house was eventful for sure. We had to move out of our house by June 30th & since my house wasn't in place yet, all my things went into storage. While it was only 19 days from one move to the other, it seemed like an eternity...but then, it usually does when you are waiting on something exciting. It seemed like such a slow process waiting for the truck to bring the dirt...and then the house...and then get power hooked up. Once we got that done, we had to move everything in. And I have a ton of stuff! I never realized that I had so much stuff until I had to move it from one place..to another..to another! Thankfully I had some great family members & a friend that helped my Mom and I; we were able to get everything into the house in one day - and even had time left afterward for a nap & a 3D showing of "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows". All in all, it was a pretty good day. It did make me anxious to have the AC turned on so I could get down to getting things organized & put in place - I love organizing my space!





Watson quickly discovered his favorite space on the couch was still available.

Still in the early stages - but so happy to have my new porch courtesy of my Dad, Uncle & cousin!

The first major home purchase - a table! I had been using a card table, so chic!

I was lucky - I had pretty much everything one needs to just move in & keep right on going with life. I was able to spend my money making my house look cute & since I had Momma with me for a few months, she was happy to help with that! So...the year progressed on.



Autumn arrived....

I turned 27....

The Holiday season began...and I decorated accordingly.

The week after Halloween, my Mom got the news that she would be starting her new job in Winchester, VA & so as of the first weekend of November I was not only living in my own house, but I was living in my own house alone! Once you start living alone...you really begin to learn some life lessons; such as how to catch mice or move your fridge to fiddle with it all on your own. They may not have been lessons I wanted to learn, but they sure have come in handy!

Hosting our families' Thanksgiving in my house - awesome!

I think I was most excited for Christmas - I have always loved Christmas & had oodles of decorations for Christmas, but when you only have a bedroom to decorate, you can only do so much. I was raised by a woman who loved to decorate for every holiday possible, so I got the decorating genes honestly. We used to have 7 Christmas trees in our house -so I'm pretty proud to say I scaled it back to 5 in my house. And even though I already have tons of Christmas decor, I'm always looking on Pintrest to see if I can't find something new for this year!

Christmas lights on my porch - I'm loving this!

My Christmas table setting - courtesy of my Nanny!

Continuing a Summerlin Christmas tradition - this time in MY kitchen!

My first Christmas tree! I loved it!

I rang in the New Year shooting fireworks with McKenna & then began a long stretch of chilly days & nights; which caused a mouse or two to think that my house might be better than their burrow in nature. They learned their lessons & I got tougher with with each mini-crisis I learned to handle on my own. My friends came to visit in January, my Mom came to visit in February & my Dad came to visit in April...

Because my blog is acting up...I guess I'll write the next paragraph here, seeing how it won't let me put it below the pictures. Crazy computer. Anyway - it has certainly been an interesting first year living in my own home. There have been ups & downs, I've learned a lot about myself in the process & I'm excited to see what year 2 in my house has in store.


 

Spring showers = my yard becomes a lake!

Learning to weed eat - which proved dangerous for me...

The Easter Bunny still finds me...even when I live all alone.

I discovered in May that maybe I had a little bit of a green thumb...

My guard dog - happily at home on his front porch!

Always working on my house - I finally got the kitchen to my liking a week before I'd been in the house a year.

My parents said it was an early birthday present - but it arrived just in time to be a one year in my house present!



The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

I'm back again - much sooner than I would have thought I'd be. I've really just been thinking over something that happened earlier this week (or last weekend if I'm technical) and pondering life & how things work. How people work & why they act a certain way. I'll be honest, I'm writing this because my feelings were hurt & I'm just not sure how to think about the situation without feeling hurt. I've tried to tell myself that at 27 I shouldn't let things bother me the way they used to...but while I can tell my head that, it doesn't stop my heart from being wounded. I really feel like I've got to get this off my chest,but I don't want to hurt anyone else in the process - not that the people who caused this hurt read this; I don't know that. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Anyway, sorry  that this post isn't exactly warm & fuzzy.

High school - while it was fun, there was always that sense of not quite fitting in; or maybe to put it more bluntly, being left out. I'm not sure why that happened: maybe because I dated a guy seriously for over a year & devoted a lot of my free time to that relationship, maybe because I wasn't willing to participate in the things other people were willing to do...of course, there was always that maybe that stood out most - maybe they just don't like me. I'm sure anyone else in my boat can tell you, even if you are told that isn't the case again & again...that thought it what is going to stand out in your mind. I know it always did for me. For whatever reason, I just wasn't ever included in things & I'll admit that has obviously left some scars. I don't think a person can really ever forget feeling like they aren't wanted/just aren't good enough. You can try to push it away, but somehow that feeling just clings to you. It certainly caused me to become more introverted than I already was - because if the people that claim to be my friends don't like me enough to include me, why would anyone else want to?

High School Natalie - not as confident as I look.

I suppose that somewhere deep down, I assume that people start to grow up. Excluding other people seems silly when you're an adult. When my parents moved to Virginia; well, I'd been saying for a couple years that I wanted nothing more than to move & get away from all the people that I grew up with. It seemed obvious that I wasn't ever really going to be enough for them & I wanted to just start a new life away from all that. I should interject & say this was after I'd moved back home from college at USM - where I had made wonderful friends that I love & cherish today...but none of those friends live(d) in the Meridian area & it left my weekend plans pretty dead. My parents moving to Virginia seemed like the perfect answer to prayer; I'd just move with them! Sure, I'd be leaving behind my closest friends, but there was a chance to start over & not be the girl that had been excluded in high school. The people in Virginia wouldn't know me or the reason I tended to be introverted. It was the greatest plan - except that every time I prayed about it, the Lord told me that I needed to stay put. I was confused, but I've tried to walk outside God's will for me before & it didn't work out too well, so I put down roots in the place I'd lived for the past 24 years & struck out on my own.

I started to be around those friends from high school again - at church. Granted, we weren't in the same Sunday School class since they are all married & most have children. Again, I don't have certain things in common with them at another stage in life but I begin to assure myself that because we are all grown up, things will be different. Exclusion is for kids, for teenagers who don't realize the damage that leaving others out can inflict. I remember excitedly telling my Mom after a Christmas party that one of them had mentioned us all getting together to eat one day during Christmas break; I told my Mom that maybe this was part of the reason why the Lord had me stay in Collinsville - he was going to restore those friendships that had been broken. Imagine my surprise when the lunch over Christmas break happened, but I was conveniently forgotten. Surely this wasn't going to happen all over again? We are adults now - we don't act like this, right? Apparently we do though. I try to ignore things like this - but then there are instances like this past Sunday when they all make lunch plans - and do this mere inches away from me, having to know that I can hear them...but never with a thought that I might have any interest in being included. Just like that - those feelings come rushing back. I wasn't good enough in high school & I certainly am not good enough now.

I'm good enough to care for their kids, to comment on photos & we will certainly be friends on Facebook but let's not get ahead of ourselves - I don't dare begin to think that I might in any way be someone that they'd actually want to include in their actual lives. Silly me. All week I've struggled with these feelings - shouldn't I be old enough to see past this? To realize that same thing my Momma told me over & over as a teenager; it has nothing to do with me & everything to do with them? Somehow it just isn't that easy. How do you learn to move past this? I feel like I should be beyond letting something like this hurt me, but I feel like what I'm learning is that you are never so old that being excluded doesn't hurt. I'm struggling to deal with that knowledge this week, struggling with why I'm here on my own & dealing with a situation that I thought was over & done with; struggling with why I couldn't have just left all of this behind & started over. I know God has a plan somewhere in all of this, but right now it is awfully hard to see the sunshine because of all the clouds. I feel like the only lesson I have learned at this point is that the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same. I'll keep you posted if I figure it out - but until then, sorry for the less than chipper post but every once in a while I just have to express what I'm really feeling, even if it isn't so happy. Thoughts?

I'm gonna keep smiling...because there is some kind of plan in this heartache.