BBQ Night!

We had a BBQ kind of night for dinner! First, I slow cooked a pork loin all day in the crock pot covered in my Mom's recipe of BBQ sauce! I cooked shells and cheese, and my Mom's BBQ potato's for sides! Check out the recipes and pictures below!

BBQ Sandwich's
Ease:**** Taste:****

Pork Loin
1 Cup Ketchup
1 Cup Vinegar
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Mustard
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper (or more)

In a saucepan, whisk together all the ingrediants and bring just to a boil. Simmer for 2-3 mins. Lay pork loin in crock pot and pour the sauce on top. Cover and cook on low in the crock pot for 6-8 hours or until meat falls apart. Use fork to shred the meat up. Finish by placing a heaping spoon of meat onto a hamburger bun!

BBQ ingredients!

Whisk together the ingredients.

Pour the BBQ sauce on the Pork Loin and cook on low all day!

It's been cooking all day!

Shred it all up with a fork.

My yummy BBQ sandwich!

BBQ Potatoes

Ease **** Taste ****

2 cans of diced potatoes

1/2 cup shredded cheese

3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

1/4 teaspoon paprika

salt, pepper to taste

Drain the potatoes and mix with mayo and cheese, salt and pepper. Mix should be a little runny. If it seems to dry, add more mayo. Place in glass baking dish and sprinkle paprika evenly over the top! Place in oven at 375 degrees for 30 min or until bubbly and brown. 

The Turtle Tank

Well, this is another turtle story. This story, however, is not about our turtles. This story is about my nephews turtles.  For those of you who don't know my nephews, I have 3 precious little boys in my family named TJ, JJ, and Manny. They are 4, 5, and 7 years old. I love these three little messes with all my heart!  Here are two of my nephews with their turtle tank.

The boys also have turtles. They live happily in their tank with 3 algae eaters and 2 fancy goldfish. Well I know you are probably wondering where this story is going, but if you will give me just another minute, I will lay it all out on the line. 

Here is a picture of a construct. I gave the boys my kids construct set a few weeks ago because my kids never played with them anymore and the boys really loved to build with them!

Now, WHY does my sister look so distraught you might say?? Well, apparently they discovered that you can play baseball with the constructs as well! Just keep reading.....

After playing a rousing game of construct baseball.... apparently one of my sweet little nephews hit the "ball" at the aquarium. Oops.

                     And this is the aftermath.... 

After lots of towels, lots of shop vac dumps, even blankets..... the water began to disappear.

We got all the furniture moved out, and all the water that we could see dried up.

We moved the tank outside... notice the big crack towards the bottom.

All the blankets and towels my sister owns...

All the towels I own...

And all the furniture moved out. Lamar's parents brought over a HUGE fan to turn on during the night and help dry out things. Unfortunately though, the water (all 50 gallons of it) managed to make its way under the flooring and come pouring out the walls on the front porch. Thank the Lord for insurance, because this one will be a dozy!

But really, who could resist these sweet little faces...

French Bread Pizza

Dinner tonight was French Bread Pizza and Pumpkin Cupcakes for dessert. Not only was this super easy, but it was also super cheap! This dinner, complete with dessert was $8.00! This dinner also fed 10 people! Yes- 10 people for $8.00! I did my shopping at a local warehouse style grocery store called "Wilson's" (if any of you live near Griffin). I will list the recipe and cost of the items below.  
Ease: ***** Taste ****

French Bread Pizza:
6 loaves of Italian style bread, split in half (.99 bag)
Pizza Sauce (1.99 for a large can)
Parmesan Cheese (I already had this in the fridge)
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (1.99 bag)
Pepperoni's (.99 bag)

Very easy! Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Slice the bread in half. Lather them with the pizza sauce. Sprinkle on the parmesan, and add the mozzarella. Top with the pepperonis and pop in the oven for 7-9 mins. 

Split the bread. Add pizza sauce and parm.

Add the mozzarella.

Top with pepperoni, or your favorite toppings!

Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Cupcakes:
1 can Libby's Pure Pumpkin (.99)
1 box of Betty Crocker Spice Cake (.99)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the pumpkin and the spice cake well. Pour into lined muffin tins. Bake for 20 mins in the oven. Makes 12 cupcakes.

These are so moist and soooo delicious!! My sister actually made these, but she said it was VERY easy! And I can attest to their deliciousness!

The Sick Turtle

Grab the popcorn, this is a good one....
       
         To start the story, for those of you who don't know, we have 2 pet turtles. The turtles are about 2 years old. They belong to Maggie and Jada and they are named Rock and CeCe. They are very fun to watch and fairly easy to take care of, well, until recently. Here are Rock and CeCe swimming around in their tank with their #1 spectator.

Okay, so now you that you have met the turtles, I can explain the rest of the story. CeCe, the smaller of the turtles, has been sick since we came home from vacation. He was swimming around less and his eyes were swollen. He continued to get worse. Of course, I have a PhD in Google-ing, so I did what any good doc would do and Dr. Googled our turtles condition. I diagnosed him with an eye infection and put him in a separate "sick tank". I kept him warm, and dry. I administered drops in his eyes three times a day. I made sure he ate by pushing the food close to his mouth. After several weeks, he was getting no better. I had read that a vitamin A shot may be the only thing to help. Of course, this is available only by a vet. I finally found an Exotic Pet Veterinarian. It only took 7 phone calls. Yes, 7 different phone calls! They said they would work me in, but I may have to wait awhile. They also told me that it would be $60.00 for the pet to be examined, plus any  treatments. I said sure, that's fine. Did I mention that this Exotic Vet was in Conyers.. over an hour away?!

We arrived at the vets.. finally... and unloaded CeCe. 

We had to wait for the Vet to finish surgery on a cat before we could be seen. This turned into an hour wait. I was going stir crazy. We had already driven over an hour, and now had waited over an hour to be seen! Little Kennedy was getting bored too. She did really well though!

Finally they took us to the room. They weighed CeCe (who weighed .45 grams by the way.)

They took his vitals and asked lots of questions.

 

Then the vet began to examine him. She looked, and looked, looked.

  After examining the turtle for a loooong time,she said it would need to continue to be in a seperate tank, and I would need to buy a heat lamp to keep him 82 degrees. She said it was dehydrated. She said I would need to wet and mush up his food and force feed it to him with a dropper. She also said he needed a vitamin A shot (which I knew).  She then proceeded to tell me that they were OUT of vitamin A shots, and she was calling around to see if she could get some from another vets office. She also told me she could order it and I could bring him back the next day....

OKAY. STOP. 

I could no longer handle it anymore.

This is where I draw the line.

Not only had I been taking care of this sick turtle for almost 4 weeks, but I had also driven all the way to Conyers with him. Now, she was telling me to come back the next day, and take even MORE of my time to forcefeed this turtle and keep him 82 degrees in a sick tank and keep him hydrated while I take care of our family of six!?

Fortunately, for the turtle AND for me.. the vet tech loves turtles and she offered to take him home with her and nurse him back to health. And the best part of the story?

It only cost me a half of tank of gas and $60! (Yes, the vet still charged me the $60)

Garlic Shrimp Linguine

This was a very easy, very delicious dinner! My family loves shrimp, so I try to incorporate it into our dinners every now and then. We had very little leftover! You could also change this recipe around to include your favorites, like broccoli or onions. Below you will find the recipe and pictures from the Shrimp Linguine.
Ease: **** Taste: ****

Garlic Shrimp Linguine:
1 lb. raw, peeled, tail off shrimp
1 lb. linguine noodles
1 stick of butter
6-8 cloves of minced garlic
1 package dry Italian dressing mix
1 cup of reserved noodle starch water
1/2 cup parmesan cheese


Boil noodles and reserve 1 cup of the water for later. I season my water with sea salt and oil before cooking the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, melt 1/2 stick of butter in a saute pan. Add the shrimp, cook for 1-2 mins on medium heat. Add the minced garlic. Cook for 5-7 mins on medium heat until the shrimp are curled, pink and fully cooked. Add the noodles to the shrimp pan. Add in the rest of the butter. Continue to toss the pasta and the shrimp. Add the package of Italian season. Slowly add the cup of starch water. Toss until well mixed. Finish with the parmesan cheese.

Cook the shrimp

Fully cooked shrimp

Kennedy while Mommy is cooking :)

Toss the pasta with the shrimp!

Enjoy!

Mexican Fiesta

This is, hands down, my families favorite dinner! Its not my recipe though. It has been passed to me from Kevin's foster Mom. We usually eat this meal once a week for dinner. It's incredibly easy, and very yummy! I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine!

Mexican Fiesta
Ease- ***** Taste-*****

1 lb. ground beef
1 pack of taco seasoning
2 cups dry rice
1 can tomato soup
1 Bag of Dorritos
Shredded cheese
Lettuce, Sour Cream, Salsa (any other toppings you may like)

Very easy! Brown the ground beef, drain, return to pan and add taco season and a little water. Cook the rice, I usually cook 2 cups of minute rice. Mix 1 can of water with the tomato soup and heat till boiling. Now, all you have to do is layer it on your plate! Crush up the Dorritos and place on your plate for the bottom layer, then comes the cooked rice, the taco seasoned meat, the shredded cheese and few spoons of soup to melt the cheese on top! Continue to top with shredded lettuce, sour cream, salsa, etc... My family likes it plain! That's it! Enjoy!

Mini-Corn Dogs

You better put on your running shoes now! After you are done with this delicious dinner you are definitely going to need to burn a few calories. I cooked this meal for more people than just my 6. I also cooked for my sister's family of 5 as well. This recipe will yield 60 mini corndogs. We had 5 left, and that was because Kevin didn't eat with us! He closes his store every Wednesday night. Needless to say, these were a hit! We will not be having them very often, but they are a yummy treat every  now and then. Without further delay, here is the recipe and pics!

Mini-Corn Dogs
Ease- * Taste- *****

2 packs of Hot Dogs
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
1/4 sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Mix up the dry ingredients first, then add the egg and buttermilk. Don't add quite all the buttermilk at first. Check your consistency before adding the last bit in. Cut your hotdogs into thirds. This will make 60 mini dogs. Use a toothpick and dip and roll the dog into the batter. Drop it into the fryer (365 degrees) for 2 to 3 minutes. You can leave the toothpick in, but I pulled it out as I was dropping them in the oil. Only fry about 6 at a time. They seem to cook better. Stir your batter all along as you are dipping. Place on a paper towel covered cookie sheet and keep in the oven on warm until you get them all cooked!! These were time consuming and a little tricky, but sooo worth it! 

Weight Loss Journey

After posting a few pictures on Facebook last night, I had quite a few people want to know what "the secret" is. Well, to be quite honest there is no secret. Weight loss is different for everyone. It's not one magic thing. It truly is a journey. The journey for me was a very hard one. Not the way you are thinking, hard in a different way. Let me explain. It will not be a short story ( I don't suppose any of my stories are.) I have to start this story in 1999 actually. It's hard to tell the end of a story without first knowing the beginning! After a very rough time of anxiety and panic attacks, I began taking an anti-depressant called Paxil. I started on a low dose. I was in college at the time, and I gained about 10 pounds or so when starting the medicine. Not too many months after, I was married and pregnant with our first child. I stayed on the Paxil during pregnancy (because at the time it was not considered "unsafe"). After the baby, I felt like the medicine wasn't as potent, so I upped the dose. This was about the time I quit breastfeeding as well. I gained another 10-15 lbs. at this time too. Shortly after baby number one, was baby number two. I continued to take the Paxil  (still considered safe). After breastfeeding was complete I up'd the dose again and gained 10-15 more pounds. Now, let me intercede here with this. I am not blaming the Paxil alone for the weight gain. I am also blaming the post baby issues here too. When breastfeeding, your body needs more calories. I will be the first to tell you that I did NOT quite eating those 500 extra calories when I quit breastfeeding. I suppose you can guess the cycle for baby number three.... same scenario. Quit breastfeeding, up'd the meds. Gained another 15 pounds.  By the time Jada was 3 and 4 years old I was at the heaviest. I decided to lose some weight, but with the farm full time it was hard. We ate out a LOT of meals. I ate on the road a lot as well. The summer before Jada started Kindergarten, I decided that I should take control of my life! So, I quit taking the Paxil (after being on it for 10 years). It was very hard and I quit taking it cold turkey. I had not had anxiety issues in years, and the only reason I still took  it was because the withdrawal was so awful I didn't want to experience it! I quit smoking. This too was VERY difficult. I don't know which was worse to be quite honest. I decided to start Weight Watchers back up. I have lost 10-20 pounds here and there with there points program and figured that was the best way to go. I lost about 15 pounds by the fall. Then Kevin and I (mostly "I") decided to try for one more little precious one! This is where the "shit hits the fan" so to speak. I had only been pregnant for 5 weeks when I became very sick. Hyperemesis is the term used.  I was so nauseous that I was unable to eat. For almost 12 weeks I could only eat a few bites a day, and even then I would throw up most of it. I lost about 25 pounds over the course of this 12 weeks, while growing a baby inside. I gradually got my appetite back. I still didn't eat much. By the time I delivered Kennedy I was 16 pounds lighter than when I got pregnant! So, if you want to call this "diet jumpstart", I guess you could. Trust me though, this is NOT something I would wish even on my worst enemy! After Kennedy was born I continued with Weight Watchers. When she was about 3 months old, I suffered from some post-partum depression. I lost about 10 pounds during this time as well. I am doing well now, and have managed to keep the weight off over a year now! I run 3 times a week, and eat about HALF the calories I used to eat! The journey will be different for everyone. But, truly, the weigh to lose the weight is to not eat as much! I wish I had a secret pill to offer, or a proven method... but I don't. For now, I am holding my own with exercise and diet! It's a life long journey, that's for sure.