I Bought a House!

Life lately has been crazy. I can't tell you how many tears I've shed out of stress. Anyone out there who has bought a house and especially with small kids will understand. It's been an emotionally draining week, but things are looking up. My husband and I bought close to where we currently live, and we are very close to family still! The house is a lovely California ranch style home. Three bedrooms, two baths. It's quite large, for us, 1750 square feet and it has a great yard. I'm most thrilled with the kitchen and laundry room. The project we tackled this weekend was painting. It was an extremely lengthy process but I'm very happy with the color. We went with Behr ultra premium plus paint in the color Doeskin Gray, in an eggshell finish. The previous colors were a dark tan with brown accent walls. The paint was in good shape but it just wasn't our style.

Before:

After:

Mommy Mondays: Isla's 9 Month Update

Oh my has the time flown by! I thought I would do a quick update about my little sugar plum Isla Grace. She will be 9 months old on the 30th; I cannot believe it. Isla can crawl, pull herself up, and cruise the couch. She says "dada" and "baba," and loves to scream and blow raspberries. Bath time is so much fun, she loves to scoot down in her bath seat and slam her legs into the water. It's messy, and super cute! Isla loves food. Oh boy, my kid can eat. She is still breastfed but also eats three meals a day. Breakfast is usually yogurt and a pouch, I buy a lot of Earth's Best organic baby food. Lunch is usually two pouches, then dinner is a veggie in a big bowl of organic oatmeal along with mixed veggies for finger food. For snacks she likes yogurt melts and the Gerber or Happy Baby puffs. She also loves to drink water, she drinks about five ounces of water from her sippy every day. 

Easy Mini Breakfast Pies

In my experience, a great cup of coffee is made even better by a delicious sweet treat. It's probably from breastfeeding, but I crave sweets like crazy these days. I wanted to make something quick and easy that was basically a glorified Pop Tart. My grocery store was out of puff pastry, so I picked up a box of refrigerated pie crusts. This is a super simple sweet treat you can make in about 20 minutes.

Sweet Potato and Meatball Pasta

It's all about the crock pot lately, but if it's chilly where you live this can easily be made on the stove top. I wanted a way to cut down on net carbohydrates in a meal that is traditionally very heavy on the pasta. This dish would also work well with butternut squash or spaghetti squash. I used a jar of Arrabbiata sauce which added a nice touch of heat to balance the sweetness from the sweet potatoes.

If you are trying to cut down on sodium the easiest way is to use homemade meatballs instead of store bought. I happened to have a bag of frozen meatballs so I used what I had, but if you have time I recommend this recipe for spicy meatballs or this recipe for traditional meatballs. Both are delicious tried and true recipes.

Crock Pot Orange Rolls from Canned Dough

After the success of my recipe for cinnamon rolls using canned dough, I really wanted to give orange rolls a try. And what better way to make sweet sticky rolls when it's 90 degrees than in the crock pot? I have yet to try these on another heat setting, I've only cooked them on high. I plan to experiment making them on both low and warm. I will update when I have time frames on the other heat settings.

These rolls turned out wonderfully. Sweet and sticky with a bright orange flavor and a hint of spice. I hope you give them a try!

Crock Pot Enchilada Casserole

Apparently it's fall, but in Southern California it's hot. In the 90's hot, which is exactly when I get out the crock pot. During the winter when it's cold (again, Southern California, so like 60 degrees cold) I look forward to big pots of hot soup and doing the dishes because it warms me up. But when it's hot like this the kitchen is the last place I want to be. The great part about this meal is it can be made 100% with food from the pantry. The chicken and cheese are both optional, but if you have them on hand it really adds a nice change in texture to this dish.

Easy and Delicious Pollo Asado Tacos

This was another quick and easy meal that we really enjoyed. You can speed the process up more by using pre-made ingredients, but why buy salsa if you already have the ingredients in your fridge. The best time saver here is starting the pre-marinated chicken, and while it cooks throw together the toppings and your side.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Sliders

This recipe came together quickly and was so delicious. Juicy chicken, spicy BBQ sauce, and sweet Hawaiian rolls. It's a winner, great for appetizers or a main dish. My husband and I ate these for dinner with potato salad on the side. They would also be phenomenal with macaroni salad. 

Chili Salmon Tacos with Mango Salsa

This was the most mouthwatering lunch I've had in a long time. The hint of spice from the salmon topped with the sweet mango salsa all wrapped up in a warm tortilla was such a treat. What I enjoy most about meals like this is the easy cleanup. I cooked the fish in a non-stick skillet on the stove, wiped out the skillet and then heated the tortillas. Super simple, and comes together very quickly.

5 Ingredient Mango Salsa

This is the hands down my favorite salsa. It's sweet, spicy, and tangy and goes great with fish. This compliments the recipe I'll be posting on Monday, so come back for that if you want an idea of what to make with this salsa! Please excuse the presentation, the only clear container I could find was Tupperware. Everything else is packed away since we will hopefully be moving soon!