Love of Owls

I have a love for owls. There are so many cute owl doo-dads out there and I just can't help myself, I am becoming quite the collector. A couple years ago my friend Carrie found me a vintage owl cross-stitch for my birthday and I love it! She inspired me to find a cross-stitch pattern which I finished a couple months ago. Now, all that is left is to buy a frame. I think I want to buy an oval frame but I'm not sure what color frame to go with or how wide. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Here is my lovely owl.

Enchilada Pot Pie

I feel as if I am a guest on my own blog since it has been so long since there has been a post here.
I love to cook as you all know, but I am usually one to follow recipes fairly to the "T". Tonight I went out on a limb and am quite pleased with the results. Last night I went looking through my recipe stash for this weeks meals. I pulled out a Campbell's recipe for chicken enchiladas. As I looked it over I realized I was short several ingredients. So I started formulating a new recipe in my head...quite fun I must say. Throughout the day today at work I caught myself thinking of the different options I had to make this unique.
Below is what I came up with.


Enchilada Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 red pepper
  
• 1 sweet onion
• 1/2 cup diced grape tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of salsa
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
• tortilla chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Saute onion and pepper till tender about 4 minutes. Add diced chicken, chili powder and salt/pepper. Stir in salsa, sour cream, cream of celery soup. Heat through. Take four ramekins or one 9x9 pan. Put down a layer of tortilla chips then spoon in chicken mixture. Put another layer of tortilla chips and top with cheese and diced tomatoes. Bake for 15 min or until golden brown.

Enjoy, I know we did :)

And since the weather has been so nice lately here are some of our recent outdoor adventures.

On a hike in the Dolly Sods. This was on our Cabin vacation in wild and wonderful WV

And here we are on a hike in White Oak Canyon with our friends Aaron and Maddie for Memorial day. This hike is awesome full of swimming holes and waterfalls. In the picture at the top I was looking at all the little fishes nibbling at me...in case you were wondering :)

Happy Valentines Day

This is what we had for Valentines dinner. I found this yummy dessert recipe in a magazine we have in the waiting room at work. Its so huge we decided to forfeit dinner and just go for dessert tonight. It was quite good I especially love the raspberry sauce!!

Also for Jordan I made this super cute accordion card, I got the idea from my Martha Stewart magazine. It was super fun to make. I added little gifts and sweet cards inside each envelope.

Best Birthday Ever

I have just had the best Birthday week! It began with receiving wonderful thoughtful gifts and birthday wishes through the mail from my friends and family (thank you all :). Then on Friday, my actual birthday we went to sushi with our friends Maddie and Aaron.

It was so yummy and I tried something new, a mango roll and now it's my absolute favorite!!

Then I came home to some sweet gifts from my hubby. When I woke up the next day Jordan had the whole day planned special for me. We spent the day in Alexandria, VA. My boss told me that it is known to be one of the most romantic cities. It was so perfect...good choice Jordan. We arrived and went to this wonderful brunch spot and enjoyed a delicious egg dish followed by a delectable peach filled crepe, all while sipping on some yummy coffee. Then we ventured down to the water where we found a walking path which ended up being super long not sure how long it goes for but we were on in for about 3 hours. It was beautiful and sunny. The best day ever.



We ended the evening at a Spanish Tapas Restaurant. It was so tasty and fun to try new things!!

If you LOVE Jello...

You should definitely try this...I am very impressed with this easy, yummy treat!

I like to make little jello snacks for lunches every once and awhile and last time I was making jello I noticed this "magic mousse" recipe on the side of the box and thought to myself that I should try that. So yesterday I did and today I ate one at lunch and it didn't disappoint. I LOVED it! All you do is mix in a tub of cool whip into the jello liquid and it sets as if you spent a bunch of time making the layers but really all you did was mix it and you get to enjoy fun tasty layers of jello.

Yum

Sucess!!!

It's always the best feeling to actually complete a project. A couple weeks ago I finished a project that I had started back in October and never finished!! I made it my goal to finish all 3 in one week and I did (goals really do work). They have been mailed out to their little owners and now have loving homes :)

One of these bunnies has already made it to blog land in this sweet post. :)


Now back to working on the quilt for my parents...which I started in fall of 2009!! What a sweet success that will be when I complete it :)

A Breakfast For Champions!

I will be posting a picture of this later. I happen to be at work right now with nothing to do, because of the snow none of our patients are coming in...but alas we are here. Why is it so hard to get a snow day as an adult??? I sure do miss snow days :)

I figured since we are so slow I would work on this post now and then post it later at home so I could add the picture but I accidently posted it early and I don't know how to take it off. So if you read this early come back later tonight to see the yummy picture, it will make your mouth water.

In my February Martha Stewart issue there is a section on healthy snacks. As soon as I saw this particular one it screamed BREAKFAST to me. I have already had it twice this week for breakfast and it is awesome, I made it for Jordan too and he loved it. I happen to LOVE breakfast and I'm always looking for new options to switch things up and this has been a great addition to our breakfast choices.

All you need is:

Whole Wheat Pita (I used the pocketless kind)
Ricotta Cheese
Apricots
Sliced Almonds
Black Pepper
Honey

The balance of flavors is perfect and the crunch of the almonds really makes the dish stand out.