Breakfast Broccoli Egg Bake

Hi!  I hope you’re having a good week so far!  Today, I wanted to share a recipe with you that I made over the weekend for my family.  It was super easy and approved by everyone!  Win win! 




Ingredients:

3 cups of frozen tater tots
3 cups broccoli (fresh or frozen, I used frozen)
12 eggs
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
6 oz. Canadian bacon, chopped
8 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled (garnish)
Olive oil


Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375.  Add your frozen tater tots to a prepared 13x9 casserole dish and bake according to the package directions. 

While the tater tots are cooking, heat about 1 tsp. of olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions and garlic for about 2 minutes.  Add the frozen broccoli to the onion and garlic mixture with a little water to thaw.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

Scramble your eggs with a little salt and pepper and cook in a separate pan until they are almost done.  Don’t cook them all the way because they’ll be cooking in the oven as well! 

Once your eggs are scrambled, your broccoli is cooked, and your tater tots are browned, begin layering your casserole. 

Here’s how I layer mine:

Tater tots, scrambled eggs, mozzarella cheese, broccoli, Canadian bacon, cheddar cheese.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until everything is heated through and the cheese is melted.  Serve with crumbled bacon on top!


This casserole made a bunch of leftovers which is carrying my husband though the week too!  Bonus!

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Have a great day!

Removing Crayon from Walls

Hello and Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Did you do anything fun?  We had a bit of a busier weekend than usual.  I did a bunch of embroidery for my children’s boutique and made a ton of new headbands for spring!  I have spring fever BAD!


My weekend wouldn’t have been complete without a little drama either!  While cleaning Ethan’s room I noticed he was expressing his artistic abilities on his walls!

Needless to say, I wasn’t very happy!  I wasn’t sure how long it was there so I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t get it off.  I used my Basic H (degreaser) and a microfiber cleaning cloth and went to work……





Let’s just say I was very impressed!  Took it off in a matter of minutes without a lot of elbow grease! 





I was so happy and RELIEVED!

Here is what I used to remove the crayon (Basic H Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate)



Have a great day!

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Chicken Stir Fry

Hello!  How’s your week going so far?  It’s been pretty hectic and interesting around here.  Ethan is on school vacation this week and last week he was off everyday except Friday due to the blizzard that we had here.  Needless to say, I’m a bit behind.  I’m starting to get some serious spring fever.  I cannot wait to be able to take the kids outside without having to wear 5 layers of clothing!

Today I thought I’d share with you a recipe I made last week for dinner.  It was incredibly easy, healthy, and kid approved!  Both Ethan and Madison gobbled it right up.  Winner!





Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips
2/3 cup of tamari (or soy sauce)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake (more if you want is really spicy)
2 tablespoon of olive oil (or sesame oil)
1 medium green pepper, sliced into strips
1 medium red pepper, sliced into strips
1 medium head of broccoli (break into florets)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 yellow onion, sliced into strips
8 oz can of sliced water chestnuts


Directions:
Combine the tamari, brown sugar, cornstarch, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flake in a bowl to make the marinade.  Add the chicken strips into the mix and let sit for a minimum of 20 minutes.
 
Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large pan or wok and add in your green and red peppers, broccoli, carrots, onion, and water chestnuts.  Cook for about 5 minutes then remove from the pan and set aside. 

Heat another tablespoon of olive oil back in the pan and add the marinated chicken strips reserving the extra liquid.  Cook and stir the chicken until it is almost done with just a little pink on the inside. 
When the chicken is just about done, add the veggies back into the pan along with the reserved liquid marinade.  Cook for about 5-10 minutes. 

Serve over brown rice.  I used the Trader Joes jasmine brown rice.  It was awesome with it!


Enjoy!


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About Me

Happy (late) Monday!  Today, I was sitting thinking about my blog and it occurred to me that I’ll be coming up on my one year anniversary in just a few short months!  I can’t believe how fast that came!  For fun, I thought I’d share with you a quick post sharing 10 random facts about me.  Things I’ve never shared here before!  Sounds like fun right? 



Here we go…….

1)  My favorite food is chocolate, chocolate and chocolate!  I can never get enough!
2)  I love reality TV.  The Real Housewives never get old to me. 
3)  I can’t stand clutter but I hate cleaning.  Big messes freak me out!
4)  I love to read.  I read about 3 books a week. 
5)  My absolute favorite TV show on the planet is Big Bang Theory!
6)  I have a slight obsession with fuzzy socks.  I think I have about 40 pairs!
7)  Music of choice:  Anything from the 70’s – Funny thing, I’m a child of the 80’s!
8)  I am completely addicted to soda – I’ve fallen off the wagon more times that I can count!
9)  I just graduated college with my Bachelor’s in Psychology and I’ll be going for my Master’s this fall. 
10)  I am not a morning person.  People cannot talk to me unless I’ve had my coffee!

So that’s it!  Now, tell me about YOU!

Have a great night!

Friday’s Feature: Shaklee Kids Incredivites

Happy Friday!  I’m so glad Friday is finally here!  This has been a crazy week around here seeing the kids are just going back to school today from last weekend’s blizzard that hit us here in CT.  The amount of snow we got here was just too much to handle.  The funny thing?  They are on vacation next week!  Crazy huh?

Anyway, I’m going to try something new here every week on Fridays.  Every Friday, I’ll be featuring a product that my family uses that has been a help, a cost saver, or really life changing.  I can’t think of a better way to spread the news about the things I love more than right here on the blog! 



Today, I thought I’d talk about the vitamins that Ethan takes.  He currently is taking the Shaklee Incredivites.  I can’t say enough good things about these vitamins.  The thing I love about the Incredivites is that they are all natural; they have no gluten, artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives.  I actually just for giggles looked at Ethan’s old bottle of Flintstones vitamins and I couldn’t believe the difference.  The Flintstones bottle contained the artificial sweetener aspartame!  If you don’t know what that is, I encourage you to check into it.  Pretty crazy stuff!  Some other ingredients included Blue #2, Red #40 and calcium carbonate.  Yuck!  I always thought all vitamins were made the same.  They certainly are NOT!  The best part?  With all the flu and cold nastiness that has been flying around lately, Ethan has had perfect attendance in school.  If nothing else, this makes this Mommy happy!

Here’s a little short video about the Incredivites. 
http://content.shaklee.com/shaklee/flash/show.php?video=Kids

The Incredivites can be purchased by clicking HERE.


I hope you had a great week and I’ll talk to you Monday!


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Crockpot Baked Potato Soup

Today I thought I would share with you the recipe I made over the weekend when we were being buried in about 30 inches of snow!  It was the perfect dinner to come inside to after shoveling for hours and hours on end! 

I like this recipe because it calls for cream cheese instead of the heavy cream that is found in most baked potato soup recipes.  A low fat or fat free cream cheese works just fine which I like since I’m watching what I’m eating.  This makes a huge pot of soup too so there will be plenty of leftovers!

Ingredients:

(1) 5 lb. bag of russet potatoes (washed & not peeled), diced into about 1 inch pieces. 

2 large onions, diced

6 tsp. minced garlic

8 cups chicken broth

16 oz. low fat cream cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

Optional:  Bacon, cheese, and scallions for garnish

 

Directions:

Add the chicken broth, potatoes, and onions to the crockpot.  Cook on High for about 6 hours.  Add the cream cheese and blend with an immersion blender until the cream cheese is melted and about half the soup is blended.  Top with your choice of garnishes! 

Enjoy!

 

While you’re here, also check out:

Honey Wheat Bread

My Top 5 Favorite Shaklee Products

 

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Snow Days…..

Good Monday morning!  How was your weekend?  We spent our weekend shoveling 30+ inches of snow that came to CT.  It’s been very interesting!  I can honestly say that every time I heard the name “Nemo” that I would think of the cute little clown fish in one of my son’s favorite movies but now, I’ll think of the body aches and frozen fingers we have from shoveling snow!  Haha!  I’ll be happy when things get back to normal around here.  Schools are still closed again today and I’m pretty sure they probably won’t be in school tomorrow either.   My city is running out of places to put all this snow!  The street I live on is down to one lane and I’ll be meeting my mail truck outside probably until July because I still have yet to find my mailbox!  Let’s just say I’ll be happy when spring comes….


Today, I thought I’d share with you some pictures from our snowy weekend.




This picture was outside my door the next morning.  Most of the snow fell in the overnight hours so when daylight came it was like we stepped out onto a set of a really bad movie!  Haha!  I literally had to push the snow with my front door to just get out. 





My car was completely gone.  I drive a little Mitsubishi Eclipse.  Next to the Eclipse is my husband’s Jeep which was also buried but we could still see a little bit of the hood of his car due to the snow drifts.  Crazy!





Ethan absolutely LOVED the snow!  In his short 6 years of life so far this is the most snow he’s seen.  We’ve had some pretty mild winters in the last few years so he thought this was amazing!  My husband and I were not too impressed though….   Ethan is still standing on the front steps.  The snow was up to his chest!





Eventually after a ton of digging…..We found my poor car!





Here’s Ethan standing in the path we dug out to get to the driveway.  It’s literally up to his shoulders!  He loved pretending that he was swimming in the snow. 





As the snow began to pile up, Ethan loved to climb the snow mountains.  He couldn’t believe how tall they were….He was very excited that he was able to touch the top of the lamp post in our front yard! 





So needless to say, it was a very interesting weekend!  Did you have any snow where you live?


Stay tuned tomorrow for the yummy soup recipe I made during the storm!


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Home DIY Project List – 2013

Now that tax season is upon us, my husband Mark and I have been discussing things around the house that needs taking care of or upgrading. We are always talking about / daydreaming about what needs to be done but this year we are going to take some action. We have been in our current house for almost 9 years and there are things that have needed to be done from that long ago. There was always something that held us back. Not this year!





Here’s our list!

• Paint the kitchen, living room, and upstairs hallway (Has never been painted since we’ve lived here! Yikes!)
• Replace living room picture window
• Cut down the tree in our front yard (The poor tree is starting to become a bit of a hazard!)
• Cap the upstairs fireplace
• Install a pellet stove
• Install a dishwasher
• Get a new fridge
• Make more use of our finished basement
• Create an area for our kids to play
• Make an office / craft space for myself
• Paint the garage floor
• Power wash the outside of the house
• Refinish and paint our deck

I’m sure I forgot something but this is a pretty good idea of what we’d like to do this year. It might not all happen but it’s our goal!

Do you have any special projects you’ll be working on this year?

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The Importance of Dating your Husband and a List of Fun Date Night Ideas!

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner I thought I’d discuss the importance of dating your husband. Ok so, I know what you’re thinking…..Date my husband?? Been there, done that. While the concept seems strange, it’s something I’m committed to doing this year.



Before having kids my husband and I had a completely different lifestyle. We went out to dinner a few times a week, went to the casino, saw shows, movies, took a few vacations a year, you name it. We were always out and about enjoying each other’s company.

After the kids came it was a big change to our busy lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong…..I love my kids! We love our kids! Which brings me to my next point. I truly believe a happy household is built around a happy marriage. If you are just accepting that marriage with kids means changing diapers, struggling with money, staying home, and hoping for an extra 30 minutes of sleep on the weekend, then you are probably setting yourself up for failure. To me, having a happy marriage means love, communication, and having a relationship outside of your children. It’s very easy to get caught up in the daily hustle that you just update your husband on the important things going on and look forward to setting your head on the pillow every night.

The truth is, if you don’t take the time now to date your spouse, you never will! We need to prioritize our relationship with our husbands just like we prioritize our work, children, and any other commitment we have throughout the day.

Ok, ok so what am I getting at? Having a regular date night is a must! You don’t need tons of money or sometimes even a babysitter! Just start by making date night a ritual. Schedule it just like you would any other commitment that you have throughout your week and stick to it! Many marriage experts agree that one way to keeping your marriage strong and a priority is by spending time together. I totally agree with this!


Here’s a list of some fun date night ideas!




Outside the home:


- Go to the movies. If you can swing it, go for dinner too!
- Go shopping
- Visit a winery
- Attend a cooking class
- Go to a “paint your own pottery” store
- Dinner cruise (My husband has been begging me to do this! Maybe I will!)
- Attend a comedy show
- Bowling
- Go to a coffee shop
- Go for a walk. Find a few local trails if the weather is good.


Inside the home:


- Rent a movie and make your own homemade popcorn (NOT the microwave one! Have fun with this!)
- Play cards or a board game
- Watch an entire season of your favorite TV show
- Have a fondue night
- Make a meal from scratch together. Something you’ve never tried before
- Order in and watch DVDs. Chinese food is my personal favorite!
- Spend an afternoon watching old movies
- Have a theme night. For example, French night…Make a unique French dish, wine, cheese, and watch a foreign film
- Re-watch the first movie you ever watched together
- Splurge on wine, cheese, fruit and crackers



**Do you have date nights with your spouse? If not, will you commit to doing it? I’d love to hear if you implement this in your marriage!

Have a great day!

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CLICK HERE

~Nikki

Hello and Happy Monday!

Ahhh Monday already! Did you have a good weekend? We celebrated my daughter Madison’s first birthday on Saturday and then Sunday we just hung around the house and watched the Superbowl.

Today, I thought I’d share with you some pictures from her birthday party. When I first started researching her party, I decided to do a rainbow theme. Madison is a very happy little girl. Always smiling and laughing. If she cries, something is seriously wrong. I consider myself very blessed seeing with my son, we spent months and months walking up and down the hallway in our house trying to comfort him from his awful colic he had. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air seeing such a happy baby. So the rainbow theme was perfect for her because she has such a bright and cheerful personality.

I’m a bit of a simple person when it comes to birthday parties. When I was growing up, birthday parties consisted of a family gathering with pizza and cake and a few presents. I still carry on that tradition today. I definitely do not have the extravagant parties that I sometimes see on Pinterest and such with the magicians, clowns, and a petting zoo for a first birthday. I personally think that’s a bit too much but again, that’s just my opinion. So for Madison’s party, we had a rainbow cake made, had a bunch of colorful balloons, fried chicken and all the fixings, and a bunch of laughs. It was a really good time.

Here’s some pictures from her party!…..










What kind of parties do you have for your kids?

Hope you have a great day!

~Nikki

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Honey Wheat Bread

Something that you may not know about me is my mild obsession with my bread maker. It’s one of my most beloved kitchen appliances next to my blender! One of my most favorite smells coming from my kitchen is fresh baked bread. Today, I thought I’d share with you a recipe for a honey wheat bread that is so easy and to die for! My family gobbled it up in no time!

Ingredients:

2 cups Wheat Flour

2 ¼ cups white bread flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups of lukewarm water

¼ cup honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 packet yeast

Directions:

Place ingredients into your bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer. In my case, its wet ingredients, then dry ingredients, then the packet of yeast on top. (Everyone’s machine is different though)

Set the machine to the wheat bread setting if it has one otherwise just use the regular setting with a light crust.

When the bread is ready, I take it out and rub a little bit of butter over the top but that’s just a personal preference.

Enjoy!

~Nikki

If you enjoy baking be sure to check out my Apple Crisp recipe

For even more recipes and tips that aren’t posted on the blog please be sure to subscribe to my newsletter!

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Last but not least, have you joined our weight loss challenge?  If you need more information, check this out!  Registration starts tomorrow and ends 2/6/13!

The Weekend is Over Already?!?

Happy Monday (night!) Sorry for the delay in posting. My internet decided it didn’t want to work today.  After 4 repairmen coming to my house, it’s finally up and running again.  I really don’t know how I survived! I can’t even begin to imagine how I lived without it at one point in my life. I felt very out of place today. Sad but true!

Anyway, how was your weekend? This weekend was pretty quiet. My youngest daughter Maddy turned one on Sunday. I can’t believe it’s already been ONE year since she was born. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was being wheeled into the OR for my c-section. I’m super busy planning her rainbow themed party for this weekend.  Bright and bubbly just like her personality. Stay tuned for some pictures!



The only other thing I did this weekend was explore the fabric store for some new fabric for the spring dresses my Mom and I are making for our Etsy shop. I absolutely love the fabric store. Ever since my Mom got me my sewing machine for my birthday I can’t help but want to make something! It’s so relaxing to me! Do you have any hobbies you enjoy?



Well, that’s it from here! I hope you had a great Monday! Talk to you all soon!


~Nikki

Mommy & the Monsters Weight Loss Challenge 2013…..Join Me!

Ok my friends! I’m jumping on the weight loss band wagon for good this time. My daughter turns one on Sunday and the fat has GOT TO GO!

So imagine this….You lose your fat FOREVER!!

My weight loss accountability group will tell you exactly what to eat and show you how to exercise (in 3 minutes a day) for 90 days AND we’ll show you how to maintain it for another 90 days!

The best part, I am doing it right along with you! I need to lose about 85 pounds to be at a “healthy weight”.

You will receive your favorite flavored, yummy health smoothies and snacks. The ones that actually fill you up but don’t weigh you down! They are designed to help burn the fat while maintaining your muscle. (You need the muscle to keep your metabolism up – that’s a great thing!)

I know what you may be thinking. Will I be hungry? No! You will not go hungry! We provide a simple meal by meal program online. You will not even need to think about it. You’ll just start losing the inches.

You set the goals, we set the plan! It’s that easy. Each plan is designed for you. We have plans for you to turnaround your body and shape, stay lean and mean AND a maintenance plan so you never gain it back….EVER!!

You will also get an accountability online program to keep track of your progress. You can post updates directly onto Facebook in our private group page. This exclusive online Facebook forum is the place to join other like-minded and attentive women and men as we all embark on this journey together. You will have access to a personal trainer and an LPN so you can ask fitness questions and get the right answers! You will also receive daily motivation and support so you will stay focused and not fall off.

The best part? You will finally be able to wear your skinny jeans again! This is the only program that guarantees that you will burn ONLY FAT! You will know your efforts will not only show it on the scale but you will literally see the inches falling off. You will exercise 3 minutes a day! (No, not a typo!)

I promise you will feel strong, motivated, and

determined! You will feel the best you have in a

really long time. You will be happy!

This program works and is doctor recommended. Here’s what some other 180 users are saying…..

“I lost a total of 50 pounds, 22 pounds in my first 90 days!” – Lori

“First 90 days, I lost 38 pounds. Our new baby gained a fit new daddy!” – Zack

“I think the hardest part about this is when I look in the mirror and I don’t see me as a big person, I see me! Then the pictures roll out and I think my God how did that happen! Where did she come from! My 6yr old watched Bonnie’s “surprise video” with me she said “Mom go do your measurements you can do this!” So this is for my baby!” – Jennifer

More info coming towards the end of this week, but….

                    Mark your calendar now:

Be the first to know more, get on the list today!

JOIN HERE!

 

Top 12 posts of 2012

Good Morning! Today, I thought I’d share with you my top 12 posts of 2012 in case you’ve missed any! The attention and support my blog had over my first year of blogging was completely mind blowing, and for that I thank YOU! I have lots more in store for 2013 so stay tuned!

Without further ado, here is the TOP 12!


                                (Budget Living – Eating Organic)  
                                     
This post was by far the most popular post of 2012.  Over 500,000 of you viewed the Budget Living – Eating Organic post!  Completely mind blowing! 


Quite a few of my recipes have made it into your home over the last year and a few of them have had pretty big hits on Pinterest.  If you’ve missed them, here are the most popular!



                             (Fall Apple Crisp – Gluten Free)



                 (Crockpot Overnight Oatmeal)



                 (Black Bean and Corn Salsa with Feta)



               (Raspberry Lime Water)

My first sewing tutorial was also a big hit.  I got a bunch of emails from you saying they made perfect holiday gifts!  I was so happy to hear that!  I have a few more sewing tutorials planned for 2013.


                  (Quick and Easy Fleece Fringe Scarf Tutorial)

A lot of you also liked to hear about all the kid friendly activities I did with my “monsters”……


                         (Top 10 Educational Apps for Kids)


(Fun Green Earth Friendly Kid Activities)


       (Five Simple and Easy Ways to Spend More QT with your Kids)


          (Summertime Fun for the Kiddos)


                (Homemade Baby Food Series)

Finally, you enjoyed reading about the changes I’ve been making to my health.  This year, you’ll be hearing a lot more about the subject since I am committed to getting back to my pre-baby weight!  Ahhhh! 


(Quick and Easy Changes for Leading a Healthy Life)


So that’s it!  Thank you all for a great 2012 and I look forward to a wonderful 2013!

~Nikki

Happy Monday!

Is it just me or do weekends fly by! These past few weeks have been so busy I haven’t even been able to blog. Thankfully, things have calmed down and I’m back to my old schedule! I don’t know about you, but I’m so happy things are starting to get back to normal. Between the holidays and all the events in between, I was starting to miss the time I have at home to get things done! My poor house is a disaster and things on my to-do list aren’t being crossed off but I’m getting back at it!
This past weekend we went to see Disney on Ice. It was a Christmas present my Mom and Dad gave to Ethan for Christmas. It was such a nice time! Mark and I were finally able to spend some much needed alone time with Ethan and we all had a great time. Here are a few pictures of our night out.

We also are getting ready to celebrate a birthday in the house! Maddy is turning one! I have absolutely no clue where the last year went! Time really does fly by! We are planning a rainbow themed party for her. She is such a happy and colorful child we thought it would be very appropriate! Stay tuned over the next few weeks for how the plans roll out!

Have a great rest of the day everyone! Talk to you all tomorrow!

Nikki