I Want to Win! (and Last Week's Menu)

I am a product junkie.

I am also a shoe junkie, clothes junkie, jewelry junkie.  Heck, if it has something to do with something I can put on myself, I am that kind of junkie.

Anyway, there is a giveaway over on Blue-Eyed Bride for this new eye shadow by BareMinerals.  I have used BareMinerals in the past and would love to win this new product of theirs to try out, too.  And you should join, too!  (Or not, then my chances of winning would be better!)

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This eye shadow is called READY, and I think it looks great -- look at all of the color combos it comes in!

Oh, I hope I win!

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In other news...my menu:

As usual, I just cooked a couple of things, but here they are:

Chicken Tortilla Soup: This is a great soup and great for fall.  It is also not too shabby as far as calories and fat and such.  And the taco chicken recipe that goes in the soup?  YUM!  I put more tomatoes and a little less chicken broth.  I would rather a more tomato-y and less broth-y soup.  I guess it is the tomato farmer in me.  It is not thick at all -- I just add one more can or so of tomatoes, so it is still a really broth based soup (I am not making any sense here...), but just more tomato-y.  Get it?  

This makes a lot, so invite over lots of friends, or plan on eating lots of leftovers!

Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili: I have to admit that I was hesitant to make this.  I mean, it has "pumpkin" in the title, and Brad does not like pumpkin.  But Margaret assured me that you couldn't taste the pumpkin, so I made it.  And she was right -- it was delicious, Brad loved it, and he never noticed the pumpkin (until I told him after he finished the chili and then he got mad at me and told me he was going to secretly feed me liver!).  I did use ground beef instead of turkey, though, because ground turkey is against my religion...or something like that.  Or, really, I just don't like it.  

I will definitely make this chili again -- although next time Brad probably won't eat it since I let him in on the whole pumpkin secret...

Anyway, have a great week!  And go check out the giveaway!

Back from Atlanta and Menu

We are back from a great trip to Atlanta.  I have been trying for 3 days to put my pictures on the blog, but every time it gets stuck in the uploading phase.  I think Blogger is not liking the fact that I am uploading so many pictures at once, and I need to wait until I have time to do them in batches.

Anywho, we had a fun trip, but I will fill you in on most of that on the picture post.  I did get half a second to duck into Sephora while I was there to pick up some makeup I was running low on, and I complained to the nice gentleman who was helping me about the puffiness and dark circles under my eyes that just won't seem to go away these days.  He told me all about the products that he uses for such problems, and I scooped up some of them and came home with samples of others.

I have been using the Ole Henriksen eye gel for several days now, and it feels so good going on my eyes in the morning and evenings -- especially because I followed Kip's (Ken's?) advice and put it in the fridge.  I just got a sample of the Dior HydraLife, but I think I may break down and buy it as well.  It is an eye cream rather than a gel, and it feels good in addition to the Ole Henriksen -- I think as far as puffy, tired eyes are concerned, you can't get too much of a good thing.

Finally, this Hourglass concealer is great -- nice and thick and covers well.

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As far as my menu for last week, I didn't cook too much -- we seem to always have leftovers, and I am determined that we are going to eat. them. all. -- but here is what I did cook:

Panko Chicken

Healthy Crock Pot Spaghetti: I have made this recipe twice, and it is sooooo good.  It is a lot like Million Dollar Spaghetti that Mary Loyal talks about in her menu last week (which is one of my all-time faves), but it is sort of like the healthy, lazy (wo)man's version.  Everyone in the family loves this meal!

*images via Sephora

Menu Monday

(I started this post yesterday and never got around to finishing it...here it is...)

I am so tired this evening.  I haven't slept well in three nights, and it has been one of those rainy, yucky days.  I am ready to get in the bed...


But, I haven't done Menu Monday in a while, so I wanted to do it tonight.  Last week, my mother-in-law was out of town for a couple of nights, so Brad and I fed my father-in-law for most of the week.  I definitely got away from the normal semi-healthy cooking that we do around here -- my FIL is more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy.


Here is our menu:


Monday: leftovers -- I really can't even remember what leftovers.  That is a bad sign.


Tuesday: Marinated pork tenderloin, macaroni and cheese, roasted broccoli.


Wednesday: Crock Pot BBQ and Simple Slaw


Thursday: hamburgers from our local meat market


Friday: we went out to dinner


Saturday: Brad's cousins were in town, and his parents made this delicious (but not diet friendly!) meal of fried shrimp and fish, french fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw.  Mmmmm!!!


Sunday: leftovers


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I know I also said that I was going to give you my tips for the Southern Living cake.  Some of these were passed on to me from my friend, Sharon, and some I read in the reviews on Southern Living's link to the recipe:


1. I halved the sugars -- both the white and brown.


2. Instead of using applesauce, I used plain Greek yogurt.


3. Instead of using canola oil, I used applesauce.


4. Some reviews said that the cake needed a little more apple flavor, so Sharon said that she added extra apple and a bit of apple cider.  She also said that that might have been a bit too much, so instead of adding extra apples, I just added a splash of apple cider (we got the cider when we got the apples in North Carolina, so I had some on hand).  I thought the cake had just enough apple flavor.


5. This isn't really a tip, but if you are a picker like me, you may want to make extra icing -- that stuff is delicious, and I found myself wanting to stick my finger in it over and over again!  (Don't worry -- I used a clean finger!)


I know it sounds weird that I substituted the yogurt for the applesauce and then the applesauce for the canola oil, but it worked -- my cake was really moist (I hate that word) and really delicious.  I served it at the luncheon before Brad's grandmother's funeral, and it disappeared quickly!

The Boy Goes to Clemson & Menu Monday

Last weekend Brad and I took Gibson to Clemson for the Auburn game.  Gib doesn't get much boy time, so we decided that the football game would be the perfect opportunity.


And it was!

It ended up being a really fun game because we got some nice, cool fall temperatures in the morning -- and WE WON!!  Go Tigers!

**To those who I didn't get to see while tailgating -- noon games don't allow for much visiting!  By the time we got parked, we had to head down to watch Tiger Walk.  Gibson didn't get to "slap five" with the Tiger, so we then had to head back up to the breezeway to make sure that he got to do that when the band and cheerleaders went by.  Brad had decided that we were coming home after the game, so, sadly, we didn't stick around to long.  Hopefully our next trip back to Clemson will be a longer one.

Menu Monday:

I cooked a couple of things last week...

Chicken Parmesan (my version)

Bowtie Pasta Lasagna: I then put this in a baking dish and sprinkle parmesan cheese and seasoned panko crumbs on top and bake at 350 until bubbly.

Roasted Lemon Chicken with Croutons, Roasted Broccoli, Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Nothing was new except for the cupcakes, and those were really good.  They were a recipe from skinnytaste.com, so they aren't that bad calories- or fat-wise, and they are delicious.  I left a couple of the cupcakes un-iced and have eaten them for breakfast, and they are really good like that, too.  Hmmm...and my house smelled like fall while I was baking!

Menu Monday: We Love Coleslaw!

Our entire menu last week was based around coleslaw.  It didn't really start out that way, but it sure ended up that way...


Monday: Labor Day.  We were on our way home from a long weekend at the beach and had a little something before we left, so I didn't cook.


Tuesday: Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork and Simple Slaw.  I was a little hesitant to make this recipe because it calls for cooking a Boston Butt in root beer.  For one thing, I don't like root beer.  On top of that, I used to make a roast in the crock pot with a Coke, and Brad thought it was too sweet.  However, the picture looked good, so I made it.  And I am so glad I did because it was delicious, and I wasn't the only one who thought so -- Brad told me that I needed to "keep this recipe" and the kids loved it, too.  The simple slaw became the basis for the rest of our week's meals, too.

Wednesday: Shrimp Tacos.  Tyler always requests tacos, but I have gotten tired of the whole usual taco thing.  I decided we were going to try something different this time, so we boiled some shrimp (which took forever to peel) and added those to taco shells along with fresh tomatoes, simple slaw (for the adults -- the kids weren't quite so adventurous), avocado, tomatoes, and shredded cheese.  These were some of the best tacos I have had, and except for the peeling of the shrimp, they were very simple.


Thursday: Leftover night

Friday: We went out of town with Margaret, Ben, and all of our kids (6 in all) to Margaret's parents' beach house for the weekend, so we cooked a very beachy dinner of boiled shrimp and simple slaw -- are you seeing a theme here?


Saturday: Parents' night out


Sunday: Roasted broccoli and my version of Easy Mac (noodles with shredded Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar and a splash of milk and butter -- Sanders' request and delicious, but not the straight-up broccoli I was planning to eat!)


All in all, a pretty good eatin' week!  Have a good one!

Menu Monday: I Cooked!!!

Now that we are back to school, I guessed it was time to get back to reality for me and the whole cooking thing. I have no motivation to cook lately, but I need to feed all those people that live in my house, so it was now or never...

So, I cooked last week. And I ate like a baby dinosaur. So this week, I am going to try to go back to cooking a little more on the light side.

Last week's menu:

Monday: Chicken from Susan's blog with the special sauce and peas.

Tuesday: Aunt Caroline's Poppy Seed Chicken (recipe below)

Wednesday: Pioneer Woman's Corn Chowder with Chilies

Thursday: At 6, I got on the couch with the intent of closing my eyes for a few minutes. I woke up after 9. Thankfully, Brad had fed the kids leftovers, gotten them bathed and in bed, and even had my plate covered and waiting for me on the table. What a sweet guy that Brad can be...!

Friday: My kids had Grayson's birthday party, so Brad and I snuck out for a dinner date while we had some free babysitting!

Saturday: In-laws cooked

Sunday: leftovers

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Aunt Caroline's Poppy Seed Chicken

4 whole chicken breasts, cooked & cut into large pieces

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

4 oz almonds

1 can sliced water chestnuts

1 T chopped pimentos

1T lemon juice

2T grated Parmesan cheese

2T poppy seeds

1 stack Ritz crackers, crushed

melted butter (for crackers)

Melt butter and put with Ritz crackers. Set aside.

Place chicken in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Mix soups, sour cream, almonds, water chestnuts, pimentos, and lemon juice gently. Pour over top of chicken. Finally, place Ritz cracker crumbs and poppy seeds on top. Bake at 400 until very hot -- about 30 minutes.