Turkey Tertazzini

Wondering what to do with those turkey leftovers? Whip up this quick dish! I hadn't even heard of this until a week ago when someone brought it in for an office potluck. I decided to give it my own spin.

You'll need:

1 cup shredded turkey

1 package noodles - I used wheat spaghetti (13.25 oz)

1 cup sautéed peppers and onions

2 cans cream of celery soup

1 can full of milk

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1. Mix turkey, cooked noodles, peppers and onions, soup and milk together

2. Add to casserole dish and top with bread crumbs and cheese

3. Bake at 350* for 30 min

Enjoy!

In other happenings, we've decorated for Christmas and the Elf on the Shelf, Cordelia McTinsel arrived.

Happy Thanksgiving -- Turkey Cake

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have so much to be thankful for this year and could not express my gratitude for all blessings enough! 

Today I wanted to share a cute idea to make for your dinners. After the cake is cooled total time for this was about a half an hour. 

From this:

To this:

See how it's done at parade.com/turkeycake

Gobble, gobble!

Here's our little turkey!

What Are We Enjoying Wednesday -- Chicken Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joe's

Boy is that title a mouthful -- pun intended, okay that was cheesy -- alright, alright, enough with the puns.

What are we enjoying Wednesday is where I share a meal we're loving, one we could eat every night. 

Here it is in all it's glory!

This is a simple meal to prepare after getting home from work, especially if you prep cook on the weekends, like I *try* to do, and have your peppers and onions diced.

You'll need:

1 lb. ground chicken

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 small onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 cup cheese, shredded (we prefer pepper jack)

buns

1. In a skillet cook peppers and onions in broth on medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes.

2. Add ground chicken and cook until no longer pink.

3. Turn the heat to low, mix in cheese and stir until melted through.

4. Serve on buns.

Enjoy! 

What's your favorite meal right now?

Road to Riley -- Diapers and Wipes Stock Up

I found out I was pregnant November 3, 2012. It is amazing that it’s already been over a year and now I have this beautiful four month old baby girl. In the beginning there are so many emotions you are overcome with. I was hoping I would have a healthy, full term pregnancy, I began to wonder what type of parent I would be and if I could raise someone to be a respectable human being. Most of all I began to worry about money. Babies are expensive. 

I’ve recently become an avid coupon/bargain shopper and thought I would make the best of this nine month pregnancy and buy as much as I could throughout so I wasn’t swamped with needed items when she arrived.

What’s the most needed item that I can get a jump on, was my first thought, and diapers and wipes were it.

I began to research the best cost of diaper and how many it would be predicted are needed. (FYI the what’s needed chart will vary between babies, Riley needed 6 packs of newborns, some may need more, some may need less and some may not wear newborn at all). Here was what I based my shopping on.

 How did we do?

I didn’t get away scotch free not having to run out and buy diapers. We had to run out and buy some newborns because even though Riley was a whopping 8 lbs. 14 oz. she stayed in those newborn diapers for longer than I expected. We’re currently in size two, I don’t imagine we’ll be there much longer, so then we’ll dive into that huge size 3 stash.  I did have one extra pack of size one, I held onto them and then was able to include them in a baby shower gift. 

This chart is by no means a solid concrete this is how many diapers you need, but it’s definitely a big help to get an idea if you want to jump start your buying. 

In addition, my math was simple for wipes, for every pack of diapers I bought a pack of wipes, for every box of diapers I bought a jumbo pack of wipes (3 to a pack kind). 

And this is how the stash looked, isn't it pretty?

Meatless Monday -- Butternut Squash Stew

Welcome to a new week, a short week here considering I only have to be at work three days *extreme happy dance* Another Monday has come that we've tried another meatless dish. I'd never had butternut squash before and one squash (which cost a whopping 75 cents) not only made a large crockpot full of dinner and tomorrow's lunch, it also made 8 baby food jars for Miss Riley. I'm trying to make as much homemade baby food for her as possible and why not kill two birds with one stone.

The baby food recipes will be for another day. Today it's about the stew.

For the recipe you'll need

1 medium onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 carrots, sliced

1 1/2 cups butternut squash, cubed

1 1/2 cups beef broth

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes

1 can green beans

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

I put everything in the crockpot on low for 10 hours. Nothing better on a cold November day in PA than coming home to some warm stew in the crockpot! 

I hope you enjoy! 

Here's our little ham enjoying Light Up Night this past weekend.

Scarf Organization

My nesting is taking over and everything must be organized, and re-organized...and possibly organized a third time.

I had previously been using the nursery as a guest room and the closet as a linen closet. All that has changed, which when they re-organization is finished I will share, but I was left with a hanging organizer that previously held my towels that was just too much of an organizers dream not to repurpose.

I found the hanging closet organizer at Wal-Mart, I think it was around $20.

 

Photo from walmart.com

Now two things about me, one I live in Western PA and two I love scarves, hence I wear them pretty much year round due to our temperamental weather. As far as the rest of our winter accessories it's safe to say you WON'T need them in June, July and August...I actually don't feel very safe saying that. Anyways, the idea of packing everything away and pulling it back out doesn't really make too much sense. So the above became our winter accessory/scarf organization.

There are six small compartments and three large compartments, which fit everything perfectly, and I even have a little room to grow my collection!

Starting in the top left and going clockwise I have: Winter Pittsburgh sport team hate (Garrett has just a couple), all other hats, ear warmers and small crocheted scarves and gloves.

Bottom right: crocheted scarves. Bottom left:  light weight "fashion" scarves. Top:  Pittsburgh sports team scarves and other miscellaneous winter scarves.

Bottom: fleece scarves. Top: Pashminas.

It's so nice having everything in one place and not certain scarves looped around a closet rod and others stashes away in a container somewhere. I think this may be the last organization of these...for now.

Cookies for One, or Two...or Three

Last week at work we had a potluck lunch and I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. These cupcakes are filled with an egg-less dough ball that is frozen so when they bake you get a cookie dough filling. The cookie batch makes about 3 dozen and my cupcake batter only made 2 dozen. What's a girl to do?

Throw them in the freezer for the next time one of those pregnancy cravings kicks in of course!

The beauty is you can eat these just like this, yummy cookie dough that's safe to eat because there aren't raw eggs in the mix! If you want an actual cookie though just pop however many you want into the oven, 350* for 12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Important Paperwork Organization and Storage

Even though we live in a digital world, I like keeping paper copies of things. Unfortunately, paperwork can get unruly and often gets neglected. I've set up a filing system for our most used paperwork to help control the situation before it gets out of control.

First, I bought these from Staples. They can withstand a lot more than a regular hanging file, and some components of my system contain some thicker documents.

Photo from Staples.com

My main categories right now are pay stubs, car information, Crosby and Keisel (our dogs), benefits, owner manuals, bills, taxes and Riley. I have this in an easily accessible area so I don't have to go too far out of my way to file something as soon as it's received.

I've had the crate for a long time and can't recall where I purchased it. I see them in Wal Mart, Target and Staples though.

Behind my heavy duty files I have regular hanging files, which are where I store my coupons. I was previously using the binder and baseball card system to organize my coupons, but I found myself getting discouraged from coupons because I was spending so much time clipping, filing and purging on many coupons that were never used. Since I most frequently find my deals by using blogs such as Sisters Shopping on a Shoestring and The Krazy Coupon Lady who tell you which insert you can find the coupon in I decided to change my organization. I now put a small post it with the date of the inserts on the folder and put the entire insert in the file. When it comes time to make my list I pull out my bin and grab the inserts the bloggers tell me to use. It is so much easier, and I find myself being more motivated to coupon again. If I'm making a big trip to Target I'll quickly browse through my inserts and see if I have any coupons for any of the items on my list. Even though this takes some time, it's a lot quicker and more efficient than the time I was wasting on coupons I never used.

Organization for me is very much a personal preference. What works well for others may not fit with my needs. Through trial and error I've killed two birds with one stone (paperwork and coupons). This system has been working for me for a little over a month now so I decided to share it. Hopefully it helps someone else out there. Let me know your preferred method to filing important paperwork and managing coupons, I love organization ideas!

Big News!

We're having a baby! July 9, 2013 our first bundle of joy is tentatively scheduled to join our family!

This past weekend we went home for a little gender reveal party to share if baby Riley is a he or she!

I made cake pops that were either pink or blue on the inside so everyone could find out at the same time and put them on my new cake pop tree that I salvaged from a toy store who was going to pitch it.

Each pop had a tag on it...

And baby Riley is.........

 

A GIRL!!!

We're so happy and excited, and so is big cousin Liam!

We can't wait to meet you little miss Riley Jean!

Small Bathroom Organization and Storage

Our bathroom is small, and it has very limited storage. My husband and I may use one too many products, but that's something we probably won't change. I was thinking of ways to use space I wouldn't normally think of, I previously wrote about Re-Purposing Bath and Body Works Candles, which freed up some space on our shelf above the toilet, but that wasn't enough.

So low and behold while wasting time in Wal-Mart one day I saw a shoe organizer in a whole new way.

It's simple, inexpensive and holds a lot of our products!

Do you have any tips for small bathroom storage?