big hungry caterpillars.

It has been amazing outside the past few days!! This is the exact type of weather I was hoping for before we get into the really cold months. 
Yesterday, we took advantage of the nice weather..playing outside a bit and finally releasing Nolan's butterflies.  Such a cool little project... we will definitely do it every year now that i know how easy and neat it is.  The whole thing started one day when Nolan was playing at my parents house.  He found this big, green caterpillar and my dad poked holes in the lid of a coffee container and put the Caterpillar in along with some grass... Nolan brought it home and of course did not want to let his new friend go outside.. so that night i went online and did some Caterpillar research.  Apparently, caterpillars don't really need anything to survive.. just a container with holes to breath.  So we turned it into our little project and would go for "caterpillar hunts" everyday to find as many as we could.  We found 6 total - 3 different types.  All but one are in cocoons now. We opened the lid a few days ago to discover two had turned into butterflies.. so yesterday was the day we had been waiting for.. to finally let them go "home".  Next year we will definitely use a bug cage of some sort so we can actually see whats going on.. although we did sit and watch one make a cocoon one day... So cool!

I finally got my etsy shop back up and running :)  Only 3 listings on there so far.. but hoping to add more soon! I did finish another hat but it's already in the mail on its way to someone special :)

And last but not least.. since I have been slacking on the recipes lately.  Here's a super easy one that we use a lot.
Chicken Enchiladas
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or mexican cheese
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons diced green chilli's, drained
tortillas
- mix chicken, 3/4 cups of cheese, ranch dressing, sour cream & green chilli's all together in a bowl. divide mixture into tortillas, wrap, place in baking dish and top with remaining cheese.  Bake at 350 for 20 min,
These can be made healthier by using all organic ingredients and using light dressing, sour cream and whole wheat tortillas.  A friends mom use to always make these when i ate over and they were always sooo good.   I got the recipe from her when I started dating Aaron because I knew it was something he would actually eat... He was SOOOOO picky when we first met- thank god hes gotten better!!

wordless wednesday.

warm heads. warm bellies.

Another hat is finished!!
I really love how this one turned out and cant wait to get to the craft store to stock up on ribbon to make a ton more!

I'm hoping to get my etsy shop back up and running VERY soon :)

Also got around to making up halupki this morning.. it is cooking in the crock pot as we speak! I cant wait for dinner tonight :)

This was one of my favorite meals my mom made growing up. Its such a good meal on a cool day.  I changed it up a little only by replacing the ground beef with ground turkey.  My mom is just like I am..she just eyeballs everything when cooking.. so here is the best recipe i can give.
1 lb ground turkey
1 head of cabbage
1 can/bottle of vegetable juice ( "V8" I found natures promise organic vegetable juice at giant)
1 onion, chopped
1 pepper, chopped
1 can of sour kraut, rinsed and drained
salt & pepper
1/2 cup rice uncooked( my mom uses minute rice and mixes it in uncooked- i only had regular rice so i cooked it a little before mixing it in)

In a bowl mix together ground turkey, onion, pepper, salt & pepper, and rice. Peel off the leaves from your head of cabbage..trying not to tear them then chop up the rest of the cabbage that is left after you peel however many leaves you want.  Add can of sour kraut along with the chopped remainder of your cabbage to the pot.  Fill each cabbage leave with a good sized portion( but small enough to leave room to wrap it up)  of the turkey mixture.  Wrap it up and place in your pot.  Repeat this step with the rest of your turkey mixture and cabbage leaves.  Pour the vegetable juice over top and cover.
Since mine is still cooking.. and this is the first time I've made it... I'm not sure how long its going to take exactly.. Soooo Ill follow up on my next post :)

rain, rain, go away

Another rainy day..
I spent the day cleaning a little, knitting, playing with the boys and making a scrumptious dinner.
I finished Liams candy corn hat... a day late... but it was a busy weekend.. and i made up for it by starting.. and almost finishing another hat tonight :)

He was conveniently wearing his halloween pjs today too :)

For dinner, I had planned to make chicken & dumpling soup... but decided i wasn't in the mood for it last minute and decided to make eggplant & chicken parm instead.  It was a good last minute decision.
I ate eggplant, made the chicken for Aaron.. and gave the boys both to try. 

I breaded both in a mixture of breadcrumbs, flour, freshly grated parm, italian seasoning, salt & pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and an egg. First dipping it in the mixture, then in the beaten egg, back in the breadcrumb mixture again.. then fried in a little olive oil on the stove.  Both turned out great :) 

food. shop. more food

Aaron was away on a backpacking trip this weekend..so when doing my weekly grocery planning/shopping...I planned two dinners for the weekend that I knew Aaron wasn't really a fan of but the boys and I enjoyed. ( 1. Tuna noodle casserole 2. Halupki...)
Tuna noodle casserole, I agree just does not sound good...at all.... but i grew up eating it and always liked it.  The boys have had it once or twice at my parents house and really liked it... So i thought it would be something easy for me to pop in the oven. Halupki is something else i grew up eating... and LOVE it.  I think that Aaron would actually like it but he just cant get past the cabbage.
so....Friday night... I had to give in and get chinese.  I LOOOOOVE chinese food.. and hardly ever get to eat it.  It did not disappoint :)
Saturday was spent all day shopping the annual ( is it annual?) sidewalk sales... Which was a blast and the boys behaved so well.. for having to shop around with a bunch of girls all day. Once we finally got home I was so happy that I had planned an easy meal.  The tuna noodle casserole (organic style) was really yummy.. and even better fast and easy.. which was great because we were all pooped.

There was really no recipe with this.. i basically just mixed together cooked/drained whole wheat fusili pasta, cream of mushroom soup, shredded cheddar cheese, one can of tuna, cooked frozen peas, milk, sour cream, and a shake of salt and pepper. - All organic of course :)

Aaron busted butt and finished his hike early.. so he surprised us by coming home today... I decided to hold the halupki off until later this week considering he would probably be pretty hungry from the weekend and i should make something he liked so..I made up some turkey burgers and homemade oven fries for dinner instead.

yumm... love turkey burgers.
I usually make mine up about the same every time...I never measure anything so this is a guess-timate recipe.
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2  - 3/4 cup chopped fresh baby spinach
2 garlic cloves chopped
3/4 cup rolled oats
pinch of salt and pepper
a few splashes of wishishere sauce
-usually i like them grilled but its pouring outside today so the pan had to do ..
Wayyyy better than regular burgers :)