Easy Peasy Chicken in the Crockpot

Doesn't this look like the MOST delicious chicken dish EVER?? I mean, see how creamy and comforting this looks? Let me tell you....Oh wait, you can't see it? Huh. I suppose that *might* be because I didn't take a picture? I know I know, why even post a recipe if you don't have a picture, right? Well sorry peeps, but this dish is seriously THAT good, you don't even need a picture...

It originated from an allrecipes.com recipe called "Jennie's Heavenly Slow Cooker Chicken"
This looked divine, except I don't have cream of mushroom soups on hand, and I didn't have a container of cream cheese with chives either. So, technically it's not Jennie's Heavenly chicken, I suppose. Maybe I could call it, "Cara's Kinda Sorta But Not Really Chicken in the Crockpot". Whew, that's long. How about "Amazing Slow Cooker Chicken", better?

Amazing Slow Cooker Chicken

1 whole chicken cut up (as in, the thighs, breasts, wings all separated)
4 Tbl butter
1/4 c. flour
milk
cut up mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 packet dry Italian seasoning
1 package cream cheese
chives
1/2 c dry white wine
spaghetti noodles

First make your white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, add mushrooms and the garlic, saute until mushrooms are soft, add flour and cook one minute, then add enough milk to get the right consistency (A little thinner than pudding consistency). Add the package of cream cheese, wine, chopped up chives and seasoning packet. Place chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker, and pour sauce over the top. Cook on low all day. I made spaghetti noodles and placed the chicken mixture over the top with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

When Someone Touches Your Heart

I had a fantastic weekend, full of fun on so many different levels. Friday night we had a friend's birthday bash complete with a party bus, loud music and a stripper pole. Yes, you heard right, a stripper pole. *sigh*. Despite that (and no I didn't actually dance around it), the extremely loud music and far too much dancing (did I mention that I had a hard time walking on Saturday?), it was a lot of fun. Thankfully I won't have to do that again any time soon...

Saturday we got our first snowfall of the season, the heavy wet kind. The girls had a blast making a snowman and trying to beam me in the head with a snowball. Did I mention it was heavy and wet? Thought I did... We also started celebrating the holidays, by watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I LOVE this movie. I think we watched it at least 12 times last year!

Today the girls and I went to church, I absolutely crave this time to sit alone in church and just "be". The girls go to Children's Church during our service, and as selfish as it sounds, I love it:) Sitting in front of me was a young man who has Down's Syndrome. His name is Timmy and I love watching his enthusiasm for Christ. He gets so excited while the worship team sings and it's precious to watch. So today I sat behind him and his mother. He would look back at me and smile big. During one of the songs, he turned around and grabbed my hand and held it through the rest of the song. I cannot even begin to tell you the simple, incredible joy that I felt during this moment. Tears came to me eyes, and I fought like mad to keep them at bay. At the end of the service, he turned and gave me a bear hug.

Watching him and his mother, I learned something. I saw the incredible love that this mother has for her son, and how even with his outbursts, she accepted him for who he is. I thought of my own girls and how certain things make me CRAZY, and how quickly I can get bent out of shape. The lesson I learned today was that we are all different people, from different walks of life. As much as I want my kids to do everything my way, and others to believe in the same things I do, it's just not possible.

I wish we could all see the world through Timmy's eyes. Can you imagine what our world would be like? Maybe the next time we feel ourselves ready to blow, we can think of Timmy and remember the joy and happiness we ALL have in our lives!

Cauliflower Potato Cheese Soup

This is a FABULOUS comforting fall soup. I made it last week, and literally ate it every day for lunch. The kids didn't believe there wasn't squash in it (they have discovered my sneaky ways of adding squash to things...), and actually liked it!

Cauliflower Potato Cheese Soup

2-4 Tbl oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 large can or carton chicken stock
1 pkg frozen or one small head chopped cauliflower
2 ounces peeled garlic (I used 2 cloves of garlic)
6 small potatoes, chopped I used leftover mashed potatoes from the night before)
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
salt and pepper

Heat oil and saute onion, celery, and carrots until softened.
Add chicken stock, cauliflower, garlic and cook until soft.
Liquefy in blender or food processor and return to pan.
Add potatoes
When potatoes are cooked, add milk, cheese and salt/pepper to taste.
Heat thoroughly but do NOT boil.

Halloween

We had a fabulous Halloween here, although very BUSY! Uh, who isn't, right?! Here are the girls decked out in their finest.....


Carving pumpkins....

And playing Halloween games...

I see a little bug hiding behind there....

Hugs,

Christmas Cards? Go Shutterfly!

So, did you happen to know that Christmas is exactly 58 days away????? I had to laugh because at a wedding in September, I had my cousin take a picture of us, and I had to make sure we were all coordinated and looking good because it was to be our Christmas card picture! Brad thought I was crazy. He should know better, silly boy. Of course I am.

Two years ago we used Shutterfly for the first time, and I LOVED how our card came out. Since then I have also made a thank you card for everyone that helped us out on our vaca to Mexico. Oh to be back in the warm sun, sand in your toes, pina coladas, gourmet meals, no whining children.....Crud, got away from myself again.....

Anyhoo, I really love Shutterfly, and right now they are doing a promo for bloggers, you can find the info here to find out how you too can get free cards!

I am thinking of using this design for our Christmas card this year. We were all decked out in blues, and I luuuuuurve me some blue and brown!

Here are some of my faves....

I LOVE this card, so adorable!!
Peppermint Pink

Or how about this one, toooooo cute!
Bright Blooming Tree

Wall calender love???
Calenders

I have always wanted to do a kids January winter party, how cute would this be?
Winter Invite

Orrrrr, a fun adult cocktail party?
Cocktail Invite

Of course Shutterfly isn't just for the Holidays, they have E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G in between!
Baby Invitations
Address Labels
Photo Books

And so much more!

What I've Been Up To.....

I apologize for my (almost) month long absence, life gets in the way ya know and before you know it, a month flies by! We are doing well, Alayna is doing much better now that we know what she needs. She seriously eats like every 20 minutes, but not much, usually an apple, pear, banana, or almonds or cheese. Her behavior has been a HUGE improvement!

So, this is what we've been up to......

Pontooning on the lake. Yes, in October! The weather has been incredibly warm, and it's been awesome seeing the fall colors around the lake.

Chasing coots on the lake. We literally spent 20 minutes going through flocks of them, there were so many on the lake! Don't worry, no animals were harmed in said chasing.

Cooking. Ahhh, my relaxation. Rachel and I made homemade noodles to go along with Fettuccine Alfredo from my all time fave blog Finding Joy In My Kitchen. They turned out delicious!

And seeing this....Alayna snuggled up with her favorite stuffed animal (beast) Fetch.

I also want to include a couple of prayer requests....

Amy from New Nostalgia is going through breast cancer. I so enjoy her posts (and of course her blog:) so throw out some prayers for her, will ya?!

And another one of my fave blogs is Annie from The House That Jade Built. They are dealing with the possibility of their unborn baby being born with Down's Syndrome and many health issues.

These two ladies have really struck a chord with me, and I consider myself one of their prayers warriors! Will you join me?

Alayna Update

Thank you for your kind words, thoughts and prayers! We saw a Pediatric Endocrinologist at Park Nicollet Clinic in St.Louis Park yesterday and got some encouraging news! He believes she has something called Ketotic Hypoglycemia. Basically, because she is so small (in the 5th percentile for weight and 33rd for height), her body has no fat stores to take energy from. So for her, when she eats (which is not alot to begin with) her body uses that for energy, but when that is gone, her body doesn't have the fat stores to steal from to keep that energy. Therefore she needs to eat very frequently, and more high protein/good fat snacks and meals. When her body has used up that energy, her blood sugar crashes, so to speak, because it has nothing to take from.

This all makes perfect sense to us, in how we deal with her food battles, and her behavior. We still need to monitor her blood sugars for the next couple weeks, just to make sure they stabilize. We are also waiting to hear back from other tests, one of them being an antibodies test that *could* show the early stages of diabetes. So, all good news for now!

What a roller coaster of emotions we've had in the past several days, but very thankful to have something to go with now:)