easy peasy...Kraft Recipe Makers!

Here are some more goodies that I received from Meijer!  New Kraft Recipe Makers, Capri Sun and Crystal Light were in my box of samples. 

I was eager to try the Recipe Makers because they looked so easy and yummy!

Here is the Chicken Caccitore all in the crockpot and ready to cook.  The kit comes with 2 sauces.  One went in the bottom of the crock.  Then I added in frozen chicken breasts, green pepper and mushrooms.  I topped that with the other sauce, put the lid on and cooked for 6-8 hours on low heat.

Right before serving I cooked some tri-color noodles to serve with the chicken caccitore.  It was pretty good.  I'm not a huge green pepper fan but overall this was a yummy dish.  The hubs said he would eat it again!

We also tried the Verde Chicken Enchilada, which was an oven recipe.  We liked it even better!  {I forgot to take pics though...sorry!}  The only extras you need for it are soft tortilla shells, shredded chicken and cheese.  These dishes are great for when you need a dinner in a pinch....or have limited ingredients.  I always have chicken and cheese on hand....and most of the time tortillas too!

So if you are looking for easy dinner ideas, head on over to Meijer and try some of these Recipe Makers for yourself!

{Thanks to Meijer for the opportunity to try these products.  All opinions are my own!}

Menu Plan Monday

My sister is visiting for the week, she is a picky eater so we sat down last night and planned what she would prefer to eat for the week!  ;)  The chicken cacciatore is more for me and the hubs {new Kraft Recipe Makers I will share about later in the week}....Little Bit and my sis will be eating the pasta with plain sauce! 

Monday ~ chicken cacciatore, pasta, salad, bread

Tuesday ~  hot dogs/burgers, corn on the cob, tater tots

Wednesday ~ dinner and a movie!

Thursday ~ toasted cheese, chips, pickles

Friday ~ pancakes, bacon, fruit

Linking up with Org Junkie...check them out for more recipes.

crescent pizza rolls

This was a great recipe for me to use up some things I had on hand after Easter....YES, I actually made this not long after Easter but I'm just getting around to posting it.  ;)  But these were super yummy...so I had to share!

You start with a package or 2 of crescent rolls.  Unroll and separate triangles onto a baking sheet.  Top each triangle piece with toppings of your choice.  I used leftover ham, pineapple chunks and shredded mozzarella cheese. 

Then you roll up each one and line them up on the baking sheet.  Now for the seasoning....I used spray butter and spritzed each roll.  Then I sprinkled with garlic salt, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.

Place in a 350 degree preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until nice and golden brown.

Serve with some warmed marinara sauce and enjoy!

{summertime} adventures & a crafty project!

I saw this super cool summer schedule while blog browsing one day and thought it was such a fun idea.  So of course I instantly pinned it for future reference! ;)  Even though I love the catchy names of each day...I wanted a bit more flexibility to my weeks.  

 

So I've decided to incorporate these things throughout each week but the order will just vary.  Plus with Little Bit in a cast we can't quite do water days yet.  This was our first week putting our summer schedule into motion and it was fabulous!  

Monday...took a trip to the local museum for a butterfly storytime and played in the children's area

Tuesday...doctor appt, ran errands & met friends for lunch

Wednesday...stayed home, cleaning & organizing day

Thursday...craft day & picnic/play at the park

Friday...library reading program, grocery shopping & garage sales!

Each week will also include...reading time, writing practice, exercise, cleaning, errands, play dates & plenty of snuggling!

I absolutely loved how our first craft project of the summer turned out.  As soon as it was dry I framed that bad boy and hung it in the craft room!  So of course I had to show you all!  ;)  

The inspiration for this project came from Pinterest....where else...it is just such a great resource!  This one uses paper, a plastic cup, and paint.    

 

You start out by stamping circles with the cup.  They used black paint to do this but I tried a black ink pad instead to lessen drying time and I really like the more subtle lines.  

Here are all the circles stamped.

Then Little Bit got to work with her water colors!  She did such as amazing job coloring in each segment of the overlapping circles with different colors.  She even added some personal touches of her own. 

I especially love the little smiley face in the upper left corner!  :-)

So our summer fun is off to a great start!  What fun things do and your kiddos have lined up for this summer?

summer {reading}

After school ending, Little Bit breaking her arm, sister's baby shower, family vacation and then a garage sale, I can finally say things are calming down around here...lol!  Summer is here...which means it's time for some summer reading!  Our local library has a summer reading program each year.  Kids can read for prizes.  You have to read or be read to for so many minutes a day.  In Little Bits age level it is 15 minutes a day.  There are prizes you can earn after reading for X number of minutes.  We did this last year and she had a blast.  This year I thought I would add another twist to get Little Bit more into the reading time. 

I came across this pin about a summer reading incentive program and thought it looked like something Little Bit would enjoy.  There are printables that you can download and print after subscribing to HowDoesShe.  I printed the Bingo and the coupons, but made my own Reading Star banner.  The one in the download was just too big for where I was going to use it.  I just cut some pennants out of white cardstock...which I should have made more colorful!...and hung them up on our white board.  One just says {reading star}.  The others are to write names of books that we read together. 

Once I told Little Bit about the Bingo she couldn't wait to get started!  It has lots of different ideas of places, days, etc. to read.  For example: wearing a hat, sitting in your favorite chair, on a Monday or under a tree.  Once we complete an item from the Bingo card, we mark it off with a dot marker....just cause they are fun to use! 

 

Here she is reading in her bed.  This was the first space she got to mark off on her bingo card.  What we have been doing is the hubs or I read to her for 15 minutes, she looks for some words that she knows and then has time to browse the books on her own.  

Then once she completes a row she gets to select a prize coupon.  I wrote different "prizes" on the coupons for her to earn.  A few are: get a new book, go bowling, see a movie in the theater...then when she fills in the whole board the grand prize ticket is a trip to the water park.  This is an extra special treat because we didn't get season passes this year and she will have her cast off  in a few weeks and be sooooo ready to jump and play in the water! 

She is one away from earning her first prize already....can't wait to see what she picks!

Disney {cast} member

Did you know that we just went to Disney with their newest "cast" member!  LOL...we got that joke several times while we were there.  To back up a little for those of you who aren't friends with me on Facebook, Little Bit broke her arm the day after preschool was over.  Which was less than 2 weeks before our trip to Disney!  Poor little thing lost her balance and fell while playing at a friends house.

She was such a trooper and has managaed with the cast very well.  The only major downfall is it can't get wet.  Several of our friends asked if we got a water cast.  Our doctor told us they don't reccomend them for smaller children and especially don't do them when the cast goes over the elbow.  So I just carry a plastic bag with me everywhere to be able to cover her arm in a moments notice.

Luckily the start to our summer hasn't been consistently warm, so we really have't had an opportunity to swim.  There were only a few times we had to cover her up on a ride at Disney.  But several times she had to wear her poncho due to rain.

She does not let the cast slow her down one bit!  She can do just about everything and the doctor said it is good for her to use her fingers and move the shoulder around as much as possible.  However she is learning to do alot more left handed...which I think is nothing but beneficial to her!

One of her most favorite things was geting characters to sign her cast.  Her most favorite new to us character that we met was the Queen of Hearts.  She was such a fun character to interact with!  The other great surprise was having Buzz Lightyear sign her cast.  Buzz usually just uses a stamp in autograph books.  But the photographer told us to ask him if he would sign and he willingly did!  Don't know if we will keep the cast once it's off, but we will definitely have LOTS of photos!

Overall we had an amazing trip!  We are already looking forward to our next trip back there in September!  ;)