Slimy Wormy Jello Cups

Caden and I made jello cups to take to his school party. I wanted to do something different and I figured they would have way too many cookies and cupcakes anyway. It helps that Caden loves jello!

Slimy Wormy Jello Cups

Ingredients:

2 boxes of different color jello

water

gummy worms

small clear containers 

We used plastic punch cups and got seven cups out of this recipe. We made two batches since there are 11 kids in his class at day care. 

Make one box of jello according to package directions. Pour into cups evenly. Get your little helper to add a gummy worm into each cup. 

The worm will fall the the bottom.

Refrigerate according to package directions. We refrigerated overnight and finished them the next day.

After the bottom layer of jello is set, mix up the other box of jello and distribute among the cups. Add worms. I draped some over the sides of the cups too...that really added to the cuteness of the snack :)

Weekend Recap

I was running....all weekend!
We have been working for the past week getting our bonus room into a livable space. It used to be Jamie's man room. Then it was Grandma's bedroom when she lived with us, but it has steadily become a junk room. We have way too much junk in our house!! It's quite an ordeal to weed out though....especially for a pack rat like me. We filled a truck full for Goodwill and put a ton a stuff on the street for the trash men. I think we did pretty well. I would show you photos, but the before was so embarrassing I would never photograph it. I'll get some photos of the new space once I get my side finished. Our bonus room now has some great leather furniture on loan from my in laws (Thanks y'all!), a tv and Jamie's sports memorabilia on one side of the room completing his new man cave. The other side is going to be my craft room. Right now everything is in boxes on my side. It looks a million times better than it did though!
I worked a little Saturday morning, then went to watch some city league football. After the game, I started food for the parties and finished cleaning up. Then Lynn and I took Caden to the Jr Bullriders rodeo that afternoon. Jamie and a couple of his friends were delivering stuff to Goodwill and getting the furniture for the man cave while we were having fun. :)
Caden decided he wanted to be a cowboy this year for Halloween. It was great because he went all decked out in his attire to the rodeo. Caden rode Charlie, his stick horse, over to our neighbors' house before we left for the rodeo. They fussed over how handsome he was and we had a little photo shoot :)

He had SO much fun at the rodeo! We got to see bull riding, pole bending, and even some little ones riding sheep. Caden wanted to get in on the action, but he settled for riding the pretend bull. I wish I had a picture of him riding it with his little hand up in the air, but my phone died and I didn't' take my camera. I only got one photo, but I think it's a pretty good one.

We had some of Jamie's work friends and some family over to watch some football and UFC Saturday night. All of Jamie's hard work paid off because most everybody sat in the bonus room. Caden loved having "new friends" come over.  Thank God for the playroom! All in all it was a good party. I made lots of snacks so recipes will be coming soon.

Sunday night we had a costume party for the youth group at our house. Good times! I was a lady bug, Jamie was a coach, and Caden was of course a cowboy. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of us together. Here's some photos of the night....

The Pumpkin Shirt

This morning I found myself longing for the days before Caden could talk.....I did not want him to have an opinion unless it agreed with mine! I admit, it was not my finest hour.
All I wanted was for Caden to wear the pumpkin shirt that I made him last year to school today. We talked about it all week and set the shirt (it's long-sleeved) out for today since it was supposed to be getting cold. He LOVED wearing the shirts I appliqued for him last year, but apparently they aren't cool anymore. Or he just didn't want to wear it to school today, I'm not sure. He told me that he could wear it on "Mommy/Caden day".
For those of you wondering what Mommy/Caden day is, it's Monday.
I'm off so Caden gets to stay home or do whatever I'm doing. It's just the two of us, hence the name "Mommy/Caden day". Anyway, I told him that he was wearing the pumpkin shirt, that he got to pick his clothes every day and Mommy wanted to have a turn today. That didn't work! He started crying big tears and I got mad. I'm slamming around the kitchen fuming to myself while fixing my coffee, and he's laying on the couch crying. I eventually yell at him to stop and dry it up. Then I'm even more mad because now not only am I mad at him, I'm mad at myself. Please tell me I'm not the only one who's done this!? Anyone?
I mumbled to myself, "It's just a stupid shirt! Give me a break and just wear the d*** thing!" And then I felt shamed. Yes, it is just a stupid shirt and he's three! Get over yourself, Arsella and put on your big girl panties!  I was being convicted. Okay Lord...
So I called him into the kitchen apologized for yelling and then made him a deal. He had to let me take some pictures of him in the pumpkin shirt to show everyone and then he could take it off and pick another shirt for school. So here he is, my sweet albeit rotten boy in his pumpkin shirt...and his dog, "Slimy".

Robot party favors

Caden has a halloween party at his day care on Monday. Everyone has to sign up to bring something for the party. I'm making slimy wormy jello cups....more on that later.
This time last year I learned that most of the kids brought little goodie bags or something to send home with each kid in the class after holiday parities. I was pretty upset when I realized that. I didn't make anything for Caden to give out because I didn't know I was supposed to. I felt like a horrible mom. Caden was two; he didn't know that he was the only one without goodie bags, but that didn't happen again! After several holidays, I realized that I really don't like the average goodie bag. It usually includes cheap toys that break or don't get played with and too much candy. Lots of times it's bad candy at that. Okay some of the candy is good, but it almost always has stuff in it that I don't let Caden have like gum or hard candies.
I decided that this year I wanted to do something different, something neat. I want to be the cool mom...the "gosh she's so creative" mom. Sometimes I succeed in living up to my inner crafty genius, but usually I don't. However this year, at least for Caden's school party, you can just call me "Martha". :)
Here's the robots I made for Caden to give to his friends instead of the average goodie bag.

 Adorable, right? Caden is very proud and ready to take these to school. Too bad he has to wait until Monday. :) 

They were actually really easy to make. Here's the breakdown: : 2 "googaly eyes", 2 Hershey's Nuggets, juice box, 2 airheads, 4 starbursts. Hot glue together. 

PS. If you are a teacher at Nana's house, or if your child in the "big kid class" please pretend that you didn't' see this post until after the party, okay? Thanks!

Taco Seasoning Mix

Is anybody else tired of buying packets of taco seasoning? Do you use it as much as I do? I love mexican food, and tacos are just an easy meal after a long day. Now I just make my own seasoning....bye bye little packets that get lost in my pantry. I love anything that I can make myself and anything that saves me money. This is easy and you'll be so glad you did it. 

Taco Seasoning Mix

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chili powder

1/4 cup onion powder

1/8 cup ground cumin

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp paprika

1 Tbsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a sealable container....tupperware, mason jar, whatever you have on hand will work. Shake the container to mix all of the spices together. I would recommend shaking before each use.

3 Tbsp = 1 packet of taco seasoning

Mexican Chicken Casserole

I looked at several different mexican casseroles online and I combined the best of them all into my own recipe. Jamie and Lynn said that the sauce reminded them of the sauce on the chicken quesadilla at Taco Bell. I eat mexican pizzas or crunch wrap supremes at Taco Bell so I wouldn't know about the sauce...All I know is that it tastes good!

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked shredded chicken

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 can rotel

1 1/2 c sour cream

2 1/2 Tbsp taco seasoning mix

1 bag flour tortillas

shredded cheddar cheese

Combine soups and sour cream in a large bowl. Add rotel and taco seasoning. Mix in chicken. 

In a greased 9x13 dish layer tortilla and chicken mixture starting and ending with tortillas. 

I did four layers of tortillas and three layers of chicken mixture.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese over the top.

Bake five more minutes or until cheese is melted.

It was pretty messy, but it may help if you let it rest for a little while before cutting. It was late and we were hungry so it only sat for about five minutes before I cut into it. :) Not the best for presentation, but it sure does taste good.

Spicy Chicken Lasagna Rolls

Lasagna is one of Jamie's favorite foods. It's not one of mine. This recipe appealed to me because it's different. It has chicken which is not something you normally find in lasagna, and I like chicken better than italian sausage. Everyone liked it so it's going into the recipe file to be used again and I'm going to share it with you. I hope your family likes it too.
I got the original recipe from an email from allrecipes.com, but I can't find it online now...sorry! Here's my version:

Spicy Chicken Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients:
2 jars spaghetti sauce
2 tsp italian seasoning
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
14 rinsed cooked lasagna noodles

I took this picture before I made everything and I realized after putting everything together that it needed more sauce so there's only one bottle pictured. The ingredient list is correct. 

This is about 2 cups of chicken which equates to two chicken breasts. I put a pack of four chicken breasts in my crock pot with a can of chicken broth to cook while I was at work. I shredded it when I got home and put half in the fridge for another meal. 

Boil noodles to al dente. You want them to be tender and flexible, but not mushy. Rinse the noodles in cool water after boiling and lay them out on wax paper or tin foil so they don't stick together.

Mix the spaghetti sauce, italian seasoning, and red pepper together in a bowl. 

In a separate bowl mix chicken, eggs, parmesan, ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella, and 1/2 cup of sauce mixture together.

Spoon mixture onto lasagna and roll up.

Put 1/2-1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 dish. I'm using Pampered Chef Stoneware. It's not really dirty...it just looks like that after it's been used as much as mine has. :) Place lasagna rolls seam side down on top of the sauce.

Cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over the sauce. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until heated through.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the finished product. Things got a little crazy around our house. I'll add one next time I make it, I promise.