Some like it...hot!

Well, life has been a little hectic around here lately! Before I can say 'boo' a week has flown by! Now, Easter is upon us, and it seems that spring is right around the corner! (I hope!!)

As much as I'd love to ramble with excuses as to why this post is so late, I'm going to spare you the details! I do have a new recipe for you though! YAY!

Do you enjoy spicy foods? Have you heard of Frank's Red Hot sauce? If you enjoy spicy foods, and you have never tried Frank's, stop reading now and run to the nearest grocery store and purchase some, STAT! Or you can finish reading this post first and get the recipe before you go all the way to the store and then have to just turn around and go back to purchase the rest of the ingredients! :) Really, the ingredients are very simple and I can promise if you love spicy foods and/or nachos, you'll love this recipe! If you don't like spicy foods, never fear - this recipe is highly adaptable!

BBQ Chicken Nachos

This is basically chicken, cheese and hot sauce on a plate. No, it's definitely not the most healthy dish, but it's delicious enough to splurge and I've changed the ingredients so many times through the years to adapt to my healthier lifestyle - it's not nearly as unhealthy now as it was!

The main ingredients you'll need are: chicken, tortilla chips, olive oil, onion, red pepper, BBQ sauce, hot sauce (seriously - try Frank's!) (no, they aren't paying me to say that!) salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and cheese.

You can view the entire recipe at My Recipe Magic - this gives you a printable option and nutrition information as well. The only thing I don't like is that it defaulted the servings to 4, but really this will feed up to 6 people - so the calorie count and fat grams would be lower.

BBQ Chicken Nachos are great as an appetizer or a meal! We eat them at least once a month! Hubs and v1.6 love them! Of course, I top mine with a dollop of Greek Yogurt rather than sour cream. Hubs piles on the salsa and v1.6 just likes it with cheese! Anyway you eat them, they're delish!!

Let me know if you try them and if you made any changes! I love hearing about it and trying a new spin on a recipe! Email me here!

As always, I have to leave you with something I found funny!

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Click the magic button to view my recipe on My Recipe Magic



Ciao for now, bellas!

Houston, we have a problem...

Do you ever have one of those days where you just want to reorganize every single thing in your entire home? (Fair warning - this is going to be a LONG post!)

I got a bug on Saturday and dragged husband and v1.6 shopping! We got new curtains for the dining room and the bedroom (I woke up WAYYYYY too early on Saturday from the blinding sun that we, here in the Northern Tundra New York, haven't seen in months!) and I picked up some stuff to organize around our computer desk!

It had gotten to the point, for me, that I hated even approaching the dreaded desk! I couldn't stand our filing cabinet or the mail sorter/wooden slot thingy/catch-all! I don't know about you, but organizing for me is all about visual stimulation. I loathed the filing cabinet so I stopped filing things. I despised the mail sorter so I stopped using that. In turn, this transformed one of our counters in the kitchen into a mail sorting area. This didn't work - it's right in front of the microwave!

So after moving countless papers on Friday while making dinner I said to myself, 'self, it's time we put a stop to this!' Really though, I had been working up to this for weeks. Planning in my head, writing things down, and combing Pinterest.

So I'm going to share with you how I transformed my computer desk area to a command center/mail station.

It took almost the entire day on Sunday to get this done, but I had a TON of stuff to sort through! Take a look at the two drawers in my old filing cabinet...

Here's the top drawer

Here's the bottom drawer

 

Can you say HOT MESS?! UGH! This project has been at the back of my mind for quite some time now. We've had this filing cabinet for over 5 years and I really haven't liked it since we got it.

 

Here's the whole area...

 

 

We visited Target and Office Max on Saturday and I found everything I needed. First, I'd like to give credit to a couple blogs that I took inspiration from. A Bowl Full of Lemons is an amazing site with so many organizing projects! Also, The Organised Housewife has some awesome stuff too!! I definitely recommend visiting those two sites if you're looking for organizational ideas!

 

My first steps were to empty out the old filing cabinet and sort through ALL the papers! That was the worst part and took the longest! I had a huge bag of recycling and a large pile to be burned. It cut down on so much though. I suppose that was probably half the problem with the old filing cabinet though. I didn't want to clean it out, but there's nothing like 'new' organizing stuff and the promise of a new system to get me moving.

 

I found a great mesh sorter at Target for $15. I am calling this my command center. I have hanging files for 'Incoming Mail', 'To Be Filed', 'Meal Plans', and 'School Papers'. Also in this command center I have my address book, a clipboard, 2 spiral notebooks for blogging and writing, and also a calendar to plan out meals.

 

The filing cabinet came from Office Max for $40. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but close enough. I also picked up plastic hanging files (these are sooooooo much better than the green paper-ish kind - they last much longer) and color coordinated file folders at Target as well.

 

 

The color coordination really helps me to stay on track and it actually helps me want to sit at the desk and file or do paperwork! I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I'm happy to say that there is NO mail or papers on my counter right now! Granted, it's only been 2 days so far, but hey...I'll take it.

 

Inside of the new filing cabinet

 

Here's the finished product

 

 In addition to creating this command center and reorganizing our filing cabinet, I also created 2 binders. The green and gray colored one is our home management binder. I got it on clearance at Target for $3 and it came with nice tabs! I put a tab in there for bills and budget, current policies (this can be medical, auto, home, etc.), medical contact information and allergy information as well as a cleaning schedule.

 

The small white binder is for v1.6! It contains all of his school information, class information and report cards.

 

One thing I did realize while doing the research for this project is that there is no one solution that is going to work for everyone. For instance - I only have 1 child. Having 3 calendars with different activity information, school information, etc is not beneficial to me as he's only 1 kid! Someone with a family of 4...well that would probably work much better for them. Keep that in mind when tackling your own organization projects! What works for your neighbor might not work for you! Don't get discouraged though, just keep trying until you find a system you love and that works for you and your family!

 

Hopefully you enjoyed this post today! As always, let me leave you with a funny - I think this is how my husband feels sometimes when I'm constantly bombarding him with information, projects, crafts, etc. Especially when I get going on something - I'm usually plotting and planning in Excel, Word or on paper! Always charts, lists and notes with me!

 

 

Don't forget to connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

 

Ciao for now bellas!

 



Healthy Strawberry - Blueberry Muffins

If you've read any of my other posts – you know my love for Greek Yogurt already! Well today, after sorting through mountains of laundry I was rooting around the refrigerator looking for snack options for the kiddo for this afternoon. An innocent container of strawberries and a lonely container of blueberries were staring me in the face. They were right next to the giant container of Greek Yogurt.

I rooted through the cupboards next and pulled out some ingredients to make muffins. What I came up with turned out amazing!

Healthy Strawberry – Blueberry muffins

Here's the batter - before baking

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 – Muffin tins (regular sized)

1 medium sized mixing bowl

1 - 4 cup glass measuring cup

Spatula

Ingredients:

2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plain, fat free Greek Yogurt

1 Tablespoon ground Flax Seed

3/4 cup egg substitute

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup diced, fresh strawberries

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until combined.

In a 4 cup glass measuring cup combine Greek Yogurt, Flax Seed, egg substitute, water, and honey. Mix until combined and smooth.

Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The batter will be lumpy. Add in the strawberries and blueberries and stir gently.

Line 20 muffin cups with liners and fill each 3/4's full with batter. Use the 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar and sprinkle over batter in each cup.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from muffin tin and let cool on wire rack.  Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Please let me know what you think if you try these! I’m waiting for the kiddo to get home from school so I can test them out on him. Then husband will be a guinea pig when he gets home tonight! I ate one after lunch and thought they were delish! Hope you enjoy!

I also have to give some props to Pampered Chef and their awesome straining/measuring cup! I used it for the berries and it is the most amazing thing! Check it out below! It has slots so the water will drain after you rinse your fruit or veggies! 

I have plans to do an organizing project this weekend! Hopefully I’ll be able to post about that next week sometime if all goes as planned!

Don't forget to connect with me on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook!

I'm not sure what the deal is with the baby hedgehogs all over the internet lately, but I have to admit they are cute! So I had to leave you with this! 

Ciao for now bellas!

(Click on the 'Magic' button below for a printable version!)

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast & Bacon Egg Cups

Let me apologize for the lateness of this post! I had some technical difficulties over the weekend, but everything seems to be in working order now!

Did you see this picture on Facebook?

That’s what I made for dinner last week and boy was it delicious! I found the bacon egg cup recipe on Pinterest, but the stuffed French toast I came up with all on my own! I’ll start off with the bacon egg cups.

You’ll need:

~Muffin Tin (regular size with 12 cups)

~Mixing bowl and spoon

Ingredients:

1 package turkey bacon

2 cups egg substitute

½ cup low fat shredded cheese (your choice)

1 tsp ground black pepper

Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line each muffin cup with bacon making a circle around the outer edge of the cup. You may want to count how many pieces of bacon you have in your package and double up the strips for some of the cups. Give the bottom of each muffin cup a spritz of non-stick cooking spray. Set muffin tin aside.

Pour the egg substitute into a mixing bowl or large, glass measuring cup. Add the cheese and pepper then stir to combine. Pour a few tablespoons of egg mixture into each cup. It doesn’t have to be exact, but 2 cups of egg mixture should be plenty for 12 muffin cups.

Back for 30-35 minutes then remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

This is what they look like when they're done.

Now onto the blueberry stuffed French toast!

You’ll need:

~Non-stick griddle or frying pan

~Mixing bowl

~4 cup glass measuring cup (or another mixing bowl)

~Spoons

Ingredients:

8 slices whole wheat or whole grain bread

½ cup egg substitute

½ cup Plain low fat Greek Yogurt

¼ cup fresh blueberries

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Drizzle or two of honey (optional)

Non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

In a mixing bowl combine ½ cup egg substitute with ½ teaspoon cinnamon and set aside.

In glass measuring cup combine ½ cup yogurt with ¼ cup blueberries and remaining ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. You can also add a drizzle of honey to this if you’d like.

Set your griddle or frying pan on the stove and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Dunk one side of the bread into the egg mixture (don’t let it go all the way through) and then place on the griddle or frying pan, egg dipped side down. Continue with 3 more pieces of bread until you have 4 slices of bread on the griddle. Top each slice with the yogurt and blueberries. I did not measure with this step – I just kept piling the mixture on until it was all gone.

Turn your burner on your stove to medium low. Then start coating the next 4 pieces of bread with the egg mixture and place the non-dipped side over the yogurt and blueberries. So the egg dipped side will be facing out. It’s almost like you’re making grilled blueberry and yogurt sandwiches.

After about 5 minutes, use a spatula to lift a corner of one sandwich. If the bread has browned then go ahead and flip them. If not, wait another 2-5 minutes. Depending on your stove this could take up to 15 minutes total to cook both sides. When the bread is crisp on the outside it’s done.

I cut ours in half and we ate them like sandwiches. You could, however, serve them as traditional French toast with syrup and/or powdered sugar. I found that the mixture inside was sweet enough that we didn’t need syrup.

I hope you enjoyed these recipes! Do you have a great tried and true recipe? Send them to me! I love trying new dishes!!

And I'll leave you with this funny - I feel like this sometimes!

 Ciao for now bellas!