Stirfry-Laya? :)

I did something different tonight for dinner. (It's 4:22PM and I'm already talking about eating dinner? *sigh*) When your husband wakes up at 4:45AM.. dinner comes early... FOR EVERYONE, considering breakfast for him comes at 5:30AM and lunch at about 11AM. He's definitely ready for some food around 4 or so! So, I typically have it ready for him as soon as he walks through the door. I know... WGW. (World's Greatest Wife? ;))

We like spicy foods. I'll tell you that. We have something spicy almost every single night. It's just who we are... so, I decided to spice things up tonight.

I made Stirfry-laya. (It definitely has a ring to it, eh?)

What is that you might be wondering?

Well, allow me to explain... okay, actually, it really isn't that complicated, haha. I didn't make much from scratch so these directions will be rather simple!

First, cut yourself up a green pepper and an onion. We like a lot of onion in ours and less green pepper. So, that's why the onions seem to be a bit overpowering (and they were.. I lost all of my mascara through the darn process!)

And after that, I cut up two pieces of steak and cooked them. Depending on how many people you are serving, you can change that to whatever you'd like! 2 just seems to be 'just right' for the two of us. The picture is a bad shot, so sorry about that! Make sure that you cut the steak when it's semi-thawed. If you wait too late and it's super soft, it's a lot harder to cut and you don't get the nice cubes (hence my photo ;))

I cooked it in soy sauce, a little bit of oil, some garlic powder, and pepper. After it was cooked, I threw in the green peppers and onions... and of course, added some more soy sauce, garlic powder, and pepper.

I let that simmer on '2' for about 20 minutes or so and just kept stirring. I wanted to get the onions and green peppers super soft, plus, I wanted them to absorb that yummy juice!

While that was cooking, I took a box of Jambalaya Mix and made it just like the box told me to. I told you, this wasn't an in-depth thing. I'm not a great mastermind in the kitchen. I just do what things tell me to do, haha :)

All you do is get 2 1/2 cups of water and boil that. Then dump in the mix. I didn't add any meat to it, obviously, since I was putting the steak and green peppers over it! Bring it back up to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes. 25 minutes always seems to be just the right amount of time for it to really soften up. Just brace yourself because it smells AMAZING.

Then, I put a large spoon full of rice on my plate and throw the steak and peppers on top! It was DELICIOUS. Might be a bit of an add combination, but it was perfect for what we were craving! Y'all out there might be thinking 'Dude, that sounds gross...,' I'm not sure, haha, but I promise you it is worth the try. It's cheap too! I bought the round steak for $3.25 at Walmart, the green pepper and onion were a little over $1.00, and I bought the rice mix for $1.00. $5.25 for two people's dinner sounds GREAT to me :)

Happy cooking!

Top Mommy Blogs!

Also, I am back on board with 'Top Mommy Blogs!' If you haven't check this website out, I would recommend it! Lots of good stuff for mommies to read! :)

Hawaiian Chicken!

I'm TOTALLY addicted to Pinterest. (Wait, have we established that already?) And with that comes TONS of recipes! I LOVE cooking... like so much I seriously want to own my own restaurant one day... so I thought I would try out a new chicken recipe I found on there.

I'm going to be honest-- meat is a big part of our dinner EVERY night. We love us some chicken, pork, hamburger, steak.. you name it, we eat it. So, when I came across all of these chicken recipes, I got a tad bit excited!

If you have pinterest you can check out the recipe here.

And I'm not too sure how pinterest works if you are not a loyal (trust me, if you are active on pinterest, you are quite loyal to it, haha) follower. If you can't click on the picture or see it for that matter, the recipe is:

Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken: 4-6 chicken breasts, hawaiian style BBQ sauce, and a can of crushed pineapple all throw in for 6 hours on low. Can't get much easier or delicious than that! 

Oh, I bet you're SUPER excited now that you see it's a crock pot recipe, right? Yeah, I was too! It's sooooo simple! You throw three ingredients in and let it sit. Dude, what could be more awesome! I even threw some green peppers in just to give it a little more flavor!

And it was a SUCCESS. My mom even came over for dinner and she loved it! I made some fried rice with it (recipe here) and I got five stars from everyone, which always makes me happy!

If you're making your grocery list for the week, go ahead and add those ingredients to it! You will not be sorry! Happy cooking!

More Boob Tube Talk!

I am FINALLY catching up on my TV shows! :) 

Once Upon a Time... yes, one of my new addictions and last night's episode was incredible. It is so weird because Ethan and I were just sitting here chit-chatting about Rumplestilskin's past and lo and behold.. we found out about it tonight. Rather interesting to see what humble man he was at one point in time.. and who he is now! Anybody think he still has the dagger? and perhaps Emma Swan will come upon it? I'm not sure! But I do know he's her enemy now. I still wasn't really sure why she threw herself under the bus at the debate. She didn't tell him to light the fire, you know? But oh well, she won! What did you all think of Sunday nights episode??

As for Teen Mom.

Jennelle drives me UP THE WALL. I literally want to stop watching because she makes me so mad. "I'm so sad because Kieffer won't talk to me." GOOD. What the heck has he done to make you cry for him? Goooood lord! I just want to smack her!

Chelsea-- I know what it is to want to keep your family together, but SERIOUSLY. He is a DOUCHE to you. Drop that sorry excuse for a man and find someone that will love you and Aubree like you deserve it.  Gah. Adam makes me so mad. Help your girlfriend move. Screw being tired. That's what NAPS are for.

As for Kail. I think she did the right thing by getting child support, BUT I think she could have went about it a bit better. Jo is tempered, so I think she should have discussed it with him and not just left him a message saying, "I filed for child support, so bye!" I mean, I know she needs it (poor thing and her whole car situation) and I know she doesn't have any one to count on really, but I think she went about it the wrong way. Especially when she was trying to reconcile with Janet. I'm sure that didn't help.

I'm so happy that Ali is good! It is good to hear that there is hope for her to walk and all of that! I am so happy for that little family even though I know they don't last (Leah and Corey I mean...)

What did you think of the two episodes last night??

And Pretty Little Liars.

I knew Lucas was going to end up being tied to things, but jeesh-- talk about a creeper last night. And seriously-- I know Hannah was the one that hit him with the car, but why was he trying to kill her? He had to know that all of the girls were on it, so why single out one of them? That doesn't make sense. And is he really "A" or is he just a puppet in that person's hand?

What do you guys think?

NEW BLOG!! :)

I wanted to let all of you readers out there know that I am a part of a new blog that I think you should ALL check out :) I will still be blogging on here about my sweet Tayler and all of the goodness that comes with her, but a few of my friends and myself decided to join together and make a blog about crafts, cooking, relationships, married life, children, dating, friendships... anything a woman might be interested in reading! There is a good diversity in these women. Some are single, some are engaged, some are recently married, and some have been married for years. Some have children, some do not. Some are crafty, some love cooking, and some just love talking (me, me, me!) Be prepared to see some great recipes, awesome home decor ideas, and some rants and raves about life as we know it. We are the C Times 4 girls. Hope you'll enjoy this blog as it continues to unfold :)

www.ctimes4girls.blogspot.com

Tayler's First Birthday

I am seriously THAT mom.

I've said that phrase over and over again, so I guess I'm just cliche, but for real. 

81 days until Tayler's birthday.

I know, it is UNREAL that I know that. But I really did just sit down and count. I've been thinking about her '1st' birthday for quite some time now, but 81 days just sounds soooo close for some reason. Fortunately, her birthday falls on a Saturday, so you best believe we are partying it up on that day! 

As for right now... I'm trying to get all of my ideas together. I have never hosted a 'first' birthday before, but with every other party that I have ever hosted, I know that the date sneaks up on you.. and fast! So, I figured I'd get a head start that way everything can go as smoothly as it can on a first birthday. I'm not saying it will be perfect (because Lord knows she will probably be cranky or fall asleep during it, haha) but I still want the pictures to be bangin', ya hear??

If you hadn't heard or guessed already, the theme we are going with is:

YO GABBA GABBA.

Why? Oh, because we have only seen every episode 1,234,234,343 times. That's alright. It's entertaining, educational, and fun! EEF ;) Oh, we use mneomics around here folks! :)

I am seriously addicted to pinterest. Don't believe me? Check that bad boy out:

http://pinterest.com/sweetlyssa05/

And I have pinned every single thing you could ever imagine about a Yo Gabba Gabba birthday. 

http://pinterest.com/sweetlyssa05/tayler-s-1st-birthday/

You could say I'm a bit obsessive and of course, EXCITED! Because, come on, how many times does your kid turn 1, right? :)

So, anyways... the cake has been decided and we just have to submit the design to the lady that will be designing it, so at least that is taken care of! After that, it's all up in the air. But I have a few ideas! 

Bright colors will definitely be incorporated. Good news is we should get our taxes back right before her big day... so, we are going all out! I want to paint the Yo Gabba Gabba land for a nice back drop behind the food. And for behind the cake and other sweet goodies, I want to get a few boxes and cover them with the colors of the characters: yellow, red, pink, blue, and green.. and tape their eyes and characteristics on them. Then pile those suckers on up! Plus, we HAVE to have a banner that says 'Happy Birthday Tayler!'

Plates and cups will be colorful too! And I want some name tags that says 'My name is ______. I like to dance.' If you watch this show, you should appreciate that, haha! Tayler lives for those moments... and the 2 minutes Hector Jimenez is on there. I have no idea who he is, but she giggles the whole time he sings 'Jumping Jelly Fish.'

My mom is going to design her outfit. She's super excited about this (as am I!) And she wants to get us all shirts made. I have requested a shirt that says 'Don't bite your friends!' :) Maybe I'll be crafty and make one?? ;) (doubtful, haha!) 

So there is an overview of what I want to see.... I'm sure I'll update everyone with the progress and OF COURSE, pictures will posted after the party!! :)

What did everyone do for their kids first birthdays? Care to share any pictures?? :)

Boob Tube Chat!

I haven't updated about TV shows here lately. I know, pathetic right? It's just laziness... and the fact that I'm finding Teen Mom 2 rather boring here lately. I'm not even sure why. I'm just not that into it. Okay, sue me. I'm a sucker for drama. And there isn't any really. Of course, Jennelle and her mom have their issues, but what's new, right? I don't think it would be a 'Teen Mom 2' episode if they didn't argue about Jace (or Kieffer) at least once. Although I have to say, I am pretty proud of every person in Jennelle's life that told her NO on getting Kieffer. Good call. He just drags her down. Maybe things will get more interesting in the upcoming weeks and I'll have more to talk about.

Oh. Like the fact that Leah is pregnant by another guy that she's engaged too!

Where the heck is this crap at? Oh, I know.. because we're seeing stuff from LAST FRICKIN YEAR. Get to the new stuff. Can I get an amen? haha :)

In other news...

Our shows are returning. Yes, we have a line-up!

Sunday nights, I'm a loyal fan to 'Once Upon a Time' and 'Desperate Housewives.' So stoked to watch these this week. I'll try and chit-chat about this Monday if I can squeak in some time! 

Monday nights, 'Pretty Little Liars' and 'Lying Game' are back on! We don't currently have that channel, but we watch them on Tuesday nights after they have already aired, so you'll have to stay tuned to that update on Wednesday.

Tuesday nights, of course, is 'Teen Mom 2'.... And we don't have that channel either, so I watch that on Wednesdays while E is at work because he could really care less ;)

Wednesday nights--- AMERICAN IDOL IS COMING BACK ON THE 18TH. Holy frickin' cow, I cannot wait. It's crazy to think that I was watching American Idol last year the night I gave birth to Tayler. I can't believe it's went full circle.. Also, I plan on continuing my love affair with 'One Tree Hill' Wednesday nights too! I've been a faithful follower for many years now and can't wait to see Brooke's babies :)

Thursday nights-- 'The Office' and 'Person of Interest' are on our list! Any of you LOVE those shows? We are addicted!! 

So there you have it! That's our TV line-up for the week. How about all of y'all?!