Magic Hands-

I thought I'd share a funny story with you- it's typical of the weird way things happen in my life.

I went to the nail salon for the first time in many months- I wanted (nay, NEEDED) a pedicure and my eyebrows waxed.  I didn't even know my eyebrows would grow so bushy!  Anyway-

I walked in the door and told them what I wanted.  In typical fashion I was taken to a back room to get my eyebrows done first.  I lay on the table and the lady waxed my brows- then came the question they always ask- "You want me wax your lip?"  I politely declined.  She was insistent- "You have a lot of hair- it's blond but there's a lot. See?" (she hands me a mirror)  I tell her yes I am aware I have some hair on my lip, but no thank you to the wax because I've done it before and it makes me cry.  It HURTS!!

----On a side note- I've gone in after actually shaving my "mustache" just to see what they say and they still tell me I have hair on my lip and I need it waxed.  So I'm not insulted, I figured they just try to "upsell" you everything.

Then she proceeds to tell me she has "magic hands" and she has a "trick" and I should "trust her" because the way she does it there will be no pain.  After a few minutes of arguing back and forth I give in.

She puts the wax strip on the right side, rubs it down, then BAM!!!! whacks me in the forehead then pulls the strip off.  IT.STILL.HURT. And my forehead now hurt. And  I had tears in my eyes.

She said "oops, sorry I hit you too hard.  Did you still want me to do the other side?"
I told her of course, I couldn't walk around with half a "mustache" but there was no need to whack me in the forehead again!

No more lip waxing for me!!!

Pintrest Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

So I love all things "buffalo chicken".  I love buffalo chicken sandwhiches, chicken wings, chicken poppers, whatever it is, if it's covered in Frank's Hot Sauce and butter I probably like it. I also love meatballs- on pasta in sandwiches, on their own in BBQ sauce, whatever.... So seeing peace love and low carb's Buffalo chicken meatballs, I thought, "best of both worlds!"  And I gave it a shot.

First off- I did not put them on a salad to make it 'low carb'.  I'm breast feeding and I don't really care about carbohydrates at this point so there's my disclaimer.  I put the 'low carb' recipe on, wait for it.... flour tortillas  <gasp!>  with some ranch, pickles, and lettuce to make a wrap.  And it was gooooooood.  The texture of the meatballs is a little off seeing as it's ground chicken (well I used ground turkey instead) instead of whole chicken or ground beef but it was over all something I would make again.  Maybe as a Superbowl appetizer?

Of course I wrote the recipe down then tossed it- then went back to their site and they have removed the original recipe because they are now selling it in a cookbook.  I google searched and found one that was VERY similar as far as I could remember.

It is from a different website called Shrinking Kitchen
Here it is:

Gather

1 pound lean ground chicken

1 egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 carrot ( **I did not put carrot in the meatballs I made**)

1 stalk celery

2 green onions

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 ounce crumbled blue cheese ( I am NOT a blue cheese fan but I did use it in the recipe.  I couldn't even really tell it was there)

1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce (or your favorite), divided

1 tablespoon butter

Step by step

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with foil and coat with nonstick spray.
3. Cut the celery, carrot and green onion into large chunks and throw into a food processor.  (** I did not use a food processor- I just finely diced everything)
4. Pulse to chop into small bits.
5. In a large bowl, combine the vegetable mixture, chicken (I used ground turkey because this is what I had), egg, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, salt, 1/2 the hot sauce and the blue cheese.
6. Gently fold together to combine, but don't overmix.
7. Form the mixture into small meatballs - you should get about 28 small meatballs.
8. Place the meatballs on the cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. While the meatballs are baking, put the rest of the hot sauce and the butter into a microwave safe dish.
11. Microwave about 30 seconds, until butter melts.
12. Stir well to combine.
13. Remove the meatballs from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
14. Place the meatballs onto a serving dish and drizzle with butter/hot sauce mixture.
15. Enjoy!

Nutrition

WW PP 4; Calories 157; Total Fat 8.7g; Saturated Fat 3.5g; Trans Fat 0.0g; Cholesterol 87mg; Sodium 741mg; Total Carbohydrates 5.8g; Dietary Fiber 0.6g; Sugars 0.8g; Protein 13.8g

baby Liam is 6 months old!

Liam turned 6 months old on Saturday!  I can't believe how fast time has gone by.  He spent most of Saturday relaxing and Sunday we had a busy day at the Fort Worth Stock Yards.

Jessica, of  Jessica Cernat Photography, spent Sunday afternoon with us taking some 6 month photos of Liam (and Chase & I too!) in the stock yards.  Chase and I had never been there before and it was certainly an experience.  We had a lot of fun and Liam did a great job even though he was feeling a little under the weather.  You can't tell by the photos!  Jessica got him to smile and laugh and captured it all on camera!

Here is a link to our sneak peek of photos-  Liam is 6 months old.
Here's a few stolen off facebook  :)

Today Liam had his 6 month well baby check.  He was 50% for weight, 75% for height, and a whopping 100+% for head size!!!!  I knew he had a big head but goodness!  We have to go back for a nurse visit in 6 weeks to measure his head to see how it's doing.  If it's getting BIGGER we have to have an ultrasound and/or a skull series and CT scan to make sure there is nothing going on other than he just has a big head.  The pedi said she really wasn't worried so let's hope he just has a big head to house his big genius brain!

Pintrest Recipes

So I promised my dear husband that I would start cooking more and start making recipes that were different than our "typical" fare.  I decided to do Pintrest Sundays.  I always look at the yummy food pictures and "pin" them but I had not necessarily been diligently trying them.  So- New Year's resolution time-

 Here's Pintrest New Year recipe #1.

Creamy Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta from Chaos in the Kitchen

 

• 4-8 oz fettuccine or linguine- I used Linguine, about 6 ounces (1/2 the bag)
• 10 tbsp butter, divided (I know, but I’ve tried it with less and it’s just not the same) 
• 8 oz fresh, sliced mushrooms
• 2 garlic cloves, minced ( I mined one fresh clove but then used a heaping spoonful of store bought)
• 3 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped 
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (you can use dried herbs if that’s all you have)
• 2/3 cup boiling water (from your noodle pot)
• 1 lb cooked shrimp ( I used frozen- and saute'd them in more butter prior to adding them)

1. Boil and salt a large pot of water and cook your pasta.  I usually only use about half of an 8 oz box, preferring fewer noodles. ( I waited until I was done cooking the shrimp before starting the water and pasta.)
2. While your pasta is cooking, cook your shrimp if necessary and reserve.  If your shrimp are pre-cooked and frozen, quickly thaw them under running water.
3. In a large skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat and saute mushrooms until soft and brown.  Season with salt and pepper.
4. Reserve cooked mushrooms and melt remaining butter in the skillet.  Add minced garlic, cream cheese, and herbs.  At this point, I generally feel like something has gone terribly wrong.  The cream cheese doesn’t really melt and starts to look almost curdled, don’t worry about it!  It will all smooth out and be wonderful when we add the water. I promise. ( Stirred this pretty constantly- it looked a little weird but no problems.
5. Simmer cream cheese mixture until well blended. Get a scoop of boiling pasta water from your noodle pot and mix it in, stirring quickly to smooth out the sauce. (I wasn't sure exactly how much a "scoop" was here- I added 4 tbs of water and decided that was enough- the sauce was thick but not too thick and not runny)
6. Keep sauce hot and add shrimp and mushrooms, mix well and simmer (stirring often) until everything is hot and thickened, about 10 minutes-you wont ruin this sauce by accidentally boiling it so don’t worry. (Basically I tossed the shrimp and mushrooms in and got everything nice and coated then removed from the heat.  I did not want to over cook the shrimp).

Toss sauce with cooked noodles and serve.                                                            

                YUM!- Chase wants me to make this again but due to the HUGE amount of butter (cholesterol) I may either tweak the recipe or not make often.  It was certainly tastey!  I think I may enjoy making new recipes!