What We Ate Wednesday #3

Hi! After two weeks of failing to do my WWAW post, I'm finally back! 3rd times a charm, right? Today I have two dinner recipes and one side/snack recipe. They are all, as Brylee says, delicious! 

Snack/Side

Sweet Potato Fries

To say we love sweet potatoes around here is an understatement. We cannot get enough of them. It's something all three of us eat and never complain about. Not only are they tasty, they are good for you too. 

Here's what ya need:

2-4 sweet potatoes (depending on size)

2 Tbsp olive oil

pepper

garlic salt

paprika

Preheat oven to 450°

Spray cookie sheet with Pam. Set aside. 

Scrub potatoes clean. You can totally peel them, but we like the skin. Cut them into fries. Move them to a large mixing bowl.

In a small mixing bowl combine oil and spices. I don't measure on spices, just don't overdo the garlic! Pour mixture onto fries and toss them around making sure they each get coated. If you think they need more, add, just be careful not to add too much oil. 

Spread onto cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through. Let cool, serve with some honey, and enjoy!

Dinner

Meatballs

This is a total win for Brylee. She doesn't care for meatloaf, but put it in a ball form and she'll eat it. Weird kid. For the record, it's the same recipe. Ha!

Here's what ya need:

1 lb hamburger meat

1 egg

3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs (any kind work great too)

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp season salt

For the topping:

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat over to 375°

Spray cookie sheet with Pam. Set aside.

In one bowl, mix together dry ingredients and in another mix everything else. Once the meat mixture is finished, add in the dry ingredients. Form into ball shapes and place onto baking sheet. I can usually make about 8-10 with this recipe.

Mix together ingredients for topping but DON'T put it on just yet. I always just stick mine in the fridge until it's time.

 Cook for 30 minutes. Remove, add topping, and cook for an additional 15 minutes.  Remove and let it sit for about 5-7 minutes. These are great paired with the above Sweet Potato Fries! :)

Melt In Your Mouth Chicken

At my going away party in Odessa, my Nana gave me a cookbook she made. Some of it was family recipes and some she had found elsewhere. It not only has recipes but it has all kinds of useful kitchen charts in it. I refer to it quite a bit. She has always been into scrapbooking so that's what the cookbook was. She wrote little notes on pages telling me who's favorites some recipes were and things she thought were good. Next to this recipe she wrote: "It is SO good, Nana!". It was the first recipe of the book I tried, rightfully so. Good job, Nana! This was so good!

Here's what ya need:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup plan Greek yogurt

1 tsp garlic salt

1 1/2 tsp season salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 375°

Spray baking dish with Pam. 

In shallow bowl mix cheese and seasonings. 

Coat chicken with yogurt then cover with cheese mixture and add to baking dish. Cook for 45 minutes. You're welcome! ;) I made extra of this with chicken tenders instead of breasts and put it on a salad the next day for lunch. Still so good.

I hope you use and enjoy some of these recipes. Here are the previous ones if you want to check those out too. 

WWAW #1

WWAW #2

Bon Appetit- Leah.

 

What's Up Wednesday | April

Good Morning! Today I'm linking up with Mix + Match Family, Pinterest Told Me To, and The Larson Lingo for the first What's Up Wednesday link up! The last Wednesday of every month we can tell everybody what's up! Here are the topics:

So, let's get this started.

What we're eating this week...

Well, Monday was an easy Voila dinner. Have y'all every had those? They come in a variety of flavors and they are quick and easy for a last minute lunch/dinner and quite tasty too. Tuesday we went to Chick-Fil-A and the rest of the week I'm not sure. I'll be in Odessa, so whatever my family wants to feed me. :)

What I'm reminiscing about...

 Brylee got a sleeping bag for Christmas and had it out yesterday. As I was rolling it up I started thinking about going on camping trips. I'm not talking about staying in a cabin or RV, I'm talking about pitching a tent, sleeping in a sleeping bag and roasting hot dogs in the fire for dinner! :) One memory in particular was when my dad agreed to take me, Stormi and two of my best friends camping. Crazy guy! We had such a great time! Stayed up late, woke up early, fished, went tubing, and we even met this group of guys that a friend of mine ended up dating for a few years! Ha. Pure bliss.

This was 15-16(?) year old lake rat Leah. 

What I'm loving...

Fresh pineapples and sunshine! I haven't had a fresh pineapple in so long and they were on sale at the store the other day so I bought a few. I've been snacking on them all day long for a good week. B doesn't like them so much, her face sure proved it. ;) And sunshine! We've been hit by so many storms in the last few weeks that it's been good to have some sunshine the past few days. It just feels good.

Doesn't that picture just scream happiness??

What we've been up to...

Packing, looking for a house, job, school, etc. Oh joy.

After our first move this verse really stuck with me. I hope Tate never stops chasing his dream and one day he'll get there. I'll be there for support the whole way. 

What I'm dreading...

Packing, packing, packing. I don't think there is an easy or fun way to pack.

Ha! I wish.

What I'm working on...

It's ridiculous the amount of clothes a coach accumulates in a few months (August to now). I'm currently working on getting all Tate's things ready to give back. It's bittersweet.

I'll say this until all those empty hangers are replaced with new shirts. 

What I'm excited about...

Going home this weekend! It's only been a month since I've been home but oh I miss everybody!

Ain't that the truth!

What I'm watching/reading...

Right now, I'm watching Dancing With The Stars, The Voice, and my new favorite, The Royals! I love it! I'm reading The 5 Love Languages.

As much as I love Chris and Witney, I think this season will go to Rumor and Val, although I think Ryker and Allison might surprise us.

I'm a big fan of Meghan Linsey, India Carney, and of course the  young country girl in me loves Corey Kent White.

E!'s new drama filled family! I love it.

I just started reading this but I've heard such great things about it.

What I'm listening to...

To be exact, Something 'Bout a Woman by Lady Antebellum.

What I'm wearing...

I'll be in a car for about 9 hours, I'm wearing something like this:

Minus the kettle bell.. ha!

What I'm doing this weekend...

Tate's cousin is getting married, so wedding festivities. Brylee is their flower girl so pray she does so good! I've been practicing with her for a few weeks now and she has the throwing flowers part down but once she gets to the end of the hallway, she bows and says 'thank you very much'. I'm sure I would just turn red if she did that at the wedding, although I'm sure it would be kinda cute at the same time. 

This was when she tried on her "princess dress" as she calls it. :)

What I'm looking forward to next month...

Hopefully we'll be moving, but most importantly, my cousin Brittni is graduating! What?! She is like another little sister to me and I just cannot believe it. It's another bittersweet moment.

I got her announcement on Saturday and this was my favorite one of her senior pics I got. Oh, Brittni, there's just so much I could tell you but I'm so proud of you will do for now. 

What else is new...

We've hit a major milestone in Potty Training and I'd say we are on the final stretch of it! Yay!

After weeks of doing soooo good, we hit a rough patch and I think we've overcome it. I'll share my secrets when we're finished. 

And that's what's up! Check back later for a What We Ate post! Promise. :) Have a happy Wednesday. 

-Leah

Oh, Hey Friday!

It's been a super long week . Partly because Tate is gone and partly because we haven't really done much. I am glad it's Friday though. I had to go to the grocery store today and this is how we shopped. 

Ha! Brylee had been refusing a nap all day and fell asleep right as we pulled into the parking lot. I was getting all kinds of strange looks but when you need your kid to take a nap, ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

Now that it's official, we are moving to the San Angelo area. Tate is the new Assistant Head Coach/ Offensive Coordinator at Ballinger High. We aren't sure exactly what town we will live in because none of them have a good housing market right now. :/ God has a plan though, I'm sure of it! Go Bearcats! 

Now for some Favorites! 

{ONE}

Sunday was one of my Favorite days! We started off with a trip to Target to try to find me a dress for Tate's cousins wedding. I realllly wanted a Lilly Pulitzer dress, this one to be exact. There was nothing! I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal. There were women crowding around the dressing rooms to get what other people didn't want after trying it on! I think when something like that is launched and they expect it to be a big deal, they should put a limit on how many items can be purchased. Just my opinion. We did browse around for a bit. I rode in the basket with Brylee (it was one of the bigger ones with the double seats) and Tate pulled us around. 

He was super impressed with my idea. :)

Then we went to Academy. Tate new shirts and shorts for Ballinger. I got a kettle bell. Never used one before and I love it! Brylee got some dumbbells! Ha! Ridiculous? Maybe, but I'd rather her pick those one pounds up than try to hurt herself picking up one of mine. 

 Later that evening we went to eat at Corner Bakery. We love that place! These two love to color. :)

{TWO}

 I have a new Favorite workout. Katrina and Karena at Tone It Up are amazing! The workouts are intense and challenging and they have a nutrition plan that I cannot wait to get my hands on. I'm only 2 weeks in to the workouts and I love it. If you want a good workout you can do pretty much anywhere, check them out. There is an entire community on social media to keep you going and hold you accountable. This was my 'check in' picture after my kettle bell workout. :) It burned so good!

{THREE}

 The self tanning mousse that I talked about in this post that I wasn't impressed with due to the pump clogging on me has become my new favorite self tanner. I returned the other one to Ulta and the lady explained that they did change the top because they were having so many complaints about the other one. I love it! The color is so pretty, it doesn't smell bad, and for $12.99, heck yeah! It's the Ulta brand if you want to check it out. I took this picture standing where the sun was shining through the window so you can see the color. It's so pretty.

{FOUR}

 Y'all, if you have little ones that have issues brushing their teeth, get the Oral-B app! Brylee used to love brushing her teeth and then one day it became a struggle. I tried to explain why she needed to and told her 'sugar bugs' would eat her teeth, nothing worked. I had to brush for her and she didn't really care for that. I saw this app while she was watching Disney one day and downloaded. Now she asks me if it's time to brush her teeth. This will probably phase out one day but at least I got her back to doing it. There is a timer that brushes away 'toothpaste' to reveal a sticker that you get to add to your book. She gets so excited. 

{FIVE}

So for Tate's cousins wedding next weekend, Brylee is their flower girl. I decided to let her practice throwing flowers (in our case pom poms because I had them at home). I'm glad I did. She went from just standing still and throwing them, to bowing at the end of the hallway and saying 'thank you very much', to now being perfect! Tate practiced with her the other night. It was a favorite moment until he noticed I was recording and he stopped. I still got a picture, though. ;)

Now, I have to start organizing to pack. Does that make any sense? Ha. And again, I'll take any advice you guys have for packing and moving. It's already stressing me out. 

Linking up with my Friday gals. 

Erika | Andrea

Have a fantastic weekend! 

-Leah.

For the record, I pushed save instead of publish so it's not exactly Friday anymore but I'm not deleting this post. :) Happy Saturday, y'all!

Random Thoughts

I'm taking a break from watching TV. Ha. I was supposed to be with Tate looking at houses this weekend but we had a change of plans. Hello Leah. You have dogs. Who is going to watch them for you? One of the coaches usually does but he had plans this weekend too. So here I am, at home, while Tate is house hunting for us. He did excellent with the house we are in now and I'm not looking to move like next week, but the sooner we find something, the better. We will more than likely (haven't talked details over with the landlords) be out of this house at the end of May and if we don't have a house yet I will live in Odessa or Abilene with family and Tate will be residing in the coaches office on an air mattress. Lucky him. I cleaned my house earlier this week so I would come home to a clean house when we got back (I know I'm not the only one that does that, right?) so I'm actually quite bored. I do have things planned for Brylee and I in the coming up weeks but nothing was planned here this weekend.

See... randoms! On to some more. 

• I thought my spider adventures were over. I woke up this morning to find a spider in the sink. I turned on the water and sent him on his way. I moved the computer to the guest room and will continue to leave the computer in there. 

• I'm dreading packing. When we moved here Tate left me to pack up alone. Thankfully I had family there to help me keep Brylee. Here I have no one. I'll have Tate here some weekends and will introduce him to packing. Any tips to make this process any easier? We will be moving a lot due to him being a coach so I'll take any advice you have.

• Speaking of packing and spiders... I could start packing but I refuse to get in the attic and get the boxes out. I can almost guarantee there is a spider up there. Probably an entire family of them. No thanks!

•  Brylee is becoming super sassy and I'm finally coming to terms that she gets it from me. I see this as some type of payback. I'm talking hands on her hips shaking a finger at me sass. Oh my goodness. 

• I say 'hot mess' a lot. Probably more times a day than anyone should. I've also realized I say 'stop it' (bachelorette fans, think Andi), 'Cool!' (as in being sarcastic about something), and 'all kinds of crazy, stupid, fun, etc (as to like describe that something is very crazy, stupid, fun, etc).  I've said all that for as long as I can remember but I'm now noticing just how much I say it thanks to the 2 year old that repeats me.

• I think it's absolutely ridiculous for someone (realtor) to talk to a potential tenant (me) about scheduling an appointment to view homes and then decide to go out of town. I talked to him last Thursday and he told me to call back Monday after I had a chance to talk with Tate about when we wanted to view a house. I called him Monday (2x), Tuesday (2x) and Wednesday once. I left a voice mail each time. The second time I called on Tuesday I asked to leave a VM and then talk to another realtor. That other realtor came on the phone and said this guy was out of town until Monday but she would check her schedule and get back with me. Guess what? She never did. I totally get if he had an emergency situation and wasn't there, but I would have thought that the people he worked with would know his situation and quit sending me to VM each time and try to work with me. 

• Which leads me to this.. why can't someone return a phone call? I get it. I'm sure there are plenty of personal phone calls I haven't returned but when it comes to something work related, shouldn't you call them back? Not only would it be respectful to do so but isn't that your job? I totally get being busy and all, been there done that, but sheesh! 

• Why do people think it's appropriate to leave you kid in their underwear in public? I'm talking like 10-12 year olds. Brylee and I went to the park earlier to get out of the house and there is a splash pad there. I'm not even kidding, about 8 kids were running around in their underwear! The park was packed, too, so it's not like you had the entire splash pad to yourself. Accidents happen, sure, but to 8 kids?? That when you pack a swimsuit and/or a change of clothes. I can maybe see this happening to a toddler aged kid but not one that should know better. 

Annnnnd, that's all for today. I'm sure I've had plenty more thoughts running 95 MPH in my head today but these just stood out.

Tomorrow is Friday! :)

-Leah

Friday | Coffee, Secrets & More

Happy Friday! I have typed this intro about a dozen times now and erased it because it all involved my secret and I'm not quite ready to spill so I'll just get right into my Friday Favorites. :)

{ONE}

Coffee is an all time favorite! I've been out of my favorite K-Cup for a while now (Green Mountain Caramel Vanilla Cream) so I've been just drinking regular coffee with french vanilla creamer. I reallllly need my K-cups back, however as long as it tastes good and does it's job I'll take it. I love my coffee time. It's my alone time before anybody else wakes up. 

And check out my new (hand-me-down) cups! There originally belonged to my aunt, then my mom, then my sister, and now me! They all decided they wouldn't use them but, hello? Leopard print to add to my coffee. Yes, please!

{TWO}

Bell peppers are favorites here. I use them to cook quite frequently and we are actually having my Pepper Tacos for dinner tonight. Growing up we had a garden with lots of good things: squash, watermelon, cucumbers, and okra just to name a few. I can't say I always wanted to help in the garden, but it is one of my favorite memories with my dad and not to mention the feeling of taking a big bite of that watermelon you grew, pure bliss! Now that Brylee is starting to want to try new things, I thought a small garden would be fun for us. Since we are only renting it hasn't been able to happen (I'm still searching pinterest for ways to make it work). My mom told me to try some of the 'seeds in a cup' things so that's just what we did. I started with the bell pepper to see how we'd do. For anybody curious, I got it at Target. 

 I'll keep you guys posted on how well it's doing. Oh, and you see that ivy next to it? Fun fact: it's 25 years old! My aunt sent it to my mom the day I was born and miraculously it's still alive. How cool? :)

{THREE}

With Brylee loving to try new things, she has also developed a love to cook! She has 'pretend' cooked in her kitchen for a while now, but now she wants to help me all the time. I don't have pictures of her helping me cook, but check out her awesome gear! She wears it when she helps me cook. My aunt got it for her for her birthday. It was the last one left and they ran out of the girls ones. No worries though, Brylee loves it. She calls her apron a cooking vest. Ha! Cooking is a favorite of mine and I'm loving seeing her so eager to help. 

{FOUR}

FroYo is always a favorite! This was the wonderful day I had earlier this week. This was definitely the best part of that day. 

and now......

{FIVE}

Secret reveal... we are moving back to West Texas! Not Odessa, but not far from it! I'll wait to go into detail once the contract is signed, but Tate accepted a job as the Assistant Head Coach and I'm so excited for him. I'm so proud of the accomplishments he has made in just a few years of coaching. I can't wait to see what these next few years have for us. I've been searching all week for houses, a job, and a school for Brylee. We leave Wednesday to go sign his contract and hopefully start looking at houses. Oh the joys of moving. I will give y'all this much... 

How pretty is that?!

Linking up with my Friday Gals!

Friday Favorites: Andrea | Erika

5 On Friday: April | Natasha | Christina | Darci

Wish us luck house hunting! Hope y'all have a great weekend.

-Leah :)

The one thing that I absolutely hate..

SPIDERS! If you read my post yesterday then you know I had an off day. If not, you should go read that and come back to this one. 

I like legitimately hate spiders. They will just about make this 25 year old cry! Small to big, harmless to deadly.. I hate 'em all! The best spider is a dead spider... right? I once killed a spider at my moms house that lived in her kitchen window. I didn't know it would be a big deal until a few days later while on the phone with her she mentioned the little spider that had been living in her window cactus was gone. Hmm.. wonder why? I didn't know it had become a 'pet'.  Last night after I posted and was shutting down my computer this was me...

Ahhhh! Brylee was already asleep so I screamed then covered my mouth. Tate hadn't made it home yet so I didn't know what to do. This ginormous spider just invited himself to my desk. I watched it happen in slow motion and just froze. At one point he was eye level with me. My desk is in an awkward place so it's very hard to just get up from it (see what I mean here) but I did. I'm not even sure how. Super powers, maybe? I don't know. I was just getting the heck outta there. I knew with the office once being a patio and having no kind of ventilation that I would probably run into a spider in there at some point, that point being last night.  I ran and quickly took my fourth shower for the day! 

Now, on to today. It's been a low-key day here. Woke up, worked out (inside), did our normal morning routine and, since I was still in my workout clothes, I decided to mop the floors. Our house is all tile except the bedrooms. It's a lot of floor to mop; I was considering this my cardio, haha! With the dogs outside and Brylee napping, I got to work. I was sweeping the living room and came into one corner where I have a plant. I went to move the table the plant is on and can you guess what I saw?  A BIG BLACK SPIDER! I did the whole scream and cover my mouth thing again, froze and dropped the broom. Chills just went all over me thinking about it again. Quick reaction plan: the spider hadn't moved so I ran to my closet, put on my boots (remember, I'm in workout clothes) and tried to kick/stomp that spider. Welll.... it was kinda wedged between the wall and window sill and I missed! I picked up the broom and started hitting the area and it wouldn't come out. I nearly started crying because I didn't know where it went. I sat down on the couch for a good 30 minutes just watching and never saw it. I just know it's going to come get me in my sleep. Ahhhh. 

Here is the corner it resides in. That window on the right is the window for the 'office'. Maybe the two spiders are friends.

And here is my lovely ensemble. 

New fashion statement? No? Okay. 

And since we are talking spiders stories, here's a good one for ya. Last Halloween eve, like when we still lived in Odessa, I was up finishing up on Brylee's costume. It was super late, I'm talking 2 AM, when I finally finished and I was heading to bed. I walked through the kitchen and on to our bedroom, remembered I forgot something and went back through the kitchen to the dining room when I was stopped dead in my tracks. There was a tarantula in my kitchen! I HAD to have walked passed it and never even noticed. I, once again, screamed and covered my mouth and ran to get Tate, who didn't even hear me scream. Good to know. I was crying (told ya) and he thought it was funny. At first he didn't believe me and thought I was trying to pull some Halloween prank. Hello? Why? About 20 minutes later the spider was waaaay outside and this heart-racing Leah was going to bed.

What about y'all? Any serious fears?

As for tonight, I'll be sleeping with one eye open after Tate checks every crack and corner in the house!

-Leah :)