witchy woman...

really easy recipe 104...

This is an easier version of a Rachel Ray recipe...I made it last week and it was DELICIOUS!!

Chicken Salsa Verde Bake
1 rotisserie chicken (pre-cooked from the grocery)
1 16 oz jar salsa verde
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 cup sour cream
3 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 bag mexican style shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pull and shred all the meat off the chicken, put into large mixing bowl. Stir in the salsa, beans and sour cream. Grease a baking dish (I used a 2.5 qt bowl, but a 9x9 pan would prob work), scatter 1 cup tortilla chips on the bottom and top with half of the chicken mix and half of the cheese. Repeat layers and cover with the remaining 1 cup of tortilla chips. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

halloween candy...

ghosts, goblins, ghouls and...sugar!! here is a recipe for your sweet tooth...

chocolate halloween bark

1 package of white chocolate chips

1 bag of pretzel sticks

1 bag of candy corn

dozen oreo cookies

chop up the oreos and pretzels. spread the oreos, pretzels and candy corn on a cookie sheet. melt the chocolate chips. spoon and stir the melted chocolate over the mix until everything is coated. refrigerate for 15 minutes. break into bite sized pieces and enjoy!

ps. grab an exta bag of chocolate chips if you aren't confident in your ability to double boil them...i went through three bags this time. :)

ice ice baby...

josh and i had our first post-baby date last night (thanks deb, for watching the little monkey). even though we talked about drew most of the night, it was nice to actually enjoy dinner together. we went to Fireside Pies...YUMMIE!!...and then went ice skating at the stars center in grapevine mills mall. we've been talking and talking and talking about going ice skating for YEARS. so we finally buckled up the skates and hit the ice with a bunch of kids that looked like professionals. josh is actually a pretty good skater from his roller and ice hockey days. me, on the other hand, haven't put on any kind of skates in at least 10 years!! i have to say i did pretty well, never fell and was moving pretty fast there toward the end. we weren't really dressed appropriately -- it was FREEZING, go figure -- so our venture didn't last all that long but we had a great time. while we were there we got information on skate lessons for kids, we're already prepping drew for his NHL career...

baby drew...

thanks again brian!!

really easy recipe 103...

here's another quick (and inexpensive) meal which josh and i enjoyed last night...all of the ingredients combined were actually cheaper than ordering a pizza.

chicken and artichoke stromboli
1 pre-made pizza dough
1 can marinated artichokes
1 package grilled chicken
1 can sliced olives
1 package italian blend grated cheese

roll the dough flat on a cookie sheet and layer all the ingredients. fold in the short sides of the dough and then pinch together the long sides. bake at 400 degrees until golden brown (appx 20 minutes). slice and serve with ranch or marinara for dipping. yummy!!

our home opener...

so most of you know josh and i are HUGE dallas stars fans. because we missed the first two games of the season last weekend while in abilene, we decided the game tonight would be our "home opener." after drew and i had lunch with some work friends, he slept ALL afternoon in preparation for the big night.

during pre-game with our gear on...

reclining in his boppy watching the game...

stars win, but we're upset with turco's performance --- he gave up 4 goals!!

friend or foe...

drew got to meet one of his new friends today -- zachary! allison (my freshman roommate from tech) came to visit us from daytona beach and brought her two boys, one of which was born just 10 days after drew. drew and zac cried together, slept together, ate together and then had a little tussle when we tried to photograph them together. we're glad they came to visit, wish they could have stayed longer and miss them already!!

over the river...

and through the woods to grandmother's house we went this weekend for sarah beth and joe's fabulous fall wedding. josh and i were worried we'd have to rent a uhaul to get all of drew's stuff packed up for our first road trip, but we managed to get everything in the truck with room to spare.

we were also worried about drew being able to keep up with our busy schedule, but he was such a trooper ALL weekend. he slept through our family dinner on thursday night, a visit to great-grandma and grandpa yarger's on friday morning, decorating on friday afternoon, the rehearsal dinner on friday night, the bridal luncheon on saturday morning, decorating on saturday afternoon and even the wedding on saturday evening.

overall the wedding weekend was a huge success and sooo much fun -- congrats again to mr. and mrs. moschella!!

cuzzies...

check out the size difference between drew and his 2nd cousin eli. the pacifier on drew is tiny compared to little eli, where it takes up most of his face! granted he was born two weeks after drew and five weeks early!!

sure are some cute babies!!

really easy recipe 102...

chocolate eclair cake is one of our family favorite desserts and another VERY easy recipe to prepare.

2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding
4 cups of milk
1 container of cool whip
1 jar of chocolate frosting
1 box of graham crackers

prepare pudding according to package directions and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes. stir the cool whip into the pudding. line the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with graham crakers. pour in 1/3 of the pudding mixture and then add another layer of graham crackers. repeat twice. graham crackers should be the top/final layer. microwave the chocolate frosting for 15 seconds (so it's easier to spread) and pour over the graham crackers. refrigerate until ready to serve. this one is actually better the next day...enjoy!!

30 days and 30 nights...

where does the time go?! i am amazed drew is already one month old. i suppose time does fly by when you're having fun. here are a few words to describe the emotional roller coaster that was september...

D: doctor, delivery, dream, devotion, drowsy, diapers, dedicated, demanding
R: relief, rattle, responsibility, relatives, rocking chair, rejoice
E: epidural, ecstatic, engorgement, expressing, exhaustion
W: wow, worried, weary, wish, worship, wonderful, weep, wipes, whining