a love without end.

Well, here I am again, writing an 'in memory of' post. There's got to be some unwritten rule somewhere about how many family members you are allowed to lose in a certain time period. Whatever that rule is, it apparently doesn't apply to us. Today I get to honor my maternal grandmother - Gaynell Worth.

I just saw her in August when we were in Illinois visiting. She came up to visit, too. She was in what seemed like perfect health. I do remember telling her that I 'didn't look good enough' for a family picture. Kind of regretting that now. In January, she was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. Go ahead and do some research on it. It's not a pretty thing and there is no cure. Just know I was always fighting for you, grandma. Always. 

I couldn't have asked for a more loving, caring woman to be in my life. Whenever we were in a bind, she always helped pull us out. When Chris and I moved to AL for a short period of time, we got to spend so much time with her. Of all that time in AL, there are two times that stick out. I always thought my grandma was silly for her dreams. She'd call us up randomly and tell us something was going to happen. Surprising, more times than not, she was right. When I was at her house in the beginning of January 2009, I just laughed when she said she had a dream that one of the grandkids was pregnant. We already knew my cousin was, so I just assumed it was about her. She said in her dream it was a little boy crawling around her floor. Well, two weeks later I called to inform her that I had a positive pregnancy test. Five months later, I called to tell her it was a little boy. She said 'I told you so'. 

February 2010, my little man and I took a trip to see his daddy graduate from OSUT at Fort Benning, GA. After, we stopped to visit my grandparents. My heart melted watching her play with him.

Conner and his great-grandma 2010

That picture right there is how I will remember her. The loving, caring, one-of-a-kind grandma, who made a killer cheeseball, by the way! She didn't have a filter and had the mouth of a sailor, but a heart of gold. She will be greatly missed. I know this is nowhere near as long as my usual ones, but I'm still just letting it sink in that I'll never get to hug her again. I love you, grandma! 

orange push up smoothies

So, I stumbled across this little gem on Pinterest and figured I needed to give it a try. I have three words for you friends: OH. MY. GOD.

This is like Heaven in my mouth. Yes, it's a lot of sugar, but WHO CARES!? Actually, I'll probably put less sugar last time because it's so sweet that I can't chug it like I want to haha.

Ingredients:

1 can orange juice concentrate, slightly thawed

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups of ice

Mix all ingredients in a blender except ice. Add ice and blend until smooth and creamy. DEVOUR IT!

mexican pizzas

I used to have a huge love for Taco Bell. In the past few years, my taste has suddenly changed. I can't stand the taste of their meat, and they ALWAYS end up getting out order wrong anyway. One of my favorite items on their menu is the mexican pizza. Here is a copy cat version, with one exception: you know absolutely everything that is in it! :)

Ingredients:

1 pd ground beef

1 can package of taco seasoning (or 2 Tbsp if you make your own like I do)

1 can of refried beans

1 can of red enchilada sauce

1 package of flour tortillas

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozz cheese 

(you can also do 1 cup of shredded mexican blend in place of the cheddar and mozz)

1 medium tomato, diced

Preheat your oven to 350F. Start browning the meat and drain. Add in the taco seasoning and water, stir. Meanwhile, spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Put 2 tortillas on there and pop it in your heated oven. Bake for about 4-5 minutes and then flip and do the same. Your tortillas should be nicely browned, so keep an eye out. You may need a little less or little more time. Once those two are done, put them aside on a plate and put in two more. This is much easier if you have two baking sheets. Then you can do them all at once.  Repeat the bake, flip, bake cycle with those. Heat up your refried beans in a microwave safe bowl. Once all tortillas are done, put a nice layer of the beans on two of the tortillas. You will have leftover beans. Add a layer of taco meat on top of the beans. Put the second set of tortillas right on top. Spoon enchilada sauce over the tops of the pizzas and then sprinkle cheese over that. Put those bad boys back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so, until cheese is all melted. Sprinkle your tomatoes on and serve! You can also add your favorite hot sauce or sour cream, whatever you like on your mexican pizzas. Delicious! 

By the way, it was hard for my husband to even finish one of these things. Two is plenty for our family. We end up having extra beans, enchilada sauce, and taco meat leftover, so our 2 year old gets some nice tacos instead of the pizza. For some reason he hasn't developed a love of the mexican pizza yet. In time, I bet he will!

and bean is a...

BOY!

Quite surprising since EVERYTHING pointed to girl. We went to Las Cruces, NM to this little place called Baby Cheeks 3D/4D Ultrasounds for an elective gender scan since I wouldn't be able to get my anatomy scan here in El Paso due to moving right around 20 weeks. It is usually about a 45 minute drive with no traffic, so we left early since it was Saturday and we didn't know what to expect. Turns out, it only took us about 40 minutes all together, so we got there SUPER early. To pass time, we went to Barnes & Noble so Conner could play around in the kids section.

At 10:45 we went back to Baby Cheeks and got to go in a little early. The first shot of the baby's 'area' made us all question it, but after the second shot, we knew this little bean was a dude. Conner was instantly upset and told her 'NO!' Chris told him it was baby brother Lucas and he just pouted. The tech offered to give him his own ultrasound picture and he was happy about that. We decided to take him back to the mall where Barnes & Noble was to let him pick out something to maybe get him feeling more happy about having a brother rather than the sister he wanted. 

We walked all over that mall and the only kids store was The Children's Place. Too expensive for my liking. We did find a cute little candy store and they had a jar that said 'It's a Boy' on it, so Conner got that a filled it with blue and green gummy bears. Then we started our drive back to El Paso.

We called all of our family, and for the most part received positive reactions. I think it was more than just us hoping for a little girl, but that's alright. We very happy to still have a healthy little boy growing in there, especially with all of the issues I have been having this pregnancy. He's still flipped with his head to my cervix, but he stretches out enough to kick my belly button. He's also measuring a few days ahead, which I find weird since I still have no appetite and sitting below pre-pregnancy weight. 

For some reason, it won't let me upload Conner's picture that we took for the gender reveal, but here is an ultrasound picture of our little Lucas Reed. <3

I'll try to keep updating more. I've been slacking a lot.

burrito grande

As the title suggests, this is a GIGANTIC burrito. I bet it can feed like 5 people. It's really easy to make, was relatively cheap, and tasted delicious. Nothing like you get at a real Mexican restaurant, but it'll do!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound bulk chorizo sausage

1 can of chili beans with sauce, undrained

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 flour tortillas (10 in)

2 cups of shredded cheese (I used Mozz and Cheddar mix)

1 cup of red enchilada sauce

sour cream, optional

Preheat your oven to 375F. Lightly spray a 15x10 inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. In a skillet, cook up your sausage. You can also use ground beef if you don't like chorizo sausage. Drain the grease. Add in the chili beans and cumin. Mix well. Place your tortillas, overlapping, in your baking dish. Spoon the sausage mixture right down the middle of the tortillas. Sprinkle with a cup of cheese. Yes, it's a lot of cheese. Fold your massive burrito over, seam side down. Spoon the enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese. Pop that bad boy in the oven for 15 minutes. Once cooked, cut it up (unless one person wants to take on this beast) and top with sour cream if you wish. Now let your taste buds explode with happiness! I should have made some rice to go on the side. I'll remember that for next time.

mini chicken pot pies

Here's another muffin tin recipe! Super fast and simple.

Ingredients:

2 (10 oz) cans pillsbury biscuits 

1 (10.5 oz) can of cream of chicken

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 chicken breast, cooked and diced

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly spray the regular size muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a bowl, mix all ingredients except the biscuits. Slightly flatten out each biscuit and press each one into an individual muffin cup. Spoon in chicken mixture into each biscuit cup. I used a heaping tablespoonful of the mixture and had a little left over. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the biscuits are a golden brown color. Let them sit for a few minutes once out of the oven and then serve hot!

mini corn dogs

My husband said that the dinner I made tonight was 'cute' so I needed to share it. I haven't shared any in a while anyway. Tonight I made mini corn dogs in a mini muffin tin. Super simple, and makes soo much! I know what I'll be making for future get togethers. Who doesn't like corn dogs?!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of milk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup of cornmeal

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

10 hotdogs (or turkey dogs, whatever your preference)

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk until combined. Add in eggs and whisk again. Add in milk and whisk again. In a separate bowl, mix together the baking soda, cornmeal, flour and salt until well combined. Add the cornmeal mixture to the wet mixture and whisk well. Spray the mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Pour about a tablespoon of mix into each cup. Cut the hotdogs into 1 inch pieces and place into the middle of each cup. Bake for 8-12 minutes. This makes approximately 48 mini corn dogs. I only had 8 hotdogs, so I ended up having about 36 mini corn dogs and then 12 mini cornbread muffins. Delicious! Here is what they look like before and after. I only have 1 mini muffin tin so I had to do 2 batches.