My Christmas Goodies

Christmas just got away from me this year.  Before I knew it we were wishing everyone a Happy New Year and were back to work full time and crazy busy.  I had posted earlier some of the snacks I made, but I did take pictures of them so I wanted to share.  The above picture is when Lukas and I put together a Ginger Bread house.  Here are some other pictures.  Lukas and I building the ginger bread house, the M&M chocolate pretzels, brownie covered Oreos, and my little guy wearing the apron my Mom got him for Christmas!  It was a great time...but got way too busy.  I am sure with two kids next year it will be even busier!

Peanut Butter...is my new go to food.

Well...all I can say is wow.  I now remember the early pregnancy sickness and never knowing when it's coming.  I had it with my first one and now with this one.  What can I say...I have started eating in the middle of the night, munching small things through the whole day, and napping accidentally quite often.  I confess that I have not been cooking.  We have had frozen pizzas, things that can cook in a crock pot all day, or having good old ramen noodle.  Poor Lukas he doesn't seem to care though.  I try to change up what he is eating, but I just don't have the energy or the desire to cook.  However, there is one thing that has kept me a happy girl and it's peanut butter.  I liked peanut butter before, but now I LOVE peanut butter.

My 3 favorite peanut butter loves have been.
     1.  Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches on whole wheat bread...So so very yummy!  I use Skippy's natural  peanut butter and a good old Dole banana.  These grilled are very good too!

     2.  Peanut Butter Crackers...a wonderful snack that helps me keep sickness away!  Ritz whole wheat crackers and of course Skippy's natural peanut butter!

     3.  Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches on whole wheat bread.  I make these and keep them in a ziplock baggie for my middle of the night potty breaks and hunger sessions!  I use Smuckers Strawberry sugar free jelly it's very delicious!

Sorry I didn't have anything more delicious or earth shattering, but I am attending a baking party on Saturday and with hopes I will bring some pictures and stories back with some yummy Christmas snacks! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I never posted Thanksgiving recipes, because I don't actually cook anything for Thanksgiving.  We always go to either my side or my husband's side of the family.  It's a every other year kind of thing.  Also I don't like some of the Thanksgiving traditional recipes.  I am not a fan of pecan pie, anything with pumpkin, or sweet potatoes.  However, I do love turkey, veggies, and potatoes!  French silk pie is always what we have for dessert so we will enjoy that.  Hopefully you all have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy spending time with your family!

Here are some links to some of my favorite sites that posted some wonderful Thanksgiving Recipes.

Mommy's Kitchen:  Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie

Big Red Kitchen:  Thanksgiving Wassail

Noble Pig:  Creamy Bacon and Green Onion Mashed Potatoes

Evil Chef Mom:  Sauteed Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Budget Bites:  Mushroom Herb Gravy

I am looking forward to the eating and to the napping that comes with Thanksgiving!  Oh and the football!  Hope yours is great! ♥

Chicken Marsala

First off let me say Happy Friday!  Amen for the weekend coming!  Second I have some news!  I found out Monday I am pregnant!  This will be my second child and we are all very excited!  I don't care if it's a he or a she...I just want a healthy baby.  My little guy will be a fantastic big brother and we are really looking forward to this summer!  I guess we will see how my blog direction goes in terms of cravings, sickness, and musings.

So anyway, let me admire this Chicken Marsala. This is one of my husband's favorites. He orders this when we are out and they have it on the menu.  I have never made it until the other day or even had it.  When we are usually out and he orders this and I am a pasta lady so I order me some pasta.  I found this recipe on Olive Garden's website.

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients:
4 ea Chicken half-breast, boneless & skinless
1/4 cup(s) Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Oregano, dried
4 Tbsp Oil
4 Tbsp Butter (or margarine)
1 cup(s) Fresh Mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup(s) Marsala wine

Pound chicken breasts between sheets of "Saran Wrap" until about 1/4" even-thickness.  Combine flour, salt, pepper and oregano, blend.  Dredge chicken pieces in the flour, shake off excess.  Heat oil and butter in frying pan over medium heat.  Cook the breasts on medium heat for about two minutes on the first side, until lightly brown.  Turn breasts over to second side to cook, add the mushrooms around the chicken breasts.  Cook breasts about two more minutes, until lightly browned on the second side, stir the mushrooms.  When lightly browned, add Marsala around the chicken pieces, cover and simmer for about ten minutes.  Transfer to serving plate.

I must add...my favorite part of this recipe was pounding the chicken!  

Sunshine Blog Award!

 I received the Sunshine Blog Award from coolblogger of Gourmet's Kichenette! 

Here are twelve fellow bloggers I am awarding the Sunshine Blog Award to.
1.  Amy of "Dinners for a Year and Beyond" http://dinnersforayear.blogspot.com/
2.  Susan of "You Go Girl" http://www.ugogrrl.com/
3.  Beth of "Budget Bites" http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/
4.  Monica of "Lick The Bowl Good" http://lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/
5.  Katie of "Chaos in the Kitchen" http://chaosinthekitchen.com/
6.  Chrissy of  "Feeding our Faces" http://cookingformyhusband.blogspot.com/
7.  Dr. Sameena of "My Culinary Creations" http://myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com/
8.  Meredith of "in sock monkey slippers" http://www.insockmonkeyslippers.com/
9.  Carrie of "Carrie's Cooking and Recipes" http://cookingwithcarrie.blogspot.com/
10.  Jenna of "Kid Appeal" http://foodwithkidappeal.blogspot.com/
11.  Stacy of "Recipes for Moms" http://www.recipesformoms.com/
12.  Jenny of "Payday Shopping" http://paydayshopping.blogspot.com/

I must say I was surprised when I received this award!  Thanks so much coolblogger you really made my day!  I am no recipe creator or anything I just read blogs for ideas for things to try on my family and then I gladly share it!  I plan ahead and always try at least 2 or 3 new recipes every week.  Please check out Gourmet's Kitchenette her blog features some really awesome Indian food which my husband and I are going to be trying very soon!  She also had a really neat Halloween Potluck she hosted on her site!

The Sunshine Award, is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world.
The rules for accepting this award are:-
Put the logo on your blog or within your post,
Pass the award on to 12 bloggers,
Link the nominees within your post,
Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog,

Share the love and link to the person from whom you have received this award.

Ok...too much junk!

Happy Friday!  I do realize I have been posting a lot of junk food lately.  Probably too much.  What you should know is that I don't necessarily keep everything I make.  I like to give away the brownies, cookies, or pie as treats to family and friends.  If I don't get rid of it that way I bring whatever it is into work.  When you work in a big company there is always someone who wants to gobble up what you bring!  No matter what it is!

Well the other night we decided to have a nice dinner of chicken, rice, and green beans.  I decided I wanted to try something like shake n bake and found this recipe from TastyKitchen.com.

Homemade Shake N Bake.
Ingredients:

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Celery Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Dry Mustard
• 4 Tablespoons Paprika
• 2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Thyme
• ½ teaspoons Sweet Basil
• ½ teaspoons Oregano

I did half of everything since this makes so much.  Blend or mix well then place in zip lock bag.  Line 13x9 baking dish with foil.  Cut fat off chicken, rinse, and shake and place in baking dish.  I baked the chicken at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

There will be lots of "shake n bake" left over.  The recipe said you can freeze it and use it whenever.  So...that is what we are doing.

Food and Calories

There is one thing I really look at on labels and recipes that have them is the nutrition information.  I don't count calories per say, but I do try to pick lower calorie foods and recipes.  Not all recipes I pick have a lower calorie count, but if I do my best to pick healthier meals for myself and my family it makes me feel a lot better about feeding it to them.

On http://allrecipes.com most recipes come with the nutrition information.  Even cookies have the nutrition information!  Not many sites will show you what the nutrition information is for what you are making, but there are some sites that you can use to find out.  This site is on www.fitwatch.com and it's a Recipe Analyzer.  It helps you find out how many calories and other nutrition information are in the recipe you are going to make.

Pumpkin Carving Templates

We are starting to get ready for Halloween around our house.  This next week we will be getting some pumpkins and carving them.  My husband and I love Halloween!  One of our favorite times of the year!

I was over at Allrecipes.com and I found these neat pumpkin templates!  Check them out!  I printed out the Grin, Kitty, and the Death face templates.

Pumpkin Templates

Blog Name Change!

I changed the name of this blog.  Mostly because Super Recipe Girl didn't mean anything to me.  I love to look up recipes and make them, but I don't create them.

I felt like SpicyArtichoke fit because I used this name when I used to online game.  She was my little chick that hid in the shadows and would kill other players.  I have mentioned before I am a computer nerd...right?

Well this name feels like it fits better.  Not like I am going to hide in the shadows and kill people kind of way.  In a kind of way that I have used this name and I am comfortable with it.  It makes me happy to see it!  So it's staying!