Chicken Enchiladas

Tonight for dinner Kyle and I were looking through a ton of cook books trying to find SOMETHING to make that included ingredients I already had at home.. which wasn't much. Then Kyle said.. how about enchiladas! There was no need for a recipe for that! Even though I've never made them before I knew exactly what to do (after a quick call to Emily first haha).

I used the small white corn tortillas. In order to make them soft so they don't crumble, dip them in oil until it bubbles, flip, bubble and and you're done! Next I put them in Old El Paso Enchilada sauce.

Then I filled them with chicken and cheese and rolled them up... I used my amazing Pampered Chef food chopper to chop the chicken almost to mush!

Set the oven at 375' to preheat.
I used 1 can of enchilada sauce since that was all I had. I poured the extra sauce on top of the enchiladas and covered them with cheese.

Popped them in the oven for 15-20 min and Voilà, it's done!

If you like a lot of sauce, definitely use 2 cans for 12 enchiladas. Should have put more cheese on top too!! The only thing we were missing was the refried beans! Oh well.

Dinner was a tasty success :)

Chicken Squares gone wrong!!

Growing up when my mom would make Chicken Squares for dinner I got so excited! I LOVED them...despite how funny looking they were.
She made them once when we had the missionaries over for dinner. They both just stared at them, not knowing what to expect. Excitedly I told them "they may look weird but they're soooo good" and I was thrilled to find out they enjoyed them as well :)
I've never attempted to make these tasty squares until now.
It didn't go over too well and I'll explain why as I go.

To start out you'll need an 8 pack of the refrigerates crescent rolls. Come to find out mine had 6... the 50% larger 6. When you take them out connect 2 rectangles together by pinching them and or rolling them.

Next you mix together 3 oz. soft cream cheese
3 tbs melted butter
2 cups cooked chicken *cubed*
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs milk
Preheat the over to 350'
Spoon the mixture into the center of the rolls.

Next it says to pull the 4 corners of the dough to the cop center of the chicken mixture. Twist slightly and seal the edges. WELL since mine were SO HUGE and long I couldn't figure the twisting part out. So I just folded them over and sealed them. Making them look MUCH less pretty than my moms.

Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with seasoning salt of choice. Bake for 25 min.

They came out SOOOO huge! Like double the size they should be and far less attractive than normal! hah Luckily they still tasted AMAZING... just how I remember :)

The recipe should make 4 squares if you get the right pack. I doubled it and made 6... which really should have been 8. One of these days I'll figure out how to twist the top to make it look pretty. But for now these GIANT Chicken Squares will do ;)

Eggs in a Basket

The other day Kyle came up to me telling his amazing new idea for cooking eggs! Come to find out it was already invented.. of course. Everything has already been invented! He was a little bummed to hear that, and has been further experimenting to make it his own! haha! Well the egg invention he thought he made up was Eggs in a Basket. I decided that this morning I'd show Ian how to make them.
When I lived in Salt Lake with my dear friend Rachel we watched V For Vendetta several times. In the movie the main character V makes Evey eggs in a basket. We had never heard of it before and decided to try it out. We ended up renaming it to Eggs in an Envelope since bread looks more like an envelope to us than a basket.
One of the most popular quotes in this movie is "remember remember the 5th of November" Well....Rachel ended up marrying Jordan on the 5th of November and we almost put that quote on their wedding invite! haha! I will NEVER forget her anniversary because of this quote :)

Anyway.. here's how you make it..
Make a hole in the middle of your bread (normally I tear it, but Ian HAD to make a perfect hole.. looks kinda pretty that way hah).

Crack and egg and put it in the hole. Wait for the pan to heat up properly first or else it wont cook right the first time. I like to season it with seasoning salt or just salt and pepper.

Here's the finished product! Sometimes I put cheese on top while the other side is cooking. You'll probably want to eat it with a fork. Once you get to the center the yolk will spill out. If you're like me and feel queezy at the sight of a runny egg or egg yolk can mix the egg first or use egg beaters (esp if you're on a diet. *they* say not to eat egg yolks if you're trying to lose weight". If you do it this way you can eat it with your hands because there's no messy yolk that's going to spill out and attack your fingers!!!

ENJOY!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today Kyle and I headed over to Atria to have dinner with our cute lil Grandma. Happy 85th Birthday Grandma!!!

We also brought her a photo of Kyle and Sarah that I took to replace his mission photo. She LOVED it. Then I told her the news of me being pregant. She was so excited that we had to count how many great grand children she'll have after mine is born. It was 30 total, 17 of which would come from my side of the family!! Ha

We love you grandma!!!

Fettuccine Afredo

Tonight's early bird special was Fettuccine Alfredo. By the time I was done cooking it was only 4:15. I guess chicken and noodles cook faster than I thought. Either that or I was starving!
I started out cooking the chicken. Normally I would cook it in the George Foreman, but it always seems to taste dry and blah, so I've started cooking it on the stove! I used my left over chicken tenderloins from Sweet & Sour Chicken night! Has anyone noticed that tenderloins taste better than "chicken boobies" (that's what Ian calls them! haha) We'll I've noticed. I sure do get sick of those chicken breasts!

And here's the yummy outcome!

I just bought a 4 pack of Alfredo sauce before I made my goal to cook from scratch! So.. after those 4 bottles are gone, I'd like to make it myself. PLEASE leave your Alfredo recipe so I can someday get around to making it!
Thanks!!
xoxo

I've got a bun in the oven and I don't mean food!

I told Ian about 7 months ago that we WILL NOT have a baby until I lose weight. I didn't want to look like a balloon next to a twig! Well.... 18 pounds later that time has come!

Saturday I woke up to my "official" missed period. I was freaking out (in a good way). There's no way I would be able to wait a week to take a test. So I called Emily asking her how long I should wait. She told me it was impossible for her to even wait a day, but it's better to wait so you don't invest money and emotions when you take the test and start an hour or day later. She did say that if it would make me feel better, just take the darn test! Sooo..
Ian and I headed to the store to pick up some things... and a pregnancy test. When we first walk into the store I see pringles and put them in our basket. We walked around the store a little bit and I couldn't hold off any longer! I popped the lid and started munching on the salty chips right then and there. When we get to the check out I show the lady my chips and asked her if she could scan them first so I could continue to munch. THEN I handed her the pregnancy test and she gave me a little look which said..."oh honey, you are SO pregnant" haha
We get home and I was determined to save the test until Sunday.... 5 minutes later I was upstairs peeing on a stick. Right away the stick changed to a light plus sign. I was in shock, took a picture and sent it to Emily with the words "Plus Sign?"

She called me right away... "GIRL YOU'RE KIDDING ME?! YOU'RE PREGNANT!" Instantly I started to cry.... this was TOO perfect.. too good to be true. Seriously.. perfect timing. Then I insisted on taking the 2nd test on Sunday... 5 minutes later I was up in the bathroom again. This time with the result of an even more prominent plus sign! It was official.

WE'RE PREGNANT!

The whole week prior Ian was convinced I wasn't pregnant. So he was definitely in a state of shock. After the 2nd test he was more convinced and started chanting "We're gonna have a baby, we're gonna have a baby!"
We then called my mom and his mom. I was so happy with his mom's reaction. He called her and said "Mom... Wendy took a test.." then she replied with "what test? oooooooooh!!!!" and squealed with delight! It totally made my day. My mom on the other hand.. every time I call and say "guess what?" she ALWAYS, without fail says "you're pregnant?". Well this time she finally got a yes and was happy with the result!

So I filled in my information online and I'm roughly 4.5 weeks and the baby is due September 25th. On my brother Kevin's birthday, 5 days after my dad's birthday.... the same day as a few other friends birthdays!
Now.. when I said before that this was perfect timing, I meant it. It's right after the summer wedding rush (I have 1 in May in CA, 2 in June one of which is in CA, 1 in July and possibly 1 in Nov. in CA). I will have a nice gap to have the baby and recover. I know August is also a busy wedding month, but I'm not sure I will be booking any the month before my baby is due! We'll see though.
I'm so happy and excited that God answered my prayers. I've been stressing out telling Ian we only have a tiny gap to get pregnant to fit around the weddings. It happened and I couldn't be more thrilled!

I also went to the Dr. yesterday to get blood work done so that I'm150% sure I'm pregnant. They called this morning and said I am indeed pregnant, but I should go back in tomorrow to make sure my levels are going up!!! I know most people wait longer to tell, but I can't.. I'm just too excited! Wish me luck!

I want to keep track of my measurements each month.. so here they are.

STARTING MEASUREMENTS:
weight: 131
bust: 34'
waist: 26'
belly: 32'
hips/bum: 36'

Chicken & Broccoli Ring

Tonight's dinner was a Pampered Chef recipe... Chicken & Broccoli in a ring! Here's the recipe and how to make the ring...

To start out, I didn't feel like going to the store to get a bell pepper, dill mix or a garlic clove. But I looked up "All-Purpose Dill Mix" and Pampered Chef's recipe consists of dill weed, onion, garlic, herbs and spices. So to make up for my lack of seasoning I chopped up a small slice of an onion and mixed it with seasoning salt and garlic salt. Then I put poultry seasoning on my chicken while cooking it. I mixed everything together and it tasted fantastic!

Here's my ring with the yummy mixture...

I forgot to put the egg on top.. but I didn't put almonds on it anyway and I figured the egg was to help make the almonds stick. So instead I put cheese on top. Like I've said before, we LOVE cheese around here! 

This picture makes it looked burnt but it's not! It's totally pretty...

 See.....

 

Edits: We didn't have Mayo so I used Miracle Whip. I was afraid it would make it taste tangy, but it totally didn't! Thank goodness!

Learn from my mistakes:

DO NOT make this on top of the stove. All my little triangles started melting from the heat of the oven. They totally stretched out so I had to roll the ends instead of it fitting perfectly across the mixture! haha

If you like this recipe Pampered Chef has sooo many different recipes you can put in these rings and other fun shapes!

Now swing on over to my Photo Blog to see the cutest pictures ever of Kyle and Sarah that I photographed!

Tonights Menu - Sweet & Sour Chicken

I am very pleased to give you an AMAZING recipe that my dear friend Brandie gave me! I will go ahead and give the ingredients as I'm explaining dinner and the photos...

First off, I halved the recipe but probably could have made the whole thing!

It starts with 3 lbs of chicken tenderloins coated in:
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
I just put the chicken in a bag and shook it up until they were all coated.

Then beat 2 eggs. Dip the coated chicken in the eggs and brown them in oil on the stove.
They should look golden brown as shown...

While you are browning the chicken go ahead and mix this sauce over heat until it's dissolved:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup catchup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
When the chicken is golden brown pour the sauce mix over the chicken on a cookie sheet...

Bake at 350 * for 30 minutes. But don't forget to preheat!! Kyle and I had the chicken all ready and it had to sit for 5 or so minutes until the oven was heated.

While the yummyness was cooking I started making veggies and rice in my amazing steamer that I believe Ian and I got from David and Anna for our wedding! Thanks you two!

I made about 2 cups of rice.. which was double the amount I should have made for halving this recipe.
Then the chicken was done! Yum!

I put the rice in bowls and topped it with the chicken....

then added on the veggies....

It looks so pretty and is super de duper de yummy!!!

EDITS:

I believe the recipe is JUST for Sweet & Sour Chicken. So... Kyle cut the chicken into smaller pieces. We obviously added in the rice and veggies as well. IF you do this, you MIGHT want to consider making a tad more sauce to pour on the rice. I will totally keep that in mind for next time! If you don't, no worries. It was still fabulous!

NOW check out my new post on My Photo Blog of a cute prego lady :)

My new blog and UPDATES!

Hello friends and family! Welcome to my "personal" blog. I thought that having my Photo Blog was good enough, but I've decided that I really need a blog of my own to post my daily boring activities :)
Plus I need an excuse to photograph more than just paying customers! Yes I know, sad that I need an excuse to photograph life, but once you start doing photography for a living you stop doing photography for fun.

So here I am!

Here on my new blog you will get to indulge yourself in my ranting and ravings about daily life as well as my joyous attempts to cook! *bah!*

So lets back track a bit.. back to October.
Ian and I bought our first home in October! It's been the best decision we've ever made, besides marrying each other of course ;) I wont be posting ALL my photos on here in this first post, but if you are a Facebooker you can peruse my photos and see all our fabulous new updates HERE!
But here's a little view from the living room. I LOVE these stairs!

In December we had all the Gailey family over for Christmas Eve activities! It was fun and a tad bit nerve wracking having 16 nieces/nephews, siblings, spouses and Grandparents over for dinner and gifts. Happily I survived the madness and actually enjoyed it very much! We had people scattered throughout the 3 levels of our house! Wii and old school Nintendo lovers in the basement, older nieces trying to keep away from the noise upstairs in the office, people who love food in the kitchen, and everyone else in the living room!! Here's a good photo I stole from Emily's Blog of the Christmas Madness!!

Later that weekend Kyle (my baby brother) moved in with us until he gets married in May. Which brings us into January...

Welcome to January!! School has started back up for Ian. Because of this I'm completely thrilled to have Kyle around. Ian leaves around 8:30 am and comes home around 11:30 pm. EVERY weekday. So needless to say, I am so very glad I have Kyle to keep me company. And because Kyle is home in the evenings, I actually have somebody to cook for! And if you know me, and I mean really know me.. you'll know that I've NEVER been a cook.. and possibly never will be. Which is very depressing for Ian since he comes from a family of amazing cooks.
But this new year I am attempting to making dinner for the 2 of us almost every night. I will also need to make enough to have left overs for two grown men the next day. Which means that Ian will finally get a REAL dinner at work the following day :)

This is my news for now. Tomorrow I will post about tonight's dinner! Exciting I know ;)