Win a signed copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

This giveaway has me very excited. Although I haven't made any of Ree's (the Pioneer Woman) recipes yet I do check out her website regularly and once I get back into the swing of cooking I plan to tackle the recipes that I have bookmarked.

Go to An Everyday Angel and follow the instructions on how to enter for your chance to win a signed copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Good luck!

Roasted Chicken Drumsticks

I haven't been cooking anything new lately. I am uninspired to cook. Both of my babies are teething...Stephanie has been struggling with her molars and Evita with her first teeth. So for the past week they have been waking up crying from the pain. Never at the same time, though. One wakes up crying and once she has fallen back asleep and I think that it's safe to drift off into dreamland the other one wakes up crying. There isn't enough make up in the world right now to cover up the dark circles under my eyes.

I'm almost embarrassed to post this "recipe" for roasted chicken drumsticks since it's not really a recipe at all. I took my crappy pictures of the food but was just going to delete them when I received a text from Alberto the next morning praising my chicken. I won't tell him my secret but I will share it with you.

I was dreading cooking the chicken because I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I wanted something different than the usual salt, pepper, garlic, oregano & lemon. I opened the refrigerator door to get the chicken out when I saw this...



...and I knew what I was going to do.

Since this isn't a recipe I can't post how much of this or that I used but I will share what I did.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Place chicken in baking dish and pour about 1/2 cup to a cup of dressing over chicken.



I didn't marinate it this time but I plan to next time to see if it makes a difference in the flavor. I ended up sprinkling a bit of salt & pepper on top because I love flavorful skin.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 1 hour. Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes to brown.



I served it with white rice and sauteed zucchini & onion. I had intended on adding a can of diced tomatoes to the zucchini but realized that I didn't have any. On a whim I added some of the salad dressing and it turned out great.

Win a Bracelet!

Hey everyone!

I thought that I'd share with you all the opportunity to win a beautiful personalized handstamped bracelet. All you need to do is click on the link below, check out the amazing photographer and follow her rules for entering in the contest.

http://lifeisahighwayphotography.com/

Good luck!

I'm so excited...

and I just can't hide it!!!!!

I just got an early Mother's Day gift and I am still in shock that my subtle hints actually worked. OK....maybe the half a dozen emails gave Alberto the idea that I really really wanted it but I really am surprised that he bought it.

Ta-da!!!!! It's my brand new KINDLE!!!!!!!


I'm so happy that I can't stop smiling! There are so many times that I have wanted to read something but didn't have anything. Going to the bookstore with the babies is out of the question...at least until I'm sure that they'll sit still for story time. And I never get around to ordering online.

I really think that this will help me get back to reading the way I used to. Now I need to find a cute pink cover for my new toy!

Goodbye dear uncle...

My uncle passed away yesterday.

The last time that I saw him was at Stephanie's 1st birthday party almost a year ago. He moved to the Dominican Republic several years ago for work so I didn't get to see him very often.

He found love very late in life. He leaves behind a young wife and 2 small children. May he rest in peace.

Homemade Wrinkle Release

Happy Easter everyone!

I don't have a recipe to post about but I did decide to post about something that I'm very excited about...homemade wrinkle release! Every night I iron my daughter's uniform for school and Alberto's clothes for work the next day. I don't love to iron but I do it because it needs to be done. The babies clothes usually don't need to be ironed and by the time I get around to getting myself dressed I can't be bothered to iron my own clothes. I was always running out of Downy Wrinkle Release and after a while it can be pricey to buy. That stuff is like gold to me. Lightly spray your wrinkled clothes, smooth out the wrinkles, let it dry and tah-dah the clothes are wrinkle free.

So yesterday my shirt was the only thing that needed to be ironed and I was out of my wrinkle release. I really couldn't be bothered to bust out the iron and ironing board so I decided to search online for a homemade solution. Success!! Tipnut.com had a recipe for homemade wrinkle release and I have to tell you that I feel pretty darn dumb for not thinking of it myself.

Homemade Wrinkle Release Spray

Ingredients:

1 tsp fabric softener (liquid)
1 cup water (distilled is best)

Directions:

• Mix the water and the fabric softener together in a small spray bottle, one that has a fine mist spray nozzle.

Use as you would with a commercial wrinkle releaser, spray generously on wrinkled clothing then tug and pull item to smooth. Hang or lay flat to dry.

*Try a small spot first to make sure this solution won’t stain the fabric.

Carrot / Zucchini Muffins

My almost 2 year old is on a food strike. Has been for quite a while. She used to eat everything but now it seems like she won't anything other than Goldfish or Cheerios. So I have now resorted to trying to hide veggies into things that I'm fairly certain she will eat. Like a muffin.

I posted on my message board looking for advice on what to feed my super picky child and someone posted this recipe carrot/zucchini muffins. I was intrigued so I bought the ingredients and got to baking.



Carrot/Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1 cup grated carrots (approximately 2 medium size carrots)
• 1 cup grated zucchini (approximately 1 medium zucchini)
• 1 cup all-purpose whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (optional – leave out for super moist muffins!)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. In a large bowl, whisk together oil and sugar.
3. Beat in egg, then applesauce.
4. Stir in carrots and zucchini.
5. In another large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
6. Fold dry ingredients into wet, until just mixed.
7. Spoon batter to the very top of sprayed, paper-lined muffin cups and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in a muffin.

My verdict: Not bad! I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. They were super easy to make and Stephanie even ate hers! The only thing I would differently next time (and there will be a next time) is that I would grate the carrots and zucchini more finely. Stephanie picked out some of the "offensive" veggies from her muffins.