Octopus Hotdogs, yep that's right

Last week, AnnaLauren and I were trying to decide on what she wanted for dinner.  Tommy and Noah had requested a dinner of veggies only.  AnnaLauren will not do veggies only so I was going through the list of meat options for her - chicken nuggets - no, fish sticks - no, ABC's & 123's - no, chicken & rice - no.

We were both exasperated. 

Then, AnnaLauren looked up at me and said, "Mother Mudder, I want real fun dinner!"

Ok then.

So I did what any super fun mom would do - I made Octopus Hotdogs.  Served with mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, a crescent roll and the required princess vitamin - all was right with the world!

A Quick "How To"
1.  Choose your favorite hotdog and lay it flat on your cutting board (or a paper towel)

2.  Make a cut all the way through starting about 3/4 of the way up the hotdog

3.  Roll the hotdog 1/2 turn and cut again

4.  Stand him up and splay out the legs.  I also cut an "X" into the top.

5.  Nuke in the microwave for about a minute or drop into boiling water.

6.  Serve with ketchup for dipping!

7.  Explain to your children that octopi do indeed have 8 legs and not four but that these were obviously either injured in a fierce battle with a great white shark or victims of a tragic boat propeller accident. :)

Have a fantastic week!

A Very Busy (and fun-filled) Weekend

One day (hopefully in the near future), I will have a laptop at my house that works and I will get to post pictures from Christmas and our snow days and all the other things we've been doing for the past month and a half.  For now though, our Dave Ramsey budget doesn't allow for a new computer purchase. :(

But, this weekend I made a few pictures with my phone so you will get at least a little of us!

So here's what we did...

Friday Night

Noah went to his dad's.

AnnaLauren went here with her GeGe - I do NOT love this place!

Tommy and I sat at home.  He "worked" on his work laptop and I decorated for a baby shower.

Saturday

AnnaLauren headed to her Grams to spend the night,Tommy headed out to get away from all the women and I threw a baby shower!

My sweet friend, Victoria, came over and we had a fabulous Woodland Themed Baby Shower, complete with pine cones, sunflowers and the cutest cakes you've ever seen!

This is one of the signs from the party.  So Cute!  I will try to do a complete post about this sweet and very budget friendly shower.

Saturday Night

After a little clean up.  Tommy and I got ready and had a little night out.

We went to a little place called The Stables for a cocktail and some fresh chicken strips.  Yum!  It's located is an alley downtown and actually did serve as a stable and carriage house way back in the day.

Then we went to see these guys!  They were never really on my radar before, but they were fantastic!  Seriously, two thumbs up!

Rascal Flatts

We had fun - see!  We even made a self-portrait!

 

After the show, we did the old stand by from back when we were single.  A run to Krystal!  I think this has been standard post-concert fare for us since before we even met.  Back in in high school days even!  But I question everything about you, if after a long night, that you don't love a Krystal Chik with Cheese. J/K :)

Sunday

We were losers and slept in on Sunday morning.  Being withour kiddos and staying out way too late will do that to you!  But, we should have been here...

But, the afternoon was devoted to football!

Our uber cool (way cooler than us) friends, the Warrens, had a few people over for a little Super Bowl party.  And although this year we weren't really pulling for one team over the other, I really liked seeing a new era of the Green Bay Packers withour Brett Favre.

We ate WAY too much though.  Just a partial menu was - 5 kinds of wings, hamburger sliders on hawaiian rolls. meatball sammies, cajun steamed shrimp, rotel cheese dip, peach cobbler and King Cake.

So fun!  I love restful weekends, but every now and then it's fun to go all out and have a non-stop weekend of fun.

Hope yours was fabulous too!

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

I tried this the other night and managed to please everyone - the toddler, the teenager and the hubby! Add a couple of quick side dishes and dinner is on the table in 30 minutes! Gotta love it!

First things first - if you don't have this spice mix in your kitchen, you just have to make it! I keep mine in a small Tupperware type container and use it on all kinds of things including chicken, fish, pork and french fries. Although some of the ingredients are rather spicy on their own, once combined, this is relatively mellow. You, of course, can tweak it to your taste.

Emeril's Southwest Spice Seasoning
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Now on to the chicken...

You will need:
1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (or you can cut up whole breasts into smaller pieces)
1/2 stick of butter (I use a couple of tablespoons of Smart Balance spread)
1 1/2 cups of unseasoned bread crumbs
A couple of tablespoons of the Southwest Seasoning mix

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and spray a cookie sheet or large baking dish with non-stick spray.

Melt the butter in a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and seasoning mix. I taste my bread crumbs to make sure they are seasoned to my liking.

Dip the chicken tenders into the butter then into the bread crumb mix. Once covered, put them on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the juices run clear. Then, eat up!