This morning my hubby was checking out the weather app on his phone and came across this! I’d highly recommend all my local readers staying inside tonight 😉 Hope you enjoy the smile!
Easy Creamy & Cheesy Crockpot Chicken
Tonight I winged it and made an easy, creamy, and cheesy crockpot chicken. Try saying that 10 times fast! Whew! I started off with some chicken breasts that I had on hand and dumped them in. Next, sour cream. Perfect addition to this was curry powder. My house smelled great! On a whim, before serving, I tossed in some grated parmesan cheese. Served over brown rice and with a veggie. The result? An incredibly easy and delicious dinner! My kids approved!
For the okra, we simply sauteed them in butter until they were tender. Yum!
Easy Creamy & Cheesy Crockpot Chicken
Author:
Ingredients
- 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 24 oz container of sour cream
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Place the chicken, sour cream, and curry powder in the crock pot and gently stir to combine.
- Cook on low 6-8 hours until chicken is done
- Before serving, stir in fresh parmesan cheese gently.
- Serve over rice, noodles, or alone.
Easy Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese
I’m a huge fan of my crock-pot. I use it many times a week. One of my kids’ favorite things for me to make is homemade macaroni and cheese! Yes, even this can be made in the crock-pot! What is neat is that you just dump everything into the pot in the morning and it’s ready for lunch! Or make it early afternoon for dinner. Done in about 4 hours and you don’t even have to pre-cook the noodles! How awesome is that!
Simply spray your crock-pot generously with non-stick spray and add in the following Ingredients. Note, I use a 7 quart crock pot and it comes up a little less than halfway.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb elbow noodles
- 12 oz can of evaporated milk
- 4 cups milk
- 1 stick of butter, sliced thinly
- 1/4 cup cottage cheese
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 8 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Add all ingredients into crockpot on low heat and stir well. After about 30 minutes, stir again. Let sit on low for a total of 4 hours or until noodles are tender and desired consistency is reached. Some crock pots may take more or less time. Stir well before serving.
This is the perfect easy meal to take to a potluck dinner! Enjoy!
Snow Mountain 2015 Review!
This past weekend, we headed on over to Stone Mountain to play in the snow along with many other local bloggers. Snow Mountain has become a fun family tradition for us. My kids love playing in the snow, which is a rare occurrence here in Georgia.
We started off playing over at Fort Snow, where my littles were able to go down the little tube slides. When it was our time slot, we hit the slopes! We did the family ride several times and then my big kids did the single rider tube slides a bunch of times. The big kids loved the slides. My littles liked them, but really preferred to play in the snow at Fort Snow.
Great time was had by all! If you’re interested in going, Stone Mountain is offering up Snow Mountain Camping packages. Deals start at just $119 and include snow mountain passes and camping! We went camping at Stone Mountain last year and it was a great experience.
Grandma
Grandma with 7 of her Great Grandkids December 2013
I know all my regular readers are probably wondering where I’ve been lately. The past month has been a complete whirlwind. It started off with our quick trip to Busch Gardens to finish up our ambassador program with them. While on the trip, I learned that my grandmother had been diagnosed with a very aggressive stage 4 lung cancer. There was no treatment options other than making her comfortable. We upped our visiting trips to my grandmother, who fortunately was only about 45 minutes away. Each time we visited, her health was obviously declining.
Last Tuesday, she was in a more aggressive decline. Confusion, irritation, sleepiness, etc. We were still able to talk and I knew she was in her final days. It was a very painful time and I’m so thankful for my assistant Edith for keeping some things rolling for me.
On Wednesday, she took a sharp turn for the worse. Her O2 dropped to 80 for a bit and took a while to recover. I got to her house as fast as I could and made it just in time for the transport that was taking her to hospice. The transport guys were super sweet and allowed me to ride with my grandmother to the hospice. That ride was so emotional but was a great time of bonding as well. I held her hand as tight as I could the entire trip. The rest of Wednesday seemed to go ok. Hospice made her comfortable and I didn’t leave her side until late New Years Eve night.
Thursday, New Years Day, I arrived back early to the hospice. She was unresponsive. She briefly woke for a few seconds later in the day but went back to a state of unconsciousness. Occasionally we could get her to mumble a yes or no or an “I Love You”. New Years Day around 10:50pm, when all was nice and quiet, Grandma breathed her last.
This was a really hard and trying time for my family. Cancer is such a horrid disease that is taking far too many of my loved ones. I thank you all for your patience and encouragement during the past month and for sticking with me on this journey.
Erin
Trim Healthy Mama: Gluten-Free Sausage Balls
Today we went and visited friends who have a child with a gluten intolerance. I wanted to make gluten free sausage balls to take with us on our visit. These sausage balls also work well if you are following the Trim Healthy Mama plan. These would be an S.
I took a recipe that we usually use and then adjusted it. Here’s what we did and they turned out fantastic!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- I/2 tsp salt
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 egg
- 8 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 lb sausage
It’s easiest to get in with your hands and mix all ingredients together that way. If you don’t want to use your hands, consider an electric mixer. Once well combined, roll into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.
Remove and let cool on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up any grease. Store in the fridge if not eating immediately.
If gluten is an issue for you, you’ll want to double check all of your ingredients to make sure they are definitely gluten free.
Our Visit to Florida Aquarium
While we were in Tampa to visit Busch Gardens, we were able to explore other areas of Tampa Bay as well. One in particular was the Florida Aquarium. We had never been here before but were throughly impressed!
As we arrived, the first thing we saw was a touch tank! They ended up having 3 different touch tanks and we were able to touch everything from a sea cucumber (which feels REALLY different than it looks) to a stingray. Funny story about the sea cucumber…. I had touched the starfish, an anemone, and other animals in that tank. My husband convinced me to touch the sea cucumber which looks really bumpy, hard, and almost prickly. I barely touched it and it felt like JELLO! I pulled my hand back super quickly and may or may not have let out a quick scream making my entire family laugh. Far warning, things don’t always feel like they look! My kids loved the stingray touch tank. It was fun to try and figure out which stingrays were going to swim by and to get where we could touch them.
The Florida Aquarium was decorated for Christmas and had some lovely decorations. This one I almost bought, but forgot to go back and get it when we were leaving!
I loved that the Florida Aquarium wasn’t just fish. They had a fun exhibit featuring animals from Madagascar such as the lemurs! Everywhere was fun facts as well so we learned a lot.
Our favorite part of the Florida Aquarium was the shows. Be sure and ask at the counter what time the shows are when you visit. We were able to get really close and personal with some penguins. Did you know penguins can spray poop 6 feet behind them? That sure is nerve wracking when you’re in the front row! They let the kids sit right up on the edge of the mat, but were not allowed to touch. My kids thought that this was amazing! We also really enjoyed the dive show.
After we finished at the aquarium, we walked down to Precinct Pizza. We loved their food, however I’d warn my allergy friends that they aren’t quite allergy friendly, yet. They are just a short walk from the aquarium. After reading the story behind Precinct Pizza, we knew this was a business we wanted to support.
We were very impressed with the Florida Aquarium and would definitely return the next time we are in Tampa Bay. Huge thanks for our friends at Visit Tampa Bay and the Florida Aquarium for setting up our visit. You can learn about other great places to visit in Tampa Bay by checking out VisitTampaBay.com.
Make Lasagna in your Crockpot!
You all know how much I love my crockpot. I use it several times a week to feed my family. I have the 7 quart Crockpot. Last night we had friends over and they were amazed that I had made a lasagna in my crockpot! I don’t even precook the noodles and I use standard noodles, not the oven-ready kind. I’m sorry these photos aren’t the best, we dove in before I remembered to get a finished picture. I’ll have to make it again soon!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb lasagna noodles, any brand, uncooked
- 4 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
- 8 cups shredded mozzerella
- 24 oz cottage cheese
You can pre-cook some ground beef and add it into your sauce, but we typically make ours without meat to keep the cost down.
Directions:
- Spray your crockpot generously or use a crock pot liner.
- Spread a light layer of sauce on the bottom.
- Layer noodles on top of sauce and add a spoon full of sauce on each noodle. You can break the noodles to get them to fit. Spread the sauce over each noodle.
- Add a spoon full of cottage cheese on each noodle and spread out just like the sauce.
- Add 2 cups of cheese spread out evenly.
- Repeat all steps 3-4 times, or as crockpot allows room, starting with the sauce layer.
- Finish with a layer of sauce on top.
Cook on low for 8 hours or until your house smells wonderfully and top is bubbly.
Submit Your Wish with UPS #WishesDelivered
This post brought to you by UPS. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Mommy Octopus.
This time of year, we see plenty of people in need. I wish I could help everyone, but unfortunately we are limited. UPS has launched their #WishesDelivered campaign where you can wish for something for someone else. Know a single parent in need of groceries? An elderly person in need? From now until December 31, 2014, you can submit your wish to spread holiday cheer and help raise money for charity!
Post your wish to Twitter or Instagram with the campaign hashtag #WishesDelivered and it will automatically be submitted. Another option is to go direct to the #WishesDelivered site and manually submit there.
For every wish submitted, UPS will make a $1 donation to one of their charity partners for up to $100K in total donation! Be sure and share a wish to help raise money for these charities. 
I’ve been thinking about what I would wish for and I would wish for a plane ticket for my sister in law to fly in for the holidays from Texas. We miss her so much and I know she misses us as well. I’m going to get this posted on twitter and instagram so that it raises money for charity.
For more information, visit the #WishesDelivered site.
We Went to Busch Gardens!
Last week, my family and I took a quick trip back to Busch Gardens as part of their ambassador program. We went in the middle of the week and it wasn’t crowded at all! We were able to walk on almost everything, which was perfect for us. As we walked up, everything was beautifully decorated for Christmas.
We wandered around the park, picking our favorite rides and riding them until our heart was content! I really enjoyed Cheetah Hunt. That’s a really cool roller coaster than runs on magnets! What a great ride! Definitely going to be one of my favorites.
My little girls hung out the most in Sesame Street. Everything was their size and perfect for their age.
My husband really enjoyed the Sheikra. that’s him in the back row in the orange shirt.
Right now they have their Christmas Town on select days. Guests can look forward to special entertainment, live music, festive treats, holiday shopping and thousands of twinkling lights around every turn. It’s a Christmas event that’s fun for the whole family! Unfortunately we didn’t go on one of those days but we still had a blast! We got to see all the decorations, though!
Our family has really enjoyed being part of the Busch Gardens ambassador program this year. It’s been great to learn more about what all they have to offer. We have been really pleased and our kids are already asking about going back. I love that it has a perfect blend of stuff for little kids, bigger kids, and adults. Add in all the animals and everyone is happy!
Thank you so much Busch Gardens for this opportunity.
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