Baked Buritos...Yum

My Baked Burritos were a product of a craving and circumstance. ;) I saw someone making Taquito's on the food network and was drooling all over the tv. So off to the fridge I went to see if I had the stuff to make them. To my disappointment I only had a whole frozen chicken and no time to thaw, cut, and cook. Guess what I did have the stuff for. Yep, Burritos. So that is how Baked Burritos came about. They were so yummy. I thought I would share.

For the filling I sauteed half a large onion chopped, a couple Hungarian Wax peppers diced, about  a pound of ground beef and some taco seasonings. For the ground beef I love to get the market ground beef. It is all the left over bits from the roast, steaks, and so on that the butchers grind up and sell later. So it is good cuts of meat that were not used due to size or shape. It is usually a little cheaper than ground round and doesn't contain a ton of fat. With the pepper if you don't want really spicy...remove the seeds and ribs. Oh and if you didn't know peppers are really easy to grow. I have two pepper plants on my patio that have been producing since last spring!

For the seasoning I cheated and used the Cheesy Taco mix by Old El Paso. They are quick, easy, and I usually always have one on hand. You could totally make your own seasoning. Maybe some chili powder, cumin, cayenne, you get the gist. Whatever you like. I also added some black beans and black olives to my mix. Once the meat is browned and everything is incorporated well. Spoon a couple tablespoons onto a burrito shell. Add a little cheese and wrap tightly. You can wrap these however you choose...open ended, like a burrito, like an egg roll. However you choose just make sure when you finally put them on you baking sheet to put them seam down. I personally prefer the egg roll method. Brush the whole burrito well with canola oil or veg oil of your choosing. Bake on 500 degrees for about 8 to 10 minutes. Take out and enjoy all the crunchy goodness. Really they turn out super crunchy with out all the fat of frying. I also made a yummy dressing I found Here at Skip to My Lou. The link is to a Southwestern Summer salad (which is delish by the way) you can find the recipe for the dressing under the recipe for the salad. I shredded some lettuce and made some yummy rice. My guys loved this and voted to put this in our weekly meal rotation.:)

I hope you guys try it and enjoy it! If you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment. Happy Eating!!!

Linking Up With....

Shine Your Light's Mangia Mondays Blog Hop

                         

I Heart Naptime's Sundae Scoop Link Party

Feeling kinda ugh...

This week I had planned to do a couple post. Life, however, got in the way. I am not feeling so hot for some reason. Oh and did I mention I must have slept wrong the other night and woke up at 3 am to what seemed like my neck having seizures. It is still very sore but I am able to move around with out fear of a spasm. I have a Dr. App friday so hopefully it is just a bad case of crazy sleeping position. Yesterday I was all gung-ho to sew. I went in my sewing room got out all my stuff, popped in Ink Heart to have something interesting going in the background, and then it seems the wind left my sails. I never even touched the sewing machine. I haven'y sewn in about 2 weeks.  I played with my kids and watched the movie. I hope to be out of this funk soon and get back to myself again. I think if I start exercising and getting into more of a routine I will feel better. I just hope I can pull it together soon. I hate feeling like this. Have you ever been here? I guess you would call it a rut. I know that the only person that can change this is me and I need to get to it. At the end of Ink Heart Eliza Bennett sings such a sweet inspirational song. it was really touching and also said to me "Ashley , Wake up!" Life is too short....you need to take it for all it's worth.

This is the only video it would let me post with the song in it.(sorry this is my first time posting a video so hopefully I did it right) The song is called 'My Declaration' sang by Eliza Bennett (Meggie in the movie) This video also shows a lot of a character called Dustfinger from the movie and other random bits of the movie. I just wanted to share the song with you guys. If you haven't read the Ink Heart Trilogy or seen the movie you should. I loved it!

I feel so much better now. Just writing this really helped.

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle!!!!

Did you know about the Blogger's Choice Bundle from the Fat Quarter shop? I didn't until a few days ago. I saw this post  Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle @ Quokka Quilts Blog . It seems The Fat Quarter Shop will be giving away one lucky person's personal picks!!!!

 

So I went to the fat quarter shop and became instantly overwhelmed by all the fabric choices. I found Great tips for choosing my fabrics from Heidi at Boys, Buttons, and Butterflies. Oh and she also gives some great tips in making a mosaic in adobe HERE.

I found one great print(the second one on the first row) and drew inspiration and color from that print. I also set out with a purpose in mind for this fabric. If I were to have all this fabric I would make a quilt for my bed. My room is a very soft grey and I thought these would really bring my room to life. I am in love with all these fabrics!

Rows from left to right:

Row 1:

 Modernology Deep Sea Floralism

   Modernology Azure Fashionable

Heirloom Indigo Fez

Paradise Evening Showers

Row 2:

Lanikai Blue Peacock

Bespoken Bright Fashion Mood

Lark Lemon Souvenir

Oval Elements Golden

Row 3:

Modernology Blanc Avant Garde

  Promenade Blue Damask Mosaic

Palladium Gray Tear Drop

Palladium Gray Peacock

Row 4:

Bella Solids Marine

Michael Miller Jewel Cotton Couture

Bella Solids Fig Tree Olive

I was really drawn to all these beautiful colors and the large prints. What do you think of my collection?

OK so head on over to Quokka Quilts and check out all the details so you can have fun picking out all the deepest fabric desires of your heart. Oh and here is a link to The Fat Quarter Shop 

Fun little tidbit.... do you know what a Quokka is? Click here to find out!

I had no idea a Quokka was so adorable. Check out Laura's blog. It is full of craft goodness and her story in the link about how her name became Quokka is very sweet. Good Luck Everyone!!!!

Gift Reviews for Children and Adults

This is just a brief review of some of the gifts Santa brought. I just wanted to give you some pros and cons on the items. They were all great gifts and hopefully they will help any of you that may have these on your wish list. Now I do do not work for any of these companies. I am not being paid to talk about these items. These are all  strictly my own opinions and I thought it might be a helpful post for someone looking for gift ideas. These were the actual gifts under our tree on Christmas morning.

Mr Wonderful and I usually only do a couple items for one another. Nothing to fancy just maybe something we need or really want. My gift came about in a very funny way. Mr. Wonderful was in my craft room getting ready to set up my computer station when the funniest thing happened. He sat in my work chair and almost bit the dust.... backwards! The arm has been broken for quite sometime now. It sill served it's purpose as long as you didn't lean back(the arm was also connected to the back). So Mr. Wonderful decided to replace my chair.

This little beauty is what I picked out. Yes, I picked out my own gift but hey, I have to work in it. He wanted me to pick it out anyway to make sure he got the right thing. This is a medical/tattoo chair. I thought those people probably sit for long amounts of time so it would be perfect for long sewing or crafting projects. I LOVE IT! It is very comfortable. It has faux leather for easy cleaning. No pesky arms to get in my way. It has a gas lift, so easily adjusted. My only beef with it was the cheap wheels. They didn't roll very well. I just took the wheels off my old chair and they popped right on.  We purchased it hereAmazon.com.

K and E got this as a shared gift.

It is an amazing Art Easel we found at Toys R Us. It was supposed to be 100 dollars but was on sale for  79.99. It is all wood, has chalk board, white board, paper roll, and 5 good sized storage bins. It also has two trays on both side for resting your drawing tools. It came with 4 storage cups. Two with lids for paint.

Overall I am pretty happy with it. I will say there is room for improvement. First off the instructions were horrible. Mr. Wonderful had a horrible cold so I pulled a solo elf mission on this one. Sorry for the horrible photos but don't you know most elves work in the wee hours of the night. Back to the very lacking instructions. It was simply this ....piece by picture. A Picture with about 50 steps(ok maybe less than 50) and arrows pointing to the general direction of where the screw should go.

Do you see this face!?! It is a look of sheer terror. Oh and I hope you enjoy this photo I definitely only  posted it so you get the true sense of my emotion when I looked at the  paper. This pic is no beauty contest winner! LOL

The wood could have been a little better quality. There were some rough spots and a small split. Nothing that would alter the easel just not very appealing to the eye. Right now it isn't bothering me too much but in the future if it does those are both easy fixes. The other real downer was that it does not fold up. It is a permanent structure. I thought it did fold up but sadly it does not. If space is an issue for you this may not be your best bet. It is quite large. Luckily E will be moved to share a room with his brother and the nursery will be turned into a playroom. They have been asking to share a room so this will work out perfect for us. Here are just a few shots of it to give  you an idea of what it looks like form all angles.

Do you see the blue painters tape on the carpet? K and I were getting creative with his hotwheels and made an impromptu race track. He loved it.



Here is one of K's big gifts...

The Leapfrog Leap Pad. He Loves It!!!  I do too. It is a very fun educational i pad for kids made by Leapfrog. They have an online app store and everything. We bought a few games for it, on sale of course, and it came with a few free features. It says for ages 4-9 but an advanced 3 year old could easily work this gadget. It has a built in camera and video recorder. This is a great feature  even if I have to go through every couple days to delete pictures of the carpet. LOL.

I don't know if they are back in stores but at the time I purchased this they were really hard to find. I was told you couldn't even buy them from leapfrog. I think they were behind on production or something like that. It was 99.99. A little expensive but I think it was totally worth it. The way it is set up it grows with them. The settings let you adjust at which grade level the programs operate at. Oh and it is compatible with some other leapfrog cartridges.  I did not like the price of the cartridges you buy in the store(24 bucks!!) but I had a coupon and bought them on black friday so i got them for 10.00. The apps online range from 5 dollars to 24 dollars. They have e-books, games, and other learning apps. The ebooks work similar to the tag system. I love that he can read along with the pen or have the pad read it for him. If you go on YouTube there are a good amount of video reviews if you are interested in getting this for your little one. Oh one other con...it takes 4 batteries and burns through them pretty quick. If you buy this maybe invest in 8 rechargeable batteries to switch out.

This next item is one for E.  Leapfrog My Pal Scout.....

I personally love this toy. It comes with a USB cord you can hook to your computer to program in your child's names and likes. I got this on sale at Toys R Us for 19.99. It usually retails for around 25.00. E is just over a year old and can operate this with no problem. You can program all sorts of fun songs and my favorite for the kids, classical music. So far i have had no problems I can think of with this product.

For Mr. Wonderful this fun toy....

He is a fan of larger scale Remote Control cars and such. We saw this in a sales flyer and he had mentioned that it would fun to try to fly. Well I happened to find one at J.C. Penny on Black Friday. I can't remember the exact price but I am positive it was under 20 dollars. He and the boys love flying it. It takes a little practice but is really  fun once you get the hang of it. The remote has a built in charger which is awesome. The only major down fall is that is only has about a 5 minute run time before it needs recharging.

We got a few other great gifts that do not include batteries....thank goodness.  We make a budget and usually do pretty good with sticking to it. We don't believe that celebrating Christmas should be about gifts so we don't buy a ton of toys and such for the boys. They get a few big wanted items and then a few smaller needed items. We want them to know the true meaning of Christmas and that it is always greater to give than to recieve. I hope these may help some of you in search of a good gift. Oh and if you have any comments or questions about these items feel free to leave a comment or shot me an email.

Thank you for reading! I hope this was helpful!!