Crispy BBQ Chicken Melts

Since it's snowy here, I thought I would share a warm and great recipe. We had these last night- sorry no pics, we were too hungry!!!

Crispy BBQ Chicken Melts
3 T. butter
1/2 c. bisquick
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 c. milk
4 boneless chicken breasts
1/4 c. bbq sauce
1/2 c. shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 425. Melt butter in 9x13 pan in the oven. Mix Bisquick and pepper together in small pan. In another pan pour the milk. Dip chicken breast into Bisquick and then into your milk. Then dip into the bisquick again and place in the hot pan of melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes until chicken is done. Heat your BBQ sauce in the microwave until warm. Pour over chicken breasts when ready to eat and top with cheese....yummy!

A Lesson Learned from a child....

Yesterday I went to tutor my little person. I haven't felt near as attached to this little girl as I did the other one- mainly because I had more time with my other little person. I decided this year that I would stick to it and hopefully this young lady would open up to me. Well, yesterday she did!

I picked her up from lunch, it was pizza day, a big deal for a 5th grader! We sat at our normal table in the library. She began to tell me all about her weekend. She went to church with a Hispanic friend and listened to the whole service in Spanish- she said that was just plain old weird...and then giggled...which in turn made me smile. She said she went to dance class at her church on Sunday, but that it was expensive for her and her sister to be in dance. She told me it was $50 dollars.

We visited for about 10 minutes- which was a wonderful thing considering she didn't ever really want to visit before. I was just thrilled- and even more thrilled that she is loving Anne of Green Gables. She doesn't want our time to end....which I'm sure is just the book!

It got me to thinking on the drive home, I've been concerned about our finances for a little over a month now. Not that we are destitute in anyway, but that we have had a lot of unexpected things come up- between my tooth fiasco and the dogs. My biggest complaint was we weren't putting back to savings as much as what we should have. Really? After hearing my little girl talk about how $50 bucks was a lot of money to her family- how in the world can I take for granted what the Lord has blessed me and Luke with.

To get my attention a little more, Luke balanced our checkbook last night. I always sit in the living room knitting, and when he's done we look at it together. Well, last night, I asked my usual question "How bad are we??" He came out of the scrapbook room with a strange look on his face. He said, "Well we aren't bad at all- in fact we can pay off all the things we had on the credit cards this month!" We both knew the only One who made that happen for us.

So, the Lord once again got my attention from a few numbers and a fifth grader. I love volunteering and helping kids as well as them helping me. Thanks Lord for the little reminders!

Oh my Crock Pot Steak

I fixed this for our supper tonight- and if it's any judgment by the sauce alone- OH MY!!!! Thought I would share the recipe (it's from the Geyer Springs cookbook!!)

Crockpot Steak
1 round steak
flour for dusting
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can full of water
1 pkg. Lipton soup mix

Dust steak with flour and brown off in a skillet. Transfer to the crockpot. Mix soup, water, and soup mix together. Pour over steak and cook on low 8 hours. It is heavenly!!! I'm serving ours with rice and green beans....hurry home Luke I'm hungry!!!

Birthday with Friends

Joe- little did I know he didn't like Flying Fish- so he's sporting his 1 fillet basket here...Nick is impressed, I can tell!

My basket- yes I had 3 fillets and was a pig- but it's my birthday right???

Me and the hubby- I love this man so much!!!!

Our great friends: Crazy Joe, Nick, and Heather

Flying Fish Baby


I had an early birthday celebration on Friday. First, I went to lunch with my good friend Alicen...we had a GREAT time! We ate at Senor Tequilas and then had yogurt at Yogurt Mountain in West Little Rock. We couldn't pass up Target, so we shopped there too! When I got back to my car, Luke posted a note on my speedometer that said "Look in your Console"....so I did...and behold an Iphone4 was there!!! I was shocked...and I love it! Luke was keeping with tradition- he bought me my first cell phone when I was 18- as a birthday present....we texted a lot back then- before texting was even cool!

That night, we went to eat with Nick, Joe, and Heather at Flying Fish downtown. We LOVE to eat there. It was crowded as usual, but that didn't stop us! We stayed there for almost 2 hours visiting about old times, old friends, and old memories. What fun they are! I'm truly blessed to have great friends that have known me a LONG time!!!

Crockpot Chicken Stew

I tried a new recipe last night in the crockpot. It was very tasty for sure and thought I would share- although I didn't take a picture of it.

Crockpot Chicken Stew
1 1lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes- I used 2 breasts
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed- USE SMALL CUBES- mine were too big and would have been MUCH better smaller
1 (14.5oz) can Italian style tomatoes
2 onions, chopped- I used the chopped out of the freezer
1 green bell pepper chopped- I used the chopped out of the freezer
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 t. Italian seasoning

Layer potatoes and chicken in the crockpot. Mix other ingredients together and pour over the top. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.

Orange Sweet Potato Pork Chops

Orange Sweet Potato Pork Chops in the Crock Pot

4 sweet potatoes- peeled and sliced
2 pork chops- it said you could use 6- but we won't eat that much!
1 c. orange juice
1/3 c. brown sugar

Peel and slice sweet potatoes. Place in crockpot. Brown pork chops in a skillet until slightly browned. Place on top of sweet potatoes. Mix orange juice and brown sugar together and pour over the top. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

We really liked this recipe- it was super easy. I served it with English Peas and made a box of muffins. I would make it again for sure!

Snow Day

Snow Ice Cream

Ingredients: 1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk, 1 t. vanilla, 8 c. snow (the non "flavored" kind...meaning NO YELLOW SNOW!!!)

Gather the snow

Mix and act like you are having a good time....

Then make pigs of yourself and eat it!!!

Snow Daze....




This says "Mel loves Luke" but my arms aren't long enough!

Samson

Crazy wild Stormy

Me and old Snoopers

BJ could have been a sled dog!

Old Madison Murphy, not enjoying the snow, but was told she HAD to go potty....which she did then ran back inside! We're enjoying the 6 inches we got!