Ze' Menu

eThis weeks meals include:

PUMPKIN PENNE
EDIT: Due to the great pumpkin shortage, I will be making my LEMON CREAM PASTA

CARNITAS

QUESADILLAS & TOMATO SOUP

SPICY THAI PEANUT CHICKEN & NOODLES

PIZZA

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 to my sweet Xander Jett.  

From the moment you were placed into my arms you have been nothing but the greatest joy.  There is always a smile on your face and a twinkle in your big black eyes.  You melt my heart every time you run through the house calling "Mamacita". The other night when I rocked you to sleep I wished that I could stop time because when I hold you and run my fingers through your shiny black curls all the troubles in the world just melt away.  You are my little hearth throb, my Chili, my X-man, my little Snuggle Buggle and I love you with every inch of my soul.  

I can't wait to see what a handsome little man you will grow up to be.

Happy 4th Birthday Chili!

Love,

Good Afternoon

Good afternoon my beautiful readers.  I hope you are all having a great day.  I am doing absolutely nothing except laying in bed playing video games with the Popo.  It's his day off.  I love those days when we throw on sweats (cute sweats of course not fat pants) and climb into bed to play video games or watch movies right in the middle of the afternoon.  It's the second best thing to vacation.  There's just something so cozy about being in bed in the middle of the day. Don'tcha think?

Relationships

Lately I've been thinking a lot about relationships and people held close to our hearts.  It seems as though everyone is looking for that bond and closeness in someone near to them.  Whether it be a friendship or a bond between family members.  We all need it and in some fashion we all strive to find it.

I've had a tugging at my heart recently because I've realized that relationships are a two way street.  You can't take and not give in return. You also can't give and give of yourself only to be overlooked.  There has to be nurturing of these delicate relationships and when that has failed we can't be surprised when we wake up one day to realize that it's faded or maybe even disappeared.

Today I want to truly focus on how we can pour into the lives of those around us rather than just focus on our own little worlds.

(weheartit)

Vote For Me!

Today I received an email from a lovely lady that works at Foodista.com

She discovered a little bit of the cooking portion of this blog.

Getting to the point, I have my Stuffed Poblano recipe up on their site and if you go vote for me, I could

get published in a cookbook!

I would be honored if you would cast your vote for me.

Just click on the link below or in the upper left hand corner and vote by clicking on as many stars as you think I deserve. Of course 5 is my favorite # right now.  Hee hee.

VOTE AWAY!

PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE

with sugar on top

Eucalyptus

~EUCALYPTUS~ 

Oh how I love thee

THE FRAGRANCE

THE COLOR

THE PRODUCTS MADE WITH THE DERIVED OIL

A mostly Australian tree that grows to an immense height even exceeding the height even of the California Sequoia

AND I'M TRULY HAPPY THAT MY BEDROOM IS THE COLOR OF EUCALYPTUS 

Now I just need a little more art on the walls and some dried eucalyptus in a big vase in the master bathroom to tie it all together.

And if any of you are wondering about the big screen over to the left... our living room kindly donated it so that it could very soon move on to a new flat screen.  Wasn't that kind? The husband sure is happy.

More pics to come soon.

My Favorite Things

Here's a few of my favorite things in random order. 

What's a product or item that you SUPER HEART?

ANGEL PERFUME

There's truly none better in my opinion

GRAPHIC TEE'S

I just heart all graphic tee's cuz they look cute with jeans or girly sweats

MENTHOLATUM

Yep, I admit I love that grandmotherly smell and use it all the time

OPI INDIA NAIL POLISH

These colors are so exotic and rich!

CHOCOLATE AMBER BODY CREAM

Run to Bath and Body works and get this ladies, it smells delicious!

VS BEAUTY RUSH LIP GLOSS

Nothing but lipgloss on these lips!

S FACTOR HAIR PRODUCTS by TIGI

This stuff makes my hair smell YUMMY! Think cotton candy.

VS PINK SWEATS

I live in these!

Scrub a dub dub

One of our favorite things about our new house it the CrAzY awesome shower in the master bathroom.  Here's a couple pics of my cuties scrub a dubbin.

Xander on the left and Tasia on the right.  The showers got dual heads so two kids clean for the price of one. And they are of course not as tall as they look in this picture - they are all standing on the corner seats of the shower. 

Hunter is going to freak if he finds out I put this pic up.  Can you tell by his face he's alarmed that I brought a camera into the bathroom? Hey, a Mama's gotta capture EVERY moment.

I'll try and get more house pics up soon. I'm just so very busy getting everything just the way I want it. Hope you all have a rockin' weekend. 

MUCH LOVE,

Read in the voice of Mary Alice

Jillian could hardly believe her eyes after moving to her lovely home in the middle of suburbia. She found herself wondering what on earth she could have done to deserve this lovely little life.  Her home was finally immaculate which was very different from the life she had just come from which kept her busy till the wee hours of the morning tending a cabin on 5 acres. 

She felt like she had been given a tiny slice of Heaven. Jillian enjoyed the fact that her home was way out in the country as she truly enjoyed keeping to herself. But she constantly had her eye out looking for just the right girls to befriend in her new neighborhood. 

How is it, she wondered, that you can move literally 10 minutes away and escape children having homework each night, cars zooming at way too fast of speeds and businesses around every corner.

Jillian wasn't sure exactly how all this had happened but she was determined that this new life was going to be fantastic.  You could not find a less desperate housewife, in fact her husband would describe her as a delightful housewife.  

Ode to my valentine

To my sweet Isaac,
From the first moment I saw you, you literally rocked my world and almost 12 years later you still make my heart pound when you walk into the room and give me butterflies when you smile. I never dreamed life could be so very sweet and it's all because of you.
Happy Valentines Day my love...

What a CrAzIy DaIsY Day

1. Sick Popo (aka husband for any new readers)

2. Putting my palm on a SCREAMING HOT stove = Super Blisters

3. Ran over my kids wagon and wedged it under my Suv

4. Had to pull out said wagon with previously mentioned burned hand

5. While cooking our dinner I accidently used "sweeted" condensed milk instead of condensed milk.


EDIT- We just ate dinner and it ROCKED THE CASBAH!
Guess mistakes can be a good thing.

WOW!

What a day!

Yea we are THAT dorky

We are HOME!

~HOME~

It has such a lovely ring to it! Every morning I wake up and ask myself if this lovely place is truly mine.  Then I roll over and see the man of my dreams and know that it's real. 

I keep finding myself not wanting to leave. I think I could spend my days cooking, loving and soaking in my tub. Yep it would be nice. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow to show you all.  

The house is pretty well put together considering this is our 3rd day here but yikes, you should see the garage.  I guess I should go do a  little more unpacking.  

I'm working on a new list of my favorite things so keep an eye out for that one soon.

Until a lil' later dear readers...

Much Love,

push the pause button and grab a snack

Okay, dear readers - today is the day.  We are closing on our home and staring the whole moving process tonight. The BIG move will happen tomorrow and hopefully I can check in with you guys by Thursday. But I'm just pausing the BLUSH - okay-  so don't run off and leave me for another blog.

MUAH, MUAH

My Ultimate Stuffed Poblanos

If I could give you all a gift it would be the gift of amazing, delicious FOOD. Something that makes your eyes light up and your tongue tingle.  But since I can't zip over to each of your kitchens and whip up something for you, I will give you  a recipe that I am very proud of for you to make on your own.

 from my kitchen to yours 

ENJOY!

Stuffed Poblano’s 

recipe courtesy Jillian Gallegos

Serves 4

Prep time: 25 min

Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 can (14.5 ounces) chopped, fire roasted tomatoes

1 can (14.5 ounces) chopped, fire roasted tomatoes

1 jalapeno

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves 

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 can (19 ounces) pinto or black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1 ¼  cup shredded mexican blend cheese

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sugar

½ lb browned chorizo

½ lb crisply fried  maple bacon, chopped coarsely

5 large poblano chiles, halved lengthwise (stems left intact), de-seeded and de-veined

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425. In a blender, combine tomatoes one can tomatoes, jalapeno, half an onion, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree. Add second can of chopped tomatoes and pulse once just to blend. Season with salt. Pour sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside for later use.

2. Begin browning chorizo in a large skillet.  Meanwhile, chop bacon into small chucks and then add to chorizo.  Cook thoroughly till meat is browned and somewhat crispy. Place on a plate covered in a  couple layers of paper towels to remove as much grease as possible.  Place another layer of paper towels on top and gently press down on meat to do the same.  Set aside meat for later use.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine beans, cornmeal, 1/2 cup cheese, remaining onions (chopped finely), cumin, sugar and 3/4 cup water; season with salt and pepper.  Add meat mixture to mixing bowl and toss to mix all ingredients well.

        4. Stuff poblano with meat and bean mixture; place on top of sauce in baking dish. Sprinkle poblanos with remaining 3/4 cup cheese; cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil.

5. Bake until poblanos are tender, about 45 minutes. Uncover, and continue to cook until sauce is thickened slightly and cheese is browned, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let cool 10 minutes.

        6. Serve with warm tortillas and fresh sliced avocado.

tonights dinner

My friend Meghan got me in the mood for a delicious Margherita Pizza - which happens to be my fav!

MMMMMMmmmmmm!

 I could eat this pizza every week.  

Super deliziosa!

XOXO

panic at the disco

uh... who signed me up for this?

all things HAIR

I'm am all about the hair folks.  I love hair and lots of it.  I tend to lean towards either long or very long hair.  But lately I've been soooo wishing I could have medium-ish hair that I could just make crazy and big.  I mentioned to the Mr. tonight that I was considering cutting it off and ha ha you should have seen the look on his face.  Of course he said, "Do whatever you want baby" but his eyes screamed, 

"FOR ALL THAT'S GOOD AND HOLY - DON'T DO IT!"

Don'tcha just wish that we could easily go back and forth.  I've heard that some women just keep it short and wear wigs all the time.  Different colors, styles and everything.  It's kinda their thing.  But I could never do that.  It would feel like wearing a fake mustache or something. 

So here's the question:

If you were me, would you cut it or not? And how do you prefer your hair - long or short?

And since we're talking hair, I'll leave you with a pic of the ultimate hair goddess.