super yummy and super easy

 I have been trying to be better in the kitchen. When I first got married everything I made came from a box.     Then I would add frozen chicken to whatever it was. I have slowly gotten better. More and more fresh ingredients and less boxes. Lately I have been trying lots of new recipes. This has been frustrating for me! I have put a lot of work into things that were almost inedible. I don't know if it is me or the recipe. I think sometimes it is both. When you aren't used to the ingredients it is hard to know what combinations actually sound good. I have also made some pretty good stuff. Some have become staples for me. To be a staple it needs to not only be good but also EASY and fast. I don't have enough time, energy, or money for things to be too complicated. To the point, I have A Rachael Ray cook book and in it is this super, yummy, easy recipe for buffalo turkey burgers. They are seriously so dang good! My kids even like them(without the hot sauce). So here it is. Try it! 

vegetable oil, for drizzling

1 package ground turkey(1 1/3 pounds)

1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

1 tablespoon grill seasoning such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 scallions, finely chopped

1 celery rib from the heart, with greens, finely chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup hot sauce, such as Frank's Red Hot

crusty rolls, split

1 cup sour cream or ranch dressing

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles

salt and pepper

leaf lettuce

Place a healthy drizzle of oil in a mixing bowl. Add the turkey, poultry seasoning, grill seasoning, garlic, scallions, and celery. Mix the burgers and form into 4 1-inch -thick patties.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and cook the burgers for 6 minutes on each side. Remove to plate.

Wipe the pan clean and reduce the heat to low. Melt the butter in the pan. Add the hot sauce to the melted butter. Return the patties to the skillet and turn to coat in the hot sauce-butter mixture. Place the burgers on bun bottoms.

In a small bowl, mix the sour cream or Ranch dressing with the blue cheese crumbles and season with salt and pepper. Top the burgers with lettuce and blue cheese sauce, then set the bun tops in place.

After the first time you make it, it becomes easier and cheaper. You already have the hot sauce, blue cheese and spices. I usually buy deli sourdough bread and toast it in the oven. It is very good. TRY IT! 

Just Dreaming

I dream of this white couch. I love it! I found it one day on Macys.com. Not that I am any position to buy a new couch right now. And even if I were, buying a white couch would be crazy! I have little kids. Not just any little kids. DUTCH. I just really love it. Someday right?

Jett Man

Jett turned 1 back in May. Just two days after Jackson turned 6. He is getting so big! He is walking all over the place. He didn't really start walking until he was 13 months old, but now that he has it down he is fast and has even started running. 13 months is also about the time he cut his first tooth. At 15 months he now has his two bottom teeth and that is it. He is soooooo funny! And so sweet. He still loves to cuddle and kiss.  He screams and whines like any one year old, but more often then not he is happy and walking around with a big giant toothless grin on his face (see pictures at the bottom.) He is saying a lot of words now. It is so fun! All of the sudden he will attempt to say almost anything. He is my runt. He didn't really grow between his 12 month and 15 month check ups. The doctor said this is usually when they drop down to their genetic curve. So no worries. I am so in love with him! Snuggling with him just makes me so happy. I could do it all day.

Here are his 15 month stats

Length - 31 in - 47.96%

Weight - 20.13 lb - 3.47 %

Head - 19 in - 80.21% 

holding his birthday card on his birthday

as you can see birthday cake decorating is not one of my talents

eating his first birthday cake

Below is his new camera smile. I love it!

My Big Boy

Jackson turned 6! His birthday was actually a few months ago. I didn't post it because I was waiting for someone to email me pictures from the party. Still no pictures but that's okay. If I ever get them I will add them because he had a pretty cool party. So here are some pics of him having breakfast in bed the morning of his actual birthday before I lost/refound my camera. He was so excited! My kids love the breakfast in bed thing. They also get one present in bed. He got a whole set of power rangers with crazy animal vehicles to match. Ben had them from way back when and had never opened them. Sometimes it pays to have a super nerd for a husband. 

He also just started first grade. We was super excited to start school again! I actually wasn't very emotional about it. I had my breakdowns when preschool started and when kindergarten ended. Those were both extremely hard for me. But first grade I was ready for because he was so ready. 

first day of first grade

Jackson is such a great kid! I love him so much. He is just so happy and easy to please. And the kid is just so dang smart. He is a GREAT reader! And he is so full of smart questions and witty things to say.

favorite food - mac and cheese

favorite color - red 

favorite movie - harry potter and the chamber of secrets

favorite book - meet ash (pokemon)

favorite thing to do - open presents

I was just quizzing him and these were his answers. I loved the open presents one. I love that too! Who doesn't right?  I do have a rule for my kids that they have to read the Harry Potter books before they can watch the movies. So Ben spent the summer reading  Jackson books 1 and 2. He just saw the second movie for the first time and loved it. Some parts made him super nervous but overall he thought it was great. It's fun to see him compare the way he imagined it to the movies. He will proclaim that someone doesn't look right or that the movie skipped something. It's fun. He knows so much about Harry Potter it is crazy! It makes me happy :) He tells me all of the time that he is "kinda a fan of Harry Potter now." He is just such a cool kid!

After Dinner Bath

Hey, it's Ben. Amy and I thought the ol' www would get a kick out of this video:

From the first time he hears the word "bath" you can see him perk up.  It's funny, because just three months ago, a bathtub was worse than the gas chamber to this kid.  Now it's his favorite place to be.

I am a sucky blogger.......sorry everybody

 I don't really know why I suck so bad. It's not like I never take time to sit down at the computer. Because I do. I spend way to much time sitting here and looking at other peoples blogs and dream shopping (Ya know looking at stuff and houses that I don't intend to buy anytime in the near or not so near future.) But when it comes to blogging I always feel like I need to catch up. And then it gets so far away from me that I don't know where to begin. All the boys in my little family have had their birthdays since I last blogged. And I only have pictures of Jett's birthday on my camera because I miss-placed it for awhile. So I  had others take pictures of Jackson's birthday and don't have access to them yet. I can't post about Jett until I post about Jackson who's birthday is two days earlier. But I can't move on and post about something else because this was Jett's FIRST birthday. And then there is Ben's birthday and the family reunion and blah blah blah blah blah. You know. So therefor I suck. I can't promise that I will get any better. I would like to. I did just find my camera so that is something. But I have not uploaded any birthday pics so I am just going to post some oldies that I like just to keep things interesting.

We often all sit together in this chair so we decided to have a photo shoot.

Jackson did karate for a month and it was sooooo dang cute.

Eating a nice healthy snack after licking the cookie dough beaters.

Arm wrestling.

Jett before his cute new haircut.

This is what a day at the park looks like with my fam.

I just love this one!

Jett

He loves to play with the kids and they are great at including him. They sword fight with Ben almost every night before bed. 

Jett used to always make this fish face after every bite. I loved it!! I am pretty sad that he doesn't do it anymore.