Savory Sliders

Savory Sliders

 1 lb. ground beef

2-3 generous shakes of Susie Q's seasoning

2-3 generous shakes of Pappy's seasoning

1 generous shakes of smoked paprika

Worcestershire sauce
A-1 Steak sauce
Cheese

Combine the ground beef with the dry seasonings.  Form into small patties, and use your thumb to create a small indention in the top of each one.  Sprinkle Worcestershire sauce and A-1 over each one, and pool a small amount into each indention.  Grill until no longer pink in the middle.  Just before done cooking melt cheese over the top of each one.  Serve on slider buns with desired toppings (mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and red onion.

(Note:  If you don't have the dry seasonings listed above, use your favorite blend of savory dry seasonings.  For me, Susie Q's and Pappy's are my "go to" seasonings, and I always have them on hand.)

Mom's Taco Salad

Mom's Taco Salad

For Salad:

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
3/4 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped

can of corn, drained
1 avocado, sliced small
2-3 big handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese
Crushed tortilla chips (as many as desired)

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 bottle of Del Monte cocktail sauce
1/2 cup of La Victoria Thick n Chunky Salsa Verde (medium)

Combine the salad ingredients together thoroughly.  In a shaker type container combine the dressing ingredients and shake to mix well.  Top salad with desired amount of dressing.  (Note:  You can make this ahead, just wait to add the chips until just prior to eating, then top with the dressing.)

We generally eat this with grilled chicken and fresh fruit on the side.  It is a perfect summer meal!

BBQ Chicken Dinner Packets

 BBQ Chicken Dinner Packets

2 chicken breasts and 2 chicken legs (or other pieces as desired)
2 ears of corn, broken in halves
½ c BBQ sauce
Salt and pepper
Melted butter
1 can pinto beans, drained
Aluminum foil – 2 square sheets

Place chicken and two corn halves in center of foil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper; drizzle corn with butter.  Divide BBQ sauce over chicken; top evenly with beans.  Seal ends of packets.  Cook on a baking sheet @ 450° for 40 minutes. Open carefully.

Fort Collins Kite Festival

This afternoon after church Branden, Moose, and I went to the Fort Collins Kite Festival!  It was a beautiful day for it.  Breezy, sunny, and warm!  The food was very good, especially the tacos.  There was a free kite making station for the kids, but we missed it as we waited until near the end and they ran out of kites.  We did buy a neat "trick kite" at one of the booths, and got to watch hundreds of kites flying over the course of the afternoon.  We will definitely be going back to this festival next year!

Just a portion of all the kites that were flying.

Chasing my baby down!

He was determined to get a closer look at the huge octopus kite.

I love this picture of my two favorite people!!

Munching on delicious carne asada tacos.

Run, baby, run!

Moose spent quite a while pushing his stroller around.

Taking a break from pushing the stroller. So cute!

This park has the most beautiful view of the mountains!

Oooh, that is a big kite!

Our precious little man!

Tiny clothes for Levi

Yesterday I washed all of the clothes we have for Levi. We didn't save any of the stuff Moose wore when he was tiny still so Levi is getting new clothes. Moose had pretty much worn his stuff out as we don't buy a lot. It has been fun looking at stuff for a little baby again. We got him some zip up sleepers, a couple onesies and several side snap shirts. I had totally forgotten how much Moose wore those until Branden reminded me we called them his "kimonos" and then it came back to me! All of the little clothes are so cute!! I took a few pictures of my favorites so I could share them here. I can hardly believe that Levi will be here in 80-82 days. Unless he decides to come before his scheduled date in which case we will be scrambling to get to the hospital! I am going to have a scheduled c section the week prior to his due date but it keeps floating around in the back of my mind that he may decide he wants to be born earlier than that. One friend of mine just had her baby 12 days early and another had hers 5 weeks early just two nights ago! Pretty soon we are going to have to figure out a plan for if he decides to arrive early since we have Moose who is most definitely not going to be in the operating room! I told Branden that if he was there he would probably run down the hall with some vital organ of mine! :) But back to the reason for his post, here are Little Levi's adorable clothes! Plus one cute picture of Moose relaxing before going to sleep last night!

Super Moose!!

Today Moose got a cape and it turned him into a super trouble maker! His Da had to chase him all over Target while I was shopping for baby essentials for Levi!

We had brunch at IHOP before going shopping Moose ate most of his breakfast. He had whole wheat pancake, sliced banana, scrambled egg and sausage!

Mmm, peas!

Moose loves peas. Tonight we had them with dinner and he was too busy eating them to babble at all!

Rocks and water

Moose entertained himself for quite a long time today with some rocks and a couple bowls full of water.  He was transferring the rocks from bowl to bowl, and splashing them down into the water.  I wanted to get a longer video of his back and forth process he had going on, but my phone ran out of memory right in the middle of it.  Oh well!

Tractor fun!

Moose had fun today on the tractor with Grandpa!

He "won" and is so pleased!

We put Moose to bed but rather than going to sleep he sat up there and talked and played. I went to check on him and he was standing by his door so I brought him down. I love this picture of how happy with himself he looks. So cute!

Beautiful day!

It was a perfect day to go to the park. We spent 2 hours running around playing. It was very fun, especially because Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Beth and Uncle Todd met us there! I have a feeling one little guy is going to be taking a long nap as soon as we get home.

Assorted pictures from today

A very tired out Moose laying in his Da's arms.  So precious!

26 weeks pregnant.

Moose and our sweet dog Picker.

Moose checking out the view from the house across the street from where ours will be.

The view of our lot from the house across the street.  The sky was so pretty today!

Moose climbed up here all by himself.  He wants to be a little farmer I think!

House cleaning helper

Today Moose was helping me clean the house.   He was very diligent about putting his toys and blankets away (in one drawer or another).  When we finished tidying up and vacuuming, I sprayed air freshener throughout the upstairs of our home.  Moose saw that and immediately started waving his hand in the air going "shhht shhht" and smiling.  I gave him the air freshener canister, and he helped me by "spraying" it all over his room.  If you listen carefully you can hear his little voice going "shhht shhht" while he is waving it.  It's so cute how helpful he is!

"Driving" with Grandpa

Moose got to "drive" the pickup with Grandpa today. He had a lot of fun turning knobs and playing with the steering wheel. Poor little guy was heartbroken when it was time for Grandpa and Grandma to leave. He had such sad little cries!

Baby Animal Days

Today we went to "Baby Animal Days" which is held in the nearby town of Greeley.  It's geared towards children and features a bunch of different farm animals that the kids can pet and look at.  It was a lot of fun, though we didn't stay as long as we planned as it started raining pretty steadily.  We'll have to go back next year so that both Moose and Levi can see the baby animals!

Moose and Da checking out the pony.

Ooh, a fuzzy goat butt!

Moose and Grandma loved the baby goats!

Moose was pretty impressed with the horse.

Come over here, horsie!

Just a little closer, please!

Moose and the piglets checking each other out.

The piglets were biters, so Moose could only touch them on their sides.

This little calf was named MayBell.  She was so cute!

The beginning stages of mutton busting! (Which will be the only mutton busting he gets to do if Mommy has any say in it!)

French Dip Sandwiches

14 ounces beef broth
1 packet onion soup mix
1-2 pounds boneless eye of round steak
San Francisco french rolls
shredded mozzarella cheese

Combine beef broth and onion soup mix in a crock pot.  Add steak.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  Remove steak and shred.  Spread butter or olive oil on french rolls and broil until slightly browned inside.  Add desired amount of meat on top of one side, top with cheese, and broil until cheese melts.  Serve with dipping sauce from inside the crock pot on the side.  Delicious!

*Adapted from emeals.com

Indoor fun today

It was cloudy and cooler here today so we went to the indoor play place to run around. Moose seemed to have just as much fun there! He is a happy little guy!