Dinner Is Served!

I’ve been channeling my inner Pioneer Woman and cooking a lot lately. And by a lot I mean two to three times a week. I’ve found some really easy recipes on Pinterest and other websites so I thought I’d share. I’m always looking for something easy.

Crock Pot White Chicken Chili:

1 1/4 lbs boneless skinless chicken
2 (15 ounce) cans navy beans
1 (15 ounce) can hominy or 1 (15 ounce) can white corn
1 (1 1/4 ounce) envelope taco seasoning
1 (4 1/2 ounce) can of chopped green chilies
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream                                                                    4oz cream cheese
chopped green onion (optional)
monterey jack cheese (optional)

Directions:

Place chicken in crockpot – frozen is fine
Top with beans and corn.

In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, chiles, condensed soup, and chicken broth. Pour over top of ingredients in the crock pot.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Before serving, stir gently to break up chicken, then stir in the sour cream and cream cheese (if you’re not a cream cheese fan you can leave this out – it’s still really good).

Serve topped with green onions and jack cheese, if desired.

Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken:

2 pounds chicken breast /enders – throw ‘em in frozen!                                                                                                 1 cup pineapple juice                                                                 1/2 cup packed brown sugar                                                  1/3 cup light soy sauce

Grease the bottom of your crock pot – I throw a couple chunks of butter in the bottom of mine – throw in your chicken. Mix the sauce up and poor on top. Cook on low 6-8 hrs or high 3-4 hrs and they should just fall apart.

I served this over brown rice and it was divine! Add a side of fried cabbage and it’s as if you slaved all day!

Fried Cabbage:

This recipe came from here.

2 tlbsp vegetable oil or olive oil
1 med. Onion, chopped course
1 stick of butter
1/2 LB raw bacon, chopped
1 head cabbage, med-lg, course chopped
Salt/Pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add onion & bacon. Cook until onion is tender & bacon starts browning & getting crisp. Add butter, cabbage and s/p. Stir to coat. Cover. Cook for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Cover. Check for tenderness of cabbage. Repeat until done and then remove from heat. Taste best warm!

This was amazing! Bert even ate some and he doesn’t eat cabbage. Please note I had to google how to chop cabbage because I’ve never cooked it before…

Cake Batter Rice Krispies:

3 Tbsp. butter                                                                                   1 (10 oz.) bag of mini-marshmallows                                      1/3 cup yellow cake mix (the dry cake mix, not prepared into a batter!)                                                                                  5 cups crispy rice cereal                                                                 1 (1.75 oz.) container of sprinkles

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat and add marshmallows. Stir until they begin to melt, adding in (dry) cake mix one spoonful at a time so its combined. Stir in cereal so it is completely coated with marshmallow mixture. Sprinkle in half of the sprinkles and mix. Press into a baking dish (any size will do) and top with remaining sprinkles. Let sit for about 30 minutes before cutting.

You’ll never eat regular rice krispie treats again!

Happy cooking! Feel free to leave me any fabulous recipes you love!

Blog Sale

I feel like a baby clothes hoarder, so I figured now would be a good time to get rid of some of Turner Mc’s clothes.

I will number each item and list the price and condition of each item. Shipping will be $2 for the 1st item & $1 for each additional item.

If you’d like to purchase anything e-mail me at:

brittanydenton@gmail.com

I will send an invoice through PayPal and will ship within 2 days of payment.

1 – Royal Child Smocked Dress 12m -  good condition $10

2 – Mud Pie Chickst Longall  18-24M - worn twice – $13

3 – Crab Romper 12M good condition – $10 SOLD

4 – Mud Pie Circus Dress 12-18M – never worn – $15 SOLD

5 – Ralph Lauren dress w/bloomers 6M never worn – $12

6 – Mud Pie Shirt and ruffle capris 12-18M – good condition – $12

7 – Old Navy Dress w/Bloomers 6-12M good condition – $8

8 – Old Navy Overall Dress w/Bloomers 6-12M excellent condition – $10

9 – Ralph Lauren Dress w/Bloomers 9M excellent condition – $12

10 – Gap Romper 12-18M good condition – $8

11 – White Sun San sandals Toddler size 5 – good condition – $12 SOLD

12- Lime Green Sun San Sandals Toddler Size 5 – EUC – $15 SOLD

13 – White Sun San Sandals Toddler Size 3 – good condition – $10 SOLD

14 – Crocs Mary Janes Toddler 5 – good condition – $8 SOLD

15 – Crocs Mary Janes Toddler 5 – great condition – $8

16 – Joe Boxer Swimsuit 12M – EUC – $5

19 – Circo Swimsuit 12M – EUC – $6 SOLD

20 – Fish Swimsuit 12M – good condition – $5

21 – Boutique Swimsuit 12M – EUC – $10 SOLD

If you have any questions please email me! Thanks for stopping by!!

Turner Mc’s Birth Story Flashback!

I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I gave birth to my little princess! In honor of her big day, I decided to repost her birth story so I can remember how the day went down, and all you fabulous people can reminisce with me!

Part 1:

Thursday March 10, 2011:

This is my last pregnant picture. 39 weeks and 5 days!

Let me start by saying I had an amazing birth experience with very few complications. Being induced worked amazingly well for us but that’s not always the case. We were beyond blessed to have such an awesome experience with everything going better than planned – for the most part.

I woke up Thursday morning around 3:30. I couldn’t sleep. This is the day I will finally meet my baby! The day I will no longer be pregnant – thank God! We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 and there was so much I felt I needed to do. I showered and dried my hair and put on makeup – a luxury of being induced! I had plenty of time to make myself feel pretty. (I wish you could see me now! I do good to bathe every day!) We got everything ready, got the car packed and in true Denton fashion we pulled out of the driveway at 6:30. Let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be our birth story if we weren’t late.

Berty made it to the hospital in record time and we were checked in and ready to go by 6:45. Once in the room I got to pee in a cup because when you’re pregnant people are obsessed with your pee. You can’t go anywhere without giving someone a specimen! The cups at the hospital are larger than the shot glasses you pee in at the doc so I’m pretty sure I didn’t pee on myself. The nurse started my iv – which hurt like hell, strapped on the fetal and contraction monitors, and we waited for the doc to come break my water.

Dr. Smith came in at 7:30 to break my water and get the party started! I was 3cm at this point. Now, it took 40 forevers for him to break my water. Apparently I had a “tough” bag. This part wasn’t that bad just a lot of pressure and lots of things shoved all up in my business. The instrument used to break your water is a standard crochet hook – seriously. It took about 5 minutes for my bag to finally break and once it did the doc left and homegirl’s heart rate dropped from the 130’s to the 70’s and then – nothing. While JP and my nurse made nurse faces at each other and tried to pretend like everything was hunky dory, I freaked. They finally located her heart rate and I had to lay super still to make sure she was going to be okay.

Moving on from the dramatics….

This is after he broke my water and right when the Pitocin was started – obviously before the contractions became intense.

Last photo as a family of 2 – minus the fur children of course!

The early morning was pretty uneventful. Contractions started getting stronger soon after the Pitocin was started but they really weren’t that bad – at first. I knew I wanted an epidural and because I was 3cm when I got there, they told me I could have my epidural as soon as I wanted it. I was a little scared sh*tless of the epidural so I wanted to hold off as long as I could.

The doc came in and checked me again around 11 and I was 4 cm. They offered my some iv pain meds and I was afraid it would effect the baby so I declined – until I had an awesome contraction and I decided that TM probably wouldn’t mind being doped up to help her momma out!

Before Stadol:

After Stadol:

The pain meds took the edge off and I enjoyed socializing with all my visitors and trying to rest for the last time – ever. No really.

Aunt Courter, my mom, and Aunt Nini – my SIL

We had lots of friends and family come by throughout the day and I felt pretty good for the hour or so following the pain meds! I could feel the contractions getting stronger and I grew some balls finally asked for my epidural. The last 2 contractions that I felt were ridiculous. The worst pain I have ever felt. We need to take a moment to recognize those who labor without any meds, like none. You rock! There’s no way in hell I would have survived. I was in tears by the time the doc came in with the goods!

I was at 5cm when I got my epidural at around 1. Half-way there! And the epidural was not bad at all. The shot you get before they put the epidural in is really not that bad. The worst part is trying to be still through the contractions. It took maybe 5 minutes total for him to put it in. 15 minutes later I was feeling nothing and it was amazing!

This amazing feeling lasted about an hour and we partied it up in our room with lots of our favorite peeps!

Me and my daddy!

Check back for part 2 of the story – I need to try and sleep while TM is actually sleeping!

Part 2:

It is super important to mention that I got a spray tan the day before I gave birth. I cannot believe I forgot to share this info with y’all! Feel free to make fun but I was in desperate need of a tan and I didn’t want to scare TM with my pasty-ness.

Moving along….I got the epidural and all was unicorns and rainbows blah blah blah.

We need to revisit contractions. I had people tell me that contractions feel like period cramps. Ummm not sure what kind of hellacious period you have but my period cramps usually don’t feel like death. Get an epidural people. It will change your life!

So after the epi all my lovely friends and fam rejoined us. There were at least 79 people in the room and I felt great for a little while. All of a sudden I felt the worst pressure you can imagine. Shall we have graphic detail? Yes?! Of course. I felt like my butt was going to explode. Surely this is not normal…..I tried whispering to my nurse to let her know I needed to push or my butt was exploding. Since this was my first rodeo I wasn’t really sure which was correct.

She went in search of the doc while everyone socialized around me and I died a slow and painful death of anal pressure. A little before 2 the doc came in and checked me and it was go time! 10cm. Woo Hoo!!! (He then oh so conveniently left and I had to rely on my husband to keep me alive! – okay there was a nurse there too – and my mommas!)

I started pushing right around 2. Dude pushing out a kid is hard! Extremely hard. And you have to hold your breath and push for 30 seconds and it seems like 30 hours. Seriously. Apparently TM wasn’t in a hurry to make her appearance because it took 40 forevers or a little over an hour for her head to “crown.” Y’all it felt like I pushed for days before they could see her head. And I know this will be hard to believe but I didn’t say not ONE ugly word while I was pushing! Yay me!!!

The doc came down around 3 because they thought I was oh so close to delivering. Sike! I could not get homegirl’s head out. It was horrible. I think they told me “ONE MORE PUSH” at least 37 times. I thought I was going to die. For real. Finally at 3:38 Turner McCartney arrived! With the cord around her neck, and a knot in her cord. WTH? I couldn’t see what they saw so I was freaking when I heard the nurse say she has a knot. The doc suctioned her and she started screaming! Apparently the knot had just happened that morning and didn’t cause any problems.

I LOVE this picture!!!

Now once TM was out I felt great. Until I realized I had experienced complete vag destruction – three cuts with the kitchen scissors - and I had to be sewn up. And for some crazy reason I started to feel the doc stitching me up. It was horrible! And the needle was, I swear, a fish hook. No lie. Looked just like one. I survived having my taint sewn back together and I got to finally hold my beautiful baby girl! Best moment ever!

I need to give props to LG who had to push out a nearly 10 lb baby Fenn! I cannot imagine!

Our first family photo!

So that concludes the birth story. I’m finally feeling like I can function normally again and I will try to blog more often! I would love to answer any questions or humor you in any way so please feel free to ask me anything you want to know!

Thanks for hanging in there with us! I can’t believe we survived!