Goats, Knights, and Dinner, Oh My

Last week, we had a playdate with our MOPS group. It was at a stable that had a whole little farm. The kids had a great time playing with the goats and bunnies in the pen. There were also roosters, ponies, a donkey, and an alpaca. I told Jake about this the week before (poor idea), and I got asked EVERY.SlNGLE.DAY when we were going to see the "sheeps". There were no sheep, but there was a good time had by all.

One afternoon, we decided to wash the golf cart. That was a big hit as well. As you can see, proper attire is needed. The "tizers" also known as tires were really dirty.

Little Jake is a child after my own heart. The boys does love things to be in their place at the end of the day. He loves to help clean, and I have often said that it takes me twice as long when he helps. However, I do love that he wants to help, so I always include him when I can. Here he is helping me vacuum and dust the other day. With a baby on one hip, vacuum in the other hand, and a knight at my side, we managed to clean the house :)

Okay, so now for the real reason for the post. I thought I would share a few easy, quick recipes. I have been obsessed - yes, obsessed with this dressing. My friend, Lauren, brought it to small group a few weeks ago, and I made it the next day. I ate it everyday for about a week straight. I have tapered off a little now, but I had it yesterday again. It is that good. The original recipe calls for a spinach salad with strawberries and walnuts. As you will see in the pic below, I went a more savory route with avocados, yellow peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Still yummy. Please forgive any food pics because they were taken (with the exception of one) while I was juggling 2 crying, hungry children.

Yummy Dressing

Dressing:

1/3 c. apple cider vinegar

3/4 c. sugar

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp salt

1 c. vegetable oil

1/2 small red onion, grated (I only used a little bit of the onion that I grated)

1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds

1 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp paprika

Heat vinegar, sugar, lemon juice and salt together until the sugar dissolves.

Cool to room temperature.

Whisk in oil, onion, poppy seeds, mustard and paprika.

When I read the ingredient list, I thought for sure it must have something else in there. Nope, that was it. And it is GOOD...

Pot Roast Enchiladas

Pot roast, cooked in crockpot and shredded (I cooked a big roast and we had it for dinner one night with    mashed potatoes, and asparagus/tomatoes and shredded the rest)

Green Chilies (I used 2 4oz cans)

8 oz cream cheese, softened

sour cream

black beans, 1 can rinsed and drained

refried beans, 1 can

colby jack cheese

salsa, guacamole, sour cream for topping

tortillas

Mix shredded pot roast (as much meat as you want) in with cream cheese, beans, and green chilies. Place mixture in tortillas and roll up. Place in pan and top with sour cream (I used about 1/4 of a 16 oz container) and cheese. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. Top with salsa and enjoy. You can make these meatless or add in jalapenos or whatever you'd like.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

I found this on Pinterest. This is a horrible picture. I will just add the link to this one. I really liked it. It was spicy (which I loved). Although, I have no idea what made it spicy. I used mild Rotel and was honestly surprised that it had a nice little kick. You don't have to cook the pasta ahead of time - woohoo!!! Here is the link:
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/spicy-sausage-pasta.html

Rachel Ray's Southwestern Pasta

We had this one for dinner tonight. Jason came in and said that something smelled really good. It smelled better than it tasted. It wasn't bad, but this needs salt. That is something you won't hear me say often. I'm not a heavy salter when it comes to food. This was just okay. We'll eat the leftovers, and it was an easy dish to prepare. Since it's all over Pinterest, I thought I'd share that I made it, and we thought it was just okay.

http://livinglight58.blogspot.com/2012/03/trying-something-new.html

I have recipes and ingredients to make two more recent Pinterest pins. One is sesame honey chicken, and the other is a chicken quesadilla pie. So far, the boys have gobbled down all these recipes, and I will be sure to post results of the others.