Beach Bound!!!

My nails are painted (bubble bath)....

 My toenails are painted...

I have these two books....

I have to have a beach hat....

and tomorrow morning I will be arriving here....

With my wonderful family...

 

And Kaila will be there also! 

But I am mostly excited about spending the whole week with this little guy....

Be back in a week :) 

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Another great Pinterest find... Spinach Lasagna Rolls ~ posted by the-girl-who-eats-everything.com

This was a delicious and easy recipe if you like pasta and spinach! It would be very easy to add some chicken to the roll ups but we just did spinach this time. 

Ingredients

Yum!! 

Directions:

1 Roll = 224 calories and 6 WW Points Plus (adjust if you add chicken)

9 lasagna noodles, cooked
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
1 (15 ounce) container fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings
salt and fresh pepper
(optional) 1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
32 oz tomato sauce (I used spaghetti sauce)
9 Tablespoons part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°. Make sure you drain the spinach well. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan cheese, egg, garlic, Italian seasonings, chicken (optional), and salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Pour about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry by patting them with a paper towel. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over a noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with about 1 Tablespoon of mozzarella cheese. Cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.
To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

Enjoy :) 

Cake Batter Blondies.

I know right...your mouth is watering a little bit just at the sound of Cake Batter Blondies! Okay I am going to admit it, 'My name is April and I am addicted to Pinterest'. My sweet sister in law introduced me to this website and I can't get enough of it. I love all the recipes, fashion ideas, and don't even get me started on the decorating ideas from all the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom pictures. I can't wait to eventually try all of the recipes on my Food Board, but I started with these cake batter blondies that girlmeetslife.com pinned on her board. They were...AMAZING! Sorry chocolate-lovers, this might not be your favorite. But for those of you who love blondies, vanilla, and LOVE to lick the bowl after making funfetti cake.... you will LOVE these!

Ingredients

Directions:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add the milk slowly – you want the batter to remain as dense as possible. Then mix in the rainbow sprinkles and white chocolate chips. Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are just golden brown at 350 degrees.

Hope you get a chance to bake and ENJOY soon! 

Chicken Bacon Ranch Quesadillas

Need a QUICK EASY dinner one night... these chicken bacon ranch quesadillas are excellent! The best part is you can customize this quesadilla with any extra toppings that you would enjoy. These might be a regular in our house...especially once summer is over :(

Ingredients 

 YUM!

DIRECTIONS:

1 large tortilla
2 slices cooked bacon or Bacon Pieces (I used pieces)
1-2 oz chopped chicken 

1-2 tsp Ranch dressing
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
cooking spray

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Spray pan with cooking spray.

Lay tortilla on a flat surface. Cover the tortilla with an even layer of cheese. Top one half of tortilla with chicken and bacon. Drizzle Ranch dressing over chicken. Place tortilla in skillet. Cook for 1 minute, until cheese starts to melt. Fold in half - cheese side of tortilla over on chicken. Cook for 2 minutes more, flipping until each side is golden and crisp. Remove, cut into 3 pieces.

Favorite Purchases lately...

Here are some things I have purchased lately that I LOVE...

i'm slightly obsessed with candles..this is my new favorite one from The Briarcliff Shop in Homewood

This lamp is not technically 'new' because I bought it almost a year ago...but I have a thing for lamps and this is the most recent one I bought :) 

I have been wanting a new painting for over my couch... and I love angel paintings so we bought this one! 

My mother in law and I found these at Tricia's Treasures (an antique store) in downtown Homewood

Square wreath from Harmony Landing in downtown Homewood... LOVE

I love lanterns... especially old/antique looking ones

I bought this fake Longchamp from China town when I was in New York last week... I already have the purse size one and I am so excited about this large tote size one!

I bought this dress while I was in NYC and I am so excited about it! 

New York City!

A few months ago on our high school girls email chain Casey, who lives in New York City, told us she had a dream about all of us coming to New York to visit her...and we said, "Why does it have to be a dream, LET'S GO"!!  So Christy, Tanner, Liz, and I booked our flight to NYC for 4th of July weekend!! 

 Christy and I drove to Atlanta on Thursday and stayed with Tanner. Thursday was Tanner's 25th birthday so we went to Tin Lizzy's (if you ever visit Atlanta you should go eat there....they have really good Mexican food)! Then we went to...

 and it was YUMMY!

The next morning we flew to NYC and had an amazing 5 days!!

The view from Brooklyn

 At the Brooklyn Promenade

 A view of the city at night from Brooklyn....Beautiful :)

Walking along The High Line

Getting Drinks at The Frying Pan.... great place to eat/drink on the Hudson River

Went to see Memphis on Broadway... LOVED it!!

Of course we had to visit Times Square afterward

eating at Peels for Brunch ~ delicious

After a long day of shopping...this hit the spot! Wafles and Dinges...find a truck if you ever go to NY :)

At Austin's house for 4th of July cookout

 

Liz, Casey, and Casey's AWESOME bow :)

 Love these ladies...

 Happy 4th Cookies :)

Love me some Liz...

Mason and Tanner... and the bow of course

 

 Riding the subway

Park in Tribeca where we watched the Fireworks 

 Casey and Tanner

Christy and me 

 

 So thankful that I got to spend 4th of July with these lovely ladies in NEW YORK!

Our picnic spread

So precious....

Gorgeous sunset while we were waiting on the fireworks

  

  Be back soon New York!