6.22.2016

Skinny Pesto Chicken

Y'all know I love recipe swapping!
Here is a yummy, not so fattening, dinner idea! 
I found the recipe on pinterest! 
One of my goals is to one day grow my own basil and make fresh pesto, 
but for now the store made kind gets the job done! Haha! 
For the boys (Mitch + Eli) I made a bed of buttery noodles but for myself I did a quick spinach side salad with balsamic vinaigrette! 
For dessert I made homemade vanilla icecream (Recipe Here!) and put it in a cantaloupe bowl! 
Mitch's grandma used to do this for him as a kid and he loves it! 
I only had cantaloupe for dessert, gotta loose that baby weight!! 
Here is the recipe for Skinny Pesto Chicken: 

Ingredients

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • salt and fresh pepper
  • 4 tsp pesto
  • 1 tomato
  • Sliced mozzarella 
  • 2 tsp grated parmesan cheese
Directions:
Wash chicken and dry with a paper towel. Slice chicken breast horizontally to create 4 thinner cutlets. Season lightly with salt and fresh pepper.
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line baking sheet with foil or parchment for easy clean-up.
Place the chicken on prepared baking sheet. Spread 1 tsp of skinny pesto over each piece of chicken.
Bake for 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove from oven; top with tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
 http://www.skinnytaste.com/


Enjoy! 

6.21.2016

Avenger's Themed Birthday Party

Well my little buddy, Eli, turned 3 on April 17th.
It's so bittersweet for kiddos to grow up.
I am notorious for saying "this is my favorite stage" 
but I swear 3 is so so precious but also can be a little challenging with lots of training opportunities. 
This year we let Eli choose the theme for his party and of course he chose Avengers. 
He dresses up in his superhero costumes almost everyday + knows every last detail about every superhero (Justice League included) so we couldn't resist letting him celebrate Super Hero Style! 
Here is our little Hulk's party. 


We chose to use a venue in Frisco, Texas called The Coop
for this party instead of having it at home as 
Caroline Carlisle had just turned 5 months old and we thought it would be easier! 
The venue has a ball pit, electronic dance pad, bounce house, and lots of different toys and books! 
Onto to decor, we loved the gorgeous glass vases filled with paper shavings and decorated as the superhero skyline. We added tons of little signs all around to nail the theme home! We chose cute red table cloths with white polka dots and made sure to add paper fans from the overhang to fill the empty space. The Coop does balloons so we ordered a few dozen to add around the room for height! 
For every party I love to add the birthday boys name to make sure he feels special! 
I always have fresh flowers at every party too! :) 

 I love a cute dessert table and love making a huge, personalized banner for the backdrop! 
I think pictures of the birthday boy add a sweet, personal touch too! 

We always do custom stadium cups too but never got a picture of them! Boo! 
Cake is my favorite part of a party!!! Lol! 
We looked on pinterest and found pieces of cakes we loved and then had our friend and amazing baker at the Sweet Life Cakery make this cake! 
We went with a 3 tier as we had 40 kids plus parents there and I like to have flavor options ha!!
This year we tried something new and had cotton candy pops made, they were pretty yummy! 
Cute cookies from Sweet Life Cakery! 
Love the cute cake pops! 

 
 
Our photographer and friend, Lori Latch, set up this cute Photo Booth! 
She brings her iPad and the pic's are priceless! 
 A party tradition we love is having a book as the sign in book!
Cute kids table centerpieces! 

We invited Hulk (which was almost a total heart break when the original Hulk graduated and went to college early!), Iron Man, Spiderman and Captain America to the party. 
Y'all, Eli was so cute when they showed up! 
He hugged them so big and hen started showing off all his super hero moves.
He was just one of the guys!!! 









Well, there you have it! Eli's 3rd birthday party! 
It was a total success! 
We have to thank our family + friends for celebrating our little guy! 
We love you all big! 
Below are some fun party pic's!!! 
Enjoy! 
My princess! So precious!!!