Thursday, February 24, 2011

Chicken Enchiladas

***EDIT!! I forgot an ingredient! You also need 1 8oz package of cream cheese!***

I know that everyone says that their mother is the best cook in the world. Everyone is wrong...except for me. My mother is the world's best cook...second only to her mother, my Nana (Who has gone to be with Jesus. I miss her so much but we won't get into that...I'd have you here all night talking about how precious and hilarious my sweet Italian grandmother was!), who taught her everything she knows. So when Momma gives me a new recipe...I make it...not as well as she makes it...but I make it nonetheless! This one for Chicken Enchiladas is YUMMMMM. My momma actually has made this for me before and I LOOOOOVED it so much that I HAD to have the recipe! Hubby loves it, too (AND one of my favorite families at church!!)! And let me add just one more thing...I am no gourmet chef...I don't ever attempt to cook anything that has ingredients with names that I can't pronounce...in a few words...I like EASY! So any recipe you get from me, you can always assume that it's gonna be EASY! This one is no exception. :) Without further adieu...here it is...Momma Hammond's Chicken Enchilada Recipe!

Ingredients:
10 small tortillas
1 can chicken
1/2 medium onion chopped
1/4 c. queso dip
1 can 97% fat free cream of chicken soup
1/3 c. skim milk
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Combine CHICKEN, CREAM CHEESE, and ONION.
Fill tortillas with chicken/cream cheese/onion mixture.
Roll and lay in greased casserole dish.
Drizzle queso dip over rolls.

Mix CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP and SKIM MILK.
Pour over rolls.
Top with SHREDDED CHEESE.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
**I like to top mine with a dollop of sour cream! DE-LISH!

There you go...easy breezy and absolutely yummy! We're having these suckers for dinner tonight! I'm serving them with Mexican rice from a box....told you I like easy dinners. ;)

Let me know if you try these!!! My mother would be thrilled!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Nothin' you ain't seen before...

Sometimes I don't want to use correct grammar...and by seeing today's blog title, you'll know that today is one of those days. Just don't feel like it.
I made my niece a headband to wear yesterday because I thought her little outfit would be perfectly accompanied by some modern "big girl" rolled fabric flowers. I know you've seen these before...you've probably made one for yourself. They're so hot right now and they're EVERYWHERE! :) So here's a link to a tutorial (in case you've been living in a cave...or you're just new to the blog world!) on Life Through the Lense.
Check out my favorite 3 year old in her perfect new headband! She is a hot mess. If you know her, you love her. If you don't know her, you want to know her.

The Kool-Aid mustache is just an added bonus. :)


So is the side ponytail ;)

She decided that she wasn't quite dressed yet...she had to put on her shades. She is hilarious.
Let me know if you make one of these for yourself or for your perfect niece/child/grandchild/etc. :) I LOVE hearing about YOUR craft projects!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

I heart presents.


Especially presents from my husband. :)


You have to know that it was way out of his comfort zone to buy this for me...He likes to KNOW that I'm going to love something BEFORE he buys it...(this is exactly why I picked out my engagement ring ;) I love my new necklace and my husband.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Metal chairs rainin' on my baby shower...

Well...not MY baby shower...but my baby sister's baby shower. Like I mentioned here, my sister is preggo with baby #2. She's having a boy! YAY! I'm so excited to meet little Tucker and I'm just as excited (almost) to throw her a baby shower!!!!!! My older sister, mom, and I are throwing her a bird themed shower in April. We want it to be very cute and earthy and outdoorsey (if that's a word...probably not). The location for the shower is perfect, the centerpieces are perfect, the invitations are perfect, the food will be perfect (because I'm pretty sure my mom's gonna take care of that one), the tables will be perfect...the only thing NOT perfect? Metal.......folding.......chairs. Barf. But what should I do about them? I don't want to spend a willion dollars on renting chair covers...I would rather spend a willion hours making something that is going to be cheap but cute! So I started searching the web for ideas...
What if I made chair caps instead of full out covers? These aren't what I'm looking for for this particular occasion...but look how CUTE!
I mean...could you DIE over these? I can't stop looking at them...If Tucker were a girl, you had better believe I would be making a version of these puppies...I'm seriously in love. Somebody needs to make these!
I also liked the woven look of these caps...
No way I'm talented enough to make those suckers...and they wouldn't be cheap enough to make...but cute nonetheless... (found both pictures from Preston Bailey)

Another idea is to use ribbon...or strips of fabric...check out this guy from BloomingDesign!
Even so...with as many guests as she has on the guest list...these could prove to be expensive....and they probably wouldn't look this cute on stupid metal folding chairs...
Hmmmm...what to do?? When I saw these beauties from Special Events, it sparked my creative mojo, if you will, and I think I may have an idea...
Let me emphasize MAY HAVE. It seriously just popped in my head like 10 minutes ago...I haven't tried it at all yet...so it may be garbage. I guess we'll just have to wait and see now won't we? ;) Have any suggestions for me? I'd love to hear them!!

Monday, February 7, 2011

I can't believe it's been a YEAR!

One year ago today, my husband, Brandon, proposed to me. It was such an amazing day, so I thought I would relive it today by blogging about it and telling y'all the story through pictures. :) It was such an incredible day and I was completely surprised! I tend to pride myself on the fact that I know what he's thinking before he thinks it...so I just knew that when he would propose...I would have already figured out his plan...I was wrong.
My whole family came in town to celebrate my birthday (tricky....because my birthday is February 10...so I didn't suspect a thing when they all came in town the weekend before the 10th). So the plan was that on Sunday after church, we were going to go out to eat to celebrate my birthday before they all had to leave town to go home. So...Sunday comes and I was teaching kids church so I was not in the sanctuary during the sermon. Little did I know that Pastor made an announcement at the end of the service that "Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hammond would like to invite you to come witness the engagement of their daughter, Jerica, to Mr. Brandon Hibner in the gym after the service". So...church lets out and people start piling into the gym (this is typical because people come back there after church to pick up their kids...so I still notice nothing). Brandon comes to me and says..."come here... I have a birthday gift for you" I reply with "Honey, not now...I'm working...people are coming to pick up their kids" (ha!) So eventually, he drags me out into the middle of this crowd of people (at this point, I figured out something was up...)
While he was talking to me, I had no idea what was going on behind me. (You know because you can see in the picture :) I can't even remember what all he said to me because at this point, I was already freaking out....but it was something along the lines of "You know how much I love you right? You're the love of my life and I need you to turn around."
So...I turn around and this is what I see....
AHHHHHHH! :) Some of the children who I am closest to at church (most of these kids were actually in the wedding) are holding the signs that say "Will you marry me?" So...when I turned BACK around...THIS is what I saw...
I said yes. ;)
Here's the ring....

When I said yes, people started blowing noise makers, holding signs that said "Congrats", and there were even people up above that threw balloons over the balcony! It was unbelieveable!
You have to understand how important our church family is to us...I grew up in this church and now I'm even on staff there. We are very close to several people who go to RC3 and we really consider them all our family. So how wonderful to have them all there to experience this with us?!?!?!?!?
End of the story, right? No...there's more...
So after the big celebration and the incredible ring, I still think we are going out to eat with my family to celebrate my birthday (and now our new engagement!). On our way to the restaurant, I was on the phone telling my grandmother the news and didn't even pay attention to the fact that Brandon was pulling into a place that wasn't even close to the restaurant. We get there, get out of the car, and walk in and I still have no idea what's going on because I'm still overwhelmed by what just happened...we walk in to....
A SURPRISE engagement party!! WOW! :) There was food, a DJ, friends, family, and SO much fun! I couldn't even stand myself I was so happy.

They even used the "Will you marry me" signs in the decor. :)
My sisters, parents, friends, and in-laws had a huge part in helping Brandon pull this off.
Sisters. :)
My cute parents. :)
My nieces/flower girls. :) They didn't plan a thing...just showed up to have fun...but they're cute, so I wanted to post a picture of them...it's my blog. ;)
It was absolutely an UNFORGETTABLE day and one I'll talk about for years to come! I thought that I could never be happier when I was his fiance....then I became his wife. God blesses us so much every single day. I could never have dreamed of a more perfect man than the one God has given to me. I am so thankful.

Printable art update...

Remember the printable art that I blogged about here? Well, I told you that I would post a picture of it after I framed it and hung it...so here ya go...
**Let me start out by saying that it is impossible to take a good picture in this room...the color of the walls NEVER looks right in pictures...it's not lime green. It's more muted than it looks...it's bright but not THAT bright!**
I used an old frame that I already had for the printable art that I created...and I made a wreath for either side of it to hang above the bed in the guest room.


I made the felt flowers that I talked about in this post from Craft Snob to put on the wreaths. I think they turned out pretty cute!
**The colors in these pictures are terrible...the flowers are purple and red...the purple looks mighty dark in the pictures...but it's not that dark in real life...come over, you'll see.**

A bunch of stuff thrown into a room that doesn't really go together...it has been quite a challenge...but until the room can be painted, I've just got to make it work! I'll keep you updated...or not...depends on if I'm in the mood. ;)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Long time no blog...

I've been busy working on more photography stuff...so I haven't crafted in a while...sad, I know...but I do have some super cute new posts on my photography blog that you may want to check out. :) Click HERE to see my new posts.