Blackened Chicken and Rice

From pinterest again.  Here is the original .  I modified it to have cilantro-lime rice since I didn't have quinoa in the house.  I had everything else though!

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
avocado
greek yogurt
cilantro
lime juice
rice
seasoning (pepper, salt, onion, garlic, poultry seasoning)

Coat chicken breasts in seasnoning, and pan fry in skillet until cooked through.  In the meantime, cook rice according to the directions, and add lime and cilantro when done.  Combine greek yogurt with avocado to make a sauce.  Place chicken on rice bed, garnish with creamy avocado sauce.

Cilantro

Seasoned

Blackened 

Finished - avocado yogurt sauce and salad

YUM!  Great response from hubby and myself!

New closet space

I am a big fan of having good shelving in closets, both in my own closet and the others in my home.  I want my things neat and tidy, not laying on floors or shoved into corners.  We have 4 bedrooms, and the master has two closets (his and hers), so I had a lot of wood working to do (in the three that needed it).

Here is a picture of the shelving I put in my own closet, for my shoes.  It's sooo expensive to buy premade shoe/closet racks, and this one was cheap - just pine boards ($10 for a ~7' board), and we already have a miter saw that I used to make my cuts with.

All the closets had were hanging rods and a shelf above them.  So, with the bigger guest room closet, I could add shelving and another row of hanging rods - for a side with shirts/pants, and a side for longer things like dresses or suits.  Plus the shelves in between, which I plan on buying more of the storage bins as pull-outs to keep things tidy. 

Here are my before and after pics of the two guest closets I did today (oh, and it only took a couple hours to finish).

And guest room closet #2 is a little smaller, so I only added shelves.  The third guest bedroom has some stackable shelves already, so I didn't need to add to that, and Adam's closet has the same thing too, so that was omitted also.

Slow Cooker Chicken

Here is another recipe from Pinterest that I tried.  Slow cooker chicken in tortillas.  Just add chicken breasts (frozen!), can of cream of chicken soup, salsa and taco seasoning and set on high til the chicken is cooked through.  Add some sour cream, shred the chicken, and serve in a tortilla.

It was great!

Homemade Ice Cream

Ice cream is one of our favorite desserts.  Adam asked me to pick up some ice cream recently, and I went to get the all-natural kind.  I expected to look at the ingredients and only see things I could pronounce.  However, that was not the case.  So, I got us an ice cream maker, so I can make it at home and I know what goes into it. 

So far, I've made chocolate, a vanilla with a fudge swirl, and vanilla with a custard base.

I only took pictures of some parts.  Here is the vanilla base getting cooked up.

And here is my ice cream!

My birthday

My birthday was in July, and I had a great one.  I got a very nice dinner out wth Adam at the Melting Pot, which is one of my favorite places to go. My group at work also took me out for lunch.  I got some great birthday cards, and an awesome gift from my bestie, Maria.  She got me an awesome sunglasses case and a cute necklace.  I already wore it to work and got some great compliments on it.

My good friend Jessica (probably my closest friend in Texas), got me some awesome canvases (she knows I love art), some paintbrushes and paint, along with a Michael's gift card.  I'm so excited to use them and the gift card to make some crafty artsy fartsy stuff! 

I also had my friend Courtney make me some excellent cupcakes.  They were blueberry cheesecake flavored, and one of the best cupcakes I've ever had. Everyone at work loved them. 



Happy Graduation to Adam!

Adam graduated from college recently, from Lone Star College.  He got his A.S. in geology, and now is attending the university Sam Houston for his 4 year degree.  I did not make him be a geology major, he did that on his own!  Having a geology degree is always good for the Houston area, since we are a definite oil and gas prominent area.  It's a terrific career path and I love what I do.  Adam has taken to geology with enthusiasm, so I know he will enjoy the job he gets too. 

What a cutie I have

I am so proud of him! 

My dogs

I love my dogs!  I have two of the sweetest dogs in the world.  Boomer is the chihuahua, and Cobalt (Coby) is the mix.  I sooo want to get the SkyMall doggie DNA test for him to see what breeds he's got.  They're the best of friends, and don't like being separated.  They love other dogs and people too, and think their parents are the best ever. 

 Sitting like a man with me

Boomer relaxing

I told him to look pretty for the camera

 Coby likes his pillows

Cuddling with Adam and each other