“Mom, You Smell Good!”

That sounds nice, right? Sweet, right?

Well, it does sound nice. And it does sound sweet.

But, unfortunately, it was not.

It ended up not being true.

Let me backtrack.

I was making sloppy joes for dinner. I had wanted to make my Sloppy Joe Pie, but time only allotted for the making of sloppy joes.

20140213-132914.jpg

I was browning my meat. I was humming. I was drinking my Kung Fu Girl wine. I decided, Hmmmm, maybe someone would like to see how I make my sloppy joes. My husband is smirking at my secret thoughts right now. I added my dashes of worcestershire sauce and garlic powder to my meat. And I took a picture.

20140213-133011.jpg

Oh, yes! This is lookin’ good, thought my Kung Fu brain.

I took another picture.

Which turned out fine.

But what you cannot see.

What you are not seeing, is me dumping the whole sloppy joe packet down the front of my pajamas (don’t tell me you don’t cook in your pajamas, my heart could not bear it. Actually, I was wearing these pajamas).

It landed all over the floor.

Of course, I thought.

Of course. I am making Sloppy Joes. How could I make them and not be sloppy?

I couldn’t.

20140213-133137.jpg

My husband sweetly vacuumed up my mess while I finished dinner. Here is a tip: I add a quarter cup of ketchup to my sloppy joe mixture, in addition to the tomato paste the packet calls for (and yes, I had to open up a new packet. Because my other one was consumed in equal parts by the floor and the vacuum).

We ate dinner. I forgot about my mishap. Moved along. Took pictures of my fancy food.

20140213-134045.jpg

Later, I laid down in our bed to read my husband and my son a bit of “The Magician’s Elephant” (review coming soon. Spoiler: I give it a ten out of ten).

My son cuddled up next to me.

“Mom. You smell good!”

My heart melted.

“I do?” I thought about what it could be. Could it be my deodorant or my IF perfume? I had worn both forever. I was surprised it had taken him this long to comment on liking them.

“What do I smell like?”

He thought. Then he sniffed loudly.

“Garlic bread!” He proclaimed.

“Whhhhhaaaaaatttttt?” I unhappily asked.

He tried to make me feel better. “I love garlic bread!” He assured me.

This was still not what I wanted to hear.

I sniffed my shirt where he had been laying. It did smell like garlic.

I looked inside the pocket. And I gasped. Inside the pocket of my top was half of the sloppy joe packet I had dropped earlier.

I guess my shirt was hungrier than the floor and the vacuum.

I quickly went into the laundry room and changed. But I could not help reflecting on the fact that making sloppy joes had turned out to be messier than I had thought it would be.

I was downright sloppy.

Wait for it.

I was a Sloppy Jenni.

But it was okay.

Little boys are crazy for the stuff.

And I can think of a lot worse things than smelling like garlic bread.

But not much.

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day! Today I am wearing a bright pink caftan that I bought on sale. It makes me feel ultra feminine and romantic. What are you wearing today? Doing today? We are going out to lunch as a couple and then I am making homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner with the family.

I hope your day is sweet!

And that you don’t smell like garlic. Or sloppy joes! Or worse, Sloppy Jenni!

20140218-190041.jpg

P.S. I shared this on Savvy Southern Style.

And My Romantic Home.

It’s The Little Things: Amazon Prime Membership

20140205-160919.jpg

I know. I know it is not technically a little thing. But it makes me happy. Unbelievably, weirdly, wonderfully happy.

Amazon Prime is a yearly membership in which you pay a set fee (as of this writing, it is $79, but that might change soon according to this CNN article) and get free two day shipping on most of their products on their site. Since I usually purchase all of our books from Amazon, this has been beyond wonderful. I will say this will probably not be worth the cost to you if you do not shop at Amazon a lot. Unfortunately, I spend a pretty good amount of funds there. I buy all of my beauty products, excluding make-up, (this is tricky, because I thought one of my products was covered under Prime, but I ended up paying $8 to ship one item. Make sure you check) from Amazon. I also tend to buy everyone’s toys through Amazon.

In addition to the two day shipping, I also receive unlimited streaming of many movies and television shows. The kids utilize this feature the most. Plus I have free access to their Kindle library. I do not use that feature though. You cannot hoard a paperless book.

On Life Hacker, there is a breakdown of the question, “Would I benefit from Amazon Prime?” It gives a better answer than I could, because they actually use math to make their decision. Imagine that!

I did write a post I have not published (and I am not sure I am going to, because one company earned an F) of the internet companies I used during Christmastime for gifts and Amazon was one of the few companies who earned an A+ from me. I think they do things right.

20140205-160956.jpg

In the last five days, I have purchased three books. It is kind of like magic how quickly they have come. I have to stop myself from buying more just to see how fast they will get here. You mean you have to actually pay for the books? This isn’t really magic?

And now, Amazon has Sunday delivery! Yes, Sunday delivery! I am sure there are many differing opinions about this, but I love it. I have not taken advantage of this option (I guess I never shop on a Friday), but I might in the future. There are many articles stating this is a fantastic revenue venture for the U.S. Postal Service. Here is one of them from USA Today.

20140205-161025.jpg

I bought “Fan Girl” on Saturday. I received it on Monday. I finished it on Tuesday. Now, that’s a beautiful thing! The situation of my house is, um, not so pretty.

20140205-161053.jpg

I ordered “The Magician’s Elephant” and “Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” on Monday and I received them on Wednesday. Unfortunately, housework did end up dominating and I have not started those books yet. But I know they are there. Cheering for me from the wings when others might not.

I am not gonna lie. It has been a tough couple of months in terms of health and some other things going on behind the scenes here. A new book just makes me happy. It takes me away. Being able to get a little bit of another world in the dreary mail, is real-life magic.

It’s the little things: an upgrade on Amazon that upgraded my life.

Have you upgraded to Amazon Prime? Do you think it is worth the extra money? I was a skeptic for so long, but I am now reformed.

I love it!

20140205-161516.jpg

* This is just my review of Amazon Prime. I am not being compensated for this post. And, as with all of my reviews, your experience might differ from mine.

Goldfish/Cheez-It Chicken Strips

20140204-211923.jpg

My daughter likes Goldfish Crackers.

My son likes Cheez-It Crackers.

And never the two shall meet, well, except:

20140204-211517.jpg

“Mom! He/She’s eating my crackers!” This is a common exclamation screeched throughout my house.

And then the tiresome response, “They’re not your crackers. They’re my crackers!”

How annoying.

Well, actually. That last response is mine.

‘Cause it’s true. I did buy them.

I decided to use up some of these snack bags of crackers. I would like to say it is because I wanted to show the kids that the crackers could work in perfect harmony. Much like themselves.

But, really, I just had a lot of chicken.

And too many crackers.

I remembered making a similar recipe with my daughter with Cheez-It Crackers when she was two. And not liking it.

However, if there is a will. There is a way.

And my soul was drowning in the cheese cracker meltdowns going on in my house.

Here is how we all lived in harmony, with the crackers… For one night:

Ingredients:

1 cup of Cheez-It Crackers (I used 2 snack bags)
1 cup of Goldfish Crackers (I used 2 snack bags)
2 pounds chicken tenders
2 eggs
2 tbsp. Milk
2 Tbsp. Water
1/8 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. Garlic powder
1/4 tsp. paprika
Extra salt to taste at end

Let’s get cracking!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a big bag, crush your crackers. I use the smooth part of the mallot. And when I say, I, I mean my kids. Because kids like crushing crackers even more than they like fighting over them.

They actually made all of the chicken strips themselves.

Line two baking sheets with foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

20140204-212109.jpg

In a small bowl, beat the two eggs with a fork. Add milk and water, and whisk together.

In a separate bowl, pour the cracker crumbs. Add cayenne pepper, pepper, salt, garlic powder and paprika. Stir together.

20140204-212135.jpg

Take a chicken tender and drench it in the egg mixture. Then dunk the wet chicken tender in the cracker mixture. The kids actually did all of this themselves. Do you know what a kid likes better than fighting over crackers? Or crushing crackers? That’s right, coating chicken with crackers.

20140204-212327.jpg

Place the chicken tenders on the baking sheets after the above steps have been completed.

20140204-212358.jpg

Bake the chicken tenders for 20-22 minutes until they are no longer pink on the inside (mine took 22 minutes).

Carefully remove the pans from the oven. Sprinkle chicken strips with salt.

20140204-212249.jpg

Serve up the chicken strips (all I have is this sad little picture. Because kids making chicken takes a bit of time. And I was starved. I will update as soon as the next cracker debate occurs. I can imagine this will be soon).

These were so incredibly yummy. I might need to keep all of my crackers.

20140204-212039.jpg

I did not take a good picture of the finished chicken product. But I did snap a picture of the biscuits I made while the kids made the chicken strips.

I love when things come together! Enjoy!

And revel in your peace making.

At least for the time being.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

20140127-203109.jpg

I. Love. Pork.

That’s all. No more commentary. Let’s just keep it simple and sweet. A lovely declaration.

20140127-203224.jpg

Ingredients:

21/2 – 3 pound pork roast
1 16-18 oz. bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (1/2 cup used in crockpot, remainder to use on rolls)
1 cup root beer
1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. Italian dressing
1/2 Trader Joe’s container of diced onions, garlic, shallots (approximately 1 minced clove garlic, 1Tbsp. Diced Shallots, 1/4 cup diced onions)
3 Tbsp. Butter
Rolls (I buy the delicious take and bake ones from Trader Joe’s)

Spray crockpot with nonstick spray.

20140127-203606.jpg

20140127-203628.jpg

In a skillet, melt butter and add onion mixture. Cook on medium-low heat until onions are soft. About eight minutes. I like mine to get a little brown.

20140127-203707.jpg

Add onion butter mixture to bottom of the crockpot. Return the skillet to the stovetop. Turn the heat to medium- high. Sear pork roast on all sides. About 1-2 minutes per side.

Add the pork roast to the crockpot.

20140127-203954.jpg

Mix all of the other ingredients (using only 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce) except rolls. Pour over pork.

20140127-205355.jpg

Cover. Turn the crockpot to high and cook for 4-6 hours (my old crockpot took 6) or cook on low setting for 8-10 hours. I turned my roast in the middle of cooking.

20140127-205323.jpg

Remove pork to a large bowl. Shred with two forks, remove fat layer while doing so (discard it). Add some of the liquid from crockpot back in to the pork until it is moist. This ends up being about one-one and a half cups.

20140127-205437.jpg

Serve on rolls. You can top with reserved barbecue sauce. I served ours with chips and salad.

Ha! Of course, I had to comment. Because. Hmmmm. Maybe, I don’t need to comment.

I’ll just add a little somethin’ somethin’. This recipe is yummy. I loosely adapted it from a pulled beef recipe from one of those small Betty Crocker pamphlets I picked up at the grocery store many years ago.

For leftovers the next day, I heat up the leftover pulled pork and serve it over steamed rice. Then I top it with barbecue sauce and chopped cilantro. A new meal!

Enjoy!