Life Lately: according to my iPhone

Guard Your Heart

Feelings should never overshadow your Faith.

Here is another encouraging message from Proverbs 31 Ministry that spoke to me this morning and I wanted to share.

"Victory can only be found by spending time with Jesus and choosing His Word as our weapon - not only against life but also against the enemy who wants to steal our hearts.

God never leaves us to fight battles alone. His Word tells us many times that the battle is His, but we must choose to wrap ourselves in His promises and believe that He's our Protector who will fight to the death for His children."
I love the verse that they leave you with:

Happy Birthday Baby Claire

Oh baby Claire we love you already. Completely smitten! Wyndham insisted we bake you a 'happy birthday'; and so your mommy and daddy got some tasty sugar cookies frosted and sprinkled by Wyndham herself. You are gorgeous just like your momma! Enjoy these next 6 weeks with your momma! My girls are already missing and asking for her and they can not wait to get their hands on you! Wyn is already practicing "being soft" as she calls it. You are one blessed little girl baby Claire, not only are you beautiful and dearly loved, your parents rock! Excited and elated to see the nanny diaries continue!

A Rarity

Just moments before I snapped this I was having one of those moments where both kids were screaming. Paisley was beyond tired and Wyn was screaming that she didn’t want to go down for a “nappy” over and over and over… and on top my house is upside down… not to mention we are having company over shortly and I sure have not started a thing in regards to food… and the laundry piles.. oh me… and your mind drifts to all those other items on your never ending to do list of things you really want done but you just can’t get to…

I’m sure many of you know this feeling… And then...all of a sudden all goes quiet.  All is calm which is a true rarity in our house. That little head resting on your arm gets awfully heavy and their breathing gets heavier. And you whisper, oh praise Jesus!

And the feeling that follows is completely blissful, almost indescribable. There are few things greater in this world than this. holding your sleeping babies. their smell. their deep breaths. the way they curl into you and cling to you even in their sleep. the complete trust they have in you.

And you battle the ideas of whether you should stay there and just hold those sweet babies or whether to carefully move them to their beds so you can to the frantic, mad-dash scramble to get your house in some resemblance of order…

Few things in life are better than this moment right here.

Chocolate Chip S'more Cups

Sooo… this recipe was born from the merging of two recipes-- a recipe in my head and the other from a blog that I avidly stalk Dear Lillie.  So here it is!

Cup Ingredients:

Choc. Chip cookie dough roll

Hershey bar chunks, about 24 to garnish

Marshmallow Filling:

1 7 oz jar marshmallow crème

½ stick butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tsp milk

So I started with a chocolate chip cookie dough roll (you can totally make them from scratch or from a box, but I'm a fake and bake kinda girl so this worked best for me!).  I greased my mini cupcake tray and then cut/divided the dough to fit into about 24 mini cupcake cups.  I pressed the cookie dough to form a sort of cup that would later hold the s'more filling.  Once I had them pressed nice and evenly I popped them in the oven for 9-11 minutes or whatever your package calls for.

While the cookies are cooking you want to mix the first 3 ingredients of the marshmallow filling recipe.  Add the milk as needed little by little until you get a consistency you like.

When cookies are cooked to your liking remove from oven and cool for just a minute.  You want them to cool just  a little so that they don't crumble when you remove from the tin, but not too long enough because they can stick to the sides of pan.  Once removed from the tray place on cooling rack.

Fill the cookie cups with the marshmallow filling.  Then garnish with a little Hershey's bar chunk.    Eat warm or put in the fridge to serve cold – both great options!

Enjoy!! 

 Linking here "My entry at Sew Chatty's Made With Love Link Up is sponsored by Appliances Online!"  & here Making the World Cuter Monday

White Chocolate Chip Coconut Macaroon bars

I recently had a Tastefully Simple box of Crazy For Coconut Macaroon Bar Mix and I made it the other day when we had company over and it was so good --  as in like gone that night good and I wanted to make it again right away good. So I decided to scour the internet for what I thought would be a similar recipe since i didn't have another box on hand.  This is what I came up with and it's pretty close and very yummy.  The very sweet and goey kind of yummy!

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package vanilla cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In large bowl, mix together the cake mix, butter and 1 egg, chocolate chips and coconut. Mixture will be crumbly. Press into the prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and 1 egg until smooth. Spread the mixture evenly over the prepared crust. 
4. Let sit for 10-15 minutes for the liquid mixture to absorb some. 
5. Bake  for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into bars.  Enjoy while still warm with a cold glass of milk!

{Recipe adapted from here}  linking here Tatertots & Jello and here Making the World Cuter Monday

Parmesan Encrusted Bruschetta Chicken

Parmesan Encrusted Bruschetta Chicken
{The fresh flavors of Bruschetta topped perfectly on moist chicken}

I adapted this recipe right off the back of the Hellman's Olive Oil
Mayo Jar and it is amazing!



Ingredients:
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/4 lbs.)
4 tsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
1/4 cup Italian Dressing
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves, crushed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°.
Combine Hellmann's® Mayonnaise with cheese and spinach in medium bowl.

Arrange chicken on a lightly greased baking sheet. Evenly top with mayonnaise mixture.

Then sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked and lightly browned on top.

Meanwhile, combine chopped sweet onion, Italian Dressing fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves, crushed
 
To serve,evenly top chicken with bruschetta mixture.


Recipe adapted from{here} .  Only thing different between mine and the original recipe is I added
the spinach and used a sweet onion instead of a red onion.

This is a great recipe to freeze and bake later :)

enjoy (: