Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Last night, I was standing in front of my pantry and fridge, wondering what in the world I was going to make for dinner, since we're running low on groceries. For some reason, I imagined a casserole. Let it be known that I've not baked, nor eaten, a casserole in my entire life. I thought of the things we had on hand, the things Jordan likes (he can pretty pretty picky at dinner time) and how hungry he'd be by the end of his 14 hour work day. With a little help from my kitchen fairy (also known as my Aunt Shell) and my own imagination, this is what I came up with:

(NOTE: if you're looking to impress your mother in law, and she's anything like Bunny MacDougal from Sex and the City, you might skip this one. If you're looking for something hot and comforting to feed your hungry, hard working man, this was a win! Although none of the ingredients are very impressive, the result was. Just trust me..) 

God love it, poor casserole. 

Ugly as the day is long but it sure is good!

(said in my best Paula Dean voice)

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

1 Box Yellow Rice (I like Zatarain's)

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/4 Cup Milk

2 Cups Shredded, Cooked Chicken

2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 Cup Frozen Corn
Pepper to taste
OPTIONAL: 1 small can of diced green chilis   

1. Cook rice according to package directions

2. Add rice and all other ingredients (except about 1/2 cup of shredded cheese) into a bowl and mix until well combined.  

3. Spoon into a casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.

4. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly.

Serve with fresh baked cornbread muffins and VOILA!

By the way, has anyone ever tried to make a casserole look pretty on a plate? It's hard to do! I suppose that's why we cover it up in a layer of cheesy goodness.      

Christmas Cookies

Tonight, Jordan and I made Christmas cookies! 

Here's how it went...

We don't currently own a rolling pin, so Jordan used 

our fancy Italian glass bottles to roll out the dough. 

I cringed at the thought of it breaking, the entire time.

I burnt the last sheet of sugar cookies 

(which was just my excuse to eat them all). 

Jordan taunted me with Shock Top beer.

Then, we decorated.

Notice the PS3 paddle. 

It never leaves his sight.

Here are our masterpieces!

Jordan says his candy cane is "terribly awesome."

I say my Christmas tree is just awesome.

Christmas season is in full swing, here in the House of Dowler!

Thankful Thanksgiving

 I am grateful to be spending this Thanksgiving, for the first time ever, with my wonderful, loving, handsome husband; I am thankful for my incredibly beautiful mom and equally wonderful little sister; my amazing cousins, who are more like long lost siblings; my sweet grandparents who've been such an inspiration of love in my life; my awesome mother/brothers/sister/family-in-love; my great friends who have stood by me, loved me and supported all my (sometimes unreasonable) choices; and for the little life growing inside me- although I've never met him, he is already one of my most favorite tiny guys in the world and I am already infinitely grateful to be his mama.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Today is a day to be celebrated with love, gratitude, another Packers win (11-0, baby!) and extra butter. Enjoy your holiday, eat more than you think you can handle (unbutton those pants and voila- more room!) and don't forget to save room for pie. 

Wherever you are celebrating today, know that I love you and am sending all my happiest, warmest holiday thoughts your way, all the way from Colorado.

 REMEMBER: CALORIES DON'T COUNT ON HOLIDAYS.

UPDATE: I just wanted to share with you all, what happens when you ask your husband to hold the dish of deviled eggs in the car, on the way to Thanksgiving dinner...

It's a really good thing he's cute.

Le Belly

It's been about a month since I last showed you my little work of spherical art, so here it is at just about 24 weeks:

Lately there have been less aversions to smells and foods, which means less nausea, less exhaustion and less mood swings. With all those lesses, comes the mores. More cravings, which means more eating, more aches and pains, LOTS more kicking and flip flopping (Jordan and I have spent countless time this week watching him jiggle my entire belly from under my t shirts), more left sided sleeping and more weird stranger comments. Last week, a guy in a trench coat apologized to my belly for his use of fowl language. People can be so odd...

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to the sweetest man cake I know. 

I love you!

RULE #1

While I firmly believe in living by our own "say so," there are some rules that should never be broken or subtracted from a home. Most of them are completely obvious and therefore shouldn't have to be talked about. Most of them being the key word... last night, a rule was broken in the House of Dowler...

Most of the time (and especially now that I'm pregnant), Jordan is super attentive and caring. He rubs my back and kisses my belly, he asks if I need anything and offers to put the dishes away so I can get off my feet. Again, MOST of the time being the key word. Last night, a demon of some awful sort came over my sweet husband, seemingly out of nowhere. 

We were laying in bed after a fun night of celebrating his birthday with beer (iced tea for me, of course), wings, sports and a man-movie to top it all off. I was laying with my head on his chest, slowly drifting off, thinking about how lucky I was to have caught the eye of such an incredible man. 

And then it happened. The demon took over...

HE PULLED THE COVERS OVER MY HEAD AND FARTED. The man who had just been scratching my back and excitedly talking about his son-to-be, turned into the worst type of demon husband I could ever imagine. He dutch ovened me, his sweet pregnant wife, holding the covers over my head while I scrambled for air. It was absolutely terrible, and I felt the need to share this. Not to vent, but to WARN. Ladies, your man may be the sweetest person to ever walk the earth, but he too is capable of such grotesque manners.

RULE OF MARRIAGE #1: NEVER, no matter what, dutch oven your wife... ESPECIALLY IF SHE'S PREGNANT. That's it. There's no discussion about this rule. It exists, from here on out, and it's number one.

Baby's First Softy

There's something about the look in Jordan's eyes and the smile on his face when he feels our baby kick, that makes me feel like the luckiest girl on this planet. He had the day off today, and we spent a lot of it just laying around enjoying each others company- we watched our favorite shows together in bed, ate lunch on our little card table (also known as the classy table), and watched in amazement as our sweet tiny guy kicked, making my belly look like popping popcorn. 

At 22.5 weeks, he's as big as a papaya and as active as a Mexican jumping bean. He loves when I drink coke and hates when I eat red meat (which seems blasphemous to me, coming from a slightly carnivorous family). His wardrobe is already exceeding mine, including the cutest little pair of baby sunglasses I've ever seen. Yesterday, his daddy picked out his very first snuggle buddy (softy).

We love getting ready for our little guy and can't wait to meet him. I have a feeling once he's here, we're not going to be able to take our eye off him. Good thing they make baby monitors with cameras, right?

He is very, very, very loved.

Nursery Idea Board

Now that we have a name for our baby, it's time to start focusing on his bedroom. We decided to go with a grey and yellow palette with black and white highlights- here are some of the pieces that have inspired us, so far:

Now, to find furniture and other goodies to make it happen!

Cuppycakes with Man Cake

Tonight, we baked our cake 

and ate it too. Jordan suddenly realized he REALLY wanted a cupcake, on the way to the grocery store. I told him we'd buy a cupcake tin, since our kitchen stuff is still in transit, and could bake them after dinner. He looked at me, with the most astonished look and said "You can bake cupcakes?!" I laughed and kissed him- he's pretty cute. So tonight, we baked together, in our new place, for the first time. Although he generally likes the meals I cook for him, he especially enjoyed the cupcakes. Go figure. Baking cupcakes with my man cake is my new favorite way to spend a Wednesday night.