Healthy White Chicken Chili

Finally after a week of dinner fails (minus a tasty piece of salmon) we have a winner! On Saturday I threw this in the crock pot before we headed out t0 the Jamboree. I had been meaning to try this recipe for a couple of weeks now and I am glad I got around to it before the weather turned yesterday (I prefer soup on cooler days). It was easy and everyone loved it! I think Michael had like 8 bowls! The original recipe can be found here. I adapted mine a bit; my version is below. If you have a smaller family I might cut my recipe in half. I served it with a salad and some bake and eat bread. I also think it would be tasty with some tortilla chips. 


Enjoy!


Healthy White Chicken Chili

2 cans black beans
2 cans corn, undrained
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained (I used 1 with onion and 1 with oregano and basil)
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 8 oz packages light cream cheese
4 large chicken breasts


Drain and rinse black beans. Place chicken at bottom of pot, then pour out whole can of corn (undrained), tomatoes, and black beans. Top with seasonings and ranch mix. Stir together. Place cream cheese on top. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir cream cheese into chili. Use 2 forks to shred chicken. Stir together and serve.

The Solution?

For those of you who have read my dinner time stories, you know that it can be rough in our house. So, we decided to take action. Not sure this will be the perfect solution because we still have a loud 19 month old and an almost 3 year old who doesn't completely "get it," but it is worth a try. At least hopefully it will work on the bigger ones and then trickle down…one can hope right? 

So what we did was make a jar for each of the 3 oldest. If they behave at dinner (no getting out of their seat, talking rude, blowing bubbles in their water, etc. etc…) AND eat all their dinner, then they get a marble for their jar. On the other hand if they misbehave they have to take a marble out. If they just don't finish their dinner, but are good at dinner, then they don't get a marble but they don't loose one either.

When they get 10 marbles they get to go out for ice cream, just them and a parent. This is a pretty big deal for 2 reasons; 1 they LOVE going out for ice cream and 2 they don't get to many treats in our house. We only have treats on weekends and only if everyone's behavior is in check.

So far Logan has 2 marbles, Melina has 1 and Meeka has none. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Our Marble Jars

PS - On a side note about food, those of you who know Melina may find this funny. Yesterday at school they had a food tasting because they were talking about senses all week. She told me after school that she did not try the fried chicken because she knew it was unhealthy and she did not try the carrot because she knew it would take her to long to chew and swallow (this coming from the girl who took over 6 minutes to chew one bite of PASTA last night!!!). This statement cracked me up…mind you she did not hesitate to try the chocolate chips though! :)

Baking Adventures

I have been baking a lot this week….

We had the Boy Scout ceremony last Saturday where I made these Ultimate Pretzel Crusted Peanut Butter Cookie Candy Brownie Bars to take for dessert. I think they were a hit since I didn't come home with any…but then again Boys will eat anything! ;)  They were pretty simple and very delectable…in Michael opinion these would be best with Ice Cream!






On Sunday I made lemon bar just for us! They are Michael's favorite and Sunday is CHEAT DAY! This recipe  by Ina Garten was fantastic!  

This weekend is the Elementary School Jamboree (carnival) so I made several dozen cupcakes for the cupcake walk.

I also made lots and lots of Cake Batter Rice Crispy Treats for the Bake Sale.

Very Easy and Very Yummy!

Random Photos from the Past Week

This has been a busy week…well really what week is not busy in this household? 

These are just some random pictures from things we have been up to this week.

Melina spent some time playing with a camera app one day
while Logan and I were doing homework.
She took over 40 pictures like this! :)

We finished up our basketball season with a trophy ceremony.
I had such a fun time coaching the girls! And basketball
is now Logan's favorite sport (for this minute anyway).

Carson is a WILD man! He loved riding the bikes
down the driveway. Scared me half to death though!

Meeka trying out her new Pinkalicious skateboard!

I conjunction with a local roller rink I started
a preschool Skate and Bounce which premiered
last week. It was a GREAT success! We all had so much FUN!!
And because of the success they are going to continue to do it monthly!!

Seriously, how cute is this?

On Saturday we attended the Blue and Gold banquet for Cub 

Scouts. Logan officially became a Tiger Cub that evening.

The Challenge

Last week we wrote down our house rules and we have been talking about them every since. But before we wrote those down earlier last week I implemented a "Challenge" that I made up to Logan and Melina which call,

"Compliment, Don't Comment!"

I don't remember how we started on the conversation, but at breakfast one day we were talking about the difference between the two words. I decided, I liked this topic and I have been reminding them for the past week to give compliments to people, and not just say something to say something. I am reminding them how compliments make people feel and how they can change others attitudes and their own through kind words and actions. 


I have been putting notes in Logan's lunchbox to this effect, so that he remembers in the middle of the day. And I remind the kids before they head out for school in the morning and throughout the day. Kids will be kids, and they will always fight between siblings and say things you just have to roll your eyes at…or discipline them for, but I figure the more I can put this into their heads the more natural it will become and some day it will all "click."


I am thinking of starting a kindness or compliment journal, but I still have to think of how I want to do it to be effective and easy. Any suggestions?

Catch 22

I am a VERY emotional person. I cry at the drop of a hat (even when not pregnant) and today has been a roller coaster of anxiety and emotion!

Today Meeka had her final evaluation to be accepted into the school districts preschool program on an IEP (Individual Education Plan). The process started back in December, and then she could not even say her name (or anyone else's), count, say colors, or even put two words together. They pretty much guaranteed me that she would qualify.

The past couple of months since we started this process her language has EXPLODED! She now says her name and everyone in the families, can tell you colors, shaped and count to 10. She is a smart cookie! And she puts many words together now. The problem is when she tries to tell you something in sentences it is still pretty much lost in translation, especially without the context being right in front of your nose. So, I was already stressing knowing how much she has progressed before this evaluation. But I took their word for it, and did not enroll her in a another preschool for the fall.

So today at her evaluation it was a standarized test given by the speech therapist at the school. She showed her pictures and would say something like, "I call this a house. Can you say house?" or "I would say they are swimming. Can you say swimming?" Well when she concentrates she can say the word (which is great, because a couple months ago she would have never have triode to say it if she couldn't). The syllables are very pronounced and not together, but she gets most of them in. If you asked her to tell you "I like to go swimming in Grammie's pool." You would get, "Blah, Blah Blah Mimi Pool!"

BUT this is a STANDARIZED test…so there is no room for translation. It is what it is and because she could say a good deal of singing words when given verbal cues, she does not qualify for the program. Hence the Catch 22. She is doing SO WELL and has come SO FAR…but there is still work to be done. And now, in April, when she turns 3 all services stop and we are on our own. So now we will send her to the preschool where Melina hopes now, and I am HAPPY with that decision. She will do well and we LOVE it there. BUT when about from April until September? She has been going to "school" for 2 mornings a week all year and that is going to abruptly stop…she is going to be devistated (and yes, so am I a little)! And our insurance will not cover therapy for her because she does not have a physical deformity that is causing it. So now lies the decision…what to do now??? I am one to plan and think and overanalyze…..so my brain is going a bajillion miles a minute thinking what will be the next step? What will be best for her and the whole family? Any suggestions?

House Rules!

Michael and I looked at each other this morning and said, "Where is this coming from?" Our kids are becoming rude and cheeky. And we need to nip it in the bud RIGHT NOW!!

So the kids and I had a chat this afternoon and we came up with some HOUSE RULES. I wrote them down, threw em' in a frame and hung it in the kitchen.

We talked about why these are important and what the consequences would be for not following them. We also talked about the kind of person they want to be now and later on. And I told them what my hopes are for them. 

Do I expect that these rules will change everything? NO. But I know the more we talk about it and live it, the better it will become and they will grow up with these values (at least I hope they will!)

HOUSE RULES!