pop pop pop

Last night I finally made these Jalapeno Cream Cheese Crescent Poppers. (pin here)  They were mind blowing awesome.  I mean crazy cream cheesy goodness with buttery flaky biscuits awesome. Then tonight I made Brunswick stew and I made them again.  I did not regret it.

You won't either.

I mean, you should probably go make them right now.

Like now.

GO!

kings and queens

Yesterday morning we got a knock on our bedroom door at 9:00am.

Mom says, "Can I come in?"

I say, "No. Let me come out there."

You see I didn't want to wake my husband who had a feverish night with a temp of 101.3.  The weirdest part of it all...I was awoken from a dream in which I was taking his temp and the thermometer said 105.7....weird.  When I woke up I felt his skin and he was burning up so I gave him some tylenol, put a cold cloth on his head, and let him drift back off to sleep.

When I opened the door, the best mother in the world was standing in the hallway with a tray full of the yummiest breakfast in bed food and yelled at the top of her lungs, "THE FIRST GIFT OF CHRISTMAS!!!!!"  (a la Tom Hanks at about 0:36 here)

I could have cried.

I'm pretty sure I was raised by the kindest most selfless person that has ever been created.  

I hope to be half the mother to EJ that my mother has been to me.

Our breakfast was complete with hot chocolate avec big marshmallows, cheese toast and jam, peppermint sticks, and fresh tart cranberries, bananas, and sliced oranges from the grove.

We ate like a king and queen in bed.

It was the perfect start to a day full of present wrapping, Christmas card sending, laundry, working, and teaching.  
The long day ended with my hips up on the couch, John Mayer playing on my iPhone near my pelvis, and ice packs on the top of my tummy.  I only stayed in that position for 10 minutes because two certain king sized somethings on my chest were suffocating me.
No turning response from the little girl in my belly but all in all a pretty wonderful day.
Maybe we're just playing the wrong music...Hubs thinks we need some of this.


p.s. Thanks Bridge for the feature.

we-go to figo.

Yesterday I finally satisfied a pregnancy craving.

My red-headed soul friend and I went to Figo in Sandy Springs and ate our hearts out.  It is such a charming rustic place where you drink from mason jars and snack on fresh baked bread with tasty olive oil.  

I had the Zucca which is their Butternut Squash Ravioli in a cream sauce.  It was to die for.  She had the Braised Short Ribs Ravioli. Yum!

Its such a wonderful feeling to have a best friend.  I am a woman who has many best friends: my husband, my mother, my sister, and MANY lovely girlfriends.  You can say that I don't believe in just having one best friend.  There are too many wonderful people in the world to just have one favorite.

Lisa and I share a special bond.  She is a friend that touches my soul every day.  I learn so much from her.

Yesterday we met at Figo and when we stepped out of the car we noticed that we were wearing the same hunter green/light pink color combination...freaky.  The rest of the day we were finishing each others sentences and saying the exact same things at the exact same time.  I wish someone could follow us around and transcribe some of our conversations for us to go back and read at a later date.  We's like peas and carrots, me and Lisa.

I love Figo. 
I love Zucca. 
I love Lisa.

Burnt Cheese

Is there anything better than melted buttery cheese taken almost to the point of incineration?

No.  No, there is not.

This past Sunday we went to church and as John and I were dutifully tending to our church calling in the nursery with wee little ones, I thought hard about what to make for dinner.

After much pondering, here is what I came up with.

Mr. Murphy has declared this to be his new favorite way to eat chicken. He has lovingly named this concoction: 

"Rotastic Chicken"

-I beat 3 voluptuous breasts of chicken to death with a hammer. (I have yet to equip our kitchen with a mallet.)

-Then I seasoned each side with sea salt and fresh cracked black peppercorn pepper.

-I cut thick slices of pepperjack cheese and rolled them up in to the now flattened chicken breasts.

-I cooked all three breasts at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Or maybe it was 400 degrees.  Yeah, I definitely don't remember that part.

-At 20 minutes I took them out and poured a can of "Hot Rotel" over the sizzling chicken.  I also added some hot salsa.

-I let it cook for another 15-20 minutes and then took them out and served them with:

black beans

brown rice

and

creamed corn

The next day we ate the rest of our chicken, beans, and rice for left-overs and John prepared it for us.  When I sat down at the table to eat he blessed our food and then told me that there was a surprise under my rice and beans.

Giddy with excitement I squealed, "What can it be?!?"  Then I uncovered something heavenly.

It was a pile of burnt cheese. 

Now that folks is real love.  He is the ultimate eternal companion.