Swiss Cheese Chicken

or Patty’s Chicken as it is known in our house, but I thought I would give it a name that reflected the deliciousness that is in it! If you have never made this then you need to make it. We had it last night and it is delicious, another family favorite.

Ingredients
-4-6 boneless chicken breasts (for the 6 of us my mom would cut three in half)
-Swiss Cheese slices (6 or more, it’s your choice)
-1/4 cup white cooking wine
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-1 cup Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix (I use the one that is the blue and white bag)
-1 stick margarine, melted

Directions
-Grease or spray baking dish
-Place chicken in dish and lay swiss cheese slices over to cover
-Combine white wine and soup on small bowl; spread over cheese
-Sprinkle stuffing mix over top
-Drizzle melted margarine over top
-Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, uncovered

When my mom makes it we have it over mashed potatoes and it is delicious. I don’t ever have the time to make homemade mashed potatoes and I don’t care for the taste of instant mashed potatoes, so last night we had it over rice and that was delicious. It makes a delicious creamy sauce to go over the rice or mashed potatoes. It is also good with broccoli for the vegetable.

Hope you all enjoy this dish, it is scrumptious (a word I’ve picked up from the many Fancy Nancy books I read at my job).

Which Bread should I choose?

This was a question I started to ask myself the other day. I don’t know if you are like me but I LOVE bread. LOVE it. I have at minimum four pieces a day, toast for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. And I don’t even want to tell you how much bread I used to eat. I’m really picky and so I generally eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch everyday during the week, boring I know. About 4 years ago I forced myself to make the switch from white bread to wheat bread. It was a hard transition but I found a bread I liked and was able to do it, thank you Sara Lee.

So along with my love of bread I really love to research when I have a question like that so I began doing some research because I wanted to know if the bread I was eating was truly healthy as far as bread goes. So I found what I learned to be very interesting and I thought I would share it with you. This is not a post to discourage the eating of bread, no no, rather one to help you when trying to pick out the best bread!

• The most important thing is that it is 100% whole grain
  -If it says “wheat” or contains “x” number of whole grains or multi-grain, chances are that it is white bread in disguise
  -On the front of the package you want it to say 100% whole wheat or 100% whole grain
• The world “whole” should be before any, or at least the first grain or flour, this can be seen on the ingredients listing. Something like 100% whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour should be the first and only flour listed.
• You want to have 2-3 grams of fiber per slice and pay attention to the serving sizes because often the serving size is 2 slices so then you have to halve the grams of fiber.
• You want fewer than 100 calories per slice
• You should aim for sugar to come in at ingredient 3 or 4 in the ingredients list
• Watch the sodium- try to get one with less than 200 milligrams per slice

So like in college I know to site my sources so they are below because obviously I didn’t just come up with this on my own. These resources that I gathered this information from were really helpful and also list some of the brands of bread that are healthiest so check them out! I was pleased to see that my Sara Lee bread fits a good bit of the descriptions, it’s not the best of the best but it is 100% whole wheat and does pretty good on the other requirements. I hope you all enjoyed this! Are there any other questions you’d like to see me research about and get the answer for? I’m always open to new ideas!

Fitness Magazine

Huffington Post

WebMD

Spark People

P.S. This picture is of a homemade loaf of bread I made and it isn’t whole wheat so shame on me!

Weekend Wrap Up- Old Town Alexandria

This beautiful spring weather cannot be beat! It is great because it is so nice to get out and adventure. Unfortunately, the adverse affect is allergy season which has Tyler home in bed today because when you combine that with a nasty head cold, well you can imagine it’s not very fun. But before Tyler got sick we were able to have some fun adventures!

Friday night we had a delicious dinner at Olive Garden because I forgot to have Tyler start dinner in the crock pot at lunch time. So an excuse to eat at OG, I will take it! We then did some shopping and that was our Friday night.

Saturday we were thinking about going into DC to see the cherry blossoms but then we decided that we didn’t really want to be in all that mess of people and have to take the metro etc. So instead we decided to go to Old Town Alexandria. We had both been there before but never together. We drove up, found parking and walked into town. It was a beautiful day and not very crowded at all. So we enjoyed the day strolling down King Street and checking out all of the shops. Then we checked out Christ’s Church which is where George Washington went to church! We had lunch at La Madeline which is a French bakery. It is kind of like an upscale combination of Panera and Jason’s Deli, that’s what we decided. We enjoyed a delicious quiche, soup and a sandwich. It was an enjoyable day! Then we came home to hang out with Dolly and eat a delicious crock pot dinner!

On Sunday Tyler woke up feeling not so good. We went to church, grocery shopped and then enjoyed Sunday afternoon naps. We then watched the very exciting end of the Masters! I don’t know why but I actually enjoy watching golf which is good since my husband loves to watch it! We had Zucchini Pie for dinner which if you have not yet, you should check out!

So now here we are again, Monday. Already ready for another weekend I am sure! What did you all do this weekend? Hope you had beautiful weather like we did!

P.S. These pictures are from my iPhone. Tyler got some beautiful shots which he will be fixing up and sharing with you all later this week. Get ready for some great shots because he takes good pictures!

Quick and Delicious Chicken Spaghetti

This is a recipe I had posted a link to before but wanted to share with you all how I make it. It is so easy and delicious. I can come home from work and easily prepare it and have a fast and delicious dinner.

Ingredients:
-8 oz. angel hair pasta
-Canned chicken-I just used one small can, it’s really how much chicken you prefer in your casserole
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-1 can (10 oz) Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained (I use mild but this can be whatever you prefer)
-16 oz. sour cream- the recipe I got this from calls for 8, I like mine extra creamy so I use 16.
-Sprinkling of Parmesan or Mexican Blend Cheese (I use the Great Value, Fiesta Blend Cheese)

Directions:
Boil Pasta and drain
Mix into pasta all other ingredients, except the cheese
Place in a 9×13 casserole dish
Cover with foil and bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until warm and bubbly
Remove from oven, uncover, sprinkle with cheese and return to oven to melt cheese

Serves 4
Is also great leftover!

And then it is ready. It is so delicious and so easy!

Adapted from: The Boomer Brief

Wedding Thursday- The dances

Ok so who thinks about their wedding and dreads being out there dancing just the two of you for this long song with everyone staring at you? That was me. Now some people may not mind the attention, after all it is your day. And some people may be wonderful dancers. I am not a wonderful dancer so we decided early on to use some cute ideas we had seen at different weddings.

First off is the first dance as husband and wife. So of course everyone is oohing and awing over you and you are so excited to be married but that song can get really long. Those of you who are married, am I right? I had a beautiful song picked and it was so long already so I picked a place to stop it but it was still 2 1/2 minutes. Seems short but not when you’re out there. So I had seen the cutest idea that I used. After about a minute of dancing we had the DJ invite the wedding party to join us on the dance floor. It allowed us time to continue to enjoy the song but also to celebrate with our wedding party, as the people we chose to stand beside us on this big day joined us on the dance floor.

Next the father/daughter dance, my dad and I had planned to go to lessons and learn what we were doing. My dad knew a little from taking ballroom dance lessons before my sisters wedding. We ended up crunched for time and did a little rehearsal at home the Sunday before the wedding. If you prioritize and make time then dance lessons are probably a good idea but we didn’t. So we got out there and started dancing and again at about 1 minute in we invited all of the fathers and daughters in attendance to join us on the dance floor. So that was really fun to have everyone out there. My favorite part was seeing my papaw dance with all three of his daughters.

So I bet you can guess where I am going with this one. The mother/son dance, we did the same thing and invited all of the mothers and sons to join the groom and his mom on the dance floor after about a minute. So it was a fun way to involve everyone in these special dances and also to get people on the dance floor ready to party!

How many of you are planning a wedding and thinking about using an idea like this? Do you have a different idea you used/or will be using at your wedding?

Photos by Jessica at Images by Daniel Michael 

Three Cheese Pasta Bake and a Guest Post!

Today I am so excited to share with you guys that I have been given the honor of doing my first guest posting on another blog. Like Mother, Like Daughter is a great blog that shares all kinds of yummy recipes. I have found my new favorite meal from this blog Creamy Chicken and Broccoli over Rice which we are still having almost every week.

I wanted to share a recipe with you guys that we had on Sunday night. It is all about pasta and cheese, lots of cheeses. We found the combination of cheeses to be a little much but some people could love this combo. I added a few things to it and even feel like a few variations on this recipe would be good as well.

Ingredients:
-1 (16 oz) package ziti
-2 (10 oz) containers refrigerated Alfredo sauce
-1 (8 oz) container sour cream
-1 (15 oz. container ricotta cheese
-2 large eggs, lightly beaten
-1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
-1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
-1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
{Optional} – This is what I added to it
-chopped pineapple
-chopped bell peppers (I sautéed mine but that is optional)
-canned chicken

Directions:
Prepare ziti according to package directions; drain and return to pot
Add chopped pineapple, chicken and bell peppers

Stir together Alfredo sauce and sour cream and toss with ziti until evenly coated
Spoon half the mixture into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish

Stir together ricotta cheese and next 3 ingredients; spread over pasta mixture in baking dish
Spoon remaining pasta mixture over ricotta cheese layer; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly

We had this dish and Tyler gave it a 6.5 but I wanted to share because I feel like there are people who would love it. I also thought it could have been really good before you added the ricotta cheese mixture. When reading the reviews on the recipe I also saw people who had substituted cottage cheese for the ricotta. I think there are many versions of this recipe that could be delicious. I hope you enjoy it and let me know if you make your own version of it!

Source: Southern Living

Spring Clean Out-Step 1

Ok so who does spring cleaning? I have never done a true spring cleaning but I have also never had my own house. So maybe it’s this warm weather but I am feeling inspired to clean out the house. Like majorly because we need to maximize the small amount of space that we have. I need to follow my Aunt Kellie’s rule and get rid of stuff I have not touched in a year and organize the stuff I do use. Easier said than done. This is going to be a process but last night while Tyler was at softball practice I made my first efforts.

Step 1: Clean out drawers, closet and switch out winter to summer clothes (because it’s finally WARM!)

I feel like thats a pretty basic step and I try to do it more than just once a year but my drawers were a mess so I cleaned them out and tried to put clothes I don’t wear in a bag for goodwill. Unfortunately I seem to have an emotional attachment to like half my clothes, I will be working on that. I just had a phone conversation with my Aunt Kellie while in the process of writing this post and I’m feeling inspired so I better go straight home and throw out those clothes fast.

Step 2 is going to be to organize all my stuff that needs to be in the storage area and get it in there.

Our guest bedroom has become a throw all place. Everything goes in there and it’s such a cute room but it’s cluttered with after christmas sale decorations, winter clothes, shoes and more. So my next step is to get that room into shape and get the proper things into storage.

Maximizing the space I have. That is my goal. Please let me know any tips you have for living in a small space with too much stuff, other than the obvious one which is let go of your emotional attachments and throw  it all out! But I mean I can’t throw out all my christmas decor and such, so it’s going to be all about organization and structure! Here we go!

Love, Pasta and a Tool Belt

We have a new name! Tyler and I decided we wanted something a little more creative for our blog name if we were going to continue blogging. So we thought and thought and tried to think of things that represent us. It’s probably pretty obvious to those of you who know us or who have been reading our blog but I will explain.

Love- well that’s obvious, we’re  married and we love each other. We love food and craft projects (more so me) and decorating our house which is all of the things we are blogging about.

Pasta- this one is for me. If you don’t know me then you don’t know that I LOVE pasta. Give me an Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti over dessert any day. I live off of pasta. So I am constantly trying to find new pasta recipes and now healthier ones since I am feeding a husband too and not just myself. But don’t worry the recipes will be other things besides just pasta.

A Tool Belt- So Tyler works in construction as a project manager and well we all know he is going to be the one donning the tool belt in all of our home improvement projects. So the tool belt is to represent Tyler.

So the blog is still to Keep up with the Glovers, we just wanted a new name that was more creative and catchy. Let us know what you think of our new name! We will be working to update the site and make it more exciting looking. I am slowly learning to navigate the world that is blogging. We hope you are enjoying the blog as much as we are enjoying writing it.

Happy Monday!

Entry-Way Bench Redone!

So this is something I have been wanting to change for so long. It is the bench that sits at our back entry way right off the kitchen. It was ugly wood and didn’t match the kitchen and it had this awful cushion on it that I really should have thrown out earlier but just never had. We use it for storage, I got a basket to go on it earlier to put all of our gloves and scarves in but now it is sunglasses and random stuff because todays high is 81!!! So my plan was to paint this bench. We made a trip to Lowe’s on Saturday and after much looking we settled on spray paint. We picked a dark red color to match our kitchen curtains. We got Valspar spray paint with Primer + Paint.

On Sunday we decided to get out there and spray paint the bench even though we wanted to be lazy and I am so glad we did. It was so easy, like crazy easy. We took the bench outside and Tyler wiped it down to clean it off. Then we both grabbed a can of spray paint and just started spraying. We did one coat. We sprayed and watched it for spots that needed more. Once it looked to be all done we let it dry for about an hour or so. We just left it in the backyard and went on our way. Tyler then went out to check it and it was dry and looked great! He just had to flip it over to finish off the bottoms of the legs and underneath it.

And then viola we have a brand new bench in our entry way! It looks so much better, it matches the kitchen now and really adds a pop of color to the entry way. I am already planning other pieces of furniture we have that are hand-me-downs that I want to go at with the spray paint. I’m not sure how well it will do as far as not getting scratched off but for the bench it was great because we don’t use it that much just for storage. I will keep y’all updated as to if it stays well. But for now it looks beautiful and it only took two cans of spray paint and they weren’t even both empty. Such an inexpensive improvement to our entry-way!

Do you have any furniture you have painted and remade? Let us know, we love to hear your stories or let us know if you try this out on some of your old furniture!

Weekend Wrap-up- Man Weekend

I always go silent on the weekends but that is because we are doing fun things to blog about ha ha! We have had a very busy weekend. It wasn’t until this afternoon while eating lunch that we sat down and watched tv, that is unusual for us on the weekend.

Friday night we had Olive Garden, did some shopping (check the picture of the cute sign I found) and then headed to church for a session from the Answers in Genesis conference that was being held at our church. It was about geology and Tyler was so excited about it, I went for him but learned some new stuff so it was interesting. That was the beginning of Man Weekend.

Saturday morning Dolly had her first training session. She has some problems with meeting strangers and letting them into our house. We met the trainer outside and walked with her and Dolly immediately smelled all the treats she had on her. Dolly let the trainer come into the house and we learned a lot of good stuff about positive reinforcement and working to desensitize her to situations with meeting strangers. So we are now looking for test subjects to come to our house and let Dolly try out her new skills on you, Aunt Kay I’m looking at you!

After the trainer we headed to the card show. Now if you don’t know Tyler then you don’t know the boy loves his football cards. We have a collection of Robert Meachem cards that I would guess no man can match. Now Robert if you would please become a super star so I can get my Range Rover, that would be great! At the card show we bought tickets to have our picture made with Michael Oher, plays for the Baltimore Ravens and oh you know has a whole movie about him, The Blind Side. I was very excited but we had to wait until Sunday for that. Then we headed to the card store (remember I said this was man weekend). After the card store we headed to Lowe’s to get supplies for our newest project that we just completed and I can’t wait to share it with you guys. It looks so good, I am so excited!

Saturday night we enjoyed a delicious dinner with some friends at Texas Roadhouse. The rolls, YUM! Then we went for some late night grocery shopping.

Sunday, that’s today, we went to church and then rushed over to the card show only to find out that Michael Oher had cancelled. Que sad face :(. So we got our money back and to console ourselves bought some cards. I got two Dwight Howard cards and Tyler got one of someone from Tennessee. We finally got home for lunch after breaking the cardinal rule of going grocery shopping on an empty stomach because we had to grab some stuff for the new recipe I am trying tonight. If it turns out good I will share it this week! This afternoon we did the exciting project that I spoke of and will be sharing with you tomorrow!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Still a few hours of it left so enjoy it!! We are having beautiful weather here, yay warm weather! My daffodils are finally blooming, so pretty!

Oh and p.s. the most exciting thing about my weekend, they now bottle and sell Olive Garden salad dressing at Wal-Mart!! SAY WHAT? I was so excited! I can’t wait to try it. I hope it’s as good as Olive Garden, the only place I eat salad!