mhmm monday

These shortcut chocolate croissants could not be any easier. Filled with rich chocolate, topped with more chocolate, and only 20 minutes from start to finish.

Chocolate Croissants

{photo credit & recipe website}

Ingredients:
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated crescent dinner rolls 
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped pure chocolate
1 large egg, beaten 
1/4 teaspoon shortening, optional

Directions:
Heat oven to 350F°.
Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Set aside.
Separate crescent roll dough into 8 triangles. Sprinkle about 1 Tablespoon of chocolate chips/chunks on top of each triangle. {Use your best judgement} Press chips down lightly to get them to stick. 
Reserve remaining chocolate chips.
Roll up, starting from wide end and rolling to opposite point. Place onto baking sheet and curve into croissant shape. 
Brush the croissants lightly with beaten egg - this helps gives them that golden sheen.
Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until deep golden brown. 
Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool for 5 minutes. 
Melt the remaining chocolate in the microwave in 10 second increment, stirring after each increment. Add shortening to thin out if desired. 
Drizzle over croissants and serve warm. 
Try adding fresh whipped cream or even salted caramel on top. 
Leftovers keep well covered tightly at room temperature for 3 days.
Enjoy!

Take Care

Thankful Thursdays

…and so we continue counting the things we are thankful for…

234. road trips
235. shasta daisies
236. razor blades
237. quiet moments
238. half-priced app’ies
239. morning devotions
240. oreo cheesecakes

Will you join me as we begin to be truly thankful for each day, and for each opportunity given to us, and who knows? we might just see how truly blessed we really are.

Because a thankful heart is a happy heart! 

Take Care

# 65

For the past several years, I've made a goal to read 100 books in one year.  This year though I decided to add a book review every so often.

Having just finished book #65, I thought I'd give an update:
# 1 Die Again ~ Tess Gerristen
# 2 Sinners & Saints ~ Eileen Dreyer
# 3 The Consequences ~ Colette Friedman
# 4 Promise Me ~ Harlan Coben
# 5 Hush ~ Karen Robards
# 6 Getting Rid of Matthew ~ Jane Fallon
# 7 Vintage ~ Susan Gloss
# 8 Seconds Away ~ Harlan Coben
# 9 Eyes Wide Open ~ Ted Dekker
# 10 Last Seen Leaving ~ Kelly Braffet
# 11 Necessary Lies ~ Dianne Chamberlain
# 12 White Plague ~ James Abel
# 13 The Bishop’s Wife ~ Mette Ivie Harrison
# 14 Choose the wrong guy, give him the wrong finger ~ Beth Harbison
# 15 Therapy ~ Jonathan Kellerman
# 16 The Juror ~ George Dawes Green
# 17 The Delicate Storm ~ Giles Blunt 
# 18 Digital Fortress ~ Dan Brown
# 19 Heartstone ~ Phillip Margolin
# 20 Too Close to Home ~ Lynette Eason
# 21 Don’t Look Back ~ Lynette Eason
# 22 A Killer Among Us ~ Lynette Eason
# 23 Trespasser ~ Paul Doiron
# 24 Crash & Burn ~ Lisa Gardner
# 25 Lizzy & Jane ~ Katherine Reay
# 26 The Power of Three ~ Laura Lippman
# 27 The Girl in the Green raincoat ~ Laura Lippman 
# 28 What we’ve lost is Nothing ~ Rachel Louise Snyder
# 29 Someone’s is Watching ~ Joy Fielding
# 30 What the Dead Know ~ Laura Lippman
# 31 Deadly Devotion ~ Sandra Orchard
# 32 I’d know you anywhere ~ Laura Lippman
# 33 NYPD Red ~ James Patterson
# 34 The Never Never Sisters ~ L. Allison Heller
# 35 The Mermaid’s Child ~ Jo Baker
# 36 Secrets of a Charmed Life ~ Susan Meissner
# 37 The Accidental Book Club ~ Jennifer Scott
# 38 Every Fifteen Minutes ~ Lisa Scottoline
# 39 Left Neglected ~ Lisa Genova 
# 40 Love Anthony ~ Lisa Genova
# 41 One mile Under ~ Andrew Gross
# 42 Life or Death ~ Michael Robotham
# 43 The Stranger ~ Harlan Coben
# 44 The Liar ~ Nora Roberts
# 45 Bleed for me ~ Michael Robotham
# 46 The Fall ~ John Lescroat
# 47 The Forgotten Room ~ Lincoln Child
# 48 Bones Never Lie ~ Kathy Reichs
# 49 The Guest Cottage ~ Nancy Thayer
# 50 Memory Man ~ David Baldacci
# 51 Saving Grace ~ Jane Green
# 52 Cash Landing ~ James Grippando
# 53 Truth or Die ~ James Patterson
# 54 Breaking Creed ~ Alex Kava
# 55 Blackberry Winter ~ Sarah Jio
# 56 The Secret between us ~ Barbara Delinsky
# 57 Buried Secrets ~ Irene Hannon
# 58 As Night Falls ~ Jenny Milchman
# 59 The Last Breath ~ Kimberly Belle
# 60 The Violets  of March ~ Sarah Jio
# 61 Alert ~ James Patterson
#62 Broken Promise ~ Linwood Barclay
#63 The Bungalow ~ Sarah Jio
#64 Morning Glory ~ Sarah Jio
#65 Wildflower Hill~ Kimberley Freedman

What are you reading these days?

Take Care

mhmm monday

One of my favourite chicken recipes that Krystle makes is a Chicken Parmesan, hands down. I love the salty, cheesy, ooey-gooey, sauce-filled bliss.  So when I found this super easy, lots of cheesy saucy goodness, I knew it was something I could make.

Stuffed Chicken Parmesan 

{photo credit & recipe website}

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, butterflied 
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 
1 cup garted parmesan cheese 
1 cup+ pasta sauce 
1-2 cloves garlic, diced 
basil, to taste 
salt, pepper, to taste

Directions:
Carefully slice chicken breasts in half, keeping them in-tact, so they open like a butterfly.
Salt and pepper liberally, add garlic (if you like extra garlicky chicken parm, you can add as much as 2 cloves per chicken breast!)
Add sauce and cheeses, as well as some chopped basil (I put in whole basil leaves- but that is up to you and how much basil you like.)
Wrap in foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Open foil pouch and add a handful of cheese to the top.
Continue baking with foil open for another 15 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked and juices run clear.
Top with additional chopped basil.
Enjoy!

This delicious, lighter chicken parmesan is baked to cheesy perfection!

Take Care

Thankful Thursday

…and so we continue counting the things we are thankful for…

227. ultrasound pictures
228. lunch dates
229. techie girls
230. instagram
231. sunflowers
232. citrus sommersby
233. thrift-store shopping

Will you join me as we begin to be truly thankful for each day, and for each opportunity given to us, and who knows? we might just see how truly blessed we really are.

Because a thankful heart is a happy heart! 

Take Care

Our journey

In a few weeks my husband and I will be celebrating 29 years of wedded bliss.
Okay, maybe not bliss, but happiness and love.
Okay, I’ll just be honest here…
29 years of learning how to love each other.

We’ve had some glorious, and amazing mountain-top moments:
Our wedding day.
Our honeymoon in Jamaica
Each time we found out we were expecting - three times in four years!
The weekend retreat that saved our marriage.
Celebrating how God saved the hub’s life after the car accident.

Let me tell you, we’ve also experienced time of valleys and lows:
In year seven, the kids and I moved out for a while.
When the fights were hard and long and awful.
When our days were filled with selfishness, stubbornness, and unhappiness.

The good has always outweighed the bad. We’ve come through some major obstacles and trials, but no matter how difficult things got, we’ve walked through them together. {Even if we wanted to smack each other upside the head.}

Seriously though, it’s been a journey of learning how to love each other. Learning what’s important to each other. Learning how each other “ticks.” Learning our individual weaknesses and strengths, and how to support each other in them.

Learning how to love each other has been a gift.

I was reminded this week how far we’ve come. And as I recalled some of our memorable moments, I was reminded of something else: Learning to love this husband of mine has been a great gift. It hasn’t always been easy, and it hasn’t always been bliss.

We won’t ever claim to have the perfect marriage, but we do have the perfect union: My husband, me, and God who joined us together.

Take Care

tasty tuesday

Chocolate, peanut butter and bananas... can it get any better than that? Just try it and decide for yourself.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread 

{photo credit & recipe website}

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons chocolate peanut butter 
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon canola oil, divided 
3 tablespoons butter, softened 
½ cup packed brown sugar 
2 medium ripe bananas, sliced 
2 large eggs 
1½ cups all-purpose flour 
¾ teaspoon baking soda 
½ teaspoon baking powder 
½ teaspoon salt 
⅔ cup buttermilk 
¼ to ⅓ cup dark chocolate chunks

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate peanut butter and 1 teaspoon of the oil. Microwave on high until melted, about 30 seconds; stir. Combine 3 tablespoons oil, butter, brown sugar and banana in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until well combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. With the mixer running at low speed, all the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately to banana mixture, beginning and ended with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
Pour half of the batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan. Top with peanut butter mixtures. Spread the remaining batter over the top. Using a wooden pick or knife, gently swirl the batter. Sprinkle the top of the batter with dark chocolate chunks.
Bake for 55 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the bread from the pan, then allow to cool completely on rack.
Enjoy!

Take Care