Saturday, April 7, 2012

Farmer's Market, a Pinterest Success, and a Recipe

Today was the first day of the Charlottesville Farmer's Market. There's several small ones in town, but the main one that's downtown and held on Saturday mornings opened today. It runs from April-September. They sell produce, food, flowers, crafts, etc. I was actually looking forward to this all week, I love walking through the farmer's market and looking at everything. My friend gave me a buy one get one free coupon for Starbucks, so we went by there first to get coffee and then headed over to the Farmer's Market.


It was so crowded! There was a big race that had just got finished, so there were a lot of runners there also, but it's always been really crowded when we go. It's a popular place on Saturday mornings.

The boys were really good. Greg and I got a bagel sandwich there. We always get the tacos that they sell there, but there was a HUGE  line for them, so we decided to try something different. It was good, but nothing compares to the little taco stand.

We got the boys a blueberry muffin to share. Carter wanted some of my bagel though, so I shared my sandwich with him.


Afterwards, we decided to walk on the Downtown Mall. I love the Downtown Mall, and it's such a great place to walk, but you have to pay for parking, so we don't usually go down there.

I think it's so nice down there. It's really pretty and there's so many fun shops, vendor tables, restaurants, etc.

I love the trees in the middle.

At one end of the mall, there's a Pavilion where they have concerts, shows, fairs, etc. We decided to take the boys down there to let them run around a little since they'd been in the stroller for awhile.

There's a few grassy patches, but mostly concrete. Even though it wasn't a park, petting zoo, or anything like our normal spots we take the boys, we knew they'd have fun just running around and exploring.

Evan is definitely our adventurous one, he will just take off. He has no fear.

Carter stood next to Greg for a minute because he knows that's what he's supposed to do. As soon as he figured out it was okay to run around, he took off.

I love how they stuck together most of the time.





I wish I had got pictures of how big the area was, but they went from the very back grassy patches, to the front stage, climbed up on the stage, ran across the whole stage and went down on the other side, and then did laps from the front of the stage in the audience section, to the stairs on the side, across the stage, and down again. They did this over and over. They have so much energy!



When did they get so big that they're walking up stairs without holding on to a railing or leaning forward with their hands on the stairs? I feel like it was just yesterday when we didn't even need a gate on our stairs at home.

After we got home, we fed the boys a little lunch and put them down for a nap. I decided to use their nap time to run a few errands. I needed to pick up some candles at Yankee Candle, go grocery shopping, and run by Sam's Club. When I got home, Greg and the boys went to the gym. I stayed home and tried to get a few things done. I cleaned the bathrooms (that took up most of the time) I got some things ready for Easter dinner tomorrow, put away some laundry, etc. It's amazing what I can get done when I have the house to myself.

One of the things I did while they were gone was make some deviled eggs for Easter dinner tomorrow. I saw this idea on Pinterest of coloring the eggs and thought it looked so cute, so I tried it out. I think it turned out cute and it was SO easy to do. I bought the eggs already hard boiled from the grocery store, cut them in half and scooped out the yolk into a bowl. I put the eggs into bowls with water, a couple of drops of food coloring and a drop of apple cider vinegar. It didn't take long for the eggs to color either, by the time I was done mixing up the yolks for deviled eggs, the eggs were done. I'm excited that something I tried out on Pinterest was actually a success.

For dinner, I made King Ranch Chicken. This was another recipe I saw on Pinterest and thought it looked good. It didn't call for too many ingredients and was easy to make. I just whipped it up while the boys were playing with Greg after they ate, and it baked while we were bathing the boys and putting them to bed. I love things that need about 45 minutes to bake, so we can put them in the oven, do the boys bedtime routine, and then it's ready when we're done. We both really liked it and would have it again.


King Ranch Chicken

3 large chicken breasts, cooked
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 onion, chopped (I used minced onion flakes)
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 jar (8oz) Cheez Whiz
Dash of Tabasco
Dash of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and pepper
Tortilla chips, crushed
8 oz cheddar
4 oz mozzarella

Dice the cooked chicken breasts. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat, mix the soups, onion, tomatoes, Cheez Whiz, Tabasco and Worcestershire Sauce until blended. Add salt and pepper to taste. Line the bottom of a casserole dish with the crushed tortilla chips. Place the chicken on top and pour over some of the mixture. Add a layer of half the Cheddar. Repeat the process, topping with Cheddar and mozzarella. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until bubbly.

Well, that was our Saturday. I hope everybody is having a good weekend so far. I'm really looking forward to Easter tomorrow with the boys. We're planning on going to church, giving the boys their Easter presents, playing with the Easter presents, and then having a fun Easter dinner.

No comments :

Post a Comment