Pepperoni Pizza Casserole

I love having a variation of meals that I know that my family likes and changing one or two of the main ingredients to something else. Pizza…. Who doesn’t enjoy a slice of pizza? In our little Reeser home everybody is always a fan of pizza. Sometimes I make pizza crust with having a either wheat or white dough or others time I choose to do a pizza soup or make a pizza casserole. The boys had got some yummy noodles that are made with A, B, C and 1, 2, 3 shapes for Christmas I really wanted to use them.  After forgetting to use the noodles for about a month I put on my menu board.  The best part of making a casserole is that the ingredients don’t have to be the same. Currently my boys are NOT the biggest fans of vegetables so our pizza has cheese and meat.  Looking forward to the day when they won’t mind if  I throw in some mushrooms or bell peppers or whatever I am in the mood for. 

Thing needed for Pizza Casserole:

Baking Pan

Noodles

Sauce

Cheese

Meat

Garlic

Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Oven set at 375 degrees F

Sides

I had bought some tortellini and garlic bread to with the meal. There is only four family members in our household and two of the four are under the age of three I used a 8x8 baking pan. I new we would have leftover from this meal so I only did one of the sides that the garlic bread meaning every one had 1 slice of bread each time we had the meal.

Read the directions on the package of the noodles and make sure that the noodles are al dente (cooked so that they are still stiff a littles bit) because the noodles are going to bake it in the oven and with the pizza ingredients and would not be very good with overdone noodles. I layered the casserole very similar to a lasagna. on the last layer I added some wonderful Italian seasoning crushed up to add some extra flavor on the top! I baked it for about 20 minutes then dished it out. 

Yummy! I really like it when the whole family is looking forward to leftovers. We had corn with our  leftovers because one of my kid loves green beans and the other only likes corn..... 

Missions Trip Day 1

Mission Trip

Reynosa, MX

Day 1

We meet at the church at six in the morning and headed out to Reynosa, Mexico. Today we are traveling by van to San Antonio.

I have always been interested in going a short-term missions trip and especially to a Latin-speaking county.

So we are going to head over the boarder tomorrow, and get to spend time with Children Haven International. From my understanding it is an orphanage and a school that has about a 15-acre campus.  The kids who are a part of the orphanage get to have a foster like home where they stay with two parents that are Christians and are married. Some have children themselves and the bonus of loving on kids who need it!

In our group of people are all really excited for this trip! There are a few first timers, such as myself and then there are others who have gone on several missions’ trips.

Looking forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for us, and how he is going to use me.

We discussed our fears, expectations, and goals at lunchtime I was sitting with the ladies at Chick Fil A.

I want to do my best and to do so with a joyful and willing heart!

Thanks for the prayers! Pray for a safe trip Reynosa, Mexico from San Antonio and also that our hearts would be prepared.

1 Corinthians 3:10-21

Headband making!

One of the other things we did when we had the ladies craft day was make headbands for Easter. I was going to be in the nursery at church so instead of buying an Easter Hat.... I decided to make a headband with one of my friends. We had shopped at hobby lobby for supplies. I had purchased more than needed so that I could make more than one and really I loved the flowers alone to go in my hair.

I had never done a head band before and if I had had more time I might have made them put I am so glad I made the purchase instead of making them from scratch. I didn't know that they make convenient little holes so that you can clip on flowers or feathers.  We were originally going to wrap a head band from ribbon but that was before we got to the headband making isle in Hobby Lobby. Sometimes I wish that we had a Hobby Lobby in Winfield, KS.... and other times I think my husband is glad that we don't. I would have about fifty more craft projects that I would create or get off of Pinerest. 

Overall I thought it came out super cute! Here is a picture of me and my sweet boys with my homemade headband!

Kichen Remodel

Stage 2: Making room for the New Pantry!!!

We have been wanting to do this for a very long time! We had all kinds of ideas of how this kitchen would look but budget always got in the way.  However, final project is better than I could of ever dreamed!

Our previous kitchen didn't have a location for all of our non-perishable foods could be stored and seen and it was driving us all mad! Especially me! After the stroke, even though it has been two years, I still have issues with needing things to be a certain way and putting the food away is one of them, I guess it is because I need to now where the food is so I can make it. It was pretty important for me to have an area where I could see everything in one spot and then step back and be able to find the items that I needed for that meal. Since it was important to me I have a wonderful husband who listens to me and tries to fix the little or BIG things that can make life easier. We have made a trip to Lowe's every time we would be in Wichita for the past year or so and then where trying to decide if we could buy new cabinets or if we should work on painting or staining them and get a new countertop. One day my husband said lets go get a pantry... he didn't have to pull any teeth incase you were curious. I am sure he is wondering what he got himself into with those words.

God is so GOOD!!!!!! We had looked a this one large composite multipurpose cabinet for our pantry. We look and looked and what? On sale??? It was on sale because it was opened and didn't have a box. One thing.... we brought our Camry.... um... yeah thats right we put a pantry sticking out of the trunk of our Camry. 

That night we did the unthinkable. We moved the one cabinet away to the other side of the kitchen, removed the wall mounted cabinets and moved the refrigerator over and then brought in our new pantry all while the kids were asleep!

What did I get myself into.....

Our list of things that we used to help us with the project:
Hammer
Screw driver
Saw
Tape measure
Crow bar
Drill
Muscle
Adrenaline
Laughter

Here is the ALMOST step by step process for the major project that we did.

 Crow bar to rip off the trim

 Saw to cut away from other cabinet

 Crow bar to rip off the backing of the wall mounted cupboards

 Measuring tape and marker for the final sawing and drilling

 Muscle to move the cabinet away from the wall

New place for the cabinet

And the NEW PANTRY!!!!!!!

All of that in one night.  If I am up past a certain time in the evening, I just start to laugh... I know you are all feeling really bad for my husband right now.

Thank you to my husband who is so loving and is always trying to make things just a little bit easier for me! I love you! And of course what a huge blessing to have the item that we were looking for on sale!!!! What a huge God moment. He is always there for us even in the little things on helping our little  family save money here and there.

Kitchen Remodel

Stage 1: Removing the nicknack/ catch all/ phone wall

This wall has bother me for a very long time!!!! So what did I do? Tell my husband and what does he do???? He knocked it down!!!!! I sure do LOVE that man! Not just because he does a project after I ask him to but because he is a wonderful man who serves the one and only God, loves his family, and does a great job serving as a student ministry pastor and of course he also very HANDSOME.

First of all I mentioned that this wall was blocking our house up. It was also because this spot was a catch-all.   I believe its original intent was for a house phone... which we don't have anymore so it just kept acquiring all of the odds and ends from around the house!!!!! Another annoyance was that we had to walk around the wall and that is pretty irritating (didn't realise how much I dislike this wall until it was gone!

Before:

My hubby had to make sure that the removal of the wall wouldn't then distroy our home. From there he was up  in the attic seeing which wires were going where. We had to take out the door bell (haven't decided if we should replace it or not) and replace the flooring once the wall was out! I had fun taking down the wall!!!!! He let me take a few swings at it for sheer pleasure it was good stress reliever!

During:

After: 

 Of course there is probably a few more things to be done here but it is so much better. Thanks to my great husband who listens to every word I say! You are my rock star!!!!