Recipe: Baked Chicken and Vegetables

I've been looking for lower carb recipes I can use for dinner and I came up with this one night. It was really really easy to make too. 

You will need: 

4 chicken tenders or 1 large chicken breast cut into cubes 

10 mushrooms

4 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Add all of the spices to a small bowl and mix together

What to do

Add chicken to a baking dish. Add half of the spices to the chicken and mix well. Add 1 TBSP. olive oil and mix again. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes and then add all of the vegetables to the pan along with the rest of the spices and another TBSP of olive oil. Mix until everything is coated with the spices and oil. Bake for another 20-30 minutes or until carrots are tender and chicken is cooked through. 

Top with cheese and green onion and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

Now I served this with 2 different kinds of homemade salsa. Here's the recipes for both of them. 

Recipe for homemade Salsa

1 large tomato- diced

1/4 cup diced white onion

2 Tbsp finely diced Cilantro

1 Tbsp Lemon juice

salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together and set aside in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Recipe for Avocado Tomato Salsa

1 chopped tomato 

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 avocado, peeled and chopped

Add all ingredients to a bowl, mix well and set aside in refrigerator until ready to serve.

I served the baked chicken dish with the two salsa's and salad. This was definitely a keeper. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Rat Logic*

*Picture courtesy of Poppy's Mischief*

"Unless you have food, you come back later."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Shhh, I'm concentrating."

Apartment Life #23

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

UPDATE: The neighbor has been telling everyone that it was a meth lab that got busted. 

This past Tuesday, Ken and I heard a really loud bang and Ken went outside to see what it was. It was so loud and we thought something exploded, scared the bleep out of us. He comes back in and tells me that SWAT is down the street and the bang we heard was most likely a flash bang (it was loud as hell!). So I went outside with my camera and took a few pictures. I have no idea what was going on but 2 guys were later taken out of that apartment in handcuffs. 

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

This is the original picture I took before changing it to a more close up picture so you can see how far away it was. I'm standing right outside my apartment complex and the SWAT van was about half a block away. Everyone came out when they heard the explosion. There were people in front of me, in back of me and on the other side of the street looking down the street.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I enlarged this picture so you could get a better look at the SWAT van and the police cars. 

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

Again this is the original picture when I started seeing people moving around down there.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

And this is the same picture enlarged so you can make out the officer in SWAT gear and the other police down there.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

They were down there quite a while and as word spread, more and more people started coming out but no one was walking down that way.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

There were quite a few police cars driving up and down my street, parked in our alley and parked around the corner.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I stayed out there taking pictures for about 15 minutes. it wasn't until a little later that a neighbor said that police arrested 2 guys from that apartment. It was 90F that day so I didn't feel like standing around out there for too long.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

Lots of people from my apartment complex came out to take a look. This is just a handful of the people that were out there. 

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

As I was walking back to my apartment I saw this police car parked around the corner. They were all over the place that day. It wasn't even 'my' apartment complex this week but I'm sure the people who live in that apartment complex got scared when they heard that loud bang. 

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Favorite Video of the Week

If you've never seen The Talking Kitty Cat then here's a treat for you and you might find this funny. He has a whole series of videos that are funny.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

A sample bag of Purina Cat Chow.
A sample of Emergen C.
A box of O.B. tampons- 18 count.
An envelope of Spinach seeds from Tasty Bite The Good Seed.
And I won a book from a blog contest.
A $5 Amazon gift card from Crowdtap.

I gave the cat food to the lady across the street that feeds the homeless cats in our neighborhood. And I gave the spinach seeds to my daughter since she has a balcony where she can grow plants if she wants to. I used the other two things myself. I haven't read the book yet but it sounds good. I was also approved for 2 of the books I requested on NetGalley...woohoo books!

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Lady Bug Larvae

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

So it's bug day again. For some odd reason I like to take a few pictures of the weird bugs I find in my apartment before I take them outside so I can show them off here. I've seen these weird looking creatures that seem like they just emerged from the ninth circle of hell, for the past few years when it warms up. I had no idea what they were, all I knew is that they were unlike anything I've ever seen. So I took a picture of it. lol 

I finally found a picture of them after searching Google for black and red bugs. It turns out they aren't demons from the pits of hell after all, they're just baby lady bugs, or as the science type websites like to call them, Lady Bird Larvae or Lady Beetle Larvae. Think of butterflies and how they are worms first, they form a cocoon and then emerge as butterflies. Same thing with these things. This is their 'worm' stage. lol 🐛🐛

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I enlarged the photo so you could see more detail. Now do you see why I thought these things were some sort of evil minions?

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

In this picture you can make out some of the red spots on it and even some of the little hairs on it. Now that I know what they are, I'm not scared to pick them up and take them outside. So when I saw this one on my kitchen floor, I took him or her (Are all lady bugs, ladies? I dunno.) outside after getting a few pictures. 

Would you have known what this was if you saw it? 

If you want to know more about Lady Beetle Larvae, this is the website I found on them. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I don't think I've talked about this before but that tall wall is actually the sound wall for I95. Directly on the other side of that wall is the freeway. This walk way is called the Bonanza Trail, it's actually a hiking and biking trail and this part of it is mostly sidewalk and rocks. This is where I take Falcor for a walk and it's quite noisy because the freeway is just a few feet away. 

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

That tan building ahead on the right is actually my apartment building. With this picture you can see how close we are to the sound wall and the freeway. It's a noisy neighborhood, especially if something happens right here on the freeway because we can hear it all. We've heard car accidents, backfires from cars, tires blowing out and police and ambulances racing down the freeway with their sirens on. I believe that sound wall is about 30-40 feet tall. It's quite large. It might keep some of the noise from us but not much. But I'm glad it's there with all the different car accidents we've heard on the other side of it. And this is a nice little place to walk to take the dog out. A lot of people walk their dogs here.

Falcor likes to walk over here in the rocks.

Review: Target Beauty Boxes- April

This month I was surprised and thrilled that Target released the 4 Beauty Boxes for sale online that they had previously released for in store purchases only. I took a look at them and decided to buy 3 of them. Each one was $7 and to me, they were each well worth the price. These boxes go fast and are first come first get and when they're gone, they're gone.

The Wakeup and Makeup box contained: 

Dove Dry Shampoo Coconut

Sonia Kashuk Brush Cleansing Wipes

e.l.f. Beautifully Bare Blending Brush

e.l.f. Beautifully Bare Face Palette

Dove Dry Spray Invisible Sheer Fresh

COVERGIRL Peacock Flare Mascara 785 Extreme Black

Honest Beauty Refreshingly Clean Makeup Remover Wipes

This is the box I was most looking forward to and it didn't disappoint at all. There's a full size Covergirl mascara and a full size Dove Spray Deodorant as well as an elf bare face palette and other items. All for $7. 

The Be You(tiful) box contained:

OLLY Beauty Vitamin 

e.l.f. Gotta Glow Lip Tint in Perfect Pink

Simple Water Boost Micellar Makeup Remover Eye Pads

Nexxus Keraphix Shampoo

Nexxus Keraphix Conditioner

L’Oreal Pure Clay Cleanser – Detofixy and Brighten

Sinful Nail Color in Galac Sea or Wondermint

Honest Beauty Younger Face Deep Hydration Cream

Unfortunately this box was a mess when I got it. The shampoo and conditioner had both tops off and some of the shampoo and conditioner had leaked out into the box and all over the products. At least each bottle was still about half full so I did get to try both of these products. Thankfully each box was wrapped in plastic so even though the box had torn open inside the bigger box with the other two beauty boxes, the shampoo didn't get on either of the other two boxes. After washing off all the products in this box I was pretty happy with everything. 

The Treat Yourself box contained:

ME!Bath Bath Bomb

Bodycology Free & Lovely Coconut & Rose Body Butter

Dr. Teals Pink Himalayan Foaming Bath

Luxe by Mr. Bubble Bath Meltaway

Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Red Dahlia

Olay Regenerist Whips

Honest Beauty Refreshingly Clean Gel Cleanser

There was supposed to be a Burt's Bees lip balm in this box but it was missing from my box. I did enjoy these other products though and I love that good size Olay product. 

Each box also contained a few coupons for the products that were in each box. Did you buy any of these boxes?

I love getting these boxes because for the money, and this time I spent a total of $22, I get a lot of sample size as well as full size products to try. Most of this stuff is new to me products so I really like being able to try these products out. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Dis bed is berry comfortable."

Apartment Life #22

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

If we're friends on FB you might remember me posting about this one.

Back in April of 2016 Ken was taking the dog for a walk and I heard my BBQ make a sound like someone was closing it. So as I was coming out of the bathroom I see a guy in an orange t-shirt walk away from my bbq. So a couple of minutes go by and as Ken walks up with the dog, I tell him to open the bbq that some guy just put something in it. He opens it right as the cops are coming up the sidewalk from a domestic disturbance call, he puts his hands up and says, "Hey hey you guys need to look in there." Ken said that I just told him to look in there because some guy put something in there and I finally see what Ken is freaking out about. That asshole put a damn gun in my bbq! 

There had been a domestic fight a few minutes earlier and that's why the cops were here and some idiot decided to hide his gun in my bbq. So this flipping idiot walks back up as the cops are looking at the gun and I tell them that he's the guy that put the gun in my bbq. So he got arrested and we waited 2 hours for the investigators to come talk to us but the police said since the guy confessed we didn't have to give a statement. 

I don't have any pictures this time because it was 10PM and I actually didn't think to take any pictures with everything that was going on that night and the police coming and going from my apartment asking questions. When I told my dad the next day about what happened, he was more upset that I didn't get the gun for him. LOL Crazy man, I'm not giving my 85 year old father a gun that is most likely stolen.

The fun never stops around here.

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Favorite Video of the Week

This is the same band as last week but I like so many of their songs I had to share another one with you.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

A sample of Ultra Repair Face Cream.
A full size box of Nice N Easy Hair Color.

The Ultra Repair Cream was a good moisturizer. I gave the hair color to my daughter since I stopped coloring my hair a few years ago but my daughter likes to experiment with different colors.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Desert Moon (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 1) by Anna Lowe

Book Description

The scent of destiny... The danger in desire.

Lana Dixon knows well enough to steer clear of alpha males, but Ty Hawthorne is as impossible to avoid as the sizzling Arizona sun. Her inner wolf just won’t give up on the alpha who’s tall, dark, and more than a little dangerous. One midnight romp under the full moon is enough for Lana to know she’ll risk her life for him — but what about her pride?

Ty puts duty above everything — even the overwhelming instinct that says Lana’s the one. She’s the Juliet to his Romeo: forbidden. And with a pack of poaching rogues closing in, it’s hardly the time to yield to his desires. Or is love just what this lonely alpha needs to set his spirit free?

My Review

Ty is not happy to have to pick up a couple of ladies from the airport when he had more pressing matters to attend to but he does and that's when Lana gets a look at him. Lana is taking her grandmother to Arizona to get her settled into her new home and then she plans to go back home. Or at least that's what she is hoping will happen but things have a way or working out the way they are meant to even if it's not the way we expect them to. Her grandmother and the grandmothers friend are really funny and cute the way they say things that shock Lana at times.

Neither of these two know that the mates they scented years ago and lost were each other. Ty took it really hard when he couldn't find the she-wolf that the scent belonged to years ago. He keeps his feeling tightly hidden away especially since his pack has been trying to find him a mate and he wants no part of it. Ty figures out who she is but he's reluctant to claim her because her father is the enemy. 

It was fun watching these two get to know one another and watching Ty figure out how to break the news to his father once he figured out that she was his mate. I really liked getting to read from all points of view even while they are in wolf form, that was interesting to see. 

There's some rogue coyote shifters in the area making trouble for the pack, the danger gets really close before the trouble is taken care of. It was a fun, action packed read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

Last week my dad, brother, step mom and sister in law came for a visit. He brought his pet tortoise with him to show our dad. Her name is Babbette. They've had her for 2 years. 

Then my sister in law pulled out their newest addition, a baby tortoise. They already have a dog, 3 cats, 2 rabbits and Babbette so adding another little tortoise is no big deal. lol 

Review: Act of Mercy :PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops, Book 1 by Many M. Roth

Book Description

Paranormal Security and Intelligence Operative Duke Marlow has a new mission: find, interrogate and possibly eliminate the target - Mercy Deluca. He knows looks can be deceiving, but it's hard to believe the beautifully quirky woman running around in a superhero t-shirt is a viable threat. The sexy little biomedical engineer quickly proves she is more than he bargained for and Intel has it all wrong - she's not the enemy. Far from it. Intel also forgot to mention one vital piece of information - she's Duke's mate. This immortal alpha werewolf doesn't take kindly to her being in danger.

When Mercy accepted a position within Donavon Dynamics Corporation, she thought it was to help cure disease and to make a difference for mankind. She had no idea what her new career path truly entailed - monsters masquerading under the guise of scientific research. Unable to stomach the atrocities she's uncovered, she reaches out through what she hopes is the proper channels, asking for help. Mercy gets more than she bargained for when a team of paranormal hotties show up on her doorstep ready to take down the Corporation. One in particular is able to get under her skin, both aggravating and exciting her in ways she can't explain.

My Review

I haven't read this author before so I snagged this when it was a freebie because the story premise sounded really good. 

Duke works for the Paranormal Security and Intelligence Operative Teams (PSI-Op), he is also a werewolf shifter. After a series of weird phone calls, Duke's team is sent to rescue one of their own. 

Mercy is working for a corporation who she thought at first was trying to do good. It was only later that she figured out what they were really doing and none of it was good. In fact it was really bad, but she thought she was in too deep to just up and quit. She was trying to help the test subjects escape and after making several phone calls to the number she was given by one of the test subjects she wasn't sure if help was on the way or not. 

I was thinking that this book would be full of action, gore, killing and a little romance. I wasn't wrong but it had so much more because when Duke's team got to where Mercy lived and tried to figure out if she was one of the bad guys or not,  not only did all hell break loose but it got funny. Mercy is hilarious and when she's in shock, she's even funnier. The fact that she's uber smart and makes jokes that go right over Duke's head and that of his team mates, makes it all the more hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in while and that was only about half way through the book. It got even better from there. 

Duke and Mercy were made for each other and they really fit together well. I really liked that as soon as they saw each other, his wolf just knew that she was his and subconsciously she knew the perfect man for her. I really liked that there's more to her than she realizes and that she gets to use that to their advantage. This was a great book and I am really looking forward to getting to know Duke's team mates because they are funny and great characters. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Jin Wicked*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I iz hiding in my matchbox bed."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #21

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

July 11, 2016 Ken called the office to let them know someone just broke into a vacant apartment. The maintenance man shows up and finds a man sleeping in the apartment and tells him he's calling the police. The guy leaves out the back window and isn't there when the police get here a few minutes later. Ken went outside to let them know that homeless people have been breaking in through the window every night for 2 weeks to spend the night and the manager hasn't fixed the broken windows.

They finally fixed the windows and the homeless people stopped breaking into the apartment. But they started breaking into other apartments during the weekends when there's no manager on the property. The maintenance man finally figure out how to keep the vacant apartments secure and they stopped getting broken into but it took much longer than it should have to fix the problem.

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Favorite Video of the Week

This is one of my favorite bands and yes there is a bit of screaming in this one but it's only a little. I think this is a really pretty song.

Freebie Friday!

*Click on picture to enlarge*

*Click on picture to enlarge*

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

Garnier SkinActive Moisture Bomb Sheet Mask.
L'Ooccitane Immortelle Divine face cream.
L'Ooccitane Light Comforting face cream.
L'Ooccitane Ultra Rich Comforting face cream.
EXO Facial moisturizer.
A $5 gift card from Crowdtap.
A box full of snacks from the Loacker Insider's Program.

I'm kinda still on the fence about all these different sheet masks. I like this one only because it smelled good. I really don't think it did anything for my skin. The face creams on the other hand were really nice and a great moisturizing cream under my makeup and at night after I took my makeup off.

*Click on picture to enlarge*

Here's what was in the Loacker Insider Box. 8 full size snacks in all. 

Noir Orange biscuits covered in chocolate. 

Noir Hazelnut biscuits covered in chocolate. 

Milk Cream wafers. 

Chocolate Cream wafers. 

Quadratini wafer cookies in 4 different flavors, Tiramisu, Raspberry & Yogurt, Espresso, and Cocoa and Milk. 

The Loacker Insider box is usually 850 points but it's pretty easy to get that many points. It took about 45 days to get the box after I ordered it and it's totally worth it. 

Anyone can sign up to be a Loacker Insider and earn points for doing different tasks like sharing and liking things on social media. You can then use your points to get things like this box of snacks from them. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?