Recipe: Crockpot Chicken Phillies

When I first saw this recipe here, I knew we had to try it. I love chicken phillies, but I love easy crockpot recipes even more. It also calls for Dale's, which I was excited about. My family loves this seasoning.

Ingredients:
-boneless chicken breasts
-sweet onion
-two bell peppers
-Dale's seasoning

I decided to cut up the chicken first so it could marinate while I chopped the onions and peppers.

Spray the crockpot with Pam and add some butter.

Add onions.

Add peppers.

Add marinated chicken and that's it!

I stirred it up once it started simmering to make sure all the chicken got cooked.

Will chopped up the chicken and we let it sit for a while longer to really soak up the juices.

And serve!

Will didn't like my choice of bread so he ate his on regular wheat sandwich bread. If you read his last recipe, you know he loves wheat bread AND sandwiches.

Overall, I give this recipe a 7 out of 10. If you're familiar with Lenny's Subs, it tasted a lot like their chicken philly sandwich. I think I used too much Dale's because I poured in the remaining seasoning from the bowl where the chicken was marinating. Next time, I'll just put the chicken in the crockpot without the extra marinade!

This recipe was so easy and will probably be on our monthly rotation list!

13 weeks

How far along are you? 

13 weeks

How big is Baby? 

Baby K is as big as a peach this week. He/She now has vocal cords, teeth buds and fingerprints!

Weight Gain?  

Still haven't bought a scale. I've felt the same over the past few weeks though.

 Gender? 

We will find out in 3 1/2 weeks! I am SO excited and think about it all the time. Will has two brothers and I have two brothers, so I think it's time for a girl in the family!

Maternity Clothes? 

Not really. My mom has bought me several things from Ross, but I haven't worn them yet. My pants are still too tight to button. I've been wearing more flowy shirts because my "bump" looks more like a "pooch."

Stretch Marks? 

Not yet. Any recommendations for cream?

 Sleep? 

Sleep has been gradually getting worse. (Although, it's still not bad at all.) I wake up every night, without fail between 1:30-2:30 to go to the bathroom. Then my legs start feeling restless so I sit in bed and stretch them for a little while. Luckily, I haven't really had a problem getting back to sleep.

Symptoms?

I have headaches almost every day...usually onset by something at work. I know that I can take Tylenol, but I've been trying not to take anything at all. A glass of Coke usually helps! I've also been having some dizziness and feeling tired again over the past week. Oh, and I look like a teenager with all the breakouts I've been having!

Movement?  

Can't feel anything yet!

Food Cravings/Aversions? 

I don't think that I've literally craved anything, but there have been things that have just sounded really good. We had Easter lunch at my parents house on Sunday and as I was filling my plate, I came across the ham. Usually I hate ham. Ew. Gross. But for some reason, this ham just looked SO GOOD. And it was! I ate, ate and ate some ham. I've also had leftovers for lunch yesterday and today. I'll give a lot of the credit to my parents for making such a delicious glazed ham though!

No aversions lately...I've (obviously) been an eating machine. Baby K is hungry!

Labor Signs? 

No!

Belly Button in or out? 

Still in

What I miss?

Not being able to drink a Coke as much as I would like. I've been trying really hard to limit my caffeine intake. It's not like I drank gallons of Coke pre-pregnancy, but it was my go-to drink if I had a bad day. I can thank the women in my family for this habit. Bad day? Drink some Coke. Headache? Drink some Coke. Crying? Drink some Coke. Is this a Southern thing or does everyone do this? Or is it just something specific to my family?? Either way, I miss my Coke.

What I am looking forward to?  

Check-up next week - Hopefully get to hear Baby K's heartbeat again!
Planning our gender reveal party

Best moment of the week? 

Spending Easter with the family - getting baby clothes

I'm really late on posting this as the start to my 13 weeks was actually on Sunday. Better late than never!

12 weeks

Recipe: Will's World's Greatest Sandwich

I think I need to preface this post before we dive right in. This is Will's recipe. He is always telling people that he makes THE world's greatest sandwich. If you come to our house, chances are he'll make you your very own "world's greatest sandwich." (That's its official name now apparently.) Last week I was kind of joking with him and said, "Hey, you should do a blog post on your world's greatest sandwich." He responded with, "I know. I've already been thinking about it." And here we are. Since we both had a half day last Friday, we met at home for lunch. I told Will to make his sandwich and I would take pictures and write the blog post. You know what he said to me?? "Well, I want to write it because I would be funny." SO, I was just the photographer in this post. Will positioned all his ingredients and food exactly how he wanted it for pictures. I will say though, he does keep me laughing every single day. Take it away, Will!

Once upon a time there was a delicious sandwich. As the years went by that delicious sandwich was forgotten, diluted by things like mustard, pickles, or even (dare I mention it) the absence of cheese. I spent the first 24 years of my life searching for this lost sandwich, feeling nothing but emptiness inside. I sought toasted bread and exotic cheeses, but in the end there was always something missing. After years of travels (coming home for lunch), I finally stumbled upon the age-old sandwich of greatness. A perfect blend of flavor that leaves your belly completely satisfied, I feel it is my duty to share this sandwich with the world.
Go forth my friends, and taste the goodness!

Le Recipe.

 1. Get some bread. Wheat bread works best...white bread tends to get stuck in your teeth.

2. Put some cheese on the bread. This is a crucial point in the process. Don’t get stingy and go for the Kraft singles. Get yourself some quality cheese and you wont regret it. I recommend Sargento Provolone or Colby Pepper Jack.

3. Put the cheesed bread into the toaster oven and toast to a medium crispiness. This will toast the bread and provide a nice melt to the cheese.

4. Fry an egg  (in butter). Make sure you don’t go skinny on the butter. Butter has been around for a long time and it is good. That being said, I prefer my eggs to be over-medium so that the egg yoke spreads throughout the entire sandwich, but it’s ok if you like your eggs a little more well done. 

5. As your egg continues to fry, drop your choice of meat into the skillet. Turkey, chicken or ham, I have tried them all and they are all delicious. Turkey and chicken actually pair really well together; ham is more of a stand-aloner. 

6. Allow your egg and meat to simmer. Take your cheesy bread and put it on a plate. Add your meat. Add your egg (as your sandwich comes to life, this is where a runny egg really helps add flavor throughout the sandwich).

7. Eat thy sandwich. 

-Will

Weekend Recap: Easter

I have to start this post off by talking about the Grizzlies game last night. No, not because we won with about 5 seconds left and it was awesome, but because of who we went with. Our small group at church works with an organization called World Relief here in Memphis. WR works on bringing in refugees from all over the world to give them a new life in the U.S. The family we work with is from Somalia and they have only been in the country for a few months and have 3 of the sweetest boys. Someone in our small group was able to get Memphis Grizzlies tickets for last night's game so we had the opportunity to take this family to their first basketball game! I've never enjoyed a game so much. I think I had more fun watching the boys and their reactions to everything as they stood in awe of where they were and all that was going on around them. Even things as small as riding on the escalator was an adventure! We had such a great time and hope to be able to go back again!

Now, back to Easter weekend. I worked a half day on Good Friday and really enjoyed the afternoon with Will and our pups. 

On Sunday, we went to church - which was amazing by the way - and then headed over to my parents for Easter lunch. For some reason, I didn't really take many pictures, but here are the few I did take...

Me and my cousin, Shannon

The picture on the left is from Easter last year (when Shannon was pregnant) and this year I'm pregnant!

My dad rocking Harrison to sleep. He's also in the picture above in Shannon's belly! My arms were sore when I woke up Monday morning from holding this chunky monkey! He's the cutest!

Cody and my other cousin, Cameron. Cameron was having a blast by letting my brothers tie his legs together. Boys.

The Kassner fam...including Baby K!

My handsome brothers!

We had a great weekend celebrating our risen Savior with family. I hope you did too! All day I kept thinking about how amazing it's going to be next year when we've got a little baby with us! I couldn't stop wondering if  we will have a boy or a girl...what their first Easter outfit would be...what he/she will look like. It's all so exciting!

This week, I've got two recipes to share with you (one of which is 100% Will's) and our 13 week bumpdate!

1st Trimester Recap

I wanted to post about our first trimester since I didn't really write anything about the beginning of the pregnancy. I want to be able to remember everything!

Since we've been married, Will and I have always been in disagreement of when we would have kids. If you asked me on our wedding day when we would have a baby, I would have said, "within the year." Will, on the other hand, would have said, "in about 5 years." Having children is something we have prayed about together since we've been married. We just prayed for God's timing and not our own. Sure, I had severe cases of Baby Fever several times throughout our marriage, but I always knew the timing wasn't right so I had a peace about it. Will and I were both still in college when we got married so that obviously was not a good time to start having children! Looking back, it's amazing to see how much God's hand was in the timing of us getting pregnant. I am so thankful for that. Will is graduating with his Master's degree from seminary in May and will (hopefully) have a full-time job soon after. There are still some unknowns, but we have 100% faith in God's plan for our lives and Baby Kassner! 

1st trimester timeline:

stopped taking birth control: December 2012

found out we were pregnant: February 1, 2013

told our families: February 9-10, 2013

announced to our small group: February 24, 2013

made our announcement "Facebook official": March 6, 2013 (also our 3 year anniversary)

2nd trimester: March 24, 2013

This picture really makes me laugh. This was on the day we found out we were pregnant...literally about 10 minutes after we found out. Will broke the news to Remi and this was his response.

"Say whaaaaa?"

We told Ginger and took a picture of her response too, but I think she was ignoring us. She's got a mean poker face.

This was taken on February 2, 2013 - the day after we found out we were preggo.

We've actually already had three ultrasounds. On my first doctor's appointment (February 6, 2013), the calculations showed that I was already about 8 weeks pregnant and due on September 20, 2013. The ultrasound, though, proved otherwise. By the measurements of the baby, I was actually only about 5-6 weeks. The doctor still had the due date set on what they originally thought and wouldn't change it until I came back in two weeks for a second ultrasound. 

I didn't get a picture of the first ultrasound because there really wasn't much to see. The photo below is of the second ultrasound (February 21, 2013). I was 7 weeks, 4 days here. Still hard to tell that is a baby! The heart rate was 140 bpm. (People have told me that 140 is on the lower end and usually means that the baby is a boy...hmm) The doctor changed our due date to October 6, 2013! We have always wanted an October baby so it's funny how that worked out. (Don't ask me why, October is just a good month!)

Our third ultrasound (March 14, 2013) was our most exciting doctor's appointment yet. The baby's heart rate was 149 bpm and he/she was moving all around! It was truly amazing to see! We also heard the heart beat at this appointment. I could listen to that tiny beating heart all day!

This is what I was reading at 10 weeks in What to Expect When You're Expecting. How about Yes, Yes, Yes anddd Yes?

On the topic of morning sickness, I will just say that I have been so blessed throughout this pregnancy. I always thought that whenever I got pregnant, I would be sick as a dog the entire time. (Partly because I've always heard stories from my Mom talking about how sick she was. Thanks, Mom.) So when 5 weeks passed and I hadn't thrown up...and then 6 weeks...then 7... I was in shock. Sure, I was nauseous all the time and craved sleep more than anything, but part of me thought that something was wrong because I wasn't throwing up! Trust me, I was so incredibly thankful that I hadn't, (and that wouldn't be because I'm the biggest baby when it comes to being sick either...) but it was mainly for one reason. Over the past two or three years, whenever I would throw up, I would faint. I know, it's weird. I don't know what triggered this little issue, but the doctor thought it might have something to do with my vagus nerve being stimulated while throwing up and that would cause me to faint?? (Hmm...maybe the onset was me marrying Will?! Just kidding!) At first I didn't really think anything of it...until I was house sitting by myself one weekend, got sick, fainted in the bathroom and hit my head pretty badly. I remember waking up confused, hurt, scared and by myself. 

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, I want to say how thankful I am that I have not thrown up at all during this pregnancy. Can you imagine fainting every time you threw up during morning sickness?! I know Will could take care of me while I was at home, but what about if I was at work and something happened? Or even worse, what if I was driving by myself? I know this is God protecting me and this little baby. It seems like such a small thing, but nothing is too small or too big for my God. I'm thankful for His provision in ALL areas of my life...especially every detail of this pregnancy.

To those of you bloggy friends who are struggling with becoming pregnant, I just want you to know that I think about you often and will continue praying. Though I can't say that I know exactly how you feel, I can say that I've had to deal with the issue of waiting and patience in the last few years over different areas of my life. It's. not. easy. The only thing that helped me get through is the daily reminder that God is faithful and His timing is perfect. He has far better plans for us than we could ever imagine!

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

"For this child I have prayed and the Lord has answered my prayer."

1 Samuel 1:27