This Weekend and New Recipes

This weekend, Mother, Luke, and Dolly came up to visit us!  Mother is taking pictures of her best friend Johnny's family for his birthday next month, and wanted to use my camera.  Her original intention was to drive the 4 hours up on Friday, grab the camera, and leave!  Well, Justin and I just weren't going to have that!  We insisted that they at least spend the night, and they did.  Friday, the five of us hung out at the apartment before having Bojangles for dinner and the painting the town red (a.k.a., going to the new Wal-Mart that my mom had heard so much about).  Saturday, we all had lunch at Piper's, which is better for me now that I've discovered their chicken sandwiches.  We took Luke over to Sci-Fi, which was fun, and then my mom and I did some more gallivanting over to Vaguely Reminiscent and Sustain-A-Bull Bookstore while the boys stayed home and played Star Wars.  I found the cutest dress down in the basement of Sustain-A-Bull, which is now a small clothing boutique called Pb Buttermilk's.  It cost me all of $18, and I love it!  I put it on when we got home and almost went to bed in it!  It's so comfortable.

[picture is coming!]

Plus, it's a huge upgrade from the skirt that I fell in love with in Vaguely Reminiscent that cost almost $80.  It gave me a sad face.

My mom insisted on leaving that night, because she has this thing where she doesn't want to "take our weekends away from us," which is a very sweet thought, but also a bit absurd at times, because weekends are there for a reason.  But anyway, we started packing her up to go home when we got back to the apartment, and it was sad.  But I'll see her again in a few weeks (I'm going home the weekend of the Super Bowl), so it's all good!  A great time was had by all.

I also tried some new recipes last week!  I live on Campbell's Kitchen.  I'm always finding new recipes on there to try, and they always come out delicious!  I haven't had a stinker yet!

Last week, I made two new dishes.  The first was Chicken Mozzarella.  Justin really loved it, so we will probably be having it again soon.  As in, I'm going to the store today and will probably buy the stuff to make it with then.  Here's the recipe:

1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Healthy Request® Condensed Tomato Soup

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning or dried oregano leaves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 ounce)

1/2 of a 1-pound package rotini pasta (about 3 cups), cooked without salt and drained

• Heat the oven to 400°F.
• Place the chicken into an 11 x 7 x 2-inch baking dish. Stir the soup, Italian seasoning and garlic powder in a medium bowl. Spoon the soup mixture over the chicken.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle the chicken with the cheese. Serve the chicken and sauce with the pasta.

I had to bake my chicken a little longer because my chicken breasts were a bit larger than the recipe called for.  But, they only needed about 15 more minutes, so it wasn't too bad.

The other dish was Beef and Noodles in the Crockpot.  I was a huge fan of this while we were eating, but it sort of killed my stomach a few hours later.  I'm not worried, though.  Most new dishes do that to me!  Justin liked it as well, but was dealing with family drama on the phone at the time, so his enthusiasm wasn't as clear.  Here's that recipe:

1 pound beef for stew, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed French Onion Soup

2/3 of a 12-ounce package medium egg noodles (about 4 cups), cooked and drained

• Place the beef into a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker.  Stir the soups in a small bowl.  Pour the soup mixture over the beef.
• Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours or until the beef is fork-tender.  Serve the beef mixture over the noodles.

Yes, it's that insanely easy.  I'm not even joking, I cook with my crockpot every single week.  Sometimes, more than once a week.  It's a necessity to my kitchen!

Well, I said not too far back there that I had to go to the store, so I guess I'm going to get dressed and go!  Bummer.