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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Slimmed Down Chicken Pot Pie // Comfort Food

Once upon a time, I used to love cooking and trying new recipes.  Hashtag before kids :).  Anymore, it's whatever I can get on the table by 6pm.  Major bonus if I actually made it myself and didn't pick it up from Chipotle or New Seasons.  Eric is actually super helpful with meals on the weekends, but the weekdays are up to me.  While balancing a newborn and a toddler, I try to keep meals sweet and simple.

One of our favorite recipes that I try to throw into the mix (but takes a tiny bit of extra time) is chicken pot pie.  Eric and I love this meal and Sloan will actually eat it too!  I love when you can get the entire meal into one dish and this is also a great one to make ahead.  Oh and because I'm guessing you don't have much more time than I have, I listed all of my shortcuts throughout.

This is sort of a cross between chicken pot pie and chicken and dumplings, but a slimmed down version of both (no heavy cream here!).  I hope you guys enjoy this meal, it's truly one that I love sharing with my own family.


Ingredients:
-Non-stick cooking spray
-2 cups shredded chicken breast
-Olive oil
-Salt & pepper
-1 cup chopped onion
-1 cup chopped carrots
-1 cup chopped celery
-1 cup green beans (cut into inch long pieces)
-Minced garlic (about 2 teaspoons)
-1 1/2 cups 2% milk
-1/4 cup flour
-1 cup chicken broth (I use the low sodium kind)
-2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
-Bisquick mix (I use the heart smart box)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Spray your casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.

If you are cooking the chicken yourself, do that first.  Either boil it or pan fry it and then shred it.  Great shortcut: buy a cooked rotisserie chicken and shred the meat.  Set chicken aside.

Add about two teaspoons of olive oil to a large pan on medium to medium-high heat.  Add the onion, carrots, and celery.  Season the veggies with salt and pepper.  Huge time saver: I buy these veggies pre-chopped at my local Trader Joes (see photo below).  Cook for 3-5 minutes and then add the green beans and garlic.  Another time saver: I buy the package of pre-trimmed and washed green beans so that I just have to chop them a few times into smaller pieces.  I also save time by keeping jarred minced garlic in the fridge.  Stir everything and cook for 5 minutes more.


Add the milk to the pan.  In separate bowl, whisk the chicken broth and flour together until the flour dissolves, add it to the pan.  Keep stirring until mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 2-3 minutes longer.  Add shredded chicken to the pan and season with salt and pepper again.  Add the fresh thyme and stir well.  Spoon the mixture into a greased 13x9 glass baking dish  (or something similar in size).

Now to make the "crust" (which is really like dumplings).  Grab your box of Bisquick and double the dumpling recipe on the side of the box (1 1/3 cup bisquick and 6 tablespoons milk).  Drop the batter into little mounds on top of the chicken and veggie mixture.

Bake until the mixture is bubbling and the crust is starting to brown-about 20-25 minutes.

Let cool a bit, serve, and enjoy!

I hope your family loves this recipe as much as mine does!

Xo,

Marisa

Monday, November 9, 2015

Our Weekend Recap and a COUPON!

You guys!  It's already Monday again!  We had a pretty full weekend, but managed to squeeze in some fun family time.  The weather is changing, so we've been trying to get the girls outside whenever it's not raining.  Eric had a big meeting on Friday afternoon and surprised us by coming home early as soon as the meeting was over.  We packed up and took the girls to the park.  I sat on a blanket listening to Phayre Coo and watching Eric and Sloan play on the big play structure.

I thought to myself, "How I am this blessed?!  Look at my incredible husband and our beautiful daughters.  I wish I could freeze time and stay in this moment forever."  And then Eric gave me the look... That look where he's panicked or flustered and I think he might just run away.  He picked Sloan up and started walking towards me, which made Sloan completely lose her shit because she thought she had to leave the park.  As he walked up to me, screaming and flailing toddler in hand, I asked him what was wrong.  With a straight face he said, "Did you remember to put underwear on Sloan today?  Because she just went down the slide and flashed the entire park."  Well shit! Obviously I forgot and the girl likes being naked so much she never tells me!  <insert the emoji where the monkey is covering his face>. Because I'm not the absolute worst mother in the world, I at least had extra clothes in the diaper bag.  So I put some panties on Sloan and calmed her down with some yogurt covered raisins (sugar fixes everything-or alcohol, but I stick to sugar with the kids).  Crisis averted and we went on to enjoy the rest of our park date.

I seriously feel like taking a newborn and a toddler out in public, is like traveling with a circus, but you don't know what the circus acts are.  It's a surprise every time you leave the house!  Although the acts almost always need a set of clothes at the end.  I look at these moments as my way of earning a glass of wine though :).  After our park outing, we went to our neighbors house for pizza and I got to enjoy a nice cold glass of rosè, perfect start to the weekend!

Here are a few photos from our park trip:





And because all circuses travel, we also took our little circus to the mall.  Everyone wore underwear and it was actually a pretty successful trip.  Outside of Sloan tackling another little girl at the disney store for touching "her" Minnie tea set, there weren't too many incidences.  I caught the other little girl on their way to the ground and then we got the hell out of there in a flash so it hardly seemed like an incidence.  

I picked up a few new fall favorites and thought I'd share...

Gap is having their friends and family event (you can save 40% online with code FFBEST or save 50% off five regular priced items in store with code FFBEST50 through today 11/9).  I picked up the cutest "Oh Deer" sweatshirt for Sloan, these candy cane striped tights for Phayre, and the cutest cable knit cardigan EVER for me (seriously it is so flattering).

Nordstrom is having their fall sale and I picked up a few things there as well!  These over the knee boots are only $64!  And the striped top I wore to the park is only $18 (I seriously live in this top-I recommend sizing up one size).

Sloan is obsessed with nightgowns so I was really excited to find this plaid ruffle nightgown at Gymboree (on sale for 40% off)!  You can see the rest of my holiday pajama favorites here!

In other news, our holiday release is tonight at 6pm PST!  So many festive bracelets and necklaces available!  You can shop our new designs here and how about some coupon codes just for our blog readers?!



The first three customer can save 20% with code HOLIDAY20.
The next three customers can save 15% with code HOLIDAY15.
And everyone else can save 10% with code HOLIDAY10 (only valid 11/9, expires at midnight).

Alright guys, hope you have a great Monday and a wonderful week!  

XO,

Marisa

Friday, November 6, 2015

Little Favorites // Christmas Pajama Roundup

Those of you who know me, know that I am uhhhhhbsessed with any type of themed dressing.  And pajamas are no exception, in fact I have a serious thing for holiday jams!  So I browsed some of my favorite stores and created a roundup of my favorite Christmas jams!  If my husband wasn't so cheap  financially responsible, I would order them all :). Enjoy dressing your littles, it's the most magical time of year (well it's almost that time of year)!  Oh and the best part??  These pajamas start at just $11! ((The links for each pajama are below the photo))



From top left going right...
8. Santa Footed One-Piece
9. Striped Sleep Set

I hope you guys love these as much as I do!  I can't wait to get my girls in Christmas jammies and cuddle them!  Let me know what you guys think!

Xo,

Marisa

P.S. All of the Gap pajamas are 40% with code FFBEST through November 8th!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Sloan & Co. // Christmas Preview

Howwwww in the world is it almost Christmas?  52 days until Christmas to be exact!  It seems way too early to be talking about Christmas, but it really is right around the corner!  We haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving and I'm like bring on the holiday tunes and red holiday Starbucks cups!

I thought I'd share the first sneak peeks of our Holiday 2015 collection here first; this isn't the entire collection, but definitely a good taste of what is to come!  I hope you love what you see so far, I am just in love with this festive collection.  I imagine these bracelets pairing so perfectly with your little ones holiday dresses.  This collection will be available for purchase on Monday November 9th, 2015 at 6pm PST.  Follow this link to purchase!










Hopefully you guys love this collection as much as I do!  All of our holiday bracelets and necklaces will be available, along with some old favorites (think characters) next week!  Let me know what you guys think of the collection so far!

Xo,

Marisa :)



Sunday, November 1, 2015

Halloween 2015 // Alice & Mr. Rabbit

If you follow us on Instagram (@sloan_and_co), you probably already saw the girls in their Alice in Wonderland costumes, but I had to share a few more photos here!  Sloan was Alice and Phayre was Mr. Rabbit with cutest glittery bunny ears I have ever seen!

There was actually flash flooding in Portland the night of Halloween so we weren't able to take Sloan trick-or-treating.  Luckily she's never been so she didn't know what she was missing out on!  We had some friends over and the kids ran around the house in their costumes while the adults drank and chatted.  Pretty much a perfect night spent with family and friends!




Were they not the cutest Alice and Mr. Rabbit you've ever seen?!  I swear you don't know the meaning or joy of holidays until you witness them through your childrens eyes!

I found the pocket watch on eBay and my mother in law made the red bunny coat!

Phayre Golda // Newborn Photos

I shared a few photos on our Instagram (@sloan_and_co) of Phayre's newborn photos, but I thought I'd share a few more since photos are fun and you guys might be as nosey as I am and want to see :).  We used Kristi Dee Photography and if you're in the Portland, Oregon area we highly recommend her!  Kristi is a joy to work with; she's been taking our family photos for years!











I hope you enjoyed seeing a few more of our photos!  I cannot believe how much bigger Phayre is already.  Time you're a thief!  Please slow down sweet Phayre Bear!

Oh and here's a peek at Phayre's birth announcements (designed by Poppy Designs Boutique on etsy).