It's Kat's Life * wefells.com

Marriage

December 6, 2012 by Kat

Marriage most certainly isn’t the easiest thing we will ever do, but it is certainly one of the most rewarding. Just as parenting is, it takes a countless amount of work and lots of effort and intention to make it grow, improve it and keep it healthy. Draw a circle around yourself, fix the person inside that circle versus always trying to fix everyone else and always keep your eyes focused on the prize – eternity. Sometimes we fall, we forget, we lose our way, but the best part is that God never loses us. My pitfalls only make me stronger. If pride steps in the way, you will absolutely trip along the journey and end up at a place of change. Life challenges us, angers us, breaks us, but even though I no longer believe in fairy tales – I do believe that marriage can be light years more than we could ever imagine.

November 23rd, 2012 (11 years, 2 weeks) 🙂


November 10th, 2001

Filed Under: committment, faith, God, marriage, wefells.com

11th Anniversary Stay-cation

November 17, 2012 by Kat

The past couple of years we have started doing fun anniversary outings and “stay cations”. In other words, we find some fancy Dallas hotel and act like “out-of-towners”, which usually includes finding a delicious restaurant or two and spending 24 hours or so like we did prior to our favorite little people. As much as I treasure these little getaways with my hubby and feeling footloose and fancy free, I certainly wouldn’t trade my life of chicken nuggets and games of candy land.

This anniversary was our 11th, time really does fly! November 10th, 2012 was such a special anniversary to us and Charlie certainly pulled out all the stops to plan – I had no idea what an amazing weekend we had ahead of us.

We stayed at the chic, Joule hotel in downtown Dallas, just next door to my old office. We had an incredible dinner at Charlie Palmer’s steakhouse and I ate brussel sprouts for the first time in about 20+ years (the ONLY vegetable I have ever refused to eat). The jalapeno stuffed quail legs were to die for. I had salmon, lobster mac-n-cheese and Charlie had a blue cheese encrusted filet seared to perfection with polenta and a wonderful salad. My mouth is watering as I type. Incredible food and impeccable service with hand rolled dessert sampler as the finale! We will go back and hopefully much sooner than a year from now! Usually, when we eat at five star restaurants the tiny portions leave me starving moments later, not the case this time. We had a corner suite and the contemporary style and design was simply stunning. No detail was left out in that hotel. We spent some time that night staring at the stars at the rooftop pool patio. We slept in the next morning and went to a leisurely brunch at one of my favorites, Breadwinners in uptown. Next time you happen to pop in to Breadwinners, I highly suggest their traditional breakfast with cheese grits, and jalapeno bacon and be sure to get their delicious spice chai latte. We headed back home to our two littles and felt renewed and refreshed.

Filed Under: anniversary, Breadwinners, Charlie, Charlie Palmer Steakhouse, dallas, Joule Hotel, Katherine, marriage, wefells.com

Summer’s Off?

September 14, 2012 by Kat

Well, “Wefells” certainly didn’t take the summer off, but our blog did. We played outside, soaked up the sun, rode the waves, swim team practice each day, attended summer camps and spent more days in the month of July on the beach, than in Dallas. Amen! Life is certainly good and getting better day by day – no complaints here! I love summer and am a little sad it quickly came to an end, but this fall has been better than any season or year yet! Here is a quick photo time lapse of how our summer went – starting with Memorial Weekend at the farm with our family, the first day of summer we rescued a litter of baby rabbits, spent time in the sprinkler and playing with sidewalk chalk, swim team each day, road trips, beach trips, ice cream with sweet friends and the finale of summer was momma’s lake trip with girlfriends! Ahhh and now school and routines have returned, but there is something so wonderful about bodies of water during the hot summer with friends and family!

Filed Under: beach, blessings, blondie, dude, family, farm, friends, lake, summer, wefells.com

Two Quick and Easy Crock Pot Dishes

January 11, 2012 by Kat

I am one lucky lady, I have two amazing kids and even better they love food, all types. My children are the epitome of foodies. Tonight, as he consumed an easy crock pot dish of beans and cornbread, the Dude says, “Mommy, what’s this?” pointing to the clear item in his bowl, I honestly reply, “an onion”. His response, “Oh, I just love onions”. He won’t be 3 until March and that still provides me with sheer amazement that he finds vegetables so endearing.

These recipes are simple and feed a crowd – not only that we usually have left overs which means cooking less often. Amen to that!

I thought I would pass along a few super easy crock pot dishes that We Fells love!

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Pasta with Mushrooms

1 1/2 pounds of Boneless Chicken (cut in strips or smaller pieces)
8 oz. of fresh mushrooms (sometimes I add black olives as well)
1 package of dry Italian dressing mix
1 8oz reduced fat cream cheese
(Season All and cooking spray)
1 can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup
1 lb (16oz) of pasta (use whatever kind you like, I think it works best with rotini)

Spray the inside of your crock pot with the cooking spray. Then, place the chicken in the crock pot and cover the chicken with the mushrooms.

In a separate bowl, mix together the Italian dressing, Cream of Mushroom soup and softened cream cheese. Stir and then spread evenly over the mushroom covered chicken.

Cooked on high dinner is ready in 3-4 hours. I have even placed moderately frozen chicken in the crock pot as it is a little easier to slice when still slightly frozen.

Serve this yummy chicken dish over hot pasta with the sides of your choice.

Delicious Crock Pot French Dip

I usually go to the deli and find the best looking and freshest rolls – whether those are bollos or chiabatta. You can use whatever you like.

1 package of onion soup mix (store brand is fine)
16oz can of beef broth
1.5 lb trimmed chuck roast (or like meat – the last time I used sirloin)
Bag of mozzarella cheese

Poor beef broth into the crock pot, stir in the onion soup mix and place the roast in the sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours. I usually shred the meat in the crock pot using either two forks or a fork and knife, and let the shredded meat simmer for another hour or so.

Warm your oven to 350 degrees, slice your bread or rolls open, fill with shredded meat and top with mozzarella. Serve with the au jus sauce on the side as a dip. I also serve this with chips or sweet potato fries and carrot sticks.

These are just a couple of our family favorites, but they are easy, the kids like them – happy family = happy mom!

Just like they always say, “If momma ain’t happy, nobody’s happy!” 🙂

Filed Under: cooking, crock pot, easy, recipes, wefells.com

A recipe your family will love

January 11, 2012 by Kat

One of my dear childhood friends made these muffins one time we were at her house for a play date – ever since my children ever so lovingly refer to these as “Stacy’s Muffins” and even though it is not officially her recipe – she did put her own touches into it and we love it just the same. I thought I would share it with you. You will see Stacy’s notes in the parenthesis and of course I deferred from them even still – if you love the blueberries add in 2 cups instead – you will be so happy you did.

On a side note, I keep this recipe on my phone and for some strange reason my iPhone is missing notes from a few months time period right about where I had this recipe saved – thankfully I sent it to a friend via email and had to share with you all!

Stacy’s blueberry banana muffins

ingredients
2 cups whole spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup flaxseed meal
2 large organic eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup mashed banana (~ 2 large bananas)
1/2 cup canola oil ………(i used safflower oil, but you can do just about any oil that doesn’t have a heavy flavor like extra virgin olive)
1/4 cup maple syrup/honey ……( i used 1/2 organic maple syrup and honey)
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 c of dark brown organic sugar (my addition)
1 cup frozen organic wild blueberries, unthawed

directions
preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease muffin tins with oil, or use muffin liners.

sift together dry ingredients (spelt flour through flaxseed meal), and set aside.

combine wet ingredients, and mix well.

add dry ingredients to wet, folding just until incorporated. gently fold in blueberries.

spoon into muffin tins. bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. be sure to turn muffin pan around halfway through to ensure even baking. allow 10-15 minutes to cool, then remove from baking tin.

Credit to Stacy Cox Fuqua for sharing this tasty treat with us – love you friend!