Wino Wednesday: Mirassou Chardonnay

I picked up this wine at our grocery store (Publix) because it was on sale and because I'm trying to get into some whites.

The Mirassou Chardonnay was pretty good - it was light, refreshing and had a nice slightly sweet fruit taste

Here are the wine maker's notes: "Our Mirassou Chardonnay exhibits intense aromas and flavors of stone fruits such as peaches and nectarines, as well as tropical fruits like pineapple. Secondary flavors of melon, pears, citrus, floral, and vanilla notes combine with a creamy mouth feel which culminate in a pleasantly concentrated finish." 

I drank this alongside my dinner of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans and it paired nicely, but I think it would pair great with a brie cheese and a fruit jam, mild cheeses, macaroni and cheese, or salads.

If you'd like to try this wine you can buy it here, it's definitely one that I'd buy again.

Do any of you white wine lovers have any suggestions on wines that you love and think I should try?  I'd love to hear!

Have a great Wednesday!

Homemade Chicken Soup

When the kids are sick, I always make a batch of chicken soup.  I remember growing up my mom always did the same thing, so it's something that goes hand-in-hand to me.

The soup I make is pretty easy and it tastes really good.

Ingredients: 

2lbs of chicken skin and bone in - I used chicken breast and chicken thighs

16 oz of chicken stalk

8 cups of water

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 Chayote (green squash)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 bag frozen vegetable soup mix veggies 

1 bag of Roma blend frozen veggies

Salt

Pepper

And any other spices you'd like

I start off by chopping the onion, garlic and adding it to a big pot with chicken stalk, water and chicken - bring to a boil.  Once boiling bring down to a simmer for about an hour

In the meantime I chop up the chayote 

I take the chicken out, discard the skin and bones and shred the chicken with a fork and add back to the pot.  At this time I add my veggies and bring to a boil.  I love using frozen veggies because they're fresh and I don't have to spend the time chopping up a bunch of veggies.  You can use any veggie combo you'd like.

Seasonings I used for the soup

Season soup and let boil for another 30 min and serve.  We usually make some garlic bread on the side - yummy!

Hope you enjoy!

Disney Part 1

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Both kiddos were sick so we didn't really do that much except help our good friends move, which was actually pretty fun!  It was nice having a low-key weekend after coming back from Disney.

We had such a good time on our Disney trip... here's the recap {warning: picture overload!}

We got in on Thursday - late afternoon, checked into the hotel and walked around and saw what the hotel had to offer.  We stayed at the New Orleans French Quarters Resort.  It was nice, and decked out like New Orleans.

The next morning we woke up and headed to Magic Kingdom.  It has always been my favorite park.  Don't get me wrong, I love all of the Disney Parks, but there's something about the Magic Kingdom that makes you feel like a kid all over again.

When we got in the park the Dream Along With Mickey show was about to start - it was great!  We've seen it on YouTube many times so it was neat to see it in person.

After the show we headed to It's A Small World.  It was Jonah's first time on big rides so we wanted to ease into it and start off with something bright, pretty and music - he LOVED the ride!

We continued on in Fantasy Land which I was so excited to see because they re-did a lot of it.  There's now Ariel's castle and ride...

There's also meet and greet areas for the characters through Fantasy Land which is great because you know where the characters are at so pictures with them are guaranteed! The kids loved seeing the characters and J was fearless, I was sure he'd be scared of them - but he enjoyed seeing them all and giving them hugs and high-fives!

After the meet and greet we went on Dumbo

We met a few princesses

I loved seeing Belle's area, you feel like you're in the movie walking through the village, and seeing the Beast's Castle (more on that next time).  We also did Storytime with Belle where she told the kids the story how she met the Beast and the kids were able to play parts in the story - it was super cute!

It was a fun day, we saw the Street Dance Parade and left the park at dusk

Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip :)