For lunch we enjoyed BBQ chicken sandwiches, MAC N’ CHEESE, veggies w/ RANCH, grapes, CHIPS, and oven baked S’MORES.

Trust me on this one. The little bit of salt on the Ritz crackers makes all the difference.

It only takes about 5 minutes to toast these li’l pups in a hot oven and when they’re done the chocolate will be completely melted and the tops golden brown. Simple perfection and guaranteed to be gone in a flash.

Sooo good that we eventually ran out of the Hershey’s chocolate and HAD TO move up to the Christmas truffles someone left behind. We had to.

Not just for breakfast any more!

For dinner, and after the girls had spent hours outside playing in the snow, we all enjoyed what has become a family trademark. Rice and beans is a tried-and-true-crowd-pleasing-meal that’s easy to prepare ahead of time and costs pennies to serve. I would have taken a shot of the finished product but for the feeding frenzy. You already know what a taco salad looks like and this is basically the same deal, without the lettuce. Picture a serving of hot rice, topped with warm black beans, grated cheese, our favorite pico de gallo, sour cream, diced avocado, and sometimes sliced black olives.

I did hear of one comment where a cute friend said, “That’s sick. I don’t know why…

(wait for it)

(and remember, from the mouths of babes)

…EVERYONE…LIKES…IT…SO…MUCH.”

Ha! I’m totally okay with that.

So Happy Birthday Lizard! Your wacky friends made it a great party and once again, our food storage helped us do a bit more, for a bit less.