A little change!

YIKES! ive been away for a while... Life is crazy...Im thinking I may have to give something up...maybe the blog... hmmmm we will see
  So today  dont have a menu to share with you. My mom is in town and we leave for Vegas on Wed so its a fend for yourself (last minutes meals) kind of week... but I do have a good recipe to share with you! It was great!

Cajun Honey Wings

1/4 cup Ketchup

1 cup water

3/4 cup vinegar

1 Tbsp Veg oil

1/3 cup honey

4 tsp Emerils Essence

1 Tbsp minced canned green chilis

1 1/4 tsp chili powder

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1/8 tsp thyme

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until thickened. Toss in fried wings or strips.

SUPER GOOD

FHE Swap

One of my super smart friends held a Family Home Evening Swap tonight. I was sad that I had to just drop off my stuff and run but I am thrilled with the idea... here is how it works. You make on really great FHE lesson and then you make how ever many copies of it that you need so everyone gets one. (we had 5 girls so I made 5 copies) then you go and exchange them so you leave with 5 different lessons! Sweet eh??
  I will admit that I didnt come up with my lesson idea entirely on my own. I found it on one of those old school books I got from my moms basement. They are GREAT!!!
  My lesson is about Dinosaurs that have no manners... like Rude Rex and Butt in Bronto. There is a stick puppet lesson about the dinos that teaches how being mean makes others feel and how to have good manners. Then you play Dino bone match. There are kind words and sayings on each card.
  I cant wait to get a chance to look through the other lessons I got!

I will for sure have to do a FHE swap again!

Vegas Prep

I am super excited! In just over a week I will be going on a girls trip with my Mom and sister to VEGAS. I have been frantically trying to lose some weight for the big trip! (it hasnt worked... because even though I bike for 45 minutes, 6 days a week... I have started snacking more then I should!)
  But as excited as I am to go I am also very nervous. This will be the first time I am away, over night from my little Owen... and even jaxon has only been away from me for one night when he went camping with dad when he was 18 months old... Im sure they will be fine... I think Ill have a harder time! Im going to miss them so much.
  Part of my Vegas prep has been to do little things to help the boys because Im assuming/hoping they miss me at least a little. One of the things I thought of doing was recording bedtime stories. My kids adore books. (yay!) every night we read stories. I love that time with them. Tim always offers to read the stories because I am exhasuted by that point of the day but Jaxon insists on me reading them to him... So I decided to record a few of his favorites onto Tims iphone..That way if they want mommy to read stories he can hold the book and turn the pages while I "read" the stories to them.
  hope it helps!

This Life of Mine will kill Me!

Ok its official! My Life is crazy!!! or maybe Im crazy for trying to get so much done. Either way If I survive the next few weeks to get to Vegas... Ill be amazed! So in order to hopefully ease some of the Insanity this week I made sure to plan out dinner this week...one less this to think about right?!?!
Monday - Chicken Club Pizza
Tuesday - Breakfast
Wednesday - Hoisin Glazed Chicken
Thursday - Boneless chicken Wings
friday - Pretzel Sammies
Saturday - Spanish style Noodles
Sunday - Easter Dinner (thank goodness my mom is here and will cook that one!)

Yes yes.. I also decided that since like isnt crazy enough Id try 3 new recipes this week!
Wish me LUCK!

Wingin' It

I love Chicken Wings! (Yes I know...I love alot of food!) I am constantly on the search for good wing recipes. There are so many recipes out there are I have a hard time finding many that I actually really enjoy enough to make again. But this recipe is fantastic. There is enough heat behind it to make your mouth warm, but there is still a really nice sweet ending to it. I love spicy food... but not spicy so that you taste nothing else. I should have know this would be a great one though seeing how the wonderful Bobby Flay come up with the recipe!

Bobby Flay's Hot Wings

2 Tbsp Ancho Chili powder

1/2 cup red wine Vinegar

2 Tbsp pureed chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

2 Tbsp Honey

1 stick butter

In a small sauce pan bring vinegar, chipotle puree, ancho chili powder and Chili powder to a simmer. Remove from heat and add mustard, honey and butter, Whisk until smooth. Add to wings and toss to coat.

So Bobby Flay breaded his own wings and deep fried them of course... but I just bought some breaded wings from M&M Meats and baked them in the oven. It worked wonderfully!

A Great Cause

Hello All!
  I promise I will try to be more diligent in posting on this blog in the future... but lets face it... life is a little crazy at times!
  Anyways... in the mean time here is another blog for you to check out! Its a great cause and one of my friends is going to be helped by it and then I have other Super talented friends who are auctioning stuff off!
http://sweetpeabenefitboutique.blogspot.com/

Food for a Crazy Week

The Calm and boredom I felt last week is definately a thing of the past. This week is looking a little rediculous! I have to take Jaxon to school M/W/F morning, Tuesday morning Jaxon and I both have dentist appts, Tuesday evening I have Stamp club, Wed evening I have YW, Thursday evening I have leadership training and Saturday I have to go to dinner at the inlaws... and then there is of course all the normal chores... I hear you out there... WHINE WHINE WHINE! ok.. I get it... life is rough Ill suck it up!
  So what to cook this week... I have a massive amount of chicken in this house... so I think Ill make use of it
Monday - Chicken Parm.
Tuesday - Fried Rice
Wednesday - Chicken Wings
Thursday - Bourbon Chicken
Friday - Pork Stir Fry
Saturday - at the inlaws
Sunday - leftovers

Chocolate Chip Cookie Smoothie

Yep you heard me right... Chocolate Chip Cooke Smoothie. Im pretty sure I have mentioned it once or twice before but I LOVE LOVE LOVE Food Network Magazine. In the April issue (I just got my May issue bytheway!) they included a booklet with 50 smoothie recipes and this one was in it. I think Id call it more a milkshake... but they said smoothie. To me a smoothie is healthy. This diffinately is not!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Smoothie

Add 1 cup each Vanilla ice cream, milk and crumbled Chocolate chip cookies (about 3 cookies) and 1/4 cup mini Chocolate chips to a blender and combine.

This smoothie is yummy. It tastes just like a liquid cookie. But there are a couple downsides. All my chocolate chips sunk to the bottom of the glass and I had to keep stiring it before I could drink it. And it was gritty from the cookie curmbs. But it was yummy!

Card Exchange

Its almost time for the card exchange. I must say after seeing all the super cute, creative and beyond amazing cards that my friends made last time I was really feeling the pressure. Well its nothing fancy I think its a cute card... here's hoping its up to everyone's standards... sorry for being so remedial ladies...

Front

Inside

So... is it cute??

Multigrain Bread

Is there anything better then the smell of freshly baked bread??? I have a carb maniac. I love bread, pasta, crackers... anything that is high in Carbs... yep I know its a diet killer! Since I love bread I also love my bread machine. Someone once told me that bread from a bread machine isnt real homemade bread. To which I said "If you can show me how to make fresh homemade bread and keep my house clean and watch my two beyond insane little boys Im all in." So I HAPPILY use my bread machine!
  here is the recipe I use most often!

Multgrain Bread

1 1/4 cup water

2 tbsp Butter

3 Tbsp Honey

1 1/2 cup white flour

1 1/3 cup Multigrain flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp yeast

3/4 cup Sunflower seeds

Add ingredients according to the manufacturer's directions.

Ok... I just thought of something better then the smell of fresh bread... the TASTE!

Now Im off to scrub my kitchen table because my little monster decided paper wasnt good enough for him and apparently washable markers are really washable...

Girls (and Kids) night In

As I mentioned yesterday this weekend was General Conference. That meant saturday evening all our men folk ditched the wives and went to watch the Priesthood session. Instantly I thought... "Perfect time to have the ladies over" and of course since the hubbies were all gone the kids come over too. It was a great time. All I did was have a bunch of desserts and a friend brought punch and we turned on a movie and let the kids play/watch a movie and the Moms got to eat and chat. Made my evening go by a lot fast and was alot more enjoyable then hanging out by myself with my two wild ones.
  So what did I serve...Candy Cane doughnuts, Sugar cookies, Andes mint chip cookies and a peach crisp.
I think I may have to make this a regular occurance.

Slack Week!

Every Sunday I sit down with my calendar and make up a week plan. I find things less overwhelming if I can look at it just a week at a time. I was shocked when I realized that I have next to nothing going on this week! (yes I know, now that I said that something will explode and life will fall into chaos) I have just the standard school and YW and then nothing else. I guess I will really have no reason to not get my house clean and do some other projects Ive been avoiding! Plus there is one big project I'd like to get done before I head to Vegas for my girls trip in just over 3 weeks! But as I sit here I glance down at next week... YIKES thank goodness I have nothing this week because next week is insane!
   Did everyone enjoy General Conference this weekend??? (if you dont know what Im talking about Im more then happy to give you more info on it!) I actually got to catch a far more then I normally do. I did miss alot of it still but Iim really looking forward to studying the talks in the Ensign next month.
  So... on to the weekly menu;
Monday - Ribs
Tuesday - Chicken stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta
Wednesday - Chicken Fingers
Thursday - Maple Pork Chops
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Bang Bang Shrimp
Sunday - Leftovers
  This habit I have gotten into of having leftovers on Sunday makes me laugh now... as I near the end of the week my Tupperware cupboard is basically empty and my fridge is over flowing... but then Sunday rolls around the now my fridge is empty and the cupboard (ok at this moment its the dishwasher) is full!
  Hmmm... maybe with all this free time I have I can scrapbook or be crafty!

April's Fool

Hooray for a new month! That means it was time for a new book for the boys! I dont know how he did it but he picked out a very appropriate April Fools day book! Its called Awkward Aardvark. This is still part of the African series that we are trying really hard to keep with for all of 2011. The artwork in these books is amazing. I have always wanted to go to Africa and reading these books and looking at the pictures makes me want to go even more... some day...
  Anyways, This story is super cute. Its about an Aardvark (imagine eh?) who is snoring so much its keeping his mongoose neighbour awake all night. The mongoose gets tired of the snoring and enlists some of his jungle friends to help pester the aardvark. Nothing they do works and the snoring only gets worse, until the aardvarks tree falls over. He is so upset to have lost his resting place that the demands to know who did it. Turns out it was a swarm of termites. Aardvarks vows to eat all of them for eating his tree... animal justice! But the Termites hide all day and only come out in the cool night so aardvark becomes nocturnal so he can eat them and Mongoose is no longer kept awake by the snoring!

  

S'more Cookies

Just so you dont get the wrong idea... I hate camping... but S'mores are yummy!
  This is a recipe I got from marthastewart.com (you gotta love Martha!) This cookie is a little on the dry side, but then again so are graham crackers so its a good fit!

S'more Cookies

1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 baking soda

1 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

Chocolate chips

Marshmallows (about a dozen, cut in half)

1) Preheat oven to 350

2) In a food processor pulse oats until finely ground. In a bowl combine flours, cinnamon, baking soda and ground oats. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar. beat in Egg. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until just combined

3) Drop dough by the tbsp, 1 inch apart, onto baking sheets. Top with Chocolate (martha uses a semi sweet chocolate square... I use milk chocolate chips, about 8 per cookie) Put marshmallow half onto of the chocolate and bake for 11-13 minutes.

Martha bakes the cookies and chocolate before adding the marshmallow and then broils the baked cookies with the marshmallows on top... but I kept on burning the marshmallows so I tried putting them on and then baking them and it worked great for me!

Chicken Taco Salad...and a kid craft!

Ok, so Im sure most of you will read this post and be like "Well Duh! You've never done that before?" But this was a first for me and I loved it!
  I love Mexican food! (well ok I love all food!) I have really been craving Tacos lately, but I dont have ground beef in my freezer and since Ive been trying to use stuff up I have made sure I havent been buying any either. So Yesterday for dinner I was supposed to put a rub on my chicken... but as I was staring at my pantry I couldnt decide on a rub and my taco seasoning kept on catching my eye... so I thought Why not? I made up a thicker version of Taco seasoning. I think mine calls for 1 cup of water to 3 Tbsp of seasoning... but I just added enough water to make it into a paste. Then I poured it over the chicken and baked it in the oven. Then I cut it up and put it on top of a salad. MMMMMMMM... it was really good! You should try it!
   I have also been trying to make more crafts with my kids... mostly Ive just been trying to keep the TV off more. So yesterday we made one that was really fun and CRAZY simple. All I did was trace and cut out their hands and then let them color on Tatoos. (ok I lied a little... I like Owen color on the paper before I cut out his hands as I didnt think my 19 month old could stay on his little hands too well!) But then we taped them to the window in their bedrooms. My Boys loved it!

Weekly Menu... a bit delayed

I know I try to post this on Sunday... but Im a bit behind this weekend. Sorry!
Ive also decided to try and make one meal a week that is jaxon's choice... which should be interesting!
Monday - Chicken with a rub or some sort and Scalloped Potatoes
Tuesday - Hot Dogs and Fries (yep... J mans choice!)
Wed - Boston Pizza (hooray gift cards!)
Thursday - Chicken meatballs and Penne
Friday - Tortilinni Soup
Saturday - Japanese Grilled Chicken and Rice and Corn
Sunday - Leftovers
  Im super excited for the Chicken Meatballs on Thursday... they are a new(ish) item at M&M meats and I cant wait to try them out!

The Perfect Present...

Jaxon loves books (yep... thats my son!) We are constantly reading books. He is also super smart. Which means he memorizes alot of his books. So new books are always a highlight in his life because he doesnt know whats coming.
  We got a super cute book from Jaxons little buddy Krysten. Its called Smash Mash Crash There goes the Trash. This is such a great boy book! Its all about two pigs who love watching the garbage truck come and eat up all the trash. There are only a few words on a page which means its a great book for nights when Bedtime is later then normal. But its loud, and dirty and there is a garbage truck. Every boys dream! It even rhymes which is a good thing in any kids book!
  All in All its a super fun read!

favors

I love doing party favors. I think they are super cute and a great way to thank your friends for coming to the party and celebrating the big day with you! This year was tough because I had to make 36 favor bags and I didnt want to spend alot of money. So here is that I did. I made these super cute boxes out of brightly colored cardstock. I drew some circles on them because Jaxon LOVES circles. Then I filled them up with some super cute goodies. I wanted to keep with the swimming theme so I found Lifeguard rubber duckies, sea creature fruit snacks and then just since they are Jaxons favorite, some kool aid fizzers!

I think they look pretty darn cute on the table with the doughnuts!

Onto the cake

Every birthday needs CAKE. But I am always trying to be creative... so this year instead of cake Jaxon had homemade cake doughnuts at this party. we went with doughnuts to keep with the swimming theme. I thought they looked like Inner Tubes! They are super simple because I have a doughnut maker (thanks mom!) I love that gadget! I made two kinds for the party; a vanilla doughnut with a mint chocolate truffle glaze and a chocolate doughnut with a Raspberry chocolate glaze.

Here is the recipes;
Basic Vanilla Doughnut

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
9 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup Milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

1)Preheat doughnut maker (if you have one... if not the next recipe tells you how to do it with out one)
2) Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk in the butter, milk, vanilla and egg until mixture forms a smooth batter.
3) Scoop into doughnut wells and cook for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

I got the chocolate doughnut recipe online from Handle the Heat.
Baked Chocolate Cake DoughnutsFrom Lara Ferroni Yield - About a half dozen Note from Lara: It may seem strange to add nutmeg to a chocolate recipe, but nutmeg is the key to a recognizable doughnut flavor. It’s fine to leave it out, but your doughnuts may taste a bit more like chocolate cupcakes.
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
Chocolate glaze (see below)
1. Lightly grease a doughnut (or muffin) tin and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, and then whisk in the sugar, nutmeg and salt.3. Add the butter, and using your fingers, rub it into the dry ingredients until it becomes coarse crumbs.In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix, or your doughnuts may be a bit rubbery.4. Fill a ziploc bag with the batter, cut an opening in one corner, and pipe the batter into each cup 1/2 to 3/4 full. It’s important not to overfill, or as the doughnuts rise, you’ll lose the hole.5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool slightly on a wire rack before glazing.Chocolate GlazeFrom Alton Brown
1/4 cup unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
4 tablespoons whole milk, warmed
1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.

***In order to make the chocolate glaze different flavours I simple used different flavours of Kisses instead of the bittersweet chocolate. It worked great!!!

Simple is AWESOME

Tomorrow is my little man's Birthday. He is going to be 4! I can not believe it!!! Time as flown by! We had his birthday party this past Saturday. So I thought Id take the next few days to share the party with the blogging world. It was such a fun party!
  Today we will discuss venue! Jaxon loves to swim. He is constantly wanting to go swimming. So I thought it would be perfect to have a pool party. That was until I started pricing it out at the local pools in calgary. EXPENSIVE. But we havwe a little gem just 15 minutes from our house... OKOTOKS! That little town has so many hidden treasures.. this time it was the rec center. I was able to rent the entire pool (yes we had it all to ourselves) for $104.00 and we could invite up to 75 people. They had lifegurads and everything. AWESOME. In calgary I only found places were you spent $100.00 and could bring in 10 guests and you didnt have the pool to yourselves. As you can see this was a way better deal. So we invited a bunch of Jaxons friends and their familes and have a great time. We had invited close to 80 people but of course not everyone could make it so I think that night we had close to 50 people there. It was great. the kids had a blast swimming. Then we headed over to the chapel and have some pizza! It was so easy to plan because I didnt need to worry about games... they had just swam for an hour so then we ate and had cake and that was the end. Wonderful!

Hoping to be back

Hello World! Did you miss me??? Life has been beyond insane the last two weeks. And my life has been monopolized with spending time with family and then organizing the finishing touches on Jaxons 4th birthday. So tim returns to work this coming up week and so life should return to normal... which means Im hoping my life will get back to normal too! Dont get me wrong I LOVE that he has been home since last friday afternoon. And I will miss him like crazy when he goes back to work on Tuesday. It was just everything else going on that threw my schedule off... so fingers crossed that life will calm down here!
  So it is yet again a start of a new week and here is my food plan for you all!
Monday - Pizza
Tuesday - (Jaxons birthday so he gets to pick!) Waffles
Wednesday - Chicken and Rice
Thursday - Pad Thai
friday - We are having a famiy bday party for Jaxon and I still have to think of what to serve
Saturday - Baked Pasta
Sunday - Leftovers

Naan Bread

I love Naan Bread and I also love pizza... so here is my tip for you tonight... instead of pizza crust try making a pizza on Naan Bread. Im sure an Indian flavoured pizza would be awesome on it... but I even just did a traditional BBQ Chicken Pizza on Naan and it was Fabulous!

Another week to eat!

Boy oh Boy! Last week was insane! And this week looks equally as busy and crazy! But thats just fine with me. I love being busy. I know I complain about it when I am busy but then I get a really slow, laid back week and by noon on Monday Im going stir crazy! So I guess Ill take busy over bored any day! at least my days go by really fast.
  So here is what the Pisko household is eating this week.
Monday - BBQ Chicken and Curly fries
Tuesday - BBQ Chicken Pizza
Wednesday - Waffles! (Or Boston Pizza!)
Thursday - Baked Pasta
Friday - Egg Sammies (I have been craving eggs like mad lately! in the last 2 days ive had three egg sammies! I dont know whats going on there!)
Saturday - Pizza at Jaxons pool party
Sunday - Leftovers

Family Favorite!

Sorry for the sporadic posting this week. Life has been insane! No kidding everything that could possible be going on is and life just gets crazier anc crazier.
  But I thought Id take a moment and share one of my family favorite Recipes.
I love bourbon chicken/shrimp. LOVE IT. Did I hear a gasp from the audience??? (what a mormon who eats food cooked in alcohol?!?) Get over it... all the alcohol burns off in the cooking process. So Im totally fine with it. But I have never been able to make my own version since while I am totally fine eating food cooked in alcohol, I can not bring myself to by wine or in this case bourbon. So Ive never been able to make my own... until now! My mom found me a Bourbon chicken recipe... that has no bourbon. I know... I as sceptical too... but exists and tastes great. Here is the recipe... but I changed it to make it my own.


2 lbs chicken breasts, cut into strips.
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Ketchp
1 tbsp Vinegar
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Soy sauce

Cook the chicken in a pan. Bring all the other ingredients to a boil in a pot. Once the chicken is cook pour the sauce over the chicken and simmer, stirring every so often for about 10-15 minutes.

A Fun Idea

I have insanely talented friends. I am constantly blown away by all the mad skills that they have. One of my super cool friends organized a group of us into a card exchange. We just exchanged cards last night and gave out the next assignment, so I had to share what a great idea I thought it was. Here is how is works... You get a group of friends together (in my group there is 12 of us) You give out a card theme assignment (last month we did Birthday) then you each go and make 12 cards of the said theme by the time you next meeting (we meet once a month) Then you all give everyone one of your cards and you then leave with 12 different cards! Its Awesome!! I was not only impresseed by the mad skills my ladies have but also the creativity... they were all so different! I cant wait to exchange cards again next month!

Menu time

Oh sundays... I like you alot better before 1pm church! My two little guys survived... but just barely. Ok.. Jaxon was fine but Owen was a monster... as always... Nursery will be a headache for us for a while Im sure... awesome.. so onto better things... FOOD Here is what my family will be enjoying this week
Monday - Buffalo chicken salads
Tuesday - Morrocan Cubanos
Wednesday - Ravioli
Thursday - Tandoori Chicken
Friday - Chipotle Pork Tacos
saturday - BBQ Chicken Pizza
Sunday - Leftovers
  Also Im going to apologize in advance if I dont blog all that often this week... Its insane here... I have Jaxons party to get ready for in 2 weeks and Tim has a late meeting and I have stamp club and now that Im in YW (which I love) I have an activity and I have a totally awesome girls night... and that just my evenings My days are as insane as always as I will be volunteering both Wed and Friday this week at Jaxons preschool (again another thing I love) and music class and a hair appt and chores, etc etc etc... oh the life of a mom!

Japanese grilled Chicken

This is a tasty quick recipe that I picked up from one of those quick meal ideas shows... Fixing Dinner... or something like that. I really like it and its super simple. Which is what I always like to do on a saturday... because I dont know about you but I always wake up saturday morning feeling very ambitious and make a HUGE to do list and truly believe I will get it all done... and well its now early evening and I think Ive accomplised 3 things on the list.
  A little side rant here... its Jaxons birthday in a couple weeks.. we are having a HUGE swimming party... I have been working on cutting out 36 mini favor boxes all day! It SUCKS...they better turn out they way I want them too... jobs like this make me wish for a silloutte.

Japanese grilled Chicken

1 egg

1 Tbsp Paprika

1/4 cup Honey

2 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp Soy sauce

1 Tbsp lime juice

12-16 boneless skinless chicken thighs (I use a few chicken breasts instead)

Stir all ingredients (except chicken) together. Add chicken, turn to cook and refrigerate over night. Preheat grill and cook chicken until cooked through.

Here is a freezer meal tip for you... I often take all these recipes that have chicken in a marinade and make them up in freezer bag, add enough chicken for a meal (in our house thats 3-4 pieces) and then put the bag in the freezer. Then you just have to pull it out and the chicken marinades as it defrosts. 

Greedy Zebra

We are at the start of another month. Which means my boys got a new book a few nights ago. We are still keeping with our african theme and this month they got Greedy Zebra. Its a great story. Its about how all the animals get there different coats. One animal finds a cave full of all sorts of colored materials and horns adn feathers and furs and tells all the other animals to come and make themselves splendid new coats. But Zebra is too busy greedily eating the grass and leaves while everyone is away so by the time he finally makes it to the cave all that is left is some black strips. hence how the Zebra got his stripes.
  I am loving this series of books because the artwork is AMAZING.
Hopefully this story will help at bed time tonight as I am on my own this evening... wish me luck!

Finally

I am a Reader. I love books. Because I am a reader I insist on reading the book before I watch a movie based on a book. So I read Holes, and loved it. I borrowed the movie version from the Library (I love libraries) I was not expecting great things. Lets face it... Movies rarely (im tempted to say never) do the book justice. This is one of the rare instances when I can say FINALLY a movie was as wonderful as the book.
I LOVED THIS MOVIE. It was just as cute and sweet at the book. The acting was good. And it was clean! Not once did I feel bad watching it with my boys in the room.
  I wont go into the story line of the movie because it matched almost exactly to the book. they even had most of the exact line. AWESOME.
  I really dont have much to say because if you read my post about the book you know what I think of the movie as they were equally as good.
 GO WATCH THIS MOVIE... its sweet

Baby its cold outside!

the wind chill is currenlty -37... that sucks...
  Here is one of my favorite recipes! now I didnt make it tonight but I made it a little while ago and never shared it. I love pasta and bread and well almost any carb out there. So here is a fun spin on classic Lasagna

Lasagna Ciabattas (found on Picky Palate)

2Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Lb ground Italian sausage (I often use ground beef)

1 26 oz jar of yoru favorite pasta sauce

15 oz container of Ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

8 ciabattas

1/2-1 cup grated mozza cheese

parm cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Place oil in a med pot and cook sausage until browned. Remove 1/4 cup of the meat and set aside. Reduce heat and stir in pasta sauce and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Place reserved meat, cheeses, salt, pepper and italian seasoning in a bowl and stir to combine

Split each ciabatta and place cut side up on a large baking sheet. Spread ricotta mixture over each roll and top wiht a couple spoonfuls of pasta sauce and top with grated mozza cheese.

bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parm. cheese and serve!

YUMMY



Another week

here we are at the start of another week. Not only that but its the start of a new month... and that means I looked over my budget from last month...that is always a crappy task! Somehow I managed to completely blow my grocery budget during the shortest month of the year...that takes skill im sure. Since I blew my budget so badly last month Im going to try extra hard to stay on budget this month... which means this week Im still trying to use stuff up in my house.
Monday - Curry Cajun Chicken
Tuesday - Sausages and Crepes
Wednesday - Chicken Parm.
Thursday - Dragon Fire Chicken
friday - sausage and potatoe has
Saturday - Japanese grilled chicken
Sunday - Soup and grilled cheese

Cute Read

I have finished another book... actually two but the other one was a total flop and not even worth the time reviewing... But this one was really cute. Its Holes by Louis Sachar. It was a young read which was what I needed lately as my little monster is not sleeping... again. But I will admit that I got really into it and had a really hard time putting it down.
  Its a tale about a boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ends up in a work camp as punishment for a crime he didnt commit. There every boy has to big a 5foot hole everyday. They say its to help build character but really there is more to that story...
  The novel weaves in some fun tales about the past history of the place and the reader soon notices that connection the history plays to certain young men at the camp.
  Now most of the connections should be fairly obvious...especially to someone like me who figures things out 95% of the time... but the end chapter helped make a few connections for me that I missed. Im blaming the lack of sleep on my poor foreshadow catching. The connections I missed didnt ruin the story at all. It was a really fun, cute tale to begin with then when it was all laid out in black in white it was even cuter.
  Yeah I hear you out there in cyber space "Cute...how can a book about deliquints be cute?" But really read this and you will see what I mean... its CUTE.
  This is a book I bought and as I added it to my teen/young adult shelves of my book cases I realized I need to expand to shelf three (which is currenlty housing my 3 yr olds toys... so we are hunting for a new home for either the books or the toys) I LOVE BOOKS.
  Holes was made into a movie and i have it on hold at the library. Once I venture over there Ill tell you how the movie stacks up to the book.
  All and all I think its a worthwhile, quick easy read.

What am I reading now??? The Red Badge of Courage!

Pretzels

You are all aware of my LOVE of the Food Network Magazine right?? Well here is one more recipe for you from the Jan/Feb Issue... which means I can now really focus on the March issue I got the other day! I have flipped through it a few times already but now I can pick the recipes to try!!!
  This recipe for Pretzel recipe was just ok... they were good... I just wasnt blown away. Its a recipe from Guy Fieri (who is fabulous by the way!)

Soft Pretzels

1 1/2 Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp agave nectar

2 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour (I used a multigrain flour)

2 3/4 cups white flour

1 tsp sea salt

2 Large eggs

1) Mix 1 1/2 cups warm water, the yeast and agave in a bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes.

2) In a mixer, fitted with a dough hook, pulse the whole wheat flour and 2 cups of white flour and salt. Add 1 egg and yeast mixture and pulse for 10 second intervals until dough comes together (about 3 times) Turn out on a floured surface and knead 10-12 times, adding up to 3/4 cup more flour if the dough is sticky. Cut into 4 even sections and cover with a clean towel

3) on a floured board roll out one piece of dough to 14x11 inches and 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 7 strips.

4) Pinch together the long ends of the strips and roll like a snake until it is 12 inches long. Twist into a pretzel
5) Beat an egg and brush egg on top of pretzels. Sprinkle with salt. Bake at 475 on a parchment lined baking sheet for10 minutes.

These can also be stuffed... Once you have rolled out the dough add toppings to bottom half of the dough and fold over a flap to cover. then on top of the flap add more toppings and fold over the top half. Then re roll and cut into strips to form pretzels like before.

I made a nutella stuffed one which was really good. I also made a ham and cheese one... which was ok...it needed more filling but when I tried added more it didnt roll nicely...



A Nice Read

My friends had started to realize that I have an obession with WWII. One of my good friends, Claire, is a reader (YAY) and she let me borrow a book I had never heard of to read. It is called the Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society by Mary Ann shaffer and Annie Barrows. It was a nice relaxing read.
  This book is just a collection of letters (all fictional). It is set in post World War two London and in a small town names Guernsey on the Channel Islands. The Main character Juliet is an author trying to figure out what to write her next book about when she receives a letter from a man in Guernesy looking for a book. (its a fun story as to why he is asking her... but Ill leave that for the book to share with you!) Anyways... the Channel Islands had been occupied by the Germans during the war and  Juliet soon realizes that she wants to gather all the stories she can about what they people there went through during the Occupation. While looking for a story Juliet finds everything that has been missing in her life... its a sweet story.
  Reading a story written as letters is really interesting to me. I found I had to keep reminding myself that these were not real people. It was nice because you got so much of the story but also a really personal feel through out the book. I also found it really relaxing. See I am a reading who CAN NOT stop in the middle of a chapter. But I do most of my reading at night once the kidlets are in bed... which often means Im exhausted and I will admit that at times I rush through a chapter so I can go to sleep. But since this novel was all letters it was nice because a long letter was 2 or 3 pages long. so I could read a few letters and then if I was starting to head bob (at no fault of the book) then I could finish the letter and go to sleep.
  Reading this novel has made me wish for a pen pal!
  Thanks claire for such a sweet read!

Lets use it up

I have once again collected a rediculous amount of open packages in my fridge and freezer... so this week I am determined to use it all up... even though there are new recipes I want to try... I am going to resist and use up stuff. (Wish me luck!)
Monday - Nacho Party (its Tims birthday so we are going to have friends over and Im feeding them a few different types of nachos for dinner)
Tuesday - toasted Sesame Chicken and rice
Wednesday - Bang Bang shrimp
Thursday - Chicken Burgers and fries
Friday - Egg Sammies
Saturday - Chicken fingers
Sunday - Soup and Grilled Cheese

I love the BBC

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the BBC. It's fantastic. At first I didnt fully realize just how much I adored the BBC, but then I had one of those light bulb moments and realized that pretty much all the documentaries I have fallen in love with are BBC productions. Life, Blue Planet, Planet Earth, etc etc etc.
  I recently finished another BBC production. This one is called Aushwitz; Inside the Nazi State. I have been on a WWII kick lately. I am really intrigued. Ive been reading fiction and non fiction on the matter and have come to learn alot and have formed even more questions regarding that time. I had taken this book out at the library and then one night when I was searching around Netflix (another great love of mine) I discovered that it was a documentary from the BBC. OF COURSE I WAS THRILLED and started watching it right away. It was 6 1 hr episodes. It was INCREDIBLE. I learned so much in those short 6 hours. and of course it filled me with more questions as I am now left to search out more info on Drachau, Dr. Melegee, Himmler, and others.
  It was very humbling to see how small steps can lead to the largest and most horrific mass killing scene in WWII.... I say WWII because I have heard of other geneside sites and dont feel informed on those enough to weigh them against Aushwitz. But I think we all can agree that the murders there were devastating!
  I learned so much like;
-Aushwitz was orginally a POW camp for Polish prisoners and Soviets
-It was meant to be a slave workers camp for some huge Scientific company
-They had 'special' jewish workers who's job was to lead the other jews into the gas chambers and then clean up afterwards (disgusting eh?)
  It saddened me while watching this documentary to hear those who survived those days talk about it. They had Nazis, Jews, and polish prisoners all who lived at Aushwitz give accounts from that time. It saddened me to hear the hatred that the Nazis had and how they truly believed they were right. And it broke my heart to hear how much hatred filled the victims that survived. yes they are as justified as anyone to hate, but can you imagine carrying that baggage around. And how that must of effected their children to have grown up with those scars in their parents.
    Maybe I am morbid and warped but I loved this documentary. I thought it was fair to both sides and full of interesting history. I am so glad the BBC made this little gem. Now Im off to find another great and insighful documentary from the BBC!

I DID IT!

This has been a recipe I have been terrified to try! Its one of those long running family passed down from generation to generation recipes. I was always so scared id mess it up... so I never learned how to do it. At least thats what I thought.
 
Jaxon's class needed some buns to celebrate bun day at preschool. They said they could just buy some but lets face it homemade are always better. So I volunteered to make some. Then the stressing started... "what if I cant do it?" "What if they dont turn out??" But all was for naught. They worked great. Its amazing how once you watch something being made your entire life how you just know how to do it. My rolling technique was not perfect but I soon got the hang of it and it was like how my mom does it! YAY!

Sweet Rolls

Combine 1 1/2 cup water with 2 tsp sugar. Sprinkle 3 tbsp of yeast over the water (DO NOT STIR) Let stand until foamy (about 10 min) In a seperate bowl (LARGE BOWL) combine 1 cup sugar, 4 tsp salt, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup veg. Oil and 3 cups warm water. Add the yeast mixture. Then add flour (anywhere from 9-12 cups) it all depends on the flour and the weather... today I used about 12 1/2 cups. the dough has to be smooth and not sticky, but still moist.
Cover with a towel and let rise for 90 minutes. Punch down and let rise again for about 1 hour. Form buns and put into buttered pans and let rise for about 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees until browned (about 20 minutes)

Sorry I know most of you will be cursing this recipe... but thats what happens when its a passed down recipe... most of it is learned but watching! Hoping it works for you!

Reall? Thats it???

A few days ago a finished another book....it was painful... it left me thinking "Wow did I really just waste the last few nights on this?" Good thing it was a short book! Here is how I had come across this book. Friday night TV sucks (besides CSI NY) then I saw this preview for a show called Haven. I will admit it didnt look great, but it looked decent enough for me to give it a go. So here is my review of Haven... BAD BAD BAD. The acting reminds me of a junior high play and the writing is not much better. The lines they come up with are so rediculous that even an oscar winner could not pull them off! And then there is the story lines. Beyond Hokey! I mean I am all for a little far fetchedness (yeah I like that word) but there are still limits! There is one long runnign story line; an FBI agent comes to investigate a murder in the little town of Haven, Maine and then discovers that someone who might of been her mother (whom she never knew) may have been there. So she stays to investigate that.  But there are also all these little show to show story lines that are all super natural. It appears that everyone in Haven has some crazy super power like controling the weather or dreaming things into reality. Yep its a winner. Despite all the awfulness I was still sucked in by the "is that her mom?" Story line and Im sure the fact that there is nothing else on then helps too! Anyways... I heard it was based on the book Colorado Kid by Stephen King. So I thought I'd save myself alot of misery and just read the book to find out how it all ends.
Smart Idea right???? WRONG... I read the book. I am still left wondering How it even relates! The book is really short so it was a fast read (luckily) The book is about 3 journalist from a small town in Maine (so far the only connection between show and book I could find) the 2 elderly journalist are telling their intern journalist the mystery of the Colorado Kid (the mention the colorado kid in the show but its only in passing as the headline in the newspaper) Anyways.. they are sharing this story about a man who is found dead on the beach and for 18 months they have no idea who he is, how he got there, or why is his there. Finally they find out he is from Colorado (hence the Colorado Kid) and that he left behind a wife and son. They never find out why he was in Maine or anything. and thats the end of the book... yep I know. Im not the kind of reader who needs everything wrapped up in a nice little package at the end of a book, but at least leave me feeling like ive traveled somewhere different then when I started. 
  This was disappointing for two main reasons. 1)I love King's work. LOVE HIM. He is sort of my guilty little secret because his lanugage is awful in most of his books, but I think his novels are genius. They all have weak endings but the rest of it is great! 2) I am still stuck watching this horrid show because I have no answers! ARGH! Maybe its time to turn to google and see what I can find out there!

Happy Valentine's Day

AHHH Valentine's Day. I will admit Im not a huge valentines day fan. But it was so fun this year, now that Jaxon is in school and could give out Valentines. yes I did go a little over board... why?? because Im me and thats what I do!

Jaxon loves diggers. That is one highlight to living in the construction zone. So we made him digger valentines to give out.

Then we added a heart shaped Rice Krispie treat because they are yummy!

For our neighbour friends we gave them heart shaped cookies. Really simple no fail recipe. But the funny part of this story is that when I got home I realized that I didnt have red food coloring. But it was a good thing that I had some of this extra yummy cherry cordial M&Ms from Christmas. They added a nice touch to the cookies

Sugar Cookies (they stay soft!)

(from Grandma Shelva!)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

3 Tbsp Milk

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the yolk and milk and mix to combine. Add flour and baking powder and mix until well combines. Add in the vanilla and combine.

Roll out on a floured surface and cut into desired shape.

Bake at 350 degrees. The cook time will vary depending on how think you like your cookies... a pretty average cookie takes 8-10 minutes.

need sleep

My Little monster Owen has had a fever since thursday night... which means this mom is seriously lacking in the sleep department. the worst was last night... where he was up every 20 minutes. So this will be a less then thrilling post... but here is this weeks menu. I think Im repeating stuff from last week because I made too much food some nights and we had tons of leftover.
monday - enchiladas
Tuesday - Breakfast
Wednesday - Talapia and Rice
Thursday - Egg sammies
Friday - something with chicken... hmmmm Ill think on that!
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Ill ahve to come up with something for this night too!

GUMBO

As I was thinking about what to post today I totally had another plan (ive finished another book and was going to review it) but then I made this for dinner tonight and I thought I have to post it before I forget how I made it. Here is the story behind my Gumbo Recipe. Tonight we had the Missionaries over for dinner. I was feeling brave and thought Id test out a new recipe on them. Normally I try to avoid new recipes when Im serving guests and just do something I know is yummy. But today was a brave day for me. They were scheduled to show up at 6pm so at 5pm I decide I should start looking over the recipe to figure out how long it will take. Well I did the math in the book and without prep (chopping, etc) it took a total of 150 minutes to cook! Needless to say I did not have that kind of time, and lets face it even if I did I doubt Id commit that amount of time to soup! So  few teaks here and there and voila My very own Gumbo recipe that was ready by 6pm! I think it was pretty yummy and so does my hubby!

Amanda's Gumbo

2 chicken breasts cubed

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

1 med yellow onion, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped

4-6 bay leaves

1 lb sausage, removed from casing

2 cups beef broth

4 cups chicken broth

1 chipotle pepper

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

cilantro to sprinkle

4 cups cooked white rice

1) heat some oil in a pot. Add chicken and brown slightly. Add garlic and veggies and cook until soft (about 10 minutes)

2) Add broths and pepper, crushing the pepper slightly. Pinch off bite size chunks of the sausage and drop into stock. Stir to combine.

3)Bring to a rolling boil. (you will notice that I didnt use a roux... GASP! I know I felt weird about it too!) All to boil for a good 15-20 minutes. This will help to reduce the stocks and allow it to thicken slightly.

(You could not eat the gumbo... but Its always better to let is simmer that way all the flavors come together nicely)

4) reduce heat to low, cover and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

5) 5 minutes before serving throw in the green onions.

6) when ready to serve, place a layer of rice in the bottom of the bowl and top with Gumbo.

Pretty darn good!

Baptism gift

One of our good friends turned 8 this year and in the LDS world that means BAPTISM! Its a big birthday for us! I can not believe she turned 8! Time flies by! We unfortunately miss the event as we were all sick. But I wanted to share the gift I came up with to give her.
  I got a few packages of Tic Tacs and attached a paper that read "Getting Baptized is worth a MINT" and I also got 10 loonies and attached them to 10 papers. On each of the papers I wrote a scripture reference. I then included the instructions for a Scripture Treasure Hunt. She was told that the scriptures contain many treasures so look up and read each verse and once she did that remove the loonie as a bonus treasure! I think it was a cute idea!

Post 200---One for the kids

This is my 200th post! YAY!!! Sorry I have no giveaway or anything super exciting to share with you... But I do have a new book for the kids
  Yes this is late... my boys got their new book of the month at the beginning of the month and then I forgot to write about it. We are reading african stories this year. This month it's Tricky Tortoise. Im not to sure how I feel about this story. The art work is amazing. Makes me want to go to africa (but it doesnt take much to make me want to travel) Here is my issue... Its a tale about a tortoise who is always getting stepped on because he looks like a rock. He gets really mad when Elephant steps on him and bets elephant that he can jump over elephants head and the winner of the bet has to provide a huge feast for all the animals in the jungle. The next day when it was time to see if tortoise could make the jump, tortoise has his brother who looks just like him hide on the other side of elephant in the grass... then tortoise pretends to jump over elephant with this brother popping up on the other side.  Elephant therefore has to provide a feast. In some respects I like the ingenuity shown by tortoise in taking on the bully that is elephant, but at the same time I dont like the lying and trickery is being rewarded. Jaxon loves the book and thinks its funny, especially the silly chant the tortoise says when jumping. So for now I will just enjoy it as a funny tale about talking animals and cross the rewards to lying bridge when it comes!

Another Great Read!

This past weekend I did alot of reading since everyone was under the weather. I finished a book called I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. Zusak is also the author of the Book Theif that I reviewed a little while ago. I am the Messenger is winner of the Michael L Printz award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature from the American Library Association.
  I will admit at the beginning of this book I was not sure I was going to be able to get into it. At times the Language is not great. Im not sure if its a cultural difference (like I know alot of the swearing in the Harry Potter books is because its not really considered bad in England) This is an Australian book. But since the words used are harsher then the ones in the Harry potter books I think its just bad language. Its funny because it seems like it came in spurts... lots of bad words and then nothing for a while. As always Id much prefer if that sort of thing was not included at all.
  But this was still a wonderful book. I loved it! I will probably buy it. Its about this young man named Ed. He is 19, driving a cab, playing cards with his friends, and basically going no where. This is is life and will be his life until he dies. Then one day he stops a bank robbery with out even really trying. After his 15 minutes of fame he is back to his normal go no where life when he starts getting Aces in the mail with weird messages on then... like addresses, or names or movies. He takes on this call to improve the lives of others, somewhat reluctantly at first, but once he gets going he feels a new purpose to life and slowly comes to realize that the messages he spreads are not so much for the people he delivers them too but for himself. By the end of the book you would barely recognize Ed if you had not taken this incredible journey with him.
   There is one quote that has stuck with him in this book. It's near the end of the book. He is recalling the dismall state of his dad's funeral the year before and comes to realize that his life is/was headed in the same direction. no one had anything to say at his dads funeral and Ed concludes; "I want words at my funeral. But I guess that means you need life in your life." That is my firm belief. We all have been given a gift in this life. Time. Time is such a double edged sword... what will you do with it. Will you spend it being unkind or creditcal, or even worse will you squander it away doing nothing. or will you rise to the occassion and make the most of the time you have been given. I am trying everyday to make the most of the time I have been gifted with.
  That was another thing I loved about this book. Rarely were the messages Ed delivered world changing. At first you were life to think... "Really thats it" but as it evolved you came to realize just how much a simple act can change a persons life. In all the instances the simple acts Ed did for them changed their lives. And by seeing that change in other and realizing his potential they changed Eds life as well.
  im still thinking about the ending. It was a totaly surprise to me... and Ill admit Im still slightly confused. But it wasnt until I started to think about it that I got confused.... maybe Im over thinking. I dont want to give away too many details because I dont want to spoil the ending for you. But Maybe I was so caught up in the story that at the time the details of the ending didnt matter... but once I removed myself I bit I still have questions. But then again I think thats the mark of a good book as well; to leave one thinking and talking about it after you have closed the cover.
  Well Done Markus Zusak. Well done!

Im Back!

Did you miss me??? Sorry for the unexpected absense from blogging the last few days... we have been bombarded with sickness in this house... its been crazy... first my little monster, Owen, started throwing up at 2 am thursday morning... then once he was better Jaxon took a turn starting friday night at midnight (I guess that technically saturday right) Tim wasnt well that day either adn then once all three boys were better it hit me today. I have extra diclitin (no Im not pregnant) so I have been popping those all day. It helps... I love those wonderful pills! I think Im better now... but Ill still take some more before bed just to be sure.
So today is menu day... good thing I did this ahead of time as I have not wanted to think about food lately. And this also comes with a disclaimer... this is my plan.. although I may not stick to it as Im still not 100%... but at least i have a plan!
Monday - Firehouse chicken
Tuesday - Gyoza
Wednesday - Pizza
Thursday - Enchiladas
Friday - Lasagna Ciabattas
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Chicken and sausage Gumbo

Brown Sugar Cupcakes

Seems like its birthday time! Alot of my friends or friend's husbands, my kid's friend, or even my husband have had or are about to have birthdays. Since its birthday time I thought it was only approriate for me to share my favorite cupcake recipe. Arent cupcakes great. here is a weird fact about me... I cant stand cake, but I love cupcakes. I dont know why but I have no desire to eat a slice of cake... but give me a cupcake and its gone in 30 seconds. LOVE THEM! Yeah I know... weird eh?? Oh yeah and give credit where credit is due... I got this recipe in one of my most used recipe books... Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Brown Sugar cupcakes

3 Cups Flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

4 eggs

3/4 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 325 Line standard muffin tin with paper liners. whisk together flour and baking powder.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one and a time. Scrape down sides and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk. beat until well combined.

3. Fill each cup 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes.

Beef Dip Nachos

Here is yet another Nacho recipe for you. I can take full credit for this one... and Im feeling pretty proud of it. Its not as great BBQ Chicken ones I shared earlier but its still pretty darn good!
   Caramelize one large onion in a saute pan. Put some sliced roast beef in med bowl and add the onions to it. Make up an Au jus sauce... I made mine by taking a cup of beef broth and a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce and a dash or two of hot sauce... (you will have lots left over) pour about 1/4 cup of the sauce onto the meat and onions and stir to combine. You want to use just enough sauce to moisten the meat. on a bakign sheet lay out a single layer of Sweet Chili Heat Doritos and top with the meat mixture and then grated cheddar cheese... bake until its melted goodness!
  Sorry no pics... Tim ate them too fast! And this is a short post because Jaxon wants to build castles!

Big Red Tequila

ok...so here is the story... I had been hearing great things about this book called Mission Road by Rick Riordan. I didnt know he had written adult books before he did Percy Jackson. So I was very intrigued to read Mission Road since I loved percy Jackson. So I got it from the Library, only to find out its book five in a sequence... (not a series, you can read books in a sequence as stand alone books, but there is a main character in all of them that is the same) so since Im slightly OCD I have to read them in order. So then I googled the main characte Tres Navarre and returned Mission Road and then got Big Red Tequila. I was on the wait list forever so I was so excited to finally get it... that soon passed...
  This book SUCKED. The language wasnt great, but I will admit I have read books with worse lanuage. But still it was a pain to have poor Language. But even beyond that the story just dragged. Nothing happened. It was supposed to be some big mystery and by the end of the book the killer was revealed, but I am still left here going... WHY DID IT TAKE ALMOST 400 PAGES???
  Tres, the main character is just weird and whiney... and DUMB... I have no idea how he was able to do what he did. He got police records that were supposed to be confidential. He has guns pointed at him all the time and was always able to use his stupidity to get away.

  I doubt ill be reading the rest of these books.... who knows maybe one day Ill get desperate and try again... But I say DONT WASTE YOUR TIME!

Another week... Another menu

Ahhh... yet again its Sunday night. Which means its time for me to figure out my weekly meal plan. You will notice that I have repeated one or two meals from last week. I thought I had the stuff in my house to make everything... but then I went to make them and I was missing one or two things... so I made something
else instead... So here is what Im planning on this week!
Monday - Kincaids Cajun Pasta
Tuesday - Chicken Fingers adn fries
Wednesday - Stuffed Pretzels
Thursday - Asian Chicken Sliders
Friday - BBQ Meatballs and Rice
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Bulgogi
What are you eating this week?

Dinner on no sleep

I have been away since 5:30 am yesterday... yes yesterday... I am working on my 37th hour of awakeness... I hate it. I have not chosen this crazy fate for myself. It has been thrust upon me by my boys. Mostly Owen. He is teething and wont sleep and is MISERABLE. But the few minutes I can get him to sleep Jaxon is awake... so I have not slept. So I have accomplished alot of nothing... But here is what I managed to whip up for dinner

Sausage and Gnocci

5 Sausages (I used Sweet Basil Italian sausage)

2 Med Onions, sliced

2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop in Gnocci. Cook according to package directions.

In a large pan heat oil and add onion and garlic, cook until onions are starting to caramelize. Remove sausage from casing and add to onions. Cook through.

Once Gnocci is cooked drain it and add it to the onion/sausage mixture and mix in cheese.

Not to bad for no sleep!

BBQ Chicken Nachos

Last week I tried making BBQ Chicken Nachos. They were so good. I love BBQ Chicken Pizza and this was a pretty sweet way to get those flavors into nachos! Dont they look so good???
  All you do is take a cooked chicken breast and shred it. Then slice up an onion and carmelize it in a pan. In a small bowl mix 3/4 cups BBQ Sauce with 1/4 cup water. Add the onions and chicken to the sauce and stir to combine. Then top chips with the chicken mixture and then top with Cheese. Bake at 350 until melty!
  So good and oh so simple!
  I keep on thinking I need to have a party and just serve all these different nachos with a cute little saying like "Mothers are Nacho average woman"
   Hmmmm now Im thinking about tomorrow... I really have nothing planned all day... seems like a good time to bust out the craft stuff and go to town! Time to finish up some projects! I still have one of my car mats to finish for my boys and I really need to work on the scrapbooks, but lets be honest I will probably just work on my recipe book!

The Last Olympian

Ok... so I finished this book about a week ago.. but Ive been way to busy with other things to blog about it... but I thought I have to do it before I forget too much about it!
  I have finally finished the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. Book 5 did not dissappoint. I thought it was am almost perfect way to end the series. Loose ends were tied up and it even set up his next series... im not sure what the series name will be but the first book is the Lost hero and its about the next generation of Half bloods... but back on track here... Percy...
  yes I will complain that it was too much fighting. Right from the get go it was war war war... but really considering the last 4 books have all be building up to this ultimate titans vs Olympians war I guess it was too be expected. Considering all the war I was surprised that not many of the key characters died... Im not sure how I feel about that. Im glad because I like the characters and wouldnt wish them dead... but how realistic is it that all the main people survived a war like that... (yes I did just question the realistic-ness of a war between ancient greek mythology figures)
   But the ending was good. It left me happy and even ended how I wanted (which doesnt always happen!) Im looking forward to getting the new series from the library. I was tempted to just buy it when I say I was 204 on the wait list...but as  whole I fine Riordan hit and miss... I love percy Jackson, but hated the first book in the Kane Chronicals (and I love Egypt) and now Ive even started one of his adult books and am having a hard time convincing myself to finish it... so I think Ill hold out and wait though the list and read it then... just in case!
  My final verdict... read the Percy Jackson series. Its a very easy, no brain read. Which I need as a mother of two crazy boys who only gets to read once they are in bed at 9 and i can barely keep my eyes open myself. But its fun because Im really into mythology and it was a neat treat to see a modern spin on it. (thats why I also LOVE the nicholas Flammel series by Micheal Scott) All and all... book 3 was my favorite!

Slacker week!

This week Im feeling like a slacker because Im only trying one new recipe...oh well we all need time off! Plus these are some of Jaxon's favorite things to eat!
Monday - Chicken Burgers
Tuesday - Breakfast
Wednesday - Spaghetti and meatballs
Thursday - Fajita Nachos
Friday - Sausage and Gnocci
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Chicken Fingers
  Im hoping this week to get some crafting done... I want to scrapbook, finish up Jaxon's Valentine's and organize my stuff for the service auction... We will see!

Sambal Shrimp

This is another one of the recipes I tried from the Food network Magazine... It was so good... I will apologize now because I didnt take a picture, I tried one to see if I liked it and then the next thing I new my plate was empty! yes it was that good. Emeril Lagasse contributed the recipe.

Sambal Shrimp

2 cups sambal Oelek (indonesian style chile sauce... make sure you use the sauce and not two cups of the paste! That would even be too spicy for me!)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup lime juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/4 cup minced fresh peeled ginger

1/4 cup mirin (sweet rice wine... I used a rice wine vinegar)

2 Tbsp fish sauce

2 Tbsp sesame oil

3 Lbs head on shimp, peeled and deveined (ok... I did not use head on shrimp because thats just nasty to look at!)

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

2 Tbsp chopped mint

1)Combine the first 9 ingredients in a med bowl. All to stand at room temp for at least 1 hour (or up to 4 hours)

2) Remove 1/2 cup of the marinade and reserve for later. Add the rest of the marinade and shrimp into a resealable plastic bag and all shrimp to marinate for 1 hour

3) Preheat grill to a med heat. Remove shrimp from marinade and grill until cook. (2-2 1/2 minutes a side)

4) Place shrimp in a large bowl and toss with the reserved marinade and cilantro and mint.

ENJOY

**Its winter here... so i didnt grill these... what I did was a took the shirmp and the 1/2 cup of marinade and sauted it in a pan. It was nicely glazed and still saucy enough too!

Mac N Cheese Soup

I love cheese. LOVE IT! I think you can never go wrong with cheese, especially melted cheese... YUMMY. The other night I tried another recipe from the latest Food Network Magazine. It was awesome! Part of me actually is wishing to try one of these recipes and not like it then my recipe collection wont be quite so monsterous!
  I loved this recipe because it of all the cheesy goodnes and because it was relatively low cal (at 476 cals per serving) and there was grated carrots in it...but you would never know. The added a nice punch of color and those who are anti cooked veggies (like me and my kids) you get a little veggie boost without even knowing it!
  Bare in mind that this is my take on the recipe in the magazine... its pretty darn close but if you are reading the magazine you will notice a changed some things... like always

Mac N Cheese soup

1 cup elbow macaroni

3 shallots, chopped

1 carrot, grated

1/4 cup flour

3 3/4 cup chicken stock

1 1/4 cup milk

6 oz shredded cheese (I used 4 oz of chedder and 2 oz of a pepper jack)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1)Saute the shallots and carrots in a pan until softened. Add flour and cook, stirring  for about 2 minutes. Gradually stir in the broth and bring to a boil.

2) add Macaroni and cute until al dente. The broth will also thicken during this time

3) Remove from heat and add cheeses. Stir until melted. Stir in the milk.

VOILA DINNER!