Last nights dinner

I love trying new things to eat. I also love to try things that have some of the kids' favorite foods in them, but other things they may not normally eat. Last night I made Szechuan Noodles with Chicken and Broccoli. Oh em gee!!! It was fabulous!! You should know by now that I am a food network junkie, and will try just about anything from the magazine or the shows that I watch. This recipe happened to come from the Barefoot Contessa. Now, I must admit, I watch the show, but I have yet to see something that I say ' oh I have got to make that.' Well, she was making this dish and I looked at Chris and told him, I wanna try that one! So, I got online to www.foodnetwork.com and searched for it. I found it. Now, I must admit again, I saw the amount of ingredients and double thought making it, but figured, why not try it. I do have just about everything on there. It will just take some time putting the sauce together. Thankfully the sauce can be put together before had and put aside. Then everything else goes together so easily! After figuring out what attachment of my magic bullet to use, Chris and I got all the sauce mixed together. Then everything else, came together very nicely! We loved it. Ethan (Candy's husband) came over for dinner and he enjoyed it also. This will be a great dish for potlucks and if you are only serving adults, using a little more 'spice' to it. If you find the recipe on the website, you will notice I changed it just a little bit, because here in Moses lake, you can't find some of the specialty ingredients. But it all worked out great.

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Good olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets and stems discarded
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup good soy sauce
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/4 cup sesame oil 
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 5 scallions, sliced diagonally (white and green parts)
• 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan. Rub the tops with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes, until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Shred the chicken in large bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the broccoli florets for 2 minutes. Drain and immediately immerse in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and set the color. Drain and set aside.
Place the garlic, ginger, vegetable oil, tomato paste, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, honey, sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and the cayenne pepper in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and puree until smooth. Set aside.

Add a splash of olive oil to a large pot of boiling salted water and cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the package. Drain the pasta in a colander, place it in a large bowl, and while still warm, toss with the sauce. Add the scallions, peppers, chicken and broccoli and toss well. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You won't regret trying this recipe. It is wonderful, and like I said, the kids liked it and actually ate it. But what kid doesn't like peanut butter, chicken, or noodles? I even have one that likes broccoli, and another one that loves his peppers. So, it worked out all that much better. Chris went back for seconds on this dish and Ethan loves spice, so he went back for more spices.

Friday night

Well, this Friday has been fun. Candy came over with her brother and her 2 boys. Nic and Ellie got to play play and play. I went out and ran a couple of errands, and then back home to just hang out. I'm not real sure what I'm going to do for dinner tonight. I might just find something in a box and that the kids like. (Can you say Kraft?) Then tomorrow, I think I'm going to do sloppy joe's.

Nicolas and I are going to watch Resident Evil: Afterlife tonight. He loves those movies, and he is the kid that just doesn't get scared at anything like that. He watched the first Resident Evil movies without a hitch of any nightmares, or dreams....nothing. But as of right now, he wants to watch Eclipse. Ellie is watching cartoons in the other room for the time being. But I'm sure she'll be out soon enough to watch something.

Tomorrow Chris gets his boys for the weekend. We are planning to head out to my dads to get our taxes done, and then over to his parents house to visit with his mom.

Like I said, it's not much going on right now. Just my every day kind of life.

A Thursday at home

It's just after 9 am, Chris is still in bed sleeping. Since he works swings, he 'sleeps in' during the week. I have the news on. I love me some news. I enjoy keeping up with the happenings that are going on in the state, nation or even world.  I like to know what might effect me in the long run or even the short run. I also watch it thinking about how well we have it here in our country compared to other parts of the world.

This morning I felt like I got to sleep in a little bit. You see, the last 2 days I have had to go out to dad and Mary's to go feed the horses out there. Well, that ment that I was up at 5:15 to be out there by 6am to feed the horses. Mind you, my alarm doesn't normally go off until 6:45 in the morning, to get kids up and ready for school. Yesterday I was up and driving to feed the horses and I was so tired that on the drive over, I was slapping my face to keep me for the snoozing feeling. That's how tired I was. I got out there, fed the horses, and was driving back home doing the same thing, telling myself  "Come on Sheryl, stay awake". When I got home, it was about time to get kids up and ready for school. I was still tired, even after 2 cups of coffee, that I was dozing in the chair for 30 seconds at a time. Needless to say, this morning, I feel like I got 10 times more sleep! I feel great.

I made that pork and apple recipe last night for dinner. Candy and her 2 boys and Amanda were here to eat. All I can say is OH EM GEE!!!! It was awesome! I told Chris this morning, that is going to be the way I make my pork chops from here on out now! It was so amazing. I wish I knew which Food Network Chef made that recipe because it didn't say in the magazine. I think I might have to make a little email or maybe even write a letter and find out. Or maybe I can just type the recipe in the website and find out that way. We'll see. I would love to give credit, where credit is due!

(This is what the picture looks like in the magazine!)



Today there is not much to do. I am going to stay at home and get some housework done. I have a couple loads of laundry to do, maybe get some vacuuming done and get dinner ready (think it will be just meatloaf tonight). I have to go and get Chris's boys from school and my kids, too, then back home to make dinner. Meatloaf, some sort of veggies, and maybe a pasta of some sort. I'll figure it all out. The kids will get to stay up tonight because of no school tomorrow. Today is the last day of the quarter, so I should be getting report cards here shortly. Hopefully they're pretty good report cards, so the kids can get rewarded!!!

Dinner tonight

I love going through cooking magazines and cookbooks. I love looking for new recipes to try out. One of my favorite magazines is the food network magazine. They have some great recipes from all the chefs that you see on the food network! I just found what I am cooking tonight from the latest magazine! I will be making Pork chops with apples and garlic smashed potatoes! Chris loves to have applesauce with his pork chops, so, I thought this would be a good one. It's not applesauce, but it is apples, which will make him all the more happy. Not only that, but all 4 of the kids will be here for dinner, and all 4 of the kids love their apples. I have about a dozen apples that need to be used up within the week so, this is one good way for me to use them! I'll let you know how it turns out, but I will leave this recipe for you. Not sure what chef came up with it.

1 pound potatoes
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper
4 - 1/2 inch pork loin or chops (about 5 oz each)
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 large red onion cut into 1/2 inch wedges
2 apples (Granny smith work best) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup apple cider
1/4 cup buttermilk

1 - Cut up potatoes into bit size pieces. Put the potatoes and garlic in a saucepan, cover with cold water and season with salt. Cover and bring to a boil, then uncover and continue cooking until tender, about 15 minutes. Cover and set aside.
2 - Meanwhile, rub both sides of the pork chops with the sage, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat, then add 1 tsp olive oil and sear the chops until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plate. Wipe out the skillet and add the remaining 2 tsp olive oil. Add the onion and apples and cook over med-high heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the cider.
3 - Return the chops to the skillet. Cover and cook, turning once, until just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain the potatoes, reserving 1/4 cup liquid. Return the potatoes to the pan; add the buttermilk and mash, adding cooking liquid as needed. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the pork chops, onion and apples. Drizzle with the pan juices.

It states only 413 calories per serving.

Now, I'm going to use just apple juice instead of the cider, and I don't care for buttermilk in my potatoes, so I am just going to use regular milk in the fresh. So, everything that I need for this dish, I already have in the house. I love finding new recipes like this. I like to find ones that I don't have to run out to the store and get anything for. I will let you know how it turns out.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! And if you try this one, let me know what you think, or what you did or have done different in the recipes!

What a Day

Surely it was a busy day with a little bit of down time. It also started for me, with waking up 4 times between 3am till 510am. You see, I had my alarm set to go off at 530 so I could go out to my dad and Mary's house so I could go and feed the horses. When ever I set my alarm for earlier then what it normally is set for, I always end up waking up a few times with that panick feeling, thinking that I have slept through the alarm. Which I have never done, so I don't know why I do that. I was out and feeding horses at 6 and back home. When I got back home Ellie was already awake. So, I let her curl up on the couch and watch a cartoon before I turned the tv off, because it was time to get ready for school.

You see the kids arent' allowed to have the tv on in the morning because they have let it get the best of them. Nic will play his video games and keeps telling me, just a minute, or almost done. So, I have told them, that there is no more tv turned on in the morning. Period!

Kids got ready for school, and I got them off to school, left a little note for the principal to call to discuss an issue (which I will get too in just a moment), and then headed out to undo the gate for the horses. Then it was back home. Chris was just getting up and getting comfy in his chair when Candy called and invited us out to brunch. Just her way of saying thank you for me taking care of Gage when she has to work. Which works for me. So, Chris and I headed up to Bob's for some brunch type of food. Met Candy up there, Candy's mom Ginny joined us for her lunch break, and we all just sat and talked and BS'd for awhile. After we were done there we head back.

Chris and I had to stop to get gas for the truck. That's when I got my phone call back from the principal up at the school. I explained to her that Nic had told me the night before that one of his classmates told him, he didn't like school and has was going to blow up the school with a missle launcher. He also said he is was going to kill all the fat girls and shoot all the teachers. This was something that I felt like I needed to address and talk to someone at the school. Well, that was the right disission. They pulled Nic out of class and talked with him (the principal and counsoler). I got a call back from the principal and she let me know that the situation was being looked into and will be taken care of. She then thanked me a few times for letting her know about this.

We got home, Chris got up to take his shower. Candy stopped by to hang out for a bit with her son before she had to head back home. This was my little bit of down time. Got Chris off to work, Candy had to run into her work for a minute, she left Gage here, who didn't say a word while she was gone, and I got some peace and quite. Candy came back, we BS'd some more, and she was off to pick up her other son. I at this point in time headed out to feed horses again. Went out did that, and came home. Charles had decided he wanted to take the kids for a couple hours, plus he would feed them dinner, so I had nothing to do till 6 when I had to go and open the gate for the horses. It was great!!!

The kids are now home. They have about 20 more minutes before bed time, and they are letting off steam still. They were obviously wound up pretty tight from school or something, because they have a ton of energy. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more eventful. I know I'll probably get a recipe up. I pulled out pork chops for tonight, but didn't have to make them because the kids where with their dad. But tomorrow I get Chris's boys. So, I will have all 4 kids tomorrow and want to make something with the pork chops. Just not sure what as of yet, but I know that I will figure it out tomorrow. I have 1 more day of feeding the horses and letting them out and then dad will be back home and I won't have to go out there and do it.

Well, that is all for now. Hope everyone had a fantastic day!!!

Chicken Marsala

We are a chicken eating family. I love chicken just about any way you can fix it. The kids love chicken, too. It's 1 type of meat that I can get them to eat with out having to fight with any of them. It's also something really easy for Chris to pack up and take to work in his lunch. So, tonight I am making a recipe that I haven't done in a long time but it is really good. My Chicken Marsala!

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
flour
salt & pepper
olive oil
2 cloves or garlic
1 cup of mushrooms
parsley (about 1/4 cup fresh or just a tbsp dry)
Dry Marsala wine (or just chicken broth works)
cooked pasta

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Put in just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Mix in your finely chopped garlic, mushrooms and parsley and let it cook for about 5 mins. While this is cooking work on your chicken.
You want to take the chicken breasts and flatten them out to about 1/4 inch thick. In a shallow bowl mix a little bit of flour (about 1/2 cup), salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken through the mixture, shaking off the extra flour. Add the chicken to the skillet (with all the other stuff in there). Cook about 8 minutes, turning once. Add the wine (or broth) and cook for another 8-10 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink in the center.
Your going to serve this over a bed of pasta with the sauce.

This is supper yummy!! I use this Marsala sauce with beef and pork also. It's pretty easy to make and doesn't take a whole lot of time. I love making different type of pastas with it, plus, you don't have to have a specific pasta so what ever you have on hand works. I've used noodles, bowties, shells, elbows, and even penne. It all works.

Hope you try this and enjoy!

A day of fishing.

Chris and I decided that this was a good day for fishing. So, this morning at about 930 we loaded up and head out to Chris's little fishing hole that he knows. Now, this isn't just a normal little fishing hole, it's like a creek between corn fields.

With a ton of cows around the area. We went down to the place that I caught the big one at a couple of weeks ago. Figured that would be a good place to start out. We got nothing. So, we went up the creek bed a little ways. We ended up stopping about about 5 different holes along the 2 miles of creek bed. We had quite a few bites, and ended up being able to keep 5 between the 2 of us. I have to brag, I caught 4 and he caught 1. I keep telling him it's because of the hot pink fishing pole that I use. The fish just seem to like it more then his.



We had a good time. Now, we are back home, he's cleaned all the fish out, and now he is testing out his new 'cure' for fish eggs. He's going to see if he can use them as bait later on. So, now we have 6 fish in the freezer. I think sometime this next week I'll be making some fish for dinner. Once we got home and we were unloading the truck, I took a good look at the truck and noticed how dirty it was. I was noticing all the mud flinging up onto the truck, but didn't realize it was that bad! Chris was so excited the truck was so muddy!! It was great!!

Now, to decide what we are going to do tonight for dinner. The kids are still at their dads. They'll be back within a couple of hours. We were invited over to our friends Candy and Ethan for tacos. We may do that, we may just stay home. We'll be deciding with in the next hour or so. 

Saturday

I had a great day today! Got up and made my coffee, and sat down at my computer to check my emails and to see what my friends and family where doing on facebook. Chris got up (and that's when I got that great picture of him and Pooh). Chris and I just relaxed and visited and had great conversations this morning about everything that is going on, and what are plans are for tomorrow, (which of course is to go fishing!!). I had offers to do quite a few things today with friends, so now it was time to choose what I was going to do for the afternoon and evening.

Chris was getting ready to head out the door, and I decided to go over to Candy's to help Amanda color Candy's hair. I stop and get my Starbucks, and head over. Once there I have Candy get her coloring stuff out and get it mixed, and get her ready to have died hair. Then I find out that Amanda was so hoping I was coming over there, because, she had never died anyones hair before and she really didn't know how to do it. :) This made me chuckle at her and of course, let her get out of it too. (Hehehehe). So, I got Candy's hair colored with both the boxes she got for her hair. Now mind you, Candy has A LOT of hair!!! She's lucky I was able to get both boxes to work. I told her next time she needed to make sure that she got 3 boxes!! I worked out and now Candy has her gray hair covered and has a pretty dark auburn brown hair.

After I was done there, I headed over to Missy's house. Missy was making Corn Chowder for dinner. She has been over to my house with her kids several times, and now it's my turn to head over to her house when I can. Tonight was the night I decided Missy could feed me :)!!! Only because Corn Chowder sounded so good for tonight! I told her after dinner, that she needed to make sure that she posts the recipe for me so that way I had access to it. It was good!!! It was her moms recipe and something that she ate growing up. I can see why she wanted to keep making it! So, Missy!!! I better see that recipe up soon!!!

Now, I'm home, in my pajama's, watching Throwdown with Bobby Flay. (Food Network is the bomb!) I'm just relaxing. I'm going to curl up with a glass of wine and see what there is to watch. i may just have to catch up on my tv shows. I still have CSI and Medium to watch from this week. Hope everyone has had a fantastic and funfilled day!!

Cat and Fishing!

This cracked me up today! Chris was tieing up some fishing line and Pooh decided that he had to get in there and help him out. Chris would push him off, and Pooh would be right back up there! It was awesome!

My Snickerdoodles

My niece is almost 30 weeks pregnant, and during this pregnancy she has asked for a few things for me to make for her because of her cravings that she has been having. One of them was Snickerdoodles. I have a recipe that I have been making for sometime now, that is so easy, and always a hit with everyone! So, I thought I would share it on here. Ellie loves helping out when I make Snickerdoodles, too, because she loves to get her hands in there and roll up the cookie dough to plop it on on cookie sheet. I can't tell you how easy this recipe is to make! I have always loved Snickerdoodles and thought they were going to be so impossible! Here you go:

Cookies:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup softerned butter
1/2 cup shortening (I use butter flavor)
2 lrg eggs
2 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Roll cookie balls in:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Heat over to 400*. In my standing mixer I beat everything in except the flour. Once everything is well mixed, I add the flour slowly into the mixer. After all the ingredients are mixed, Ellie and I form about 1 inch balls. Drop and roll into the sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet. Place them about 2 inches apart. I have a couple standard size cookie sheets I use and I can get 12 one 1 sheet (3 down 4 across). Most recipes say 8-10 minutes for the cookies. I usually have them in for about 11-12 minutes. Now, every oven is different, plus I cook both cookie sheets at the same time, so that could be why. But, when they come out and you put them on the cooling rack. My oh my do they taste awesome!

I hope you decide to try these, you will be making them all the time if you do! These are one of the kids' favorites and also Chris's favorite. He eats them right off the cooling rack. I think this is the only cookie I can make in the house without him stealing the cookie dough also. I don't know why that is, but now that I think of it. Yes, it is one that the raw cookie dough never gets stolen!!! I can make all the cookies with it. This usually makes about 4+ dozen cookies if you make them in the 1 inch balls.

ENJOY!!

Movie Night

Tonight is my Friday night that I have all to myself. Nic and Ellie are off to their dads today (for the weekend), and Chris is working till 11. That means that I can do whatever I want without anyone around! I get to have 2 of these Friday nights a month!!! I love them! I have 2 movies from netflix that are sitting on my entertainment center for a couple of weeks now. The Runaways, which has Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart in it. Missy saw it and didn't like the begining of it, and Brenna saw it and said it was awesome. We'll see what I think of it. The other movie I have to watch is All About Steve with Sandra Bullock. I love her!! She is so funny, and the movie is supposed to be hilarious! I think I might go down and buy and bottle of wine. Not sure if I am in a red or white kind of mood. I'll head out to the liquor store and figure it out after the kids get off to their dads house.

Chris did call a little bit ago, and said that he didn't get the promotion at work. That sucks, and he'll be in a pissy mood. But, he'll have another shot at it again in the future. We'll see what happens.

Now, off to do a little bit of puzzling with Candy and wait for Charles to get here with the kids. I think I still have some laundry to get done. But, I only have 1 more load to throw in the washer. Then I'll be free of laundry for the weekend!!! Yay me!

Welcome!!

I have decided to start blogging. There are so many people out there that are blogging these days, and I love reading them. I know I am not the only one out there that likes to read the blogs of friends and what is going on in their life. So, here is a way for me to update everyone on what is going on in my life! I will be posting day to day doings in the household, recipes, chore lists, and just anything that is going on. Maybe my views on some adventures, tv shows, news, politics, or misc ramblings. We'll see how it goes! I will post a little later, and try and figure this thing out for the time being!!