This was surprisingly REALLY REALLY good. I mean, I expected it to be good as in decent to eat, but it was really very very good. Everyone in our family (including Ethan) loved it. It's also very simple- just chicken, rice, green beans, s&p, chicken broth and stuff. I got the recipe here from Mel's Kitchen Cafe- I love her recipes!
This is what we ate for dinner tonight! It was so yummy served with a side of fruit. Audrey mostly ate the fruit.
I took a few tilapia fillets and cut them into strips about an inch wide, dredged them in flour, then in egg, then in a bread crumb seasoning. I used lemon pepper, homemade bread crumbs and a little garlic powder for mine.
The oven fries recipe I got from Our Best Bites here. I used Yukons instead of Russets because that's what I had and they were DELECTABLE. I would make them again times a million! Except the seasonings were WAY WAY WAY too salty. I halved the garlic salt that she asked for and it was STILL too salty. I would probably use a 1/2 teaspoon next time instead of the 1 I used this time. We were wiping the seasonings off on our napkins because we just couldn't eat them that salty but they were so dang good.
We discovered today that Audrey LOVES to watercolor paint. She spent over a half hour painting with Becky Allen who comes once a month to do Parents as Teachers visits. I think we better get us some watercolors! Ethan loves to cruise and loves that he can come find me in the other room if I walk away. I need to upload more pictures from my camera so I can share the cuteness of my children. :) Thomas got a calling... but I'm not allowed to share until he is sustained next Sunday... :D I am calling-less still, except for visiting teaching- which I feel like is kind of a big deal because they gave us three sisters, among which are the RS president and the Stake President's wife. :o
Thomas and I are going to watch a movie... let you know if it's any good!
I haven't blogged for a few days- I've been working on TAXES. :) I finished all of my parts and I'm just waiting for Thomas to do his parts... or to give me all his papers so I can do his parts... which is probably what will end up happening. Anyway. that's my excuse for not posting lately!
We have been having a GREAT time and enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather that SPRING is sending us! Some rain, some sunshine, LOTS of wind (duh- it's Rexburg after all) and beautiful temperatures!
We have had some great meals lately! I learned on a post by another blog that I follow that it would be nicer for the folks whose recipes I am using if I don't re-post the recipe here, rather have my readers click through to the original blog where the recipe was originally posted! This allows those bloggers who make a living off of blogging to continue to do so, and everyone is happier. The blogger that posted this actually had another large blog steal a recipe from her and try to almost discredit her by copying it word for word and giving her a very fine print credit. I don't want to steal anything from anyone! I just want to share these delicious recipes with you all! So I won't be posting the entire recipes I get from other blogs anymore- just the links and my comments or any adaptations I chose to make. Thank you, Kristan!
Tonight we had homemade biscuits and this Creamy Corn Chowder from Our Best Bites. OH I really loved it. It was different than I thought it would be- but it was WONDERFUL. I followed the recipe pretty exactly, only I didn't add any extra salt (I felt the bacon was plenty salty for the soup), and I needed to simmer the potatoes a bit longer than 20 min, maybe 25 or so. I highly recommend you try this soup! YUM!
We had black bean burgers again the other night- still delicious and we had the McKennas over. They have a little girl several months older than Audrey and so they got to play while we got to know each other a little better! This also prompted Audrey to want to use the potty, since Jamie is potty-trained. We put her in big girl panties the next day and it went... ok. No action on the potty. She wore them for half the day and had a few accidents, and then I put a diaper on her for naptime (I'm not that brave yet!) and she didn't want to put her big-girl panties on after that. Today she didn't want to either. I think she needs a little more time to decide she is ready and willing to potty train. I'm ok with that- there is no sense in frustrating everybody more by trying to force it on her.
I am thinking about going public again... I have the feeling that people don't remember to read this since it is private. I actually don't think anyone reads it much anymore! At least I am able to document some small part of our lives and feel good about expressing myself in some form other than speech. I find writing things down/journal keeping very healthy for me and I really enjoy it. Unfortunately I don't have OneNote on this machine yet and I can type way faster than I can handwrite... so at least a piece of this part of our lives is getting recorded in the vast storage of the internet... :)
I realized a couple more cute things I forgot to write about. Audrey told me two or three times today- "I don't want to be killed!" I was shocked and I didn't know where she had heard it! The second time she said it I asked her "Who said that? Who's going to be killed?" She said "Audrey!" I asked again who had said that to her, and she said "Spongebob Squarepants!" Hmmm... seems those Spongebob cartoons with Daddy are teaching her... interesting things...
Ethan learned to clap on Sunday (incidentally his 10-month mark)- he was so pleased with himself! He had seen us clapping for him when he did something good, and I guess he figured it out. He did it the first time and his little face broke out in a broad grin and he laughed- and then he did it over and over. He would concentrate and clap his hands together and then look up at us for approval and then laugh and smile. It was so cute.
I forget that then next step after crawling is climbing- it's just like crawling only upwards. Ethan has immediately started wanting to climb and pull himself up on everything, especially the TV stand and the DVD case, which Audrey knows are off-limits. She is so good, she knows the rules and wants to help Ethan keep the rules and so she will see him doing something and run over and shout "NO, No no no no Ethan!" and pull him away. I'm trying to teach her to distract him and quietly divert him from what he is doing instead of yelling and scaring him- he cries almost every time she does it.
I have wonderful children. I Love them to pieces.
Tonight, after we put Ethan to bed, Audrey stayed up for a little bit and played. They are getting more and more competitive for our attention as they are both getting older. They each really enjoy one-on-one time with us. So tonight, we had already put all the toys away, and then she fell off the couch and hit her head and got sad and only wanted Daddy who was doing dishes (MY HERO), so he gave her a spatula out of the drawer and a bowl to play with. She decided to make me some waffles. After he finished up, we sat on the floor and talked about schedule stuff for the week since Thomas has some shoes coming into Salt Lake this week he has to go pick up. While we sat and talked, Audrey decided she would make us both food! We "feasted" upon waffles, fruit, chocolate, soup with little trees in it, ice cream, milk, juice, and water. She was a very good little cook and waitress- she would stir the spatula around in the bowl and tell us what she was making, ask us how much we wanted, and then would bring us the bowl and say "Use your spatula!" like we always ask her to use her fork. Then she would go and stand over by the side of the room and wait for us to finish and then make us more. It was ADORABLE. She was so SO unbelievably cute. Which was a nice ending to kind of a rough day- both kids kind of leaned on our patience today. Maybe they are getting sick too- no fevers or runny noses or anything, just tempers on the grumpy side today. We were glad that we got to kind of split the day- I had lessons to play for in the afternoon so I had them in the morning and I was so DONE by naptime, they were both driving me crazy. I left during naptime, and by the time I got home for dinner Thomas was done with the craziness too. It's nice to leave the kids for a few hours with him- it makes me appreciate the parent he is to them and the role he plays in their lives. It also makes me love my family more. I see parents with other young kids on campus and it makes me miss my babies. :) I enjoy getting out of the house a few hours here and there to do something creative that I LOVE. I have so much to be thankful for!
I didn't take a picture of her cooking for us tonight, because I was just so enjoying soaking it all in, but here is another creative endeavour for you:
This is her Woody doll- she had me make him a table and chairs out of Legos, and then she set a place for him (you can see a cheerio on his "plate") and gave him her bib to use. SO CUTE!
I am home sick from church today... again... but kind of different. I had a sinus infection, and I felt like I was getting better by about day 8 or 9, but then on day 10 (Saturday) I started getting a cough and then I lost my voice by the end of the day and my throat is all sore and stuff. I can tell that whatever was in my sinuses is draining out ok, but I'm worried it might be getting into my lungs. Oh well. Rest, liquids (hot chocolate is good for being sick, right?) and Robitussin. Blech. Actually I guess it's Wal-tussin cuz we're cheap like that. Oh but I do count myself grateful that I can actually TAKE the GOOD stuff for this sickness- having so many sinus infections while pregnant with Ethan makes me very grateful to not be pregnant so I can take good drugs. :)
I have the most adorable family. I have been trying really hard since Sister Beck spoke to us to do more of the things I felt really impressed about. I have learned some great things. First, I find myself remembering that my children are so, SO precious and it helps me to be calmer and to speak softer to them. I also have found that in speaking softer (kinder, nicer, quieter, more lovingly) to my children, they listen better and are happier. Audrey is definitely deep in the "terrible twos" and we are working through that- I recognize it is just a stage of growth, just like learning to walk, she is learning to be her own person and it is hard for her too. Like many parents of toddlers, we have difficulties getting Audrey to mind us well. I have found that as I speak softly to her, and word things more kindly when something is a smaller issue, she is more receptive to when I speak loudly, when something could hurt her or Ethan. This is amazing to me- I realize as I look back on my week that things went VERY well. I didn't find myself stressed to the max at the end of every day. It was not stress-free, but life isn't stress-free and I realized that it was just lovely to have more peace in my heart and in our home. I marvel that just a small thing can make such a difference.
I've also been learning to better choose my battles with Audrey. There are things that are hard rules (safety, learning to choose right and wrong, etc) in our house, but some things that I would ordinarily get irritated over I have been learning to deal with them differently. Even things that are against the rules, just in changing the way I react to things helps our day run smoother. I also feel that Audrey senses that change in our days and she is happier and more helpful. I love that girl. She is my joy. Well, part of it. I have many joys. :)
Ethan is also my joy- such a happy, happy boy. He loves attention and I feel bad he hasn't gotten as much of it lately as I've liked. I've been sick and it's hard to muster the energy I want to devote to playing with him. Audrey is a little easier because she can come to me as I'm laying on the couch and we can play Woody and Buzz (I'm always Woody, she's always Buzz). Now that Ethan is mobile, he is starting to learn that he can come find me. It was so cute to be cleaning the old house yesterday and walk in the other room to clean the windows, and after a few minutes I see Ethan's little face poke through the door behind me, and his face lights up and he grins as he sees that he's found me! What a cutie.
Thomas is my joy too. I love that man! I am so amazed at how hard he works, without being asked, at anything he puts his mind to. He gives so much for our family- works so hard at providing and caring for our home (and our old home too). I know he feels the stress of us depending on him and bills to pay and schedules to manage and countless other things... but I love him for it. I know Audrey and Ethan do too, even if they don't understand it yet. I really am enjoying that Thomas works from home, and Audrey can open our bedroom door and run it to give Daddy a hug before she takes her nap every day. I love that he prays with us every night before Audrey goes to bed. They had so much fun playing yesterday. I am so grateful that our children have a mother AND a father to love and care for them- as Audrey gets bigger I am realizing even more that this is so important. We love our children in different ways, because we are different genders and have different roles but also just because we are different people.
Audrey has gotten more and more curious about what I do in the kitchen when I am cooking. She likes to grab a stool or a chair and peek up onto the counter to see what I am doing. I wonder if it is helping her learn to try more foods when she sees me preparing it. She asks me questions about what it is I am doing, what she sees, when she can eat it... she has gotten very excited for dinnertime lately. She also will quote Emperor's New Groove- "its DINNERTIME!" and then she quotes the whole conversation between Yzma and Kronk about the dinner and the poison. She is so precious! Thomas has some great pictures I got to see last night from when we decorated sugar cookies for Valentines Day- Audrey helping me roll out the dough and cutting the shapes out, and frosting them. So cute. I will have to steal some and put them up here.
I've been doing more indexing through FamilySearch since I've been sick. I have such a hard time doing NOTHING when I am sick. I have a whole kitchen full of dirty dishes and floors that need mopping and I don't have the energy to do it! Even today- I had time to myself so I decided to relax and take a bath but I just had to scrub out the tub first cuz I just can't quit! So I like finding things I can do with my hands that don't require standing or lots of physical work. I picked up my cross-stitch again. I started it years and years ago when I was probably in Young Women's, but I only did a teensy bit. When I was pregnant with Audrey I picked it up and worked on it, and then whenever I'd get sick or anything I'd pick i up, and when I was pregnant with Ethan I did some more. So I pulled it out and I'm pretty close to finishing. I have no idea what I will do with it. But I enjoy doing it for some reason. Indexing is another thing I discovered that I really like doing, but I don't have a lot of time to sit and type ordinarily. If you've never tried it, you should- you don't have to be LDS to do it. Go here and set up an account and then download the software, and you should be good to go! I enjoy it because I really feel I'm doing something worthwhile with my time even when I can't be up and around doing housework. I feel a connection to these names I write and the way they lived. I was doing a batch last night from the 1930 New York Census and I came across a family whose house was worth $75,000. I looked it up and figured out that in today's money, their house would have been worth the equivalent of almost a million dollars! Another family rented a house and they paid $28 a month in rent, which is like renting a house in today's money for about $350. I just really enjoy the history around it, and knowing I'm helping others to find their family's history. These were real people- perhaps Gladys from Romania with a two-year-old boy named Seth had some of the same concerns in raising her son as I do raising Audrey.
Oh my. These were quite good. Quite good indeed. I may or may not love these. They taste SO much like an appetizer that Red Lobster used to serve that was my mom's and my favorite there- Fiesta Lobster Rolls although I think they renamed them to Southwestern something. Anyway, I really really liked these. Thomas liked them too. We ate a bunch and still have a bunch... hooray!
Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls (mels kitchen cafe)
a good tutorial on working with oeppers here)
This would make a really great appetizer if you did mini ones, but it made a wonderful and filling dinner for us (and probably a couple of lunches too- it made quite a lot). This was also a fun recipe because it had a couple of new ingredients for me. SOOO good. Please try it.
We finished cleaning out the house today- it's now ready to be sold! So if you know anyone who needs a place to live... send them our way! You can also check out our house blog, which Thomas is working on as we speak. Or, as I type. yeah. It was kind of... neat to be cleaning. Thomas was running around getting the last bits of our things out of the house/shed/porch and taking care of putting up signs and things, and Audrey played outside. Ethan ate bits of string off the floor and was adorable and a little whiney while I cleaned the whole house. I was a little nostalgic as I cleaned and thought of good times we had there- this is where both our children were newborns. This is a house Audrey remembers. (the other day I was putting her down for her nap and she said- "This is our NEW house! We have a new HOUSE! Where is the old one?" I explained to her it was still where it always was, we just moved away from it. We were going to clean it up so someone else can live in it and have it be their house. She said "Yeah. Daddy and Ethan!" I said, no we wanted Daddy and Ethan to live with us, because we want to be a family forever. She thought that sounded fine. she is so sweet.) Where was I? OH yes, Australia. I mean, I was reminiscing. Our Mill Hollow house was good to us. I very much enjoyed living there, but I am very glad to be moving on in life. It was not meant to be a permanent living space for us. But I do kind of miss it. As I wiped fingerprints off the window, I remembered when Audrey first learned she could climb on the couch to reach the window. She spent many hours perched in that window, playing with toys or watching snow fall outside. It was nice to feel a little sentimental about that house- I hadn't really yet. I am very glad that it is DONE DONE. For the most part. Thomas may go and try and catch a sunny day so he can paint the window trims and eaves a bit- they didn't get done before the big snows hit in the fall. But he took pictures and it actually looks really nice once it's clean... Someday my house will be clean when I actually LIVE in it. It did give me some satisfaction to know that the kitchen is CLEAN and it is STILL clean 8 hours later... even if we don't live there anymore. :)
This is what we had for dinner last night- it's a favorite over here.
Crispy Coconut Chicken (our best bites)
Hawaiian Rice (when I serve this with the coconut chicken, I just leave out the chicken)
3/4 cup cooked, diced chicken
2 cups cooked, COLD rice
2 green onions, diced
1/4 cup carrot, finely diced
1/4 cup pineapple, diced
1 egg (NOT beaten, just crack it into the pan)
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 T vegetable oil
pepper
Heat vegetable oil in skillet or wok. Add chicken, rice, onions, carrots, soy sauce, sesame oil and stir fry til hot Add egg (again, it works better if you just crack it into the pan), stir while cooking. Add pepper to taste. Add pineapple and serve with soy sauce.
Officially crawling!!! Yesterday was the first day I could officially say, yeah, that kid knows how to crawl. He took 2 days to figure things out, and then he was off and crawling like he'd done it his whole life. What a big boy!
Happy 10 months tomorrow, buddy!
Since I had leftover black beans from making those burgers the other night, I thought I'd give this a try. It wasn't bad- when I was making it I was a little unsure of whether it would turn out, but we liked it. I LOVED it as more of a bean dip for tortilla chips. I think it would be a great party dip. It was a nice change from our normal beans-and-bread food storage standby. I like finding new ways to eat beans that don't always taste like beans!
Black Bean Soup (Our Best Bites)
Ethan crawls- Officially! Sometimes he crawls up on his feet, like bear style (if thats how you describe that?) which is way cute. He is WAY happy that he is figuring out how to move about. Audrey makes this growly sound whenever she gets angry now. I think I taught it to her- we were talking about different feelings, and she had the little popsicle sticks with happy face, sad face, scared face, and angry face and we talked about each one. Sad was easy for her to understand, and scared was easy, and happy she seemed to understand fine. Angry was a little harder, so I made a growly sound to kind of explain it to her. I just figured out today that is probably why she has started doing that. It's interesting though- we haven't played with those since we moved, like a month ago. Maybe she got it from something else. Either way she is beautiful and adorable and I just love my children more and more every day. They are AMAZING! Thomas is getting better at his uke- he loves to play and learn new songs. I am preparing for a student's senior recital a week from Saturday... it should be good. Things are coming together nicely.
I made these this morning. This is one of my favorite muffin recipes- you can use whatever berry you like. I usually use raspberries cuz we had tons of bushes at our old house. This house doesn't have any... yet. Perhaps in a few summers we will have some to speak of. I got this recipe from the Taste of Home Cookbook, but I've tweaked it. This is 1 1/2 times the recipe originally in the ToH book, because I hate ending up with an odd number of muffins, like 15 or 16 or 17. It's a pain to fill all the rest of those muffin cups with water. I'm already mixing up the batter- might as well make a few more while I'm at it. This way you end up with an even two dozen if you fill them 2/3 full. Plus my daughter just inhales these. She had 2 1/2 for a SNACK today. Like a half hour AFTER she ate 2 1/2 bowls of Life cereal for breakfast.
Berry Cream Muffins (adapted from the Taste of Home Cookbook)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar (I only used one, and it was ok. I kind of liked the tang of the raspberries against the sweet streusel I throw on top)
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups fresh or frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, whatever)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sour cream (yogurt or milk work well, you just end up with different textures depending on what you use. I've had good luck with 1/2 raspberry yogurt and 1/2 sour cream.)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I subbed applesauce this time, and I liked it, but I didn't love it. I might do half and half next time. I miss the fluffiness of the oil ones- the applesauce is nice when you want a gooey/chewy texture, like in an oatmeal raisin cookie... mmmm....)
3/4 tsp vanilla
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add berries ant toss gently til coated. In another bowl, combine eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla, mix well. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. (I actually do this the other way around- I like adding the dry to the wet, instead of wet to dry. I think you stir less this way. But that's just me.) Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle with streusel topping (recipe at end) if desired. Bake at 400* for 18-22 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 min in pan before removing to wire rack (I just use a kitchen towel. Good trick for getting these out, since you can't overturn the muffin tin, find a bendy-type plastic spoon- the bowl will flex easily- and use it in place of running a knife around the sides of each muffin. Works wonderfully! And no scratches on my muffin pans.)
Streusel topping:
6 T (1/4 cup plus 2 T) all-purpose flour
6 T quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 T butter
Combine dry. Cut butter into mixture until resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.
This is what we ate for dinner tonight. It does take a little more time and effort, but we LOVE this meal- it is one of Thomas' favorites. The hamburger buns are definitely WORTH the effort to make them... I will NEVER buy storebought again. Just not the same.
Black Bean Burgers
4 cups of beans per recipe (or 2 cans, rinsed and drained)
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T seasoned salt (I use Tony Chachere's creole seasoning salt)
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs (depending on the consistency of your beans)
Process onion and garlic in food processor (you can do it in a blender... but its not quite the same. That's how I used to do it before food processor nirvana was achieved). (some people recommended to strain the onion/garlic mixture here through a fine mesh strainer to get excess water out, but I didn't.) Add beans, process til mashed. (I do the rest of the steps in my food processor instead of a bowl as the original recipe intended.) Add eggs, bread crumbs, and cajun seasoning. Process (or mix by hand if you don't have a processor) until well-blended. Shape into patties (use your hands) and grill or broil. If grilling, grill 5-7 min per side. I broil mine on a greased (!) cookie sheet for about 10 min per side. (I used a broiling pan before, and it works ok but it's a little messier. Using a greased cookie sheet was WAY better/easier.) Serve on buns with your choice of burger toppings. We love fry sauce, lettuce and I like cheese too, but Thomas doesn't usually put it on. (Even Audrey ate some of the burger tonight- maybe a 1/3 of a patty! Usually can't get her to touch it, she just eats the bun and the cheese.)
Homemade Hamburger Buns (onelovelylife.com)
Audrey put her hand on my face and told me I have beautiful eyes today. She did this twice I think. She's so darn cute. She loves Emperor's New Groove, Mulan, and Wall-E is still a favorite. Ethan has started to "cruise"- where he'll walk hanging onto things for dear life. He can pull himself up to standing pretty confidently now. He's getting pretty good at moving around on his own. I have adorable children.
I love those blue eyes.
He crawls! Kind of. But he's so happy!
This is actually a mouse skeleton we found underneath the old dishwasher. When Thomas replaced it he found it and I saved it. Cuz I thought it was cool. Sorry if you get grossed out by stuff like that.
My girl cheezin' it up
Self-portrait.
This is what we had for dinner last night- they were very good. I Love chimis but I liked that I could get the taste of one without actually going through the trouble and the calories to deep-fry- and all the grease. This was nice.
Chimichangas
2 lbs ground beef (I only used a scant 3/4 lb)
1 onion, chopped (I forgot this and it was fine- but I think it would be good with some onion flavor)
1 can refried beans (I refried my own, I think it was probably more like 1 1/2 to 2 cans' worth)
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 cup cheddar cheese
14-16 tortillas (I only got 7 but I filled them WAY too full. Thomas and I both agreed I could have easily have halved it and it would have been fine. We wanted a better filling-to-tortilla ratio.)
Butter or oil
In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion until brown. Add taco seasoning (I also added some water as directed because my refried beans were a little thick for my taste.) Add taco seasoning and refried beans, stir until smooth and warmed through. Stir in cheese til melty. Fill tortillas, roll (fold left and right sides in, then top and bottom), and close with toothpicks (I didn't do this and it was ok, but they did start coming apart as they were baking. I would recommend doing it.) If baking, brush with melted butter or oil (I loved the butter flavor). Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350* for 20 min, turning once halfway through. If frying, heat oil to 350* in a large pot, with enough oil to cover chimis completely. Fry a few at a time, browning on all sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. You can also freeze them before baking/frying, but the author recommends baking if you do freeze- she says that they tend to fall apart if you freeze and then deep-fry. Original post here.
Ethan crawled yesterday. It was only a couple little knee-steps, but he did crawl. I was the only one that saw him. Thomas doesn't believe me.
