New Recipe

Chicken Chimi in the Oven

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups salsa
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pound cooked, shredded chicken breast meat
• 1 cup refried beans
• 6 (10 inch) flour tortillas

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in salsa and water. Season with chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Return mixture to the saucepan, stir in the chicken, and cook until heated through.
3. Spoon an equal amount of refried beans down center of each tortilla, and top with equal amounts of the chicken mixture. Fold tortillas over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Arrange seam-side down in the prepared baking dish, and brush with the remaining olive oil.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, turning every 5 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.

Our result: we liked this, I have to admit, I was a little leary of the cinnamon, but it made for an interesting new flavor that was a fun variation on what normal chicken Chimichunga's taste like. All, in all, good stuff!

Videos of playing games with the kids

We were playing games with Shawn's family on Sunday night, the kids wanted to be with us, but were too young for our game, so they played their own game while we played ours- I wish I had videotaped earlier, they were being adorable...but this was still cute....

Last night Lucas and I played WAR- he loves that game! The kids seem to always be acting cuter before I turn on the camera, but it was still cute- this is a two parter because I had to stop to shuffle his cards- might be boring to some of you, but I think my parents will enjoy it!

Through the eyes of a 4 year old

So, yesterday I decided to stop being so uptight about my digital camera and let Abby play with it for five minutes (supervised, of course) and this was the result- there were more photos, but I deleted the really fuzzy ones. I thought it was interesting to see what was photo worthy to a four year old, this was the result....

She made this in school that day- they learned about penguins...

Their letter this week was "O"- this was her "O" show and tell... sadly this is one of her favorite toys- yeah, a small rubber bath toy....she is strange....

This is the paddle to a paddle ball set...

New Week, new Recipe

P. F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

SERVES 2 -3

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons oil
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup water chestnut
• 2/3 cup mushroom
• 3 tablespoons chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce

Special Sauce

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon hot mustard
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste

Stir Fry Sauce

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions

1. Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.

2. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.

3. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.

4. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.

5. Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.

6. Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.

7. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.

8. Remove chicken from the pan and cool.

9. Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.

10. As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.

11. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.

12. When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.

13. With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.

14. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.

15. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".

16. Top with"Special Sauce".

The result: We really liked this- although we have done Chicken lettuce wraps a slightly different way before and when we did those we used boston, or Butter lettuce, and I liked the way that rolled better- and the other wraps we had used some peanut sauce (you can buy it at the store in the asian food section) which we LOVED on this as well- all in all, I think we will do this again!

New Week, new Recipe

Okay, so we had a coupon for Pork Chops from Costco, so on Saturday we went there and got some. We honestly have never done our own pork chops before, I remember having them on very rare occasions as a kid, usually just cooked in the oven and eaten with applesauce, if my memory serves. At any rate, we wanted to do it right, so we tried two ways of doing it to see how they worked out. One was just with a "Spade Ranch" pork seasoning rub that we rubbed on two of them and cooked them in the oven. The other was a very well reviewed recipe we found online...

"Yummy" Pork Chops

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups Italian-style salad dressing
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 4 boneless pork chops

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, mix the Italian-style salad dressing, soy sauce, and pepper.
2. Place the pork chops in a skillet over medium heat, and cover with the dressing mixture. Cover skillet, and cook pork chops 25 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove cover, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking to desired doneness.

The result: This was easy to make and we had seen a review where someone added fresh garlic to it, so we added a couple of cloves of that as well. In all honesty, we liked it fine, but it didn't wow us, we actually preferred the Spade Ranch rub...

One of our New Years resolutions...

So, Shawn and I decided that for a New Years Resolution, we would try a new recipe every week. We get tired of the same things all of the time, and we don't have the kind of time to try something new every day, so once a week it is, although it may be that we do more than one a week.
For example, last week we did three new recipes (although two barely count as they were for different flavors of popcorn). I also decided to post up the ones that we liked so that if you are at all interested, you can have them, too! Also, I may on occasion post recipes of my own favorites, mostly for myself so that I have a digital version of them...but that it is only if I have the time and feel like it! So, here you go!
Sopa Tuscana (Tuscan Soup)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound bulk mild Italian sausage
• 1 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 5 (13.75 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 6 potato, thinly sliced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 bunch fresh spinach, tough stems removed

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the Italian sausage and red pepper flakes in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crumbly, browned, and no longer pink, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Cook the bacon in the same Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain, leaving a few tablespoons of drippings with the bacon in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Stir in the onions and garlic; cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the chicken broth into the Dutch oven with the bacon and onion mixture; bring to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes, and boil until fork tender, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the heavy cream and the cooked sausage; heat through. Mix the spinach into the soup just before serving.

The result: We really liked this soup, although we didn't even bother trying to give some to the kids- if there aren't noodles in a soup, they inherently don't like it. Plus I got a *little* bit heavy handed with the red pepper flakes, so it was a bit spicy. Also, we did the spinach thing, but it didn't really add to the soup, nor have a strong flavor, so when I had leftovers, I didn't bother with it and they came out wonderfully. Will we ever have this again- you bet!!!

Key Lime Popcorn
Ingredients:
1 T fresh lime juice
2 T freshly grated lime zest
1 T fren colored sugar
1/4 t salt
1/3 c coursely chopped grahm crackers

1/4 c popcorn, 1/4 c oil, 1/4 c sugar

Mix the first 5 ingredients and set aside. Put oil, popcorn, and sugar in Whirley Pop stovetop popper and cook- spinning the whole time. When it is done popping, pour the lime mixture over it and mix well.
The restult: This was okay. It was very limey, but also kind of salty sweet, but I don't think I will make it again...

Marshmallow Peppermint Popcorn:
1/2 c finely crushed peppermint candy canes
1 c mini marshmallows
1/4 t salt
1/4 c popcorn, 1/4 c oil, 1/4 c sugar

Mix the first 3 ingredients and set aside. Make the popcorn and pour the marshallow and candy cane mixture over the popcorn and stir well- the marshmallows will melt into the popcorn and be yummy!
The result- we really liked this...but probably save it for a Christmas treat!

Hair Cut

So, on New Year's Eve I decided that I was sick and tired of my hair- you might be surprised- I have always been quite proud of my hair - seeing it as "my one beauty"- but I have had it long for three years now and I was ready for a change.  Also, it was rather damaged from dying it, so I wanted to cut off the dead and damaged parts.  So, I cut off a good foot off of the top and layered it down to just past my shoulders- as you can see in the photo.  Also, I darkened the light blonde a bit and touched up my roots- I am starting to get some grey hairs- it is looking like I will be dying it from now on.  Anyhow, I actually really like it and I think it is a big difference- but apparently I am wrong because I spent several hours with my in-laws the following day, whom I spend TONS of time with, and no one noticed a thing- so maybe I am wrong.  What do you think?

I had to get a photo with Abby- she is so pretty!

And then, of course, we had to get a photo of Shawn and Lucas...aren't they adorable?