Thursday, February 16, 2012

Another New Recipe=Yum!

Saturday morning Paul and I looked through my Pinterest recipe board. We found a bunch of things we wanted to try but they were all very similar. If there was a recipe that had chili powder, soy sauce and lime juice in it I think I pinned it. LOL! We went to the store and bought everything we needed for over a weeks worth of meals. So far we've only made one of the recipes and guess what, this one didn't even have soy sauce. ; )

FYI~The title is a clickable link to the recipe.


Really this recipe is just for a rub (we love rubs!) and then you baste the chicken at the end with honey and vinegar. I made the rub just like she did. I didn't have any coriander or chipotle powder so I left it out. There was one thing I did do differently. I used apple cider vinegar in the honey baste. 

This ended up being the perfect meal us. It was quick, easy and luckily very adaptable. I got what I wanted and the family got what they wanted. I cooked the chicken indoors on the George Foreman and made a pan of jasmine rice to serve with it. I made the kids skewers in the citrus flavor that they like, Paul got chicken with rice like he likes and in the end I got a chicken salad like I like.

Andrew tried a piece of our chicken and said he wouldn't ask for it but would eat it if it I made it again. Then later he asked Paul for another bite. Emma didn't love it but she is getting better about eating things so I think she would eat it if I made it again. 

I asked Paul if this was different enough to include in our regular rotation and he said yes. Wahoo. A new recipe is born. He also tasted my salad and really liked it. Unfortunately he doesn't think a salad is a complete meal. 



On the page I linked above there was a link to a salad using the grilled chicken. It sounded delicious. The dressing was really unique. I liked it yesterday but I LOVED it today. You could really taste the cumin the next day.

Note to self: The dressing really needs to be made ahead of time so the flavors can blend.

This salad was really good and kept me fuller much longer that I anticipated. I added a bunch of chia seeds to the dressing and left red onions out of my salad. I think next time I will add some cayenne pepper to the dressing just to kick it up a notch.

I had a lot of dressing left over so I ate it today on a different salad just to see how the flavors would work. I used the left over salad mix with cubed swiss cheese, sliced almonds and chunks of navel oranges. I ate my salad with some baked tilapia. It was so good. I like it almost as well as the chicken salad. I will make this dressing over and over again.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Valentine's Day 2012

We stuck with tradition again this year. We had the heart shaped pizza, the table covered with candy and the Martinelli's in the fun martini glasses for dinner. One thing we did that was NOT traditional was go to Tucano's for lunch. Paul treated me to a hot lunch date. I guess you could say I had my cake and got to eat it too. It was very nice being with just him on Valentine's Day but I still got to have my fun traditions at night with the kids. 




Emma decorated the cupcakes for us.


I think this is the first year we haven't worn pink or red.






We all have Instagram on our phones now. I collected all the pictures and made a collage. It includes pictures from our lunch and dinner. I love it! I just may have to have it printed for our fridge or something. So fun! 


Chinese New Year

The Year of the Dragon!

On February 6th we were invited to David & Nancy's for a Chinese New Year dinner. Nancy always sets a fabulous table but this might have been our all time favorite. We loved her cool plates, funky dragon and silver fortune cookies! We got to practice using chops sticks before dinner but gave up and used our fork for the actual meal. The food was great. We had chicken satay, a pork and pineapple dish that was my favorite and a beef dish that was Paul's favorite. Of course there was her coconut rice which is always a favorite of Andrew's! After dinner Emma taught the family home evening lesson on Faith. She did a great job. It was nice to be able to spend time and share faith building experiences with grandma and grandpa. 

February 4th~More Basketball

Emma has finally learned to use her long arms for good. She has turned into a pretty good rebounder. This was a hard game though. The other team had a tall girl who could really make shots. I think that is our biggest problem. We don't have anyone that can score well. Emma did make another basket though. That was exciting. In the end it was a loss but the team had fun and they are getting better. 




This girl gave Emma problems. She is tall (and gorgeous, not that it matters but I kept staring at her because she was so pretty!) and totally intimidated Emma. She just kept stuffing the ball in people's faces LOL! I finally yelled "she's not that much taller than you!" to which Emma replied, "But she has long arms!" I said, "So do you!!!" 



I love watching these girls.

Consumed

Last week sewing these little buggers was my life. These little trick-or-treaters consumed me. (Perhaps I shouldn't procrastinate. I waited until there was only a week left to start them.) It was so bad Andrew didn't have clean jeans to wear to school on Friday. Or clean underwear on Saturday. I spent way too much time sewing these little guys that I forgot to do laundry. This months assignment is easier. There are only two and they should sew up quickly. It will be much easier but I still shouldn't wait until the  last minute. The teacher of my class said the worst is behind us. We have done the hardest part. We shall see...





For the record, I still don't like applique. 

Family Fun Night for FHE

We decided a while back that each Monday night we would have a theme for family home evening. If there happened to be a fifth Monday we would go and do an activity. January had five Mondays so we promised the kids we would take them somewhere fun. We could all go to Trafalga and play laser tag and mini golf or we could take the kids to Jump On It where we could be spectators. We chose to take them to Jump On It. They had a blast. They quickly made friends with the other kids there. Paul and I watched them play, flip and jump. It was great. Paul and I even got to play a game of air hockey. When the time ran out we were tied. Rematch? I think so.









Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Best January Ever!!!

I can not believe I made it through another January. Guess what, IT WAS PAINLESS!!! This was the best January ever. I was sick for a quarter or more of it and I didn't even care. It was unseasonable warm. The sunny days outnumbered the grey days. There were so many sunny warm days!!! The days got longer. The sunsets were gorgeous. The snow came and went quickly. It was absolutely the best. I feel so happy. I have never been this happy in January. I actually cried happy tears on Saturday morning because I felt so good. It is a true blessing for me. I almost said something out loud about how glorious it was but I didn't want to jinx it. So I kept my mouth shut and soaked up the last few days of the month with a smile in my heart. Now it's behind us, that normally awful month is gone. I am such a happy girl.