New look, old recipe...

How does it look? Love it? I know, me too.

My brother-in-law is a web designer and I asked for his help with a new header...gave him a few ideas..and he gave me this..

Brilliant. I likey...

Justin had been bugging me to make salmon cakes and since I haven't any new recipes at the moment, I went ahead and did it..being the wonderful wife that I am.

*How to*

*Dump 2 cans of wild caught salmon in a large bowl.

Pick out the small bones..

*Put in about 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

*Sprinkle in 1/2 cup Parmesan

*Dice up green onion ..tops and bottoms

*Season it up with spices..anything goes with this stuff..(I added dill, oregano, garlic, onion powder..and all purpose seasoning)

*Crack in one large egg

*Mix well and shape into small patties and fry them in skill in vegetable oil until golden brown.

**Note..do not make this if you plan on having company over later that night..because your house will smell of fish for a good 2-3 hours after your bellies are full.**

***Now while those are cooking..have your significant other make you one of these..Vodka Tonic..(the lime goes so well with this dish)***

*Dill Lime Dipping Sauce..

*Put about 1/2 cup sour cream in bowl

*Dump in alot of dill. Seriously, the more the better...

*Bring on the lime....

*Salt and pepper to taste

*Mix well

Enjoy...

Snot and politics..

I found this quiz over at Amy's place and thought I'd give it a go and here are the results...





Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious

You're an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends.People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support.You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone.You have a great eye for design - and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!


I have tons to blog about, however I am just trying to get all my thoughts together.

I am still recovering after Lily's party..and then 3 girls over here for a sleepover..

Girls are definitely a handful. Especially at the ripe ol' age of 9.

Lily is actually home sick today..she developed a cold over the weekend. I am making her homemade chicken soup, (so much better than the canned crap) and she has a nice cozy 'nest' on the couch to rest and relax. Although not sure how much resting she can get with her little bro running around antagonizing her.

I suppose I should move her to her bed.

I am waiting for a call back from the craft store..hopefully this all works out. I would love to work.. Just for a few hours and to be around other adults!!

I really need that adult interaction...I long for it actually. I know Justin is here..but honestly that doesn't count..he is just as much a kid as Lily and Jack are..hahah

Besides I am an extrovert and its for my own well-being that I not be cooped up in here.

Not much planned for the week. We are renting Iron Man Tuesday.

I am so looking forward to the debate on Thursday. Sarah Palin is completely repetitive..not to mention annoying..(in my humble opinion). Makes a perfect pair then with McCain...how many times did he mention " I never did win Mr. Congeniality contests ."
Both are totally clueless..
My brother-in-law sent this to us and its brilliant! So funny!
Check it out!

Off to start Lily's soup!

Tex-Mex Enchilada's

For supper tonight I was going to make some chicken enchilada's. Being totally bored with that I decided to shake things up a bit and experiment.

Cooking the chicken, I seasoned it with the usual stuff..but then added some chipotle seasoning..which has a good kick to it.

When it was done, and cooled I used my handy dandy chopper and went to town on the chicken.

Then threw that in a bowl along with a 7 oz. can of chilies

Next up..I thought it would be good to add some beans..

so in went half a cup of drained and rinsed black beans..

Tomatoes were next..half cup of diced tomatoes..

For a bit of sweetness and a bit of crunch I added half cup sweet corn.

Threw in some monteray jack cheese and poof...you got yourself some kickin' chicken mix..yum-e! I bet you could use this for some awesome nachos too!

I did this this morning actually so when supper rolls around all I have to do is load up a corn tortilla.....

slap on some enchilada sauce

sprinkle some cheese

and assemble..

Totally easy..

Filled the casserole dish with as many roll ups as possible..dumped the sauce..

topped with Mexican blend cheeseanother dash of chipotle spice

and crumble the last bit of chicken mixture over top

Throw in the oven at 350 degrees for about half and hour.This was really good. Different. Spicy. Delish...

I loved the beans in it and the corn...

Next time I think I would add a can of that Mexican corn with the peppers..and maybe some Spanish rice.

Its been awhile...

It's been awhile since I've worked..like 4 years..
I have a job interview..at 5:30..
I went to a craft store yesterday for a few things and I mentioned to the cashier how cool it would be to work here and she gave me an application and said come back tomorrow and 'so and so' will look over it and do an interview with you.
I went back today. Turned in my application along with my letter of recommendation and I need to come back at 5:30pm. They said "when can you work?"..I said "evenings and and weekends..when do you need someone?"
They said "evenings and weekends.."
Sweet..
Wish me luck!

Something new....

Justin and I discovered these guys while playing Rock Band 2 the other night and we immediately order the CD..
They are fantastic....
He also ordered Forth by Verve and a Feist CD for me...
Can't wait til' they get here.
Nothing going on this week...except for a pool party with a crap load of hormonal tween boys and girls for Lily's Bday...
That's on Saturday..
Over the weekend some little boy came over here..some kid from Lily's class...
Apparently he really adores Lily..and is constantly asking her if she likes him..but he doesn't take rejection well.
He is obsessively calling..seriously..he must have called at least 15 times yesterday.
After awhile I was getting annoyed and said look..Lily is not going to come out to play anymore (he lives in the complex next door to us) and she can't talk on the phone anymore today. He says ok.
15 minutes he calls. Again.
Maybe 5 times after that too.
Once he even apologized for calling so much.
Finally that's over..
And then the phone rings..again..
Luckily it was some other girl for Lily..
Its weird to have all these kids calling here.Saturday there musta been 3 different kids calling for her.
I think her body is going through many changes now too..obviously.
The most notable one is the sleep.
Before she would go to bed around 830pm and wake at 6am..even on the weekends..
Now she goes to bed same time..and wakes at almost 10am!
I even had to check on her a few times to see if she was ok.
And she only got up at 9:45 because someone called here for her.
I am still working on this week's menu..
Its getting kinda chilly and I am sooo looking forward to fall and making stews, soups and that comfort food..ya know like pot roasts...casseroles..the stick to your bones kinda stuff. Although we really don't need that, but hey its fun, we gotta eat, and it makes the house smell good.

French Onion Soup

I have been wanting to make this recipe for a really long time, then I had forgot about it..

I was reminded when a good friend made her version the other day.

Here's the low-down...

* Slice up about 5 medium onions....

* Put about 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a large pot. Put on medium heat and toss in the onions.

* Season with salt, freshly cracked black pepper, thyme and a few bay leaves.

* Cook for about 20ish minutes or until the onions are browning and caramelizing. Remove the bay leaves.

* Add in 1/2 cup sherry to de-glaze the pan..(if you don't have sherry, use white wine)

* Then add 6 cups of beef broth

* Bring to a boil.

* I then dumped the soup in a small crock pot and turned it on low..

* Get a few pieces of crusty bread..(I used sourdough) ...then put some cheese on the top..either Swiss or Gruyere' and put under the broiler until cheese is melted and bread is crispy...

*Enjoy...

The results.....

Delish..so rich and savory..I loved using the bread to sop up the broth.

And like I predicted..Lily took one look at the soup...rolled her eyes and started spurting out something like "ewwww...that is so disgusting..you are feeding us onions for dinner. Why?? But Mom..can't we just have...blah blah blah??"" At that point..I just tuned her out.

She ate it...and LOVED it...

Justin was snooping around in the kitchen wondering where the meat is..and saying he doesn't get the whole 'soup' thing..

I took some to food lady and she really liked it too.

I would give this recipe 4 outta 5 stars...

Hot Damn!!!

Remember that salsa I was going to make?

Well I did it..it was great..but I hadn't added the jalapeno yet..so I added a bit and it was just mild..
Throwing caution to the wind and leaving it up to the salsa gods to make this tasty..I added the whole thing..seeds, innards and all.
After taking a picture I got me a chip and put a huge pile of it on there and crunch away...
2 seconds later........

Holy Fuck!

I immediately started to sweat profusely..and my lips went numb, because apparently I am a slob and had salsa on my mouth.
I had to run to the bathroom to see what the hell was happening to me, because I swear my lips were puffy and huge like after having too much Botox.
Dude...
And of course I started to hiccup..I do that when I eat something spicy..weird but true.
Justin is gonna love this...
I made tons of this so he better like it.
Maybe I will phone him and tell him he needs some beer with this concoction.

Hot Damn....

Referee and Frittata

This morning sucked ass..

These kids must have a personal vendetta against one another..

Seriously..if I wasn't here someone would get hurt.

Over breakfast..Jack starts up-

Jack - "Oh my gawd..ma..shes looking at me!"

Lily- "Shut your mouth..I was lookin' out the door.."

Then she purposely darts some evil eye at him..and man if looks could kill..Lily would win in that category..

Jack- "Don't you ever look at me!!! EVER!!! Mom I want 2 breakfasts....more cereal..Lily stop it!!!"

Then he flicks milk in her face with his spoon.

The shit hit the fan..I had to hurdle into the kitchen before Lily plowed her brother..I swear I thought she was gonna sock that little guy.

Jack was already in the corner and it wasn't even 7 freaking am...

Jack is a terd in the morning..he always wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and he demands two breakfasts...??? Why I have no idea..growing boy? total pig? Whatever..we go through cereal like it is going outta style..

He just antagonises her like crazy...For instance some little boy called here last night (mind you he called about 6 times), and Jack says he wanted to talk to said boy. Grabs the phone and books outta Lily's room and runs into the living room hauling ass 'round and 'round the couch with Lily chasing him and shrieking at the top of her lungs.

My poor neighbors...

Yeah so crappy morning..

With the exception of the veggie frittata thingy I made for me this morning...

Remember when I made meatloaf?

Yeah, there were lots of leftover veggies..so I threw them in two eggs and let it cook and it turned into a fritatta-ish omelet like thingy..and it was so good.

Well I am off to concoct some sort of salsa.. Wish me luck!

Off to a good start...

So yesterday was good..no snacking and I ate pretty healthy.

Breakfast was a bowl of cereal and 2 small cups of coffee..

lunch..was that cuc and tomato salad I made up along with a golean bar..

Dinner..grilled chicken breast..with more of that salad and some pasta..(although I am sure the pasta wasn't that great..but i had to make another side because Lily wouldn't touch the salad.

I used every single one of those beautiful organic tomatoes from my neighbor and I even went back for seconds. He told me last week to keep coming because he can't eat all of them.

I got about 8 more and also one perfect jalapeno pepper..

So guess what I am making today....???

Salsa....!!

This weekend we are going to Imperial Beach to Justin's friend Chuck's house.

Tonight I think I am going to make french onion soup with melted cheese broiled over the top and homemade herbed crouton's to go with it. However Justin swears he hates this..and complains its only a side dish...

Funny thing...I never even made this dish....

Thursday Lunch

I wanted something light and refreshing..so I made this....

Its a Cucumber and Tomato Salad with mozzarella and pepper jack cheese tossed with some herbs and a splash of oil.

It was really good..Jack loved it..with the exception of the Pepper Jack of course...

I am going to make some more to go with some grilled chicken for dinner tonight.

However I will make Lily something else because she hates cucumbers...

With the salad I had a GoLean Bar..Chocolate Pretzel and it was really tasty..Jack stole half of that stinker..

Hmmm...its 1:28pm..is that too early to start drinking and playing RockBand???

Oh crap..can't..gotta go chauffeur kids around after school..

Deliciousness...

So on my getting healthy and loosing weight odyssey..I actually ate breakfast this morning! And no not a sandwich or leftovers..
I ate a healthy, not to mention insanely delicious bowl or organic cereal.
I enjoyed me a bowl of Strawberry Fields made by Kashi.
The strawberries are so good and *gasp* actually taste like real strawberries..rather than that weird chemically taste that hangs in your mouth hours after eating some other random cereal with supposed *real strawberries*.
I enjoyed two small cups of coffee after it and it has kept me going..no need to snack and this was at like 6:15 am this morning.

On a Mission.....

I've decided to take action..
and no I'm not talking join the PTA..and no I didn't take that job as a phone sex operator...(although how rad would that be..at home doing your job..but I suppose your clients wouldn't like to hear screaming kids in the background..haha..totally kidding btw)
I've decided to take my family's health into my hands and change the way we do things...
I am the one who cooks everything..does all the grocery shopping...and I have the power and I can make the decisions..
We are on a mission to get healthy...and hopefully on this mission..a couple two, three pounds will be shed..
I haven't been cooking the most healthy of meals..obviously....just scroll back and look at all the crap I've given my little family. :(
I am going to have a different mind set...and focus on healthy eating and have the kids learn healthy habits...that's very important to me. We definitely need more whole grains and fiber in our diets... We are pretty good about not eating things with partially hydrogenated oils in them...not to mention HFCS..(high fructose corn syrup).....
I have reduced my coffee consumption to a small coffee cup size..and I have about 2 of these. Before I was tossin' back about 3 ginormous mugs of creamed filled java.
I can get this whole eating good down..its just the exercise thing that just gets me down. I have no equipment..and sometimes its too freaking hot to go walking...I have no stroller for Jack because he outgrew it..so I am at a loss..what the heck can I do?
Swim? Yeah we do that..but c'mon after awhile my hair turns dry and has a greenish/blue hue from all of the chemicals and chlorine.
Any ideas?

Oh yeah....!!!

We got Rock Band 2 last night and it is awesome..

So many new songs...

I am still a little horse from belting out "Man in the box" from Alice in Chains..

I am sure my wonderful tenants are rolling their eyes..haha

One even mentioned she liked Blondie too...

Huh?

Then she says "Oh yeah I was knocking on your door, but you couldn't hear me because you were singing "Call me.."

I am looking forward to Justin singing the Beastie Boys 'Whatcha Want'...haha that is going to be hysterical....

Finally some food....

Friday I made a dish..we can call it..

One Pot Chicken and Corn..

* Put a large whole chicken in a big pot

*Rub it generously with spices...

*Fill up the pot with water..(almost to the top)

*Put the lid and and set it on low for a few hours ..remove when its boiling.

*When meat is tender and falling off remove chicken from pot..saving the liquid)

*Take off as much chicken as you can..(and be prepared to throw some to your kids as they are begging like little dogs at your feet)

*Put the chicken back in the pot and add some chicken broth..(enough to boil some pasta in)

*When broth comes to a boil, put in any box of pasta..about 1 lb

*Cook until pasta is al denta and the liquid mostly gone..Turn off heat.

*Add one can drained corn

*Mix well, then add about 4 pieces of cheese..(cheddar, American, whatever..) and then put the lid on for 5 minutes.

*Finally remove lid, stir and enjoy...

*Note* you can also add a can of new potatoes to this dish and it is equally delicious...

Meatloaf...

*1 1/2 lbs hamburger meat in a bowl

* put in one blended egg

*Dump in a bunch of seasoned breadcrumbs...about 2 cups or so..

*Add in a few diced veggies..I used, carrots,celery, onions and sweet green pepper.

*Few tablespoons of Worcheshire sauce

*Whatever spices look good...

*Mix well and put in a loaf pan and bake on 350 for about 45 minutes..

This turned out really good. I was making this for Justin..I normally despise meatloaf..I had made it once before and hated it.

However this recipe kicked ass. It was super good and I will definitely make it again. :)