Thursday, October 21, 2010

Cooking Thursday - October 21


Won't you join me and share with us one of your new recipes, or an old family favorite, you can even throw in a recipe for homemade soaps or detergents (just remember to specify).

For the guidelines, you can go here.

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Crunchy Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons dehydrated onion flakes
2 teaspoons dry mustard (you can also use bottled mustard)
Bread Crumbs (I use my homemade)
1 pound chicken tenders


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Lightly spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine 2/3 cup mayonnaise, the onion flakes and mustard in a shallow bowl.  Mix well.  In another bowl, place the breadcrumbs.

Dip the chicken in the mayonnaise mixture, then coat with the breadcrumbs.  Arrange the coated chicken on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the chicken until cooked through and the juices run clear when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

From behind closed doors!

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My morning started out with a cool 66 degrees outside, it felt absolutely wonderful, it was like being transported to another place where you actually feel the coolness of Autumn.

I stepped out back with my coffee in hand and noticed that the skies were a looming dark color, there were clouds moving in and then some sprinkles and anytime I see that I literally want to jump up and down for joy.  I must be one of the few people on earth who just love rainy days.

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There's something about the darkness in the house, the illuminating candles glowing while the pitter patter of rain surrounds you and the prospect of baking in a warm kitchen.

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I'm often asked if I really do love being a stay at home mom as much as it looks like I do on my blog.

I always answer with a resounding yes.  Yes I do.  You may find that hard to believe, but I vividly remember being about 6 or 7 years old and while other little girls were playing hopscotch and dreaming of being a teacher or a model, I was in my house surrounded by toy pots and pans and dolls.

I dreamed of being a wife, a mom, of staying at home and following in my Greatgrandmother's footsteps.  I wanted to be just like her, to cook for a big group of people, to dust and iron and mop and smile everytime the family returned home after a long day of work or school.

In essence, I'm living my dream.  Oh it's not all wonderful, there are days that I have breakdowns like everyone else but really, I'm blissfully content and I really couldn't ask for more.

So today, I found myself in my quiet house.  The kids were at school and my husband was asleep as he works Mid Shift or the Graveyard shift.

I puttered around, I lit candles, I picked up here and there and straightened out the living room for the umpteenth time because really, when you have children, no matter how old they are, there is always some sort of mess going on in that living space.

Then I stepped into the kitchen and while the raindrops hit on my kitchen window, I pulled out my Kitchenaid and made a Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread.  Lordy do I love these, but I did omit the raisins as my kids are not particularly fond of those.

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Before I knew it, it was time to pick up the kids and head back home to get dinner started.  I made some delicious crunchy chicken tenders which left everyone licking their lips and announcing that they are the best things they've ever had  HA!

Truly, if you think about it, there are so many foods out there that you could be making at home, much healthier and cheaper than buying, and you KNOW what is going into them, no weird colorings or additives.

Both recipes are up on Full Bellies, Happy Kids if you want to give them a try.

I'm going to round up the kids and make sure homework is done.  Tomorrow I have Parent/Teacher Conferences and quite frankly, this is the first year that I'm having issues with one of the teachers and really not looking forward to this meeting.  I'm not impressed with a lot of what goes on in that school and the classroom.  I can't tell you how happy I am to be pulling my children out next year, I just can't wait.

See?  Not everything is roses in my household :)

Monday, October 18, 2010

In the Kitchen........

Want to know what I've been busy doing in the kitchen?????

Well how about some Caramel Popcorn for snacking????  No need to go dig in a cracker jack box when you can whip a humongous amount of these goodies in your own kitchen.  They're great for snacking but they're also great for goodie bags and it's just what I was looking for to hand out to my kid's friends around Halloween.

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If that's not your cup of tea, you can try out my Ricotta Potato Skins. I was contacted by the wonderful folks at President and Precious Cheese and asked if they could send me a copy of their The Skinny Cheese Cookbook to try out, along with some coupons for me AND my readers. Ooohhhh cheese and potatoes, one of my favorite things in this world.

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Go on over to Full Bellies, Happy Kids and enter for a chance to win two VIP coupons for a free package of Feta cheese and a free package of ricotta cheese. Yes FREE!

Happy Homemaker Monday - October 18

HHM



The weather in my neck of the woods:
Woke up this morning to dark skies and the sky covered in dark clouds.  Within 10 minutes they were all gone and we're back to sunny skies....blech.


Things that make me happy:
Flavored coffee, I know it sounds lame but really, I love it.


Book I'm reading:
Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harries
Don't Kiss Him Goodbye by Sandra Byrd (Review)
America's Prophet by Bruce Feiler (Review)


What's on my TV today:
Episode 3 of Downton Abbey



On the menu for dinner:
Beef Stew, homemade bread


On my To Do List:

Finish off the Laundry
Bathrooms


New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Soft Pretzels

In the craft basket:

Granny Stripe Crochet Blanket, I've been making some progress on that one, will have to take a picture to show you all


Looking forward to this week:
Parent/Teacher Conferences


Tips and Tricks:
Establish a command center. Designate one location (usually the kitchen) for daily mail, calendar, bulletin board, car keys, school papers, grocery lists, etc. Every family member should have a shelf for messages and an out box or folder to deal with clutter on the spot.


My favorite blog post this week:
Didn't do blog reading last week, had no time.  Hoping to go around today and see what I've missed.


Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):
Slicelicious - My friend Jacki who I went to school with in South Africa, has just started a blog.  She moved to the States about 4 years ago :)  She is amazing with cakes, you should see some of the stuff she makes, I only wish I wasn't so scared of fondant LOL


No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):
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Lesson learned the past few days:

That my life is not perfect.  I often get emails asking me if I really am as happy as I come across, and yes for the most part I truly am, I feel that I've been blessed immensely.  But I also have my bad days, I also have times when I break down, when I feel run down or taken for granted, unappreciated.  It's part of life.  What I've learned is that I'm not as strong as I think I am and that everyone needs to vent and everyone needs a good cry once in a while, it doesn't make you weak, it makes you NORMAL.


On my mind:
Halloween


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:21


Sunday, October 17, 2010

Enjoying Autumn!


It's so hard to act like it's autumn when everything around me points to Summer.

The heat, the green trees, the heat.....the heat and the heat.  HA!

Oh I've missed blogging, I feel like I'm on this constant rollercoaster going full speed with twists and turns and no way to get out, no matter how much I try.  I need to slow down, no really, I HAVE to slow down because I can feel myself running out of steam.

So I decided to just stop, ignore the extra things I throw into my life and just stick to the basics which really are just enough to keep me and my family content.

Like this picture below, do you know that I could happily live in that place?  Of course my husband thinks I'm crazy LOL   See, simple!

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We're simple folk, we don't like elaborate things, we're pretty content just being us which on a given day could be anything from just hanging out doing our own things, being alone in our thoughts, or, doing something together like decorating the outside for the season.

You may think that's ridiculous, but really it's not, it's a way of spending time together, of having some good belly laughs, of catching up on our lives and what is going on, our thoughts and wants etc.

Our house is bursting with the anticipation of Halloween, there's costumes and decorations and graveyards outside and pumpkins inside and the scents of Fall wafting through the house.  It's pure joy for me, I am content.

So let's see, I have a few giveaways coming up on the blog, lots of goodies to giveaway so be sure to keep an eye out.  I have book reviews and cooking reviews and I'm super excited for one I'm doing next weekend, but I won't say much more on this, just know that I have some cute things to giveaway which would make great Christmas gifts.

But back to Halloween, I love this time of the year and I've been totally indulging in all the scary shows and movies on TV.  What about you, do you like a good scary movie?  And am I the only one who thinks that they just don't make scary movies like they used to?

Here's a list of spooky shows and movies you can catch on your TV's this month.


All Month Long

  • ABC Family - 13 Nights of Halloween
  • AMC - Fearfest
  • Disney Channel - October Takeover
  • Hallmark - Countdown to Halloween
  • Syfy - 31 Days of Halloween

October 19

  • NBC Parenthood - "Orange Alert"

October 25

  • NBC Chuck - "Chuck vs. The Aisle of Terror"

October 26

  • FOX Glee - "Rocky Horror Glee Show"
  • FOX Raising Hope - "Happy Halloween"/"Family Secrets" (one-hour episode)
 
October 27


  • ABC The Middle - "Halloween Time"
  • ABC Better With You - "Better with Halloween"
  • ABC Modern Family - "Halloween"
  • ABC Cougar Town - "You Don't Know How it Feels"

October 28

  • ABC It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
  • NBC Community - "Epidemiology"
  • NBC The Office - "Costume Contest"
  • NBC Outsourced - "Bolloween"
  • NBC Scared Shrekless

October 31

  • ABC America's Funniest Home Videos - "Episode 2105"
  • ABC Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - "Oregon School for the Deaf"
  • ABC Desperate Housewives - "Excited and Scared"
  • AMC The Walking Dead - "Dead Man's Identity"
 
November 7

  • FOX The Simpsons - "Treehouse of Horror XXI"
  • FOX The Cleveland Show - "It's the Great Pancake, Cleveland Brown"
  • FOX Family Guy - "Halloween on Spooner Street"
  • FOX American Dad! - "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls"

And with that I'm out, I have housework to catch up on and then I'm going to sit down with a big bowl of popcorn, close the curtains, make the house nice and dark and watch some scary stuff.