Sunday, February 28, 2010

Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes and Cilantro

I'm still smitten with my latest favorite foodie blog. Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes.

Today I made her Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes and Cilantro. This was five and one half WW points of YUMM.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

food and friends and a bonus

first the food:
Penne alla Vodka
(I simmered it for an extra 20 minutes to make sure the alcohol cooked itself off.)
It was delish...according to all four of us.

and now the friends:

Earlier today Lauren and Tyler went next door to jump on the neighbor's trampoline. They are at the age where I can watch them from my kitchen window.

Back home Lauren watched a movie in the basement.
"Scooby Doo"

around Poker Time ...the kids came over to play

Tera brought her new make-up set.

Troy was cute as ever.

Tyler was sideways and deep in thought.
Little Tyler and Big Tyler played some mad Hungry Hippos.
and, of course, the bonus:

Matt spent another full day tiling the basement shower. Seriously, there is nothing the man can't do. (and I pretty much mean that)
It's 9pm and the kids are still running wild but having a lot of fun. Hopefully they are gaining some happy memories for their childhood.

G'night Y'all.

diet dinner date

(hey, not all of my titles have to be cool or creative or even tolerable!)

On Friday I proved it is possible to have company over for dinner and also serve a tasty yet healthy, low-fat, under 9 WW point meal.

All you have to do is combine these guys:
with those guys (and gal):
and make this:
Grilled Chicken with Kung Pao Sauce
brown rice cooked in chicken broth
and steamed broccoli, lightly salted
(special thanks to the lovely finger-model, Dave)
followed by this:
Strawberries with Cream Filling
(it looks like the strawberries are vomiting...but they really were tasty)
2 pts for 3 strawberries!

We had a lot of fun with our good friends Dave and Susan (Ian and Eric too.) Why they are counting Weight Watcher's points is beyond me. I'm guessing Susan wants to disappear but who am I to judge. (wink)

to close here are a couple of random pictures:

the vibe I get from this is that Matt wouldn't mind having another baby?
(Matt? ...thoughts? ...No?! ...fine then!!)
Susan sent me this photo from our circus trip a couple of weeks ago.

Happy Weekend!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

pictures and then PICTURES!

I downloaded the pictures off of my camera today.

Mom's Night Out
"Fondue and Game Night"

fondue
(I saved 12 WW pts. for this and enjoyed every one.)

games
Pictionary Man is the best!

Snow, Beautiful Snow
It fell for a couple of hours but did not stick around.

It is beautiful but I'm soooo ready for Spring.

Lauren with her hair bows.

playing Littlest Pet Shop

Tyler...just being Tyler
Tonight Lauren wanted to look at PICTURES of me when I was a baby. I brought out my baby album and we sat down to admire the PICTURES. I explained each one but Lauren still had her own questions.

"is that really G.G.?!"
(Grandma Great)

"Grammy looks a little funny. She isn't wearing glasses and her hair looks different."
I had a lot of fun looking at these pictures with my daughter. (now I want to see an album of my mom when she was a baby! ...Mom?....Grams?!)

let's talk about food.

Rumor has it my blog was mentioned at the February monthly meeting of my local Mom's Club. I had to leave early to attend Tyler's parent/teacher conference so I was not able to bask in the glory. But since it was mentioned I thought I should do two things: #1: Welcome all the new readers! Welcome and please know you are joining about four other people who read this little old thing. #2: I probably should start posting more of my meals and the recipes. I still cook almost every night, I've just become lazy about posting what I make. (Commenting will encourage me. (...just sayin'))

So let's talk about food.

Monday I made a recipe from my latest favorite blog. I made her Spinach Stuffed Shells with Meat Sauce.
Along with the shells I made a Balsamic Roasted Green Bean dish from the latest Kroger coupon mailer.BALSAMIC ROASTED GREEN BEANS
* 2 lbs trimmed green beans
* 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
* 1 red onion
* 2 cloves chopped garlic
* 2 T. balsamic vinegar
*2 t. olive oil
*salt and pepper

400 degree oven. Place beans, bell pepper, onion, and garlic on a sheet pan. Toss to coat with oil, balsamic, salt & pepper. Roast 20 minutes or until veggies are tender. Season veggies with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve immediately. Serves 8.

Both recipes received a "plus" and went into my "to make again" folder.

Tuesday was MOM'S NIGHT OUT (hosted by me, in my basement) so the hubby and kids ate frozen pizza.

Wednesday, I ventured out into the Caribbean and made Cuban Picadillo with Baked Tostones. The picadillo was delish (I ate mine rolled in red leaf lettuce) but for some reason I didn't take a picture of it. The tostones were awesome. I dipped mine in ketchup as did the kids and we all loved them.
pealed plantains
sliced and tossed with oil and salt

baked 10 min. and then smashed in between paper bags

baked another 15 minutes ...YUMM
Thursday, today, it was Roasted Eggplant Pasta from another favorite blog of mine Closet Cooking. I knew we had enough leftover Stuffed Shells with Meat Sauce for Matt so I could make an eggplant dish and not force him to eat it. However, if he would just loosen up and actually try it I think he would have really liked tonight's dinner. I served it with some steamed frozen veggies I bought with a coupon.

Tomorrow night we're having some friends over for a Weight Watcher's dinner. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be making but I have an idea. Stay tuned....

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Rock Star Weekend

(more accurately, "Rock Band" weekend...or was it "Guitar Hero?")
Saturday night we rocked it at the Hancock's.

his cheeks are a bit pink from playing outside all day in the warm SUN!

Shep and Emma have the best games ever!
(Emma looks on down below)

could she be the Next American Idol?

(the tongue indicates a high level of concentration)

the group performs

This weekend couldn't be all fun and no work though
...at least for Daddy...

Matt started tiling the basement shower.
He has a new respect for people who tile for a living.


He's hoping to get it done before 6 of our friends from Oregon come to visit in March.
Still a lot of tiles left.
I'm off to enjoy our Sunday night ritual. America's Funniest Home Videos. We love watching it together as a family. G'night Y'all.

Friday, February 19, 2010

fun projects (but not in that order)

We completed a lot of fun. projects. today. The FUN. wasn't documented in photos but let me tell you about it.

Matt had a lot of work to do and since he works at home on Fridays the kids and I made sure we got out of the house and out of his ...hair? I dragged them first to a couple of stores but before long we made it to All Children's Park to bask and play in the chilly sun (but sun none-the-less.) We were there for over two hours. I sat on the bench and read my book, "The Almost Moon" by Alice Sebold while Lauren and Tyler made a friend and played "chase you down and shoot you with my finger gun." I'm not sure how much I'll regret their new friend teaching them about "finger guns" but one thing I know is that Lauren and Tyler-especially Had A Blast. I almost felt guilty when I had to tell them it was time to go home to get ready for dinner.

Speaking of dinner. I GRILLED. I had Matt show me how to start and heat the charcoal grill but essentially I did the actual grilling. And let me tell you the Pork Loin turned out Super Tasty....quite possibly the moistest and bestest I've ever tasted.
YUMM!
Since I'm counting Weight Watchers points and since green things don't carry many points, I filled my plate full. Sliced pork tenderloin, green salad with with low-fat balsamic dressing and spicy sauteed spinach. 7 WW points of YUMM.

Now that we're done with the Fun. let's talk about the Projects.

Project #1: the laundry room

The cat, God love her, kicks up a "kitty litter" storm every time she uses her commode. After time the kitty litter crud gets into the corners, crevices and cracks in the molding near the floor. I reached my breaking point today and took out my bleach and scrubbing toothbrush and cleaned it all up. To ensure it doesn't happen again I had Matt make a special Litter Box deterrent box (if you will.)
And for those of you who are actually interested in Chloe's litter box I thought you might be interested to take a tour of my laundry room (which houses the litter box.)

the new litter box location

washer, dryer, food & water in the corner

shelves above the W&D, someday I'll tackle that mess
(yes, I do love TIDE and buy it on sale every chance I get)

cabinets on the reverse wall
Jack and Chloe's crates above, fire hydrant to the right

looking in from the utility room door

swiffer, dusters, grocery totes, Hoover Hard Floor Cleaner
Project #2: the garage

Previously, it was a mess of leaves, pine straw and disorganized junk. Not now though....take a look:

looking straight in

Traeger grill, shelf full of toys and lawn stuff, hanging unused bikes, two bad*ss Jeeps and the door into the kitchen.

Jeeps, door to the kitchen, recycle station,

misc.

lawn chair, deck lighting, L's new bike, basketball hoop and a big shelf full of stuff
Thanks for taking a tour of my 2 least favorite rooms of the house. More exciting posts to come...I promise. =)