From the Kitchen

Last week was an adventurous cooking week. I tried something new every day thanks to Martha Stewart.com. I stumbled upon fast and easy chicken recipes. Here are the ones I tried (please excuse the terrible photos):

Spinach and Brie Chicken with Tomato Orzo. It was yummy except I think I don't like frozen spinach.

Lighter Sesame Chicken. I think next time I will add some sriracha hot sauce and more sesame seeds.

Chicken with Artichokes and Angel Hair. I added mushrooms and used whole wheat pasta.

Greek Chicken Cutlets. Cooked these on the George Foreman. The green is mint. So... they were interesting. I mean they were good but I didn't realize that Michael doesn't like raw tomatoes (neither do I hahaha...), olives, or mint. Soooo... this won't be cooked again. The great thing about this recipe was the leftover mint. I couldn't let it go to waste so I found a mojito recipe. I love mojitos and this recipe was perfect. I thought it would be more difficult but it's not. I muddled the lime, mint, and sugar together in my glass then I added the rum then the club soda and kind of mixed it and then added ice. Using my martini shaker just made it all messy and the sugar stuck to the inside of the shaker. I like to suck up sugar granules and pieces of mint through my straw.

Bow tie Lasagna. Or as I like to think of it- fancy shmancy hamburger helper. This one is from a few weeks ago. It's from Tasty Kitchen which I think is a project of Pioneer Woman. Anyway it was quick and a nice change from spaghetti.

Sweet, Sticky, and Spicy Chicken with Sesame Green Beans (from Real Simple.com). Yum yum yum! As I put the two tablespoons sriracha hot sauce into the sauce mixture I thought hmmm maybe this is a bit much. The flavor was great but it was HOT. Needless to say Michael loved it. I always make sure he isn't putting in too much spice when he cooks. We'll definitely make this again but I'll be cutting down the hot sauce.

Mmmmm. Michael's family's carrot stew. So so good. No link for a recipe here. I think we're gonna look into getting a crock pot because we are seriously craving his aunt's drip beef.

We had some cooler weather and I broke down and made chicken tortilla soup last night. Michael will eat soup at any point in the year. I want soup weather! I know I'll be taking this back come January.

August Book

That's right! I finished Gone with the Wind yesterday. The book is incredible and if you haven't already read it you need to. I loved the movie when I was growing up, and I haven't seen it in many years. I cannot wait for Sunday when I can sit down and watch it. I think when I watched the movie back in the day I always thought I wanted to be like Scarlett. I wanted to dress up like her for Halloween but mostly I probably just wanted to get anything and everything I desired. I also remember thinking that Melanie was dumb. Of course now while I'm reading the book I want to slap Scarlett around and make her change her ways.

Being the eternal optimist that I am I finished the book thinking that Scarlett would come out on top. I really love that the end of the book wasn't all hunky-dory with everyone being happy and with all the problems solved. Margaret Mitchell kept it real. Respect.

Home is Where the ______ is/ are.

Heart. I guess I'll go ahead and be cliche here, but it's true, it's so wonderful to have nothing to do but spend time with your family. And eat, eat, eat, 'til you can't eat anymore.

And maybe do a little shopping...

Hospital billboard displaying baby names. I always hope I get stuck at a red light so I can decipher names.

Massive clouds and daily rain showers. The clouds aren't like this in Cville. Maybe they are, but I can't really see them like I can see them at home. For some reason we just don't get much rain. There's nothing like a good afternoon shower and some thunder.

Gettin' Smitten

I received this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for Perfect Blueberry Muffins in my inbox a couple days ago. I deleted it saying to myself that my butt will not get smaller if I continue to bake such things. Alas a moment of weakness. I couldn't find full fat yogurt so I used sour cream. I read one comment that cautioned against over beating the batter. So I was careful. I did forget to buy a lemon. They were delicious nonetheless.

Enjoy them right out the oven with your August book that will most likely turn into your September book, too.

Albemarle County Fair

We went to the fair Saturday after I got off work at the toy store. I was mostly excited to see the animals. There were plenty llamas. Unfortunately we missed the llama agility competition. We did see a Clydesdale. That was pretty cool.

I was pumped to see the Pantheon Popsicle cart. I was hoping to see it at Fridays After Five (we went this past week to listen to Sarah White and The Pearls). I guess they were at the fair disappointing fair goers with their local mostly tasteless popsicles. I had high hopes. Maybe I got the wrong flavor? But Michael's watermelon popsicle was pretty blah as well.

All of the food booths were operated by the same company that operates the rides and the games. We thought that was kind of disappointing. We played some Skee Ball. Our aim was to win Theo a birthday present. Unfortunately neither of our aims are any good. (haha)

We definitely didn't ride any of the rides. We hung around in the llama tent until the Jack Russell Terrier races started. That was really entertaining.

The fair wasn't really worth the fourteen dollars, but we had fun and that's what counts.

June/ July Book

My June book, which I actually started mid-May, turned into my June/ July book. I even incurred a late fee of ten cents. I finished it on August first. I read Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette: The Journey. I have been wanting to read it since Sofia Coppola's movie, Marie Antoinette came out since the movie was based on the biography. It was a lengthy book filled with tons of information. It was an in depth look at who Marie Antoinette was- beginning with her childhood and ending with her death. I enjoyed every second of it.

Now if I can only figure out what I want to read next. Most of the books that I want to read are either checked out or on hold at the library. Any suggestions?

Silly Bandz

I started off with two- a pink goose and a purple rooster. I thought I'd be stuck with them until the end. Then I discovered the actual thrill of silly bands (that's right I said thrill). The excitement is in the trading. I tentatively offered to trade the purple rooster and the proposal was eagerly accepted. I traded for a dragonfly and went to the next table and traded the dragonfly for a dinosaur (not the one you see in the picture). I reluctantly traded that dinosaur for a shark. My site director bought us each a pack of silly bands. I got the princess pack! So, yes, I knocked the silly bands when we started selling them at the toy store, but I am totally all about them. Granted, I can only justify wearing them when I go back to work at the toy store.

We pulled names for end of the summer awards. We had to decorate a hat for the recipient. My award was the "Most Valuable Interpretive Dancer" award.

Four of my co workers and our site director. We had a great summer.