New Recipe

Last night we had such a yummy dinner.  I got a recipe for Feta Chicken from a friend (she got it from Cooking Light, which means you need to use more butter, olive oil, and salt than the recipe calls for).  And I winged it for the rice and veggie side dish and it turned out great.  Rave reviews from all four of us.  The girls almost never eat meat, but they loved the chicken.  They even at the spinach salad.  

So this is the chicken recipe, but I didn't really measure anything.  I'm sure I used more butter and  feta than the recipe called for.  

Feta-Stuffed Chicken

4 skinned, boned chicken breast halves

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese with basil and tomato

1 1/2 teaspoons of butter, melted  (Seriously? How do you measure that little butter?)

3 cups torn spinach

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 T. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. olive oil (again...seriously?)

1/8 tsp pepper

Pound the chicken to 1/4 inch thickness.  Dredge in butter and then breadcrumbs.  Spoon feta onto one half of each chicken breast, then fold the breast in half.

Place halves in a baking dish, and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until chicken is done.  

Combine spinach and basil in a bowl.  Add balsamic and olive oil, sprinkle with pepper, and toss to coat.    Serve chicken over salad.

Brown rice with zucchini and carrots

1 1/2 cups brown rice, cooked according to package directions, substituting water for chicken broth.

2 small zucchini, shredded

2 carrots, peeled and shredded

1 T. olive oil

1 T. butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper

lemon

feta

While rice is cooking, saute the shredded vegetables and garlic in the olive oil and butter for about 5 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  When rice is done, add to vegetable mixture in the pan, and mix together.  Add a squeeze of lemon.   And since the feta was sitting there on the counter, I threw in some of that too.  Wise choice.

I just ate the leftovers for lunch, and it might have been better than last night.

Fill or Lube? (Edited for clarity)

The other day the girls were in the car with me and I said, "Oh, I need to stop and get some gasoline."

From the backseat  Amelia asked, "Why?  Does your bum itch?"

I had to explain that GASoline is what we put in the car.  VASeline, on the other hand is what one might put on one's bum when it itches, or in some cases, if one has balls, one might put Vaseline (not gasoline) around those balls if there is chafing.

Actually, I didn't say the part about balls.  But I also didn't think I'd have to explain to ya'll what confused my daughter in this scenario.  I thought Vaseline was the universal cure-all for, as my sister put it, "all things bum-related."

Fall and friends

So we've had two weekends in a row with friends in town, and it's been great!  Burrells came up the weekend before last.  Emily was feeling under the weather, and since it was cold and rainy out we just hung out at our house most of the weekend.  We had a great time catching up, playing music, talking politics, and I think all of us just enjoyed the down-time.

And this weekend Nelsons came to town. (That's Cooper with Madeline in the first picture above).  We explored Capitol Hill and Madrona with them, and found two great places for breakfast, and some great places for shopping too!  Kolby, Alex, and Nellie went to the football game at Husky Stadium,  while the rest of us went to the pumpkin patch.  It was a GORGEOUS day, and the kids had a great time.  We sent them into the huge corn maze with Zoe and her cell phone, and they not only found their way through, but also found all the clues so they got a free baby pumpkin at the end.

And today it rains.  Spent too long at the dentist's office today and he's telling me I need braces.  At 33 years old.  My sisters will be laughing their asses off when they read this.

Bunny ears

Mia's learning to tie her shoes right now, and in true Mia form, she's extremely focused and determined.

Tag!

4 Random things about my husband:  he can quote lines from movies he's seen only once, many many years ago.  He writes songs and plays the guitar.  He does not censor himself, almost at all, which I find refreshing since I censor myself too much.  He's a better cook than me.

4 movies I could watch more than once:  In America, Cinema Paradiso, Wedding Singer, Old School

4 TV shows I watch:  Big Love, Grey's Anatomy, So You Think You Can Dance,  Arrested Development (syndicated)

4 Places I have been:  Tahiti,  New York City, San Francisco, Victoria B.C.

4 Places I would like to visit:  Thailand, Italy, Costa Rica, Ireland

4 things I am looking forward to this year:  skiing, nursing school, Florida, enjoying time to myself

People I tag:  uh.  Michelle tagged everyone already.   If she missed you....tag. 

The long walk home

It's actually not that long. It's about 2 blocks home from school, and I love it. Madeline isn't one to chat about her day, and I still only get snippets about school from her. But she will talk the entire way home from school, usually about animals or bugs or she'll tell me dumb jokes she made up, or I'll hear all about Bella Sara Land which is the imaginary horse game she and her friends play at recess. So I might not hear about her school day, but for that 10 minutes she has my undivided attention and tells me about what interests her in her world.

(Amelia is usually wiped out on the walk home and ignores us. Or she'll run ahead to beat us there.)

My floors needed washing anyway

It's a damn good thing I bought that second Halloween mug last year.  I just tripped over the dog and smashed one of them against the granite counter top (taking a coffee shower in the process).  Good thing for the dog I have two mugs.  

Although I guess this would be when having two of the same would be better...because then I'd still have the cute black and white one.  But that would be wrong.   Two of the same could be considered a set.   And as we already discussed:  unmatchiness=happiness.