Tasty Tuesday

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe is filled with so much awesomeness, you won’t believe your taste buds.  Try it, I dare you.

Ingredients

• 4 T. extra-virgin olive oil

• 5 large cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 small brown onion, chopped  (I’m not sure what a brown onion is, so I just used whatever yellow or white onion I had on hand.)

• 1 box (1 qt.) chicken broth    (Trader Joe’s)

• 3/4 box (1 qt.) creamy tomato soup    (Trader Joe’s)

• 3 cans (15 oz.) tomatoes.  Make 1 or 2 of the cans Fire Roasted.  Puree tomatoes undrained until smooth.

• 1 t. pepper

• 2 t. cumin

• 2 t. chili powder

• 4 frozen chicken breast halves

• 1 1/2 cups frozen fire roasted corn kernels   (Trader Joe’s)

• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans

Directions

• In a large pot, or Dutch oven (like my shiny new one!!) sauté garlic and onion in evoo until soft.
• Add all remaining ingredients except corn and beans and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer approx. 1 hour.
• Remove chicken, shred, and return to pot.  Add corn and beans, simmer 15 minutes more.
• Serve with fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, diced avocado, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

I got this recipe from Karen, a lady in my church.  I’ve only met her one time very recently, but have been following her blog for a little while now.  Any recipe she puts up is so delicious.  I think I’ve made just about everything she’s posted in the last couple of months.  A while back she posted a recipe for a mean blueberry French toast that has now become our traditional Christmas morning breakfast.  She also, through her blog and emails, taught me to pour my own candles.  Awesome.  Enjoy the soup!

Happy Day of Love!

My mother-in-law is rubbing off on me.  I’ve had our kitchen table decorated for Valentine’s Day most of the week.  The boys were sooo excited to see all the goodies.  My MIL is very into decorating for occasions and I’ve realized that it really does make the occasion/holiday seem more special.  And it’s just fun too.

This morning I made pink heart buttermilk pancakes, so yummy.  We’re doing haircuts now (well, Ryan is cutting the boys’ hair, then I’ll do his after) and for dinner I’m making them a dish that I know they love, which means they’ll eat it, which is different from most every other night.  I figure they could have a full belly on the love day.  I’m also making heart shaped rice krispy treats; I found a silicone heart mold at Target this week, can’t wait to try it out. 

Alrighty, have a great day celebrating loved ones!

Addendum: I suspect most of you probably just want to see pictures of my kids rather than reading my blah blah blah about Valentine’s Day, so here you go!

 

Bye!

Movin’ On Up

Literally.  Aubrey is now pulling up to standing!  Egads, she’s only 8 months old.  She gets especially excited when she sees Steve on the couch.

 

Holding on to the bouncy chair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She thinks she’s pretty hot stuff these days.

And finally, here is the Kid Train.  They (perhaps excluding Aubrey) were having a blast pretending they were on a train.

 

Have a lovely weekend all.

FYI

In case you’re wondering what’s in the economic “stimulus” bill, check out this article.  First, move any and all items away from your computer that can be thrown, because that will be your first instinct while reading said article.

I think when Ryan gets home this evening we’ll have a little talky-talk about not even looking for a job after seminary because we’ll be just fine living off of WIC and Food Stamps with all the money allocated to each of those “programs.”  Why work when the government can support you?  Ok, perhaps that was a bit of a pessimistic outlook, but read the article and then tell me what you think.

Happy Wednesday!!

My Little Sunshines

I need to say something nice about the rugrats now because they are all (minus the girl at the moment) being super winy and annoying.  I wish you could all hear this right now.  Oi.

So here’s some cute pictures of them to remind me of the better times.  :)

Hanging out in the stroller at Master’s Kids.

 

 

 

 

 

On the playground

 

 

 

 

It was America Day at Master’s Kids.

 

 

 

This is Jake’s friend from school, Evan and his sister Aubrie!  We were at their house for a play date a while back.

 

 

Munching on Charlie Brown

 

 

 

 

 

Wii boxing at Grammy & Papa’s

 

 

 

 

 

Warren’s Superman impression…don’t ask me why he thinks that’s Superman!  Notice the socks on his hands.

 

 

 

 

The trademark Trzeciak baby blues!

 

 

 

This is Aubrey’s new favorite toy.  Warren was showing her how to play the little piano.

Well all is quiet again on the homefront.  Ahh, peace.

Friday Funnies

You will laugh, I promise.

He Thought it was Yogurt.

This is one of those stories that is laugh out loud funny, but absolutely embarrassing to the poor kid.

Last week one evening before bed, Jake was reading books.  We were all going about our business as usual when Jake started crying uncontrollably.  We kept asking him what was wrong, and it eventually came out that there was spit up on one of the books that he had been reading.  (Aubrey had recently been playing in the area.)  We told him it was ok, wiped it off the book, and thought that was the end of it.

Well, much to our surprise, the little guy kept carrying on and on with the crying and we had no idea what was going on.  After doing our best to calm him down, he finally blurted out, “I ATE BARF!”  He had actually tasted some of the spit up on the book!  Ryan asked him why in the world he did that and he told us it was because he thought it was yogurt!  Yogurt!!  The poor guy was so traumatized over having tasted spit up!  We made sure to tell him that’s it’s best to eat yogurt only when it comes in the container.  Better to be safe than sorry I think.

 The offending book.  Bad little animals.

Who Dressed That Baby?

It’s time again for the game “Who Dressed That Baby?”

Was it

• (a) her mother
• (b) her brother
• (c) her father

Notice the polka dot pants (with footies, which are out of the shot), the striped tennis skirt outfit, and the too small pink jacket.  Your guess?  That’s right folks, it was the dad!

To his credit, he actually can dress himself very well, and usually does a fine job with Aubrey too.  I think in this instance he just grabbed whatever was on top in her drawers.  He’s great at matching ties with shirts and pants, and often on Sunday mornings I’m asking him if my outfit looks ok.  So, we’ll just consider this gem of an outfit a mishap, and capture it for posterity (and Aubrey’s baby album.)

She sure doesn’t seem to mind that she’s mismatched though, does she? :)

Skype-ing It!

So I discovered Skype and so far have talked with my sister-in-law Natalie, and my sister Jess.  It’s so cool to be able to see the person you’re talking to, although there are clear disadvantages to this mode of communication also.

1. You’re pretty well tied to your computer.  Even if you do have wireless internet, it’s not much fun lugging a laptop all over when you’re talking.  Often when I’m on the phone I’m doing something else, like the dishes or straightening the desk or the kids’ room.
2. Even though the live feed can be somewhat grainy, it’s SO obvious if one hasn’t showered or even changed from ones pajamas at 4 in the afternoon.  This sister shall remain nameless.  :)

Overall, it’s great to be able to see face to face people who live far away that you don’t see often.  My boys had fun talking with their cousin Johnny in Washington. 

If you’re on Skype, let me know and we can chat!  (Make sure you shower first though.)

That’s Jess and I talking last night. 

Why We Have Children…Part II

To do the dishes of course!  This was yesterday, and all day today Jake keeps asking if he can do the dishes!  If it weren’t for the water all over the floor and food bits on the “clean” dishes, I’d totally say yes.  Give it a few years, kid, then you can knock yourself out on those dishes.

Tasty…Wednesday

A day late, a recipe short…

This is one of my very favorite salad recipes…so good with the feta.  It’s also really easy to prepare and is best if chilled for a couple of hours before eating.  If you go that route, wait to mix in the cheese until right before you serve it.  YUM!

Slaw with Feta Cheese

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
• 1-2 t. ground pepper
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1 t. dried Italian seasoning
• 1 med. head red cabbage, shredded
• 4 oz. package feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

• Whisk all ingredients together except cabbage and cheese.
• Pour over cabbage, mix in cheese.

My Guys

Goofing around the other day, look at Jake’s big blues!

 

Pretty handsome aren’t they?

Why We Have Children

He vacuumed the whole carpet and did a great job!  Notice the sheer determination in his face, tongue out and everything!

The Day of My Birth

I entered this world courtesy of my mother on January 21st, 29 years ago. Yep, that’s right, less than a year from the big 3-0. My troop and I just hung out all day until Ryan got home from work, then I went to Target (by myself, sweet!) to pick up some face wash and hair color. Ryan had asked me earlier in the week if I wanted him to make dinner, and while deeply appreciating the gesture I also know he is somewhat lacking in the culinary skills department due to never cooking, and decided to make the Thai noodles in Peanut Sauce that I had been wanting to try. It turned out ok, the recipe needs some tweaking, and when I get it right, you’ll find it on Tasty Tuesdays I’m sure.

(Quick tangent about Ryan’s cooking skills: before I went to Washington for the weekend a couple weeks ago, I had purchased all the ingredients needed to make a homemade macaroni and cheese [which, incidentally, is so delicious because it’s made with Velveeta instead of cheddar], but never got around to making it. Well, when I called home Friday night I asked the boys what they had for dinner and they said that daddy had made macaroni & cheese. Shame on me, it didn’t even cross my mind that he had made it from scratch, I just assumed he made up a box of Kraft. When Ryan got on the phone after the boys, he proudly informed me that he had actually made the dish with the ingredients I bought! I think a Dad of the Year award is in order here, don’t you agree? Maybe I could have trusted him to make a birthday dinner!)

Back to birthday business.

Ryan did end up making me a cake (yellow, with chocolate fudge frosting, my favorite) and it actually looked very pretty! He frosted it very well and of course it tasted delicious. After dinner I opened the presents my guys had gotten me, and after the boys were in bed I started the book Ryan got me, David McCullough’s The Johnstown Flood. (So far it’s awesome.)

All in all, it was a very nice day spent with my very favorite peeps.

The Sprinkle King used an entire container of nonpareils!

Of course the boys had to help me open my presents. :)

Being silly!

Jake is practicing his photo taking skills!

And I think I’ll leave you with an incredibly cute picture of my incredibly beautiful daughter, taken at Master’s Kids last week.

Check out all that drool on her shirt!

What a wonderfully blessed 29 years I’ve had!

Friday Funnies

Hi all-my sister sent me this in an email and I wanted to pass it on to you-it’s hilarious!

Simple Home Remedies:

1. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.
2. (for the guys) Avoid arguments with the females about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.
3. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins. Remember to use a timer.
4. A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
5. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives. Then you’ll be afraid to cough.
6. You only need two tools in life: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn’t move and does, use the duct tape.
7. If you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve got an electrical problem.

My favorites are #3 and #5. I laughed and laughed when I first read those!

Happy Friday!