#58

Today we went to Wilsonville's Memorial Park to have a play date with 2 girls I was in the Ed. program with at Western. Kari (one of the girls) facebooked me last night and asked if I wanted to meet her (with her 1 year old little boy, Kade) and JulieAnne (with her 2 year old little girl, Maddie)....both of these girls are also 8 1/2 months pregnant with their seconds..I of course said sure, since this is the first day of summer and it is BEAUTIFUL out!!! My shoulders got a little burnt...WHOOPS!! It was a lot of fun for Brynn to run around and play with other kids. I will def. take her back there this summer!!! Next time I will bring her a toy to play with in the water because baby got a little wet today :)

When we were walking back to the car.

Playing in the water

She LOVED it

#89 Take 2

Grilled Chicken-and-Bacon-(and Broccoli)

Mac 'n' Cheese

YUM YUM! New Recipe:

Grilled Chicken-and-Bacon Mac 'n' Cheese (Serves 4-6)

courtesy of Every Day with Rachael Ray

~6 slices good-quality smoky bacon

~salt and pepper

~1 pound whole wheat short-cut pasta

~2 pieces skinless, boneless chicken breast, lightly pounded

~Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) for drizzling

~1/2 tsp. sweet smoked paprika

~4 tbsp. butter

~1 large onion, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced

~2 rounded tbsp. flour

~1/2 cup chicken stock OR cloudy apple cider

~2 cups whole milk

~2 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme

~Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

~1 1/2 cups shredded extra-sharp white cheddar cheese

~1 cup shredded gruyere cheese

~Chopped flat parsley for celery greens for garnish

Preheat oven to 375. Arrange the bacon on a slotted broiler pan or on a rack placed over a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 15 minutes. Chose and reserve. Switch on the broiler and position the rack in the center of the oven.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the past and cooke 1 minute less than the instructions indicate, or until just shy of al dente. Drain and return to the pot.

While the pasta is working, heat a grill pan or cast-iron griddle over med-high heat. Drizzle the chicken with EVOO to coat lightly, then season lightly with paprika, salt, and pepper. Grill the chicken for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Transfer to a cutting board and halve the chicken pieces lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise.

While the chicken cooks, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until golden brown and very soft, 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in the stock or cider then the milk. Bring to a boil and cook, whisking, until the sauce covers the back of a spoon, 3-4 minutes. Add the thyme and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir in the cheeses until melted.

Add the chicken, bacon and sauce to the pasta and transfer to a casserole dish. Broil until bubbling and browned, 5 minutes. Garnish.

As always, I followed the recipe but not to a "T". The first thing I did "wrong" was double the sauce recipe. I wasn't exactly sure how much weight in pasta I was cooking, so I wanted to make sure it was creamy enough...extra creamy being OKAY too :) When I went to the store to buy the ingredients, I was not in the mood to search for Gruyere cheese, so I just used an extra italian blend with the white cheddar instead. I also thought I had penne in the cupboard (so of course I didn't buy any) and when I got home...did not have any noodles but linguine..so they had to do!! My sister was over helping me make it and instead of mixing everything together...she suggested just layering in the pan...so we did. (oh we added broccoli too) It turned out SUPER yummy and SUPER creamy! DELICIOUS!! I would def. make this one again!!

The finished product...since I used linguine, I had to cut it like lasagna :)

Just stirring the chicken...oh I cut the chicken before I cooked it too...I hate handling HOT chicken!

My sis taking her turn stirring the cream sauce

#33

It's funny I wrote this one..."Go to a UofO football game" this is obviously written BEFORE I grew to HATE UofO football...ha ha! Last football season erked me beyond belief and now I do not have any desire to see them. Kinda sad, but it's the truth! So if this does not get done...I will not stress over it!

#27

I finally bought a bouquet of fresh flowers for the table. I saw a really beautiful bouquet @ Saturday Market on Saturday when we were walking along the water front after the Rose Parade, however, I didn't have any cash on me...so I had to settle for the bouquet @ Grocery Outlet the next day :) ha ha! I think these were Costco 2nd's...but I got them for about 1/2 the price I would have paid there. It cost 5.99. There was a 7.99 bouquet too which was a bit bigger but I decided on this...

#61

I DID THIS TOO! NO T.V. for a week. April 18th-24th was National Screen Free Week. I still used the computer (a little..not facebook) but we (Jerret and me) did the NO T.V. It was so nice! I am not a huge T.V. watcher anyways...I have a few shows I enjoy. But it was nice not having it on while we are wasting the night away. We are really good about not having the T.V. on when Brynn is awake, so in reality we don't watch a whole lot of T.V. anyways. P.S. no pic :(

#37

FIREPROOF BOX! DID IT! So the motivation to actually go out and do this came from this...

a collection of over a weeks worth of mail and papers that were UNLOADED and LEFT to sit on the counter! This has been driving my bonkers, yet each night I find other things that need to be done more before I get so tired I go to bed!

So tonight on my way home from work (Jer was working late) I decided to stop at The Container Store (L.O.V.E. this store) and get a small wire mail organizer. This then lead me to think about the fire proof box, in which Jerret and I had been just discussing needing the other day. I didn't really want to make another stop, however, as I saw the LINE of traffic in my turn lane, I decided to go straight and go to the office store instead. While at the office store I bought a fireproof file box and hanging files!

When I got home, I straightened up some other things until Brynn went to bed. I couldn't go through ALL the CRAP with Brynn awake because she would just get into it all. But the minute I put her to bed, I went out to the car, and brought in my purchase. From there it was a wonderful feeling of PURGING! I went through all the CRAP on the counter (SOO MUCH TO RECYCLE and SHRED). Then I went through my old "organizer box" for documents I didn't want to get rid of. By the time I was done I had gotten "rid" (put in recycle bin or shred pile) of SOOO Much stuff it was WONDERFUL. I now have an organized fireproof document box AND a clean kitchen COUNTER!!! YEAH! (and I shred pile that is going to be a chore all in itself) I organized the "need to do something with ASAP" mail in a nice wire 3 tiered holder and made a nice place for it right inside the cabinet right above the counter. This way the mail can be organized and not just clutter the counter any longer :)

#24

Okay, I have to REMOVE this item from my list. As I was driving to work today, there was a hot air balloon VERY low right by the freeway. I never realized how LARGE the flames are that create the "hot air". It made me cringe! Yes I would probably love to see the view, however, I am not sure I would enjoy it because of the fear of all the variables...