Just ask

Last night, 

a sweet friend, Melissa and I 

had a girl's night out

just the two of us

Delicious Stuffed Chicken Marsala

We had the best time!!!

Not as two moms,

or as someone's wife

just two good friends

good conversations

delicious food

Want to hear the funny part? 

Both of us 

share the same wedding anniversaries

June 23

19 years apart

our oldest children are dating
and our daughters are best friends
(it's complicated)

Stay with me...

So I had to ask...

yes, I did!  

I asked our server 

if we could have a dessert 

to celebrate our anniversaries!!!

No, our husbands were not present

Guess what???

This is the yummy celebration dessert we received!

Our celebration dessert

"I don't want to judge..." she started

We had a little explaining to do

We are not married to each other 

GASP!

 "Our husbands are unavailable to celebrate

One is at boy scout camp and the other doesn't like Italian

It's Girls night out!"

Oh so delicious and rich!

We gave our sweet server an bit more of a tip

took our dessert to Sweet Bay

got a coffee and chai

two forks

and each had two-three bites

more good conversations

two good friends

Ah, we must do it again soon
for we had to go home way too soon.

Home Ec Supper Project

Today, Only is fixing dinner as pat of her Home Ec. class.  The tantalizing smell of the roast mingles with the bubbling of the broth it is bathed in. Dinner rolls rising on the counter tempt us of what our palate will taste at dinner.  She has done a fine job and I'm sure Honey will be impressed!

As I was coaching her through making yeast dinner rolls for the first time, I had Youngest take over feeding Princess AB and H.  "Hey, Mom makes this look really easy, but it's really HARD!"  I was secretly smiling over that comment.

Only was doing a fantastic job with the rolls, but was unsure about the kneading. After a quick demonstration and I was sure she was doing it correctly, I got back to school with the boys. Pretty soon I heard her mutter, "This is hard work.  Mom makes this look a whole lot easier than it really is."  I was secretly smiling over that comment.

Well, I have some more papers to grade and the girls are waking up from their late afternoon naps. They have been a wrecking crew today!  We'll need a weekend just to recover from them! I hope your weekend is relaxing and I look forward to visiting with you soon. 

Have your kids, family or friends ever said that something you do looks easier to do than it really is? I'd love know more about it if you care to leave me a comment.

UPDATE:  When Honey finally came home for dinner, he had no idea that Only had fixed it.  Her rolls were just as big and fluffy as mine and her roast and potatoes were delirious.  No one died and there were very few leftovers.  I think she is secretly proud of herself and this was a HUGE confidence booster!


ps.  I have been so encouraged by the comments left.  They have cheered me on busy and frantic days, and reading them sure has put a smile on my face more than once!  Thank you!

Evening at home

Look What was going on at our house tonight...

A little whip cracking by Youngest

 

 Pretty Flowers  

Grilled chicken, burgers, and tators

           

Grilled homemade burger buns

 

 Only reading a good Kay Dacus book

 

 

What kind of interesting things are happening at your house? Are things more relaxed? Stressed? Any special celebrations?  Everyday happening? 

Yummy White Chicken Chili

Only was so excited.  She had watched Rachael Ray Show Monday morning and saw a recipe they fixed and said it looked so yummy that she wanted to make it for dinner.  Since I was in town, I stopped at our local Aldi store for most of the simple ingredients and then a quick stop at the grocery store for the chicken breast. Almost as soon as we got in the house, she was in the kitchen working on dinner, making the homemade salsa, chopping cilantro, adding ingredients, and finally mixing up cornbread from scratch... I must say that it was a HUGE hit with our family!  Only did a fantastic job organizing, preparing, and serving a great new recipe on a cool day.   We had plenty for our family of five, with a little less than a gallon to put away in the freezer for another day.  Of course we had to have our Fritos and some extra Montery Jack Cheese on the top.  We got so excited about trying it that I forgot to put out the sour cream!  Here it is - give it a try and let me know what your reaction was.

Mandi Forester’s White Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 1 32-ounce box chicken stock
• 3 cans white beans, left undrained
• 5 cups cooked chicken (rotisserie or boiled)
• 1 16-ounce jar salsa
• 1 8-ounce block pepper jack cheese, grated
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Black or white pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup finely crushed corn chips (optional, if you like your chili thicker)
• Sour cream, for garnish
  
  We added a tbsp of fresh lime juice for a bit more Southwest flavor (because we have a hard time following a recipe "by-the-book")
  

Yields: 6 servings

Preparation

1. Place all ingredients except the corn chips in a crockpot. Cook on high until the cheese is melted.
2. Chili may also be cooked on the stovetop over medium-high heat until cheese is melted.
3. When the chili is ready, add the crushed corn chips, if using, and simmer for 10 minutes to thicken. Garnish with more chips, cheese and/or sour cream and serve. 

 The salsa recipe is from a friend of ours and I posted it the first of this month here, but here it is again.  So good with all fresh ingredients!  

Pam's Salsa
1 29 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
Season with salt
Add 1 tsp - 1 Tbsp cilantro (fresh is best) to taste.
Dice up 1 jalapeno, de-seed if you don't want it as hot
Garlic - only take a few cloves (or you can add minced garlic if you don't have fresh)
Sugar - a handful or about 2 tbsp. This is to taste as well.

Put into food processor and pulse a few times. 

Sanity Day

Today I took a day off, kinda. I've been feeling run down - burning the candle at both ends eventually makes the candle go out! Waving to my family as they drove off to church, I felt no elation, as I would miss worship and the message. I fully intended to get a much desired shower and fix lunch, Braised Beef Short Ribs and Root Veggies over Egg Noodles, but alas, I spent my whole time cooking. You can find the recipe for the stew by clicking on the recipe title. I was thrilled yesterday when Only and I went resale shopping and found 8 items for just $30. After returning home we began constructing the skirt for her costume she will wear in the upcoming production of The Christmas Carol. I'm so thankful to have a serger that makes this so much quicker! Only and I had a great time watching Riverdance on Friday and were so thankful for the opportunity to see the Irish dancers. One thing I love about Fall are the beautiful colors we see in the River Valley, but also the chance for the kids to play in the leaves. Last week when we were having a difficult school day, I sent the boys outside to rake leaves and jump in them. They had such a good time, I'm starting to think that was a conspiracy against me! William had not raked leaves before, but found out it's a lot like sweeping the floor - but more fun. Well I need to get some papers graded and enter grades in the grade book... maybe I'll just grab some M&M's on my way...

Baking with Bunnie

We love getting together with friends. Sharing a meal, listening, and laughing. Last night, our friends Max and Bunnie joined us for dinner and baking. We started out the late afternoon baking muffins together, Ms. Bunnie and I. Ms. Bunnie put on the guest apron from Australia and got right in there. What fun we had! I so much enjoyed talking with them that I got distracted talking and quickly realized - I'd NEVER make it on Food Network! I so much appreciate how Caleb and Claire got right in there, reading the recipe over my shoulder, getting out the needed ingredients so we would have them ready at our fingertips! Thanks Kids!


After making two kinds of muffins (Morning Glory and chocolate chip), we started work on assembling our dinner - pizza! We're so thankful for the time Max and Bunnie took to join us for a quiet evening and giving us a gentle reminder that we should not be timid in having people over. We learned things about each other, chatted about infamous people in our families, and enjoyed having the chance to visit. What a blessing they were to our family and we look forward to doing this again soon!

** Just a sad note, that 6 months after we had the Max and Bunnie over for dinner, Max died of a massive heart attack and he has been terribly missed.