Thursday, September 22, 2011

Teething :/

I have two kids under the age of two and they are both teething at. the. same. time. Ugh . . . 

I've been trying to get some wool soakers and side snapping covers made so that I can (finally!) start a test round but noooo, Baby girl and Little man and proving that they can drive their mother insane in only one short afternoon - help!

OK, I feel better now. :) They are actually both napping right now (knock on wood) so I need to get busy, wish me luck.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Curried Chicken Salad

"How's the diet going?"
Ugh, don't ask. Have I mention that I hate dieting and have no willpower?
I did pretty good the first week, fell off the wagon the second week, and here we are on the third week. So far I've lost 7, then gained 3 back. Ugh, I really need to stop eating ravioli and old Easter candy.
Ok, enough complaining, today for lunch I ate the yummiest Curried chicken salad and it was super easy!

I made buffalo chicken chunks a couple days ago and had enough boiled chicken chucks to make this as well.
I didn't measure anything so everything is a guesstimate.

2 cups cooked chicken chunks
3/4 c. mayo
1/4 c. whipping cream
1 1/2 T. Curry powder
1/2 sm. onion

Throw chicken and onion in a mini-food chopper or food processor, whichever you have on hand.
add mayo, whipping cream, and curry powder and mix well. Eat and enjoy!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

E's new coat!

This morning, after I woke up, I told my husband I didn't feel like being a grown-up today and wasn't there someone else who could be the mom for awhile?
He just laughed at me. How rude.

Seriously though, it's been a rough week. I've been sick, the kids have been sick, the house looks like we've been sick.

I'm finally feeling better through, tired but better. Hey, I even managed to finish sewing E's winter coat, which is a good thing considering it's been hoovering around 65 all day.

E's coat was a  mess to make, I enjoyed making it but it felt like a mess. I drafted my own pattern, used two layers of fleece for warmth, an old micro suede dress shirt of the hubby's to line it and some super cute monster/peace printed corduroy to accent the (cheaper) green corduroy. I do plan to make baby girl a coat in the next couple of weeks so I'll try to pull the mess together and post a tut at that point.

 The whole she-bang! E's in bed so no modeling pic's :(

 A side-ways close up of the front - buttons are from on old (fake) fur coat of mine.

 Sleeve detailing

 A pocket

 The inside, right-hand side of the coat. I cut the lining to include to pocket from hubby's shirt.

The lining of the coat

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Yvonne's Chicken Curry

My husband trains new hire classes, up trains employees and much more at his job.
 At the end of every new hire class they have a food day, aka potluck dinner. This recipe was made by one of the trainee's, Yvonne, for the last classes food day.
My husband, who is not a big fan of Indian food, loved it so much he asked for the recipe. I've tweaked it a bit but the main recipe is the same. I love Indian food and this recipe does not disappoint!

Yvonne's Chicken Curry
2 T. Olive Oil
2 Med. Onion, chopped
3 Cloves Onion, diced
1 t. Salt
3 T. Curry Powder
1 Med. Jalapeno, diced
2 lb Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast, Chopped
16 oz. Frozen Cauliflower
Small bag Frozen Peas
2 Cups Whipping Cream
Salt to taste

1. Saute onions in oil on medium heat until golden brown.

2. Add garlic, jalapeno, salt, and curry powder. Stir well until onions have taken on the color of the curry powder.

3. Add chicken, cauliflower, and peas. Cook until chicken is no longer pink and all water has evaporated, approx. 20 minutes

4. Add 2 cups of whipping cream and simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve Alone or Over Rice. This is especially good over Coconut Rice which can be made be cooking rice with 1/2 part coconut milk and 1/2 part water.



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Willpower and Garlic Parmesan Sauce

The hubby and I started the Atkins diet today, this is his second go around with it and it worked great the first time. I was preggers w/baby girl the first time so I didn't do it with him.

If today has proven one things it's that I love to eat junk and I have zero willpower, absolutely none!

The Atkins diet is pretty simple, eat less than 20 net carbs a day eating mainly green vegetables and meat. Limited dairy, no fruit, and no sugar. Translation: no fun.

Back to the no willpower thing;  along with my "allowed foods" today I also ate, 3 packs of fruit snacks, 2 regular, full-sugar pops, several Belgian mint chocolates, and 1 white chocolate candy bar.
Ugh, no wonder I need to lose 74 pounds :(

In other news, while trying to come up with a delicious garlic parmesan wing sauce tonight I inadvertently made the most amazingly delicious parmasean garlic alfredo sauce, this stuff is awesome, I'm talking standing at the stove eating it with a spoon awesome!

While I didn't take any pictures I did remember the recipe. So, here ya go!

1 stick of butter
1 med onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup whipping cream
1 T. corn starch
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

In saucepan saute onion and garlic in 1 T. butter until golden brown.
Add remaining butter and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Meanwhile stir 1 T. corn starch into 1/2 cup whipping cream until dissolved.
Add parmesan cheese to butter mixture.
Add cornstarch and whipping cream to butter mixture, stir quickly and then remove from heat. Sauce will look very thick at this point.
Add remaining 1/2 cup of whipping cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste

You can serve this over pasta or do like I did and toss the sauce over 4 pounds of cooked chicken breast chucks, spread on baking sheet and place in oven. Broil approx. 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!