How about more Adventures In Cooking?

Last week Mike had surgery and we knew he wouldn't be doing anything yummy in the kitchen. I took a few days off of work to take care of the boys and him. I knew the chances of escaping to my scrap room was going to be slim to none (it ended up being a total of 30 minutes in the middle of the night in the past week). I needed some kind of creative outlet while he was down.

We had takeout Wednesday night after his surgery, which was less than exciting. And I had to do some grocery shopping so we could eat. So to plan some meals I flipped through the latest Cooking Light magazine.  I had two missions, something new and minimal food wasted.

My first trip to the store on Thursday morning was a quick run into Super Target for mostly fresh produce.

That afternoon I made my first attempt at Mike's Pico De Gallo, and the cover recipe Chicken and Guacamole Tostadas.  A super easy no bake recipe, that we had for leftover lunches all weekend. It will now be in heavy rotation for Friday night dinners. I didn't do so bad at Mike's Pico either.

I also made the Oreo Truffles (see yesterday's post here)

Friday was grocery shopping and Costco day, so I finalized my weekend meal plans.  Friday night I made the boys a cheese pizza and Mike and I had this Cobb Salad Pizza. It was so yummy it will definitely be repeated.

We had leftover chicken from the night before and I had extra potatoes from the dish I planned to make Saturday night so I did some chopping of that and some veggies and threw it in a skillet with some eggs on Saturday morning.

Topped with a bit of Pico de Gallo and cheese we had a chicken egg hash for breakfast Saturday with lots of leftovers for the coming week.

Saturday night I made a simple Arugula salad with a Dijon Vinaigrette from the magazine...

to go with Chili Espresso Rubbed Steaks with Warm Tomato Sauce. The rub was to die for. Mike manned the grill that night so I could get the boys bathed and ready for bed.

Accompanying the steak was Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Dijon.

We had lots of leftover potatoes, steak and veggies so I chopped them all up and made a steak hash inspired by one found in the magazine, but I didn't really pay attention to their recipe, just used my own leftovers and scrambled my eggs.

Again, lots of leftovers for weekday breakfasts.

We finished off the weekend with some seafood. Some crab claws

Made the base for this Spicy Corn and Crab Chowder. Which was only about medium spicy which is perfect for me.

I used up the lettuce and veggies  from the previous nights using the same Dijon vinaigrette that I used on Saturday nights salad.

And this accompanied Pan Grilled Salmon with Red Pepper Salsa. We bought our salmon at Costco, so we had big enough pieces to cut in half and save the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Also, I couldn't keep these boysenberries out of my cart at Costco. So we picked up some shortcakes and paired them with some vanilla ice cream cups we had in the freezer. I made a quick dessert inspired by this one in the magazine. I just wanted to keep it simple, since I had already done plenty of cooking for the weekend.

So my past weekend cooking adventures were numerous. I now plan to take a few off, and put Mike back to work in the kitchen.

Yummy Cookies!

I'll have more weekend adventures in cooking this evening.  But in the meantime I thought I would share something sweet!

I got this super easy no-bake cookie recipe from my awesome "baker" friend Jen.  I'll warn you they are addicting. But nothing could be easier than 4 ingredients (only one to measure) and you don't turn the oven on, which is always a plus in Arizona in the summer.

You need a package of Oreo cookies, a package of cream cheese, vanilla and a bag of chocolate. I know my friend recommends the melting chocolate pieces, but I couldn't find them. A bag of chocolate chips worked fine.

Chop the Oreo cookies in a food processor (or a blender would work) until very fine. Combine the chopped Oreo's, cream cheese and 1 tbsp. vanilla in a bowl and blend with a mixer. Roll cookies in balls, place onto a baking sheet and put in refrigerator. I left them in there for a couple hours, but an hour is probably sufficient.

Melt your chocolate according to the bag directions.  I did mine in the microwave in a glass bowl and it took a couple of minutes.  Dip the chilled cookie balls in chocolate and put back on the baking sheet. When all cookies are dipped put them back in the refrigerator to harden.

I didn't get a prettier picture of the finished product, and they are all gone now. I need to work on my dipping skills. But it didn't matter they were delicious.

You could change it up with mint Oreo's with some mint extract in mixed into the melted chocolate. Enjoy!

Week In the Life - Day 1

A little over a week ago I embarked on an adventure to document a week in our life. I picked an unusual week for a reason. Mike was having surgery. Nicholas was starting back to school. And I was going to be home on 3 of the weekdays, so I could incorporate more of "us" in that week. Who wants to hear about 5 days in a row of my meetings, calls, and work. So while some of the week isn't typical, it is a week in our life - 2010. Sunday 7/25 - Day 1

First cup of coffee...

Morning baths...

In the news this week...

Sunday breakfast....

That Mike cooks....

Hanging out....

Hungry....

Chips and salsa....

Playful afternoon....

Naptime....(don't love the picture of me, but love the moment)

Maybe a storm?

On the computer....

Takeout for dinner....

Random thoughts from the day:

• Boys tough
• Hoping for a good week with them
• Worried about my friend, hoping she gets better quickly
• Praying for my uncle and his wife’s family - they have been given so much to handle
• Nicholas super excited to start back to school tomorrow.
• Mike anxious about his surgery

Quick Update and ScrapTiffany Monday - Sketch

It has been crazy in our house since Mike had his knee surgery this past Wednesday. Posting on the blog was a luxury I couldn't make time for. He is doing a lot better today, moving around pretty good, just a bit slower than normal. I go back to work today.  He will try to take it easy this week at home, the best he can while taking care of the boys anyway. This week at ScrapTiffany is sketch week. We got to give our take on this fabulous sketch from Rebecca:

I used the same general design, but replaced the circles with stars. This layout percolated in my mind for several days and when I finally was able to sit down and it came together just the way I wanted.

I even fixed the sewing machine bobbin so I could stitch my star to the page.

I found the star buttons in my stash. Since starting with ScrapTiffany each weekly challenge I have dug something out of my stash to complete my week's assignment. It has been fun to re-discover things that have been hanging out in my scrap room for a while.

We would love to see your take on the sketch. If you use Rebecca's Sketch, send your layouts to ScrapTiffany to share. E-mail them to: Tiffany@ScrapTiffany.com.  Also visit ScrapTiffany on Friday to see the what the rest of the DT did with the sketch.

Adventures in Cooking & Project 12 Layout

This past weekend we were busy getting Nicholas ready to go back to school and preparing for Mike to be down from knee surgery.  The surgery was this morning, and he is in recovery now.  It sounds like he should feel a lot better once he heals. Mike still did some cooking, but kept it a little easier.  Saturday night he made steak sliders with grilled onions.  He used a rub spice that he made a little bit ago.  To go with them he also made sweet potato fries.  They weren't really crispy like chips, but they were tasty.  The spice mix was yummy a bit sweet and spicy.

We ordered pizza Sunday night, but Monday he cooked up pork tenderloin tacos in the crock pot and made a mango pico de gallo.  The sauce for the pork included cinnamon sticks.  It added a bit of a sweet flavor to complement a mildly spicy sauce with adobo chile sauce.  The mango salsa is about medium hot.  I love the pico type of salsas, I could eat them with a spoon.

With Mike recovering from surgery, I am on the hook for the meals for the next several days.  So we'll see what kind of adventures I come up with next week.

I decided to do some monthly layouts for 2010, Project 12 style.  I just got started this past week.  I made up some picture collages in PSE with my favorite pictures from the month done through June.  I had them printed up at Costco in 8x12 and 8x8 sizes.  I ended up doing the collages myself.  I looked all over for templates, but didn't like what I found.  Costco has a collage tool, but I wanted more control.  It took a bit longer, but as I worked through each month, I got better at it and was happy with the results.

I finally got to use my Studio Calico month stamps.  I made the flower with Studio Calico Fabrips.

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

First Day of Pre-Shcool & the Slice

Some crazy person in Arizona thinks it's a good idea for the kids to start back to school this week.  It was probably 108 yesterday. We live in a semi-year round school district, so the kids only get 8 weeks off for summer. The pre-school Nicholas attends is at the elementary school, so his schedule is the same as the schools.  He has been super excited for the past week to go back.  He even cooperated for a mini 1st day of school photo shoot.

At least temporarily....I'll take it as progress...

He was telling me he was done.  I am sure one day he will be mad at me for posting his funny face. :)  I went in late so Mike and I could take him to school, so did everyone else.  It was very crowded and lots of cameras with all the "mamarazzi" in full force.  I felt right at home.

I almost laughed when I saw someone else taking this same picture of her kid from behind, must be a fellow scrapbooker.

Sunday we went out school supply shopping for the classroom wish list. I have been eying this for a while, debating if I should get it or not.  Then it goes on sale 40% off at Michael's.

What's a girl to do? Make a card of course...

Have a great day!  I can't wait to start checking out CHA pictures and videos tonight after the kiddos go to bed.

ScrapTiffany Monday - Black & White Photos

This week at ScrapTiffany the design team challenge was to use black and white photos in our projects.  I have had this photo of my Grandma and Dad for some time.  I recently had my old photos scanned and this one was restored to make it more beautiful.  I have been wanting to do a layout with this for some time. My Dad is about 2 in this picture. Both of my boys have looked almost exactly like my dad in this picture at one time, and we definitely can see where they get their eyes from. My brother and I have all boys, for a total of 5 between us. My sister recently remarked how all 5 of the boys look like our Dad.

I also love this picture of my Grandma.  She is so young and looks so happy, my Dad was the youngest of her 3 boys. I knew I had been holding onto this Daisy D's product for something.  I like the vinage'y", aged, boyish  papers for this photo.  The paper edges were distressed with my fingernail (I know a real technical tool).

Sunday, Sunday

I love Sundays.  There usually isn't a lot to do.  Mike makes breakfast, and we usually just stick around home.  Today I want to check out some more of the sneak peeks for the CHA show starting this week.  I am loving a lot of what I have seen so far.

I couldn't wait for this weekend.  Last one went way too fast. Life at work is gearing up to be busy for the next couple of months. The days are long but they go fast.  Mike is having knee surgery next week, so we have been preparing for that, since he will not be very mobile for at least a few days.

We spent yesterday hanging out at home.  Mike is working on a big project for his radio stations.  And I have been scanning tons of old photos I have borrowed from my mom.  I finally finished the scanning part, now I still have 110+ scans to crop to individual pictures and do some re-touching.  It will be a process, but to have so much of our family history digitized is priceless. It has been fun to revisit some old memories and I can't wait to start capturing those stories in my scrapbooks.

I spent Friday night scrapping.  I found this sketch on the Studio Calico blog, and used it to do the layout below.  I am almost out of the Basic Grey Oliver goodies I bought, good thing I will be getting some more in my Studio Calico August kit add on's. It is perfect for boy stuff.

Nicholas is talking so much now it is amazing what comes out of his mouth sometimes.  The other day, we had guests, the adults were talking and Nicholas put on his Angels cap and looked at his reflection in the fireplace glass, and proceeded to have a full conversation with his reflection.  We all stopped talking to listen in.  When he was done, he said see you later, tipped his cap and walked away.  It was so stinkin' cute.

Happy Mail and a Layout

week it was fun to get the mail or hear the UPS truck pull up, because there were lots of good things arriving.  First I received the custom boys hoodies I ordered from Gina's Etsy shop, Baby Fish Designs.  I worked with Gina when she was on our design team and I love how she has taken her talents into the sewing world.  She does custom orders and these are perfect for the little dudes and princesses in your life.  Nicholas loves his Thomas hoodie.  Jackson is still too young to have a preference so I picked Nemo for him.

My crochet skills are lacking (lost with mommy brain cells apparently). I had asked Evelyn (my 2nd mom, I am  lucky enough to have more than one mom in my life), if she knew how to make crocheted flowers, because I wanted to learn how.  Well we just didn't get a chance when I was out in California last month for me to learn.  But imagine my happiness when a little box showed up with these fun, pretty flowers inside. I still would like to learn, but these will keep me supplied in the meantime.

And finally after almost 2 weeks of anticipation, my July Studio Calico kit and add-on's came.  Doesn't this look like fun.

I ordered all of the add on kits this month.  I have several travel related pages I want to do, and now I have enough coordinated product to make a cohesive album.

Oh my look at all those embellishments & all that paper...

Shop extras, including some new Maya Mist colors.

I have been working on a few other things, but I did get this layout done from mostly the Amerigo add on kit.

Have a great weekend!

This reminded me of something very important....

Last weekend Nicholas did something he often does.  Grabbed his mini book from our day at Disneyland in 2008.  A little while later Jackson was in the mix.  He isn't in the pictures (he was just about 3 months in my tummy).

What it reminded me is that I hadn't made a mini book in a while.  And it reminded me why my Library of Memories system is so worth the effort.

So when I stopped into one of my LSS this past Saturday and saw some older Cosmo Cricket blackboard photo boxes and cigar boxes for $5, I picked up a couple with an idea.

Saturday night I sat down with Basic Grey Oliver papers and embellishments and in 2 hours I put together this little mini photo box for Nicholas.  I covered the box with paper and embellishments and punched a hole for a ribbon handle.  The interior 16 pages used up 32-4x6 photo's from my 2009 & 2010 photo storage binders. I paired just 4 sheets of kraft cardstock with strips of patterned paper and coordinating embellishments. I kept the pages simple since they were going to be for frequent handling with little hands.

On Sunday morning I handed Nicholas the box and I got the sweetest "aahhh" I have ever heard.  Later I heard him call it "my book mommy made".  He kept looking at his pictures and talking about things we had done and the different family members in the pictures.

Now I need to come up with an idea for smaller hands, because it is time Jackson had his first book just for him.