A Breakfast Surprise

Today, Mike planned a surprise for me. Normally I hate surprises...but he finally found one that didn't make me mad. He worked breakfast! One of the more "interesting" aspects of Q's job is that we work pretty much opposite schedules. Normally he has Tuesday and Wednesday as his weekend, while I work 7-4 Monday through Friday....and he doesn't go in to work until 3ish. All of that means that we have only had dinner like a normal working couple a handful of times in the 6 1/2 years we've been married (wow I'm old).

Then comes today. As I mentioned earlier, Q worked breakfast which meant that, since I left work late, we got home within 15 minutes of each other! Since we had one of my favorite wines, Stag's Leap Petite Syrah, sitting on the counter and a pork tenderloin hanging out in the fridge, I decided to make dinner.

This dinner was fairly quick and super easy....hmmm....I just realized that those are in "Trisha's World" so maybe they're not in reality? Someone else will have to try this and let me know. But this is all made from ingredients I typically have in the house (other than the green onions...which are optional) and I was able to throw it all together in about 40-45 minutes. It would have been a bit faster but my tenderloin was about double the size the recipe called for.

Epicurious will be your best friend soon, if it isn't already, I promise. Here are the recipes for everything but the green beans. You'll see a note on those later.

Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Cranberry Sauce - If you make sure to brown the pork on all sides it forms a wonderful crispy crust on the outside and stays super tender and juicy on the inside. I used a copper/stainless pan so I added a few tablespoons of Olive Oil to the butter since it wasn't non-stick. It was super crispy and tender all at once. YUM!

Corn Muffins with Green Onions and Sour Cream - go easy on the salt (or make sure you have unsalted butter on hand) and these will be SUPER. They were also super easy.

If you want to make green beans too, just add the fresh green beans to the leftover pan drippings and oil after removing the pork, add some chicken stock and a bit of garlic and stick a lid on the pan over medium heat for 6 minutes or so. Then, take the lid off, crank up the heat and brown the veggies. They were FABULOUS.

I'm realizing, after typing all of this and reviewing the recipes, that I probably have a crazy pantry and stock of random ingredients. Anyway....this is a meal that will impress without too much time spent in the kitchen so it's worth a trip to the store if you want to make a special meal.

Fashion Statements

My child now insists on choosing his own clothes. On tonight: dinosaur Christmas shirt and aligator "boxer briefs". LOL

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5

The boys at the window

James, Logan and Asher watching the cars go by.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

At the OC Fair

On Wednesday of this week Q took q to the OC Fair while I was at work. We went a few years ago and it was a hot miserable place but apparently this year the weather was better and it wasn't swarming with people. They had a blast doing a whole bunch of things Mommy would NOT have approved of. Like......

Eating a deep fried Klondike bar (ick):

Pony Rides, on the other hand, are completely Mom friendly :)

And q went on the Pirate ride, which he has been talking about ever since. Apparently he was a DISASTER because he couldn't go on most of the big-kid rides since he isn't 36" tall yet. This kid has no fear. Though at least I'll have a roller coaster buddy later on since Q gets sick on the FERRIS WHEEL which means he definitely doesn't go on rides with me.

They also spend a lot of time at the petting zoo.

They had a great day and even made it home in time for a nap.

Infant Toys

I don't know what the deal with this kid is but he has just started to LOVE infant toys. He never liked these bouncers when he was the right age and weight.....but now we can't keep him out of them! This one is Logan Scheidlers and every time we go over there q spends the whole time climbing in and out of it. Sigh.......

In other news, I finally found a phone app that will let me blog photos on the go so I'm sure you will all get more posts now :)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

Boat Ride Pics and Poster Homework

James LOVED our boat ride yesterday. He especially enjoyed driving the boat through the canals. Of course, the first thing he did was find the throttle and push it so that we went faster. Once we distracted him from that, he sat on Bob's lap and relaxed while helping us steer.

In other news, I hate pre-school homework that is completely my responsibility. I do not like craft projects, and super don't like getting judged on my abilities to make a poster. So, much griping and whining, and $40 in supplies later, I made a poster. Since my mother insisted we keep it when the preschool returned it to me (it definitely lives at her house NOT mine) I figured I might as well put the picture up for you guys too.

Chicken Pot Pie

James and I are off to go on a boat ride (read: Duffy in the canals and harbor at Naples) and we're going to be having dinner on the boat. I made a chicken pot pie for tonight. The inspiration is my Mom's recipe that EVERYONE loves. This particular version is nothing like it because the day I invented it I happened to have NONE of the ingredients I needed to do it the "right" way and had to improvise. I was asked for the recipe so I wrote it down but please remember that I don't measure or do anything the same way twice. Feel free to improve it as you go.

Chicken pot pie Recipe

Filling:

Ingredients:

Chicken

Potatoes

Carrots

Peas (frozen)

3 tbsp olive oil or butter

3 tbsp Flour

2 cups Milk

2 cups Chicken Broth

2 tsp dried Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cook chicken in desired method. Chicken should be fully cooked. I tend to season it and bake

it (425 for 30 minutes) but you could easily use a rotisserie chicken from the store, boil it, grill it or use leftovers. Whatever is easiest for you is what’s best. Cut into bite size pieces and set aside.

Cut Potatoes and Carrots into bite size pieces and cook. I roast them in the oven (400 for about

40 minutes...at the same time the Chicken is cooking. I prep the veggies and put them in the oven, then prep the chicken and put it in) but you could also boil them.

Leave the peas in the Freezer. You’ll want to mix them in right from the freezer just before you

put the pie in the oven.

While the Chicken and Veggies are cooking make the sauce. Add the Olive Oil or Butter to a

large sauce pan and heat it/melt the butter over medium heat . Add the flour and whisk them

together to make a paste (roux). Cook the roux for 3 minutes to remove the raw flour taste. You

will need to whisk continuously to keep it from burning. Add the broth and milk and whisk until

the roux is completely incorporated. Bring the liquid mixture to a simmer and add the thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce leaves a trail on the back of a spoon when you run your finger down the back (about 15 minutes depending on how high you have the flame). It just needs a light simmer to thicken up. I did discover a helpful hint though. Once you add the sauce to the pot pie it does NOT continue to thicken. In fact, it thins out some. So, reduce it until it's just a bit thicker than you want it to be and it will be perfect.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and veggies and stir to combine. Place mixture in a 9x13 glass

pan and make the biscuits.

Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

¾ tsp Salt

6 tbsp (2/3 stick) Butter (cold)

1 cup shredded cheese

1 ½ cups Buttermilk (well shaken)

Instructions:

Pre heat your oven to 450.

Whisk together the Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt. Cube the butter and with a

pastry cutter, fork or your fingers incorporate it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse

meal. Mix in the cheese. Then add the buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Mix the frozen peas into the pot pie filling mixture. Layer the biscuit mixture over the pot pie

filling and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy! I know we will :)