Monday, April 16, 2012

Menu Plan Monday

This has been such a wonderful weekend! Friday night, we enjoyed dinner at Five Guys then headed over to the Portland Home Show to get ideas for the addition. Saturday, we were up and out of the house early for our first road trip of the weekend. Our nephew, Cameron, turned one on Saturday! We headed up to Waterville to enjoy his birthday party. The weather was nice and we had a great time! Sunday was road trip number two of the weekend. Out of the house early again, this time we headed south. Our niece, Lola, made her first communion! Laura, of course, threw a fabulous party and Peter spent most of the day running between the trampoline and bouncy house! Today, both Pete and I had today off! The weather had gotten better each day! We've spent a relaxing day playing outside, getting the lawn mowed, and we all got naps in :) It's going to be a nice week so we'll grill a lot this week!
Enjoy your week!

Monday: Hamburgers, Pasta Salad
Tuesday: Pork Loin, Asparagus, Grilled Potato & Onions
Wednesday: Grilled Pizza
Thursday: Steak Kabobs & Rice
Friday: Takeout!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Peter's Art Show!


On Wednesday night, we went to Peter's first school event! He has started school in January, and he LOVES it! He was so excited to have us all go to school with him and see his projects!
Peter showing us his hand print butterfly!
The classes caterpillars. Peter's is middle left.

Peter's chrysalis hanging on a tree :)
Classmates..... Carson, Peter and Landon :)

Friday, April 13, 2012

Easter

Easter weekend. On Saturday afternoon we headed up to see Mame and Papa. We enjoyed some time outside and I got beautiful flowers to plant on the back hill for an Easter present :)
Jack got a Lion from Mame & Papa, I think he likes it, haha
Peter got some new race cars, then asked Papa if they could play with the race track, he was in heaven with Nascar fun! We had a great time!

Sunday morning. ..Easter baskets ready for the boys!
Peter was so excited that he got a Danica Patrick race car!! He hasn't put it down since :)
Wearing Easter grass from the baskets from Auntie Laura, haha
 Jenny, Pete's sister, wanted to do something for Easter so I thought why not a small egg hunt for the three cousins! The Easter brunch spread.

Trading kids.....with, Jenny, Jack, Cameron :)
This is why I can't have big groups at my house, we were a small group and still can't fit!
I made Easter bunnies out of cinnamon buns, thank you Pinterest!
Jack & Cam enjoying brunch

After brunch, we headed outside for the egg hunt...........
Peter in pursuit of eggs!
Jack checking out his loot :)
Cameron excited to find an egg!
Showing Daddy his pail of eggs.


The best shot of these 3 together!
The best family pic we could get :)

 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

GUEST POST: Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

I'm so excited for my first guest post today! Mindi and I went to high school together, then reconnected over facebook and our blogs. I asked her to be my first guest blogger and her photos are great! Welcome Mindi from Simply Stavish..........
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Hi, I'm Mindi, a working mom of two boys crazy little boys, Xander and Noah. During the week I work for a children's hospital as a Speech-Language Pathologist, all while wishing I was at home playing with my boys. I blog over at Simply Stavish about my family, knitting, crafting and my latest passion, photography. I recently started a weekly feature, Mommy Minute Monday, where I share information on topics in speech, language, voice and oral motor development. My idea is to share useful and fun information, such as tips on building your child's language while cleaning the house.

I am super excited to be guest posting today for Jennifer. I love that our blogging friendship has grown over the past few years, as we watch our children grow together. Our boys are very close together in age so it's fun to cheer them on as they reach milestones and celebrate birthdays. Since I'm working on taking better pictures of food I want to share one of our families' favorite meals, Chicken and Broccoli Casserole with Crunchy Almond Topping. This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Meal Makeover Mom's No Whine With Dinner.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole with Crunchy Almond Topping
Serving Size: 4-6
Total Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
3 cups of Chopped Broccoli
2 tablespoons Chicken Poultry Seasoning
1 pound Chicken Breast (cut into bite size pieces
1 cup Canned Cream of Chicken Soup
1⁄3 cup Light Canola Mayonnaise
1⁄4 cup Sliced Almonds, chopped finely (optional or can be substituted with pecans or walnuts)
1⁄4 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
2 tablespoons Ground Flax Seed
2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese

Directions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350. Chop and steam broccoli florets.
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Step 2: Meanwhile, season chicken with poultry seasoning and cook in skillet (until done).
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Step 3:  In a large bowl, whisk together the soup,  mayonnaise, and additional spices (I throw in garlic powder, dill, and oregano) until well combined.
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Step 4: Add the chicken and broccoli and stir gently to combine.
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Step 5: Place in a 2-quart baking dish and set aside.
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Step 6: To make the topping, blend together the almonds, breadcrumbs, flaxseed and Parmesan cheese. Spread evenly over the chicken mixture. I use my Magic Bullet for this but a blender or food processor would work just as well. Omit the nuts if serving to a young child or anyone with a nut allergy. Walnuts or pecans are great as part of the topping too.
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Step 7: Bake until the mixture bubbles and the topping turns golden brown, about 20 minutes.
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Step 8: Serve over brown or white rice and enjoy.
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Check out my recipe index of over 60 recipes including other casserole dishes!



Monday, April 9, 2012

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday! We had a great weekend! Saturday was a relax at home kind of day and Sunday we hosted an Easter egg hunt! We have a busy week on our plate so I am keeping it simple with meals. I have been lacking on the posting of recipes so I'm be getting some up on the blog soon! Have a great week everyone :)

Monday: Chicken Parm & Penne
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Peter's Preschool Art Show! Quesadillas
Thurday: Chicken & Rice Casserole
Friday: Takeout, of course!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Egg Decorating


In preparation for our Easter gathering here tomorrow, we decorated some eggs this morning!

Daddy showing Peter how to put the eggs in the cups.

Peter loved it! We wrote the names of everyone coming tomorrow on them.

Jack putting a sticker on his egg!

It was the perfect Saturday morning, still in our jammies, family activity :)
Peter's hand as colorful as the eggs,LOL

Our family eggs :)

Friday, April 6, 2012

My Book Pile

I haven't done a post like this for a while. Truth, I haven't had much time to read. The other night, I was reading in bed and Pete looked over at me and said, "I'm surprised you don't have a kindle." Really, there is something I love about holding a book, turning the pages, and the smell of the paper. Plus, my husband works at a paper mill and with this technology driven world I feel like I'm helping him keep his job LOL! Last week I was able to make it to the library and here is what I got to pick up and requested. Remember to support your local library! What are you reading?

Hotel Vendome by Danielle Steel
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Caught by Harlen Coben
Shelter: A Mickey Bolitar Novel by Harlen Coben
Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill
Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson