Food & Family

Christmas Break started off early with a few snow days! I tried my hand at a few new dinners on those days. On Thursday, I made Taco Pie. The pie crust was taco meat mixed with crushed tortilla chips. The filling was spanish rice, corn, salsa, beans, and taco sauce. I didn't take a picture - and it's probably a good thing because it didn't look that spectacular. Brown and tan food doesn't photograph that well... BUT it did taste good!

Friday night I cooked up Chicken Caprese with Bacon.

Of course we had to add bacon because Zach loves anything with bacon.

I actually took pictures of this one as I went.

First, I thawed out 3 chicken breasts and put them on a piece of foil in a 9x13 pan. Then I brushed them with oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

Next, the recipe said to top with a slice of fresh tomato and a fresh basil leaf... well, I didn't have either of those so I had to improvise. I topped them with canned diced tomatoes (that I drained first) and then sprinkled about 3/4 tsp. dried basil on top. (*Tip: if you rub the dried spices between your hands before adding it to the dish, it brings out the flavor more!)

Then came the bacon. The recipe had me cook it in the oven for a few minutes so it was partially cooked but still flexible before criss-crossing it over the chicken.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until no longer pink. Top with a slice of mozzarella cheese and put back in the over for about 1 minute (until cheese melts).

I served these with a salad on the side. Delicious!

We celebrated Cook Christmas on Saturday the 22nd in Frankenmuth at Zehnder's. There was a little room reserved for us and they served us a delicious, family-style dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat very much of it because my stomach wasn't feeling very well. I think I ate something bad a lunch the day before and had an upset stomach for the rest of the day. It got worse when I was trying to sleep and woke up every hour until I threw up around 1AM. Ick. I hate throwing up. But I felt better. When I got up in the morning, there was a purplish-blotchy rash all over my chin and up around my mouth. It looked like a bad 5 o'clock shadow... I did my best to cover it with makeup but it didn't really help. I called a nurse friend and asked about it. Since I hadn't started any new lotions, shampoos, or medicines, she thought it could be broken blood vessels from the vomiting. That's what it probably was since there were broken blood vessels in my eyes too. If those are the after effects of one vomiting episode - I'm not thrilled about what might happen when I have to push out a baby in April... Anyways, it was great to see everyone and catch up with them. Aunt Linda & Uncle Wayne got us a cute box of baby socks, a baby outfit, and this adorable little lamb stuffed animal.

Here's a week 25 belly shot. I've been told that it looks bigger in person that in the photos - so it's getting bigger than it looks! :)

25 weeks

The day before Christmas we got a package from Candace with this adorable pink John Deere onesie and socks. This baby girl is loved. :)

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents and family. Here's a picture of Simba hanging out under their tree.

Christmas Cat

Christmas Day (morning) we spend with Zach's family. I got a few things I was really excited about! One was an iPad from Zach! It's great and I've been trying to find time to play on it and use it often. The second was the Pioneer Woman Cookbook!

I first started following her blog a year ago or so. I liked that she put pictures of each step of her recipes on the blog and she also included step by step pictures in the cookbook too. There is a breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, beverages, and canning section.

Later on Christmas Day, we drove to Farmington Hills for Thorne Christmas. We headed back home that night because Zach had to work the next day. My parents stayed a few days and it was a good thing they did because my grandpa ended up going into the hospital. He coughed really bad all night, nobody slept, and my dad helped my grandma take him to the hospital in the morning. They admitted him and put him on a lot of antibiotics and did a few breathing treatments and he started to get better. Doctors think it was bad bronchitis. All his symptoms were almost identical to what happened to him the day after Katie's wedding in June. He spent a few days in the hospital before they discharged him on Sunday afternoon.

Zach and I went to Livonia on Saturday the 29 for O'Neill Christmas. My grandparents live about 10 miles from there so we went and spent the night with Grandma then went and visited Papa on Sunday.

We celebrated Tyler's birthday by eating dinner at Pizza Hut then going back to Zach's parents for dessert and presents. Instead of giving him a gift card or big bills in cash, we took 27 one-dollar bills and taped them together then rolled them up and put them in a box. So when he opened it he kept pulling out more money. It was hilarious! And much more fun than a gift card!

Happy 27th Birthday!

We spent New Year's Eve at the Morse's house with a bunch of family and friends. Katie & Kyle came up from Illinois again and Rachel & Jared were even there too! (The only one we were missing was Amy, who went to a college conference called "Urbana" for a week.) We had people sacked out all over our house so I got up and made a big breakfast New Years Day before we went out to my parents' house to watch bowl games and play some backyard football. Pregnancy has limited the contact sports for me for awhile so I stayed inside. It was either that or stand outside and freeze playing referee...

Well, that's all for now. Next post I'll add the mini pineapple upside down cakes I made as well as some nursery ideas I've got rolling around.

Love,

Sarah

Pizza

Friday night I made pizzas for a bunch of hungry boys ---Zach, Jared, and Travis. They had just got done baling and unloading straw at the farm so I fed them when they were done.

meat lovers' supreme: pepperoni, sausage, ham, green pepper

meat lovers': pepperoni, sausage, ham

veggie: green pepper and mushroom

my favorite -- BBQ chicken!: BBQ sauce, chicken, onion

They enjoyed the pizza, oh yeah, and homemade chocolate chip cookies then went their separate ways. Jared had to drive back to GR and Zach took my brother Travis home. Travis fell asleep before they were halfway there. After a 4-way scrimmage that morning and an evening of farm work, I'd be tuckered out too!

Here's a few shots from Travis' scrimmage:

Travis making a run on the QB keeper

Travis looking for the pass

So school is just around the corner and I am not a morning person. This is an unfortunate dilemma because teaching elementary school requires you to get up early every day. It's my job. Ugh. Oh well. I'm thankful for summers off! Anyways, instead of dragging myself through the first few weeks of school because my body is used to sleeping in, I decided to get myself back into the "wake up early" routine last week by going to bed at 11PM and waking up at 7:30AM. That worked fine. My body can handle that. I got up every day without a problem.

Well, this week I moved the bedtime back to 10PM and wake up time to 6:30AM... 10PM bedtime? Check. Get up at 6:30AM? Ummmm, okay, maybe it's more like the "alarm goes off but Sarah doesn't get up" time... I have failed to wake up at 6:30AM the past two mornings. It doesn't help that Zach doesn't have to be anywhere early this week so he wants to just stay in bed and snuggle, plus our bed is SUPER comfortable, plus the cool morning temperature this time of year is perfect for staying in a cozy warm bed with the covers up to my chin. It's really a wonderful time to sleep! However, I've got to get better at it the rest of the week.

Yesterday I didn't go in to my classroom.... I stayed home and made some sweet pickle relish. Which was quite easy. I'm getting in to this "canning" thing. It's so easy and the food lasts much longer. I can't wait to can some peaches in the next few weeks and then make applesauce in the coming months. Fall in Michigan is a wonderful time of year!

Okay. I'm going in to my classroom. It's still quite a wreck. And back to school night is next week. When I meet my students. And they see the classroom. And their parents see the classroom. I've got some work to do!

Love,

Sarah

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken enchiladas from Monday's dinner thanks to the recipe from Mom Thorne.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. cubed, cooked chicken or turkey (make sure this is done ahead of time or else you end up waiting forever... :) Not that I would know from experience or anything...)
8 tortillas
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 c. sliced olives
1 4-oz can diced green chilis
1 10.75-oz can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. sour cream
2 TBSP butter or margarine

-Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium saucepan, melt margarine;

saute onion and garlic in margarine until tender.

Stir in 1/4 c. of the olives, the chilis, sour cream, and soup.

Mix well.

Reserve 3/4 c. sauce; set aside. Fold in chicken or turkey and 1/2 c. cheese to remaining sauce.

-Warm tortillas as directed on package. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture; roll up.

Place seam side down in ungreased 8x12 (2 qt) baking dish.

(I did 2 layers in a narrower dish. You could easily do one layer in a 9x13 pan.)

In small bowl, combine reserved 3/4 cup sauce and milk. Spoon over tortillas. (Or just pour, like me!)

-Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly.

To serve, sprinkle with remaining cheese and olives.

Makes: 8 enchiladas

**Note: These turned out a bit crispy on top. If you like soggier enchiladas, you could do a double batch of the sauce.

Summer's Here!

My youngest brother, Michael, came over and spent the night with us on Monday. We watched "Over the Hedge," read books, and played Mad Libs. Here are some good lines from two of those Mad Lib games.

From OUR CAFETERIA: "The spaghetti is spikey and tastes like goats. One day, I swear one of my meatballs started to fart!"

From TYRANNOSAURUS REX: "The T-rex was about 285,000 feet tall - or the size of a four-story urinal."

Can you tell I was playing this game with a middle school boy?! :) We made chili & cornbread for dinner. After dinner we attempted to go for a bike ride but the farthest we made it was down the street. Literally. The bugs and deer flies were swarming our heads and biting our necks so we turned around and high tailed it back to the house. Zach got home later and as he ate dinner we had some leftover ice cream cake from his birthday. We had to eat it fast because it was melting so quickly! Finally, we all settled in to watch "The Blind Side," a fabulous movie. Mostly because I want to be Sandra Bullock... anyway, it was late by the time it was over so we got ready for bed. Mike forgot his toothbrush... gross. I made him a bed on the couch but knew he was going to end up in our room after 5 minutes so we just moved his "bed" to the floor in our room. I'm sure he slept better there, like I said, master bedroom is the only room in the house with AC.

It seems as if summer is finally here! It has been in the 90s the past few days. Woohoo! I've been waiting all winter for these hot days to be here! Therefore, I will not complain about the heat. The only unfortunate thing about Michigan living is that with heat comes the dreaded HUMIDITY! I'm talkin' HUMID! Probably around 100% humidity - so moist that the wood floor always seems wet, so humid that our toilet doesn't stop sweating and leaves a huge puddle on the bathroom floor, so humid that our towels never seem to dry, so humid I wanted to stay in my car after grocery shopping because the AC felt wonderful, so humid .... I've run out of things to give as an example. This humidity not only wreaks havoc on my hair making it uncontrollably frizzy & curly, it makes it almost unbearable to go outside. Hence, I spent most of the afternoon in our master bedroom, the one room in our house with an air conditioner, reading the August edition of Real Simple Magazine. :)

Seriously, I love summer. I get so much reading done its ridiculous! Reading and cooking I suppose. Last night I made "Pizza Roll Ups." Which I certainly sweat over because using the stove on a hot, humid day like today in a house with no AC is borderline insanity. Hopefully Zach appreciated all my hard work. Ha ha! My mom (Thorne) made these often because they are fairly quick and easy and yield quite a few! I made them for Zach last year some time and they have become a favorite in our house now too. Here's the recipe:

PIZZA ROLL UPS

1 1-lb roll of sausage

1 refrigerated tube pizza dough, or enough homemade dough for 1 pizza

1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese

1 TBSP oregano

salt & pepper to taste

*NOTE: I don't really measure things out exactly, so the amount of oregano & cheese is a rough estimate.

1. Cook sausage and crumble. The smaller the better so it fits into the roll better.

Drain fat; put sausage in medium bowl.

2. Add mozzarella cheese, oregano, salt & pepper. Mix.

3. For the dough, I just use the recipe for pizza dough from my bread machine manual and make it in there. Roll out dough to approx 1/4-in thick rectangle.

How you're supposed to get dough to get in the shape of a rectangle, I don't know.

Mine always resembles some kind of crazy oval.

4. Sprinkle meat and cheese mixture onto dough and press down slightly.

This will keep the ingredients from falling off when you roll it up.

5. Roll into a tight log.

6. Pinch together any seams so nothing leaks out!

7. Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, cut off approx. 1-inch sections and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. (Makes about 16 rolls)

8. Say goodbye to those delicious italian masterpieces while they bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees F, or until tops of rolls are slightly browned.

9. Cool slightly and dunk in pasta sauce. Serve with a salad or fresh vegetable.

These are super easy to freeze and eat later. Zach loves to take them in his lunch. It makes his co-workers jealous. Score bonus points for me. :)

Anyways, this post was meant for last night, but I got caught up (or should I say, sweated my face off) making the pizza roll ups then we were off to Grand Rapids for a leadership meeting and didn't get back until late. Then this working I went to work out.

Stay cool!

Sarah

Yesterday I Lived in the Kitchen

Yesterday I lived in the kitchen. Well, kinda. After I got home from a swiss ball workout class in town, I set up camp in the kitchen with my laptop, some CDs, and a few recipes I wanted to try out. The first thing I did was to throw some ingredients for pizza dough into the bread machine and got that going for dinner later. Then I got started on Pumpkin Pie Squares. I had about 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree leftover from when I made pumpkin bread & muffins last week that needed to get used up. I know it's summer and pumpkin is usually a fall-ish type flavor, but they just sounded good and who can let good food go to waste!? Plus, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and pumpkin pie is the best part of the meal.

Pumpkin Pie Squares
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. quick oats
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. pecans (I didn't have any so I didn't use them)
3/4 c. butter or margarine
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves (or pumpkin pie spice is what I used)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and pecans. Cut in margarine until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 cup for topping. Press remaining oat mixture into bottom of ungreased 13x9 in pan. I used an 8x8 pan because I like them thicker. Bake 15 minutes.


Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, ginger & cloves (or pumpkin pie spice); beat well. I used a stand mixer but a hand mixer or a whisk works just as well.


Pour pumpkin mixture over crust; bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle reserve oat mixture over top; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until filling is set. Thanks to my little brother, Michael for this SWEET pan that he got me for Christmas. It comes with that little contraption to cut perfectly sized desserts.


Serve with cool whip and vanilla ice cream, which I didn't have unfortunately.

Makes 12 squares.

Well, after my pumpkin pie bar endeavor, I turned my attention back to the pizza dough in the bread machine. To my dismay, it was a soupy mess.... I forgot to put in one of the cups of flour. Ugh. I dumped the sloppy, sticky mess into a bigger bowl and added flour and kneaded until it looked like pizza dough. Then I let that rise for another hour or so before squishing it out into a pizza crust. I topped it with pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and ham on the whole thing. Since our tastes differ, I put onions on Zachs' half and mushrooms on my half. :) When Zach walked in the door at 5:30 he said, "Something smells GOOD in here!" Success.


Zach didn't have to work today! Yay! And he got home at a normal hour last night too. We had homemade pizza and salad for dinner then went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. Canadian Lakes is PACKED with vehicles, boats, people, grills, and fishing tackle during 4th of July weekend. Then we watched Disney's "Tangled" and ate the Pumpkin Pie Squares for dessert. Great night! Today he was up and at 'em wayyyy before me this morning so he went off to the farm for a few hours. When he came home he mowed the lawn which actually has some grass growing in it now! I've been entering this blog and doing laundry. Zach is now eating mac & cheese right out of the pot as I write this. Ha ha.

We're off to a wedding in an hour and I've got to go get ready.

Love,
Sarah