Semi Half-Baked

Jared and I have a love affair going on with the Food Network.  We watch it all the time and its the first place I go to online when I need a new recipe.  One of my favorite shows is Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee.  She makes good recipes easier by using some pre-made stuff from the store instead of making everything totally from scratch.  She makes a lot of really good stuff, but both Jared and I think its a little weird that she always includes a cocktail recipe in her show.  Maybe its because we don't drink alcohol at all, but she seems to drink a lot on set.  So our nickname for her is Semi Half-Baked.  Its a good thing that the cocktail segment is at the end of the show, because I'd really hate her to be a little tipsy while wielding a big knife :o)!

I'm going to share this recipe with you all that I took from a show of hers, because I made it on friday and it turned out really yummy.  Jared loves curry dishes- his favorite restaurant in town is the Thai place.  I wasn't sure how Garrison would feel about it, but once he tasted it he couldn't get enough.  So here it is:

Chicken Curry with Coconut Rice

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast, cut in 1-inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 8 ounces frozen cut green beans, thawed (recommended: C&W)
• 8 ounces frozen pepper strips, thawed (recommended: C&W)

For sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups light coconut milk
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth,
• 1 tablespoon red curry paste
• 1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice, plus wedges for garnishing
• Coconut Rice, recipe follows
• Cilantro sprigs for garnishing

Directions

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add cut up chicken, season and saute until cooked through stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add green beans and pepper strips and continue cooking for 3 minutes.

While chicken cooks, start the peanut curry sauce. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients for the sauce. Pour sauce into a frying pan over the chicken and vegetables, stir to combine. Turn heat up to high and bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 6 to 8 minutes. Serve over Coconut Rice or plain steamed rice.

Coconut Rice:

3/4 cup light coconut milk (recommended: A Taste of Thai)

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 lime, juiced

2 cups instant rice

1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut milk, chicken broth, lime juice, and instant rice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and cover for 7 to 9 minutes. Fluff rice with fork and stir in toasted coconut. Serve.

I did a couple of things differently, but it still turned out great.  Instead of frozen green beans, I used a can of french cut green beans.  Instead of red curry paste, I just used curry powder and I do wish that I would have pulled up the recipe earlier, because I didn't know I was supposed to put coconut milk in with the rice- I bet that would have been really yummy.  

For those of you that only read my blog to see pics of little G, here are some from yesterday.  His favorite treat is Daddy's smoothie that he gets daily from Emerald City Smoothies.  Jared has to hide it until dinner is done or else I get really mad because then G will not eat his dinner.  

Planes, Trains, and Bulletin Boards?

In addition to the RSV that has swept through Utah and our household, we were busy this last weekend.  Jared took us to the annual RC airplane event in town.  Jared and I went two years ago with his parents to the RC jet engine airplane event.  The planes at this event were smaller than the jets were and they are powered by gas engines, but it was still neat to see people flying their hobby planes around and all.  There was a ten year old kid flying one of his planes while we were there.  Jared can't wait to get G started on the flight simulator.  G probably will be an avid RC airplane enthusiast, because he was pointing at all the planes and really excited over the helicopter.

I have also had fun with hobbies this week.  I decided the refrigerator was too junky, so I made a bulletin board to hold everything that the fridge and chalkboard had on them.  I think it turned out pretty well, but it was a little weird to actually see a naked fridge this morning :o)!

Hot Izzy

Friday was an exciting day. I got my new Cuisinart mixer in the mail (I love you UPS man!). She's not pin up girl sexy like Kitty was, but Izzy is still sexy in the brunette with a harvard degree kind of sexy. If I had gotten a bosch I would have had to name her Helga or something equally beefy and German. Can't you just see Helga manhandling the dough? No, Helga would not look pretty on my counter. Izzy though, she's been a lot of fun. I've already made cookies twice and I baked bread yesterday. Se's a powerful, quiet little thing that has a timer on the side, so she knows when to stop mixing. She starts out nice and slow, then works up to speed, so there's no flour flying around. Can you tell I'm impressed? We even got G up there helping with the bread. The mixing guard not only keeps flour dust in, but it keeps little hands out, too.

Just one thing wrong, though. Jared thinks she's hot. Not THAT kind of hot. He thinks our ebay seller is running a scam. The seller has been inconsistent with her emails and the machine was actually mailed from Sears, not the seller. She also didn't want to use paypal, and has no selling record.  Jared called Sears today and tried to explain the situation. It took the service rep a while to understand what Jared was trying to tell her, but they are supposed to have a supervisor call him back. I hope we can get it straightened out.  I really would like to keep her.  I don't think I will be buying anything from untrusted ebay sellers ever again, though.

In other news, G is finally making progress with talking. It was starting to really stress me out that he didn't want to talk to us. But today he was saying da-da-da as we came down the stairs. I felt so bad that Jared had already left for work. I really should try to get up before he leaves. Then later in the morning, he pointed at one of the balls on the floor and said ball-ball-ball until I looked up and paid attention and then he went and got the ball and brought it to me.  Then as I was making cookies, I got him to say ook-hee.  Yay!  I have secretly been worried that he has had ear infections that I didn't pick up on or that something was wrong with his hearing. It never made sense though, because he follows directions just fine. I can tell him something very specific and he will do it. So, I guess we all just learn at our own pace. Either that, or I'm just not worth imitating :)! Maybe I haven't said enough cuss words in front of him- I'm sure he would pick up on that quick!

Will it ever end?

Another sick day. I thought my lack of of a clean home had built up G's immunity sufficiently, but apparently I was wrong. We even stayed home from church on Sunday, partially because I didn't feel well and partially because I didn't want to get G sick again. It didn't work.
We went to my parents house for the Superbowl. G was really unhappy, so my mom and I took him for a short walk in her neighborhood. He continued to be unhappy, but he did walk about 90% of the way himself, yay! That night I found out why he was so unhappy when he puked at 4 am. So monday we just snuggled all day together as he tried to feel better. Tuesday and wednesday were better. I even took G to the park where we played with his friend and his mom and I took them on a stroller ride. Yesterday I thought things were really looking up and he was feeling better. No puking, no squirts. Until last night. He started it up again. Poor kid. How are you supposed to continue to learn and grow when your food doesn't stay down? It has to get better some day.
In the meantime, here are some of his latest discoveries:

1. Mom comes quickly when I start banging the crib against the wall in the morning.
2. There's a hole in the middle of my face that just fits my finger
3. The slides aren't as scary as they used to be- still scary, just not AS scary.
4. I can get down the stairs if I slide on my belly.
5. I like to clap my hands and celebrate.
6. If i don't feel good, I get to keep my binky all day.

Sorry, no pics this time. Maybe when we feel better and I finish our adoption paperwork. Soon, hopefully soon.

BTW, Jared is feeling good and he is beautiful again. Surgery was not as bad as they said it would be. He has no time any more, though, since he is now the EQ president at church. He's been working really hard at getting callings filled and home teaching assignments done.

Not the kind of Call I like to Get

While I was posting that last one, I got a call from Jared as he was driving himself to the emergency room. He apparently had an accident while playing basketball at the church and broke his face. Can I tell you how much I like church ball? About as much as I love ER visits. Well, he now has a broken zygomatic arch on the left side of his face and he has about a ping pong sized divot behind his cheek bone. We saw an ENT doc yesterday who is going to do surgery on tuesday to make him beautiful again. Jared says he's not in too much pain now, but the doc says it will be worse after surgery. He's really excited about the liquid diet, since it's kind of hard to chew right now, but it will be worse later. Thank goodness he has those free smoothies for a year!

Helping

From what I have gathered in talking with Jared, not everyone got to hear Free to Be You and Me in grade school 25 years ago, but it was one of my favorite records.  I am reminded of this song more and more often these days as my G-babe wants to 'help' me around the house.



Here is my latest example of him helping. He climbed up on the stool all by himself and wanted to help wash the dishes. I'm not sure why he feels like he needs to be taller these days- as if he won't be taller than me soon enough!

"And some kind of help is the kind of help, that helping's all about,

and some kind of help is the kind of help, we all can do without."

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas started early this year.  I got home at 6:40 am from working the night shift and made everyone get up to open presents.  G-man wasn't too excited at first.  

He started to come around once he saw all the cool toys Santa and his Grandparents brought him

All in all, Christmas was a success.

Later in the day we traveled over to Gramma Judy and Grampa Fred's and had more fun there.  Unfortunately Jordan and Chris and G-man's cousins didn't make it until Saturday, so instead of spending New Year's at home, G-man and I headed north to hang out at the the K-'s house. Zach and G-man had a great time together.  Here they are in their matching high chairs eating lunch.  Zach seemed to be really happy that G-man was stealing his food.  

Since we came home on Friday, I've been sick- again.  Fortunately Daddy has needed G-man's help tearing up the tile in the front room, so he's been busy.

I'm going to take a minute and write my thanks to everyone for a great christmas.  

Thanks to Gramma Kay and Grampa Claude for coming for Christmas.  It wouldn't be Christmas without family and we are in awe of all the toys that you shower on G-man.  Next year I'll be switching out the tags to say it's all from Santa.

Thanks to Gramma Judy and Grampa Fred for the print of your painting, the T-shirt, and the crazy elephant car- Zach and G-man had a grand time chasing that thing around.

Thanks to Jason and Melanie, Tori and Lyssa.  I love the figurine and we are going to have to kidnap you guys soon so we can see you.

Thank You Jordan and Chris- I love spending time with you guys, and watching Zach and G-man play together was priceless.  It just reinforces my belief that G-man needs lots of siblings.

Thanks also to Aunt Wanda and Aunt Jill for the cute jammies and the calendar for 2009.  We are glad you guys are trying to keep us on schedule :o).  We appreciate you so much.

Oh, and thanks Abby for whatever you got us.  I'm sure I'll love it when it gets here.  Your gift is in the mail.  :o)!

So here's to a New Year!  I hope you all have joy and happiness in the year to come.