An experiment gone Good!

Tried a new recipe and it was great!

Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

COOK TIME 3.5 hours
PREP TIME 20 minutes
YIELD Makes 9 (1-1/2-cup) servings

INGREDIENTS
5 cups chicken broth
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups water
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup diced carrots
3/4 cup wild rice
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried sage


Mix all in pot and simmer for 3-4 hours add a 1/2 cup frozen peas at the end, until warm.


I cooked this while I was at the salon getting my hair done. A ridiculous $190 to get a colour (back to my natural ) a few highlights and a cut. I came home and my 8 year old said " your hair is darker and longer". No wonder the cut was so expensive the hairdresser apparently can cut hair longer ;)

Sunday Night Chit -Chat

Reading?

Well I've kind of stalled, I was crazy into the Hunger Game Triliogy, I couldn't put the first one down and read it in a week (which is amazing for me, with time being at a minimum these days), the second one I had done in a few days! This third one is slow going, I'm just not crazy about where the story has gone and I'm finding it hard to finish.










Watching?

The Apprentice, UK. I'm hooked on this show! I've been downloading all the past seasons because before last week I'd never seen it.  I love all the different tasks, each one is basically to start a new business or product within 2 days and whichever team makes the most money wins.  This plays into my total LOVE of games.  I will also watch the Amazing Race and Good Wife later. (maybe tomorrow)



Listening to?

The crackling of our fireplace...ahh, and the sweet silence of all three kids fast asleep!

Cooking/Baking?
Well this gives me a good opportunity to update about the Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe I posted a few days ago, I made it yesterday...not a huge hit. The kids didn't like the Sweet Potato in it, but they ate it.  My husband liked it well enough, and so did I, but I'm pretty sure it's huge in calories and not really worth it. Nice for a change though something different.




Happy you accomplished this week?

Started this new Birdie Something blog! I've been thinking about doing one for a while but it was the Secret Sister Swap that was the final push I needed to get back online.  Thanks to Carla for the inspiration!

I love cute bird crafts and speaking of inspiration look at these cute Owl pin cushions! You can watch the DIY video on how to make them, seem pretty simple, and SO cute. I don't sew, except for on cards, but this could convince me to start!


Looking forward to next week?

Putting together my package for the Swap!

And..One last week with my husband who's on Parental Leave with me.  I'm going to miss him when he goes back to work, just one more week :(

Thankful for today?

Thankful that my little one has finally started to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Use to be midnight, but for the last two nights it's been 9-9:30! And she's sleeping in her own bed, not ours :)

First time in jeans!

Aunt Tari made this beautiful sweater and sent the perfectly matching coordinates to go with it! Had to snap a quick pic to show off this sweet new outfit!

Ballon animals.

Went to the marina to try the scooter out at the skate park and then visited the stone ballon animals.

Buy Buy Birdie!

Okay here's my first good deal to post! My son has been wanting a scooter but they're $50-$80 new so we thought we'd see if I could pick one up second hand. First yard sale of the season and I got this great find for $4! Perfect condition, brakes, adjustable height on handle bars... Worth the wait.

Sweet Potato Lasagna Recipe

On April 4th we returned from a trip to Cuba, it was great fun, and although many people claim you don't go to Cuba for the food, I quiet liked it.  As the one to do most of the cooking for our family, the fact that I didn't have to shop for, plan meals, prepare food, or do dishes, meant I was probably pretty easy to please, but I honestly felt like everything was good.  

I didn't have any issues while there, some people complain about getting sick or just being a bit off.  I really loved that there were no processed foods, everything was made by hand with natural ingredients. However, since we have been back I've reached the conclusion that red meat no longer agrees with me. I'm not sure why, but I get an awful upset stomach everytime I eat beef.

So today I went looking for a recipe for Sweet Potato Fries and I came across this from Readers Digest!  I'm going to give it a try, sounds like an interesting alternative to traditional lasagna and I have all the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients

3 lbs (1.5 kg) sweet potatoes
2 tbsp (25 mL) olive oil
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
8 lasagna noodles
Sauce:
3 tbsp (50 mL) vegetable oil or butter
¼ cup (50 mL) all-purpose flour
4 cups (1 L) 1% milk, hot
1 tsp (5 mL) salt or to taste
¼ tsp (1 mL) pepper
generous pinch nutmeg
pinch cayenne
2 cups (500 mL) grated mild cheese (e.g. Lappi or mozzarella)
¼ cup (50 mL) grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions

1. Peel sweet potatoes, cut into ¼-in. (5-mm) slices, toss with olive oil and salt and place in a single layer on a parch­ment-lined baking sheet. Roast in a preheated 400°F (200°C) oven until lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile bring a pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tbsp (15 mL) salt. Cook noodles 3 to 5 minutes, until just tender. Rinse in cold water and arrange in a single layer on wet tea towels.   
3. Melt butter in a large saucepan, whisking in flour. Cook gently, without browning, about 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in hot milk and bring to a boil, stirring until mixture thickens. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne to taste.  
4. To assemble, spoon about ½ cup (125 mL) sauce over the bottom of an oiled 9- x 9-in. (2L) baking dish. Line with a layer of noodles, then a layer of roasted sweet potatoes. Spread with 1½ cups (375 mL) sauce and half the grated mild cheese. Repeat layers.  Sprinkle with Parmigiano Reggiano.
5. Bake in a preheated 350°F (180°C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until bubbling and browned on top. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

I'll let you know how it goes!

There's an App for that!

Well no need to get anything special set up to do mobile uploads...iPhones have a great app called blogger that I can use to quickly and easily make updates!

There is even a way to add pictures from iPhoto! Here is one of my favorites of two of my kids. (And no this isn't Halloween.) The superstore was clearing out costumes (in February) and I picked up the Green Lantern for $3 and Bat Girl for $5. Great for dress up year round and in October I won't have to shell out $40 each as the price tags say we're the original prices were! I got a puppy one for the baby too, but she doesn't play dress up yet ;) Her costume was only $2!

And here is my new baby, sporting a cute little owl hat handmade for her by my very talented friend Tammy! LOVE OWLS...LOVE this hat, and of course, LOVE the little baby in it!