M+B=E2O2

Skillet Meal Queen

I love Trader Joe's.  I have recently rediscovered their freezer section.  Every couple of weeks I go and stock my freezer with yummy, organic, international foods.  I am the queen of throwing together random (or so it would seem) foods that I have on hand into great meals.  I even impress myself at times with my yummy creations.  I swear I must have been a gourmet chef in a past life.  I could never be one now-  I watch a lot of Food Network shows and I could never eat all the weird gourmet funky foods. Heck it is only in the last 10 years that I've gotten over my squeamishness at raw meats.  I still can't deal with cleaning out a turkey. But  I love cooking and combining foods.  I love taking what I have on hand and making into something my kids devour. They seem to especially love skillet meals with everything all mixed up.

Earlier this week I had a great time combining the flavors of Mandarin Chinese, Peru and India.  At the same time I included basics from  typical American fare and I snuck in some veggies and flax seed too.

I thought I'd share it here since it was all pulled from the freezer a half hour before dinner time and  homeschooling family or otherwise- dinner can be a tough thing to pull together quick and I hate falling into the trap of fast food and pizza. 

ingredients:

• 1 bag Peruvian Chimichurri Rice
• 1/2 bag frozen Organic green beans (I would have used a whole bag, but this is what I had on hand).
• 2 bags Mandarin Orange Chicken
• 2 bags TJ's brown rice (they have a frozen precooked rice and a pantry one- either would work fine)
• 1/2 bag finely chopped spinach (here's how I sneak in the veggies that my kids don't like-well owen is the only veggie hater here-  this could be done with any veggie on hand- just chop it up into itty bitty pieces and they'll never know what there.)
• 3 scoops organic sprouted golden flax.  (this is something new I'm adding into our diet and I am still figuring this one out) 
• Garlic Naan & Tandoori Naan Indian Bread

Start with the chicken in a large skillet (I would say that this could be halved for a smaller family). Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes, moving it around the skillet periodically. Next I add in the green beans, spinach and flax.  I let it cook for anther 5 minutes or so then I added in all the rice.  Once it is cooked all the way through (the rice & veggies- the chicken should be completely cooked through by now) I add the mandarin sauce that comes with the chicken.  I also add salt and pepper.  The garlic  & tandoori Naan bread cooks up in the oven in about 2 minutes- and it is soooo yummy!

So there you go, international skillet meals by Meesh, courtesy of Trader Joe's frozen food section.

Cook book giveaway

I don't often enter contests- but I'm a sucker for books and especially cookbooks. This one looks especially yummy.  I you are interested in making my chances to win more difficult trying to win too, go enter this week at molly-coddled.com

From the Publisher

Make room on your kitchen shelf-our biggest, most complete cookbook ever is here!

The Taste of Home Cookbook is jam-packed with over 1,200 family-favorite, classic recipes… plus all the cooking basics, practical tips and how-tos you’ll need to make every meal a guaranteed winner.

You’ll find over 300 main dishes alone, like succulent “Honey-Ginger Barbecued Ribs.” Hundreds of desserts are included, too, along with appetizers, sides, salads and more.

This sturdy hardcover, 5-ring binder book has 676 pages with more than 1,300 full-color photos! 9-1/8″ x 10″.

What Happens in Vegas

Gets blogged.

We returned late Friday night from  our Vegas Vacation.  Well, most of us did.  Emma stayed behind for an extra visit with Gramma and Poppa, they'll all be here on Thursday.

So before I forget here are some of the highlights of the last week. 

Saturday night we hired our first paid non family babysitter.  H watches the little ones while Emma & Owen have piano lessons, but this was the first time we left all four behind.  We left them at around 2:30 and went down to the club.  We were participating in our first Dinghy Party.  Ben & I inherited a nice raft (dinghy) form my parents and our good friends (G&C) had a brand new 2 horse power outboard, so we combined efforts and had a great time.

 

We started out at the yacht club then headed over to the first house on the party tour.  The house was decked out for the 60's, there was  beer and wine for all plus some chips & dip and what 60's party would be complete with out brownies!! (Costco makes them straight though- bummer-just kidding- LOL!)

After chillin for a while there the party moved on to the next house-  this one set in the Renaissance.  There was mulled wine and dark ale, meatballs, chicken wings and cheese & crackers.  Here I caught up with on old family friend who once promised me a Porsche when I turned 16.  I gave him what for for neging on that one! LOL!  Our last stop before dinner was at a gorgeous home set in the roaring 20's.  Catered with delicate seafood and veggies and well stocked with vodka and gin martinis this house was hard to leave!  There was also a piano player setting the mood.

 

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Once back at the club we dined on great food circa 1950.  It was a really good time- blissfully child-free and a great chance for Ben and I to talk with grown ups uninterrupted!  We are developing a fantastic friendship with G& C, if feels as though we've know them for ever.  Well, actually I sort of grew up around G, he's a long time sailor in the area and just 2 years older than me-  so we crossed paths off and on as kids. His sailing skills were far superior t mine though-  still are!  C and I went to high school together and swam on the swim team together.   Her best friend and I swam together in college (as did Ben).  Even with out these connections though-  our friendship has a deep lasting feel to it- KWIM? 

When we got home later- around 8:45 the kids were happy and all in one piece.  Olivia did take a spill at one point- tripped on our step and we found out Sunday morning at the ER, she re broke her leg.  Looks like a fracture in the same spot as the first go round.  So she had 5 days with out a cast.  She is still in a splint courtesy of the ER, we see the orthopod tomorrow morning. *sigh*

After all that excitement, we packed up and left for Vegas at o'dark thirty Monday morning.   We stopped somewhere in BFE around 8 am for breakfast and arrived at my parents house around 11:30 am.  Tired, but in great spirits.

We took the kids for a swim at the community pool,  and just hung out at the house for the evening.  My sister and cousin came over and we all just ate, drank and hung out.  Actually my sister had recently bought Speed Stacking cups so I got to try my hands at that.  I got pretty darn focused!  I can't wait to buy a set for us- Owen was getting the stacking patterns down too by the end of the week.  I warn you though- it is very addicting. 

Tuesday we took a morning trip out to Hoover Dam.  That was pretty cool.

Emma near gave me a heart attack when she tried to climb up the wall to look over the side. 

You know right where it says . 

Course she couldn't see that since it was on TOP of the wall out of her site.   We made it out of there safely though and went on our merry way back home for lunch.  Next stop was to my sisters school to meet her class.  We got there for the last 5 minutes of class.  I have to say I don't miss the formal class room a bit-  her kids seemed sweet-  they are 5th graders,  it's the beginning of the school year and they mostly seemed eager- though maybe that's because it was time to go home!  Naw,  most of them have a rough home life, school is their safe haven, it is sad.  My sister does a great job with them-  and she has fun doing it.   My kids liked walking around a "real" school, though like all kids their favorite part was the playground. 

Wednesday marked 9 years of marriage for us.  It has been an amazing journey and it is so exciting that we are really just at the very beginning.  We all took a drive down to the strip.  We took the kids to look at Treasure Island and to have lunch.

  After that we parted ways- my folks took our car and all the kids and we checked into the Venetian. Next we went to the Fashion Mall,  I got my movie star shades to help keep  the paparazzi off my back and Ben got some shoes and shorts. Oh and I got a new purse too-  a big black bag, it is way cool.

If I were on top of things I'd have tried on the dress I had back at the hotel before heading  to the mall-  it didn't fit right so I ended up shopping in the Venetian grand canal shops for something to wear that night to Mamma Mia.   Fortunately I found a great denim skirt at Banana Republic on sale- super on sale and I had a cute tank to go with it so I was set for a few dollars. Unfortunately I spent far too long looking for a shirt to wear instead of just going and getting a pedicure and wearing the tank.  It was nice to go shop though- in and out and in and out of stores- with no children in tow!

We didn't look at the tickets- we thought our show started at 8pm.  We got ready and went out to the car to get our tickets and head to the taxi stand so we would be there early- 7:30.  Once we got the tickets (and noticed we had a flat tire- good thing we planned on taking a taxi anyway!) we took a look and saw that in fact the show started at 7:30.  Crap.  It was 7:05 when we learned this.  We ran down to the taxi stand, grabbed a cab and got to the Mandalay at 7:22.  By 7:25 we were breathing heavily in our seats-  no not  snogging- just thankful that we (barely) made it!!

I LOVED the show-  LOVED it!  Ben also enjoyed it, probably not as much as me- but he did like it and obliged in getting me the soundtrack and a t-shirt!  We went back to the Venetian and spent a few hours losing money in the casino, then watched TV in bed since we could (we don't have TV in our room at home). 

After a little bit of a sleep in- we called up the grandparents and they came down to change the tire on the car and we all -minus my dad- went to Circus Circus.  OMG.  Yes we are in fact crazy.  We spent a good 6 hours there.  The last 1/2 was spent just trying to find our way out of the dang place.  The maps in there are USELESS- there is no "You Are Here"  dot.  So how the heck you are supposed to know were you are to find out where to go is beyond me.  The kids were whiny (I don't know why) I was whiny (again, I don't know why) and we were all tired.  We passed a bar as we were hunting for our exit and I told Ben to go get me a big margarita- holding my hands about a foot and a half apart.  He just heard the big part.  He came back with a YARD of strawberry margarita!!!!!!

Holy cow was that a lot  of drink!  It was left to my mom and me to suck it down on the way to the parking garage and then sitting in the parking garage at Circus Circus.

   I know I know - the "c" in Meesh stands for class.  *sigh*  we did get most all of the drink taken down. We filled two empty water bottles with the last bits and took them home.  The remainder of the evening was uneventful and peaceful. 

Friday was our last day-  and for the life of me I can not recall what we did in the morning.  OH wait we went to my sister's house to see the progress made to it since our last visit and what will be done to it soon.  She has a 1941 house and is renovating it with the help of my parents. 

Later we took Emma, Owen and Evan back to the pool for one last swim.   After a bit of dinner we packed up the beast and got on the road.  Unfortunately my dad and I didn't think through the first bit of our drive. It took us 45 min to get past the strip  (duh it was a Friday night!) to the freeway we needed.  once on that we got to watch spectacular lightning storms.  We pulled off at a gas station and took off our luggage rack just before it began to downpour.  I forgot that with Emma staying behind we could fit the 3 kids in the second row seat and put all our stuff in the third row.  Did I mention we took our two big dogs?  They slept the whole way in the very back.

Later we got lost trying to find our way to Pearblossom Highway.  That was somewhat brief though.  Around Midnight everyone woke up and had to hit the head (bathroom) so we pulled off.  By this time we were again in a downpour.  By 1:30 a.m. we were snug in our beds. 

A few of our lessons learned:

1. Never try to get to your destination via the Strip in Las Vegas on a Friday night. 
2. Always look at your tickets at least 2 hours before your show- no matter how sure you are of the time it starts.
3. Pay close attention when you park at Circus Circus.  The place is a frickin maze!
4. Be sure to specify what you mean by a "big margarita".  The refill on that yard is only $10 - but who the hell gets a refill!!!
5. If you don't have GPS- don't try to take Pearblossom Highway
6. Check the weather both in Vegas and at home before you leave- it's no fun driving in the wind and rain in the dark.
7. Go see Mamma Mia- it is the BOMB!

Instead of spending Saturday and Sunday quietly at home recuperating - we went back to the yacht club.  it was a biggish race weekend (back in the old days when I used to sail  a lot this particular event was the premier event of the year. There are just not as many boats out there as there used to be. )(yikes did I just say back in the old days!!!!?????)

G & C both raced so we went down to drink with them support them.  I got to see lots of friends from yesteryear so that was cool.  Sadly C took a mis step on Sunday and likely tore up some ligaments in her foot- we'll give her a call tonight to check in on her Monday morning urgent care visit.  The good news is that our club ended up winning the Cup- yahoo! 

I got up way too early this morning and walked 30 minutes.  The Biggest Loser is back and I'm pretty motivated.  Does anyone else love that show???

Oh yeah and the OJ tour was all booked when we got to Vegas so no- I didn't get to hang with the Juice. 

In the Zone

We are in cookie baking high gear here.  It's really a weird thing though.  I love baking holiday cookies. this is the only time of the year that I really look forward to baking.  The rest of the year, well, mostly I just don't want the cookies around because I don't want to eat them- seeing as I have about 4 inches I need to loose around my belly.  So once a year is great- 80% of the cookies leave the house and go to others.  For the last 7 years or so I've given a plate or a box of cookies to just about everyone.  Last year I used cute , Christmassy Chinese take out style boxes.  I plan to do the same this year.  They hold about a dozen small to mid sized cookies-  plenty enough IMHO to have a sweet treat with out being overwhelming. 

Here's the thing though.  My big confession.  I do not. at all. like to bake with my children.  I know, I know- great learning opportunity,  math skills, reading skills, blah blah blah.  But it is not FUN.  It's just not.  Not for me anyhow.  It is stressful.  Don't do it you say- what???? But they love it.  and I love it.  Just not together with them, just me and 3 kids.  (I at least have the good sense to put the baby to sleep before even attempting this).  I think the problem lies with the age differences.  The gender differences.  the unbalanced teams-  one on three sucks.  I read a Love Thursday blog last week all about the joys of baking with kids.  Her kids.  3 boys no less.  Surely something must be wrong with me to dread this so. 

All that said, I still do it.  With a big smile- sometimes.  I give them their opportunity to amaze me with their enthusiasm- and they do.  They can hardly wait to pour in their cup of flour.  They cheer and yell and jump for joy at their success.  and they tell daddy with pride how they helped make that very cookie in his mouth.

My biggest hope is that it is going to get better each year.  That they will stop trying to get me to magically be everywhere in the kitchen at once.   And I really hope that they don't ever lose that enthusiasm.  Even when mine is waning. 

In the refrigerator I have two lumps of sugar cookie dough that I cheated on them with and made late last night .  I won't cheat them out of rolling  and cutting shapes though. and tomorrow well make more Oreo's.  And we still have Russian Teacakes to make,  and more chocolate chip cookies too.  We made gingerbread men, and I have the goods to make another batch- so maybe we will.