Thursday, 4/28/2011

Our friends Laura and David invited Katie and me to have dinner with them at their new home tonight.  We got a tour of their home and a slinky demonstration while dinner was cooking.  Laura made chicken cacciatore--chicken braised in a tomato-based sauce with onions, garlic, and white wine.  It was my first time having that dish, and I was not disappointed.  It was delicious and seemed relatively easy to make.  Laura was kind to make a dish that was low in carbs to help me out.  I made a green salad with mushrooms and diced bell peppers to go with the meal.  

I brought peas, carrots, and chicken for Katie's dinner.  I forgot to bring her booster seat, so she was a wiggle wart throughout the meal. After we ate, Katie, Laura, and I went to our church choir practice.  The best part of the rehearsal was when Katie decided it was time to start singing.  She stood under the alter and sang at the top of her lungs with the choir.  She wasn't saying any words, but was giving the big "ah" her best.  What a delight to see her starting to "sing."  I wonder how long it will be before she can carry a tune;)

Wednesday, 4/27/2011

Katie and I made it to the grocery store this morning and stocked the fridge for the rest of the week.  I pan fried a pound of chicken tenderloins.  I heated a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet, seasoned the chicken with a lemon, sage seasoning salt, and then fried the chicken until a little brown on both sides.  Katie had some of the chicken with carrots and sugar snap peas for dinner.  I cut up the chicken into a green salad with mushrooms, orange bell pepper, and Italian dressing.  It was pretty darn good for a green salad. 

Tuesday, 4/26/2011

Katie and I drove home this morning.  She did remarkably well on the drive.  Between her books and toys, she was calm for the first three hours.  She started to get restless when we had about 100 miles left in the trip.  I gave her my iPod and let her watch Toy Story for the rest of the trip.  Ben called from Europe the last ten minutes of our trip.  How nice to end our trip talking with him:)

I didn't want to go to the grocery store and then make dinner tonight.  Katie and I went to Endolyne Joe's for dinner instead.  I had a chicken caesar salad and ordered mini corn dogs and a fruit bowl for Katie.  She quickly got to the hot dogs inside the corn and proceeded to put too much in her mouth.  After that first bite, I deconstructed each corn dog, separating the dogs from the corn.  She gobbled down the hot dogs and pretty much left the corn alone.  Too bad I'm not eating many carbs these days.  The corn part looked delicious!

Monday, 4/25/2011

This morning, my parents, Katie and I had the pleasure of meeting my grandpa Norm at the airport.  He is taking a trip to see the World War II memorial, courtesy of Inland Northwest Honor Flights.  What an awesome experience to see my grandpa wearing his uniform jacket, showing photos of himself wearing it 70+ years ago.  Katie made the 6 o'clock news, waiving her flags at the airport.  I'm so glad we were able to stay in town to be a part of it.

Katie, mom and I went out to my brother Matt's house to visit for lunch.  We had tuna fish sandwiches and chips for lunch.  I just had tuna, no bread or chips.  Ben called while we were there, and we were able to Skype with him for a few minutes.  Thanks Matt for letting us use your computer!

I had a small salmon fillet and a side salad for dinner tonight.  I was really pleased with the quality and flavor of the salmon. There was only enough salmon for mom and me to have, so my dad had some ham for dinner.  Katie had a hot dog with ketchup, cheddar cheese, and tried a green bean.  She gagged on it.  Hmmm, she must have gotten that reflex from me.  Sorry Katie!

Sunday, 4/24/2011

Happy Easter!  Christ the Lord is risen today!

When Katie woke up, we let her search for her Easter basket.  She found it right away and was wonderfully thrilled with each thing in her basket.  Animal crackers, straws that turn regular milk into chocolate milk, a book about a lamb, a Dora the Explorer backpack, a flower headband, and a Disney princess coloring kit.  After breakfast we went to church with my parents and grandparents this morning.  We quickly had lunch so that I could get Ben to the airport.  And, after Katie's nap, she got to hunt Easter eggs in the backyard.  What fun!  

For dinner we played a little refrigerator roulette.  I ended up making a ham and cheese omelet with some bell pepper strips on the side.  Other than having to say goodbye to Ben for a week, this was a wonderful Easter.  

Saturday, 4/23/2011

Ben is leaving tomorrow afternoon for a week long business trip to The Netherlands.  Since we aren't expecting to have much time between when church concludes and when he needs to leave for the airport, we had our big family Easter meal today instead.  My grandparents, brother, niece, and my brother's friend, Adam, joined us at my parent's house for the meal.  My dad baked a delicious ham.  We grilled asparagus tossed in a sherry-bacon vinaigrette.  There was a potato salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, and beets passed around the table too.  For dessert, we had an angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  Ben and I had ham, asparagus, strawberries, and whipped cream for our meal.  It was hard to pass on the carb filled potatoes and rolls, but we did it and were quite satisfied.

My mom made these most adorable bunny place cards.  We placed a Reese's peanut butter egg in each one.  That will be the only chocolate I have this weekend. 

Friday, 4/22/2011

Tonight we drove to Spokane to spend Easter with my family.  Katie and I met Ben downtown for dinner before starting our drive.  In the past we have headed straight out only to have to stop for a meal an hour down the road.  It seemed, since we were not able to leave before 5pm, that having dinner first would be better for traffic and our stomachs.  We went to a Red Robin just a block away from Ben's office. 

Katie had chicken strips and fries with ranch dressing and chocolate milk.  Ben had buffalo wings and a side caesar salad.  I had a bacon cheese burger without the bun and a side salad.  I ordered the burger in a lettuce wrap.  Well, that was just way too much lettuce.  Yikes!  I ended up pulling the burger out and eating it on it's own.  I sure did miss having ketchup on it.  It is amazing how much sugar is in a tablespoon of ketchup.  Too much for maintaining a low-carb diet right now.  

Our dining and travel plans worked perfectly.  We only had one minor slow down on our way to Spokane and didn't have to stop.  We are looking forward to a lovely weekend with our family:)