Monday, 9/27/2010

I love it when Ben tells me what he wants for dinner.  It saves me the time of trying to come up with something to make.  This morning he said that he was in the mood for pork chops.  I purchased three, pre-packaged, thick-cut chops at Fred Meyer.  Let me pause and say how annoying I find this.  Why do I have to go to a meat counter in order to buy an even number of pork chops?  I want to purchase two or four pork chops at a time, pre-packaged.  To resolve today's odd quantity purchase, I sliced each chop in half.  Ta-da...six chops.  Unfortunately, this means we will be having pork three times this week, instead of two times.  Ugh.  That's a lot of pork.  

I marinated two of the chops in Stubb's Pork Marinade and four of the chops in Grill Mates Zesty Herb Marinade.  Ben had a zesty herb chop, and I had a Stubb's chop.  Katie had an apple cinnamon breakfast bar and raisins for dinner.  She is usually a fan of pork, but tonight she wouldn't touch it.  Katie watched me cut the chops this afternoon and called them bacon.  That's pretty close for a 21-month-old.  Ben and I had a caesar salad on the side. 

Sunday, 9/26/2010

It was nice to be home with Katie after a day away.  She had a great time with her grandma, but did not nap for her.  After lunch at home, we all went to our church's re-dedication.  The building just underwent its first significant renovation in 50 years.  It included the addition of an elevator, new office space layout, a new conference room, a large gathering space directly outside the sanctuary, and a large patio.  Here are a few photos Ben took of the new space last week.

The new patio off of the enlarged narthex.

The new entrance to the building which gives an immediate view of the church and YMCA offices.

The new narthex/gathering place. 

Katie almost made it through the entire dedication.  We ended up taking a five minute walk outside so that she could get some "too sleepy" energy out of her system.  Soon after the ribbon cutting took place, we went home and put Katie down for a nap.  Just an hour later, Ben and I took a nap too:)  The fridge didn't have much in it for dinner; so, we went to Luna Park Cafe for dinner.  

Katie chanted "burger" all the way to the restaurant.  When I gave her some of mine to eat, she wouldn't eat it.  This was not surprising.  She did eat a few of my french fries and drank some chocolate milkshake.  I had a bacon cheeseburger with pickles and ketchup.  Ben had chili cheese fries.  We ordered Katie her very own chocolate milkshake from the kid's menu.  We thought it would be smaller for kids.  Nope--it was exactly the same size as the small chocolate milkshakes we ordered for ourselves.  Don't worry--we didn't let her's go to waste:) The food at Luna Park Cafe is delicious; it is just hard not to eat too much. 

Saturday, 9/25/2010

Well, I certainly retreated today:)  I drove up to Semiahmoo Resort this morning, arriving just after 11:30am.  I checked into the hotel, took a run on the indoor track, had an hour-long Swedish massage, read my book on the beach, watched a wedding from my hotel room, and then enjoyed a lovely evening with Ben, his co-workers, and their spouses.

I loved running on the track, mainly because I wasn't doing it while pushing a stroller!  I've been trying to build up to running 30 minutes while pushing Katie in the stroller.  I now know how taxing that is on my progress.  I haven't run for two weeks due to my cold; I forgot to stretch; and, I was able to pick up exactly where I left off without any more fatigue than normal.  Towards the end of the run, I even contemplated running a little longer than I needed to for this particular workout.  I guess it is nice to know that I am for sure working harder with the stroller than without it.  And the massage--ah, it was wonderful!  I haven't had a massage in several years. I was so relaxed that I fell asleep briefly a couple times.  Thankfully, there wasn't any embarrassing snoring:) 

Our dinner was served buffet style.  I really enjoyed my caesar salad with smoked salmon.  That was a nice change from the basic caesar I usually make at home.  I wasn't too thrilled with the look of the chicken and always avoid prime rib; so, I opted for the wood plank salmon for my entree.  That salmon was only ok.  It lacked flavor in my opinion.  I much preferred the smoked salmon in my salad.  The roasted potatoes and roll were pretty good.  And for dessert, we had a peach/blackberry cobbler.  We couldn't taste the peaches, but Ben did point out that he thought the texture was a bit off for a berry cobbler:)  There was disappointment at our table when we realized they weren't serving ice cream with the cobbler.   Come on...who serves cobbler without ice cream?  And, along with all this food, we enjoyed wine...lots of it. 

Thanks, Jennifer, for watching Katie so that I could retreat and enjoy an evening away with Ben:)

Friday, 9/24/2010

My mother-in-law drove up from Portland this afternoon in order to take care of Katie for us this weekend.  Ben is participating in a leadership workshop with his company today and tomorrow at Semiahmoo Resort, in Blaine, WA.  Lucky for me, spouses were invited to join in the Saturday night dinner.  I will be driving up tomorrow morning after breakfast with Katie.  Needless to say, it was a busy day of cleaning:)  It's a good thing we have company every once in a while.  Without it, our house would never get cleaned.  I managed to get the house clean, just as she arrived! 

I heated up the remainder of the Smokey Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner. Again, I must say that this recipe makes plenty for four decent sized bowls of soup, despite what Rachael Ray says:)  Jennifer even saved some of her's for tomorrow.  After getting Katie down for the night, Jennifer and I watched the season premiere of The Office and enjoyed catching up on family and friends. 

Thursday, 9/23/2010

We made tonight's dish for the first time in January this year. Now that it is Fall, we can have it again. 
WHOO HOO!!!

Smoky Chicken Tortilla Soup  

Recipe from Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
3 cups chicken stock
1 pound chicken tenders
1 bay leaf, fresh if available
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
4 slices thick, smoky bacon, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 chipotles in adobo, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons sauce
1 28-ounce can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
Salt to taste
4 cups corn tortilla chips, lightly crushed
3/4 pound (2 cups) shredded fresh smoked mozzarella or smoked sharp white cheddar cheese
1 lime, cut into wedges
1/2 red onion, chopped
Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Preparation:
Bring broth to a simmer and add the chicken tenders. Poach them for 6-7 minutes with a bay leaf.

While the chicken poaches, heat EVOO in a medium soup pot or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook it until crisp then remove it with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain off the excess fat, leaving 2-3 tablespoons in the pan. Add the onions and garlic to the skillet and cook them for 5 minutes. Stir in chipotles and tomatoes.

Remove the chicken from the poaching liquid, dice it then add it to the tomatoes and chipotles. Pass the poaching liquid through a strainer then add it to the soup pot as well.

Place a pile of crushed tortilla chips in the bottom of each soup bowl. Cover it liberally with cheese then ladle the hot soup down over the top. Serve it with lime, raw onions and cilantro at the table.

Notes on preparation:

1.  I didn't have chicken tenders on hand.  Instead, I used chicken breasts, which I sliced into chicken tender sizes.  

2.  We don't like crunchy onions in our house.  So, I cooked the onions and garlic for much longer than 5 minutes before I stirred in the chipotles and tomatoes.  I pretty much waited until the garlic was ready to burn;)

3.  I found smoked yellow cheddar on sale at Fred Meyer (8 ounces for $3.99).  I decided to use that rather than purchase smoked mozzarella for twice the price.  It was just fine:)

4.  I didn't add any extra salt to the soup.  The chicken broth, bacon, and tortilla chips have enough salt on them.  

5.  Rachael's website said that this recipe serves 2 with some left over seconds.  I think it makes enough for 4 decent bowls of soup.  I was plenty full after having a 1/4 of the soup for dinner. 

Wednesday, 9/22/2010

Katie and I picked Ben up from work tonight.  By the time we got home, we had about 20 minutes to make and eat dinner before I had to head out the door for a service at church.  We made a large chicken quesadilla, which Ben and I shared.  I dumped some shredded rotisserie chicken into a small skillet, added a packet of chicken taco seasoning and a little water.  I stirred them together and let them sizzle for a few minutes over medium heat.  In a larger skillet, I started to build the quesadilla.  On a large tortilla, I put down a layer of shredded Mexican cheeses, a layer of the seasoned chicken, chopped jalapenos, another layer of cheese, and topped it with another tortilla.  I let that cook for a while, hoping that the bottom tortilla was getting a bit crispy. 

Now, I don't know about you, but the flipping of a filled quesadilla is always a bit daunting to me.  It is big, not all melted together yet, and you know you need to get some heat to the other side.  Tonight I used a large spatula and did my best.  I got most of it turned over, but when it was done, the quesadilla had some crispy cheese and chicken on the part that didn't turn well.  

In the meantime, Ben blended about half of the remaining salsa I made this week into a thicker, less chunky texture.  I thought I was going to have the "raw" salsa with my quesadilla, but quickly found myself using the blended salsa instead.  The blended salsa stuck to the quesadilla slices, where the unblended just slid off.  I want to say that I prefer the raw salsa texture, because I feel it would show the maturity of my taste buds.  But, if I am being completely honest, I do prefer the blended texture. 

Tuesday, 9/21/2010

We had our PEPS gathering at Jen, Andy, and Jackson's home tonight.  The kids were really busy!  The rocking horse was rocking.  The crayons were coloring.  The bubble wands were making bubbles.  The lawn mowers were mowing.  The kids might have even had a few bites of food too;)

Jen made a delicious roasted eggplant, baked penne dish.  I'm not sure what the ingredients were, but the sauce had a nice heat to it.  I must say, this is only the second time I have ever eaten eggplant.  I don't think I would have known what I was eating if I hadn't asked what she was serving. Jen also put together a tasty salad with mixed greens, onions, craisins, cheese-- feta or goat probably, and a nice dressing.  For dessert, we munched on oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies.  We had to leave a little early tonight, so we didn't see any of the kids melt down.  It was kind of nice to leave when everyone was still happy:)