June 28, 2011- Chicken Alfredo and Corn on the Cob

It was our turn to host our PEPS group tonight.  Usually I make something from scratch, but decided I just couldn't add that to my schedule this week.  I opted to purchase chicken alfredo with penne noodles from Costco for our main dish.  It was delicious and super easy.  Preheat oven; bake for an hour; serve.  How nice not to be stressed about getting the food done in time!

We also served corn on the cob for the first time this season.  I think Katie ate 1.5 ears of corn!  The other families brought a green salad and Klondike bars:)

June 27, 2011- Chicken Strips and Fruit Salad

A few weeks ago I bought a new kind of chicken strip for Katie.  The strips seemed to be restaurant styled, which Katie usually likes.  The instructions said they could be baked or microwaved.  Well, each attempt to microwave them has resulted in very rubbery chicken that she hasn't eaten.  Tonight I decided to bake them for the whole family.  The chicken was much better baked than nuked.  I suppose I knew that already, but I am glad they were good baked.  

I made a fruit salad of pear, banana, raspberries, mandarin oranges, and grapes for our side dish.  Katie had oranges and grapes.  She is quite fickle about her bananas.  She has never eaten them pre-sliced. She went straight from mashed to whole.

June 26, 2011- Chicken Burritos

We made chicken burritos tonight, using the left over diced, seasoned chicken we had from Friday.  I really appreciate how well the chicken reheats.  It is one of the best left-over foods in my opinion. 

June 25, 2011- Prost West Seattle

We took Katie to see Cars 2 late this morning.  It was her first movie in a theater.  She got up and down from her chair several times and asked to watch "Tangled" on my iPod once.  But, all in all, she did pretty well for being only 2 1/2-years-old.  It was actually not a very good movie to take her to.  It had a complex plot about espionage that she couldn't understand and a lot of guns.  I guess we need to do more research before assuming a kid's movie is okay for her. 

After the movie, we went to BJ's for pizza.  We ordered a small cheese pizza for Katie and a medium pepperoni and sausage pizza for ourselves.  The cheese pizza came out, shortly followed by an apologetic waitress.  She dropped our pizza on the way to the table.  Unfortunately, we had to be back home by 3pm to meet a paint contractor.  That didn't leave enough time to make us a replacement pizza.  We were told that the beverages we ordered and Katie's pizza would be free.  That was a fair compensation.  Ben and I each ate a quarter of Katie's pizza, and we went home.

We were determined to have pizza tonight, but it just didn't work out.  We drove to Zeek's pizza, but forgot that there was a community festival on the same block.  That meant, no parking and probably no space inside.  Ben suggested a couple restaurants we could go to, but we stopped at Prost West Seattle. Ben has wanted to eat at this German restaurant for several years and this was our first opportunity. Well, it was disappointing.  First, they were out of the beer he wanted to drink.  It was very sad.  Second, the only thing they had on the menu that we thought Katie would eat was a pretzel.  She took one nibble and said "I don't like that part."  That just meant she didn't like the pretzel.  My bratwurst sandwich was fine, but I'm not a fan of curry ketchup.  Ben's thought his curry wurst would be served on a rye bun.  Nope, it was served with two small wedges of rye bread on the side.  Ben and I both ate enough to be full, but were not satisfied.  Since Katie didn't eat anything other than goldfish crackers, we went through the McDonald's drive through to get her a burger.  

I guess it just wasn't our day to eat out. 

June 24, 2011- Chicken Burritos

I whipped out chicken burritos for dinner tonight.  The chicken tenderloins that I pulled out the freezer were almost defrosted when it was time to start cooking.  That made them the perfect texture for chopping.  When they are completely thawed, it takes a long time to dice them.  I put the diced chicken into a hot skillet with some vegetable oil.  Once cooked completely, I added one and a half packages of Lawry's chicken taco seasoning and a half cup of water.  After the water cooked down, I added the seasoned chicken to burrito tortillas in which I had already shredded cheddar cheese.  We have grown accustomed to using shredded rotisserie chicken for our burritos, but this was equally tasty. 

Katie had some cheddar cheese and left over chicken strips, which were kind of rubbery. 

June 23, 2011- Tea Party

Tonight Katie and I attended the 3rd Annual Chancel Choir Ladies Tea Party.  This was the first time either of us have attended.  I tied a wide lilac colored ribbon onto my sun hat with a large bow.  Katie wore a pink an white beaded headband with a fun pink bow on it.  We took petite tuna fish sandwiches with dill pickles diced inside, a splash of lemon juice, and a few dashes of black pepper.  There was plenty of food to eat, although we didn't bring any sandwiches home with us:)  We enjoyed strawberries- deep in flavor and color, cornbread sandwiches with turkey inside, sandwiches with asparagus, cream cheese, and prosciutto inside, cookies with jam prints, orange cake, and much more.  What a delightful evening!  

Katie spent a lot of time following and "playing" with Gizmo, the resident dog.  She even got to take Gizmo on a walk with Gordy, the man of the house.  Gizmo was a very patient dog with Katie's attention.  When she was done with Katie, she retreated upstairs, must to Katie's dismay. 

June 22, 2011- Cheeseburgers & Hotdogs

We were planning on going to the home of our friends for dinner tonight, but they had to postpone due to a schedule conflict.  So, we ate hot dogs and left-over cheeseburgers with fruit salad for dinner.  I put frozen raspberries, green grapes, bananas, pears, and mandarin oranges in the fruit salad.  It was quite delicious!  

By the way, Mom and Dad, we've used up the last of the raspberries from last year's harvest:)