quite delicious... and then a waste of time.

After being stuck home all day, I decided it was necessary to FINALLY try out those homemade chicken nuggets I've been talking about.  I found the recipe for Carrot, Apple and Oat Chicken Nuggets on my friend Jey's website "The Jey of Cooking."  Jey is the mama to an adorable baby boy a few months older than Jason, and when she mentioned her son, the Fruitaholic, loved these, I had to give them a try. 

This is her picture.  Mine were not as neat.  Nor pretty.  I was getting impatient by the end, mostly due to the fact that the Little Man was screaming whining begging to be picked up when my hands were covered in egg. 

Let me just say... they were awesome!!  I don't think kids would be necessary for this recipe... the first thing that Peter said was that with a little bit of our favorite Asian Zing sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings for us, and some Asian sweet sauce for the little man, they would be completely fabulous!  Why Asian?  The sweetness from the apple and carrot just call for it.

All you need is ground chicken, an apple, a few carrots, oatmeal, 2 eggs, and bread crumbs.  Click on her link to see the full recipe.  What would I change?  I think I'd squeeze the excess moisture out of the apple and carrot with a paper towel, and I'd try panko bread crumbs (seasoned, if I can find them) instead of the regular bread crumbs for a crispier texture. 

And now... for the waste of time.

I spent about an hour and a half today uploading pictures to RitzPix so I could take advantage of my free photo book.  Remember those camera classes I've been going to?  Well, the fancy pants camera Peter got me also came with a free 12 page photo book, and for $5, you could get a 20 page book!  20 pages for me is pretty small, so I figured I'd make a Snowmaggedon 2011 book.  I really liked their book builder, and was impressed with the backgrounds and borders that were offered. 

I go to check out, and it said that I couldn't pay for it in the store.  I'd have to pay online.  Oh dear.  I'm not paying $30 for a book I'm supposed to pay $5 for.  I called the local Wolf Camera, and they told me sorry!  You have to make the book in the store.  Argh.

So, I took screen shots of my book, and hopefully I'll be able to recreate it on Saturday when we go for our lighting class.  If not, then I'll be angry.

I said I'd post some pictures from Snowmaggedon.   Here they are!

 Mama?  Why is there this white stuff outside our front door?  I'll taste it to find out what it is...

 Gotta pee... gotta pee... where do i go?

 the drift outside our garage door once peter shoveled it out

 yeah... he's amazing.  took him 2 1/2 hours.

 playing on the drifts the plows left

Smiley, Sweet Baby K

She didn't like the snow, but LOVED her snowman dress!

Picadillo, Rice and Beans, and other new things.

Today was a day for trying something(s) new.

The day started with Peter ripping apart our pink bucket chair.  Let me talk about the chair for a second... my college roommate Ashley and I picked up the two ugly pink bucket chairs at a yard sale for either $10 or $20 a piece.  They survived 4 years of college, some time at my mom's house, and then became Peter's dad Leo's favorite chair whenever he came over.  We decided some time ago that one of them would be in Kayla's room.  I found the plaid fabric on a major sale over at Joann's ($4.99 a yard!), and anxiously waited for Peter to help.  He did some research (thanks YouTube!) and started the project today.  Here are a few pictures...

As far as the other chair, it's going with Leo down to Florida.  He's moving down there on Saturday!  This way, he'll have something comfortable to sit on, and Liz can cover it however she wants :) 

Since he's moving Saturday, he came up and spent the afternoon with Kayla and Jason.  Leo is such a good sport, and doesn't care what we make for dinner. 

I think I might have given Peter a complex about not choosing recipes the past two weeks, so he was all over it today.  His choices aren't what I would have chosen, but he'll be doing the cooking.  Tonight, he decided to try his hand at picadillo and Cuban style rice and beans. 

The picadillo was different than your average meat mixture to put in a tortilla... the chicken, chipolte and tomatoes made it savory, but the apples, raisins and cinnamon definitely added a sweetness.  I didn't like the first tortilla I made.  I know I don't like cinnamon in savory dishes.   However, the taste grew on me and I did make a second.  I could easily see stuffing this in peppers or zuchini to add zero points instead of the tortilla.  For a point value of 5, and the easiness of the recipe, I'd try it again.

The rice and beans were ok.  We only had 1 can of black beans in the house, so Peter had to soak some dried black beans.  Maybe that's why the final mixture was dry?  It was only okay, not very flavorful, and worth 5 points because of the rice.  If he were to make it again, I'd rather have another tortilla with the picadillo and skip the rice.

I was the one who did the shopping this week, and I think everyone and their mother was at the grocery store getting ready for the blizzard that supposedly will hit us this week.  I was frustrated, in the baking asile, and got hit with the inspiration for this cake... it's one of my favorite chocolate cakes.  The key to the cake is letting your cream cheese really soften before you make the frosting... otherwise you'll have little specks of cream cheese instead of smooth creaminess. 

Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup

The soup I'm about to share for you has quickly turned
into a Tarnawa family favorite. 
I found the recipe for this soup over at Picky Palate.  Look how beautiful she made it look!

 

I exchanged rice for pasta, added a few seasonings, and found the Points Plus value... which is surprisingly 5 points a serving!   I love the punch of lime in the broth, the heat from the chilies and the freshness of cilantro. 

And it makes a HUGE pot of soup.   HUGE!  

My pictures aren't nearly as good as hers... is it summer yet so I can cook with natural light?  I was too lazy to get the fancy pants flash thing Peter got me for the holidays.  I just wanted you to see the "stuff" in the soup before you see my wimpy final picture in the recipe.

There are a few pictures that I took today that I just need to share.

First up:  Sweet Baby K sitting in the Bumbo.  Wearing leg warmers.

You saw from today's earlier post that Jason's feeding himself.  

Watch what Little Man can do with his yogurt.

So, of course Daddy just had to join in on the fun!