Family Night

Turkey Schmurkey.

Who's got time for making turkey burgers when it's a beautiful night for a picnic?

So we packed up some food and headed downtown to watch the Grand Blue Mile. There were a few different categories of runners...the serious one was an all-out sprint (in my opinion).

For a mile.

Crazy.

We watched them run while eating cheese.

With painted toe nails.

And a sponge cake with strawberries.

But decided it was much better with whipping cream.

Then played in the grass without letting our feet touch the ground.

And amired the cool sculpture garden.

(seriously, I love that place!)

And ran 'til we were worn out.

It was a lovely, lovely night.

Man, I love my family.

We finished off by going to the downtown library. Henry checked out his first 2 library books. Isn't it sad I waited that long to let him do that? I've always been afraid that he would destroy them, but I got over it. Today we're reading about tugboats and pirates.

It's a good day.

Happy Wednesday!

Turkey Burger Challenge

What to do when you have 2 lbs of ground turkey to use up?

Turkey burgers, of course!

I've never made a turkey burger so I searched for some recipes.

1st up was last night:

Turkey Burgers with Feta Cheese

1 pound ground turkey breast

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

                                                          1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
                                                           1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
                                                                1 3/4 oz feta cheese

In a large bowl, combine the chopped parsley, ground turkey, black pepper, salt, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, garlic powder and feta cheese with a fork. Be careful not to overwork the meat. Divide mixture into 4 equal sized burgers. If grilling, either spray grill with cooking spray (before lighting!) or brush with oil to keep burgers from sticking to grates. Grill (or broil) the burgers until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

Since I had feta on hand, I had to make my favorite carrot and apple slaw. (courtesty WW)

Verdict? Awesome! The burgers had tons of yummy flavor and I served them in Arnold's Sandwich Thins. I'd be happy to make the same recipe tonight, but am going to try a different one for fun to use up the other pound of meat. I'll be trying a teriyaki version. I'll let you know how it goes. I know you will all be dying in anticipation.

Have a great Tuesday! Enjoy the beautiful weather!!

Refreshed

Well, it was true. I got a couple of days all ALONE. RJ took the kids with him up to his parents Thursday afternoon and I met him on Saturday afternoon. I didn't do anything I should have done, like cleaning or other responsible things. But I ran around like a crazy lady, watched Coco before Channel, slept with the hall light on and the maglite right next to me, ate take-out Chinese, and had a lovely time. I missed them all like crazy, but I feel so refreshed right now!
Part of the running around I did was to Plato's Closet, which is my new favorite store.  I needed some new summery tops since the last few summers  I was either pregnant, or looked pregnant and therefore dressed accordingly. I suggest you make a trip over there NOW.
My favorite part of my weekend was a family gathering we had on Saturday. RJ's grandma is an amazing cook and baker and some of us women got together to watch her make her most famous recipes and learn her secrets. She is such a lovely lady and feel so blessed that she is my grandma too.
Then, of course, I was so excited to reunite with my family! I missed Henry's excitement over every little thing, the funny way that Harper says "hi" and "bye", RJ's hugs, and every single other thing about all 3 of them.


And that's all! I'm looking forward to a great week here, with help from our new desk that RJ brought home.

What would you do?

If you had a day or two all alone....

no kids, no husband, no responsibility...

what would you do?

(besides miss them)

Go to a special store?

Like TJ Maxx or a thrift store. You know, the kind of place that is easier to shop solo.

Eat lunch at your favorite restaurant?

Clean your house top to bottom?

Go on a walk without having to push a stroller?

Go to garage sales?

What would you do??

Ideas welcome.

a boy and his sister

It is a rare occasion that these 2 match, so I had to take a picture.

It is also a rare occasion that they look at the camera at the same time, so I was pretty happy with this one!

Henry has a fresh haircut. (sorry, mom) He's just got some crazy, thick, stick-up hair that needed a fresh start. I also think it took about 6 months off of his look, which makes me very happy. He's my baby boy again!~

Our laptop died for real last week. It told us stuff like, "operating system not found", and made scary noises. We had bought it used a year ago for $75 so we feel like we got our money's worth out of it and were ready to move on....to a stinkin' cute netbook! An affordable option that doesn't have any bells or whistles, but it gets the job done. And will hopefully keep getting the job done for the next few years.

It's just so cute and little.

Hope you all enjoy this absolutely beautiful Sunday!

Bruschetta

I had a phase where I was obsessed with ordering Bruschetta (pronounced Brus-Ketta) every time we went out. I also went through a phase like this with Caesar Salads. Man, I love salads. I still miss the salad bar I got to eat at twice a day at Central. YUM.

Anyways, I determined the best Bruschetta in town was at Biaggi's. As far as chains go, it's my favorite restaurant and I'm pretty loyal to it since I used to work there. They've actually changed the way they make it...I liked it better before, but it's still good.

It's one of our favorite meals to make in the summer. The kind you make after your kids go to bed because you don't want to share it! Ok, I hope some of you do that with special meals too....

The ingredients are cheapest in the summer, especially if you get your basil from the farmer's market, or even better grow your own!

So here's the Bruschetta recipe. It will change your life.

Ingredients:

2 tsp Kosher Salt

1/8 tsp Black Pepper, freshly cracked
3 tsp Garlic, pureed (I just use some garlic salt...fresh raw garlic gives me some issues sometimes...
About 1/3 cup Basil, fresh chiffonade (julienned strips) Just guessing on the amount..use as much or little as you like, but this is the part that makes it so yummy and fresh!
4 cups Roma Tomatoes, freshly diced (3 medium Romas = approx 1 cup)
Fresh Mozarella--I shred mine, which gets kind of messy.(You could just use processed mozzarella, but I insist you buy the good stuff at least once...it's so good. The kind that's sold in the nice cheese section and is in the shape of a ball...know what I mean? It's cheapest to buy it at Sam's or Costco, but you can find it at most grocery stores as well.)


In a large mixing bowl add all of the ingredients except the tomatoes and mix well.
Add the diced tomatoes and mix well turning with a rubber spatula. Taste for salt & pepper balance. Season to taste. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Turn again with the rubber spatula right before service to blend the flavors evenly.

Slice and toast bread of choice to a nice golden brown – not too dry. Liberally brush each slice with the olive oil after it's done toasting.Top each piece of toast with a generous portion of the Tomato/Basil mixture. Top the tomatoes with the fresh Mozzarella. You could put it in the oven to melt the cheese, but I think it's best cold. SO good!!

Easter

Easter is quickly becoming my favorite holiday.

We had such a lovely weekend. The kids

enjoyed a fun Easter egg hunt on Saturday at our church. A little chilly, but beautiful. Sunday morning was an amazing service at our church. We had a packed house, 4 baptisms and some awesome worship.

 I just love our church!

We also had some lovely friends over afterwards for a lovely Easter meal.

It was just a lovely day!

Unfortunately, no pictures of the kiddos in their Easter attire. RJ was at church early for practice so things were hectic for me, but I made it on time! (for once)

Some pics from the weekend:

I just couldn't resist this outfit.

Probably the last year I'll be able to get away with something like this. Look at all those ruffles!

I love me some ruffles.

Have a great week!

Spray Paint

I almost forgot how lovely spray painting can be. I'm usually more likely to paint things, but spray paint goes on so much smoother and with no streaks and it's fun! Aren't these lovely? All different sized glass jars painted bright, springy colors for our Easter breakfast at church. (this was all one of my very creative friend's idea and I'm helping her because she's in AFRICA right now)

I kind of want to keep them all for myself.

And of course nothing is complete without polka dots.

Hello, Spring!

This was a project that was so much more fun than I thought it would be. Plus, being outside on such a lovely day during nap time was wonderful.

Have a great Thursday, April Fool's Day, and birthday, Mom! :)