Boxes

Olivia's doll house

Reading spot

We love it when Fed Ex brings us a delivery (for Tommy) in a large box (fun for the kids) :)

Our new thing

Our new thing. 

Duct Tape. 

Did you know that you can find all kinds of patterns and colors of duct tape?  We have been Duct Taping EVERYTHING.  Old coffee cans (for banks and crayon holders), paper towel rolls, wrapping pencils, making bookmarks, etc.

Its been fun to see what the kids will come up with.  Could be some Christmas gift ideas in there somewhere...  :)

Hugs and happy crafting!  :)

Chicken Piccata

Tommy and I recently had dinner at Capri Italian Restaurant at 62nd and Keystone.  A very authentic family-owned gem in the city.  Tommy ordered Veal Piccata and it was to-die-for! So I decided to try to re-create the recipe with chicken.  I found this recipe online at www.simplyrecipes.com.  It was my first time buying capers.  What a unique and interesting flavor!

Chicken Piccata Recipe

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 pound total)

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup flour

Salt and pepper

4 Tbsp olive oil

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup chicken stock or dry white wine

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup brined capers

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

 Cut the chicken breast halves horizontally, butterflying them open. If the pieces are still thick after butterflying, put them between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat hammer to 1/4-inch thickness.

 Mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan. Rinse the chicken pieces in water. Dredge them thoroughly in the flour mixture, until well coated.

 Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add half of the chicken pieces, do not crowd the pan. Brown well on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve to a plate. Cook the other breasts in the same manner, remove from pan. Cover with aluminum foil and keep warm in the oven while you prepare the sauce.

 Add the chicken stock (or white wine), lemon juice, and capers to the pan. Use a spatula to scrape up the browned bits. Reduce the sauce by half. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Plate the chicken and serve with the sauce poured over the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

Hugs and happy re-creating a restaurant dinners so you can save money eating at home :)

Water unit - tin foil boats

Celebrating

We have alot to celebrate at our house today. 

- It's FRIDAY! 

 - It's allowance day (for the kids)

 - There seems to be some commotion downtown, so its a big weekend around here :)

AND my favorite:

 - 108 DAYS UNTIL SUMMER!  (I could be off on my numbers, but whose counting.)

To celeberate we made Lemonade slushies after lunch for dessert. 

1 cup sugar

1cup water

1 cup lemon juice (I used fresh lemons)

Make a simple syrup out of the sugar and water, cool, add lemon juice and blend with lots of ice (and a little water to dilute if too sweet). 

Simple, yummy, summery.

Hugs and happy 108 days until summer!

Coffee at my kitchen table...

When Tommy announces that he will be out the next day (he offices in our home) I quickly become excited about the idea of having a friend over for coffee and a play date! 

Often times though, I get about 12 hours notice, just in time to text a friend and not enough time to run to the store to buy a yummy snack to go with our coffee as we sit at my kitchen table and enjoy a good chat. 

So yesterday, I was scouring allrecipes.com quickly before our play date friends arrived and came across this simple and SUPER EASY apple crisp recipe.  We buy apples almost every week at the store and the other ingredients are always in the cupboard.  I REALLY love easy, go-to recipes that are made with few ingredients, but ingredients we are likely to have on hand.  Make sense?

(The recipe called for chopped nuts, but we were out.  I could have added oatmeal, like traditional apple crisp recipes, but then Her-Highness Miss Olivia would have turned up her nose. Oh and this isn't my pictures, its from google. But really looks like what came out of my oven)

6 apples - peeled, cored and chopped

1 dash ground cinnamon  (I used more than a dash, never heard of using too much cinnamon with apples, HA!)

1 dash ground nutmeg (I used "apple pie" spice I had on hand, and again, more than a dash, who are they kidding?)

1/2 cup brown sugar (ok, totally used a whole cup)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons butter, diced (Olivia did the dicing)

1 pinch salt (opps, forgot the salt)

 

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.Place apples in a pie pan and dust with cinnamon and nutmeg. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

3.In a food processor, pulse brown sugar, flour, butter and salt until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle topping over apples.

4.Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

It was really yummy and so easy.  We added homemade whipped cream (because it was already out on the table with our coffee fixin's) and served it right out of the oven.  The house smelled divine :)

Hugs and happy chatting over coffee :)

Annual Girl's Trip

This year our annual girl's trip to Chicago turned out to be a little snowy!

Last year I didn't get to go, and this year 2 of our girls didn't get to go :(  So Jill and I decided to take Baby Anika with us and brave the crazy forecasted snow and head out!

Our first stop was Ikea, which is ALWAYS fun.  We came out to find that the snow had started in full-force.  We arrived downtown and decided to bundle up and head to Michigan Avenue.

Anika was an ANGEL the entire trip, I am so glad I was able to have time with her.

We didn't take very many pictures, but we did snap these two of our shopping adventure in the snow.

We had Asian Nachos at Grand Lux, got some AMAZING popcorn at Garrett's, stopped and paid WAY TOO MUCH for some good ole' gossip magazines and settled in for a night of talking and relaxing.

Jill and I have been friends since we were 2.  We share a birthday.  We lived together for 4 years in college.  When we are together we NEVER run out of stuff to talk about, we can totally be ourselves and I always leave missing her.

Hugs and love to you sweet Jilly, I had a great time braving Chicago with you and Anika!  :)

Vacation

Last week Tommy was on vacation.  We tried ahead of time to decide what to do, but ended up just letting the week unfold.  It was so nice.  We took the kids to class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and spent the 3 1/2 hours on a "date"!  It was wonderful.  Breakfast out, shopping, browsing the bookstore...

We took the kids to do some fun things, including ice cream at Trader's Point Creamery, visits to Grandma's and the Children's Museum :) 

The slide!  I wish they had this out all year.

Olivia chatting with Barbie

 Logan DJing the fashion show

Hiding during the thunderstorm in the dinosaur area :)

Tickets for the "train ride"

Love the new Treasures of the Earth exhibit

Our hula-hooper!

Christmas

Squinkies!

New baseball helmets

Christmas morning excitement :)

First time EVER!

This is Olivia's first time sitting on Santa's lap. 

While at the Children's Museum with some friends Olivia decided she wanted to quickly write a list and share it with Santa. 

When it was our turn she snuggled right up to him and they talked over her list.  (I just love this picture because of the way Olivia just jumped right up there like they were best buddies)

Logan is still firmly against people in costume, so no pics with Santa for him.

Hugs and happy-first-time-memories :)

Disclaimer: While Jesus is the focus of our Christmas celebration, we do talk about the history of the tradition of Saint Nicholas with our kids (if you catch my drift. And yes our kids have been DRILLED not to spoil anything for any other children {smile}).