Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

"Let's hear it for the boy!"

I feel that I have been neglectful of my postings of William, so this is a post dedicated to his praise. What a handsome boy! He is cute and squishy. He has started waving when some one says either "hi" or "goodbye" (he waves like the little bunny who gets sucked into the bunny-vac and sees his friends floating around with him on Wallace and Grommit's The Curse of the Wererabbit). He walks more on his own now, but only short distances. He loves to hold on to both of mommy's hands and walk around the house numerous times. He likes to play around outside and pull the rocks out of the landscaping. When he is hungry, he comes up to me and tries to eat my legs. He loves key lime shake (see post below). He loves to try to feed you things. He is sweet and smiley and still likes to make use of his happy shriek. He is very determinded to get objects he can't have. He loves his big sister and tries to play with her. He crawls after her all around the house. I love it when they make each other laugh. He loves Daddy. Whenever Daddy comes home, he must be held. And then there's Mommy, well what's not to love? :D We're so glad that you came to live with us William!

I found this romper at Costco. It was too cute and I thought it described William perfectly. (Thanks Cheryl!)

The first picture is from the annual take pictures with Grandpa Reeve's tulips and roadster day.

Key Lime Pie Shake

Okay, by now you are probably thinking, "Meridy, what is up with all of these lime recipes??" The truth is that I bought a bag of about 50 key limes from the dollar store and I am trying to figure out how to use them all. We do like limes around here.

This shake was yummy. William was begging for more. (Don't tell his doctor that. :) )

It has lots of key limes, vanilla icecream, a scoop of frozen cool whip, a spoonful of sugar, and half of a graham cracker crust.

My Spinach Puffs!!

"Ah, there so easy to make! I'll get you the recipe."

Here are some spinach puffs I made. They were pretty easy to make, but the cresent rolls taste like the I-got-them-out-of-the-can-that-pops kind.....which they are. :) They are still really good for what they are. Although, next time I might see how hard it would be to make some home made dough.

Here is the recipe:

SPINACH AND SWISS CHEESE PUFFS
1 tube of Pillsbury Crescent rolls

2 cups fresh chopped spinach

1 container of "laughing cow" light semi-soft Swiss cheese (contains 8 pieces)

garlic powder

basil

oregano

ground pepper

Mix Swiss Cheese in a bowl with chopped spinach, garlic, basil, oregano, and pepper. Unroll Crescent rolls. Place a 1/2 tablespoon of cheese mixture in the middle of each Crescent triangle. Fold dough over cheese mixture. Make sure mixture is firmly in middle of dough with no opening.
Place on baking sheet. Sprinkle garlic powder and basil over each piece and bake according to instructions for Crescent rolls.
Serves 8

I used about a half of a 8oz cream cheese + one tablespoon of parmesan cheese instead of Swiss. I used about half of a 9oz bag of spinach from out of my freezer. Note: do not freeze spinach unless you don't mind it coming out mushy when thawed. But it worked for this. :) Another note: use basil sparingly. A little basil goes a loooong way. I also did not sprinkle garlic powder and basil over the tops of the rolls.

Book Tag

Here are the rules to the tag:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next five sentences.
5. Tag five people

My good friend Deborah tagged anyone who read her blog. So I decided for fun to pick up the nearest book just to see what the quote would be. It happened to be Crime and Punishment. Let me assure you that I am NOT the one reading this book, Nate is. (Not that it isn't valuable to society, but I cannot recommend it because I am not reading it.) The quote was a good one. At least I thought so, so here it is:

" '.....They came into his hand precisely as he has told us-he stepped on the box and picked it up.'

'The holy truth! But didn't he own himself that he told a lie at first?'

'Listen to me, listen attentively. The porter and Koch and Pestryakov and the other porter and the wife of the first porter and the woman who was sitting in the porter's lodge and the man Kryukov, who had just got out of a cab at that minute and the went in at the entry with a lady on his arm, that is eight or ten witnesses, agree that Nikolay had Dimtri on the ground, was lying on him and beating him, while Dimitri hung on to his hair, beating him, too.'"

Did you follow that? Were you listening attentively? (Just as a side note, apparently, if you read a few sentences more, these two brawlers where having somewhat of a good time because they were laughing and chasing each other like children.)

Please consider yourself tagged if you would like to be!

I like Wal-mart

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourHome/RealKatrinaHeroWalMartStudySays.aspx

Name that Tune

If you can guess what song Ellie is singing at the beginning of this video, Nate will give you a nickle. Just mail us a self addressed envelope, and be sure to write "A Song for a Nickle Contest" above our address. Void were prohibited. Restrictions Apply. All rights reserved.

This video not only features Ellie's musical skills but William's walking skills. Unfortunately, Ellie pushes William at the end of the video. We are still learning to share and "be soft".

An Engagement

Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Reeve are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter,

Eleanor

to

Jeffery

They will be married sometime.

Ellie goes to joy school with Adam, Grant, and Meika. Adam's brother, Jeffery, is in love with Ellie. When I went to pick her up a couple months ago at Adam and Jeffery's house, Jeffery wanted Ellie to stay, and invited her to come play on another day too. Well apparently absence makes the heart grow fonder because this week on Tuesday when all the kids were together (if I got my story straight, I wasn't there at the time), Jeffery ran out of his car to ask Ellie to marry him. I don't think that he got a response from Ellie. Today when I was there, Jeffery said to Ellie, "Marry me sometime okay?" Ellie looked at him for a minute and then smiled and said, "Okay." I asked her later today if she was going to marry Jeffery and she replied in the affirmative.

Thai Noodle Bowl

Okay, so it's not in a bowl, but it tasted yummy! Nate loved it. I got it out of what I think is the current Women's Day magazine. I'm am going to give you the real recipe first. And then I am going to tell you what I did. I think the real recipe sounds good, I just had to improvise because I didn't end up buying all of the ingredients.

Thai Noodle Bowl

4 Scallions

1/2 red bell pepper

1lb chicken tenders

1 can (14 oz) light coconut milk (yeah right! We used the very fattening NON-light coconut milk)

1 tbsp EACH green curry paste and fish sauce (or nam pla) Look in the Asian section

1/2 a 16 oz box of rice noodles

2tps oil

2 cups shredded carrots

1/3 cup of mint leaves

lime wedges

Start water boiling to cook rice noodles (cook according to pkg directions). While water is boiling, slice scallions and red pepper. Cut chicken. Wisk coconut milk, green curry, and fish sauce in a bowl until blended. Saute chicken, red pepper, and carrots in oil for five min. Add milk mixture. Saute two min more. Add scallions and mint leaves. Serve with lime wedges over rice noodles.

Here is what I did:

I sauted two chicken breasts, some onion (We don't like raw onion.), and a whole red pepper. I couldn't find rice noodles so I substituted chicken ramen. I wisked the green curry paste and full-fat coconut milk in a bowl. I couldn't find the fish sauce. I added the coconut milk mixture after the chicken was done. I added a few shakes of basil instead of mint leaves. I couldn't find mint leaves either and basil is sorta minty. I tried to use cornstarch in cold water to help it thicken. It worked a little bit, but I bet it would have worked better if I had just stirred in a tsp of corn starch by itself. We served it with lime wedges, but I personally think that with this dish a little lime goes a long way. It tasted really good like that! Next time I want to try it with the mint, rice noodles, and scallions. (We still might skip the fish sauce. :) )

Chicken Posole Verde

I got this recipe out of 29 Minutes to Dinner from our friends at Pampered Chef. Leslie gave it to me for Christmas, and it is awesome! (thanks Leslie!) This soup is quick, easy, delicious, and can be easily modified to a food storage meal. It is good for a cold winter's day, but fresh enough to eat in the summer. Here is how I make it:

Chicken Posole Verde

garlic salt (maybe a couple of teaspoons?) (They use real garlic 2 cloves, heated through at the beginning)

1 can (29 oz) white hominy

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

1 can (10 oz) mild green enchilada sauce (use medium or hot if you like it spicy)

1 tsp oregano (They say to use Mexican oregano but I never have any)

2 cups of diced cooked chicken (you could use rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Haven't tried that; bet it would be yummy though!)

1 cup thinly sliced green cabbage

chopped fresh cilantro

limes

I usually start by taking some frozen chicken breasts and boiling them in water to cook. When it is done cooking, I drain it to about 3 cups of water. I add in bullion to make the broth. Then I add in all the ingredients except for the cabbage and cilantro and lime. (I don't add in the cup of water either.) I let it simmer for like 20 min. When you are ready to serve, pour out soup into bowls and garnish with fresh cabbage, cilantro, and lime juice (as much as you want).

If you are willing to used canned chicken, and bottled lime juice, and forgo fresh cabbage and cilantro, then it would be a yummy dinner entirely from food storage.

See below for Gautamalian Chicken recipe.