Recipes and such

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Whew! At least I'm not 100% addicted!

For those of you who've asked, I thought I'd post a few of the recipes that Doug made the other night.

Chicken Bryan
Serves: 6
Prep. Time: 0:55

1 Tbls. minced garlic
1 Tbls. minced yellow onion
2 Tbls. butter
1/2 cup white grape juice (or diluted white wine vinegar)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup cold butter - sliced
1 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
6 boned, skinned chicken breast halves
extra virgin olive oil - for brushing
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
8 oz. caprino OR other goat cheese - room temperature

1. Sauté garlic and onion in 2 Tbls. butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender.
2. Stir white grape juice and lemon juice into skillet, increase heat to medium high, and simmer to reduce by half.
3. Reduce heat to low and stir in cold butter, one slice at a time.
4.Stir in tomatoes, basil, kosher salt, and white pepper; remove from heat; set aside.
5. Brush chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.
6. Grill chicken over hot coals 15 - 20 minutes, or until cooked through.
7. A couple of minutes before chicken is done, place equal amounts of cheese on each breast
8.Spoon prepared sun-dried tomato sauce over chicken.

Pesto Sauce

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.
2. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Makes 1 cup.

The Oreo Madness was basically Homemade Oreos (that you do with a devil's food cake mix) with ice cream in the middle and caramel and hot fudge drizzled on top. It was delicious!

Happy Eating!

What a perfect day!

I (we) had such a fun and perfect Valentines Day yesterday so I had to share. We woke up to about 8 new inches of snow and since Doug only had one class he thought it would be okay to stay home and spend the day with us. Here's a picture of the amount of snow we have in our back yard. It's about 16". Notice the little bit of grass sticking out at the bottom.
After getting ready for the day we went out to play in the new snow. Sophia helped him build this awesome snow fort complete with a snow bench and slide.


Sophia loved it so much! She would have stayed outside and played all day if we would have let her. It was a lot of fun for her.

After coming back inside and having lunch I stayed with the girls while Doug went shopping for a surprise dinner he had planned for that night. When he got home he sent me and the girls downstairs for a few hours so that he could get dinner ready. While we were down there Sophia proceeded to take about 50 pictures with the camera. These were a few of the best ones.


After he was ready I came upstairs to this.

He's so sweet! I love that he even decorated the table so cute! He gave me the crystal with the heart on it for Valentine's Day when he was on his mission. So sweet, I know.
The dinner he made was so yummy! He made Carrabba's Chicken Bryan (our favorite!) complete with sundried tomatoes and real goat cheese. It was soooooo yummy! He also steamed vegetables using this cool method of using aluminum foil balls that he saw online.

He also made yummy pasta with a pesto sauce that he made from scratch! I was truly impressed and it tasted absolutely delightful!

For dessert he made homemade Oreo Madness. Last weekend we went to TGIFriday's with the sole purpose of having yummy Oreo Madness. Much to my dismay they don't serve it anymore! I was totally bummed! If you feel the same way I do, apparently there's some petition online you can sign to bring it back. Anyway, apparently I complained too much about it because he remembered my dissapointment and made it for me. He really is the sweetest husband!

After dinner I put the kids to bed while he cleaned up and then he gave me this video that he had made. It was so neat! It was a little "video diary" he had made where he shared his side of the story of how we met, fell in love, got married, etc. and how he felt about the births of each of our girls. It was really so neat and I'm so glad to have something like this. I can't believe he took the time to make this. It was almost 30 minutes long so it must have taken forever! He even got Sophia and Lilly to say a few words. It was so cute! It truly is a treasure and something that I will definitely keep for posterity's sake (and maybe something we should watch every Valentine's Day:)). Then he pulled out an air matress he bought me (he was just pulling out surprises all night!) because I've always wanted one and I fell asleep watching "Sleepless in Seattle" - such a classic Valentine movie.

Anyway, it truly was the perfect day and I love my husband so much for making it so! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's as well!

L is for the way you look at me....

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I thought I'd take a few minutes and write down a few things I love!

1. Douglas - of course! I'm so grateful for the way he loves me and our girls! He works so hard to provide for us and make us happy!
2. Sophia's sweet little voice.
3. The way her sweet little voice says funny things. Like how she calls Oscar the Grouch "Groucher".
4. Sweet random moments when the sweet little thing with her sweet littel voice tells me "I love you mom" .
5. Lilly's smiles and curious big blue eyes (are they ever going to change?)
6. My family and all they do for me.
7. Chocolate! and bread - I really do love bread.
8. How my couches look right after I've washed the slipcovers.
9. A hot bath and reading a book at the same time.
10. How it feels climbing into a bed with freshly washed sheets.
11. This beautiful world!

Hope you all have a fun day and remember everything that you love!

Will you be my valentine?

Here's one of the Lillers lookin' so cute today. Here's another one of her checking herself out in the mirror the other day.

My salvation arrived today. I ordered this stroller last week and was so happy that it came today! The minute it got here I hurried and assembled it while Sophia was still napping. When she woke up and saw it she immediately climbed on the bench seat and asked to go for a walk. Thank goodness it was a nice day. I wasn't sure if I'd like this kind of "sit and stand" stroller and it is a little bit more of a bus than I thought. It's not as bad without the car seat so it will be perfect when Lilly's a little bigger (and when the weather's a little warmer).