Monday, April 30, 2012

What's for Dinner? Day 122-151

Day 122


April Fool's Day

We don't usually do much for April Fool's Day but with the kids getting older, we just might start :)

We went mild this year, but they thought it was very funny.



For dinner we had an "early" Easter dinner with some of our good friends as they were out of town for Easter.  It was delish!


Day 123

Pan Seared Steak Rolls

These looked a lot better than they were.  But you can find them here.

They were a thumbs down for the kids, I tolerated them and Joe was late for dinner so I am not sure what he thought :)


Day 124

Tonight we had a Mexican casserole that Martine had given us.  Just warm it up, easy!

Then look what we saw outside our house after dinner!  We don't see many rainbows around Seattle--as there is not often sun with the rain :)

So pretty!



Day 125

Zatarain's Dirty Rice

Enough said. . .also a quick and easy meal.  We are getting into the things are packed up and starting to move to the other house mode.  We'll see how things continue.


Day 126

Honey Garlic Pork Chops

Found these on Pinterest from Spark people.

Barbecued the pork chops and had some rice and veggies.  Pretty good. 
I think is was thumb's up all around.



Day 127 & 128

I have no idea what we had on #127 :)  Probably fast food!  On #128 we took the kids to Fox Hollow Farm for an Easter Egg hunt (pictures to come).  We grabbed Taco Time for dinner.


Day 129

Happy Easter!!

We had a lovely Easter Sunday! 


We went to Joe's parents for Easter dinner.  We were in charge of a fruit salad.  We took this.  It was a really good fruit salad!  Try it!


Day 130

Papa John's
The Papa John's iPhone app works great for ordering on the go. 
 I was at the old house for an appraisal they needed and somehow I got to be there.  Not a great afternoon--needless to say we had pizza.
We moved all of our beds and couches and main furniture on Saturday so we have a lot at the new house and some still at the old house.  A little tricky :)


Day 131
Slow Cooker Potato Soup
I thought that this would be a great easy meal with still moving.  Stick it in the crockpot and voila!  It would be ready.  I had to do some tweaking at the end because the cheese didn't melt and the soup didn't thicken.
It tasted OK, but had a funny texture.  Find it here.  It may be better for you!
Forgot to take a picture.  Wasn't that memorable :)


 
Day 132
Potato Nachos
We found the recipe for Potato Nachos some time ago.  I don't even remember when.  I think that Joe actually found it.  Basically you wedge potatoes,  coat them with a little olive oil and some Mexican spices.  Then spread them on the pan, top them with tomatoes, olives, green chiles, jalapenos, whatever you would like.  Sprinkle cheese on the top and bake.
It's a thumbs up all around.


Day 133

Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin

I can't give you this either.  But check it out in the Our Best Bites cookbook.  It was yummy!! 

Serve it with a little rice and brocolli.  Yum, Yum!




Day 134

Crockpot Shredded Beef Tacos

Here is the delicious recipe for these tacos.  I love the make it and forget about it meals.

Just add cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, salsa.

Thumb's up!!



Day 135

Today was Peyton's opening day of Little League.  I don't have a clue what we had for dinner, but we have some pretty cute picture of the San Francisco Giants.

We'll post pics soon with a few of the other activities we've been doing.


Day 136

Avocado Enchiladas

We had some super yummy avocado enchiladas tonight for dinner.  The kids ate them well and they got 4 thumbs up :)  They made A LOT.  Joe probably took them for lunch for 4 days.

I'd make them again!!





Day 137

Chicken Noodle Soup

We took dinner to some friends tonight because the mom had shoulder surgery today.

We took Chicken Noodle Soup which is one of the kids favorite.  I think that we have already had this in the "What's for Dinner?" challenge.  But it's always a favorite.

Don't have a picture because we were running out the door and actually Addison and I ended up eating with our friends and Joe and Peyton ate after baseball :)



Day 138

No clue what we had this night :)



Day 139

Buffalo Chicken Tacos

These were yummy!  We ate on the go, but they would be a great "game day" food.  I used Wingers buffalo wing sauce because that's what I had.

Find it here.





Day 140


Don't know :)



Day 141


Papa Murphy's pizza.  Which actually is quite good pizza.  Probably better than Papa John's :)


Day 142

I think this might have been when life got crazy as I was trying to get everything out of the other house and clean and. . .and I was really GROUCHY!!

I don't know what we had for dinner!


Day 143

BBQ Hamburgers, Fruit Salad, and Corn on the Cob

It was a lovely spring day today, sun was shining and blue sky was out :)

We decided that we would barbecue some hamburgers, whip up some buns and have the corn on the cob and some fruit that we got from our "Bountiful Basket"






Day 144

Peter's Lasagna

I'm sure you are asking who is Peter?  It's from Our Best Bites (I've been getting a lot of use out of my cookbook).  Their recipes are usually pretty easy and yummy!  Family friendly!

I think that Peter (whoever he is) went on his LDS mission to Italy.

You'll need the sauce and then the lasagna.

Find it here and here.

4 thumb's up, especially from Addison!!





Day 145

Breakfast

This time we had Mountain Man Breakfast, Hashbrowns, and English Muffins.

Always the best for the kids!!




Day 146


Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

Our Best Bites :)--here

Joe loved it and said he had not enjoyed a salad that much in quite a while :)

I kept some of the noodles out for the kids and they had a few veggies.  So I don't think that they can accurately give thumb's up, thumb's down or otherwise.




Day 147

Joe went out to dinner for work.  I don't know what the kids and I did :)  Probably quesadillas.


Day 148

Greek Couscous Salad

Our Best Bites again ;)  (No recipe link on this one, it's not online).  We tried a few salads this week.  We had a bunch of lettuce and veggies from our Bountiful Baskets this week. 

The kids were not thrilled with this one.  They will often give a thumb's up (as to not hurt my feelings) but really it's more like thumb's to the side or even down :)  I tell them they don't have to like it, just try it.




Day 149

Bacon, Artichoke Penne Pasta

Use Our Best Bites Guiltless Alfredo here.  Mix with cooked Penne, bacon, canned artichokes and a few other yummy things.  Bake in a cassorole dish for 30 ish minutes.  You can find the whole recipe in the Our Best Bites cookbook.

It was great to make beforehand and then I put it in the oven and had the oven turn on while we were at baseball.  It was done when we got home :)

Not a good picture.  I had eaten some before I rememberd I hadn't taken a picture.  Oops!  Luckily it's just my challenge so no one can judge.




Day 150

Mini Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

I had seen online that you could cook meatloaf in muffin tins and they of course would cook quicker.  My kids, especially Peyton loves meatloaf.  But it takes awhile to cook.  So I thought I would try the mini meatloaf concept.  I just made meatloaf as usual, filled up the muffin tins and cooked them for 15 minutes--yep that's right 15 minutes and they were done!  Add some mashed potatoes and gravy and some veggies.

4 thumbs up!!





Day 151


Spicy Honey Chicken Salad

Our Best bites here is where we found this yummy salad.  And we got to use our mangoes, and lettuce and avocaodos from our Bountiful Baskets.  We are definitely eating our fruits and veggies :)



And that ends the crazy month of April that we had.  We got moved by the 30th :)  Got the other house cleaned and our deposit back!  Got fairly settled in the new house.

~~And had a few good meals in the middle of it all~~

"Hail to the Chief"

"Hail to the Chief"

Peyton's class has been doing a career unit at school.

They were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Peyton has previously wanted to be a pilot.  In fact in Kindergarten he had to do an all about me project and was telling me what to write and when I asked him what he wanted to be he said a "pirate", at least it sounded it that way to me :)  Come to find out it was a PILOT.

I figured he'd still want to do that, NOPE :)  He has changed, he now wants to be:

 The President of the United States

He had to research the career, how much schooling, responsiblities, etc.

Then they had to build an office space for their career.

~He built the OVAL OFFICE~



Then they had a career day at school where they displayed their offices and we go to go and see them all.  There were marine biologists, policeman, pilots, secret service, inventors, piano teachers, zoo keepers, singers, and of course the President of the United States.

Start your engines!!

Pinewood Derby

Peyton had his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby tonight.

It was fun for Joe and Peyton as neither had much experience with it at all.  Luckily we had a friend who was able to add some weight to the car and some graphite to the wheels. 

They did OK for the first go round!!

Now they have a little experience under their belt, we'll see what they do next year!

Peyton painted his car himself and of course it was ORANGE.

He got the "Orange Crush" award :)

He thought it was great!

April activities-Little League Opening Day :)

San Francisco Giants
--Opening Day--

Peyton started Little league again today.  He is on the Giants team.  His team consists of half 1st graders and the other half are 2nd graders.  He loves to play and never complains about it :)  Which is better than his mom who thinks the games are WAY to long :)

I can't complain to much however as Joe normally takes him to practices on Mondays and then we all go to games on Saturdays--Addison loves running around with all the other kids.




Easter Sunday

EASTER SUNDAY-2012
In the new house :)

Our two cute kids all dressed in their Sunday best.

We had a nice Easter Sunday.

April activities--Fox Hollow Farm Egg Hunt

Fox Hollow Farm Easter Egg Hunt
April 7, 2012

We took the kids to the egg hunt at the Fox Hollow Farm.  It is a cute little farm that had a lot of baby animals, pony rides, easter eggs, train rides, marshmallow roasting, a bouncy house. . .

The kids had a great time!  I think they liked the baby animals the best.  They had a one day old baby goat.






Sunday, April 1, 2012

You and me going' fishin' in the dark

Well maybe not the dark :)

Peyton is learning to fish--and trying to get his fishing belt loop for Cub Scouts with Paul on Lake Sammamish.