Goal #37. Visit a state I've never been to

This past weekend we headed up to Snowshoe, West Virginia to meet up with Jimmy's aunt, uncle, and their kids. I had never been to West Virginia...

Cue banjo music.

The drive was really pretty. I won't say it was a nice drive because it was the windiest roads I've ever been on...and I'm from Colorado.

We had to stop at a grocery store to get a few last things for dinner that night. This was the only store we saw for hours. I'm glad we stopped because it was the last grocery store before the ski resort.

Cue "Twilight Zone" music. At least the bathrooms were clean.

We had to pick up french bread and I was going to get some saltine crackers; for me and Ryan since he had just gotten sick in the truck. Yuck! They didn't even have Zesta or Premium brand. All they had was a store brand...I'll buy Great Value or any other store brand but, um, FOODLAND brand saltines? I'll pass.

Think Piggly Wiggly in podunk Mississippi. Only crappier.

Jimmy got the bread from the deli. It was Pit-A-Ful. I wish I had taken a picture of the bread. They had 2 loaves left and it looked like someone ran them over with their tractor and then shoved them as hard as they could inside the bread bag. Thankfully, the bread was actually really tasty!

We finally made it to the ski resort after 6+ hours in the car. Snowshoe Mountain is a really, really nice resort. Apparently the developers of this resort also developed a resort in Vail, CO. Everything is on top of the mountain. There's a village with restaurants and shops and lots of condos.

We stayed in a condo with Jimmy's family that was about 1/8th of a mile from a ski trail head.

I, of course, did not ski. I've never skied in my life. I'll wait til I'm not pregnant to try it. :) I told Jimmy our baby didn't need to be banged around in the womb. With parents like us, they'll need all the help they can get.

Right before Jimmy took off on the 2nd day I snapped these pics with his iPod. 

Ryan loved the snow! This was his second time this winter playing in the snow.

He had one of his cousins to keep him entertained too. She's such an angel.

This is part of the village condos.

She kept making snowballs for Ryan to throw. He threw them at her, me, Trish and random people skiing and snowboarding by.

I don't have any pictures of the 5 year old or 12 year old cousin skiing but I do have this funny video. Jimmy's uncle took our Flip video with him on the slopes. He took 25 videos. Those kids are little pros!!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Good Times!

Goal #53. Cook 3 things from every cookbook I own (6 & 7/?Haven't counted yet)

I bought a book a few years ago at Tuesday Morning called Super Suppers for $5.99. Super Suppers is one of those places where you go make the meal, take it home, and throw it in the freezer for later. This book is turning out to be well worth the six bucks I paid for it!

The day I bought it I looked through it and flagged all the recipes I thought looked good. There are 29 flags. I just made the first 2 dishes this week. I'm slow like that.

On Monday night I made "Red Beans and Rice" - but Jimmy's likes his red beans over cornbread instead so I didn't make the rice.

I usually use the Zatarain's Red Bean Base seasoning packet. This recipe was much easier than soaking and cooking beans for hours and hours. The beans weren't as "creamy" as with the base but this recipe was still good. I also like a ham hock in my beans. I kind of missed that!

Red Beans and Rice (Vegetarian)
Makes 6 servings

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper (I used red)
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
2 16-oz. cans red beans, undrained
1 12-oz. can crushed tomatoes, undrained (I used a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with celery, onion and bell pepper)
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning

1. In a small saucepan combine water, rice and salt. Bring to boiling over medium-high heat. Turn heat to low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.

2. Preheat oil in a large skillet. Saute onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic in hot oil until tender. Stir in undrained beans, tomatoes and creole seasoning, simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes.

3. Serve beans over rice.

Freeze Ahead: Prepare beans (step 2). Place in a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely in refrigerator. Reheat over low heat while cooking rice (step 1).

**Notes** I added more cajun seasoning than called for and I cooked it for well over 30 minutes since Jimmy was getting home later. I also added 1/2 a package of Smoked Turkey Sausage.

also from Super Suppers; I could not get enough :) I personally thought this dish had simple but wonderful flavor.

Chicken a la Provencal

Makes 4 Servings

4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 lbs. total)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced  yellow bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced green bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1. Pound chicken to an even thickness. Season both sides of each chicken breast half with 1 teaspoon of the salt and black pepper.

2. Preheat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until no longer pink (I had to cook longer). Removed chicken from skillet and set aside.

3. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet along with the bell peppers and onions. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, garlic, basil, and oregano, saute for 1 minute more.

4. Return cooked chicken and any juices to the skillet, drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Bring to boiling. Turn heat to low. Cover and simmer 5 minutes or until heated through.

Plan Ahead: Prepare vegetables up to 1 day ahead. Refrigerate in a resealable plastic bag.

**Notes** The grocery store I frequent didn't have green bell pepper this week so I just used 1 red and 1 orange bell pepper for this dish. I served this with some Parmesan potatoes I found in the frozen section. The book recommends serving with buttered noodles and asparagus baked with cheese (another recipe in the book).

Two words - so good!

Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas at home this year.


On Christmas eve we continued Jimmy's family tradition of opening one gift each. The gift is always new pajamas!

Once Ryan got going on the wrapping paper I captured this pic that shows his speed!!

I think Jimmy put them on his head and he ran around for awhile like this:

It was really nice sleeping in my own bed and waking up in my own house on Christmas. I did miss my family though.

Ryan woke up at his normal 6:00 a.m. and after resting in our bed and drinking his milk we headed downstairs. We let him go down on his own.

He gets on his belly and slides all the way down like that. His legs aren't long enough to sit on his bum and scoot down.

He had to take a peek to make sure Santa came.

And boy did he. Jimmy notified me that Santa does not wrap his presents. Well this year he did. The treehouse was actually a gift from his Aunt Trish and Uncle Chuck but the box was so awkward I didn't want to wrap it. We went ahead and assembled it the night before.

Ryan needs a bigger stocking. He got forks, sippy cups, snacks, snack containers, and a Mickey mouse that we got for him at Disney World.

Ryan loved unwrapping all of his gifts. He tried to unwrap mine and Jimmy's too. He was even helping to put all of his paper in the trashbag.

Getting creative with the unwrapping.

The Aquadoodle has got to be the best invention. I don't have to worry about markers or crayons on the walls! It draws with only water and the picture disappears when it dries.

He loves the vacuum his Nana got him!

I was saying "Cheese" so Ryan would smile and it really looks like I'm cheesin'!

It started snowing Christmas night and on Sunday we woke up to this!

Jimmy taught him how to throw snowballs.

Then Ryan lost his footing and dove face first into the snow!

Jimmy did a great job building a "Snow Ryan"

The trees on the porch were covered in snow too.

We ended up getting 8" of snow. This was the 5th time it snowed this Fall/Winter season.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Fudge and Crochet

Goal #53 : Cook 3 recipes out of every cookbook I own (5)

I made two batches of White Chocolate Cookies and Cream Fudge for gifts. This recipe makes a whole lot!

I got this recipe out of a Southern Living cookbook for Christmas that my mom gave me back in 2008. It's great for gift giving since it only takes 7 minutes to make! I forgot the salt both times but it was still delicious!

Ingredients

• 1  cup  sugar
• 3/4  cup  butter
• 1  (5-oz.) can evaporated milk
• 2  (12-oz.) packages white chocolate morsels
• 1  (7-oz.) jar marshmallow cream
• 3  cups  coarsely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (about 25 cookies), divided
• Pinch of salt

Preparation

Line a greased 9" square pan with aluminum foil; set aside.
Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add white chocolate morsels, marshmallow cream, 2 cups crushed cookies, and salt. Stir until morsels melt.
Pour fudge into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cookies over fudge, gently pressing cookies into fudge. Cover and chill until firm (about 1 to 2 hours).
Lift uncut fudge in aluminum foil from pan; remove foil, and cut fudge into squares.

Christmas with Southern Living 2008, Oxmoor House, MAY 2008

Ryan and Jimmy crushed the cookies!

Goal # 95: Create 10 things off craft blogs (5 & 6/10)

I found this crocheted swirly twirly scarf here. The pattern looked pretty easy so on our long trip home from Snowshoe, WV this weekend I completed it. I think I spent close to 5 hours on it. 200 chain stitches, 800 double crochet, and 800 single crochet takes awhile.

Here's a photo of the final product. Since I used white I think it looks like small intestines....But they are cute small intestines... This isn't really a scarf to keep warm with.

Goal # 14: Crochet a Hat

On the way to Snowshoe, WV (more on that later) I crocheted a flower (Goal #95) to go on a hat I made last week. I also crocheted the same hat, bigger size and different color (below).

This is a shell stitch beanie. Aside from my own child I think this baby is one of the most beautiful I've seen. Perfect little model. I made this hat for a friend of mine who is having a baby in a few weeks. I screwed up and used 1 hook size smaller than called for. I hope the hat fits! My friend said her first born had a small head.

I never knew crocheting hats was so easy. I really love the way this pattern turns out. It doesn't seem like the hat will stretch out like some of the other homemade crocheted hats I've received.

Goal #27. Grow garlic (1/2 Done)

Last night I planted my garlic cloves. I've read in several places online that garlic is traditionally planted on the shortest day of the year and harvested on the longest day of the year (Winter and Summer Solstices). Hopefully by June 21st I'll be eating homegrown garlic.

I took a bunch of cloves off some store bought garlic heads and planted them in a couple of planters I keep on the front porch. I also had some hard little cloves that were in the bottom of a bag of garlic heads that our "garlic guy" at my old job grew. I wasn't sure if these were viable seeds but I'll try it anyway. They probably won't do anything...

I might plant a few larger cloves out on the side of my house to see if they grow better in different soil.

Garlic is cheap at the store but I thought it'd be fun to eat something I grew.

Over the past couple of years I've planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs. Every year the deer or rabbits eat my tomatoes. Right when they are about to start turning from green to yellow I'll go out and the whole bush will be completely bare of.

The cucumbers were ok. If I ever do those again I'll chose a different variety. The ones I planted were like pickling cucumbers. Someone gave me a recipe for pickles but I'd rather buy them. My mom never really taught me how to can stuff...

The herbs...well the herbs aren't really my friends either. I was trying to grow mint when I was on a Mojito kick but I couldn't ever get it to produce enough to harvest before the bugs ate it. I've had chives growing in a planter for 4 years. Whenever I think the winter cold has killed them they come back even bigger in the Spring. We hardly ever eat chives though. I killed a rosemary plant twice now and my parsley and basil never does right either.

My friend gave me a butter lettuce plant last year which was doing great until one day I went to water it and it was missing....There was a fat caterpillar in the planter that scarfed down the entire plant.

If I didn't have a sneaky/curious toddler and and sunny window sill in my kitchen I'd grow more indoors. I saw a book on Martha Stewart's show about growing ANYTHING indoors. Pineapple, passionfruit, dragonfruit, citrus, and on and on and on....

Fingers crossed on the garlic!

Goal #78. Eat at 5 local restaurants we haven't tried yet (3/5)

I forgot to post about 2 of the local restaurants I've tried.

About a month or so ago my friend, Kandyce, and I met up at Peppers Market and Sandwich Shop in Morrisville. I had a coupon from my CitiPass book for BOGO entree and figured since we hadn't ever eaten there we'd try it. I looked at the menu online and everything sounded so good.

I ended up getting their:

Black Bean Burger ... $ 8.35

"This house-made Black Bean Burger is unlike any you have had before. Combined with vegetables, fresh herbs, topped with provolone, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and Peppers Light Herb Sauce. Served on a fresh baked ciabatta roll."

It came with a choice of chips, pasta salad, and some other sides but since I LOVE pasta salad that's what I got.

I had never had a black bean burger before but it was really good and filling. The pasta salad did not disappoint either.

Kandyce got a grilled chicken sandwich. I'm not seeing the one she got on their online menu. She said it was really tasty.

I gave her my punch card that I got since the shop is closer to her house. I told her she might want to bring her husband there but she said he probably wouldn't eat there. He'd take one look at the menu and say "Where are the wings?"


Today we met for lunch again since our husbands were at a Panther's football game in Charlotte. I was really wanting some Greek food so we went to Neomonde Baking Company. I had heard good things about a different location they have.


I tried their:

Lunch Box Special

"Half-sandwich or wrap, two of our delicious salads/sides, and one pastry. Mmmm!"


For my sandwich choice I got the Chicken Shawarma Sandwich, my sides were Tabouli and Hummus and I got pistachio baklava.


Chicken Shawarma Sandwich
"Grilled chicken with our authentic garlic paste. Topped with ripe tomato, pickles, and our delicious lemon-tahini sauce."


It was delicious. My bill was over $9.00. I'm not used to spending that much on lunch. Kandyce said Greek Fiesta was just as good and cheaper (I think it's a chain).


Either way, I got my Greek fix!!

Goal #95. Create 10 things found on craft blogs (4/10)

We've been needing a new tree topper for our naked tree. We used to have a lighted angel that was really pretty but the way it was supposed to attach to the tree was really flimsy. I had some leftover wired ribbon from the ribbon we use as streamers down the tree. We didn't put those on this year because we weren't sure if Ryan would mess with them.

 I decided to make a large bow to top the tree. I finally sat down today and did it. Here's the link to the video I used as a guide.




And here's the final product. Mind you, it's the first bow I've ever made with wired ribbon. It was really fun to make. I think I'll make one for the mailbox too!

Next year maybe we can add the streamers too!