Natural Science Museum, New Recipes

This past weekend we took Ryan to the Natural Science Museum. He went the first time when he 2 weeks old and Jimmy's mom was visiting.

He was pointing at EVERYTHING. I think he was in awe of all the new things he was seeing.

They had a 2 story indoor waterfall and he was enthralled with it. He kept walking back to it to take another look. He even kept doing the sign for water.

When we were on the floor above it he could look through the glass railing.

 

There were a lot of whale bones hanging 4 floors above everything.

There were also casts of dinosaur bones. Jimmy scared Ryan on this one but luckily Ryan brushed it off and still wanted to touch it.

I couldn't stay by these exhibits long....

Peek a boo!

Finally, Ryan went to the front of his stroller and started taking to coats off. He was to tired to walk anymore and wanted to ride. I've never seen him want to be IN the stroller.

Goal#53: Cook 3 recipes out of every cookbook I own (8)
Goal #10: Make 4 meals for new mommies (1/4)

My friend is about to have a baby so I made her Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti and Easy Apple Crisp from the Super Suppers Cookbook. Both of these are in my freezer and soon to be in her freezer for whenever she's ready for them. I also got her one of those Fresh Steamers vegetable packages to go along with it.

I thought it best to make her something freezable so she didn't have to eat the dish the night it was prepared.

She's due in a few days!! I'm so excited for her and can't wait to meet her little girl.

The Easy Apple Crisp took me less than 10 minutes to assemble. That's 10 minutes from the time I started pulling out all the ingredients to putting it in the freezer. We'll have to wait for her to eat it for the verdict. I will probably make this very soon so I can try it too!

So here it is...

Easy Apple Crisp
Super Suppers
Meredith Books
Copyright 2006 by Judy  Byrd

Make 6 Servings

Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 20-oz. can apple pie filling
Ice cream or Whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (unless you plan on freezing). coat and 8x8x2-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a bowl, use a fork to combine oats, brown sugar, and flour. Stir in melted butter. Press two-thirds of the oat mixture into the prepared cake pan.

3. Spoon pie filling over oat mixture. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Freeze Ahead: Prepare through step three. Cover with plastic wrap and foil. Freeze up to 2 months. Defrost completely. Preheat oven. Remove plastic and foil and continue according to step four.

Easy Peach Crisp: Substitute peach pie filling.

Goal #18: Have a Mom's night in for the girls every 6 months (1/5)
Goal#53: Cook 3 recipes out of every cookbook I own (9)

Last week I invited the mom's from a Meetup group I'm part of over for appetizers and wine. I was trying to get rid of wine but ended up with more than I started with. Someone even brought some chocolate wine which did not get opened. Looking forward to that one!

Each person brought an appetizer to share. I made the Edamame Dumplings and Seasoned Crackers from a cookbook my mom gave me called "Eat, Bitch and Wine". It's all about appetizers.

Easiest recipe ever.

16 oz bag of oyster crackers
1/2 package of dry ranch dressing mix
3/4 cup of vegetable oil (I used a little less)

Mix everything in a gallon size ziplock bag or in a bowl with a lid. Shake it to get everything coated well. Let sit for two hours then shake again. Shake before serving too!

Highly addictive and not so healthy but OH SO GOOD!!

Goal #78: Eat at 5 local restaurants we haven't tried yet (4/5)

Today we ate at Bull Feathers in Fuquay. My friend Deb had mentioned it a few times and I thought we should try it out. It's a small restaurant and bar but adequate. They were pretty busy too.

Ryan loved the train that goes around the top of the restaurant. He also had his eye on an 11 month old girl at the next table.

We ordered their Nacho-Everyday Nachos which consists of Tortilla Chips, Slow-Cooked Chili, Queso, Cheddar/Jack Cheese, Diced Tomatoes, Black Olives, Jalapenos, Salsa, Sour Cream.

and their Mouth-Watering Wings with Classic Buffalo sauce.

I thought the wings were better than the nachos. The sauce wasn't too hot, the wings were big, and perfectly crispy. Jimmy still says that My Way Tavern in Holly Springs has the best wings. I've never had them there so I can't attest to that. I hardly ever eat wings out. Or ribs. I just don't like how messy they are. I don't like looking barbaric when I eat.

Jimmy said the Nachos from Backyard Bistro in Raleigh are way better. I've never had those either. I thought they were pretty good.

I have a few complaints...Most places don't charge to get half the wings in an order a different flavor. They charge $1 extra. Also, they only give you two tiny pieces of celery and charge you $.79 for more. I'm not sure how much more... The celery is the best part especially when you just ate a spicy wing. They could throw in a couple of carrot sticks too! They got busy after we got our food, but it did take quite awhile for our food to come out.

It's a....

After waiting so long to find out if our little butterbean was a boy or a girl the ice storm came and shut everything down on the day of our appointment. I'll spare you a rant. Because I've got one in me... ::sarcastic smile::

Finally today we found out.

Drumroll please! DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

It's a BOY!!!

Another boy. Stinky, ewey boys. I love it!

And I'm ok with being outnumbered.

Now the name game starts. It took us until I was 35 weeks to figure out Ryan's name. Boy's names are hard, especially when you have a weird last name.

Goal #32. Attend 2 Wine and Design classes (1/2)

Last night I went to Wine and Design with my neighbor Lisa. This was actually my second time attending. I went before I started this goals challenge though. Which means I have to go back again!

We painted Van Gogh's Irises. This one was more challenging that the first painting I did. Here is the original:

Here is what the teacher painted:

The one on the right is the model and on the left is the one she painted throughout the class. She showed us step by step what to do. There were no mistakes. Everyone's painting looked similar but was unique.

We started by painting the entire canvas a pale yellow then dabbed some green in the upper left corner.

Then we painted the dirt.

And then the little flowers, I think they are poppies?

Painting the leaves was fun.

Meet Lisa.

Here's my finished product.



And here's all the ladies that attended.

I can't wait to go back. They have date night where you paint your partner in a Picasso inspired way. There's also and Andy Warhol pop art inspired painting where you send in a photo of the person you want to paint.

Go to their website www.wineanddesignnc.com to see their calendar and schedule of paintings. This is really fun for a girl's night.

Goal #11. Try 75 new recipes (7/75)

Yesterday I made some chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't tell you the last time I made CC cookies. Probably when I was still living at my mom's house.

I had picked up a pack of Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate chips a few weeks ago when they were on sale. I used this recipe that was on the back of the package.

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

• 2 cups Milk Chocolate Chips
• 2 1/4 cup(s) unsifted flour
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) teaspoon salt
• 1 cup(s) (2 sticks) butter
• 3/4 cup(s) sugar
• 3/4 cup(s) packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla
• 1 cup(s) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixer bowl, cream butter with sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 375ºF for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

These cookies turned out so well. They are soft and yummy! The chocolate is so much better than Toll House.

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!