Chicken with 20 Cloves of Garlic

This is a Food & Family recipe that turned out pretty well. I paired it with roasted carrots and potatoes. Ben liked it. Nick liked it. I liked it. Success.

Ingredients

4 small chicken breast halves (1 lb)

20 cloves of garlic - peeled

3/4 c. chicken broth

1/4 c. caesar dressing

1/4 c. grated parmesan

Instructions

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet on med/high heat. Add chicken and garlic and cook 4 min. Turn chicken after 2 min.

2. Stir in broth and dressing. Cover with lid. Cook chicken 4 min on each side or until done.

3. Sprinkle with parmesan. Remove from heat and let stand, covered for 1 min.

Tex-Mex Turkey Meatloaf and Creamy Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

The meatloaf is a Weight Watchers recipe and the potatoes came from the most recent Food & Family. I just added some green beans and cherry tomatoes that I sauteed with a tiny bit of olive oil and a crazy amount of garlic. The potatoes were incredibly dense if that makes sense. I think the sheer amount of cheese may have had something to do with it. I also messed with the proportions a bit since the recipe serves 10. I am going to include the original recipe so that you can try cutting it yourself. The meatloaf was delicious and incredibly point friendly!

Ingredients - Meatloaf

1.5 lbs. gound turkey breast (if you use lean, I bet it's even fewer points)

1 c. chunky salsa

1 onion - finely chopped

1/2 c. frozen corn kernels

1/3 c. instant mashed potato flakes

1 egg white

2 garlic cloves - minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions - Meatloaf

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with spray.

2. Combine the turkey, 1/2 c. of the salsa, onion, corn, potato flakes, egg white, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Transfer the mixture to the sheet and form into a 4x9 loaf. Spread the remaining salsa over the top.

3. Bake until an instant read thermometer reads 165 (I don't think I own an instant read and I just sliced it open and it looked done. My thermometer read 145). Approx 45-50 min. Let stand about 10 min before slicing. Cut into 12 slices.

Serving size - 2 slices - 3 points

Ingredients - Potatoes

2 lb. red potatoes (about 8) cut into 1/2 inch chunks

1 c. chicken broth

4 oz. cream cheese - cubed

1/2 c. sour cream

3 TBSP. grated parmesan cheese

Instructions - Potatoes

1. Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Add broth and cover. Bring to a boil on high heat. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes. Uncover and stir potatoes. Simmer, uncovered for 5-6 minutes or until potatoes are tender and most of the broth is absorbed.

2. Add cream cheese and reduce heat to low. Mash potatoes slightly until cream cheese is melted. Add sour cream and parmesan. Mash until potatoes are smooth and heated through.

Master Bedroom

We decided to just keep all of my old stuff for the master bedroom and register for new. Plus, I was getting tired of making decorating decisions so it made life easier. Nick thought he was going to hate the color but turns out he likes it. He is still going to have to build himself a closet since my clothes are presently occupying the entire closet. The room has one of the built in desks similiar to Ben's room so he will just knock that out and build there.

During

(I don't have any before pictures - my mom is gonna be mad since she told me to "make sure you take a ton of pictures.")

I just want to add that painting with the vaulted ceilings was an act of bravery! Nick had a bent ladder and said, "just keep your balance and you'll be fine". Plus half of the room was pretty much out of my reach so I am using paintbrush extentions and standing as high as I can on a janky ladder while on my tiptoes reaching to the ceiling. When peeling the tape off the last room, Nick says to me, "wow, this must have been really hard because I have a foot on you and it's tough for me to reach". Thanks dear.

Our bedroom served as Lego central while we were moving in. Ben was so excited to have ALL of his Legos back in one place again.

Some moving boxes.

After

Milanese Risotto with Scallops and Asparagus

I stole this concept from Ntina and reproduced it at home. This was my first time making risotto and I don't think I cooked it long enough because it wass still a little crunchy but the flavor was great. I just seared scallops and blanced some asparagus so I won't include those recipes here.

Ingredients

2 good pinches of saffron threads

6 TBSP butter

1 large onion - chopped finely

2 garlic cloves - minced

3 c. risotto rice

2/3 c. dry white wine

5 c. boiling vegetable bouillon

3/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Put the saffron into a small bowl, cover with 3-4 TBSP of boiling water and let soak while you prepare the risotto.

2. Melt 4 TBSP of the butter in a pan over low heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft but not colored. Add the rice and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the grains are coated in butter and starting to color.

3. Add the wine to the rice and simmer gently, stirring from time to time, until it is all absorbed.

4. Add the boiling bouillon a little at a time, about 5/8 cup, cooking until the liquid is fully absorbed before adding more, and stirring frequently.

5. When all the bouillon has been absorbed (this should take about 20 minutes), the rice should be tender but not soft and soggy. Add the saffron liquid, parmesan cheese and remaining butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes until piping hot and thoroughly mixed.

6. Cover the pan tightly and let stand for 5 minutes off the heat. Give a good stir and serve.

Ziggy and Salem - New BFFs

To my disbelief, Salem is the cat that is doing the best with Ziggy. He will let Ziggy chew on his tail while he eats and has decided it's worth dealing with the dog in order to be by his people. Last night I even caught them playing!

I just had to include this one because I am in love with his little face!

Ben's Room - Before and After

The next room we are looking at is Ben's room. We went back and forth on a "theme" for the room and finally Ben decided on a Lego theme. Turns out that is not an easy theme to create seeing as Lego doesn't produce bedding or decorations.

BEFORE

This is a picture of his room when we were first looking at the house. As you can tell, they "staged" the room.

The nice thing about his room is the built in desk. We pulled out some of the closet organizer but left a lot of it in there. Ben definitely has the biggest closet in the house.

AFTER

His room took 3 solid days to paint because of all the colors but I love the way it turned out.


This picture turned out a little dark but it shows his little table with the "Lego Soft". I found these giant legos on ebay and had planned on attaching them to wall somehow but Ben decided he would rather have them to use so they stay on his table.

Ben decided he wanted bunk beds so off to Ikea we went. The dresser on the left, the bunk beds and the bedding are all from Ikea. Fang has decided that Ben's room is where she is going to hide from Ziggy.

Bandit and Ben posing on the top bunk.

Layered Strawberry Cheesecake Bowl

We had both sets of parents over for dinner last night and I made 3 different recipes from the new Food & Family magazine. This is the dessert I made and I got tons of compliments. It is super easy and tastes incredibly light and fresh.

Ingredients

3 c. fresh strawberries - sliced
3 TBSP sugar
2 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese - softened
1.5 c. cold milk
1 pkg (3.4oz) vanilla instant pudding
2 c. thawed cool whip
2 c. frozen pound cake cubes - I could only find chocolate chip pound cake and I think it tasted better that way
1 square semi-sweet baking chocolate



Instructions
1. Combine berries and sugar. Refrigerate until ready to use. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk.

2. Add pudding mix and mix well.

3. Blend in 1.5 c. of cool whip. Spoon half into serving bowl.

4. Top with cake, berries and remaining cream cheese mix. Refrigerate 4 hours.

5. Melt chocolate, drizzle over dessert. Top with remaining cool whip. (I just realized as I type this that I totally forgot that part)