Wednesday, December 19, 2012

This Week's Menu

Last week was awesome, although we ended up not having the rose (it'll be on this week's menu). Everything else was great though. 


This week's menu is super simple; turkeys were on sale, so we decided to grab one and get 3 meals out of it. 



Saturday: We were at my Christmas party, so no need to cook.

Sunday: Turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing and veggies

Monday: Hot Turkey Sandwiches with leftover mashed potatoes

Tuesday: Pork chops with Basmatti Rice and Asparagus cooked with Bacon (everything goes great with bacon!)

Wednesday: Stuffing topped chicken pot pie 

Thursday: Homemade Rosée sauce with Tortellini

Friday: To be decided 

Not So Wordless Wednesday

It happened. My baby is one step closer to toddlerdom.

He had his first haircut today.

It went well, even considering he fell off a chair moments before! Oops!

So without further ado, here are the before, during and after pictures!






Sunday, December 09, 2012

25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Lights

Last night we did one of my favourite Christmas activities: driving around to look at all the Christmas Lights. It was so beautiful! Although I do have to say, I'm quite disappointed in the large amount of houses that had no decorations. Like none whatsoever. 

However, the ones that did decorate, they were just fantastic. I love seeing all the creativity and the new styles of lights.  Next time I'll maybe be smart enough and take pictures!

Kaleb also enjoyed the ride, he watched out the window for quite a while before falling asleep! 

All in all it was a great way to spend an evening and I can't wait till we go out again!



This is post 4 of 25, click here to view the entire series.

Photo-a-day 8: Ornaments


Photo-a-day 7: Bright


This week's menu

Last week's menu was pretty awesome. The Stuffing Topped Chicken Potpie was simply amazing, the homemade cream soup really made all the difference. The new Chinese place in town was delish, everything is made fresh and contains no MSG, and you can really tell. The Chicken Kiev was pretty awesome too. My oil was too hot though, so I ended up finishing them up in the oven. Friday we ended up freezer diving.

Without further ado, here is this week's menu: 

Saturday: Pizza with homemade crust

SundayDouble Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower and Rice

Monday: Homemade Rosée sauce with Tortellini

Tuesday: Sausage with Broccoli and Roasted Potatoes

WednesdayButter Chicken with Basmatti rice

Thursday: Mongolian Beef with Bok Choy and Broccoli Stir Fry

Friday: We are at Jason's Christmas Party, and we'll be bringing Mini Taco Bites


Thursday, December 06, 2012

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Photo-a-day 4: Joyous


Photo-a-day 3: Red


25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Service


Every year, our funeral home (a.k.a my place of employment) has a Non-Denominational Christmas Service to honour those who have passed during the year. We invite families to bring an ornament representing their loved ones to place in the "Tree of Memories", which we keep at the funeral home throughout the holiday season. 

We have been hosting this service for 20 years now and the turn out is always amazing, despite the always, without a fail, bad weather (this year was ice and rain). Year after year, we have the same feedback: "What a beautiful evening", "I feel comforted in the fact that I am not alone" and "Thank you!"

Even though I've been off on my maternity leave for the last year, I feel that it is still important to be there in support of the families I have served in the past.



Technically, this wasn't a Christmas project, however it is an important part of my Christmas.


This is post 3 in a 25 post series. To view the full series, click here.

Sunday, December 02, 2012

Recipe Recap: Stuffing topped chicken pot pie

Here is a super duper easy recipe. I usually make this with a can of cream of something soup, however this time I made it from scratch, and oh my, it makes this dish so much better!

Ingredients for the cream of something soup:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 cup of main ingredient (mushroom, chicken, broccoli, celery...)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup broth 
Salt and pepper

Here is what I did:
Sauté garlic, onion and main ingredient with butter in a saucepan, until almost cooked through. Stir in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Mix in milk and broth, bring to a boil. Continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until it reaches desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days or frozen, check out the original recipe for more info.


For the pot pie:
1 can (or above recipe) of cream of something soup
1-2 cups of cooked chicken (or turkey), chopped
1-2 cups of veggies (frozen or fresh, whatever you have on hand)
1 box of stuffing

Mix the first 3 ingredients. Dump into a 9x9 dish. Top with prepared stuffing. Bake in 350F oven for 45 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and stuffing has browned. Top with cheese, because you know, cheese just makes everything even better.

Enjoy!

Side note: When I made this recipe with the homemade cream soup, I upped the temp to 375F and cooked for about 20 minutes, since the mixture was already hot. I then turned the broiler on to make the stuffing crispy.

This Week's Menu

Last week was very successful overall. Everything turned out quite amazing, especially the fettuccine. The Mongolian Pork was just ok, the sauce was excellent but the dish as a whole is better with beef.

Onto this week's menu:

Saturday: Chinese from the new place in town

Sunday: Stuffing topped chicken pot pie

Monday: Broccoli Fettuccine Alfredo (yes, again. Jason has to put Kaleb to bed on his own and wants him to eat well at supper - Kaleb loves alfredo!)

Tuesday: Chicken Kiev with Perogies

Wednesday: Steak with mashed potatoes

Thursday: Salmon with Rice

Friday: TBD

25 Days of Christmas: Ice Ornaments

While browsing Pinterest one day, I came across these tree ornaments for outside. I thought they were super cute, however I had no berries, nor did I feel like getting twigs. 

Instead I decided to pull out my food colouring and make non-spherical balls. All I did was grab my muffin tins, filled about a 1/3 way with water and mix in the food colouring. I then took some fishing line and strategically placed it in the water. 

Then waited rather impatiently while they froze. 

I was all excited when they were ready, until Jason informed me that the weather for the next week will be around freezing and they will most likely melt. So my newly lit outdoor tree will remain undecorated for a week or so.  Boooo.


For an update, please click here.

Photo-a-day 2: Favourite Holiday Movie


Saturday, December 01, 2012

25 Days of Christmas: O Christmas Tree!

We started of this challenge by doing something very Christmas-y, decorate a tree!

Last weekend we noticed our neighbours were decorating a tree they had got during the day, and I mentioned to Jason how when Kaleb is older we'll have to do the same thing. You know, go for a ride in the bush, find the perfect tree and cut it down. Just as you are leaving, spot an even better tree and cut that one down too. Come back and decorate them, have hot chocolate, chase the dog, play in the snow. Just like in the movies. 

Well two days later, we have a knock at the door, it is our neighbour telling us that he forgot about the tree he had put aside at work (he works in the bush) and said we could have it if we wanted. Yes, our neighbour is that awesome.

Flash forward to tonight: we finally got some lights and after Kaleb was peacefully sleeping, out we went (with baby monitor in tow, don't worry!). Once we determined the lights were indeed working, (and switching the solar timer switch off due to their brightness) we found the perfect spot in our yard and began decorating.

We even chased the dog, played in the snow and had hot chocolate. Just like in the movies, but in real life. We had so much fun, we're hoping to do this every year.


I've got to say, it looks quite awesome!  What do you think?

Photo-a-Day 1: My View Today