Saturday was beautiful, we had sun, warmth and a hike at the beach. Sunday, not so much. It was rainy and cold, and after a nice day out we were all itching for more fun activities. So what did we do instead? We got out the water table (a steal from Target at 34.99$), spread out some towels and stripped down to our shorts...
The kids had a ton of fun and when they were finished, our kitchen floor was sparkling clean. The table is easy to store and will come in handy for many rainy days this spring. Oh, how I only wish that we had it back in the boring old dead of winter...
Friday: Breakfast for dinner: eggs, toast, cheese, fruit.
Saturday: Photographing a wedding.
Sunday: Mango chicken curry cooked in the crock pot with jarred V-H Mango Curry Sauce, I think I will be pairing this with the Bombay potatoes from my best ever curry cookbook, fruit.
And this is the one I adjusted in Photoshop entirely with Totally Rad Actions. My recipe was: Clarie-ify x2, then Bullet Tooth, and then Warm it up, Kris!...
I have to admit that at first I felt a little ripped off about shelling out nearly three bucks for a tiny jar of sauce. Then I brought it home and discovered that that one tiny jar contains enough sauce for numerous dishes. It can be spread on sandwiches and used as pizza sauce or a marinade for grilled chicken or baked fish. But it's the pesto pasta salad that has become a favorite meal around our house over the last few weeks. It is just so versatile and easy to make. It can be made with any type of pasta, red or green pesto, any kind of veggies and can be served hot or cold! What's not to love? For this particular salad, I roasted up a pan of grape tomatoes. If you have never tried roasted tomatoes, what the heck have you been waiting for? They are so sweet and intensely flavored. My faves for roasting are these little grape tomatoes or Roma's slit lengthwise. I just toss them with a bit of olive oil and salt and roasted them in a 400˚ oven for about 30-45min or until wrinkled and slightly browned.
I also used tomato pesto to keep with the tomato flavors...
While I was boiling the tortellini for this dish I tossed a handful of frozen peas and a package of frozen artichoke hearts into the past water. When the pasta was cooked, I drained it, tossed it with a touch of olive oil and let it cool. When it was cool I mixed in a tablespoon or so of pesto, the roasted tomatoes and a bit of salt and pepper. If I was going to serve it hot, I would have done exactly the same, but skipped the cooling part... but I guess that was pretty obvious...
I have to start by saying that I usually do not get sucked into the hype of viral YouTube videos, but ever since I saw my first episode of Depression Cooking with Clara, I have been hooked. This woman is adorable, lovable and wise with a buck! What's not to love? Her eggs and peppers recipe looked too delicious to be ignored, so guess what we had for lunch yesterday. You can start by watching her peppers and eggs episodes and if you get hooked like I am, you can visit YouTube to see more.
I started pretty much the same as Clara, by slicing my peppers. I bought these three colored bell peppers at Aldi for 2.79$ so this recipe is pretty thrifty...
Instead of making our own bread we cheated and warmed up a loaf of rustic Italian bread in the oven while my olive oil and butter were heating in a pan on the stove top...
When the pan was hot, I added a few of each color of pepper to my pan and seasoned them (pretty lightly, compared to Clara and her salt shaker) with salt and pepper...
So what did I do with all the leftover peppers? I stashed them in a freezer bag and stowed them in the freezer for a later use. Peppers freeze beautifully and I like to do this so that they are always fresh, ready and on hand for a recipe...
When my peppers started to brown and soften, I added 4 scrambled eggs to the pan, reduced my heat a bit and started stirring...
We ate these for lunch with some of the bread and some olives...
This was a simple, filling, cost effective lunch and it was so yummy. The peppers were nice and sweet, and it was so good spooned over the bread, it really would make an awesome sandwich! And if you're not on a budget, or have a budget-friendly bottle or eco-friendly box of wine laying around, this would make a fantastic rustic style Italian dinner! Gotta love that Clara!
This week we did not go to a local amusement with friends and knowingly break the only two rules that were mentioned to us upon admittance. We didn't even want to use our flashes anyway and it was very easy to say, "nope, no cookies or sippies for you!", to these two little faces...
I did not have an I'm-so-tired-and-I-think-the-kids-are-trying-to-kill-me pity party at all this week, so saying I did it more than once is just ridiculous. I am always well rested and full of energy, even with a one and two year old!
I am not getting a major kick out of finally being able to say "one and two year old" without it being a lie because they are really just two one year olds.
On a similar note, I also did not enjoy being able to replace my usual "no, they are not twins" with "no, they are not twins, they are one and two" when we were out this week.
NOTE: When I just went to post this in the Mr. Linky on the My Charming Kids blog, I read about the awful situation that MckMama (the woman who organizes Not Me Monday) is currently experiencing with her youngest child, Stellan. Please keep them in your thoughts. This little guy is a fighter, but I'm sure that both him and his family could use a little positive energy right now...
Monday:Orange Roughy with tomato, caper, olive and lemon sauce over brown rice, with peas and fruit for the kids, and spinach salad for us.
Tuesday: Peruvian chicken from Rachael Ray's Magazine, roasted root veggies, and fruit.
(Click on the photo to make the recipe larger)
I followed the basic recipe, up to the point of marinating it in the storage bag, and then I adapted the cooking portion of the recipe to the Crockpot by lining my crock with two small inverted ramekins, like this...
And then placing the seasoned chicken on top of the ramekins, covering with the lid and cooking on high for 5-6 hours (I've since discovered that by placing the chicken breast down in the crock, it will come out much more tender).
Wednesday: Tamale pie made with leftover chicken from Tuesday, fruit.
Saturday & Sunday: No real plans. Depending on the weather we want to take the kids out one day and on the other day we will be eating leftovers from Friday with some veggies and fruit.
I am the "Cicarelli" half of Greer Cicarelli Photography, and I am married to my high school sweetheart, AKA the "Greer" half! Together we are raising two beautiful, spunky children, keeping up what is slowly becoming our dream home and nurturing our love for photography.
I am also an aspiring writer, avid blogger, blossoming cook, thrifty lady, wannabe crafter, mac fanatic, nikon lov-ah and I am not ashamed to call myself a geek. Really.
