Dean cooks!

When Dean and I were dating, he would cook for me.   He had this teeny hibachi grill and would cook steaks on it along with broccoli cheese rice or baked potatoes.
Sometimes he would surprise me with an indoor picnic of cheese, crackers and fruits......it was always such a treat to see what he would come up with.

When we got married, we would cook on the weekends together but once the kids were born, the cooking fell to me.  

Except weekends!

He still loves to cook and each weekend, he takes over kitchen duty for at least 1 day.  It is a little luxury I've become so accustomed to that I never really think about it. (I certainly don't want to take it for granted!)

When Dean cooks, it is always something different....he takes his time, and he doesn't just "grill."   He grills, he bakes, he smokes and best of all, he blends....!

 


This was chicken, beef and lamb shawarma ....it was so AMAZING we had him make it again the next weekend!

One of his favorite meals to make is smoked salmon on cedar planks.   He always buys extra salmon so I can make smoked salmon dip with the leftovers...(click on the link for the recipe.)

He takes it from this....

to this.... 

and it is SO GOOD!

Birthday boy

Matt turned 17 yesterday......he is growing up so fast that it was a hard day...not for him though....for ME!

 I made his favorite cake.....

 

 of which he quickly blew out the candles...

And we gave him a few gifts.......

of which this set of keys was his favorite...



And today, this is what I saw......

Happy Birthday Matt!

Stash busting challenge

Each month for the challenge, we are to show what part of our stash we want to "bust."    But this particular stash is too large to do in one month.   I got it last year and here is what it looked like...a pretty big box of yarn:

The yarn is pretty old and musty so I made several cat mats and donated them  in November of last year.  That brought my stash down to this....about 7 pounds worth of yarn.


 
For the month of February, I decided to see how many cat mats I could make and managed to make 15.  This made Leo happy....he declared himself King of the stack of cat mats!

The "pattern" is free on my sidebar so make some for the kitty in your life!

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"

-Mohandas Gandhi

Winner, winner! and a chicken dinner....

Look at this cute apron I won from Micki at Confessions of an ADD Housewife.  Kaela and Suki are modeling it for me.....

We had a cold rainy front come through this week so I put on this cute apron and made some soup!

I've posted this soup before years ago but it is one of my family's all time favorites so I decided to share again....along with a dessert that is so easy it is embarrassing!

Val's Chicken and Dumpling Soup:
 
1 small onion diced
4 stalks celery diced
4 carrots cubed
1 tsp minced garlic (from a jar) Or mince a fresh clove
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf (optional)
8-10 cups chicken stock
4 cups shredded or diced cooked chicken (about 4 breasts worth)
2 cups Bisquick and enough milk to make dumplings.

Saute onions, celery and seasonings for 5 minutes.  Then add carrots, garlic and chicken and stir for another 5 minutes. (Don't brown the garlic.) 

Then add the stock and bring to a boil momentarily. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer until carrots are barely tender. Before going to the next step, taste and adjust seasonings.

For the dumplings:
Take 2 cups Bisquik and enough milk to make a dough. (you can add a tablespoon of dried parsley to the dough if desired.)
Drop by large spoonfuls (I use a medium cookie dough scoop.) 

Make enough to completely cover the top of the stew.  It looks gooey at this stage...

Cover and let cook on medium low 10 minutes. DO NOT BOIL or the dumplings will break down. They will rise and get large and dense.   When cooked, they look dry on top but you can check by using a toothpick until you figure out what they look like when done.  These are almost done....

When you serve, dip down and get the soup and a dumpling or two...or three. We rarely have leftovers, but when we do, it is even better the next day. 

Peach Cobbler

1 stick butter or margarine
3/4 cup self rising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
1 large can sliced peaches ( drained)
mixture of cinnamon and sugar

First, melt the butter in the dish

Then in another bowl, make a batter out of the flour, cinnamon, sugar and milk.
Pour this on top of the butter....you can barely see it in the photo...it sinks and the butter floats on top.

Drain your peaches and pour directly ON TOP of the batter

Sprinkle the top liberally with cinnamon sugar mix.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 and this is what it looks like...

Enjoy warm with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Nothing like good old fashioned comfort food on a cold night!

fangirl.....plus 2.

Kaela had some girlfriends over during the break to watch movies....

They watched a bunch of old musicals....High Musical 1,2, and 3 and then Hairspray.  They sang along, made fun of things, defended things.....The laughing and giggling was such fun to listen to.   

There was a LOT of squealing too...all caused by THIS man...

Zac Efron....all grown up.

(okay, maybe they have a point but I'm much too refined to gawk...)

Then they got even gigglier and sillier...and I swear I heard some oo-ing and aah-ing.  Then silence. 
I swear I could hear their little hearts POUNDING!   
I didn't know WHAT they were watching so I had to check it out. 
One Direction.  I should have known...

hee hee giggle giggle......peals of laughter ensued.  
But when the boys sang their love songs, I heard a collective sigh.

And when Niall sang, 

Kaela's heart skipped a beat...or two....(Sorry Chris....)

"stop talking, I'm listening."   

lovely hearts.....

I didn't mean to forget...but busy days can intrude on life....and I just realized I never posted these lovelies I got in a little heart swap hosted by all4meggymoo!

I joined because I don't have many heart decorations and thought it would be fun.  Plus, I really don't care much for the commercialized things you buy.  

I much prefer handmade.  As luck would have it, my partner from September Violets was quite a wonderful creator of little hearts...  

Wendy made me an amazing assortment of hearts...all of which I've put to good use.  

That blue heart is totally hand embroidered.  The white heart is a potholder and the plaid backed hearts are coasters.  There is a teeny bear with a heart in his mouth too!

 BTW, Her blog has much better photos.  Go here to see them.

This sweet little bunting may stay up all spring....

Thank you Wendy!!!

The things I sent Wendy....an assortment of hearts & heartfelt goodies.  Cookie cutters, a bunny or two along with:

this...

one of these...

 one of these...

and one of these

Overall, it was a lovely experience and was fun meeting someone new.

Valentine's catch up....

It isn't fun to be sick on Valentine's Day....or any holiday.    

Luckily, Matt had to run an errand so that got me moving.  His "errand" turned out to be taking a girl a Valentine teddy bear.....oh my gosh, he was so cute delivering it!  

On our way to the girl's house, I dropped this little heart garland at a local coffee shop...

I usually spend half the day baking and cooking a special meal and dessert.  
Since I didn't feel well, that didn't happen this year.  Instead, Dean picked up some of our favorite dishes from a Thai restaurant on his way home from work.   

I did manage to surprise him with some homemade cookies though...I couldn't let the day pass without a little something special.  These are huge, made with my favorite sugar cookie recipe I got from my mom when I was a kid.

Dean walked in the door with these lovely tulips...my favorite flower.
  

You know a man loves you when he goes out of the way to find tulips when all the world is buying roses......
Matt asked me why I get tulips instead of roses and I told him....

We lived in Germany for 3 years when I was in elementary school and we visited so many places.  Each weekend (for the most part) we would go somewhere, to take advantage of being in a different country.   
One of those places was Holland so mom could see the tulip fields...but I think I enjoyed that particular trip more than anyone.  We stayed in a house with a family and they fed us and amazing breakfast before sending us on our way.  

When we first saw the fields, I was so overwhelmed by all the color.....it was hard to tell they were flowers at first.  The fields were immense and the colors were amazing.   I actually remember the excitement I felt.

During our walk, I remember telling everyone "I LOVE TULIPS!"
....and I have loved them ever since.  

Mojo had a good day too.  Special treats and toys made his birthday special.

  Hoping you all had a Happy Valentine's Day too!