A Quick Trip "Home"

The kids had a few days off this last week so we decided to take a quick trip back down to California.  It was so wonderful to be back down there.  It was such a quick trip, but we managed to squeeze a lot in.

We left Wednesday after school and drove down to St. George.  We spent the night there and then Thursday we headed down to Mortensen Manor.  I met with the accountant to get our taxes done (joy).  Then we relaxed with the cousins.

Friday we got up and drove to Disneyland.  It poured rain on us during the drive, but when we got to the parks it was nice and sunny and warm (well, warmer for us 59*F).  We had a great day at the park.  There was a power outage for 45minutes and a couple of crazy storm clouds that would dump a ton of water and then disappear.  Noah went on Space Mountain and loved it.  There was hardly anyone there which is always nice.  It was a great day at the parks.

Saturday we drove down to San Diego.  We went to our house and cleaned out some stuff.  The kids got to go out to lunch with some of their friends and play at their houses.  Lily got to spend an hour with our old babysitter, Kaitlyn. I got to get my hair done and drive around Scripps.  We Love that neighborhood and miss it so much.  A very short trip, but a productive one.

Sunday we drove back to St. George and met Damon who had flown down from Salt Lake.  We drove back up through snow storms (yippie) and arrived back safe and sound.  A fast weekend trip, but super fun!

Dinners 3 & 4

Both of these dinners were a big success and prep time can be done early so that is wonderful.  I love having dinner prepared before the kids get home from school and the chaos begins.


Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets- who doesn't like chicken nuggets? (I doubled the recipe for the 5 of us and there wasn't anything left)

3 cups Corn Chex cereal-or any other brand

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/4 teaspoon paprika (I omitted this because I'm not a big fan)

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1 tablespoon milk

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1x1-inch pieces

 Heat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheet with foil. Crush cereal. (To easily crush cereal, place in plastic bag or between sheets of waxed paper, and crush with rolling pin.) 

 In medium bowl, stir together crushed cereal, cheese, salt, seasoned salt, paprika and garlic powder. In small bowl, stir together melted butter and milk. Dip chicken into butter mixture, then roll in cereal mixture to coat evenly. Place on cookie sheet.

 Bake 9 minutes; turn nuggets over. Bake about 8 minutes longer or until coating is light golden brown and chicken is no longer pink in center.



 Slow Cooker Alfredo Lasagna

 The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was really good and a great way to squeeze in some extra veggies. I also made homemade Italian bread because it is oh so yummy!

1 lb bulk Italian sausage

2 bags (14.4 oz each) frozen bell pepper and onion stir-fry, thawed and well drained

2 cans (18 oz each) Progresso Recipe Starters creamy Parmesan basil cooking sauce

12 uncooked lasagna noodles

3 cups shredded Italian cheese blend (12 oz)

In this recipe I didn't add as much bell pepper or onion, but added broccoli and carrots, chopped into small pieces. 

In 12-inch skillet, cook sausage over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in vegetables and cooking sauce.

Spray 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Spoon 1 1/2 cups of the sausage mixture into slow cooker; top with 4 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup of the cheese. Repeat layers two more times--except do not top with remaining 1 1/2 cups of cheese. (Refrigerate remaining cheese while lasagna cooks.) Top noodles evenly with remaining sausage mixture, completely covering noodles.

Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 5 hours or until noodles are tender. Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 1/2 cups cheese. Cover and let stand about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with basil. Cut into pieces, or spoon out to serve.

Super yummy and super easy.  Enjoy!!  

Dinner 1 & 2

Well the month of new meals has started.  It may not be a month straight, but 28 new meals are coming your way.  As we start this I know life will throw challenges along the way.  I am trying to be more calm about that.  So this month isn't just a new month of cooking.  It's about keeping calm and cooking on.

Dinner #1- Chicken Thai Pie
    This was good.  It tasted like eating egg rolls just in a pot pie.  I suggest serving this with a sauce.  Any Asian sauce will do.  We used a tangy sweet and sour sauce.

Thai Chicken Mixture

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup sliced green onions (4 medium)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon Thai red curry paste

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)

Baking Mixture

1/2 cup Bisquick mix(or any other baking mixture or make your own from scratch)

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

Peanuts and sliced green onions to garnish.

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray.
  
In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in oil 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink in center. Add onion; cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add green onions, cilantro, red curry paste and lime juice, stirring occasionally, until mixture is heated through. Cool 5 minutes; stir in cheese.

In medium bowl, stir baking mixture ingredients with whisk or fork until blended. Spoon 1 scant tablespoon baking mixture into each muffin cup. Top with about 1/4 cup Thai chicken mixture. Spoon 1 tablespoon baking mixture onto Thai chicken mixture in each muffin cup

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and tops of pies are golden brown. Ten minutes into baking, carefully open oven and sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon peanuts on top of each muffin. Close oven door and finish baking. Cool 5 minutes. With thin knife, loosen sides of pies from pan; remove from pan and place top sides up on cooling rack. Cool 10 minutes longer; serve with sliced green onions. 

  Dinner #2-Super Bowl Sunday
     What better way to watch the big game then with nachos.  We didn't just have one kind of nachos, we had two.  So so yummy.  We all ate to much.

 Potachos

1 bag (32 oz) frozen potato nuggets

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained, rinsed (we used ground beef instead)

1 can (4.5 oz)  chopped green chiles, drained

1/2 cup salsa

1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or Colby-Monterey Jack cheese (6 oz)

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 cup sour cream

Additional toppings, as desired (thinly sliced green onion, chopped fresh cilantro, seeded and chopped fresh jalapeño pepper, sliced ripe olives, guacamole, additional salsa)

 Heat oven to 450°F. Arrange frozen potato nuggets in single layer on ungreased large cookie sheet. Bake 24 to 26 minutes until hot and crisp. Line another cookie sheet or pizza pan with cooking parchment paper or foil.

In medium bowl, mix beans, chiles and salsa. Spread half of the potato nuggets on lined cookie sheet. Spoon half of the bean mixture over potatoes. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Top with remaining potatoes, bean mixture and cheese. Bake 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Top with tomato and avocado. Serve with sour cream. Top with additional toppings as desired.

  
Kansas City BBQ nachos

6 cups triangle-shaped corn tortilla chips (8 oz)

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 oz)

1 can (16 oz) spicy chili beans, undrained

1 container (18 oz) refrigerated seasoned shredded pork in original BBQ sauce

1/4 cup pickled jalapeño slices, drained, chopped (from 12-oz jar)(we left this out)

1 cup tangy vinaigrette-style deli coleslaw, drained (we left this out too)

2 medium green onions, sliced (2 tablespoons)

 Heat oven to 400°F. Line 12-inch pizza pan or 15x10x1-inch pan with foil; spray with cooking spray. Spread half of chips evenly on pan. Sprinkle 1 cup of the cheese over chips.

 In medium bowl, mix chili beans, pork and jalapeños. Drop half of mixture by small spoonfuls over chips. Repeat layers with chips, cheese and pork mixture.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top with coleslaw and green onions. Serve immediately.


Good luck and enjoy!! 

Day 31

Well we've been here for a month.  It's been a bit of a wretched month weather-wise.  We have had several snow storms and 1 ice storm.  Here is what we have been up too for the month of January.

 Damon had a work dinner downtown.  We got to get all dressed up.  Unfortunately it was also in one of the huge snow storms so getting there and back home was a bit stressful.  We still had a nice time though.

Our stuff finally arrived.  It was only 14 days late.  We were all happy to not be sleeping on the floor anymore.

 We've had a lot of family time.  We haven't really started any extra activities so our days aren't busy.  Since we don't know anyone we hang out with each other a lot.

 I went on two field trips.  One with the kids and one with Lily's class.  Lily is a huge "Cupcake Wars" fan.  One of the stores that won the show is in South Jordan.  So we took a field trip there.  Lily was in heaven.

 I went with Lily's class to a symphony.  We rode a bus, which Lily was so excited about, down to the U of U to their performing arts department.  We had to disinfect ourselves and get all the Ute germs off of us after we left, but we had a lovely time and the symphony was fun. I was in charge or 9 girls.

The elementary kids get out early every Friday and one Friday we decided to make cupcakes.  We made snickerdoodle cupcakes from scratch.  They were so absolutely yummy.  We had to try really hard to not eat more than one in one sitting.

 We had to get a new car for Damon because the 4runner was just not made for this kind of weather (it's not a 4x4).  He got a Subaru Outback.  I still miss the 4runner.

Adam had a science experiment.  We were very proud of him because the rest of the 5th graders have had this assignment since October.  We got it when we started school and we cranked out a project that was pretty good.

 We also joined a club.  It's wonderful.  It's got a lot of fun classes to take for adults and kids.  It has a pool and a USS swim team.  What more can we want?  Nothing.  

 It's been a full month.  I keep hoping life will get a little easier, that we will miss San Diego and Scripps Ranch a little less.  I am starting a month of new meals.  It's time to get cooking! 

The 1st Week

Well we have been in Salt Lake a week and we are all still alive.  It's amazing.  Salt Lake welcomed us at 9pm on New Year's day with the temperature being about 7*F.  (lovely)  We found out our stuff wasn't going to be here on time from the moving company (that's a whole other story) so we have been camping out in our townhouse with the bare minimum of stuff.  It hasn't been to bad, but we are all tired of living out of suitcases and sleeping on the floor.

Our 2nd day here was the first day back to school (these poor kids have to go back the day after New Year's.  Yuck).  We slept in a little that morning and then made it to the kids schools for them to register.  I can't say that I am all that impressed with the education system in this state and I feel like we are doing our kids a disservice, but other than going to private school (which we can't do) we don't have much of a choice.  There will be a lot of supplementing going on.  We were able to go over to our cousin's house and have dinner with the Updike's.  I think this is the closest we have ever lived to family.

Day 3 was a hard day for me since I sent the kids to school.  I worried about them so much.  I almost broke down into tears twice while dropping off the younger two.  I miss the comforts of Jerabek.  The schools are all indoors and they have inside days if the weather is below 22*F (please, they should be indoors if the weather is below 40.  No wonder everyone is sick all the time here and RSV is so rampant).  The kids all had a great day, but I did hear a lot of "I already learned this" or "we did this last year".  Noah is doing the same math class he did last year and they won't move him up.

 Day 4-7 have been pretty much the same.  On Saturday the boys were able to go play at their cousin's house (Damon's cousin's kid).  We did a little shopping.  I found a grocery store.  I bought material for Noah for his Home Ec class (who still does that?) and we managed to find our way to church.  We also had a great dinner Sunday night over at Damon's cousin's house. 

Things are starting to settle down here into a routine of sorts.  I am positive things will look up once our stuff arrives, but it is amazing how little we can actually survive on.  It is a bit of an inconvenience though.  I have gotten creative with cooking with only 1 skillet and a big pot.  Our stuff should be here by the 14th.  11 days later than promised.  I may just stick to moving our stuff ourselves when we move again.

It's cold, but it hasn't snowed yet and I am grateful for that.  The idea of driving in the snow or ice freaks me out to no end.  Hopefully our house in San Diego will close soon so we can stop paying rent and a mortgage. I'm trying to stay positive throughout all this.  I told Damon that one day we would look back at this time and laugh.  He didn't seem to believe me.  Only time will tell.  I miss the familiarity of San Diego and the friends and comforts we had in Scripps. 

New Year's Eve

We ended up spending a few extra days at Mortensen Manor due to our lovely moving company not moving our stuff up to UT.  It worked out for the best because New Year's Eve was amazing!!

On Dec. 30th we had our super fancy dinner.  My sister was in bed sick all day so my other sister and I decided to go all fancy with the place settings.  Meals just look better that way.  My brother in law did a fabulous meal. It was a great night.

Dec. 31 started like any other day.  Yummy breakfast, trip to the park, runs to the grocery store.  We wanted to make it really fun for the kids and I think we did.  We had a real casual dinner which was perfect.  The kids had dessert after the adults were done setting their new goals for the new year and then the games began.

 Cottonball blowing

 Mummifying

 After games we did fireworks.  Then we watched the ball drop and all the kids went to bed at 9:30pm, well the younger kids. Then the real fun began.

We did nylon games, rump shaker,  cookies on the face, whip cream sucker, and orange rolls.  It was a night filled with fun games and uncontrollable laughter.

Men wearing the nylons

Cookie on the face.

Yea!