Fun day with Mom

January 18, 2017

We had a long weekend for MLK Jr Day, so we decided to take some time and go to Chocolate World; always a hit.

We love the ride! It's timeless!

Of course we all had to pick out some goodies before we could leave. We brought home Jolly Ranchers, Berry Twizzlers, cookies and cream bites and a renewed effort to really brush our teeth.

From there we went to Bass Pro Shop. You kids loved our little day together. I think this was Levi's 1st time to Bass Pro. That fish tank is so cool and mesmerizing to watch.

There's a lot of taxidermy, including some cool out-of-the-ordinary items too.

This is a Sun Bear or was it a spirit bear?

We even walked around on one of the pontoon boats and we think that might be fun to try out sometime. Maybe sometime.

PA Farm Show &; Rodeo

January 12, 2017

Today's the day! I've been waiting to go to a rodeo and take my family for a long time. I LOVE A RODEO!  Let's do this folks!

Pap and the cousins joined us for the rodeo. Don't they look cute? (Sadly, shortly after we arrived Jackson started to feel sick to his stomach and Daddy took him home.)

Check out this giant butter sculpture! That's amazing!

Capture those photo ops when you can.

The show is about to get started. 

Mom is excited and I think the kids are too.

The kids thought the rodeo clown was hilarious, and they liked the various rodeo events. We had to top the night of with a sweet treat- ring pops were a big hit.

Well I think that was a successful night. The kids had a good time. Mama got to go to the rodeo and Jackson's stomach bug was short-lived. Pretty great. Can't wait for next year.

swim meet Saturday

January 14, 2017

It's a Swim Meet Saturday kind of day. Alivia and I were just hanging out waiting for her turn to swim. We visited the snack bar for some goodies, had a little down time and cheered on her teammates.

Then it was time for action! 

She swam the 50 free placing 5th at 39.96 seconds

She also swam the 50 back (seen above) placing 4th @ 53.41 seconds.

She also swam in the 200 free relay. I didn't get the time but they finished strong although they were racing girls in the 13-14 category rather than the 11-12 year old category they are IN. Way to go girls!

This was the last official swim meet of the season and we won again! That makes us the First Capitol Swim League Champions! Woohoo! Way to go DAAC! Thanks for a great season. We'll be back next fall!

{our best bites} easy lemon sugar cookies

Thank you OUR BEST BITES for another delicious recipe! I got their email in my inbox and knew I had to try them. These are delicious! Lightly lemon-flavored, chewy yet soft, a sure win!

Recipe & Picture courtesy of Our Best Bites

Easy Lemon Sugar Cookies

Yields 24

Light, delicate, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with a hint of lemon, these super-easy lemon sugar cookies don't require any chilling, rolling, or cutting!

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1. 2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife
2. 1 teaspoon baking powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4. 1/2 teaspoon table salt
5. 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling
6. 2 ounces full-fat cream cheese
7. 6 tablespoons butter, melted and still warm
8. 1/3 cup vegetable oil
9. 1 large egg
10. Zest of 1 small lemon
11. 1 tablespoon whole milk
12. 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment sheets and set aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Place the 1 1/3 cups sugar and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. Using a metal whisk, stir until combined. Pour the melted butter over the mixture, then add the vegetable oil, egg, lemon zest, milk, and lemon juice. Whisk until combined. Stir in the flour mixture with a silicone spatula until the dough is cohesive and smooth (it will be very moist.)
4. Using a standard cookie scoop (which is 1 1/2 tablespoons), generously scoop the dough (you want about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie) and roll into the reserved sugar. Evenly space 12 cookie balls on the sheet and repeat with the other baking sheet. If desired, sprinkle cookies with remaining sugar. Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 5-6 minutes or until set around the edges. Repeat with the second pan. Allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.

By Our Best Bites

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Ina's Roasted Shrimp (& cocktail)

I love Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa) and I love her recipe for this easy Roasted Shrimp. I've never actually made the cocktail sauce to go with it (because I like the stuff from the bottle just fine) but I'm sure it's delectable!

Ina's Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
Recipe & pic from Food Network

INGREDIENTS:
For the shrimp:
2 pounds (12 to 15 count) shrimp
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce:
1/2 cup Heinz chili sauce
1/2 cup Heinz ketchup
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus lemon zest for topping
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Place on a sheet pan with the olive oil, salt and pepper and spread them in one layer. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes, just until pink, firm and cooked through. Set aside to cool.
For the sauce, mix the chili sauce, ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco. Top the shrimp with lemon zest and serve with the sauce.
Photograph by Quentin Bacon
Recipe courtesy of Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics (c) 2008 by Ina Garten. 

Note: I normally serve this alongside some peas or zesty green beans (& onions), and possibly some rice or noodles.

{our best bites} grilled chicken caesar salad

Somehow we're having an indian summer in the middle of October. The past couple of days we've seen temps at or above 80*!! So instead of making soups as I'd planned, I'm thinking of summer foods, like Chicken Caesar Salad.

I LOVE that I can make this delicious salad all on my own, in my own home! Makes me feel like I'm "out to lunch" when I'm actually just at HOME having lunch. Thank you OUR BEST BITES for another great recipe.

GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD
It's not hard to throw together a Caesar salad with ready-made ingredients, but making one from scratch really brings the classic restaurant dish to your table. Fresh garlic, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, high-quality mustard, and cracked black pepper make this at-home version so much better than anything from a bottle.

Yield: 4-6 main dish servings, or 10-12 side dish servings

Salad dressing ingredients:
1/3 cup mayo
1 1/t T. dijon mustard
3-4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 T. white wine vinegar (or just white vinegar in my case)
1/4 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1 c. pure or light olive oil
2-3 T milk, if needed

Salad ingredients:
8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2 medium) butterflied
1-2 heads romaine lettuce (12 cups torn)
1/2 c shredded fresh Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Croutons
Lemon wedges, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Salad dressing: Combine mayo, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper in a blender (or food processor) and process until smooth. With blender running on low speed, slowly pour olive oil in a steady stream just until fully incorporated. Only if needed, add milk by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached. Place 1/2 cup dressing in a zip-top bag with chicken breasts and marinate at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight. Place remaining dressing in refrigerator to chill.

Chicken: Preheat grill to medium heat. Remove chicken breasts from marinate and let excess drip off. Grill chicken 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through or internal temperature reaches 165* F. Remove from grill and let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing. Let cool to room temperature and then store in refrigerator until ready to use.  This step can be done ahead of time.

Salad: Wash lettuce and tear into bite-sized pieces. Place in bowl and toss with Parmesan cheese, croutons and prepared chicken. Toss with dressing, to taste. Top each serving with additional Parmesan cheese, freshly cracked black pepper and lemon wedges.

Conference Store

{Oct 1-2, 2016}

I've been doing a "Conference Store" for about the last 2-3 years and it's been great for all of us.

The kids pick coloring pages, word searches, decoding messages, etc and cash them in for prizes at the store.

Here are the GOODS for the store this session. (They usually have more papers and points than we have prizes so they cash in their extra papers for $$.)

Jackson is very strategic. He picks pages with the MOST points (like complex coloring pages or word searches etc). He also enjoys word searches so it's a win WIN!

Alivia is getting old enough that we told her she could take notes and earn points, and she did! She switched back and forth from paper and pencil to typing her notes on Mom's iPad. I love to see this because this is how I learn- I hear it, write it, and read it and then I retain it better.

Levi does such a great job coloring that he racks up some serious points too!

I like doing this Conference Store. The kids LOVE it and look forward to it and hopefully they'll make the connection that Conference is something to look forward to and enjoy, not just for the pages and goodies, although those are nice bonuses. ;)