Monday's Menu: Creamy, White Chicken Chili

When the temperature drops and the leaves begin to turn, there is nothing quite like a pot of hot chili, stew, or soup on the stove. I love this season, for oh so many reasons, but comfort food is definitely at the top of the list.  This recipe originally came from my boss' wife at my first job as an office manager for a dentist.  I have basically left it unchanged since she was generous enough to share it with me. And, here I will pass it on to you.  Make sure you grab a yummy salad and a nice, crusty Italian loaf to accompany...you will want to lick this bowl dry (and let's face it, using bread to do this for your tongue is a bit more culturally acceptable.)

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 1 1/2 TBS. garlic powder
• 1 TBS. canola oil
• 2 cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can chicken broth (14.5 oz)
• 2 cans green chiles (4 oz each)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil. 

Add beans, broth, chiles and seasonings.

Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer.

Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

 

Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and cream and serve immediately.

 

Bon Apetit!

Monday's Menu: Easy, Easy Shrimp Tacos

Shrimp Tacos by Frontera
If you can find this delectable kitchen helper in your local grocer, pick up at least two or three! Since I found the Rick Bayless Frontera line of products, we have incorporated them into our weekly menus at home. How can I not, when they provide such great, authentic Mexican flavor at a reasonable cost, and are so, super easy.  If you like seafood, check these bad boys out.

I simply follow the directions on the back of the sauce packet, but you'll need to know this beforehand if you don't carry them regularly in your pantry/freezer.

• Frozen shrimp (don't buy the jumbo kind, they won't fit in a small taco tortilla)
• fresh Poblano peppers (1 or 2 depending on size)
• sweet or yellow onion

Thinly slice the pepper and onion and saute in a TBS. or vegetable oil.  Add the thawed shrimp, and cover in Key-Lime, Cilantro sauce from Frontera products.  Amazing! I usually serve with some freshly baked cornbread and a black bean, garden pepper salad with corn, avocado, cilantro and red onion.

So freshly delish!

Ten Things Thursday: Ten Reasons to LOVE Farmer's Markets

1. Shopping in the open air...there's something Euro-Romantic about buying vegetables and fresh herbs with the sun shining on your back.
2. People watching! Who knew Green Bay had such diversity?
3. Admiring the creativity of others. Like my friend Bethany who started her own little biz, Larky Park. Check them out!
4. Memories with my son. He loved getting fresh root beer from one of the local breweries. He was a sticky mess afterwards, though!
5. The colors! I loved seeing the piles of tomatoes, carrots, green beans, blueberries, raspberries, bi-color sweet corn....ah. It was a festival for the eyes.
6. Yummy treats. Like, fresh spring rolls from the Thai restaurant, or fresh sliced/fried potato chips, kettle corn, smoothies.  Delish.
7. Walking in the local Broadway shops. I never take the time to go downtown to peruse the boutiques there, and it was neat to see what they look like on the inside! Unique stuff.
8. Meeting up with DH for a family affair. He works only a few miles down Broadway, so it's a great place to meet him on a Wednesday evening.
9. Bartering. I love negotiating. In my mind, open-air markets welcome a little bantering before buying.  It gets my juices flowing.
10. Arriving home with my fresh purchases and challenging myself to a little creativity of my own. Now, what will I do with this large bunch of Sweet Basil I bought for only $1.00? Pesto, Bruschetta, Spaghetti sauce...? The opportunities await.

Happy Shopping!

Wordless Wednesday

Monday's Menu: Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

This flank steak recipe was one I remember eating often at family dinners.  It was one of the recipes I received at my wedding shower from my mom, and now it is worn and stained after 9 years of making it in our home.  I love making steak fajitas with any leftovers.  Hope you enjoy!

• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 c. soy sauce
• 1/4 c. dry red wine
• 3 T. oil (canola, or extra virgin olive)
• 2 T. worcestershire sauce
• 1 large garlic cove, minced
• chopped green onion
• pepper to taste

Cover steak and let marinade for 2-12 hours.  Grill for 4-6 minutes per side over high heat.  

Bon Apetit!

Monday's Menu: Rosemary-Lemon Grilled Chicken

Since I love cooking, I've decided to share some of my favorite recipes.  I am not a chef because I am really terrible at creating a meal with no direction from someone who has successfully created it before and left me step by step direction.  I can however, follow a recipe to the "t" and it usually turns out as expected. Some are fantastic, and some are simply good, and very few are worth sharing.

This recipe I tasted for the first time last night, and I didn't even do the preparation!  We had just returned from a weekend trip to the Twin Cities and I agreed to overnight baby-sit a girlfriend's 14 month old;  as a thank-you, she brought over dinner for us, ready to grill.  It was delicious and I think I'll actually be making it again this weekend because it was so good.

Rosemary Lemon Grilled Chicken (All Recipes.Com)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup fresh rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 bone-in chicken breasts
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a food processor, thoroughly blend together the butter, rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Pour 1/3 of blended mixture into a small bowl for marinade. Cover remaining mixture, and set aside.
2. Lightly season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Rub chicken breasts with the marinade mixture. Place chicken breasts on a platter, cover, and refrigerate 3 hours.
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate. Pour half of the reserved rosemary and lemon mixture into a bowl for basting. Cover remaining mixture, and set aside for topping cooked chicken.
4. Grill chicken breasts 4 minutes on each side, basting with rosemary and lemon basting mixture. Remove chicken breasts from grill, and top with small scoops of the remaining topping mixture.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 331 | Total Fat: 17.6g | Cholesterol: 140mg

Wordless Wednessday

10 Arguments in My Head about Owning a Family Cabin

We are back from our vacation, and, wow, was it a great one.  Tommy learned to fish, and caught his own blue-gills, we ate in, made s'mores, cooled off on hot days by jumping in off the dock, rode the Wave Runner, spent great time with family, cousins, Auntie and Uncle, played hard, and slept harder.  All week we discussed whether or not we would want our own Cabin to enjoy regularly throughout the year as a family.  So, here are some of the debates going on in my head...I do know one thing, though...I can't wait to do it again next year!  Here's to one more month of summer! Enjoy.

1. Great place to create family memories.
2. Relaxing at home is nothing compared to relaxing up North, on a Lake, in a place that's not home.
3. It's another yard, another home, another of everything that needs maintenance and upkeep.
4. Family vacations will be mostly spent at the Cabin, not exploring this country or world.
5. A great place to retreat with family or friends for uninterrupted, quality time.
6. Why buy when you can rent or borrow and go someplace different/or the same each year?
7. Boating, fishing, tubing, water-skiing, jet-skiing,etc.
8. $$ another mortgage.
9. We could use it as a ministry, a place to serve others in need of rest or solitude.
10. Would feel like we have to "use" it, and if life is busy, might feel as if it wasn't a good investment.

At the Shanty, on a ride to Dairy Queen for some treats after dinner on our last night. It was a great trip, and we are so extremely thankful that we have incredible friends, generous enough to let us use their place for a week.

Ten Things Thursday

So Far...the Ten Best Memories 

of the Summer of 2011...

Annual strawberry picking with Cousin Madi and Auntie Beth. Tommy ate more than he picked!

A day with 1/2 the Froelich cousins at their Cottage near Crivitz, WI.

A great trip to The Farm in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  Tommy loves holding the baby chicks and kittens after getting attacked by baby goats who want their milk bottle. Precious.

a trip with the Family for extra special Chicago Hot-dogs at "Tommy's" in my home town.

On Grammy &  Papa's boat in the Cloverleaf Lakes.

a day-trip with Nina Kaiser to their "Shanty" in Tomohawk, WI.

Anniversary trip to Duluth. 9 years. Ted had a work meeting and I connected with a dear college friend!

Ted and Tommy's first Bellin Run! Cheering them on was my favorite part of the entire weekend.

First trip to Bay Beach of the Season. Part of our Father's Day weekend celebration. Tommy, Ted and I are standing in line for the Scrambler. It was 3 minutes of total, hysterical laughter.

Seeing my dad (Papa Jim) in Fond u lac for Father's day. I love watching him play with Tommy.

Ten Things Thursday

Ten Things to do with Summer Fresh Strawberries

1. Wash, hull and EAT
2. Jam it! 
3. Cheesecake Topping
4. Strawberry Salad (Romaine, Candied Almonds, Red Onion, Strawberries and Poppy seed dressing) 
5. Strawberry Pie
6. Strawberry Bread
7. Strawberry Shortcake
8. Ice-cream Topping
9. Flash-Freeze for a Winter treat!
10. Spicy Fruit Salsa

We had strawberry picking date with Auntie Beth and cousin Madi today, our second annual picking and soon to become a tradition, I hope. The berries were a little disappointing, some were over ripe, but small, and others were nowhere near ready to be picked.  Maybe we were on the wrong side for good picking. But, I managed to bring home about 2 lbs. and am just now deciding what to do with them all.  I heard it was the worst crop in over 20 years.

Ten Things Thursday

I'm going to try to start to regularly blog a list each Thursday; it will hopefully be a different list each week and hopefully it will be an interesting list each week.  I had been doing a Ten things Tuesday post, back in the day, where I would recall 10 things I was thankful for that day.  I might revert to that, because it's always a good exercise to reflect on things God has blessed me with, but for now, I'd like to challenge myself a bit and see what else I can come up with...

TEN THINGS I WISH I KNEW WHEN I WAS TWELVE...

1. Boys are different than girls; don't expect them to be something they aren't.
2. Pregnancy would not make me glow, in fact, quite the opposite.
3. As hard as I might try, I would still turn out more like my mother than I ever hoped to.
4. Portion control.
5. That trying to be every body's favorite would cost me more than I even know, right now.
6. Big things do come in small packages.  
7. Being a stay-at-home mom would be a more difficult job than my mom made it look.
8. God gives good gifts, and He takes good gifts away, too.
9. Getting straight "A's" doesn't amount to much.
10. Some friends will be friends forever.  Choose wisely.

Adventures of Super "T"

Keeping up with my little man has been quite adventurous (read: tiresome), lately.  Each morning (or if he's really on top of things, before bed each night) he'll want to know what we have planned for the day and who we are scheduled to see. It's caused me to keep a pretty tight schedule each week, which I, too, enjoy.  He's quite the social  butterfly, and I can't really blame him. I'm sure part of it is that he is an only child, and desires playmates more his age, rather than his mother who can't quite keep up while playing "Super Hero" on the playground.  Another part of it, though, is simply that he loves people, new or familiar, young and old. He'll introduce himself to the check-out lady at the grocery store, fellow gawkers at the zoo or to nearby passengers on an airplane.

Recently, an evening adventure thanks to Daddy's prompting was a trip to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary here in the Frozen Tundra.  Tommy loves animals, but isn't too fond of goose droppings.  We enjoyed a sunny, warm walk this week and I was thankful I brought my camera. These are memories I treasure, if I can remember them (my memory is awful); if not, I pray that I never lose my hard drive. (Please, try not to be offended by the sign language that he is due for a potty break.)

  

Happy Adventuring, to you.

Saturday Blossoms

Saturdays are great.
Our day typically starts around 7:00am, when T realizes that his digital clock starts with the #seven and he can "escape" from his room. He then jumps into our bed and the three of us wrestle, tell stories and plan out our day.  I knew I was behind on potting my plants this spring, due to all the crummy weather and cold temps, so I convinced the boys to join me for a trip to Wery's Blossom Creek in Suamico, WI.

While T played in the sprinkler at home, here's what we accomplished.

Gerbera Daisy and Geranium

Zinnia and Zinca vine

Purple, White and Pink Petunia

Large Italian Basil Herb for cooking!

...and then I took a two hour nap. :)  How did you spend yours?
Toodles.