12.15.2010

Christmas Party

A few pics from Clark Nuber's Christmas party. Forgot I had the camera for part of it.

Drinks & Dinner and Penn & Teller show

Jaci & Conrad

Torrential downpour on Saturday. Not fun in a dress or curled hair.

After party

Bobcat Play off game

We decided we couldn't miss out on the opportunity to see our Bobcats play. Plus, we got to see both set of parents!!! Decent roads, cold snow, family & friends! Loved it all!

Casey, Cole {aka clifford, from casey} & Nate

I look like I grew a few inches next to jaimee, i wish!

Helmet Heads were ready to cheer on the Cats!

I didn't get the memo on the sunglasses. Out of practice ;)

The boys "stand out" from the rest of us.

Enjoying the game with the moms! {bright sun}

Beautiful.

Go Cat Dancers!!!

I love how my husband grew up in Bozeman and can still appreciate its beauty.

We wish the turnout was different, but they guys played their hearts out. They had an awesome year and our stadium gets an expansion! Quick trip, but well worth it.

12.11.2010

This post is a few weeks behind, but I wanted to share our holiday. Nate and I stayed in Seattle for Thanksgiving because we get two weeks off for Christmas!! yahoo! Also, it happened to be the same week as our snow days. Normally, when we have a vacation we always hop in the car and hit the road. Nate and I were discussing how wonderful it was to actually stay and have a vacation at the house. Quite relaxing!

Our morning Thanksgiving snow. Just like home :)

A few hours later...more snow

Breakfast

its not a holiday if there isn't a heart clogging roll ;)

A few people asked if we were still going to cook a turkey...of course!! It is our favorite meal of the the year.

My plate

Naters plate

Stuffing is new to his plate this year! Still a 'no' on the yams.

Dessert!

Nate is not a fan of pumpkin pie so I made him a pudding pie and I decorated it!

The stinker didn't even see the message in the fridge. I couldn't wait any longer (2hours after dinner) so I asked him to get us pies. About an hour later he decided he would get us pie. Finally, he saw my love note and understood why I kept asking him to get us pie ;)

My pie - straight out of the oven, hence the puffy.

Our Thanksgiving was a wonderful and quit. We hope we can enjoy another holiday at home without hoping in the car!

12.01.2010

Chicken Tetrazzini

Another chicken dinner I made a few weeks ago. I totally revamped this recipe to work with what I had on hand. This is the original recipe.

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti, broken into pieces

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons sherry

1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat, and gradually stir in chicken broth and cream.

Return to heat, and bring to a low boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add sherry, then stir in cooked spaghetti, mushrooms, and chicken. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish, and top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly browned.

---Side Notes----
• I didn't have mushrooms so I used broccoli - couple cups
• Milk instead of heavy cream
• Left out the sherry
• Only baked in the oven for 15mins (Nate was starving!) More like a pasta dish than casserole which was fine by me! :)
• Added more pepper and red pepper flakes to our own plates for a little more flavor

LOVED IT!

11.30.2010

Delish Chicken Dinner

I am a huge fan of trying quick and easy recipes. I will share some I find that are worth passing along. A plus with these recipes is that I have almost every ingredient at my house! Don't get me wrong, I love grocery shopping, but not after work. I go when I can spend a lot of time checking things out. Nate absolutely hates shopping with me because I take soooo long. :)

I do change up most recipes to what I have on hand or swap things out to make them healthier.

{I can't take credit for this beautiful photo, but it was pretty similar. I didn't add the parsley :P}

Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts with Shallots

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded thin

salt and pepper to taste

2 shallots, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/3 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

Directions

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and brown on both sides in the skillet. Cover, and continue cooking 10 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear. Set aside, and keep warm.

Mix shallots and garlic into skillet over medium heat, and cook until tender. Stir in wine, and cook until heated through. Stir in broth, and continue cooking 5 minutes, or until reduced and slightly thickened. Mix in the remaining butter until melted. Serve the sauce over the chicken.

---I added a couple handfuls of mushrooms with the garlic and onions (didn't have shallots at home) to get more veggies

---I added a tablespoon or two of flour to the sauce to thicken it a bit.

---Did not use all the butter they called for. EVOO instead and a tish of butter

Sauteed Green Beans

Ingredients

5 slices bacon

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 (16 ounce) package frozen cut green beans

1/4 cup butter

Directions

Place bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until browned on one side, then turn over to cook on the other side. Add the almonds to the skillet at this time, and cook, stirring until light golden brown.

Remove the bacon from the skillet, leaving the bacon drippings. Crumble or chop bacon, and return to the skillet. Melt the butter in with the drippings. Add the green beans; cook and stir until tender, about 8 minutes.

--I used turkey bacon instead of regular. Doesn't produce grease, but flavor is still in pan.

--I did not use the amount of butter it called for. I used EVOO instead (eye ball pour) with about .5tsp of butter

Mashed Cauliflower

Ingredients

Cauliflower

skim milk

spray butter

salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Chop and steam cauliflower

2. Put cauliflower and 1/4ish Cup milk in food processor and puree

3. Add butter and salt & pepper to taste

---this is my version of mashed cauliflower. Quick, easy, & delish!

Happy Cooking! Enjoy!!!

11.29.2010

Snow Day

Everyone in Montana may think this is odd, but I absolutely love it and take full advantage of ..... a SNOW DAY!!!! Snow days happen in Seattle with 1-2 inches of snow. Midwest folks may find it hilarious, but actually, there are a lot of hills out here and TERRIBLE drivers. Seattle doesn't have many plow trucks - not much use for them.

I woke up nice and early Monday morning and saw the skiff of snow :D

7:00 AM

Noon

The dogs were SOO excited, hence Bridger's tail

They did not want to come in.

Too cute not to post! He was eating the snow.

Meanwhile, Nate was passed out on the chair. He had a tooth implant procedure done and couldn't enjoy the snow with us.

Dogs took a snooze after the running around outside.

9:00 pm

Then, we used a leaf blower to shovel. :D I don't think our shovels made it out here with us.

{----}

It's amazing what the snow did to me. I woke up feeling so refreshed, in a really great mood, motivated, and I took the dogs to the park for an hour or so...in the cold & snow!! My brain must have thought I was back home because I loved every minute the snow was here.

Phil called me Monday night and said not to go in because it would be a mess on the freeway. He had just spend 2+ hours getting his son unstuck on a side road. I wasn't going to argue. More time at home with my pups and Nate! Nate and I feel we can drive in the snow out here. We just don't because out of fear of the other drivers. It really is scary! They just don't think!

Since I was in a great mood or more like "Suzy Homemaker", I baked chocolate chip cookies! I was craving my friend's, Kim, cookies. Luckily, she taught me how to make them. Still not the same, but really delicious! {they sure beat my cookies that included powdered sugar instead of flour, oops!}

This is Bridger's new trick! He stays out of the kitchen while I cook!! I got so tired of tripping on him or him pushing my leg aside so he could get a bread crumb. He does so well. All I say is "out" with my hand pointing and he goes to the carpet. :D

And there ends my perfect snow day!

{Little did I know it was actually going to last all week!!!!!!}

Cats for the Win!!

Yippee!!! We win! It was a great game and so fun to watch. The nice, warm bar and a mimosa might have had something to do with it :) The bar was super packed this year.