Last nights dinner

Last nights dinner was amazing!!!  I couldn't stop licking the spoon! This was so good i didn't even have to tell Riley once to finish his dinner!

Now the basil is fresh from the garden, the salad.

1 head of roman lettuce

1 carrot sliced in rounds 

2 roma tomatoes seeded and chopped

1 stalk celery cut in half and chopped

1 cup chopped broccoli chopped 

1 cup cauliflower chopped

1 16oz can chick peas (toasted)

What i did to toast chick peas. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

 Drain and rinse chick peas, pat dry.

In a medium bowl add 2 tbsp of oil, (i used evoo) add chick peas and turn to coat.

Add and this is where i am bad about measuring. so add to taste.

Seasoning Salt

Garlic Pepper seasoning we have with grinder top.

Onion Powder

I just coated the lot of it and tossed around until i thought the flavor was right. 

Put in oven for about 30-40 minutes. 

After toasted i tossed the chick peas in the salads and gave it a good shaking up. and yeah! it was great had a bowl of salad with lunch today! I think next day salads are better it seems the over night gives a chance for all the flavors to mix good.

As far as the Bacon Ranch Chicken and Pasta

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-bacon-ranch-chicken-and-pasta.

       

Tonights Dinner

Slow cooker Bacon Ranch Chicken and Pasta

it is a Betty Crocker recipe but it looks good so here we go!!!

Walk in the Garden

Afternoon.So i am doing this challenge of Planking, to help strengthen your core muscles, i have to say it is working out pretty good. i am also taking my vitamins like i should. that also helps.  i have also started doing push ups after, arms hurt at first but then goes away i am great full for that. Boys are napping.  

Yesterday was really wacky, i was really tired and we had to go shopping by the time the boys and i got home i was just beat. Robin went down wonderfully for his nap, Riley let me nap on the couch while he played on the floor. he was awesome! 

Last night for dinner we had left-over lasagna. It was frozen so thawed it out, i wasn't sure it was going to be all that great, it was a about a quarter of what was left from when i made it the first time in the crock pot, turned out good but it did burn just a bit, hey lessons learned right. 

Took pictures of the garden today. Sun flowers are nice and tall. we have mostly a butterfly garden but in there and be hind the sun flowers tomatoes are growing, i m not complaining, but they are taking for ever to turn red. 

Tomato plant we did plant

Sun flowers front and back and tomato plant below them.

Butterfly Garden and rest of tomato plants

Monday..... enough said i haven't had the time this past weekend to post anything. Well im sure i could have made time but i needed to get things done around the house and relax.  i got more done then relax but i still had a great weekend. Riley and i went up to Lowe's for the work shop i talked about the other day.

We got to make a trolley and a robot from the movie Aliens vs Monsters! he had a blast, we got a certificate and a iron on patch to put on a shop apron and safety goggles for the next time we go.

What else did we do???? oh i cut some wood with the chain saw, started smoking bad, so we took a trip downtown to the hardware store and got some popcorn. yes the popcorn shop. i got a new chain and a number of a guy who will sharpen chains. i mean i can't buy a new chain ever time. Also my neighbor let me borrower a split mauler to chop wood. why didn't i use just an ax? this is a heavier duty chopper. Same momentum but better for the down swing less work, let gravity do the job, and it was relaxing. how can chopping wood be relaxing? it allows me to focus on what i am doing and being safe and allows me not to think about anything else. Clearing the mind by focusing on one objective, so to speak.

we had a great fire and friends over it was nice to just relax at that moment, but then the mosquito's came and i got tore up. Michele and i also watched the amazing spider-man 2, i thought it kicked butt, she feel asleep but i don't blame her she was tired.  We also watched this weekend the secret life of Walter Mitty. I am not a big Ben Stiller fan, but hat was a really good movie. and it made me think that you don't have to go to far away places to live life, you can start in your own backyard. Especially if you have kids go make a mud puddle! even if you don't have kids. when was the last time you made a mud puddle. As adults we think that we have to be "proper" but i say why not get a little dirty, you have a shower use it after. take that kind of time and just be in the now.

Sunday we went to the local soda shop! yes we still have one! got some of the best BBQ pulled pork sandwiches! OMG! delicious!  some ice cream. after that we took a walk around the downtown area, love the family time!

 Today we had a blast after lunch it was getting hot, we were out side i gave the boys Popsicles i had mine and we fill up the little pool and played with water guns! i turned on the sprinkler and we rocked out!

Dinner 2

Dinner was great! Turned out a bit over cooked, but it was fantastic in the end made a rice dish out of the box, nothing to outrageous, still it was good. taking notes knowing what to do and not to do the next time.

Well the next couple of days we will be fun!  Having left overs and the beautiful thing about that is transforming one dish into another, for instance taking sloopy joe and adding them to hot dogs for coney dogs, etc etc....

Tomorrow will be fun i plan on taking Bear to Lowe's for a project they are having building a robot or something, it will be a blast i will try and get pictures. it will be a nice surprise for him he has been doing really good listen and i think this is a good way to praise him.

Dinner

Wow! so i went to the store yesterday and got what i need for stir fry tonight, as i am getting ready to cook, guess what i forgot the teriyaki sauce, so me and boys ran up to the store and grabbed a bottle and headed back home i hope this will turn out good. talking to my buddy Dave today he suggested to just use a frying pan cause it wouldn't take long. so slow cooker out, and frying pan it is, smells good hope it all turns out OK!



so far not looking so good, i'll keep you posted.

A phone call makes a difference

Good Afternoon, i had a slow start to this morning. But it turned out to be great!
 My buddy Dave called me up for brunch, so the boys and i took him up on his offer, we had a great time at Chico's.

Dinner last night was a hit again and tonight i will be trying for the first time Chicken Stir Fry. Last night i took some time to myself after dinner Michele and the boys went out with the neighbors even tho it was raining they still had a good time. as for me i settled down to some Doctor Who. dozed off a few times but it was OK about 5 maybe 10 min, after waking i treated myself to an ice cream sandwich and some of my homemade peanut brittle, sort of will talk more about that later. It was nice, sometimes i have the problem of shutting off, or slowing my brain down. but it is a work in progress and i will get there.
Today Riley was absolutely great while we were out. on the way home we stopped at what we call the popcorn store, (it the local hardware store) but where there is free popcorn its the popcorn store. I gave him the reward of getting his little 25 cent toys. Ah the little things that make our worlds happy! and they both got popcorn, then took a movie back. Which is just down the way about three or four stores. Great little video shop.
 Michele and i were up kinda late watching the movie Heaven is Real. Good movie it is a tear jerkier. Yes i cry and i am not afraid to admit it. Real men cry, it is not a sign of weakness but a sign of yeah i am human and i have emotions and not afraid to show them. We don't want our boys to be afraid to show signs of emotions, we let them know that it is OK to hurt and to feel, and to express those feelings, at dinner last night RI expressed himself to us by say, "daddy i want you to take a picture of me and mommy with your camera" we both were like "yeah OK" this is something he has really never expressed and we took the opportunity to do it. And he has the most wonderful smile when hes not showing off.

Almost forgot dessert last night. the other day i mentioned i made a fruit dip, it was good still could use a tweak here and there. but it was to our liking. I made i guess what you would call a Hawaiian salad, Michele loved it. She loves coconut! to much for me tho. anyway, she sat down with some of that when they got back, didn't get a picture tho, sorry maybe next time. I could go on and on but the kids are napping and i feel this is some time to finish up the episode of Doctor Who i didn't get to finish last night. I love Netfilx! that's right i did a shout out!

Oh right picture of last nights spread!

Riley's Hand

Earlier i had so much on my mind, i cant remember what i wanted to say, had computer issues. its funny how you have so much to say and you know you need to get it out but then you dont have away to get it out. cause something goes wrong and then the next and then the next. the domino effect.
Kids is a good topic today, i love my boys. and boys are boys, Riley, we are working on getting him to listen and do what he is told i guess this may be our fault from a young age we all ways gave him options. his choice what to eat mainly but we instilled in him that is OK to ask why and give him an answer. not just cause i said so, tho i have given him that before. but now well before now, we are all improving on our communication skills and i think he is starting to understand that we are the parents and he is the child.he is a very polite boy, sometimes he does this thing were he ssssounds out the first letter of a word and it is annoying I'm not going to lie. i have asked him repeatedly to stop, or maybe he is speaking to fast and that might be a way to get it out slower or process what he is going to say before he says it.  i think he does it to get attention.

well my rant for now. tonight's dinner Tacos and Taco Salad

Just now i asked Riley not to draw in my cookbook, just a spiral notebook that my mother wrote her recipes in and gave to me for a xmas gift. now i am using the left over pages for my own recipes. anyway i asked him not to draw and said that he had is own paper.  he scurried off and brought back a little piece of paper and a pencil and started drawing, i told him he did a great job by getting his own, and i was typing about tonight's dinner i look over and he is tracing his hand, guess where??? anyone anyone, in my cook book, so i said hey man whats up? what did i just say to you, and he puts his head down and says sorry daddy. and through that short amount of time i breathed and said why did you do it then? he replied, my paper was to small for my hand. i replied fair enough, next time ask me for a piece of paper then. then i fallowed up with, well you know what you have to do now, he looks up and says what? i looked down and said you have to finish it! you cant just leave a half drawn hand on there! he smiled and finished his hand out line. i helped make it darker. cause in that moment.... something Michele has been trying to get to realize is what he really doing worth getting upset over, No cause he is a curios kid who whats to hang out with daddy, i know maybe a few guys how would do the same thing i did or at least hope they would.

Update Dinner

Dinner was fantastic turned out great!

I slow cooked for 4 hours on high, now this is different from the last time. i don't remember how long i cooked it may have been at least 5-6 hours, and that will make a big difference but i also used boneless chops, this time i used bone in. but still tender fell off bone but didn't fall apart like the last time.  i was able to cut into chunks! Which is what i wanted this time. last time i wanted to pull out the chops as a whole and serve the mushroom and potatoes as a side. but this turned out like a stew.   I am more of a stewy kind of guy, not to big on soups. Tho this looks like broth it is actually cream of mushroom soup, of course in a slow cooker it will create its on condensation and water it down, and that's fine it wasn't to watery, still it was great i also tried for the first time my own fruit dip using 4 ingredients, i will touch back on that later tho. have a good night all!

Here I am

Hello out there. I am Dave.  First time blogger,  so.... I'm obviously new at this. Sometimes i find it hard to put down what i want to talk about and when i finally get to it all just slips my mind or i just can't think of anything at the time so i am going to to my best to to say whats going now, cause when you think about it now is really what is important. oh i have a tendency to jump of topic but i will return... i promise. i know to some grammar is important, and spelling i will use the tools i have to check everything out but i am not perfect.  i can't type a hundred words a min or any of that good stuff, but i will do my best. i am here to talk about the life of being a stay home father, and cooking. those are just two things i love doing. i do more but lets face it, and i am sure there are people who like doing laundry, i will admit i do find folding laundry is a good way to kinda escape, let the kids play while i fold, sometimes i get in my head and think about what is next on the "to do list" and mine is a long list. from what is going to get washed next all the way what is for dinner this week etc etc.... 

Let me start by saying a little about me. you already know my name, i am married to Michele and have two wonderful children Riley and Robin. all three of them are my life. both are boys, and i am glad ! not to say if i had a girl it would be bad, honestly all i ever wanted was two healthy and happy kids and i have to say i got them. and no there will not be a third, most people say well isn't time you had a girl and answer is no, we are happy with the four of us we are complete in our own way. i came from a big family so needless to say i can cook big meals. Tonight's meal will be Pork Steaks with Cream of Mushrooms and Potatoes, made in a slow cooker, which is going right now. now it is very easy to make. the first time i did it i just threw everything together, and it was a hit. now.. i can cook, i was a short order cook a few days of the week at the local tavern and i had a blast. it inspired me to cook and create it was wonderful, now, i am getting better at writing things down. and i can make the same meal twice but i never make it the same way twice, i can use the same ingredients but i cook it differently. i guess that is just my way of "perfecting" it to my standers, but lets face it, that wouldn't be any fun for me if it had to be done the same way every time.  i think i will leave here for now and if everything goes the way i am hoping i will may this a daily part of my routine.