Me and my boy

Some news and a recipe...

I have been cheating on my blog with another blog. I have started a new blog with friend called forwardmom.blogspot.com Come check it out and see what's going on over there. I will still do some recipes and write when I can on here...this is for dinner one day this week....

Oriental (Chicken) Salad

1 One lb bag of cole slaw (salad section of store)
2 pkgs Ramen Oriental Flavored Noodle Soup (blue bag)
4 oz sunflower seeds
4 oz slivered almond
2-3 scallions chopped
½ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup sugar
1 cup olive oil (or vegetable/canola oil is OK too)

In LARGE bowl toss together cole slaw, sunflower seeds, almonds, scallions and the noodles from the soup packages; crumbled.

In another bowl whisk together the vinegar, oil, sugar and the 2 seasoning packets from the soup packages. Pour over cole slaw mixture and mix well.

To make it Oriental Chicken Salad:
Brown chicken cutlets in pan (about 6 cutlets more or less depending on what you want)with a small amount of oil. When lightly browned pour teriyaki sauce over and simmer until done. Let sit in fridge while you prepare the rest of the salad. Before you pour over the vinegar mixture cut up chicken pieces and toss. Chill before serving.

** Been making this since 1998. It’s really good and everyone loves it. I sometimes buy frozen eggrolls and serve with the salad for dinner.

Recipe Day

Rustic Summer Squash Tart

It's not summer I know. But zucchini and yellow squash are on sale and I wanted to make them. This recipe has some of my favorite ingredients in it...pie crust, zucchini,peppers and cheese. Yum.

1 tsp olive oil
1 lb mixed summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash) cut into 1/4 rounds
1 tsp chopped garlic
Freshly ground pepper
1 refrigerated pie crust (from a 15oz. box)
4 oz Roquefort, Gorgonzola other good-quality blue cheese (I prefer Gorgonzola way & more than 4 oz.!!)
1 roasted yellow or red pepper; cut in strips
1 large plum tomato sliced; seeds removed
1 large egg; beaten

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add squash, cook turning pieces as they start to color; 7 minutes or until crisp tender. Remove from heat; stir in garlic and pepper to taste. Cool to room temperature.

2. Heat oven to 400
Line baking sheet with parchment paper; unroll or unfold pie crust on the parchment. With a rolling pin; roll crust to a 13 in round. Crumble half the blue cheese over crust within 2 inches of the edge. Arrange squash mixture, pepper strips and tomato slices and crumble the remaining cheese on top; fold edge of the crust over filling and brush crust with egg.

3. Bake 35-40 minutes until pastry is golden. Slide tart, still on parchment onto wire rack. Crumble remaining cheese over top. Let cool before serving.

When is it enough?

I am just wondering about this whole kid’s sports phenomenon. When is enough…well, enough?

Is it when you sign your kid up for two sports that occur during the same season? I mean how can we pick one? What if he likes one better? What if the whole freaking first grade is playing “the” sport? You can’t not try it and be left in the dust.

Is it when you sign your kid up for “instructional” lacrosse and the equipment for the kid who can’t really even tie his own shoes that well yet, costs upwards of $200 (not including the registration fee)? There’s a strong possibility said kid may not stick with that sport. But heck… we will have some really cool equipment taking up room in the garage.

Is it when you stand there at practice, freezing your ass off (it was NOT this cold at the house!!) after already having started dinner, did homework, raced to get there on time, squeezed and tugged him into his equipment in the back of the minivan, only to hear him ask the coach “how long ‘til practice is over?”

Is it when the people “in charge” don’t pass along any pertinent information? “Picture day is on Sunday…” Oh really? Maybe you would like to tell me where and what time? Small details I know. But I like to know where I am going and what time I should be there. I am funny like that.

Is it when the parent standing next to me watching the same game that both our kids are in, says “Did you see how good my Johnny is?” Uh, no. Actually I am watching my kid believe it or not.
Now don’t get me wrong if Johnny was doing something great I would give the kid props. And maybe even give the parent a pat on the back if they aren’t someone I would otherwise like to smack. But if both kids are doing the same thing and neither one doing it more spectacular that the other, then no I didn’t see your Johnny. The fact that you would assume that I would be watching Johnny and not my kid is strange to me. Truthfully, if your Johnny discovered the cure for cancer while dribbling a soccer ball I still wouldn’t think he was better than my kid. A parent is supposed to think their own child is nothing short of amazing…just not supposed to assume everyone else thinks so too.

So is it enough when I say it is? Probably. But I won’t say it is. I won’t make my kid be the one with the crazy mom that complains all the time, who knows she can do things better than most of these chimpanzees that run “organized” (not) sports. So, I will let him try every dam sport. I will buy all the bells and whistles even if that means my haircut money that week goes to buy athletic supporters. I will drive to four different practices, freeze my petunias off at the fields, and make nice with parents that are certifiable. (Although I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that some parents are great…some are even my friends who I am happy to sit, freeze and chat with.) I will chip in to buy the coaches gift cards to Dunkin’ Donuts cause they at least stepped up to herd these 7 year old boys and try to teach them the game.

With any luck my athlete will say enough is enough one day. He will choose one sport per season that he loves. Until then I suppose, I will do more than my share of enough to get him where he needs to go. God forbid, he would just have to play out in the back yard. Remember when that was enough?

She's hired!

Diva got the job! Whoo hoo! Who is happier than me? Ok DH is happier...

She will be working in a lawyers office and with some of her friends who got jobs there as well. Nice hours that work around her schedule (which this week includes one extra spring break day off, a trip to a Broadway play and and a five day trip with her school group...it is good to be 16!), close to home, looks great on the college resume.

Very weird for me dropping her off to start her first day. But then again in less than a year she will be driving herself and that's just plain scary on so many levels.

Blog-iversary

Who knew there was such a word. Apparently there is.

Well, Monday is my two year blog-iversary. What started out as a cool new thing has turned into some kind of therapy almost for me. I never thought I would still be writing two years later. I look at my counter sometimes and wonder who reads this aside from the ones that I know. I reread some of my favorites over from time to time and they make me smile. Some still make me cry like I did the day I wrote them.

I think of the times I wanted to say more, but something held me back. Then sometimes maybe I said too much. I know why I read other blogs. But it still amazes me that anyone wants to read what I write. But those who read and comment and those who pop in and read and don't, thanks for hanging with me. I hope I have maybe made you laugh, or given you something to think about. I wonder what the next year will bring to make me what to bang away at my laptop. We shall see.

..oh yeah the recipes...

I know I said one a week. Life takes over and you look up and time has flew by. I will give you a quick one that I made again this week since I was low carbing...

Cold Chick Pea Salad
1 can chick peas drained
1 can black olives drained and cut up
2 stalks celery diced
1/4 cup red onions sliced thin and chopped
Feta cheese as much as floats your boat (low fat if possible)
Balsamic vinegar
Oil (I like EVOO but regular olive oil or even vegetable or canola is fine)

Mix chick peas, olives, celery, onions and feta in a medium sized bowl. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and oil. Mix up. Refrigerate for at least an hour to chill.

What a difference a day makes...

Spring has sprung today. Even though I think tomorrow's going to be rainy...today was truly spring.

We had a Palm Sunday brunch with family. Sat outside to finish our coffee after stuffing ourselves with yummy brunch fixin's..homemade waffles, bacon, fruit, home fries, even mimosas which I adore. After a week doing low carb which is not that hard yet effective...washing waffles down with champagne was not short of divine! Kids played baseball and tag..neighborhood dogs (and resident dog of course) got in some ball stealing too!

Sun was so strong that I got some color on my face and chest. Barring the damage that sun causes...yippee! I even decided after company left, to linger outside and read my book for awhile. Then took a 3.5 mile walk to the beach alone..well I took Beyonce, AC/DC,Barry just to name a few to keep some pep in my step.

Sat for a few minutes to admire one of my favorite views and lucky me it's practically in my own backyard.

I will keep doing the sun dance...can you say flip flops??????