Journey/Heart Concert

Once in a while, Wes and I like to let our hair down and do something out of the ordinary. Tonight was one of those nights! We went to a concert at Verizon Wireless; Cheap Trick, Heart and Journey. Now, we're not experts on the bands music, but we knew some key songs so we thought it would be fun!

Here's some highlights:

1. We didn't realize it, but I guess it's a given that if you are at a concert, you should drink at least 5 beers a piece! (We only drank four a piece though.......just kidding!!)

2. Cheap Trick is really old, but they have cool guitars. They had a 12 or 16 (I can't remember) string guitar and also a guitar that was like 5 guitars in one! We didn't know any of their songs though. Oops.

3. Heart was wonderful. Those girls sure can sing! I was inspired by how great they can sing and also play guitar. They are definitely talented.

4. Journey was also great. It's really neat because just recently they got a new lead singer who they discovered off of YouTube. He is from the Phillipines and he is a dead wringer for the old lead singer (in voice, not looks). He was an amazing singer and he had so much energy! He bounced all over the stage and Journey made sure he earned his money because he sang like 20 songs!

All in all, it was a great, lively concert with lots of drunk people and lots of good music!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken: Taste Test Tuesday

We finally have got a great recipe for you!! Both Wes and I give this recipe 5 stars!! And it's so easy! You will feel like you don't deserve such good food after only cooking for about 30 minutes! And when you hear the title, you will think fat, but this is actually a healthy pick according to Kraft. Without further adieu....here it is!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken in Cream Sauce

Here's what we are going to be using!

The recipe is from Kraftfood and you can click on this link and find the full recipe:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/parmesan-crusted-chicken-in-cream-91371.aspx

I didn't use exactly the brands they wanted me to use because I'm cheap, but if you feel you must (Sandy, I'm talking to you...) then go for it!

The Ingredients:

2 cups instant brown rice, uncooked (I used a box of Rice a Roni I got for free at Kroger)
1 can (14 oz.) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
6 RITZ Crackers, finely crushed
2 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
2 tsp. oil
1/3 cup PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Light Cream Cheese Spread
3/4 lb. asparagus spears, trimmed, steamed (We used broccoli instead of asparagus)

How To:

COOK rice as directed on package, using 1-1/4 cups of the broth and 1/2 cup water.
MEANWHILE, mix cracker crumbs and Parmesan cheese on plate. Rinse chicken with cold water; gently shake off excess water. Dip chicken in crumb mixture, turning each piece over to evenly coat both sides. Discard any remaining crumb mixture.

HEAT oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 5 to 6 min. on each side or until golden brown on both sides and cooked through (165°F). Place chicken on serving plate; cover to keep warm. Add remaining 1/2 cup broth and the cream cheese spread to skillet. Cook on medium heat just until mixture comes to boil, stirring constantly. Simmer 3 min. or until sauce is thickened, stirring frequently. Spoon sauce over chicken. Serve with the rice and asparagus.

Notes on this recipe: I only made 3 chicken breasts and I almost ran out of breading so you may have to make more than the recipe calls for. Also, once the chicken was done, I put it in the oven at 175 degrees while I finished up everything else because I was afraid the breading would get soggy if I covered it with foil. Also, the cream sauce took about 5 minutes to thicken, not three, so don't lose heart!

Here's the pics of us cooking it "Kraft Style"

Here are the chicks before they were going into the frying pan.

Tip: Just let the chicken cook and don't move it around too much or you will lose some of your breading!

And here's the finished product......

I'm hungry now! If you guys make it and like it or even if you don't, leave me a comment! I would love to hear how it turns out for you.

Mums the word.......

Hope everybody had a great weekend! Wes and Preston and I went to the Pendleton Fall Festival on Saturday during the day and got to look around downtown. It's quaint and there's lots of stuff that people haul out of their shops to sell, but it's fun. I had heard from Kelly D. that this is a great place to buy mums, so we got two big mums for $5.50 a piece. Seemed like a pretty good deal to me!

After we got them, Preston tried to eat one of the flowers on the mum and ended up spitting them all over himself. Haha. I can't get him to eat very many vegatables but he'll eat mums? Hmm..go figure. Maybe our next Taste Test Tuesday recipe should include some mums.

But I need some support. I have been told by my usually supportive husband that I will probably kill the mums by not watering them. Okay, I did kill the plants on the porch from this summer from lack of watering but I mean, come on. Give a girl a chance. So, anyway, if you see me, call me or email me.....remind me to water the mums. Together we can keep them alive!

Case Solved!!

Okay, I really didn't think that the case of the disappearing baby book would be solved this quickly, but it has! Fortunately, Preston has been proven innocent, so I guess we will wait on his admission to military school for now. Anyway, the baby book is alive and well so now I can show you pictures of the littlest Cookie.



I will warn you that the pictures are pretty bad because our scanner is on strike so I had to take a picture of a picture. You can imagine how well that turned out! But here little Cookie is anyway! And make sure you note how much he looks like Wes!

Did I mention they were terrible quality?? Oh well, you get the point, there's a baby in there!! :)

Everyone have a great weekend!!

The Case of the the Disappearing Baby Book

In case you hadn't heard, the Cook family is going to be expanding. We have a little one on the way that is due to arrive around March 11, 2009. We are so excited, at least most of us are!! I got a baby book started and everything. I started putting in information like when I found out I was pregnant, heart rates of the baby and even two pictures of the little guy (or girl) from the ultrasound. She/He looks like Wes by the way.....haha okay maybe it's a little early to tell.

Anyway, this baby book has DISAPPEARED!!! I have not been able to find it anywhere. I'm beginning to suspect that "big brother" Preston might have something to do with this. I decided to do some investigative work.

Here he is after I found him sneaking around......looks pretty innocent huh?

Once he realized I was on to him, he said something like "C'mon man, I wouldn't steal the baby book...."

He quickly realized that I suspected him so he faked being shocked but then confessed the whole thing after a round of tickle torture. He said he put the baby book in the toilet and flushed it to kingdom come.

I can only hope that his brother or sister will understand that I had good intentions of keeping records of their birth! *

*And if anyone sees my baby book, please give it back to me. Preston never needs to know.......

Broccoli Cheese Soup- Taste Test Tuesday- Part 2

Our main meal tonight was Cream of Broccoli-Cheese Soup

Here's the ingredients.

The recipe is from "Country-Quick and Easy"

(I cut the recipe in half since we can't eat that much soup!)

Cream of Broccoli-Cheese Soup

1 c. onion chopped 1/2 t. garlic powder

1 T margarine 5 c. chicken broth

8 oz pkg. egg noodles, uncooked 10 oz. pkg frozen chopped broccoli

6 c. milk 12 oz. shredded cheese

In a large stockpot, saute onion with garlic in margarine over medium heat until the onion is clear. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add noodles; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in broccoli. Cover and cook for 5 addtl miutes. Stir in milk and cheese. Heat slowly, stirring until cheese melts. Do not boil. Makes 6-8 servings.

Bringing the broth and garlic and onions up to a boil.

My mother-in-law said I need more pictures of myself on here, so here you go!

I chopped up my broccoli into little bits because you know me and vegetables!! They still are good for you, even if they are tiny, right??

Here's the finished meal....I even broke out the special plates!

Review: Okay, everything looked and smelled beautiful, but the soup had a small problem. When you put the cheese into the soup, you put it in right after the cold milk. Well, our cheese didn't melt very well so it made it kind of grainy. So, I would tweak the recipe and say that you should heat up the milk before you add the cheese.

Wes- (he's kind of getting a food critic split personality) He gives this a 3.5 due to graininess. But he did ask for seconds. I refused though because he didn't deserve them!! Haha.

Stacy- I liked this better than Wes. If you tweak the recipe like I said below, I think it would be really yummy. I give this a 4.

If you try it, let me know what you think!!

Dinner Rolls: Taste Test Tuesday- Part One

Double-Quick Dinner Rolls

Here is our ingredients: salt, sugar, flour, egg, yeast and water. Pretty easy so far, huh? Here's the recipe from one of the church cookbooks I have:

1 c. warm water

1 pkg. active dry yeast

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 1/4 flour

1 tsp. salt

1 egg

2 Tbsp. soft shortening

In bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Stir sugar, half of flour and salt into the yeast. Beat with spoon until smooth. Add egg and shortening. Beat in rest of the flour until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl and cover with cloth. Let rise in warm place until double in size, about 30 minutes.

Grease 12 muffin cups. Stir down raised dough; spoon into muffin pan, filling cups half full. Again, let rest until dough reaches tops of muffin cups, 20-30 minutes. Bake 15-20 minutes in 400 degree oven.

Here is the dough all combined and ready to raise.

Here is the dough after it had raised for 30 minutes.

Here's my little babies after they had raised and were ready to be cooked. I let them raise a little higher than the recipe said because I like fluffy rolls.

Here's the finished product. Don't they look good??

Review: These were beautiful in their looks, but they were a little dry! Anyone have any ideas of how to solve this problem? If so, leave a comment. They were defnitely edible, just not like the kind you get in the restaurant.