Too much snow...

Ahhh, internets. I am the only one at work at 8:30. Because it is completely white outside the window. And the highways aren't backed up, they're stopped. Snow is only fun when you're 10, I've decided. After that, it's nice to look at for a day or so, but then it just needs to go where the people who ski want it, and no where else.

But, anyway, here is the schnitzel recipe:

Pork Schnitzel:

6 thin boneless pork chops
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 egg beaten with 1/4 cup water
2/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/2 package medium egg noodles
4 TBLS unsalted butter

1- place a pork chop between two sheets of waxed paper, or plastic film. Pound it to 1/8 inch thickness. repeat with all chops

2- Season the pork chops with the salt and pepper. Spread the flour on a dinner place and the egg mixture into a shallow bowl. The bread crumbs get their own dinner plate.

3- Coat the chops with the flour, dip in the egg, and then coat with the bread crumbs.

4- Melt 1/2 the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook each chop about 2 minutes on each side. Our skillet fit 3 chops each time (hence using half the butter for the first set ,and half for the second).

5- Make the noodles according to the package.

Dinner is served. Really tasty and easy to make.

Not much else to report. LG is doing well. Eating like a trucker and toddling everywhere he can. Last night he followed (no, not chased, followed) the black cat all around the house trying to catch his tail. The cat knew to move just a step ahead, or twitch his tail just in time. He completely had the kid going. It was great to watch. I think they're getting along better now that LG is walking. Which I wouldn't have expected, but there it is.

Must go motivate to work.

Another weekendless...

Oh, man, has it been a week. Not only I am I at one of the worst jobs of my busy season (good job, but not enough time and waayy too much to do), but I was sick this week, internets. Not sniffly, I feel run down, sick. More the "need a trash can because I can't even make it to the bathroom" kind of sick. For a full (no kidding here) 24 hours. I had completely forgotten how badly it sucked to dry heave every hour for 24 hours (because God knows after the first hour, there's nothing left inside you!). Awww, it was aweful.

Not that it's an excuse for still not having the snitzel recipe up, but I'm using it as one anyway. I can, however, tell you about this weeks new food item. Made by PB, all by himself. With whatever was sitting in our kitchen! Lime terriyaki stir fry:

1 lb chicken cut into strips
1 orange pepper
1 medium onion
1tbls vegetable oil
2 tbls terriyaki sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tsp brown sugar

(The amounts on the spices are approximate, if you need more lime flavor, add it, if you want spicier, more red pepper, you get the picture).

Take your your big skillet. Do a once around the pan with the veg oil (a la Rachel Ray). Heat the veg for about a minute before you toss in the chicken. When it's about cooked, throw in the spices and terriyacki stuffs. Serve over rice. Voila, you're done. And it was good. Mmmm.

We will be trying Chicken with Leeks tonight, so look forward to that one soon.

In other news, we're trying to figure out what to do for LG's first birthday cake. I saw an awesome penguin cup cake thing that looked cute and pretty easy, but penguin's aren't really anything he's into. So we're thinking on our John Deer theme. We'll see what happens.

have a good weekend, all!

It ain't Cannes, here, people...

But I did get some of the much requested Pluto footage. We'll cut right to the chase:

You have to tilt your head sideways, but you get the picture. This particular walk was extra challenging because we didn't only need to take Pluto with us, but it was very important to carry our monkey slipper, too (God forbid we just wear both slippers at the same time). For extra security, he has Pluto by the collar, too. And this, internets, is why we don't have a real puppy. We just borrow from Uncle B, C &D, and B & L. So many cool puppies to share, and no poop to scoop.

We also got some really good shots of LG's new Grammie sweater.

Everybody at school loved it yesterday, and LG seemed really comfy in it. I think Grammie made it in something like an hour (because she is amazing that way). She tells me that it's really easy to make, but it looks like it would take hours.

Here's a shot of LG and I, both in our home made sweaters (Auntie S made mine, though). Approximately 5 minutes after this photo I managed to spill goo all over mine, though, so it will go to the dry cleaners. Argh.

You can't really see it in this photo, but it's a beautiful marino wool sweater made with fisherman style cables. And, oh is it warm. LG and I are big sweater fans.

I promise that I will get this weeks recipe up tomorrow. It was a nice pork schnitzel that we made on Sunday when Grammie and Grandpa came over for dinner. I think they gave it the thumbs up, so it's good to share.

And now, I will go do some work. And try not to freeze to death (I swear, Scrooge gave Bob Cratchett more heat than we get at this place...)

Home Movies

This morning I realized that I stink at taking home movies. I should include that my movies are being taken with a digital camera, not a movie camera, so that might not help. But still, my quality is pretty poor. None the less, I will share todays two "LG Walking" movies with you.

Hmmm someone will have to let me know if these actually work. I seem to be having issues with Blogger.

And now a pictoral story. Uncle B gave LG a stuff Pluto for Christmas (his first puppy...). And LG loves it. But Pluto is a pretty big friend, so he's hard for LG to carry around in his hands and maintain his balance. So, LG has found a way to solve the problem:

Yup, he is picking poor Pluto up by the nose, with his teeth. And then he just walks around like "everyone carries their puppy this way, right?" It's hysterical. Which is why I've only gotten this one krappe picture of it (I'm usually too busy laughing to go get the camera).

And now I shall procede to do some work, since I've been far to generous with the posts this past week. I have to keep expectations low, here.

Resolutions

Happy New Year, internets! I'm not one for making resolutions that I will be obliged to feel guilty that I could not keep going for a full year. Who needs extra guilt in their life?

However, this year I'm going to try to make a "commitment". Since LG arrived, dinners at our house have been touch and go, at best. Sometimes we can remember to defrost something, and have a real meal. Other times we realize that our chaos has gotten us to 9:00 and we're looking at pizza rolls and chicken nuggets for dinner. Which is ok once in a while, but not as often as we do it. Our other "issue" is that we always fall back to the same recipes in our arsenal. They're the ones we're most comfortable with, and that's good most of the time. They usually require a bit of prep work and time, though (which was ok before LG, but not so much now).

So, I'm going to com mitt to trying one new recipe a week. Doesn't matter where it comes from. Just one that we've never made (notice I didn't say we've never had). I'm looking for easy, with few ingredients, and if we can swing it, cheap. I'll throw up the recipes here, so that you guys can try them, too, if you want. And if you have a recipe that you think would fit the bill, feel free to post it as a comment, or e-mail it to me.

I'd like to report that in week 2 of 2009, we're on track. So far, we've tried two new recipes!

For New Year's Eve (which, technically wasn't 2009, but it was the first week of the year) we tried a bacon wrapped chicken recipe. It was super easy!

Bacon wrapped chicken:

1lb bacon with the strips cut in half

1lb chicken (cubed)

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 Tbls chili powder

-Mix the chili powder and brown sugar together and toss the chicken cubes in to coat.

-Wrap each cube in a halved bacon strip and secure with a tooth pick or skewer (we got around 5 to a skewer and found that to be the easiest way to cook them, but not the best way to serve them)

- Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350

We also made up some water chestnuts with the same coating and bacon, too (ok, I'll ad mitt that I was thinking this would be vegetarian. yes, bacon is now a vegetable in my world), but only baked them for around 15 minutes.

We took them to a party and they were a big hit. Like I said, the individual tooth picks might be better for a party atmosphere (I think people were reluctant to take just one off of the skewer).

Recipe # 2 (we made this one last night)

Turkey Cheeseburgers

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

1 medium sized zucchini, grated (you can buy the already grated kind at our supermarket, too)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp black pepper

4 rolls

appropriate toppings

1- Heat your broiler and arrange the top rack so it's about 2 inches from the heat (for people new to cooking, move the rack before you turn on the broiler, lest you hurt yourself).

2- In a large bowl, combine the turkey, zucchini, cheese, salt, onion powder, basil and pepper. Mix well and form into 4 equal patties.

3- Place the burgers onto your broiler pan and broil for 6-8 minutes on each side (12-15 minutes in total).

The stats per serving (which I will include if I know them):

417 calories

19 g fat

26 g carbs

40 g protein

6 g fiber

803 mg sodium

112 mg cholesterol

I'm betting you could lower some of those numbers with skim milk cheese and a healthy type roll, too.

Holy cow, these were good. I was hopeful, but not optimistic. I've been looking for a good turkey burger recipe for a while. Now we have one. I think the keys are that the zucchini keeps them moist (but you can't tell its there at all- good for hiding a veg from the kids) and the cheese is actually in the burger. We'll make these often.

I served it with a little home made cole slaw (the betty crocker recipe). Yes, my fellow internets, the badgers ate well last night.

The good news for you is that you are guaranteed a post a week this way. I will try to be prompt with my sharing.

To assuage those of you who only read the blog for news of LG I throw you this tid bit: He's officially walking now. On Monday he strolled into school all by himself. And yesterday he did a tour of the school walking all by himself. There is no stopping him now. And the cats are fearful.

Here's a picture of him with his Giraffe mobile. He's a little too short to ride it properly, but with PBs help, he likes to ride!