Throw together dinner

My meals when Wally is gone are never as good as when I am cooking for 2. We had a few chicken sausages sitting the the fridge needing to be cooked, so I decided to throw something together.

 I used rice-a- roni - chicken flavor, a red pepper chopped up, and sliced 2 pieces of sausage. I prepared the rice as the box recommends and added the red pepper and sausage when the rice was simmering covered.

 I added some Franks Hot Sauce and Lizano sauce that we brought back from Costa Rica with us. The sauces gave it that added touch to not taste like a boxed dinner.

For dessert, Mint Oreo ice cream and 2 oreos. I was craving more chocolate!!

More unpacking to do; while I was waiting for the rice to simmer I had 15 minutes to clean/unpack. I was able to get 3 more boxes unpacked/put away. I know that this may not seem like a lot. But little by little it is getting all into place. I have found that since I started working it is hard to find time to clean, unpack, make dinner, workout, feed and walk the dogs,... (life)

Unconditional Love

Wally had left for Texas for flight training on a Bell 206. Wally being going means a few things;

- I get to have ALL of the covers in bed

- I get to watch girly movies and as much grey's anatomy as I want

- more unpacking without distraction

- get some cleaning down without feeling like I am not spending time with him

What are things that you can do while your spouse/significant other are away?

playing in the snow this morning...

Movie tonight: "Letters to Juliet"

Best Sister in the World

We will begin with last night. I think I should have won "Best Sister in the World" award.

My little sister,

Ashley, came up to Northern NH to go skiing for spring break. As some people know we got some spring snow. She was driving back from getting groceries and she slid off the road into the trees. She was pretty shoken up and needed someone to pick her up. She called her friend in Plymouth (way closer than I live) but no answer. She called me and naturally I said I would come get her. I packed the pups in the car and off we went. I got there about 2 hours later and met the tow truck driver at the gas station. I then asked her if she wanted to come home with me or just back to the condo. "The condo" she says, she has stuff to get done for school anyway. I then drove further into the snow to bring her back to the condo and drop her off. At that time it was about 8:30 and I still haven't eatten dinner, thankfully she made me a PB & J and back on the road I went to come home. What a long trip... 4 hours in the car, for the most part the dogs behaved pretty well. There was only a few times Calving tried to climb on my lap and lie there. The good thing is that everyone was safe and cars are only things. It actually didn't look too bad, it should be fixable.

The dogs love playing in the snow.

Crazy Spring Weather and Lunch

Spring is definitely the time for crazy weather. I don't know if you can tell because it is a cell phone picture but it is snowing out there! Today for lunch is left over taco soup from Mom, chobani yogurt, and an apple.

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Maple syrup house, puzzles, movies

I wanted to start today's blog with a picture of this cookbook. This is one of the reasons that I started this blog. Wally and I were getting into a rut with what to make for dinner and we have all of these wonderful cookbooks but hardly use them. So we decided to do a "Julie & Julia" thing and start cooking through the cookbook. I don't have a timeline for it to be done in. This is just for fun and start mixing things up.

I couldn't sleep last night and decided that I wanted to make french toast for breakfast. We have a big day, we were going to look at some land around the area to build our house on. I figured it would be a long day and wanted a good breakfast. French Toast would definitely do the trick.

I used a shallow baking dish making it easier to drunk the bread in.

4 eggs

1 c. of milk

2 tbsp of sugar

2 tsp of vanilla

a dash or two of cinnamon

cook 2-3 minutes per side of toast

and Voila! one huge stack of french toast for 2 people.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of the dogs. The ride so well in the car and are pretty darn cute!

Between 2 of the properties we were looking at we had some time to explore the area. We got a little off track. But good thing we did, we found this Maple Sugar House. This weekend is the Open house for most if not all of the maple sugar houses in New Hampshire. We got a little tour and the lady explained how the process works.

Wally is standing in front of the machine that the sap gets pushed through and the syrup comes out at the end.

The end product! Warm and delicious!

Side note:

When Wally and I were dating and talking about marriage he said he didn't want to have cable for the first year of marriage. I agreed hestiantly. Now we have been married for 6 weeks and I still miss my TV, morning  news, greys anatomy...

So to keep busy we have been watching movies, working out, playing with the dogs (which we do anyway), and doing puzzles. I have always loved doing puzzles. The harder the better!

What are things that you do as a couple that doesn't involve cable?

Until next time...

St. Pattys Day!!

Happy St. Patty's Day all!!

A little late, I know. I am Irish so I do my best to celebrate. I wore my green. Which I was surprised that more people didn't. But more importantly I made Crockpot Corned Beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots. It was one full crock pot. With dinner Wally and I also enjoyed Pete's Wicked Strawberry Blonde.

He likes making silly faces!

Everything was very yummy, Wally even tried some cabbage!

and for dessert. MINT OREO ice cream. It was our first batch using the Kitchenaid Ice cream maker attachment. It didnt work perfectly but it was sure yummy. I was looking up why it didn't freeze the way it should. There are a few options; 1) the bowl was not frozen enough, I might have to turn down the freezer more and move it more to the back. Our freezer is FULL and didn't want to move everything. 2) Cool the batter for an hour before placing it in the ice cream maker. This might help as well. I took the partially frozen ice cream, placed it in an airtight container and put in the freezer overnight to harden.

Paula Deen's Goulash

Yesterday was a crazy busy day at work. I wanted an easy dinner to make and Goulash was already on the menu... thank goodness!!

I used a recipe from Paula Deen called Bobby's Goulash. The only substitutions I made was using 2 lbs of venison (that's what we have) unstead of the 2 lbs of beef and 1 lb of turkey. I felt that 3 lbs of meat for this meal was a little over kill. The 2 lbs was plenty. I followed the directions almost to a "T" and it was perfect. I almost threw more pasta in there. It didn't seem like 2 cups would be enough but it was. On the side, I make quick garlic bread. I used potato rolls, smoothered them in butter, parm cheese, and garlic powder; broiled them until lightly browned on top nad they were done.

The only down fall to the meal was that it took just over an hour to make :( But it was worth it and we have TONS of leftovers.

On a side note, to make the goulash I used a cast aluminon dutch oven. It is used just like cast iron but much LIGHTER. I was pleasantly surprised. Mine is from ALL-CLAD and was the added gift when purchasing our stainless pots and pans from Williams Sonoma.

St. Pattys Day Dinner - Corned Beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots in the crockpot and Mint Oreo ice cream. Can't wait! 

Weekend Update

SO this weekend was another jam packed on. Saturday we packed up the cars and headed to Augusta, ME for the Log Home show. This home show wasn't quite as big as the last one we had attended however this one was geared specifically towards log homes. I must say, that I am losing my faith in some people. I know that we look young. But, the vendors/sales people for the Log Homes didn't really want to talk with us. We would flip through some of their books and ask questions when we wanted to. Some would come over and talk. But for the most part we were passed over for the middle-aged couples.

We did find one vendor for log home kits that we really liked and we are going to start pricing homes with 3 different companies and see what we can get for the best price. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to start looking at some land!!

After a few hours at the home show my stomach was rumbling. We found a Margarita's near by and ate there and of course had a few margarita's (on the rocks - no salt!).

Sunday was another busy day. We went and had breakfast at a small diner in town. It was quite amusing to hear the people at the table behind us were speaking in French. There is a heavy French Canadian influence in Maine, especially the more north you get. After breakfast we were headed off to L.L. Bean. I always enjoy that store. It reminds of when we were kids. Wally and I both got new slippers, Wally got some fly fishing stuff, some shirts, and the dogs got a new backpack and blaze orange collar. Then we headed to Patagonia, I was in serious need of a puffy coat, and found a dress!

Next, we headed south to Portland. The plan was to meet up with friends for lunch, but that didn't happen. We did make it to the mall where We bought an ice cream maker attachment  for the kitchenaid. I can't wait to use it tonight, the bowl has been chilling. Mint Cookies n' Cream tonight. After all of our shopping was complete we headed to Ruby Tuesday's for Lunch, Turkey mini's and salad bar! Yum.

Our last stop on our way home was a puzzle shop. The only sell puzzles, it was so much fun. We bought one and I can't wait to get it started.

Last night, I met up with some friends for a Thirty One purse party at Uno's. We had Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat, which I haven't had in a long time, but was yummy.

My puppies!! Calvin (on left) is 11 months old. Forest (on right) is 3 years old.

They are both Standard Schnauzers, full of energy and very smart.



Wally and the pups.