Menu Planning Monday...

Looks like we are getting better and better at this :) Stayed on budget and only did a little rearranging but made everything on the list!

Monday: Breakfast for dinner

Tuesday: Beef and noodles with gravy

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Sloppy Joes

Thursday: Unstuffed Cabbage

Friday: Steak Pizzaiola (trial recipe for the week)

Saturday: Hot Dogs and veggies

Sunday: Chicken with apples and stuffing

Monday: French Lasagna (okay looks like we are trying 2 new recipes this week I need to broaden my horizons anyway!)

Recipe Review...Pineapple Pork Chops

I have been trying to challenge myself to become better at cooking, trying to make dinner healthier and more interesting by adding one dish that I have never tried making before each week to our menu. Bonus points if it involves a meat that I have a rough time cooking and therefore always avoid, extra bonus points if it has vegetable or fruits that I have never tried before!

I technically have two recipes waiting to be reviewed, but I can't find the magazine with the recipe for the Chocolate Parsnip Chili in it so that one will have to wait :)

Anyway...on to the Pineapple Pork Chops...I picked this recipe (found on moneywisemoms.com) mainly because I have a truly difficult time cooking pork chops and the pineapple sounded delicious and perfect for a little variety.

1 to 1.25 pounds pork loin (boneless when I can get it), sliced into chops
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp minced ginger (you can use fresh or just the powder)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place pork in single layer. In a bowl, combine soy sauce with brown sugar, ginger, crushed pepper and pineapple. Pour over pork chops. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes, basting frequently.

These were so super simple to make and they came out fantastic!!! I don't know if it was the acid from the pineapple or the fact that it was a pork loin cut of meat that I cut up into the chops or a combination of both, but these came out so super tender and juicy I was really quite proud of myself. They even came out cooked all the way through the first time I took them out of the oven, which is unfortunately a first for me when it comes to pork chops.

Bottom line? These will absolutely be made again!

Valentine's Date Day

To celebrate Valentine's day Matt and I had a date day today...date nights are too exhausting and this way Cassie got to spend some time with her grandma Peggy. We went out to the Melting Pot and a Movie and it was the perfect combination. Come to think of it we did the same exact thing last Valentine's day but the movie we went to was really really bad...not so much this time :).

We have been to the Melting Pot several times over the last couple of years and usually we stick to the usual...plain Cheddar Cheese for the cheese course, Caesar salad for the salad, Mojo for the cooking style, Pure Milk for the Chocolate, and Chocolate Fontinis for the drinks (yum yum yummy).

This time we decided to be a little adventurous and stray from the norm. We got the cheese of the season called Fondue A La France - which included 4 cheeses of which we had only ever heard of one (brie) and white truffle cream which we normally stay as far away from anything mushroom/truffle related as possible...however? This was fantastic. Probably one of the best cheese courses we have had there.

AND we didn't get our Fontinis like normal, Matt got himself a mudslide (though that isn't all that different from a Fontini) and I got myself the most wonderful Red Sangria I have ever tasted (I allowed myself ONE alcoholic drink so I made sure to savor it...) of course since I haven't had a drink in over a year I think anything would have tasted wonderful. (though now I am going to be on the search for the perfect Red Sangria recipe :) )

For the Salad and Meat courses we stuck with the normal because seriously they make the best Caesar Salads, and the Mojo style is the only cooking style that appeals to us. We never get the Seafood that comes with the Meat, just get double the steak :) though this time the meat course included Duck. And I have to say never really having had duck before we are not really fans at all. But the dinner was still fantastic.

And then the Chocolate Course...the best course of the night I think :) today we strayed only slightly from our normal path and had them include some Bailey's in the milk chocolate.

It. Was. Fantastic.

Seriously...Chocolate Brownies covered in rich Bailey's infused milk chocolate fondue should probably be illegal :)

After lunch was over we rushed on down to the Movie theater and saw Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D. The Perfect ending to a perfect date day. The movie was cute and funny and really? What is better for Valentines Day than a version of Romeo and Juliet involving Gnomes and a happy ending?

On the way out of the (almost sold out) movie we were following an older couple and the thought just hit me I hope that is going to be Me and Matt some day, in our 70's or 80's going to a Quirky G rated movie on a date then slowly making our way out of the theater together. It was pretty darned romantic if I do say so myself :)

Fun Friday - Imagination!

It is truly amazing watching Miss Cassie grow from a baby into a little person. Not just the milestones lately, but just watching her mind develop as well. Right now I think we are seeing her imagination come out more and more. Her favorite thing? Talking on the "phone" be it a real one or a fake one, or even a remote control. She will have animated conversations with herself, at first I thought she was just copying mommy and daddy, but then she started doing it on her own just picking up anything remotely phone shaped and talking into it, pausing as if getting a response and talking into it again.

Now when I say talking, I mean she babbles in her own language, we havent *quite* gotten the hang of big people words yet, but daddy and I work on it with her every day (and night).

She is also picking up on the copying game, when she sees someone dancing on tv (her favorite show being Yo Gabba Gabba) she tries very hard to imitate what they are doing, then just gets on a role and does her own thing and just goes crazy (which is awesome and encouraged :) we like to have fun in this house, have I mentioned that?). Her newest thing she tries to do is jumping, so adorable to watch her try and do it!

And on top of all that she loves being read to, at least the first two pages of every book she brings out to us. Which is usually her entire book shelf throughout the day. We will sit and we will start reading one book, she will get up run and get another, start reading that...the cycle goes on and on though we are more than happy to oblige her. Her absolute favorite book right now seems to be Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She will actually go all the way through this one, not once but twice. The first time we read through using the words and the second time using the animal sounds. Never thought I would love reading a children's book like this over and over and over...but? I do :)

and the headband in that picture? Yeah she put it on...looks like dress up is just around the corner.

Geocaching Geek Family

I know I have talked about Geocaching a bit lately but haven't really explained what it's all about...or what we find so appealing about it :)

Sure the short (slightly snarky) answer to the question what is Geocaching is that it is a game where the players go to Geocaching.com, get a set of coordinates and use billion dollar satellites to go and find Tupperware in the woods.

And while that is the basic truth of the matter, its alot more than that at the same time...

I mean to be fair sometimes you use those billion dollar satellites find amo cans in the woods too :).

But that being besides the point :) Matt and I got into caching around 2007ish, actually it was earlier than that but that is when we officially signed up with the user name we have now. We still have less than 100 finds to our name (blasphemous I know!) but we really haven't had a chance to cache much in the last two years...

So anyway...We got into caching because it got us out of the house being active, it was an excellent way to explore places we thought we already knew. (like *our park* the one we got married in :) )

And get to see new places that we go past everyday and never even know they are there.

It was a great thing to do when we were at a rest area letting the dog stretch his legs.

And something to do even when we were at Target running errands

And on top of all that it was a great way to get to and get to know the history behind the lesser known "must see" tourist attractions when we cache on vacation!

Now hiking (and or driving I suppose) isn't the only way to cache...there are a slew of caches available only by boat or kayak...for those who just can't get enough adventure I guess...we gave them a try and were pretty addicted!

Cassie even got a good start this past fall when we went to the Capital Region Annual Geocaching Picnic, but we made the mistake of bringing the stroller along...wont make that mistake with miss Ali! We will have the ergo for Cassie when she gets too tired and we will have the Moby for Ali to ride in hopefully we will have some good weather to get out there this summer!

Over all we have a blast caching and can't wait to get our girls out there having fun with us! After all not only is it fun, but it encourages wilderness skills, creative thinking, problem solving and physical fitness.

Wordless Wednesday - Peek-a-boo!

Some Fresh Air

Today was a nice bright sunshiny day so Cassie and I decided to get out there and get some fresh air. It wasn't warm by any means, but it also wasn't below freezing, nothing a few layers of clothing couldn't handle. So we bundled up and headed outside.

Thankfully daddy had snow blown a path in our back yard so the fuel oil delivery guy didn't have to struggle to get back to where our pipe is to fill the tank otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get out there because while there is a ton of snow, its just not the kind you can walk through let alone play in thanks to layers of ice in between the snowfalls.

We brought out a ball with us to play with, but between the many layers of clothing, the boots and the mittens she couldn't do much of anything with it, but I think she liked just being outside the change of scenery did us both good.

I think her favorite part of the day however was watching Sirius play in the snow (little showoff that he is) she would just laugh and laugh at him. I think he was also happy to have humans out there with him!

It looks like its going to be pretty chilly till the weekend...not frigid by any means but not the kind of weather that the little miss would really like to be out in...but maybe, just maybe, if we ask really nice Daddy will snow blow another path to her swing set so we can swing out there next week. Who says we need to wait till spring to try it out??