Butter/herbed potatoes

Butter/herbed potatoes

6 large thin-skinned potatoes (red or yellow would work well)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Small handful (about 4 or 5 Tbsp.) fresh chopped herbs of your choice; I used thyme, sage and rosemary
Two good pinches of kosher or fine sea salt
Fresh milled black pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 350°

Slice potatoes 1/8" thick, place on large baking sheet.

Stir together butter, oil and herbs.  Drizzle butter mixture over potatoes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Using your hands, toss potatoes to evenly coat and spread evenly on baking sheet.

Cover with foil.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Toss potatoes a bit and bake uncovered for another 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown and fork tender.

Enjoy!

We're MARRIED!!!

We finally did it!  After a five-year-long engagement, we finally made it legally binding!  And now, nearly three weeks later, I'm still exhausted.

I married my best friend!

As you might imagine, 99% of our wedding was DIY....  and if I didn't actually do it myself, then a friend or a family member probably did.

My mother-in-law made my dress.

A friend made the cake...

....and her husband officiated.

Some friends provided music...

...for the ceremony...

...and for the reception.

A bunch of people helped to decorate and set up.

And, of course, it wouldn't have been such an amazing day without all of our loved ones!

...and a special thank you to our photographer, Jamie Kelly of StrangeFate Photography for all of the wonderful pictures!!!

(Some tutorials will be up in the future, but no promises as to when, given that Halloween, Thanksgiving, birthdays and Christmas are on their way and I'll be crazy busy!!!)

Crazy-mood-swing-momma is no fun in the morning...

"What is going on with my mood swings today?"  ....I wondered to myself...  But I just checked my "P tracker" app (which proudly displayed a single-digit number) and I know full well what my problem is today (well, that and the fact that I still haven't had any coffee this morning).  I just wish I'd realized what was going on before my girls left for school.

When I woke up and came upstairs, the girls were so well behaved-  dressed for school, willing to help get breakfast ready and even clean up.  I started off the day in a great mood.

Then it happened.........

I became mean Mommy.

It must've happened when I looked at the clock and realized that, if they didn't start moving a little faster, the girls were going to be late for school.  I started rushing them, which eventually turned into yelling, which turned into swearing- not so much *at* them, but more of a general cursing of everything that was going wrong around me.  It want until they left for school that I realized that *I* was what was going wrong.

My urgency to get them out the door on time, but lack of a want to help them get ready.  My wanting for them to get along, yet yelling at them for talking during breakfast because they "didn't have time" (god forbid they not finish their apples). 

......I guess I should see it as a good thing that I realize this is going on, so I can take steps to change it, but now I just feel like a shitty mother.  I don't want to be mean, or scare my kids into behaving.  I don't expect every morning to go by smoothly, but I need to let things happen without flipping out over things that don't necessarily matter.

I love my kids and I want them to remember me as a loving mother, not as some crazy bitch who freaked out every time something went wrong.

So, herein lies the question:  What can I do to change this behavior?

• I can make sure I'm well rested....  I'm no longer in my early twenties, bedtime shouldn't be after midnight anymore.
• I can make sure the kids are prepared ahead of time...  Making sure they have what they need to get ready doesn't mean I'm taking away their independence.
• I can make sure *I'm* prepared ahead of time...  I have sooo many breakfast recipes pinned on Pinterest, I have no excuse to not be at least a little better prepared most days.  Hello, breakfast cookies that I can make a few days ahead of time.

.........I'm sure, no, I *know* that there are so many other things that I can change to improve myself and my attitude, but changes are easier in small doses. 

Picante Chicken and Rice

There are a few recipes that bring back fond childhood memories for all of us.  This is one of mine....  I can't remember if my mom found this recipe of the label of the Pace picante sauce, or if is was on from one of those every-ingredient-is-a-brand-name cookbooks, but man is this stuff go-od!

It started with her following the recipe (which I'm pretty sure is how she still makes it), but leave it to me, either being creative or cheap (depending on the night), to make substitutions and play around with cooking methods.  

This is the original recipe:

~~~~~~~~~~

Sweet and Spicy Picante Chicken (from pacefoods.com)

prep: 15 minutes
bake: 20 minutes
serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 
1 jar (16 ounces) Pace® Picante Sauce 
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar 
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard 
1 cup regular long-grain white rice, prepared according to package directions (about 3 cups)

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400°F. Place the chicken into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Stir the picante sauce, brown sugar and mustard in a small bowl. Pour the picante sauce mixture over the chicken.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve the chicken and sauce with the rice.

~~~~~~~~~~

Last night's version; made with chicken leg quarters

(a whole leg/thigh in one piece)

Over the years I've tried all kinds of new things with this recipe, and it is *always* tasty!  Here are a few of the changes I've made:

• organic salsa - just 'cause it tastes better to me (I bet it'd be good with homemade or home-canned salsa, too)
• double the sauce, then there's enough for dipping if you like
• brown rice or even quinoa instead of white rice
• cubed chicken breasts (makes of quick-cooking!)
• canned chicken breast, drained (even quicker cooking!!)
• stove top cooking- use either sauteed, cubed chicken breast or canned chicken (drained) and just cook the sauce down until it starts to thicken
• (last night's version) chicken leg quarters (takes longer to cook, but tastes phenomenal) ...this required baking, then removing the chicken from the sauce and cooking the sauce down further on the stove top, but it was totally worth the extra time/effort.  Delicious.
• thighs or legs would work fine as well

...just remember to adjust cooking times accordingly for whatever cut of meat you use.

...and ALWAYS check the doneness (is that a word?) by using a thermometer to test the internal temperature of your meat - chicken should be cooked to 160º-180º F (I err on the side of caution and cook mine to to 180º).

Baked Apple Pork Loin Chops...

Baked Apple Pork Loin Chops

• 8, tart, crisp apples, peeled (4 roughly chopped, 4 sliced thinly)
• a little bit of water
• 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided in half
• 1/4 tsp. summer savory or thyme
• 1 tsp.brown sugar
• 8, 1" thick pork loin chops
• a small bit of oil for searing chops

Preheat oven to 350°

Place chopped apples and a little water (about 1/8th of a cup to start) in a small saucepan, simmer until apples soften (adding more water during cooking if necessary).  Mash apples with a potato masher and stir in half of the pumpkin pie spice and the brown sugar.  Congratulations, you just made applesauce!

Drizzle a little oil in a frying pan and sear both sides of each pork chop.

Toss the sliced apples in the savory and the remaining 1/8th teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Spread half of the sliced apples on the bottom of a large baking dish.  Lay the chops on top of the apples and slather each chop with a spoonful of applesauce.  Top with remaining apples.  Cover with foil and bake at 350° for one hour.  Uncover and continue to bake for another 20 minutes. 

Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.  When you serve it, be sure to top it with some of the apples that were at the bottom, too.  Yum!

Back to school!!!

Yep, it's that time of year again!  I had the joy of sending my little ladies off to their new first grade and third grade classes on Wednesday, and mister O gets to start at his pre-K class on Monday!  What am I ever going to do with myself with no kids home for half the day???  ...my hope is that I'll get more housework done...

In preparation for school,

the girls spent some time making a WHOLE BUNCH of hair accessories!

Here is my girls' debut as bloggers; a tutorial on hair accessories:

Rye: We made alooooot of crafts!

Moo: Mommy helped us with our hairbands and such...

Rye: ...and we were late for dinner....

Moo: We used barrettes and hair ties,

and for some of the hair ties, we wired beads on.

Rye: I wired beads on a headband and it is really pretty....

and we did a lot of headbands.

We also hot-glued beads and jewelry glued this really pretty headband,

and it has a matching hair tie.

Moo: I made a Hello Kitty headband, it has Hello Kitty ribbon on it.

We hot-glued the ribbon on so that it looks wavy.

We put little dots of hot glue on in different spot and we pressed the ribbon onto the glue

- and then we did it to both sides.

Rye: I made a barrette with a hot glue gun,

but I found the button yesterday...  it came off of the barrette.

I learned to not put a button on a barrette using hot glue.

I should have used a wire or jewelry glue.

Moo:  I made a purple, fuzzy headband with some trim

that you could put on lamps or on the bottoms of purses,

because Riley and I were talking about maybe doing that for our next project.

I made the headband by taking some trim and I jewelry glued it to a headband.

I had to pinch it really tight so the trim wouldn't move while it was drying.

Then, I took some of the excess trim and then I, um, took a purple hair tie (so it would match)

and I found a wire that would go with it -I like yellow, so I did a yellow wire- it was a small wire.

I wrapped the wire around the trim and then I twisted it onto the hair tie.  

Rye:  Mommy made this pretty clip.

It had gold trim on it, and ribbon flowers.

She jewelry glued it all onto a clip.  

And she made a big barrette with a button holding some feathers together,

she hot-glued them and then jewelry glued the hot-glue onto the barrette.

Moo:  I have a tip for people who use barrettes for crafts;

don't hot glue the  stuff down.

You should use jewelry glue because hot glue and metal (or plastic)

don't stick to each other.

Hot-glue the, like, feathers together and then get your barrette ready

and put some jewelry glue on it after the hot glue is dried.

Please give my girls feedback and let them know how they did!  Thanks!  <3

Going wedding crazy....

...Seriously, now.  As much as I'm looking forward to our long overdue BIG DAY, the whole thing is driving me mad.

~late night meltdowns over petty little things

~a nearly week-long mini-freak-out because (ohmygod) there's a latrine at the forest preserve we booked for our venue.  I mean, seriously, it's a forest preserve...  have you ever been to one that *did* have a flushing toilet?

~ we need HOW much tulle?!?!

~100 4 ounce jars of jam, not to mention cutting out all of the fabric and the vellum toppers I designed

~two three bouquets that I'm hand-making from ribbons, laces, muslin, etc.  ....can't forget to make one to toss!

~Is my dress going to be finished in time???

~WE STILL DON'T HAVE A MUSICIAN BOOKED!

~budget budget budget budgetbudgetbudgetbidgetbidgerbujdfer

Gaaaaahhhh....  and it's ten to two in the morning and I just finished canning some stock.

Pictures of all of this wedding madness will be up soon.

Tutorial(s) coming soon as well.

Goodnight.