Roasted Tomatoes & Feta

I know fall is right around the corner.  I can feel it in the air every morning.  But, when it's 98 degrees at 5pm, making a big hot dinner doesn't always feel like fun.  Last night was back to school night, and I needed something light and fast.  I saw the block of Feta cheese in the fridge and remembered this Greek restaurant that I used to go to and remembered they served warm Feta cheese with tomatoes, herbs and toasty bread. So, I experimented and came up with this delicious version!

It would be a fantastic appetizer for a cocktail party, a yummy lunch, or a perfect light dinner.  

If you are lucky enough to have an abundance of tomatoes growing in your garden right now, 

then you must give this a try!

Ingredients:

1 block of Feta cheese

1 pint of grape tomatoes (or any garden fresh variety chopped into large chunks)

4 sprigs of thyme removed from the stem

1/4 cup of fresh basil

olive oil

salt & pepper

fresh bread (baguette, Italian, ciabatta...)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Halve or quarter tomatoes. {You want them in about 2" chunks.} Set the block of Feta cheese in a medium sized baking dish.  Arrange the tomatoes around the cheese.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.  Until the tomatoes are roasted and just starting to char.  Serve right from the baking dish or transfer to a plate if desired.  Garnish with fresh torn basil and an extra drizzle of olive oil and serve with fresh bread. {Toasted in the oven as well, if desired.}  Enjoy!

Lemon Chicken & Potato Casserole

You know what I love the most about a casserole?  Dinner is done in one pot!  Which, in my opinion makes it the perfect weeknight meal.  This takes a little longer to cook than pasta or some of my other favorites during the week, but the taste totally makes up for it!  Plus it's a snap to put together!

And it looks amazing, n'est pas?

Ingredients:
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of milk
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into one inch chunks
4 large or 5-6 medium yukon gold potatoes
2 lemons sliced into rings
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp pepper
fresh parsley, roughly chopped
4 sprigs of thyme
non-stick spray

Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 365 degrees.  In a sauce pan heat both cans of cream of chicken soup and milk. Whisk until smooth, stir in pepper, the leaves from they thyme sprigs, and the garlic and remove from heat as soon as it comes to a simmer.

Thinly slice potatoes with a knife or a mandolin. {If you use a mandolin, be very very careful!}

Spray an oven safe baking dish with non-stick spray.  Add the potatoes and chicken, then pour the soup mix over the top.  Stir until all the potatoes and chicken until they are all coated with the soup mix, then tuck the lemon rings around the top and in between the potatoes.  It may look like a lot of soup, but the potatoes really absorb the liquid!

Bake covered for 1 hour.  Remove cover and check potatoes to see if they are cooked through by inserting a knife or fork.  If they are fork tender, place back in oven and broil for a few minutes until the top is golden brown. If they are not quite tender, continue to cook them covered for about 20 more minutes, then proceed to the broiling stage.  When you remove the casserole, top with the freshly chopped parsley. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Leftovers

So here's a little secret... I'm not a big fan of leftovers.  I mean sure, in a pinch I'll reheat last night's dinner. But in an ideal world, I would prefer to have something new and exciting to eat at every meal. This actually works to my husband's advantage, sense he loves leftovers and gets to take them to work for his lunch. At lunchtime today I opened the fridge, and to be honest there wasn't much in there.  Tomorrow is our big Costco trip, so I needed to clean out the old produce and get things in order.  I also happened to be hungry, so I put this together really fast.

I have previously posted a recipe for Fried Rice here, and I just threw a few things together this time. I didn't actually write a recipe, but I wanted to inspire you to get creative and use up some leftovers!

I happened to have a small tupperware of white rice that was "leftover" from the Butter Chicken that I made earlier in the week.  I also had some shredded carrots, a head of cabbage, a nearly empty bag of frozen peas, some pancetta... This literally came together in just a couple of minutes.  It was really tasty too!  If you're looking for a fast meal, check out what's in your fridge!  I bet you can come up with your own version of Fried Rice that will be just as yummy as mine!

Copycat Jack's Mac & Cheese

In Sacramento we have a chain of restaurants called Jack's Urban Eats.  It's one of my favorite places to go for lunch.  They make custom salads, serve freshly carved meats, mashed potatoes and Urban Fries... Don't even get me started on that deliciousness... {Okay, I'll tell you that blue cheese, hot chili oil and fresh parsley over hot french fries is AMAZING!}  But, today I'm talking about mac & cheese.  Jacks' also makes the most delicious creamy, buttery, yummy mac.  My kids go crazy for it!  I've been trying to recreate it for years, and finally have my six year old Lily Claire's stamp of approval.

Let me tell you, this is the easiest mac & cheese that you will ever make.  If you can make it from a box, you can make this.  It takes the same amount of time as the boxed stuff, but is sooo much better!  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients
10 oz. pasta (fusilli, penne, elbow, any short pasta will work)
1 cup of whole milk
4 slices of american cheese
2 tbs of butter
salt to taste

Directions:
Prepare your pasta according to package instructions, then drain well.  Return pasta back to the hot pan you cooked it in and place over medium heat.  Add the butter and break the cheese into small pieces and add to the pasta.  Stir well and slowly add in milk.  When the cheese and butter are melted and the milk is completely combined, you're done!  Season with a little salt to taste and serve.

If you added a little grilled chicken and some steamed broccoli you've got yourself a meal in minutes!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I'm spending some relaxing time in my garden today.  It was a crazy week and a break was much needed.

I didn't get as much done with my garden this year, but a few things grew really well.

My Thai Basil is really beautiful.

And my Sweet Basil is doing great.  I use it a ton so it really saves me money to grow a few basil plants instead of having to buy it at the store every time I want to make pesto.

The Rainbow Chard is really yummy and works well in place of spinach in recipes.

And the beets are my favorite!  It's the first time I've grown them myself!

Unfortunately, my tomatoes haven't done as well this year.  I'm not sure if it's because they are a different variety than what I usually plant, or if it has something to do with not getting enough water.  We're under strict water restrictions due to the drought, so we are only "allowed" to water 2 times a week.  I've been giving my garden a little extra, by hand, just to keep things alive.

I'm still surprised my kale did well.  I planted it by seed in the early spring.  I knew it was a cooler weather vegetable, but I thought it was worth a try.  Amazingly, it has continued to grow 

and do well all summer, even in the 108 degree heat!

Ella is making "compost" for the plants.  I call her my little topless gardener.

We let her bring Anna outside for a little peek at the garden.  Look at those eyes! :)

I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!  

I'd love for you to leave me a comment and let me know what's growing in your garden!

The Perfect Backpack

Today my oldest daughter, Lily Claire, started First Grade.  This was a very exciting day for her.  And it went great, but I really just have to share the story of finding the perfect backpack.

Lily Claire is pretty particular about things.  She likes things to be done a certain way.  She needs to plan in her head how things will go.  She likes structure.  She sounds like me...

A few weeks ago we got the Pottery Barn Kids catalog in the mail.  They had pages full of matching backpacks and lunch boxes.  Lily Claire decided that she would like to have a set like that.  She got some back to school money from her Grandpa and we agreed that we would spend it on a new backpack and lunch box set.  The nearest Pottery Barn Kids is about 35 minutes away from our house, if there isn't traffic. I would like to have been the parent who was prepared weeks ago for the first day of school, and for the most part, I was, but since money doesn't grow on trees, and we just got the gift from her Grandpa, we hadn't had a chance to buy a new backpack until yesterday, the day before school.  So, off to Roseville we went in search of the set from Pottery Barn Kids.

As soon as we arrived at the mall the kids were hungry, so we stopped for lunch, since shopping on an empty stomach is not fun.  When we finally made it to the store, we were met with a huge display of school bags.  There were grey ones with poodles {LOVE} and purple unicorns, grey and pink butterflies, flowers, but the one set that she really wanted was not there.  Lily Claire has the saddest sad face.  I would like to say, that I've become immune to it, and in certain cases that would be true, but this time I felt bad.  The fact that I didn't have the money to order one weeks ago, made me feel awful.

I got down at eye level, I find that helps kids feel equal to you, and explained to her that she had a few options.  We could order the one she wanted, but it would take up to 6 weeks to arrive, we could pick out one in stock, or we could try the Disney Store and see what they had.

She decided she would like to try the Disney Store, so that is what we did.  The Disney Store had a small variety of princess backpacks.  Lily Claire quietly walked through the displays and said nothing.  I asked if she had found one she liked and she said the Aurora backpack would be okay, but that she would really like the lunchbox from PBK.  That sounded like a great idea to me, so, I took it up to the counter to pay for it. Then, off we went back to PBK to get the navy butterfly lunch box.  She also picked out a cold pack.  I paid for it thinking to myself, wow, we did it, we're set.  Wrong.  We didn't make it to the door before the sad face was back and tears were streaming.  She'd changed her mind and really wanted a matching set.  So, she picked out the navy blue butterfly backpack, which matches the lunch box, and was only available in a large, and I went back to the register and paid for it.

At this point, Ella, who is 2, was starting to get a little tired of all the backpack mumbo jumbo.  I promised her a treat if we could just make it back to the Disney Store to return the Aurora bag which we no longer needed.  I stood in line while the girls watched Frozen on the big screen at the store, and finally made it up to the counter, and explained to the clerk why I was making the return.  She smiled and kindly, and returned my money with no issue.  I turned my back to the girls for a split second so I could sign the receipt, then turn back to the girls and find Ella with her dress off attempting to dress herself in an Ariel t-shirt she spotted on a display.  Wow.  I rush over and explain that we don't own the shirt and that she needs to put her dress back on.

Well, as a parent you know your kids and you can see a tantrum boiling.  Let's just say, I was sparing the entire population of the mall when I marched back up to the cash register, and had the clerk scan my kid, in the shirt we were REQUIRED to purchase.  Really, we parked upper level and across the entire mall. That's a long way to haul a screaming toddler and I just didn't have the energy.

The first day of school was a success!  That smile makes the ordeal yesterday worth it!

And there you have it, the PERFECT backpack!

New School Year

My oldest daughter, Lily Claire, starts first grade this week.  Strangely enough, her first day of school is a Thursday, why not just wait until Monday??? Oh well, it is what it is.  Anyway, I have been busy trying to get organized for the beginning of a new school year.

Here's my list:

Purchase School Supplies
Label School Supplies
Stock up on lunchbox snacks/drinks
Organize shoes, socks, clothes
Update Chore Chart
Get back on track with bedtime routine

As you know, it is hard for me to pass up a good bargain when I'm out at the thrift stores.  This has led to an abundance of clothing in our house.  I have a fairly good system set up for storage, but right now is the time of year when I need to purge replace things she has outgrown or simply worn out.  This is my goal, and tackling the list above, before Thursday.

Hope you all have a happy Monday!

Zucchini Gratin

Wow, I got a little bit of a late start today and suddenly it seems like my Sunday is slipping away from me! On Friday evening my mom took the girls for a sleepover, and my husband and I went to see Miranda Lambert in concert.  She was fantastic!  The venue, however, was about an hour away from our house, and with all the traffic after the concert we didn't make it home until after 1am!  Of course that didn't stop the kids from wanting us to come pick them up at 7am, so we were up super early after being out super late. A few years ago this wouldn't have been such a big deal, but now that I am slightly older and pretty used to a 10:30 bedtime, the late night hit me hard.  After I woke up at 7:30 this morning and had my first cup of coffee I looked at my husband, smiled sweetly and said I'm gonna go lay down for a few more minutes... The next thing I knew it was 10:45.  But, now that I've had a little more rest, I'm feeling energized and ready to share a new recipe with you!

Yesterday I was watching the Food Network and heard them say that zucchini is the number one recipe search in the summer time.  In honor of that, and because I have some beautiful zucchini from my mom's garden, I thought I would share my favorite zucchini recipe with you.  It is simple and delicious and only takes a few minutes to put together.  Enjoy!

Done with Diapers

Several months ago I wrote a couple of posts about why I chose to use cloth diapers on my little one, Ella.  Now that we are pretty much done with diapers, I started reflecting on the experience.  You can read about the reason I chose to use cloth here and you can read about caring for cloth here!  But, I can sum everything up for you right here! :)  My youngest daughter has really sensitive skin and was constantly suffering from bad diaper rash.  Also, diapers are expensive and I was looking for a way to solve both of those problems.

We were lucky enough to have my mom purchase Ella a 6 pack of Fuzzibunz when she was around 8 months old.  I was hooked right away.  The bright colors, the soft lining, just so cute!  I loved the adjustable fit and they were a great investment for us.  We ended up adding about 12 more to our stash for a grand total of 18 diapers.  I exclusively used cloth for about a year.  However, as she got older and bigger we gradually had more issues with fit and leaks.  Still, a year of not adding diaper pollution to the environment, avoiding all the discomfort of diaper rash, ect. totally made it worth it to me.  The last few months we have been using pull-ups.  Mostly because Ella was using her little potty during the day and they were easier for her to get on and off by herself.

Then, it really seemed to happen so fast, she decided panties with princesses, and the toilet that flushes were the way to go.  I forgot to put a pull up on her one night this week and she made it through the entire night without an accident.  The last few nights she didn't want a pull up, so I figured it was time to see how she'd do without one.  Well, we just made it through the third night with no accidents.  So, I'm pretty sure we're done with diapers.  I'm sure we'll have accidents here and there, but I have to say, not buying pull ups, or washing cloth anymore it pretty exciting stuff for me!

Look how grown up she is! She got a hair cut this week too!

Excuse how blurry it is, its a phone shot, but that smile was too cute not to share!