Good Eats

Here are some of the yummy things we've been enjoying lately.

Kid Food:

There's no fast food that says kid to me more than chicken nuggets.  I swear all kids have them until parents think they are old enough to finish off a full burger... and then some children never fully transition completely burgers because they like the crispy "chicken" filled bites.  I was that child, for a long time I preferred chicken nuggets over hamburgers.  Tim was that child too... Only thing is now we're smart enough to realize the chicken in those nuggets just doesn't look right and really they don't usually taste that great either.  This doesn't stop us from having some kid food cravings though so when Tim really wanted chicken nuggets he went on a hunt for a recipe and I was very happy when this was the result.  Grown-up chicken nuggets:

 

So good, really easy, and not too unhealthy either! 

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• We ground up cereal similar to wheat Chex instead of bread crumbs and then added herbs and spices to the mix (Italian seasoning OR oregano, rosemary, pepper, etc.)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
•  We added minced garlic to the butter.  I think it added great flavor!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2-inch sized pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put melted butter in a bowl or dish for dipping.
Dip chicken pieces into the melted butter first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place the well-coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Makes 3-4 adult servings.

Soups:

I really like soups, especially soups like tomato soup.  On our first anniversary Tim took me to Chef's Table where our luncheon was held.  It was so good and one of the best dishes was a butternut squash soup Tim ordered. This turned me on to soups with a beautiful orange color and creamy texture.  I've tried to recreate the recipe before, but didn't work out the first time.  Then this year I had two successful soups.  One very close to the Chef's Table and one completely different.

First, was a carrot soup.  Orange and creamy! Nothing like the CT squash soup in terms of flavor, but oh so good! 

Go to recipe is here: Stone Soup

I use 5-6 large carrots instead of the mini carrots. I think the soy sauce is key to the great flavor so don't skip it!

The second was close to the butternut squash soup was actually had no squash in it either, but tasted so much like the CT soup.  It was a carrot yam soup.  Once again beyond easy, very satisfying, and delicious.  

• 2 medium yams
• 1-2 long carrots
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cups warm water
• 1 boullion cube (chicken or vegetable) 
• Shredded parmesan cheese (fresh) (optional)

 Peeled and cube vegetables. Put in a 9x13 pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper to taste. Cover with aluminum foil Roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender.

Mix the boullion with water.  Next, put half of the cooled, roasted veggies in a blender. Add 2 cups of water and "Liquify" the mixture. Pour this a large soup pan. Put the second half of the roasted yams in the blender with 2 cups of water and blend again. Pour it into the soup pot as well. Let the soup come to an initial boil, then reduce the heat to Medium-Low and let it simmer for 10-20 minutes before serving (for me this depends on what time dinner is or how hungry I am). Shredded parmesan cheese (fresh) is a great topping for this soup. Serves 4 as a main dish. 

Breads:

A friend and I have been working on making bread.  So far are 2/2 in successful attempts.. well I don't know if the first one really counts as completely ours because we had another friend (we use her recipe) basically make it for us and then we just shaped the loaves.  Still it turned out great!  In other good bread news.  I'm getting a Bosch! So excited about that... and I think once we have it Tim will be more excited than me because it should mean fresh bread more often.

Another "bread" we made recently was homemade tortillas.  Honestly not too hard.  I use this recipe from my friends' cooking blog (Better Than Burgers)! The only thing was for the life of me I couldn't make a round tortilla this time. I decided it would be okay and we'll just open a restaurant "La Funky Tortilla" and wala branding will turn my oddly shaped creations into a money machine.

Hello March

Well hello March.

Honestly, March 1st came and all I could think was- Hello March!  Are you seriously here already? 

Not that it's a bad thing, in fact I'm loving the idea of spring officially moving in, followed by the beautiful early summer in Alameda... some of my favorite times last year were the early summer months when I just couldn't get enough of the perfect temperatures and all the green! (You all really should come experience a bit of spring/ summer here... or any time of year, we'd be happy to see you.)  This year has another thing making me look forward to March's arrival...
To say it straight forward-
March leads to April.....
                  and at the end of April....
                                    We're going to put these to use:

GOING TO RUSSIA! wahoo!

I am so SO excited for this trip.  It's going to be incredible.
Why, you ask, is it going to be so great?  First, I have a passport and have to use it for this trip (already makes it super cool).  Second, it's going to be just us for two full weeks, backpacking and training across a place we've talked for years about going to.  We are going to a place my man loves and has wanted to go back to for a long time.  Mostly it's going to be wonderful because I'm going with the best guide and husband I could have ever asked for.

Now that I think about it, it seems like I'm getting the best end of the deal.  Let's face reality, I have no language skills or knowledge of the area to boost our experience... and Tim has both of those covered.  The only thing I offer is a 100% willingness to go anywhere and see anything.

February was Fickle

Most of you need no convincing when I say "February was fickle!"  For those of you who do see please see the remainder of the post:

February 5th we enjoyed a day at Stinson Beach. Incredible.  It was fun to be like a kid squishing sand in my toes, finding ladybugs (they were all over the beach, probably thousands of them so it wasn't hard), and treasures.  However, not actually being a kid has it's advantages... as an adult you are really just a kid who gets to decide what you want to do...  Like get ice cream and cheesecake in the same day!  Pretty sure parents don't let kids decide that.

Stinson Beach is such a beautiful place, it definitely makes our "places to frequent while we can" list. 

Yes February started off with days like this:

                Temperatures- high 60's low 70's.  Sun, blue skies, all around glorious days.

And then it went to days like this:

 and colder!  

We were FREEZING (especially because we had turned our heater off). And not only were we cold we spent a few weeks making piles of tissue by the bed and couch.  Glad that's over.

All With Love

We celebrated Valentine's Day with the classics:

Hearts, candle-lit dinner, chocolate, flowers, and for us Disney movies!

While we did have our traditional V-day breakfast, it didn't include any hearts this year.  Instead the hearts went into a surprise for my man.    

His favorite: cherry pie full of love!

I pulled the fast one this year and made Tim's pie three days early.

We had an early candle-lit dinner

and chilled watching a new Disney flick...

 (I love our movie tradition!)

The chocolates were reserved for Valentine's day.   

Burnt Caramel chocolates from Recchiuti- absolutely AMAZING!  Not only is the chocolate heavenly, they had these super cool designs for the holiday.  Love them!

These beauties were saved for Lover's Day too....

                                                                                       

One of the sweetest bouquets ever!  Tim skipped the lines and inflated prices at the regular stores for flowers from a local artist, Red Poppy, whose arrangements I've drooled over for a while.

To conclude the celebration we added a second Disney movie to our collection and enjoyed homemade chocolate souffles...

In my opinion Valentine's Day is what you make of it.   Yes, it is super commercialized (but what holiday isn't?) and we can choose to focus on that or we can choose to focus on the people we love the most and incorporating our own traditions to make this a special day.

to entice you

This post is meant to entice you...

The conditions of today:

current temperature

A beautiful day

trees blooming

             green grass growing

                                sunny blue skies! 

Today is one of those days.

Were you enticed?  Admit it you were.

If you're someone we love and are somewhere cold this is your official invitation: Come enjoy this with us! (If you're not in a cold spot- we'll see if we can make an exception...  if we don't know you- enjoy the blog and we still recommend the Bay area so feel free to stay at a hotel)

The truth is I can't get over how warm it is and that spring basically came at the end of January!

Last Call... ... ... twenty ten

completing the twenty ten recap with a few pics of Christmas time at the abbott abode

Jingle all the way, back in twenty ten

After miles and miles of this...

We were met with this...

Which equaled this...

This place is so good. Never disappoints. Admittedly part of its greatness is that you have to drive hours to get there (Beaver Utah) and if you're there, you know you still have hours to go. #1 recommendation: FRIED ICE CREAM!!!







One sad stop on our trek home:

One happy stop on the trek home (combined with many more happy, un-pictured stops):

All to spend time with some super cute little people:

Christmas gifts looked as if we hired an Amish family to wrap them (except for the gift in the back that was outsourced to Anthropologie):

We had some time to play in the snow:

And last of all, we ushered in 2011 with these fun people over a delectable meal from here:

Back in twenty ten- November edition

November: To start the month off Erica! (a high school bff of mine) came to visit!  (And yes her name will always be followed by an exclamation point in this post because it really was that exciting and that's pretty much how I said her name every time I talked about her visit!)  It had been quite a while since I got to spend quality time with Erica! She's been at BYU-Hawaii and globe trotting since high school. Our San Fran adventures included: baptisms for the dead at the Oakland Temple, Alcatraz Island, Harry Potter #7- midnight showing, Half Moon Bay beach, California Academy of Sciences, shopping, House of Nanking (super yummy Chinese food... we'd love to take you sometime), and SF MOMA.  We had a blast while she was here... pictures to prove it:

 The next much anticipated visit we had was from Tim's mom and dad! They came on the train, which took some extra time, but was a great adventure and something Tim and I will need to do while we live here.  It was so good to have them here and to get to share time and more adventures with them.  We had a lot of fun showing them sights, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the de Young and the Oakland temple it's always great to show places we've come to love to the people we love the most.

We also enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with Mom, Dad, and our friends Jason and Emylee and their sweet little ones (Boston- 2 and Story-3 months).

It was my first Thanksgiving to plan and prepare... let me tell you I'm grateful for Tim and his willingness to help (especially with the turkey).

In the end the meal was pretty good, but it also made me more grateful for our moms and the work that goes into a meal like Thanksgiving!   Some of the food highlights:

 Red quinoa parfaits

 Apple onion stuffin muffins 

(More crispy stuffing that everyone loves! Definitely going to be a tradition)

Whipped yams (oh so good!)

Let me tell you I was basically in heaven once it all came together!

Pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin with the help from this cute guy... 

Who could not love this face? Especially with the touches of flour!