Shastya Discovers Magnets

I heard a slight commotion. Looking up, I saw Shastya playing with something under the table . . . I walked over to investigate. She had discovered a stack of magnets stuck to the hardware under the table! They were pretty strong magnets. It didn't take long though before Shastya had pulled the magnets off the table frame and was re-sticking them on the table legs. She went back and forth between these locations with the magnets. She had so much fun. A few minutes later, I saw her trying to get our car keys to "stick" to our wooden rocking chair!

The Second Anniversary

After my husband left for the day to go study for his mechanical engineering qualifying exams, I discovered a text on my phone from my step mother-in-law. The text read, "Happy Anniversary, you two!" I thought, "Oh, it must be July 28th," because that is our wedding anniversary. I went about finding a cool picture to post on Facebook to post with congrats to my husband on our 2 years together. When I got on Facebook I saw congrats from my Aunt and my Mom! I remembered that Anthony had turned off his Facebook and Twitter apps on his phone recently so that he could actually get some good studying done. I also figured as late as it was in the day, that somehow, his phone had messed up and not alerted him that it was our anniversary. His calendar on his phone in the past had alerted him to such anniversaries as 1 month, or 6 months!

I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs for something kind of celebratory for our second year anniversary dinner. Growing up, my Mom always made the best spaghetti and meatballs! She made hearty, chunky, huge meatballs. Spaghetti and meatballs was one of those meals us kids would always request for birthdays. Our other two favorite requests were stromboli and lasagna. I searched online for a meatball recipe to get a list of ingredients before I headed out to the store. I went with a Betty Crocker recipe thinking perhaps it was the one my Mom used since I know she had a good orange Betty Crocker cookbook that was a staple in our kitchen growing up. The online recipe called for bread crumbs. I thought I had some in the cabinet. The recipe also called for Worcestershire sauce. I thought I could probably substitute soy sauce.

Upon returning from the store and starting supper, I discovered that I did not have bread crumbs. I did have . . . cream of wheat, grits, and oats. I went with the cream of wheat and soy sauce. Just before I started making the meatballs, Anthony came home early from studying! Baby Shastya and I hugged and kissed Daddy, then I told Daddy he should check Facebook, and that I had shared a post about him. When he got online to check, he immediately noticed that it was our anniversary, because Facebook notified him!

I made the spaghetti and meatballs. Dinner turned out delicious, but the meatballs seemed a little too refined and sweet. I'm just going to have to get my Mom's recipe!

Anthony and I are both okay with the fact that we both forgot our anniversary. We both had a great day, and enjoyed each other just like we do all the other days of the year!

Enjoying The Water At Riley Moore Falls

Bone-In Barbecued Chicken Curry Corny Chili

This is a grand fusion of Asian and American cuisines! I did use Garam Masala, Tumeric, Red Chili Powder, fresh minced ginger, minced garlic, chopped onion, chicken pieces with bones, light red kidney beans, and yellow sweet corn. The dish did have amazing flavor, and no, I am not giving the recipe out!!!

How I Made Oven-Roasted Vegetables!

Anthony requested salads for supper for this evening after we had pizza and ice cream last night. I wanted to make some oven-roasted vegetables to go with our tuna salad and lettuce. I found All Recipe's Roasted Vegetables Recipe online. The only vegetable that I used that they used was an onion. Other than that one, I used all my own vegetables. They used squash, sweet potatoes etc. I used french green beans, baby tomatoes, mushrooms, and carrots. Further, I used dried herbs instead of fresh, but used the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, and the oven temp and time from the recipe. I thought the lettuce, tuna and oven-roasted veggies ensemble turned out great. I thoroughly enjoyed my hot and cold plate. Anthony said he probably would have liked rice with the vegetables better than salad. I blended some of the vegetables in a mini blender for baby Shastya. I smelled my freshly blended baby's food, and said I could blend the rest of tonight's vegetables to make a terrific pizza sauce. Anthony said maybe I could do that, tomorrow night!

Mexican Cheeses, Mushrooms, Pepperoni, & Cayenne Pepper

I used my own secret dough recipe. I sauteed some fresh mushrooms in a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper. After throwing my dough and pressing it out into my pizza pan, I layered sauce, cheeses, seasonings, pepperonis, and mushrooms on top. For seasonings, I used Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper. The pizza was very good. Anthony and I probably ate too much of it for one sitting.

Lemon Garlic Chicken Kale & Vegetables

Lemon Garlic Chicken, Kale, & Vegetables:

1 TB Olive Oil

6 Chicken Tenderloins

2-3 Cups Kale

1/2 Lemon

2 TB Minced Garlic

1 Cup Water

5 Stalks Celery

3 Large Carrots

10 Scallions

2 Yellow Squash

1. Chop the things that need to be chopped. Squeeze the lemon.

2. Put everything in a large saucepan. Cover. Cook until done.

Baby Shastya Entertains Her SC Grandparents

3 Salad Wonder Wrap

 I tucked three delicious salads into our soft shell tortillas for supper! First, I ripped some crunchy kale for the bottom layer. Second, I mixed a can of tuna and some Ranch salad dressing together before dolloping these two combined ingredients on top of the greens for my second salad. Third, I added my own original fresh tomato garlic oatmeal salad. The wraps were unforgettably yummy. Anthony liked them too.

Salvadoran Beans!

Our friend Ivan from El Salvador told us he had made us some Salvadoran beans! He lives just up the road, so Anthony and Shastya walked to his place to pick up the beans. While they were gone, I cooked up some pork, tomatoes, peppers, and onions with some taco seasoning. When Anthony and Shastya returned, we had quite the Latin American feast! The Salvadoran beans were outstanding. Shastya loved them too! A couple of the secret ingredients in the beans were butter and rice. Perhaps Ivan will share the recipe sometime . . .

Mommy/ Baby Kitchen Organization Project!

Mommy and Baby teamed up to organize the kitchen cupboards. It was baby's idea! She just opened the cabinet, pulled out all the plastic containers and lids, and proceeded to have fun playing with them for a short while. Mommy laughed. Then, when baby was finished, Mommy reorganized the containers, and put them in the cabinet.