Kiss Me Chicken

My husband fixed me the most awesome meal today. He thought this recipe up this week and wanted to try it out today. If you like Mexican food and Mole' is one of your favorites you will love this dish. It is very mild but rich with flavor. I am a wimp when it comes to spicy stuff and I loved this dish. Here's a picture and then I have included the recipe so you can try it out if you like!

-Kiss Me Chicken-

1 can (15 oz) Pork and Beans

1 can (15 oz) Crushed Tomatoes

1/2 can (sm can) Tomato Paste

3 regular Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

1/4 cup Dark Chili Powder

1/4 cup Progesso Bread Crumbs

1 Tbsp anchovy paste (or smashed whole ones)

4 - 8 boneless chicken thighs or breasts

Brown chicken in frying pan with 2 Tbsp oil for 2 minutes each side. Place chicken evenly spaced in baking dish (skin down if using boneless thighs). Remove excess oil from frying pan and add Pork & Beans to frying pan, mash beans with a fork or potato masher until smooth. Add Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Peanut Butter Cups (diced), chili powder, bread crumbs and anchovy. Heat on medium until hot (stir often). Pour over chicken and bake uncovered at 325 degrees. Convection oven for 30 - 35 minutes or 35 -45 minutes in a regular oven. If it has a nice crust on top, it is ready. Serve with rice and beans or mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Lift the pieces of chicken out with a spatula disturbing the crust as little as possible. Use left over sauce in dish over potatoes or beans. After the meal serve the extra peanut butter cup to your favorite person. You are sure to get a kiss!

Yes, he got a kiss from me!

Back Yard Flowers

We have had so much rain this spring.  It has been great for the lawn and newly planted flowers in our yard but we are really jonesen for a nice hot day with no clouds!  I think the weather report says we are supposed to have some summer weather by June 10th.  The other evening when it was nice for a few hours, I went out and snapped a bunch of pictures and made this slide show.

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Memorial Day 2011

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Fun with Art

Mary loves art and  I wanted to share some of her pictures she has done in the last 6 months.  This one is of a spotted dog.  She put a whole bunch of spots on the page and then added the face, ears and legs.  I just thought it was so unique how she did it.

This is one she did of fall leaves.  She just said she wanted to paint one day and I gave her a blank sheet of paper and it was in the fall and she painted away and then brought it to me and said,  "Look Mommy, fall leaves!"

This next one is of 4 people dancing. I just loved the motion and feeling of her figures.  She loves to paint and she loves red.

This last one she did last week.  Again she just wanted to paint and I gave her a sheet of paper and she worked on it while I was doing up the breakfast dishes.  She told me it was a lady dancing.  Again I just loved the feeling an motion she put into it.  She is only 4 years old but I think she has some talent :)  This one I framed and put up in our living room.  It made her so happy!!

Making a Commercial

We had some fun the other morning at breakfast.  Mary looked at the peanut butter jar and spelled out J...I...F and when we asked her to say what it spelled she said, "Peanut Butter"!  We thought, "Hey that would make a cute commercial!"  So, here is our attempt at making a commercial. 

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Through the Fire

Rich was able to do our first bisque fire on the lamps he has made.  The next firing is the glaze firing.  He said the glaze firing  makes the colors on the designs really pop! 

This is one of my favorites for this batch.  He has made 14 and they all are so beautiful that it is hard to pick one as my favorite.

Seedlings

Before Easter, Rich's Dad, gave Mary some little pots and seeds to start some pumpkins, watermelons, basil and parsley.  She was so excited to plant her seeds.  We put the seeds in the little pots and them put them in our kitchen window sill to sprout.  They all came up nicely.  Last week we planted the basil and parsley in a large pot outside.  It will be so nice to have fresh herbs this summer.  We are going to plant the pumpkins and watermelons in a larger raised bed outside but we still need to make that.  So the plants are still happy and growing in our window sill.  It will be fun if Mary can raise a pumpkin to carve for Halloween and we can have some pumpkin pie!

My Morning Bird

It is late and I am sitting here in the living room making this post after I have put Mary to bed.  For me as a mother there is just something so sweet about your sleeping child.  The busyness of the day has washed away and peace fills their little room as you  hear there gentle breaths and you think what a miracle they are.  I came out here and posted this slide show of my Mother's Day Weekend.  As I watched the slide show one more time before I posted it, tears just flowed down my cheeks, thanking God for His wonderful gift to Rich and I, our precious Mary girl!  Thank you Lord for all your wonderful gifts, we are so undeserving and yet you love us so. 

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Swing Low, Swing High!

We have been having wonderful weather and a certain little girl has been really enjoying her swing set! Rich has one more thing to put on it. It is the swinging seats that face each other. He plans on putting that on this weekend, sometime between all the Mother's Day activities! Mary will be having her first ballet performance with her class on Saturday. We are all excited to see it. I wish you all a blessed Mother's Day. My heart goes out to all those whose moms have died and I pray for the Lord's comfort for you. I am so thankful to be a mom and have the privilege of raising Mary.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies



Friday night Rich made chocolate chip cookies.  He came up with the recipe by mistake a few months back and now it is our all time favorite.  Here is the recipe:

Daddy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Stir flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.  Beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy.  Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until incorporated.

Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if desired).  Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Rich was using a recipe off the back of a chocolate chip bag.  By accident he put in 1 teaspoon of baking powder then realized it was supposed to be baking soda, so he added that too.  The cookies came out so yummy and light.  They are kind of like a shortbread cookie and chocolate chip cookie blend.   We just love them.

We had a busy and fun weekend.  The weather has warmed up.  It has been a long winter and we are finally getting to enjoy some warmer weather.  We ordered a swing set from Walmart for Mary.  Rich went and picked it up on Saturday and started assembling it.  He got the main frame and slide done and then we quit to make dinner.  Mary had so much fun on that slide.  She must have gone up and down it 50 times!  Sunday evening he put up the swings and see-saw swing.  So she was thrilled again.  I know she will get so much fun and good exercise out of it.  I will be posting pictures some time this week of her playing on it.