My Kids Are More Important

Hi friends~
Did you miss Friday Favorites yesterday?  I am sorry to let you down, but I'm taking a new approach to my blogging.  It's called the "my kids are more important than you" approach. And I mean that in the sweetest way possible!  ;-)  I mean how could I resist those cheeks?

When it comes to choosing whether to sit at the table with Jack and watch him draw a picture of Darth Vader or write me this note: I choose Jack.

Can you decode his script?  It says, "Dear Mom. I love you."  He added his own personal touch by coloring in the "O".  

So what have we been up to?  Well Thursday morning was a play date with Jack's latest BFF from school.  They always have a great time together and I'm so thankful for his awesome mother.  It helps when you like one another!

Jay had Thursday off for Veteran's Day so he and his dad went golfing at the club.  His dad doesn't come over very often so I wanted to have a great dinner ready for them when they got back.  You realize this is very tricky with a 9 month old that gets into EVERYTHING.

I went with salad, french loaf, no-bake cookies, and my version of chicken curry with roasted veggies.  Here's how I did it.

1) Cut up a bulb of fennel and a red pepper.  Lay them out flat on a roasting pan, add a dash of olive oil and kosher salt.

You can do this ahead of time which makes the whole thing easier.  Obviously you can use whatever veggies you want. I meant to add carrots but left the store without them!  

2)  Roast at 420 degrees until they look this.  Put them in a bowl and either save for later or set aside.

3)  Grab these spices from your spice drawer and 2 limes.  {Curry, Cayenne, Ginger, Cumin, Coriander}

4)  I used 4 organic chicken breast which turned out to be two packages.  But you could use just one.  Cut up your chicken into equal sized pieces and toss into a large Ziploc bag.  Add the juice of two limes, and one teaspoon of each spice.  If you're not so into the heat, feel free to omit the cayenne.  Let the chicken marinade for a few hours.  We're casual here--just throwing this together. Do what works best for you.

5)  Melt 3-4 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil  in a large saute pan.  I chose to add the cayenne to the butter instead of the bag of chicken.  Look how pretty it looked.  

6)  Dump the bag of marinaded chicken into the butter/oil and brown it up!  The whole thing will get very juicy but that is just fine.  

7)  Once the chicken is cooked at a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes and a 14 oz. can of tomato sauce.  Add your roasted veggies back to the pan.  Throw the lid on and let simmer for about 15 minutes.  This is when I make my rice, couscous, or whatever you want to eat it with.  I also threw a Pillsburry French Loaf in the oven sprinkled with a bit of kosher salt. A great time to set the table!

8)  Before you serve add either a 1/2 Cup of plain {not vanilla} yogurt, or heavy cream to your sauce.  This is also the time to add salt to your taste.  If you add the salt before you simmer then the sauce will reduce and the salty taste will overpower everything!  It will look something like this.

{not the best picture, but I do what I can}

9)  Serve it over rice and call it good!  Jay's dad really enjoyed it and had never had it before.  Special treat!  

It was a Thursday night well spent, but not blogging.

Friday I was busy helping in Jack's school by doing boring stuff like making copies and cutting string and paper feathers for an upcoming project.  Glamorous, huh.  And yes I actually paid a babysitter so that I could volunteer.  Painful, but even if I only do this twice all year I want my boys to see that school is important to us as a family and worth the effort. I got to check-out their latest hallway art.

This was Jack's piece.

We left school early to go pick-up Jack's new glasses.  Yes--I can't believe he needs glasses.  I took a lot of pictures and tried to make a big deal about the whole thing so that he would be excited.  He spent the whole time sucking in his cheeks trying not to smile.

Oh yeah, he's an expert at cleaning glasses now.

We had to walk to daddy's office and show off Jack's new specs.

I hope you can appreciate my new approach to blogging.  I should have some time tonight to put together a Friday Favorites list for you!  But if I have to choose, my boys will win. 

What are you up to this weekend?  Do you ever find yourself torn between your desire to blog/write/create and the more immediate tangible needs of your kiddos or spouse?