Thursday, October 28, 2010

Recipe Thursday - Beef Stew!

So I decided I'm going to dedicate Thursdays to posting some of my Favorite recipes! If you need to find one later you can go to my "Recipes" page at the top of my blog.

Here is the best Beef Stew recipe EVER! This is from a diabetic cookbook so it is healthy.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp flour
1 lb. boneless lean beef stew meat, trimmed of all fat
2 tbsp olive oil
3 large shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
3 cups beef stock - reduced sodium
1/2 cup red wine
6 carrots cut into one-inch chunks
6 medium red potatoes cut into one-inch chunks
18 small boiling onions, halved OR 1 cup chopped onions
3 large portabello mushrooms, brushed clean and cut into one-inch chunks
1 cup celery cut into one-inch chunks
1/3 cup chopped parsley

step 1: Place flour on a plate. Dredge meat in flour. In a large sauce pan, heat the oil and add the beef. Brown on all sides and then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

step 2: Add shallots to the pan and saute till soft and golden. Add salt, half the pepper, thyme and bay leaf. Saute for one minute. Return the beef to the pan and add the stock and wine. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Simmer covered about 30-40 minutes.

step 3: Add the carrots, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, and celery. Cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until veggies are tender (about another 30 minutes). Stir in the parsley and remaining pepper. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Wordless Wednesday 10/27

A look back at my Chenda's shenanigans! I can't believe this was just over a year ago, she looks like a little baby here! (Of course I'll be saying that in a year about her most recent pics I'm sure!)

Birthday season is beginning!!

So I always say my mom's birthday marks the start of "Birthday Season" in my family. In just about a 6 weeks period we have about 6 birthdays in just my immediate family. It's a fun time!


Chan and I decided to kick of the kids' birtday "season" by taking Chenda out on a VERY special dinner date with Mommy and Daddy. It's a few weeks early but given the amount of dinners and birthday parties that will be happening in the month we figured there's no better time. Plus it was very overdue as I'm pretty sure that she has been feeling a bit like she needed some time with just us without little sister. She does love her very much but sometimes you just need the one on one time. I knew it was time because the day our dinner was planned she just came up and sat on my lap and just started crying. I felt so bad! I try to be the best mom I can be to BOTH my kids equally, but Kali is still quite clingy to me and so I know Chenda can feel left out even when I am giving her attention, because I almost always have the baby on my hip, or attaching herself to my leg haha!





Anyway, our dinner was at Red Robin and she did SO GOOD! She didn't even try to get down from the table once! We ordred her chicken and fries and a very special birthday sprite. Then they came out and sang to her and she was a bit shy but still loved it. She even had to take her balloons to the bath with her when we got home.

I'm so happy that I had the opportunity to make my sweet little Chenda's day!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wordless Wednesday 10/20

Today's wordless Wednesday photo is a funny one!




Dont worry the dog cage was clean!! She actually had her locked in there but I couldn't get to my camera before she decided to let her out!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Wordless Wednesday....

So a big thing on Blogs is to do "wordless Wednesday". I will just post a picture and a caption (or no caption), the jist of it is that a picture is worth a thousand words, and therefore there is no big long post required with the photo.
*I am aware that those are words above, but I felt the need to explain**

MOMMY AND BABY