Strike Two: Looks Can Be Deceiving

This is chicken tikka masala, a recipe that Britt posted on her blog a few months ago. It is actually really good, Quinn and I have had it several times when Britt has made it, as well as Quinn's mom, and we have loved it every time. I tried making it for the first time back in December and it didn't turn out. I didn't read the recipe very carefully and I added the entire can of tomato paste instead of the two tablespoons that it calls for. I think a can has about 10 tablespoons in it, OOPS!!! Needless to say, we didn't love it.

After a couple of months I decided to try it again. After all, what could go wrong this time??? I followed the recipe to a T and exactly measured out 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. I thought it was perfect. I was so excited for Quinn to get home and realize that I had actually done it right this time, because when I told him I was going to make it this week he kindly reminded me to put in the correct amount of tomato paste.

As I was finishing up making dinner, Clarissa was getting very ancy because she was starving, and Quinn was getting home on a later bus. I decided to fix her plate and let her start eating. It didn't even occur to me to taste it before I gave it to her. She ate her entire plate full before I realized there was a problem. As she got to the last few bites she kept putting her hands up to her mouth and kind of crying a little bit. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, I thought she bit her tongue or something. She then started crying uncontrollably and we still could not figure out what was wrong. Finally she accepted a drink of milk and started to settle down some.

It wasn't until we dished up our plates and I took the first bite that I realized it was pretty spicy. Quinn and I are whimps when it comes to spicy foods, so for some people it probably would have been perfect. Quinn was able to tolerate it, but I couldn't even finish my plate. The recipe calls for 1 heaping tablespoon of curry powder, and that's what I did. Apparantly the new bottle of curry that I just opened and used for the first time is a lot spicier than my previous bottle and everyone elses! I felt so bad that Clarissa ate her whole plate. Although it couldn't have been that bad because she came back for more. While I was eating she sat on my lap and took my fork and stabbed a big piece of chicken and ate it. I was surprised she wanted more because it took her a good 10 minutes to completely settle down. Even more surprising is that she ate the chicken and didn't spit it out, she usually does not eat meat or chicken unless it is disguised in something or in the shape of a dinosaur chicken nugget.

Maybe in a few months I will be brave enough to try it for the 3rd time. But if that doesn't work, I'm giving up!

Dehydrated Refried Beans Anyone???

These are some dehydrated refried beans that you used to be able to get from the cannery. We are so sad that they have discontinued them. We found a recipe that we really like in my Lion House cookbook.

Leo's Tortilla Soup:

2 tablespoons chicken base
4 cups diced canned tomatoes
1/4 pound butter
1 cup canned diced green chilies
3 cups diced onions
10 cups water
5 cups dried refried beans
2 cups crushed heavy corn tortilla chips
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2/3 cup diced green onion
2/3 cup fresh cilantro
Tortilla chips
Sour cream

In a large soup pot add chicken base, tomatoes, butter, green chilies, and onions. Cook until onions are translucent. Add water, dried beans, chips, and seasonings. Heat until thickened and beans are soft. Add green onions and cilantro about 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with crisp tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream. Yields 1 gallon, or 8 to 10 servings.


When I make it, I make half of the recipe and it makes enough for dinner, plus one meal of leftovers. I also add a few more beans to make it a little thicker. We thought it was too thin with the ammount it called for. If anyone knows where you can get dehydrated refried beans from now let us know.

Clarissa even loved it.

Flashback

This is a picture of Clarissa just over a year ago, she was about 7 months old. This is one of Grandma Connie's favorite pictures of Clarissa, just looking so relaxed in her wagon. Quinn and I had a fun time looking at pictures of Clarissa from last year, it's amazing at how fast kids change right before your eyes.

I Am Thankful For.....

Washing Machines!


This is only a portion of the laundry that had to be done today, and it was all from one night. Clarissa threw up 3 times last night. We went through 5 blankets, 2 sheets, 3 pair of her pajamas, 2 onesies, 3 towels, and 2 pair of Quinn's pajamas. I am so grateful that we have a washing machine, and that it is in our home.

The Aftermath

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you baked 4 cakes, decorated a birthday cake, decorated a fancy cake, made 47 cups of frosting, prepared 13 cake boards, carted all your cake decorating stuff to the church, and taught 13 eleven year old girls and their mothers how to decorate their own individual cakes all within 12 hours...

Well, the answer is below.



Fortunately, the reward is you also get these:

Castle Birthday Cake

Fancy Flower Basket Cake

All I can say is "My wife is Amazing!!!" She is also currently at home recovering from a night of little sleep. Only a small part of that 12 hours was spent sleeping (from 3:30am to 6:30am). Sweet Dreams, my love. You did Awsome!

The Rose

Quinn gave Clarissa a rose for Valentine's Day, she loved it. However, she wasn't too careful with it, I'm amazed it survived the evening. Here's a little video of her playing with it. Sorry, but our camera doesn't have sound.

5 Star Restaurant

Since going out to eat is a little difficult with a child, Quinn decided to make dinner for us for Valentine's Day. He planned the menu, came home from work early and went shopping, cooked it all, and even cleaned up the dishes. What a sweetie! Not only did he plan a wonderful meal, he was creative and made his own recipes for the chicken and pasta, and they were delicious. For the appetizers we had mozzarella sticks and artichoke spinach won tons. For the main course we had stuffed chicken (stuffed with mushrooms, shallots, bacon, cream cheese, and monteray jack cheese), pasta with a mushroom cream sauce, steamed aparagus, french bread, and chocolate cheesecake for dessert (the cheesecake was a frozen one, but still delicious, at least it looks delicious, we were to stuffed to eat it last night). After dinner Quinn said that he was going to drop out of grad school and open a restaurant! Grad school is busy, but I think owning his own restaurant and doing all the cooking would be worse. I'm okay with him just cooking every once in a while for us.

The meal was complete with candles and mood music.

Valentine Cookies

On Tuesday we decorated cookies with some friends.

Clarissa even figured out how to spread the frosting on by herself.

Bethany and Angelique

Anahi and Ruben

Thanks for decorating with us, we had a fun time!

Happy Valentine's Day Quinn!

Quinn, I want to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day and let you know how much I love you. I am so grateful for you. You are a wonderful husband and father. I love it that you take the time to play with Clarissa, and to listen to music with her, even if it is at 11:00 at night when she won't sleep. We both love you so much.

Just Hangin' Out

A couple weekends ago we had our friends Matt and Heidi over to hang out and play games.


Quinn and Matt working hard while Heidi and I were in the kitchen cooking.


We made lots of yummy food.


Clarissa's first time eating a mozzarella cheese stick, boy was it CHEEZY!


Clarissa's favorite part was the peanut butter cup. She looks like she is holding out her hands to get cleaned up, but she is actually asking for more!

Clarissa and her Da da

I just found some pictures of Clarissa hanging out with Quinn and thought they were cute.

Clarissa reading to Quinn! Yes, she climbed up there by herself with this book and started flipping through it. Quinn loves this picture because he thinks it looks like she's reading to him and telling him all about this great book.

3 Years and 1 Month Later

I’m kind of embarrassed to blog about this, but at the same time, I have just accomplished a huge task and I am so excited about it. Ever since Quinn and I got married, over three years ago, we have always had an extra bedroom that has been labeled as our “spare room” although a more appropriate name would be “the junk room”. It has been filled with boxes of papers, and just stuff that we don’t use on a regular basis. Everywhere we have lived we have meant to get it organized, file papers, and get rid of stuff. But for one reason or another it never got done and every time we moved it just got moved with us. Now that we live in a two bedroom, it has been a little more challenging to store it all. We can’t just put it in a room and shut the door because it has been sharing a room with Clarissa. Everyday I would look at it and just say “I’ll get to that tomorrow.” Finally that day came and I just tackled it (well, over a week or two). Anyways, yesterday I took 5 boxes and an old suitcase to Good Will. I also took about 10 empty boxes out to the dumpster, and a few bags of paper/trash that we didn’t need anymore. I wish I would have taken a good picture of the stack before I got rid of it. I did find this one of Clarissa playing with her friend that you can see part of the stack behind them. It’s only part of the table, but it will give you a good idea of what it was like. Below is a picture of Clarissa’s room now. She finally has a room almost to herself, she only has to share with the filing cabinet.

Fox and Geese

Did anyone else play fox and geese in the snow when they were kids? Both Quinn and I played this when we were kids. You make a big circle with an X. There is one person that is a fox that chases everyone else who are the geese. The center is a free spot, and you run around the rest of it, trying not to get caught by the fox. Quinn took Clarissa out in the snow on Saturday and played with her, and our friend Matt. Well, they at least made the track and told her about it. She had fun being outside until she got cold.

Cinderella

Perhaps Clarissa has been watching Cinderella a little too much lately!!!!!