Good Cooking

I can't believe it....the 5th night of Tyler's cooking has already come and gone. I'm already coming up with ways to trick him into doing it again. I loved this week! I loved that Tyler was so excited about cooking each day and that the recipes were simple, but most of all I loved having help in the kitchen.

On Wednesday, we had Number Salad, which is basically a fruit salad that calls for a specific number of different fruits.

In go the eight grapes.

My thought is that salad would have been way better if the fruit were actually in season. I guess it's not the thing to make in the dead of winter. On a positive note though, Rick enjoyed the addition of shredded coconut and I liked the cubes of cheddar cheese, neither of which are things we normally put into fruit salad.

To go with the fruit salad, I made a batch of Maple Bacon Waffles. Delish!

Then on Thursday we had Quesadillas and Zuchinni Moons.

The recipe said to put the quesadillas in a dry skillet with no butter or anything, which I thought was kind of wierd. I tried to get Tyler to spread butter on the tortillas, but he absolutely would not stray from the written word, so butterless it was.  Much to my surprise, they still crisped up nicely.

While the first quesadilla was cooking on the stove, Tyler started prepping the next one. They had a simple filling of refried beans and cheese....kind of like a bean burrito.

Yum, another tasty dinner!

And to finish out the week, we had Marzetti Swirls.

This was the most complicated meal of week, in that it started out with raw ground beef. So I browned up the meat and Tyler took it from there, adding the seasonings, water, tomato and pasta. Then we let it simmer while the pasta cooked up in the sauce.

About 12 minutes later it was ready to eat and according to Tyler it was the best meal of the week. I didn't think anything could surpass his mini pizzas, but I have to agree...this was really good!

My Personal Chef

As if an angel fell from the sky, Tyler put himself in charge of creating the menu plan for this week. He looked through his two favorite cookbooks and planned 5 days worth of dinners.

It looks like we'll be having some of his regular dishes like the mini pizzas and salad bar, but we'll also be trying several new recipes.

So yesterday was day 1......pizza. We used the same recipe as before, but this time modified the sauce slightly, using onion powder instead of chunky dehydrated onion flakes. Much better, as far as texture goes.

Here they are out of the oven. Don't you like the cute little faces? Except for the third one, which is more like a tic-tac-toe board because I complained I wanted more pepperoni.

For tonight's dinner we made a salad bar. The first step was making the dressing, which Tyler whisked up using his new set of kitchen tools that Anni gave him for Christmas.

Then we got busy chopping up the rest of the veggies and labeling them as we placed them in the bar area. Eggs, cucumber, tomato, shredded carrot, cheese, mushrooms, olives, avocado, croutons, and chow mein noodles. Yummy! Tyler and I both went back for 2nds.

Merry Christmas

Tyler set his alarm for 7:00, so we were up bright and early this morning. We started things off with the usual homemade cinnamon rolls, but this year we decided to bake them in the shape of a Christmas tree and decorate them with sugar sprinkles.

Yummy!

Then it was time to start opening presents.

Santa brought all kinds of presents wrapped in fancy red glittery paper. Someone must have been really good this year! Tyler ripped into those first and found a new Wii game system and a K'NEX roller coaster.

From Grandma he got an animal atlas and a little harp seal.

Rick got a new coat, slippers, gadgets for the garage, and a new poker chip case.

I got a new Cathe workout DVD and some accessories like this toning tube band....Tyler thought he'd break it in for me.

Also under the tree were a number of new board games....Operation, Connect 4x4, and Monopoly Revolution.

Cookbooks and more cookbooks! I can't wait to start looking through them!

For dinner this year we wanted to do something kind of simple. So instead of turkey or ham, we made a pot roast....a quick and easy one from one of Tyler's cookbooks. I went instant on the stuffing, but did take the time to make the mashed potatoes and cut up some fresh green beans. For dessert we had red velvet cake.

Bavarian Village

Yesterday we spent the day in Leavenworth, a cute little village town about 2 hours north from here. We'd never been there before, otherwise we might have brought some sleds with us. They have snow covered hills everywhere that are perfect for sledding. But instead of playing in the snow, we spent our time browsing our way through the stores.

Next year it might be nice to go earlier in December so there would still be time to shop for Christmas presents. I saw several things that would make nice gifts, but we were already done shopping for this year. I saw some cute winter caps that are a bit more fashionable than the ones I already own, but I didn't buy any of them. I'm kind of regretting that now. I also came across some fig jam and some fig and walnut butter, which I didn't buy either....what's wrong with me!? But on the food front, I did bring home some cashew coconut brittle. Super Yum!

Leavenworth really dresses itself up for Christmas and when the sun goes down.....gorgeous!

For dinner we ate at this little German bistro and tried the sausage sampler that had Bratwurst, Knackwurst, and Weisswurst. I couldn't tell which was which, but I liked the pinkish one the best...it tasted kind of like Kielbasa. Rick also tried the Rheinischer Sauerbraten which was really good. I especially liked the spatzle that came with it. Tyler had the Knackwurst from the kids menu, which is basically a giant hot dog, but it was served plain on a plate with french fries. No bun. I thought that was weird.

After dinner it was time to head back home, but not before Tyler slid down the hills a few times.

Dinner Date

After the ceremony last night we went out to eat at Zesta Cucina, a slightly upscale Italian restaurant on our side of town.

The tables are covered with huge sheets of paper so you can draw while you wait. The restaurant was pretty packed so we were drawing for a while.

This is me with a hungry belly.

This is a drawing of the camera Tyler brought with him that he made out of K'NEX pieces. So I drew a picture of his camera, then pretended to take a picture with it, and then drew the picture I took. It's Tyler enjoying his soda while I starved to death.

My food finally came, but that was after Tyler had already finished his meal and was ready to leave. I ordered the chicken cannelloni and it was alright.

Rick ordered the lasagna, which I could hardly recognize with all those pesky vegetables sitting on top of it. Rick didn't love it, but I thought it was better than my dish.

For dessert I tried the eggnog creme brulee.

And Rick went for the pumpkin cheesecake.

After all that food my belly was full and I was happy about that, but secretly between you and me, I still wanted a piece of wedding cake. Maybe I'll make that red velvet cake that I had planned for our Christmas dessert. Then it can serve a duel purpose.

I Do

Today was the day. This evening we headed over to the courthouse for our big date with the judge.

We were married in the tiniest courtroom ever, which was actually fine because we only had Tyler and our two witnesses with us.

I think the judge was hungry for dinner, so he moved things right along. This is the part where we said our vows.

Then it was time to exchange rings.

My turn.

You know how the rest goes....I now pronounce you husband and wife.....

You may kiss the bride.

Then it was all business and time to sign the marriage certificate.

The Day Before The Big Day

Well I never really expected to say these words, but after nearly 10 years together, Rick and I are getting married tomorrow.

We've got our marriage license.

And the rings.

I've been wearing this one around for about a week, while I try and get used to the idea of wearing jewelry on my fingers.

And the dress. It's not really a traditional wedding dress, but what else are you supposed to wear for a civil ceremony? Anyway, it's that dress I found in the Tri-Cities in September, but passed on it. I went back for it a few weeks ago and they only had one left in the store and it just happened to be in my size. That's kind of lucky don't you think?