New Year= New Sarah

I have been a really crappy blogger. My apologies to my, like 6 non family followers. Well, my scattered posting is not for no reason. I've been a busy broad and have been going thru some sort of "third of life crisis" (however with the amount of stress I've kept inside it could very well be mid-life since my heart will probably give at 60). Around the time I turned 30 I started feeling very uncomfortable within myself. I looked around at all the superficial people I kept in my life and all the activities I had devoted myself to and realized that I was super unhappy. This all came to a head while doing a group prayer with the MOPs group I was involved with. I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to flee. I can only assume this feeling came from God Himself and since I at least attempt to do what He'd like me to--I fled. I scooped up my Sophie and booked it for the car. I ended up at my mother in laws in tears. I had a complete epiphany that my life up to that point had been a series of parts I had played for different people. I hate to sound like Oprah but I hadn't been my "authentic" self...ever.
There have always been glimpses of the real me. I had this little blog and I posted my recipes and the occasion wrote about my opinions, but that was it. It dawned on me that day that I had been the biggest poser for most of my life--and that is really pathetic. I should have known I was a closet people pleaser when I pretended to like the New Kids on the Block during 4th grade. I hated that group with every fiber in my being. The only thing I hated more was being the total and complete dork that I was, so I strapped on my NKOTB fanny pack and learned the name of at least one member (Joey) so when the lame girls asked me who my favorite was I had an answer. My real favorites were Robert Smith, Morrissy and the works of Modigliani.
The best thing that ever happened to me was the rumor that one of the New Kids was gay. All the little molly Mormon girls ripped their posters down real quick and moved on to whatever was new and hip.
I guess we all have done our fair share of posing. At least I hope you have so that I have a support group of others that have pretended to be someone they weren't to fit in. If not then you can just laugh at me as I wallow in my shame.
After my ah-hah (more Oprah) moment I had to get really honest with myself. I needed to figure out what I wanted to do and be during this one and only shot that we get at life. I already had the big stuff handled. I am happily married with 3 kids and a pretty decent core group of friends. I just now need to rid myself of all things that make me un-authentic. I will move on to 2012 with a completely clean slate. I will be unapologeticlly me (sorry mom). One night my daughter was uncharacteristically hard on herself (she usually nauseates us with her self esteem) and my son gave her really good advice. Aiden said "God made you the way you are for a reason. When you say or think bad stuff about yourself, you're insulting God. If He thinks you're perfect than you should too". My 8 year old had no idea that I needed that advice more than she did. I was made for a reason and I need to celebrate that. I challenge everyone to think real hard about who they are and if they're comfortable with that person. Lets all make 2012 authentic.

I'm baaack...Pear Cider Pork Tenderloin

Okay. I'm back for good this time. I have cleared my life of things I can't do anymore and have decided to only fill my time with stuff that I actually enjoy. I enjoy writing recipes but do to my insane busy life I have been making a lot of the same ol' same ol'. Tonight I wanted something different, so I looked around my kitchen to find something I've never used before. Then I thought "Pork tastes great with fruit, Pear Cider is fruity!" If you've never had a hard pear cider than you are seriously deprived. They are delicious. The drink always reminds me of my cousisiter Alicia who adores them.
So, this recipe is dedicated to my favorite chick Alicia Rosser.
I used 2 tenderloins so cut the recipe in half if you need to.

PEAR CIDER PORK TENDERLOIN

1 yellow onion sliced
5 cloves fresh garlic roughly chopped
extra virgin olive oil (see in directions how much)
1.5 bottles of Hard Pear Cider (Wyders brand is the best)
1.5 cups chicken broth
2 pork tenderloins sliced into medallions
3 tbsp of your favorite seasoning salt blend (I used my Luigi's brand)
1/2 tbsp oregano
***
Get out your biggest skillet. Heat it to medium high. Coat the bottom of the skillet in olive oil...don't celebrate it but have a good coverage of oil. Place the onions and garlic in the pan and let them soften. After about 2 minutes place the pork in the pan and sprinkle the meat with your seasoning salt blend. Cook meat on both sides for about 5-6 minutes on both sides (it may take longer if you sliced your medallions thick). Once the meat is cooked through (keeping in mind that pork should be a little pink) then remove it from the pan. Turn the heat to high and pour in the cider and broth to deglaze things. Bring to a boil while stirring. Once it boils reduce heat to simmer for about 2 minutes. Add the pork back into the pan to coat it. I then made white rice and put it on the serving dish then covered it with the medallions then pour all the sauce over the meat and rice. Serve with your favorite veggie:)

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The Easiest Turkey Breast ever

I love turkey. The smell of a turkey cooking all day immediately makes me happy. I think of Thanksgiving as a kid and get all gooey inside. However, I do not have time to make a Thanksgiving feast on a random weekday and with only 5 people a whole turkey is a bit much. The other day I saw a great deal on an organic (We only buy organic meats, so finding good and different stuff is a challenge. One can only eat so many chicken breasts) turkey breast at Trader Joe's and snagged it up. I found a recipe on one of my many recipe apps on my phone for slow cooker turkey breast that only has 3 ingredients. Well I'm sorry but it needed 2 more, so here is my recipe for the easiest turkey ever.

Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

1 turkey breast (patted dry)
1 stick of butter
1 cup of chicken, vegetable or turkey stock
2 tbsp poultry seasoning
pepper


Place the turkey breast in your slow cooker and sprinkle the poultry seasoning all over it. Then sprinkle the amount of pepper you desire (I didn't celebrate the pepper because I wanted Elliot to actually eat this). Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove top. Pour the butter and the stock over the turkey. Turn that baby up to high for 6 hours. Every hour or so baste the turkey in its juices. When the turkey is done (it could take up to 7 hours depending on the size of the breast so keep checking it) you can turn the juices left in the crock pot into gravy by pouring them in a saucepan with either flour or corn starch.
Enjoy

Bullies Suck...nuff said

It's a new school year which means dealing with early mornings, school lunches, cranky kids and of course other peoples crappy children. When I was in elementary school life sucked. Picture it: late 80's and I'm 5'7 in the 4th grade. I weighed about 40lbs and wore gigantic glasses. I have told this tale before so I won't recycle it, but lets just say I had my fair share of bullies. Now when I was a kid there were no television commercials narrated by the cast of Glee discussing how it'll get better. I was given two choices: attempt to become completely invisible (which at my height, which included an afro- WAS IMPOSSIBLE) or become a complete jerk myself. I chose jerk but waited until we moved to southern Utah in 1991 to debut my new persona. Now, I wasn't mean to other dorks, only other jerks. I became a "right fighter" as my mother called it; a Robin Hood for losers if you will. I even let a jerky Utah History teacher named Mr. Cannon have it. I was unstoppable. Unfortunately, I've recently realized that I'm not a mean person deep down I'm just really freaking bitter.
Long story short, my bullies won. Those kids (I remember the names of the truly heinous ones) changed my story. They took a girl that just desperately wanted to be normal and made her a hateful bully. I didn't think I was a bully because I was giving other bullies what they deserved, but I was one of them. My husband and I love the show Dexter (the serial killer that only kills killers) and watching him get justice from truly unforgivable people makes us happy--but he's still murdering other people. Now, I never murdered anyone but I did break up a perfectly happy snotty high school couple (with some pretty horrible lies) because I thought they deserved to be alone. I am not proud of any of the things I did or said, but I can't take any of them back.
I was mean to a person that didn't deserve it once. A girl was sitting at our schools clock tower eating her lunch and I suddenly had an overwhelming need to throw a crumpled chip bag at her head, and I did. The look on her face is still stuck in my head now 15 years later and I immediately regretted that decision. I apologized and told her I was aiming at the trash but she knew I was full of it and so did my friends.
The reason I'm reliving all my past crimes is because two of my kids are in school now and in only a month we've had 2 issues with other peoples crappy children.
My kindergartner had a boy try to look at her butt. My wonderful middle child is no wallflower. She put that kid in his place (it may have been quite ugly) and rightly so. However my son isn't as aggressive as his younger sister and reacted quite the opposite yesterday when he was hit in the face. It wasn't a beat down but my son and his friend didn't want to retaliate for 2 reasons. They didn't want to get in trouble and they aren't butt heads.
My main issue is when is enough enough? Do we need to quit turning our kids into complete sissies and tell them to man up and handle it themselves? Should we try my mothers old approach and ignore them assuming that they're "just jealous" of us? While, I apologize to my beloved mother, her way got me jumped on the walk home from school and a skateboard broke over my head on a lovely winter afternoon. I have caught myself telling my kids to turn the other cheek and ignore the mean crowd, but is that good advice? The turning point in my life came when my dad gave me completely opposite advice from his wife: "don't start a fight EVER, but always finish them". This advice turned sour when I found myself at age 17 begging a girl that absolutely hated me (a feeling I shared) to punch me because I could "start" the fight. That way didn't work either.
I guess this particular blog is to get parents thinking. Do we need to quit babying our babies or be proud of them for not stooping. I obviously do not have an answer. I guess I kind of hoped the answer would plop into my brain while I typed.
I'll leave you with this: When I was a kid I used to golf. I played a tournament once with 2 evil girls in my foursome. They cheated and said the most horrific things to the other dorky golfer and myself. At the end of the day we dorks hung our heads as we did nothing about the atrocities of the game. Years later I heard one of the evil girls (also named Sara but without the H which apparently means something to me) got a full ride golf scholarship to BYU (was NOT jealous of the school) but lost it when her school discovered she was quite a tramp (BYU has a morality clause that I just love lol) and she never went to college, ended up with a couple kids, no husband and a crap job. Moral of the story: while crappy people sometimes do win in life--it's extra wonderful when they fail miserably. So maybe our nice kids have hope.
Oh crap: darn it I'm still a bully. Lesson learned.

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

Let me start this by saying that I'm not a big fan of pork chops. I'm told that I loved them as a kid but around the time Babe came out (the flick about the adorable piggie) I quit eating pork...for 3 years. When I started delving into pig again I found that my taste buds had changed and I no longer cared for pork chops, sausage or ham. Anyhow, my go to pork products have been tenderloins or bacon and needless to say my family could use some diversity. Well I decided tonight I'd try a new recipe that is heavy on parmesan cheese, sage and garlic. Enjoy!

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops
serves 4-6 depending on your appetites

6 thin cut boneless pork chops
2 cups sliced parmesan cheese
2 cups bread crumbs
2 eggs
3 tbsp chopped fresh sage
salt and pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil for shallow frying
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1 lemon sliced into wedges
1tbsp garlic powder
1 can chicken broth
1tbsp flour
1tbsp lemon juice

First get out 3 shallow dishes (I used 2 paper plates and one glass bowl). Put the parm cheese in one dish, 2 beaten eggs in the glass bowl and the bread crumbs seasoned with the garlic powder and the sage in the last dish.Heat a large skillet (medium high heat) with the olive oil and add the crushed garlic. Sprinkle the pork chops evenly with salt and pepper then dredge in the cheese, egg and finally bread crumbs. Put the coated chops in the skillet and shallow fry. They should be on for about 4-5 min a side. When the pork is golden brown and cooked thru place on a plate lined in paper towels to soak up excess oil.
Don't turn the heat on the skillet down; instead deglaze the pan with the chicken broth (you could also use a dry white wine). Bring the broth to a boil and whisk in flour. Bring down the heat to low and allow to simmer for about a minute.
I made mashed potatoes for the side and poured the sauce I made over both the potatoes and the pork. Sprinkle the pork chops with the lemon wedge and serve:)

New School Year Resolutions

Well I'm back. I took some time away from blogging to actually attempt to enjoy my summer with the munchkins. We traveled to my home state of Utah for a family reunion and hung out with friends around town. I've had a lonnnng summer. My two oldest got into a new habit; fighting with each other. By noon everyday I had contemplated running through traffic, screaming "Help Me"! My life had gotten very irritating, so by this blessed day I was very ready to send them packing. I had one starting 3rd grade and one starting kindergarten. I was so happy to see them actually stoked to go back to school. It made the guilt of being the one parent it seemed that was glad to see their kids go a little less intense.
The beginning of a new school year is also a big deal to Scott and I for another reason. We make "New School Year Resolutions". Never been the type to subscribe to the more common resolution holiday, we Coopers like to think of the end of August as truly the beginning of a year. Think of it, do you really want to stop stuffing your face and lazing around on January 1? Come on man, it's prime slacking time. The new school year represents something that we learned on our own first days of kindergarten decades ago: a fresh start.
When I started my sophomore year of high school I distinctively remember deciding to give myself a fresh start. I stopped wearing the then "hip" baggy clothes and started dressing like an actual girl. I tried to stop being perceived as "bitchy", although that didn't go as well as the change of dress. Giving myself a fresh start gave me so many opportunities to make new (sometimes better) friends and get a whole new outlook on life. Fast forward 15 years and my life decisions are a bit more complicated than whether or not to wear dickies anymore. I need to change bigger things or maybe just improve bigger things.
As adults we have huge things on our resolution list every year: weight, money, love, etc. You clearly can't make those decisions after Christmas time. You're fat (and generally still gaining) you're paying off gifts and you're completely sick of all loved ones. You should make these resolutions before the holiday season even starts: watch your waistline, don't spend so much and limit your time with said loved ones so that you don't want to murder them.
I challenge you to make New School Year Resolutions. To get you in the swing of things, I'll show you mine!
1. Spend more QUALITY time with kids! (which means get the house work done before they get home so that we can hang)
2. Re-organize house to make more space and get rid of crap
3. Save moola for the pool
4. Actually exercise
5. Get a reliable sitter (or service) to have more date nights with the hubs
6. Keep up the blog and write more recipes.

There. Now start looking around at your life and decide what would be the most important stuff to improve on. I promise you'll like this so much more than taking time away from your New Years mimosa to jot down a list.

Anything Goes Chicken Gyros

I flippin' love Greek food. Love it, love it, love it. Maybe it's because I'm a fan of lamb? Or Tzatiki sauce. I don't know, but I love it. That being said I don't eat it very often because not everyone wants to eat it every day (I know it's crazy) but tonight I was craving it so here is what I came up with. The name says anything goes for a reason. If you want to use (bleh) fish for example you could, or turkey breast, or tofu. Also when it comes to what greens you use that is also per your preference I used my favorites: romaine and arugula but if you like lets say, sprouts, then go for it!

Anything Goes Chicken Gyros
serves 4
4-6 pieces of pita bread
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced into strips
butt load of salt and pepper (or less if that's too much)
3 tbsp dried dill
2 lemons juiced
1 small head of romaine chopped
2 handfuls of arugula
3 large radishes sliced thin
1/2 red onion sliced thin
1 cup of store bought (or homemade) Tzatiki sauce

Heat a skillet over med/high heat and spray with Pam. Put the chicken in and sprinkle with your desired amount of salt and pepper (keep in mind you are going to sprinkle more when flipping them over) and half the dill. Pour half the lemon juice over the chicken and then cook until that side is brown. Flip them over using tongs and repeat your steps with the remaining seasoning and lemon juice. While chicken is cooking prep your pitas. Spread the pitas with desired amount of Tzatiki sauce and top with veggies. When the chicken is browned and cooked place on top the veggie filled pita and fold into a Greek Taco. Enjoy!

Long time No See-- Lemony Peanut Chicken

Hello there it's your old friend Sarah back from a "vacation". I must tell you that I hadn't planned on taking a vacay; it just happened. The Cooper family had no idea how busy May and June was going to be until it hit us like a ton of bricks.
We had planned a great Disneyland vacation and happily took it but other than that I had thought summer would be a slower version of the other 3 seasons.
Aiden joined a swim team and we have had stuff going on non stop since school ended with no rest in sight.
However, I need to slow down a bit to continue this blog since I enjoy writing it and hope my 4 or 5 fans are glad I'm back. I wrote a new recipe tonight and it was delish, so I shall share it now.

Lemony Peanut Chicken
serves 2 Normal people or 4 Coopers

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into small cubes
3 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves sliced
1 shallot sliced
1 small yellow onion (preferably sweet yellow) sliced
your favorite seasoning salt (you'll see below why there is no measurement + if you're from Bako go to albertsons and buy the Luigis seasoning!)
2 tbsp dried dill
1 lemon sliced in half and seeds removed
1 can of chicken broth
1/4 (or more if you love them) cup salted peanuts

***
Heat up a large skillet over medium/high heat and add olive oil. When oil is warm add garlic and shallots. Cover the chicken in as much seasoning salt as you want. You could also use any seasoning blend just as long as there is paprika and salt included. Add the chicken to the skillet as well as the dill and peanuts.
Saute it up til the chicken is cooked and golden brown and the onions are soft. Add in the yellow onion and squeeze the lemon juice over the mixture. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat to a simmer for no more than 5 minutes.
I poured this mixture over rice that I had cooked with chicken broth and lemon juice instead of water. Scott said it would also be great on pasta. Enjoy!

Ham with Cherries and Caramelized Onions

How excited have you been to see fresh beautiful cherries in the grocery store or farmers market? Is it just me? Well, I bought my first bunch of the season yesterday and decided to build dinner around them. My husband loves ham--me, not so much. However, I figured that if you cover anything with a yummy fruit sauce it'll taste good right? At Costco they sell fully cooked ham steaks (3 per pack) and every so often I'll buy them for Scott. Tonight I decided to use one of them but I probably could have cooked up two.

Ham w Cherries and Caramelized Onions

1 ham steak
1/2 cup cherry jam
1/2 cup chopped fresh cherries
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 large yellow onion sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped arugula (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350
Cut the ham steak into 4 large wedges, place in a casserole dish (sprayed with pam of course). In a small bowl combine jam, cherries,vinegar and stir. Pour mixture over the ham equally spreading to all the pieces. Put in oven and bake for 30. While ham is baking heat a medium sized saute pan and pour in olive oil and add onions. cook over medium heat stirring every so often. Keep an eye on the onions til caramelized. When the onions are done open the oven and pour them on top of the ham and continue cooking for 5 more minutes. When the ham is finished (30 min) remove from oven and top with the arugula.

Slow-cooker Salsa Chicken

I am always on the hunt for good slow cooker recipes. I am super tired of chili and pot roast and my husband would second that. Today I knew I was in for a busy one so I thought I'd go through a couple cookbooks and websites til I found one that used chicken. I found a recipe on the Rachel Ray shows website. I remembered a few months ago that they had a slow cooker challenge on her show and now all those recipes are on the site. I decided to make the one for Salsa Chicken but thought I'd change one thing--I swapped the packet of taco seasoning for chili powder and Sazonadors Supremas. I think taco seasoning is way too salty. Anyhow, I served it with tortillas, black beans and a green salad.

Salsa Chicken

4 chicken breasts boneless, skinless
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp Sazonadors Supremas (or whatever seasoning salt you like)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup salsa
1/4 cup sour cream

Put the first 5 ingredients in your slow cooker and set to low. Cook on low for 6 hours. 30 min before serving add in the sour cream.
I would also suggest topping with shredded cheese, fresh cilantro and some lime wedges for squirting!

Accidental Housewife: Love and Marriage

Accidental Housewife: Love and Marriage: "In the last year (5/14/10-5/14/11) I have attended 3 weddings. The first one I actually performed as a Rev. of the prestigious Online Chris..."

Accidental Housewife: Cuban Sandwiches with Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Accidental Housewife: Cuban Sandwiches with Strawberry Rhubarb Jam: "I think one of the reasons I've been slacking in the recipe department is that I'm so dang sick of making the same ole crap every night. I w..."

Love and Marriage

In the last year (5/14/10-5/14/11) I have attended 3 weddings. The first one I actually performed as a Rev. of the prestigious Online Christian Unity and Scott was the best man. The next 2 I was grateful enough to not actually be in the weddings (Scott got that honor) and was able to just be a guest and have fun. Weddings have a way of making you think about your own wedding day. I've written about this before so I won't bore you, but I have often wished I had handled that day better.
For starters I highly don't recommend getting hitched at age 20. I was in love, blah, blah, blah but I was entirely too young to grasp what I was signing up for. I had received oodles of sugar coated advice and even a "you can always get divorced". Yet sadly I was only about 75% sure I was marrying "the one". Now Scott and I have talked about our misgivings on that day so what I just wrote will not make him the least bit surprised. Surprisingly he was also not entirely sure. I know it's shocking to think that I would not be the ultimate catch (hypochondria, OCD, and a complete obsession with swearing are on all guys short lists) but he wouldn't have been surprised if we killed each other. Today I completely believe that we were supposed to meet, marry and poorly prevent our children. I believe that now...
This June will mark 9 years of marriage with my Scotty. My dad loves the joke that he and my mother have been married for 33 years--5 of them happily. Scott and I could probably say that, but not be joking. The first couple of years were a struggle. Both of us were incredibly selfish and stubborn. Those two qualities do not a happy marriage make and it occured to me around 2005 (3 years in) that one of us was going to have to bend.
We already had Aiden and I fully grasped the magnitude of being a mother. I smothered that kid with every ounce of attention and energy I could gather. I had never wanted a child so God gave me the greatest baby that had ever been born (it's true, I've looked into it). I totally ignored my husband, but on a good note that selfish thing in me kind of fixed itself.
I am sure many people find this sad but Scott and I had one thing that gave us hope: we were 100% best friends. Regardless of how I had felt about him as a husband or father he was still my "homie", "partna in crime", etc and that one thing got us through the rough 4 years and into the awesome following 5.
When people get engaged I would bet more that 3/4 of them start planning a wedding. No one ever plans a marriage. My dad told me that I shouldn't waste my time with weddings and just get married in Vegas. He was sort of right. I planned a wedding, picked flowers, selected a venue and menu but hardly a thought went into how I was actually planning on living with one person for the rest of my hopefully long life. 9 years later I couldn't tell you what we ate, what time of day it was and sadly I can't recall our vows.
One thing I do remember is sitting at the head table with my new husband and a gaggle of bridesmaids (half of which I currently loathe) watching an actual black cat strut right in front of us. The guests laughed and went on eating; I on the other hand snapped out of my wedding coma and realized I had just gotten "for reals" married and a frickin' black cat had just doomed it.
Fast forward and I am now an experienced wife. I have been married long enough that people don't look at me like a naive newlywed. I've seen many a friend get divorced and thought "wow why am I so lucky?" I will now tell you why:
For starters ask yourself one question--"Is my spouse my best friend?" If your answer is no, well I feel sorry for you. I could not imagine having to hang out with someone all the time that wasn't my best friend. There have been times where I have wanted to smack Scott and times where I didn't agree with his parenting choices or lack of husband like duties, but I know one thing and it's that he's hella cool and I love him. I am very sad to see that a lot of marriages around are not the same. I sometimes wonder if they even like each other. The husbands don't go home til 8 o'clock because they would rather be out at bars with friends than with their families. Scott has a social life but he puts his family at a higher priority.
I may not remember saying them but I take my vows seriously. I often wonder if brides and grooms ask their pastors, priests or online reverends to speed through that portion of the ceremony to get to the fun stuff, like money dances, faster. I think the idea of marriage is a sinking ship. People want a party not the clean up.
Growing up I never saw my parents fight. That's a good thing I'm sure but an unrealistic view on marriage. My dad told me when I was little that a good husband never makes his wife cry. I love that man but it was a total crock (sorry dad)--After being married for a few months I was convinced I had the worst marriage in history after arguing with Scott in Albertsons over his desire to purchase an entire block of cheese (did I mention I'm also a control freak and was cheap as well). I went home and told my mom that I was failing because we had fought. Joy quickly informed me that they argued also but did it away from me and Ed; thus confirming that my father was full of it. I had built up wedded bliss to be a damn Brady Bunch episode and never thought it would actually get rough.
The reason for my spewing this marital tale is that no one tells you it's going to be hard. No one tells you what to expect from your spouse or what qualities your relationship (best friend example) should have before even thinking about getting engaged. However they'll tell you what colors your bridesmaids dresses should be or what exotic locale would be best this time of year for honeymooning. Big Daddy was right about weddings--they don't matter. Big Daddy was wrong about marriage--it can make you cry.
Last night at the reception there was a table set up for those of us experienced wives and husbands to write down some advice for the happy couple. I could have given them any of my many words of advice--
Always try, Choose your battles (I learned this after the cheese incident), wait a bit to have children, etc. but instead because I am nothing if not frank I left Isaac and Crystal with the same advice I'll leave you with tonight: Always have serious discussions and/or arguments in the shower, I dare you to yell at someone naked. It's impossible.

Cuban Sandwiches with Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

I think one of the reasons I've been slacking in the recipe department is that I'm so dang sick of making the same ole crap every night. I was feeling bored; in a food rut. So I picked up my back issues of Everyday Rachel Ray and Food Network Magazine. I sat flipping through the pages looking at all the different recipes thinking "ooh, yum but Scott won't touch it", "oh the kids will complain". Then I thought "screw them" I'm making things that look fun and interesting. So for starters I went with a recipe called "Open Face Cubans with Fresh Rhubarb Jam" from Everyday. Of course I changed things here in there but the end result was pretty delish.
Here is my version of the recipe (I used pre-made strawberry rhubarb jam and instead of pickled scallions--pickle vidalia onions).

Cuban Sandwiches with Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 cup sliced vidalia onions
4 tbsp olive oil divided
3 cloves fresh garlic sliced
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 1/4 lb)
4 sandwich rolls of your choice (we used sourdough)
4 slices swiss cheese
jar of store bought strawberry rhubarb jam (or make your own if you'd like)
1 cup watercress

Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees.
In a small skillet heat sugar, vinegar and water over medium heat. Once bubbly add onion slices and heat for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit for 30 min.
Meanwhile, pour 2 tbsp of olive oil in a small bowl and brush on the tenderloin. Then sprinkle with lots of salt and pepper. Take the garlic slices and place them all over the tenderloin.
Place in a roasting pan and heat for 7 min then flip it and cook another 7 min or until the meat thermometer says 150 degrees.
Then put rolls open faced on a cookie sheet and brush with the remaining olive oil and set aside. When the meat is done cover it with a foil tent and put the oven to broil. Put the bread under the broiler until golden. Then remove and spread with your desired amount of jam- in my opinion the more the better. Slice the tenderloin into 1/4 inch thick slices and put desired amount of slices on top the jam side of the bread, follow up by topping with a slice of swiss cheese. Put the sandwiches back under broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Remove from broiler and top with pickled onions and watercress.
yum yum yum

PS: Scott actually loved them--he ate so much he's sick and that never happens.

Spicy Citrus Marinade

I have a love/hate relationship with meat. I have always been the weird kid that would rather eat her vegetables. I on occasion love a good steak-it just has to be perfect or else I require oodles of Heinz 57. I recently read a book that recommended using meat as the side dish instead of main course. In my house my husband would have a heart attack with that method. If Scott controlled our menu we would eat a meat main, side and dessert.
Needless to say I like to dabble in marinades so that we can both be happy. Scott gets his animal carcass and I get to eat it with lots of fresh flavor. Yesterday I made this marinade for chicken (It was mothers day so Scott actually cooked it of course on the grill). I'm sure this marinade would be very good on shrimp or fish too.

Spicy Citrus Marinade

1 cup orange champagne vinegar (if you can't find it-i got mine at trader joes-use 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 cup of champagne vinegar)
2 limes
3 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp curry powder
3 tsp pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper (use more if you want more kick)
4 sprigs of fresh basil chopped
3 sprigs dill chopped
1/2 chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups sweet white wine ( i used Muscat)
1 small yellow onion sliced
1 large garlic clove diced

Squeeze the juice from the limes into a bowl. A hint on getting them extra juicy is to zap them in the micro for 15 seconds before cutting them. Add all the other ingredients to the bowl and then add chicken. Make sure that your chicken is covered by the marinade. I soaked mine for 6 hours but over night would be best. We grilled it on the BBQ and it was fantastic. I served the chicken over pasta with pesto sauce. Today I made a salad and topped it with the cold chicken leftovers and it was still wonderful.

Happy Cinco de Drinko

To be honest I can't stand when people call it Cinco de Drinko but since today's recipe is for the WORLDS GREATEST MARGARITA I thought it fitting.

The story behind this marg is that my wonderful cuzsister, Alicia made one for me a few years back and I was a changed woman. They are fantastic. mmmm. I'm 90% the recipe originates from her friends husband but who can remember so I'm givin' credit to Alicia.
I also apologize for not having a whole lot of recipes (ok none) this week of Mexican food. Most of the recipes I know are Padilla family secrets. The Padilla family has a don and her name is Aunt Irene. If I gave out her recipes I may cross her and I made it a life long goal to not cross her (love you Tia).

ALICIA'S WORLDS GREATEST MARGARITA

1 12 ounce can of limeade, thawed

- now use the empty limeade can to measure the rest of the recipe, no other dirty dishes needed

1 to 1 1/2 cans of water

6 ounce corona beer

6 ounce sprite or sprite zero

3 ounce triple sec

10 ounces of tequila

Mix all ingredients in a large pitcher and serve over ice. It is delicious!!! Don't blend it--it ruins the flavor.

Above is a photo of my cuzsister and her hubby Tom pretending to be Cholos=i figured it's appropriate for Cinco de Mayo.

Aye Aye Aye==Cinco de Mayo week

Do you feel like eating like a fatty tonight? If you are being lame and answer No then read one of my lower calorie meals. TaTa.
If you're awesome and said "Why not" continue.
It's the week of Cinco de Mayo and therefore time to eat, drink and be merry. So to kick off the Mexican inspired food week I took a request from a 7 year old and made nachos.
Nachos don't have to be just chips, cheese and salsa. Use your imagination and fix up something bordering on gourmet. This is also a great time to use leftover meats. Tonight I used the beans from a left over chili I made this weekend as well as left over stredded tri tip. Use different cheeses. Swap Cheddar for pepper jack or make it an Italian nacho and use shredded and cubed mozzarella, basil and tomatoes. Crumbled chorizo is also a favorite--or bacon, ham, meat from a store bought rotisserie chicken (flashbacks).
So one of these nights excite your children and make bar food for dinner. Just do a bit of extra cardio the next day.

Bad Moods and Facebook= foul smell

I know everyone gets into a bad mood from time to time, but mine take casualties. Last Thursday started it. I got an irritating "joke" email from someone that made a "joke" aimed at Scott. Not cool. I told them off and moved on, then Scotty went on a golf trip for 3 days and my mood continued. Then Usama Bin Laden got shot.
It sure seems like facebook brings out the worst in people. I am totally guilty of this. You don't have to actually say something to someones face to be hurtful. On facebook you write exactly what comes to your mind at the time and for me that can be deadly. I posted something this morning about the hypocrisy some of my religious friends seem to have in regards to Bin Laden and homosexuals. I won't go into detail here but a family member took offense to my saying that negative comments (about either God or gays) would get you deleted. She felt like I was wrong and decided to call me on it. Funny thing is I am rarely wrong---about what I write. I wrote the truth. I did not say disagreeing with me would get you deleted just negative comments. Needless to say that in the world of facebook we are no longer family. That hurts but I stand by my comments.
Back to Bin Laden; everyone has an opinion and they are really hot to share them. There were the billion "Go America, you can run but can't hide" posts or the "Obama 1 Osama 0" or my personal favorite "Bin Laden was expecting 72 virgins and instead got 24 Virginians"--also represented were the people that wrote that we shouldn't be celebrating his death. Both sets of people are entitled to their opinions yet sadly there is always someone to argue with them.
I think facebook is a great thing. It gives people the opportunity to connect with distant family (my favorite reason), hook back up with old friends and some even find love. However with this ability you have to be responsible. Everybody doesn't want to hear your plan for the day, what you ate or your constant political views but we post them anyway. We type things in the safety of our home office or Iphones and walk away. We then feel the sinking realization of what we typed and contemplate removing them--until within 3 seconds they are read and commented on. I think that for this reason when you're in a bad mood you should avoid social media. I should have avoided most people today but instead I lashed out at a person I share DNA with. Was what I said wrong? No--but my reaction to her opinion was out of line and I can't take it back.
Facebook is like being in school all over again. There are the popular people that have tons of friends and their stuff gets tons of comments--there are the sluts that always post half naked pics of themselves--the jocks and their constant talk of the Lakers or golf game and then jackasses like me that are loud and say what they feel. I was like that in school and apparently it didn't change. I actually have grown to like myself and don't want to censer myself so I won't. That being said I think that I need to realize that it isn't a great thing to offend people and I should probably calm it down.
Facebook is a phenomenon and we are all in for the ride--just like roller coasters the ride gets nauseating after a while so we should all take a few turns and sit it out. Next time I am feeling frisky I'll channel that energy into maybe exercise and not facebook. My mother will be so proud.

Bomb Diggity Quick Bread

I am not a baker. That isn't saying that I'm bad at it, I just don't do it often. I have friends that love to bake and they are always talking about the cookies, cakes and breads they made. I on the other hand detest measuring cups. I learned to cook by watching my beautiful Grandma Alice use her palm to measure and describe recipes by saying "a bit" or a "pinch" of seasoning. To be a great baker you need to be good at making sure that all your ingredients follow the recipe to a T.
Well, occasionally I dust off my measuring cups and spoons and bake. Yesterday I was skimming my new Food network magazine and saw a great quick break mix and match. It gave tons of different choices for your quick bread--carrot, bananas or zucchini? Walnuts, raisins or coconut? Vanilla Bean, brown butter or cream cheese glaze? Well, I hate bananas and only had carrots in the fridge so carrots is it. I'm allergic to most nuts so that limited the choices in mix ins therefore I settled on chocolate chips. As for the glaze I picked chocolate. One other small change had to be made to the magazines recipe. I only had strawberry yogurt and it required plain. I won't tell if you don't.
Whatever recipe I followed, this bread turned out fantastic. And the strawberry flavor made it better.

Bomb Diggity Quick Bread
1 cup shredded carrot (I put mine in my mini food processor)
1 3/4 cups chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp each: baking powder and salt
1/2 tsp each: baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 cup cooled melted butter
1/2 cup plain (or strawberry) yogurt
1 tsp each: vanilla and citrus zest
GLAZE
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tbs cocoa
2 tbs milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Pre-oven 350 and spray 9 by 5 loaf pan with pam.
Mix flour, sugar,baking powder, salt, baking soda,cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl; add chocolate chips/ In another bowl mix eggs,butter,yogurt, vanilla, zest and carrot. Fold wet ingredients into the dry until combined.
Put into the loaf pan and bake for 55 min. Let cool.
For the glaze whisk the conf. sugar, cocoa, milk, vanilla and salt. Then pour on the bread and let set for 15 to 20 minutes.
I then topped mine with some more chocolate chips.
enjoy

Black Trash Bags and Me

Do your kids have a ton of toys? Mine do.
That being said, every so often I reach my breaking point with toys and snap. Today was one of those days. It got pretty ugly and a really unattractive barbie met her fate... the black trash bag.

I should have known today was going to be unfortunate. It is spring break and we for once are staying in town doing absolutely nothing. This sounded lovely last week while I was busy driving the kids to their various extra curricular activities and helping with homework. The thought of waking up in the morning with a completely blank agenda appeared to be heaven. I pictured days filled with organizing my drawers and cupboards while the kids amused themselves by playing games and coloring. I know that to you those things sound lame but if you suffer from mild OCD as I do, organizing drawers is porn. Since we have already concluded that I have Clark W Griswald-type expectations from some of my previous blogs, we know that I blew this up a bit big.
The beginning of this week went well. Elliot's preschool is not on spring break so she was gone during the day on Monday. Aiden and I ran errands, bonded over scary TV shows and I got 2 drawers cleaned in the kitchen as well as the entire play room organized. I was able to have enough patience to make a delicious dinner and all was right with the world. Tuesday was a bit more challenging. Elliot went to spend the morning with my mother in law while I attempted to work on the drawers in my bathroom. I started feeling a cold coming on and after looking over my 1 year old I found the source of my symptoms. I nearly forgot about Elliot's kindergarten check up and had a flop with a new recipe I was writing. At about 7 o'clock I felt a fever brewing and passed out on the couch. Today I woke to a irritating feeling of doom. I was pissed off the minute I discovered a dirty kitchen, no coffee, and sinus drainage. The older 2 fought like cats and dogs all morning and I literally got nothing productive done. By 3 I was shaking mad. I had stepped on the last lego I was going to step on for the rest of my life. I looked around my house and saw nothing but evidence of children. I know that I have them obviously, but I don't think I need to be reminded of their spoiled lifestyle in every room of our house. Before Sophie came Scott and I had successfully removed all toys and child related junk from our kitchen, bedroom and living room. We explained to them that they had their bedrooms and an entire play room (Scott painfully relinquished the "man lair" for this) to house their things. Fast forward 15 months and my living room is yet again filled with toddler toys. I can expect mild mess from the baby but will not tolerate overflow from the original 2.
To be fair the barbie that lost her life belonged to our cat Dexter. He has become an excellent barbie thief and Ellie lovingly gave him a barbie she deemed ugly. This stupid doll is always on the floor and today got in the way of my rampage.
After first explaining to the kids that it wasn't fair that mommy clean up things that she didn't mess up (blank expressions indicated that they were not listening to me), mommy snapped. I first gained a creepy calm domineer before turning around and walking quietly to the garage and grabbing my trusty black trash bag. Aiden saw the bag first and his lip quivered. Elliot started running around the house grabbing various junk that she hoped to keep from the bag. I set a timer for 20 minutes and explained (sadly not in a loving manner) that I was done. Done stepping on toys, done picking up underwear off the floor, done wiping the toilet from the poor aim of my son, done finding moldy sippy cups under beds, done vacuuming 3 times a day from the various snack messes or pencil shaving. DONE. The kids had 20 minutes to clean their messes and I slowly roamed the house searching for things that I was gonna toss. The sad part is that I am super cheap and the thought of actually throwing things away sickened me. So I grabbed stuff like fake food from their make believe kitchen and that stupid ugly doll. I also happily tossed the nerf bullets and broken crayons. These selections were just enough to ensure for now that mommy means business.
This evening has been quiet and the kids are as we speak cleaning up the playroom again (this time without the black bag being waived).
Last year my brother in law Tom and I were discussing how our kids seem to have 100% more toys than we had as kids. I was a spoiled brat and still had less junk than my 3 kids. Tom told me that he and his younger sister had one big toy box. Their toys had to fit in this toy box or else. When holidays or birthdays loomed they had to decide what toys in the box were maybe babyish or under-used and toss them. My parents didn't subscribe to those rules. We had a huge basement that had arcade games and tons of toys. I had a huge train set and at one time an entire room devoted to my barbies (that I re-enacted scenes from Young and the Restless with). My kids have tons of people in their lives that love them and shower them with gifts. I will say that Aiden and Elliot have always been grateful and taken moderately good care of their things. The problem is that their things are everywhere.
While I am not going to buy one toy box for the kids to share (it would have to be a really big box). I am definitely in the market for some tips on handling the overflow.
Today my kids will go to bed remembering that their things can be removed if mommy is having an off day. Tomorrow they will most likely go back to their routines of dropping junk wherever they want and expecting mom to follow like a servant. So I will continue buying my black bags at Costco and hopefully one day when they're much older I will receive a phone call that my mother got from me a couple years ago. "Mom I'm so sorry, these kids are driving me crazy-how did you do it?" I'll tell them it'll get easier and that I love them and will pray for their patience--then I'll hang up and go to Toys R Us to buy my grand kids loads of annoying crap they don't need.
Pay Back, it is a...

Holy Schnitzel Batman

My husband and I love going to a local restaurant called Cafe Med. It's been our go to date night spot for 10 years. During this decade long love affair with my husband and this restaurant he has ordered the same thing every time--chicken schnitzel. He loves it. Needless to say my darling hubby has been droppin' hints for years for me to make it at home.
Today through a series of texts and phone calls I realized that Scott was having a tough day at work, so I decided that since I had all the ingredients that schnitzel would require today would be the day. I couldn't find a decent recipe online so in true Sarah fashion I made one up based on the flavors the dish at Cafe Med.
For a side dish I made mashed potatoes with gravy. If you are a fan of the boxed potatoes I will not judge...totally. I used to use them back when I was a terribly cook and they did the trick. If you don't make homemade potatoes because they're time consuming, well I'm about to flip the script on you. I peel up the potatoes (I only use 4 russets with my fam) cut them into chunks and toss them in salt and pepper then put them in a ziploc steam bag. Steam them in the micro according to the directions, mix with your desired amounts of milk and butter and mash away. Takes no time at all--I promise.

Holy Schnitzel

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded very thin
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup flour
1 tbs pepper
1/2 tbs sea salt
1 tbs paprika
2 tbs dried oregano
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots chopped (you can use any onion but shallots are best)
2 cloves garlic chopped
one lemon sliced into wedges
FOR GRAVY
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup flour
dash salt and pepper

Soak the pounded chicken in a zip lock full of the cup of lemon juice.
In a shallow dish add flour, pepper,salt,paprika and oregano and stir together. In a large skillet add the olive oil, shallots and garlic and heat til good and hot (keep stirring as to not burn garlic). Remove chicken from bag and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge in the flour mix on both sides until fully coated (no chicken showing through) and place in hot oil. Do this for both breasts and heat until browned and cooked through. About 5-6 min a side. Remove from oil and place on paper towel lined plate.
The oil should have reduced to less than 1/8 cup so you can now start the gravy for the mashed potatoes I hope you prepared from the above mentioned directions. Add in the lemon juice and chicken stock stirring while scraping the sides of the pan to get all the drippings from the chicken. Bring this to a boil and then begin spooning in the floor a bit at a time whilst whisking it to prevent chunks. Reduce heat and dash the salt n pep. I also spritzed a bit of fresh lemon into the pan with the gravy.
To serve the chicken spritz with the fresh lemon wedges and if you have fresh dill that would be an awesome herb to sprinkle on top. Use the bomb diggity gravy with the taters or on top the chicken. Enjoy

Traditions

Wow-this year is just buzzing by. I have been a busy bee with all the holidays and traditions that keep popping up. When the kids were really small I didn't fuss too much with all the ins and outs of holiday traditions, but now that I have 3 kids in an age range of 7 to 1 I seem to have a full plate. First we had New Years and Sophie 1st birthday. Next up came Valentines day and all of it's fan fare (see valentines day blog). St. Patty's came with all of it's Leprechaun hunting and green food, and now it's Easters turn to flow into the Cooper house. Easter is a bittersweet holiday for me because when I was a kid I loved it. It wasn't just the Easter baskets that my mom would hide in weird places (the oven was a favorite) or the chocolate bunnies. Easter was a huge family holiday when I was little; Christmas's little sister. We would wake up early and search for the baskets and then go to my Grandmas tiny church.
The majority of my moms family lives in Salt Lake City and I have a ton of cousins, so in the afternoon we would gather at our house or my aunt Irene's to hunt Easter eggs and eat tons of food (usually Mexican). I have so many pictures in my memory of my cousins and I dressed in pastels with little baskets hunting dyed eggs (we started hiding the plastics later in life after one too many rotten eggs were found stinkin' up the joint in June). The reason this is bittersweet for me now as a parent is that my kids really have no cousins. They are the only kids looking for eggs in our yard, the only kids with chocolate smeared faces, and the only kids being forced to eat ham and funeral potatoes. I have one brother and he has no kids-Scott has one sister that will never have kids so our 3 are it, and to me that is sort of depressing.
Scott and I had totally different upbringings. I have like a billion cousins and if given enough time I can name all of them and recall a personal memory that goes along with about 90%. Some of us were very close and some are still total strangers to me. Holidays were spent with lots of kids around that resembled me and tons of aunts and uncles standing around us, patting our heads and feeding us candy. Scott did not have this experience. He has like 12 cousins and if given enough time he can come up with like 7 names and hardly a memory to go along with them. I used to joke that it was a white people thing to not know your family but I could be just stereotyping. For my husband the importance of family being around is well...not that important. Our kids have fabulous grandparents that without any other grandchildren spoil my kids with their attention. They have awesome Godparents and surrogate "aunts and uncles" that are actually of no relation to them, just close friends. Luckily I have also remained very close with my "cousister" Alicia and our kids are each others cousins yet sadly they do not live near us. So this Easter will be like last ones: brunch at the country club (i dislike ham greatly and don't enjoy cooking Easter food), egg hunt at home and bbq'd dinner ala Dad. I will hide the baskets and recite the Easter story as to keep some traditions going.
Someday I will look back on these smaller scale holidays as our own personal traditions, and someday my kids will maybe enjoy a few of them with their families. I guess there comes a time in every parents life when they have to accept that their kids are not going to have the exact same experiences that they had and that it is okay...or I can just pressure my brother into getting married and having kids so mine can have some fun.

Wacky Weather Wed. Easy Peasy

My husband and I love Daniel Tosh. He is a very crass and crude comedian but he's also hilarious. You feel like you're going to Hell every time you laugh along but so be it. Anyhow he has this bit where he says (I'm para-phrasing) 'I hate people that say the love seasons. They want to live where there are seasons. Well, I love seasons too, that's why I live somewhere that skips the sh*&&y ones.' Well I live somewhere that skips the "crappy" ones.
I have already experienced enough weather for one year. I have lived through a full on blizzard and now home in Bako the towns weather is becoming bi-polar. One day it'll be gorgeous and my perfect temp (sunny 65 with a slight breeze) then it's steamy hot (for me that is 85) and then you get today--frickin' freezing and windy.
I owe my dinner tonight to my lovely firey redheaded friend Erika. She posted on facebook that chili was in the crock pot and I thought "YUM". So I looked in the fridge and saw our left over tri tip that Scott grilled on one of the lovely days. It was super yummy so I thought-why let it go to waste.
So, tonight I chopped it up and made my chili and cornbread with tri tip instead of hamburger. I also used less veggies (only used onion and carrots) and more beans. It was of course delicious. Scott of course just reheated his lunch since he dislikes my chili; and I'm ok with that...for now.

Hello April-Need vacation from vacation

Hello peeps. I am sorry for the long break in posts but this broad was on a week long vacation in Lake Tahoe and required a couple days before and a couple days after to get back to normal. This vacation was well, tiring. We got a sweet deal on a condo in North Lake Tahoe for the last week of March and thought "why the hell not". Knowing we may get bored just hanging out with our kids we somehow convinced my parents, whom are allergic to snow, to go along with us; add in my 25 year old brother home from a school break and BAM a full family vacation.
Our vacations when I was a kid generally involved the oil business. My dad owns an oil related company and we saw beautiful places like Taft, Ca. If it wasn't a business trip then it was visiting family members that didn't reside in Utah with us. Sadly a vast majority of the Swenson/Padilla crew live in furiously lame places. Small towns in Washington, Houston, Tx (sorry Texans but that place is awful), Corona, Ca, Mountain Home, Idaho etc. I love my parents but we definitely didn't summer in Hawaii. Scott and I hope to give our kids a large scope of travel memories. We've realized that since Aiden is the oldest he will have the weakest travel scrapbook since we were busy and less affluent when he bounced into our lives. Needless to say we feel as if we are starting to run out of quality time with our son because every year he gets less attached to us and it is mildly depressing.
I pictured this trip like so: Sitting around a big oak dining table eating warm pancakes, followed by hours of snowman building (our kids had never seen snow before this trip), ending our days sipping hot cocoa while playing board games. Stop laughing.
Now that you've heard my Clark W Griswold expectations let me tell you how it really went down. For starters my fabulous best friend and biggest "supporter" Alicia (my cousin) was already betting that we'd kill each other before the end of the vacation so imagine her lack of surprise when she got a frantic phone call before we'd even left my driveway. My dad (a taller grumpier version of moi) and I got into an argument regarding the impending blizzard that if timed correctly we would be driving through. I assumed that he was being dramatic since he really didn't want to go to the snow (a seasonal symptom that he moved away from in 1992). It is safe to say things didn't start well.
We headed north at 1030 (the fight caused us to miss our desired 10am departure time) and drove in lovely weather through a large portion of northern California. Then we passed through Auburn. We stopped at a gas station to let a fussy Sophie get out of her car seat and allow everyone else to use the potty. Scott and my Dad decided to play it by ear on whether or not to even open the boxes of tire chains for our 2 wheel drive Southern weather lovin' trucks. After piling back in the car and heading back up the highway we see the beginnings of beautiful white, fluffy snow. Followed by more snow. Lots of snow. Piles of snow.
Suddenly with only 2 hours left in our trip traffic halts. It seemed every stinking idiot in the state was headed towards Lake Tahoe. We see lights flashing warning that chains are going to be required and inspected ahead. We pull over and after reading instructions and exchanging the occasional irritated sigh and curse word the chains went on (it had started heavily snowing).
IT TOOK 5 HOURS TO GO 120 MILES. No I didn't stutter.
I'd like to say now that I have fully apologized for the complete and utter nervous breakdown that I unleashed on my husband and children while trapped in our car appropriately named Chevy Avalanche. Snow began to pile so high on the sides of the road that I started to feel like we were trapped. Our lovely little Sophie June had begun to fully freak out in the back seat and Aiden and I had to switch seats. The panic attack came on slowly as I (a sufferer of claustrophobia) sat trapped between two car seats in the back seat of a truck. I started having serious visions of piles of snow falling from the mountains beside us and burying our car. I counted granola bars and capri suns and began making plans for rationing them out. Let me tell you, it is an ominous thing to pass a half buried sign disclaiming DONNER PASS while you're in a snow covered nightmare. I would also like to mention my husband is a descendant of that damn family.
After hours of driving 2 miles an hour we approached the town of Truckee which I knew was close to our destination. Only 20 miles. Took another hour. During the break in the traffic and snow the two leaders of our group, Scott and Big Daddy, made the absolutely absurd decision to remove the chains so that we could drive a bit faster since it was now pitch dark out and we thought the road ahead would be clear. This decision was quickly regretted as we slid all over the icy mountain roads. We also couldn't find anywhere to pull over to put the dang things back on because every building, hotel, parking lot etc was under at least 12 ft of snow. My breakdown increased once all 3 kids had fallen asleep and I was able to "discuss" my feeling of impending doom. The husband (who had remarkably remained quite calm during this excursion) had grown tired of listening to what I assume were my dramatic cries in the back seat.
Soon we saw the first street that we needed to turn on approaching on our cars navigational system declaring 0.5 miles and began getting very excited. I had once labored for 16 hours on pitocin with no pain meds and that was still a better day than this had become.
Don't worry it got worse...
We were about to make the final left turn onto the street that our cabin was located when our back tires spun out and got stuck. Picture this: My hysterical self shivering outside the car door holding a flashlight (I chose a simple hoodie as I am an idiot from Bakersfield that had forgotten how cold winter could be) while my poor partner attempted to apply at least one chain in the dark, freezing snow. Oh don't worry about my parents, they zoomed up the hill right away not realizing that their first born and her ENTIRE family were stuck freezing to death behind them. Once they realized this they headed to our rescue and assisted Scott in the chain dept while I, convinced I was frostbitten beneath my converse, snuggled next to a now very awake and panicked Aiden.
At 11 o'clock pm (12.5 hours after we began what we thought would be a 6.5 hour trip) we pulled up to what we assumed was our cabin. It was completely covered in snow and the only entrance we didn't need a permit for (get it--like we needed to climb a mountain.) was the garage. Home. Finally. Thank God.

Now why did I feel the need to tell you this long winded story about our dramatic venture through a blizzard? Because it didn't matter what things I thought were going to happen. The snowmen and the cocoa were not important. They were things that families do on TV (or Mormon ones because we all know they accomplish snowmen and board games) not things that generally happen for us regular folk. Vacations will never add up to insane expectations, but being with you family and knowing that you can get through scary times together is whats important and unexpected.

Plus we could have literally been carjacked by 3 gang banging grizzly bears and then had a home invasion from Charlie Sheen and a gaggle of hookers armed with violent tornadoes of truth and that still wouldn't have topped our harrowing adventure to our vacation.
I am happy to report that Alicia was wrong this time and no homicides happened. I had a great bonding time with my parents, brother, hubby and kids. I got to see my dad actually play cranium and attempt to act out bungee jumping only using his arms. I made a butt load of chicken and waffles and got to see a friend I hadn't seen in 10 years. We watched a ton of movies including a classic Jimmy Stewart called Mr. Hobbs takes a vacation. The snow was always too fresh to make a proper snow man and my kids only like the marshmallows on cocoa. I had a very good time with my fam and was actually sad to pull away from the cabin almost a full week later. It's taken 3 days to unpack and Sophie is currently struggling with her sleep schedule but this trip was worth it. Blizzard, panic attack and all.

Easy Peezy Hump Day: Rotisserie Edition

Awe Wednesday. I am so tired today that my family is lucky they got dinner. Two nights in a row my one year old has actually slept a good stretch of the night. Last night she slept til 6:45am. Unfortunately my four year old didn't get the "let mama sleep" memo. She was up 3 times and I'd have to walk her back to bed.
Well I am continuing with the chicken. Tonight we have a quick pseudo Mexican dish: Chicken Quesadillas.
I really don't think you guys need a complete recipe. Use as much of the shredded chicken as you'd like plus whatever cheese you'd like. Mix in a can of green chiles if you want to spice it up. I will recommend making them with the uncooked tortillas from Costco. My sista-cousin Alicia turned me on to making them this way they're fantastic.

Tuesday Dynasty Rotisserie Edition: Kung Pao Lettuce Wraps

Okay, now to make a yummy dinner with the rotisserie chicken while using an Asian flare. I decided to make Kung Pao Lettuce Wraps. Now people I know my rule is that the kids eat what I cook but tonight I wanted extra spicy kung pao so Ellie and Sophie got mac and cheese (which they enjoyed of course).

Kung Pao Lettuce Wraps
serves 2 (makes about 8 wraps)

2 stalks of celery chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1/4 cup peanuts
1 cup cooked chicken chopped (I used the rotisserie of course)
8 leaves from your favorite lettuce (i went with romaine but Scott said he would have preferred iceberg with its NO nutritional content)
1 packet of kung pao mix (mix it up according to directions: usually adding sugar, soy sauce, and water) and set aside.
a few sprigs of cilantro
1/2 cup red cabbage
chile garlic sauce if you want more spice

In a large skillet heated to med/high and sprayed with Pam, stir fry the first 4 ingredients. When the celery and onions are softened add in the kung pao mix already made according to directions. Continue to cook on medium heat until the sauce thickens.
When sauce is thick (about 10-15 min) serve on the crisp cold lettuce leaves. Top the meat mixture with red cabbage and cilantro.
I made white rice and Asian cole slaw. Asian cole slaw is just cole slaw mix tossed in Sesame salad dressing and it's super. Scott loved this one and thought it would also make an awesome app to take to a party.

Secret Life of the American Sex-o-holic

Okay, have you people ever seen ABC Family's Secret Life of the American Teenager? Who in the hell is writing that drivel. I was an American teenager about 12 years ago and I can say for a fact that my high school friends and I did not talk about sex that much. I decided to sit down and attempt to watch this and wow... Every scene revolves around sex. EVERY SCENE. These kids are supposed to be high school sophomores which is the scariest part. I went through 2 years of jr. high and 4 years of high school being acquainted with many kids that did have sex and I never in those 6 years heard the subject discussed more than I did in 30 minutes of programming.
My kids are still far off from the scary years of teen but I am already starting to freak out. Kids get sexually aware younger and younger these days. I go to my sons elementary school and there are girls in short skirts, huge earrings and make-up! I was 13 when make-up became allowed and that was also the year I had my first kiss. I'm not saying the two were tied together but Ellie and Sophie will not be slapping on the maybeline at 7. I didn't dive in to boy girl alone time early for my one reasons and I am glad. I had a scary experience with my first real "boyfriend" in jr. high and that put me off the idea of boys for a good, long time. When I did get to high school and watched all my friends have sex I wasn't jealous and I wasn't dying to fit in either. I wish I knew how that happened. I wasn't raised in a religious home although I was aware that sex before marriage was "wrong". I wasn't raised by parents that I couldn't talk to. Well, I would never talk about that stuff with Big Daddy (he responded to my first pregnancy by stating "I guess you're not a virgin anymore" I had been married 7 months), but Joy and I have been able to be fairly open with each other. I want to guarantee that my kids go through their teens just like me without having them go through a semi-traumatic experience like I had. Watching this dang TV show is not helping my panic attack.
One of the dumb girls on this show already has a baby and another is pregnant. After each commercial break they have a mini PSA about how most teens don't talk to their parents about sex until they're pregnant. This show is not a realistic story of what happens when you do get pregnant young. I had my first child at 22 and I was flying blind. One of my best friends in high school got pregnant her senior year. I was with her when she took that test and I cried my eyes out with pity. Her story had a happy ending in that her parents didn't murder her and she and the father have been married over 10 years now. That story isn't even a good representation. Then you have complete crap like MTV's Teen Mom and the total trash on that show don't display any growing up or responsibility.
I'm not going to get on my moral high horse and say sex out of wedlock is wrong (although I do think people should wait) because that's not what my blog is about. However I wish I could strangle these teens that think having sex is so super cool and that they won't regret it. I would love to hear from some people that are glad they had sex with a ton of people before marriage. Glad they played the field 300 times and dodged VD's left and right. If you are glad you lost your virginity at 14 please let me know because I would love to be proved wrong (although I never am). I guess through writing this I've decided that I'll be very open and honest with my kids. I will tell them whatever they need to know because saying nothing leads to excessive curiosity. I will tell them stories about people I knew that made horrific decisions regarding sex and were hurt in the end.
I have only kissed 4 boys in my life. From age 13 til age 19 (when I met Scotty). Everyone thinks that's wierd (even my goody too shoe friends) but I am very proud of that fact. I decided at an early age what my personal value was and decided not to tarnish it. I was not an angel but dammit I was no slut. In the year 2011 I guess that is all I want my kids to say about their teen age years. Is that sad?

Layered Pasta with Chicken

Okay I already made a small fajita lunch for 2 with my store bought rotisserie chicken. Tonight I thought I'd try something new and easy for dinner. I made two of this dish, one for me and one for my friend. I would also point out another thing. A Cooper quirk if you will--we are not hearty eaters. My store bought chicken will last more than another family mostly because we don't celebrate it. So if you are not little birds like we Coops then add more chicken to the recipe.

Layered Pasta with Chicken

1 package of penne cooked according to the directions
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (either red or white whatever you choose will give a different feel to the dish) or make your own--you'll need about 3 cups.
1/2 cup of chopped rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup chopped prosciutto
1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 shredded Parmesan

Heat oven to 350. Spray a casserole pan with Pam and start to layer. Put down a thin layer of sauce, then pile on half the penne. Then more sauce, the chicken and some of the half of the cheeses. More sauce, rest of the penne, the prosciutto and the remaining sauce and the sun dried tomatoes. Then top with remaining cheese and cover. Put in the oven for 25 min covered then uncover and cook for 20 more. Serve immediately.

Ode to the Rotisserie Chicken Week

Good Monday y'all. I decided to mix it up a bit and dedicate most of my recipes this week to the supermarkets rotisserie chicken. I get mine at Costco because I think theirs has the best flavor.
I bought 2 chickens at $4.99 each although I usually only buy 1. I bought the extra bird for two reasons--I am taking a meal to a friend that has an addition to her family tomorrow and I wanted to make enough recipes to give more ideas to my 2 dozen actual fans. So go out and buy your chickens.
When you get your chicken home immediately remove the meat. If you don't and just put in your fridge while in its container the fat will get all nasty--just saying. I removed all the meat and skin from the chicken and put in in a big container for the fridge. Scott came home for lunch and I made my first meal out of the chicken--fajitas! So that's one down.
Also-don't discard the carcass. I put mine into freezer bags so I can make chicken stock, gravy and soups later on. Rotisserie chickens really are the gift that keeps on givin'.
So look forward to tonight's recipe!

She Eats! Miracles in Cooperville

Remember that scene from A Christmas Story where Ralphie describes his brother as the child that never eats. It came down to the mother getting Randy to eat like a little piggy. Well Sarah don't do piggy time. I'm a complete clean freak so I will never tell my kids to eat like pigs in a sty but I do have a kid that never eats--Ellie (4). She has made a goal of living off of chocolate milk, strawberry nutrigrain bars, cookie cereal, yogurt and the occasional nugget. Dinner time in our house is a fight of getting her to eat without giving her a negative feeling towards family dinner time. Ketchup has gotten us pretty far since she'll eat at least a bite of something smothered the stuff. Sadly for my daughter I have a very strict rule about our family meals; Mom is not a short order cook and if you don't eat what she cooks you starve. Now I'm not a cold blooded fool and I do usually make at least one child friendly side dish if I am serving something they'd consider odd. I watched Joy make bowls of cereal and countless hot dogs in her attempt to get my brother to eat and at age 10 I knew that was BS. With my kids I only offer a different meal when it is something really spicy and even then I usually just make a little less spicy version of it. For example on taco nights Ellie refuses to eat her taco generally but she will eat her weight in beans, rice and tortillas. Well, tonight I made something called "Brick Chicken" and she ate a ton of it! Plus we got her to cheat on broccoli with cauliflower and she loved that too. The sky is shining down on me because I now know that my daughter is capable of eating actual food. Here is the recipe which Aiden says tastes like turkey dinner. Expect to see a Sarah-fied version of this in the next couple weeks since I have thought of some different ways to make this meal.

Brick Chicken with Thyme and Sage
8 small boneless skinless chicken thighs ( I actually used thighs!)
8 cloves of garlic smashed
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 chopped sprigs of sage
1 tbs olive oil
dash of crushed red pepper (or more if you like)
couple dashes kosher salt

***
In a large bowl toss all of the ingredients together. Heat up your skillet to med heat spray with non stick spray. Place the chicken in the skillet, pour and remaining stuff from the bowl on top. Place a second smaller skillet on top of the chicken and use 3 cans of soup or beans to weigh it down. (see pic). After 10 min flip the chicken and do this process again. As soon as chicken is at your desired crispness you're done (obviously make sure it's cooked through). We served artichokes and cauliflower.

Easy Peezy Hump Day! Sweet and Savory Ravioli

There are a couple of items that you can snag at your grocery store that make for an easy dinner that appears fancy. These items are prosciutto and stuffed raviolis. This time I bought the butternut squash kind and also really wanted to use the new pourable cream cheese from Phily so I pulled this recipe out of the air and rolled with it. I also like to have a jar of sun dried tomatoes on hand because they make everything yummy. Also, try to keep fresh herbs on hand for added flavor.

Sweet and Savory Ravioli
serves 6

2 packages store bought butternut squash raviolis (I got mine at Fresh and Easy)
1 tub of the Philadelphia pourable creme
1 cup of chicken stock
5 strips of prosciutto chopped up small
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 garlic cloves sliced
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes sliced into strips
1 tbs dried oregano
1 small yellow onion sliced into big chunks
dash of salt
2 tsp pepper
palm full of chopped fresh Italian parsley
couple of extra sun dried tom strips
fresh grated parm cheese
***
Prep the rav's as directed on the package. In a large skillet heat about 1 tbs olive oil and add garlic and onion. Sweat them out on med heat for about 5 min. Add prosciutto and mushrooms. After the mushrooms start to soften add the chicken stock, sun dried tomatoes. Bring heat up to med/high and begin adding the cream a large spoon full at a time. Stir it up until its well blended. Add oregano,salt,pepper and stir again. Place cooked raviolis in bowl and pour sauce over it. Add fresh parsley, extra sun dried tomatoes and cheese. Add more salt if needed.

Alone time.

I'm rarely alone. Ever. I never grasped the reality of it until I had the third child, but it is really ridiculous. I used to have the couple mornings a week when Ellie was at preschool and Aiden in school and then we added Soph. Sophie, as most know, is a really "spunky" child. She is a serious mommy stalker and doesn't let me go anywhere... I mean ANYWHERE WITHOUT HER. Well this has obviously gotten a little bit aggravating, so my lovely mother in law Deborah has now offered to watch her every other Monday afternoon while both older kids are at school so that I can breathe. Hopefully Sophie will see that I'm always going to come back for her and that even without mommy life goes on. Well I had a lovely couple of free hours of puttering around my beautifully quiet house without anyone whining or hanging off my hip. Pure ecstasy.
While I was pregnant with Aiden I got tons of unsolicited advice. The most popular tidbit was "sleep now because you never will again." That was never really an issue with our kids. We stupidly let them sleep with us and I nursed on command (Sophie does sleep in her crib 60% of the night, so that's progress) and never lost too much sleep. What I wish someone had said was "savor your alone time, its fleeting". Never once heard that one and I was totally not prepared for how much I would miss it.
I am for the most part a lone wolf. I've never required people around me at all times. I loved playing alone as a child and as an adult not much has changed. I do like spending time with the handful of friends I have, but free time is few and far between. Why should I feel guilty about wanting to be alone? I don't argue with myself, start drama, ask for a drink, beg for a snack, etc. I'm a wonderful play date. I made myself a very odd wrap for lunch and sat my butt on the couch without guilt for the first time in years.
Moms out there in blogland--make a date with yourself because it will make you a better mommy. I was mom of the year after my play date alone. Picked Aiden up from the bus stop, took him to lunch, got to actually watch his swim practice, dropped him at a friend, picked up both girls and made a super bomb diggity chicken parm for dinner. I feel great this evening and am praying that the energy lasts. So moms, do alone time because your family will benefit. My husband played in a golf tournie and I stuffed him full of chicken so my house is full of sleeping Coopers. I think I'll read my new Lucky mag and have an extended play date.

PS: You will never receive my chicken parm recipe. Some things are secret and sacred.