this is why we endure the long winters here

Because the summers are so great! Scott took the afternoon off and we had a good time swimming and soaking up the sun. We went out for pizza on the lake and then just trolled home. The kids are sound asleep now....worn out from all the fun.

quesadilla explosion salad

This weekend I finally got around to trying to make a homemade version of Chili's Quesadilla Explosion Salad. Too many things had come up the week I had it on my menu plan to get it made. I was able to find an excellent fajita marinade and citrus balsamic vinaigrette recipe online and I think that this homemade version comes pretty close to the real thing!

This recipe is pretty involved and will take some planning so that all of the components of the salad are ready at the same time but it is so worth the effort. Next time I make it I am going to marinade and grill more chicken so that we can have it for more than one meal. I hope you like it if you try it!

A few hours before you plan to eat make this recipe for Corn and Black Bean Salsa.

Prepare the fajita marinade -
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup water
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 tsp. vinegar
4 tsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
a couple of dashes onion powder

Place 5 or 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts in a ziploc bag and pour marinade over. Refrigerate and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours.

Prepare Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette -
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. sugar
pinch of ground nutmeg

Whisk ingredients in a pan over medium-high heat just until the sugar has melted. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Make tortilla stips -
Cut a few red tortillas and a few green colored tortillas into thin strips. Deep fry in vegetable oil for a minute or so till crispy. Sprinkle with salt after removed from the oil while still hot.

Other items needed to prepare salad -
washed and torn salad greens
shredded cheddar cheese, monterey jack, colby....any of the cheeses or a combo would be good
Ranch dressing

To put the salad together grill the chicken breast. Slice into thin strips when done. Place a handful or 2 of salad greens on a plate. Top with a few spoonfulls of the corn and black bean salsa, shredded cheese, grilled chicken breast, a few drizzles of ranch dressing (this is more of a garnish) and then tortilla strips. Serve vinaigrette on the side.

Chili's also served cheese quesadilla triangles on the side so while the chicken was grilling I made two cheese quesadillas, cut each into 6 triangles and served them alongside the salad.

The picture above is from Chili's website. We didn't want to take the time for pictures of ours. We were too hungry! :) Also, I want to give credit to Meemo's Kitchen, the website where I found the recipes for the fajita marinade and vinaigrette. They were excellent! I made only minor changes because of ingredients I had on hand.

sunday afternoon walk

This afternoon the kids and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. It was sunny and breezy out, perfect for a little stroll. My neighbors peonies are in full bloom and are absolutely gorgeous. I don't know if I could pick a favorite flower but these would definitely be in my top 5.

We found these giant 'wishing flowers' in the ditch. All of the weeds are flowering right now too. They make a nice background for photos. :)

The walk through the ditch took us to the next road over so that we could go see another neighbor's horses. There was only one in the pen next to the road and it didn't want to come over by us even though Ava kept saying 'Tome here horsie.' We will need to remember to bring carrots to bribe it over next time.


We did an ABC treasure hunt on our walk and were able to find something for most of the letters. Isn't that huge dragonfly cool?! It was just lying on the road, not squashed at all, so Elle picked it up. I got the idea for this from Scribbit. She has some fabulous ideas for activities to do with your kids. We really enjoyed this one!

super cute pajamas

Aren't these pajamas that Scott's mom made adorable?! The kids love them and they fit perfectly. Thank you Grandma Jan!

food savin'

Last week I purchased a FoodSaver. I've been wanting one for a long time and with berry season starting next week (hopefully!) I thought it was a good time to finally get one. I spent yesterday afternoon vacuum sealing all kinds of things -rice, almonds, green tea, bread crumbs, chicken....anything that could be vacuumed sealed. Food savin' is fun! :)

I spend a lot of time shopping for bargains at the grocery store. A few years ago I found a couple of sites that really motivated me in this area and taught me how to make the most of my dollar at the grocery store - Laine's Letters and Like Merchant Ships. I've learned how to shop by the grocery store ad and now I often shop at both grocery stores in town to pick up the deals. I clip coupons when I find them. Our Sunday paper doesn't have much for coupons in it so my savings aren't substantial but every little bit helps. It's been great to learn so many tips and tricks and it's fun when you find a really great bargain. I look at it as a challenge every week to come in at my budget.

One of my favorite tips that I used to never do was to look for manager's specials or reduced for quick sale items in the meat department. There is usually something marked down. I like to pick these items up and then freeze them right away in the correct portion size for our family meals for later use. Now I'll be able to vacuum seal them and not have to worry about losing them in the freezer and then end up throwing away freezer burnt 'savings'! When I menu plan for the week I often 'shop' from the freezer and plan our meals around the items that we already have. My grocery lists are usually just extra things that are required for the meals and loss leaders to stock the pantry and freezer and of course produce and other staples that get purchased on a weekly basis.

If this is something that interests you I'd encourage you to head over to Meredith's blog and start reading her archived posts on 'food from afar'. One of my favorite series of posts that she has done is a week of cooking on a 1950's budget menu.

monkey bread gone wrong

I guess when the recipe says to divide the dough between two bread pans that means I need to divide it between two bundt pans as well! I am so thankful that I put that parchment paper on the jelly roll pan. That would've been a nightmare to clean!

fishing report

I love this fishing update on Thomas's blog. He's quite the fisherman.

wfmw: gel-gloss cleaner

Scott bought this Gel-Gloss cleaner at Home Depot when we got our boat out of storage this spring. We used it to clean and polish the exterior of the boat before we put it in the water. It worked great! Just this last weekend he used it to clean the inside of the boat. The chrome is sparkling again and he said that he was surprised at how easily things wiped off the fiberglass that we hadn't been able to get off with regular cleaners last year, like nail polish scratches. I had to pass this on because a co-worker of Scott's emailed me awhile back that a bottle of nail polish had spilled in her bathtub and she wondered if I knew of anything that she could use to get it off. I didn't know of anything for sure at the time. This would be the stuff to use though!

One of the reviewers at amazon.com said that it works really well to get the black marks off of her white porcelain kitchen sink. I had one of those sinks in our last house and was always battling with those marks. I wish I would've known about this product then! Hopefully it will work for you!

gardening advice needed

I've spent the past two afternoons working in my flower garden between the boulder retaining walls. I've been pulling tons of crown vetch that I had planted a few years ago. It never bloomed for very long and looked like a weed when it wasn't in bloom. It had started taking over a large part of the garden and choking out other plants that I wanted there. I can tell I'm going to be battling it for awhile! The root system on it was amazing and everyday there are little plants showing up that I missed.

This area is so big and it will be several years yet before it is full of plants like I'd like it to be. It is fun to watch it progress a little each year though. Many of the plants have been given to me from friend's and family's gardens. I really should've divided some of the plants this spring but I didn't get to it in time. I found this great article and might try dividing them this fall and then put mulch over them for the winter. Any suggestions from you more experienced gardeners?

Another question I have is - can I move plants anytime throughout the summer? I have 2 sedum 'black jack' plants that I'd like to move into this flower garden. They are thriving where they are at but they are in the way of my little vegetable garden. If I move them now will that deter them from blooming this fall?

I love the stonecrop sedum that is finally tumbling over and throughout the rock walls. Some of it blooms in yellow and the rest is pink. It has taken awhile for it to get established but now it's really spreading. I'll post pictures to share as everything peaks this summer!

sunny days

I've been missing from the blog because the rains have stopped and the sun is shining. I've been waiting a long time for this weather! Be back soon!

meatballs: the perfect air freshener

Yesterday when Scott got home from work he took Thomas with him to the driving range for awhile. While they were gone I made the meatballs that we were going to have for dinner and put them in the oven to bake. When Thomas came home he kept telling me how good they smelled and then said, 'Your meatballs should be an air freshener!' :)

If he thinks they are that good I guess I should share the recipe with all of you! They are great as a main course or even as an appetizer.

Party Time Meatballs

Meatballs:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 cups dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

Sauce:
1 cup apricot preserves
1 cup prepared barbeque sauce of your choice (I usually use Cattleman's or Famous Daves.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking pan with foil; coat lightly with non-stick vegetable spray.

In a large bowl, combine beef, pork, eggs, and onion. In a smaller bowl, combine bread crumbs, parsley, salt, pepper, and thyme; mix thoroughly. Add the bread crumb mixture to the meat and egg mixture; mix lightly to combine all ingredients. Shape into balls (a 1 1/2-inch scoop works well to achieve even-sized portions).

Place meatballs on foil-lined pan. For the topping, combine preserves and barbeque sauce; spoon over meatballs. Bake 30-40 minutes or until meatballs are brown and firm. Serve warm.

Recipe source: Cooking with Confidence

paddleboating

I said last week that I was going to show you the girls' organized closets for Talk About Tuesday but I changed my mind. Instead I'm talking about what my kids have been having fun with this spring.

A few weeks ago I picked up a paddleboat at a garage sale. It was a bargain for only $60! I thought the kids would love to take it around our little lake and I knew Thomas would claim it as a fishing boat. He was disappointed that it's pink on the bottom instead of blue or red but I told him that for that price he couldn't be picky!

He's had a lot of fun taking it out, loading his tackle box in the back and trying to catch a really big fish.

This morning the weather was beautiful here so the kids and I took it out through the channel to the big lake. They thought that was pretty fun. I packed a sleeve of Ritz crackers and a container of water for a snack and we enjoyed all of the sites on the lake. There is a mama loon that made a nest on the shore and is laying on her eggs. We are looking forward to seeing the baby loons! We also saw 'Billy' the blue heron that always comes back here every year, lots of fish, turtles and ducks.


I think many fun memories will be made with this little boat!

menu plan monday

I've still been menu planning but haven't been posting them to the blog. Scott said that it was always nice to know what we were having though so I'm posting it for him. :) I am trying two new recipes this week. The first is for Monkey bread. It's from my parent's church cookbook so it's gotta be a good one right?! I love church cookbooks because they are full of all the tried and true recipes that are simple and turn out great everytime. The other dish I want to make I am going to try to come up with a recipe for or do some more searching online and hopefully find a good copycat version. It's for the Quesadilla Explosion Salad from Chili's restaurant. We met Scott's parents for lunch there to pick up Thomas and Elle a couple of weekends ago and it was very good. I wrote down everything that I thought was in it on the way home. I think I already have a good portion of it figured out since it reminded me so much of the Corn and Black Bean Salsa I make on a regular basis in the summer. If it turns out, I'll share my recipe!

Breakfasts:
Eggs & Toast
Monkey Bread
Oatmeal
Cold Cereal
Blueberry Scones

Lunches:
Leftovers
Sandwiches

Dinners:
Monday - Meatballs, Cheesy Potatoes, Garden Salad
Tuesday - Chicken Spaghetti, Steamed Peas, Fruit
Wednesday - Quesadilla Explosion Salad
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Grilled Shrimp, Beef Kabobs with peppers and mushrooms, Bruschetta
Saturday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Potato Salad, Raw Veggies
Sunday - Grilled Chicken Sandwiches, Potatoe Salad, Fruit

Desserts:
We will be eating this cake for most of the week. It's one of Scott's favorites so I made it for him for Father's Day yesterday.

For more cooking inspiration check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for other blogger's menu plans for the week!

run, family, run

On Saturday Scott, Thomas and Elle each participated in the Sour Grapes Run. Thomas ran the 10k race (6 miles) and did awesome. He was one of the youngest runners in the race and placed 107th out of 193 runners with a time of 1:08:42. He was so excited and is already talking about doing it again next year.

Elle ran the 1 mile kids race. Look at that smile! When she wasn't running she was helping to cheer on Thomas and Daddy.

Scott ran the half marathon (13 miles). He's running with our friend Bob in the picture above. Way to go Honey! I'm proud of you!

rain, rain, rain

Everyday we get a little...sometimes a lot. I cannot remember the last day that we didn't have at least one rain shower. I think it was about two weeks ago! The lakes were really low at the end of the summer last year and it has been great to get the precipitation to help fill them up. Now we just need the sun to come out so we can spend time out there enjoying them!

big girl

Last week our little Ava stopped sleeping in the crib and moved into the big girl bed. I will spare you most of the details as to why it happened so abruptly, I'll just say that I kept finding her naked when she'd wake up from her naps and her last nap in the crib was no fun cleaning up after!

The transition to the regular bed was no big deal this time. We'd tried moving her quite awhile ago and it just didn't work. She is really into being a big girl right now though so I think that helped. It's cute to see her wake up and walk down the steps to find me with puppy in tow and usually a head full of sweaty curls. I'm always surprised at how quickly time goes by with kids. It was just a little bittersweet taking that crib down and knowing that we are done with that phase.

wfmw: teach your kids to make your coffee

Yes, that's right! They'll think it's fun. It only took a minute to show Thomas just how I like my cup of coffee - two sugar cubes, a splash of milk (or half and half, if we have it) and give it a stir. He always serves it with that sweet smile and checks in now and then to see if I need a refill. It's a good thing Scott only brews enough coffee for us to each have two cups. I'd drink way too much otherwise. Yes, that's right...I don't even have to brew my own coffee either. I'm spoiled. :)

Visit Rocks in My Dryer for lots of Works for Me Wednesday tips!

talking about closet organization

I always look forward to Talk about Tuesday at The Lazy Organizer blog. She's always got cool stuff to talk about like her sweet new baby girl, her amazing pantry and today she's talking about the baby chicks that are hatching at their house right now. I thought I'd participate today and talk about my organized closet. With Thomas and Elle at grandparents houses for two weeks I was able to tackle several projects around here that were in desparate need of attention.

I really should've took a picture last week. Just imagine an ironing board in the middle of the room with piles of clothes that needed hung up. I've said before on this blog that putting away clothes isn't something I'm good at!

The first thing I did was go through all of our clothes and decided what to keep and what to get rid of. Then I switched all of the winter clothes for the summer clothes. Even though we've only had a handful of days that have even made it into the 70s! I store our off season clothes in two zippered fabric containers under the bed.

This is Scott's side of the closet. Yes, I like to organize clothes by color. It's the OCD in me! As are the wood hangers. What can I say? I'm a firstborn.

This is my side....mostly anyway. Scott's stuff takes over a little of my side. Does anyone else's husband have more clothes than them?! I've got more shoes though! :)

Next week I'll show you the girl's closets. They are more fun than mine!

weekend in review

We met Scott's parents on Saturday to pick up Thomas and Elle. Two weeks was a long time for them to be gone! They had such a good time and it's been fun to hear about all of the things they did.

Yesterday was mostly sunny and warm so we spent most of the afternoon on the lake. Elle and Thomas both swam for awhile even though the water was cold. Ava even got in a little bit and was excited to go swimming like the big kids. When we got home Scott got a fire going on the patio and grilled up some hot dogs and brats. Grandpa Dale helped Thomas weld the tool he is using in the picture above. He was pretty excited about it. He's a pyromaniac you know. :)

Ava thought that she should help with the 'hot fire' too.

Thomas told her that her job could be to give him the logs. She was happy with that.

For dessert we roasted marshmallows and made smores using some of the dark chocolate Scott brought back from Switzerland. So good! We all agreed that we are going to save that particular chocolate for smores for the whole summer!

where'd she get those curls?

I am always asked that question when I am out and about with Ava. Everyone just loves her hair!

She got them from her mama. That's me as a toddler. :) I found this picture when I was looking for a picture to send to my brother last night.

cucumber sandwiches

It's time for the June edition of The Recipe Box Swap, hosted by Randi at I have to Say. I'm sharing a recipe for Cucumber Sandwiches...so easy and delicious! They can be served as an appetizer or as a simple lunch.

Rye bread squares (usually found by the deli section in your grocery store)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 pkg dry Italian salad dressing mix
Sliced cucumbers, peeled if you prefer
Dill weed

Combine the cream cheese and Italian salad dressing mix together until well combined. Spread a small amount on the slices of rye bread. Top with a slice of cucumber, then sprinkle tops with dill weed.

I've shared my recipe for Rhubarb Custard Cake before but thought I'd link to it again since rhubarb is in season again. I have quite a bit ready to harvest in my little garden. I'm planning to make it to have this weekend!

debbie downer

That's how I'm feeling this week. The sun hasn't shown at all since Sunday. It's been dreary and rainy everyday and isn't going to change for awhile yet. Wa, wa

spring in minnesota

This time of year I love Minnesota. The memories of the bitter cold winter fade away quickly when the weather gets warm and everything greens up again. Today the weather was perfect for another afternoon spent on the lake again. Scott and I jumped in today just so we could have bragging rights that we were in the lake before Thomas and Elle since they are in Nebraska right now. The water temp was only 62 degrees though so it was pretty chilly!