Happy Birthday, Ashlee!

Ashlee turned 7 today!

Ow, Charlie, That Hurt!

My friend emailed this to me. It's from You Tube and I laugh everytime I watch it. It's SO hilarious! I just love the little boy's accent! Gotta love kids!

Curry with Basmati Rice

On MLK day I was in the mood for something a little different to eat and actually had the time to cook something, so I made some Curry with Basmati Rice. I also made some Teriyaki chicken on the new Camp Chef grill, even though that departs a bit from the Indian theme. I could have just thrown the chicken in the curry, but I wanted to BBQ something. The chicken was just a basic teriyaki marinade. Here's the Indian recipes:

Vegetable Curry

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 cup cubed butternut squash
1 cup green beans, trimmed and chopped into 2-inch pieces
1 cup broccoli or cauliflower florets
1 14.5-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 8-ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce

PREPARATION

Heat oil in large pot or Dutch oven. Add curry powder and cumin and stir for 1 minute until aromatic.

Add onion, carrots and potatoes and saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add squash, green beans and broccoli and cook for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender and sauce has thickened. Serve with Basmati or whole grain rice.

Serves 4-6 [original recipe]

I didn't have squash or green beans, so I just left them out. In talking to one of the Indian programmers that work for me, he said that they never put broccoli in curry, so I guess you'll need to leave that out if you want to be more authentic. We happened to not have any onions, but I did have half a leftover shallot from when we made Dave's French Dip recipe, and that worked out great.

Herbed Basmati Rice

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons margarine
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion tops
2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Thyme sprigs (optional)

PREPARATION

Melt margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add rice; stir well. Add water and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in green onions, basil, and thyme. Sprinkle with cheese; garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

Serves 4 [original recipe]

This is the recipe I used for the rice, but I didn't have green onions or the fresh herbs, so I just put in dried herbs. I cooked it in our rice cooker. Make sure you actually get basmati rice, not regular rice. Ooh, it definitely makes a difference and makes the house smell sweet. If you've been in an Indian restaurant, you'll recognize the smell right away.

Cereal, Cereal, and More Cereal!

Just call me the Coupon Queen! Smith's has their General Mills cereal on sale for 8 for $18, then takes off $8 when you buy 8. Plus, I had coupons (thanks Pinching Your Pennies for listing all the great coupon deals!) which made these CHEAP! The first time I went I used coupons from the Sunday papers and when I checked out, a coupon printed out for $2 off 5 boxes. So I went and got 8 more boxes and another coupon printed out. So guess what I did again...yep, got more cereal and yet another coupon! All together I bought 32 boxes of cereal...

• 4 Fruity Cheerios



• 6 Yogurt Burst Cheerios



• 2 Plain Cheerios



• 4 Curves



• 4 Oatmeal Crisp



• 2 Trix



• 3 Kix



• 3 Cocoa Puffs



• 4 Total

When I totaled what I paid on the 4 transactions and divided by 32, it came 77 cents per box!! SWEET! I told Rob I should just keep doing the little routine and see if the coupon still keeps printing each time. Maybe I should try for a year supply! :) I also got 5 boxes of different varieties of Life from Lee's Marketplace...but these weren't as good of a deal...$1.40 per box.

Smiley Boy!

Trevor is one month old! Time sure flies when your having fun...okay maybe when you're just totally out of it from lack of sleep! :) He does pretty good at night. He's up every 3 hours to eat but at least he goes right back to sleep. He started smiling on Saturday and Grandma Barton got to be the first recipient of his cute little smile! I tried getting some shots today.
His hair was a bit out of control so we decided to give him his first experience with the clippers when he was 3 weeks old. We mainly just wanted to even it out a bit since some was like 2 inches long and stuck straight up. We also trimmed up the back so he didn't have quite the mullet! Doesn't look too happy about the whole situation, does he?

Birthday Girl

Yesterday was Brynlee's 5th birthday. After preschool she got to go to Cold Stone and get a free Love It Size Signature Creation (sign up for their birthday club!) and she chose Birthday Cake Remix. This year was her year to go to dinner with mom and dad. Every other year they get a friend party or dinner with mom and dad. We told her she could choose to go wherever she wanted and guess where she chose...yep, good ol' McDonald's! Then we rented Ratatouille from RedBox (gotta love free codes!). Grandma and Grandpa Barton then joined us back at home for some cake and ice cream and opening presents. She got a scooter (since Landon inherited her 3-wheeled one this summer), a Barbie VW bug, and a new snow hat and scarf.

*2 Weeks Old*

It's hard to believe Trevor is already 2 weeks old! He had his checkup this morning and now weighs 8 lbs. 1 oz. ...little chunker! A neighbor who works in Labor and Delivery came over last night and I was telling her how big he looks and she said, "The funny thing is he is still probably smaller than some of those babies that were just born." How true...Ashlee was 8 lbs. 8 oz. so I guess he is still a "newborn" size...they just grow too fast!

Good As New

Broken tooth

Just like new!

Ashlee went to the dentist yesterday and she has a front tooth again. I think it looks pretty good...it even sticks out a little bit from the other one just like her real tooth did before it broke! She wasn't lucky enough to get her mother's perfect teeth (that one's for you, Mary Anne!) The dentist has mentioned before that she'll probably need orthodontic work when she's older. He made it shorter than the other one since it hasn't grown in all the way. I just hope it isn't too short and ends up being shorter when it does grow in all the way...but I guess they can fix that if that's the case. He said when she's about 18 and her mouth is done growing, they can fix anything that needs to be redone.