Fishing for Fast Dinners

Since summer is in full swing, I am always trying to find new ways to sneak some garden veggies into my dinners. This recipe is actually a creation of mine that seems to be a hit everytime I serve it. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare from start to finish and uses only one pan. Why go to Olive Garden when you can make yummy seafood alfredo at home for a fraction of the cost!

Simple Seafood Alfredo
2-3 small yellow squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 lb fresh assorted shellfish (I use a combo of scallops, shrimp, canned clams and/or imitation lobster/crab)
1 large jar of alfredo sauce (I have even used the dry pkg. type with great success--just follow the directions on the pkg.)

Saute mushrooms, yellow squash, and mushrooms in a lightly sprayed or oiled frying pan until onions are translucent and vegetables are cooked according to your preference. I cover the pan to keep in the juices. I usually add a little "garlic in a jar" too because everything tastes better with garlic!

As the vegetable mixture is cooking, clean the seafood and cut into small bite size pieces. Remember seafood shrinks as it cooks so don't go too small! When the veggies are done, add the seafood and stir frequently. Cook until scallops are opaque and shrimp is pink--it won't take long so watch carefully. Add the jar of alfredo sauce and cook until bubbly. Serve with your favorite pasta, top with a sprinkle of parmesan and enjoy!

I have never actually measured out any of this recipe so feel free to tinker with it according to your taste!

During the winter season, I mix it all together and throw it in the oven for about 15 minutes and bake with some mozzarella cheese on top....yummy! Serve with a green salad and call it good!

Pinkness

Every month on the 1st, I try to change out my contacts for a new pair. I tried really hard to make it until July 1st, but yesterday my eyes were wanting a new pair because I was having a hard time focusing. So, I broke my own rule and decided to treat myself two days early to a new pair.

This morning I woke up and stuck my contacts in. Everything was going as normal but I noticed that my left eye was not focusing well so I immediately thought that I had gotten into a bad batch of contacts. Then my eye itched and watered the whole day. Surprise, I have pink eye!

I am very prone to this little ailment but I don't ever remember getting it in the summer! So I dug out my trusted eyedrops and realized that they had expired in 2006. Hmmmm...should I live dangerously?

If my teaching job doesn't work out, I might go work for Longaberger

Today is a really sad day. Today is the last day of picking edible sized strawberries in my garden. I didn't have to buy any this year....I just picked every morning! Yummy. Hey, does anyone want some rhubarb? I have lots of that too! Oh, and I don't eat that every morning!

Enjoy your Sunday.

P.S. Nate just pointed out that my signature is back.....I guess it was just out for a visit somewhere.....weird.

A taste of summer in Michigan....

This is why I liked taking out the garbage last week:

















And this is why I love taking out the garbage this week:



Too bad they don't last all year!










Heidi (Can anyone tell me where my cool signature went? Maybe it has taken up residence with my pillows.)

Helping a friend in need.

Big Mama, a favorite blogger that I regularly stalk, is hungry. She seems to have hit the summertime cooking wall. She would like some new recipes so I thought I would help her out. Since she lives in the south, I decided that I'd better stick with something that doesn't need the oven! After tapping my creative juices this morning I am coming up a bit short of ideas. So I will fall back on one of my most uncreative but can't fail recipes.....

Chicken Throw

1 Whole Chicken, washed
Salt/Pepper
Chicken Seasoning (or just use some Paprika and garlic powder)
1 Crockpot

Generously sprinkle seasoning all over chicken. Throw it in a cooking sprayed crockpot mid morning with 1/2 cup water or broth. Cook on high for 5-7 hours. You can stick a whole onion, stalk of celery and a carrot in its cavity if you are feeling rather fancy. The chicken will fall off the bone when it's ready. Heat up a jar of gravy and a tray of mashed potatoes and your family will eat like kings! And it won't taste or smell like grilled hamburgers or hotdogs! Enjoy!

Cleaning Frenzy-Part 1

Today has been a very productive cleaning day! I have been looking forward to "reorganizing" and going through each room in the house since the beginning of summer vacation. May and June were so hectic that the house suffered....let's face it the whole school year was hectic so every room was falling apart! You know that the situation is really bad when your husband says one night, "You know, I've been thinking....maybe we should move to a new house very soon because our floorboards look disgusting and I don't really have time to clean them!"

This morning I became the "furniture assembler extraordinaire". I churned out two 72" bookcases in a few hours for Nate's room using only a hammer and screwdriver. (And a fan and a glass of water for comfort.) About a month ago out of desperation for space, we moved a 4 foot table into his room, covered it with a quilt and let him "go wild" with a Lego Kingdom. Let's just say that the entire Harry Potter Lego series was on that quilt! (Special thanks to Grandma Kay, Grampa Don, Uncle Jon, and Santa for their ongoing financial commitment to Nate's building abilities.) Anyway, by early afternoon Nate had moved his books and his Harry Potter Lego Kingdom as well as his Star Wars Lego Kingdom onto proper shelves for proud display for future visitors to his room. He is very proud of his new found arranging skills! And I am sort of proud to say that Sauder Furniture worked for me today! (I just hope we don't move because that stuff is HEAVY.)

This afternoon was filled with more cleaning of Nate's room and some cleaning of my room as well. It always feels great to organize. I now have extra storage space in my sewing room because of simply getting the paper piles under control.

Hopefully I won't lose the momentum and I will be able to post another incredibly boring post tomorrow titled "Cleaning Frenzy-Part 2". It is so great to be on vacation!

And a bit off topic....but things that I know are important to your daily existence: 1) My pillows have not come back and 2) We have now finished all 18 hours of Little House. Three cheers for Michael Landon!

Am I going to jail?

My friend Jennifer and I just got done IMing each other. (For those of you who may not know, IM stands for instant messaging). As Jennifer puts it, "it's the middle school way of communicating". That made me giggle!

Anyway, she mentioned the fact that I might go to jail for using a copyrighted picture on my blog. (The Little House On the Praire one) She then mentioned that she might go to jail too because she used a picture of a puma that she stole off of google images or something. Then we decided that we could be room mates. She then asked me if I snored. What a true friend!

So Jennifer (and all others that might be interested in being my room mate sometime), here are a few things that you might want to know about me before you "sign up" to be my roomie:

1. I covet my pillows which, as of this post, have not been returned to my home yet.

2. I pretend to be cool with staying up late but most of the time a 9p.m. bedtime works for me.

3. I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Every night.

4. I flush. Always. And I don't care if it wakes everyone up.

5. I wake up with the sun. But I pretend to be asleep until 6 a.m.

6. I wear jammies. I like my etremely worn out and soft ones the best. Long pants and a short sleeved shirt.

7. I like a fan. It is on every night but it doesn't always blow at me.

8. I don't take care of the kids at night. Stu does this. Always. Which means that I probably won't take care of a room mate in the middle of the night either.

9. And lastly, I probably snore a little bit. I prefer to call it "breaving heavily". That is what Madsion used to say about herself!

Although I am quite happy with my current room mate situation, I can put you on my waiting list!
Make it a good day.

Don't tell anyone but the boys are watching too!

As part of our relaxing and catching up on sleep weekend, Madison decided that it would be a great idea to go to the libary and get our next installment of the Little House series on DVD. We watched seasons one, two, and couldn't find three so we ended up checking out season four. Each of these seasons consist of a few DVD's and last about 6-8 hours each. Season four has six CD's and lasts 18 HOURS. Needless to say, my whole family is walking around in a daze this weekend singing the theme song to Little House and saying that they want to learn how to play the fiddle. I may just break out my bonnet to clean the house tomorrow.

The foamy part of me is lost.

A tragedy has happened in our family. (Besides the eyebrow tragedy.) Thursday night Stu and I went to Big Rapids and slept at a hotel so that we wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to be on time to pick up the kids from camp.

Every time we spend the night away from home I get into a debate about whether I should take my two pillows along. I can not tell you how many times my entire night has been ruined because of crappy pillows. I like thin foamy pillows....hotels usually supply these big but very squishy pillows. If I do decide to use theirs, I usually wake up several times to "adjust" my pillow and it makes for a very sleep deprived night.

In order to ensure that I would be in a restful state for the big pick up day, I opted to take my fabulously comfortable pillows complete with two pretty blue pillow cases. Because no hotel I have ever stayed in has blue pillowcases and if I should stay multiple days in the same room, the maid will not mistake them for the hotel's pillows and try to mess with them. This easy packing step has always worked well until Fateful Friday Morning. In the hustle and bustle of the morning, I forgot to leave with my pillows. Somewhere they are sitting, very lonely for me; probably squished onto a shelf in a dark room with no heat. It is absolutely horrific for me to think about.

But wait!! Dry your tears of empathy!
I actually remembered that I forgot them as we left the camp so we were able to stop by the hotel and retrieve them....I call this the fairy tale ending. Here is the harsh reality:

After 20 minutes of "searching" for my pillows in room 251, no one could find them. The manager was nice about it and said he would mail them back to me in K'zoo. I am devastated...do you really think someone is going to actually mail me used pillows?

Anyway, I am blogging this while my head is resting on my replacement pillows. I already can tell that my neck is going to hurt in the morning. And the color of my pillowcases?....they are black because that is how you dress pillows up when you are experiencing death.

Spring Hill Camp Rocks! Again!

For the second summer in a row, I have looked forward to picking my children up at camp. I love the break from parenthood but I miss my kids by day 5 and can't wait to get my family back! Some of the best conversations of the summer occur during that first hour in the car during the 3 hour ride home. It is so special to hear about the real connections they made with campers and counselors. They both are hoarse from singing and shouting so much but they loved every minute of camp! Here are some pictures from the week!







As you can probably tell, they really want to go back!