Spring Time!

Easter is coming up this weekend and I always get a bit excited for this time of year because it means that we are finally seeing the end of a long winter and that spring is here! Although spring in many parts of Canada still included snow and can be quite dirty still. Its never this idealistic green fields of tulips and daffodils.

This is what most people think of spring. (Source) 

But rather a dirty, mug and grimy time when snow is melting to reveal all the garbage that was swept up with the snowplow and is now being uncovered like an archaeological site of the long winter months. 

The true "beauty" of  spring (Source)

Ah yes, Spring!

Here in Newfoundland, we are pretty much done for the snow around here, although we still have a scatter call for flurries that normally sticks around for a few hours then is gone again. Every time I think that we are done with snow, another bit falls just to crush my hopes of the end of winter. 

I was hoping that this Easter we might be able to do the Easter egg hunt outside and the "Easter Bunny" could hide a few eggs out in the yard, but that probably won't happen. 

Also, when did Easter become this big BUY BUY BUY holiday? When I was growing up it was a few chocolate eggs and a new Easter outfit. Now it's like a second Christmas! Kids these days would be better off if their parents spent half as much money and twice as much time with their kids. I plan on decorating a few Easter eggs with Hunter this weekend and doing a little egg hunt, but other than that, what else does he need? 

Ok, so how is Spring treating you in your neck of the woods? Any plans for the Easter holidays? I would love to hear about it!

Spinach Stuffed chicken

I saw this "recipe" on Pinterest the other day and thought it looked  delicious that I just had to try it. Only problem was, there was no real recipe to follow, just the images. It didn't really look hard, plus I already had an idea on how I would do it, so I just went for it. Here is my version of:

Spinach Stuffed Chicken 

Ingredients: 

• 4 Chicken breasts
• Ricotta cheese
• fresh mozzarella cheese
• Tomato pasta sauce 
• Spinach
• Shake and bake  (no-name brand)
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Pepper

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time 1 hr. 

Step 1

First I smashed the chicken breast with a rolling pin to make them a bit thinner and easier to roll up.I like to put plastic wrap over them so my rolling pin doesn't get all chickeny and save a bit of clean up.

Step 2

Then I made the filling to stuff the chicken with. I cut up the spinach and I wilted it down in a pan with a bit of oil. Then I took the wilted spinach and mixed it with about half a container of ricotta cheese. I also added in my spices of oregano and rosemary and pepper to the mixture. Give it a good stir and mix it all up. 

Step 3
Next I assembled it all together.

I spread the spinach mix on the smashed chicken breast then rolled it up and secured it with a few tooth picks.

Then I rolled it in the shake and bake mix.

Place in Pan. (this is not the best pan for this. It was more like a bowl and while it worked, I flat bottom square pan probably would have worked better. It got a little soupy while cooking).

Step 4
I placed the open topped dish in the oven at 300c for 45 minutes. After the chicken was cooked, I took it out and spread the tomato sauce over the chicken and cut up the fresh mozzarella and placed on top. I threw it back in the oven for an additional 15 min to warm up the sauce and melt the cheese a bit.

Step 5
EAT! YUMM!

(This picture below was me and Jamie trying to be food photographers and staging the plate. Note the three pieces of lettice)

Overall, I would give this meal a 4 star rating (out of 5). The tomato sauce we had wasn't really right (it had sausages in it) and I could have beat the chicken a bit thinner to make for a more even roll.. I would definitely make it again though. 

(Sorry that some of the pictures are on their sides, I can't figure out how to rotate my pictures on Blogger...any ideas?)

Lotto Dreams

What would you do if you won the lottery? 

C’mon, I know you have thought about it, dreamed about it even. Do you have plans to invest and grow your winnings? Maybe it’s a lifelong dream to travel the world? Perhaps share the wealth with your family and friends?

I know I have thought about it.

Of course, I would go traveling for a bit, see some of the places that I have always dreamed about, France, Rome, New Zealand.  Perhaps help out a few family members and friends pay off their houses or whatever. But after that, I would need something more to fulfill my days. Plus, I don't just want to blow all my money and have nothing to show for it either. My plan always includes starting my own dream business that would be the best of work and play. Some of you may think it’s crazy to think that working is what you would do with your lotto money, but I want a legacy project that will live on long after I am gone; one that can be passed on to my children and to their children. So when people say my name, they said “ isn't she the one who built that amazing…”

Yes, a legend.

I have a few ideas kicking about in my head about what kind of business it would be. Obviously it would be something fun that doesn't really feel like work but rather something that makes me feel like I am on permanent vacation.  Like owning a cruise boat or having some chalet retreat. The latter is the one I most think about.

I would buy a big parcel of land near some kind of water body, like a lake or river or the ocean.  I would build one big main chalet that would serve as the check in area, restaurant, and meeting hall. I would build several cabin type accommodations along the water’s edge and connect them all by forest trails that you can walk or ride bikes on. We would also live on the property in the masters Chalet that would overlook it all. We would have canoes and boats for our guest and people could go fishing and bring back their catch to the kitchen and have our chief cook it up for you…

Ahhh...the dream.

Source

I know this is not a novel ideal. People have done these kinds of things before, so maybe I wouldn't be a “legend” per se, but maybe more like a local champion. Is that too much to ask?

What’s your lotto dream?

Ok..Back at 'er

So I know its been a while since my last post. I am notoriously bad at starting something and never finishing it. Like books. I can read a whole book right up to the last chapter or even 2-3 pages, then I'll put it down and never finish it. Maybe I have some kind of anti-finishing conditions. Look that up for me, will ya?

So what's new? Well as you saw in my last post way back in December, we are expecting baby number 2! We found out last month that the little bean inside is most likely a girl. The techs couldn't find a penis so I guess its a girl by default. We have a 3D ultrasound coming up in April to confirm the gender, but I'm pretty sure that its a girl. This pregnancy has been way different than my son's pregnancy. All in all, both good pregnancies, but so far with this one I'm not swelled up like a balloon like before. At the half way point in my last pregnancy, I had probably gained 20-25 lbs. With this one, up 8 lbs! Yahoo! Still got another 18 weeks left to go and that's when I will really grow, but I feel good about the way things are going so far.

As for the naming process...it's really hard to find a name that we like this time around. Me and Jamie are miles apart on our naming thought process and he wants to have the final say on the name which I am finding hard to let go of that control. He says that because I named our son (mostly true) that he gets to name this one. Yes, I had our sons name picked out for a long time, even before I met Jamie, but he also had a say in the name. If he really hated the name, he could have said something and we would have picked out another name. I'm a fair person, I can compromise. But with this baby, he wants the sole naming rights and says that I don't even get a say on the name. He even went as far as to suggest handing me a piece of paper when we are at the hospital with the name on it and that will be it, that's the name. YA RIGHT! My suggestion was for him to make up a list of his top 5 or 10 names, heck even 20 names and WE pick from that list. Sounds reasonable? Right?

Oh and the other thing, he says no middle name. Jamie doesn't have a middle name so he figures that this baby doesn't need a middle name either. I think he is just trying to make himself feel better as he was left out of the cool middle name circle and now he wants someone else to suffer like he did. It's kinda like a revenge thing I think. Again, I'm willing to compromise...let me pick the first name and I will consider no middle name (but really, this child will have a middle name!)

We still have about 4 month left before this baby makes her way into the world so we still have time to find a name, but he doesn't even want to discuss names at this point. Oh well, it will get worked out.

Wow, this kinda turned into a rant more than an update. Sorry. Actually, no I'm not sorry, my blog, my space to say what I want (nanabooboo).

Feel free to post your name suggestions too!