Halloween Preview

Cook This!!

A friend shared this recipe with me and we tried it tonight - it was delicious!! I highly recommend it!! The only difference I did (which she did recommend!) was add a dash of soya sauce to the orange sauce at the end.

You won't be dissappointed!

Too Busy To Cook?
Jeanne Silvestri, Coral Springs FL

4 boneless chicken breast halves with skin
All purpose flour 2 tablespoons
(1/4 stick) butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 cups orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; dust with flour. Melt butter with oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté until brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate. Add ginger to skillet; stir 1 minute. Add brown sugar and mustard and stir to blend into drippings. Add orange juice and orange peel. Simmer until sauce is slightly reduced, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to skillet. Simmer 3 minutes. Turn chicken over and add green onions. Simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thick enough to coat spoon, about 3 minutes longer. Season sauce with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken and sauce to platter.

Epicurious.com © CondéNet, Inc. All rights reserved.

Happy Turkey Day

I'm a bit early - but we'll be going to Regina for Thanksgiving so I'll post now!!

We are looking forward to going home! Thursday we'll drive to Regina and go straight to Jenn & Matt's to meet Alyssa.

Friday early morning we're driving to Saskatoon - Allan will go to a meeting (that as you probably know we're very excited about!) and the girls and I will go straight to my Mom & Frank's acreage. Since last time we've visited they've aquired 2 horses and a handful of kittens. Should be a fun visit :D

Late Friday night we'll drive back to Regina where we'll stay at Allan's parents until Monday.

Saturday I'm doing lunch with the girls at The Last Straw and then we're going shopping. American Eagle here I come!! Amber and I are also going to a Travel Agent to inquire about the Vegas trip we're planning for this spring.

Saturday night I am going to a Pub Crawl with Amber, Julie, Michelle and some others. Should be a blast!!

Sunday Laura and I are going to go for a Sushi lunch (Sushi in Regina - might be interesting ;)) and then do some shopping. Sunday night is Thankgiving dinner. I am hoping my Epicure will be in so I can make stuffing with my new Sage & Cranberry stuffing mix I bought!!

Monday we come home and it will be sad as we won't be back until Christmas. :(

On a side note - I think I am going to take some University courses. I don't know exactly what to take. Some sort of business management, maybe Human Resource Management - I'm still in the early stages of planning. Just when we thought we were finished with University in our family ....

Excuse me, Teacher?

Allan has another new job! He was asked to teach a drafting & 3D course at the University.

Gypsy

Here is a picture of Mom's new horse. She has two horses, but they just got the second one today so she has no name or photos!

More Alyssa Pictures

Alyssa McKenzie is here!!

Jennifer and Matt have a new baby girl!
Alyssa McKenzie was born on Sept. 12 weighing almost 8lbs and measuring 20.5 inches long.

The happy family of 5!



Mom and baby, two sisters and Alyssa and Auntie Laura.

First Day of Grade 1

Madison started Grade 1 today!! Here is a picture of my grown up girl!

Mom's New House

My Mom and Frank moved in August. They bought an acreage 20 minutes south of Saskatoon.

They currently have 4 dogs, 2 cats and plan to have a few horses by the end of the fall.

Here are some pics of the new house, pets and land!

Tinkertown

In mid August Allan's sister Jennifer and her boyfriend Matt came to visit, along with their kids Haylee and Tristin. We went to Tinkertown and the cousins all had a blast! (Ok, so did the Moms and Dads!!)

A Trip to Morning Sound Farm

In July we went to Morning Sound Farm, which is a farm just outside of Winnipeg. You get to ride horses, pet animals, see a goat being milked, learn about chickens and eggs, and many more activities!! It was a lot of fun, here are the pictures. (You'll see Madison loves to pose and be in photos while Annika is at a stage where she wants nothing to do with the camera!)

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

These are the yummiest muffins ever!! Thanks for the recipe Kristin!!


1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats or old fashioned oats, uncooked
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 1 large
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375°F.
Grease 12 medium muffin cups, or line with paper baking cups.
Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and baking powder.
Whisk together milk, peanut butter, banana, egg, oil and vanilla; add to dry ingredients, mixing just until moistened.
Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle evenly over batter.
Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm.

Soccer 07

Long Overdue

I haven't posted on the blog in a long time - we've been having a fantastic, busy summer!! I will post a bit of an update on all of us and then a whole bunch of pictures.

Sarah - I have been busy with the new job I started in June. It is challenging, but I am enjoying it. We are all enjoying the new hours I am working - it's great to be home every evening.

I have also continued running, though not quite as often as I should! I am doing a 5K run in September with some girlfriends to raise money for Breast Cancer.

My latest task has been getting the millions of photos I have on our computer printed off and in a photo album. Instead of starting at the oldest I am starting at the most recent and moving backwards. So far I'm finished up to August 1st ... I have a long way to go!!

Allan - Allan's been busy working at his new job too. He is a Landscape Architect at Scatliff + Miller + Murray. He really enjoys it. He is also working on his Thesis and does his first presentation at the end of this month.

Madison - Madison graduated Kindergarten in June and we're all so proud of her. She did fantastic and graduated with straight E's (think the A Plus of the Kindergarten world) She also graduated with perfect attendance. In September Madi will be entering Grade 1!!

Madison also finished her third year of Dance with a recital in June. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come to Winnipeg for the recital - which was very special.

Madi will be starting back at Dance in a few weeks, this year she is taking Hip Hop and Jazz.

In May we enrolled Madison in Gymnastics at a local community club and she really enjoyed it, we've decided to let her go to Gymnastics once a week as well.

Annika - Annika's growing by leaps and bounds!! She is such an active, energetic girl!! Anna will be starting dance (ballet and jazz) and gymnastics this fall and is sooo excited to be like Madison and take classes! Annika also loves to sing and knows the words to many, many songs. Some that are adorable and some that may be a bit embarrassing to Mommy (Avril Lavigne!)

We've had a great summer with lots of visitors - Grandma and Grandpa, Granny and Grandpa, Tara and Amber & next week Jenn, Matt, Haylee and Tristan.

If we haven't seen you - we wish we would have, and hope to see you soon!! We'll be in Regina & Saskatoon over the September long weekend so if you can get together at that time - let us know!