Our Seattle Family

After the last session of conference Sunday, we loaded up the kids in the car and headed to Ben's cousin's place in south Bothell.  Uncle Bob and Aunt Ingrid and Rob and Deana were so sweet to share their dinner with us!  We are so grateful to be so close to wonderful family who are quickly becoming wonderful friends!

Julia and Leah enjoying pizza crust and the warm fire!

Project Produce: Guac and Sorbet

Friday I got pretty ambitious with the basket items.  For dinner I made Taco Salad.  The romaine lettuce washed, dried, and shredded was the base.  I made my very own Crockpot Coconut-lime Chicken, and then I used the gigantic avocado and half the tomato for guacamole to top it off.  Dessert was a delicious Melon-pear Sorbet!

Crockpot Coconut-lime Chicken:

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup coconut syrup

one clove garlic smashed (or minced)

onion powder, salt, and pepper to taste

dash of hot sauce (optional)

2 Tbsp pepper jelly (optional)

one can green chillies 

3-5 chicken breasts

Combine all ingredients except chicken in crockpot.  Add chicken breast and turn to coat in the sauce. Cook on low 4-6 hrs or high 3-4 hrs. Remove chicken, shred using a couple forks, and return to sauce.  Stir it up and serve!  This is great for tacos, nachos, salads, burritos, etc.

We made our salads with the fresh lettuce, the chicken, crushed tortilla chips, grated cheese, diced tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, and homemade Guacamole.

Guacamole:
Avocado (half chopped up/half mashed)
1/2 tomato diced
2 Tbsp lemon juice
tabasco sauce
salt to taste



Turns out I'm the only one that likes Guacamole in our family and I'm not really a big fan.  Most of it went brown in our fridge and got tossed out the next day.  Whoops!

Melon and Pear Sorbet

Now this was yummy and a major hit with the entire fam!  I'd used half of our honey dew melon in a fruit salad.  It was a little lacking in the flavor department so I decided to make the second half into sorbet.  I added a pear (pealed and cored) for some more texture and body (whatever that means), 3/4 cup sugar, and a tray of ice cubes to the melon in our Vitamix Blender. Blended it all up and tad-a! Sorbet!

I froze what we couldn't eat right then into an ice cube tray with toothpicks stuck in.  We are still enjoying them!

Project Produce

I love Bountiful Baskets!  It really seems to be the best deal for getting fruits and vegetables, and it forces  encourages us to eat more fresh produce.  However, I sometimes feel a little overwhelmed by the task of consuming all that delicious food before it goes bad.  It can also be challenging to incorporate new fruits and vegetables into meals I am good at preparing and that I know my family will eat.  I'm determined to make our families eating-style a healthy one, so each week I'm going to post a list of the items we get in our basket and what I make with all of it during the week.  I'd love input for new ideas and recipes!

Last Saturday we picked up our basket at the Lynnwood, WA food bank.

Veggies:
Romaine lettuce
Collard greens (yikes)
Spinach
Broccoli
3 Tomatoes (I know they're technically fruit)
1 Large avacado

Fruits:
Apples
Bananas
Red Pears
Honey Dew melon
Strawberries

We pretty much just gobbled down the strawberries as is.  They were so yummy!
 
I steamed some of the broccoli as a side to baked potatoes.  I learned the best way to steam broccoli from Alton Brown's "Good Eats" cooking show on Food Network: Wash and cut up your broccoli.  If you're using the stems put them on the bottom of the pan and the florets on top of them.  Put enough water in the pot to cover the stems, cover, and bring to a boil.  Boil on high for three minutes, then turn to low and cook another three minutes.  Add a little butter and salt and pepper and it's delicious.  My kids love them so much I cook a lot of broccoli.

I like making homemade pizza and decided to incorporate some more greens into mine this week.  I spread my crust with a sauce of tomato sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil and oregano, and spinach pureed together.  Pepperoni, canadian bacon, pineapple, and sliced tomatoes topped off the pizza.  I loved it! But the rest of my family picked off the tomatoes :(  Oh well!  They couldn't pick off the spinach.

Bumper Bowling

Things have been moving a little more slowly than we thought they would as far as Ben's job is concerned.  We don't mind too much though.  Especially since it's meant having more time with Ben on the week days.  Last week we took to the lanes midday.

We had a couple pinched fingers between the balls.  One day they'll learn to listen, right?

 

Julia was so sad that I beat her (only just barely...phew!).




We had them pop out the bumpers for the kids, but I think Ben and I used them just as much!  This place was so nice.  It was quiet, right in the middle of the day, so there were just leagues bowling. No smoking or drinking is allowed in the building or near the doorway.  Hopefully we get a chance to go back soon!