Amazing Meal

I'm always on the lookout for new easy recipes. Even though we have several favorites it's fun to try new things. My aunt got me a subscription to Taste of Home: Simple and Delicious for a wedding shower gift and I have found it to be very useful! I just made a great recipe from the magazine last week that we enjoyed immensely!!! The only comments I have on the recipe is I used a little less than a pound of chicken breast tenders instead of 4 giant chicken breasts (either would work) and the next time I make it I might try to add a little chili pepper for some spicy kick. But even without those changes the recipe was great. Also, I found the canned bean sprouts in the Asian food section of our grocery store (Meijer).

Chicken over Curly Noodles	From Simple & Delicious
Ramen noodles get a big pick-me-up with a simple but flavorful 4-ingredient sauce that goes perfectly with this tender chicken.
INGREDIENTS 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs 3 packages (3 ounces each) chicken ramen noodles 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 can (14 ounces) bean sprouts, drained	SERVINGS 4 CATEGORY Main Dish METHOD Stovetop - One-Dish PREP 15 min. COOK 15 min. TOTAL 30 min.
DIRECTIONS In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce and garlic; set aside. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine bread crumbs and contents of two noodle seasoning packets (discard the remaining packet or save for another use). Add chicken, one piece at a time, and shake to coat. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Remove chicken and keep warm. Add peanut butter mixture to skillet; cook and stir until heated through. Drain noodles. Add noodles and bean sprouts to skillet; toss to coat. Serve with chicken. Yield: 4 servings.

Little People

I finally got some pictures off of our camera of some cool little friends we've gotten to hang out with in the last couple of months. So, from oldest to youngest (ages given are approximations at the time of the picture, you might have to give or take a couple weeks/months to get the current age).

Isn't he just the cutest. We got to visit Matt's family and see our awesome nephew Joshua (20 months) a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun to see him and play with him.

Manning (15 months) came to visit us at the beginning of January with his parents and some other friends of ours. His friend Anya (8 months) was also present but we didn't get the camera out until after she left.

And we've made a new friend Adsen(2 weeks) in the last month. She hasn't made it over to our house yet but we're looking forward to the day she comes to visit.

So, when people ask us when we are going to start having kids my response is, "We have tons of little friends to play with, we don't need our own just yet." All in God's time:) We haven't even been married a year people!

Visit our webshots page to see more pictures I just uploaded of our little friends.

Blah

I have been at home sick for the last 2 days and thought I'd post on the blog since its been 10 days!! Sorry faithful readers. Matt and I have said several times that we should post about something but then haven't gotten around to it.

Anyway, I caught some kind of cold/flu bug and it started developing the beginning of this week. So, I decided to take a sick day yesterday in hopes that the rest would help me recover more quickly and head back to school today feeling better. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning feeling worse. So, I stayed home sick again today. Overall, i am so thankful for my health though. I rarely get sick (although this is my second time home sick for 2 days this school year) and have never had any major health issues. I am truly blessed.

Well sorry this a boring post. I need to get back to watching daytime TV.

Don't forget Abe today...

As many of you who are from Illinois probably know today is Abe Lincoln's birthday. If he were still alive he would be 199 years old today. That would be pretty old. Anyway, I have always been a pretty big fan of Abe. I did a report on him in school when I was in about 2nd grade. I still remember what I ate for lunch that day (square school pizza). I was so nervous about giving a report that I couldn't eat very much. But my love for Abe grew when about 1.5 years ago, my good friend Jerusha informed me of a giant Abe Lincoln (pictured above) near Charleston, IL. I had never heard of this monument and she wanted to visit him when she came to visit me. So, we embarked on one of the greatest journeys of our lives. It's well worth the trip to see a giant Abe. Unfortunately, neither of us had cameras at the time so the visit was not well documented. But I found a website with someone elses pictures and lo and behold the pictures are of a friend of mine who was involved in the same campus ministry as me in college. What a small world! Anyway Jerusha is coming back to visit me in a couple of weeks and we will visit Abe again with cameras in hand. Look for a future blog post on that one.

Here are a few interesting links below for this great holiday.

Abe Lincoln on Wikipedia

Abe Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL

Abe Lincoln e-Greeting Card

Roadside America - Giant Abe

Happy Groundhog Day

Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter!

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/08 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here Ye!

On Gobbler's Knob on this fabolous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators,
Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,
Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.
Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

Visit www.groundhog.org for more details and pictures.

Super Bowl prediction

Alas, the Packers will not be playing in the big game. They almost got real lucky, but then the Giants finally decided to stop choking. I'll be rooting for the Giants to beat the Patriots and wipe that smirk off Tom Brady's face. However, my mind wins over my heart in this forecast....

Prediction: Patriots 31, Giants 16. 19-0 is realized. Tom Brady wins another Super Bowl MVP award. Randy Moss gets a long TD catch. Eli Manning throws 2 INTs. The '72 Dolphins weep.