Glazed Pork Scaloppini & Mashed Red Potatoes

Although originally my glaze was supposed to be straight apples, and accidental mixing up of the Peach and Apple jelly led to a slight hint of peach as well!  It turned out splendidly!  I would definitely make it again! 

Glazed Pork Scaloppini

Ingredients:
5 Tbsp Butter
4 Pork Scaloppinis
Seasoning (Alpine Touch, Basil, Tarragon, Brown Sugar Bourbon, Ground Cinnamon)
3 Apples (Cored & Sliced)
3 Tbsp Peach Jelly (You can also use jelly as I originally intended to use)
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Directions:
Add 2 Tbsp Butter to a skillet.  Add the pork and season generously on both sides, using the cinnamon lightly.  Cook on med-high until browned thoroughly (About 8-10 minutes per side).  Remove the pork from the pan and set aside (I like to store in the microwave to keep warm).  Add the remaining 3 Tbsp Butter and the apple slices.  Turn the heat down to low and add the Jelly & Brown Sugar.  Mix thoroughly and allow to turn into a sauce with apples.  Return the pork to the skillet to cover with the glaze.  Serve with the apples and glaze.  Enjoy!

Mashed Red Potatoes

Ingredients:
3 Large Red Potatoes (Cubed)
3/4 Cup Milk
Seasoning (Basil, Garlic Powder & Alpine Touch)
1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese
2 Tbsp Sour Cream
Leeks to garnish

Directions:
Add the potatoes to a pot and just barely cover with water.  Boil on high heat until the water is almost completely gone and the potatoes are soft and easily mashable.  Turn heat down to low.  Add the milk and seasoning and whisk out the lumps.   Add the Cheese & Sour Cream and mix thoroughly until cheese is melted.  Top with chopped Leeks to garnish.  Serve & Enjoy!

Add the potatoes to a pot and barely cover with water

Add the Butter, Pork & Seasoning to a skillet while the potatoes boil

Remove the pork and add remaining butter and apple sliced to the skillet while the potatoes finish boiling

Allow apples to soften, add the milk and seasoning to the potatoes and whisk out lumps

Add the sugar and Jelly tot he skillet

Add the cheese and sour cream to the potatoes

Top Pork with apples & Glaze, Top potatoes with chopped leeks, serve & enjoy!

January's Playlist

I want to start doing a monthly playlist to see what songs have really influenced me throughout the year.  I am happy to share with my readers!  I always love new music suggestions!

This song has stuck with me for months, but every single time that I hear it, I feel like it just grasps me to my very core.  I feel empowered by it!

I really LOVE Kaskade!  Always great at making my morning drive to work better!

Good ol' Avril!  Everything outside of Skater Boi was great!  I love when Pandora gives me a visit to the greatness of the past.

The vibrancy of Lindsey's music makes you instantly perk up whenever any of them come on.


This song just sort of resonates with me whenever I hear it!  This month was the first that I was introduced to it!



Every Tuesday morning I find myself singing this song!  Anytime I hear anyone say :Tuesday morning: this is what I instantly think of!


This song came across my radio this month and when it comes on I just have to stop and dance and sing along!  One of my favorites from Usher


I was always sad that Amerie didn't get as big as I felt she should have.  Of course I remember the first time I heard this song and when it came across my Amerie station, it made me get out my phone to remember to post it for later!  *Hot video for an added bonus :)


This song never gets old for me!  It comes on in the car a lot of mornings, and I have been known to sit longer in the car until it is over!


I heard this song a lot this month as well!  I just love Ellie!


I know I am WAY behind the times with this song, but I never heard it until recently. Of course I instantly loved it!


Although the Part one of this song is good, part 2 feels like there is more depth and feeling to it! It has been frequenting my radio all month!


This song also frequently comes on and I just LOVE it every time I hear it! Such a fun song! Makes you want to dance!


Imagine Dragons are ON FIRE right now and I am glad to have loved them before they blew up! This song tells a serious story! It always sticks with me


I never heard this song until recently and it really spoke to me. Katy Perry has some great lyrics at times. I find myself singing this song all the time now.


I can remember the first time that someone told me that they were into modest mouse, and I thought it was one of the strangest band names I had ever heard. This song has been in so many soundtracks for movies and when I hear it it takes me back to some of those times, plus the chorus is fun!


I don't think that there are any Death Cab songs that I don't love, but this one has been coming up a lot lately!


Oh Florence! This song is SO powerful, as all of the FATM songs are! From the first time I heard this song I find myself coming across is constantly and I always stays with me and makes me think about it in depth.


I remember first hearing this song long ago! But it is so beautiful, and soul opening. I was so happy when it randomly popped up in my purview this month!


And then we have this intense blast from the past by Rob Dougan! You can't hear this song and NOT think of the Matrix... in fact listening to it just makes me want to go watch the Matrix right now....


This song is so beautiful. Every time I hear it, it goes on a mental wedding playlist for if I ever get married this is one of those songs that you would have to play! It always gives me hope that there is someone out there for me somewhere that will feel this way for me. I hope I am blessed in this life to find someone who will love me this much.


Haha I know it kind of changes the mood, but this song has ALWAYS been powerful to me with the past relationships I have been in. I can't hear this song and not feel the strength from walking away and turning the page on any related stories! Toni always makes me feel so empowered when I hear this!

TBT: Childhood Moments

As it is a TBT (Throwback Thursday). I thought maybe I would share a few of my photos from the vaults of my childhood.  In case you have never heard of TBT it is what happens every Thursday when people go through old photos and post them for the world to see.  I try to stick with the 5 year rule.  If a picture is not at least 5 years old or older, than it's not much of a throwback.  However some people like to go back to last week or last month, just wanting to add a picture back into the spotlight.  Personally I feel like this defeats the purpose of "throwback," but hey, what do I know?  Anyway back tot he blog, here are some gems from my childhood so that you can laugh at how awesome I looked as a child and how dorky I look now ;)  I would love to see your childhood pics if you are brave enough to share!  Have a wonderful Thursday evening, and thanks again for your support!

Hilarious You Tube Videos: Part 4

I like to share some of the random hilarity from the past and what I have come across int he event that you have sadly not had the chance to laugh at the awesomeness that is a hilarious YouTube video.  We all know that there are so many videos out there that we could never watch them all, so I like to compile a few to share at a time!  Enjoy!  I welcome and any all funny video suggestions for each new edition as well!


Funny Crazy Cats:
The box sliding cat takes the cake on this one!  I can't stop laughing at it!

What Girls Think About During Sex
One of the greatest Jenna Marbles videos ever made hahaha, and so true at times

Celebrity Jeopardy   I apologize for the poor quality, but it is next to impossible to watch let alone share a good copy of this oldie but goodie that never gets old!

Hilarious Legitimate Workplace Safety Video This is a REAL workplace safety video which makes it even funnier AND even scarier, enjoy!

 

 Living With JigSaw 

For any of my Saw fans, you should find humor in this! 

In case you have missed the hilarity in previous blogs, you can check them out here: Hilarious YouTube Videos Part 1 Hilarious YouTube Videos Part 2 Hilarious YouTube Videos Part 3

Random Liam Moments: January 2014

I had such a great time sharing Liam's random moments from December that I thought it would be fun to share them monthly!  Here are some of the highlights from the last month.

Liam will only wear his Cars Light Up Shoes and his Airplanes zip-up hoodie for a jacket.  It doesn't matter if it matches or not.  We get into a huge fight if I really want him to wear something else or extensive acts of bribery...  Usually I find it's not worth it and just wash them both constantly instead haha.

Liam and I were playing and he told me to go to timeout. At lunch I ate a carrot off of his plate and he told me to go to timeout again. We are watching Despicable Me 2 right now and we always talk about wanting chip hats... I told Liam I wanted a Chip Hat and he said "No I want one, timeout!" Somehow I think this has backfired on me

Liam just let out a really long fart, and then there was silence before he said bless you. I don't know why it was so funny but I just laughed hysterically for almost 5 full minutes.... In case this is funny to anyone else I wanted to share, otherwise I am probably just sleep deprived hahaha. Usually he says excuse me but I think he wasn't sure what to think hahaha


Liam says to me "I have to go potty" as he is playing in his tent so I told him Let's go potty" and we started walking to the bathroom. He informed me "I peed in my pants" He is not one for accidents so I am frantically touching his pants all over looking for a wet spot saying "did you really, how come?" He says "No, ha I'm funny" and laughs hysterically....... Children...

Liam is playing with his food, he had a cheese curd and ripped it in half and one of them was Liam and one was mommy, they were having conversations and playing hide and seek, and at the end they hugged and said "I love you Liam" and "I love you too" and then they were eaten haha. At least they were loving cheese curds...

 Three must be when it starts.... he calls my kisses yucky and now he doesn't want to wake up if I try to wake him up telling me no waking up and that it's time to sleep... 3 going on 13..... And he wakes up wanting chocolate in the morning throwing a tantrum when I won't let him have chocolate for breakfast. I feel like I have a teen girl going through PMS some days haha


 Liam is playing with his food, he had a cheese curd and ripped it in half and one of them was Liam and one was mommy, they were having conversations and playing hide and seek, and at the end they hugged and said "I love you Liam" and "I love you too" and then they were eaten haha. At least they were loving cheese curds...


So a grand maul tantrum ensued after trying to make Liam some oatmeal and he wanted chocolate cream of wheat, so after he calmed down I made him cream of wheat and myself oatmeal.... guess who just gave me his cream of wheat and is now devouring my oatmeal.... little stinker

Liam was watching videos on Youtube and got onto one of making a polymer clay minion from despicable me, he has now been enthralled in polymer clay pixar character creations for the last 45 minutes. I guess this means that it's time for mom to buy Liam some clay or to start making and baking actual objects with the play doh.

 Oh no it has started already at 3, Liam wanted a hug and I kissed his cheek, he just wiped it off and said yuck Where does he learn this? I said No yuck haha

Liam was trying to "cold hands" me while I was making lunch and I made him stop, so then I hear him squealing running around the house so I went to go see what he was doing. He had both hands up the back of his shirt and was saying "cold hands" to himself and squealing haha. I love my child.

This evening Liam and I were watching the second Lilo & Stitch: Stick has a Glitch. Liam has watch all of the Lilo & Stitch movies many times and is very attached to them. He has only seen this one a couple time though and it's been awhile since we last watched it. Towards the end Stitch is running out of power and almost dies, I was watching him and his eyes started to tear up, he was actually feeling emotion towards Stitch and genuinely sad for him and then when their love brings him back to life I was cheering and Liam was happy but his eyes were still wet, if it would have went on for longer I think he genuinely would have cried for Stitch. I found this very interesting because although he knows what goes on in movies now, I haven't seen him get emotionally into something in quite this way. It made me very happy that even though it sucks sometimes I am glad for the decision that I made early on to limit my adult show time to only after Liam was in bed and wasn't watching it. I didn't want him picking up things off of adult themed shows/movies until he was able to better understand what was going on and how to process those things. It is also nice to know that my boy shows compassion towards others even if they are intangible to him.  

 If you want to check out the moments from last month go to:
 Random Liam Moments: December 2013 
 

Superbowl Chili & Pizza Bicuits

I was lucky enough to have a lot of family in town for Super Bowl Sunday which gave me the opportunity to cook.  I made some slow Cooker Super Bowl Chili and some Pizza Biscuits!  Here are both of the recipes in case you would like to try making some on your own!  Enjoy, it turned out delicious!

Slow Cooker Super Bowl Chili

Ingredients:

2 lb Ground Hamburger
Seasoning (Garlic Powder, Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt, Crushed Red Pepper, Basil, Thyme)
1 12oz can Tomato Paste
2 14.5 oz cans Diced Basil Oregano Tomatoes
1 15 oz can Black Beans
1 15 oz can Great Northern Beans

1 Zucchini (peeled & chopped)
5 Radishes (diced)
3 Celery Stalks (chopped)
3 Garlic Cloves (minced)
1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley (Chopped)
1 Cup Chicken Stock
Shredded Cheese to top

Directions:
Put the ground hamburger into the slow cooker and turn the heat up to high.  Generously season the meat. Add the tomato paste and then fill the can of paste with water and add to the slow cooker.  Add both cans of diced tomatoes and both kinds of beans. Stir to mix.  Add the vegetables and stir to mix thoroughly.  Top with the chicken stock and make sure that everything is stirred to mix.  Cook on high for about 3 hours.  Be sure to stir periodically.  Turn the slow cooker down to low and continue to cook for another hour or two.  If you have more time you can keep on low or warm for several hours until you are ready to eat.  Serve and top with shredded cheese and a dash of basil.  Enjoy! 

Add the hamburger to the slow cooker and season the meat

The beans and tomatoes I used

Add the tomato paste, tomatoes and beans to the slow cooker

Add the veggies & parsley

Add the chicken stock and stir

Serve with cheese sprinkled over top and a dash of basil

 Pizza Biscuits

Ingredients:
1 Cannister of Refrigerated Biscuits
3-4 Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Pizza Sauce
Basil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Lay the biscuits out on an ungreased cookie sheet just like you would for making biscuits normally.  Cut the cheese sticks into 3 or 4 pieces and press them down into the middle of the biscuits.  Spoon pizza sauce over top of the cheese.  Just enough to cover, but not so much that it is dripping onto the pan.  Add a dash of basil to the top.  Bake in the oven for about 8-11 minutes until the biscuits have risen and the cheese is melted.  Allow 5 minutes to cool, serve and enjoy!  You may serve with extra sauce if you want to dip them.

All the ingredients you will need

Place the biscuits on the cookie sheet

Press the cheese into the middle of the biscuits

Spoon pizza sauce on top of the cheese

Cook and enjoy :)

Rio

Rio is one of those movies that I had heard about but never got around to watching until recently.  Everyone told me how great it was so I had very high expectations.  I must say that the first time we watched it I was a little disappointed.  However Liam got into it more and more to the point that he kept asking for it, once we sent it back to Netflix.  Finally I conceded and we found it on sale and bought it.  The more that we watched it the more that it grew on me.  I definitely love the music and the bright colors.  There are a lot of big stars doing voices.  I love that the main character is kind of dorky and out of his element.

If you aren't familiar with Rio it is about a Blue Macaw that was a black market smuggled bird.  He ends up with a loving owner in Minnesota and lives his life domesticated, never learning to fly.  He is the only known documents male left of his species and so he must embark on a journey to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in order to help populate his species.  The crazy adventure begins there.  The story is cute and the characters are unique from ones that we have seen in the past.

Rio came out in 2011 and connected the main character Blu (the male blue Macaw) with his female counterpart Jewel.  His owner is named Linda and lives her life around Blu as a bookstore owner in Minnesota.  Tulio is the ornithologist who finds them in Minnesota to bring Blu to mate with Jewel.



Rio was released in 2011 by Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age) as a 3D Computer animated musical-adventure-comedy.  It was directed by Carlos Saldanha.  Originally the concept was for a penguin to wash ashore to Rio.  But when the concept was being developed in 2005, Happy Feet and Surf's Up were also coming out.  This caused Saldanha to change the concept from a penguin to a blue macaw.  The film was considered a box office success grossing over $484 million worldwide.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song for "Real in Rio."  Originally Neil Patrick Harris was approached to voice Blu, but due to other obligations he had to pass and Jesse Eisenberg was selected to voice Blu.  Originally the film was given a PG rating for "mild off-color humor."  Due to the target audience being children, it caused the film to be edited and re-submitted to the MPAA in order to achieve a G rating.  The release of Rio caused Pixar to cancel the 2012 release of their movie Newt due to similarities in the plotline. 

The amazing voice talents of Rio include:
Blu voiced by Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network, Zombieland, Adventureland)
Linda voiced by Leslie Mann (This Is 40, Funny People, Knocked Up, Big Daddy)
Tulio voiced by Rodrigo Santoro (Xerxes in 300,  Love Actually)
Jewel voiced by Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables, Dark Night Rises, Bride Wars, Devil Wears Prada)
Nico& Pedro (Friends of Jewel) voiced by Jamie Foxx & Will.I.Am (From the Black Eyed Peas)
Rafael (Toucan) voiced by George Lopez (the Comedian)
Luiz (A Bulldog) voiced by Tracy Morgan (30 Rock, Cop Out)
You also get cameos from Wands Sykes and Jane Lynch etc.

Overall I give this film a 4 out of 5.  It definitely grows on you and you learn to love it more and more but initially you don't feel that it is the greatest film that you have ever seen.  The animation is done beautifully and you get to know a lot of characters individually.  Rio 2 is set to be released in April of 2014.  I definitely recommend checking it out if you have never seen it, and giving it a second chance if it didn't stick with you the first time you saw it.

Ham & Potato Soup

I had the pleasure of cooking for a multitude of family members this evening.  Seven people in all which is a lot more than I usually get to try my food.  I am so luck to have my grandparents, aunt, cousin, sister and son all together this week.  The stars aligned and had us all in one place!  So we opted for a great comfort food recipe that could feed a lot of people, and what better option than ham & potato soup!  This recipe was fairly painless and easy and turned out very delicious!  I also still have leftovers!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 

Ingredients:
5 Tbsp Butter
2 Garlic Cloves (Diced)
3 Carrots (Peeled & Sliced)
3 Celery Stalks (Sliced)
2.5 lbs Smoked Ham (Cubed)
1/4 Cup Flour
4 Cups Chicken Stock (32 oz Container)
2 Cups Water
2 tsp Alpine Touch (Salt & Pepper)
1/3 Cup Heavy Cream
Green Onions to Garnish (optional)
Shredded Cheese to Garnish (optional)

Directions:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat until golden brown. Stir in carrot, celery, ham, and garlic.  Cook for 5-6 minutes, until the vegetables soften. 
Stir in the flour and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, 1 cup at a time. Add water and stir to combine. Turn the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
Stir in potatoes; cook for 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Skim fat if desired. 
Season with alpine touch to taste and add cream. Stir to combine and heat through. Garnish with fresh chives and/or shredded cheese.  Serve & Enjoy!

My sous chef excited to get started

Add the butter, veggies & ham to the pot

Add the flour

Add the chicken stock

Add the potatoes

Stir in the cream

Serve & Enjoy!