For dinner tonight!

When I was planning my wedding, I often thought, "how in the world did people do this before Pinterest?!" Now as I am learning to be a wife I think the same thing. How did people do this without Pinterest?? Thankfully my friend Amy introduced me to the site last December, because my life would be very different without it. All of the dinners that have been served in this house in the last four months were pinspired. My husband doesn't even ask anymore when I serve him something new. He just smiles (or occasionally raises an eyebrow) and says "hmm...Pinterest?" Sometimes I send him "shopping" though my food boards to pick out what we will eat the following week. His enthusiasm does not quite match mine, but he is a good sport. So this was our favorite new recipe of the week- chicken & sweet potato quinoa stir fry.

 

1 c water

1/2 c quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 med sweet potato (about 8 oz), peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
4 tsp canola oil
12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 med onion, chopped
1 jalapeño chile pepper, finely chopped
1 med red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 c frozen peas
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

1. COMBINE water and quinoa in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until liquid has been absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes.
2. PUT sweet potato in small saucepan with enough cold water to cover by 2" while quinoa is cooking. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain.

3. HEAT 2 teaspoons of the oil in large nonstick frying pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl.

4. RETURN pan to heat and add remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Stir in onion and jalapeño pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Add bell pepper, garlic, and cumin. Cook until vegetables start to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in peas and reserved chicken and cook 2 minutes. Add quinoa and sweet potato. Cook, stirring frequently, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro, salt, and black pepper.
Originally from prevention.com

The Jennifers Johnson

Jennifer Johnson is a friend from California. We share the same name (my name hasn't officially changed yet) and met when I was teaching at the preschool her children attended. After that there was babysitting and cookie baking and badly wrapped Christmas presents. Now, she and her husband, Jody, seem to vacation in all of the places that I live. : ) They make an annual trip to Puerto Rico to celebrate her birthday, and this year they also took a trip to the Gulf Coast. It was fun to have them over to our home and to catch up over dinner. Thanks Johnsons!

Election day fun

We were invited to spend election evening with some friends. They homeschool all of their children, and were looking to broaden their audience for their election presentations and their own mock election. It was so cute, I have to share.
We arrived and got to register to vote.

 

 

 

Then we got to vote for the president and three household initiatives that were written by the kids.

 

It was fun to see the projects that they were working while we watched the results on the news.

 

 

And then we ate patriotic brownies and Watergate salad!







Happy Thanksgiving!

So it is Peter's turn to blog about his visit with Dennis Kirkland, but he is taking his time. So I will keep posting until he is ready. We will be spending the afternoon with his coworkers at one of their homes. Please know that we are thankful for YOU- our family and friends, even though distance and work schedules keep us from spending the holiday with you.
This week, we celebrated Peter's birthday with friends.

Four State Weekend

We took a slightly spontaneous trip to Tennessee this weekend to visit Peter's teenage nephew. That's the short version of the story.
Our first stop was the 9th ward, New Orleans, Louisiana. We dropped our dog off at Steve's house and ate a late dinner at a great place called Sugar Park. We spent the night at Steve's and drove to Nashville, Tennessee the next day. 9 hour drive : ) It was BEAUTIFUL!!

We stopped at an "Amish market." They had rap music playing when we walked in the door.

 

 

It almost felt wrong to be in Nashville on the night of the CMAs and not attend, but we found other things to do. Peter is pretty sure he spotted one of the guys in "Big and Rich." This was the streetview (the night after the awards).

 

 

We saw fall leaves and listened to Bill O'Reilly's audio book, "Killing Lincoln." We also raided the Nashville Trader Joe's store. (Our closest TJ is in Atlanta, 6 hours away!)

 

 

 

We travelled home by way of Alabama, and saw Birmingham and stopped in Montgomery to meet up with Dennis Kirkland, Peter's pastor during his teenage years in PR. He is going to write more about that visit in the next blog post. We got home around midnight on the "fall back" night and enjoyed an extra hour of sleep, and then Peter got up that morning and drove back to New Orleans to pick up the dog. Whew! Busy weekend!

 



 

 





Halloween

We got to visit some friends who made their own costumes! "Spaghetti & Meatballs," "Curious George and the man with the yellow hat," and "Jellyfish." How fun : )