Nathan's Chicken Teriyaki

Nate and I have been on a stay-cation all week.  It's been fun not having to work.  For dinner tonight, Nathan decided to make dinner for us.  I made it a challenge by telling him he had to use whatever we already had here at our home, in the fridge, freezer and pantry.  He said he was up for the challenge.  Last night, he checked to see what items we had on hand and researched recipes to see what he was going to make.

Nate told me I wasn't allowed in the kitchen.  haha  He decided to make Chicken Teriyaki.  It was delicious and very flavorful.  :)

You will need:

Chicken breasts (2)

black pepper

Peppers (red & green, cut up)

white onion (cut up)

rice (he used white b/c that's what we had....2 cups)

corn starch (2 tbsp)

red pepper flakes (little bit)

pinch of salt

Teriyaki sauce  (3/4 cup)

olive oil and a little vegetable oil  (about a tbsp each)

First, Nate washed the chicken and cooked it our pampered chef baker with some black pepper.  Once the chicken was done (11 minutes) he cut it up into bite size pieces.  He boiled some water and cooked the 2 cups of rice.  While the rice was cooking, he added oil to the skillet and once it was hot he added the onions, peppers, chicken pieces, corn starch, red pepper flakes, pinch of salt and Teriyaki sauce.  He cooked on high for a few minutes, stirring constantly and then he turned the heat on low and let everything simmer for about 7 minutes.

He enjoyed making dinner and he said it was pretty easy and it was actually fun.  I love cooking and baking but it was nice to take a night off.  :)

Sister Sunday

This past Sunday, I went to RVA to spend the day with my little sister, Ashley.  Our first stop was some breakfast.  Ashley is expecting (A GIRL....yey,  :) I can't wait to meet her.) so they had to eat.  We went to Dixie Donuts.

It was cool that they had specialty donuts, 'Chihuly' b/c that's what we were going to see.

Display case of donuts.

Baggy with our donuts.  They were so yummy.  I got chocolate and loved it.  Ashley got an old-fashioned vanilla cupcake.  She said it was really good.

Next stop, after we finally found parking on the street we went to the Virginia Museum of fine arts to check out the Chihuly exhibit.

And here's some pictures from the exhibit.....

If you've ever been to The Bellagio in Las Vegas then you'll recognize the ceiling glass art.

There was a room full of glass art.  I wished there had been a piece to touch but that's against the rules.

The was pretty cool.  It was kinda like lightening.

We figured since the Chihuly exhibit was not as big as we thought it would be we decided to check out the FREE exhibits.  Why not right?  We were already there.  So we walking around checking everything.  Then we were hungry for lunch and went to Joe's Inn.  Ashley treated me to lunch.  We shared some mozzarella sticks and both got a cheeseburger with fries with water to drink.  It was good.

Then we headed to Stoney Point Fashion Park Mall.  First stop was Sur La Table.  Love this store.  There's so many things I would go buy if I had a ton of money.  haha  :)  

We went to Anthropologie and found lots of cute little things like these....

and these.....

and these....

We walked the mall.  It's an outside mall and it allows you to bring your dogs.  That's weird to me.  I'm not a dog person.  Big dogs especially scare me, and make me uncomfortable.  I'd much rather not shop with a dog but it is what it is.  

We both wanted something sweet so we went to Cary Town to Sweet Frog to get some yogurt.  Then we headed back to Ashley's apartment and hung out for a bit.  We checked out the home office and tried to figure out how to make it more organized.  After talking about it and checking out the Target ad we decided to go to Target.  We stopped at Ross on the way and to see if there was anything there.  We left without buying anything.  Then we went to Target where Ashley bought a bunch of fabric bins for the office.  They are on sale this week.  YEY!  We then went to Kroger so Ashley could pick up a few things she needed.  I was getting hungry for dinner so we decided on Little Caesars Pizza and we went back to the apartment to eat and hang out.  It was a awesome day!  Ashley thanks again for the fun sister day.  We need to do it more often.  :)

Party time

My nephew, Adam turned 8 earlier this month and I went to his birthday party.  I asked Sharon and Agnes to join me.  I figured Agnes might have some fun playing with older kids.  

I met at Sharon's and fed Agnes while Sharon and Joe put away Christmas decorations in the attic.  I fed her some yogurt, and some noodle soup.  She was a hot mess.  LOL  I took this picture of her while she was taking a small break.  That girl can eat.  haha  :)

After we cleaned up Agnes we put her in a party dress and headed to the birthday party.  My sister, got subs from Firehouse subs for everyone to eat for lunch.  I gave my nephew $10 cash.  I didn't know what else to get him.  Here's Adam blowing out the candle on his birthday cake.

After cake and presents the birthday boy and his friends played with Agnes.  She was loving all the attention.  She had a stuffed puppy dog and her monkey (best friend) that she showed the kids.  My nephew, grabbed some of his stuffed animals and they all played with them together.  It was cute.  Two of the little girls in the group loved playing and holding Agnes.  Then when Sharon announced it was time to change her diaper the boys scattered and the girls stayed to help.  LOL

After the party, Sharon and I went to Giant and got a few groceries that Sharon needed for the week.  At 6pm, we went to Crystal and Eddie's to celebrate Eddie's birthday (1/1).  Crystal made a yummy salad and she ordered pizza.  We also had cake.  The guys played poker while the girls hung out in the living room.

Giant Kool Pops make me happy

While trying to get over Bronchitis, I found these giant Kool Pops from Wegmans that made me really happy and that helped my sore throat.

They are really long.  The green one is my favorite.

To see the length of them I placed one next to Harley.  LOL  :)

Homemade Turkey Soup

What do you do with turkey leftovers??  You can make sammiches, which are the best.  I like mine with a little roll, turkey, mayo and cranberry sauce.  YUM!  I kinda want one right now.  :)  Anyways, when you're done with making and eating turkey sammiches you can make some turkey soup.  It's really easy to make.

I just put the turkey in the crock pot with 3 cans of Veg-all Veggies (I like the original can), black pepper, and water or broth.  Let it cook up on high for 4 hours or so.  I served the soup with mini saltine crackers.  It's a perfect meal on a cold, rainy day and you finally finish off the turkey without any of it going to waste.

Christmas Dinner 2012

I haven't blogged in a few weeks because I've been lazy and I'd been sick.  Right after Christmas I came down with bronchitis.  "Ain't nobody got time for that".  I'm still getting over the cough.  

For Christmas dinner 2012, Nate's mom, brother, and his wife and their little pug dog, joined us for dinner.  Nate's dad was in Ohio with Grandma Miller.  We decided to host a simple dinner.

I made Turkey, Stove top stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Mac & Cheese and we had some cranberry sauce and rolls.

The turkey was perfect.  Here's Nate trimming the turkey.

Linda (Nate's mom) made Pecan Pie from a recipe I got from a friend at work.  :)  This picture was taken after we dug in.  :)  It was really good.