Chicken Tenders and Slow Cooked Pork

Last Sunday we had fried chicken for lunch and dinner from the supermarket.  Kevin loves fried chicken but I am not the biggest fan--too greasy and fatty for me.  Even though the greasiness left me feeling blah, I still felt like chicken.  So Tuesday I tried out something a bit healthier. Baked breaded chicken tenders--a recipe from Robin Miller on Foodnetwork. 

It turned out well, the tenders required no trimming like I usually have do a little with chicken breasts.  It was quick and easy.  I mixed the breading while the girls sat in their high chairs munching on some graham crackers.  I breaded the chicken and got them situated on the cookie sheet (and even took a picture) while the girls napped. Working with raw chicken while having to constantly pick up their toys makes me uneasy even though I always wash my hands, so nap time was it.  I baked some immediately after breading and some I let marinade for a day or two.  The flavor of the chicken on the ones that marinaded was better but the crunchy outside of the oats on the immediately cooked batch was also nice.  All in all, I think I prefer the marinaded ones. (I forgot to take a picture of them baked and arranged in a flattering way on a serving platter.  Maybe next time).

Tonight I'm slow cooking pork shoulder.  I really don't use the slow cooker for anything but sterilizing bottles and cooking beans, so this is something new and different for me.  The pork is a good 7 lbs and all the recipes I've seen are for 2-3 lbs of pork.  So needless to say, I'm cooking it longer than 8 hours on low.  How long?  I don't know yet.  I cut up and onion and two cloves of garlic; added coriander (from last year's cilantro plant), rosemary, and oregano, along with salt and pepper.  I tried to submerge the pork in water but it's too big, at least a quarter inch is sticking out.  I'll just have to flip it over when I'm up in the middle of the night.

Bug Problem

This winter was very mild.  It hardly snowed and none of it lasted more than a couple hours.  I am not a fan of the cold, so a mild winter and early spring seemed ideal to me.  Until, of course, I spent time in the backyard this week.  Out there mosquitos are running rampant and it is only April!  We did not have mosquitos this bad until August of last year.  

Now my problem is how to get rid of the mosquitos so my babies don’t get eaten alive every time I try to introduce them to nature (and yes I'm calling our backyard nature . . . it is very overgrown and there are birds, squirrels and the occasional turtle and snake).   Any neurotoxic chemicals are out because I want to keep things green for the girls’ health.

So to start, we fixed the gaping hole in the gutter downspout that flooded part of our yard every time it rained. Hopefully that will limit their breeding ground. I bought an organic mosquito killer at Home Depot called Ecosmart mosquito and tick control and doused the two lower sections of our tri-level backyard. So far it hasn’t worked as well as I hoped but hopefully it at least got some of them. I’ve seen on Pinterest, how to make your own mosquito repellent using essential oils and will try that next. Anyone have other suggestions (besides moving back to the desert)?

Baby legs!

A pair of baby leggings are perfect for cool mornings and make diaper changes so much easier than pants or tights.  Especially now that the girls are sqirmy wormies and don't make putting on pants an easy job for mommy.  To save money and because I like to sew, I bought some socks at a dollar store and make some leggings using the tutorial over at Everything Your Momma Made and More. http://everythingyourmamamade.com/2008/01/21/make-your-own-baby-leg-warmers/

The girls look adorable in them of course (not that I'm bias or anything).  But I did discover a problem not mentioned on the tutorial.  It is one I should have realized if I had really thought about it.  If you get sock with a pattern that has a right side up and then you sew them so the top of the sock is now the bottom of the legging, then you wind up with leggings that have upside down patterns.  For example, the poodles on Tess' leggings are running upside down in between pretty pink bows that are also upside down.  (Except of course at the top of one of them.  That is right side up because I was not paying attention as I pinned.  I could of course say I was busy paying attention to the girls playing instead and there is a pretty good chance that statement would be true.)  So now I know to purchase socks with no right side up pattern and we'll be good to go.  The next ones I'll make have a cute pink, tan and black argyle pattern and will look nice anyway you look at it!

Day at the Farm

We went to visit a farm today.  A friend of a friend who owned the farm had an outing there for a bunch of children.  It was very generous of her to open her home (and her barn) to us.  We drove through woods to reach the farm. The bright sunlight filtered down in patches through the trees. Two does bounded across the country road on the way. The weather was sunny but not too warm and really made a lovely day perfect.

The girls met their first horses, ducklings, chicks and a very sweet dog named Dixie.  I don't think they really knew what to make of the ducklings and horses.  My friend held Dara and showed her a duckling up close and she stared at it so intently.  Then she got upset and started crying becase too many children were crowding around to see the duckling.  But Tess' and her stranger anxiety seems to be improving as long as they aren't overwhelmed with too many new things.

It was a nice way to celebrate their 10 month birthday.  I can't believe 10 months have already gone by.  Where does the time go?  They are not the itty bitty babies they used to be.  Now they are such big chunks with chubby, chubby cheeks.  Dara also cut her first tooth today.  So now we have three teeth between two babies.