Date Night Our Plain Life Style

Dan and I love to go out as much as other couples, but when you add in the cost of babysitting to the expense of the date, it sure adds up! Plus, we like to have weekly date nights where we can reconnect without the distractions of, you know, three little ones interrupting, asking to cut their food, not wanting to eat the cut up food, etc. A weekly date night out isn't in the budget so we have recently reinstated the "Date night In." We eat dinner together after the kids are in bed and then there is no t.v. just talking or playing games. It's a little more planning on my part when it comes to dinner, but it's oh so worth it. Plus, it's a whole lot cheaper!

Last night I made a recipe that I just have to share. I wasn't sure how the kids would react to the blue cheese or the pepper sauce, so it was a great date night dinner.

This recipe is from the March 2010 Cooking Light issue:

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Chicken with Buffalo Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
• 1 tablespoon reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 6 tablespoons finely chopped drained bottled roasted red bell peppers
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff cheese mixture evenly into pockets.

3. Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Place panko in a shallow dish. Working with 1 chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, then dip in egg mixture; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour, egg mixture, and panko.

4. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan; swirl until butter melts. Arrange chicken in pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over; place skillet in oven. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until done.

5. While chicken bakes, combine remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, bell peppers, water, Worcestershire, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; cook until butter melts. Remove from heat, and stir in hot sauce. Serve sauce with chicken.

I didn't add the hot sauce because the peppers I got already had a little kick to them, but really it was the sauce that made this dish oh so good. It went so well with the blue cheese! For sides, we had roasted asparagus and red mashed potatoes. GOOD STUFF!!

To make it a little less hectic and so I wouldn't feel like I was making two totally separate dinners, for the kids I just took two of the chicken breasts breaded them and browned them without the blue cheese mixture. Then I prepared our chicken all the way until the part where you browned them. I kept the breaded chicken in the fridge until I was ready to get our date night dinner cooking then proceeded with Step #4. I put the asparagus in the oven with the chicken and during the 20 minutes it was in the oven I made the mashed potatoes. Dinner was on the table when Dan came down from putting the kids to bed!

Then we ended the night with a game J&A introduced to us while they were out. A fun two person game, and the ONLY way Dan will get me to play Monopoly. (By the way, I won!)

I'm back!

No, we didn't get snowed in. The snow has come and is gone thanks to the 60 degree weather. Tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 70! WhooHoo!! Gone are the Uggs and out come the flip flops. But, first, I am in serious need of a pedicure! Hello, callouses.

The reason for the lack of blogging is because we were able to enjoy a nice weekend up in I-o-way with Dan's family. He's on the alumni council of our alma mater which is also in his hometown, so we tagged along. Faux Pas #1 for any blogger, I didn't take out my camera so I can't document our trip with photos. Oh well...you can use your imagination!

On Friday, the girls and I met up with one of my roommates from college and her 3 sweet little daughters. It was a fun time to see her home and see our kids playing together. Maybe it's a good thing we don't live too close, because it would be trouble! It was a nice afternoon of catching up and talking about mothering. (Hiya, KD! Thanks for opening up your home for the afternoon!). She confessed to me that she's a lurker to this blog so I'll give a little shout out. :)

Annika was able to have some quality time with her cousin Stella which is always fun. Taryn tagged right along. They had the most fun with Grandma's laundry chute. Apparently, we need one of those as they were entertained for hours! Balls and Barbies alike made their way down.

On Saturday, I caught up with Stephanie for a few hours over lunch. She wondered if I would bring any kids with. Um, no, that's not the most relaxing. We do drive thru with them, no sit down for us. I also saw two random people that I knew from my hometown in CA. It was fun to say hi and catch up for a sec.

The drive home took a record 4 hours and 32 minutes. We didn't even stop once! After owning our minivan for 2 years, I finally figured out how to use the wireless headphones. Who ever invented those should get some sort of medal. Brilliant! It was one of the quietest trips we ever had. My children have watched more t.v. on the car ride there and back than they have the whole month. Yet, it was worth every moment of silence. We'll just have a t.v. moratorium for the next few days.

Now, it's on to unpacking and getting my life back into order--that's assuming there was any order in the first place.

Spring, oh Spring wherefore art thou?!

Remember on Monday I was excited about the start of Spring?

Remember on Monday I said Dan was going to start planting the garden this weekend?

Yesterday it was 65 degrees outside.

Today we woke up to this

and it's been snowing and blowing all day.

Darn groundhog.

The Night that Taryn Didn't Blink

For a period of about two hours last night Taryn didn't speak and barely moved. Was I worried? Even though this is extremely abnormal for Taryn to do while she is awake, I wasn't a bit worried. I guess you could say she was a little spellbound by Disney On Ice. Last night we went to the show with another mom and her sweet girls. The look on the faces of the girls when the show started was worth the price of admission. I kid you not, Taryn sat at the edge of her seat for the whole show. She said all of two words to me "Where's Tinkerbell?" When I explained that she would come on later, Taryn just turned back and watched the show in amazement. Those Disney people know how to entertain.

Taryn didn't want to risk looking at the camera for the fear of missing something. (The look on her face is how she looked the whole night).

Some of the cars from Cars

Ariel and Flounder

Simba from Lion King

Was able to get a quick pic of the girls during intermission

Our favorite Disney Characters (other than all the Princesses, of course) Minnie, Mickey, Goofy and Donald (not pictured :) ).

Tinkerbell and the other fairies

What a great night out with my girls!

At the end of the show, one of the girls looked at Taryn and asked why she was crying. I looked at Taryn and said, "Oh, no, honey, she's not crying. Her eyes are watering because she hasn't blinked for the last 2 hours."

Laundry day is a better day

Remember my last post about Laundry Day? Well, it has gotten a lot better...especially when "Bunkey" isn't involved. Landon loves to help with the laundry. He hears the buzzer and runs into the laundry room yelling "Bucket!" Which means, "Get me a basket there is some laundry to be done in here!"

Here's a little clip of how he helps me. Once he learns his colors I figure he can do the sorting as well. :)

Landon Helping with the Laundry from Rebekah Eekhoff on Vimeo.

More sun? Yes Please!

Unfortunately, it has been overcast and rainy since forever (o.k. at least for the last week) so I haven't been able to truly appreciate Daylight Saving Time these last few nights. But, I have been able to appreciate the sleeping in. The kiddos haven't been waking me up until between 8:45 and 9:00. Yay for that!! I am waiting for Landon to figure it out and go back to waking up at 7. But, until then, I will enjoy the extra zzz's. However, I have noticed that the days have gone by really fast. I know it may be because I'm not eating breakfast until 9:30, but all day I feel like I am running behind. We haven't been eating lunch until 1, naps aren't until 2 and bedtime has been pushed back to 8:30. When I think that I have plenty of time to make something for dinner, I look up and it's already 5:30, and we usually eat at 6. I know that this will change when my mind and body catch up to the time change. Thankfully it's Spring Break so we don't have to be at school by 12:15, after all we just got done eating breakfast!

I can tell that Spring is coming because I am starting to hear the neighbors' lawn services mowing lawns and laying mulch. Speaking of lawn service, wonder when Dan will mow our lawn?;) It's actually still pretty brown so we will probably wait a bit. I can tell that the back yard gets more sun than the front because it's greener back there. This weekend Dan is planning on starting the garden. I know you think it's too early, but, trust me, Dan has a method to his madness. We have been cultivating our compost all winter so it will be nice and smelly for the neighbors. Seriously, I am surprised they haven't kicked us out yet.

I can also tell that it's nearing Spring by the birds chirping in the morning. They like to have their coffee and muffins (or whatever they have for breakfast) on the gutter right outside of our master bedroom window. Nothing like waking up to the sound of bird claws (is that what they are called?) scraping on a metal gutter. Maybe they are mad that I am sleeping in. Early bird gets the worm! You can have your worm, I will just keep on sleeping! Maybe we should get one of those wooden owls and prop it up on roof, maybe that will keep them away. Or I could have the girls decorate pinwheels and put them on all four corners of the house. I read about a shock system that give the birds a small little jolt when they land on it. Yeah, the neighbors love us.

Well, I hope all of you are looking forward to spring as much as I am. Swimsuit season will be here before we know it! A big ol' yippee for that!

There goes the modeling career

Or maybe it's a boy thing? This is what they must mean by "rugged good looks." (The toy basket and the doorway happened yesterday within 30 minutes of each other...yep, mom of the year, right here).

For now, we'll just leave the posing to Annika

Heaviness

My heart is heavy.

Those I love are hurting.

All I can do is pray

for healing of hearts ripped apart.

for the little life being knit together in the womb of a mother.

for jobs and stability.

for answers.

for surrender.

for unconditional love.

for quiet in the storm.

for His still small whisper to be heard like thunder.

for hope.

for encouragement.

for miracles.

for His will to be done.

I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:13-14

Putting on the pounds

About a month ago, Dan weighed Taryn and Landon on our bathroom scale. They both weighed exactly 30 pounds. Tonight, Dan weighed them again. No, he doesn't make a habit of this, just they were in our bathroom at the same time so he weighed them. Taryn weighed in at 31 pounds and Landon (who is 17 months younger) weighed in at 31.5 pounds. The question is will Taryn weigh more than Landon ever again?! I have a feeling the answer is "no." Our little T is going to be a flyweight and Landon is going to be a bruiser. I guess that's better than the other way around.

In the meantime

While I was posting on my favorite things last month, there were some exciting things going on around here. Uncle Jim and Auntie Anna came out to spend a week with us! It was so much fun! We are trying to convince them that moving to Kansas would be REALLY cool, but it was hard to do when the weather barely crept out of the 20s. Come on, don't you want to give up the 75 degree temps of SoCal for the warmth of the love of your sister and her sweet family?! Don't you?! Wishful thinking, maybe. Anyway, we took advantage of them being here and tried to do some fun things. Granted a lot of them were kid friendly, but it was fun anyway. At night there was some game playing and, of course, Olympic watching.

One afternoon we hit up Fritz's for lunch. The food left a lot to be desired but the fact that our food was delivered on little trains was fun for the kids. Plus Anna and Jim look smokin' in those conductor hats.

Then the kids were able to show some creativity at Kaleidescope. It's a fun free event put on by Hallmark. Free crafting and I don't have to clean up the mess? Sign me up!!

There was a lot of cuddling and reading going on.

The kids love to play hide and seek. Here they are hiding from Uncle Jim. I think Taryn thought up this brilliant hiding place.

We did get a sitter one night and the adults went out for dinner (BBque!!) and some night life.

We showed them some of the best that KC has to offer. See, it's fun even in the dead of winter!! Next time come in the spring, summer or even fall and you won't want to leave!!