Break the Cycle

Home from a fun filled week in Michigan. What a great time we had flying my Dad out so he and his twin brother could celebrate their 82nd birthday in the cottage where they grew up - yep, you read that right - both of them, 82. Do you know how many times they each told the same story to the same people? But - it really was fun - and to see my Dad having so much fun was worth every single penny I spent to get my own family of 6 as well as all extended family gathered together for a weekend of partying. Pictures will soon follow - but I wanted to share this recipe that my cousin Carol made up for the party. Quick, simple, somewhat healthy - ideal for a quick dessert type salad - 1 container of Cottage Cheese 1 package of FF jello (this time she used lemon) some blueberries 1 container of Cool Whip That was it. It was good. She mixes it up and uses different jello flavors and different fruits - but it was surprisingly good - and that was the first time my kids EVER ate cottage ...

After a long weekend in the great state of Virginia - I am happy to be home, with about 3 weeks off from swim practice. Not 3 weeks of entirely - because of course, we get home on a Saturday night, and Tennis practice starts Monday morning .... but the Tennis coach is not such an early morning person as the swim coach - I can deal with 7:45 a.m. start times ! Leenah had an outstanding year this year in swimming. 2 weeks before the Junior Olympics she aged up. If you are not familiar with swim terms, that means she jumped from swimming against 11/12 yo's to swimming against 13/14 yo's. She had already made most of the qualifying times for the older age group, so she still had lots of events to excel at during the Junior Olympics - and excel she did. She brought home some very fast times, as well as some medals, but the one event that stood out was a swim off in the 100 Breast Stroke. Breast Stroke is NOT Leenah's best stroke. Freestyle mid-distance is. She's...

Here's another that looks simple enough - and uses stuff I already have on hand - love that. I didn't claim it to be the World's Best Chicken - but I will post my families reviews after we try it - BEWARE - they are picky, picky eaters ! Lots of recipes on Rachel Schultz's blog that I'll be trying ! The World’s Best Chicken Serves 4 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1/2 cup Dijon mustard 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar Salt & Pepper Rosemary Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together mustard, syrup, and vinegar. Place chicken breasts into 9×13 baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Pour mustard mixture over chicken. No need to marinate. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Season with rosemary.

AND EASY? Will be giving this one a shot as soon as we get home from Michigan ! Summer Veggies Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 45 min. Total: 1 hr. INGREDIENTS COST 1 Tbsp olive oil $0.11 1 medium yellow onion $0.70 1 tsp minced garlic $0.08 1 medium zucchini $0.71 1 medium yellow squash $0.85 1 medium potato $0.91 1 medium tomato $1.65 1 tsp dried thyme $0.05 to taste salt & pepper $0.05 1 cup shredded Italian cheese $1.49 TOTAL $6.60 STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Saute both in a skillet with olive oil until softened (about five minutes). STEP 2: While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables. STEP 3: Spray the inside of an 8x8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle gen...

I usually print out recipes that I come across online that I want to try one day, but not necessarily TOday - course, then when ONE day comes, I can't find the recipe, and no matter how much I Google, I can't find it again - so figured I'd just start linking them in posts on my own blog - should be easy enough to find later. Anyway - these look amazing - and with all the Jersey corn around right now - should be easy as pie to make ! I just love Sugarcrafter blog 3 cups fresh sweet corn, roughly chopped 1/4 cup shredded summer squash (I used a tiger squash) 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup flour 3/4 cup cornmeal 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp basil 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs 2 Tbsp milk 1 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted Olive oil, for frying