Here's what dinner WON'T be tonight!

I found this recipe online while trying to get an idea how to cook our salmon tonight:


Cooking Salmon in a Dishwasher

salmon fillets
aluminum foil
a lemon
a few butter pats
electric dishwasher

Place the fish on two large sheets of aluminum foil. Squeeze on some lemon juice and place the pats of butter on the salmon fillets. Seal the fillets well in the foil, and place the foil packet in the top wire basket of your electric dishwasher. DO NOT ADD SOAP OR DETERGENT. Close the dishwasher door, set the dishwasher on the hottest wash cycle, complete with drying cycle, and let it run through a full cycle. When the cycle is complete the fish will be cooked just right.

Refrigerator Challenge Follow Up

We ended up with Tex-Mex Mini Meatloaves served on Mini Corn Pancakes. Kind of taco-y....kind of meat-ball-y.....Chance ate two and said his belly ached when he was done.

Mini Tex Mex Meatloaves on Corn Pancakes

Whip up the corn pancake batter by mixing corn meal, flour, milk and oil to make a pancake-consistency batter. Let stand.

Mix ground beef with onion, chili powder, garlic. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes or until done in a greased muffin tin. Top with grated cheese last few minutes.

While meatloaves are cooking, stir up the pancake batter to bring the cornmeal up and then fry small pancakes in a skillet, a few minutes per side. Set aside on a covered dish to keep warm until the meatloaves are ready.

Chop up some lettuce and tomatoes.

Place pancakes on plate, top with a meatloaf, top with salsa and sour cream and veggies. Enjoy!

Refrigerator Challenge

4 dinners to make and I don't want to hit the grocery store, there's plenty in the fridge:

Produce:
Grapes
Grape Tomatoes
Vine Tomatoes
Romaine Lettuce
Leaf Lettuce
4 Apples, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith
2 Carrots
1 Orange
Celery
Green Pepper x 2
Red Pepper x 3
Red Onion
Cucumber
Dill
1/2 Lemon
1 Cup Sliced Brown Mushrooms
1 Cup Green Beans
Green Onions
1 Lime
2 Cobs of Corn
Raddishes
Shallots
Onions
Small (New) Potatoes
Cantaloupe Balls

Dairy/Etc.
Old Orange Cheddar
Really Old White Cheddar
Sour Cream
Ricotta Cheese
Plain Yogurt
Parmesan Cheese
Butter
Margarine
Eggs

Other
Cold Cooked Chicken Breast
1 Round Pie Shell (uncooked)
Jalapeno Hummus
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Chicken Broth
Apple Juice
Tomato Sauce
Poppyseed Salad Dressing
Balsamic Salad Dressing
Canned Tuna


...& what's for dinner??? I HAVE NO CLUE!!!

5 months until birthday cake!

Karin is 7 months old today!

Play Kitchen

Zee master chef in his keetchen.

Zee milk must be verry cold.

A stainless steel bowl makes a perfect sink.
Sink knobs (which are the most important part,
apparently) are tin foil covered egg carton.



Hugs for Karin. Don't spill the milk, Chance!


We visited IKEA on the weekend and found this cute and cheap little pots & pans set for Chance -- they were also selling an equally cute but expensive play kitchen set (sink and stove). I was not prepared to shell out the $$ on a whim purchase. So I opted for the dishes and came home and fashioned a home-made stove and sink out of a Pampers box and some tin foil. We did pretty good, I think. If Chance plays with it for a decent amount of time we will look at building him a wooden sink and stove.

Mike the Mouse....or Vole, Rather

We caught this cute little vole on the side of the road on the way to the park. I think the poor thing was stunned out in the sunlight. It had the pleasure of sleeping most of the day away on a bread mattress and eating lettuce salad and cheese for supper in a pickle jar before being released in a grassy field. Wikipedia says voles live between three to six months and the males are faithful to their mates for their entire lifespan.

Easter dress on its' way out...

I'm so sad to see this little jumper dress go. We bought the dress for Easter for her with some money given to us by my grandmother in Indian Head. It fits Karin almost like a vest now...definitely a "baby doll" style, requiring the little bloomers that came with it to be decent. First picture taken 4 months ago, and now she's almost 7 months old. Time flies!

Carnivore

Well you can imagine how well this meal went over. Baby Girl does not like beef stew. I have 18 ice cubes of the stuff.

Rainy Day

It rained pretty much all day today -- even when it did let up, we couldn't go outside because it was windy and the playground equipment would be all wet. So we stayed indoors and got a little artsy. This has been somewhat of a challenge with Chance in the past, perhaps an attention span thing...but today he had a good time. Then again, he had never had his own home-made stamps with him calling the shots before. At first he said he wanted a triangle...then a circle. Then he asked for the letter "H". We also busted out the stencils that Gramma Jo left Chance in January when Karin was born, and a container of buttons...Chance was happy sorting them and then was really impressed when I gave him a needle and thread and let him string them together to his heart's content. I did not, however let him operate my sewing machine as requested. But I did let him help wind a bobbin.

Spaaaaahh....

Cam sent me for a massage today and it was lovely. I had an hour and a half child free to myself. Had a thorough rub-down, a soft molasses cookie and a glass of champagne care of another gal in the waiting room -- celebrating her birthday and unable to finish an entire bottle by herself, and a refreshing steam bath. Thank you, honey!

New Milestone for Karin

Woohoo! Sitting up on her own now!

What happens when Daddy takes Chance for a haircut?

This.

Ontario Souvenirs

Muskoka Granite by Andrea Ross

Lakeshore (?? I think ?? will have to peek at the back) by Stefan Horik

Cam's aunt Sharon showed us a great gallery in Ottawa. We picked up 4 paintings (2 prints, 2 originals) in celebration of this (& last year's) anniversary. We usually do this every year but last year just couldn't agree on anything. Have yet to hang the prints over the bed.