Like a bad Penney, I'm back!!!

Well, my cousin reminded me about a month ago that I have been lax about my online blogging correspondence. So I guess that means that someone actually looks at this thing!

So today I was trying to decide what to do for dinner and figured that I can type and think at the same time.

Here are my thoughts:

I have some salmon that should be eaten in the freezer and haven't had salmon since Mom and Dad got back from dip netting on the Kenai River!

I have several Zucchini and a large Ziploc of Carrots that are on the counter from my mother-in-law's trip to the local U-Pick farm

2 Mushrooms

Some red, yellow and orange Peppers

1 Roasted Garlic

Peaches from the freezer

Now to find something to do with all this bounty...

Bake the salmon with something yummy, serve with pasta (Julienne Zucchini, Roasted Garlic, Olive oil, a few red pepper flakes,??)

Salmon en Papillote - Salmon and julienne/ thin sliced vegetables cooked in parchment paper

Hmmm...

Ok I'll Pan fry the salmon with a seafood rub and then finish it in the oven while I saute up some of the Zucchini (julienned) in olive oil, roasted garlic and Red Pepper flakes. Add 1/4 Red Onion (sliced), a tablespoon of Flour, a can of diced tomatoes. Heat until bubbling. Serve it over Angel Hair Pasta .

And the peaches... with strawberries or triple berry blend? Cobbler, Crisp, Pie, tart?

after a search online I found a strawberry Peach upside down cake using cake mix, strawberry and peach jello with peaches- substitute raspberry jello and we have Melba upside down cake

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,186,147161-252193,00.html

STRAWBERRY-PEACH UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

1 can (29 oz.) sliced peaches 1 pkg. strawberry Jello (4 serving size) 1 pkg. peach Jello (4 serving size) 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/3 c. butter (melted) 1 pkg. yellow cake mix Arrange peaches in buttered 13x9 inch pan. Combine strawberry and peach Jello and cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle about 3/4 of the mixture evenly over peaches; dot with butter. Prepare cake mix according to package instructions. Pour 3/4 of the batter into pan. Stir remaining gelatin mixture into remaining cake batter. Blend well and pour over batter in pan. Swirl spatula through batter to marble. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes or until fork comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto platter and cool. May top with Cool Whip.

Menu tonight:

Pan fried Salmon with Zucchini Tomato Pasta (topped with a little fresh Parmesan)

Melba Upside Down Cake with whipped cream on top!!!!

It's a GIRL!!!!!!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our second Daughter, Danarra Clair Marvin. She joined our family at 5:40pm July 9, 2008. Danarra was 7 lb 9 oz and 20 inches long. She has a beautiful head of dark hair and is absolutely beautiful!

Felicity is thrilled to be a big sister and is often found commanding Danarra that she wake up! When Danarra does wake up or end a feeding, Felicity dances and shouts to everyone that "Danarra Wake, Danarra wake!!!!!"

Daddy is helping Mommy to recover by making sure she doesn't move much. Which is driving Mommy crazy- there are only so many times you can read the same book and it is awful just sitting and thinking of all that I could be doing!!!!
Relief is on it's way though! Ben has agreed to go to the library for me and get me some books to read!!! Poor Ben is having to work quite a bit too even though they had agreed to give him leave. They are in the middle of a big project and apparently he is indispensable. He may even be going up to Fairbanks and down to Juneau in the next couple of months. Both places need the same work done as he just finished in Kenai!

We'll get some pictures on soon!

My latest culinary creation was inspired by tring to use what was in the fridge.
We had a bunch of veggie tray vegetables leftover and weren't munching on them.

Crunchy Vegetable Salad

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Snap peas
Dried Cranberries
Lime juice
Mayonnaise
Sugar
Dill weed
Salt and Pepper
Feta Cheese
Diced ham

Cut veggies up into small bite sized pieces, carrots into thin slices, toss in a handful or two of cranberries (I like quite a bit, makes it sweeter and chewy!) Mix 5-6 squirts lime juice with a couple of spoonfuls of mayo, a teaspoon or two of sugar, a dash of dill, and a big sprinkle of salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Pour over veggies and adjust as needed. I had to add a couple more spoonfuls of mayo to get it the right consistency. Covering the veggies lightly but fully. Toss in some Feta and ham to make it even better!!!
Ben and Jeremiah both liked this and it is quite filling and Very healthy!!!

Taco Mountain

1 lb Stew beef
Taco seasoning
3 cup cooked Rice
1 cup Corn
1 cup Salsa
Cheddar jack cheese
Corn chips
Iceburg lettuce
Tomatoes

Heat olive oil and brown beef, toss in 1/3 cup taco seasoning. Add corn, rice, and salsa. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, chips, cheese, and salsa.
Would be even better with a can of black beans and some sour cream in it too!

Correspondence

Ok, I am not a very good correspondent at all! I can't even seem to write en mass.
We have been having fun and staying busy. In June Ben had to work down in Kenai for a couple of weeks, Felicity and I were able to join him for the first week and play in Soldotna and Kenai. Since getting back I have begun the count down to Baby time. Thanks to Mom, Erynne, Ben, and his Bro, Jason our house is finally looking like there is a baby coming soon. In fact, we will be having baby Marvin on Friday, July 11, 2008. I am so very ready to have this kiddo out! It will also be nice to know if it is a girl or a boy finally! I don't think I like the anticipation of not knowing- too bad my children never consult me about if I want to know or not!
One of the other things I have been working on is making sure that there is easy to create food on hand for Ben to cook. As we were discussing this and I was trying to figure out what I usually cook, I came to the realization that I don't follow recipes when cooking. I follow ideas from recipes. Yes, I know this is not a great revelation to anyone who has eaten at my house. But it did give me some thing to think about and Ben suggested that I should blog my dinners online. I have decided to try it and see what comes of it. Especially since some of our favorite dishes are lost to time because I didn't write down what in the world I put in them!

Here is my first attempt:

Dinner tonight was Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
What I put in it:
1 Chicken breast, seasoned with garlic and paprika, slice and sautéed
2 cup Broccoli, tossed in with pasta for the last 3 minutes of cooking
1 packet powdered Alfredo pasta sauce mix (knorr brand I think)
8 oz small pasta

Make alfredo sauce as directed, I added a dash of cayenne pepper and about a tablespoon of dried parsley.
Boil pasta as directed, add broccoli for the last three minutes.
Once the sauce is done toss pasta, broccoli, and chicken in sauce and serve with Parmesan cheese.

This was done in about 30 minutes becauce the chicken had to cook. You could use canned or pre-cooked chicken and it would be finished in the 10 minutes it takes to boil the pasta. It serves three adults.

Yesterday's dinner was pretty good too.
BBQ Ribs
1 rack spare ribs
Montreal steak seasoning
BBQ sauce

Slice ribs into 2-3 rib sections. Sprinkle with Montreal steak seasoning and put in crock pot (slow cooker). Cook for 5 hours on high.

Remove from crock pot. (strain fat and use broth for soup) Place ribs on cooking sheet (line with foil to help with mess clean up) brush with BBQ sauce and place in oven set to low broil. Broil for 15 minutes or until sauce has browned and caramelized. Turn over and brush with more sauce, broil 15 more minutes.
We served ours with potato salad and veggie sticks with ranch dip.