Waffles N Beans

When I was growing up we would get together with the Fergusons and Grandmother on Sunday nights impromptu and would eventually be hungry but everyone already made Sunday dinner so no one was in the mood to cook another meal.

A lot of times we would end up having waffles and baked beans.  We can blame this (like most wonderfully odd traditions) on our Nanny and Grandaddy!  My sister Kerri started a blog years ago with recipes so the family could share new ideas.  I think you should check it out when you get a chance, it has a lot of great recipes!

Here is the address: Waffles N Beans

Menu Planning Week Three

So here is the menu from last week:

1) Spicy Thai Noodles from Pinterest.  This can get a little spicy so I added a tablespoon of peanut butter to the hot oil, honey sauce which took away some of the heat.  I have made this several times and am always happy with the outcome.  If you are only cooking for two this will last several more days for lunch and you can serve it cold.

2) Tortellini and Meat Sauce.  I basically just bought fresh store-bought spinach and cheese ravioli and made some basic meat sauce.  

Fruit Salad - I just used apples, plums and mango and poured a little lime/honey mixture on top.

3) Baked Brown Sugar Chicken from Pinterest

Roasted potatoes with olive oil and sea salt

Roasted broccoli with lemon juice and parmesan cheese

4) Sweet and Sour Chicken from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Everything I make of hers is delicious!

Fried Rice - taken from a combination of Pinterest and the Finlinsons!

5) Linguine with Shrimp/Salmon Scampi from Pinterest (Barefoot Contessa)

Green Salad

I highly recommend this!  I cooked the shrimp and salmon separately because Jeremy doesn't like Shrimp but I would mix this as she directs because it was Good!

6) Crockpot Roast

Since we had almost no groceries because of unpacking we made a simple roast with potatoes and french onion soup packet.  Traditional, but good after church!

Our shipment from America!

This past Friday we finally got all of our "stuff" from America.  There was a giant cargo box on a trailer and another truck that would have normally been huge on our street that held the two men movers.

The box that all of our valuables traveled over the Atlantic

The two movers and moving supplies

The entourage, you could fit 10 Mini Coopers in that thing~!

Our stuff!!!

This might not look like a lot of things but in a tiny house, we really have filled it up!  Can you find the piano?


We have been unpacking for three days and are beginning to see our floors and surfaces again.  We did have one fatality, that of our piano which makes us very sad but we are hopeful that an electrician here can fix it.  We tried to plug it in without the proper convertor....yep, it no longer works.

Chateau de Vincennes

On Saturday Jeremy and I took a little adventure to Chateau de Vincennes.  We have wanted to check it out for a while since it is just on the same metro line that we use everyday.  We realized when we got there that we had actually been there before, on our Honeymoon.  

Jeremy always does seem to radiate!

The Chateau, completely surrounded by a moat and one of the few from the Middle Ages!

Sainte-Chapelle (or the private Chapel)


After we walked around the Chateau we then found a beautiful botanical park - Parc Floral.  There were a lot of kids there probably because of the awesome stuff they had to play on in the playgrounds!  Check out this climbing rope.  We commented that Joey, Jonners, Abbie and Livers would especially love this!

Look at the cool slides down the hill.

We also looked around the town, which was delightful.  We ate at McDonalds...you should have seen the quantity of people there!  But it is nice to get served a drink with some ICE!!!!

(As I type this I have two new friends that jump up on my window sill....the cats!  They sit and watch me type on my computer.  I can't wait for the time I open my windows and they try to sneak in!)

Menu Planning Week Two

Menu Planning Week Two

Ok, this is what I made last week for our dinners...nothing crazy but most of it turned out really well:

1) Spaghetti with Meat Sauce - from my mother's cookbook.  Let me know if you need a good sauce recipe, this is delicious!
Baguette

2) Salad with grilled chicken and fruit.  Dressing was just a mixture of honey and lime juice, which is Jeremy's favorite.  I included apples, mango and nuts on the salad.

3) Chicken Kebabs with Salsa - I tore this out of a magazine about a year ago and have made it several times since.  This time I just cooked the chicken in the oven with the marinade instead of putting them on the skewers, I also left out the red onion.  This turns out well every time and it is pretty healthy for you!
Lime Sweet Potatoes - basically just cut of the sweet potatoes in small cubes, cover with olive oil and lime juice and roast on 450 until tender.  When the come out of the oven squirt some fresh lime juice on them, salt and a little cilantro.  We just love these potatoes!

4) Chimichangas - Jeremy's moms recipe.  I just put a mini roast in the oven on a very low temperature all day with a little water and onions and let it cook through.  Then shred the meat.  Warm some tortillas up and put a little of the meat and some cheese (we used cheddar but you could use any that you'd like in it.)  Jeremy's sister also adds some black beans but I can't find any here in France.....yet!  Then you just fry them in canola oil until they are crispy and top with whatever you would like.  I like sour cream, salsa, lettuce, etc.

5) Cafe Rio Tortilla Soup from my Pinterest page.  If you are really craving this soup and don't live near a Cafe Rio, I would HIGHLY suggest making it.  It was very, very close to the real thing and we loved it!

Grocery Shopping

Maybe those of you who live in a big city are used to always "carting" everything around but I am certainly not!  Going grocery shopping is one of my least favorite tasks in Paris.  It would be quite romantic to take my cute wicker basket and fill it up daily at the little market one block away but it is just crazy expensive and not very practical, they just don't carry everything you need!  My shopping routine used to consist of getting in my warm car, moving my little toes to take me to the store where I would park as close as possible and then finding everything I needed.  It now consists of rolling my little black cart for a 15 minute walk to the metro, getting on the metro and going for two stops to La Defense at which point I have to decide whether to fight the crowds and walk through the whole mall to the store or walk outside in the cold to the closer entrance.  I then go about finding 1/2 of my list and finding substitutions for the other things (ex. cheddar cheese, sour cream, pepperoni, etc.) and then putting everything in my little black cart.  One of the scariest moments is the check-out where I just pray that my credit card works.  It didn't for the first few times and it was tres embarrassing, but I think I have that figured out.  Then after I re-load the groceries back into the cart I take the escalators back down to the metro, ride it two stops, get on the bus for 4 stops and walk the block home.  Today the down escalator to the metro wasn't working so I had to walk around until I could find one that was...I just couldn't muscle a grocery cart full of food down 20+ steps.  Someday I will have Jeremy take a pic of me and my cart since he takes great delight in watching me roll it down the street!

I'd like to imagine I look like this:

But it's more realistic that I look like this lady:

Menu Planning Week One

So maybe you have the same problem as me, but I like to cook but don't necessarily enjoy deciding what to make.  I have been making weekly menus to help out and doing big grocery shopping just once a week, which has been much better!  I thought I would share what I have made recently in case you want to use any of these ideas...I steal from everyone.  I mostly make things from Mel's kitchen cafe.com or my Pinterest page...though Mel's kitchen is much more reliable than Pinterest.  I also use a cookbook my mother made for me at least once a week.  Here we go...and feel free to share your ideas with me.

1) Butternut Squash stuffed Shells w/ Sage Browned Butter from www.melskitchencafe.com 
Garlic bread and Salad

2) Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin from http://foodgawker.com/post/2010/09/07/73757/ (pinterest)
Mac and Cheese and Green Beans
(I have made this a couple times, its so easy and delish!)

3) Italian Wedding Soup from Mom
Baguette and fresh Mango

4) Salmon fillets over Couscous from Mom
Green beans and Applesauce

5) Spaghetti Pie from www.melskitchencafe.com (it was ok, probably because I had to do so many substitutions since I am in France but I think kids would really like it)
Baguette and Sliced Oranges

6) Beef and Bean Taco Casserole from www.melskitchencafe.com (like un upside-down taco salad)
Sweet potatoes
PB Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from www.melskitchencafe.com

Kerri and Michael's Wedding

We were lucky enough to go to Orlando, Florida two weeks ago for my sister's wedding.  It was perfect.  I could post 400 pictures but I will try to keep it to just a few!  Not only did we get to celebrate  Kerri and Michael's wedding but we were able to do temple work for my grandmother, see some alligators and generally just enjoy the Florida weather in January!

Graham and Lauren

Janine and Dwight

On the boat

Jeremy, Rico and Dad were supposed to meet us girls at the temple to do Nana's work but were late.  The kind Temple President did a special session just for us, Nana would not have had it any other way I'm sure!

I brought Kerri macaroons from Laduree in Paris for our girl's day

This is the house we all stayed in for Kerri's wedding

The Orlando temple is one of the prettiest temples I have ever seen.

My favorite pics:

Kerri had waited a long time to get married and was the happiest I have ever seen her!  I am so happy for her!

While we were in Pittsburgh, my parents took Jeremy and I to the National Aviary on the Northside of Pittsburgh.  We two enormous eagles, fed some birds and got to watch the penguins walk down the hall to the outdoor pool.

Catch-up Continued....

After Christmas day in SLC we headed to Pittsburgh to celebrate!

My impeccable wrapping job for mom!

Rico should have been holding up NERDS!

Erin with ALL of her new hair bows.

I think I heard somewhere that Michael likes the Gators, but I could be wrong!




I love this pictures of Dad that Mom texted me...his medal for the 5k run/walk!

It was nice to be able to be there for Addie's baptism.  Jeremy played the piano and I conducted.  Aiden and Jaxon wanted to sit up on the stand with us.  Aiden declared to Jaxon "I pooped on the potty at my house Jaxon" and Jaxon put his little hand on Aiden's arm and said very sincerely "Good job Aiden, I had mini corn-dogs and french fries."  It was precious.  Jaxon sat on the bench with Jeremy as he played the piano.

Our last meal before we moved to Paris was at Fashion Place Mall Chick-Fil-A....classy!

It was very hard to say goodbye to friends and family but we hope to visit often! Au revoir America!

We were given the tender mercy of First Class seats as we moved to Paris...which NEVER happens!  Thank you Delta!


I know everyone is waiting for pictures of our new place in France but I am still getting to that.  For now, here is our back yard after a lot of snow.  You might now think that is a lot of snow but for Paris, that is a huge amount.  Everything pretty much shut down this day, no buses, no plows, not even much shoveling going on!