Roast Chicken Dinner with homemade stuffing & sweet & sour carrots

SWEET & SOUR CARROTS

Carrots cut into penny shapes
Parsnips cut into penny shapes
Cider vinegar
Butter
Salt/Pepper
Honey or Brown sugar

Peel & cut the carrots & parsnips. Put about a tbsp cider vinegar in cooking pan. Add about 1/3 cup brown sugar OR honey. Add 1/3 stick of butter & season with salt & pepper. Put into oven with roast & stir occasionally to keep veggies moist. These come out sweet & sour & delicious!

Before being cooked:

After being cooked:

HOMEMADE STUFFING

Challah Bread - Rip by hand into small pieces & toast in oven until dry & crispy. Remove & put into bowl. Dice 1 Large onion small, 3 celery sticks & any other vegetable you choose (carrots, cranberries etc.) Saute these vegetables in butter, season with rosemary, thyme, sage, salt & pepper until tender. Toss vegetables into bread mixture. Add about 1/2 box of chicken stock or broth to bread mixture & toss. Beat 2 eggs & add to bread mixture & toss again. Shred some parmesan cheese into bread mixture & toss yet again. Put into greased baking dish & bake 350 degrees until crispy on the top. YUM!!!

Delicious sides to roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes & chicken/gravy, maybe a salad too! Here are some plates, one vegetarian with roasted vegetables, the other with chicken.

Nice home cooked meal! Enjoy~

Chicken Marsala

First: Cut chicken breast in half (boneless) & pound out till fairly thin. Then dredge in flour (with salt/pepper), second eggs beaten, third bread crumb mixture. For bread crumb mixture, I mix seasoned bread crumbs with panko crumbs, salt/pepper, shredded italian cheese, & seasoning of your choice. I use parmesan/Italian blend seasoning for this. Then Fry both sides in vegetable/garlic olive oil mixture until crispy & drain on paper towel.

I then set the chicken aside & drain the oil. I put chopped mushrooms & onions in the pan with some olive oil, butter & salt/pepper. Cook until tender & season with some marsala cooking wine & I also use a little balsamic viniagrette (splash).

Then scoop out the sauteed mushrooms/onions. Save the juices & add some more marsala wine to the pan & a drizzle of balsamic dressing. Put the chicken back in to soak up the juices & cook more.

On the side I cook Asparagus in salted water. I also cook bowtie pasta. I add to the cooked bowties: 2 cloves chopped garlic, 1/2 stick butter, salt/pepper to taste & fresh shredded parmesan cheese.

I had to make separate plates, we're all picky! If you have less picky eaters, you can put the mushroom/onion mixture over the chicken marsala as should be! Here are our plates with it all separated, nonetheless delicious! Plate one: chicken & bowties, plate two: bowties & sauteed mushrooms/onions.

Everyone loves this meal! This is my foster sons favorite. Hope you enjoy!
Sorry my pics aren't the best, I need a new camera! You get the idea though.

Some Nature photo's

2009 New England Ice Storm

Chicken pecking cement in Bermuda

Baby birds waiting for food, birds nest in a bush in our front yard

Glitter Stars Scenery

I made the scenery for my daughter's talent show when she was in elementary school years back. I cut out a hundred red, yellow, white & blue stars & covered one side with silver glitter. I then hung them from different lengths on fishing wire & strung across the stage, staggered (with help of hubby). They came out great! You can't tell by the pictures, but the glitter really caught the light & sparkled nicely when they spun on the wire in the air. Simple, but added some glitz! Great idea for show you may be having, or even room decor for children's room.

p.s. the Music teacher made the black boards with shiny stars attached.

Pleasing Pasta Salad

First chop vegetables. Any you choose, I chopped: red onion, yellow onion, yellow pepper, orange pepper, green pepper, pickles, celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, chives. You can also add: artichokes, olives, whatever other veggies you like.

This makes the chopping a LOT easier:

Then I cook the pasta, any kind, I chose bowties (2 boxes) & 1/2 bag colored bowties. Cook in salted water. When pasta is al dente, drain, rinse with cold water & toss with olive oil. I make ahead of party, so put in plastic & toss with a little salt/pepper & Italian dressing also. I then add the chopped vegetables & refrigerate until ready to toss with dressing & serve.

Tossed with vegetables/oil, ready to refrigerate until just before party:

I make the dressing separately. I added about a cup 1/2 Mayo, 1/2 cup sour cream, tbsp mustard, tbsp sugar, apple cidar vinegar & whisk together. Keep in container in fridge until ready to mix with pasta:

Mix together mayo mixture & pasta just before serving. I also added some lawry's seasoning salt & little italian dressing. I shredded parmesan cheese & tossed with pasta also. Toss all together:

Doesn't look the best (picture), but got a LOT of compliments on this pasta salad! Some people said they don't even like pasta salad that much & really liked this one. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Girl Baby Shower

Here are the cupcakes I made for my sisters baby shower. I made the little "Welcome baby" signs & glued to a lollipop stick & added some ribbon. I will stand these in the cupcakes tommorrow. So far, here's what we have:

Pink Cupcakes:

Yellow Cupcakes:

"Welcome Baby" Signs for Cupcakes:

Champagne with Strawberry

Chocolate covered Marshmallow lollipops

Party Shish Kabobs

YUM! These came out DELICIOUS! Hope everyone loves them tomorrow at my sisters baby shower!

I marinated Tomatoes, artichoke hearts & mozzarella cheese & cheese tortellini in Italian dressing, garlic, chives (cut small), salt & pepper overnight. Then I put them on a shish kabob stick with fresh basil & slices of salami. Fresh!

I also marinated some chicken strips overnight in a mixture of honey, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, cider vinegar, chopped chives, chopped garlic & salt & pepper. I then cut into chunks & cooked in oil. I put the cooked chicken on the skewers, some just chicken & some chicken & cheese alternating. Would be great on a salad!!!! Huh? My husband said the chicken came out delicious!

This is a platter of the different kabobs together. Something for everyone & can be made ahead.