Hello Summer!

Sarah graduated from the 8th grade, where the heck does the time go?  She is such a pretty young lady now, it's kind of scary that she will be graduating from high school in 4 years! I will say it again, I feel so lucky that I get to be a part of her life (and lucky for her, I remember EVERYTHING I did in high school!).  I love that kid!

Sarah's softball team had their second tournament this weekend.  Saturday, they won 2 and lost 1, it was a long day. Sarah hit two home run's and played 2nd base (instead of her usual catcher) and was just an animal out on the field!  Her dad and I couldn't have been more proud of her.  On Sundays your team plays until they lose and then your done.  Our team was down,  I think 11-0 after two inings, it wasn't looking pretty, then the girls started to rally and they came back with 8 runs!  We did end up losing, 12-8, but those girls sure gave on heck of a fight!  Sarah hit two doubles and had an awesome base hit down the the 3rd base line.  I just love watching those kids play!

Tom has been working all weekend and making time to be at the games, I know he is just beat up from the street up!  As we were leaving the softball game this morning he told me to make some dinner and I decided it would be a good time to get back to my grandma's recipes.  Tonight it is going to be a Chicken and Rice casserole.  Looks pretty easy, however I am going to try and make it a little healthier by substituting lower fat/salt soups for the original full fat ones and mixing my white rice with brown rice.

Chicken and Rice:
1 can each:
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cream of Celery Soup
1 C. rice(uncooked)
1 chicken cut up (I am using boneless, skinless breasts)
1/2 soup can milk
Dry onion or chicken soup mix

Mix rice, soups & milk in pan.  Lay chicken over top and sprinkle dry onion or chicken soup mix.  Cover with foil and bake 2 1/2 hours at 325.  I am also going to add some fresh thyme that I have growing in the garden.

Sorry there aren't any pictures of the casserole, I didn't have a camera today.  But Tom loved it!

We are finally having nice weather!  Northern California had a pretty cool spring and lots of rain!  Last weekend it rained so much the neighbor's olive tree broke a branch and it came down in my backyard!  Thank god it missed the fence! I am looking forward to some warm temps and sunshine, but I will make sure I keep my sunscreen on!  HAPPY SUMMER!

Time to pull up our skirts and get in the lake!(that is my grandma on the right and her Aunt Bert in Michigan)

Mother's Day

Tom and I had just a crazy, busy weekend.  Saturday was supposed to be Sarah's last softball game for her recreational league, but the game was cancelled, which saved us a long round trip road trip, because Sarah was camping.  Instead of staying  home and getting caught up on the laundry, Tom wanted me to go to our friend's daughter's softball game, I am glad I did, it was a beautiful afternoon (laundry will always be there, right?).  Saturday night we went to our friend's house for dinner, that is always nice because usually everyone comes to our house and my house stayed clean!

On Mother's Day, we decided that we would plant flowers flowers at my mother-in-law's house, go shopping, cook and have everyone over at our house for dinner.  Sometimes I am not really sure how we get everything done, but we do, I'm sure glad that my wonderful husband helps out, he's the best.

Our dinner menu consisted of BBQ Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin, BBQ chicken breasts marinated in a Santa Cruz Lime marinade, homemade potato salad, green beans that were cooked al dente, cooled and tossed with sea salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and chili. Dessert was homemade strawberry shortcake, the shortcake biscuits were made from my grandma's recipe.

Slowly, our backyard is getting into shape for the upcoming summer months, we like to spend a lot of time out there.  A few years ago, we decided to build an outside kitchen, so we could do our pickled jalapeno's out there.  We have a group of people that come over, usually on a Saturday, and we pickle jalapeno's, green beans, carrots, asparagus and whatever else we can get our hands on, we call it the "Pickling Shed", I will post more of that later when our vegetables become ripe.  That is how this all got started, one year I had a ton of jalapeno's and didn't really know what to do with them, so I pickled them and it just turned into something we do every year, lots of fun!  I will also post about jam's that I make, my mom has an awesome plum tree and I hate to see the fruit go to waste.  I have a nectarine tree, however the squirrels get most of that fruit, little stinkers and I have an apple tree that they also raid every year.  Usually if someone brings me fruit or vegetables, I will find some way of cooking it, canning it or baking it, I probably should have lived on a farm.