Asian Meatballs and Noodles and Orange Island Chicken

Today I (my meals) are being featured on Meal Planning Mommies. I love this site! They have some awesome meals you should try out. I also love that they show everything step by step w/ pics! You know for us visual people!

Today I will be sharing two recipes with you. The first is
Asian Meatballs with Noodles


INGREDIENTS
Meatballs
1-2 lbs of hamburger meat
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (it calls for plain but I use Italian)
3/4 cup Honey bbq sauce
1 egg
1/4 tsp pepper
Noodle Toss
1 package of oriental veggie mix (today I used reg. veggie mix)
2 cups of water
2 packages of oriental ramen noodles
3 tbls honey bbq sauce

This recipe feeds 4. You'll see I doubled it for my large family!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, combine beef, bread crumbs, 1/2 cup bbq sauce, egg and pepper.


Place mixture into muffin cups, press lightly; spread remaining bbq sauce over tops.

Bake 20 minutes or until no longer pink.
While the meatballs are cooking I begin the noodles.
Combine in skillet, veggies, water, noodles(broken), 2 seasoning packets; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Then stir in bbq sauce. The longer the noodles sit, the fatter they get!

Remove meatballs and serve with noodles.


Okay this is a repeat for my readers but with new pics!

I have tried 2 different recipes for orange/citrus chicken, they were not a hit with the fam. I gave it up for awhile and then decided to try this one. I found it at allrecipes.com. This one was a hit! Yeah!
Orange Island Chicken

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon orange zest
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (I leave whole till I serve)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
FOR MARINADE: In a zipper style bag, combine the orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, onion powder and orange peel. Mix well.

Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the chicken from the marinade. (Do not discard the marinade). Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour remaining marinade over chicken. Cover and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Remove cover and bake for 15 minutes more.

I then made a gravy with the juice by adding cornstarch.


I also sauteed some carrots, onions and water chestnuts in orange juice and soy sauce. Serve over rice.


Well happy cooking!

Puzzles, Puzzles and More Puzzles!

Okay so for 3 days now we've been working on puzzles. We found that Christina can do the smaller puzzles pretty well. So I went to the Dollar store and picked up some more puzzles, because I got tired of doing the same one over and over. Now that's all she wants to do! Here are some pics of this mornings session of puzzle building. And there will be an afternoon and evening session!

Okay this is funny she made me re-do her photo because she didn't want to show any teeth! Are you serious! I did not teach her that!

OOH, Giveaway!

I just heard about this giveaway on this site. It's for a book, this book

Sounds like an interesting book and the kids love world record books. So check it out!

Making pillows and saving the princess!

Today I was working on my brother's birthday present. I decided to make him some pillows to match his quilt. I made this pillow with no pattern. I copied a design I saw the other day. Not bad, if I do say so myself!

Okay so during my sewing I hear a princess screaming. I go to find the damsel in distress and this is what I find...

Christina was dunking her princess in chocolate milk!
What a day!

Asian Meatballs with Noodles and Orange Island Chicken

Today I (my meals) are being featured on Meal Planning Mommies. I love this site! They have some awesome meals you should try out. I also love that they show everything step by step w/ pics! You know for us visual people!

Today I will be sharing two recipes with you. The first is
Asian Meatballs with Noodles


INGREDIENTS
Meatballs
1-2 lbs of hamburger meat
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (it calls for plain but I use Italian)
3/4 cup Honey bbq sauce
1 egg
1/4 tsp pepper
Noodle Toss
1 package of oriental veggie mix (today I used reg. veggie mix)
2 cups of water
2 packages of oriental ramen noodles
3 tbls honey bbq sauce

This recipe feeds 4. You'll see I doubled it for my large family!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, combine beef, bread crumbs, 1/2 cup bbq sauce, egg and pepper.


Place mixture into muffin cups, press lightly; spread remaining bbq sauce over tops.

Bake 20 minutes or until no longer pink.
While the meatballs are cooking I begin the noodles.
Combine in skillet, veggies, water, noodles(broken), 2 seasoning packets; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Then stir in bbq sauce. The longer the noodles sit, the fatter they get!

Remove meatballs and serve with noodles.


Okay this is a repeat for my readers but with new pics!

I have tried 2 different recipes for orange/citrus chicken, they were not a hit with the fam. I gave it up for awhile and then decided to try this one. I found it at allrecipes.com. This one was a hit! Yeah!
Orange Island Chicken

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon orange zest
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (I leave whole till I serve)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
FOR MARINADE: In a zipper style bag, combine the orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, onion powder and orange peel. Mix well.

Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the chicken from the marinade. (Do not discard the marinade). Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour remaining marinade over chicken. Cover and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Remove cover and bake for 15 minutes more.

I then made a gravy with the juice by adding cornstarch.


I also sauteed some carrots, onions and water chestnuts in orange juice and soy sauce. Serve over rice.


Well happy cooking!

Everyone's Busy, Here!

Today was pretty calm. Then 4pm came around and I couldn't believe how everyone was keeping themsleves busy.
Kenny was off riding his bike with friends. (no pic, sorry)

Christina was playing dress-up. (Mom was the hairdresser)

Mateo was having a sewing lesson. (Mom was the teacher)

I was cooking dinner. Check out my blog Friday for the recipe and a great surprise!

Physical Therapy, Joanns and more cleaning!

I have been trying all week to get into therapy. Finally today I try again and she tells me there's a cancellation @ 11am. Well you guessed it, I'm there!
I learned some new stuff today about myself and body. She told me that I don't have a back/shoulder problem, I have a neck and posture problem. Well I knew I had a posture problem. I just didn't know how to strengthen those muscles. I do now, thank you Sarah! She was great! She gave me a lot of info on posture, exercises, stretches. She even did some stretching of my neck and it felt so good!
So after the appointment I headed over to Joanns fabric store. Gotta love that place! I went for some pinking shears and to check out some fabric of course! Well I got a add in the paper yesterday that said patterns on sale for $1.99, hmm, worth checking out. So I pick up some patterns but don't see any signs. I go to the counter and ask the lady if these were on sale.
She gives me a dirty look and says, "I don't know!"
I'm thinking, "don't you work here?"
Well I asked her about the ad and she says "she doesn't know."
Doesn't she know anything!, I'm wondering!
I asked her for a manager. Guess what, she was the manager!
Well when I came home I checked the ad, it starts next week!
Ha, they will be on sale, just next week.
So if you have a Joanns near you; Simplicity is on sale for .99 cents and Butterick is on sale for $1.99. That is such a huge deal!
Okay on to more cleaning. I tackled my fridge today! It looks so good! I always neglet my fridge, how about you?

Cool new site!

Well I found a cool new site. If you love meal planning and cooking sites this one is for you! These girls cook the way I do. They love quick, easy, cheap and great tasting meals. Check them out! I plan to use them often.
I've always been a meal planner. I've even planned for up to a month, but I can only keep 2 weeks of groceries in my house. It just helps so you don't have to take the time to plan, again. I would make my monthly calendar(s), usually 2 and just swap them out. It makes life easy!
You know how the kids and hubby always ask, "what's for dinner", I tell them to look at the calendar!

Thank You, January!

I so needed January to get here! Now I can have (somewhat) of a new start. Or maybe that's just mentally! Well it worked!
Today I was a busy little bee. It's not spring but I just felt like cleaning.
First, I had to put away all the Christmas stuff. Done!
Second, scrub all the bathrooms from top to bottom. Done!
Oh, and I did the kitchen before noon. I never do the kitchen before noon! I loathe doing the dishes, so I always leave them for last. I shocked myself!
I also cleaned out a closet I've been meaning to clean for months, yeah!
Yeah, me!
Yeah, January!
You know I really don't know what 2009 holds for me and my family but I know it can't get any worse! Right!

And the Winner is...

The winner is Jenni. My witnesses were Hubby and the kids and yes that's a pen mark on her face!
You have your choice of potholders, crayon roll or hair bows any color, season or gender. Congrats!

First Day of School

Today Christina had her first day of (speech) pre-school. She was so excited to get dressed and put on her backpack, just like her brothers! I just had to take some photos. When I dropped her off she gave me a quick look and then said bye! Wow, that was easy! I headed off to the library for some fun reading with NO KIDS! It was great for the both of us! She enjoyed her new class and new friends.
*I'll be drawing names for the giveaway later this afternoon, when I have more witnesses! Good luck!

#3 Birthday Party!

Yeah, I won't do this again! Or at least I won't try to do this again, we're all partied out! This morning when I woke up I thought, "another party"! I'm sure Christina doesn't mind, though! She had a blast, again! It was a small party with a few friends and family. Here are a few pics.
sidenote: not too many great pics to choose from, hubby was in control of the camera.
*And don't forget to enter my giveaway on my 200th post or it's gonna be a toss up for Jen and Ande! I'm sure they don't mind!


Do you think she's tired of posing with her 3rd cake?


A new princess dress, I think she's happy!

New Year's Party

So every year we go to my Hubby's parents house for New Year's Eve dinner, which consist of (more) Japanese food, soba noodles, fish cake & pork.


Then we just hang out and watch Dick Clark's celebration. We usually play some games, too. This year was guitar hero.


Uncle John trying to keep up with the kids!
The time just went by really fast last night! Did anyone else think so? Well hope you had a joyful evening.

#200! Happy New Year!

Well 2009 is finally here! Are you ready to start the new year? I'm more than ready! There are so many things I want to do;
*I'm going to take a quilting class
*More sewing projects (goal-make a purse & lil' dress)
*Get back on an exercise routine (goal-15lbs)
*enjoy my kids more
*Just have some fun!
Really that's all I want, is to enjoy every minute I have with my family!
Okay so what are some of your goals, resolutions or new challenges? Leave me a comment and be entered into the giveaway! The winner will get a choice of hairbows, potholders or a crayon roll made by yours truly! Your choice, your choice of color and/or season also. Who doesn't want that?
I'll keep the contest open till Sunday evening and then we'll draw a name. Good luck and have a Happy New Year!
Now onto making some tamales and getting ready for a 3rd birthday party!