Feliz Navidad!

December 27, 2008 Was the date of our Mexican Fiesta. Pete & Sharon and Cathy & I felt it was appropriate to celebrate Feliz Navidad in preparation for our Sayulita Adventure in Jan 2009.

Cathy hosted the party and her table was decorated with authentic Mexican blankets. The food was fantastic! The main entree was prepared by Cathy and consisted of a spicy Mexican lasagna. Before that and throughout the entire evening, we enjoyed 5 kinds of Fiesta style dips with tostada & nacho chips. The desert, thanks to a local Mexican bakery called Bryanna's, made an incredible Tres Leche cake. It was "incredibly delicious".

Nothing says Viva la Mexico like a nice bottle of tequila, a few bottles of Cervesa (Corona), some limes and some margaritas. A fun time was had by all. ole!

Marinated Chicken Breast in a Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Alfredo Sauce over Penne Pasta.

I bought the chicken already marinated at the local grocery store. At $1.97 pound, it was only 75 cents for a large serving. The wine was also on sale for about $9.00. On top of that, I got a $3.00 rebate for the purchase of any meat/chicken/seafood. So the chicken was free. Sweet!
I used a 2 jars of Classico Alfredo Sauce, one of my favorites if I don't feel like making the sauce from scratch. This is enough sauce for 4 huge servings, or 6 regular sized servings. A serving is one chicken breast.

1. Heat your pan, then add a tablespoon of olive oil. After it's hot, add some crushed/minced garlic and finely diced onion (optional) to the pan.

1a. So that you uniformly heat the chicken breast, pound your chicken, ( I didn't say beat it!) Place the chicken, one breast at a time, between a couple sheets of good plastic wrap. The press and seal Saran wrap works quite well. When you have a uniform thickness, you're done with this step.

2. After the garlic & onion is browned, add the chicken breasts.

3. Only cook/brown the chicken for about 2-3 minutes on each side. It will not be done. That's ok. Read the whole recipe. The key to a moist and tender chicken breast is not to overcook it.

4. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside, we are going to use the pan to heat the Alfredo sauce.

5. My favorite off-the-shelf Alfredo is made by Classico: Sun Dried Tomato Alfredo. Empty the contents and rinse the jar with an ounce or two of the wine you're drinking that evening. I like to add a few generous shakes of crushed red pepper. (optional heat)

6. While it's heating slowly, begin to boil the water for your pasta. I used penne, but you could use your favorite.

7. After the sauce has heated through, add the chicken breasts to the sauce. Don't cook it more than 5 minutes. Set aside if the pasta isn't done.

8. Drain the pasta. Do not overcook it. Al dente!!!

9. Spray your oven safe cookware with a light layer of olive oil. (it makes the clean-up easier)

10. Place a generous serving of cooked pasta in the dish. Place one chicken breast on top. Drizzle the sauce over everything.

11. Grate some fresh Parmesan, Asiago, and Mozzarella over the chicken.

12. Bake for 6 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until the cheese is melted and you can't stand waiting any longer.

13. Serve with that wine you opened up earlier, if there's any left.

Bon Appetite!

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!

Ok, a week late, but nonetheless, Happy Thanksgiving. I tell you, you haven't lived until you've been to the town of Kloten, Wisconsin. The site of this year's Thanksgiving feast with a few of Sharon/Pete's family. Few=35 or so.

The speed limit of Kloten is 55 mph. It has one building, the bar/restaurant and a house across the street. That's it. Try typing it into your GPS. Not going to work.

Having said that, it was a great time and great food. The buns were to die for! I think I ate 6 of them before the meal. Shown in the top photo is my brother Pete and the desert tray. YUM!

The other two photos are from a typical Sunday Packer Game Day tradition hosted by Lynn Farr a good friend of mine, and many.

I was in charge of the main course which happened to be Sloppy Jane's. (I'm tired of Joe getting all the credit) A good time was had by all even though the Packers lost in the last minute. Soooo sad! Cathy, Pete who is sporting the cheese tie, Glenn, and Dave are attempting to cheer them on.

December 2, 2008

I must admit that I thought I had figured out the snow shoveling dilemma that I was having. You see, I don't like to shovel snow. (yeah, yeah, why did I move here) It's only December 2nd, and we've had two snow storms already. About a month before I leave for Mexico. Can't wait!!!

I decided that Chicken Little needed some exercise and preparation for her upcoming trip to Russia. So I equipped her with one of the best shovels that a person can buy and set her up. Slightly disappointed in her shoveling capabilities as they are not much better than mine.

As for the Russia trip, my daughter, Jamie, is flying to Paris, France on Christmas Eve to join my son, David for ........ Christmas. They she flies to Rome, Italy to join some friends for New Years Eve, then she flies to Helsinki, Finland for I don't know for what, and then to Moscow and then to Sankt-Peterburg, Russia as part of her master's program. She has benevolently agreed to take Chicken Little along on her travels. (OK, I bought her a new digital camera with a string attached...... take photos of Chicken Little while you travel)

I shall title this one, "ONLY IN WISCONSIN!" Taken at Kwik Trip in Fond du Lac.
November 2008