Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese Dinner

I just had a craving for a super yummy dinner tonight, so I thought I'd try making one of my favourites, Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese. I used to love to get this from White Spot as a child and my mom makes an amazing one. Im going to lay it over white rice, but Im sure it can be made with pasta noodles of your choice.

Ingredients:

Fresh or frozen boneless, skinless, chicken breast - 1 to 2 breasts per serving... I used frozen.
4-5 cups of fresh or frozen broccoli... I used fresh, cut it into pieces
3 cups of 2%, homo milk or cream... my mom uses cream, much thicker and richer (If you used skim or 1% it will be too watery.)
1 cloves of garlic - minced
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to season
4 tbsp butter
3 cups of white rice

Heat oven to 425c.

I really just winged it... combined all the ingredients (except rice) in a casserole dish, first layer the chicken breast, then added the cut up pieces of broccoli, poured the milk/cream on top, added butter, garlic, cheeses, and then the salt and pepper. Bake for 40 mins depending on your ovens temperature... you can check at about 30 minutes to see if the chicken is cooked as you may have more than I did, I made 5 pieces, and then flip the chicken and stir up the broccoli to make sure all gets covered in the milk.

Cook the rice separately, once the rest is done baking put it on top of your rice or noodles.
And enjoy!!

PAGEANT MOM: The Beginning !

I FINALLY DID IT..... 

I am now officially a pageant mom, you know like all those crazy ladies you see on 'Toddlers in Tiara's, only Im not psycho and the pageants Victoria will be doing are for natural beauty and personality. Its going to be so much fun... I cant wait..... neither can she. She has been telling everyone all about it, and asking everyday if she can wear her dress.
It's called West Coast All Canadian Girl Pageant.

The first pageant is on February 27th, it's a preliminary and there are finals and a girly-girl weekend in the summer.
We have her beauty wear dress, casual wear outfit, and still have to decide on outfit of choice - but we have the shoes (3 new pairs of sparkly converse runners). This one coming up is a double header with Rhinestone Beauties, which is a glitz pageant similar to the show. We are doing the double header as there is an option to compete natural for both. 

What I think I like the most is that all the girls get crowns even if they arent the 'big' winners.... and the all get to look beautiful and have fun. West Coast also donates to the local food banks !

Depending on if she even enjoys herself - which I hope she does, I can see her doing some glitz once we know exactly how fierce the competetion is. Nothing crazy though and no time soon, she is only turning 4 :)

Look out world here comes Victoria :) 

January 2011 - A new year and some new favourites !

Yay.... I made it, a blog for January. Maybe I'll try to blog at least once a month :)

I'm loving the new shows and some not so new shows, that I have started to watch and am loving:


I think that this actually started in December but who cares.....

Cake Boss: The next great baker (LOVE)

Season One Winner "Dana"

HOT in Cleveland - I love Betty !

Wind At My Back....... I wish I found this show sooner !

AND........ My newest favourite smell !!!!!

Calgon - MARSHMELLOW !!!

Bye... Ta for now :)

Along Came A Spider......

While making dinner tonight, I heard my mom call my name from the other side of the laundry room door, she lives upstairs and we are in the basement.... anyway if you know my mom at all you know her glass is always half full.... and the "little things" make her day. So she tells me I have to bring my camera and best lens in to take a photo of something (didnt hear what she had said) and quickly. So I get into her place, and she says "you'll never see this again" - I've heard this before from her many times, most of the time she turns out to be right. So hanging from the ceiling is a dead fly. Yep - Amazing. It was hanging there dead.... on a web. Kinda odd, so I started shooting it, thinking it was going to be utter failure on my part.

But I was wrong, as my husband called it the "4 hours of messing around with bug pictures"...... amazing what an artsy-fartsy gal can do with some bug pics and photo shop !


Boring Shots........

Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo...... Ta Da (I love to photo shop)

Deck the halls with boughs of holly...... Decorating our house for Christmas 2010

Each year I buy christmas decorations, gift wrap and such for 50% off after Christmas, so this year I was particularly excited about some reindeer tree ribbon I had been saving for this year. I have had little ribbon before but this ribbon is thick and I wasn't sure how I was going to decorate the tree with it without looking odd. My daughter and husband were a big help with decorating.... Victoria did all the candy canes and unbreakables and Jason untangled the wire hangers, hooked them to an ornament and handed them to me so I could put them on the tree (not sure if he enjoyed this... he did it last year too).
And besides the cat climbing the tree multiple times.... I think our tree looks beautiful !

These are a few of my favourite things (about the christmas season) !

A little blog of many of my favourite things that come along with the Christmas season. Memories and traditions from my childhood - keep me excited for the holidays. I am very traditional and love doing and seeing the same things each year, it reminds me of fun times and memories I cherish.

There is no specific order here.... so I'm gonna start with a random Christmas Favourite and go from there. Oh and please feel free to comment about things we share or what you love about the Holidays :)

MUSIC

My absolute favourite christmas music - it came out sometime in the 1980's I rememer my mom listening to the tape, or maybe it was the record..... either way I love it - it's a mixture of well-know artists and it definitely brings out the holiday spirit. A few of the artist are: Madonna, Run DMC, Sting, Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen.

This must be the first one they came out with because so far I have seen "A very special Christmas 7"..... who knows what songs are on that one and in between, but this one is great ! 



Oh.... and if we are talking about Christmas music I have to add:

 Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas", Most of Celine Dions Christmas Songs, All of Michael Buble's Christmas songs and of Course Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers Christmas Album.

  CHRISTMAS MOVIES

(And yes, I'm 26 but all my favourite movies are childrens) 

                            

It just wouldn't be the same without watching all of these at least once around Christmas !

Mass on Christmas Eve

I was born and raised in a Catholic family, and have strong Christian beliefs and values. There aren't words that express the feeling of going to church on Christmas eve - everyone is dressed up, the kids in their dresses and suits. The church is decorated with trees and ribbon, candles galore are lit, and the manger scene always brings a smile and sometimes a tear to my face. I love the warm-fuzzy, content and joyous feeling that overcomes me, and the choir sings great christmas songs !

..... And I cannot forget my Precious Moments Manger Scene, it used to be my moms but it has made a comfy home along with my other decorations - its very special to me !



Mmmmmm.......

Eggnog & Starbucks Holiday Drinks.... Need I say more ?



Disney on Ice......

Every year since I was 13 my family has gone to see Disney on Ice. I think because we are such crazy Disney fans is what makes it so exciting and also now that I have a daughter to share it with too. Also the fact that a bit of Disney is in our home town and not a 3 hour plane ride away (which we do once a year anyway) is pretty cool as well. So this years show is called Let's Celebrate, its a whole bunch of fun in one show - just watch the link :)

http://disney.go.com/disneyonice/

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

FROM PUTTING THEM UP ON THE HOUSE TO SEEING PEOPLE'S HOUSES ALL LIT UP.... I LOVE THEM :)

This year I am gonna put them up in the day time and soon..... so I dont freeze my fingers off like last year.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW !

Who doesnt love a little snow - or a lot ? It is so beautiful, I love when the first snow comes.... at night I look out the window and up at the street lamp and watch the snowflakes fall - it makes me smile and be thankful to have a nice warm home to be in.  Im not gonna lie, I hate to see it go but enough is enough sometimes.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas day is obviously a favourite for many of us, but I cant even begin to explain how much I love it. And it is much, much more than just a day where I get lots of gifts. I am especially excited this year - as my parents are divorced I usually have a busy day of travelling to relatives homes so I can spend time with everyone. Each year growing up I would open my gifts at home with my mom, brother and sister.... then go to my dads or aunts or grandparents (wherever they were having it) ..... then either eat dinner with them or get taken to my other grandparents house for gifts and dinner there. PHEW ! 

Now that I am married I have a couple more families homes to go to as well..... its fun and memorable, but beyond tiring, especially now having a little girl of my own.

This year I am staying home - or in other words going to my moms and not leaving to go anywhere else, you cant beat the feeling of home (we live in my moms basement ).

Anywho.... Christmas day is kind of like a birthday, you get that nice feeling - just warm and fuzzy. My moms house smells amazing on christmas - pot pourri and christmas dinner, coffee in the morning. Its warm from the fireplace, the tree is all lit up, and there are presents under the tree and most of the time leaking out into the hallway :) There is alwasy christmas music playing, and everyones in their pajamas. You can definitely notice what season it is in my moms.... the decorations are lovely and they are everywhere.... I always tell people my moms house at christmas is pretty similar to what santa's house would look like !

But, I dont remember a year where I wasn't whisked away by some paternal family member to go somewhere else - unfortunately having to leave my mom (my main caregiver) and siblings :(

It has sadly just hit me know in my adult years that it must have been really sad for my mom, for me to be there for a short while in the morning and not share christmas with her for the rest of the day. Well here's to many more wonderful christmas days with her - I will still have to juggle all the future christmas' but this christmas will be so nice, I have been waiting since last year when I announced to everyone that I was staying home this christmas !!

                                                       Above: Christmas 2008 - Bruce, Nic and Mom

                                                     Above and Below: Christmas 2009 - Nic, Curt and Victoria

Just a few of my favourites..... can't wait for christmas to come this year !!

Merry Christmas Everyone.... Happy Holidays !!

Portable North Pole - (aka) SANTA !!

Last year my husband and I came across a great christmas website through sympatico. Its a site with Santa where you can personalize a video to your child or spouse or whoever is on your christmas list. Through a short variety of questions (to get to know the person) it creates the video and Santa talks to you about such things as if you have been good or bad, what you want for christmas... and there is even a spot to upload a picture of the person - it really seems "real".
Although our daughter was too young to fully understand what this Santa video was all about, we both had fun making them for her and each other. This year she will be shocked that Santa knows all about her and if she has been good or bad.

And all you naughty adults out there.... you might just get a big lump of coal if you dont shape-up before Christmas Eve. This is really fun, and I know you'll have fun trying it :)

The webiste isnt running yet.... maybe a few more weeks, but I read they have added some new features to the 2010 video and are hoping for their best year yet since they created it three years ago.


Check it out.... http://www.portablenorthpole.ca/