Memorial Weekend Bike Ride

Bike Ride number two was on Memorial Day weekend. What started out as a 12 mile ride turned into a 15 mile ride, but who's counting. We rode around Otay Lake and found a perfect spot for a future picnic or hiking adventure - Lower Otay Park Pavillon. The scenery around the lake was truly beautiful and there was very little traffic. In fact, much of the ride was on a bike path, so it would be a perfect place to ride with children or people that are not comfortable in traffic. On the ride home we saw a rather large sized coyote in close proximity to Salt Creek Elementary school. Good thing that school was not in session.

The only thing missing from this ride was a good hydration system. Indeed both of us were sharing one plastic water bottle, which was not nearly enough. So after the ride we headed down to our local bike shop to take advantage of the holiday weekend sale pricing. I fixed myself up with a Camelbak Dream. It is a water supply and backpack in one ... just what I needed. Also, because it is refillable I felt like I was doing the "green thing" or environmentally correct thing. I also bought some other cycling accessories that were too cheap to resist.

Ride number 2-1/2 came the next day when son #2 decided to try on Dad's new cycling attire. Once decked out with the gear he wanted to ride so off we went again with the wee one in tow. This time we drove up to the the lake and cycled around it. Turned out to be a nice 5 mile ride.

Yep, this is him on his first ride with Dad's clothes on. He loved the ride and had no problem doing the 5 miles. If fact, after the ride he was asking when we could go again! Who knew!

Mole Mio

4-6 chicken breasts, skinned boned

chicken flavor bouillon

cilantro - handful

medium onion, chopped

2 jars Dona Maria mole

1 tablet of Mexican Chocolate (Ibarra)

peanut butter (check measure)

oil

Boil water in a large pot and make chicken broth with chicken bouillon, cilantro and onion. Taste for flavor.

Add chicken broth and boil about 30 (check this) minutes until chicken is no longer pink at center. When cooked remove breasts a shred with two forks. Do not discard broth.

Heat oil in large sauce pan. Add mole and stir well. Add chocolate tablet and 1 large spoonful of peanut butter and continue to stir. Once mixed add reserved chicken broth to make smooth sauce.

Add shredded chicken and stir well. Add more chicken broth if necessary.

Serve with rice and hot tortillas.

Serves 6

Out and about - Bike Ride

Today we went on an awesome bike ride.

We left home at 7:20 and followed a trail from our house to the local bagel place, Einstein Bros. Bagels. The ride was perfect for our first time out in a long, long time. The way there was mostly down hill so the way back was a little harder. Of course, it would be better if the harder ride was on the way there but it was fun just the same. It was mostly on unpaved trails although there is a bit of street riding toward the end. Basically the ride was a half hour each way and we stopped at the Einstein's for half an hour, so an hour an a half total and we were home by 9.

What a perfect way to start a Sunday!

Things to take next time:

• Allergy Meds (before the ride)
• Tissue (just incase)
• Cell phone (also just incase)
• Credit Card/Cash

Welcome

I decided that it was time for me to start a blog. Why another blog? It's because I hope to inpsire you, to make you laugh and to give you some information that may same you time, energy and maybe some money. I want to share my crazy life with you and give you hope that there is someone else out there just like you. For my friends and family that are so far away, know that I miss you and hope you check in here every once in a while to see what we are up to.

Marinated Flank Steak

1 pound flank steak

Marinade:

3/4 cup oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1 tablespoon grated ginger

(or 1 tsp ginger powder)

1. Score one side of the steak by making shallow cuts in a criss-cross design.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the meat.
3. Put in Ziploc bag and refrigerate for 1 or 3 days or leave at room temperature for 3 or 4 hours.
4. Broil or barbecue about 4 or 5 minutes on each side.
5. Slice in thin strips across the grain.

Good hot or cold. For 2 steaks use the same amount of marinade.

Makes about 4 servings.

Matrimony Cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup soft butter

Filling:

2 cups pitted and chopped dates

1/3 cup brown sugar

1-1/4 cups water

1 tbsp all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven 375

In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, soda, brown sugar, rolled oats and butter. Rub together with fingers until it's like coarse meal. Combine the Filling ingredients in a saucepan and simmer, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Press half the flour mixture into the bottom of a greased 9 x 9" cake pan. Spoon filling on top and smooth with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle remaining flour mixture evenly on top. Bake about 25 minutes or until top is slightly browned.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

1 pound bulk Italian sausage - Papa Cantella's Hot Italian Sausage
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 cans (15 ounces each) Italian-style tomato sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)
1 container (15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
12 uncooked lasagna noodles
(spinach if desired)

1. Cook sausage and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt. (Can be done the night before.)
2. Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. (Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.) (Can be done the night before.)
   
3. Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into 6-quart slow cooker (large one); top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with 5 noodles , remain cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with remaining 5 noodles and remaining sausage mixture.
   
4. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender. (4 is better)
5. Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into pieces.
   
   HINT - Set it up like this:
   Top of pot
   Sausage mix - 1/4
   Noodles
   Sausage mix - 1/4
   Cheese mix - half
   Noodles
   Sausage mix - 1/4
   Cheese mix - half
   Noodles
   Sausage mix - 1/4
   Bottom of pot

Serve with salad and garlic toast.

Baxter

Our dog Baxter is a gift from above. He came to us quite by accident in September of 2007. As cute as he was, I had no desire to take on yet another responsibility, but somehow the woman at my door convinced me to take him in. And that was it! Baxter came bounding into our lives. He was about four months old at the time and soon this furry canine brought about an incredible change in our household. Somewhere along the way we had lost our joy and Baxter brought it back to us.

BFF

In the spring of this year we all got together at Jackie's house. We had not been together since last summer and a good time was long overdue. Each of us brought a snack and the expectation of nothing more that a fun evening.

There is something comforting about "old" friends and "old" friends we are. Each of you have a special place in my heart and no matter the distance or time we spend apart when we get together is it magical and like no time has passed at all.

Strange how our evening took us to cyberspace. When we were teenagers we never even had computers and here we were gathered around one. We spent time looking at a strange on-line dating website. We found some people from our high school days and laughed our heads off at ...... ! Can you remember? We viewed some fun stuff on youtube ... "show em to me" and "business time".

I think of "us" often and long for the time we can all get together again. For me, it is never soon enough. I wonder when and hope that nothing will ever change.

May 14, 2008

Hey, I finally have my own blog! I am excited to be able to share the details of my crazy life. I hope you visit often.