Last year, we went on a trip near Seattle (here and here) and I made some new recipes (to me) for the trip.  We fell in love w/ one and have been making it ever since. 

I found it in the 'incredible cookbook', but I have done some tweaking (shown in red). 

I hope you love it as much as we do. 

Have a great, family weekend!!!~G

Turkey Royale (Chicken Royale)

1 box (12 - 14 oz) seasoned stuffing (or your home made crouton stuffing - recipe below)
1/4 c butter (marg) melted
1 c. warm water (omited)
2 1/2 c diced, cooked turkey (2.5 - 4 c diced, cooked chicken)
1/2 c ea onion and celery (1/2 - 1.5 c onion and celery)
1/4 c mayo
3/4 tsp salt (use or omit depending upon your use of salts while making croutons)
2 eggs
1 1/2 c milk (1/4 - 1/2 c milk or omit if desired.  We like it more dry, you might like it wetter.)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
cheese (go hog wild)

Beat eggs and milk together and add remaining ingredients, except cheese (mix it all together and add more cheese to the top). 

Pour into a greased 9x13 and bake in a 350 degree oven, uncovered for 40 min.  Spread cheese on top and bake 10 min more. (or just bake it til its done, w/ the cheese on top from the get go). Serves 8-12.
 

Home Made Croutons

1 bag mini bagels (I get them at Costco)
Johnny Salt
garlic powder
Italian Seasoning
Olive Oil (or canola in a pinch)

Cut bagels into bite size pieces.  Put in pan - single layer.  Season sell.  Drizzle med/well w/ oil.  Bake 325 degree oven for 15 min, stir, bake another 10-15 min.  They should be golden and delish by this point, but depending on your oven you might have to add or reduce time.  Use for Chicken Royale recipe or any salad you desire (if you can keep your family out of them long enough to use in a recipe).

The weather is pretty crumby today and I've been waiting to hear from the girls... they are presenting their senior projects to the school board today (presenting 'the boards' is what all the kids call it). An 8 minute presentation that makes it or breaks it for graduation - ACK! 

Liz got through her boards this morning at 8:30 and flew through it w/ a score of 89.  WOOT!  Now my Hannah girl is sweating it out waiting for 3:30 (but they are now running late and her time is pushing back closer to 4:30 - the poor girl's nerves!).

In between anxious text messages from the girls, I headed out for a stroll, just in the garden (aka yard) between sprinkles today and snapped a few lovelies showing their pretty little faces...trying to take my mind of what the great weight they are shouldering today. 

I only got a 5 minute break in the weather, but it was a nice reprieve.  I'll update when I know more.~G

Ahhhh...the senior prom has come and gone.  The weekend was harried and full, but it was wonderful for everyone involved. 

I suppose I wanted it to be perfect for them because I never had one myself (I was already married and raising babies)...everything was just that, perfect... except for taking pics *sigh* - getting 16 pre-prom-teens to look in the same direction at the same time?  Ha!  Never gonna happen.

I did my best (along w/ the 20 other parents that were trying to get their babies to look at them at the same time).  LOL!

I hope you have a fabulous Monday... mine is quiet and peaceful.  I'm  off to write my menu for the week!~G 

It was interesting to see how the top 3 did (and how Adam couldn't keep up his game with singing more than one song- in my opinion).

I did do my part. 

I voted. 

Danny and Adam got my votes for sure.

Who do you think will take home the prize as American Idol this year?

How I am going to keep those fingerprints...

Senior Prom. 

There has been so much hustle and bustle and last minute deadlines that the girls have been beyond frazzled.  It was so refreshing to see their faces light up with smiles when we picked up their dresses! (the alterations that need doing are so slight that even the Momma can do them - putting a smile on her face too.)

Who is the second daughter you ask?  She is one of H's good friends - great kid, wants to be a pediatrician, good grades, and her parents didn't think she was good enough - so they kicked her out.  I have nothing nice to say about her horrible step-mother and father.  She has been living w/ us on and off over the last few months (when her parents would kick her out for a day or two to a week) and full-time for a month. We love Liz.

Hannah has chosen not to have a boyfriend right before we move (trying not to have a broken heart along w/ the moving) and is going to prom with one of her best friends, Nick.  Liz is going to prom w/ a friend of her's from WY that is flying in just for the dance to be with her.  How great is that?

The limo is ready, the dresses are stunning, and the girls will have a night to remember forever.

What sweet memories do you have of your senior prom?~G

During this process of prepping the house for sale... little things have tugged at me. 

Like this hand print.

Years ago now,  I was painting the hallway upstairs... and Nick laid his hand in the paint and plopped a print on the wall... for some reason, I never finished that area.  The dark color is the color I painted the stairway, so technically I was going to paint over it and it was going to disappear. 

I don't know why I never got that tiny spot done... out of sight out of mind I guess... I NEVER go upstairs, like ever.  It's full of funky boy smells from all 3 boys living up there, who really wants to venture into that?  LOL!

My man went up last weekend and cleaned the carpets (that got rid of the boy funk) and I painted this weekend... til I got to that hand-print.

I know I have to paint over it, just like I painted over the kids' growth lines on the door frame... but this is where I called it a day yesterday.  I just couldn't bring myself to roll over it.  Not yet.  Maybe later today, once I can get the tears from my eyes.~G

(2 yrs old - loves the snow)

(3 yrs old - cheesey smiles at a birthday party)

(4 yrs old, helping mom "plant" the flowers)
 
(12 yrs old - just because she's beautiful)

(17 - getting ready for graduation)

Happy Birthday Baby!  WE LOVE YOU!

Sometimes I have a love/ hate relationship w/ Costco. 

Love - great buys. 
Love - cheap prices. 
Hate - when said great buys (with the cheap prices) go bad. 

Case in point - spinach. 

I buy it fresh, in a bag that rivals a queen size pillow.  When its cooked down the end product is only a couple of soup bowls in size.  But when that queen size pillow gets shoved to the back of the frig, on the lowest shelf, its doomed for failure.

In an attempt to save my .50 worth of spinach before it turns to goo, I turned to All Recipes (a haven for anyone looking for great recipes) and started searching. 

I hit the jack-pot w/ this recipe - it is family-rated at 8 out of 10, a true keeper!  It has only a few ingredients and tops out at 20 min of prep and cooking time... that is my type of recipe! 

I recently found stuffing on sale for .35 a box!  Needless to say, we will be making this recipe w/o guilt for the remainder of 2009. 

(Please forgive the lack of cheese in the photo, I'm a dork.)

• 6 eggs, lightly beaten (4)
• 1 (6 ounce) package stuffing mix
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (eh, prob more in the 1.5 - 2 range)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (didn't add) 
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper (didn't add)
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (1/2 my pillow sized bag, fresh)

In a bowl, combine eggs, stuffing mix, butter, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Add spinach; mix well. Shape into 1-1/2-in. balls; place in an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Serves 14.

Beat the stuffing out of the stuffing (or put it in your Kitchenaid and let it go to town) til the pieces are smallish, but not powder).   Cook spinach in pan large enough to feed an army on med w/ a smidge of oil, til it wilts to a nice cereal bowl sized mass, drain.  Mix all ingredients together, scoop using your medium sized scoop (the one smaller than your ice cream scoop people).  Bake.  Yeilds 24.

Written recipe in black (the way I make them -  in red).

Enjoy!~G

Happy Monday!

After 3 months of working almost daily on the house, it feels very, very odd to not have something to do, paint, clean, move, or install...

I have nothing planned to do today.    Could there be a better Monday?  I don't think so. 

And with that I say - hello my little blog.  You aren't forgotten (even though I did forget your birthday on the 1st of April *sigh*) but I sure did leave you by the way-side.  I'm back!  And it feels good!

Monday - Grand Parisean Chicken Salad

Sunday -  Leftovers

What's in your list this week?~G

PS- We had our first (and hopefully only) house showing and the lady is highly interested... if the house passes inspection (fingers-crossed) it will be sold!