Recipe - Chicken Nacho Bake

During our time in Medford we stayed with Grandma MaryLou (Bill's mom) and she has a subscription to several magazines including one that is packed with recipes. I took time to write several down and she was kind enough to give me one magazine from 2007 that was so filled with recipes I couldn't have possibly copied them all by hand.

I thought it would be fun as our family tried these recipes to put them on here with our personal rating.

Last night we had Chicken Nacho Bake, which was advertised as either an appetizer or a main dish (if used as appetizer, cut the size of the chicken to be much smaller).

Chicken Nacho Bake

4 small boneless chicken breasts

1/2c salsa

1/4c sour cream

1/2c crushed tortilla chips

1/2c mexican cheese

Preheat the oven to 400'

Place chicken on foiled baking sheet

Slice 3 cuts on top of each chicken breast

Top each with salsa, sour cream, chips

Loosely cover with foil and bake for 20 mins

Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 10 mins

We served ours with spanish rice and corn. Each of us ate our meal and discussed a rating system. Our rating system looks like this:

1 worst meal

2 not the greatest, but edible

3 would eat again, but didn't find it great nor bad

4 pretty good meal and would like to see it on the menu again

5 greatest meal and added to the favorites list

The family rated as follows:

Dad - 4

Mom - 3

Sadie - 2

Syrah - 4

Come back soon to see more new dishes!!

Thanksgiving in Medford

We left Meford last Tuesday and Wednesday most people had to work, so we took the opportunity to have a family day. The best part of the family day was the fact we were complete; Jeremiah, his brother and mom moved back to Medford this summer so we were able to get lots of time with him and actually have true family time. We went up to Ashland on Wednesday, it is one of my favorite places to spend a day... a cute little town, that has charm and fun shops, restaurants and a great park.

One of my favorite shops in Paddington's which is fully decked out with Christmas decorations this time of year. Here is Syrah in their "silver" section... after this photo I forgot I even had a camera!

A group shot outside the Chocolate Factory. The bear has been a family photo opportunity each year we make it to Ashland. This year the bear was inside; we asked the owners why and they said it was a "city ordinance" that it could no longer be outside. They told us to take him outside for the photo and we were grateful... a big bear like that needs hugs and photos!

At Lithia park the boys found a huge rock to climb. The problem... no way down but to jump!!!

On Thanksgiving we went to Jake & Jaime's house (Bill's brother & sister-in-law). Jaime did an amazing job with the food. I was so busy playing with the kids and visiting I hardly took any photos, but I grabbed a very few. Again, the highlight for us was that for the first time we were able to spend Thanksgiving with Jeremiah!!

The only picture I have of Sadie and McKayla and McKayla was on the move as you can see!!

Koen and Syrah were playing with the kitchen stuff for quite some time!!!

Friday we spend some more time together as a family and Jeremiah's brother Ceth joined us. It was fun to go to the park together and let the kids play!!! They all get along so well and Ceth is a really good kid, we were glad he could spend the day with us too.

We had some great photos taken at the park!
Sadie, Syrah, Jeremiah & Ceth

I just love this picture... This is Penny, she is the sweetest dog and I have a similar picture of Sadie several years ago. Penny is a great family dog and wonderful with the kids!

Koen & Uncle Billy; they had such a good time playing together and we hope that we are able to see the kids more often - they are growing up so fast!!

We did our best to take a family photo with Grandpa Bill & Grandma Cindy; after several tries this one turned out pretty good!!! This was our last night in Medford and it was good night! It went by too fast!

Random stuff before we leave for Thanksgiving:

The past few weeks the girls have been super busy finishing their crafts for Christmas! I wish I could share pictures, but they are a surprise!

When Syrah was finished with her projects (which we started in October) she made found fun in an old toy... shrinky dinks! Both the girls spent almost an entire day one day creating many different things.

Syrah with her first batch of shrinky dinks!

On the side Sadie has been working on this scarf. She heard her friend Samuel was making hats, she tried to make one and that gave her an even bigger appreciation for his hard work. Hats are not an easy task! So, Sadie decided she would finish this project... she has enjoyed making it and hopes to make more someday!

We pulled out the luggage for our annual trip to Medford for Thanksgiving; Syrah though it was pretty fun that she fits inside!!!

As we head out for Thanksgiving we want to wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving day. It is our prayer that the Lord will fill your heart with gentle reminders of ALL we have to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depth of the earth and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. ~Psalm 95:1-7a

Hidden Treasure

Syarh has out grown her kitchen; she rarely uses it anymore and she thought it would be good to give it to McKayla so that she could use it and play with it for a few years to come. Syrah did keep all her glass dishes, some of which belonged to her Great-Grandma Connie and her Grandma Valerie when they were growing up. We were trying to think of a good way to display them in her room that would be most efficient. Last night I woke up and remembered that we had he girls Great-Grandma's "kitchen" from when she was a little girls that we were keeping in the garage until Syrah was a bit older as it has glass cabinets and we wanted to make sure she was old enough for them. This morning I pulled out out from the garage and cleaned it all up!

Here it is!! My grandma Connie used this when she was little, my mom used it when she was little and I remember using it at my grandma's house when I was little. It is a treasure to have it here now for our girls to enjoy.

I love the latch; I can't think of anything else we have that has a latch like this one!

After we put all the "dishes" in it; she has several tea sets and often the girl set up restaurants for us or for their animals and friends.

Most of these glass dishes belong to either my grandma or my mom from when they were growing up, so they are all quite special.

Veterans' Day

Koen & McKayla's first trip to Seattle

This weekend Jake, Jaime, Koen and McKayla came to stay with us for a night... it was so fun to have them up here. We haven't seen Jaime and the kids in a year and they have grown so much. The girls had a good time playing with their cousins during their first trip to Seattle. We look forward to future trips were we can show them around sites like the zoo, aquarium, Pike Place, but for this trip it was a great time to spend time together and play!

Sadie and McKayla; she has gotten so big and is quite the little talker!!

Syrah and Koen; they had a great time playing together and my favorite was when Koen would give Syrah kisses.

We look forward to seeing them all again in just a few weeks when we travel to Medford for Thanksgiving.

All Dressed Up

The girls were Thing 1 and Thing 2 this year for Halloween; it was especially fun that they got to dress up for "literacy day" at school.

In the evening we went trick-or-treating with some friends.

Grandpa (aka Samuel) took the kids (Micah - Cat in the Hat, Sadie - Thing 1, Syrah - Thing 2) out for some safe fun at the Mill Creek Town Center. We had a great time; after Grandpa took them trick-or-treating we had some dinner and then came home in hopes we might get some trick-or-treaters; unfortunately we only had a few!