Birthday Girl

A certain young lady who is turning FOUR today is working on her letter sounds, and wrote her own alphabet book. So, if you will indulge us:

A is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Adorable

Amazing

Artistic

 

B is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Beautiful

Brave

Busy

Bossy

Big

Bright

Bubbly

 

C is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Crazy

Cool

Creative

 Cute

Curious

Confident

 

 

D is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Daring

Delightful

Dressy

Dizzy

Dazzling

 

E is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Elegant

Excellent

Energetic

Enthusiastic

Enchanting

 

F is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Funny

Fantastic

Four

 

G is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Goofy

Great

Giggly

Gentle

Graceful

Good

 

H is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Happy

Helpful

 

I is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Intelligent

Impressive

Imaginative

J is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Jolly

K is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Kind

 

L is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Lovely

Loving

Loony

M is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Messy

Marvelous

N is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Nice

Naughty

O is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Obstinate

Original

 

P is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Pretty

Pensive 

Q is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Quirky

Quick

R is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Rambunctious

 

S is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Silly

Strange

Smart

Serious

Scary

Sweet

Sneaky

 

T is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Terrific

Talented

Tall

A Turd

A Teaser

 

U is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Unusual

V is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Vivacious

 

W is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Weird

Wonderful

Wild

Wacky

 

X is for Sheridan, because Sheridan gives kisses!!!

 

Y is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Young

 

Z is for Sheridan, because Sheridan is

Zany


Happy Birthday,
Big Girl!

Green Beans with Tomatoes a la The Pioneer Woman

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got two new cookbooks for Christmas, and I have been happily trying out recipes from them. I promised to review them, but I don't always remember to take pictures as I go!

 

Last night we had leftover Vegetable Lasagna from one of The Pioneer Woman's recipes (leftover only because I had made a huge dish). I try to serve something new alongside leftovers, and these green beans were easy to make, and fit with it nicely.

 

You can find the complete recipe starting on page 270 of her latest cookbook. Basically, you cook up some bacon pieces, then add chopped onion to sauté:

 

 

This will smell REALLY good, and may attract thieves.

 

 

Add your green beans - the recipe calls for raw, but I had these from a Bountiful Basket haul back in August. The kids had helped me snip the ends off, so I got to tell them they helped make dinner!

 

Add some whole tomatoes.

 

I also threw in some roasted tomatoes (Bountiful Baskets last week!)

 

Cover and simmer. Since my green beans were canned, I just gave it ten minutes. Long enough for all the flavors to come together.

 

Yum!! A big hit, which is good, because I have another 20 quarts or so of those green beans, and as you can see from the thievery photo, lots of canned tomatoes in various forms! Check out the cookbook or PW's web site for exact measurements and instructions (not to mention much better photography).

 

 

 



Nonfiction Monday: For the Good of Mankind? by Vicki Oransky Wittenstein

9781467706599

 

Definitely not one for story time, or light reading before bed (unless you care to feed your nightmares), a fascinating and informative read nonetheless.

 

The subtitle, "The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation", pretty much sums it up. Some older readers may have heard of experiments performed by Nazis on people they considered subhuman, but will be shocked to learn of cases sanctioned by our own government, even conducted by American military doctors.

 

For the most part, the people who conducted these experiments felt they were completely justified, and many important discoveries were made as a result. Appendices include abundant source notes and sources for further study, but it is the section of critical analysis questions that set this apart from similar books that may just seek to shock the reader. I can see this being used in high school programs for teens interested in entering the medical field, or in a higher level English class where the teacher wants to encourage critical thinking and debate.

 

Not a fun read, but one with a definite place on high school library shelves. Thank-you to Twenty-First century Books for the review copy.

 

 



Nonfiction Monday: The Dolphins of Shark Bay, by Pamela Turner

Last week we commented on the popularity of dinosaur books. Dolphins aren't quite at that level, but there is no denying the interest humans have in these smiling, playful creatures. Most people know dolphins are considered highly intelligent - but, why? What about a dolphin's life in the wild requires more brain power than many other animals?

 

9780547716381

 

In this book, Turner follows scientist Janet Mann and others as they study and get to know a large community of dolphins over the course of decades. I've read a fair bit on dolphins, but learned a dozen things I hadn't known in just the first few pages (did you know young female dolphins will steal anotherdolphin's newborn, just for kicks?). Turner's quick-paced, storytelling style make up for the small print that may throw off reluctant readers at first.

 

fascinating information throughout, presented very accessibly to the non-scientifically-minded (i.e., me). Oh, and if you are curious as to the answer to the original question, a lot of it seems to boil down to this passage:

 

"Perhaps you've heard the saying, 'Necessity is the mother of invention." Among dolphins, invention is sometimes a necessity of motherhood." (pg. 32)

 

(or, for the male dolphins, it boils down to posturing and alliances that make any season of Survivor look like child's play).

 

The end pages include plenty of web sites to offer more information, including the official site for the Shark Bay Project, as well as an update on some of the humans and dolphins we met. (I will admit to feeling much relief about Fin.) Librarians may have to hand-sell this a bit because of the afore-mentioned small print, but I think readers who take them up on it will not be disappointed. Definitely one to add to your collection!

Family Resemblance





Sleeping with the mouth open...

Sheridan



Logan

 

Shane

 

The Stink-Eye

 

Sheridan

Logan

Shane

 

About those siblings...

Sheridan

Logan

Shane

     

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Santa knows me well. Well enough to ignore all those silly articles that say not to buy your wife kitchen gadgets for Christmas:

 

 

Happy sigh. I also have two new (to me) cookbooks:

 

 

(maybe the second book I have ever pre-ordered!)

 

and, at the suggestion of Amanda from A Patchwork of Books:

 

 

I have been happily bopping back and forth between the two of them, trying out all my new gadgets. S. told Daddy she wants him to look like Santa for Christmas next year, so I am doing my part by helping put on the pounds. Most of the recipes I have tried have turned out well, a few not so much, so I thought I would spend a few posts reviewing these two books page by page - which gives me even more excuses to cook!

 

So, keeping in mind that these are not MY original recipes, today I made the Chicken Cordon Bleu from page 24-25 of Fix, Freeze and Feast. I love the dish, but have never made it before - something about flattening the chicken breasts always sticks in my head as too much work, so I skip over those types of recipes. It really didn't take that long - just trim any fat off your chicken breasts, cover with wax paper, and pound the crap out of them:

 

 

I had to move the wax paper a couple times for each piece, as the mallet tore through.

 

Coat each piece in flour,

 

eggs (and then forget to take a picture),

 

and bread crumbs.

 

I used 4 eggs for 6 chicken breasts, and had plenty left over. I didn't measure the flour or bread crumbs, just covered the surface of the plate and added more as needed.

 

Then take a piece of deli ham (I overlapped two because they were thin) and wrap around Swiss cheese (the book said deli slices, I just cut two pieces off the end of a chunk for each breast).

 

Roll the ham packet up in the chicken.

 

I tucked the ends of the ham packet in when I rolled, but I didn't have enough fingers to do that while taking a picture!

 

Then place rolls inside a labeled freezer bag,

 

or into a casserole dish.

 

When ready to cook, thaw in refrigerator (if frozen), brush with melted butter, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. These are for supper tonight, so I haven't cooked/tasted them yet, but they sure look like I knew what I was doing! They are huge, so I'm thinking three will feed two adults and three kids. The book says to wrap them separately in wax paper before freezing, so you can take out what you need, but since I am just freezing one more meal's worth for now I skipped that step.

 

I'll post an update after we've tried them!