I'm feeling blue

and not just from last nights blue cheese flop. OK it wasn't really a flop, everything turned out the way it was supposed to but I was told I never need to try another blue cheese recipe again. Not all was lost though. I like the idea of cheese stuffed burgers, so this summer I'm going to try a smoked cheddar with bacon bits stuffed burger. mmmmmmmm That sounds like more my family's sort of meal. However if you are a blue cheese fan I recommend you hop on over to Pinch of Salt and give her recipes a try. Also she has photos, even in process photos, and her burgers and peaches look much prettier then mine did.

I'm blue because my babies have to go to school an extra 30 minutes everyday until spring break due to all the snow days this winter. We live in the boonies and my kids are the first ones on the bus and the last ones off. They don't get home until after 4:30! I look forward to my kids getting home each day and it makes me a little sad that I get to spend less time with them. Then there is poor Daisy.

Daisy is the pillow in this photo. Chloe is HER kid. She hates it when Chloe comes home late. You should see her on the days Chloe has piano lessons. Pacing the floor in front of the door crying like a baby. Walking in circles, checking Chloe's room, sniffing at Maddie and crying at her as if to be sure she is the wrong kid and ask her what she did to her sister. It makes Maddie crazy. It's the only day of the week the child does her homework in her room instead of the kitchen table.

Tonight's dinner:

Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce recipe courtesy of simplyrecipies.com

I followed her recipe almost exactly with only a minor variation. I doubled up the sour cream and heavy cream and added about a TSP and 1/2 of corn starch to thicken it up a bit. I was serving this over noodles and the sauce was very runny and not much there, and I wanted to be sure I had enough. I also wanted it to stick like gravy and not run like soup, just my personal preference though.

K was a little confused and thought it should taste like fried chicken, beings you fry it a bit. He doesn't understand searing meet to hold the juices in yet. Otherwise he said it was fantastic and he loved the sauce, mushroom, onion part of it. Oh yea, I left the onions like rings instead of chopping fine. K likes then that way and they were so very good I could have picked every onion out of the pan and eaten them all myself. Maddie who normally loves mushrooms wouldn't even try the sauce - we're having one of those "everything you say is wrong" preteen weeks. Chloe never eats mushrooms. So the kids loved the chicken and the veggie noodles but wouldn't touch the sauce. I loved it but like I said my favorite part was the onions. They had their own onion flavor and held some of the flavor of the mushrooms they were sauteed with, then covered in that sauce made from sour cream. mmmmmm I think I just want to make a whole plate of onions this way. :)

Then because I was feeling a little guilty that I didn't get dinner timed right. It was done before the kids got home, and K and I ate by ourselves, not waiting for the kids. I made Autum Apple Salad because Chloe has been bugging me to make it since I bought the dried cherries. I got the recipe over at cheep, healthy, good but beings I don't have a middle eastern market it wasn't so cheep for me, but healthy and good - you bet!

I don't really watch my calories when I cook. I need the weight and so do the kids, K on the other hand, not so much. Beings he blames me for his bulging middle I have decided to try and give him some healthy options to take to work with him, and this salad fit the bill. He took a huge helping to work, moderation is not his strong point.