Ranch chicken with potatoes and veggies

Tonight was Elizabeth's turn to make dinner.

She picked ranch chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and mixed green vegetables (steam fresh bag).

Elizabeth and Ben made dinner tonight.  

Here is what (and how) they made: 

Mashed potatoes:

As for the potatoes, I cut up two large brown potatoes that we had left over.

We boiled them to soften them up.

Ben and Elizabeth mashed them up in our Kitchen Aid Mixer and added garlic, salt, pepper, butter, and lactose free milk.

 

Chicken:

I had a Hidden Valley Original Ranch dry seasoning mix.

They threw the tenders with some extra virgin olive oil into a gallon bag, dumped in the seasoning and shook it all up.

Once the tenders were coated, Ben and Elizabeth baked them in the oven.

Once the chicken tenders were done, Elizabeth wanted to pose like her sister did last night.

 

Elizabeth put a bag of stream fresh vegetables into the microwave for five minutes, and that was our dinner.

Chicken, mashed potatoes, and veggies.

It was really yummy!

Thanks Ben and Elizabeth for making dinner!

Happy Wednesday y'all!

Easy dinner- Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil

This week we are trying something new.

I had both girls pick out dinner recipes for us to try.

They are each helping me cook the meals they picked.

Tonight was Caroline's dinner: Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil

Let me back this up before I tell you about the meal.

I don't like to make dinner.

I despise having to decide what's for dinner.

I will make breakfast and lunch all day and all night, but I HATE making dinner.

So part of this experiment with the girls was to also help me:

learn some new recipes

get out of my dinner rut

and involve the girls more in cooking (so hopefully that enjoy it more than me)

Now... back to the meal:

IT WAS SO EASY!!!

From start to finish, I think it was 40 minutes.

15-17 minutes of that was the food cooking in the oven.

While the potatoes boiled, we mixed up the seasoning and put the sausage and shrimp on the sheet pan. We tossed in the corn the last five minutes like the directions said and when everything was done boiling, we added it to the shrimp and sausage.

 Caroline was so excited about this recipe.

Everything ready to go into the oven.

 Posing with her meal :)

 Showing off her dinner after it came out of the oven. :)

 Looks yummy!

 Ta-da!

Looks yummy and tastes yummy!

All four of us liked this recipe, which is a miracle.

I recommend using a mild sausage if your family doesn't like spicy sausage.

If your family likes shrimp/sausage and potatoes/corn then this recipe is for you!

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Air and Space Museum

A couple of weeks ago, we had a snow day in the middle of the week.

The girls and I were both out of school, but there wasn't a lot of snow on the road.

We waited until around 10am and then headed into DC to check out the Air and Space Museum.

 The Air and Space Museums are their favorite.

Caroline wants to be a pilot and Elizabeth loves learning about the history of space.

 First up, experiments in the "kids area"

 Then it was time to practice flying a plane. :)

 Would you let her fly you around?

 Then they learned how to turn a plane.

 

 Elizabeth took a turn flying.

 More flying practice :)

 

 Behind them is the space suit Neil Armstrong wore on the moon!

We had a great morning at the museum and can't wait to go back.

Happy Thursday y'all!

Washington Wizards Game

At the beginning of January, we took the girls to their first Washington Wizards game.  

Ben scored tickets from his office and it was over winter break, so we thought it would be a fun family outing.

Our tickets were on the second row of the floor seating.  

Caroline and Elizabeth LOVED being so close to all the action and we had a great time teaching them about basketball.

 Caroline wanted a picture during a time-out

 Free throws!

 Complimentary food and drinks came with the seats.

I think Caroline ate three containers of popcorn. :)

 I think Elizabeth had three bags of potato chips. :)

 So close to the action.

 Elizabeth wanted to "get on THE floor"

 Naturally, Caroline wanted to as well.

 

 They were dancing when I took this picture.

The cameraman came over and put them up on the jumbotron.

 After the game we ran into G Wiz and some cheerleaders.

They gave the girls basketballs and t-shirts.

 The next morning...with a backstory.

 During the third quarter, our old neighbor came over to say hi.

He works for the Wizards and brought the girls NBA head bands and wrist bands.

They wore them all day the next day and most of winter break.

 

 

Love these sweet pictures of childhood.

Happy Wednesday y'all!