This is what I put together for dinner tonight.

Curry Turkey Wraps

2 tbsp olive oil

2 - 3 boneless, skinless turkey or chicken breasts, chopped ( used a pre-cooked, leftover turkey breast, so cooking times might be longer if you're using raw meat)

1/2 cup cashews (I used whole, though I'm sure pieces would work fine)

3 green onions, chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

1-1/2 tbsp curry powder (or more if you so desire)

1 - 2 apples, chopped

1/2 - 1 head of romaine lettuce, shredded

whole wheat tortillas (1 or 2 per person)

3/4 cup plain whole yogurt

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Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add to skillet: turkey, cashews, green onions, lemon juice, salt, pepper & curry powder. Stir thoroughly and let heat 5 minutes or until warmed through. While this mixture is heating, warm the tortillas and then spread yogurt onto most of the tortilla's surface. Add some shredded lettuce, chopped apples and heated curry turkey mixture. Wrap up and serve with fresh fruit.

This received 5 stars from John and 4 stars from Aletheia (due to it being spicy), so if you have little ones, you may want to put in less curry powder.

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My mom brought me two HUGE eggplants last week. Now, I've used eggplant a few times in curry and it was ok, but other than that it hasn't frequented our table. It's one of those vegetables that seems shrouded in mystery. How to prepare? Salted? Unsalted? It's too spongey....it's bitter, etc. Too much work for not a lot of enjoyment.

Anyway, I'm really trying to keep our grocery budget down, so free food needed to be put to use. I took a look at a few Eggplant recipes on All Recipes and ended up creating my own for Wednesday's Bible study meal. It was great! John who didn't think he liked eggplant said it was fabulous. He kept asking, "Is this really eggplant?"....so here you go.

Moriah's Eggplant Parmesan

large eggplant (the rounder the better)

2 eggs

Italian breadcrumbs (I used a cheapo store variety that was lingering in the back of my pantry)

fresh mozzarella

1. Heat oven to 350F.

2. Peel eggplant (I chopped off the stem area and then used a knife to peel) and slice into 1/2" slices (not too thick or thin)

3. Crack eggs into shallow bowl & whisk until combined

4. Dip slices of eggplant into egg mixture and then thoroughly coat in breadcrumbs.

5. Place on lightly grease cookie sheet and place in oven.

6. Bake for 5-7 minutes; then flip the eggplant rounds over and bake another 5-7 minutes until golden brown.

7. Slice fresh mozzarella (the type I buy at Costco comes in a round log shape and it was a perfect size to fit right on top of the eggplant) and place on top of eggplant. Bake another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I served these hot with homemade Italian tomato sauce (though jarred would work fine too). Mmm! I'm glad I have one eggplant left to make for dinner this weekend. :)

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These are my favourite fragrances at the moment:

Secret Obsession by Calvin Klein

Bond Girl 007 by AVON

Burberry Brit by Burberry

What are yours?

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Summer is still flying by. I have lots I think of blogging about, but then two weeks are gone and it's old news. :) And the picture taking is at a minimum. Thankfully our camera survived the pool incident, but it was out of commission for about a week as it dried out and was in at the camera shop.

I was told by many parents that they have tons of pictures of their first child, and very few of the subsequent children. I thought that I would do differently! Ha, not to be. When I have a toddler running around, I keep the camera out of reach, which means I don't grab it when the photo moments are at hand. We have probably 1/4 the number of pictures of Vance that we do of Aletheia at this age. Oh, well. Such is life. Sometimes I think it is more important to live life, than to capture it on camera.

Here's a recipe I've been meaning to share since the Mexican Fiesta we had back in June. It was something I made up on the fly and actually turned out much to our liking.

Shredded Chicken

Chicken, boneless (thighs, breasts or a combination of the two)

Taco Seasoning (choose your spice & heat level)

Cilantro, fresh, chopped (reserve some for garnish)

1. Remove excess fat from chicken.

2. Layer chicken in crockpot. (You can make several layers depending on how much chicken you want to make, but be sure to season between each layer.)

3. Thoroughly coat chicken with taco seasoning (I used 2 packets for two thick layers of chicken).

4. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over top of chicken.

5. Cover and cook on High for 5-6 hours.

6. Take two large forks and shred chicken thoroughly. Stir around in taco juices that have formed while cooking. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

7. Serve with your favourite Mexican meal (tacos, burritos, tostadas, etc.)

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Photo Links (Click to see more)

Vance (Spring 2008)

Aletheia's Birthday Party (June)

Aletheia (Summer 2008)

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My friend, Stephanie, shared this recipe with me after they gave us a loaf of this yummy bread when Vance was born. It's super-easy to make. The beer doesn't overpower the taste of the bread and it's great for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Beer Bread

3 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 bottle (12oz.) of beer (I used Sam Adams lager)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9"x5" loaf pan. Mix the flour and sugar together. Pour in the bottle of beer. Mix dry & wet ingredients together until they are thoroughly blended. (Don't overmix.) Dump the dough into greased pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Poke holes in the top of the loaf and pour 1/4 cup melted butter over the top and return to oven for another 5 minutes. (I just rubbed a bit of butter over the top so that it formed a buttery glow.) Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This freezes very well.....if it lasts that long! I made two pans and baked them side-by-side. Turned out great.

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After I bought self-rising flour and used it for this recipe, I thought, what's so special about it....plus I hoped I could find a less-expensive route (self-rising flour isn't all that cheap). So, with a bit of poking around the internet, I came up with numerous recipes for Self-Rising Flour, all of which are the same.

Self-Rising Flour

1 cup of flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix thoroughly and store in covered container.

Note: If you're making a recipe which calls for plain flour and you use self-rising, be sure to cut the salt & baking powder which might be listed elsewhere in the recipe.

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Her webstore has just opened! I am eyeing this pattern booklet for various pincushions

and the Trash Ties would make great hair accessories for Aletheia and me.

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Every year I look forward to the summer and things slowing down, then summer hits and next thing I know we're 3/4 of the way through July. I'm shocked.

We have been enjoying ourselves during this busy time. Some highlights:

* Aletheia's Mexican Fiesta B'Day Party....

* Mark Knopfler Concert at the Britt Festival....

* News of a new niece or nephew on the way....

* Vance is scoot-crawling, rolling, grabbing everything in sight, and using his voice at its loudest decibal....

* Fresh berries, basil, salad greens, tomatoes...

I do have photos from the party which I think I got off of our camera before it took a dive in the pool.  :( I am hoping and praying that our digital camera (wedding gift) will be ok. Friday, I went to a private pool party with my new-mom's Bible study. One of the gals accidentally dropped our camera in the pool. Ah!!!! It's been drying out for a few days and I will probably test it tomorrow. That camera is one of my favourite things. I take it with me almost everywhere and use it all of the time. We will see what happens. 

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When did she grow up?

Age 2 - 2007                       Age 3 -2008

We had a very small celebration of Aletheia's birthday at camp. It fell on "Free-Day" which is unscheduled for activities after chapel until dinner. So by about 10:30 am most of the camp clears out and head up and down the coast to explore. We headed down the coast towards Tillamook which is about 15 minutes away. There are a few thrift-stores we went into (found some great antique linens) and then we headed to Netarts for a seafood lunch. My mom and sister-in-law, Naomi, were along too. All of us ended up at Schooners which was recommended for their great fish & chips! They served the best home-made tartar sauce I've ever had. It had capers, red onion, dill and lots of other tasty ingredients. I'm going to try to find a similar recipe to make.

Anyway, back to birthday business....

The sprinkle cake which was the cause of great weeping....

Some nights the desserts were already waiting at the tables before the food came out. Woe to those who see these great sweet things and then must wait until after dinner! This was one such night and an already tired & cranky Aletheia wanted nothing to do with dinner, but only her cake. There were many tears leading to her removal from the dining room for a "talk" with her Papa.

Age 2 - 2007                     Age 3-2008

At last! She has eaten some dinner and now we can celebrate with cake.

I'm glad I remembered to pack a "3" candle & some matches so we could have a little celebration. It worked great too because the planned dessert after dinner was a sprinkle cake with frosting. Very birthday-like!

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We're back from our trip to Family Camp. It was a great week of fellowship. The weather ended up being cold and rainy for many of the days we were there so we didn't get as much "beach" time as Aletheia had hoped. Dr. Leithart was the speaker and gave lectures on the Sermon on the Mount. I only heard them in bits & pieces as I was in and out with Vance as it seemed to hit during his main nursing times. The nursing room was wired for sound, though sometimes it didn't work.

Twin Rocks (Across the street from the camp)

Aletheia made some new little friends and really enjoyed the kid's campfire & song-time. She's suddenly turned shy on us. I think it must be turning 3 that did it!  :-) We celebrated her 3rd birthday at camp, but hope to have a party here this next week. (If I get everything planned!)

The one day we braved the beach. It was VERY windy!

Most families from the church hosting the camp had been hit with a nasty stomach flu the week prior to camp. Most everyone was feeling well by Thursday/Friday before camp, but apparently some were still sick. The flu spread through many of the visiting families as the week progressed. We didn't get it at camp.....we however, did get it on Saturday. That was one of the most unpleasant trips back from camp. Aletheia got car-sick from a very winding section of coastal highway an hour into the journey and it went downhill from there. I was thankful to have packed a roll of paper-towels and some trashbags. We made it home with several more accidents, a diaper blow-out and general discomfort.

Yay! The slides were finally dry.

My Mom helped us out so much...she held Vance many times throughout the week. I don't think she minded. ;)

Saturday evening about an hour after we got home I started in on the stomach flu and Aletheia followed later in the night. John ministered to us all night long, cleaning up mess after mess. Poor Theia had never thrown up until Saturday and she didn't know what to do. She kept saying "Me be all done. No more spit-up." John ended up canceling worship services on Sunday and it's a good thing. By noon on Sunday, he joined the ranks and was miserable. We gimped around and helped each other make it through. All of our laundry was already dirty coming back from camp, so we had a HUGE stack of wash after all was said and done. Even with all of my anti-bodies, Vance ended up sick 4 or 5 times on Monday, but his case seemed to be mild.

Enjoying the camp's cornbread

Whew! We played catch-up all of this week and are now unpacked, laundry done, fridge re-stocked and in general back to normal life.

If you want to see more pics, follow this link. 

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This link for a great sale at Crabtree & Evelyn was in my email this morning. Take a look at their $3 items!

I was able to stock up on some gifts. If you sign up to receive their emails you'll receive a code for $10 off your order & for certain sized orders you can receive Free shipping. I ordered with my mom so we'll get the Free shipping. I love shopping from home!

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