Too freakin' hot!

I realize that I'm preaching to the choir on this one, but my God, how hot can it get?!?

I keep trying to keep in mind that we don't have humidity to contend with here, but for 18 days straight, the temps in Colorado have been above 90 degrees! I went to try on pants tonight at Express and was out of the heat for 10 minutes and I still left sweat marks on them. (Kind-of makes you feel guilty if you don't get the pants you tried on then...which, by the way, I did purchase.)

Just thought I'd share!

Vinny's day in the car....it's a hard knock life for a pug!

My Little Trained Seals

Mrs. Reed's Preschool Class

We gave Jack a print out of his classmates this morning. By dinner, he pretty much knew all of them... the girls at least.

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Smartest Boy on Earth

When we got our number tonight at dinner, Jack said, "That's No. 16!" Look out Holy Trinity Preschool...

Tired Puppy Dogs

Jack got his face painted tonight at Jordan Creek's Family Festival... Quincy just got tired.

I've Just About Had It w/Varmints

Now something's eating my patio chair cushions... argghh!!!

More recipes....

Szechuan Chicken

Weight Watchers Cookbook

1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts

3 T hoisin sauce

2 T cornstarch

½ cup chicken broth

2 T rice vinegar

2 T sugar

2 t chili-garlic sauce

1 T canola oil

1 T minced peeled ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 green pepper

1 head of broccoli

2 medium carrots

¼ cup unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

In a medium bowl:

Combine the chicken

1 T hoisin sauce

1 T cornstarch

Toss to coat and set aside

In a small bowl, combine:

2 T hoisin sauce

1 T cornstarch

Chicken broth

Rice vinegar

Sugar

Chili-garlic sauce

Heat a skillet or wok over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles

Swirl in the oil and then add the chicken

Stir-fry until almost cooked through (2-3 minutes)

Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant (about 10 seconds)

Add the green pepper, broccoli, carrots, and peanuts

Stir-fry until crisp-tender (about 2 minutes)

Add the hoisin mixture from the small bowl

Stir constantly until the sauce boils and thickens

Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps with Curried Couscous

Food Network, Robin Miller

1 T sesame oil 1 cup shredded cabbage 1 cup shredded carrots 2 cups shredded flank steak or chicken 1/4 cup hoisin sauce 1 T reduced-sodium soy sauce 1 1/4 cups water 1 cup uncooked couscous Salt and pepper 1 t curry powder 8 Bibb or romaine lettuce leaves In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the sesame oil and heat. Add the cabbage and carrots and saute for 2 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring, until the beef is heated and the cabbage begins to wilt, about 2 minutes. Add the hoisin sauce and soy sauce and cook 5 minutes, until mixture heats through and cabbage wilts, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, bring the water to a boil. Place the couscous in a heatproof bowl and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and curry powder. Pour the boiling water over the couscous and cover for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Spoon some of the beef into the center of each lettuce leaf and roll up. Serve with the couscous.

Awesome recipes...thought I would share

Jeremy and I are trying to get back into the habit of cooking a new and different meal every week....and we definitely succeeded tonight. It'll be a long post, but we are putting up our two new ones from tonight, the Lettuce Wraps from our "WINNING MEAL", and also the Szechuan Chicken. Enjoy!

Crispy Crab Cakes (delicious...just need a sauce!)

¼ cup fat-free mayonnaise
1 egg white
1 t Dijon mustard
1 t Old Bay Seasoning (at the Seafood counter)
1 t Worcestershire sauce
¾ lb imitation crab meat, chopped
½ lb medium peeled and deveined shrimp, chopped
¾ cup fresh whole-wheat bread crumbs
1 T olive oil
1 (5 oz) bag mixed greens (or fresh spinach)
4 lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine the mayonnaise, egg white, mustard, Old Bay seasoning, and Worcestershire sauce in a large bowl. Beat with a whisk until blended

Add the crabmeat and shrimp. Mix well

Add the breadcrumbs, stirring until blended

Form 7-8 patties

Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the patties and cook until lightly brown (3-4 minutes on each side)

Transfer to a baking sheet, baking until cooked through (about 8-10 minutes)

Serve with mixed greens and a lemon wedge

Beef and Gorgonzola Toasts (awesome...you'll love these Kel...and they look like Top Chef winners!)

1 ¼ lb beef tenderloin, trimmed
Cooking spray
1 t salt
½ t ground black pepper
30 (1/4 inch thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette, toasted
Herb-Garlic Cream
2/3 cup fat free sour cream
2 T minced fresh chives
2 T low-fat mayonnaise
1 ½ T chopped fresh thyme
1 ½ t Worcestershire sauce
¼ t ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
****or you can get Garlic and Herb Cheese spread prepared in the cheese section of your local grocery store****
30 baby spinach leaves
5 T crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Preheat oven to 475
Trim tenderloin of fat
Spray boiler pan with cooking spray and place tenderloin/steak on it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes at 475. Flip tenderloin/steak, reduce heat to 425, and cook for 20 more minutes or until thermometer reaches 145 degrees (medium rare)
Remove from oven, cover with foil, and let stand 10 minutes
Cut tenderloin across the grain into very thin slices
Toast the thinly sliced baguettes
Spread with the garlic-herb cream
Top with 1 spinach leaf, a slice of beef, and a few crumbles of gorgonzola.

Annie's Wedding from the Lens of a Sucky Camera

I didn't get many photos of Annie's wedding because our camera started crapping out midway through the wedding day... but you get the idea...

Sight Seeing in Sedona

Evil Twin

Might be hard to tell, but the woman in this painting looked eerily like me... she was even making the classic Kelly pose.

We stumbled past the painting today in this little shopping-dining-gallery outdoor mall thingie called Tlaquepaque. It was very cool... felt like you were in a foreign country, but without the smell.

Last Night's Storm

So, we had ANOTHER night without electricity. This crap is getting old. The night we got home from vacation, tho, was worse because the house was 90 + degrees and we couldn't even run a fan. I think I mentioned to Lyns when we were chatting last night that the sky was looking rather dark. Well, ... about 5 minutes later all hell broke loose. It flipped the patio table off the cement back by the pool. Yes, the umbrella was on but down. It bent that at a 45 degree angle. All the chairs were strewn and amazing of all it blew one of the skimmer covers off. Now, tell me how that happened? Weber's swing set was tipped over so I'm thinking it had to be a F1 tornado. ;) Lots of limbs and branches on the ground, too. Oh, and Big Al across the street lost a really big limb from one of his trees out front. They were on vacation and I think I heard him around midnight when they got home .... I'm not sure when the power came on, sometime between one and three a.m., we think. THANK GOD!

I think I'll get ...

Steve was telling me a little cute Jackism that I missed last weekend. The two of them were sitting on the edge of the pool dangling their feet and Jack said just so matter-of-factly ....
"I think I'll get a pool". I don't know .. it just really struck me funny. Just like that poster of the two little farm boys kicking dirt with their shirtless bib overalls and the conversation , "so, been farmin' long?" He's quite the kid. I wonder where he plans to put the pool??? Looks like the Moore's will be looking for more land!

Five minutes to showtime

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Target (pronounced 'Tar jay' of course)

I think Target is finally realizing that Americans have other options (named WalMart) when it comes to shopping for household cleaning products and the like.

First piece of evidence of their epiphany: I about died a couple of days ago when I received a coupon book from Target in the mail. While there were the typical horrible coupons (read: buy 7 tubes of toothpaste and save 57 cents), there were also some very valuable ones tucked into that nice little package. I cut them out, but as usual, I forgot them at home in the coupon drawer. (Everything has to have a place in the Burmeister household. Unfortunately, that place doesn't always make sense!)

So when I walked into Target and discovered a million bargains (the second piece of evidence), I felt it was my duty to pass along the great finding to others that may cut out those coupons and never, ever remember them! Let me tell you folks...I'm talking about 4 handsoaps for $2.00, 76 trashbags for $4.00, body wash that is normally $2.50 for 12 ounces was $1.50 for 18 ounces. I could go on, but check it out for yourself at your local Target! I now fully understand why Mom would always over buy with the rebate book at Walgreens. Watch out, world! I'm a bargain shopper!

Friggin' horrible HOA

Guess why I haven't been blogging at all lately?

Give up?

Because I've been too busy pulling four foot tall thistles and weeds out of neighborhood yards. The wonderful realtor that purchased six houses on our block for his own selfish, greedy investment is now foreclosing on them. This is after he rented them to absolute scumbag people that didn't give two shits what their yards looked like. So, last night when Jeremy and I went for a walk, a little piece of me freaked out!

I couldn't concentrate at work all day and kept thinking about the havoc I was going to wreak on those yards/weeds tonight. I pulled the car in the garage, not even bothering to unload all of my work stuff, my giant Target purchase (more about that later), or the bedspread that I had dry cleaned last week that has sat in my backseat since. I wheeled my giant trash can down the driveway, put on my gloves, sprayed on massive amounts of bug spray, and made my way four houses down the block as neighbors watched. A few of them tried to stop and talk. But folks, I had work to get done!

After an hour and a half and some help from Brett, our wonderful neighbor, the lawns look pretty decent! Granted, the grass is still a foot long and brown, but gone are the rotten weeds. For two weeks, that is! I'll be sure to keep you all posted, as I'm sure this is extremely intriuging! (I just read it to Jeremy and he had no response:()

Great Jump

Jack and Grandpa had a fantastic time in the pool this weekend. Want video? No problem, look here.

Hello?

Am I the only one who's going to be blogging on here?

Nice Night

Jedd and I (and my knees) are enjoying an awesome Vanessa Carlton concert downtown... that bright orange blur is her...

After Dinner Tonight

Some sick day

Jack had a fever yesterday, so following the 24-hour rule, we had to "keep him home" today.