Monday Funday #31....Fish and Bread & Wine

Happy Monday everyone!!  We had a beautiful weekend here and it is turning out to be another beautiful day today.  We spent Saturday at the lake fishing again.  Boo and I fished with hubby and Tootie went out with her PaPa again.  Boo got a couple fish this time so it was a little more fun for him.

That little guy is all B O Y but he's still not quite ready to grab hold of that fishy yet so dad held it up for mom to get a picture of it.

Here are my two favorite guys concentrating on their fishing.  Be one with the lure OMMMMM.

We remember the sunscreen this time so no one got sun burnt.  We wound up bringing home 25 fish and the other boat brought home 30.  Tootie was proud to have caught 13!! and she is ready to go again.  Hubby was off to get a check up at the dr this morning then we are going to sneak off and go fishing before I have to go back and get the kiddos this afternoon.  But before I go I wanted to share a book I just finished reading with you.

This book is Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist. I received a advance reading copy from Handlebar Marketing in exchange for my honest review of the book. You can click on the book image above to go to the authors website.

 It is not only a book about real life, it is a book full of wonderful recipes also.  In the book, Shauna talks about how food is linked to memories.  As I was reading this book I was amazed at how right she was.  There are so many memories that I have from my childhood that are linked to food.  Pizza and ice cream on Friday nights.  Special lunches at a little diner with my Daddy.  Smells and tastes that remind us of home. The book also talks about food comforting us and nourishing us not only physically but spiritually as well.

The back of the book says...My prayer is that you'll read these pages first curled up  on your couch or in bed or in the bathtub, and then after that you'll bring it to the kitchen with you, turning corner of pages, breaking the spine, spilling red wine on it and splashing vinegar across the pages, that it will become battered and stained as you cook and chop and play, music loud and kitchen messy. And more than anything, I hope that when you put this book down, you'll gather the people you love around your table to eat and drink, to tell stories, to be heard and fed and nourished on every level.

I have a hard time reading non fiction books sometimes.  It is hard for me to get into them, but this book was not that way.  I found myself wanting to read more and more of it to find out what Shauna would talk about next.  I couldn't wait to see what other recipes she would share.  There are some wonderful recipes in this book!!  I have quite a few pages dog eared so that I can go back and try to make some of them.  Some of the recipes are a little fancy sounding and I would have liked for her to explain what some of them were so I didn't have to look it up in a dictionary, but I would still love to try them just the same. There is even a recipe index and sample menus  in the back of the book.  I would recommend this book to anyone who loves food!!

I have been wanting and needing to try some new ways of cooking for my family.  This book inspired me to get up and do it.  I have been having trouble with my stomach for awhile now. I have also been noticing that it was worse when I would eat something that had a lot of preservatives in it. I decided last week that I was going to try and cook some yummy things for us to try.

My kids both love pasta of any kind.  Boo is not a big fan of the tomato sauce though so I always put a little butter and parm cheese on his when we have spaghetti. Then I have to fix him something else to go with it so he has a little protein to keep him from getting hungry again in five minutes.  I then decided that I didn't want to have to do that any more, plus the tomato sauce tends to bother my stomach sometimes.  So, it was time for me to learn to fix Alfredo sauce.  I have tried the jar kind and most of it is gross.  We come time find out it is simple to make. All you need is:

1 pint heavy cream

1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese

salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the cream over low-medium heat in a deep saute pan.  Add the butter and whisk until melted. Then just sprinkle the cheese in to incorporate it.  Then season with the salt and pepper.

I also grilled some boneless skinless chicken breast and cut it up to go with it. Then we ate it over some fettuccine.  YUMMY!!  Tootie said it was just as good or better than the Fettuccine Alfredo from the Olive Garden!!

I also made some chicken and cheese enchiladas.  I made up my own recipe for the filling for the chicken ones. I used about a half of a can of green chili enchilada sauce and a small 8 oz tub of sour cream and mixed it together.  Then I grilled 4 medium/large boneless skinless chicken breasted and shredded them with a fork and mixed the chicken with the sour cream mixture. I spooned the chicken mixture down the middle of some wheat tortillas and crumbled a little of the white queso cheese on top of that them rolled them jelly roll style and put them seam side down in my baking dish.  After the pan was full (made about 7) I added a little of the sour cream mixture one top along with a little of the cheese.  I also made cheese ones with the crumbled queso and some of the Sargentos 4 cheese blend.  My kids loved them.  I had some left over so Hubby's mom came do to have them for lunch the next day along with my home made guacamole and she said it was better than any she has had at a restaurant.  They were even better warmed up than they had been fresh.  

The best part was none of this food hurt my stomach!!!  We all need to learn to cook from fresh foods instead of eating so many things from boxes!!  I have started buying lots of frozen veggies when we can't get the fresh ones also.

I hope I have inspired some of you to try to cook something new for your families.  If you want more detailed directions for what I made above please let me know and I would be happy to type it up and email it to you.  I'm off to go catch some more fish so we can have it for dinner tonight.  I hope all of you have a great day! Add your links below so I can see what you have been up to!!