Curry Chicken

One of my very favorite things about the fall is how good soups, stews, and slow cooker recipes start sounding. I love to cook. I am not gourmet or anything (my philosophy is the less the ingredients, less the time, less the calories, the better the recipe), but I do like trying new recipes and tweaking them until they are just right for my family. Anyway, one of my favorite slow cooker recipes is Curry Chicken. It's easy, tastes great, is generally nutritious, and makes your house smell wonderful all day long.

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

*2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I have used regular chicken thighs and removed the skins myself before, it worked out fine. The meat just fell off the bones.)
*16 oz jar of thick and chunky salsa
*1 medium onion, chopped
*2 tbsp curry powder
*1 cup fat free sour cream

-Put chicken, salsa, and onion in crock pot. Stir.
-Put the curry in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds (heat releases the oils in the curry). Then stir curry in with chicken, salsa, and onion.
-Cook on low for 8-10 hours (or on high for 5 hours).
-Remove chicken to serving dish; cover to keep warm. Add sour cream to crock pot, stir until well blended. Serve over chicken.

**I like to serve this dish over rice. I put a little rice in a bowl, add the chicken, then cover with the sour cream sauce.

ps...this dish is surprisingly family friendly. Liv loves it! I just put a little more rice and less sauce in her bowl.

My Little Miss Doolittle

Hyland and I purchased a zoo membership this year and it was probably the best spent $50 all year. Liv and I frequent the zoo quite often. It's a great place for a picnic lunch, weekend outing, or just a quick one hour treat for Liv right after school. I myself love watching the gorillas. There is a new baby and it is really cool to see how human like their interaction is with their child. They discipline, tease, and even put their little one down for naps! I just love it! Liv really likes the snake house (odd, I know) and the lions. So to celebrate the good week Liv had at school we headed on over to our favorite hangout.

Ever since Liv has been able to talk she has been talking for both herself and all animals she comes in contact with. She was always telling us what the animals were saying...and most of time I do believe she is right on. Some examples that immediately come to mind... Once at the zoo we were watching two snakes in their cage and one was slithering all up on the other. Liv busts out with, "that snake is telling the other to sssssssscootch over." The baby goat at the petting zoo who was making all kinds of primal screaming noises was saying, "I want my mama!" The antelopes and kudus are always staring and asking, "what are you looking at?"

Today's best interpretation came when we were feeding the coy fish. I really dislike these nasty fish. They flop all over eachother for a little pellet of food. Not sure if you have ever seen them swarm, but they make some really gross sounds when they're fighting each other for that food. Anyway, Liv goes, "that fish says 'I need some space!'" All the grown ups within ear shot laughed, and I was extra amused because that is a statement I tend to make on a regular basis. When we got home Liv interpretted for our dogs Annie and Albert, "You guys never take us to the zoo with you!" That was pretty darn funny too (=

fifty cent taco night

I can't tell you the last time I got to have a true happy hour date with my friends. Well, actually it was last night, but before that it was a really long time ago. We usually save our outings for the weekends that Liv hangs out with her dad. However, last night Liv went to her dad's for an unexpected week night and we got to go have a little bit of grown-up weeknight fun. I forgot how much fun those weekday meetings can be. It's really a whole different vibe than hanging out on the weekend. It's so much more laid back and CHEAP! Happy hour specials rock!! Especially fifty cent thursday taco night at Grumpy's. We ate, drank, and were merry for a hell of a bargain price (=

Liv on Codeine

I doubt it is proper etiquette to write about your child's first experience with opiates on a blog, but I am going to do it anyway. So Liv has been averaging about 1.5 upper respiratory infections a month. It's very frustrating because the poor thing just keeps coughing and no medicine seems to bring her relief. She tosses and turns all night, whining, coughing, and keeping her momma awake right beside her rubbing her back and praying for some relief for her. So when we made our monthly visit to her pediatrician this time I was not leaving without something more effective. This is when the doctor comes clean with the fact that countless studies have proven that cough medicines don't work. The only cough medicines found to be effective are those that contain either hydrocodone or codeine. So I am of course nervous about giving my daughter such a heavy duty medication and ask both the doctor, pharmacist, and my ever helpful friend the internet if I should really be giving her this. The consensus: it won't harm her any more than the complete lack of sleep she is suffering with now...just make sure she wears sunscreen if we spend an extended amount of time in the sun and to keep in mind this will make her very drowsy. So with these assurances I start to look forward to a restful night in the Herring home.

About thirty minutes before Liv's regular bedtime I decide to give her the 1/2 teaspoon dose of phenegrin with codeine. About twenty minutes later my little party animal emerged. She insisted on a slumber party with Mom. This meant that I would have to put Momma make-up on her, paint her nails red (not pink because pink is for babies and she is almost a grown-up), and tell spooky stories. I have no idea where she got such a concise idea of what a slumber party is, but it was actually really fun. She was super goofy and super hyped up (nowhere near the super drowsy I had envisioned). After her nails dried and our impromptu photo shoot were over we got into bed and told out stories. I swear the girl would not go to sleep. She told me a very non-scary story about a purple unicorn named Garp, and severel silly stories about a little girl who kept monkeys in her bedroom. I think I might have fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of a story about a brown horse named Chuck.

Fast-forward to about 1 am. I wake up a little disoriented and find that Liv is no longer in my bed...mild panic. I get up to check out her bed...moderate panic. I head to the playroom, living room, dining room, bathrooms, still no Livi...serious panic! I run back to my bed and wake up Hyland, "Where's Liv! Did you put her somewhere?!" (looking back I wonder where I thought he might have put her). That's when I see this little hand poking out from under the bed. Liv is sound asleep on the floor under our bed. How and when she got there I have no clue, but I was just so glad to be able to pick her up and hold her in my arms. So I carried her to bed, and once again all was right in my little world. Did I mention this cough syrup actually works on the cough?

No, Mr Tweedy, You ROCK!

Not to brag or anything, but Hyland and I were sitting 2nd row center at the Wilco concert last night. This gave Jeff Tweedy the perfect opportunity to sing strait to me. Seriously...he even pointed at me! It was an awesome concert! There wasn't one single point where I felt okay with walking away to go to the bathroom (a very unfortunate situation when you basically funnel 2 beers right before heading in...my very first freeze brain from beer). My only regret was that I did not bring my camera. I have had a long standing rule to never bring my camera when drinking is involved which came about after a close call at Grumpy's...I had to send some chic in Mountain Home $40 to get my camera back, very random. However, now that I am blogging I think I might have to start bending that rule a little. Oh, one other negative of the night was my complete and utter disappointment with Wasabi. I was really looking forward to eating there, but the service was horrendous, the sushi was average, and these crazy people threw a milk shake at us from the street.

Everything You Ought To Know About Me

I am the proud parent of the most beautiful, funny, sweet, and intelligent little girl in the world. I also have a wonderful, loving, brilliant, and from time to time obnoxious husband named Hyland. I am only three months shy of graduating with my degree in Nursing (woohoo!!). I have the best group of girlfriends a girl could have. They are the main reason and inspiration for this blog (since you girls just can't stay close to home anymore!). I am in the process of perfecting the ultimate chocolate chip cookies recipe. I try to be forgiving because that's what Gandhi would do. I love being around people, but crowds make me nervous. My fantasy football team is sucking it up this year which is really hard for me to stomach. I took this little test online that says I am a yellow crayon. I really hope people will like my blog (=