Monday Meals - Herb and Garlic Tuna Burgers

This week's recipe came off the back of an Herb and Garlic Starkist Tuna Creations pouch. James likes to eat them sometimes for lunch when he is flying. I was surprised that he suggested we try the recipe. It really didn't look good to me! I sure am glad we tried it anyway! These were delicious!

Picture taken from the Starkist website.


Herb and Garlic Tuna Burgers

2 pouches (4.5 oz. each) StarKist Tuna Creations®, Herb and Garlic
1 cup bread crumbs, divided
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese
½ cup non-fat ranch salad dressing
¼ cup sliced green onion
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. olive oil

1. Combine tuna, ½ cup bread crumbs, cheese, salad dressing, green onion and egg in medium bowl; mix well.

2. Form into four patties; Place remaining ½ cup bread crumbs on a plate. Coat each side of tuna patties with bread crumbs.

3. Heat oil in non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook patties 3 to 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Project 52 - Week 10

IDITAROD! For week 10 I get to share a few pictures of the start of the Iditarod race! This is one of the best parts of our assignment to Alaska ... getting to be a part of and see things that many people will never have an opportunity to see! To see the real start of the race (there is a ceremonial start in Anchorage the day before) we drove about 30 minutes away to Wasilla, Alaska and got on some school buses that took us to Willow, Alaska another 30ish minutes away. James had to work, so I braved this adventure on my own. The boys had a great time and the dogs are so cute! You can tell how excited they are to race! While waiting for their turn to start, they bark and jump around and try to take off before it is time. Along the path the mushers take, people had set up tents and built fires. It was like an Alaskan day at the beach with people hanging out everywhere. Will and Ben would like to say thank you to the people handing out free hot chocolate. They enjoyed it very much!

Here we are getting dressed in many layers!

William is taking pictures with his camera.

The dogs wear little booties to protect their feet.

Look at those happy doggy smiles!

God Bless America!

Project 52 - Week 9

On Saturday of week 9 we went into town and saw the "Running of the Reindeer". It is like the Running of the Bulls, but with reindeer. It was lots of fun, but I didn't have a good spot for taking pictures and I wanted to be sure the kids could see. James took a few pictures holding the camera up over his head, but since I didn't take them I don't think they count for my project. I'll try to post a few tomorrow. Luckily, Eli was matching his room earlier in the week and I took that opportunity to snap a few pictures of him.

Monday Meals - Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies

So, I haven't done a Monday Meal in a while and this isn't a meal but this is my blog and I can do what I want. :) This week I am sharing a recipe for Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies. I used this recipe to make cookies, decorated with royal icing, for William's class on Valentine's Day. Best sugar cookies I've ever had! The recipe comes from Bake at 350.

Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar
2 sticks (salted) butter, cold
1 egg
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling.

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets (I recommend freezing the cut out shape on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before baking) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Project 52 - Week 8

This week (week 8 - Feb. 20-26) we attempted to see the Bore Tide. It is a large wave that travels through the Turnagain Arm when the tide comes in. It is supposed to be up to 6 feet high around the time of a new moon. Unfortunately, the ice on the water kept the wave from being big. In fact we didn't notice a wave at all! Some other people who were in the area said they saw it and it was very small. So we will have to try that one again. Since it was a cloudy and snowy day the pictures I took there weren't all that great. So, I practiced on my littlest subject! Love how he matches his room!

Project 52 - Week 7

Week seven has Valentine's Day! One of my favorite holidays! I made heart shaped Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies decorated with red and pink royal icing for William's class at school. I got to take the two little boys to enjoy the class party. We tasted stone soup. And all three boys had special Valentine's Day outfits. It was a good day! I had trouble narrowing down the pictures this week!

10 on the 10th - March

1. Since last month Eli has started crawling! He has been very mobile for a long time, but he was rolling and scooting backwards using his head and feet. He is now doing a true army crawl and sometimes getting his knees up under him. He loves being able to get around faster!

2. We signed Ben up for pre-school this week! A happy and sad moment for Mommy. He is very ready for it though and I know he will love it!

3. William is doing great in school! We had a parent-teacher conference recently and his teacher had nothing but glowing praises for him!

4. We still continue to gain daylight! Today the sun rose at 7:32am and set at 6:48pm. That is 11 hours and 15 minutes of sunlight for today. We gained 2 hours and 40 minutes since last month and 5 hours and 10 minutes since January!

5. I had to take James to the emergency room a few weeks ago because of pain in his side. We were sent home with some pain pills and told he had an infection in his intestines. James followed up with the flight doctor the next day and this doctor said he had a hernia. Monday we got good news - the surgeon doesn't think he has a hernia!

6. Our girl scout cookies are here! This is very bad for mommy bear!

7. An exciting event is happening today! My sister-in-law his having an ultrasound and will hopefully find out the sex of their baby! (Well, actually they are having the tech write it down and letting a friend reveal what the baby is with a colored cake at a party later on, so they won't know today) Hope the baby cooperates!

8. This week is Spring Break for us. Will is enjoying his time off very much! I am sleeping in everyday! Be jealous everyone, I get to sleep in until 7am everyday this week!

9. As I type this, I am looking a a pile of laundry that needs to be hung up. Hmph!

10. Sunday the boys and I experienced our first "Can only be done in Alaska" event! We went to the start of the Iditarod race and watched the mushers take off. It was lots of fun!