Good Stuff!

We have had a busy weekend of basketball.  Taite's "extra" team was in it's first tournament this weekend!  They one 2 out of 3 games and lost the last game by a basket or two.  Bray and I were only able to watch the first and last game because he had a game at 11 in South Sioux City at the Y, which was also my coaching debut!  It turned out okay because at the 3rd grade level, there really isn't much I can tell them that will change the events of the game.  Haha  I'm sure one mom is mad though she only has her son out for BB for exercise and he really doesn't want to be out. . . Not a good combo and that combined with only having 6 players (you need 5 on the court to play the game ~ for those of you who don't play :~D) it made it easy to decide who to take out and who to keep in to play.  I will gladly leave the coaching to Chris.  Speaking of, one of the football coaches (and someone we are friends with) asked Chris if he would like to help coach football next fall.  Chris said he would coach Taite's age, but imagines that there are plenty for his grade and he would gladly coach 4th grade since that's the age he's coached before.  So we are kind of excited for that, even though August seems an eternity away! 

Seeing all the snow back home at Christmas time really made us appreciate the brown, crappy, scraggly snow we have here. . . that is until today!  We are getting snow now and the last snow storm was when Chris picked up 1/2 of his BB team for open gym and braved the weather to play.  It has been snowing since this morning, but Taite still had his game this afternoon.  The game was a disaster and when we left, we were on the on-ramp for the interstate when a dark green SUV comes sliding past us (on the left) and this is when I saw him and told Chris to look out or something (it was kind of crazy, so I'm not sure what I said) and everything happened in very slow motion after that.  Chris slammed on the brakes until the back of the van started sliding to the right and then he floored it.  The SUV (still in slow motion) continued to spin around so his front was narrowly missing our rear end.  We got out of that safely and a semi flew by the whole thing wayyy on the left.  I assume he saw the idiot in the green SUV driving and was trying to stay as far over in the left lane as possible.  I seriously think his left tire was outside the rumble grooves in the road.  The whole time I was waiting for the tell-tale crunch of car-on-car, but that never came, so we kept going.  The SUV was 1/2 in the ditch and according to Lori (the twins mom and my friend) said the guy made a U-turn (so he was facing the right direction again) and took off!  Talk about scary situation!  Chris would like full credit for saving, but really it could've been disastrous if that semi would've been behind the SUV when he managed his driving expedition!!!  We celebrated with ice cream and beer (well, the beer was just for Chris and I!).

Chris and I are continuing to work on the basement and Taite even helped this morning.  We had intended to use the unfinished basement as a learning opportunity for the boys because Chris is so handy and we really want the boys to be self-sufficient too!  Of course it turned into Taite being concerned that Bray was getting to play FB (football, not Facebook :D) on the PS3 too much and yadda-yadda. . .   Anyway, you would think the dog was in a war zone as scared as she gets when we are working.  I have to admit the air nailer does sound like a shot-gun, but it's not.  Here is how clingy she is while Chris was downstairs working:

Of course, Taite doesn't mind!

So, lastly, here is the "good stuff". . . . recipes!  This first recipe I need to post with a warning!  It is addicting and will add layers to your butt and thighs (at least that's how it worked for me, but OH SO YUMMY!!!)

Blue Cheese Dip II


Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise

• 1 cup sour cream

• 4 green onions, finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons dried parsley

• 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

• garlic salt to taste

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix mayonnaise, sour cream, green onions, dried parsley, blue cheese and garlic salt. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

I don’t recall how much garlic salt I started out with, but it could’ve been more. Here are some suggestions from a guy who owned or owns a wing place:


Don't try to sneak in low fat mayo or sour cream. A small dash each of Worcestershire, Tabasco, fresh lemon juice, and a small crushed clove of garlic will really brighten up the flavor. I also add about 50% more cheese than called for and leave it in bigger chunks.

This one is so good and SO easy!!  LOVE those kind of recipes (an added plus ~ I always have these ingredients on hand.  A tip from my Grandma ~ only use Land O'Lakes margarine if you don't want butter.  Why?  Because it has less water in it than other brands)

Peach Cobbler

This one came from a newspaper clipping, from my grandma  It’s VERY good and VERY easy, so that’s why I’m sharing (can’t ever have too many of those recipes laying around!)

1 stick margarine or butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 cup milk

1-29 oz can sliced peaches, including syrup

Melt the butter or marg. in a 9” baking dish (I usually put it in the pan, in the oven, while it’s preheating and I am getting the other stuff ready). In a medium bowl, mix remaining ingredients except for peaches, together. Slowly pour mixture over the melted marg. Do NOT stir (this is the easy part ~ no stirring). Spoon fruit, including syrup, over the flour mixture. Do NOT stir (again, easy!). Bake at 350 degree oven for 50 – 60 minutes.

Enjoy!  I'd try to come up with something witty, but Taite just asked when I'm going to cut out their names in vinyl on my Silhouette for their new water bottles! 
GOTTA RUN!