Today’s song is “Don’t Stop Believin’” by none other than Journey. This one is stuck in my head for a couple of reasons. The first being that we watched “Rock of Ages” (the movie) this week (stay tuned for the movie review). The second is that it’s been brought up (and sung!) a couple times at work. So, it’s stuck in my head. Not a bad one to kick off the weekend!
Happy Friday!
The weather reports said it was supposed to rain today. I guess technically, it did. In the form of snow. Five inches of it! It was a little unnerving to drive as it’s falling… especially when it gets really heavy. It was down way lower than it normally is (our house is typically right at the snow line, yet I drove for about 20 minutes in it). It was really beautiful too. I spent a few minutes just sitting in my car when I got home watching it fall… it was so peaceful! Then I grabbed my camera, the dog, and headed out to play! Shadow has seen snow one or two other times. He loves to run in it and to eat it. This has to be one of my favorite pictures of him:
I’m still learning to photograph – lighting in the snow is still a little tricky for me. I love how the trees look when they get snow on them – especially the huge oak trees all over our property:
Tonight I tried another Pinterest recipe. It was for a lemon pepper panko bread crumb crested chicken with pesto linguine on the side. It was delicious, although I think it needed a lot more lemon pepper than the recipe called for – that’s the one thing I would change. I only got hints of it, when I like a lot of lemony taste.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 cup panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz linguine
1/4 cup pesto
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.
For the chicken, set up two wide shallow dishes for the breading process. In one dish, beat egg and add milk, salt and pepper and whisk to combine. In the second dish, add breadcrumbs. Pound chicken breasts to an even thickness approximately 1/2″ thick. Dip each piece in the egg mixture, coating both sides and letting any excess drip off before transferring to the breadcrumbs. Coat both sides, lightly pressing the breadcrumbs into the chicken to ensure they are well-coated. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil. When the oil is hot, add chicken breasts and cook about 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. Transfer to baking sheet and continue cooking in the oven until cooked through, about 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken.
For the pasta, heat a large pot of water to boiling over high heat. Generously add salt and add pasta to boiling water. Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain and toss with pesto sauce.
Today I went on an adventure with my husband and our friend Mark. Let me start with the fact that these two are crazy when put together – they do things like the Death Ride, climb mountains, etc. Sometimes I tag along and sometimes I can’t hang. Today’s adventure was to go snowshoeing. Mike and Mark have been doing it for years, but I decided to borrow a friends (thanks Kassie!) and give it a try. It was seriously fun. We ended up hiking almost six miles in right around two and a half hours… having a blast the whole time.
We haven’t had a very good winter this year, so the snow was not as fresh as we would have liked it, but this really was a blast. And, it was great exercise!
We hiked in a little along a road that runs between our neck of the woods and Placerville (it’s closed in the winter because they don’t clear the snow). We then detoured off into the fresh, untouched snow. It was so beautiful… every now and then we would stop and there was nothing but silence or the wind in the trees. The weather was absolutely beautiful – we almost didn’t need gloves (and at the hardest parts I thought about taking off my top layer). The wind picked up a little at the end, but it wasn’t too bad. It was a beautiful day!
Tonight we tried the last freezer crock pot recipe. This is a really great alternative to the standard carrots & potatoes crock pot roast. Mike said that of all the crock pot recipes we’ve tried, this was his favorite! I did one thing a little differently than the original recipe… when everything was done, I took what was left in the crock pot and made gravy. It was absolutely delicious on our pasta and on the meat! Again, the ingredients below should be divided into two gallon freezer bags.
Ingredients
3-4 pound boneless roast
black pepper to taste
2-3 large onions, peeled and thickly sliced
15 oz. cup beef broth
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup tomato sauce
Directions
Add all ingredients to crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours.
This week’s favorite song Friday pick comes from a man who is making his triumphant return to music after a hiatus to pursue acting. In my humble opinion, he belongs in the music world! The song is called “Suit & Tie”, by none other than Mr. Justin Timberlake himself (featuring Jay-Z).
I love love love the throwback feel to this (very Robin Thicke). And the video is HOT. I will definitely be headed out to see the tour if/when it comes to my town!
A couple of days ago I tried another one of the freezer crock pot recipes… this time it was teriyaki chicken. To give credit where credit is due, I got the recipe from Melissa Fallis’ blog via Pinterest. The recipe below is for two bags, so if you’re going to freeze, split the ingredients evenly. Again, one bag is perfect for two, so if you have a family, make the full recipe. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 bag of baby carrots (I accidentally used regular ones, just chopped them up)
1 red onion, cut into large pieces
2 twenty ounce cans of pineapple chunks, undrained
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 chicken breasts
1 cup teriyaki sauce
Instructions
Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
Serve over Rice.
As most of you know, it’s an annual tradition for me to camp out on the sofa, stay up past my bedtime, and watch the Grammys. This year was no exception. This year was surrounded by a little bit of controversy… Apparently the attendees got a note asking them to make sure that they were well dressed… no side boob, butt crack, etc. If you’ve ever watched the Grammys, you’ll know that the attendees tend to be a bit fashion forward at this event – it’s part of what makes it so fun! Without further ado, here are my thoughts!
The Clothes
LL Cool J: the man looks good. I love a good newsboy cap and somehow he can make it work with a tux.
Jennifer Lopez: I love that she started with “As you can see, I read the memo”. That was a lot of leg!
Adele: I didn’t totally love her red dress… Apparently she did read the memo and covered everything up. Her speech was cute though!
John Mayer: Was that seriously a velvet blue tux?
Carrie Underwood: Her dress was STUNNING. She looks so good! I want to be her.
Kelly Roland: Apparently she didn’t get the memo either… Her dress was an odd mix of sheer and shapes.
Kelly Clarkson: Her performance dress was beautiful – simple black with a beaded band at the waist. Very elegant!
Prince: ‘nough said.
The Performances
Taylor Swift: Not really sure what this performance was about. I love “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” because it’s pretty much been stuck in my head since she released it. But I don’t understand the circus bit…
Elton John and Ed Sheeran: Honestly, Elton John can do no wrong in my book. They sang Sheeran’s song “A Team” which I keep thinking is a Jason Mraz song every time I hear it (which is good by the way).
fun.: These guys are amazing. Nate Ruess, their frontman has a phenomenal voice. They sang “Carry On” which they absolutely killed it!
Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley: I am beyond excited to be seeing these two in just a couple months. They sang “Over You” and “Home”. This was a good, mellow performance… I can’t wait to see them rock!
Miguel and Wiz Khalifa: They sang “Adorn”. I don’t think I have hear Miguel before, but he’s got a pretty good voice. I like how smooth his voice is.
Mumford & Sons: OMG, I love these guys. Like a lot. And I love “I Will Wait For You”. I have no idea how Marcus Mumford manages to play guitar, sing, and play drums with his feet all at the same time. I seriously hope they come to NorCal sometime soon!!!
Justin Timberlake: “Suit and Tie” is really starting to grow on me. Lets not lie, I will be first in line to see JT when he goes on tour again. As always, he is a great performer. I love that he has Jay-Z rap in his song too… It feels like he got longer on the show than on the recorded song (I felt like it was really short on the record).
Alisha Keys and Maroon 5: I really like “Daylight” and thought it was a good choice for the show. I loved that Alisha Keys played the drums on “Girl On Fire”. It was a great duet with her and Adam Levine – I loved the mash up of the two songs.
Rihanna: She sang a song called “Stay” with a guy no one knew (songwriter Mikky Ekko). I normally can’t stand her, but actually really liked this song and performance.
Dr. John, The Black Keys, and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band: This was a pretty cool combination of musicians. They performed “Lonely Boy” but I wished they would have let the jazz band have a little solo.
Kelly Clarkson: I loved her performance of “Tennessee Waltz”. I’ve loved her since she was on “American Idol” and think she’s only gotten better over the last 10 years. She sang “Natural Woman” on Idol (remember the crazy high part?!) and did a great job on this version too.
Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna, Damian Marley, & Ziggy Marley: I think he’s so talented and love his music. “Locked Out of Heaven” was a great pick for the show! It was neat to have Sting sing and play with him too! That led nicely into the Bob Marley tribute.
The Lumineers: Their catchy tune “Hey Ho” was a great intro to Jack White.
Jack White: His music is so creepy and great! I love seeing him perform – it’s captivating! The whole jam session around the piano thing was really neat!
Hunter Hayes: “Wanted” has been growing on me and it makes me happy to know he can actually sing!
Carrie Underwood: “Blown Away” is not my favorite song she does, but she rocked it. She wore another beautiful dress – a great grey/blue couture frock. I loved “Two Black Cadillacs” – it’s one of my favorites on her newest album. I thought it was interesting how they used her dress to project light, shapes and patterns.
Elton John, the Zac Brown Band, Mavis Staples, Mumford & Sons: Zac Brown kicked off the tribute with “The Weight”. Hearing Marcus Mumford and Elton John jump in was great. Levon Helm would have loved the tribute – a great collaboration!
Frank Ocean: He sang a song called “Forrest Gump” that was pretty, but a little odd. He has a pretty good voice, but the song repeats Forrest Gump just a few too many times.it’s like the story of the movie but in a song and with something about a cigarette burning his fingers.
LL Cool J, Chuck D, Travis Barker, Tom Morello and DJ Z-Trip: This was very raucous perfomance (geez, Travis Barker can play the drums) and had a great little tribute to MCA. Not the best finish every to the Grammys, but a good one none the less.
They Got Robbed!
“Stronger” Writers: If you listen to the lyrics, it’ really a great song… I do like “We Are Young”, but think “Stronger” is a much better song.
Mumford & Sons: I think they seriously deserved to win best rock performance… I like the Black Keys, but I think M&S should have won! They did win album of the year over BK, so that makes up for it a little bit.
Everyone in the pop vocal album category: Kelly Clarkson totally deserved it, but what a category!!! There were some serious contenders!
I was really excited that they’re going to start giving the Music Educator of the Year award next year. While my music was encouraged by my parents at a very young age, I can think of several teachers (Mr. G, Mr. Hodge, Dr. Adler and Stephanie my vocal instructor) who helped teach, encourage, and inspire me along the way. This is going to be a great award!
Today I decided to make Shadow do a little photo shoot outside… in his element. I actually got a couple good ones (anyone who has taken pictures of dogs knows you have to take like fifty pictures to get one good one). He was tooling around his pen and decided to try to hide behind this bush. It gave me a chance to play around with manual focus because my camera really wanted to focus in on the leaves.
Happy Saturday all!
Down The Road I Go 