Umm food?

Do you make stuff up?  

Do you look in your cupboard and fridge, see what you have and then make a meal from it?

Or do you plan your meals, buy those foods you need and make a meal?

I'm a "make it up as I go along" kind of gal and that goes for food too.  I never thought this was unique, or strange until last week.  We had some missionaries from our church over for dinner.  Now, these are young men (19-22) and they tend to eat anything.  I made a dinner that we call Chicken Wraps.  They kept asking over and over what it was, what it was called, what was in it.  When I told them I made it up and the ingredients change every time, they acted SO surprised.  They ate it up, and it's one of our families favorites, but it got me thinking.
Last night I opened the fridge and took three different leftovers out, made a casserole and a salad and called it good.  It turned out better than I expected.
Sometimes it's a happy surprise how these meals turn out and sometimes we decide never to try it again.  The apple pork chops I made twice, it just wasn't meant to be.
I love cooking this way, making and inventing, creating.  I also like to try new things and will use a recipe from a magazine or online.  We have tried and true recipes that we love also, but most nights I'm just winging it.

So, I'm curious how do you do food?  Is my way common or do most people go by a recipe and standard ingredients every night?

It typing this I realize, this is how I craft and sew too, just kind of make it up as I go along, sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not!

If you want to know, my chicken wraps consist of raw cut up veggies (carrots/cucumbers/tomatoes/celery/onion whatever we have), a grilled chicken breast or two chopped up and mixed with greek yogurt, sour cream and a dry ranch dip mix.  All of this gets wrapped up burrito style in a flour tortilla.  Oh and maybe cubed cheese too!
The casserole last night consisted of leftover rice and chicken, a chicken thigh cooked and cut up(left over from another meal), and fried green beans cut up.  Mixed together with a can of cream o/chicken soup and topped with grated cheese. Mmmm, it was so creamy good!
I have no measurements, just make it to taste or what will fit in the pan.

Treats!

Holy cow I've been busy in the kitchen!!  It started Sunday with a trial batch of these http://gallamorewest.blogspot.com/2011/12/easiest-christmas-toffee.html  

They are ridiculously easy and SO good I had to make another batch on Monday!  I also made up two bags of "chocolate popcorn" which is popcorn with melted white chocolate poured over and mixed in.  Then I got a hankering for my favorite popcorn additive, hot tamales!  I decided to try something new, I melted down about half a cup of red hots:

 poured them over one bag of popcorn, then quickly spread it out over a paper bag so it wouldn't become one giant blob.  YUM, seriously.

 Today at Winco I saw these Jumbo Peppermint marshmallows and decided to try them out in rice crispy treats.  Also, YUM.  

There is a lot of giving of treats, but still, I'm not sure when I'll be off this sugar high!!

A great quote

"It seems there is always a road with bends and forks to choose, and taking one path means you can never take another one.  There's no starting over nor undoing the steps I've taken."
           -Nancy Turner from the novel "These is my Words"

Ahh, success

Got it on the first take, perfect!

 Well, except for Damen's weird hand gestures, what is that?  

Merry Christmas!

Two months

Yup, that's right, this kid is TWO MONTHS old!  AND I'm going to be one of those mommies that updates every exciting month that passes in the first year of life. 

 Because they change and grow so much!

SO, now he's 24.5 in long and weighs in at a hefty 15.5lbs!  

Seriously, he's huge.

Phobia

So, I have a phobia.  Just one.  Really.

I'm afraid of heights.  I can't climb a ladder without my palms sweating.  I can just BARELY drive across the 91-215 overpass with my eyes open.  I don't do edges/cliffs, walking bridges or step stools very well.  And just ask Dustin about the time we rode the re-entry ride at Lagoon (it's a tall tower that you sit around facing out, it suspends you from the top for 6-7 seconds and then plummets you back down to earth, thought we were going to DIE, and he may still have my fingernail imprints in his thigh).
I first realized this when I was 10 years old and I was asked to help another girl put up some posters in the school hallway.  I willingly climbed up the ladder and was ready to go.  Until I looked down.  That was the end of that.
A few weeks ago I was on my way out of town when I noticed in the sky hot air balloons.  Four of them actually.  They were beautiful in the morning light.  Until I realized just how high up they were, and how there were actually people in them, and they could look down.  OH NO, my heart started racing, my palms started to sweat, it was like I was there, up there!  (I'm actually freaking out a little just remembering).  As I continued driving I tried to avoid looking at them, just knowing they were there was too much!  Wow, I thought, this is crazy irrational for me to be feeling this way, down HERE, on the ground, safe.
So I ask you, is this normal?  Do arachnophobes freak out at pictures of spiders?  Do claustrophobes start to hyperventilate at the thought of a crowded elevator?
I love to tease my sister about spiders, her reactions are SO funny.  Well, they are to me anyway.  Spiders seem like such a silly thing to be scared of, they're teeny tiny bugs that you can squish in an instant.  Using that logic, am I really going to fall off the 91 overpass?  Probably not.  The ladder, well I am clumsy and tend to fall when safely on the ground.  I also love to climb, trees, rocks, naturey things.  Why is that different?

I don't understand this fear, I just know that it is a part of me that I don't like very much.  One day I'd like to be able to enjoy the sight of those hot air balloons in the early morning light.  One day.


PS  I also LOVE LOVE LOVE roller coasters, but that's different somehow. . .

Thanksgiving and stuff

Our Turkey FEAST!  I should have taken a picture of the bird, it looked just as good as it tasted!  Thanks in part to Tiffany who informed me about OVEN BAGS!  They're amazing, you just put in the turkey and your seasonings, bake and wallah, delicious, moist turkey!!  

I also made acorn squash and roasted potatoes and a chocolate Oreo pie.  I took out of the box/bag/can rolls, stuffing, and gravy.  It was my very first Thanksgiving dinner and I think it went over rather well!  

My friend Rene could not believe that after 13 years as a married, competent adult, I had never made my own Thanksgiving dinner. 

 Well we've always traveled to be with family on Thanksgiving.

 Until this year. 

 This year we had to debate about it.  

My parents wouldn't be there (China remember) and we had this adorable 6 week old to think about too.  He eats every two hours, it takes about 20 minutes to feed/change/burp him, and it's a 17 hour drive.  YOU do the math, it would take a lot longer than 17 hours. . . 

So staying home was our decision.   

We watched football, ate too much, had pie, told each other what we were thankful for, and slept in our own beds.  It was good.  We (I mostly) missed my sisters, and our nephews and niece, but it was ok.

On another note, this is Mason the mighty!  He weighs 16lbs and is wearing 6 month clothes, because he's enormous!  He'll be 2 months old next week.

Love him to pieces!