nesting

A little over a year ago we had some trees planted in the backyard.  I was so excited, because before there was just grass and all of my neighbors' houses.  I wanted some nature.  Unfortunately, and this is something I didn't think about, trees attract birds.  Go figure.  I love the sound of birds singing and I enjoy sitting on the patio watching them.  But last year you may remember that some very impolite birds made their home under our deck.  Every time we walked out onto the deck or patio they would start swarming around you.  Brian could hardly mow the grass for being beat up by the birds.  We were so glad when their offspring were old enough to fly and they moved on to better places!

So a couple of days ago Brian opened the garage door to find 2 doves flying haphazardly in the garage.  They couldn't figure out how to get out of the garage and just kept perching on top of the open garage door.  He made a run for it to get in the car without being attacked, leaving me to fend for myself - nice, huh? 

So I thought I would just keep opening and closing the garage door (you have to picture me standing in the laundry room with the door cracked just enough to allow one arm to reach out into the garage and around to the wall where the opener was and quickly closing the door after pushing the button just in case they decided to find more luxurious accomodations inside the house - pretty talented, huh?).  I'm pretty sure that idea only accomplished making the neighbors think I was crazy.  So I got some suggestions from Facebook (where else?) about what to do and went back thinking I would throw crumbs on the driveway and they would be good little birds and go eat so I could close the door and be safe from the ferocious birds.  But when I went back they were gone!  Yes!  So I just shut the door and vowed not to ever keep it open again.

So a few hours later I see the pair in one of my flower pots on the deck.  It actually has a small tree in it to create some privacy.  I had a little talk with them through the window and I was pretty sure we had an understaning about not trying to take over the garage again and under NO circumstances were they to even THINK about making a nest anywhere around here!!!

They obviously didn't understand.

 The boys and their friends found this in that same flower pot where the doves were supposedly listening to the policies that apply to birds around here.

And here is the mama keeping the eggs warm.  I guess it's the mama anyway.  Maybe that daddy is the incubator in dove world.  Anyway, one of them is taking care of the kiddos.  Makes me wonder where the other one went.  But it looks like we have visitors for a while.  It's been fun for the boys to watch, and at least they are not the crazy attack birds from last year!  I do wish they were better listeners though.

moroccan chili

Got this recipe from my friend, Erin.  All of her kids eat it and so do all of mine.  That's 5 kids' thumbs up for this recipe, so I say it's a keeper!  Also, every time we've made this we've only eaten about 1/2 of what the recipe makes, so we put the rest in the freezer and have an extremely easy meal ready for another day.

Moroccan Chili

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 pounds ground beef

2 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 Tbsp cumin

1/2 Tbsp paprika

1 Tbsp coriander

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 bay leaf

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

2 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce

1 can tomato sauce

zest of lemon

Brown meat and drain.  Return to low heat.  Add seasonings and stir.  Add onion, pepper and garlic.  Cook until onion is soft.  Add lemon zest, Worchestershire, and tomato sauce.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Serve with pita bread and couscous.

simple roasted asparagus

This is the first way I ever made asparagus.  It's so easy and so good.  I didn't think I liked asparagus until I roasted it like this.  Well, I didn't think I liked it because it just looked weird to me.  It didn't fit into any of my meat and potatoes and starchy vegetable categories so I assumed it was nasty.  I was wrong.

Simple Roasted Asparagus
(adapted from a Southern Living recipe)

1 pound fresh asparagus
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/3 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 400.

Snap off the tough ends of asparagus.  Line a 15x10 ince jellyroll pan with aluminum foil (for the easy easy cleanup at the end).  Put the asparagus into a large ziploc bag.  Add the olive oil.  Zip and shake to coat the asparagus with the olive oil.  They don't need to swim in the olive oil.  Just be coated with it.  Otherwise they'll taste too "oily".

Arrange the asparagus on the jellyroll pan.  Sprinkle with the sugar, salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven 10-15 minutes and enjoy!

shrimp lemon pepper linguine

I promise to add a picture later, but I wanted to get a few recipes on the blog for a friend who asked for them.  This one is really tasty.  I even marked "very very good" beside it in the recipe binder :)

Shrimp Lemon Pepper Linguine
(adapted from Allrecipes.com)
1 8oz pkg linguine pasta
1 tbsp. olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup water or chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
salt to taste
4-5 shakes of freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup butter
3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (or 3 tsp. dried parsley)
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 tsp. dried basil)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook for 9-13 minutes or until al dente; drain.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and saute garlic about 1 minute.  Mix in chicken broth or water, wine, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.  Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by about one fourth.

Mix shrimp, butter, parsley and basil into the saucepan.  Cook 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is opaque.  Stir in the cooked linguine and continue cooking 2 minutes, until well coated.

still in love....

You thought there would be a picture of Brian or the boys, huh?  I do love them, but I was reminded today about how much I love this mixer.  I saved up money from birthdays and Christmas last year and got a great deal on Black Friday on the mixer.  I've used it several times and really can't imagine not having it now!

visitors

We spent most of this past week with this fun family!  We had a full house and loved every minute of it.  It was fun to watch the kids all play together so well.  They really only see each other once a year at the most, but it didn't seem like that watching them play.  And having a toddler around again was really fun!  We tried to show them the best of St. Louis (and saved some so they would come back sometime, too).  This was at the zoo, but we also hit the Arch, the Farmer's Market at Soulard, and a few local things here in LSL, O'Fallon and Chesterfield.  I even got to go shopping for organization things with Lynda - be still my heart!  Someone may as well have told me I won the lottery.  Well, maybe it wasn't that great, but it was pretty awesome.  Mostly the kids just wanted to play together - they didn't care much where it was. 

The house is very quiet now.  We miss them. We're so glad they came all the way here to see us!

it's baseball time again