Cashew-curry chicken salad

This recipe is a favorite! It's one of those stand-by recipes that everyone in my family likes and it's easy to take to things like "pot-lucks". This recipe came from my Nashville recipe group from Kristi Cutler. Thanks Kristi!

Cashew-Curry Chicken Salad

12 oz uncooked rotini
2 cups cubed chooked chicken
1 cup halved red grapes
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 oranges, peeled and chopped
1 cup cashew halves

dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 c sour cream
2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp salt

Cook rotini as directed on package. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool. Combine cooked rotini and all remaining salad ingredients. In small bowl combine dressing ingredients, blend well. Add to salad Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until serving time.

emma and the cats

Emma Grace is an animal lover through and through. She has to pet and love on every animal we see. The first day we were in Utah Emma Grace sat and held the cats forever. There were two cats and a few kittens. She and her cousin, Alyssa, took care of the kittens like they were babies all day long. It's so cute to watch her be so nurturing!

family fun

When I thought I would start the night's activities with "Little Sally Walker", I wasn't exactly sure how all of the men would react. But we got going and everyone was roaring with laughter. Oh... my family is silly!!

This is Brian doing the "sprinkler".
When it was moms turn she was laughing so had it made everyone else start laughing and so her "little sally walker" dance was "LAUGHING". She says that she will work on some dance moves for the next family reunion. It was hilarious...as you can see from everyone else laughing in the picture.

After "Little Sally Walker", we sat down in a circle to share our cousin scrapbook pages. We started this 2 years ago for Christmas. This year we decided to do it for the family reunion and it worked out great!! Each family brought a scrapbook page of each child in their family with enough color copies for every other family to have. We went around the circle and each child took a turn sharing their scrapbook page and telling us about themselves.

Because our families are all spread out, this helps all of the cousins to remember each other better in between get togethers. All of our children love looking at their "cousin books".

This is Callie Rae sharing her page with a little encouragement from mom and dad. She is known as the "domestic diva" in her family. She gets it from her mom!!

This is Spencer sharing his page!

How cute and proud is Tanner showing off his page!

As our treat for bringing scrapbook pages to share, everyone got a big ice cream sundae with lots of toppings.

You can't have canned whipped cream without someone spraying on someone. Miralyn busted it out on Sarah and Sarah retaliated. This was the best picture I got! They were moving too fast!

surprise attack!

There is nothing like a surprise waterballoon attack! Especially when it's little GIRLS(and their uncles) against teen and pre-teen BOYS. One minute the boys are showing off to the camera. (I was sent out to distract them and get the whole attack on camera.) They can make some really nice dunks with the trampoline.
And the next minute they are being attacked with water balloons. They moved fast!

Todd, Brian, Gary and all of the little girls were in on it. The girls were really excited about it!! They filled lots of water balloons. They had some water guns and a few bowls of water. While the boys were jumping, the girls(and Uncles) were making the necessary preparations.

As soon as the first balloons were thrown the boys ran for the fence and were in the neighbors yard.

I hope the boy's revenge is atleast somewhat kind!

Cousins

My children can't get enough of cousins when we all get together. They all play so well together and make sure everyone is included. Oh, sure, there are times when someone gets sad but not very often. All of the girls line up on the floor at night in one big bed. They get a "foot massage" by one of their uncles. And not the kind of foot massage you are thinking of! If they want a foot massage they roll over on their tummy and Uncle Brad or Uncle Todd come by and put their foot on their back and vibrate. The girls all get a kick out of it.

The red shirts are our reunion t-shirts this year. My kids end up wearing their reunion shirts to bed every night. This picture was taken when we went out to Spanish Fork Canyon and played in the creek and then had smores for dinner(that's another post!)

Chicken Parmesan

This is another great recipe from Marie. She made this dish for us years ago in Lexington when they invited us to dinner. I've made it a lot since then. The only thing better than eating all of Marie's good food is their great friendship. We love being with Micah and Marie! Our gut hurts for days after being with them because of all the laughing.


Chicken Parmesan

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
3/4 cups bread crumbs(I like to use "stove top")
1/2 cup parmesan cheese(divided)

Gravy:
2 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp flour
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1/4 tsp pepper

Toppings:
1- 8 oz can tomato sauce
1-8 oz mushrooms(optional...I don't like mushrooms very much)
1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

Dredge chicken in flour, then eggs, then crumbs mixed with 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Bake 400 for 20 minutes-uncovered. Melt butter with flour until smooth. Add milk and boil until thickens. Add seasonings. Pour gravy, tomato sauce, mushrooms, mozzerella cheese, and parmesan cheese over baked chicken. Bake for 15 mintues at 400.

morning hugs

My kids all love getting morning hugs. On this morning Charlie just kept hugging and hugging Eliza. It was so cute!! So I had to grab a picture to post.