Recipe #3

Chicken Parmesan

What you need?

- Chicken Breast (enough for 1 each for whole family kids only need 1/2 a breast)
- Favorite low calorie Spaghetti sauce
- Spaghetti Noodles
- Parmesan Cheese
- No Salt seasoning Ms Dash

Directions:

*Remember the Cooking moist Chicken in the Oven code?
400 degrees for 20 minutes
350 degrees for 15 minutes

Step 1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Step 2) Season thawed or fresh chicken breast with NO SALT sesasoning

Step 3) Put in oven safe casserole dish and cover with spaghetti sauce

Step 4) Set timer for 20 minutes

Step 5) With 5 minutes left start boiling water for spaghetti noodles

Step 6) When Timer rings turn oven down to 350 and cook another 15 minutes

Step 7) Put spaghetti into boiling water. (spaghetti should be done at almost the same time as the chicken)

Step 8) when timer rings take chicken out and slice each piece length wise into pieces,

Step 9) drain pasta and put on plate.

Step 10) spoon out the cooked pasta from the oven casserole dish on top of the pasta

Step 11) add sliced chicken breast pieces on top of the pasta and sauce

Step 12) Grade Parmesan cheese over top and serve

Winter Indoor Activities for Babies and Toddlers:

There is so much to do in Calgary in the Spring and Summer but what do you do in the winter time?

This was a hard question for me as I don't like going outside when it's colder than -7.

Here are a few of my favorites that I found.

Best indoor wading pool for babies - 4 year olds (that I know of):

Foothills Aquatic Centre (http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Recreation/Pages/Pools/Foothills.aspx)

Picture of Wading Pool, has a fountain in the middle and lots of water toys to play with.

Cost: 

$1.40 per kid and adult. 

Address:

2915 24 Ave. N.W (map below)

Rules: 

- All non-potty trained children must be wearing either swim diapers or water pants. 

- parents must be in the pool with the children within arms reach and be wearing proper swimming attire themselves. ("Real Housewives of Calgary" there will be no sitting on the edge of the pool sipping your Starbucks coffees, you must be in the water with your child, and 'yes' you will get splashed. So don't give my daughter or me a dirty look because you got wet. It's a pool!) 

Wading Pool Hours/Times: 

During the following times the Wading Pool is open at a discounted rate of $1.40/person*

 DAY                                           TIME
Mon-Fri                                   9am - Noon
Mon, Wed, Fri                              6-8pm

- All children under 7 must be accompanied by an adult in appropriate bathing attire. * No access to main pool or dive tank during these times. Wading pool prices not in effect during any public, lane and booking (rental) swim times.

Best time to visit the Science Centre:

We all know about the Calgary Science Centre (http://www.sparkscience.ca) but do you know the best time to visit it? 

By best time I mean least busiest time. A time where your toddler/baby isn't being run over by a bazillion school children on a field trip. 

I will give you a hint: Busiest days by far at the Calgary Science Centre are Weekends, Fridays or Mondays.  

Weekends reason is obvious.    

Fridays or Mondays? The reason is actually pretty simple when you think about it, most PD days fall on Fridays or Mondays, also having worked in a school for years I know that the majority of teachers plan field trips on either Friday or Mondays. 

The Number 1 slowest day (according to the Manager at 'Spark' I spoke to regarding this blog post) 

TUESDAY!!!!

Having said that, it better not start getting super busy on Tuesdays because of what I just wrote. :)

Best Tropical Get away in the city:

The newly renovated Devonian Gardens.  Tropical trees, fishes, and a great play area. All your missing are drinks with umbrellas in them.

 
 

They have done a great job with the redesign.

TIP:
Make a day of it, pack a lunch and take either the bus or C-Train down.

Bonus:
Now 73% less homeless people!! (should be an actual sign or slogan for the new Devonian Gardens).

Location:
8 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 1B5

Friday Family Fun Night!!!

About a year ago now, we amended our "(family) roommate agreement" ('Big Bang Theory's' roommate agreement: http://wiki.the-big-bang-theory.com/wiki/Roommate_Agreement ), so that every Friday would be "Friday Family Fun Night".

What we do is that every Friday we make a meal together, we eat in front of the TV and watch a movie or play the Wii together as a family.

We laugh, eat and have fun.

It is by far our favorite night of the week!

Our movie selections so far have consisted of Disney Classics and Scooby-Doo movies, but during December every Friday we introduced our daughter to our favorite Christmas movies.

The family snuggles together on the couch, I get to 'steal kisses' from my wife while the kid is engaged in a movie.  It's brilliant.

We have made everything from Pizza, Nachos to Crazy french fries.

Here is our 4 year old daughters favorite "Friday Family Fun Night" recipe:

Homemade Pizza Buns:
What you need: (you can use any ingredients you want to decorate or make your own pizza buns with, these are the ingredients which go on ours.)

- Large Hamburger buns (sesame seeds optional) I get the 12 pack and use the remainder for lunches.
- Pizza sauce we use 'Primo Pizza Squeeze'
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Lunch Meat Ham (take a bunch of slices and cut them into small cubed pieces)
- Black Olives (our daughters favorite)
- Green onions (diced)
- Canned NO SALT ADDED mushrooms

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2)Cut the buns in half
3) Prep ingredients
4) Put all the ingredients on separate plates/bowls
5) Squeeze a blob of pizza sauce per bun (let your child spread their own sauce, it's fun)
6) Each Person decorates their own pizza bun their way!
7) Place on metal tray and place in oven. Cook for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy, spend some time together and come up with your own make supper together recipes.

This "Friday Family Fun Night" is Nachos and "The Princess and the Frog" from Disney.

TV or no TV?

I have to be 100% completely honest with you.

 

Before having a child I was like “my child is not watching TV!”

Now that I have a child I am like “daddy needs some personal time, go watch TV” or “daddy needs to sleep-in, here watch a show on the iPhone.”

That’s the reality of my personal situation.  I swore I wouldn't let my child watch TV or play with mind-numbing electronics till for like ever. 

But then two things happened.

1) I came to the realization that some of the TV shows/Videos available for my daughter to watch aren't the     same kind of cartoons I grew up on.

And

2)  Daddy needed to sleep-in.  I mean I really needed to sleep in. 

When I look back on it the first TV/Video our daughter watched was “The Happiest Baby on the Block” DVD (http://www.happiestbaby.com/), technically we were watching it and she was being swaddled over and over again till we got it right.  But her tiny retina was exposed to the harmful TV radiation, so it counts.

The DVD was indispensable to us, and taught us some amazing techniques which helped us in those first scary months of being a parent. I recommend it to any new parent.  You can buy it on their website (or you can just get if free from your local library.)  

This DVD became my go to gift for new parents.

Her first real TV/Video she watched was another product I recommend to EVERY parent.   The ‘PRESCHOOL PREP’ collection of DVD’s (http://www.preschoolprepco.com ), Meet the Colors, Numbers, Letters & Shapes.  We got the whole set and my daughter started watching them and we saw results almost immediately. 

By 2 she was being carried in my arms heading towards the local ‘Wal-Mart’, and I heard her saying “W”, “A”, “L”.   She got all her shapes, letters, numbers and colors by the time she was 2 ½ and could recognize and say all of them. 

So much faster and better than ONLY doing flashcards.    

Warning for parents: It is annoying for you to listen to, I suggest reading in the next room when they watch it.  It works on repetitive learning.  ‘a’.... ‘a’..... ‘a’....

She has graduated onto the ‘Meet the Sight Words” & “Phonics” DVD’s and it has really helped with her reading, so much so that at age 4 she is reading at a grade 1 level.  (purchase from same website, or free from local library).

The other videos I let her watch and I highly recommend are the ‘Leapfrog’ Movies. (http://shop.leapfrog.com/leapfrog/jump/Learning-DVDs/category/cat80050;jsessionid=618C68D98C536EFC09CCB77F314E08D8?q_docSort=&addFacet=%3A) They are more ‘movie’ style of videos, with actual stories and characters.  

We have them all.

I will tell you about other helpful TV/Video’s I have used for everything from Potty Training - Learning French in a future post.

In the meantime I am going to go to iTunes and get some videos for my daughter to watch, because tomorrow morning daddy feels a sleep-in coming on!  

Recipe #2

Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipe:

Time required 35 minutes!! (most of it is waiting) :)

What you need:

- Chicken Breast (enough for 1 each)
- 2-3 asparagus per chicken breast
- Mrs Dash Seasoning Blend SALT FREE! (your choice of flavors)
- Hollandaise sauce mix (powder) found near powder gravy section in grocery store
- Your Choice of side (I prefer a homemade salad using baby arugula, diced veggies and some shredded cheese with my favorite dressing but the choice is yours)
- Oven safe casserole dish with a lid

IMPORTANT:

For all my chicken dishes use the following formula (I`m a guy I figure things out by formulas)

- 400 degrees for 20 minutes
- 350 degrees for 15 minutes
= moistest chicken breasts out of the oven EVER!

Directions:

Step 1) Preheat over to 400 Degrees

Step 2) `Fly`your thawed (if your freeze it first) chicken breast down the middle length wise. DON`T CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

Step 3) Season inside and outside of chicken using Mrs Dash don`t over do it just enough.

Step 4) Place Asparagus (make sure ends are cut off and washed first) in the `fly`part of the chicken breast (2-3 per piece)

Step 5) Wrap the chicken around the asparagus and hold together using Wooden Skewers (cut in half)

Step 6) Place chicken in safe dish with a lid and cook for 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (set timer)

Step 7) This is when I clean up most of the dishes, or empty the dishwasher (you got 20 minutes to do it)

Step 8) Once timer rings turn oven down to 350 degrees and cook for 15 minutes (set timer again)

Step 9) Make salad or side.

Step 10) With less than 10 minutes left make the Hollandaise sauce according to directions of packaged.

Step 11) Once everything is done, place on plate, cover with hollandaise sauce. YUM!

Happy Winesday!!

I have noticed a pattern amongst my friends between the number of they children they have and how much wine they drink.

(Maybe it's just my friends)

But I remember watching an Oprah episode (yes! I watched Oprah), where a family was talking about kids parties and the best way to make sure the adults stayed around was to serve boozes! My first thought was that's brilliant! My second thought was I hope they all live close enough to walk home.

I must admit some of my more memorable 'play-dates' have involved a glass of wine.  You tend to ignore what the 'bad kids' at those play-dates are doing to your child when you are sipping a nice Merlot.

I was at the 'Telus Spark Science Centre' a couple of weeks ago, when I saw a lady frantically chasing after a 3 year old little girl. After she caught her, she happened to sit down next to me. I joking said: "Got your hands full with that one." To which she replied: "This one? No this is the good one! Her twin sister is the wild one!"

I joking said: "Wow! I'm outnumbered with one, I couldn't imagine two!  You must drink allot of wine"

To which she replied: "We buy it by the box now!" and she was off chasing the 'good' one.

So I have decided that from this day forth on my blog every Wednesday will now be called Winesday. (I am not encouraging you to drink, I am merely posting the links to the liquor store ads so that you can print, shop around and save. Because some of us which have children find relaxation in a glass from time to time.)

Sobey's:  http://www.sobeysliquor.com/Home

Safeway: http://safewayliquor.ca/

CO-OP: http://coopwinespiritsbeer.com/

COSTCO: http://costcoliquors.com/

Enjoy and Cheers!

Recipe #1

Grilled Stuffed Mini Peppers w/Caesar Salad

Time: Less than 20 minutes!!!!!

What you need:
- Mini Peppers 2-4 per person (I prefer the ones from "Super Store" as they are "Goldilocks" sized (not to small not to big just right)
- Extra Lean Ground Beef (1/2 a regular sized package) (because my wife says watching calories is important)
- 1 Cup Spaghetti Sauce any style (I use low calorie ones because I love my wife)
- Romaine Lettuce
- Et Tu Light Caesar Salad Kit. (Light once again because I love her)
- Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese
- Ground Pepper to taste

Step 1

- Cook the ground beef
- While ground beef is cooking Cut the tops off and de-seed the mini peppers (wash of course)
- Put Mini peppers in a flat frying pan on medium heat and grill till soft (turning every once and a while so as not to burn) 3-5 minutes till they are "marked" and soft.
- Add spaghetti sauce to fully cooked ground beef.  The sauce shouldn't be "soupy" it should be just enough so that it sticks together and can stay inside the cooked mini pepper.
- Stir sauce till it's all mixed together.(cover and let simmer)
- Make Caesar salad according to directions on package.
- Grate Cheese (just enough to add a little to the top of each stuffed pepper
- Stuff Mini Peppers with Meat Sauce using a table spoon, add a bit of cheese on top and arrange on plates.
- Add Caesar salad
- Add Ground Pepper for "Food Network" look and taste.

I Have Nipples Too!

The life experiences of a stay at home dad. (or as I prefer to be called: "Trophy Husband")

Nipples.

It's true I have them, I am not entirely sure what they are for except I do think they would come in handy if I ever chose to get a piercing there.

The blog title inspiration comes from a stay at home mom, who said: "that mom's make better stay at home parents" because as she put it " I can't keep this little guy of my nipples long enough to go to work anyways." to which I said: "you know your husband has nipples too!"

This was one of my many experiences of being a stay at home dad, out in the world of stay at home moms.

This isn't going to be a judging blog, unless I'm talking about some wanna be 'Real Housewives of Calgary' moms; you know the type I'm talking about.

I'm hoping that it's going to be is insightful, helpful, and fun.

Thanks for reading (if anybody is) and I can't wait to meet you all at the playground.