Chicken, Veges & Rice

1.5 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into chunks
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 small onions
1 small green pepper
small container mushrooms
Italian dressing
olive oil
ground pepper

Marinate chicken in about 4 TBS Italian dressing and place in the refrigerator for up to 3 hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut up veges into chunks and put into a bowl. Add 4 TBS Italian dressing & ground pepper and mix. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with olive oil. Dump veges and spread into a single layer. Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. While the veges are cooking heat a frying pan over high heat. Dump the chicken and marinate into the pan and cook till chicken is no longer pink and the dressing has browned up on the chicken. Serve with the veges over rice (our favorite is Near East rice pilaf)!

Very good & very simple!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day weekend this year was wonderful! Friday night Alex came home from work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers - I was so happy to get them Friday so I could really enjoy them all weekend long.



Last night we had dinner with my mother, brothers, their spouses, my cousin Noelle and her mother and aunt. Alex and I haven't been out to dinner in ages and we wound up going to one of our old favorite spots - Benvenuti - all the food was delicious as it usually is and AJ was pretty great considering it was way past her bedtime and she had a little cold. For an appetizer we shared clams in white wine sauce & stuffed mushrooms. For dinner I had the veal Francaise and Alex had the braciole and for dessert I had some very tasty lemon sorbet!



Sunday morning after receiving my beautiful cards and a gift card for a spa facial (can't wait to use it!!!), Alex made the best breakfast for me - chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, eggs, fresh fruit, & oj!!!! We all sat around the table and listened to some tunes on the iPod and really enjoyed the morning!








In the afternoon we planted my basil, tomatoes, strawberries & parsley, did the normal yard work and hung out in the back yard.





AJ and I took naps around 2 and Alex and I watched golf the rest of the afternoon. I am looking forward to my homemade manacotti tonight complete with gravy meat that has been cooking all day long!!! This weekend went by way too fast - can't believe it's almost over!

Happy Mother's Day to all the great moms out there!

Stay tuned to Matrale Madness everyone - there may be a very big announcement coming at the end of this coming week!!!!

Play Date!

Today, Monique brought her sons Vinny & Christian over to Michele's for a play date along with Cheryl, Elsa, AJ & I. We all had a really great time and the kids all played so nicely together. The moms got to enjoy some of Michele's excellent cooking (2 kinds of quiche, a awesome walnut & cranberry salad with very fancy cucumbers & some delish corn bread!), some of Monique's awesome products (Arbonne) and most importantly some adult conversation! Monique's youngest is 6 months and it was so so so so nice to hold him and give him a bottle and do all that "baby" stuff again! As much as I LOVE watching AJ grow and LOVE all her different stages I miss the baby stage! Anyway, we all had a really great time and hopefully we will get to do it again some time soon!!

Cinco de Mayo!

Today we are celebrating Cinco de Mayo with some Mexican fare - yummy! Since I make tacos every once in a while, I though I would try making something I have never done before - enchiladas! After doing a little research on the Internet and getting some different recipes from friends I made up my own recipe! They came out SO SO SO good! We had some hint of lime Tostiots with salsa & homemade guacamole as our appetizer! Dinner tonight was fabulous! I LOVE Mexican and what better of a day to make it! Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!!!



Enchiladas-
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves grated
1 lb shredded chicken breasts (I just boiled 3 boneless/skinless breasts and shredded)
4 oz cream cheese softened
4 oz sour cream
1 small can diced green chilies
1 can enchilada sauce
2 cups Monterrey jack cheese
1/2 cup fresh salsa
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbs olive oil
8 soft flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large sauce pan heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook till softened. Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the chicken and mix. Add the sour cream, cream cheese, chilies, salsa, cumin & cilantro and mix through. Add 3/4 cup of the Monterrey jack cheese, turn off the heat and stir. Line the bottom of a large rectangle pyrex with some enchilada sauce. Place a few spoon full of the mixture onto a tortilla and roll up. Place in the pyrex seem side down and repeat till done. Top with the remaining enchilada sauce and then the rest of the cheese. Bake in oven till cheese is melted and enchiladas are heated through.

The filling-



Rolling them up-



All ready for the oven-



Ready to eat-



Chips, salsa & guacamole appetizer-

Little Drummer Girl!

In the basement at my moms there is a kids drum set that used to be Donnie's - AJ and Chris LOVE going down there to beat on the drum! AJ is pretty darn good a keeping a beat and going back and forth between the drum and the cymbal. Being a former drummer himself, daddy is very proud!

Sunday Breakfast!

I love Sundays - we really like to dedicate them as our own little family time - just the 4 of us (we always include Marley)! This morning it was so nice to sit and have a nice breakfast around the table and enjoy each others company! Today I tried making a crust less quiche and it came out SO yummy! We also had some fresh fruit and left over chocolate chip & blueberry muffins that AJ & I made earlier in the week! Sundays are super!!!





(SO SO EASY) Crust-less Quiche Lorraine

6 eggs
1 cup milk
shredded cheese (I mixed swiss, monterey jack & cheddar)
6 slices of cooked crispy bacon
1/4 cup finely chopped onion

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a square pyrex dish. Crumble the bacon into the bottom of the dish, then add the bacon and cheese. Beat together the 6 eggs and milk and dump into the dish. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Saturday with the Carras Cousins!

Today we went to see the Carras cousins in Livingston - we got to see both Chris & Matt play a little league game & then went back to Tracy's to spend some time and have some lunch! It was great to see AJ having fun with her cousins - she really enjoyed playing with them and I enjoyed watching! They have the cutest dog Patches and AJ LOVED him (she is such a animal LOVER)! We even got to see grandpa Matrale (AJ's great-grandpa) & got to listen to a few stories (which we have all heard a thousand times but still enjoy hearing again just to see & hear the enthusiasm)!!!






Sorry about these last three (unflattering) shots - Matthew was having some fun with the camera & so I just had to post them!!!