Matrale Pool Open For Summer!

Alex, AJ, Marley & I LOVE weekends at his parents house - the pool is open and the food is plentiful! You can't go wrong with sun, fun, pool, food, drink & good company!!!!

Yummy Summer Dessert!

1 Entemann's All Butter Loaf Cake

whipped cream

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup cut up strawberries

1/2 cup cut up blueberries

Place blueberries and strawberries in a bowl.  Mix together sugar and water and pour over the berries and mix well.  Place in the fridge for about 2 hours mixing every so often.  When ready for a yummy dessert cut a slice of the oh so good butter loaf cake (butter is in the name so you know you can't go wrong!) and top with the berries and some of the juice and add some whipped cream!!! SOOOOO GOOD!

Memorial Day Weekend 09'

This year for Memorial Day weekend we decide to go down to my moms beach house for a long weekend. Alex, AJ and I left on Thursday evening and stayed till Sunday. The Jones-Ferrells met us down on Friday and stayed till Sunday, the McSpirits stayed over night on Saturday and the Zielke-Jacoby's even made it for the day on Saturday. We had a fun filled, action packed weekend and are all still exhausted from all the activity!  

Thursday night Alex, AJ and I took it easy - we went grocery shopping, got some dinner and went back to the house to relax. Friday morning we woke up and walked to Sunny Hunny for breakfast - AJ loved the Mickey Mouse pancakes!  By the time we were done with breakfast the Jones-Ferrells were arriving - we went with them for a very humorous trip to the A&P and then hit the beach!  It was a little chilly but the kids still had fun in the sand and we all enjoyed a nice walk along the beach. After the beach we went back to the house to BBQ - yummy! The kids all played in the back yard and the adults prepared lunch - hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ baked beans, mac and cheese and all the fix ins!  After lunch AJ and Chris took naps and then it was off to the boardwalk for some rides, games and dinner!  Alex, Taylor, Donnie & Bill even got to ride go carts!!!  The kids (big & little ones alike) all had a really great time! 

Saturday Alex & I woke up early and took AJ on a walk to go get bagels.  Taylor had a special request for bacon so we cooked up a pound and enjoyed that with our bagels!  After breakfast we walked over to the park and let the kids play for a while, then we decided since it was so nice out we would go to the beach at the bay!  It was great and even had a play ground on it for the kids to play at!  The ice creme man came and we all enjoyed a cold treat!  After we went back to the house to meet up with the Mc Spiritis and BBQ again!  Michele even made her special mac salad & Taylor her home made mac and cheese - lunch once again was great!  The kids took naps after lunch and then Eddie & Mark arrived.  When the kids were up we hit the boardwalk again.  We went on more rides, played more games and ate a nice dinner!  There were 12 of us but we managed to find a sit down restaurant that we didn't have to wait long at all to eat at!  

Sunday morning we woke up and walked over to Sunny Hunny for breakfast again - this time AJ & Chris got to see Elmo & Whinny the Pooh!  We went on a nice walk up to the beach after and then went home to wake up the McSpirits - it was off to the water park!  The water park was SO much fun and Bill even got us our own private cabana with waitress service!  We had a nice (greasy) lunch and then packed up for home!  

WOW - what a great weekend we had!!!  AJ slept the whole car ride home (1 hour 15 mins), through dinner and through the night to the next morning - 3PM - 7AM to be exact - WOW!

13 Weeks!

Alex and I are excited & thrilled to announce that AJ is going to be a big sister!!! Matrale baby #2 is due November 22, 2009 and we couldn't be happier!!! The fist trimester has once again been very easy except for being very tired, but I know I can't complain at all because being sick all the time must not be any fun! I LOVED being pregnant with AJ and so far this pregnancy is going just as good (knock on wood)! My stomach is HUGE already and I am once again very proud of it! The only difference this time is so far I haven't gained a pound (last time I think I was +8 by now!) - crazy when you see how big my belly is already, but true - maybe it's all the running around after a crazy, extremely energetic almost two year old??? No fears though, I am sure all my over eating will catch up to me by the next doctor visit!

Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps

1 1/2 lbs chicken breast diced into chunks
4 TBS low sodium soy sauce
1 TBS oyster sauce
2 TBS honey
2 Tsp fresh graded ginger
2 medium stalks celery chopped
1 cup shelled edamame
1 tsp peanut oil
1 tsp olive oil
Boston bib lettuce

Mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, honey & ginger in a bowl. Heat olive & peanut oil in a pan over high heat. Add chicken and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasional to cook even on all sides. Add the shelled edamame and cook for another 2 minutes, then add the celery and cook for another minute. Add the sauce mix stir. Cook for about 5 more minutes and serve in lettuce wraps.




Love this and would make it again and again! We had ours with a egg roll (baked not fried) and some salad with fat free wasabi dijon vinaigrette (which was store made but such a great dressing)!!!!

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!!!!