Hands and Voices

Chad is gone to the church's Men's Retreat, so I'm here catching up on lots of stuff- laundry, cleaning, blogging, billing (for work), reading, researching, and getting ready for my two's and three's Bible class. Fun stuff, I know. I also got a movie to watch. Whenever Chad is gone or out, I always try to get a movie that I know he won't want to watch. Last week I got "My Sister's Keeper." Saaaad movie, but really good! I want to read the book. Books are always better than the movies. So tonight I got "Love Happens" with Jennifer Aniston.

I thought I would write a post about my job and what I do. Today was a good day as one of my kids got their hearing aids FINALLY. He's two years old. Typically, when children first get their hearing aids, it is a very long and difficult battle to make the child keep the hearing aids in their ears. This could be for a variety of reasons whether it be just because they are being stubborn, because they are uncomfortable and they are not used to them, or because they are used to silence and do not find this new noisy environment to be an enjoyable experience. However, this child (I can't use names) got his hearing aids yesterday morning and left them on all day until he went to bed that night. Today I went over for our session and not once did he tug on those hearing aids!! Amazing, I have never seen this before! He was constantly turning around to new sounds, it was a great thing to watch.

Anyway, back to what I do exactly. I am called a SHINE Provider/Early Interventionist here in Florida (Serving Hearing-Impaired Newborns Effectively). I work with infants and toddlers birth-3 with hearing loss. I work with the child to improve/develop his/her communication/ language skills, speech, listening skills, cognitive skills, and personal-social skills. Most of our children just need work on language, speech and listening skills. Some families want their child to learn speech only, some sign only, and some want their child to learn both. Whatever communication mode the family wants, that's what I work on. Basically, we play but I turn it into a learning activity. The point is to do activities that the parents can carry over into their daily routines. An example of a listening activity would be calling the child's name when he/she is not looking. The goal of this would be for the child to turn around. As the child continues to learn to use his/her hearing, the child will learn to turn around after hearing his/her name at greater and greater distances. I don't know if that made sense at all. Sometimes I find it hard to put into words exactly what I am doing. But to continue....We might use snack time as an opportunity to work on vocabulary (whether it's through sign or not), work on having the child communicate his/her wants and needs (requesting what he/she wants), a

nd I might integrate some speech into this activity (if the food was a banana we would work on the "b" sound).

So these are just some examples to demonstrate what I do. Because each child is a different age, has needs in different areas, has varying degrees of hearing loss, lessons are very individually based. I love my job and hopefully I will get some new clients soon as I only have three right now.

Oh and here are some awesome photos of hearing aid molds. I know most of you might find this very strange, but I think they're beautiful and it puts a smile on my face =) I found them on some person's blog when I googled hearing aid molds: http://www.octamom.com This lady has eight kids (hence the blog name octamom), one of which has hearing loss. She was actually on the news too!

I need to get watching my movie, it's late!!

Chicken and Bowtie Pasta with Asiago Cream Sauce

I wasn't the biggest fan of this recipe, partly because I liked the last pasta we made so much more (see previous Cajun Chicken Linguini). Plus it wasn't very good left over. But I felt I should still post it anyway. I think for our next pasta we will try a red sauce recipe.

Chicken and Bowtie Pasta with Asiago Cream Sauce

• Farfalle (Bowtie) Pasta
• Chicken Breast
• Peppers (any colors)
• Onion
• 2 Cups Heavy Cream
• 1 Chicken Bouillon
• 3/4 Cup Grated Asiago Cheese
• 1/2 tbsp. Cornstarch
• 2 tbsp. Butter
• 1 tbsp. Fresh Garlic

1. Cook pasta until al dente.

2. Cut chicken into cubes and cook. Set aside.

3. Saute peppers and onion in vegetable oil or butter.

4. In medium saucepan, bring 2 cups heavy cream to simmer, stirring often. Whisk in bouillon and cheese until well blended and bouillon is dissolved completely. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tbsp. water and whisk into mixture.

5. Add pasta to sauce and serve. Top pasta with chicken and peppers/onions.

Fried Breaded Squash

Breaded Squash

• Vegetable Oil
• 1 egg
• Bread Crumbs
• Parmesan
• Squash, sliced

1. Beat the egg in one bowl.

2. Pour the bread crumbs and freshly grated parmesan into another bowl (I just eyed it, no measurements)

3. Dip the sliced squash into the egg, then dip them into the bread crumbs, coating both sides.

4. Heat oil in a saute pan (I used a fondue pot). When the oil is hot, add the squash slices. Cook until browned.

5. Serve with marinara sauce *optional

Blackberry Cobbler

MMMmmm......this was delicious!!! Another recipe from http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Blackberry Cobbler

• 6 cups Fresh or Frozen Blackberries
• 1/2 Cups plus 4 tbsp. Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
• Lemon Zest of Half a Lemon
• 2 Cups Flour
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 1 tbsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 Cups Crisco
• 4 tbsp. Butter
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Cup Milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine blackberries, ½ cup sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Stir and spread out in a buttered pyrex dish.

2. In a separate bowl pour flour, salt, baking powder, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Add shortening and butter and work mixture together with a pastry blender (or your fingers) until the mixture is coarse. Measure ½ cup milk, add an egg, and mix together. Pour into flour mixture, stirring as you go. Mixture should be smooth and not dry, but not over stickly.

3. Take clumps of dough and place them on top of the blackberries. Lightly flatten dough with your fingertips. Sprinkle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar and bake until golden for 30 minutes. Berry juice will be slightly thin, but don’t be afraid. It will gradually soak into the biscuity topping and make your life complete.

4. Top with Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.

Steak Bites

Okay so I am a little behind on posting my new recipes, BUT I have been making them. So the next four posts will be dedicated to those.

This recipe is steak bites. I know, it's kinda an iffy new recipe, seeing as how steak is steak no matter how you cook it. However, I'm pretty sure we have never even cooked steak before. We pretty much only have it if we go out or when we go to Brett and Kristen's once a week for dinner. So in my mind this is a new recipe.

By the way I got this recipe from http://thepioneerwoman.com/ Kristen suggested this website to me and I LOVE it! She has lots of recipes. You should take a look at it.


Steak Bites

• 1 Pound Sirloin Steak or Pre-cut Beef Tips
• Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• 2 tbsp. Butter

1. Cut the sirloin into small bite-sized pieces.

2. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground pepper. Toss the meat around a bit to thoroughly coat with the seasonings (I think we also added some season all).

3. Heat the skillet over medium high to high heat. As the pan heats, add about 2 tablespoons butter to the skillet. Allow the butter to melt, then brown, before you add the meat.

4. Place the meat in the pan in a single layer. It should sizzle loudly when it hits the pan – if it doesn’t, the pan isn’t hot enough. Don’t stir or disrupt the meat for 30-45 seconds. You want it to sizzle and brown on one side. Scoop as many steak bites as you can with your spatula and flip them over. Repeat until all the meat is turned. Cook for an additional 30 to 45 seconds—just long enough to sear the outside of the meat but NOT cook the inside (we cooked it quite a bit longer, it was pretty done inside).

hApPy bIrThDaY ySaBeLla!!

Today is my baby sister's 2nd birthday! Happy Birthday Bella!!! Love you!

Happy Valentines!!!

I know this title is almost a week late, I had meant to do it Sunday, but I guess I forgot. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines with their wonderful Valentine. Here's a picture of the beautiful flowers Chad got for me.

We didn't really do anything this year. First of all it fell on a Sunday and as we all know Sundays are not a minister's day off. But Friday we had a nice dinner here. I made him brownies (shown below) and we ate chicken and breaded squash and cooked them in our fondue pot. I LOVE using our fondue pot and we don't use it enough. Usually once a year. For our second anniversary Chad took me to "The Melting Pot" as a surprise. It was AWESOME!!!! If you don't know what it is, it is a fondue restaurant. And you can get a three course meal- bread dipped in cheese for the appetizer, meats for the main dish, and fruit dipped in chocolate for the dessert. MMMmmmm....Actually tonight we used our fondue pot to dip our fruit in chocolate. White chocolate that is. I don't really like chocolate.

Anyways...back to Valentines with my Valentine. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband. One of our youth group kids told me "He takes good care of you," and that is so true. If I have to grow old, I'm glad I get to grow old with him.

Baker's Chocolate & Mocha Sweethearts

• 4 squares Baker's unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4 cup margarine or chocolate
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup General Foods International Suisse Mocha Cafe (or any other flavor)
• 6 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of oil extending over sides. Spray foil with cooking spray.

3. Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on high for two minutes or until butter is melted; stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and flavored instant coffee; stir until well blended. Spread into prepared pan.

4. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes with fudgy crumbs. Cool completely. Use foil handles to remove brownie from pan. Cut into shapes with heart shaped cookie cutter (optional*). Melt semi-sweet chocolate as directed on package. Dip tops of brownies hearts into chocolate. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm.

These were pretty good, but there are a few things I would change if I made it again. First of all, I wonder how it would taste if I used another flavor of instant coffee like Cafe Latte instead of Suisse Mocha. You just couldn't really taste a difference with the Suisse Mocha. Tasted like chocolate. Also, make sure you check the brownies several minutes before it says they are done. I took mine out after about 28 minuets and I wished I had taken them out sooner. And lastly, don't refrigerate the brownies. There is really no need. The chocolate will firm up whether or not you refrigerate them, and honestly, who likes cold brownies??

Puppies, Manatees, Stingrays, Oh My!

Yesterday was Saturday and I was in the mood to get out of the house and do something. So we did what we usually do over the weekends- went to the puppy store to look at and hold puppies and wish we could have one. We REALLY want one, but right now we don't really

have the money. Besides the fact that puppies are expensive to take care of, we would have to pay an additional like $200 per month on top of our rent to have pets here. And we don't have a yard and I would hate to have it stuck in an apartment all day. Needless to say we won't be getting a puppy for a while. But that doesn't mean we can't look!!!

How can you resist those eyes!

After the puppy store we went to Manatee Viewing Center (http://www.tampaelectric.com/manatee/), which I've been dying to go to for a while. It was AWESOME! It's at Tampa's power station (weird, I know) and is only open November-April. Apparently this is where manatees liked to gather when the water temperatures fell below 68 degrees. So when the power station began producing power, they awarded that area as an official manatee sanctuary. There were hundreds of manatees, which was really neat to see. They stay under water a lot though, so it was difficult to get a picture of them, but here is one I was able to snatch a picture of.

And here is a picture, which I found on their website, that gives you an idea of how many manatees gather. There was too many to count, but you could just see hundreds of mounds that stick a little bit out of the water.

And besides manatees, there were also a couple sharks jumping around. I didn't ever see one, but Chad did a couple times. And there were jumping stingrays! I never knew stingrays did that, but apparently they do this to claim their spot, or their dinner table as the man at the center said. It was pretty amusing to watch. Here is a short video I got of them. I know, I'm a nerd!

Anyways it was very cool and I think we will go back when we have a little bit warmer of a weekend. Off to make lunch!

Creamy Potato Soup

For our main dish this week we tried out a new recipe for potato soup. I make potato soup pretty often in the colder months, but this one is quite different from my usual. It's supposed to be a knock off of Panera Bread's potato soup, but I'll be the one to tell you, it doesn't taste quite like theirs. BUT it is still quite good. And I think I will add it to our menu! Here it is.

Creamy Potato Soup

• 6 cups Chicken Broth
• 6 cups Potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 tsp. Seasoning Salt
• 1/4 tsp. White Pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Ground Red Pepper
• 1 (8 oz.) pkg Cream Cheese, cut into chunks, room temperature
• Bacon Bits (optional)
• Chives (optional)

1. Combine broth, potatoes, and spices. Cook until potatoes are tender. Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening. If you like it smooth and thick, smash more, if you like it soupy just smash a little of it.

2. Reduce to low heat. Add cream cheese. Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese melts (the cheese may look lumpy and rise to the surface, but just keep stirring and it will eventually melt).

3. Sprinkle soup with bacon and chives if desirable.

I figure if I'm gonna try these new recipes, I'm gonna go all out and so I bought a round bread loaf and made a bread bowl. After all, that's how Panera serves theirs!

Bacon Sausage Wraps

This is our appetizer recipe for the week and let me tell you they are delicious! My preacher's wife (in Missouri) made these a few times and they were so good I had to get the recipe. So I give the credit to Johnna for these. Chad and I made them for the Super Bowl Party and they were a hit. They were all gone by the time we left. And we made A LOT, thanks to Sam's bulk packaging.

Sausage Bacon Wraps

• Lil' Smokie Sausages
• Bacon
• Brown Sugar

1. Cut each slice of bacon into thirds.

2. Wrap a piece of bacon around each sausage. Use toothpick to hold it in place.

3. Sprinkle with brown sugar all over and allow to set all day or even over night.

4. Bake in oven on 350 until brown.

Very easy!!!

And as I mentioned in a previous post, there was Baked Bologna at the Super Bowl Party for all to enjoy. I did try it, and while I wasn't the biggest fan, it wasn't bad. The texture was a little too much and maybe just knowing that I was in fact eating bologna made me think that one bite was enough for me. But Mr. Bob did do a great job cooking and housing us at the Super Bowl Party.

Week's Happenings

Let me apologize in advance for my very uncreative Blog title. It will probably often be quite uncreative, I was never good at titles. Oh well.

I went to the fruit and vegetable market this week to pick up some, well, fruits and veggies. I love going to this little stand/market. It's actually quite big, is open year-round, and has lots of options. It's also quite a bit cheaper than the grocery store or Wal-Mart. Anyhow, I went to pick up some foods and saw stands and stands of flowers. I always have to have a look because I love plants and I love to have plants inside, I think it gives more of a homey feel and it just makes me happy. Well they were selling these flowers for $1! Yeah what a bargain. It made my day and cost very little! Oh and when I was picking some out, a butterfly landed on the flowers. I wished I'd had a camera and then remembered I had one on my phone. Though, not the best quality, it did the job.

Last weekend we also got rid of our tree. FINALLY. We just hadn't been home much since Christmas. Lots of youth group events and such. It was surprising, though, how good the tree looked for having been up for 2 months and 1 month with no water. It wasn't as vibrant a green, but still green and hardly any needles had fallen (that is, until we took the tree down).

Chad is about to get home and I need to get lunch going. Chicken Quesadillas, MMmmm...

Oh and we have a superbowl party tonight with the teens where we will be served Baked Bologna...yeah sounds delicious, huh? I'll let you know how it is, I will have to at least try it, but I admit I am quite skeptical.

Success!!

Happy Sunday! Chad is at church and so I thought I would do a little blogging. I went to early service, but poor Chad has to go to both services which makes for a really long day for him!

Well this week we made our first new recipes. One was a success and the other not so much. As I mentioned earlier, my goal is make one new dish as well as one new finger food or appetizer

or dessert. So we thought we would try and make sugar coated pecans. We LOVE these, but had never tried making these ourselves. Well, they were not good. First of all we burnt them. We checked them every ten minutes and stirred them around (they are supposed to cook for 30 min.) but the last 10 minutes is what did them in. Besides the fact that they were burnt, they weren't all that sweet. We are thinking that we need to not only add more sugar, but maybe replace the white sugar with brown. I don't know. Any ideas? Has anyone made these before? My aunt has and they are delicious, but she lost her recipe and this is one she found on-line, but they didn't taste anything like hers. So we will just have to try them again sometime. Too bad pecans are so expensive!

BUT our second attempt at creating a new dish turned out excellent! A couple of weeks ago we went to Red Lobster for dinner. We don't usually eat there but we had a gift card and who can turn down a free meal! So I got my usual shrimp and Chad got Cajun Chicken Linguini Alfredo.

It was absolutely delicious!!! So I thought, why not try to make that? So I googled the recipe and found a few different ones. I combined what I liked about 3 different recipes I found to make the perfect Cajun Chicken Linguini Alfredo. I went ahead and provided you with the recipe below. If anybody makes this, let me know how it turns out and if you make any changes!

Chicken Linguini Alfredo

• 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Cajun Seasoning
• Red Pepper
• Green Pepper
• Yellow Pepper
• Onion
• Linguini

• 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
• 1 1/2 tbsp. Minced Garlic
• 1/4 tsp. Basil
• 1/4 tsp. Lemon Pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/8 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Cook linguini as you would regular spaghetti (as far as measurements go....I'm horrible with measuring how much pasta to use. I used a little pasta measurer and measured out 2 servings).

2. Place chicken in plastic bag and season with cajun seasoning. Shake to coat (we did not measure the cajun spice, we just eye-balled it. It really just depends on how seasoned you like your chicken). In a large skillet over medium heat, saute chicken in butter until almost tender. When almost cooked, add peppers and onion.

3. For sauce: In a saute pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp. olive oil. Add garlic and lightly carmelize. Then add the heavy cream, basil, lemon pepper, salt, pepper. When sauce is to desired consistency (it won't be real thick, and don't cook too long or it will start to separate!) add parmesan (we bought a block of parmesan and grated it. There's something about real freshly grated parmesan- tastes delicious!).

4. Add linguini to sauce. Toss and heat through. Serve with chicken and peppers on top. Enjoy!