The Good Dinosaur Dinner

For tonight's dinner, we watched The Good Dinosaur.  It's been a blast introducing Olivia to all sorts of cartoons!

We had The Ranch's Chicken (Dijionaise), Clawtooth Mountain Snacks, Spot's Berries, The Green Dinosaur Cocktail, and Arlo's Footprint Cookies.

The Ranch's Chicken (Dijonnaise)

I found a few recipes online and combined them.  Here is the one I got the most inspiration from. 

Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts

5 tablespoons of butter

4 shallots, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup of Sherry 

4 Tablespoons of Dijon Mustard

1/2 cup of milk

1/4 teaspoon of Rosemary

1/4 teaspoon of Thyme

1/4 teaspoon of Tarragon 

1/2 teaspoon of Peppercorn

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Flatten the chicken breasts and season each with salt and pepper. 

2. Cook the chicken with 2 tablespoons of butter for about 10 minutes on medium high heat, flipping occasionally.

3. Use the rest of the butter and melt in a saucepan.

4. Add garlic and shallots until tender.

5. Add wine and mustard until it reduces by about half.

6. Add milk and the rest of the spices.

7. Simmer until it thickens a little and cover the cooked chicken with the sauce. 

Clawtooth Mountain Snacks

We got some bugles from the grocery story.

Spot's Berries

We used raspberries from the grocery store.

The Green Dinosaur Cocktail

I found the recipe here and tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients:

1oz of Gin

1oz of Midori

1oz of Sweet and Sour Mix

1oz of White Rum

1oz of Triple Sec

1oz of Whipped Cream Vodka

2oz of Sprite 

*Drink with caution!!!

Arlo's Footprint Cookies

I saw the idea online and decided to try it out using my awesome sugar cookie recipe that comes from our Toy Story 2 dinner. 

Directions:

1. Once you have your dough made, take 1/4 of the dough out of the mixer and set aside.

2. Add 4-5 drops of green food coloring until you get the right green.  

3. Make little balls of the green in the palm of your hand.  

4. Then make four small balls of uncolored dough and make the toes.  

5. Once on the baking sheet, flatten slightly.

6. Cook on 425 degrees for nine minutes. 

Olivia had green beans to stay with the theme!

We had a great time!

The Office Dinner

While we've been taking care of Olivia, Tim and I decided to watch The Office again and do a dinner! 

For dinner we had Big Tuna Sandwiches, Michael Scott's Morning Bacon, Nard Dogs, Pretzel Day Pretzels, Mini Stapler in Jell-O, Future Dwight's Poison Coffee, and Break Me Off A Piece of That... (Whole Sale Car, Applesauce, Fancy Feast). 

Big Tuna Sandwiches

Drain the canned tuna and add Miracle Whip to taste and spread on wheat bread.

Michael Scott's Morning Bacon

On a skillet, cook bacon until crispy!

Nard Dogs

I boiled the hot dogs for five minutes and then Tim tried to write Nard Dog in Ketchup and Mustard! Haha!!

Pretzel Day Pretzels

We got Pretzels from Target!

Mini Stapler in Jell-O

Directions:

1. Make half of the Jell-O mix according to package directions.

2. Pour in a lightly greased bowl and put in the fridge for about four hours.

3. Place the stapler on the hardened Jell-O

4. Make the remaining half of the Jell-O and pour on top of the stapler.

5. Place in the fridge again for another four hours.

6. Use a spatula and a plate to get the Jell-O out of bowl.

*I was unable to make this work.  It's a lot harder than it looks.  Jim's got mad skillz. 

What it should look like!  (oops...) 

Future Dwight's Poison Coffee

Tim just made up some regular coffee and decorated a mug for the dinner!

Break Me Off a Piece of That...

We did decide to dress up a bit!  Let me introduce Dwight Schrute, Creed Bratton, and Pam Beesley!

Olivia makes an ADORABLE Creed!

We had a fun dinner!  Pretty easy and low key!

Drop Dead Gorgeous Dinner

This weekend we had a Wolf/Wilsey Weekend where we watched Drop Dead Gorgeous and celebrated all things Minnesotan! 

I literally made nothing but the ideas were mine!  It was a pretty relaxing evening for me!  We had St. Paul Pork Products: Pork Tenderloin, "Who knows the last time it's been cleaned" (twice cooked) Shrimp Ceviche, Broccoli Salad, Lutheran Funeral Jell-O Salad, Grape Kool-Aid for the Blood of Christ, Minnesota Nice Wine, and Annette's third degree beer.   For dessert, we had coffee and bars. 

St. Paul Pork Products: Pork Tenderloin 

My dad cooked up some pork tenderloin on the grill. 

"Who knows the last time it was cleaned" (twice cooked) Shrimp Ceviche

My mom makes this excellent shrimp ceviche but she gets a little nervous at the idea of shrimp being cooked by the acidity of limes (true story).  So she cooks it before she puts it in the ceviche so that no one gets sick like those beauty queens. 

Broccoli Salad

We just picked up some broccoli salad from the grocery store

Lutheran Funeral Jell-O Salad

This is an old recipe we've used for years

Ingredients:

6oz of Raspberry Jell-O Mix

20oz of frozen raspberries

1 cup of whipping cream

6oz of cream cheese

2 cups of hot water

12 large marshmallows cut into small pieces

Directions:

1. Dissolve Jell-O in hot water.  

2. Add raspberries along with the juice.

3. Pour into a pan and chill until firm.

4. Combine cream, marshmallows, cream cheese, and whip them until stiff.

5. Spread over Jell-O and chill. 

Grape Kool-Aid for the Blood of Christ

I made Grape Kool-Aid according to package directions and poured them in "communion cups."  

Yes, we improvised with shot glasses.

Yes, we are going to hell.......

Minnesota Nice Wine

We have "You Betcha Blush", "Hot Dish Red" and "Wobegon White"

Annette's third degree beer

We wrapped Lindsey and Jake's hands with Ace bandage wrap while holding a Miller Lite

And no Lutheran shindig would be complete with coffee and bars

These are Patty's famous Hershey Bar Bars!  YUM!!!!

The whole Wilsey clan got to meet Miss Olivia too!  It was a fabulous weekend! 

Parenthood Dinner

We are just finishing up the TV show Parenthood and decided to have an easy themed dinner!

For dinner we had Sandwiches from the Luncheonette, Max's Orange Skillet Scrambled Eggs, Berto's Stolen Cashew Butter on Julia's all-natural banana bread, The Fever Cocktail, and Vending Machine Skittles. 

Sandwiches from the Luncheonette

I just got sandwiches from the Hornbacher's deli! (So glad to be near a Hornbacher's)

Max's Orange Skillet Scrambled Eggs

3 eggs with milk in a skillet (preferably orange) on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. 

Berto's Stolen Cashew Butter on Julia's All Natural Banana Bread

I bought banana bread and cashew butter from the grocery store and it was pretty tasty.

The Fever Cocktail

1oz of Dark Honey Whiskey

1oz of Aquavit

2 cups of Orange Juice

1/2 cup of Grenadine

And boy, was it awesome!

Vending Machine Skittles

I can't believe we're done with Parenthood!  

But mostly, I can't believe that we're parents!! 

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Dinner

We were so excited to do our Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs dinner and it didn't disappoint! 

For dinner we had Spaghetti with a Chance of Meatballs, Chicken Brent's Chicken Wings, Swallow Falls Sardines, Ocean Water, Sam Sparks' Jell-O Mansion, and for dessert: an Ice Cream Snowball Fight!

Spaghetti With A Chance Of Meatballs

I used the same recipe that we made for Lady and the Tramp!

Chicken Brent's Chicken Wings

Tim picked up two different kinds of Buffalo Wild Wings wings!

Swallow Falls Sardines

*Technically these are Jack Mackerels that we got in our Portuguese Try The World box!  

Ocean Water Mocktail

I got the idea here but changed it up! 

Ingredients:

2 drops of Blue Food Coloring

1/4 teaspoon of Coconut Flavoring

Fill Glass with Sprite

Decorate with Swedish Fish

Sam Sparks' Jell-O Mansion
We just made Jell-O according to package directions

Ice Cream Snowball Fight
Three yummy scoops of ice cream!

This was such a fun dinner and I can hardly wait to make a Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 dinner!!