Cashew Chicken Recipe

Ok...so I had a few inquiries about my cashew chicken and since I know there are lots of restaurants that sell this, I wanted to let you all in on a little secret recipe and share Arlaine's (Nick's Mom) recipe of Cashew Chicken, which is Springfield style, which is in my opinion the only way to have it! Hope you enjoy if you decide to try it. I would say that it is almost one of my favorite home-cooked meals too. It is definitely Nick's!

Arlaine Bell’s Famous Springfield Style Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour 1 T garlic powder
1 T salt 2 eggs
½ cup milk 5-6 chicken breasts

Directions: Thaw chicken and cut into bite sized pieces. Mix eggs and milk and put chicken in there for about 5 minutes, but no longer. Mix flour, garlic powder and salt in another bowl and put chicken in there (without the milk mixture, go ahead and pour this out as you won’t be using it anymore). Heat skillet fryer to about 350-400 and melt a stick of margarine/butter and about ½ cup of oil. Fry in a skillet until golden brown and serve on top of rice with gravy sauce listed below. Arlaine Bell.

Cashew Chicken Gravy

Ingredients:
Chicken bouillon Oyster sauce
Water cornstarch

Directions: Doing a 1-to-1-to-1 ratio of each item, put a Tablespoon of bouillon and a Tablespoon of Oyster sauce and 1 cup of water to boil on stove top. Make more cups and more Tablespoons according to how much gravy you need. Then add cornstarch mixed in water to thicken gravy and serve on top of cashew chicken with rice. Arlaine Bell

Family Pictures 2009

Our family pictures from February 2009...

Just reminded of how old and grown-up Kayley is getting from all the pics!...Cora too!

We tried to get a few pics of just the girls, but Cora wouldn't leave my side...

Overall I thought they turned out pretty good. I always stress that one of the girls are going to freak out by one little thing the photographer says or does and that Nick's eyes are going to be shut. I was pretty pleased...although as you can see Cora seemed to have a little bit of a hard time at times, but we were able to get one that everyone was smiling and everyone's eyes were open! Wahoo! :)

Dates and more Dates

Nick went with Kayley to this Parents as Teachers Daddy/Daughter Valentine's Day Party. She was absolutely excited about going to it as we told her it was just going to be her and Daddy. She requested to ride in his truck with him and to wear her Sleeping Beauty Princess Dress. They had a blast! They came home with this cute magnet (or maggot as Kayley still calls it!) to be put on my fridge. I'm so glad that I'm blessed with such a sweet husband who is loving and kind to me and will do anything for his girls. It just made for such a special night for Kayley..she is anxiously waiting her next Daddy/Daughter date! Oh...and to make things extra special for Kayley, her song played on the radio on the way to their date. Her song is "Love Story" by Taylor Swift b/c it says "You be the prince and I'll be the princess." She always asks for me to look for her "Prince and Princess" song...you can listen to it below on our playlist if you haven't heard it before.

Then, we had a great Valentine's Day as I'm hoping everyone else did too! We decided to make it low key in order to save money. So to start it off, Nick came home on Friday after work and surprised me with my favorite snack, Jalepeno Cheddar Bites from Captain D's...with Ranch, they are to die for! :) I was excited and devoured them very quickly! Then, Nick's treat was for me to make him Cashew Chicken on Sunday (his favorite meal of all time), which we all enjoyed yesterday! Then we decided to do something different than what we do all the time. We like to go out to eat, but we very rarely go out to eat for Pizza at a Pizza Restaurant. Well, Saturday started and we went out on our normal errands. We got hungry, but didn't want to go out to eat for dinner yet, b/c it was too early, so we stopped at Sam's to get a snack and ended up getting pizza...so that pizza idea was shot. We decided instead to go to El Maguey's. It was still out of the ordinary as Nick is not a big fan of Mexican and we hadn't eaten at this one in Blue Springs yet. So we went and it was a success for everyone...even Nick! We also had a coupon, which made things even better! I love getting a bargain! It was a great Valentine's Day, but the best part was that I got to spend it with my very favorite 3 people in the world, Nick, Kayley, & Cora!

The Cutest Apology

Ok...I just have to write this so that I don't forget because it was so cute to me. The other day was Nick's day off during the week and we went to Petsmart to get some things for our new dog, einstein. Well, we were planning on going to Michelle's to see Shannon in the evening and on the way home from our errands the girls both fell asleep. We decided it would be best to let the girls sleep in the car while we got the dog washed before heading to Michelle's. We left the door open to the garage and the windows down so we could hear the girls. Well, evidently we weren't listening well enough as Kayley woke up saying she had to go potty, but she couldn't get out of her carseat as we had kept her strapped in to keep her asleep. Well we cleaned it up and had a fun visit at Michelle's. On the way home from eating dinner, Kayley got in her seat and as I was strapping her in, she said, "Sorry I peed in my carseat mom." I told her it was ok and it wasn't all her fault and that Mommy and Daddy should have listened for her better. I then told Nick what she said and he told Kayley it wasn't her fault either and then Kayley replied with, "Yep, it's partly your fault Dad." It was so funny and really cute and sweet that her apology was so sincere. I love our girls.

We Have Really Done It This Time!!!

Well, I thought we had done it with the guinea pig, but no, we had to go and get a dog! Both Nick and I like dogs, but we had both wanted a dog at separate occassions and finally we decided to go for it. After much contemplation on what kindto get from our selection on petfinder.com, we decided to go with a Basset Hound/Beagle mix. He is so cute and looks more Basset Hound to us than Beagle. Apparently they call this breed a Bagle Hound, so his name is Einstein (that was his name when we got him and we kept the name)...for those that don't know their is a Bagel chain here in KC area that is called Einstein's Bagels, which is where his name comes from. He is the sweetest dog and as you can see is well loved by our girls, especially Cora. "Sti Stein" are the first words out of her mouth in the morning. Kayley actually likes him a lot too as we were afraid she wouldn't want anything to do with him. He's part inside/outside, so we are working on housetraining, which is going sort of ok if we can master his marking his territory. Apparently it takes about 6 months for hormones to get regulated from neutering. We've also lost him twice since we've gotten him...another feature of Basset Hounds is to follow their sent until they don't even realize they are lost. Well we lost them at Michelle's. After we searched for about 2 hours, we happened to come across the car of two girls who had picked him up and had been looking for the owners for the past two hours also. We hadn't put a tag on him yet with our number b/c we still weren't sure on his name. Then he got out once from our gate, but we found him in our street in the front yard luckily. We have now boarded up all possible escape routes in our fence. He also has a tag with both our numbers on it. So far, so good on having a dog. We just have to stay on top of bathing him/cleaning up after him as my allergies sometimes act up if we're not careful. Oh...and the picture of Bubbles is up there to show that we still have her, although she doesn't get played with as much now that we have Einstein. We worry that the more we play with her around the dog, that Einstein will want to explore later when we aren't looking with her and that may not end up as a good ending if you know what I mean! But Bubbles is still a part of the Bell family and I like cleaning up after her poop better than Einstein's! :)

Pictures of Einstein

Ok...per request of Nick...he wanted some pictures of Einstein standing up so you could see what he looks like. Well, I tried to earlier before I put his original post up, but he wouldn't hold still enough for me. So, here are the pics that we downloaded from Petfinder.com that they had on their website. I still think he looks cuter in person seeing his personality and all, but they are still cute of him.

Maybe I'm doing something right?

Today I went visiting teaching and one of the sisters I visit teach is subbing for sunbeams, which is Kayley's class. She told me some fun stories of them and what they say. Well she said one of her lessons recently was on Joseph Smith and she asked the kids if they knew who Joseph Smith was. She said the kids would respond with who their favorite cartoon was, etc and I was fully expecting an answer from Kayley that involved princesses. However I was proven wrong when her teacher said that Kayley responded first with, "Guys don't you know who Joseph Smith is, the prophet?" I was just beaming from ear to ear inside thinking that my little girl is growing so much and she is so smart and that what we do talk about during scripture study and family home evening is getting through to her. I love the Gospel and the knowledge we receive from it and the blessings we receive too. I know I wouldn't be the mom I am without it (which I'm not anywhere near perfect, but I'd like to be someday)! I love my family! This is a pic of Kayley & Audrey posing together for a picture.

Meeting Baby Big (Andrew McKay Sanders)

Well, this last weekend we got to go to Jeff City to see Andrew or "Baby Big" & my sister, Jan, who were up from Florida visiting my Mom and Otto. We had a lot of fun getting to hold him and pass him around and as you can tell from the pictures, he was very cooperative, even with the kiddos holding him! He sure is a sweet boy and we miss him already! If only Florida were a bit closer to us! But, he definitely lives up to his namesake, my brother Andrew as he is already the same size or bigger than Cora who is only 18 months and he is only 5 months! We really had a great time!

Oh and a side note on Kayley's new fettish with Rainbow Brite. A while back I found a 50 cent book at the dollar store about Rainbow Brite, so I took a trip down memory lane and got it for her and loved reading it to her as I loved Rainbow Brite when I was little. So when at my Mom's, I showed her the Rainbow Brite that Katie had that I also loved to play with when I was little. Katie and I were both into her as Mom also made her a Rainbow Brite costume for Halloween one year. Anyway, Kayley wouldn't put it down the whole time we were there and didn't want to leave without it. But we finally got away without taking it from Jani's house and Kayley told us when we got home that she was so proud of Grandma Jani for having a Rainbow Brite. Now she wants one for herself. So, about every other night now she asks me if it's going to be warm outside the next day as I told her the best way to find a Rainbow Brite is to go look at Garage Sales for it. So she is now patiently waiting for the hunt to start, or at least as patiently as a 3 year old can wait! :) The hunt is on!

Kids Say the Darndest Things...Little Updates

The other day the girls and I were at Aldi's doing regular shopping. Well, as most mom's know that shopping with kids are not fun at times, especially Aldi's since usually if you're like me you are stocking up and have a lot of groceries. Anyway, I was checking out and asked the girls to go stand by the tables where you load your groceries. Kayley told me she wanted to get a drink so I told her to go full knowing that she could barely reach the water unless I held her up. Anyway, Cora soon followed her and then Kayley comes up to me and said she helped Cora get a drink. I didn't think much of it as I was quickly trying to get groceries loaded. Then, Kayley mentioned to me that since Cora couldn't reach the water, Kayley put some water on her hand and then let Cora lick it off of her hand. I just started cracking up! Then sure enough a little bit later, I was able to be an eye witness to it! It was hilarious and I was bummed I didn't have my camera, but it sure was funny!

The girls are so funny and are definitely siblings and do what siblings do as you see them love to play with each other as well as fight like crazy. Most of the time it is Cora who picks on her big sister too! I can only imagine how it will be when they get older. The other night Kayley asked Cora to get her and Cora would run up to her and tackle her and they would both fall down and crack up at each other. It was funny to see little bitty Cora take down Kayley.

This is a picture of Kayley, Cora, & Ashlyn taking a bath together the other day. Grandma Bell came up to visit for the weekend to see Toodles and Bubbles. On Saturday, we told Kayley that they could all take a bath together (Kayley, Ashlyn, & Cora that is...) and she could not stop talking about it! They had a blast, especially when Aunt Michelle pulled out the bubbles to blow during bathtime...they are going to want to take baths at Michelle's house all the time!

Oh and on a side note...we sadly had to take Toodles back to the pet store the other day. She often times would nip at me on my fingers when I got her out of her cage and usually that could be calmed and stopped with a treat, but then the other day she kept doing it and she bit me really hard. Well, we decided that she may not be a good mix with our family and were scared that she would end up biting the girls, so we took her back. We still have Bubbles though who is still as sweet as can be and are on the hunt for a friend for her. We'll have to update later on if we get her a friend or not.

And one more thing...the other day I turned on the inauguration and without telling her, Kayley said "Mom, Barack Obama is on tv"...I was impressed that she remembered his name without me reminding her. Back on election day, we had a Parents as Teachers storytime and they had a mock election and the kids voted for either Dora or Diego to be president. We later talked about the election that day and Obama and McCain and how Mommy wanted McCain to win. Kayley wanted to call Daddy and ask him who he was going to vote for. Of course Nick likes to push my buttons and told her he was going to vote for Obama. Kayley told him he was nuts! Then later the next day Kayley asked who won and I told her Obama and she was so cute as she replied with an "Oh man!" It's cute to see how she got into it all and then remembered it all during the inauguration. I will also so it's cute to hear her say their names!

Announcing...

No...I'm NOT pregnant!! But we do have TWO, yes I said two new babies in our family and I don't have to have any stretch marks from them! We decided to get a guinea pig about a week ago and thought it would be good for the girls and low maintenance for us (me) who would be taking care of them for the most part. Well, we loved her so much that we decided to get another one to add to the mix. We called all the pet stores on Saturday around us and they were out of guinea pigs except for the males and we don't want anymore than two guinea pigs...we also found out it's not mating season. But, we finally got another female and they are surprisingly getting along as you can see I found them this morning cuddling together in their cage that yes, was built by Nick. He was like a kid in the candy store making it. They have a three level house and I'm a bit jealous that their house is bigger than mine!

Their names are Toodles and Bubbles...both names picked out by Kayley. Kayley came up with Toodles (which is the darker brown haired one with shorter hair) when we were at the pet store I asked Kayley what she wanted to name her (she was the first one we got) and she said, "Um...how about Toodles?" So that was the deciding factor on that one. Toodles comes from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoon...it's a tool that Mickey Mouse uses to solve the puzzle for the day. When they need him he says, "Oh Toodles!" And we always love to say that when we get Toodles out. Then when we got the second one (the lighter colored, fluffier one) we asked Kayley what she wanted to name her and she said, "Mickey Mouse." Obviously to stick with the theme of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We proceeded to tell her that was a boy's name and our guinea pig was a girl, so we suggested Minnie Mouse and she liked it, so her name was Minnie for a bit, but Nick didn't like the name, so he suggested Bubbles to Kayley and she of course liked it, so it went to a vote and I was out-voted as I preferred Minnie, but I do have to say that Toodles and Bubbles goes together better than Toodles and Minnie.

They are a lot of fun so far. Cora has only been the brave one to actually hold them on a consistent basis. Kayley held Toodles as soon as we got her and came home and she started to talk, which scared Kayley and made Kayley jump, which scared Toodles and her finger nails scratched her a bit, so now she just likes to pet them. But, Cora will actually be ok with me putting one of them in her lap. But, one of our favorite things to do is cuddle with them (which consists of me holding them on my lap) and watching tv with them. I've found Toodles favorite spot to pet and I can almost get her to start purring on contact now. We're anxious to find out what Bubbles favorite spot is and learn more about her personality.