Daddy Deeds

Quick Grilling: Hot Dogs, Potatoes, Fish and Corn

2010-10-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

It was about 6 pm at my house and we were looking for something to eat that was not going to be to hard to cook and take a long time. I told my wife and kids, give me 15 minutes and I will have dinner on the table! So I whipped out following items from the refrigerator:

Hot Dogs (for the kids)
Russet Potatoes
Small Red Skin Potatoes
Green Pepper
Ear of Corn (can not BBQ with out corn on the cob)
Mahi Mahi Fish Filets for my wife and I

Remember, when cooking vegetables TIN FOIL is your friend! Obviously, I fired up my grill to get it nice and hot then I start preparing my potatoes. For the Russet Potatoes, (Quick Version) wash them and then wrap them in Tin Foils. (If you want to do more, you can make some small cuts along the potato, drizzle some olive oil over it and then wrap them in tin foil. This will give them a nice juicy flavor when done) Now for the red skin potatoes, I cut these up in to 8 pcs each, and then lay them in some tin foil. Then thinly slice some vegetables and place them over the potatoes to give the potatoes some of the good juices from the vegetables while they cook. I only used green peppers because this is all we had in our frig but I usually will throw some onions, cucumbers, sliced carrots for some extra flavor. Once I finished putting the green peppers in the foil, I seasoned it with salt and pepper and wrapped it up tightly.

Once I finished the potatoes, I immediately throw these on the grill because these take longer to cook for the potato to soften up.

Next I husked the corn. Very self explanatory there, just make sure you do it over a garbage can or plastic bag because it does get messy. You can spray or brush some olive oil on the corn before placing it on the grill. I will usually wait to put this on when I put the meat on and will put it on side of the grill that is less hot.

For the fish, I seasoned it with the Lemon Pepper that I seasoned the Halibut in before. I put the seasoning on a small plate placed the fish on the seasoning, flipping it so that it covered both sides evenly and then took it out to the grill. Using similar instructions for grilling Halibut, it worked out great and was ready in about 10 minutes.

Now, my 5 year old could not let me forget to cook up some hot dogs for him. What we found out was that my 2 year old now loves hot dogs! YEA!!!! We are excited about this because he has been a very picky eater.

What did you grill this weekend? Do you have any great recipes or ideas for the grill?

Weekend with the Family

2010-10-03T22:13:00.001-07:00

This weekend we ended up at IKEA to get a few things and there was a station for kids to make Halloween crafts with kids. The kids loved it but for as much as I tried to keep my 2 year old clean, more got on me. Luckily the paint at IKEA is easy to wash off. Keep an eye out at your IKEA for some great crafts with the kids.

Then we had a good time at Chuck E Cheese playing games and eating a lot of pizza. I tried to show my 2 year old how to jump rope with this new game but I failed successfully. So I instead, put him on there and lifted him every time the light came down to jump. Alright so I used my kids to cheat.

With all of this being said and all the yard work I was able to accomplish, I would have to say we had a very fun and fulfilling weekend.

Stay Tuned for my upcoming posts about gardening. I got my new cultivator and you can see me rip up the dirt to plant our fall vegetables.

Juggling Family, Work and School

2010-09-28T23:26:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I have posted on my blog and for many great reasons. When I started this blog, I wanted to share with you my daily adventures of being a father, husband and handyman. Well, all of these including a new one to add to the list as a student has taken allot of my time lately. It is very difficult to juggle the daily requirements of being a father and a husband along with the needs of my work and school and I am going to try to share some of my experiences in this as well.

I am currently writing this as a tactic of procrastinating on my paper that is due tomorrow and I am having a very hard time concentrating. It is 11:20 at night, my family is asleep, I am working on the computer knowing that tomorrow is a very long day at work. Every part of me wants to quit my school but I know that I will not achieve anything by quitting.

Hang in there with me and my periodic posts as I go through trying to prioritize my time with my family, school and work. I am looking forward to the cooled off weather so that I can show you some helpful tips on grilling, housework and fun family activities.

Sorry again for my absence!

Wordless Wednesday: Love Notes From The Kids!

2010-08-11T06:54:00.001-07:00

Grilling Series: Halibut and Butternut Squash

2010-07-21T23:35:00.001-07:00

For my first post for the Grilling Series, I decided to go out on a limb and try something that I was not fully comfortable with and have never grilled before. I wanted to grill fish but was not sure what would be the best kind to grill as there is such a large variety of fish to choose from. I went to the local store and got some advise from the butcher as to which kind of fish would be good to grill and he recommended Halibut. Halibut is sweet and mild in fish flavor, which is perfect for me as I do not like a fishy flavor.

Grilling Butternut Squash

*** Before grilling the Halibut, I prepared the Butternut Squash.

1) Use a potato peeler to remove the outside skin and then cut slices about .125” – .1875” thick with a tolerance +/- .0625 (a bit of some engineering talk). Butternut Squash is a bit hard so you will want to put the pieces in a plastic container with plastic wrap with ventilation holes and place it in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes. This will get the Butternut Squash soft before grilling it.

2) Brush some olive oil on each side so that they do not stick to the grill and season them with some salt.

3) Put these on the grill before the Halibut as these take a bit longer to grill.

Now for the Halibut (I was a bit nervous)

1) Seasoning the Halibut: I used a Lemon Pepper seasoning that the butcher suggested which I generously coated the fish.

2) Brush some oil on the grill (not on the fish). This will help the fish from sticking to the grill.

3) With the heat turned up HIGH, place the fish on the grill and close the lid for 2-3 minutes, turn the fish 45 degrees and close the lid for another 2-3 minutes. Be very gentle when turning or flipping the fish, it can easily break apart.

*** This would be a great time to flip your Butternut Squash to make sure they are getting some of the grill marks on both sides. It is important that you watch these and if the edges of the Butternut Squash start to turn black, then you should take them off.

4) You will then turn the fish over and grill it covered for another 2-3 minutes. Yes, you guessed it, you then turn the first 45 degrees and left it on there for about 4-5 minutes to make sure the fish was done.

5) Is It Done: If you have a thermometer, you will want to reach a temperature between 145 and 150 degrees. A good way that I learned when the fish is done is when the fish becomes flaky.

This meal turned out great! I was very impressed with how tender and juice the fish was. Over all it was a very healthy meal that took a bit of time to prepare but kept the kitchen nice and cool with out turning on the stove or oven. The Butternut Squash was very tasty as well.

Note: And for the skewers that you see in the picture above, we had some extra vegetables from our garden that we wanted to use up. This is a very easy and clean way to cook vegetables on the grill. I will be going into using skewers and what you can cook with them on another post soon. Stay tuned!

New BBQ Series and Introduction to Leaning Weber

2010-07-13T20:37:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is BBQ and I am starting a series to share my journey of grilling different foods and recipes. I will be sharing my successes and failures and also showing what grilling tricks worked for me.

First and foremost, I want to introduce you to my friend “Leaning Weber”. It isn’t pretty from the outside but remember looks aren’t everything, it’s what is on the inside counts and how it performs, Right Men?. You may wonder how I gave it this name, well, look at the picture to the left. Let’s just say, I did not take this picture while tilting the camera. It has Character!

I was given this grill as a hand-me down from a friend about 6 years ago because he got a brand new one. The first time I saw Weber, I had my doubts but when I used it for the first time, I could not believe how well it cooked the food. Because of Weber, I began to really like grilling.

I will update a new Grilling Post each week that Weber and I work together. Stay tuned for the HOT updates and get your spatulas out to join the fun!

Learn, Play and Escape the AZ Heat

2010-07-11T08:23:00.001-07:00

Daddy Deed: Escape the heat and take the kids to see some Dinosaurs!

Are you looking for a great place to beat the heat and teach your kids about Arizona history? Take them to the Arizona Museum of Natural History. My son loves looking at the Dinosaur bones they have on exhibit, especially his favorite, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

We visited the museum yesterday with my sons friend from school. They had a blast panning for gold, walking through the caves, old jail cells and watched the Dessert Monsoon waterfall that goes off every 20 minutes.

Admission is $10 per adult and $6 per child 3+. Because we knew that we would be coming back here alot, we decided to get a membership which would save money over time.

For the rest of this year, they are offering FREE Admission on the first Sunday of each month!

When Your Patience Is Running On Empty

2010-07-06T22:27:00.001-07:00

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Can I have…. Can I have…. Please… Please…. I want…. I want… Daddy!

We have all heard this from our kids and when we are working on something that takes our full attention, it can get frustrating to hear this over and over again.

As a Parent, you have to learn to remain calm and have patience for your kids. But there are times when you just want to scream. Being a parent is very difficult and exhausting and I want to share some tricks with you that I have learned over the past 5 years of being Dad to help remain calm without screaming and yelling at your kids.

Here are a few tips I have learned:

Walk Away – Leave the room for a few minutes to get your composure and then when ready go back in and talk with your kids. Explain to them that you are busy and you will be there to help them in a few minutes. (Make sure you don’t push it though. The kids will get impatient waiting for you. Make sure you get done what you have to and if you need to go back, you can later.)
Close Your Eyes and Take a Deep Breath – Sometimes a good deep breath and closing your eyes can do the trick. I do this a lot to help reduce my stress levels and it works for me.
Create signs – It is important that you and your spouse communicate when you are feeling stressed. A simple nod, a waive or opening your eyes as they are going to pop out of your head may do the trick for him/her to intervene and take the kids away from the situation. Once you finish what you were focused on, you can join you family in the other room.
Give your kids something to do – Read, Color, Crafts, Clean Room, Run around the block, Dig a Hole… You know where I am going with this. There is a lot a child can do, you just have to get creative.
Disguise your scream – Rather than scream, make a funny sound that will get your kids to laugh. (may only work for now as my kids our young). The one I seem to use a lot is the sounds from Tasmanian Devil on Loony Toons (it is usually the tongue action at the end that makes the kids laugh…

What do you do when your patience is running on empty with your kids?

Disneyland Trip with the Family!

2010-07-05T11:42:00.001-07:00

Daddy Deed Assignment:
Take the Family to the most Magical Place on Earth!

It was a long time coming, we finally made our trip to Disneyland. We have been planning a trip to Disneyland with our oldest son for over a year now with the last trip being cancelled because our youngest ended up in the hospital a day before we were supposed to go.

Our trip started off with a 6 hour car ride that was not as bad as I thought it was going to be with the kids. They watched movies in the back seat (Thank God for the portable movie players!), played with toys and read books. We made one stop at the Dinosaur Museum along I-10 past Indio and the windmills. This was a great stop for the kids to be able to run around, get some energy out and go potty. It was about 10 minutes from our hotel across the street from Disneyland when our 4 year old says “Are we there yet, my butt is ready?” My wife and I laughed so hard!

Once we got to the hotel, we spent the rest of the day at Downtown Disney where our kids loved going into the Lego store, Build-A-Bear, the large Disney store and got some great pictures of the kids outside of Disney California Adventures. Knowing we had a very long day the next day, we all went to bed really early to be at Disneyland when it opened the next day!

Disneyland! Our kids were up early and ready to go! We got to the gates about 20 minutes before they opened and were shocked how short the lines were. We head straight for rides to try to beat the notorious long lines. Our first ride there was Peter Pan which was a bit darker than we expected but it did not take our oldest long afterwards to want to go on it again. The other rides that we enjoyed was Its A Small World, Finding Nemo Submarine Ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates Island and the train ride around the park! The kids also loved going to Toon Town to run around and explore the character homes and meet many of the characters. We ended the day watching the Disney Party Parade and enjoyed seeing a lot of the characters that we were not able to see during the day.

It was a very long but enjoyable day. We could not have asked for anything better. It exceeded our expectations and it will not be long before we go back!

The next day, it was very difficult to want to make the long trip back home so we procrastinated by driving south on the cost highway and ending up at a beach in Dana Park! The last time our kids went to the beach either one of them wanted to get into the sand nor get anywhere close to the water. This time, they absolutely love it! Our oldest enjoyed digging tunnels in the sand and watching them get destroyed by the water!

It was a great trip, my family had a magical time and the Daddy Deed was accomplished!

Influence of School to Children

2010-05-18T18:22:00.001-07:00

Daddy Deed Assignment: Mediate School Influence

It really hit me this morning when my wife called me to tell me that he flipped our nanny off!

From the day my kids were born, my wife and I were able to control what our kids set their eyes on, listened to with their virgin ears, and were exposed to on a daily basis. We try so hard to do the best for our kids and provide them with the best influence possible to be good kids while growing up being responsible and to respect others.

This year my eyes have opened up after my 4 year old is now finishing his first year at school in Pre-K and heading to Kindergarden next year! Some of the things that he has learned and seen this year has surpised and actually made me upset at times. Some of the new words and actions that he has picked up have pretty much made my jaw drop. Some examples are:

Shut Up
Stupid

I HATE you! (this one really bothered me because he said this to his younger brother)

More frequently using the word NO!

Talking about Ghosts and Vampires

Hitting

We have not confirmed if my son really flipped off our Nanny but this would be added to my list of actions that he picked up from his school. It really scared me today how we start losing so much control over our kid at such a young age and how it is more important for us Parents to keep good lines of communication with our kids as they grow up so that we can help educate them as to what is good and bad in life and help them make good decision.

Now, when talking to my son about these, it was obvious he did not understand what they meant and why they were bad to say. We then sat him down and explained to him what they meant and why it is not good to say these these things. In most cases, he never said or did these things again.

What have your kids picked up at school that made you speechless?

Entering the Blog-O-Sphere!

2010-05-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit intimidating to want to start my own blog but I have just decided to jump right in. I am a father of two wonderful boys, a husband to a beautiful and supporting wife who also has her own blog. So yes, I do have some insight and technical advise from her which has gotten me past some of the learning curve of starting a new blog but I realize there is a lot of work that I still have to do.

Besides starting this blog, I also have a full time job as a Purchasing Agent for a lawn and garden company. That alone has its challenges and requires a lot of my time and devotion. Although, my passion is my kids and my family and that is why I am excited to start this blog and share with you the Deeds of being a dad and all the rewards and challenges that come with the territory.