11

The age of my oldest daughter. The time that I usually start making lunch in the morning. I am usually asleep by this time in the evening. But that is not what this entry is about. I think the scale at the doctor's office was broken or something. I should have made them prove to me that it was balanced. After all, I did have the last appointment of the day and how many other hefty women had been on that scale. After all, I have been working out to a modified "Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred" DVD. Never mind eating half a chocolate cake last week (which did have zucchini and pumpkin in it) and half a dozen cookies on both Saturday and Sunday, or the chocolate icing I made and ate half of (that "eat half diet" is not working for me). If I do a work out that balances out my calorie intake, right? Apparently not. So, yes, I gained 11 pounds in 2 weeks, I did not think that was physically possible unless you are on the "Super size Me" diet and ate EVERY single meal at McD's (is that saying eating at my house is worse?). Maybe they should do an ultrasound and make sure there isn't a tumor the size of a large Easter ham on the inside of my belly. UGH!! Oh well, I know I do need to take better care of myself. I think my one friend, Macey, totally had the right philosophy as she snacked on a bag of chocolate chips while we were driving somewhere. She said, "By eating just the chocolate chips I am eating what I really want. If I were eating them in cookies, then I would be getting all of the added flour, sugar, butter, and other stuff, when all I really want is the chocolate." So, I think I am stopping my plan of only eating chocolate chips when they are in something, and going back to eating them straight from the bag. I have to give Kudos to my dear husband. When I told him my issue rather than saying the common sense "man answer" which I though would be, "Well, then don't eat so much." He said, "That just means there is more of you to love. You look FINE." (He could have said Phat, the good phat, the cool phat, but chose a better word) There will be much more to love because I still have 12 weeks left. He didn't start singing, "I Love You Just the Way You Are", which is ok, I liked his answer better.

I Finally Finished the Project

I no longer go to "Super Saturday" (a Saturday before Christmas where ladies from our church get together and do some really neat projects) because I always get things half way done and then NEVER finish them. My sister in law, Jayna, gave me the vinyl letters to do this project probably 2 years ago and I found them in my craft bin and set them out so that I would see them all of the time and be reminded to buy that square plate and get this done. I got a 30% off coupon from Kohls, LOVE THAT, and got my plate. Seriously, this took less than 10 minutes and now I have this beautiful plate to display. It is so funny how doing something so small like finishing this little project made such a good day. I guess it is something that I put a little bit of time into that won't get messed up in 2 minutes, that helps. Most projects I do get done are given away as gifts, but this one I get to keep.

Veggie Loaded Omelet

I am a morning person and love making breakfast, I know, weird. My favorite new thing to make is a veggie loaded omelet. I love making omelets because I can multi-task while it is cooking. My kids prefer cheese and ham in theirs, but I like the veggies. It is easy and only messy if you spill it on the counter, like I did this week. In order to make this quickly in the morning, I have cut up enough veggies to store in the fridge so I don't have to cut them up everyday. Usually cut up about 2 tomatoes (Roma), 1 pepper, and then just tear up the spinach before I make the omelet. It cuts way down on prep time every morning. This is very filling and keeps me from snacking all morning.

(For 1 omelet)
Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten (If you want to do egg whites, use 1 egg and 2 or 3 egg whites)
about 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk
cheese (I prefer mozz or cheddar) I usually use about 2 Tablespoons
chopped peppers
chopped tomatoes
fresh spinach, torn
1 teaspoon butter or non-stick spray
salt and pepper to taste

Heat pan up until butter melts on it. Beat eggs and milk together. Once pan is coated with butter add eggs and cover with lid. I usually check it every few minutes. When eggs are solid add cheese and veggies. Fold half omelet over, cover, and I turn the heat off on mine because we have an electric stove and the burners stay hot for a little while and the omelet will continue cooking. After a few minutes, flip omelet to let other side cook a little. Enjoy!!!

Chicken Sandwiches - Smothered in whatever you want

These are awesome and easy to make, especially with left over chicken. If I were planning a menu I would cook twice as much chicken for one meal and then save some for these sandwiches. This would be an awesome way to eat grilled chicken too. I topped mine with bacon, sauteed onion and yellow peppers, mozzarella cheese, BBQ sauce, and a special mayo. These were so good, I don't think you can even see the chicken in the sandwiches in this picture. (No, you can't because for some reason I can't get the photo to upload, oh well. Check back later for a photo). AND (A tip for cooking bacon. I cook mine on a rimmed cookie sheet in the oven. Heat oven to 375 to 400 degrees and cook bacon until done, about 20 minutes. Check it every 7 minutes or so. It is so much easier than doing it on the stove.)

Ingredients:
Enough chicken to make the number of sandwiches you want. I made 6 and probably used about 1 pound (my little ones don't eat a whole lot on theirs and prefer the roll to the meat anyway.)
Rolls
Smothering toppings-
Bacon
Sauteed veggies
BBQ sauce
Cheese
Mayo (about 1/4 cup with 1 tsp lemon juice, 2 tsp of paprika, and salt and pepper added in)

Heat up chicken. Assemble sandwiches however you want. Have plenty of napkins around, there may be a few drips. Enjoy.

5 A DAY - not today

Yeah, it was one of those days. I normally try to serve my children fresh veggies with each meal, which they gobble down and always ask for more. Not quite. Many of you who are my friends know that I have a rep for sneaking veggies into almost anything, so bad, that the boys at church would ask what was in the cookies I made before they ate them. Today I was on "survival mode", so I didn't really care about the kids getting their 5 servings of fruits and veggies, but lets just see how we did (if you are grandparents of my children or a pediatrician you can stop reading...now):
Breakfast- cereal, not the sugared kind, but not whole grain - whatever. They got some grains and milk.
Lunch - Ham and cheese sandwiches on white rolls, served with apple slices that no one ate. (I think I forgot to give them a drink with lunch, oops)
Snack- Easter egg hunt at church. Rather than rationing the candy, I told them to eat as much as they want, get rid of it so that it is gone. I am sure they had 10 to 15 servings of candy today, oh well. They did get some protein in the peanut butter eggs, that's good, right???
Dinner - "Burned hot dogs" (what my 5 year old calls cooking hot dogs over a campfire) on a white roll, potato chips, pickles, ketchup, and juice boxes (which were 100% juice, YES!!).
Snack - More candy. I am wondering when the sugar coma will set in.

So, if I count the pickles, ketchup, and potato chips, that is 3 veggies, plus the juice box equals 4 (fruits and veggies total). If I go back to last night and count the chocolate cake to which I added zucchini and pumpkin, they had more than 5 fruits and veggies in a 24 hour period. And, a couple of kids had some bananas too. See, it was not so bad after all. Tomorrow will be better. I don't feed my kids like this everyday, just every other day (just kidding, they wish though).

The DMV, not to be confused with a DVM (Doc of Vet Med)

I needed to get my PA drivers license, so I looked up information on line, forms, hours, location, phone number on Monday. I called the phone number yesterday and no one answered. I thought maybe I dialed it wrong, so I redialed, still no answer. Maybe it is break time, I called again in an hour, still no answer, no message, NOTHING. Weird. I went to the address that was listed on line, it was wrong. The DMV is on East Cumberland Street, not Cumberland Street. As I pulled up I read the sign, Closed Monday (which on line it said it was open, and Monday was not a federal holiday, unless you count all of the people who were punch drunk from celebrating Obama-care being passed). " ues thru Sat 8:30 to :15. Thurs. open until 6." The sign really was missing the "T" for Tues. and the 4 for "4:15". One time I heard someone on talk radio compare Obama-care to going to the DMV. You will have to wait in line, not be given the right info., referred to a different line, etc. If this is what Obama care is going to be like, we have a lot of frustration to look forward to. Once inside the DMV, things went well. The people were very nice and I got my new temporary license until they do a background check on me. I took a glimpse at the DL pic I had 10 years ago from PA and tried to bribe the lady with 5 bucks and some coupons that I found in my purse to let me keep that picture instead of the one she just took. It didn't work (I guess there are still some honest government employees who can't be bribed). If anyone has seen the first episode of "The Middle" when the mom gets her new DL pic, it was pretty much like that. I may go back for a retake in a year.

Greek Salad

I am on a salad kick lately and it has been great. I looked up three different Greek salad recipes and decided to make up my own. It turned out really well. The only thing I would do differently is add about 1 teaspoon of brown mustard, just to give it a little more flavor (and I forgot to put olives on mine, oh well). If I had some grilled chicken that would have perfected it.


Ingredients:
Spinach, romaine lettuce, whatever greens you have
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Red or Yellow Peppers
Red onion (optional, and I would soak it in some red wine vinegar to take away some of the bite of it)
Sliced mushrooms (optional)
Feta Cheese (as much as you want)
Black olives or Kalamta olives

Dressing:
1/4 Cup Extra virgin olive oil
1/4 Cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic (I just use it from a jar)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown mustard
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground oregano (I didn't have the dried leaves, otherwise I would have used that. The amount just depends on how much you like it.)
pepper to taste

Mix greens and whatever veggies you are using. Mix dressing in blender or other container. Dump dressing over salad and mix to coat greens and veggies. I have also marinated the veggies in the dressing and then used them in single portions over the salad if I am using it for a few meals.

Spinach Salad with Fruit and Poppy Seed Dressing

I love to just take whatever I have in my fridge or cupboards and make something really good, without making a trip to the store. So, that is what I did today for lunch. I found a recipe for this at Foodnetwork.com under "Spinach Salad with Strawberries", but changed it a bit to fit what I had and wanted to do (for this one I used mangoes and craisins). It was really good and I will enjoy it for a few more days. I like to add chicken to this to give it some protein, but did not have any in my fridge already cooked.
Salad:
6 cups of salad (I used mostly spinach and mixed it with some tossed salad that I had too)
2 cups of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, mangoes, oranges, craisins, cut up apples, whatever you have)

Dressing:
1/2 to 1 cup of salad oil (I used 1/2 cup and then added 1/2 cup of water. The dressing is not too thick this way.)
1/3 cup cider vinegar (if you don't have that use red wine vinegar or regular too)
1/4 cup sugar (I used 2 Tablespoons and it was enough)
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
2 Tablespoons of orange juice concentrate

Glazed nuts (Optional, but VERY good)
1 cup nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts)
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix dressing ingredients in a blender or shake well in a bottle. For nuts: Add nuts, sugar, and vanilla to a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat and stir often until sugar melts and coats nuts. Cool and break apart. Add fruit and nuts to salad (if you are serving salad all at once, if not I would keep them separate). Add dressing and enjoy.

Pasta Puttenesca

I used to make this all of the time when Mike was in vet school because it tastes great and is very inexpensive to make. I like to add chicken or tuna to it to give it more protein. It is kind of a "whatever you have in your cupboard and fridge" dish. I have to double this to feed our whole family. I got this recipe a long time ago from a cook book I no longer have. I have changed it quite a bit too, so sorry to the original author.

1/2 sweet onion, chopped very small

1 pepper chopped very small (optional, I just try to add more veggies when I can and peppers are easy to get away with. I prefer red, yellow, or orange, but you can use green. The others just taste sweeter)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Garlic (I use about 4 cloves, minced, but you can use however much you want)

1 28 ounce can of petite diced tomatoes (the Italian seasoned ones work really well. I drain about 1/3 of the juice off and then add the rest)

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1/2 can of black olives, sliced in half, or you can just add them whole (and you can use the whole can if you want. We usually only get about half in there because the other half gets eaten.)

1 Tablespoon of capers (optional)

1 to 2 teaspoons of dried basil, or I like to use 1/4 cup fresh if I have it. Some people like to add dried oregano, I prefer not to, but the original recipe did call for about 1 teaspoon.

Salt and pepper to taste

Sometimes I add a dash of sugar too

1 to 2 cups cooked chicken or 1 can of tuna, drained

Shredded Italian or Parm cheese

8 oz. of your favorite pasta

Saute pepper and onion, when they are soft add garlic. Saute for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, and tomato sauce. (After I do this I puree it because my family prefers a smoother sauce.) After they are heated through add black olives, capers, and chicken or tuna. Cook until heated through. Spoon sauce over your favorite pasta. Sprinkle with cheese. Enjoy!!

The Obama-Care Bill Passed...Where Are My Chocolate Chips?

So, last night I checked online and found that the Obama-care bill had passed. I went and took a bubble bath and read a book by Corrie Ten Boom who had survived a concentration camp. I was inspired by her faith and attitude, trying to not cry about what just happened in D.C. After waking up this morning I did my workout and got the kids off to school. I found myself at a loss because I was still so disturbed about what is happening in our country. I had to think of things that were making my day. My husband made the bed and I got to workout AND shower before the kids were up. There was no fighting this morning about breakfast and the omlet I made was really good. Then I started listening to the radio and got bothered again. I talked to a good friend who was also very upset about this and was even more disgusted by the sell outs in our government. So, since everyone will "have access to health care" I put my worries aside about developing diabetes and made a pan of brownies which will be topped with strawberry white chocolate stuff and chocolate mousse for dessert tonight. Now I feel great, chocolate always makes everything better. I guess I better wipe the chocolate off of my face before I go get my PA driver's license picture taken. It will be interesting to see what happens next. I stocked up on chocolate chips for my moments of despair. I know "keep the faith", and I will, but I will have my CC's for moments when my faith is lacking.

Best chocolate, chocolate chip cookies

I originally found this recipe at http://www.marthastewart.com/ under "Double Chocolate Cookies". I changed it a bit and like it even better. It calls for the cookies to be baked on parchment paper, so I have always done this. You can also use cookie sheet liners, I have seen them at Target in their bargain section around Christmas time for $2.50. They work well too. I only make these when I am giving them away because the are so good.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips divided (You could also use 1 cup CC's and 1 cup M&M's, mint CC's, milk choc CC's or white CC's.)

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract



Preheat oven to 325. In a bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, set aside. Melt butter and 1 cup of chocolate chips in a heat safe bowl in the microwave (I put it in for 45 seconds at a time and mix each time I take it out, until the tow have all melted together). Lick the bowl clean. Put butter/CC mixture in a mixing bowl. Add sugar, mix well. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture and then remaining cup of chocolate chips. When well mixed spoon in Tablespoons onto cookie liners/parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Push on dough to make it a little bit flatter, they will cook more evenly. Cook about 15-17 minutes, the cookies will be soft, but that is how you want them, done on the outside, but chewy on the inside. Pour yourself a glass of milk and dunk a warm cookie. Enjoy.

No, I am NOT Smarter than a 5th grader, or a 3rd grader.

Ever had this happen...
1) "Mom, I need help on this one." I walk confidently over to my child who totally thinks I know everything because I always seem to have the answers. "How do I do a probability tree to figure out this fractions of blah, blah, blah..." My head starts spinning and I have a flash back of Algebra 2, Geometry, and Trig, classes where I clearly had no place as a student. I was in the "gifted"math class, I am thinking that when we took the test I filled in the circles to make a design and they just happened to be right. I used to make up answers in those classes because I was clueless and if I could get a "C" it was weighted as a "B" and that was good enough for me. I jump as I have the flash back of my Trig teacher throwing the chalk at me after I give him a made up answer. My pulse is racing and I break into a cold sweat... "Mom, are you ok?" I look over the problem and then tell her I will be right back. I went and got her dad to help, and told her, "Mom's brain just can't concentrate right now." So, I think I am starting to understand why kids think their parent's don't know anything.
2) Thankfully, the next question she asks is for me to help her find the definition of a math term. Thank you, google. So, we entered it and could not find it. I emailed the teacher, assuring her that I did go to school, and completed 5th grade math, but cannot remember that far back and can't find this term on line. Apparently it was a spelling error, sigh of relief.
3) My third grader forgot his spelling list, so I called a parent to get them over the phone. Bad idea. She gave me the words and I didn't know how to spell some of them either. Very, very sad. I need to read more I guess, do some crosswords, suduko or something to revive the brain cells. I am thankful for spell check so that at least he didn't go to school with the words spelled wrong, we got them figured out.
At least my youngest 3 kids still think I know everything.

Would you just use the potty????

So, my 3 year old has decided that he no longer needs to pee in the potty. He has found a few places that he would rather use. My husband had the kids outside playing and all of a sudden he hear something that sounded like water being dumped on the driveway. It was our son, just watering the driveway. We talked to him about it and told him he needs to come inside and do that. Then later that evening I asked him to go potty before bed. He runs back into the room and jumps on me saying something that he mumbled quickly. I asked him to repeat it thinking it may be one of those things that I never understand and just say, "Oh, ok, that's great." As he races through his sentence again, all words run together, I hear, "Ipeeinjeter'sbowl." Did he just say what I think he said? So I ask him to say it slower, "I just peed in Jeter's (our dog) bowl." Seriously, this blog thing is helping me not beat my kids because I think of all of the people who could read this and get a laugh. I looked at Mike and told him this was his department. He took our son and cleaned it all up and firmly, through his laughing, told our son that he is only to pee in the potty while inside the house. Sometimes it is ok to pee outside, but he has to ask first. It did make me wonder though how many times he has quickly told me something that I have no clue what he said, and it is something important. At least he told us before Jeter drank it too, right?

BBQ Chicken Pizza

One of my favorite things to make is homemade pizza. I have a good mixer, so it does most of the work, I just add the stuff. My one child complains when I make this because he prefers the store bought pizza, the kind that is as thin as a cracker, so he is often disappointed.



Ingredients:
3 cups flour, plus some extra (I use half all purpose flour and half whole wheat)
1 cup water
1 to 2 Tablespoons of sugar (I like it to taste a little sweet)
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon salt (some people may want more salt)
cornmeal
BBQ sauce
Cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (probably about as much as one chicken breast)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Sliced red onion (optional)
Chopped cilantro (optional, but oh so good), About 2 Tablespoons


Heat water (I put mine in the microwave for about 45 seconds) until very warm, but not hot. Add yeast, salt, sugar and let yeast activate (it will start foaming) for a few minutes. Put 1 cup of flour in mixing bowl. Add water and yeast mixture and mix well. Add the rest of the flour 1 cup at a time. Continue to knead in mixing bowl until dough is mixed well and no longer sticking to the sides. I usually have to add at least another 1/2 cup flour to get it right. Add a little bit of oil to mixing bowl and turn dough in it to coat. Cover and let it rise for about an hour. Preheat oven to 425. Sprinkle corn meal on pizza pan and roll out dough. Add sauce, chicken, cheese, onions and cilantro. Bake until cheese is melted and crust is a little golden brown (mine usually takes about 15 minutes on a 15 inch round pizza pan). We enjoy dipping the crust in a little olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar.

Get a $25 gift certificate for $10

So, I am not making any money on this. One of my friends here told me about a website called "resaurants.com" You enter your zip and then you can buy a $25 gift certificate for $10. I checked for Elkhorn, WI and they have Casa Maria and Fiddlesticks listed, and a couple of other places I recognized. They did have a promo where if you entered SAVOR in the promo code you could get the gift certificate for $2. But, when I tried it said it had expired. I am sure they have places all over. Hope you have a fun and cheaper date night.

Why Is Everyone So Early For Church?

Something I pride myself on is being on time for important things, especially church. I hate being late and make every effort to be on time. That is a bit more of a challenge since we live about 20 minutes away now, but we have still managed to make it on time, or have been very close, each Sunday. This Sunday I wanted to leave early because I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting (the main meeting for our church where we have the "Lord's Supper" or Sacrament, I think comparable to "Communion") and I had to teach the lesson for our children's group. I thought it was odd that my neighbors left their house at 7:30, I saw them drive away and assumed they may be going out of town for the day. We left for church to get there about 15 minutes early and as I drove by one side of the building I noticed there were a lot of cars and thought, "There must be some meeting before church today, glad I don't have to go to that." Then I pulled in the other side of the parking lot and my heart about stopped. The lot was full, "Why is everyone... Oh No!! Daylight Savings Time, and some other words that I don't let my kids say." I ran into the church while Mike parked the van and herded the kids into the lobby. I could feel my face turn bright red as I walked into the chapel and noticed a couple of smiles and chuckles. I was so embarrassed. As the speaker ended we sang the "rest hymn" (Why do they call it that? We all stand up and sing, no rest there.) I gave my talk in the time that was left and it went well. I didn't even cry until the end. The topic was, "That your burdens may be light." I of course bawled when I talked about leaving Elkhorn and how the Lord helped us through other people and helped strengthen us, etc. The worst part about the whole thing was that I don't think I put enough deodorant on and I felt like I was starting to smell myself. I had the lesson in primary and continued to sweat, so I just tried to not stand near anyone. Sorry to any whose noses were offended. I do have to say that I did not mind having church for only 2 hours, if I didn't have to speak it would have been no problem. Well, the kids will go to bed earlier tonight and I can read my book. "All is well".

REALLY GREAT banana bread

So, I made a new rule for myself that I wasn't just going to snack on chocolate chips right out of the bag anymore, that they had to be in something for me to eat them. I did this thinking that I would eat less junk. Well, I made banana bread today and I am sure I ate a cups worth of CC's in calories, but I guess I got a serving of fruit too, right? Rationalizing is one of my talents. Here's the recipe, hope you enjoy. I have to put a plug in for my husband. He made the cutting board in this picture. This has become a very cool talent, one from which I have benefited greatly. I can't find the cord to download pictures to the computer, when I find it I will add a picture.

Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain non fat yogurt (you can also use sour cream, or vanilla yogurt)
2/3 cup applesauce (I like to use applesauce instead of oil)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour (I have used half whole wheat flour before and it has turned out well. I am giving some away and didn't know if the person I am giving it to would like it that way, so this is all white flour).
1 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer the mini chips, but did not have any on hand.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. This recipe makes either 2 large loaves, 4 small loaves, or 1 large and 2 small loaves (you can figure out any other size combos). Mash bananas, add sugar, eggs, yogurt, applesauce, and vanilla. Mix well. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add them to the banana mixture. Add chocolate chips. Pour batter into greased pans. Bake large pans 1 hour, small pans about 45 to 50 minutes. I usually cut up one loaf while it is warm and enjoy it with some butter, and then give the other loaf away. Enjoy!!

"Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk", one of my least favorite sayings.

We had a bad computer virus, so our computer was down for a week. But we are now online again, yahoo!! Anyway, one of the phrases that I hate most is "Don't cry over spilled milk"!!! (Another being, "A moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips." Shut up, I like the chocolate on my hips, ok???) Whoever said this never had to clean up the milk that was spilt, walk through the stickiness of milk not cleaned up properly, or try to deal with the smell of it in the carpet, YUCK!! We lived in one place where there was carpet in the dining room, not the best planning. Thankfully we have a beautiful hard wood floor in the dining room of the house we are renting and it is very easy to clean up spills. My 5 year old was so helpful and responded by going and getting the milk for dinner after someone said, "Someone forgot to bring the milk over." Unfortunately, she dropped the gallon of milk and the cap came off. Yep, milk all over the floor. Thankfully my husband has the quickest reflexes in Central PA and got the jug up quickly and only about one third of the gallon spilled. I did not get my camera and take a picture because I wanted to get it up quickly so it did not leak into the nearby vent. I was proud of myself for only rolling my eyes, giving the "are you kidding me?" sigh, and getting the paper towels, and then telling my daughter it was ok, she was not in trouble. Everyone jumped into action, knowing that Mom has a tendency to freak out over spilled milk. Thanks to my good friends the paper towels and the Swiffer Wet Jet, we were all good in no time at all. I didn't freak out, although judging by how quickly tke kids got to work this is one of the things they will make fun of me for when I am old. "Remember when mom used totally freak out over spills?" The older ones will remember more because they were around during the era of the carpet in the dining room. Oh well, I guess they could make fun of me for worse things. I'll just have to spoil their kids with candy.

My Friday Night Secret Love - Phineas and Ferb

Friday night is "Star Wars - The Clone Wars" night at our house. Our world stops at 9:00 pm, and most of our kids make it until then, for episodes of "SWTCW". I, however, look forward to what comes before that, "Phineas and Ferb" on Disney Channel. I have to confess I love those two little fellas and the inventions they come up with. I love Perry the Platypus and how he foils all of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's EEEvil plots to take over the tri-state area, and how Agent P. ruins Dr. D.'s "inators". And I love crazy Candace, always looking for ways to bust her brothers. Pathetic, right? But I am a sucker for a cartoon that I laugh at more than the kids. We have the CD for season one and listen to it all of the time in the car. We all go into doing "the robot" when the "Phineas and Ferb-ots" song comes on and sing the "Love Handle" songs at the top of our lungs. I also enjoy "I'm Fabulous" which is what I start singing to my kids when they are all spiffied up and ready for church. I know it is pathetic, but I really do enjoy our Friday night ritual. "Phineas and Ferb", "AFV", and "SWTCW". It is tradition, right? Building memories, or mom is just too tired to do much else and we all need to veg for a little while. Last night Mike took the older 3 kids to the movies. I watched a few P & F episodes while making cookies, even after my 3 year old fell asleep, I watched the new episode. P & F and cookie dough, what could be better? Probably a lot, but I enjoyed it.

Easy Caramel Sauce - Great for Caramel Popcorn, Ice Cream Sundaes, or Dipping Apples

This stuff is addictive and I LOVE it. My sister in law, Yo, requested this posting. I found this on About.com when I was searching for a recipe for caramel popcorn. But I have used it over ice cream and for apple dipping sauce. I add vanilla to mine. This blows away McD's apple dippers. Hope you enjoy.
Ingredients:
2 cups light brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
I add 1 to 2 teaspoons of vanilla
(If you are using it for popcorn the recipe calls for 3 quarts popped popcorn. I like to add craisins and pecans or walnuts to the caramel popcorn. Soooooo good.)

Bring the sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Mix it in and then add sweetened condensed milk (I add 1/3 of the can at a time and make sure it is mixed in well). Return to heat and cook for another minute or two, stirring constantly. If you are using this on ice cream and plan on keeping it in a plastic container, let it cool for a bit before you put it in the container. Store in the fridge and reheat in the microwave about 10 seconds at a time, checking to see if it is soft enough. If using for popcorn pour over popcorn. I have found the easiest way to do this is to spray a very big pot or heat proof bowl with cooking spray. Fill it about 2/3 with the popcorn and then pour some of the syrup over it. Estimate on how many pots of popcorn you can have and pour the corresponding amount of sauce over it. Then I spread it on a greased cookie sheet and let it cool. It is soooooo good. I can eat the sauce by the spoonful, and pop a few chocolate chips in my mouth between bites. So good.

Red Brick, Mini-kit, and "I have to finish the level" -Wii Lego Star Wars

The Wii, "Lego Star Wars", and "Lego Indiana Jones" (My family is full of Wii "Lego Maniacs"). We got the Wii two Christmases ago and it has been a hit with the kids and husband. In fact, one of the reasons that I call my husband, "my sometimes other kid" is because he loves playing with the kids so much (I really don't mean any disrespect by this, he is just a big kid sometimes, and I LOVE that about him. It helps me not to take myself too seriously). Sometimes, our Wii is on for 3 hours at a time because everyone wants to play a "level" with dad. I need a dictionary to translate the Wii speak from these two games sometimes. I know that the "red bricks" and "mini kits" are important, you can get "score times 8" if you have enough "studs", and invinciblity is really cool. I think sometimes your guys can become ghosts too. It is fun to see the kids get so excited as they higher scores and "buy more stuff". But, I really have no clue how to play it and fake the understanding and excitement for their Wii achievements. Whatever happened to "Pacman", "Donkey Kong", and "Pitfall"? I tried playing "LSW" with my 3 year old and killed his character a few times and then kept running in the wrong door. I almost had a panic attack and was freaked out when the remote started vibrating in my hand. I am totally lame when it comes to the Wii, but it is great that it entertains the kids for so long, especially on rainy days. It is a great motivator and reward too. I did get the Wii fit for Christmas, and it has been used a lot by the kids. I didn't think I could do a lot of the exercises because my balance is off right now and I am severely lacking flexibility. I think I need to make a rule that for every 1/2 hour they play the other Wii games, they need to play on the Wii fit for 20 minutes. The weather is starting to turn now (50 degrees this weekend, I LOVE it) and it is time to break out the baseball mitts. The Wii will get a rest.

My idea of a car wash

Some people are really great about how beautiful their cars look. As they drive by I envy them and their shiny and buffed cars. But, I am not one of those people, and am alright with that. I haven't found the car wash here yet, has been kind of on my "to don't" list. It has snowed several inches this winter, the most ever I think. Personally, I love the snow. It makes it look so pretty, the kids love to play in it, and it covers where my dog poops so I can delay that lovely chore of picking it up (gross, but true). But, the thing I don't like is how gross and dirty the car gets. Our car is a grey color already, so the salt, sand and "yucka" only intensify the stunning grey color. Today it started raining, so I parked outside and then it stopped raining. It is supposed to start again. Hopefully after today I won't have to clean the rear window with baby wipes so that I can see out of it. Sad, but true. I think I may dress the kids up in their rain gear and have them scrub it a bit. Equally sad, but that is where I am right now. I am updating this entry. It only sprinkled yesterday, so unless it is supposed to rain in the next few days I will have to find the car wash. I may just have the kids rub melting snow on it. Offer them a trip to get ice cream or something, that always works.

Asparagus Pesto Pasta with Chicken

This is an easy meal, especially if you already have the chicken cooked. I used 2 cups of the Asparagus soup I made yesterday. Seriously, no one knew that this was different than usual. When Aldi has their Italian specials, I buy about 20 of the pesto sauce packets( they cost way less there than at Walmart). Then I am stocked for a long time.


Ingredients:
This served 7 of us (granted, 2 of us don't eat a whole lot)
2 cups cooked chopped or shredded chicken
2 cups of Asparagus soup (recipe in previous posting)
2 packets of pesto sauce mix
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 cup Water (If you want the sauce to be thinner, add more water and EVOO)
Pepper to taste
16 oz of your favorite pasta
Italian blend or Parmesan cheese

Mix EVOO and water with 2 cups of Asparagus soup. Add contents of pesto packets and heat. Add cooked chicken. Cook pasta. Mix together and top with cheese to serve.

What Not to Wear - Come to my house, I'll show you.

If Clinton and Stacey came to my house they would have so much to mock. My sister, Kate, loves to see what my kids are wearing when she comes to visit, it gives her a laugh. She was so nice to buy them all some new clothes a few weeks ago. I had a friend who had many kids and they never matches or had well worn clothes on. I never said anything or thought a whole lot about it. Now that I have a full house, if we are not going to church and the kids are
not going to school, I

am not picky about what they wear. I need to be better about it, but I am not there yet. So, here are some of our fashion blunders.

My daughter came down ready to go out to lunch with this hot number. She also likes to wear all black. She has an outfit she calls her "spy clothes". Black shirt and shorts, add these babies to them and she is looking mighty stylish, NOT. We are working on matching outfits better because she goes to school next year.


When I tell my son to get dressed, 9 times out of 10 he puts
his clothes on backwards. It is especially entertaining when he has pants with a drawstring. It looks like he has a tail. We are working on it. Honestly, I am just glad he has clothes on most of the time.

My other son loves his winter boots. He insists on wearing them to school ,
everyday. I check his pack to make sure he is taking his shoes with him and he tells me that he does change into them at school. There is still quite a bit of snow on the ground, so I let him wear the boots. I always crack up because it reminds me of "Napoleon Dynamite" and his rockin' moon boots.











Last, but not least, me. I used to work at "The Gap" in high school, but judging by the clothes in my closet you would never guess that (my clothes are organized and folded like at the Gap, not by color though). Granted, I am 6 months pregnant and so none of my more stylish clothes fit (and I refuse to buy new big clothes because I am determined to get back to what I was wearing 6 months ago). But, my favorite shoes in the world to wear are my bright orange "Crocks" I have some brown ones too. I know they look so tacky, but seriously, they are the most comfortable things to grace my feet. I wear them with my running socks and my feet are so happy.

So, there you have it our fashion blunders. If you come to our house just go in the bathroom to laugh at us and please don't take pictures with your phone to send to everyone. I have already published plenty here.

Asparagus Soup

Asparagus has become one of my favorite veggies. When we were at the beach this summer my one sister, Kelly, made asparagus wrapped in bacon, and grilled it. It was awesome and I have loved this odd shaped veggie ever since. I was craving asparagus this week (weird pregnancy craving) and it was on sale for $1.99/lb, so we are having it this week. I made the soup for myself, doubting the kids would eat it. I will use 2 cups of it to make pesto pasta for dinner. They will never know (unless they read this).


Ingredients:
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2 pounds asparagus
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1/2 cup instant potatoes
1/2 cup fat free evaporated milk

Saute onion in olive oil until clear (you could just cut it up and throw it in the crock pot too, but I like sauted onion as oppossed to boiled). Cut hard bottoms off asparagus and discard. Cut the rest of the asparagus into chunks. Dump these and onion into crock pot. Add chicken broth and salt. Cook on high until onion and asparagus are soft (It took mine about 2 1/2 hours). Stir in instant potatoes (I added these because while the asparagus was cooking I took many tastes and felt like the soup needed to be thicker.) Let soup cool for a little while. Add milk. Puree in batches and pour into another pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. I used this soup to make pesto sauce for our pasta for dinner tonight too. I will post that recipe tomorrow.

Tomato, Red Pepper, and Onion Salsa

I finally found cilantro at the store (I was so excited) and they also had a great deal on red peppers. I used to make this when I went to Sam's Club and could get those multi-colored pepper packs for a great price. This stuff is really good. I found a recipe for "Garlic Pepper Sauce" at http://www.marthastewart.com/ and then made some changes (you can go to her site to look at her recipe). I use this not only as salsa, but also in black bean soup, and tacos. It is very healthy and the kids love it too. You will need a blender or food processor. This made about 6 cups for me. I freeze it for whenever I need it. For salsa it is best fresh, but for everything else just thaw when you need it.

Ingredients:
Extra virgin olive oil (2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup, depending on how much you like.)
2 large sweet onions, diced

4 or 5 red peppers, diced

3 teaspoons of minced garlic (6 cloves if you are ambitious.)

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 28oz. can of tomatoes (Do not drain, use entire can.)
3 Tablespoons lime juice1 1/2 to 2 large bunches of fresh cilantro (You can just chop the whole cilantro bunch up, you don't need to tear off all of the leaves.)
Jalapeno peppers to taste (I didn't do that this time, but I would probably use 2 for this recipe)
salt and pepper to taste (It does need a bit of salt, but I don't ever measure that, just keep adding it until it tastes right).

Cut up onion and peppers. Heat up a large pan, add oil. When it is heated add onions and saute until they are almost clear. Add pepper, garlic, cumin, and tomatoes. After about 10 minutes add lime juice cook for about 5 minutes more. Add cilantro and jalapenos and remove from heat. When mixture cools enough, puree in blender or food processor. Serve as salsa or use this in black bean soup, tacos, refried beans, tortilla soup, add some black beans and corn for a twist, or cook chicken in it. There are many possibilities.

The Winner of "The Abyss of the Purse" Contest is...

Macey. Thanks for your guess of 27. I had 17 complete pens, and 1 pen that was in pieces for a total of 18 pens in my purse. The sad thing is that if I was somewhere and I needed a pen I didn't think I had one, so I would ask to borrow one (I would give it back to whoever). My purse is so light now and I have to check to make sure my wallet is in it because it is so empty. Macey, email me your address and I will send you the coupons and another coupon I got for 1/2 pound of fudge from a place in Lake Geneva from our realtor.