Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Crazy Kidlets!
We've had a busy week so far! We had supper Monday at Grandma R's-it was a lot of fun, she brought out the dominoes and both kids had a ton of fun with them. Mary is really good at hitting the end domino to knock down the whole row-better than Robert even. And is somewhat better at eating with a spoon too, lol. They both looked like mashed potato kids til supper was over. I think grandma has just started making mashed potatoes any time we come. Although I think the appeal of mashed potatoes is wearing off on Robert somehow. Tuesday it snowed a little and after work I made biscuits and sausage gravy. I meant to save 1/2 the sausage for pizza tonight but I forgot. Oops. Today it was icy and so we stayed home until after 9 and then I took the kids to the babysitter and then hit the gym and came home and worked from home on some IV therapy procedures that I have been putting off for a long time. They are done-yeah! In between times I did laundry. Sigh. After supper tonight Wesley drove to town to trade my car for his mom's-she was having trouble seeing so went to the ER where they did an MRI and her sinuses are still really bad-and they gave her a percocet so she couldn't drive. We'll carpool in the morning and then I'll drive home seperately. The origional plan was for us to both drive in and Wesley to drive her car back but I really didn't see the need to drag 2 kids to town and back...
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Fun Sat
We've had a good day here. We went with Roger to sharp shopper, walmart and subway for lunch and then just hung out for a while and then I baked this afternoon. I made a batch of granola bars, a pan of brownies, a loaf of honey oatmeal bread and a batch of artisan bread dough (to bake this week). The house smells amazing. We had pot roast, mashed potatoes and salad for supper and Roger and Peggy joined us and brought green bean casserole. Mmm. Now the kids are in bed and I think I'm going to play wii!
The roast:
a 2-4 pound chuck roast
In the cock pot mix:
2 cans of regular cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope of lipton onion dry soup mix
about six (or so) good shakes of Worcestershire sauce
mix that together and place your beef in the sauce. Thats it! You will be able to cut it with your fork and the flavor is superb. It makes it's own gravy (and alot of it) which is fab. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours. The resulting sauce is already gravy, I just whisked it to combine it a little better. The roast was fork tender.
Babula Cuisine Brownies (these are the BOMB-better than any mix-ask Wesley!)
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 c oil
3/4 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
Mix sugar and cocoa. Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Bake in a 9x9 inch pan in a 375 deg oven for 30-35 min.
The granola bars
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Playgroup-Granola-Bars/Detail.aspx
I made them with craisins this week. Last week I used chocolate chips. I have to say the chocolate chips rocked! But the craisins are good too and feel healthier!
The oatmeal bread
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Of-An-Oatmeal-Bread/Detail.aspx
Add a little gluten to this recipe if you want a really good rise. You MUST use bread flour!
The artisan bread
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/dining/211brex.html
don't use bread flour in this recipe!
The roast:
a 2-4 pound chuck roast
In the cock pot mix:
2 cans of regular cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope of lipton onion dry soup mix
about six (or so) good shakes of Worcestershire sauce
mix that together and place your beef in the sauce. Thats it! You will be able to cut it with your fork and the flavor is superb. It makes it's own gravy (and alot of it) which is fab. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours. The resulting sauce is already gravy, I just whisked it to combine it a little better. The roast was fork tender.
Babula Cuisine Brownies (these are the BOMB-better than any mix-ask Wesley!)
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
1/2 c oil
3/4 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
Mix sugar and cocoa. Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Bake in a 9x9 inch pan in a 375 deg oven for 30-35 min.
The granola bars
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Playgroup-Granola-Bars/Detail.aspx
I made them with craisins this week. Last week I used chocolate chips. I have to say the chocolate chips rocked! But the craisins are good too and feel healthier!
The oatmeal bread
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Honey-Of-An-Oatmeal-Bread/Detail.aspx
Add a little gluten to this recipe if you want a really good rise. You MUST use bread flour!
The artisan bread
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/dining/211brex.html
don't use bread flour in this recipe!
The weeks go by so fast!
It seems like every time I turn around it's another weekend and then another trip to get groceries, another laundry day.... I wish time would slow down a little! I remember 5 min being an eternity when I was growing up. Waiting for mom to get out of the bathroom. What was she doing in there? Now that I'm a mom, I know. I hide in the bathroom and lock the door for 5 min and READ, lol. Something besides Thomas or the very hungry caterpillar or the big book of trains that is! The kids and I had a splendid day yesterday. A leisurely morning, a trip to the gym, then met Wesley at costco for lunch and picked up some fruit and dishwasher detergent. Back home for nap for Robert (Mary slept in the car so wasn't ready for a nap until Robert woke up!) and then I took Robert outside to play. We had a blast. I got some great pics on my new camera. We had meatloaf and mashed potatoes from scratch for supper and then Wesley went to help Brad H with something and I gave the kids a bath and they were both out by 8:30. Robert made it til 8:10, lol. and then he almost fell asleep reading a book and headed off to bed without me! Speaking of Robert, he's been in undies since yesterday (except for nap of course and to poop which I tried to combine a diaper). That includes at the gym care, to costco, etc and then today to sharp shopper, a couple quick errands, lunch, walmart and home! I am SO proud of him! No wet pants!
Meatloaf
1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Onion Soup Mix
2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs*/you can use oatmeal for some of this
2 eggs (I didn't have any so left them out)
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup ketchup
Meatloaf
1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Onion Soup Mix
2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs*/you can use oatmeal for some of this
2 eggs (I didn't have any so left them out)
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup ketchup
| |
| 1. | Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. |
| 2. | Shape into loaf in 13 x 9-inch baking or roasting pan. |
| 3. | Bake uncovered 1 hour or until done. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. |
| |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Preparation Time: | 15 Minute(s) |
| Cook Time: | 1 Hour(s) |
Thursday, January 22, 2009
TGIT?
Okay, so it's not really TGIF but Thursday marks the end of my meditech work week so hey, I'm rejoicing! 3 days in a row is hard with small kids! The project is going really well and I'm enjoying the work now that I'm getting in the groove. I just miss the kids :( But I'm off the next 4 days so YEAH! And tomorrow is supposed to be nice out so we're going to hit the playset and play, play, play! The housework can wait.
Mary is a total nut these days, she's figured out how to get in the dog water, pulls the plug out of the bathtub (repeatedly), is crawling, cruising and generally CRAZY. Robert is getting more and more independent and "I want to do it my way"-ish. Sigh. They are growing up TOO fast.
Today for supper we had leftover taco salad.
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 large can of baked beans
1/4 c catsup
1/5 c BBQ sauce
2 T mustard
cook them all together until thick and bubbly (10ish min). Serve in bowls (layer in the order written)
doritos (crushed)
taco meat
cheese (shredded)
lettuce
tomatoes
ranch salad dressing.
YUM
For my desert I rehabilitated a VERY dry and stale cupcake (from last friday that I never put away!) by crumbling it, adding some milk, microwing it for 30 sec then I added some chocolate chips and a drizzle of caramel ice cream topping and microwaved it another 30 sec, stirred it well and topped it with whipped cream. It was to die for. Can you tell I'm PMS-ing? Mary liked it to but she is my chocoholic. Robert is my ice cream and pie boy. For Mary it's all about the chocolate!
Mary is a total nut these days, she's figured out how to get in the dog water, pulls the plug out of the bathtub (repeatedly), is crawling, cruising and generally CRAZY. Robert is getting more and more independent and "I want to do it my way"-ish. Sigh. They are growing up TOO fast.
Today for supper we had leftover taco salad.
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 large can of baked beans
1/4 c catsup
1/5 c BBQ sauce
2 T mustard
cook them all together until thick and bubbly (10ish min). Serve in bowls (layer in the order written)
doritos (crushed)
taco meat
cheese (shredded)
lettuce
tomatoes
ranch salad dressing.
YUM
For my desert I rehabilitated a VERY dry and stale cupcake (from last friday that I never put away!) by crumbling it, adding some milk, microwing it for 30 sec then I added some chocolate chips and a drizzle of caramel ice cream topping and microwaved it another 30 sec, stirred it well and topped it with whipped cream. It was to die for. Can you tell I'm PMS-ing? Mary liked it to but she is my chocoholic. Robert is my ice cream and pie boy. For Mary it's all about the chocolate!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Update on Mary
I forgot to mention that I did take Mary to walk ins today and she still has a bunch of fluid in her ears but no active infection. They did give me a prescription for augmentin if she starts running a fever or acting worse. So, it was the best of both worlds! I can quit worrying about her for today and I have meds if she needs them. The probiotics are working well and her but is almost completely better!
Cleaning while the kids are little is like shoveling while it's still snowing!
Wesley loves this quote... and I do too but I can't decide whether I want to abide by it or not. In some ways yes-why pick up the toys if they are just going to get dumped, in another way I want the kids to know what order and picking up are all about. Well, Mary's crying so I'll leave it there.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Fell off the bandwagen, eh?
It's been a long time since I blogged. Like when I got pregnant with Mary long time. And she's almost 10 months old. Yikes, when did that happen. But here I am. And now I have no idea what to say.
It's been a good day. We went swimming this morning. The kids are like little fish. They LOVE to go to the wellness center. We swim in the therapy pool where it's 80 degrees-heaven! They have some tub toy stuff that they use for swim lessons and today we "adopted" 2 squirty dinosaurs and each kid had one and they had a ball with them. Robert loves to jump off the edge of the pool, he climbs up the side and then we count "1,2,3" and he jumps in. Well at some point he had both dinosaurs on the edge of the pool and he was counting "1,2,3" and "they" were jumping in. It was hilarious.
Then Robert took a good nap (yeah for post pool naps) and I baked some bread and made a bunch of lasagnas for the freezer. Except 2 of them are actually outside freezing since it's as cold outside as my freezer, lol. Wesley went to walmart for groceries (literally I think the first time he has ever done a weeks shopping on his own-and he volunteered). Mary spent most of the day doing her thing-crawling, pulling up, playing etc. She's still pulling on her ears-in fact more so than she had-so she may be headed back to the doctor on monday-sigh. Today was her last day of antibiotics. I've had one of them on antibiotics since Jan 2nd. I'm tired of this! And the amoxicillan is really tearing up her stomach which is tearing up her bottom-it is so red it's almost bleeding. :(
Maybe I'll make this partly a recipe blog. Here are today's recipes. Well I made the bread dough yesterday to go with the chili but I'll stick it here too :) Lunch was chicken tenders (frozen from a freezer session last week with french fries from Burger King).
European Peasant Bread (Artisan bread in 5 min a day)
makes 4, 1 lb loaves
3 c water
1.5 T granulated yeast
1.5 T salt (use less if you are using table salt-this is supposed to be kosher)
1/2 c rye flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
5.5 c all purpose flour
-mix the water, yeast, salt in a food processor or heavy duty stand mixer with dough hooks. Add the flours and just mix through (do not knead)
-leave out for 2 hours
-cover and stick in the fridge for up to 2 weeks
-whenever you are ready to eat it
-dust dough with flour
-cut off 1/4 of it, shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around. Allow it to rest for 40 min.
-preheat the oven to 450. Place a broiler tray on the lower shelf and a baking stone on the other shelf.
-Sprinkle the dough with flour and cut scalops, cross etc into it.
-place the dough on teh stone. Pour 1 c hot tap water onto the broiler tray and close the door. Bake for 35 min or until the top crust is deeply browned and very firm. Allow to cool before slicing/eating.
Lazy Day Lasagna-makes 1 9x13 or 2 8x8 pans (I tripled this recipe which made 4 8x8 pans and one strange oblong 8x11 maybe? (adapted from the freezer cooking manual)
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 c mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1/3 c chopped parsley
1 t onion powder
1/2 t pasta sprinkle
1/8 t pepper
1 can spaghetti sauce
lasagna noodles-uncooked
mix ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, spices together.
put enough spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan(s) to cover.
layer noodles, cheese mixture, spag sauce, noodles, cheese, spag sauce, noodles, sauce. Once it is assembled pour 1/2 c water around the edges. Freeze. I freeze until firm then put them in a sink of hot water until the edges unmold and slide the lasagnas into a large freezer ziplock labeled with which pan it goes back into. Before baking sprinkle with cheddar and Parmesan cheese Bake covered from frozen for 2 hours or thawed for 1 hour, uncovering for the last 15 min if possible. I usually bake it from frozen-this is a staple Sunday lunch for us!
It's been a good day. We went swimming this morning. The kids are like little fish. They LOVE to go to the wellness center. We swim in the therapy pool where it's 80 degrees-heaven! They have some tub toy stuff that they use for swim lessons and today we "adopted" 2 squirty dinosaurs and each kid had one and they had a ball with them. Robert loves to jump off the edge of the pool, he climbs up the side and then we count "1,2,3" and he jumps in. Well at some point he had both dinosaurs on the edge of the pool and he was counting "1,2,3" and "they" were jumping in. It was hilarious.
Then Robert took a good nap (yeah for post pool naps) and I baked some bread and made a bunch of lasagnas for the freezer. Except 2 of them are actually outside freezing since it's as cold outside as my freezer, lol. Wesley went to walmart for groceries (literally I think the first time he has ever done a weeks shopping on his own-and he volunteered). Mary spent most of the day doing her thing-crawling, pulling up, playing etc. She's still pulling on her ears-in fact more so than she had-so she may be headed back to the doctor on monday-sigh. Today was her last day of antibiotics. I've had one of them on antibiotics since Jan 2nd. I'm tired of this! And the amoxicillan is really tearing up her stomach which is tearing up her bottom-it is so red it's almost bleeding. :(
Maybe I'll make this partly a recipe blog. Here are today's recipes. Well I made the bread dough yesterday to go with the chili but I'll stick it here too :) Lunch was chicken tenders (frozen from a freezer session last week with french fries from Burger King).
European Peasant Bread (Artisan bread in 5 min a day)
makes 4, 1 lb loaves
3 c water
1.5 T granulated yeast
1.5 T salt (use less if you are using table salt-this is supposed to be kosher)
1/2 c rye flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
5.5 c all purpose flour
-mix the water, yeast, salt in a food processor or heavy duty stand mixer with dough hooks. Add the flours and just mix through (do not knead)
-leave out for 2 hours
-cover and stick in the fridge for up to 2 weeks
-whenever you are ready to eat it
-dust dough with flour
-cut off 1/4 of it, shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around. Allow it to rest for 40 min.
-preheat the oven to 450. Place a broiler tray on the lower shelf and a baking stone on the other shelf.
-Sprinkle the dough with flour and cut scalops, cross etc into it.
-place the dough on teh stone. Pour 1 c hot tap water onto the broiler tray and close the door. Bake for 35 min or until the top crust is deeply browned and very firm. Allow to cool before slicing/eating.
Lazy Day Lasagna-makes 1 9x13 or 2 8x8 pans (I tripled this recipe which made 4 8x8 pans and one strange oblong 8x11 maybe? (adapted from the freezer cooking manual)
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 c mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1/3 c chopped parsley
1 t onion powder
1/2 t pasta sprinkle
1/8 t pepper
1 can spaghetti sauce
lasagna noodles-uncooked
mix ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, spices together.
put enough spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan(s) to cover.
layer noodles, cheese mixture, spag sauce, noodles, cheese, spag sauce, noodles, sauce. Once it is assembled pour 1/2 c water around the edges. Freeze. I freeze until firm then put them in a sink of hot water until the edges unmold and slide the lasagnas into a large freezer ziplock labeled with which pan it goes back into. Before baking sprinkle with cheddar and Parmesan cheese Bake covered from frozen for 2 hours or thawed for 1 hour, uncovering for the last 15 min if possible. I usually bake it from frozen-this is a staple Sunday lunch for us!
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