Review.....

I thought I would review some of my past meals whether they were hits or misses....

The Artichoke Baked Chicken was "OK" per FG & our friend SMA. I didn't eat it so I can't give my opinion. They said it lacked some flavor. The chicken was tender and juicy but the flavor was apparently not overwhelming. That same evening I made some roasted chicken leg quarters with a BBQ sauce glaze and DS asked for seconds on the chicken (yay!!!).

I hadn't made a smoked sausage in a long time. I figured the kids would just suffer through it. DS ate more of it than either FG or I did. DD gobbled hers up too. I even cooked it in saurkraut! Yay! Now I would like to find an option that is a tad bit healthier with less nitrates. I'll have to try some out at Trader Joe's. Speaking of that, does anyone have a good recipe for homemade corndogs? My Grandma used to make them when I was a kid. I don't mind the deep fryer part, it's the healthier hot dog part I'd like to work on. Then again, once in awhile can't be that bad. Still, in my attempt to still eat fairly frugally I'd like to try for healthier too. Such a difficult balance sometimes! Regardless, I bought another smoked sausage and we'll eat it again soon - probably next week. DS certainly needs the FAT!

I never did make the ravioli or the chicken parmesan. Neither sounded appealing at the time. So I made something else with the that I found on another blog. Cynthia at "What's for Dinner?" posted Monterrey Chicken. It was good. Anything with bacon and bbq sauce is good with DS (the pickiest in the family with DD beginning to follow his footsteps!). Except I screwed up and added the cheese too soon. oops!

Those Heath Bit Peanut Butter Cookies did NOT last long. I have oatmeal raisin sitting on the counter now and they are going fairly fast too. At least I figure they are somewhat healthy cookies (yeah, I know, I kid myself but hey, it's fun to live in dreamland!).

This week got messed up already. I was so busy yesterday and gone most of the day that I never got the pork chops in the crock pot (or found a really appealing recipe either). So they are saved for tomorrow night when I know we are going to be home. Tonight I'm going to throw together some chicken & veggie stir fry if I can get off my butt and get the chicken breasts out of the freezer. I think I'll do a teriyaki marinade/sauce. The kids will bitch & moan but too bad. I'll appease them with a treat at the basketball game if they eat a decent amount. Then I still need to search for a good pork chop recipe. I'm leery because whenever I try to do pork in the crock pot, it comes out very dry. These chops have bones and I'll look for something with a lot of sauce to hopefully keep them moist. If I don't find anything then I'll either bake them or do the Balsamic Pork Chops that FG loves so much.

Pork Chops with Balsamic Vinegar

2 1 1/2-inch thick boneless center pork loin chops (I am using bone-in chops)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chicken broth
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons butter
Pat chops dry. Coat with lemon pepper. Heat oil in heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add chops; brown on first side 8 minutes; turn and cook 7 minutes more. Remove chops from pan and keep warm. Add broth and vinegar to skillet; cook, stirring, until syrupy (about 1-2 minutes). Stir in butter, blend well. Spoon sauce over chops. Serve immediately.

Works for me Wednesday

I have no idea where I originally saw that title but it's stuck in my little pea brain today so sorry to whomever I am pilfering it from!

I use a pastry blender to mash up the eggs to make egg salad. It's done in a flash!

MPM

Ok, I know, I know it's TUESDAY! But I can at least share my menu a few days late. We were at our family cabin for the weekend and FG was on death's door (or so you would think the way he acted! Men are such babies when they get sick!) so I was sole working woman of the household/entertainer of the children. Then yesterday was a "snow day" for preschool because the county public schools had a 2 hour delay - thus preschool is cancelled. DS wasn't feeling 100% so I kept him home. Again, sole working woman of the household and entertainer of the children when I really really didn't feel like doing any of it anymore! (How many paper airplanes can a person make in a day you ask. Well, it felt like 10,000 but I'm sure it was closer to 20. All difficult too from But I did cook and I will cook again tonight and hey, maybe even tomorrow too!

Sunday - Picked up soup and salad from our friend's new soup & salad restaurant down the street. We were really hoping he would have his yummy hot & sour soup but no such luck. :( I wasn't about to cook after doing all the work for the weekend away AND roller skating at a 7 year old's birthday party AND taking care of a sick FG.

• Monday - Bacon wrapped stuffed chicken breasts, corn, parmsean noodles

• Tuesday - Spaghetti, fresh bread, salad (DD and I may even bake some cookies today. I'm in the mood. ;) )

• Wednesday - crock pot pork chops, baked butternut squash, green beans (salad for FG)

• Thursday - Basketball game so either I'll whip up some quick tacos before we go or we'll get take out.

• Friday - We are making plans to possibly go out. If we stay in with the kiddos, I'll make homemade pizza

• Saturday - roasted chicken thighs, sweet potato fries, salad (green beans for the kiddos)

• And heck I'll throw in Sunday for you and then I'll be ahead of the game for next week! Sunday - football food at our friend's Superbowl party. I am thankful I don't really give a damn about the game this year so I can chat with the girls, nibble on all the yummy food our group contributes and drink some wine!

Happy Week everyone! And hey, I know you are reading so leave me a comment once in awhile ;)

"I don't know how you do it!"

That was a statement from a family member of FG's. His father, to be exact. He said he doesn't know how we live on the money we have. Well, it's decent but it's not huge. They work together so FIL knows exactly what comes in to this house. He doesn't know what goes out and where.

Then he looked at me incredulously the other day when we were talking about books. I said, "I just go to the library and grab. I don't have a lot of time so I just grab a few that seem good from the flap and check them out. If I don't like them, I stop and move on to another one." I think he was amazed that I go to the library instead of the bookstore. He loves to read. So do I. I don't care, at this stage of my life, to read things that upset me or are overly deep. I'm not in a book club or anything. I read for my own enjoyment and escape. When I quit working, I started taking my son to the library for story time every week. We would check out books for him and books for me. Videos too. And the best part, it was FREE (well, relatively so. It CAN be free if you remember to turn the books in on time. Me, not so often so I generally have a fine but it's a helluvalot less than what it would cost for me to BUY the books!). But I think the thought just never occured to FIL to use the library.
That got FG and I onto a discussion of where we save money and FIL and his wife waste it. FIL and his wife have made very good livings for the past several years. Money has not been too tight for them. Until now. FG took over the business and FIL is going to semi-retire. FIL's wife quit her job recently. So now, I wonder if they will make any changes to their lifestyle or continue to be oblivious to the fact that they simply waste money.
Here are some little ways I save money. I had to when I left my career. I no longer get my nails done (didn't really want them with babies anyway) but I do still get my body waxes (bikini & eyebrows) and I get my hair cut & colored. I do still wear makeup though lately I have been trying some less-expensive drugstore stuff instead of the fancy makeup counters. I've found cheaper versions of the hair and body lotion products that still work well.
I go to the library. I've even found that they offer audio books directly from the computer that I can download to my MP3 player!
I shop at the less expensive grocery store where yes, I have to bag my own groceries but I LIKE that, being the anal retentive control freak I can be about my groceries. I'm buying that same package of noodles, just for $2 less than the fancy grocery store up the street where they kiss my ass and load my car. I'm not much for paying for ass-kissing anyway. When I get home, that package of noodles tastes exactly the same.
I don't spend a lot on my clothes or the kids clothes. I will for me on good jeans and classic pieces but flash in the pan styles? - nope. I can find stylish stuff by shopping sales and discounted stores. I still get compliments and still think I look good. Would I love to shop at fancy exclusive shops? Sure but I realize that's not possible so I do what I can.
I use Costco as much as possible.
I use coupons. Coupons at Costco are even better!
I drive 3 extra minutes to the cheaper gas station.
I turn off lights when we aren't using them.
I run the dishwasher on a full load.
I do laundry once a week - when the loads are full.
I use cold water for laundry as much as I can.
I don't send things out to the dry cleaners if I can wash it safely myself.
In the summer I use the clothesline to dry 90% of the laundry. In the winter, I use a drying rack and/or hangers. It saves our clothes too as they last longer not being tumbled in the dryer so much.
I cook. We don't eat out as much as lots of people I know.
When we do eat out, if we have a coupon or a g/c, we use it!
I bargain shop online using codes and ebates.
I close up the blinds as soon as the sun sets and open them when I get up in the morning - in the winter.
I close up the blinds and keep the blinding hot sun out in the summer.
We sleep with the windows open in the summer. It gets cool here at night in the summer so why would I pay for cool air when I can get it for nothing?
We have programmable thermostats and I rarely turn the heat up if I'm cold. I will add a layer and make some tea. I do keep it warmer than we did before kids though. I don't want them to be cold.
I don't belong to a gym. I have stairs in my house so I go up & down those instead of paying to fight someone to go up & down the stairs (that go nowhere) in a gym. I have some light weights that I tone up with. I have arms that can do pushups (quit laughing, yes they are the girl kind!).

I'm sure there are plenty of other things I do that save us money that FIL and his wife don't even think about. And I'm not sure I would stop doing those things (except maybe the clothes shopping ;) ) if our income increased to where theirs was. I think there's some frugality in my blood.

Random Thoughts

• My "baby" is too big for her carseat so we got her a booster. What's next? Driving the car? She's so proud that she is in a booster like her brother. I just can't believe she has gained nearly 5 pounds in two months! And people told me I should consider letting her outgrown her tonsil problems and not take them out. Um, sure, whatever. YOU come over and listen to my kid stop breathing at night and see her sick all the time. Obviously the end result has been that she is now using all that energy to grow instead of fight off infections. Not that she wasn't growing but she obviously wasn't growing as much as she could!


• FG gets excited at little things like me texting him a message with the word "urge" in it. He gets excited easily huh?


• FG and I actually flirt up a storm while texting. Keeps things exciting. So if you happen to see me with my phone in my hand and a sneaky little grin on my face you know it's probably something naughty. And if I blush, watch out because then it's really naughty! We've been together for 16 years this spring. We have to do something!


• If I'm not grinning or blushing, I'm most likely dealing with a text (or series of them) from a person who lately has felt like my "other husband." Certainly not in any sort of sense of attraction, just in a "I must take care of you" and a "WTF do you want? I am clearly busy, can you stop being so needy?" sort of way. I guess that is why we consider him family around here.


• Speaking of above mentioned person. It's about that time to freak out another potential girlfriend. Gosh I sure hope I have the same effect on my kids' dates! There's only been ONE girl of his I've liked and she knows who she is. Too bad he's a dumbass and now I am stuck taking care of him for the rest of my freaking life.


• Irony. I went to a website about depression in hopes to get some questions answered on how to deal with someone who is depressed due to medical issues. I had to submit sort of an application in order to post on their discussion boards. I did as asked and never got an answer back from them. So if I was actually seeking help for depression for ME, that would really push an insecure person right over that close edge wouldn't it?


• I haven't felt like a great parent lately. Then I tried to read a book about disciplining my kids in a "nice" way and it just made me feel even more like crap in the first 10 pages. So I returned it's sorry ass to the library before I ripped it up and then got mad because I would have to pay for that crappy book. My new approach - try to act like I have a nanny cam on me at all times, with sound. So far, my kids seem to think that I am a replacement for Real Mommy and are now crying because Real Mommy actually threatened to leave one day and never come back and now they think it really happened. They aren't sure how to respond because, hey, they LIKE New Mommy but are grappling with the idea that Real Mommy really did leave and it was because of them. There's a therapy bill I'll be paying for later. Maybe I should just go back to yelling at them.


• I am fully aware that I have run on sentences and most likely poor grammar and punctuation. Deal with it. This isn't an English paper for a grade - it's Random Thoughts!


• Ahhhh. Dinner out with friends tonight. But I still got out some of my spaghetti sauce from the freezer so FG and the kids don't eat the crumbs from the bottom of the chips bag, the moldy cheese or dust bunny stew.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. :)

This week's fabulous menu!

Ha ha!
Yeah, right.

Sunday - My mom's 60th Birthday. I slow cooked a chuck roast in the oven w/ carrots & onions. I made twice baked potatoes too. We had asparagus and the kids wanted to make this:


Monday: Beef stew (leftover roast!), cheese & garlic biscuts
Tuesday: FG & the kids are in charge of dinner. It's my birthday. I'm turning 3_ on a Tuesday. Not real exciting anyway.
Wednesday: Going out to dinner - sans FG & kids - with some girlfriends!
Thursday: FG works
Friday: I have no idea at this point.
Saturday: out, again :D

See, told you it was a fabulous menu. Sorry I'm not much help this week!

Some kid funnies....

I really should write these things down. I know there were more this week but at the moment my brain is in a fog from DS making explosion and car noises INCESSANTLY! Oops! So much for not yelling at my kids anymore.

Anyway, some funny things DD has said lately:

"Mommy, fix my sock. It's got a wedgie."

"Mommy, carry my hand so you don't get away from me."

"Whahhhh!"
Me: What's the matter sweetie?
"My Brudder said I can't ever be pwesident! I wanna be Pwesident!"
Me: Yeah, well, he's not in charge and doesn't make the rules. You can be president if you want to!
"But he said I can't. My life is over. All I want is to be pwesident and I can't so it's tewerble and I can't go on."
Me: Yes you can. You can be anything you want to be.
"But I can't. It's OVER, all over. But I can still be a pwincess right?"
Me: Sure sweetie. You already are a princess.
"Yep. Dat's wite! It's all about ME."

And she had a little bit of diahrrea (how the HELL do you spell that word?!) a couple of weeks ago. When I went to check on her in the bathroom and discovered what was going on she said, "Whoa Mom! That was FAST poop!"
Then she hopped out of the tub the other night to go as she does almost every bath (maybe the warm water helps move things along for her???). When I came in the room she was getting back in the tub and I asked her if she was ok or if her tummy hurt again. She said, "No. It's fine. It was perfect poop this time."

So cute what they come up with! Like I said, there were a couple more but there goes that mommy brain again.

Looking for opinions!

Hi all! I am in the market for a new bread machine. I've worn out my old one that I got as a wedding present over 13 years ago. It's a rare week that goes by that I don't use it in one way or another. I make a lot of pizza dough and a lot of another type of dough that I bake in long french bread type loaves. Then sometimes I'll use it to actually mix and bake the bread. But I do use it a lot! My mom attempted to get me a new one for Christmas but the one she tried to buy the store didn't have in stock but told her they would order it for her. A couple of weeks ago she got a letter saying that they couldn't get it. So now I'm on a search. She gave me a price of what she was going to pay and I can work with that. If I find one cheaper that has the features I want, great! If I find one for more money, I'll simply make up the difference because I do want a good machine that will last me another 13 years.
The features I want are simple, I don't care what shape the loaf is as mine is tall & round now. I've dealt with it so it's not a big deal. I want a timer and different crust settings. An "add in" feature would be good whether that's a timer that goes off for me to add it or it automatically adds is fine. Mine has a timer that beeps at me to add in raisins or whatever at that time. A viewing window would be good for the kids because they always want to look at it (so do I, I admit it!) though I suspect DS really just wants to smell it. He looooovvves the smell of the yeasty dough and loves to nibble on raw dough.
So I'm not too picky I just want fairly durable. Gluten free or jam or several of the other fancy features I've seen don't matter that much. If they are there, heck I may try them but if not, I'll live.
Thanks much in advance for your advice!

Menu Plan Monday!

What a weekend - I didn't cook all weekend. Too many crazy birthday parties to go to. Then a playdate at a friend's house to watch the movie that our boys are performing in their next acting class session. So I was "kidded" out this weekend and had zero energy or desire to cook. I DID manage to bake two batches of cookies to take with us on Sunday for the movie. A batch of traditional Snickerdoodles and then these that I got from the back of the Heath Toffee Bits package - YUUUUMM!

* Exported from MasterCook *

Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup peanut butter -- creamy
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces Heath milk chocolate toffee bits

Heat oven to 375 degrees

Beat shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, mil and vanilla until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Sir in 1 cup of toffee bits; reserve remainder for topping.

Drop by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet; top each with reserved toffee bits. Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack. Cool completely.

Yield:
"36 "


Here's this week's menu:

Sunday - take out
Monday - SOMETHING with the smoked sausage I have in the fridge, most likely mashed potatoes, saurkraut and another veggie for the kids. Time to go read some recipes!
Tuesday - Baked Chicken Parmesan w/ sauce, buttered noodles, veggies
Wednesday - Ravioli w/ spagetti sauce & meatballs, bread, salad
Thursday - Basketball game so take out before hand
Friday - another birthday party so more pizza for DS and me, DD and FG will fend for themselves.
Saturday - another birthday party so same routine as Friday! (This is getting ridiculous!)

Things are looking up, thank you!

That's my BABY! OMG, did he really turn SEVEN?!!!?!?! I'm so blessed to be a part of this kid's life. I get a front row seat for the performance (and believe me, it's actually a performance!). He had a good day. I need to remind myself just how much I wanted him and how blessed I am to have him - you know, on those days I want to send him back to the hospital and tell them to keep him. Or at least perform some sort of labotomy on him so he shuts up once in awhile. But you gotta love him - almost everyone who meets him does. No, not almost, EVERYONE who meets him does. The big kid at school that went from picking on him on the playground to giving him a sweet little nickname and becoming his friend and playmate. Yep, that's my guy, he turns you around and makes you love him if you have any inkling of dislike toward him. HA! That kid thought he could pick on the little guy and now he loves him! He was such a sweet (and quiet) baby too. Just look at that Charlie Brown head! Now he's an intelligent, sensative, sweet young man. Ok I just made myself cry....


I just love this picture of him too. It's not recent but my MIL took it on one of their hikes a couple of summers ago. They were hiking and he saw a guy fishing. So he walked up to the guy, because he has NO fear of talking to an adult at all, and asked if he could try to fish. The guy just handed over his rod & reel to some kid he didn't even know and showed him how to cast. I do believe it's in his blood somewhere with all the fishing my family and I have done. So Grandma snapped this pic and I just love love love it!

Happy Birthday Big Guy! You stole my heart and made me a Momma and you'll always be my little baby!


Onto other things as I blubber on my keyboard. I don't need it shorting out on me. Went to a fun playgroup today. I'm still "feeling out" (get your mind out of the gutter - I said feeling OUT, not feeling UP) the other moms as I'm sure they are me. But it was just awfully sweet to hear DD engage in a conversation with the other little girl about her age. They were just darling and it was so nice for her to have a girly girl to play with! We stayed over 2 hours. I hope it becomes a regular thing for all of us.
Now back to the mundane of life - laundry, cleaning, etc.

Downer Day

Today is just a downer day.
Here's a few things that have just pissed me off:

1)I need to do laundry but ran out of laundry soap. I RARELY run out of anything!
2)I wanted to make cinnamon raisin bread but all we have are DD's little boxes of raisins. And not even enough of them if I emptied them all out for the bread!
3)I have cramps
4)I have no car and wasn't even expecting it! Thus, still no laundry soap.
5)FG is being a FJ >:|
6)DD has pretty much sat in the playroom alone all day because I'm too cranky to even play a game of Candyland. I just do not feel like it at all. I guess a day of vegging out is better than a day spent pissing off Mom and wondering WTF? right?
7)I can't seem to get motivated to do much of anything.
8)My parents are annoyed at me and I'm not 100% sure why. I *think* it's because FG and I didn't go and sit out there when we had to pick up the kids on NYDay. Whatever. They can stew about it because I don't think I did anything wrong.
9)I can't get the stat counter to work! I just love to look at who comes by here and how they get here. I'm a teeny bit afraid to find another one because of just ridding the computer of it's 10,000 viruses. Surely I'll download another one! I'm sorry but I just can't trust a site that says "No spyware!" and brags about it. Seems like a ploy to throw me off their evil plan.
And finally 10) Daytime TV just really sucks!!

Siblings

Last night I heard something that melted my heart. I absolutely love to listen to my children interact without knowing that anyone is listening. It's so, oh, what's the word, un-self-consious and natural and honest.

We had a house-full of family and everyone was finishing eating dinner. The children were finished and playing their usual rough-housing way while I cleaned up the dishes. The rest of the family were still sitting in the dining room. DS did something that hurt DD. And she's a great actress who generally milks it for all it's worth. DS says to DD, "I'm sorry, it was an accident!" which is what I generally overhear and is code for "Don't go running to mom!" She didn't and they resumed playing.
A bit later they came into the kitchen and I was getting DD some more milk to go with her chocolate cupcake. They seemed a bit oblivious to the fact I was there and DD says, "Happy Birthday Brudder! I love you!" and gives him a big genuine hug. He said back, "Thanks! And I didn't mean to hurt you a little bit ago. We were too rough and I'm sorry that you got hurt." DD replies, "Dat's ok. It was an accident." and they gave each other another big hug. The genuineness in their voices was perfect. They weren't acting for my benefit at all.

It was just so touching to me. It's them against the world and they seem to know it. They are each other's best friends even though they bicker and wrestle and fight over who's first. It kind of struck me that I'll always be Mom and I'll always be important but I have a feeling they will lean on each other as they grow more than they lean on me. I hope they always stay the best of friends!

Menu Plan Monday

Here we are again! Time for this week's menu!
DS indeed did go to school today but DD did not have school. Area schools had a 2 hour delay because of all the snow on the streets. That means DD's preschool is closed. She's ok, really bummed because she misses her friends and wanted to go back. But she's dressed in her princess dress and playing a really cool Barbie DVD game. It's the only thing she asked Santa for this year - A Barbie with colorful wings. Well, that means Elina from the Barbie Fairytopia movies. This one came with a DVD game in the package and the doll is the remote for the game! It's great for a three year old. She has to know right and left to make it do what she wants - that's about it.

Anyway, our dinner yesterday was excellent! DS asked for seconds on the chicken! He had the BBQ chicken and ate it all up so fast. That NEVER happens unless it's pizza! So I was a happy mom. Then they ate some cupcakes for dessert and we sang Happy Early Birthday to DS.

Here's this weeks feasts!

Sunday - Baked Artichoke Chicken & Baked BBQ Chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, salad with parmesan crisps and pears w/ a vinagrette dressing, oregano bread, chocolate cupcakes.
Monday - Spaghetti, salad, homemade french bread.
Tuesday - FG has a late meeting so I'll figure something out for me and the kids!
Wednesday - We're going out for DS's 7th Birthday!
Thursday - Again, FG is working so I'll figure something out for me and the kids. Guess I'll have to scour the other MPM's to get some new ideas!
Friday - Baked ranch chicken nuggets, wagon wheel noodles w/ butter and parmesan cheese and green beans.
Saturday - DS has back to back birthday parties to attend at the SAME bowling place so I'll be there with him from 11:30 - 4! Mama's thinking of bringing a flask or at the very least some Xanax. Needless to say if I attmept to cook a decent meal at the end of that day, my family will hate me and ban me from the kitchen forever. So we're getting take out!

As requested:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Artichoke Baked Chicken

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
14 ounces artichoke hearts -- drained and chopped
3/4 cup parmesan cheese -- grated
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cloves garlic -- minced or pressed
salt and pepper -- to taste
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
chicken pieces

Mix together all ingredients except chicken in a medium bowl.

Place chicken in a roasting pan or glass dish.

Spread artichoke mixture over the top.

Cover with foil.

Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 500 degree oven.
Reduce heat to 300 and bake for 1 hour.
Remove foil and bake an additional few minutes until topping is bubbly and slightly browned.


NOTES : Reduce baking time for breasts.
I used chicken with bones and the leg quarters took longer than the breasts.
Tender, juicy and falling off the bone!





Happy week everyone!

Busy but slow

We had a big snowstorm this weekend. Whew! We needed the water! The kids, as you can see, LOVED it! We played and played outside a lot! Our friend was pulling the kids behind his ATV on a sled. Then, sweet guy, he came by today with the plow on the front of it and cleared the street at the end of our driveway!

All the snow and staying home has had two effects (or is affects?). 1. we are all driving each other crazy with cabin fever. The kids REALLY need to go back to school. FG needs to go back to work :)
2). I've been cooking and baking.
Yesterday morning I got up and made homemade biscuits. I haven't attempted biscuits from scratch in about 10 years. Thankfully, my culinary skills have improved. They were delicious. DS told me they tasted funny. FG gave me a hard time and told me they have this new thing called biscuits in the can at the store. Brat. Then he proceeded to eat 6 of them. I made honey butter and set out jellies and plain butter. We ate them hot. YUM. Then we finished them up with our soup at lunch. I will definitely make them again and will try with buttermilk (didn't have any) as well as some other flavorings.
Then today we are having some family over for dinner. I have chicken pieces - breasts and leg quarters. For one pan I did a BBQ sauce glaze and for the other I thought I would try this one. We like artichoke dip so why not try it with chicken?
Then I roasted a whole head of garlic to make garlic mashed potatoes. I'm made cupcakes for DS's birthday (Wednesday) celebration with Grandma today. I am making some oregano bread in the bread machine now. I added a touch of oregano to the artichoke mixture so I thought that would tie in nicely. We'll have salad too. To go with that I made Parmesan crisps:

Thought I would try out the cup since I'm just breaking them up anyway.

Is there anyone else who could just skip the grater and take a big bite out of block of Parmesan? Oh yum!!! Well, I didn't grate it myself I bought it that way because if I did have a block of it, I would just eat it!

I also made homemade pizza and garlic twists last night since our basketball game got cancelled.

It's back to school tomorrow and not a day too soon. Please don't let them call a snow day!!! Though then maybe I would have that one extra day I need to get the kids to write thank-you notes for some Christmas presents! They've been playing so much and I've been playing so much (in the kitchen AND outside) that I haven't had the time to sit down with them and get them to do it.

MPM

Ok, I'm a little late! Sorry! I tried to ring in the new year in a postive manner - both spending time with good friends, doing things for my kids and doing a bit of organizing. I got a couple of kitchen cabinets organized that desperately needed help. I was forced to straighten the playroom and playroom closet with the new additions too. Thankfully, that is one area I've always been good about organizing - lots and lots of plastic lidded tubs and games put away on the shelves, toys in their proper places. If I didn't stay on top of that, it would be scary, very very scary!

So here's the menu for the week:

Sunday - Baked Ziti, fresh bread, salad
Monday - Out for fondue with good friends and good wine
Tuesday - Dinner at my parents when we collected the kids
Wednesday - Hash Brown Quiche w/ ham, broccoli, onions and cheese
Thursday - whatever I find that the kids will eat unless we get together with friends in which case it will be take 'n' bake pizza
Friday - Balsamic Pork Chops, noodles, veggies, rolls
Saturday - Basketball game so take out on the way!

I didn't cook much over the holidays. Besides our traditional Christmas morning brunch that I prepare and it's ALL prepped the day before, I have barely cooked! I am ready to get back into the swing of things and get the whole family back on a regular schedule. I am dissappointed because the meat delivery we usually get is just not up to the same standard. We decided it is too expensive to just keep it up being what it is (F#@K! I liked having a freezer full - DELIVERED!). So I'm back to sealing up and freezing my own stuff that I buy. I am going to go to the fancy butcher shop for some beef. I just can't do cheap beef much anymore. Sure, for crockpot stuff it's fine as is ground beef but when I make a steak I want a GOOD steak! Ohhhh, I also got some fun cooking items for Christmas. I got new ramekins from DH, FANCY and deadly sharp knives from him too. I am seriously going to cut off a finger if I'm not super careful! I got a warming tray from MIL on Christmas Eve and you betcha I busted that sucker out on Christmas morning for brunch! I've wanted one for years and this year they seemed to be "the" appliance. I'm getting a new bread machine as I've worn out the one I got as a wedding present. Yes, I am that f'ing old and have been married long enough to WEAR OUT an appliance! Mom said they aren't "the" appliance anymore so it was a bit harder to find and on backorder. I can't wait! I'm too lazy to actually knead the bread. I do a lot of "let the machine knead it and I'll bake it". mmmmmm
Ok, quiche is out of the oven. Yes, my husband WILL eat it.