Happy Anniversary

October 2008

Nov. 10, 2001

Eight years ago today, Keith and I said, "I Do!" What an amazing eight years it has been! Can't wait to see what the next eight years brings us! I love you, honey!

We had hoped to go to dinner with friends to celebrate our anniversaries, but that will have to wait due to the sickies in our house. So, we enjoyed yummy takeout from Jason's Deli. (I had no time to whip up a special anniversary dinner today!)

Another one bites the dust...

Sing with me now: "Another one bites the dust...Another one bites the dust."

Poor Jonathan woke up crying early this morning and I just knew. I knew he had a fever before I picked him up. He was little limp rag and so I gave him some Motrin and held him and we watched Curious George and he sucked down a bunch of water and then puked all over himself and me. And after we both changed clothes, we watched more PBS kids and then Andrew woke up and joined us. And that has pretty much been our day.

Andrew feels better than yesterday. He was up at 3:30 this morning with a fever around 100.3 (I can't remember exact facts from that time of night.) and so I gave him some Motrin and he slept until 9! And he didn't have a fever all day and was just feeling well enough to be trouble. But then around 2:30, I checked his temp and he was hovering around 100.1 again. So more Tylenol and off to bed he went. Now both boys are taking a much needed rest and I'm soaking up the silence of the house!

I'm beginning to wish the Big Bad Wolf had taken care of those three little pigs a long time ago when he had the chance! Then maybe my babies wouldn't suffer so! And really, what do the pigs have against us? Why should they start this Swine Flu revolt anyway? Do I need to promise to stop feeding the boys sausage and ham? I don't think I can give up bacon, but I'll try if the pigs stop torturing us!

*We don't really know if they have Swine Flu. It just seems like the likely culprit. And I don't like pigs!

Meal Planning

Some weeks it's just so hard to figure out what to make for dinner! So last Monday, I looked through a bunch of saved recipes and found a few I hadn't yet tried and created a meal plan for the week. I was only able to stick with the plan for 3 nights, life happens you know, but I made a few new successful recipes. And I have most of my menu for this week done already! We'll see how we do this week with a sick boy!

Meatball Calzones

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsps. Italian seasoning
1 pounds ground beef
1-2 loaves (1 lb each) frozen bread dough, thawed (I used one Pillsbury pizza crust from a can)
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Additional Italian seasoning
1 jar (14 ounces) spaghetti sauce, warmed

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-in. balls.
2. Place meatballs on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 10-15 minutes or until no longer pink. Drain on paper towels. Reduce heat to 350°.
3. Roll out the dough of dough into an 18-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Spoon a third of the meatballs and mozzarella cheese down the center of each rectangle. Fold dough over filling; press edges firmly to seal. Place seam side down on greased baking sheets. Brush tops with egg white; sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Let stand for 15-30 minutes. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with spaghetti sauce. Yield: 2 calzones (4 servings each).

~Taste of Home, August/September 2007

The original recipe was double this, but since there are only 4 of us, I cut the recipe in half and only made one giant calzone. I'm not a huge fan of meatballs, but this was pretty good and the extra meatballs freeze well to make this again when I'm in a hurry.

Braised Chicken Thighs with Carrots and Potatoes

1 medium onion, halved lengthwise and sliced

4 medium-size new potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
2 c. baby carrots

1 1/4 tsp. salt, divided
1/2 tsp. pepper, divided

1/2 c. chicken broth

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp. paprika

6 bone-in chicken thighs

Place onion in a lightly greased 6-quart slow cooker, top with potatoes and carrots. Combine 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, broth, and next 3 ingredients. Pour broth mixture over vegetables. Combine paprika, remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, and remaining 1/4 tsp. pepper; rub evenly over chicken thighs, and arrange on top of vegetables. Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours or until chicken and vegetables are tender.

Yield: 6 servings

Southern Living, February 2006

Chicken Ole Foil Supper

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 tsps. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

3/4 cup salsa

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (11 oz.) can corn, drained

1 cup shredded cheese

Toppings: chopped fresh cilantro, sliced black olives, sour cream, guacamole

1. Tear off 4 (18x12-inch) sheets of aluminum foil; lightly grease 1 side of each sheet.

2. Place 1 chicken breast in center on lightly greased side of each foil sheet, Brush both sides of chicken evenly with oil; sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Spoon salsa evenly over chicken. Top evenly with black beans and corn.

3. Bring together 2 sides of each foil sheet over ingredients, and double fold with about 1-inch wide folds. Double fold each end to form a packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside packet. Place packets on a baking sheet.

4. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes. Carefully open foil packets to prevent burns from hot steam. Sprinkle evenly with cheese before serving. Serve chicken with desired toppings.

Yield: 4 servings

Southern Living, October 2004

Stupid Pigs & Andrewisms

This has been our sick boy's activity for most of the day. He's used up his screen time for the month, but it's all he wants to do, and it keeps him happy...

Andrew is sick. He woke up with a low-grade fever this morning and can't breathe and has a horrible cough. He told Keith this moring that his bones hurt and were breaking. Poor baby. He hasn't had any stomach trouble (YEAH!), which is another symptom of that stupid swine flu, but the rest of his ailments sound very familiar.

And although he is sick, he has been providing us with some funny Andrewisms despite feeling like crap:

Me: "Andrew, it's OK to just lay around all day when you are sick."

Andrew: "Oh, I never thought about that."

Andrew: "Daddy, what are you spraying?"

Keith: "Lysol. It kills germs."

Andrew: "Can you spray me and kill my germs?"

Tortilla Soup

I love soup season and this is one of our favorites.

Ingredients
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
3 T. fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tsps. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (I left this out because I don't like it too spicy.)
2 T. chopped cilantro
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 T. half-and-half
1 green onion, thinly sliced (optional)
Tortilla chips
shredded Mexican four-cheese blend
sour cream

Preparation
Bring first 7 ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat; add chicken and next 4 ingredients, and simmer 20 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips and, if desired, garnish with cheese and sour cream. Makes 6 cups.

Southern Living, January 2004

Happy Halloween!

Not quite sure about this costume business...

Well, maybe it'll be OK.

"What are we doing? Don't you know it's dark out here?"

Our lion was slightly distracted watching all the other trick-or-treaters.

"I think I like this trick-or-treat game!"

New England sports enthusiast and a little lion

"Check out my new car from Mrs. Penny!"

Watching and waiting for more trick-or-treaters

Still waiting...

We were actually able to go trick-or-treating in costumes last night! We didn't think it would happen. We've been trying to find a costume Andrew would agree to wear for weeks and everything we suggested was shot down. He finally offered an idea on Wednesday, stating that he would be a peg - like a clothespin. His parents were not creative enough to create a peg outfit in 3 days. We tried many other ideas: a weatherman, a chef, a lion, a frog, a doctor, a fireman, etc. But he didn't like any of the costumes we found. So we sort of gave up.

But Jonathan had this cute lion costume that Ben wore a few years ago, and I really wanted pictures of both boys dressed up. Keith and I had thought about a baseball player a couple weeks ago, but never pursued it with Andrew. He had sort of worn us down. But last night in desperation, I suggested it, and he AGREED! But because it was so last minute, he ended up being more of a New England sports enthusiast, with an emphasis on baseball.

Jonathan wasn't sure about the lion costume at first, but once we got outside, he forgot about it and quickly caught on to the wonders of trick-or-treating.

And once again, the highlight of the night was handing out treats to all the trick-or-treaters who came to our door. If I didn't have a sickness requiring me to capture our kids in cute costumes, I think I would skip the whole thing next year and just let them hand out treats.

Foundations Fall Party

Andrew and Cameron

Andrew spent most of the party in the club house

and running

pumpkin carving

Jonathan taking a snack break

Kristin - the cowgirl; Becky - construction man, Kisskina - Octomom (I missed taking a picture with her wig on.)

Oooo FIRE!

Last night our Sunday School class had a little fall party. We had a cake walk, pumpkin carving, costume judging and of course lots of yummy food! The boys ran and ran and played. And this morning Andrew has a little laryngitis. We don't know if it's from all that fresh air, or running, screaming, playing on a beautiful fall evening. He sort of sounds like an old man with a smoking problem. We've encouraged him to speak less or stop altogether, but he's not taking our advice.