Menu Monday 2/23

Happy Monday, everyone! I'm excited about our menu this week. =) I found *yet* another food blog, and she had a recipe for homemade Vegetable Lasagna that supposedly tastes like Stouffers'. We shall see.

Monday: Shepard's Pie, salad
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Chicken enchiladas (from allrecipes.com)
Thursday: Sloppy Joes, french fries, salad
Friday: Chicken and dumplings (from the CrockPot Lady)
Saturday: Stromboli- we're doing an Italian night for the staff at Ryan's school, and my contribution is stromboli and some type of dessert.
Sunday: Vegetable Lasagna (from this blog)

Happy National Sticky Bun Day

So I didn't know that today was National Sticky Bun Day, did you? Well, we both do now! I double checked this important information and found a great website. Today is also Love Your Pet Day. Guess I'll have to go pet the dogs some more. Back to Sticky Buns, I have one recipe that I got off allrecipes.com, but it takes a total for 4 hours to make. And while the results are weeeeeellllll worth it, I don't feel like devoting 4 hours of my Saturday to sticky buns. So instead, I will make Quick Sticky Buns. I got the recipe from one of my aunts, and it looks like she got it out of an old cookbook. It is yummy, so that's what I'll be making here in a bit.

Here I am talking about food again.... sigh. It's either that or the countless exploits of Max the Destroyer. (aka Max the Baby) She's figured out that it is cute to hold something out to us (her spoon, toy, etc.) and then when we touch it to take it, she whips it away. And while it is cute, I'll admit, I have no clue where she learned it.

Moving on. Ryan and I had BLTs for lunch. With turkey bacon. Not because I'm a health nut. Nooooo far from it. (Anyone who knows me can attest to that.) No, I'm using turkey bacon because it is half the price of real bacon at Choi's. And I attempt to be cheap. (Like how I covered my bases by saying "attempt"?) I took pictures of the BLTs.
They were yummy. I also made Ryan some chicken noodle soup. Homemade. Not that nasty stuff that comes from a can. Ew. Why did I randomly make Ryan some chicken noodle soup? Because he's sick. Not only is his back hurting him a lot still, but now his throat hurts, he doesn't feel good, etc. Here in Suriname they have a name for that. They call it the "griep." What, exactly, is that you may ask. Well, it can be almost anything. Sore throat, upset stomach, fever, allergies, cough, headache, aches and pains, etc. Pretty much anything. Which is nice when you don't feel like sharing your particular ailment.

Max is actually having a good day today. It's been so long since she's had one of those that I had forgotten what they feel like. Have I taken her 9 month pictures yet? Nope. See above. =) But, here is one to tide you over.

9 months and counting

Max, that is. She's 9 months old today. Who'da thunk it? She's a very active baby, which is fine now that we've got the house baby-proofed. She's also extremely cute, which has been her saving grace the last couple of days. This child has been impossible to please!!! Is there a full moon or something I don't know about? I was about ready to give her away several times this week. Anyway, there will be 9 month pictures coming soon. It tends to take two people to get decent pictures, so I have to wait until Ryan is home from school.

Nothing too exciting is going on. Which is good, right? Ryan's back hurts again, and we don't know why. That makes for rough times, let me tell you.

We've been eating kiwis and salads like they're going out of style. Or season. Which is highly likely. Last night I made taco salad, and toasted two tortillas in the oven to make tortilla bowls. They were very, very good. =)

I'm kind of boring today, sorry. I'll work on that.

Me, again!

I know, two posts in one day?!?! What have y'all done to deserve this??! I just really wanted to post my menu, but wanted it to be in a separate post. I figure if my posts get too long then your eyes start to glaze over and you miss the witticisms towards the end. (Aw gee, now I have to remember to INSERT witticisms at the end...)

Yesterday we finally bit the bullet and put up a baby gate. Infant protector. Small child restrictor. Fence. Whatever. It's up. Remember how in my first post I mentioned that my baby was going after our shoes? Well, she LOVES to chew on them. My flip-flops, more specifically. There are teeth marks in my pink Old Navy flip-flops. This is a problem because, well, as many of you, we don't live in the cleanest of areas. And we have two outdoor dogs. And... yeah, we'll stop there. Needless to say, Max chewing on our shoes is not a good idea. We tell her NO, and then she looks at us, either smiles or laughs, and continues to chew. Then it's hard to tell her no. I usually end up laughing, too. So we put up the aforementioned baby gate in the hallway, and moved the shoes to the other side of it. This is working very well.

After my trip to the vegetable stand this morning, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen cutting, dicing, boiling, and slicing. Very Iron Chef of me. And washing dishes. Because I'm a messy cook. Not the point. The point is that I had a lot of fun. Everything is all chopped up for the sweet and sour chicken, salad stuff is ready, BLT stuff is ready, etc. I even had a towel tucked into my pocket so I could be just like Mario Batali. (FYI, he is not our most favorite Iron Chef. He is our 3rd favorite. But he's funny.)

While I was doing all of that fun kitchen stuff, I listened to the latest Car Talk podcast. (www.cartalk.com) And some songs from the musical Wicked. And some Third Day. Third Day rocks my socks. Like this song.

Oh, also today, I ate a kiwi! I don't think I've ever eaten a kiwi before. How sad is that? So I bought one, peeled it, sliced it, and ate the whole thing lickty-split. And dude. I just checked out this website about kiwi and it's AMAZING. I will be telling my mother about this. She'll know why. So when Ryan had to run to the store to grab another green pepper (mine had gone moldy. ew.) I had him get a couple more. Max tasted some and she loved it, too. Yay!

This Week's Menu

I meant to post this yesterday, but never got around to it. I'd tell you why, but I really don't remember. Honest. I cannot remember what I did yesterday. Oh, I did go grocery shopping in the afternoon with Ryan and Max! Other than that, I'm drawing a blank.

But that is not the point. The point is, I meant to post my week's menu yesterday, in case anyone else needs some inspiration. I don't know about you, but I get stuck in a rut. And then I realize I'm in said rut, and then try out 3 or 4 new recipes in a week. Which is fine and good, except I think new recipes take a bit more time and work to make than the ones I'm used to making.

So, without further ado, here is our menu for the week:

Monday: Hamburgers, French fries, fruit
Tuesday: Sweet and Sour Chicken, Kasabands (Chinese long beans), Salad
Wednesday: Beef stew with Dumplings
Thursday: Taco Salad
Friday: Pancakes and Bacon
Saturday: Chicken Alfredo, salad
Sunday: Shepherd's Pie, probably a salad....

In actuality, I'm kind of glad I didn't get around to posting this yesterday, as this morning I went to the vegetable stand and got tons of lettuce, and other fun stuff. So, some of the menu got revised. And now my fridge looks like the vegetable stand threw up in it. Not in a gross way. In a good way.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's raining here. I love the rain, so it makes for a great afternoon. Max and I are sitting here watching Dora. In Dutch. Stupid case was mis-labeled. Sigh. Well, Max is also attempting to help me type. And chew on my wrists with her two teeth.

I was thinking about my first blog entry this afternoon while attempting to wake up from my nap. I thought about how it featured food blogs as my inspiration. Which is fine. I've discovered that I love to bake, and am even enjoying cooking. I love the crockpot blog, and have no idea how anybody could possibly live without a crockpot. Really. I mean, without a crockpot, you'd have to make these in the oven. And that's just not as much fun. I made this for dinner, and if I had had to do it in the oven, I wouldn't have been able to sit and watch "What Not to Wear." Which I wanted to watch. (By the way, whenever I make those chicken and dumplings they don't come out like soup. At all. But they are extrememly yummy. Even Max loves them. You should make them.)

Now, I have, in the past, teased my mother about having more than one crockpot. What good could that possibly be? I always asked. Well, no more. Now I wish I had more than one. Because if I did, then while I was baking those yummy 5-Layer Brownies, or the delicious Chicken and Dumplings, I could ALSO be making THIS to drink. But such is life. So I muddle through with just one crockpot.

And the baking? Well, you guys saw pictures yesterday of the Valentine's cake I made. (It is yummy, by the way.) For Ryan's birthday I made Pac-Man cupcakes. The tray they're on is not pretty. I'm not good at the plating/presentation thing. Yet.

By the way, I did get to sleep in this morning. It was nice. =) I like sleep.

Happy Day Before Valentine's Day!

Are you ready?? I am! I spent all week making various things, and had SO much fun!! I made cake balls one day (or, if your name is Jana, they're called cakey spheres of goodness), a heart out of Hershey's Kisses another day, and then doubled up yesterday by making truffles and what you can see in the pictures below. It's a strawberry cake, cut in a heart shape, covered in homemade fondant, with truffles and cake balls on top.I was going to use mostly cake balls that I had dipped in various toppings, however, I froze them with the toothpicks used for dipping still in... and then I couldn't get them out. Oh well.
Ryan was happy, I was happy, and it's pretty. It's all good.
I had a lot of fun making everything, even though it's all from scratch- minus the strawberry cake mix.
Anyway. It took a while, what with a mobile baby everywhere, guys re-wiring my house, and Ryan's back being out.

Someone asked me yesterday why I refer to my daughter as Max. Well, I'll tell you why. It's my small stab at maintaining privacy. (I'm channeling my inner Taryn.) Max is a girl, and, IMHO, the prettiest baby girl in the entire universe. But that's just my opinion.

It's Friday!! I love Fridays. I'd love it more if Ryan's back weren't out... I'd have sleeping in to look forward to tomorrow morning. Now, not so much. This too shall pass. (Right, Mom?)

I'm not feeling very creative right now, I'm sorry. I'll come back later if inspiration hits me.

What to say, what to say...

So here I am. I got inspired to start a blog. My inspiration came from the likes of this blog, and this one, and oh! can't forget this one! There are, of course, lots more that I love, and then the ones Ryan enjoys... but we could possibly be here all day. And I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of time. Hang on, I need to go find my baby.
Okay, she was going after the shoes. Again. Have I mentioned she's a crawling ace? She mastered that skill and hasn't looked back. And while it's fun that she's not so much of a blob anymore, and she can entertain herself more now, it's kind of pain to always know where she is and what she is either putting in her mouth or licking. She does that with EVERYTHING. I'm told it's normal. I'm glad we grow out of that, though, how weird would that be if we didn't??
But I digress. (You'll come to find out I do that a lot.) So there I was, inspired to blog. Now, I know some people complain about blogs. *insert whiney voice* "But I don't wanna know what your kid ate for breakfast!" or "I don't care what's on your grocery list!" or "Who cares what you did today." (Yogurt; onions; and nothing so far- in that order.) But to them I say "then don't read this!" Although I do promise here and now to not bore you with things like the baby's daily menu, what I plan to do or have done each and every day, and what I need at the store.
I do, however, wish to share some of Max's antics, some of the fun things I make in the kitchen, and the important goings-on in our lives.
(I realize the above sentence does not constitute a paragraph. Forgive me.)
Where was I... oh yes. This is my first time blogging. Ryan has done it in the past. And when I say past, I mean B.C. (You figure that one out.) So bear with me. Feel free to leave comments and constructive criticism. I'm a big girl. I can take it. (And... I have comment moderation turned on, so if I don't like it, I won't allow it to be posted.) That's Max. Giving you one of her looks.