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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Sausage and veggie pasta casserole

The way my mom cooks is... interesting.  She pretty much makes up recipes off the top of her head.  She rarely follows a written recipe, and when she does it's more to know what is in the recipe rather than how much.  She measures spices by sight, smell, feel, or taste.  She rarely salts anything as she cooks.  On multiple occasions I have seen her make a box of brownie mix and not measure water or oil.  (I've also seen that fail as many times as it works.)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Menu for 2/25/13-3/3/13

After an insanely busy week I finally got a full night of sleep for the first night in about five days.  Aaron got Bailey up and fed her breakfast this morning and let me stay in bed.  It was absolutely wonderful!

I mismanaged my time yesterday and ended up running extremely late for a party my friend was throwing.  I was frantically trying to get dinner ready so Aaron could take it up to his parents.  It took all day to get everything ready to go.  I ended up leaving a huge mess in the kitchen which I refused to clean up before bed.  Then this morning when I finally dragged my hind end out of bed I had to spend half an hour on dishes before I could make breakfast.  I know better than to go to bed without cleaning the kitchen, but I was so tired by the time we got home last night that I just couldn't make myself do it.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Calzones

Aaron loves pizza.  On nights when I have dinner with my parents he usually orders pizza.  Thankfully my pizza seems to trump delivery pizza.  One night a few months ago I had pizza on the menu, but I had left my big pizza pan at someone's house.  So I improvised and made calzones instead.  Aaron like them so much that the next time I planned pizza again he asked if I could change it to calzones.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Birthdays!

This week has been full of birthdays.  Aaron turned 29 today and his father turned 76 yesterday.  Since one should celebrate on one's birthday, we have been enjoying fine company and delicious food for the past two days.

Last night I prepared two pans of chicken stuffed shells and a batch of garlic knots to share with Aaron's parents and his sister-in-law for dinner.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Sugar doughnut muffins

What is it that compels me to bake at 2:00 in the morning?  A few weeks ago I had a craving for chocolate cereal treats in the early hours of the morning, and tonight I had an urge to find a good muffin recipe and have at it.  This is why I love that Pinterest is open 24/7.  I went through my "Breakfast" board and found a recipe for which I had all of the ingredients and got to mixin'!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Menu for 2/18/13-2/24/13

What a relaxing day!  I got to sleep in today, we had brunch around noon, and dinner at Dad's tonight was fish!  Fish is my favorite.  We had delicious tilapia with bok choy and sticky rice.  I had never had bok choy, but I liked it.

I'm starting to get a little anxious about this week though.  Wednesday is Aaron's dad's birthday and Thursday is Aaron's birthday.  Birthdays are always demanding on the baker in the family.  Aaron's dad wants a Mississippi Mud Pie which I've never made before.  It will probably take me two days to make it so I will (hopefully) be starting on it Tuesday afternoon.

Basic biscuits



I post every week that breakfast on Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) is bacon, eggs, and biscuits.  Well, that sounds really boring, doesn't it?  Especially when we have the same thing every week.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Meatballs stuffed with mozzarella

This is my third attempt at posting this.  I have fallen asleep twice while typing.  Maybe this time I will actually complete the post.

So, last night we had some amazing spaghetti and meatballs.  Bailey absolutely loves spaghetti and meatballs.  I've never seen her eat so much.  She just gobbles it down!  I actually make some little pasta shapes (such as the small salad shells) for her so I don't have to worry about cutting the pasta up for her.  I just mix in some sauce and chop up a meatball or two and then spread it on the high chair tray for her to feed herself.  She ate a ton of it last night.  In fact, she ate everything I gave her and then searched her seat for more pasta when we got her out of the chair.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Chili

I have got to get back on a normal sleep schedule.  We were at Yaya's house last night for dinner and somehow we didn't end up coming home until almost 11:00!  Then of course I couldn't sleep and was still awake when Aaron got up to get ready for work.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Yaya's spaghetti

I've had this cold or whatever it is for three days now and it already feels like it's been a week!  How is it that when you're sick you can't seem to remember what it's like to be well, even when it's only been a few hours since you started feeling sick.  Some delicious comfort food was just what this little family needed tonight, which is why I'm glad I had some already on the menu.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Menu for 2/11/13-2/17/13

I feel so incredibly loved today.  Our whole house has caught whatever crud Bailey has had all week, so I called my dad to cancel our family dinner tonight.  It was partly because I just feel so... icky... and partly because I don't want to spread this outside our house.  My poor brother already caught it from Bailey and had it all week!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Breakfast casserole



This has been a tremendously long Saturday.  I barely got any rest Friday night and had to be up super early today, but I did accomplish a great deal today.  This morning I worked for actual pay!   I only get to work one Saturday every other month.  The only problem is that I have to drop Bailey at my Nana's at 7:00 am in order to get to work on time.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Beef stew


One of Aaron's favorite meals that his mom makes is beef stew.  A few years ago my mom made this family cook book and when Aaron said he wanted me to make him beef stew I thought No problem, I'll find the recipe in the mom's cook book.  I was wrong.  It turns out my mom never made us any beef stew so we didn't have a recipe for it.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Purple bubble bath

Bailey loves bath time.  It's constant, one on one attention from mommy, and plus, you get to be wet!  What's not to love?  Sometimes I like to make it even better and add some color!

And that is what I did tonight!


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Laundry day again...

How is it that laundry day keeps coming around?  It seems like I have to do laundry every week!  Oh, wait, I do.

It's not that I hate laundry, or that it's a particularly difficult chore.  It's not any more boring than any of my other chores.  I just don't like laundry.

I love clean clothes, the smell of clean laundry, the smell of a clean baby wearing clean pajamas, but the process of doing the laundry is just... frustrating.

First of all, Bailey and the cats are underfoot the whole time.  As soon as I get something folded and set it aside Bailey grabs it and runs off with it.  That's especially true with fitted sheets.  It takes so long to get them folded properly without Aaron's help and then she just disappears with them.  By the time I catch up to her the sheet is spread out across her bedroom floor.  Then she steals the clothes hangers and I have to chase her to get them back so she doesn't fall with them and hurt herself.  Come to think of it, it's not the washing and drying part that I have trouble with.  It's the folding, hanging and putting away.

I guess I should just be happy I have a relatively clean child that doesn't cause me to have mountains of laundry to do every week.  I remember other mothers telling me when I was pregnant about how much laundry I was going to have to do.  I don't know, maybe Bailey has more clothes and bibs and things, or maybe she's just cleaner than most children because I generally only do the two loads each week.

Unfortunately Bailey has been feeling icky today.  She is sniffly and stuffy but no fever.


She was so sleepy tonight she fell asleep in Aaron's lap, which never happens.  Usually if he holds her instead of me she just cries and cries.  Daddy just isn't as comforting as mommy.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Cheesy taco soup

Bailey got hold of my iPod this morning while I was snuggling with her and took a few pictures of herself on accident.  There is nothing cuter than watching her realize that her face is on the screen she's looking at!


I love recipes that say "cheesy" in them!  I love cheese!  I buy it in massive quantities every month because I add it to anything I can.  I put it on spaghetti and chili and eggs.  I've even been known to add shredded cheese to the top of macaroni and cheese!  Bailey loves it too.  She can't get enough little cheese cubes at lunch time and you should see her devour a grilled cheese.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Menu for 2/4/13-2/10/13

I'd like to start off with a few pictures.


I am so thankful that Rhada is finally feeling better!  This was Aaron and Rhada having an afternoon nap yesterday before we went to his parents' house for dinner.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Burgers and beans

So, I have horrible insomnia.  Some days it's early morning (nearly sunrise) when I finally fall asleep.  Wednesday night I  never did get any sleep.  Therefore, nap time yesterday was mommy-daughter nap time.  I slept the entire time.  I wish I could say I felt better after my nap, but I felt just as tired when I woke up as I had when I fell asleep.  I just plowed through the rest of the night so I could lie down early last night.