Just a few of my favorite recipes

It's no secret that l love to cook and bake. Just take a look at David's facebook feed and you'll see some of our dinners.  I also love to try new recipes.  I'm always on the look out for something new to try.  I thought I'd share some of our favorites and since there are so many, I going to break it up into a few posts based on the type of food.  I'll start with a few Italian recipes.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs

I got this recipe from David's grandma.  Even though it doesn't taste just like hers, we still love it!  It's perfect for doubling and freezing for later use.

Sauce
Large can tomato purée (Whole tomatoes work too, they just need to be squished with your hands or ran through a food processor.)
Medium onion
4 cloves Garlic
24 oz Tomato paste
4 cups water (divided)
1 Tbs parsley
2-4 Tbs sugar
1/4 c or more fresh basil, chopped (2 Tbs dried works too, but fresh is better.)
1-2 Tbs Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Run onion and  garlic through a food processor.  In a large pot, cook onion/garlic mix in olive oil until the onions are soft.  Add the tomatoes and 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 45-60 minutes.
Add tomato paste, 2 cups of water, sugar, basil, parsley, salt and pepper.  Let simmer for 4-8 hours. The sauce will taste best if its allowed to simmer with meatballs.  Additional water can be added to achieve desired consistency.

Meatballs
2lbs hamburger
1lb ground pork
6 eggs
3/4 c Parmesan cheese
1/4 - 1/2c Bread crumbs
2 Tbs dried parsley
4 gloves garlic (minced)
Medium onion

Mix everything together and shape into balls.  In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-low heat.  Cook meatballs for about 20 minutes, turning every 3-4 minutes.  To ensure that the meatball are cooked thoroughly, bake them in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes.

Manicotti

This is one of the first recipes I perfected.  I have been making this for years, but it's still one of my favorites.

1 box of manicotti noodles 

2c shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4c parmesan cheese

2T fresh parsley (dried works too)

1/2t pepper

1/2t salt

Ricotta cheese

1 jar of spaghetti sauce or 3c homemade sauce

Boil the noddles for just a couple minutes.  They're easier to work with if they're not quite done.

Mix all ingredients except sauce.

Put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish.

Fill each noodle with cheese mixture and place in pan on top of sauce.  Pour remaining sauce on top of the filled noodles.  

Cover and bake for 45 min

Remove foil and bake for 15 min or until bubbles.

Can be served with extra sauce on top

Green Sauce Chicken 

I've adapted this from (recipe) from the food network.  This is perfect for a simple week night dinner or a family get together.  This is one of David's top 10 meals.

 

Shrimp with noodles and tomatoes

(Sorry, no picture.)
This is Madi's favorite meal.  I got this recipe from a coworker before Kaitlyn was born.  It is a quick week night meal.  It's also great with rotisserie chicken, though shrimp is definitely Madi's favorite.

-2T olive oil

-2 cloves of garlic (mined or pressed)

-2-3 cans of diced tomatoes with basil and oregano (drained)

-1/2c white wine (I've used apple cider vinegar when I was out of wine.)

-1c whipping cream

-2-3T dried parsley (1/2c or more if fresh) ( I usually use dried.)

-Cooked shrimp or rotisserie chiken

-1 package of angel hair or linguini

Cook the noodles according to the package. 

Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).  Add the parsley and tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid is gone. Then add the wine and cook until the volume is reduced by half.

Add the cream and return to boil.  Let simmer until the sauce thickens.  Then add cooked shrimp or chicken and pasta.

That's all for this post.  I'd love to know some of your favorite got to recipes.

Next up...our second favorite, Mexican

1st Annual North Pole Breakfast

 Meet Sally

Sally is our Elf on the Shelf.  In 2014, she became a part of our Christmas traditions.  Her first year I did my best to move her every night, but it didn't always happen.  Fortunately, both of the girls were too young to really get into it.  Last year I was determined to move her every night and to be more creative.  While she did move every night, there were many frantic mornings making sure she moved and many of her moves lacked in creativity.   This year I am even more determined to make sure that Sally is in different place every morning.  To help with this, I have prepared a list of ideas to get us through the next 24 days.  Most of them are very simple, but I know that if I don't have a plan, I will never follow through.  Every morning since her arrival, the girls have literally jumped out of bed to look for her.  I so excited to watch their excitement grow as we make our way through the month.

This past Saturday marked the arrival of Sally.  As a special treat, she surprised the girls with our First Annual North Pole Breakfast.  I had a plan for the breakfast in my head for several weeks, but wasn't sure when it would happen.  Since our Thanksgiving plans changed (thanks to a horrible chest cold), I decided that Sally would arrive on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I did most of the prep Friday night after the girls finally went to sleep and then set my alarm for 6:45 am to finish up.  I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect before they woke up.  

                                  

Presents first! Sally bought the girls their annual matching Christmas jammies which included a tutu. 

Next, the girls dined on snowman powered donuts, Christmas tree pancakes with sprinkles, marshmallows, and chocolate milk.  

We finished up our morning by reading the Elf on the Shelf book, which explains the elf rules.  

Baby K #3 - The Details

It's official.  We will soon be a family of five and we couldn't be more excited (and nervous) about it!  For over a year, we have been talking adding on to our family.  We even bought a mini van last summer because we were seriously considering it.  (The van was a great purchase even without having three kids.)  We ended up deciding that our lives were crazy enough with a two and a three year old and maybe it would be best to wait another year.  

We really wanted our next baby to born right around the end of school year since there would be more people available to help with the girls and daycare.  So we started trying in August with the hopes of a late May baby.   I was pretty disappointed when it didn't happen within the first month, but it was definitely for the best since I had planned to be in Nashville in September for Staci's bachelorette party.  

Since I knew I wasn't pregnant, I continued to work on some of our home improvements (painting the fireplace).  Three days before I expected to start my period again (which is when I found out with Kaitlyn) I decided to take a test.  It was negative and I was super bummed.  I really thought that it would only take a couple months to get pregnant since it only took two months for Kailtyn and none with Madelyn.  It looked like we wouldn't get the summer baby that we I had planned for.  

Since I wasn't pregnant, I thought that I might finish up some as well some of our home improvements.  I decided to paint the living room, entry, and hallway.  I started painting and was almost done when I realized that I hadn't started my period yet.  So that night (October 15th) I took a test and assumed it would be negative.  Then a pink line appeared.  Of course, I didn't believe it so took another one and it said the same thing.  Baby number three was in its way!   

HOW I TOLD DAVID

I really wanted to do something cute to tell David, but most of the things I saw online didn't work for a third baby.  Instead, I just showed him the positive test.  I think he was shocked at first, but then was excited!  He started texting family and friends (including my parents) as soon as I told him!  He even put it on Facebook with his film announcement.  It truly was an exciting week at our house.

HOW FAR ALONG AM I AND WHEN AM I DUE?

I am 11 weeks today and am due Monday, June 19th.  If this baby is born on its due date, then our kids birthdays will be 19, 20, 21.  If he or she is three days late, they will be 20, 21, and 22.  

WILL WE FIND OUT THE GENDER?

Yes!!  As cool as I think it would be to surprised in the delivery room, it's just not practical. We already have everything we need for a girl and we want to be prepared if its a boy.  With both girls, we were fortunate enough to find out the gender at 16 weeks.  It looks like we'll be finding out even sooner with this baby.  We should know within a week or two thanks to additional testing that is required due to my age.

WHAT DO THE GIRLS THINK?

Kaitlyn was very excited from the beginning.  She has been asking for a baby brother or sister for while.  It took Madi a couple days to be excited about it.  They were (and still are) really excited to share the news with there friends and almost every stranger they meet.  It has been fun listening to them talk about the baby and pray for it during their bedtime prayers.  Kaitlyn is hoping for a brother and Madi is hoping for a sister.

WILL THIS BE OUR LAST?

As much as I like the idea of having four kids, this will most likely be our last.  Kids are expensive and require a lot of our time.  We want them to able to experience things that we might not be able to if we have a fourth.  

HOW AM I FEELING?

This pregnancy has been rough.  For the first few weeks, I was just really tired.  Around week 7, I started having all-day sickness complete with vomiting.  With the girls, I only felt sick if I didn't eat frequently, but with this baby it doesn't seem to matter what I do.  I feel nauseous if I eat and nauseous if I don't eat.

This was their idea, but I think it might sum up their feelings about a new baby.

Just A Few Confessions

1) I can't relax when the house is messy.  I can tolerate the floors not being vacuumed or swept, but I cannot stand clutter.  The worst areas for me are the kitchen and living room.  To help reduce my stress, I try to pick up the living room and kitchen every night before going to bed.  The girls hate that I make them put all of their stuff away, but I love waking up to a clean, clutter free house.  

2) I hate bedtime!  There is always some kind of struggle.  The girls seem to think that this is the perfect time to watch another show, wrestle with daddy, hide in the closet, or decide that they finally want to eat their dinner.  They also have this terrible habit of insisting that I sit in the hallway until they are asleep.  Some nights they fall asleep quickly, but most nights I have to sit there way too long.  By the time they're finally asleep and I get to relax or get myself ready for bed, I feel like I have just completed a marathon.  

3) I used to be great about sending thank you notes, but for the last couple of years I can't seem to get them done.  Please forgive me if you don't get one.  I have the best of intentions.  Hopefully, I get better at this as the kids get older.

4) I don't enjoy working out.  I do, however, love the way I look and feel after I've worked out.  I have to force myself to workout, but I know that I have to because I have a bit of a sweet tooth.  I'm very fortunate that I have found a quick workout plan that I can do in 30 minutes or less during nap time or first thing in the morning.

5) I have a hard time buying clothes for my self especially if it's something trendy.  I love outfits when I see them on people, but I can't envision them together when they're on the rack.  I have just recently discovered that if I look online I can see what the clothes look like on someone.  This has been a lifesaver and has resulted in a few recent purchases.  

6) I get a thrill out of saving money.  I'm a tad bit frugal and love finding a deal.  I just recently tried jet.com after seeing so many commercials about it.  I really did save money and it was delivered to my doorstep within two days.  I also, just recently tired Walmart pick up.  This service might not have saved me any money on the things we needed, but it did prevent me from making any impulse purchases.  I can definitely see myself using this free service once baby #3 arrives.  There are also several money saving apps that I frequently use.  Ibotta, SavingStar, Checkout 51, Target cartwheel, and Walmart's savings catcher.  Most of these apps only work on instore purchases.

There you have it.  You now know a few more things about me.

Halloween 2016

At the beginning of the year, Madi told me that she wanted to be Cruella DeVil and that she wanted Katilyn to be a dalmatian.  I did what most mom's do and searched Pinterest for costume ideas.  When it came time to start making her costume, I thought that I should make sure that she still wanted to be Cruella.  Boy am I glad that I did because even though she was dead set on Cruella for months, she had now changed her mind.  She wanted to be Dorothy Gale and since I love themed sibling costumes, I suggested that Kaitlyn be someone from the Wizard of Oz too.  She picked Glenda the Good Witch.  I tried convincing Madi to go at the Wicked Witch because I thought it would be cute to have a good witch and bad witch, but she was set on Dorothy.  She did suggest that I dress as the witch and it's hard to argue with someone so cute.  Madi also asked David to dress as the scarecrow or a flying monkey and her grandparents to dress up as munchkins.  Here are a few pictures of there costumes.

Glenda the Good Witch, Wicked Witch of the West, and Dorothy Gale

As usual, we went trick or treating in our neighborhood with Grandma Kathy and Papa Dave.  The girls had a blast and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  In my 34 years of trick or treating, I can't remember ever being able to go without even a jacket.  It was an absolutely beautiful night.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been if had were a Friday or Saturday night. By 8:00 the girls were pretty tired (we had a very busy weekend with Staci's wedding) and they didn't want to get out of wagon. We hit up a couple more houses (if they were sitting in the driveway) on the way back to the house and called it a night.  Another Halloween is in the books and I can't wait until next year when we have another little one to add to mix.

Kaitlyn's First Day of Pre-K

Today was the day that Kaitlyn has been anxiously waiting for.  She has watched all of her friends head off to kindergarten and has been so disappointed that she is not five yet.  Today was the day that she went back to Creative World and joined the Panther class for pre-k.  She has been excited all week and was even more excited this morning to (hopefully) see all of her friends form the Lions class.  She was still excited when she came home and can't wait to head back Friday. 

Age: 4
School: Creative World
Teachers name: Ms. Jo
What is your favorite color: blue
What is your favorite food: grilled cheese
What is your favorite thing to do: paint
Who is your best friend: Dylan
What do you want to be when your grow up: an artist, a singer, and a mommy
What are you excited for:  school field trips and riding the bus

Some of her answers totally surprised me.  Purple has always been her favorite color and I expected her to say mac and cheese or hot dogs for her favorite foods.

Just for fun I asked Madi same question.  She wants to go to school so bad.
Age: 3
What is your favorite color: purple
What is your favorite food: noodles and 'matoes and shrimp AND noodles with 'matoes and sauce
What is your favorite thing to do: color with markers
Who is your best friend(s): Kaitlyn, Dylan, and Caleb
What do you want to be when your grow up: a mommy and cook dinner.  I'll be careful and put on my apron.

Still happy at the end of the day.

Kansas Sunflowers

There's a not so secret place (Grinter Farms) about 11 miles northeast of Lawrence, KS (or 50 miles from our house) that is full of sunflowers.  I first heard of Grinter Farms last year when sunflowers blew up my Facebook news feed.  I remember looking at all of the pictures and wishing that I could take the girls to see it.  The sunflowers made the perfect backdrop and I wanted to get some pictures of the girls surrounded by them.  It never worked out for us last year, so I made it a priority this year.

On Sunday, we decided to go to Nebraska Furniture Mart to look at new light fixtures for the kitchen.  (More about our kitchen remodel in a later post.)  I thought this would be the perfect time to go see the sunflowers since we would be almost halfway there.  Apparently, everyone else between Kansas City and Lawrence had the same idea.  It was packed!  Traffic was backed up for miles and there were a couple times that I thought that we would have to miss seeing it this year too.  It was definitely worth the wait.  Well, it was for me and the girls.  David, not so much.  Once we got close, all we could see was a sea of yellow with mixes of green.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen.  However, I do not feel the need to visit it every year.
Like many, I had high hopes of capturing the perfect picture of our little family.  There were even a couple ladies out there offering to take you picture.  I did manage to get a couple good pictures of the girls and the fields, despite the fact Madi refused to look at the camera.  However, the pictures of the four of us were not good.
If you have the chance, you really should check it out.  Just go early, like 8am, or be prepared to be stuck in traffic.

Madi's Ariel Birthday

For Madi's first two birthday parties, I chose the theme.  I tried to pick something that I thought would be cute (1st birthday -Minnie Mouse) or something she was into (2nd birthday - Sofia the First).  This year was the first year that she told me what she wanted.  She chose Ariel, just like Kaitlyn did when she turned three.  We also let her decide where she wanted to have her party.  Surprisingly, she chose to have it at home.  All she asked for was a pinata, to play on her waterslide, and an Ariel cake.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us and we were only able to fulfill two of her three requests.  Despite the rain, I think it's safe to say the she thoroughly enjoyed her party.

When Kaitlyn had her Ariel birthday party, I made her a mermaid cake that had Ariel sticking out of the top.  Even though it was a cute and fairly simple cake, I did not want to make the same one for Madi.  

I searched pinterest and obsessed over finding the perfect cake.  I found several that I really liked, but most of them seemed to be above my ability.  I finally picked one, but when I went to make it something went wrong.  I bought a tip that I thought would create a ribbon effect, but it didn't.  What it did make was a horrible looking cake.  I've made a lot of cakes and this was by far the ugliest cake I had ever made.  I did so fast thinking (the party was in two hours) and came up with solution. I think the finished product turned out pretty.  Most importantly, Madi loved it!

Madi's 3rd birthday cake.  Quite possibly the best tasting cake I've ever made.

Chocolate cupcakes for our chocolate lovers.

Octopus French onion dip

Madi couldn't wait to open presents.  She asked to open them every time some new arrived.  When it was finally time to open them, I think she was more excited about the actual opening of the presents than she was with what was inside.  I did however manage to get some good smiles out of her with most of her presents.  After the party was over she couldn't wait to take everything out of the package.

She is so excited to start ballet and tap this week with Kaitlyn.

After gifts, it was time for the pinata.  It started to rain the moment that we decided to bust open the pinata so we improvised and did it in the house.  Instead opening it the traditional way, we used the pull strings at the bottom.  It wasn't quite as exciting to watch this way, but it was definitely safer and the kids still had fun.

She made sure that every piece of candy was picked up.

And finally, it was cake and ice cream time.  She was ready to blow out her candle, but bless her heart she just couldn't do it.  She eventually had to have help from Daddy. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Madelyn Rose!  I hope you had a great birthday.  We love you.

Madi is 3!!

Three years ago today I became a mama for the second time.  We weren't planning on having another baby  yet, but God knew we needed you.  I am so grateful that He chose me to be your mama.  You were (and are) the best surprise ever.

You have changed so much this year.  You are no longer a toddler who needs my help with everything.  You have become very independent when you want to be, but let us know that you still need your mama and daddy.  You have the biggest imagination and can almost always find a way to have fun.  You can be so sweet, but also have a bit of a temper.  Kaitlyn is your best friend and I love how close you are with her.  You two have so much fun playing together and have had some pretty amazing fights.  I hope that you two remain this close forever.     

I have enjoyed watching you become the smart, silly, lovable, inquisitive, imaginative, and independent little big girl you are and can't wait to see what the next year will bring.

This year we celebrated your birthday with pink donuts from Lamars for breakfast, which of course was your choice. You were very excited to have candles and fire.

We ended our day with one of your favorite meals, shrimp with noodles and tomatoes, a homemade chocolate chip cookie cake, and  presents.

Kaitlyn was mad that she didn't get to open any.

You were so excited to have your own kite.

Next weekend, we will celebrate again with a low key party at our house with family and friends.  You have requested an Ariel cake, a pinata, and your waterslide.

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Happy 3rd Birthday, Madelyn Rose!!  I love you!
Mama