One of the things that has been keeping me sane through this long long winter is this gorgous coral reef inside our house! I had no idea when Paul decided to get into salt water tanks how much I would love it. On Paul's day off his favorite thing to do is to go to the fish store and pick out a new little animal to bring home.
We now have: 3 pulsing zinnias 2 leather 4 mushrooms 4 zoes 1 candy corn 1 texas trash 2 sps's 1 frog spawn 1 green grass thing 1 pink bush thing
2 clowns (Zeet and Zot) 1 tang (Doobee) 5 Cromos 1 pinky....... 1 blood shrimp 1 flame scallop tons of crabs and snails
We love our little guys! We love the smell of salt in the middle of winter in Michigan. We love looking forward to warmer days. Yeah- Salt water tank!
I think everyone needs a valentine's tree. This is my rendition. Don't you love the classy XOXO neon?? I do. :) This silver card holder was a great find at the Kirksville clean up. That means I found it in a pile of trash in front of someones house, and I love it. These photos are my way of saying Happy Valentine's day to all of you out there. I hope it's filled with lots of love for each of you. I told Paul that if he loved me he would plan something wonderful for V-day this year. Is it wicked to use that kind of shameful persuasion to get what you want? Is it even worse if you tell him that the day before Valentines day? Well, bring on the wrath. We deserve a date. I have gone overboard the past few years doing all kinds of valentine's surprises for Paul, and girls.. seriously, what a waste of time! We all know what men really want. They don't want heart shaped hamburgers or heart covered pillowcases or hearts all over the inside of their cars.. that just embarrasses them (or so Paul says). So this year, I'm making Valentine's easy. And you all know what I mean... and he can plan the date this year.
I'm loving up my sweet tadpoles this week. Eirik got the paint out and painted this entirely on his own. He wanted to paint a deep blue sea for Joren since Joren LOVES fish and water so much. Isn't that so sweet! He said he would give it to him as soon as he woke up from his nap.
It's 1:00AM and over the baby monitor I just heard the cutest giggle from one of my dreaming children. That's one of those moments that make life fun. Another one happened this week. Eirik was "helping" me make dinner.. (translation: not helping) and Joren was playing happily in his room. I could hear him growling with all his dinosaurs over the monitor. Suddenly we heard the cutest angel voice confidently say "Eyeick! Eyeick!" I guess Joren learned to say his brother's name and was calling him to come play! We all ran to the bottom of the stairs to see if what we heard was real, and Joren had come to the top of the stairs to call his brother again. Mind you, Joren has not yet said Mom or Dad, but he was calling for his brother! Eirik excitedly climbed the stairs to see what his brother wanted to show him. Paul and I cried and jumped up and down in happiness. Bless that little Joren. He is so sweet. That was a week ago and he has not said Eyeick since, but they have been playing together so much. We are so glad we listened when the spirit told us that Eirik needed a brother right away!
Another great thing that happened this week is that I finally finished all three of my pillows I have been working on and I think they turned out really great.
This leaf pillow was an idea I really lifted from World Market. (Thanks World Market.. I love you.) I was with Kristen (of course) when she said, "we could make that" and then she found a jacket at a thrift store later that day with this nice wool, and then she gave me scraps of her green fabric.. and voila. The sleeves of that wool coat turned into a cute little bag for Eirik too. That wool jacket was a great $4 investment.
And here is the penny pillow I mentioned in a former post. This little project was such a lifesaver. I have sort of an anxious personality and need to stay busy. Stitching and stitching and stitching is really relaxing. I liked having this project to work on while my kids were in the bathtub or while I sat by their door at night while they went to sleep, and they liked it too because I can interact with them and still keep my hands busy. I had to force myself to stop working on it once they went to sleep though so that I would have something to do the next nights. I was so sad when I finished that I immediately started another one and it is almost done. I might be on to some little money maker here.. or maybe just a really fun time waster. Anyone want to buy one? You can choose the colors. :)
And this pillow is sort of my little baby. I fell in love with the pillows on Koko Company and they were so inspiring I thought I would see what I could come up with. Of course mine is way different than any of the AMAZING pillows on that site. I mean seriously, aren't they great? Anyway, I got the orange and grey chintz fabric as a birthday gift last year. (Paul took me to Joannes and waited in the car for like an hour while I picked out a gift for myself. Isn't that awesome?) And the felt that matches exactly is from a scrap pile in my mother -in-law's basement. Cool huh! The french knots were an idea from my friend Peggy. I think it tuned it really cool. I want to make more... lots more! This design turned out a little more predictable than I anticipated. My next one will be much more abstract I think. I let my kids drink their milks while laying on it a few minutes after this photo and Joren threw up about 2 inches from it. So, enjoy the pillow in pristine condition because it won't last long in my house.
So Happy Valentine's to everyone! We love you!
PS. What is up with everyone loving blue and white and dainty vintage prints? Doesn't anyone else love 1970's warm earthy colors anymore? What's the deal. Am I the only one? Cause I'm not changing. :) I don't care how cool you all are.
Poor Joren, He hasn't had a post about just him in 6 months. I guess it's because he's so dang awesome, I feel like I'm just bragging when I talk about him. But this is for his record. I feel like he's my little great secret and if I talk about him too much I might jinx it or something. He loves to play with his toys. He wakes up and plays in his bed for at least 1/2 hour. I stock his crib with all kinds of new toys all the time and just listen to him on the monitor having a great time. He has his little dinosaurs growl at each other. He jabbers to himself. He is a great eater. He loves food. He's not very picky. He loves his bottle and can hold it himself. He only really cries when he wants a bottle and I haven't been listening to his requests. He bites me when he is hungry, and the kid can BITE! He won't cut it out, but it is kind of cute. He loves to pull everything out of the cupboards and drawers and explore everything. He loves fish. He smacks his lips like a fish whenever he sees one. He loves to watch our fish tank. He learned to walk on Christmas eve and he is cruising now. He seems like such a big kid. He's a good climber. He's super easy to be with. He's chill, easy going, easy, easy, easy, cute as a bug and so lovey. He goes to bed easy, loves his Binky, usually wakes up once during the night for a milk, but sleeps great. He likes to nap for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. I know, don't hate me.. I told you it was good. I just know Heavenly Father knew what I could handle. He knew if he sent me 2 like Eirik I wouldn't make it. Eirik and Joren are perfect for each other. They don't fight about anything (cross my fingers.. yet). They don't really play together a lot, but they love to be with each other. I think when Joren starts to talk more, we will have a whole new world open up to us. He just doesn't really care about talking yet. He can make the sounds of a dinosaur, bear, tiger, owl, duck, elephant, and fish. He can say duck, disaur, and done... and onguard that's about it. Oh I almost forgot, he says "onguard" and he is great at sword fighting! He's just busy doing everything else, and believe me, we have enough talking happening in our house, so we love his quiet content sweetness.
My sweet husband was a little ashamed of my antagonism in my last post about Eirik. I do feel bad about baring my frustrations to the world. I told Paul that I was planning to post about all the great stuff about Eirik next and he said, "well, do it quick.. " so, here it is.
I love collecting these little bits of things Eirik says because he always sideswipes me with how clever and attentive he is.
(on a day when he had a runny nose.)
"I think there are ants eating my nose. They smell food so they are eating my nose."
Eirik's first poem:
"I know,
Roses are red
That is my bed
and this is my head!" Jan 28-09
"Dad, go away, if you don't I don't care, I'll stick you in my underwear."
"I was in the fridge and the food was talking to me and it told me to eat this (zis)." (cream cheese)
"You can call me Rockstar."
Mom: "Eirik, What are you doing?"
Eirik: "I'm on a magic carpet for a rock star. I'm never coming out."
"Play with me mom, it's your job!"
One night I made barbecue chicken, honey baked beans and cornbread. Most of you know how hard it is to get Eirik to eat anything so when he said, "Mom, your a good cooker!" it totally made my night. To top it off, the next thing he said was, "Dad, will you teach me to low board tomorrow?" Dad: "you mean snowboard?" Eirik: "Yeah, skateboard on snow?"
For me and Paul, that was one of the best nights of our lives. :)
"Sometimes I'm the bad guy and I don't say my prayers."
The monsters are not in my head, they are just in my bedroom."
"Come in my jeep. When you push all these buttons (lots of sound effects) it turns into a DINOBOT!"
Eirik told me today that he needs a hovercraft and asked where he could get one.
"I can't go exploring without my headlamp."
"Did you know horses are better than cars? They don't need gas."
"mom, I totally don't want to take a nap!"
Eirik was convinced for all of December that Land Before Time was "Land Before Island". We tried to correct him a lot, and finally one day he said, "Everyone is saying it WRONG! It's Land before ISLAND! Say it with me .. LAND BEFORE ISLAND!"
When we came home from Utah, Eirik said, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! Grandma and Grandpa have a basement. We need to buy a basement mom!"
Eirik keeps talking about his little sisters (plural! ahh) He named one of them Jolie Ann. I told her that we are planning to name our next daughter Juniper Gayle. He said, "ok, and the next girl will be Jolie Ann. We were at the dollar store later that day and he saw these hair bows that he liked. He said, "mom, when Juniper Gayle and Jolie Ann come, I will buy them these presents."
At a truck stop on the way to Michigan there were archade games. Eirik said, "dad, do you have some money?" I could see how that moment was just the beginning. It reminded me of how at 1 1/2 years old Eirik demanded that we got to the mall and asked if we had any gum. (how did he know what gum was?) And that story remind me about 2 months ago we were in Cleveland by the college campus. Eirik saw a group of girls jogging in sports bras and short shorts. He said, "why are those girlas (that's how he says girls) in their swimsuits?" I said, "they are exercising." he said, I think those princesses are beautiful." (Yikes, should we be a little bit worried?)
Tonight I taught Eirik how to put olives on his fingers. He thought it was so fun he said, "Mom, I love olive fingers. Thanks for teaching me this. " Then we gave them names and did a little puppet show with them. When we were down to the last 2 olives, I dramtically ate mine and Eirik's little bottom lip quivered, then stuck out in the saddest most heartbroken sob. He was so sad that I had eaten Olivia!
When I am cold he loves to blow his warm breath on me to warm me up. He also likes to use his hands as a hat on my head to keep me warm outside.
He is a great helper, so thoughtful, and kind. He loves to do things by himself.
The other day he said, "mom, I brought you these flowers so that I could make your day."
and the best is when he says, "do you know I love you?"
He is a delight, and I'm sorry for my tirade on him last week. I'm just learning to ride his roller coaster and enjoy the fun instead of getting sick. :)
I want to end this post with this great quote about motherhood.
Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president: "I have a testimony gained from pondering and studying the scriptures of a plan of happiness given to us by our Father in Heaven. That plan has a part for His daughters. We have the female half to take care of, and if we don't do our part, no one else is going to do it for us. The half of our Father's plan that creates life, that nurtures souls, that promotes growth, that influences everything else was given to us. We can't delegate it. We can't pass it off to anyone. It's ours. We can refuse it, we can deny it, but it's still our part, and we're accountable for it. There will come a day when we will all remember what we knew before we were born. We will remember that we fought in a great conflict for this privilege. How do we meet this responsibility? We daily put our energies into the work that is uniquely ours to do."
I got lucky enough to have my friend Kristen come stay with us for the week with her little cutie Rhoda. It's rare to find a friend that is so easy to be with that you genuinely love every minute together (even non-stop for a week) and are sad when they go. She's one of my best creative inspirations. She has this fearless approach to making things that really gives me confidence. She's always saying to me, "we could make that." and we often end up doing it. This time we worked on this outdoor mat project that we started a while ago.. This one started when she saw my post about this Anthropologie rug that I was wishing I could buy. She called me up and said, "we could make that." And we did!! (Of course it's not quite the same, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Kristen is cracking up in this picture because I asked her to hold the spray paint for the shot and then we both realized how dumb that was since we weren't really spraying inside with a baby right there..
This gives you an idea of our oh so technical execution. We got the plain colored mat from Ikea for cheap... (i don't remember $10 or something like that). Then we drew up a stencil, cut it out and pinned it to the mat. We spray painted for the colors that we had the right color spray paint for, and we used cheap craft acrylic paint for the other colors. It's a bit tricky getting the right parts of the stencil on for each different color, but it didn't take that much time, and it was so fun to do. Thanks Kristen! Now we just have to finish yours! And we started these penny coin pillows. I have always loved these and now I know how to make them. finished photos are yet to come. While Kristen was here, I had a great time cooking and one night while we were eating Kristen said something about how fancy the food was, how fancy it was to sit next to a beautiful salt water aquarium and how nice the music was. Then she said, it's better than a fancy restaurant. Her perspective made me really sit back and think about how good we have it. While it's negative 10 outside, we're with family and friends, cozy, eating well and making penny pillows. It doesn't get better; at least for January.
We miss you already Kit! Eirik cried when he woke up and you were gone. (so did I)
It's already been two whole weeks since our little family got home from our 6 week trip to Utah. We drove home straight through- 27 hours!! The kids were awesome! Joren didn't even cry once until we were 1 mile from home. What troopers! The boys are adjusting to being home.. slowly. A two hour time change is kind of hard on kids. Joren loved finding all the toys at our house to play with. Since he learned to walk in Utah it was like discovering his house all over again. This was fun to watch.
So I want to do a quick recap of the month of fun. It occurred to us that this is probably the only time in our lives that we will spend so much time in one house with my family for the rest of our lives.. maybe not, but possibly. That said, I felt an extra yearning to treasure up all the goodness and warmth of my parents and their home while we were there. We talked to Grandpa tonight on the phone and Eirik cried and said, "come to my house please, and bring my horse Spirit, I miss you so much!" My dad was so great with our boys. It was sweet to hear my dad speak about his dream of being the grandparent to our kids that he thinks they deserve. We're so grateful already.
We also just packed in party time with all of Utah friends. There are few special friends that we missed (boo) but for those of you we got to see we had a blast! We got to see Letishe. Always a bonus. I think we scared her out of having kids though. (I really think they are not all like Eirik Tishe!) We almost missed Derek and Tasheena but snuck them in for a last minute Rumbi's lunch on the way out of town. Yeah, Tasheena, you're still a rock star. We got New Year's with Kit and Basil.. Always a grand time! 40 spicy wings and too much mud pie.. mmm... and I shouldn't have started naming friends because I can't name you all.. but we love you all.
and I started this post a LONG time ago and I wanted so bad to write about all the great things that happened in Utah and now I am on to such a new place that I have missed he moment and I can't really capture it.. so suffice it to say for now that it was remarkable and we miss our family.. each of you .. so much already.
So what is the New place?
Every January I get this wonderful sense of permission to hibernate.I don’t know if it’s just the weather or the fact that not a lot seems to be planned in January or what, but I try to keep my calendar empty, the fridge stocked and just stay home.It’s lucky I feel that way since we all came down with the flu this week.It came on suddenly, out of the blue with torrential throwing up everywhere.I changed bedding 4 times the first night and did 4 loads of laundry including 5 outfits and a couch cushion.(Paul was on call and got to miss the fun.He had his own 30 hour shift of fun.)I thought things would slow down, but after the vomiting came the stuff on the other end, leaking out of diapers onto everything.To top it off, I completely lost my voice yesterday.So, staying home was in our best interests and I don’t see us leaving home for at least another 4 days.
In the mean time the snow has been slowly falling steady for the past 3 days.There is a massive blanket of white everywhere I look out our back windows.The roofline disappears into the pond now covered in snow.Yesterday the sun came out in gorgeous springtime brilliance and I bundled the kids out and drug them out for a little sledding just in time to realize that it was still below negative with the wind-chill.We lasted almost a whole 5 minutes before we were all turning blue, and both boys were crying.
So, we have invented a million new kinds of pretend and played with every toy several times this week.
We’ve played rock band (not the plug in kind), memory, guess who, horses and more horses, magical horses, leap frog on pillows, tents, we turned off the lights and played with all the light up toys, light sabers in the dark,
obstacle course with the air mattress and tunnels, play dough (we made a prince and princess and a horse and made up stories and Eirik got to make all their accessories like the stirrups and crowns.Oh and play dough with a garlic press is tons of fun.) Dress up, lots of reading, puppies with puppy books and puppy food and water, Eirik took a nap in his tunnel, they helped me make bread and scones, Eirik learned to write A and E, and O today and we practiced numbers, hopscotch for M & M’s, fishing for consonants with a magnent and juice bottle lids, feeding our new fish and lots of time watching them, watching musicians on Youtube, yes this mam has had t get creative..
and then in the middle of all the playing, we got a great break when my friend Celeste, a flight attendant, decided to pop in for an overnight visit.
I'm sad to say that I think we scared her too out of having children. (Sorry Skinny Bella..We loved your visit!)
Notice Joren is pulling her hair! :)
It's mine!
....and the list continues.. building a dinosaur with our little dinosaur kit, acting out stories with costumes and music, dancing, mother may I, hide and seek, red light green light, TONS of Zaboomafoo dinosaurs – probably twice a day I think, Cailou (such a cute show), and did I mention lots and lots and lots of trips to the potty? I told Paul yesterday that I don't think other moms feel like they have to throw a "birthday party" at their house every day just to be sane. While we are in the middle of doing one great activity, Eirik is saying, "what are we going to do today?" "let's do something besides go down the stairs in the sleeping bag, that's boring" so.. I have been thinking a lot about patience lately. Mostly because my days go like this: (You have to read this as fast as you can and then imagine it at a high decibel for 14 hours a day with only a 2 hour break for a nap)
"Mom, I need to go potty. I can't do it myself, I'm scared, I need to go potty, you have to watch me, I need a milk, I need a milk, I need a milk, Milky milky MILKY, mom, mom, mom, mom, MOOOOOOOM, Joren's crying, I woke him up, MOM, Joren's crying, I need a MILK, I need my boots on. I can't be a cowboy without my boots, I need my boots on right NOW, right now, right now mommy, it's your JOB!" and then repeat this times 1000.
Now, I'm sure most of you are thinking that I must be a huge pushover and that I put up with way too much and that this kid walks all over me... and to you I will say, you might be right, but.... I also feel that I am a very assertive disciplinarian and very firm and I don't give in to impolite demands, I wait until he asks with a please which is usually a LOT of waiting and staying strong through his onslaught of incredibly pressing demands, not to mention a lot of time outs and removing privileges. I'm sure there are things I'm doing wrong and hopefully I will look back and say, I wish I had known... which would mean that there is a way of dealing with this kind of thing that is better than how I am doing it and I will eventually figure it out.. but as for now, I am doing the best I can at having patience. As I was reading about patience, I realized that maybe Eirik is learning some of his impatience from me. People tell me all the time that I am so patient with Eirik. This may be their way of saying, "I would have clobbered that kid by now. Or maybe they are saying, "You're letting him get away with way too much." I guess they are seeing the 85% of the time when I really have it together. (That % just kept getting smaller and smaller as I thought about it.) People miss the 6:30 wake up call that I just illustrated above. I'm not so patient then, and when all is said and done and my impatience rears it's head, Eirik ends up sad, and hurt and says, "you hurt my feelings mom." and the truth was, he really was scared and he is only 2 with the needs and wants of a much older and incapable child. His constant frustration is astonishing, which only helps me remember how very capable and strong he can be when his little body catches up with his intellect.
Mosiah 23: 21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to achasten his people; yea, he trieth their bpatience and their faith.
D+ C 6:9 Be patient; be sober; be temperate; have patience, faith, hope and charity. (that one says it twice.. )
To be honest I have been sort of dreading this month. I have tried to be creative about using all of my resources since I feel sort of weak when it comes to this "being a mother of Eirik" thing, so we had a whole month in Oregon, then lots of fun fall activities, then a month in Utah (6 weeks) and now.... Janu boring rary...ary ary ary ary ary... and I hope someday it will end... ary.
He won't eat, but he screams when he is too hungry, He won't let me help him get dressed, but he screams that he needs help, he insists on wearing his cowboy boots everywhere, including to bed and he won't wear them in the snow because they will get snow on them, so he makes us carry him. Therefore, he hates to go outside, but he freaks out if he doesn't get an outing because he is too bored. He won't wear a coat or two shirts because they are too"steaky", or "steepy" or "it makes me feel fat". And if you mess with him then you're a "poopy stupy fupy". I'm probably singing the song of every other mother with a 2 year old. It doesn't make it any less real though. So here we are.. all you other moms with 2 year olds and all of you who have lived through it.. here we are.
And now as I think about it more, I wonder if it's not him being impatient, but me being impatient with myself. The more I learn about mirroring in relationships, the more true it seems.
My mom used to tell me that if I was bored I was a boring person. I couldn't disagree more. (sorry mom) I think there is an art to being bored and it has a lot to do with patience. The Buddhists are on to something when they preach letting everything go in order to find what you are looking for. So that's what I'm up to... hibernating for patience and peace and a little more compassion and charity for a little soul so overwhelmed with his new life he doesn't know how to express such an amazing variety of emotions that seem to always be at the surface.
My little life... in a little box... by a pond..
I usually worry about posts I put up after midnight... yup this is one of them. And that's the real Melody folks.
Christmas at our house was all about 4 things this year: "1 blue light saber so I can be Luke, 1 green light saber so Joren can beOB1-Wan Kenobi 1 red light saber so Daddy can be "Dar Thader" and a horse"
We even got Grandma in on the action! Way to be cool grandma!
This is what Eirik asked Santa for for Christmas in mid November. That's all he wanted and I think he repeated it to everyone he met for the next month and a half. I think his world would have crumbled if he had not received these 4 items. Christmas morning was a lot of fun because 2 year olds are awesome on Christmas. I made costumes to go with the light sabers. Eirik, I mean Luke, has not taken his off since he received it.
As Paul and I were standing in Target looking for Christmas presents for our boys I found this little knight uniform that I thought Eirik would be ecstatic about. Suddenly I was just overwhelmed with giddiness like I was the little kid at Christmas again. I was standing there, plenty of Christmas money rationed away for this very moment to buy our kids exactly what their hearts desired, and my little heart was beating with excitement to think that we could make their little dreams come true. How delightful it was to be able to buy them whatever they wanted and for that one moment I was able to overcome all of my stinginess, frugality, and tendency to withhold for the sake of living simply and "within our means" and just spoil those little sweeties rotten. Eirik is easy to buy for and we all had fun spoiling him, but we had the most fun being spoiled by my sister Katie who drew our name this year.
Can I just say that NOTHING could have prepared me for how cool her gifts were this year. She went so above and beyond that I'm still trying to conceive of a way to properly thank her and it's already mid Jan.
Here is the amazing hobby horse that she MADE without a pattern!and this is the darling blanket/ floor mat in the shape of a turtle that, again, she MADE with no pattern. BTW it's double sided. yes people, she is so talented.On top of that she bought us some childrens books that are perfect since they are about dragons and horses and rescues, not to mention an awesome childrens dictionary.. so fun.
The Anthropoligie journal she found for me could not be more perfect.Paul helped me spend all my Christmas money on new clothes. What a great treat.
I bought myself a new necklace that says "Create" on in that I am crazy about.
My mom sewed this awesome apron for me. She let me design it 100% which made it wonderfully custom and just right for me.
She also painted this painting for us called "The Doctor". It's a copy of a Sir Luke Fildes painting. Paul hired her to paint it for us. We love it. Thanks MOM! (Isn't she adorable!)
If anyone else out there wants a painting just like this for their husband, I can give you my mom's contact info. She would love to do more. Paul will hang it in his office when he has his own practice someday... in the far distant future... (the year 2000 .. for you Flight of the Concords fans)
Sorry to be all braggy about our new stuff. I hope no one minds. I'm just really worldly and vain like that so that's what you get. If you don't like it stick it out your wazoo.
Besides the gifts, Christmas was fun because I did tons of cooking. I basically picked all my favorite recipes and didn't give anyone else a say in the matter. It was pretty selfish of me, but I didn't see anyone complaining.
These were some of the highlights of the menu plan... for the month..
Cranberry Salsa dip
This is a surprisingly delicious dip - great for anytime, but especially around the holidays due to the red and green colors
Ingredients:
3 c fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained (12. oz bag)
4 minced green onions (1/4 c.)
2 small jalapeño peppers seeded and minced (about 2 T)
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c fresh cilantro, minced
2 T fresh ginger finely grated
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 9 oz. pkgs (lowfat) cream cheese
garnish- cranberries and or cilantro springs
Directions:
Rinse, drain and pick over cranberries discarding all that are soft or bruised.Pace them in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped but not mushy.Place in a bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients.Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours so flavor develops (it's too sharp and tart to begin with).
Place cream cheese on a plate and cover with the dip.Garnish if desired and serve with crackers.Water Table crackers work well.
Mexican Spinach Dip(Thanks Charyce)
Many friends have asked me for this spinach dip recipe since the Bunko party on my birthday- so here it is!
INGREDIENTS:
1 (16 oz.) jar salsa
1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1 (8 0z.) package cream cheese, diced and softened
1 (2.25 oz.) can chopped black olives, drained
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F .
In a medium baking dish, mix together salsa, chopped spinach, Monterey Jack Cheese, cream cheese, black olives, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
Bake mixture in the preheated oven 12- 15 minutes, or until bubbly.
Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.
PREP TIME: 15 minutes
COOK TIME: 15 minutes
Norwegian Pancakes- Thanks Zach and Arrin
1 ½ c. flour
2 T sugar
½ tsp salt
2 eggs- beaten
2 c milk
2 T butter, melted
Mix first three ingredients.Add ingredients on the right.Pour on skillet with a little butter.These will be very thin and you can make it as one huge pancake and cut it into smaller pieces or in whatever size or shape you want.Serve with fruit, syrup or whatever you want.
Crockpot Lasagna- Thanks Janese!
1 lb. ground beef
1 med. onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
29 oz. can tomato sauce
1 c. water
6 oz. can tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
8 oz pkg. lasagna noodles (uncooked)
4 c. (16 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
16 ox cottage cheese
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
Cook beef, onion, and garlic together in saucepan until browned. Drain. Stir in tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, salt and oregano. Mix Well. Spread 1/4 of meat sauce in an ungreased slow cooker. Arrange 1/3 of noodles over sauce. combine the cheeses. Spoon 1/3 of mixture over noodles. Repeat leayers twice. Top with remaining meat sauce. Cover. cook on low 4-5 hours.
This Bread Pudding taste just like pumpkin pie. It sooo good and can feed an army...it would be great for a Thanksgiving morning breakfast.
6 large eggs
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin or squash
2 cups (16 ounces) light cream
1 cup (8 ounces) milk
3/4 cup (5 7/8 ounces) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
1/4 cup (2 ounces) rum, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons vanilla
8 cups (about 18 ounces) bread*, cut in 3⁄4" cubes
Use any non-savory bread: brioche, a sweet bread, or plain white or whole wheat bread.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin, half and half, milk, sugars, rum, salt, spices, and vanilla, stirring to blend.
Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish or a 9" x 13" pan; if you’re going to refrigerate the pudding before baking, be sure to use a dish that can go from the fridge to a hot oven. Place the cubed bread in the dish in an even layer, and pour the liquid mixture over it. Let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, or for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
When you're ready to bake the pudding, stir it together to redistribute the custard; quite a bit of it will have been absorbed by the bread. Sprinkle with grated nutmeg, if desired; and bake in a preheated 350°F oven till set and beginning to brown, about 40 to 50 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream; garnish with minced crystallized ginger, if desired.
Yield: 2 dozen small servings, or fewer larger servings.
Rice Pudding
1 c. whipping cream
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c uncooked white rice
4 c 2% milk
cinnamon and orange zest for garnish (optional)
Heat the oven to 325. Combine all ing. except the garnish, in a 2 1/2 quart casserole (low and wide is better than tall and deep). Bake the pudding for 2 hours without stirring. Let it sit half an hour to set. Serve the pudding warm or cold, with garnish. Serves 12
Christmas Eve Large fresh shrimp steamed in Old Bay Seasoning:
1 lb shelled shrimp
combine:
2 T Old Bay seasoning
1/2 c vinegar
1/2 c water
boil-
add shrimp
stir gently
cover- steam until tender 3-5 minutes
Don't overcook!
African SaladThanks Zach and Arinn
Dressing:
2-3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper (a lot) ½ tsp then add to that to taste
1 T or more sugar
1 T or less mustard
1 T or less lemon juice
vinegar (any kind) put more v. than olive oil
½ c. olive oil or more
Roasted Pecans- brownsugar, butter, milk High heat to dissolve sugar then turn it right down –pour in nuts stir stir stir
Green apples
Dried cranberries
Avocado
Onions
Cucumbers
Mixed greens
Christmas Morning:
Fruit Pizza with sugar cookie dough crust -Kudos to my mom for this great concoction
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
1/2 ts salt
2 ts baking powder
1 ts baking soda
spread with cream cheese and strawberry jam mixture
add tons of fruit on top- make sure to include kiwi and blueberries
Quiche: - my very own recipe
6 eggs
2 T Water
salt and pepper
6 slices of ham cut small
3 slices onion diced small
3 large mushrooms diced small
large handful of cheddar cheese
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
mix all ing. together
pour in unbaked pie shell (I use the barefoot Contessa's recipe)
Put another handful of grated cheddar on top then some thinly sliced (not too juicy) tomatoes all over
cover w/ tinfoil for first 30 min
cook at 350 for 40-50 min.
check often for doneness since I made up this recipe and I'm not 100% sure of baking time. :)
Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice-Christmas isn't Christmas without this
So Why did I just post all of these recipes?? I don't know. The same question could be asked, "why am I such a freak about record keeping." and the answer is the same, I don't know, I just have this compulsion that gives me unrest until it's all written down. Someone stop me!
This blog is about the life and times of Paul, Melody and our three little tadpoles Eirik, Joren and Teig. I seem to talk mostly about them, but I try to throw in some other things of interest like my creative home endeavors, religious and political views and updates about the progression of our never ending medical school adventure. I post my artwork on my art blog (link below). Thanks for visiting!
