New Recipes

For dinner last night I finally made a recipe that I've had flagged in one of my cookbooks for years. The reason it took me so long to get around to is that I always forgot about it by the time Spring came around and asparagus was available in the stores. It's called Asparagus Ham Dinner and it is from a Light & Tasty Annual Cookbook.

My favorite part about it was all the fresh vegetables....asparagus, sweet yellow pepper, and roma tomatoes. However, I wasn't completely sold on the seasonings, which was basically just dried basil and oregano. Maybe some garlic would have helped out in the flavor department, although I thought the leftovers tasted better the next day anyway.

This week I was planning on making a Rachael Ray lasagna, but I couldn't find the right ingredients at the store....simple as they were (fresh basil). So I switched at the last minute and decided on a Cooking Light Lasagna called Tomato Basil Lasagna with Prosciutto. I already had all the ingredients on hand except for the Prosciutto, so I guess it was just a Tomato Basil Lasagna.

I thought it tasted okay for a light lasagna, but to be honest, I don't think it tasted quite as good as it smelled in the oven. Maybe the prosciutto would have improved the flavor a bit. The cheese filling was super delicious though...a mixture of cottage cheese, cream cheese, garlic and dried basil pureed in the food processor. Yum!

Birthday Boy

Today was Tyler's 4th birthday and he really had a great time. Last night Rick and I decorated the living room with balloons, so Tyler was pleasantly surprised when he got out of bed this morning. Equally as exciting as the balloons, which he loves, was the pile of presents he found awaiting him. He couldn't wait to dig in.

Here are a few of the goodies from Aunt Anni and Grandma...gardening gloves and clogs, rain boots and a new board game.

A few more things....

This was my gift to him....the 2009 Weekly Reader collection of books from QVC. They're great because they each come with a CD so he can listen to them anytime he wants.

After unwrapping all the presents and spending a few hours playing with all the new loot, we headed over to the Family Fun Center for a game of miniature golf and some arcade games. I was hoping it was going to be a little warmer today...it was cold and windy out there.

Next, we went to eat Dinner at Abby's Pizza. By that time Tyler was fading fast...I guess that's what happens when he wakes up crazy early, like he did today. He only ate 1 tiny slice of pizza! So we got out of there fairly quickly and went back to the house for cake and ice cream. I mean, we couldn't let him fall asleep without any cake!

Happy Birthday to Tyler......Happy Birthday to you!

Dessert Before Dinner

This past week was beyond boring, nothing much to comment on there. Granted, I was sick for the first half of the week, but even when I got better, Tyler and I still stayed home and did nothing. Can I blame it on the gloomy Spring we have here in Yakima? I just cannot get motivated to get out of the house. It's cold, windy and kind of ugly outside. All the grass is yellow and all of the trees and shrubs remain bare...not a bloom in sight. Ughh, what would I give for a nice California Spring!

Well, leave it up to Rick to finally drag me out of the house. We went to the bowling alley, as we normally try to do on Friday afternoons. And I'm glad to admit that our scores are gradually improving as our technique gets a little better. Tyler's score, on the other hand, got progressively worse as the game wore on today. He was too tired for words...he won't admit it, but he could still benefit from naps, even if he is a "big boy" now.

One trick I've discovered to zapping a tired child back to life is to give them a mega dose of sugar. So how lucky is it that Baskin Robbins is right across the street from the bowling alley? I'm kidding...it's not that great. Tyler begs to go every Friday and I just don't like to make a habit of going out for Ice cream. Rick's arm, though, is very easy to twist.

Rick and Tyler both got some disgusting chocolate flavors, but I chose a scoop of Icing on the Cake. It has bits of cake and sprinkles mixed in with the ice cream. I thought it tasted good at first, but the sweetness of it all really started to add up fast. It smelled really good at least.

For dinner tonight I made a recipe from an old Taste of Home magazine I had lying around. It's called Greek Style Supper and was super delicious. The recipe uses 1/4 tsp cinnamon, which is easily detected in both smell and taste, but I thought it worked nicely. I'll be adding this one into my rotation.

Busy Like A Bee

Victory at last! I finally got my hands on some girl scout cookies....which I promptly hid on the top shelf of the pantry. I would have put them in the freezer, but our freezer is already jam-packed, thanks to a bunch of random nonsense from Costco. I heard that the manufacturer of the cookies decreased the size of the packages this year in order to deal with the rising cost of production. So basically, you're getting less cookies for the same price you paid last year. Hopefully I'm not too disappointed when I open up the boxes!


Mmmm, don't they look good! I'm completely over the Caramel Delites, my favorite cookie since I was a kid. Now I'm all about the Do-Si-Do's...see how I bought two boxes?

I tried a new muffin recipe from the Quick Cooking 2008 annual, called Carrot Bran Muffins. I haven't tried them yet, because bran muffins usually taste better the day after baking, at least that's what I think. They look good at least, for the most part anyway. I opened up the oven a little too early and about half of the muffins started to cave in. Arggh, I hate it when I do that!

Rick and Tyler were out in the garage this afternoon putting together the industrial shelving units we picked up from Costco. Well, dragged home is more like it...those things weigh 180 lbs each! (We have 3 sets hooked end to end) Doesn't it look nice though? I should have taken a "before" picture, so you could really see the difference. The shelves we were using before were small, plastic and just a terrible use of space. Now I'll have to get busy and help sort all of our "junk" into the blue bins...sounds like fun.

The Hunt Continues

We had an appointment today to take a tour of a preschool in the area to see if it was something we would be interested in for Tyler. Rick had made the call last week to get the basic information like pricing, hours...things like that. So we get there today and the woman at the front desk tells us that they are not giving tours right now or collecting applications because they are considering ending the program. What!? This is news! You'd think someone over there could have called and informed us, since we had an appointment for a tour and all....what a waste of time! Rick had taken the afternoon off of work and everything.

It's too bad that things might not work out with that preschool, but secretly I was glad to get out of there fast. I've been sick this past week with a minor cold and when I woke up this morning, I had no voice....I mean NO voice! I was worried how I was going to talk and ask questions, turns out I didn't even need to!

So now we keep looking I guess, for another preschool. There was an article in the newspaper earlier this week about how 5 local coop preschools (coop meaning that parents volunteer) might be shutting down due to lack of funding. Things aren't looking that great. Tyler might just have to wait until Kindergarten, which is bad because he is super excited about going to school.

After we finished with the preschool this afternoon, we headed across town to Safeway where there was supposedly going to be Girl Scouts selling cookies. Well, you know me and my luck with Girl Scouts in this town, they weren't there. Big surprise! The joke's on me, right? But don't worry, I'll find those cookies. Tomorrow the girls are supposed to be out in front of Wray's, Fred Meyer and Albertson's. If I still come back empty handed, then maybe I'll give up. It really shouldn't be this hard to get a simple box of Do-Si-Do's.

Don't Pinch Me

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Tyler and I wore our best green for the occasion and some fancy beads too. Rick had to work during the day today, so I had to pull out the tripod in order to document our fabulous attire. Our house is like a cave inside, so it was practically impossible to get a good picture indoors. That's why we ended up outside on our front porch.


The tripod and timer were not my friends today....first I had it set up too low, then too high, then I had the camera zoomed in too far, then it was out of focus...you get the idea. Finally we ended up with a decent picture, but I'm not telling you how long that took!

For dinner, we had the usual suspects...oven baked corned beef and cabbage. I promise you, corned beef tastes 100 times better when you prepare it in the oven. My only problem was buying too small of a brisket. Tyler is quite the meat eater, so the 3-1/4 lb brisket I bought didn't go that far, especially after the shrinkage in the oven.

Another favorite of ours is Oven Roasted Red Potatoes. Again, way better than boiled potatoes.

Don't forget about the Irish Soda Muffins. Mmmmm, I love those. For dessert, I completely flaked out and bought a package of shortbread cookies from the grocery store. I was planning on making Green Tea Cupcakes like I did last year, but the oven was just too busy with all of the other food. I also came across a recipe for Irish Cream Brownies from Cooking Light that I'll have to try. I see some yummy desserts in our near future!

The Coffee Nazi

Today I decided to make the trek across town, for what else, the great toilet paper sale at Target. Rick assured me that it was a better deal than Costco, so off I went. Besides, it gave me an excuse to stop at my favorite Coffee Shop, which is also, unfortunately, all the way across town. I love the coffee there though, they have the greatest selection of flavors for the best price...20 oz for $2.25. The only problem is that you have to order correctly or risk getting reprimanded by the owner....reminds me of the Soup Nazi in that old episode of Seinfeld. When you order, you have to include whether you want the coffee hot or cold, how many shots, and what type of milk. I find that that's quite a mouth full, so I'm always leaving something out.

On top of that, I don't think the owner is particularly fond of kids, so I feel like I already have one strike against me every time I bring Tyler with me to the window, especially when he repeatedly asks for a sucker. In my attempt to please the Coffee Nazi today, I bought a bag of dum-dum lollipops at Target, so that Tyler would not have to ask for one at the window. Then when it was my turn, I asked for a 20 oz hot honey vanilla latte. The owner rolled his eyes and asked, "Two Shots?". Yes, I squeaked. Then he let out a heavy breath, took a tone and asked, "Whole Milk, 2%.....?". I crossed my fingers and replied, Skim Milk. Yikes, that was close. It hasn't happened yet, but I swear one day he'll shout, "No coffee for you....NEXT!!".

The weather has been around 50 degrees lately, making it hard for Tyler's poor little marigold seeds to sprout. But they've got the best seat in the house, the windowsill in my scrapbooking room. After 10 days, he has 4 teeny-tiny little sprouts.

Hopefully it will start to warm up a little bit around here...Spring is right around the corner, right?

Not Bad For A Smell

It's been a pretty quiet weekend around here so far, nothing much going on. Tyler and I have been keeping busy playing board games and such in the mornings until Rick rolls out of bed sometime around the 12:00 hour. It must be nice. Yesterday, he took Tyler bowling in the afternoon and then to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. Today, they went to the park for a while and then stopped at Costco to buy some kitchen staples. You know....bread, milk, eggs, the exciting stuff. Meanwhile, I was able to catch a few hours to myself to get a little reading done. I finally finished reading Eat, Pray, Love.....man, that book took me forever! I don't know what it is about non-fiction books, I just can't get into them the same way as other novels.

Tyler was in the bathroom with me this morning as I was doing my morning routine. He was smelling my new perfumes as I was standing at the sink washing my face. He picked one up, gave it a whiff, and says, "Hmmm, that's not bad...for a smell". That made me laugh, it's not the typical sort of comment I receive. Oh well, I guess it better than hearing, Peeuw, that stinks!

So tonight I made a new recipe out of Rachael Ray's latest magazine. I'm glad I finally found something that I wanted to try, her last few magazines didn't really have anything that appealed to me. This one is called Sunset Orzo with Spanish Shrimp.

I thought it tasted good, but anything to use up my million dollar saffron threads is a good thing too. I was feeling a little guilty having them sit in my cupboard collecting dust. Of course, like a lot of Rachael Ray's Spanish recipes, this one called for Spanish chorizo, which is impossible to find here, so I left it out. It tasted just fine without.

For now it's time to head upstairs and get our nighttime routine underway....read books and watch an episode of Micky Mouse ClubHouse, the usual.

Handy Mammy

Hardy, hardy, har...I just had to give Tyler a hard time. The last time we went bowling, he typed my name into the computer as "Mammy". So I guess that should be Handy Mommy, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it, now does it?

The UPS man must have done one of his famous drop and runs last night, because I found a package on our doorstep this morning when I went out to get the newspaper. Delightful, reminds me of Christmas morning. Turns out it was the cat bed/gym/toy thing we ordered online from Costco. I almost forgot about that! The only thing, of course, is that it required assembly. So I broke out the massive screws and L-wrench and got to work. About 20 minutes later....

Nice, huh? Hopefully that cats will enjoy lounging around on this as much as they love lying all over the master bed and dining room chairs. The picture makes it look huge! It's not that big...it's only about 3 1/2 ft tall. Both of the cats have gotten on it and clawed at the posts. Good, better that then our staircase!

In other events, Rick's sister had her baby the other day, which had Rick and I reminiscing about the day that Tyler was born. His memory of the day was conflicting with mine, so after arguing back and forth for a few minutes, I finally said, "Listen here, I'm right about this...Do you really think I could possibly forget what happened the day Tyler was born?". Well, I guess I can. The argument was about the room. I swore that there was only one room, from the minute I entered the hospital, I stayed in one room. Rick, on the other hand, swore up and down that I switched rooms. So, I'm conceding now...Yes, I switched rooms. I still don't remember doing so, but I remember the differences between the two rooms. There you have it, I'm officially losing my memory. That can't be a good thing!

I Love Fiber That Turns Into Pancakes

I bought some Fiber One Pancake mix at the grocery store this weekend and couldn't wait to give it a try. As I was preparing the mix this morning, Tyler says, "Ohhh, I love Fiber One that turns into pancakes!" I said that was a good thing because that's what we were eating for breakfast. So I go on my way and continue making the waffles, which stuck like crazy to the waffle iron, by the way. Maybe I should have gone the pancake route, only I didn't want to be standing over the stove flipping pancakes all morning long. Anyway, after the first batch was done, I started putting the waffles on our plates, to which Tyler says....."Nooooooo, I don't want waffles". Huh, wasn't he just professing his love? Suddenly he wants cereal instead. I don't think so, I made him eat the waffles. There is worse torture, right?

The instructions on the box say to add water, but I decided to use buttermilk since I had a fresh jug in the fridge. They were delicious and simple (even with the sticking to the iron bit) and much better than Bisquick.

Rick is out of town again for a few days, so I have to work twice as hard (well, maybe not that much) to entertain Tyler. I decided to take him to the library to get some new books. I really wanted to go the the duck pond because we have some bread heels ganging up on us in the kitchen, but alas, it is only 37 degrees outside today. That's why we're staying indoors. We picked up 9 really cute books, it should be fun reading tonight. On the way home, as part of my campaign to stay warm, I stopped at Starbucks and picked up a Green Tea Latte. It was good while it lasted, but it had a suspiciously high foam to liquid ratio. I felt a little jipped out of $3.08.

I told Tyler to give me 5 minutes to work on my blog and he is literally timing me and apparently my time is up! So back to the board games I go...

The Exciting Part

I took Tyler to Ace Hardware yesterday for the monthly craft, which was flower pots. He was given a small terra cotta pot that he decorated with foam animal shaped stickers. Then he filled it up with potting soil and planted a few marigold seeds. It was also his birthday month, so he was allowed to pick a present for himself from the giant chest of gifts. He chose a kit that had two small unfinished plaster figures, a dog and a cat, with some acrylic paints and a paintbrush.

Here is our first attempt at taking a photo of his finished project. I thought I could do better so we tried again.

This is our second try, in which I gave Tyler specific instructions to look at the camera and smile. Sigh. I guess one out of two ain't bad!

I need to get on the ball and get some pictures printed at Costco, so that I don't fall behind on my scrapbooking again. In the meantime, I've been working on some small 4X6 recipe cards of my St. Patrick's Day recipes.

Yum, Irish Soda Muffins...I can't wait.

The holder I am using is actually a 4x6 photo holder that I stole from Rick. We had it sitting in the office and it had pictures in it, but we never flipped the pages, so I don't think it was being fully utilized. I decided it would do better in the kitchen full of recipes....yes, yes, yes! Especially for the muffin/quick bread recipes I make all the time.

I got up bright and early this morning, or at least that's what it appeared as long as I didn't look at the clocks that had jumped ahead an hour, and got my shopping out of the way. I stopped by Old Navy on my way to the grocery store and picked up a few t-shirts. The parking lot was so dead that I wondered if they were even open yet. Wow, I guess I found the perfect hour to shop! Then after spending forever and a day at the grocery store, I stopped by Los Hernandez on the way home and picked up a dozen tamales for dinner. Mmmm, steaming hot, they smelled so good. Now all I'll have to do is cook up a pot of rice to go with them. Quick and easy, now that's my style.

Let's Play Again

Right now Tyler is a huge board game fanatic. He got several new board games for Christmas and has been playing them like crazy ever since. What I love is that he is finally old enough to play some of the easier family games like Sorry, Bingo, and Battleship because let me tell you, those preschool games get old kinda fast.

The other day I was looking at some of our old games that we've had since before Tyler was born, and realized that if he could play games that were for ages 6+, then he would probably be able to play Parcheesi. I was right, we've played it at least 6 times in the last 3 days.

We played 2 games of Parcheesi this afternoon and then played a game of Sorry and Monopoly Town after dinner. The score at the end of the day was 3 wins for Tyler and only 1 win for me. I don't know how he does it, it must have something to do with him always going first.

In between all the game playing I've been able to get caught up with a little scrapbooking and some magazine reading. I subscribed to the Food Network magazine and received my first issue the other day. I also got a Scrapbooks, Etc magazine in the mail today.

Here is my Valentine's Day layout...is it too pink? I don't know, but I still think it is the best Valentine's Day page I've done so far, probably because I used a PageMap for the design. I used my other new border punch (apron lace) on the edge of the striped pink paper and a $1 Studio G stamp for the words stamps around the pictures.

Snow Castle

On Sunday we went to the White Pass Ski Resort for their annual winter carnival. Our favorite part is the giant snow castle and tubing down hill. It really is a cool castle. You have to go through a tunnel and then climb up and around a ramp to get inside. Then there are several walls and doors you have to pass through before finally tubing down the big hill on the side of the castle.

Here is the castle from the back...see the giant dragon carved into the snow.

The weather was probably around 34 degrees, but we were bundled up much better this year, so it didn't seem that bad. Tyler, however, managed to complain about everything, from snow getting in his eyes, to his gloves falling off...you name it. He woke up so early in the morning with such anticipation that he ran out of steam fairly quickly after actually getting to the resort.

In between trips down the hill, Tyler was all about making snowballs.

Tyler and I headed down the hill.

Every year there are a couple of clowns that go around giving balloons to the kids, which Tyler especially enjoys. I think it's nice too, but the balloons are a little awkward to have when you are tubing down a hill! Check out Tyler's humongous gloves...they were size extra small, but not quite small enough. It is hard to find thick gloves in such a small size. He has some knit mittens at home, but those completely don't cut it in this type of weather.

Last, but not least, Tyler had some balloons painted on his cheek. I suggested he get a picture of a snowman, but he changed his mind at the last minute. Next year, I might think twice about the face painting, because those puppies take forever to dry!