Good bye 2011, Hello 2012!

2011 was not a good year for a lot of reasons. But the biggest was losing two woman in my life that I loved and cared about.

In March I said good bye to my grandmother Joyce Ann Bartylla. What can I say about her. She was like a mom to me in so many ways. We talked a few times a week and I could tell her anything. And often I would. We laughed together often. She would comfort me in the hard times, and I would do the same for her. She shared her past with me. Stories of growing up, meeting my grandfather, her parents, her sisters and brothers. And most importantly she would share stories about my mom that my mom liked to not share or would chose to forget.
My grandma or Wamma is greatly missed by all. But not forgotten at all! Not a day hasn't past where she doesn't come to mind. Now she is in a better place. Where she is no longer sick. She is back with her loved ones that she mourned for years. And now when my time comes I get to meet up with her again. I can't wait to give her a big hug!

December 6th 2011 my dad lost his wife Fran Scarrella of many years. I lost a friend, step mother, and someone I cared so much about.
Sure in our past we didn't get a long. But having a teenage daughter or my own I could only imagine the "joys" I brought daily lol
We would talk about that. She would apologize and so would I. But at the end of our conversations we would be laughing about something or another.
Last November my kids and I got to come visit San Antonio and spend Thanksgiving with my family. She was so happy! We had a good time. I never thought that would have been the last time I would see her.
Like my grandmother Fran was very sick for many years. And now she is in a better place enjoying her loved ones as well. We will meet again!

Now I can only hope that I make a mark on my kids or loved ones the way these two woman did on me. They live in my heart. In my memories.
From this I learned not to take for granted those moments we have with the ones close to us.

Happy 2012!

Countdown to Christmas

This countdown has been put on hold. Please continue to pray for my Step Mother Fran. And enjoy the Christmas spirit that is what she would want us to do.

Day 2 of my Christmas countdown

This is a recipe that I know my mom has made a few times. I do not think it is the same one but they sure do taste just as good :)

Cinnamon Rolls

2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
7/8 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water*
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

*Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

Cinnamon Filling

1/2 cup baker’s cinnamon filling

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons milk, to brush on dough

Vanilla Glaze

1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 to 3 tablespoons milk, enough to make a soft, spreadable icing

Directions:

First, make the dough. Combine all the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together — by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle — till you’ve made a smooth dough. If you’re kneading in a stand mixer, it should take about 7 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, till it’s nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours. Rising may take longer, especially if you’ve kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy.

While the dough is rising, lightly grease two 9″ round cake pans. 

Transfer the risen dough to a lightly greased work surface, and pat or roll it into a 16″ x 12″ rectangle. It’s a nice, soft dough, and pats out easily.

To make the filling, whisk together the baker’s cinnamon filling and water. Brush the dough lightly with milk. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, covering the entire surface.

Roll the dough into a log the long way; it’ll stretch to about 20″ long as you

Using a serrated knife, slice the log into 16 slices. In order to cut down on drag, it helps to rinse the blade in hot water, and wipe it off, between slices.

Space eight rolls in each of the prepared pans. Flatten them gently.

Cover the pans, and let the rolls rise till they’re noticeably puffy, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours; they should spread out and start to crowd one another.

While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.

Bake the rolls till they’re brown around the edges and beginning to turn golden brown across the center, about 20 minutes.

If you’re going to serve the rolls immediately, make the icing while the rolls are baking. Combine the sugar, vanilla, and enough cream or milk to make a spreadable icing. If you’re not serving the rolls immediately, don’t make the icing yet.

Remove the rolls from the oven, and loosen their edges with a knife. Turn them out of the pan onto a rack. To enjoy right away, spread with the icing and serve.

To serve the rolls later, allow them to cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days. Fifteen minutes before you’re ready to serve, preheat the oven to 350°F. Unwrap the rolls, place them on an ungreased baking sheet, and tent lightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until they’re nicely warmed.

While the rolls are reheating, make the icing.

Remove the rolls from the oven, and spread with the icing. Serve immediately.

My Christmas House

This couldn't go unsaid...

Tonight I started my Christmas countdown on this blog. As I wrote the first post, and started thinking of a recipe to write I started to think about my step mother Fran. 

This is usually the time of year where she just lights up. She loves Christmas!! I remember growing up our tree was up and Christmas music playing sometimes before Thanksgiving. We would go buy a flocked tree. I don't even know if they do that here in Minnesota, or anywhere anymore for that matter. 

With the tree came decorations. And she still has the same decorations( and some new ones) that we had growing up.
Let's not even get into the decorations we had outside our house. You literally felt like you were in a Christmas Village! 

Sure times change. Kids grow up, people get older. Some of the decorations don't last through the years. But we always have the memories. And that is what she did. She gave us some of the best Christmas memories.

Now that I'm older and have a family of my own I enjoy the decorations! I do wait until December 5th to get my tree, but the Christmas music starts the minute they hit the radio on Thanksgiving.

Christmas decorations go outside the house the day after Thanksgiving.
And now since the miles separate her and I we talk on the phone. We share recipes, we gripe about the darn lights and how much we need to spend on new ones this year. 

This post is for you Fran! Get home I have new recipes!


Please keep Fran in your prayers for the coming days. She is currently in ICU in critical condition. She had another blood transfusion but is still in need of more prayers and medical attention at this time. 

Also please pray for my dad and her children.

Day 1 Christmas Countdown

A recipe to share with family and friends one of my faves with hot chocolate. These also make a great gift for the Holiday season. Pack them up with some homemade hot chocolate. What a treat!

Candy Cane Biscotti

Ingredients:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup sugar
3 large eggs
2/3 cup finely chopped peppermint candies, plus extra for garnish
14 oz. white chocolate

Directions: 
Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir briefly with a fork to combine.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated.  Fold in the 2/3 cup crushed peppermints with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated.

Evenly divide the dough into 4 portions.  Form each into a 9″ by 1½” log on the prepared baking sheet, spaced evenly.  Bake until the cookies are light golden brown on top, about 18-20 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet.  Reduce the oven temperature to 325° F.

After the logs have cooled for 10 minutes, use a sharp serrated knife to cut the logs into ½-inch slices on the diagonal.  Arrange the cut pieces on the baking sheet, laying on one of their cut sides so one cut side is facing up.  Bake for 15 minutes more, until the cookies are light golden brown and crisp.  (They may seem a bit soft, but will firm as they cool.)  Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once the biscotti have cooled, melt the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler.  Dip one half of each cookie in the chocolate, shake gently to remove the excess, and transfer to a baking sheet or work surface lined with wax paper.  Sprinkle with extra crushed candy canes while the chocolate is still wet.  Let stand at room temperature until the chocolate has set completely.  Store in an airtight container.

adapted from Annie eats.net

Wordless Wednesday

Countdown to Christmas

The Holidays are coming and I decided to make this blog all about my favorite recipes for this time of year.

Starting Dec 1st I will be posting a recipe a day for you to enjoy this holiday season. Some good some bad.

So stay tuned!

Our road to a meatless house.

A few weeks ago my husband and I watched the documentary forks over knives. We had read the China Study a few years back and thought about switching to vegan. We realized that we wouldn't be able to do it full time.

But as the years past we started meatless Mondays with the rest of the country, and stopped eating red meat more then once a week, and now down to a few times a month. Since watching Forks over Knives we have started eating more meatless meals. We tried a few vegan recipes found a few that were not so bad. But we did discover some fantastic Vegetarian meals that we have started to really enjoy. I wanted to share with you a recipe that is becoming a favorite of mine. I already love stuffed peppers. But the kind I used to eat had ground beef, rice, tomatoes, and green peppers. The new recipe has no meat, quinoa, carrots, celery, tomatoes, green peppers, black beans, onions, and garlic in it.  It is super filling, low calorie, low fat, and full of proteins. Plant proteins! Here is the recipe ENJOY! And if you have any vegan, or vegetarian recipes please share!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
4 green peppers, or red. Cut in half and seeded
2 stalks celery
1 large carrot shredded
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 can small diced tomatoes
small can tomato sauce.
1 can 15 oz black beans
3/4 cup Quinoa
2 cups water
salt pepper
1 tsp cumin
pepper jack cheese optional
red pepper flakes optional
pre heat oven 375. Cut peppers in half and clean out the rib and seeds.
Take small can of tomato sauce and pour into bottom of a baking dish.
Chop, and saute onion and celery for 5 minutes in a small saucepan. Add garlic for 1 minute. Then add 2 cups of water, diced tomatoes, black beans,quinoa, shredded carrot,cumin, pepper flakes salt and pepper. This needs to cook about 20 minutes until it all thickens up. Stuff peppers and top with pepper jack cheese(optional).
Bake 30-40 minutes depending on how you like your peppers. I prefer mine soft but not to soft so I go for 30 minutes.
When they are done we enjoy with a little hot sauce over the top. You can do what you would like :) Enjoy! And if you try this please rate/comment

Wordless Wednesday

Our little Brucey

This was the kitten we picked from the litter. He is as playful as can be and I love watching him and Joshua play cars together.

This is my combo of wordless Wednesday and just posting because I haven't all week!

Autumn is a second spring, where every leaf is a flower.

This weekend was bursting with colors in our town. The river valley was bright from the beautiful colors of the trees and the warm Autumn sun. 

Our little town was packed with "leafers" as we locals like to call them.
People that come to hike the landscape along the St Croix River and to marvel at natures last season of color until next spring.

And well really who could blame them. Look at this beautiful scenery.

And this weekend we had a rare moment in our family. Our teenager was home one day! It was a shocker but all four of us went out to the state park and enjoyed some family time on a long hike.

And with that time together came some wonderful memories that will follow us forever. With every sound of a leaf crunching under foot you will remember something from that day. When you smell the leaves in the fall you will remember something from that day. 

Just like I did of our hikes from last fall.

Toddler Thursday

 

I wanted to get into the swing of things again by adding back Toddler Tuesdays to my blog. Great deals for Toddlers, babies and older kids.

Here are some links to some fantastic deals and specials 

Happy Baby Food(subscribe and save for the 14.05 price)

Fisher Price potty chair (frog) 11.54

Girls Pampers Easy ups (subscribe and save for the 10.07 price)

And don't forget the deal a day sites! These are sites that run specials until they are gone each day on different products. Here are a few of my faves from today

Mamabargains.com

Kidswoot

On a day like today where the wind is blowing, the rain is falling, it's perfect to be inside shopping online. Christmas is approaching!

Wordless Wednesday

for all the moms

here is a great deal for all you moms. Plum district is a great site. Similar to groupon but better because it's just for moms and our kiddo's! 

Today they are running this special and let me tell you if you haven't ordered before from eco moms now is the time to start with this great deal they have running through Plum District. Just clink the following link and  use the code plumlove at check out to get this deal for $21.00 instead of $30.00. That's 60.00 worth of products for 21.00. Not bad with the Holiday season approaching. 


Plum District Eco moms deal

sweet treat!

for all you apple lovers!

I love this time of year. I say it time and time again. But apple season here in Minnesota is amazing. And with the season comes all kinds of recipes. Healthy and absolutely not healthy at all. Good for you recipes have gone out the window here with the hubs quitting smoking. And "unfortunately" sometimes I fall victim to his sweet tooth cravings.

Here is tonight's recipe. Don't be afraid of the last ingredient. I was at first but wow!

(this recipe was found on tasty kitchen.com)

Apple Dumplings

2 whole Granny Smith Apples

2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls

2 sticks Butter

1-1/2 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cinnamon, To Taste

1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

instructions.

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Perfect recipe for fall!

My favorite season is upon us! The one that keeps me in Minnesota. The colors are amazing this time of year. And we live in a part of this state that would make you wish it was this colorful all year. With these beautiful colors, come the apples, pumpkins, cooler temps, sometimes dreary days that make you want to curl up on the couch, and read a good book. 

So why not a nice warm bowl of soup to go with that book?

Here is a recipe that has been requested by many. I found this recipe a few years ago online and my family loves it. A lot of steps but not a ton of ingredients. 

So enjoy this with your family. Leave a comment if you tried it and love it! or if you would do something different to it. 

Italian Chicken Soup

1 box Ditalini Pasta 

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

3 chicken bone in chicken breast

8 cups of water 

6 chicken bouillon cubes

1 whole Medium Onion, Diced

2 whole Green Bell Peppers, Diced

2 stalks Celery, Diced

2 whole Fresh Jalapenos, Diced

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 can (28-ounce) diced tomatos 

2 cups Heavy Cream

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 tblsp Italian seasoning

Salt And Freshly Ground Pepper, To Taste

Parmesan Cheese Shavings, For Serving

 Instructions

Cook pasta in a pot according to package directions, being sure not to overcook it. Drain and rinse in cold water to cool. Toss in 1 tablespoon olive oil and set aside.

Place chicken in a dutch oven and cover in water and add bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then simmer chicken, covered, for an hour. 

when the chicken has cooled a bit remove it from the pot and shred the chicken. Add it back into the pot with the can of diced

tomatos. Allow to simmer while you continue the recipe.

Heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil, Italian seasoning, onion, green pepper, and jalepeno peppers saute until tender. Keep stirring  to keep from burning. Set aside.

Add the veggies into the pot with chicken and tomatos. Then bring it to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes and add heavy cream and olive oil

simmer another 10 minutes.

Serve with parm cheese either grated or out of a bottle right over the top. 

Free stuff possibly? Why not!

 Thoughtful Thursday..

 Decided to start this because well it's Thursday, and I like free things, and well I figure if I'm thoughtful enough to take time out of my day to message a company about how much I enjoy a product & there is a small chance they will issue me a coupon or two to use sometime why not.
This way I'm not shopping online spending money! So here is today's thoughtful Thursday companies that will   issue you coupons if you let them know how much you enjoy them.

Boogie wipes

Kettle Chips

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

long ago!

This was never suppose to come to this! I swore I would attempt to be a better blogger. But I wasn't. And now here I'm restarting where I left off.


Life is busy in the summer for us. And I wouldn't want it any other way. I love having my daughter home! And my husband is home more since he finally has been taking some vacation time. Joshua is getting so big and such a little character. 


When I left last my grandma had passed away. Hardest thing I have had to go through in a long while. And still every day I think about her. We remember her. She comes up in a song, I think of her when I smell something that reminds me of her. For instance I made cucumbers and vinegar the other day. I make them every year. And every year I call grandma to ask her how she makes the creamy cucumbers. She always made them the best. This year I had to remember on my own. Or when I was at my grandparents having dinner with my grandpa she comes up. And he says with tears in his eyes, "she's gone Kell, grandma left me". It is the most saddest thing to see your grandpa cry. And then of course I cry and try to console him best you can.

thoughts & prayers

Today I have been following a lot of news stories about the tornado victims here in Minneapolis and the town of Joplin Mo.
Both are in need of the following items:

Baby supplies (including diapers, wipes, A&D Ointment, baby food and juices)
Convenience food (snack type)
Deodorant
Diabetic Monitors with Strips
First aid supplies
Over the counter medications (mainly tylenol)
Pet food
Shampoo and Conditioner
Soap and body wash
Soap Powders and Cleaning Supplies
Sunscreen and Bug Spray
Toothpaste and Tooth Brushes

They are asking that we refrain from sending clothing.

I'm going to send one package of my own items to them from our family. 

And this is where my couponing becomes not only money saving for my family but allows me to offer items to people in need. So if you have coupon inserts in your garage, recycle bin, or at work I'm asking that you please clip them and start couponing for this cause. If not I will take your coupons that you do not use/ or need and will get the items I can for the families in need.

This was done for the victims in Alabama a week or so back and it had an outstanding amount of items sent off to families in need. 500 boxes have been sent to Alabama families.

Here is where you send your packages or I will put the items in with what I will be sending.

Disaster Relief
c/o Pentecostal Church of God
4901 Pennsylvania Avenue
Joplin, MO 64804

God Bless.

my babies.

Me as a first time momma at the age of 18 yrs old.

Me 14 yrs later becoming a new momma all over again.

Fourteen years later?! 

People ask me all the time why did you have a baby when your almost done?

HA! Almost done? Seriously do they just think that when the child turns 18 you are no longer a mom? No longer a parent?

And I did not choice this gap in years. I struggled. 

Emotionally, mentally, physically. 

My relationship with my husband was challenged. 

My relationship with god was tested.

I felt alone.

It was as though no one understood at all. 

I found a group online that struggled just like me. 

Had the same symptoms as me

Did the same treatments as me.

And for years these woman were the only people that understood me.

Understood my anger.

My sadness.

My fears.

My pain.

They to had all the same emotions. 

I love being a mother.

And as my oldest starts to spread her wings more and prepare to leave the nest, I'm sad. Granted I have 2 years. But that will go by so fast!!

I will miss her.

She is my first born. My first miracle baby.

She and I grew up together.

She is my little girl!
Mom loves you Maddie girl! 

Wordless Wednesday

make ahead meals save time & money!

I know if you are anything like millions of american families your days can often be busy,busy, busy!

And if you are like me dinner sometimes sneaks up on you and you have no idea how you are going to prepare dinner and get it on the table before 6pm. 

So like some you order out. Even though in your house you have plenty to make but just didn't have the time. 

So you spend say $25.00 on delivered pizza. GREAT! Dinner is done.

But you are out $25.00 that really wasn't necessary to spend because you have the food just not the time.

Well I read awhile back on another blog of mom's making meals ahead of time and freezing them. PERFECT!

What a great way to avoid ordering out when you are just to busy or let's be honest, just do not feel like cooking!

So now I set aside time one day a week usually for me at night because everyone is in bed and I can focus entirely on cooking. But obviously it's up to you when you decide to do this if you decide to do this. 

Now tomorrow night I will pull out one of my freezer meals and TADA! Dinner is done in 30 minutes and it only took me 5 minutes to get it out of the freezer and pre-heat the oven.

I wanted to share one of my favorite freezer meals. Best part about this meal is it can either be one large dinner or broken down into multiple lunches. 

Chicken pot pie

Large or handheld

the crust.

1 stick of butter 8 tbsp's

4 0z of cream cheese

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

* In your stand mixer or handheld whip together the butter and cream cheese.

Once combined at the heavy whipping cream and whip for 1 minute.

The add flour and salt and blend until dough starts to combine and you can see that it is ready to roll into a ball.

Sprinkle flour on your cutting board or counter top and knead this dough a few times to combine more. Then half it and form into 2 disk that will go in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Now while you are waiting for the dough prepare the inside of your pot pie

Here is where you have options. I buy one whole organic chicken and boil it for a few hours before I start prepping this meal.

From this chicken I will make 2 pot pies or 24 hand held pot pies for lunches. I also will have some chicken left for another meal of my choice. usually I go with a soup because of all the broth I end up with.

You can also go the easy route if you only intend on making a large pot pie or 12 hand held pies and buy a rotisserie chicken. How easy! But then remember to purchase a pack of chicken broth for the filling.

Filling:double if making more then 1 pie or more then 12 hand held pies.

1 carrot(chopped for pie, diced for hand held)

1 celery(chopped for pie, diced for hand held)

1/2 small onion(chopped for pie, diced for hand held)

1 small potato( chopped for pie, diced for hand held.)

peas & corn(optional)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 heaping cup of shredded chicken

1 cup chicken broth

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

In saute pan melt butter. Then add all your veggies except for pea's and corn if you are using.

cook 5 minutes.

Then add any other veggies you plan on using and flour.

With the flour you are making a roux.

Once that is mixed add the 1 cup of broth and parm cheese.

Then add chicken.

Filling is complete set aside until dough is ready.

Roll the dough out to either fit into large pie crust or use small biscuit cutter or baby snack gerber bowl (which some may or may not have)

and cut out small circles. 

If you are making hand helds then drop in 1 tbsp of filling wet the sides of the dough and fold in half sealing the sides.

Then place on sprayed cookie sheet and crimp with fork and poke a few holes as well to let steam escape. Now at this point I do a egg wash on top of mine. This is only if you are going to cook and then freeze not just put them straight into freezer.

Now if you doing large pie put one half of the crust into greased pie pan and put in oven for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.

Then fill the crust and top with the other half of crust. poke holes. Now same thing here as for the hand helds if you are cooking and freezing egg wash now. if you are putting this straight into the freezer egg wash when you are going to cook it. 

These both need to be cooked at 400 degree's. Hand helds for 10 minutes large pie I go about 25-35minutes depending oven. They both should be golden brown on top.

Just an FYI 
use the leftover dough to make cinnamon and sugar scraps! YUM! 
spread on a little butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake for about 10 minutes or less. YUM! And no waste :)
Also this crust is great for fruit pies!

Trying new things...

We have been trying new things in our house. New things meaning meals & foods that some have tried some haven't. Some like some look at me like omg did she just make that! But through the past month we have been able to add more items to "THE LIST".

This list is something my husband started to say after I made something he loved. He would say " oh this goes on the list". Never wrote anything down just knew the meals he liked and I enjoyed and we would make that.

My husband has been eating my food for almost 17yrs now. He will tell you in the beginning it was looking grim for good meals.

But come on I was 17 yrs old!

Frozen foods etc was a specialty in our house. Boxed Lasagna was our Italian dinner night go to meal!

As I grew up I started to bring out both of my grandmother's awesome cooking skills! Slowly.........

As I started to actually "try" cooking it came so naturally to me. Like it was in my blood.

My Irish Grandma, Greek Grandma, and Italian Grandpa, Aunt's and Uncles had taught me something.

And now I think I can make a good meal. 

Like most I have made a few flops that involve ordering pizza after trying the meal, but how will I know if I don't try!

So these past three weeks we have cut back on our meat intake and started making meals that we would only have on meatless Mondays or just never tried. Also having only chicken on the days we do have meat.

I want to share a few of them with you that I can say everyone in the house enjoyed. None of these recipes were invented by me, but I did do a few things to a few of them to make them my own.
I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
And thank you http://weelicious.com/ 

This recipe I made and then added the little buggers to pita bread, with the yogurt sauce, lettuce, feta cheese, red onion and tomatoes. YUM!

Joshua helped me make these and was eating the bean mixture while I was making the little patties.

http://weelicious.com/2008/08/07/falafel-with-tahini-yogurt-sauce/

Mexican Lasagna 

http://weelicious.com/2011/05/02/mexican-lasagna/

to this recipe I used the low fat cream cheese, low fat cheese and less of it, and added another 4 corn tortilla's to the top. 

Served with corn, and spanish rice (recipe later) and it was a huge hit with the family!

MIA AGAIN!

Been MIA for awhile again. 

Have been trying to stay off the pc as much as possible. About a month ago we moved our computer/office room downstairs into what used to be the storage room. Before that the pc's were way to accessible and I would find myself running into the next room to "check" something and end up on the darn computer for much to long. 

But now that it is downstairs I come down maybe once a day to check things early in the morning before my husband leaves for work and again when Jman is napping.

I feel so much better about the time I spend on the pc!
But I miss blogging, so here I'm. 

Taking a break from coupon hunting, (which is what I do at night) so I can pop in and blog a bit.

In other news little man has been done nursing now for 5 weeks! Crazy I tell you. Mom's a little sad about this but he could care less.
Potty training next?

Ha!

Food boycott!

Since being so sick for so long J went through all these crazy food boycott's. 

Now that he is feeling better he still is super picky about what he eats. I think now it's just his age. 

So luckily I have Weelicious. One of my favorite recipe spots since J started eating solid foods.

I recently made these muffin's from her site Mini sweet potato muffins

J LOVES THEM! 

I suggest having them on hand as well. They freeze great and he loves them. I added some of my own ingredients as well.

I also suggest checking out her site for more recipe ideas for your little ones.