Butterfly

Shelagh making friends in the butterfly garden at the Museum of Science a few weeks ago.


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Guess Who's bellied up at the Bar??

Rory Skates!

Rory took his first skating lesson this week. He went from "I'll be the toughest kid in class!" to a wet noodle laying on the ice followed by "Skating is boring!". He looked cute though.






Kelly had fun watching



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New Carpet Runner

After almost 7 years in our house, and a mean fall down the steps while holding 2 babies, we finally got a carpet runner for the stairs. I cringe at the thought of house projects - I have no design eye and everything we do is for the first time, thereby requiring in-depth research. All that requires time without children, a sense of style, and a basic idea about what you want - none of which I have. Stress!

Anyway, I finally went to a few carpet stores and after some struggle picked a runner I thought would work. I think it looks great if you are looking just up or down the stairs. However, pulling together multiple rooms? I don't know. We decided against going all the way up from the 2nd to the 3rd floor to save some $ and b/c only the guest room is up there now. I will regret that decision. It is almost guaranteed that the carpet will be discontinued by then as is my luck. That was basically the reason we had to pull up the carpet squares in the laundry room and put in wall to wall there. The cat peed on too many squares, they were discontinued, and we had to start over. Typical.

Oh well. Here it is...I just want to lay down on the stairs now...they are so plush.

U Mich & some Apps

We had some friends from our days in Ann Arbor over on Saturday to watch the U Michigan football game. Other than the initial panic when we realized that Michigan is kind of sucking and was on the Big Ten Network which we didn't even know if we had (only realizing this as our friends arrived, of course). We did have it and in HD thankfully.

I made a few things, all new. One of our friends doesn't eat red meat so I found a turkey chili recipe from Whole Foods, added on an 8-layer dip and Barbara Lynch's baked cheese with roasted tomatoes, finishing with Mexican Hot-chocolate cookies. All came out great. See notes below...

Touchdown Turkey Chili - I like chili sometimes, but I'm not a chili person. I'd like to be. What a perfect one-pot meal for a group! This recipe called for a 28oz can of tomatoes which, as soon as I added them, made me almost make another back-up meal. It was like a pile of tomato juice with scattered turkey here and there. I made it in the AM and kept it warm in the crock pot for a couple of hours and it totally mellowed and the liquid cooked off a bit. With some shredded cheddar on top, sour cream, and crostini on the side it was delish. I think it's the use of beer in the recipe.

8-Layer Dip - From Everyday Food I had clipped this recipe but I'd not made it before. I skipped the green chiles, would skip the lettuce in the future, and made my own refried beans. I sauteed chopped onion and garlic, added a can of drained pinto beans, cooked them for a bit, mashed them in the pan, and thinned them with with chicken broth.

Baked Cheese w/ Roasted Tomatoes - I had this at Stir, Barbara Lynches demo kitchen where I took a class. So simple, so heavenly. Came out great using cheddar, monterey jack, and camembert. This link uses goat cheese, but I hate goat cheese. The chef said that she created this dish based on a selection of leftover cheese after a dinner party and to use whatever mix of cheese you want, which I did. I didn't make the crisps as I don't like olives. I did use pita chips and crostini on the side.

Mexican Hot-Chocolate Cookies - These came out great. Soft, big, chewy, dough was yummy too. Will make again, but will add cinnamon into the dough as well.

ABC's

Kelly graced us with some ABC's this morning...

Skillet Turnips and Potatoes with Bacon

Just finished this for tonight for me and Joe. Spent the morning at the Museum of Science from 9 to 1230 (can you say, exhausted???). Therefore, I don't feel bad hanging at home for the rest of the day. It is sunny, chilly, and bright out - it would have been a good day to get some fresh air, but I'm spent from chasing all 3 kids on a school-free holiday in Boston.

I had turnips from the extended veg share. This Skillet Turnips & Potatoes recipe came out pretty good. This method of cooking didn't mellow the sharpness of the turnips as I had hoped. I think braising or roasting would sweeten them up a bit.

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

I thought I'd be a hero for making homemade Mac & Cheese the other night. No such luck. There was a complete revolt.

I used a recipe from Everyday Food from Emeril I thought it was pretty good. It used a can of evaporated milk, which skeeved me out a bit at first but it really thickens up and makes the cheese super-creamy. The only issue was that I wasn't sure it was hot enough and I left it in the oven for too long causing the eggs that are mixed in to begin to slightly scramble. It didn't taste different, but it changed the texture in parts along the edges. I also skipped the cayenne and nutmeg, doubled the bacon (of course), and added some salt. I probably won't do this one again, but I am going to figure out a homemade version with milk and cheese of some sorts. I love Annies, but I like the baked top of the homemade kind and the thicker cheese. No breadcrumbs. That's just weird.

Halloween

I didn't take that many pictures b/c juggling Kelly, the wagon, and our Hot Cider and Captain Morgans was tough. It was worth it...the drinks were fantastic on that cold night. Here are 2 decent shots, though.

Kelly's pic screams to me "Oh, woe is me! What to do with all this candy???"

Chaos

F&^% you, Daylight Savings time. My kids were all sleeping until 7-730 solid until this morning. I even let them stay up later last night so that this morning would not be abruptly early. At the bright hour of 6am, it started with Rory coming in who is fighting a cold (probably b/c I just commented that my kids hadn't been sick since June). It followed with Shelagh 5 minutes later and then Kelly yelling "Mom! Dad! Daddy! Dad!" from her room until Joe got her. All 5 in bed, which was nice except that I became a jungle gym with kids fighting over who was snuggling me. Oy. Plus it's freezing out today so I really don't want to go out and advance Rory's cold. It's only 1030am and Joe is out golfing for the day. Can I institute required Sunday naps? Let's see if I can pull it off. Why am I so annoyed already???? Calgon, take me away.

Extended Vegetable Share Loot

I got the extended share from the Food Co-Op that I belong to which is 2 double-family sized deliveries of vegetables and fruit. I got a massive amount of food:

• Beets (Made Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht from October 2010 Everyday Food. Left the stove on while I got stuck upstairs with the kids, boiled away all the liquid, but saved it by adding more broth and cooking it down for 10 minutes. Delicious!)
• Potatoes
• Leeks
• Garlic
• Collard Greens (Braised them in chicken broth, onions, and apple cider vinegar)
• Kohlrabi
• Butternut squash
• Some off white/yellow-green striped squash
• Carrots
• Apples (Cameos & Candy Crisps)
• Baby Bok Choy
• Turnips

I think I'll take the potatoes, garlic, kohlrabi, carrots and turnips and just do a few trays of roasted vegetables. I'll eat them for lunch this week.

Food stress, welcome back!

Massive Weird Squash

Imagine butchering that thing??? Rory almost tipped over.

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2nd Tooth!

Look who lost her 2nd tooth yesterday!! 1st tooth was swallowed down with a brownie. Tooth #2 got spit out in the sink while tooth brushing. Of course I was in the process of getting her a tooth box from Etsy so I had to print off the picture of the box and leave a note from the tooth fairy on it that I was taken aback by how fast that loose tooth came out and will make a special trip to drop it off when it's done. Nice.

PS - She didn't seem too miffed that Tooth #2 got $2, whereas Tooth #1 got $3.

Recipe for Buckeyes!!

I had these once and think of them often. SmittenKitchen posted a recipe for Buckeyes that I will try within the week, for sure.