Father's Day 2009

Well, I had to take a picture of Zane separate, because he will not sit still long enough to take a group shot. And of course, in this photo he has one of his signature head booboos. He had just fallen in the gravel at Grandma Smith's (or as Noah calls her "Grandma not with the kids").

Greg and the other two yahoos decided to lounge on the hammock and play with the iPhone. And, I might add, he will probably kill me for posting this picture. He hates having his photo taken. Oh well, sorry honey.

On to the food:

Last night I made eggplant parmesan. My mom and dad came over and mom said it was the best she had ever tasted. I decided to post some of my secrets.

I halfway peeled the eggplant (peel it lengthwise kind of making "stripes"), then cut it into about 1/4" thick slices. Dip each slice first in flour (with a little salt) and eggs (with a little milk), and here's the secret: crushed up croutons for the breading. It has so much more flavor than plain breadcrumbs, and adds a little bit of a crispiness to the final product.

Make sure your oil is nice and hot, and fry them up until brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

Place your marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, then place one layer of your eggplant slices on top. I sliced some mozzarella (pretty thick), and layered it in between each eggplant slice. This is kind of an eggplant lasagna. Then I put some shredded swiss cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. YUM!

I served this with salad and my mom's english muffin bread (I'll post the recipe for that as soon as I get it from her-it's cooked in the MICROWAVE and is DELICIOUS, you just slice and toast it before serving).

I wasn't sure if the eggplant would be good the second day, but we had leftovers for lunch and Greg said that it was even better today than last night, and he's not a leftovers kinda guy!

The Weaning of Zane

The last 14 1/2 months have almost gone by as fast as you can glance at these three photos. Zane is going on 15 months, and I am finally in the process of weaning him. It has now been 30 hours since he last nursed. Does anybody out there have any advice? My other two were not this hard...emotionally, for me, I mean. I know it's time, but why is it so difficult? Not to mention the fact that I have had ZERO periods for over two years, I can burn calories just by sitting still, and I have found it to be an effective form of birth control (for me, maybe not for others).

I don't want to be one of those moms who breastfeeds up in to the child's teens (YUCK), I already know some people who think I'm gross for going this long. I know I'll have more babies, but I still kind of just want to baby the baby I have. Oh well, I guess I'll find other ways to bond with my little guy.

My daughter...

Olivia is a fun little girl. She can be a real piece of...work sometimes. Last night she was sticking her pinkies up her nose and telling me that they smelled funny. She tried sticking them up my nose as well, but I refused. She exclaimed "They do smell funny. They smell like money mixed with Ravioli." Now where does she get this?

She has this vibrant personality. She is incredibly smart. I just have to remind myself of her redeeming qualities when she's screaming her head off. She's only six, but she has the attitude of a 15-year-old disgruntled teenager.

A couple of nights ago she had a mosquito bite that she had pretty much rubbed raw. My mom put some vinegar on it. I was downstairs and I thought somebody was dying up here! She was screaming her head off, so I raced up the stairs to see what was the matter. SHEESH. She was trying to convince her grandma that she needed to go to the hospital...for a mosquito bite.

Mama Mia!

Last night it was Shell Pasta with chunky tomato sauce and feta cheese, Grilled Italian Sausage, Italian style green beans and grilled french bread.

Preheat the grill, then before placing the sausages on, turn off the heat on the side you intend to cook them. Place the sausages on the middle rack of the grill. Turn about every 6-9 minutes until they are "golden brown, all the way around". Cook your pasta according to package directions. For the sauce, place some grape or cherry tomatoes in a pot with some olive oil and garlic. Put a lid on the pot, cooking over Medium-High heat, until the tomatoes begin to "burst". Take a potato masher and mash them down. Add a can of Italian style diced tomatoes, and a jar of store-bought spaghetti sauce. Let simmer at least 10 minutes. Add 1/2 stick of butter and about 1 Tbsp. of brown sugar. Serve over pasta and sprinkle with Feta cheese. For the bread, cut it lengthwise like two planks, brush with melted butter or olive oil, then cook on the top rack of the grill, this does not take long, so keep an eye on it. The green beans are just cooked according to the directions on the can, and then seasoned to taste (again, I love Season-All).

Food...Glorious Food

I've decided that my life is more or less pretty boring, aside from the excitement that my children bring of course, but the highlight of my day is often what's for dinner. Tonight we had the missionaries over and I made my creation "Grilled Breakfast Burritos Enchilada Style". I want to share this with anyone in a cooking rut. Greg and the elders just raved about it. I make the "enchilada gravy" by browning some sausage, with the flour, I add some salsa, and then the milk. Continue cooking until to desired thickness. For my grilled breakfast burritos, I scramble up some eggs, then roll them up in a tortilla with some sharp cheddar cheese. I grill them on my griddle, and smother them with the gravy when ready to serve. With this concotion, I fried up some potatoes. To make them cook faster, I place the washed potatoes in to plastic ziploc bags (just don't seal the bags up), and I microwave them for about 3-6 minutes depending on their size. Let them set for a minute so they are not too hot to handle, then cut them up and throw them in a well heated and greased pan. To season, I love McCormick's Season-All. I also served some oven cooked turkey bacon with this dish. It can cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until desired crispiness.

Summer Fun

Well, we may not be going to Florida or Hawaii like some folks, but we will have fun nonetheless. Today we went to the pool. Zane is supposed to wear ear plugs but would have nothing to do with them. I'm not sure what we're going to do. He's supposed to wear them for taking a bath, too. I guess he'll just have to take showers. He got too crabby while swimming, so I had to take him home and put him to bed. My parents stayed at the pool with Olivia and Noah...

Olivia has a set of nose plugs, and I wish I had gotten her picture wearing them, it is sooooo funny. She looks like Cindy Loo Who from The Grinch. She's learning how to swim pretty good. And she loves the slide.

Noah looks like a completely different kid in these goggles. He's just so gosh darn cute, isn't he? Goggles or no goggles. He got his looks from his dad.

Cruella DeVille

Last night was Olivia's Kindergarten performance. The theme was 101 Dalmations. She had a solo part in Cruella DeVille. The whole show was just so darn cute. She made her shirt and puppy dog ears. Here's a video of her song, just pause my playlist at the bottom of the page so you can hear her.