Nice n' Easy

Thirteen things about my kids that have contributed to my gray hair (with some pictorial evidence):

1. Dylan was hospitalized when he was 2 with a really horrible case of rotovirus. Listening to your kid shriek while a catheter is inserted if incredibly awful.
2. We were told that there was a small chance the Noah could have renal problems. We had to have an ultrasound on his kidneys when he was a week old. They didn't find any problems and he is now completely fine.
3. When Noah was learning to sit up he would sometimes just lose all balance, tip over, and really clobber his head......on hardwood floors. It always gave him such a horrible bruise:
4. Rollerblades:
5. Somewhere around the age of 8 or 9, Dylan removed the Sponge Bob poster from his bedroom door and put up a poster of Britney Spears. (***Disclaimer so that Dylan doesn't kill me: He is now far too cool for the train wreck that is Britney....everyone is foolish at 9.)
6. Both my kids seem to have some sort of INSANE need to leap down the last 3 or 4 or 8 steps on any set of stairs. Sometimes on rollerblades (see #4 above).
7. Skateboards:
8. Not surprisingly - given the pictures, Dylan is prone to the weirdest accidents. He once gave himself a concussion with a seashell. He once had a inch long twig embedded in his thigh for God knows how long - until it festered and exploded and came out...and he had no idea how it got there or anything....he said it didn't even hurt. He once fractured his pelvis while kicking a soccer ball and fractured his toe on the shifter on a 4-wheeler. I guess it's never too late for:
9. Noah has been a nightmare to potty train. He's generally good during the day, but we still have to wake him and make him go to the bathroom at night. It's a pain in the butt. And:
10. Noah has finally discovered the joy of video games. We have to restrict his time or I know he would sit there all night and fry his brain. He gets 1/2 hour. But the other night he didn't want to stop his game so he just sat there and crapped his pants. What. The. Hell????
11. Dylan's first formal with a very hot girl two years older than him. I won't put her picture up since that's not my place, but he looked fantastic:
12. The phrase: "16 year old with a driver's license."
13. Their Dad:

In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I don't have THAT much gray hair. But it is awfully distressing to find the horrible things. I am still at the stage where I can just tear them out, but pretty soon I'll be bald if I stay on that path. I hate girly maintenance stuff so dyeing it is out. Guess I'll just be gray *sigh*.





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Sticky fingers

I was forced to sit in the waiting room 20 minutes beyond my appointment time. This gave me the confidence to tear a recipe out of the 5 month old Men's Health magazine I was reading. I was recently chastised for too many recipes on here, but I do not respond well to chastisement....or being made to wait.

Anyway, the appointment was with my orthopedic surgeon. It's all good: knee is very stable, things are healing normally, keep doing the exercises that I have been really bad about doing. (I don't respond well to being told to exercise either...apparently.) I have to wear a brace if I'm going to be doing anything beyond normal walking (not bloody likely) and I still need to be cautious is situations where I could lose my balance (which, for me, appears to be MOST SITUATIONS).

So of course I modified the recipe to my taste and here it is (mostly to irritate the person who said no more recipes - that's you Chica):

Cheesy Meatballs

12 oz lean ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs
italian seasoning to taste
3 green onions, chopped fine
3 gloves garlic, minced
Cheese cubes (we found a provelone/feta/parmesan mix)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 jar artichoke hearts, chopped
salt/pepper to taste

Mix beef, bread crumbs, eggs, seasoning, 1/2 of onions, and 1/2 of garlic into meatballs - slightly larger than golf ball size.
Press thumb into meatball to make an indentation. Place cheese in indentation and fold meat back over to cover.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat and sear meatballs until evenly brown. Remove to plate. Add remaining onion and garlic - saute until light brown. Put meatballs back in and add tomatoes and artichoke hearts. cook over low heat for 1/2 hour.
Season with salt and pepper and serve over pasta or rice.

Off to go make this now. Sounds tasty, yeah? Update later.

UPDATE: Indeed it was tasty! Although rather than use crushed tomatoes I think next time I'll just make or buy a marinara sauce. Could have used a splash of wine too. I do think it's a keeper though.

Cursed

I sometimes think I have some sort of weird curse.

Example 1 - A long time ago I had this boyfriend. Nothing serious - at least not on my part. Anyway, I finally just got bored with the guy because he was kind of dull. So I broke up with him in probably a bitchy way. The NEXT DAY he bought a scratch off lottery ticket and won like $20,000.

Example 2 - I have been a lifetime Mt. Dew addict. I could guzzle this stuff from morning to night. With my big diet plans I decided to give up my Dew. It's been VERY hard. I hate all diet sodas. I've been drinking water like madwoman. This has been almost as hard as giving up smokes. At my work we have a break room in the basement. There is a Coke machine in the break room. I went down there today to get some (sugarfree) gum from the other vending machine. The pop machine now has Mt. Dew in it.

Example 3 - Speaking of quitting smoking....I read an article yesterday that over time it costs more money to deal with the health aspects of a skinny non-smoker than it does those of the obese or smokers....mostly because skinny non-smokers live long enough to get the REALLY yucky diseases. Great. Maybe quitting smoking but staying fat allows me to split the difference. Then I can go back to my Dew.

I have a bunch of other examples of stuff like this. I'm completely shocked that I haven't gotten West Nile Virus or Lyme Disease or something equally horrible. Actually I'm surprised that I haven't gotten like testicular cancer or something IMPOSSIBLE for me to get! I'll be the one freak case in the medical literature.

Normally these freak things don't bug me. I just shake my head and think, "Of course it would be ME who does/has/gets X" and then go about my day. Other times I try to deliberately avoid thinking about it or I'll go completely nuts. I think this is why I'm afraid of things like tornadoes. I'll be the one unlucky schmo who gets hit. If I start thinking that way too much I'll be a complete shut in - drooling in a corner wrapped in bubble wrap wearing my tinfoil hat. Because if the evil aliens do come you KNOW where they're gonna land......

Say it with cats

I got up this morning and felt kind of:

I think I stayed up too late:

At lunch time I just:

I was so happy for 5 pm!

And now I"m just kind of:

Weekly Winners 02.03.08

Idea, organization, and all-around coolness the brainchild of Lotus.

Noah wanted to sleep in his brother's room and Dylan said that would be ok. I sneaked in and got this shot of them sleeping in basically the same position.

Why do cats insist on sitting in boxes?


Especially when it gives them muffin body?


See? He bites.


Last week I posted this picture. Lotus requested that I send her my snow.


Ok - here you go.



There are 300 boxes coming your way!!! ;)

Painful Admission

*takes a deep breath*

I hate kids. LOL. No - I don't HATE them....I just don't really LIKE them all that much. I love and like and am crazy about my OWN kids. It's YOUR kids I don't like. One of the hardest things about being a parent for me is having to deal with other kids. I really just wish that my kids could be nasty anti-social little critters like me and just....I dunno....hang out with me all day. But that's probably some kind of abusive treatment. So I slap a big fake smile on my face and welcome the neighborhood rugrats into my home. Ugh.

Dylan made this really hard for me as he has always been really friendly and social. Where did I go wrong with him??? Also, we always had the "cool" stuff at our house - TV's, video games, snacks, a mom who would play video games and cuss from time to time, etc. So the kids wanted to BE at our house. *shudder* Troops of kids in and out of my house. I'd rather have an infestation of army ants. (This all changes when they become teenagers - someone else's mom/house/stuff is always cooler and I never see him - karma got me I guess.)

I had high hopes for Noah. He's always been very timid and shy and only REALLY wanted to be with his Dad, his Mom, and his brother - in that order. Success!!! He'll just live with us alone forever. Sure he'll be a little weird - into D&D, or a big Trekkie freak, or a hacker or something. But at least he could do those activities ALONE - or at least online. I was all ready to get him his own tablet PC and Yahoo account. But he has betrayed me. He's going to insist on being normal and mentally healthy. Dratted kid.

We're having a play date today. I hate that phrase - play date. It sounds.....lame. I'm sure this kid coming over is a sweet little boy. I'm sure Noah will have a great time as he cautiously steps out into the world of friends and social development. (TRAITOR) I'm sure this is only just the beginning of another round of other people's sweaty little monsters eating my food and making messes on my rug. Great.

And I suppose I should be really happy. There are kids with developmental challenges that have a terrible time with social skills and their parents would kill to have something like the occasional play date. I'm not trying to offend anyone. I know this a character defect. Dealing with other people's kids is just something that's not natural or comfortable for me. I admire the HECK out of people who are good with kids. Being something like a Kindergarten teacher is just astounding to me. I have a good friend who worked with developmentally challenged children for a time and my admiration for what she did knows no bounds.

So we will have Noah's friend over today and make him welcome and hope he has a really good time. I'll wave tearfully as my littlest boy and last baby finally starts to take the brave steps out into a bigger world. This is where you begin to lose them. This is where they begin to realize that there is a whole big exciting world beyond the walls of their home and they can't WAIT to get out there and explore every inch of it. Mostly, I'm glad that Noah is following in the steps of his big brother by making friends and pulling away from us. But there will always be a part of me that weeps for my little babies - my little bundles to cuddle and love and who never wanted anything more than to be by my side and in my arms. The time we get to do that is heartbreakingly short.

It's all Maggie's fault

Yet another cool idea stolen from Lotus

Maggie sent a link
to a site about my "Lost"
I am so hooked now

I've been reading the funniest stuff in the world at Cracked.com all freakin' night. "Crack" is a good name for this site. This is the most clever funny stuff I've ever read. My sides hurt, my face hurts from smiling, and I've done absolutely nothing productive with my time this evening. Thanks Miss M.

Going Native

Inspired by a Thirteener I read last week (sorry I don't remember your name or site) who did 13 things about being Cherokee, my TT is going to be Native-in-general themed. This is really long to make up for my really short post last week. Hope you don't get bored.

1. I am about 1/4 Lakota and am an enrolled member of a tribe in South Dakota. I have dark brown hair, medium color skin, and bluish-greenish eyes. I'm fairly light complected for my generation in my family. Many of my cousins have much darker hair, skin, and eyes. I also have a blond cousin. I've had enough pictures on my kids on here for you to see them. We're a diverse bunch. My name, Tasina, means "shawl woman" in Lakota. (Also means something else cool.) It's pronounced "ta-sheena" with the emphasis on the second syllable. There is a little accent mark kind of like a tilde ~ that is supposed to go over the S. I'm named after my great great grandmother who had four husbands. Two down...
2. Indian people do not, nor have they ever named their children by going outside and picking the first thing they see - Deer Drinks From Creek, or Eagle Soaring, or whatever. I actually had some ask me this in a serious way. If that were the case then my kids would be Machine That Beeps and Bright Light Overhead. I have an Indian name because my mom liked it. My kids have Welsh and Hebrew names because I liked them. My relatives have all kinds of different names. We're diverse like you are. I know of white people named Bob and I know of white people named Dweezil and Moon Unit - big deal. But what about "weird" last names like Kills Plenty or Takes the Knife - you may ask. Ok, sure. What about your "weird" last names like John's son or Anders' son or the guy who bangs metal together (Smith) or Pitt or Bush or Danneskjold or McGillicutty or whatever?
   
3. As of the last census, there are approximately 281 million people in this country. About 2.5 million of those people claim to be Native American. And about 62,000 live in South Dakota. So just because you once knew a Navajo guy from Arizona 20 years ago - I don't freakin' know him. I once met a white guy named Bob from Missouri - do you know him????? I don't even know all the Indians on my reservation.
   
4. About those numbers - the census allows people to self-describe. Next year I could put down that I'm African American and no one would do anything about it. In my experience about 2/3 of the white people I meet say that way back they have Indian blood. Everyone's grandma was a Cherokee princess (the Native people will giggle at this). Ok great, I'm glad. Well maybe somewhere way back I might have a drop or two of Spanish blood, but that doesn't make me all excited for Cinco de Mayo, nor do I put down Hispanic on any ethnic surveys I get. That makes me about as Hispanic as Ward Churchill is Indian. Same goes for that stupid public service commercial from the '70s where the "Indian" guy cries at the pollution. See this link about "Iron Eyes Cody."
   
5. There are over 500 federally recognized Indian tribes in this country plus some state recognized tribes, Alaskan natives, and Hawaiian natives. Each of these tribes and groups has their own unique cultures and traditions. Please do not assume we are all the same. That would be like assuming that the cultures and traditions of the Irish in New York City are the same as the French in Louisiana just because they're both Caucasian. No.
6. Please be realistic about Indian reservations. We're not all sitting around in costume waiting for white people to show up so that we can put on a powwow or maybe have a scalping or harass a wagon train heading for Oregon. We're not all busily crafting beaded things and pottery and jewelry for you all to take home. Have you ever been to a small town anywhere in this country? Someplace where regular people live and work and play and love and fight and drink and eat and go to school? That's what most reservations are like. The people might be a little browner, but they're just people living their lives the best they can.
7. Many people believe and are resentful of the fact that Indian people get some things for free. They do actually. I got a free college education. I can get free medical care on my reservation. My tribe gives free phone service to members who live there and are over 60. Sometimes people get free turkeys and blankets at Christmas. Other tribes might have other benefits - I don't know. There are scads of reasons for these things that I'm not all that interested in going into here. Treaties, laws, agreements, and all sorts of other things have gone into these practices. Is this "fair" to others? I don't know - is life supposed to be "fair" for everyone? Was it "fair" that y'all came here and destroyed our stuff? Maybe not. Write your congressperson if it upsets you that much. I would be willing to bet that the entire combined federal, state, and local budgets that go to support Indians and give us freebies is a teeny, tiny part of the overall budget. Personally, I'm not going to worry about it and I will pay back in taxes over my lifetime more than I took out. I feel not one bit of guilt.
8. People often ask why so many Indians are "drunks" or commit crimes. I don't know that this is a true statement about "many" Indians. I'm not a drunk or a criminal. I know lots of Indians that are not drunks or criminals. Certainly there are some Indians who are alcoholics or criminals or have teen pregnancies or whatever. Maybe some of these statistics are higher for Natives than for whites or other groups - I honestly don't know. I'm sure there are a variety of sociological and psychological reasons why people are the way they are. Why are there statistically more white male serial killers than any other group? Give me the definitive answer to that and then I'll answer the drunk question.
   
9. Despite what you have learned from really stupid horror movies, building your home on an old Indian burying ground will NOT cause poltergeists in your house. Although I don't follow any Native religions, I am QUITE certain that the afterlife of Native peoples does NOT involve sucking little blond wasicus (that means white people, for all you white people) into TV's. But don't mess with burying grounds - it's rude and you wouldn't want us to do it to you. Plus the NAGPRA folks will get you. Furthermore, despite what Mr. King would have us believe, burying your pet in an old Native burying ground will not cause the pet to come back to life and kill your family.
10. I am mixing the terms "Native American" and "Indian" because either one is fine with me. Others don't agree with this, but I think it's a tiny PC issue that I don't want to waste more time on. Ditto for the mascot thing. I mostly don't care about that at all. Think of a pejorative term for any ethnic group. Now imagine that as the name of a sports team. Appropriate? You decide.
    
11. I don't own a casino. I don't get any money from a casino (my own or when I visit those owned by others). Some Indians do. Good for them. Some Indians get money from leasing water rights or mineral rights or grazing lands or jobs or inheritances or lives of crime or inventions or whatever. Diverse. Like you. I'm all for the casinos. Anything that helps people be self-sufficient and forward thinking is ok by me.
    
12. Dances with Wolves was a crock. The story is set after the Civil War. Kevin Costner did not bring sugar and coffee to the backwards savages out on the prairie. Natives in South Dakota had PLENTY of contacts with whites before Kevin showed up. (Kevin - now THERE'S someone who actually owns a casino!!!) Pretty cinematography though. "Savages" could not be further from the truth. Native peoples in this hemisphere from Canada to South America had settled societies with agriculture, arts, architecture, language, writing, etc. throughout the centuries LONG before Columbus or Vikings or whoever got here. We were not huddled around in the grass waiting for Kevin to bring us shiny things.
13. I recently read that Christopher Columbus may have picked up a strain of something that was not all that harmful from the Native people he encountered and took it back with him to Europe. That bug morphed into syphilis and ravaged Europe. I know it's really awful of me...but....hehehehehehehehe. Oh come on - you got us back.

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Long live the King (let)

Wow. Last night I started reading "Heart-Shaped Box" by Joe Hill - his full name is Joe Hill King and he is Stephen King's son. The book is REALLY creepy. I don't normally get scared by scary books, but this one put a mental image in my head that really tripped me out. Hill does not have quite the facility with language that I so admire in King, but so far it's a good read.

Here's something I noticed about these new books by the King family. Hill's book has been out for a few months while King's is brand new. It dawned on me last night that in King's book one of the characters keeps referring to a "heart-shaped box." Shameless promotion and marketing of kid or just a really proud dad? King seems like a decent dude - I'm going with really proud dad. It's kind of cute even.

One day until Lost for those of you, like me, who are going bananas waiting for it.

Viva le trash!!!

Up for air

I finished Mr. King's GARGANTUAN book - Duma Key. It was good - if you like him to begin with. I would not recommend that you start your King journey with this book. Kinda spooky - but that's not really the point. I don't read any other horror novelists - I just like King. I love the way he puts words together. The McDonald's of literature? Maybe - so what? I eat at McD's from time to time - all things in moderation, no?

Anyway here are a few random photos - I need to get back to my books!

This is my favorite building in Chicago. I don't know what it is. The picture doesn't really do it justice at all. It's just this smooth, green, cool bunch of glass - it looks amazing if you're really there.

These are in Chicago as well. I believe they're apartment complexes. I just like them because they look kind of futuristic and retro groovy all at the same time.

This picture is from one of the cities of the dead in New Orleans. Creepy and beautiful and sad and spooky - all mixed together.

This is from the French Quarter. I love the colors and the iron work. Our tour guide told us that New Orleans architecture has so much iron work because ships that brought people to New Orleans rarely went back. The people on the ships simply broke the ship down for the wood and iron and other salvage.

And - just for fun. This is my husband right after getting a pie in the face at work. This has absolutely nothing to do with the other pictures - it just never fails to make me giggle.

A week of vapidity

Is "vapidity" a real word? I hope so.

I think everyone should spend a good part of their lives involved in worthwhile pursuits - nurturing kids, reading, learning, writing, creating, etc. I'm all for it. Sign me up.

But I ALSO think that sometimes you get to take a little brain vacation. Although I still have to nurture kids and go to work and stuff like that, I'm planning a whole week of trash. Precipitating this week long trashapalooza is the fact that my big old Amazon.com order came in. WOOHOO. I received a $50 gift card (yes to me this is a LOT of moola) to Amazon for Christmas and spent it down to the nub. (P.S. This is always an appropriate gift - in case you were really racking your brain trying to think of what to get me for....oh...say....Presidents Day.) But I digress. Anyway, what did I order with my free money? Great works of literature? An in-depth historical analysis? An art appreciation tome? SAT prep materials for my child?

Hell.

No.

I bought junk! It wasn't my money! Total junk. Dear Mr. Stephen King had the foresight to release his new book when I have free money and I also picked up the first (and supposedly really scary) novel by his son. Because the Kings need more of someone's money, right? I also filled in a missing book from my Kellerman series. Whoopee!! I plan to drown in these books all week while also (quasi-resentfully) fulfilling my other obligations AND taking breaks to blog, watch AI, and go completely berserk on Thursday when lovely, lovely Lost comes back to me.

So - please do not expect much in the way of deep thinking or erudite elocutions from me this week at all. (Because that's why you read me, yeah? hahaha)

Weekly Winners 01.27.08

Idea, organization, and all-around coolness the brainchild of Lotus.

Two weeks ago it was gloves on the feet to be Curious George. Now it's Daddy's big hat to be Darth Noah. Apparently with a big enough winter weather wardrobe, we can dress up as ANYTHING. The cowboy boots add a nice touch I think.

Little pink nose.

Please let spring come soon.

The next two pictures were taken seconds apart. You might have to click for the big image to get the detail.

Chameleon eyes blue:

Chameleon eyes green:

Foot warmer (that bites sometimes).

Protector of the home (that bites sometimes).

Bling me baby

My very first blog bling!! I'm so excited!!!

Julie has given me the following badge and I'm so proud!



I'm going to pass this bling along to Lotus. I keep stealing all her ideas so I could at LEAST give her some bling love. (I see she already has one - oh well....have two.)

I'm also going to send this little message back to Julie so that she never forgets to let the kids out.

And for Maggie who keeps me smoke-free, keeps me coffeed, keeps me laughing with phrases like "food porn" and "asshats", and listens to all my crappy - I present what, to her, is the ultimate in paradise (if it served coffee too) the Hello Kitty (trademark thingy here) ATM.

Holy Cumans Batman!

I haven't blogged on news much lately, but I felt this was.....freaky enough to warrant some kind of comment.

Apparently those wacky Brits want put human genes in cow genes or something. I don't really know whether to be interested, appalled, or to start making some REALLY tasteless and snarky references. I guess the big question is WHY?????

Please leave me your interested comments, appalled comments, or general snark and bad taste!

(I was going to have Hubby create me a really freaky How/Cuman picture, but decided to take the high road. hahahah Really he's just busy.)

(Also this article is 10 days old. Maybe if I actually stayed on top of the news....Oh well.)

(And WHY NOT at least make something cool like a Batman...sheesh. Cuman. Boring)

Not flu....and boys

Yet another cool idea stolen from Lotus

(Pssst...didn't have flu.
This is what I get eating
food that's not my own.)

Green eyes clear and bright.
My very first boy to love.
Starting to leave me.

Another to love
Who knew a heart could grow more?
Completing our home.

Ugh

13 Things I Hate About the Flu

1. The chills
2. The fever
3. The aches
4. The having to sprint to the....
5. .
6. .
7. .
8. .
9. .
10. .
11. .
12. .
13. .
    

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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More food

This is really turning into a food blog. Oh well. I like food.

A family member gave me this recipe and I am just about to go off and make it. I'll update later how it turned out.

1 pound beef boneless top loin or sirloin

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 TBS sugar

2 TBS sesame or vegetable oil

1/4 tsp pepper

3 green onions finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Trim fat from beef: cut beef diagonally across grain into 1/8-inch slices. Mix remaining ingredients; stir in beef until well coated. Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes

Drain beef: stir-fry in 10-inch skillet or wok over medium heat until light brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve beef with hot cooked rice, if desired. (Why one would serve it with cold uncooked rice is beyond me!)

Sounds yummy. We'll have it with rice and some kind of green vegetable.

UPDATE: This turned out to be really good. I did only 2 tbsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp of powdered ginger. I think next time I might add a teeny bit of red pepper flakes - just for a little kick. It's a keeper for sure.

Grossness alert - read no further if you have a touchy tummy.

And because it's so appetizing to talk about poo at the same time as food - here's a question I pose to you all. Please leave suggestions.

My teen son is slip-shod about cleaning the cat boxes (one of his VERY FEW chores). I came home today to a large pile of cat poo in MY BEDROOM - not HIS bedroom...MINE. Is it reasonable to move the cat boxes in his room until he learns to keep them clean??? Is this over-reacting? I'm also contemplating other options - slap a knot on the kid's head with the poo scooper or shoot the cat.

Rambling

I'm not sure what to write about today. I've got a bunch of stuff swirling, but none of it seems all that blog-worthy.

Still not smoking - check.
Knee getting better - check.
News not all that interesting - check.
Still stuffed from weekend cooking - check.

I'll leave you with a funny picture.

"Mommy, WTH is he doing???"

Braden's Meme

Hi this is Noah. I've hijacked my mommy's blog to participate in Braden's meme. Braden says to show how I dominate my parents. This is an old picture of me. I find that it's useful to frighten your parents once in a while and show them the very bad road you MIGHT go down - this scares them into letting you do the only kinda bad things like watch too much TV, eat a lot of candy, and stay up late!

Weekly Winners 01.20.08

Idea, organization, and all-around coolness the brainchild of Lotus.

My goal this week was to get some outside shots. But since it's about minus 20 degrees with the windchill factor, those pictures will have to wait. I try to avoid outside when it's colder than the inside of my freezer.

Wall of words.

This is one kid who is damn serious about fire safety.

Dylan's guitar.

This is a part to one of Noah's toys. Try to imagine how disturbing this is to find on your rug when you've never seen it before. 10,000 bonus points to whoever knows what this goes to. It's nothing obscure or obscene - in fact it's very popular.

Comfort Food Weekend

I decided to spend today cooking and make big batches of food we could dip into all weekend long. I opted for "comfort food" because the high temperature here today is going to be ONE DEGREE. One. Only one. ONE. I NEED comfort! Yesterday I posted my favorite lasagna recipe. As soon as I get done with this post, I'm going to start that going. But this morning I played around with a recipe from Emeril and some tips from my mom and made an amazing pot of broccoli cheese soup. I may wind up having to cook again because the soup recipe didn't make very much - and we gobbled it like hogs. Here it is:

5 tbsp butter, separated
1 cup shallots, minced
1 cup celery, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch nutmeg
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium carrot, grated
3 tbsp flour
3-4 cups chicken broth
2 cups fresh broccoli, chopped and microwaved with a splash of water for 3 minutes
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

In a medium pot, melt 3 tbsp butter over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, celery, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until soft - about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring until fragrant, for 20 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smells fragrant - about 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil. Add the grated carrot. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, until tender, for 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender. Alternatively, in batches, puree in a blender or food processor and return to the pot.

Add the cream and bring to a bare simmer to heat through. Add the cheese and cook over low heat, stirring, until melted. Add the remaining 2 tbsp cold butter, stirring to blend.

We served this with Parmesan Biscuit Mix from Tastefully Simple. Heaven. After my food coma nap, it's time to get the lasagna going!

I'm contemplating throwing my grand diet plans out the window and mixing up a batch of fudge. I haven't decided on that yet. :)

Haiku-ed Food

Yet another cool idea stolen from Lotus

Lasagna my love
Why so many carbs and fat?
Who cares - you're too good!

The following is a recipe I found at AllRecipes.com. My changes are in italics. It's good the original way, but we just changed things up for our taste. This is a lot of work, but fun if you like to cook and well worth it no matter what.

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (whatever - hot, mild, sweet)
  
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef (or a pound or all beef or all sausage - whatever)
  
• 1/2 cup minced onion (I prefer to use 2 or 3 shallots)
  
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed (maybe 3 - we LOVE garlic)
  
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water (we use red wine here)
  
• 2 tablespoons white sugar (this is to cut the acidity of the tomatoes - you can substitute shredded carrots, but at this point why bother!)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves (absolutely use fresh basil instead of dried....it makes all the difference in the world to this dish...I use about 3 tbsp fresh minced...it's night and day how much better fresh is here)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (some people don't like these and they are usually included in italian sausage...I use them, but you could eliminate them I guess.)
  
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (to taste)
  
• 1 tablespoon salt (to taste)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (to taste)
  
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (unlike the basil, I think you can use dried here - or eliminate completely....you can't really taste it with everything else in the dish)
  
• 12 lasagna noodles (I try to get the oven-ready kind to avoid part of Step 2 below)
  
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced (we use WAY WAY WAY more)
  
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (we use WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY more)
• we also add: Romano cheese
• minced Portobella mushrooms - maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup
• about half a package of baby spinach minced....this and the mushrooms are added in Step 1
  

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. (Simmering time is important - the longer it simmers, the more the flavors marry. Do AT LEAST an hour. Some of the reviewers at the original site make the sauce the night before and let it sit in the refrigerator over night to blend - not a bad idea.)
   
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. Either use the oven-read kind or just put the regular kind in a pan of cold water before you start anything else. By the time you're ready for the noodles they will be soft enough to work. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese. (Whatever - just make reasonable layers using the sauce and the cheeses - it doesn't have to follow this exactly. I usually add one last layer of mozzarella about 15 minutes before it's done, because you can always use one more layer of cheese!)
   
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

This really is a fantastic recipe. Experiment with adding other meats, vegetables, and cheeses to your tastes. But I really cannot stress enough to use fresh basil (if you can get it).