Cheesy Gooey Goodness...

(Cheesy Gooey Tex-Mex Casserole, by Molly Sonier)


(Holy cow this was good)


(And it was meatless!)

First I doubled this chili gravy recipe from Homesick Texan(doubled the liquid and seasoning, not the flour and oil). I tweaked it a bit with about 1/2 teaspoon chipolte powder and about a teaspoon red wine vinegar.

Then I layered(in a 9x13 stoneware casserole) the sauce with corn tortillas, about 10 in all, 2 blocks of Cabot's 75% reduced fat cheddar cheese, grated, 1 can fat free refried beans(just glopped by the tablespoon), about 2 cups fresh spinach, 1 cup cilantro leaves(very loosely packed). My layers went like this:

Sauce
Tortillas
Beans
Cheese
Cilantro
Tortillas
Sauce
Beans
Spinach
Cheese
Tortillas
Sauce(I didn't quite use all of it)
Beans
Cilantro
Cheese

Baked it, covered, at 350 for about 40 minutes. Slurped it up with some greek yogurt on top. Died happy(no not really, but I could have). There is just a teeny bit left for tomorrow. I may send it with Mark if he does the dishes tonight.

In other news...

We were looking SO forward to camping this weekend. Based on the events, it seems God may have been telling us "no" but we didn't listen til he stopped us in our tracks.

Mark had a bad feeling about going all week and I couldn't really get into it either. Once we got the stuff together we were excited to be getting away. We decided against taking the canoe because the Suburban was weighted down too much as it was. Due to his busy week Mark didn't get around to making reservations at the state park we wanted to visit. We got about a mile underway and Mark decided he'd better call to see if there were tent site vacancies. There were not. He pulled off the road and called 6 or 7 other state parks. Only one had sites available. We turned around to head to that park and the Suburban just died. Quit working at all. We coasted to an oil top road that lead back home and came to a stop in the woods. Car would NOT start. Mark jogged back home and drove back with jumper cables. It wasn't the battery. Would allllllmost turn over but not quite. So, we loaded all the camping equipment in his work van and drove back home. We decided to call a wrecker service to haul it home for us. Currently it is sitting in the yard near the driveway. We are unsure what we'll do with it. The repairs for this and many other "ailments" will probably run close to $1100 and there are other things wrong with it as well.

Today we went to visit friends and I was handed some leftovers from a garage sale.*G* I got a cast iron skillet, a neat-o purse, and a vintage barbie with a beeeautiful purple crocheted doily dress, and some okra and peppers!! Barbie has a photo shoot sceduled for tomorrow. Then we looked at used trucks and SUVs(we have to have something to pull the boat and haul 3-5 kids, dogs, equipment and so forth). Finally we headed to Trade Days to see what we could find to drag home! I managed to leave with an adorable(and I mean ADORABLE) crocheted mouse with a dark blue dress. She is just too sweet!! Her photo shoot is scheduled around the same time as purple barbie, so I'll have pics sometime tomorrow. The kids and I got sno-cones and we all split a large funnel cake. I don't think I've had one of those in 25 years! I also ran into a very old friend(30 years!) who works for the police department now. We caught each other up on who and what. Then I checked in with my friend who is selling my scarves, she said 3 had sold!! Woot!! I don't know which ones though. She knits the most incredible striped stocking caps to sell. They are about 5 to 6 feet long and are so cute(I need a picture of them). I wish I was a knitter but there ain't no way...

We're expecting rain tomorrow with slightly cooler temps following. It has been a wonderful fall so far with very little rain and short-sleeve weather almost every day.

Mark got the new job!!!! He starts Monday, I think. This is a job doing pretty much the same thing he was doing at JD Medical only with a national company. One of the best things is that there are people to do the billing, people to do the customer service, repair equipment, market, deliver stuff and more. He will be riding with the marketers about 1/3-1/2 of the time and "managing" the other part. There is NO being on call and he will be better compensated!

In other news...

My bloggy friend Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor has answered another blogger's challenge to help boost our country's economy. I am so inspired that I have a special trip planned just for this. Here is the origination of this wondrous movement!

One of my cousins is welcoming her second grandchild, Lyndee Allison(**edited for spelling**) today, born this morning somewhere in Oklahoma. Lyndee's big brother Lex shares my January birthday.


(Meadow, Rainbow, Stella, Sundae and Panda looking for a handout)

I don't feel like cooking tonight but I have no clue what we'll eat otherwise. Maybe sandwiches or nachos. I made the decision to renew my WeightWatchers Online account. That will start Monday.

We're going shopping this weekend for kids' clothing. Woohoo. Grandma has sent them some birthday/half-birthday money and that's what they want! And earrings I'm sure.

Breaking Fast....

We enjoyed a bowlful of steel cut oats with bananas, golden raisins, and brown sugar this morning. I have been eating steel cut oats for several years now but never thought to put a banana in them. If added during the last few minutes of cooking it will dissolve completely. Very yummy!

It was a good thing we had such a breakfast because we'll need strength to get through this...








But this is REALLY what its all about!

Some Changes Goin' On...

In light of my very scary chest pain event, which was totally NOT heart related but could have been very easily, I've decided to get this health/diet/exercise junk over with once and for all. I'm also going to share some pictures of the flooded park for those who are local. ummm, but those who aren't local can enjoy them too though they won't mean as much.

Anyway, back to the diet thing...

Several women in an online quilting group I belong to are starting a health regimen as well and have shared some websites(just this morning as it happens!). I am still exploring but FitDay looks like a keeper as does, SparkPeople. Both have similar features such as keeping up with your meals, calories, exercise and so forth. FitDay will tell you if you are taking in enough nutrients based on the items you eat each day, among other many other cool things. At SparkPeople, they give you a sample menu for each meal and you get to substitute other foods as you click on each item. Both are GREAT sites and I plan on trying them out, probably one a week, to see which fits me best. They are similar to the WeightWatchers online but easier(for me) to use and FREE!!! WW was around $17/month to use their point and exercise tracker. Just tracking today, a normal day for me, I've eaten about 1500 calories and I'm done for the day. Not bad and I don't usually fluctuate from this too much that I can tell. Sometimes, of course, I'll have a much worse day but more often I have a way better day(as far as my nutrients go).

Now, onto the exercise thing...

I have a not-so-fun problem with my skeleton so I don't get a whole lot of exercise right now. It seems that my left leg is at least an inch shorter than my right leg. Always has been but I didn't really know it could cause problems until a few years ago(even though it HAD been causing them for about a decade before that). What happens is that any time I walk, my body leans to the left and causes the muscles over my right hip to be stretched more than normal. This results in an excruciating irritation of the bursae of that hip called Trochanteric Bursitis. Leg length inequality also causes lower back pain and other aches.

Also, when I was a young adult, I seriously injured the tendons in the top of my left foot. This injury reared its ugly head again when I was pregnant with my second child, and again in the past several years. Mostly it bothers me if I walk too much or if I swim(the flapping of my foot triggers it).

So anyway, I know there are people who exercise and do all sorts of other amazing feats with no limbs and other deformities and/or injuries. I'm not trying to take anything away from their successes. But, dang it, I HURT! Most of the time! And, I'm tired of it! So, I'd do much better without 50 pounds of extra fat that I'm carrying right now. My body hates it when I exercise, it pays me back with days and days of pain. I try not to take NSAIDS due to my high blood pressure so I mostly rely on herbal remedies and rest. It is HORRIBLY FRUSTRATING to exercise one day and feel wonderful about it and not be able to hobble to the bathroom the next morning. But I'm going to give it my best shot. Here are some of my favorite exercise sites:

Exercise at About.com
Tai Chi Forms and Movements
RealAge's You2 Exercises
BodyBreak Online

There ya have it. Now for the park flooding...

One Word...and a meal...

This is a neat meme that I found over at Ruth's Place(new in my blogroll). I enjoyed trying to keep it to one word, not easy for me. Play along if you wish!!

1. Where is your cell phone? what?

2. Your significant other? driven

3. Your hair? dripping

4. Your mother? blessed

5. Your father? genius

6. Your favorite thing? life

7. Your dream last night? usual

8. Your favorite drink? tea

9. Your dream/goal? satisfaction

10. The room you’re in? dining

11. Your ex? dead

12. Your fear? time

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? unknown

14. Where were you last night? grilling

15. What you’re not? fake

16. Muffins? sometimes

17. One of your wish list items? health

18. Where you grew up? Texas

19. The last thing you did? dress

20. What are you wearing? jamas

21. Your TV? off

22. Your pet(s)? mammals

23. Your computer? necessary

24. Your life? pleasant

25. Your mood? good

26. Missing someone? yes

27 Your car? old

28. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

29. Favorite Store? none

30. Your summer? humid

31. Like someone? yes

32. Your favorite colour? all

33. When is the last time you laughed? today

And, for lunch...



I found these neat little bagel sandwich squares from Thomas'. 150 calories, 1 gram of fat, 4g fiber, 7g protein. Toasted, they make wonderful Dagwood sandwiches(well as Dagwood as I can get it anyway). Mine had chopped black olives and cherry tomatoes, dill pickles, cucumbers, romaine lettuce, sliced cheese and deli chicken with mayo and mustard. I was too hungry to chop any onions or green peppers but they would have made it that much better!! Amy had hers with the same thing minus the lettuce, cucumbers, and mayo/mustard. She subbed ranch salad dressing. Mark had his with just mustard, pickles and olives extra. Sarah hasn't eaten yet so I don't know how she'll do hers, if she has one at all.

Just call me Rip!

~~****Updated, 10pm, to say that the kitties are NAMED!! Boy cat is Jasper and girl cat is Jypsy(yes with a J, since his is), no longer Nuala. Five people trying to name two kittens is not fun. We are all happy with these names even if they aren't first choices****~~

I was feeling kinda nappish after lunch today even though we really needed to get to the pet store for some kitty toys and the grocery store for some food. So, I thought I'd take a cat nap before we went. Actually, my intent was to sneak some reading time. I've started the LOTR trilogy again, first time in about nine years. Neeeways, it was 12:44 when I glanced at the alarm clock after climbing under the covers. Next time that happened it was 2:47, when I just happened to wake up to shift or something. The next time was 3:54. Then it took several minutes after that to pry my body from the bed. Not sure yet if I'm refreshed or not but I had some Crazy-Daisy dreams! It truly feels like I stepped into another time.

Now for last night's dinner!! This will probably be the last of the food pictures for a while. I love sharing them but remembering to take pictures at various times during the process isn't something I'm real good at. That and I foresee several days in which I don't cook, or cook something simple like baked potatoes or sandwiches. I am making chili for Ryan's Super Bowl party with his church's youth group but that doesn't sound like good photo fare.


I use this dough for pizza and bread, it is fantabulous!!!


Kids pizzas just into the oven, Ryan's has mushrooms, girls' doesn't.


The grown-ups' pizza just out of the oven, my side is the one with onions.

I divided the dough into three pieces, then one of those in half for the kids. I used one of the thirds for ours and the last third to make a calzone with the leftover meatsauce filling and cheese, which I baked to a dark golden color. It made a huge one and I had a bit of it for lunch today. It was as good as, or better than the pizza was! It was hideously ugly so there wasn't a pic.

We had fun today!

But I didn't take any pictures(this is a quick, and really bad, pic of a few from my collection). We went to the East Texas Gem and Mineral Society's annual show with another homeschooling family. It was AMAZING!!!! If you are interested in gems and minerals, check out local shows and shops. Here's a list of minerala, Rainbow of Gems to start and a GREAT resource for kids and grown-ups too(I love this site) called, Rocks For Kids. I took my "mammoth tooth" along for the ride to see if I could get it positively identified(I had a feeling it wasn't what I thought). Turns out, it is petrified wood and I'm going to have it cut and polished in the next few weeks! I am hoping for some nice surprises inside!! I love, love, love rocks!!! Rock-a-holic I am.


(Ammonite that belonged to my grandfather, don't know where he got it)
****edited to add this: I'm so glad you told me Rosaline! I figured it was found in Oklahoma but had no idea where. For some reason I was thinking northwest of Rush Springs, don't know why. It is the neatest rock we have, I love it! There were some at the rock show but they were much smaller(about like a smooshed tennis ball), and not nearly as detailed. They were all incomplete like ours, guess it is hard to find a whole one.****

I did manage to keep up with the Dinner challenge, just didn't feel the need to post our dinner on Friday of scrambled eggs in corn tortillas or last night's baked potatoes. Tonight, however, I did a variation on our favorite pizza pasta.



1 chicken breast, cooked in a cup or so of water til done, don't drain unless you have more than a cup of water at this point. Add 20 slices of turkey pepperoni, 20 black olives(halved), 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 chicken broth cube, italian seasonings and garlic powder. Simmer for 15 minutes or so. Cook half a box of whole wheat elbow macaroni noodles(amounts are not real important in this). Combine drained noodles, sauce mix, 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, in 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes at 350.

Dinner Challenge Chicken Pot Pie...

Check in at Carolyn's blog, Laughing Duck to see what I won!! I'm getting pretty lucky with that these days. I told her that I won twice with her because I am using a (greatly modified) version of her Chicken Pot Pie for my Dinner Challenge tonight! It looked SO good but I didn't think I had what it took to make it. I looked again with open eyes and found the perfect ingredients for mine but I'm sure hers is MUCH better. This suits Carrie's Challenge because I didn't have to get anything special from the store AND I've never made it before, in any fashion so definitely not an "in a rut" meal! Don't forget to scroll down a few posts and support Bernie's A Place to Bark...and Meow Cause.

Mine is Fast because we stayed at the bookstore ALL afternoon for our homeschool "park day". It was too cold to visit at the park so those of us(hi Patricia) with older kids went to Books-A-Million to knit and sew and read. We didn't get home til after 4:30 and then I had to take Ryan and his friend to the friend's house to spend the night. Soooo, when I came home I quick thawed the chicken, thinking I'd oven fry it and make baked potatoes or something to go with, but I found Carolyn's lovely email and became inspired by her mouth-watering recipe.
****edited to add pictures****
Here ya go:



Fast Chicken Pot Pie(based very loosely on Carolyn's)

3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 medium baking potatoes
1/2 red onion
1/2 big bag of mixed vegetables
1 can 98% fat free cream of celery soup
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon(or shake) garlic powder
1/2 cup milk

Simmer chicken and cubed potatoes til the meat isn't pink. Cube chicken and drain the water out. Add veggies, soup, cheese, spice and milk. Stir well.

2 cups flour(I use half white, half whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1-1.5 cups milk

Stir dry stuff together, add butter and mix with fingers til course crumbs. Stir in milk and mix up. Put chicken stuff into a oiled 9x13 casserole dish, smooth out. Drop dough on top of that and bake for 35 minutes at 375. Yum!!

Cooking Challenge!!!

I'm taking part in Carrie's(of Sommer Designs) Dinner Challenge for the week, having just found her blog about an hour ago. Her challenge is to cook dinner every night for 5 nights, something you haven't tried before or something you haven't made in a long time. ***Edited to clarify that this doesn't have to be done with things you have on hand, just that you go shopping once with a good list, so you don't have to run out and get "only xyz" and come home $75 poorer*** To be fair, today was shopping day for me so some of the things in this recipe are not staples(cilantro and green onions aren't always in the larder)I got in on it a bit late but I do have my recipe from Monday's post(we had leftovers last night-deliciously served over spaghetti squash that I'm ashamed to say has been on my shelf for 5-6 weeks now!) and one tonight that I can share. This might be leftovers for tomorrow or Friday too so my 5 nights might take longer than a week to complete. I consider that a bonus!!

Tonight's Meal:

Baked Bean Dip

Stuff you'll need:
2 cans refried beans(fat free or not, your choice)
1 cup grated cheese(as you can see, mine is cut up because the grater was in the dishwasher getting all cleaned up)
1/2-3/4 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream(or more, depends how much you like it)
Combine in greased 8x8 baking dish(or 9x13 if using 2 cans of beans). Bake about 20 minutes at 350.


Meanwhile chop and combine:

1-2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 cup cilantro(chopped to make this much)
20-30 black olives(add green ones too if you'd like)
1-3 green onions(depends on size, I've got big ones but have seen some much smaller)


Take dip out of oven and let cool 5-6 minutes.


Spread the bean mixture with sour cream, I dollop it on with a spoon and gently smear around.


Sprinkle with the veggie mixture.


Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!!!

Dinner!

Holy Cow this was GOOOOOD STUFF!!

Turkey Olive Italian Curry Sauce(10 servings- 3 points for WW)

1 pound turkey breakfast sausage(or link italian sausage)
1(14oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
2(8oz) cans no-salt-added tomato sauce
30 black olives, halved
1/2 can chickpeas, drained
1 green pepper
1 onion
garlic powder
italian seasonings
curry powder

Brown meat, pepper and onion. Add tomatoes, olives, and chickpeas, plus seasonings to taste(1-2 teaspoons each). Simmer, covered for 25-35 minutes. Serve over elbow pasta or similar size.

Italian Bread Sticks(makes 16, 3 points each, 7 for 2)

2.5 cups each, whole wheat and regular flours
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons total of seasonings of choice(or none), I used garlic powder, italian seasoning, dill and caraway seeds.
1- 1.5 cups warm water
1/4 cup olive oil(and more to coat ball)

Combine dry ingredients well. Add water and oil and stir til mixed, adding more water if it is too dry.

Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 7-10 minutes. Coat will oil and let rise for 1 hour 10 minutes or so(I put in my oven after heating for a few minutes). Turn out and cut ball into 8 wedges(like a pie). Roll each wedge into a long rope, about 18 inches long. Cut in half and put on a baking sheet(you'll need two) that has been dusted with cornmeal. Let rise in warmed oven for 35 minutes. Bake one batch at 350 for about 20 minutes, place other in cool place(fridge or outside if its chilly out). Change out and bake second batch for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve! Yummy!

This, 1 serving of pasta with sauce, and 2 breadsticks plus promise spread was 15 points and VERY satisfying!!

Just some stuff...

Seen out the back door tonight...





Now to the stuff I meant...

1. I started my WW again this week. When we went to North Carolina at the end of summer I kind of got off my diet. Once back home it was just a hassle to keep up with my points(even online!) so I kind of stopped. Now I'm back with a fresh outlook! If I choose to micro-manage my "diet", it will drive me freaking nuts! If I choose to do nothing I won't lose weight and could very well eat myself heavier than I was to begin with. If I USE the online points thingie as a guideline and not fret over every little thing, I mean sometimes guestimate the points value of something, it won't kill me to be wrong a few times(off a point or two every so often). The tracker they have allows me to add foods, meals, and recipes to my "favorites" and I can drag/drop them to the meal slot so it counts it for me. No work. But, today I had a lean cuisine, a corndog thingie and some of that Norwegian Apple Cake I posted about a few days ago(it was VERY good, by the way). I counted that meal as 10 points. It may have been 9, it may have been as much as 14. Point is, I'm still within my points for the day even if I mis-counted. So there!!

2. Ryan got his cast cut off today!!!! He has to wear a brace for the next two weeks and slowly get his arm/hand used to moving around again.

3. Ryan is having an Adenoidectomy next Thursday!!!! YIKES!! His doctor said they are taking up about 2/3 of the space behind his nose(wherever they reside). I think, poor Ryan, he'll feel SOOO much better after they are out. He doesn't know what it means to breathe normally. We were hoping this would go away as he grew but it seems to have just gotten worse as have his allergies. Now we can get his braces on with no issues.

4. I'm dragging out and sorting my unfinished quilting projects. I have several. Now, I want to learn how to machine quilt. So, someone please tell me what a walking foot is or if I can use a darning foot(and what the heck do they look like?). Maybe I'll post a picture of the types of feet I do have for my machine and someone can kindly point out which one I should use. I used to LOVE to hand quilt. It was mindless, soothing, relaxing, rewarding but hard to do a big quilt since I don't use a frame. Now that I know how to crochet, I don't need to hand quilt but I'll still bind by hand, I love to do that! I still enjoy putting quilts together but I'd rather have them sooner than later.

5. I'm stalling making any sort of dinner. We may end up with scrambled eggs and possibly biscuits or maybe just eat them in corn tortillas. Yum!

Recipes!

Someone asked me to post a few of my recipes so here ya go!



Before I got sick I made this apple cake! It is based on my blueberry-lemon bundt cake but changes the berries for a cup of chopped apples and the lemon for nutmeg(tsp), cloves(tsp), and cinnamon(Tbsp). Next time I will up the sugar to 2 cups(1.5 was fine with the blueberries) and maybe up the apples to 2 cups, it wasn't sweet enough for me. I might even try some walnuts, we just wanted something sweet and I was out of cocoa so couldn't do chocolatey(though I found baking squares later) so I didn't try really hard to get it right. It is iced with a powdered sugar/milk icing, any suggestions for a better one are welcome!

Next time, I'm going to make a Norwegian Apple Cake, like this one from all buttoned up.

This weekend I'm making Zuppa Toscana from Divine Domesticity. Except I'm trying mine with collard greens left from New Year's since that's what I have. I'm sure it will be fine.

We talked about pizza and various pastas on a chat I participate in on Friday mornings. I know this one was discussed but can't remember if I was going to share another recipe or not, dang cold has me cotton headed! Someone from chat, remind me what it was, if any.

Pizza Pasta
serves 6-8

1 box whole wheat or blend pasta(either rotini or penne or similar)
1 each, onion and green pepper
1-2 cups sliced mushrooms(we like a lot)
1 pound ground lean turkey meat
2 cans tomato sauce(we use no-salt-added)
1 can(14oz-ish) diced tomatoes(again, no salt)
garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning and fennel seeds to taste(about 1 teaspoon each or a bit more)
1 tsp honey
2 tsp olive oil
1 can sliced olives
20-30 slices of turkey pepperoni(the kind for pizza)
1-2 cups mozzerella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese(we like it cheesy)

Cook the pasta as per box. Brown the onion, pepper, mushrooms, and meat in the olive oil. Add the tomato products and spices, honey and olives. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to blend flavors.

Mix the meat sauce with the pasta. Stir in pepperoni and cheeses. Put in large baking dish(I use a pampered chef baking bowl), cover and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, remove cover, bake another 5 minutes. Serve with salad and bread if you want. We love this in bowls. Obviously this is a recipe that anyone can fiddle with. Leave out the mushrooms if you like, add in red onions, use bottled sauce... it is very user friendly.

***edited to add that tonight we used turkey breakfast sausage(bulk) instead of ground turkey and it was fabulous!!

Some Recipes!

Oh boy, we ate and ate, and ate some more yesterday! It was quite a feast. I made our family favorite, broccoli rice casserole, a potato casserole, and a wonderful pumpkin cake. Mark's parents did turkey and dressing, a ham, mashed potatoes, corn, beans, rolls(alas, not the homemade kind), and pies. Here are my recipes, just in time to plan for Christmas or just a nice family dinner if you'd like. All of these make fantastic breakfast items eaten cold from the pan, trust me!

Broccoli Rice Casserole(modified this year to include spinach)...

***amounts are approximate, use your eyeballs for this***
2-3 cups cooked brown rice
2.5 cups frozen chopped or cut broccoli(from a bag)
1 cup frozen chopped spinach(from a bag, not the boxed kind)
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 can each 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken soup
1 cup cheese whiz(I used walmart's Cheese Sensations, cheddar flavor, and liked it much better)*
garlic powder and black pepper to taste

Start cooking rice. Saute onion and celery, add broccoli and spinach, cook til heated through. Combine soups spices and cheese whiz, mix well and add to veggie mixture. Stir in rice and mix well. Pour into two buttered 8x8 pans or 9x13(will possibly be too much for this). Bake, covered at 350 degrees for about an hour. Check after 45 minutes. Remove cover to brown the top. Yum.

Special Dilled Potatoes(or Quick, let me throw something potatoe-y together!)

7 medium potatoes
1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
1 cup cheese whiz(walmart brand)*
1 cup sour cream(I use fat free)
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Wash potatoes and put in pot with water to cover. Boil them, in jackets, about 20 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool. Combine soup, cheese whiz, sour cream, and spices. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel skins off and dice into 1/2 inch cubes(bigger won't be as tasty). Combine with sauce mixture in buttered baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 along side broccoli rice casserole, for about an hour, browning the top during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. These are even better cold!
*the reason I call for 1 cup in each of these recipes is because the jar is 16 ounces and I just scooped out a bunch for each recipe with about 1/4 of the total jar left over. Next time I will use it all. Velveeta would probably work as well but a bit of liquid might need to be added. The GV brand was thinner.

Pumkin Cake(adapted from a recipe out of Big Backyard magazine)

2 cups flour
1.5 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cloves(I used more)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon alspice and/or nutmeg
1 teaspooon coriander
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 15oz can of pumpkin
1 cup chopped walnuts(optional)

Combine dry ingredients, combine wet ingredients and nuts. Bake at 350 in buttered 9x13 pan for 35 minutes. Test with cake tester! Remove from oven and let cool completely. Frost with butter cream cheese frosting.

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine well and try not to consume too much before the cake is cooled. Frost and enjoy.

Just found out I am a

Today is a Better Day...

I feel like those mice from Babe, how they'd make little comments between scenes. Ya know like "Pork is a nice sweetmeet" and mine, coming between icky last night and this beautiful morning. The way the sun comes through the sweet gum tree at this time of year is really pretty. It highlights all the orb spiders' webs in our yard and across the street, and makes the gum leaves glow. They haven't changed yet to the gold and red like this picture but the green is still nice. The sun also shows off all the moths and other flying critters. If you've ever seen the show on the Travel Channel called Most Haunted and seen their "orbs"(lit up moths in old houses) you know the look I'm talking about. Little glowy dots floating and zipping along. It is really a spectacular show to watch(the one in my yard, not the tv show).


My blood pressure was high last night, 143/88, and I just generally felt weird. I had three different whacko dreams(and I didn't take so much as an advil!). After the dream, I'd check the clock to see if I could get up yet(1:37, 3:45, 6:04) but none of those times worked for me so I went back to sleep each time. I hope tonight won't be so bad.

Sorry if this post is less than coherent. I'm unable to drink coffee(decaf chicory) until I get my milk tomorrow afternoon. We've started getting organic raw Jersey cow milk from a farm north of us. The kids LOVE it, the taste is so fresh. Amy said it was like it was alive and that the old kind of milk tasted dead. Last week we got a gallon and it was gone by Tuesday. This week we ordered 2 gallons.

Today is also Park Day with our homeschool group. Will be interesting to see what kind of dangerous critters Ryan comes up with this time. I am bringing my camera just in case. Yesterday he and a friend went to the creek at the end of our street and came home wtih 2 black widows and a black and yellow garden spider, some wasps and a jewel beetle. Sigh.

PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA!!(and house update)....

We LOVE homemade pizza here at Casa Sonier, especially Ryan. In the past we've used store-bought pre-baked crusts or english muffins, a homemade sauce, veggies, olives, cheese and turkey pepperoni. This time, I had the muffins but wasn't keen on having to top 2 dozen of them so I looked for a quick crust recipe. I found one in an old vegetarian cookbook procured on our vacation a few weeks ago at a thrift shop. The title of the book is The Quick and Easy Vegetarian Cookbook by Ruth Ann and William Manners. The recipe is thus: my increases in (~~).

LAZY DAY PIZZA CRUST

2(3) cups whole wheat flour(I use a mix of regular and whole wheat)
1(1.5) tablespoons dry active yeast
3/4(1) teaspoon salt

Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Stir in:

1(1.5 + 1 tablespoon) cup very warm tap water
1(1) tablespoons olive oil
1(2) teaspoons honey

Mix vigorously by hand for a few minutes, until well blended. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes in a warm place. I heat the oven while I'm mixing the dough, then put the bowl in and turn oven off. Take out halfway through rising so you can preheat the oven to 425F.

Punch down the dough and spread onto cookie sheet(use rolling pin and extra flour if you want), about 1/4-1/3 inch thick. I divided my recipe into 2 equal sections, giving 1 half for one bunch of toppings(for the guys) and then dividing the other half again for two smaller pizzas(one for the girls and one for me). Top with tomato sauce, veggies, cheese, whatever you like. I cook the mushrooms to get most of the water out of them beforehand, and did onions too for mine. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

It was an excellent crust! And so, so easy! I've been avoiding making my own crusts because I thought it was so labor intensive to let the dough rise, etc. My sauce is easy too, a can of no-salt-added tomato sauce, can of NSA diced tomatoes, shakes of Italian seasoning, oregano, garlic and onion powder, a drip of honey and a drip of olive oil, this doesn't even have to be heated. Yuuuummm!

Today, the day after our 17th wedding anniversary, was spent in leisure... to a point. We moved furniture around in the living room for part of the day and here's what we have now(you can scroll down to the icky pictures of its former self). There's still a lot to do but we've got a good bit behind us by getting things moved.

We moved the entertainment center to the smaller wall. You can see a tiny slice of the dining room to the left.


Here is my glider chair where I plan to work on many yarny and quilty projects. You can see the beautiful needlework owls that my grandmother did ever so long ago. I remember admiring them in her house when I was just a toddler so they are "antique", as is the craft stasher to the right of the chair.


Here is a shot of the wide wall. I haven't got all my art(quilts) up yet. If you look down in front you can see Moonshine, our little white boar piggie running across the room. Yes that is a terrier dog and a cat on the couch-they totally ignore the pigs! The pigs had a blast running in the big room finally. We have been making a corral for them for the past several months but now that we don't have cords hanging they can have the run of the room.

It begins...

The diet that is. My doctor still wants me to lose 50 pounds, imagine that! Soooo, I told her all about my foot pains(ligaments and tendon problems), my hip pains(bursitis), and my bum gall bladder issues. In turn, she told me to take Tylenol(not Advil or Alleve due to kidney stuff) and that once I start losing weight my liver enzymes will keep me from having gall bladder attacks. I'm not so sure about the last one but I will trust her. She says smaller portions, no strenuous exercising just gentle stuff like yoga and walking. Soooo, here we go!

My mom wants me to join Weight Watchers but I'm not keen on having to travel to a meeting every week. Our lifestyle is already complicated enough with Mark's work schedule and the kids are always wanting to do this or that. I also don't like the fact that their program seems(and I've not been so I don't know this for fact) to focus on the number of points and not on types of foods. I'd rather eat a huge salad with some turkey, cheese and a balsamic dressing than fried anything, ok well maybe fried squash.

Here's some red metal shelves I rescued from my dad and brother. They were on my grandparents back porch for years and years. I cleaned them up and will use them for my pretties in the dining room. Chester is here guarding them from our neighbor cat, Tom. The fabrics will be for quilted mats to go on the shelves(imagine the red a bright cheery 40s looking red, the blue is true).





In other news, we had NINE trees taken out today. Most were dead, three were not. Our front yard is down by seven and the back lost a dead maple and a huge pine that was threatening the vinyl liner of the swimming pool with its roots. I will miss them, especially the three sycamores in the front, they kept the yard cool in the late afternoon. Ryan wants to plant a weeping willow and the girls want to do hydrangeas. We'll see. Grass first, then riddance of the briars and baby oaks, then an overhaul of the corner evergreen bed(icky!). Of course, this in addition to repainting the girls bedroom, and ours, and decluttering, and dieting, and quilting, and crocheting, and pool maintainance.... hmmm, maybe that's why I don't wanna do WW meetings.

What to Write? or Diet is Die with a "t"....

I've hit a block. I don't know what to write!! Mostly this comes from not having time to sit at my computer *alone*. There is always a person or two in the room with me, sometimes wanting something, always distracting. Like now, all five of us are in the living room. Ryan is practicing his guitar, Amy is coughing and watching a show about wildebeasts, Sarah is drawing and asking for pens, and Mark is on his computer complaining about the sun hitting his screen. So, I get no clarity, no stillness. That usually comes late at night when I'm crocheting or reading in bed just before sleep, never when I want to get something posted.

There is one thing I want to get down in writing though. I am starting a new health regimen. My blood pressure went up when I had strep throat and hasn't come back down much, last night it was 141/99, this is ON meds! This scares me. My mom's oldest sister died from Congestive Heart Failure(CHF), and her next oldest sister appears to have it also.

Soooo, I'm starting a DIET!!!

(new day, kids are playing outside with the dogs, I can write!)
I love food of all kinds and love to eat! Cooking is one of my favorite things to do. My weight was normal when I was growing up, I wasn't heavy but my body style(broad shoulders, big boobs, narrow hips, and tiny legs) always made me look bigger than I really was. When I graduated high school I weighed 115 and was 5ft2in tall, not too bad. Because of my shape, however, I thought I was horribly disfigured. My tummy was NOT flat, my shoulders were huge, I was just not shapely. When I got married at age 22, I was maybe 125, still not bad. I enjoyed cooking for my husband and having no clues about counting calories or fat grams. I gained and gained until I reached 150 when I got pregnant with Ryan. My weight has continued to rise. At one point, when I was on antidepressants for post partum anxiety problems, I was above 200 pounds!! Since then I've been as low as 144(after my 3rd child was born-I lose weight during pregnancy, gain it all back while breastfeeding), and am now back past 170.

During my last pregnancy I had gall bladder issues so we pretty much became semi-vegetarians and gave up red meat(among other things) in 1999. We consume very little processed foods(as in things like Hamburger Helper, other boxed foods/food mixes, snack goods-aside from pretzels and chips now and then). I have read many books and articles about eating a healthy diet and/or exercise/yoga/tai chi/meditation, etc. There are lots of articles giving advice to eat more this(walnuts for example), eat more that(salmon), add this(flaxseed) to your diet, add that(fruits) to your diet; taking this to heart, I ate LOTS of the good stuff. Coupled with a lack of exercise due to an old foot injury and bursitis in my right hip and general "aging", this has done really bad things to my body(see above about the bp).

I'm starting a 1500 calorie per day diet tomorrow. Counting calories doesn't sound like fun, many health experts just say to "modify your diet" but since I have such a distorted perception of what a portion is, I'm going to try it. Today I made a list of the many foods I enjoy(e.g. Total cereal, cantalope, spaghetti sauce, rice, steel cut oats...) and many foods I want to start eating more of(as in more often, not more quanities). Mark printed it out for me and I'll refer to it when I make our meals. I intend to use my handy dandy very nice stainless steel measuring cups that I got for Christmas, and I'm considering buying a kitchen scale. I believe portion control, more veggies, low intensity exercise and yoga are the keys to my success. Wish me luck!!

Oh yeah, my "GOAL" is to lose about 50 pounds by the end of 2007. It is not a race but a journey. Tomorrow I'm headed out!

~Molly