Failure in the Kitchen

We had a busy, yet fun, weekend this past weekend! I already posted about the zoo, but on Sunday, we had Chris' Aunt Pam, Uncle John, cousin Josh, sister Jenn and Jenn's baby Asher (15 days younger than Isaac) over for a little cookout. It was very relaxing and the day was just beautiful!



I made Pineapple Chicken Kabobs and Macaroni Tomato Casserole as well as a Boston Creme Pie for dessert. Aunt Pam made her homemade Baked Beans, which were amazing, and Josh, who went to culinary school, made the first pasta salad I've ever actually liked! He made it with a Cranberry Almond Salad dressing and it was amazing! I also got a much-needed impromptu cutting lesson from him. We ate, we talked, we sat in the sun. Charlie found a new buddy in Josh and I'm curious to know if Josh was as tired out as Charlie was - passed out on the couch at 5pm for the night! (I did eventually move him into his bed.)



Yesterday was a pretty low-key lazy day. With all of the weekend events, I didn't get to plan out the week's menus or start my grocery list, so I ended up doing that Monday morning and shopping Monday afternoon. I HATE grocery shopping in the afternoon! I know this and yet I was still crazy enough to do it. I didn't even need anything for last night's dinner and I still went because I wanted to get it done. I really need to be better about the menu planning! I did get to take full advantage of the beautiful weather in terms of a big load of laundry though!

Chris pulled the solar cover off the pool this afternoon when he came home at lunch, so the boys and I had a nice little dip to cool off. Isaac didn't like it too much. Charlie, on the other hand, is my little fish!





Unfortunately, rather than tiring Charlie out and making nap time easier, it had the opposite effect! He did eventually take a nap, but it was quite a fight. Isaac went down a bit easier (he's going to be rolling over before I know it!).



Isaac slept through the night last night - about 11pm until about 6 (he started to stir around 5 so I grabbed him and put him in our bed so Charlie wouldn't wake up, but he didn't actually wake up to eat until 6) - so I actually got up with him for good at 6 and it was nice to start the day, especially since we actually had somewhere to be at an earlier time - we had our last storytime until fall this morning. I decided to get a loaf of bread started in the machine before we left so it would be ready when we arrived home. The cycle was done when I got home, but the dough was not dough. It was a sticky blob and I ended up tossing it. The second round didn't go much better though. The dough looked better but was horribly sticky when I was attempting to roll it out, even with a ton of additional flour. I put it in the pan to rise and when I took it out to cook it, it deflated! LOL I baked it anyway and it tastes good (nice and doughy - hehe), but it's nowhere near as pretty as my first loaf. I think I may try again tonight since I'm going to need bread to make it through the week. I'm wondering if the extreme heat was part of the issue - it was in the 90s today!

The Premier Post!

It's been years since I've regularly had a blog and I haven't quite determined exactly what I want to write about here. I'm considered chronicling the day-to-day events of our family and I'm also considering creating an "Eat Like Me" type blog, a la Cristin on Self.com. There are moments where I feel like my entire day revolves around food. What I'm going to eat, when I'm going to eat, what I'm going to feed my family (including Master Charles, whose diet consists of PB&J, chicken nuggets and mac & cheese) and when I'm going to work out to burn off some of those calories I've consumed! I'll probably do a combination of family and food since they are so intertwined!

I love food and love to share the foods I've enjoyed with others. I really strive to eat healthy foods because I know how much healthier and more energetic I feel when I do! However, I typically fall victim to my cravings for junk and I certainly eat to soothe my emotions. I love to eat!

Today has been quite the day of food! I started this morning somewhat early for once (it's hard to get myself out of bed after being up to feed the baby during the night!). I started out by pureeing 2 lbs of strawberries in the blender to make strawberry fruit roll-ups in the dehydrator and then moved on to put ingredients for Light Wheat Bread into the bread machine.



Both recipes courtesy of an old, yet found-again friend at Life and love in the country. Once both machines were running (and after hanging our bed sheets out on the line to dry on this BEAUTIFUL day!), I decided it was time to have breakfast.

Master Charles has quite surprised me the past few days with how much he's enjoyed the Banana Muffins I made earlier in the week (recipe found via SparkPeople.com). I made 12 regular-sized muffins (6 with walnuts and 6 without for the hubby) and 10 mini-muffins and Charlie scarfed down 3 of the minis this morning and yesterday! (Note: I honestly am not sure whether or not I followed the recipe correctly - but the muffins did come out well. The markings on my dry measuring cups are wearing off and I may have used the 1/3 cup instead of the 1/2 cup measure... I only say this because when I was putting dishes away after they had been washed and dried, I noticed that the 1/2 cup measure was already in the drawer. Oops.) I had one of the muffins with nuts along with a handful of blackberries, some strawberries and an egg scrambled up with some yellow pepper and skim milk, served on top of some wilted baby spinach and topped with a sprinkling of shredded Parm. Yum!



Tonight's dinner is still a toss-up. I didn't plan out our weekly menu like I normally do. I'm still getting used to having a refrigerator again after 9 days without! I'm considering making haddock in foil packets on the grill but we just had some last week so I'm not so sure. Grilled shrimp would be super yummy, too, but we don't have much shrimp left... Whatever I do decide on though, I can guarantee it will be on the grill. It's just too beautiful not to! Oh, and I have some butter outside on the deck softening up so that I can make chocolate chip cookies. Homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert tonight?