peelosophy

Hey! Just wanted to give you a heads up that I’m taking a blogging break till next week.
I need to stop procrastinating about some things at home and going to bed every night at 9pm hasn’t been helping my productivity level…yes I am feeling VERY pregnant. 11 weeks to go!

I know I’m totally late posting this – I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner!

Let’s see, last week menus were yummy, although I did remember why we haven’t done Steve’s Mac and Cheese for a while, something wasn’t quite quite–sorry Steve!  I also shouldn’t freeze the Chicken Tetrazzini again, it didn’t turn out great.  We had the Oliver’s over for dinner Thursday night and did my regular Spaghetti and Meatballs but doubled everything but the noodles and it was an improvement.

Here’s what’s for dinner this week and you can check out other menu ideas at www.orgjunkie.com.

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Yesterday was Henry’s 3rd birthday, it was a normal day sprinkled with fun but ended with us closing down Chuck E. Cheese’s at 9pm.  We always make a homemade birthday banner for the birthday babe in our house and today was no exception.  It’s so basic but the kids really like ether making it for their brother or deciding what should go on their own.

As to my prior post about Henry (which btw a sequel is coming) our day was not perfect or “easy”, but the night made it all worth it.  I know it’s Chuck E. Cheese, but it made Henry the star of the family and he really lit up because of it.

Our norm for birthdays is the birthday boy gets to pick dinner and we can eat out or stay home.  Then a party comes the following weekend with just family for the 3 years olds and under and including friends for the 4 and over. So our his family party is coming up on Saturday night.

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I cannot figure out my almost 3 year old,  Henry.  He’s been driving me insane for the last 3 weeks.  Everything is a battle.  Whining all.day.long.  Calling me names, favorites include “You are stupid mommy.  You not my mommy anymore.”  Hitting me.  Throwing things.  And yes, he has received consequences for his behaviors, but apparently they are not the right ones that will get him to stop.  By the end of my days, I have felt totally wiped out emotionally.  I’m torn between calling Super Nanny or Jerry Springer to be on the show “My 3-year old beats me up.”

What’s crazy is that a month ago I distinctly remember sitting on the couch with him thinking that I didn’t think it’s possibly for me to love this sweet Henry anymore than I did right then.  What happened to that sweet boy?

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I have been baking bread for about 10 weeks now and I am totally in love.  I borrowed The Tassajara Bread Book from the library and gave it a go.  I had to renew the book twice and just got my own copy last week.   The Tassajara Bread Book is not with my other cookbooks in the kitchen, but sits on my end table because I just love to peruse it that frequently.  I just love it, read the description on Amazon, I  love it when recipes have a story and almost all of these have a story.

I have been making 2 loaves approximately every 1-1/2 weeks.  I have alternated between the Tassajara Yeasted Wheat Bread and the White Egg Bread, but also have made a half and half variation of my own design.

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Critiquing last weeks menu…I wouldn’t do the meatloaf recipe again.  I felt like it took double the time to cook and the inside was still a little mushy.  We like a firmer loaf around here with crispy edges.  It was the second time I did the Manicotti, although John and I love it, it was hard selling the boys on it each time.  I am going tot make it for some new parents in a couple weeks because it was yummy, a little different and easy to freeze.

There’s nothing new on the menu this week, except we haven’t done Steve’s Mac and Cheese for a long time so I don’t really remember it.

For more recipes, check out: orgjunkie.com

MONDAY:  Chicken Tetrazzini

TUESDAY: Chili and Cornbread

WEDNESDAY: Steve’s Mac and Cheese

1 – 16 oz package of elbow macaroni

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup Velveeta cheese

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 egg

2 – 1/2 cups of 2 percent milk

Paprika for sprinkling on top

1.  Cook the elbow macaroni as directed.  Cut up butter into small pieces and place in the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking pan.

2.  Drain macaroni.  Place half of the macaroni over butter in baking dish; sprinkle half the Velveeta and shredded cheddar cheese on top of pasta.  Beat egg and milk with a whisk until well blended.  Pour half of egg mixture over ingredients in baking dish.  Repeat layers of Macaroni, cheeses and egg mixture.  Sprinkle with paprika.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven, stir until well blended.  Bake an additional 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes 16 (1/2 cup) servings.

THURSDAY: Chicken Paprikash; I am part Hungarian and this was a staple of my family growing up.  Just don’t tell my Mamama that I do it all in the microwave.

FRIDAY: Picnic at Jazz Band Concert at Early Years Center; probably PBJ, string cheese, fruit and some sort of yummy dessert.

SATURDAY:  Rachel and Steve’s Couples Shower

SUNDAY: Egg Noodle Lasagna

Children’s Day Out started today for us and this is the end of summer officially for me.  I started doing CDO 2 or so years ago, when John suggested I needed a kid-free morning once a week.  I  love his ideas.

This year is a bit different because I switched my “free day” from Fridays to Wednesdays and from just a morning to 9- 3pm.  Now JJ gets out of school at 11:30, so I’m not totally kid-free, but a ton lighter.

Over the years, I’ve realized I need to protect this time and make sure I don’t run around crazy trying to get things done.  Instead, I want it to be life-giving and use it to recharge spiritually, mentally and physically.  You can check out my prior post about my restart day here.

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It was a rainy holiday weekend for us but it actually turned out to be a relaxing, fun time spent indoors.
It included, but was not limited to:
- A successful surprise party for Katy Friday night
- A brunch date with John at First Watch on Saturday morning
- The new Lego Club magazine came with instructions for an airplane and a dragon. Those took lots of time.
- Movies watched…Hansel and Gretal, Three Musketeers and Ira and Abby (should have turned it off after 5 minutes, but didn’t and it just got worse)
- Drank lots of hot water with honey – sinus infection still kickin’
- Made banana bread
- Cleaned up the house like a million times
- John and I went to bed at 10ish every night and slept till about 8ish every morning – totally sweet
- Cleaned out the coat closet
- Read some more of Blue Like Jazz
- Caught a marathon of the 1st episodes of the new PBS series, Dinosaur Train..it has a train AND dinosaurs so it meets the needs of all the boys.
- We recycled crayons and made these.
- I made granola for the first time – and everyone ate over half of it straight away.

This week is all about making what we have and stretching our food budget until the 15th.  Luckily,  I have a few menus that I split from the previous weeks and froze for just such an occasion.

The new recipes I tried from last week were big hits, which were the Beer Brined Chicken and Katy’s Chicken Enchiladas.  So yummy!

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I’ve been dealing with a sinus infection since last Monday. I’ve been getting them a couple times a year since I was pregnant with Henry. So “sinus stuff” is all a bit new to me. I was wise this time around and went to the doctor early before it got worse. Usually, I would tough it out until it got so bad I was rendered incompetent.
Now, I’m on antibiotics and am hopefully on the road to recovery. I still sound like I have been smoking 2 packs a day for the last 33 years.
I am not very good at is canceling life when I get sick, when my kids get sick I can, but not for me. Especially, when I get these sinus infections which aren’t contagious, I just want to get on with life, but I generally feel miserable.
I guess I just hate missing out when I am sick, it seems like such a dumb reason to me to not do something. There have been several big things that I have had to miss because of strep throat, which I am still bitter about.  The first, was the 8th grade end of the year field trip to Six Flags, I had strep throat and had to stay home.  The second was Mike and Catherine Schawackers wedding a couple years ago.  John was a groomsmen and apparently it was one of the best weddings of the year.  When I stayed home from that, I felt like I was in 8th grade again, except I didn’t have my mom to bring me milkshakes or cable to watch TV all day.