Out of Tyler's Mouth

Me: Tyler did you use good manners at Aunt Lori's house?
Tyler: Yep, I used one please and one thank you.

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Me: Tyler, you need to go to bed
Tyler: But you and daddy are not sleeping
Me: Tyler, when you are a daddy you can stay up as late as you want
Tyler: How will I be a daddy?
Me: You will get married and your wife will have babies
Tyler: Where will I get a baby... Oh, I know.. At the baby store. It will be easiest if I just go and buy one.

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Me: Ok, Tyler what are you going to tell Mrs. Rickel when she asks you about your show and tell. (It is a little fish, Mike got Tyler when he was in Mexico last)
Tyler: I am going to tell her that my daddy got this for me when he was in Africa

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Me: So what do you want for your birthday?
Tyler: A honk, a singing telegram, and a Backyardigans t-shirt
Me: What is a honk?
Tyler: You know, so that I can tell people to get out of my way when I am riding my bike
Me: You mean a bicycle horn
Tyler: yeah a honk!

(The singing telegram is from the backyardigans. The only tv show Tyler has any interest in these days)

My lovely quirky kids

(The bench that Tyler is standing on is my newest piece of furniture. I hauled it home from an antique store at such a steal and it is perfect in our mud room that is newly painted olive green. We are looking for a matching piece of wood that we can put hooks on to hang above it.)

Mud

For being such a girly girl, Mia loves mud and dirty. It was a warm day and they had schanged into play clothes after we got home from church so I just let them wallow in the mud until they were so soaked and muddy we practically had to hose them down. It took Mia's 3 days to dry out after this episode. The one outcome that I didn't anticipate is that now they head straight to the mud every time we go outside whereas I had just been thinking it was a one time "get it out of your system spring activity." Bubbles and the sandbox are going to be popular this summer as well.

March 13 - Mike's Birthday

Happy 39, Mike! We celebrated Mike's birthday today. Mia got a cold last night and I got about four hours of sleep. Tyler, who had big expectations about what Mike's special birthday would entail, had me up at 6 am to make french toast for breakfast in bed, decorate (including blowing up a dozen balloons) and get the gifts ready. Mike went with Tyler to soccer today and we had to cancel our dinner plans because Mia was too cranky but we got our date night on Saturday - shopping and sushi (the shopping for me, the sushi for Mike). Tyler picked out a special gift for Mike - a chinese backscratcher (you can find them at world market in case you are wondering). You have to know that Mike loves to get his back scratched so this really was a very meaningful gift for Tyler to think of all by himself.

St. Patrick's Day Crafts

We had another cold rainy day so we made Shamrock collages. After Tyler's complete lack of interest in arts and crafts when he was Mia's age, it is amazing how well she does and how much she enjoys. I guess just another boy/girl difference. We love the dabber dot markers. They are perfect for Mia to use instead of markers and Tyler loves the way he can press them so hard into the paper..

Gooey Caramel Apple Cake with Caramel Topping

My neighbor, Diane, made this for Bunco and I have made it since and it is very good. I will probably experiment with subbing some whole wheat flour for white flour to make it better for the kids. This is a lot like the Tastefully Simple Apple Cake

This apple cake is topped with an easy cooked caramel topping, poured over the hot cake.
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
Caramel Topping, heated

Preparation:In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat together sugar, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the milk, flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring just until blended. Stir in apples.Pour apple cake batter into a greased 9-inch square pan. Bake at 350° until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center, about 30 to 40 minutes. With a fork, pierce cake all over. Pour hot caramel topping over cake. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping.

Caramel Topping
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine brown sugar, butter, and cream in a heavy saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer; continue cooking and stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour caramel topping over hot apple cake.

Sweet and spicy cashew-crusted shrimp

1 cup dry-roasted salted cashews
1/2 cup panko
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 jar (9 ounces) spicy hot chili jelly
1 pound jumbo raw shrimp (26-30 count per pound), peeled, deveined, last portion of tail left intact
1 Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a non-stick baking sheet. Place cashews in food processor; pulse until finely ground. Transfer to a pie plate; stir in the bread crumbs.
2 Put the egg whites and salt into a shallow bowl; beat lightly with a fork until frothy. Microwave 1/4 cup of the jelly in a small dish until melted, about 20 seconds; beat into the egg whites.
3 Pat the shrimp dry; coat the shrimp with the egg white mixture, letting excess drip back into the plate. Dredge the shrimp in the ground cashew mixture to coat nicely on both sides. Put the shrimp onto a lightly greased non-stick baking sheet; repeat with remaining shrimp. Bake until shrimp is pink and coating is golden, 5-6 minutes; cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with chili jelly.

BREAKFAST CHEESECAKE

This is a great recipe for brunch. I actually just pulled it out of my recipe binder to make for a woman's group I am attending this week.

2 pkgs. crescent rolls
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese (softened)
1 c. sugar
1 egg yolk (save egg white)
Place 1 package crescent rolls in lightly greased 9x13 pan. Press into pan. Beat cream cheese, ½ cup sugar and egg yolk and spread over rolls in pan. Place second package of rolls over cheese. Beat egg white and brush on top.
Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Sprinkle on top. Bake 350 degree oven, 30 minutes.

Wind and Pigtails

It was finally warm enough to venture outside to play this week but it was oh so windy as you can see from the last picture of Mia - vertical pigtails. The outfit is a little funky but she is starting to have some strong opinions about she likes to wear. Tyler couldn't care less. I could dress him in anything and he would never say a word - the differences between girls and boys.

Powder Room

We are finally done with one room in the house. Albeit, the smallest room but it's a start. I bought almost everything at Home Goods. It started out with the fancy hand towels and that was the inspiration for the entire room. There is actually some artwork on the other wall that I will try to take a picture of.

Everything Old is New Again

I have a bunch of baby equipment that I am giving to friends or selling temporarily stored in the guest bedroom. Once again, I am blow drying my hair and realized it was just way too quiet. I start doing the room by room search for Mia and found her in the baby swing, just swinging away. Happy as can be. I didn't check the product manual but she is pretty light and it seems like it can hold her so every day she just goes in there, sometimes even with a book and just swings and laughs. At least we are finally getting some use of this swing. If you look closely at the second picture you can see more teeth coming in.

Roasted Cauliflower

Instead of serving fries when we have sandwiches at dinner time, I either serve Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Fries or I roast cauliflower. If you haven't tried roasting vegetables, this is one of my favorite ways to sneak vegetables into the kids' diets.
Roasted Cauliflower
1 bag of frozen cauliflower
olive oil
sea salt
ground pepper
On a foil-lined baking sheet, toss cauliflower with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper to taste. In a 425 degree oven, roast for 25-30 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Try this with asparagus, broccoli, onions, squash and sweet potatoes.

Turkey Cheeseburgers

I am going to start posting some new stuff to the blog and I will label it so you can find it easily. I have been cooking a lot so I am going to share some recipes Mike and the kids enjoy.

Turkey Cheeseburgers
(makes 5-6 burgers)
1 package ground turkey
1 med-size zucchini, grated
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
Whole wheat buns

1. Heat broiler, arranging rack so that the burgers will be 2 inches from the heat.
2. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients. Mix and form into patties.
3. Spray broiler pan with Pam and cook burgers for 6 minutes on each side.
4. Serve on buns with your favorite burger toppings.