Tie-Dye Cookies

We made tie-dye cookies yesterday and they were a real hit. You can find the recipe here where they are called play-dough cookies, but I like the name tie-dye cookies a whole lot more. These were really simple to make and I didn't even have a freak-out mommy moment when we made them. The dough is really easy to work with and not sticky at all so the kids were able to make the balls, then roll them into snakes, then coil them into snails with little assistance.

**edited to add: Thanks Jennie for the heads up. The link to the cookie recipe has been changed!

Lent 2009-- Doing More

Wednesday marked the beginning of the Lenten Season-- the 40 days that helps us prepare for Easter, our Salvation. It is a time for prayer, self-reflection, sacrifice and giving. Now, I'm not the most religious person in the world by far, and I'm not even a very good Catholic. This year, however, I'm trying to make more of an effort this Lenten Season to grow as a Catholic and as a person. I didn't grow up Catholic so "giving something up" for lent feels awkward for me. I don't really see how giving up chocolate is going to make me a better person, in fact, it's only going to make life worse for those around me and it will make me miserable. Yeah, yeah I understand that it's all about sacrifice, but wouldn't doing more during Lent help me grow more as a person? I think so. That's why this Lent I'm attempting to do three things that will hopefully help me grow as a human-being, help others and help the world.

1) Each week during Lent I will volunteer my services to an organization. Our church provides sign-up lists for opportunities to serve. Usually these are for working at the local shelter providing meals, building a Habitat for Humanity home, working at the St. Vincent De Paul, and the like. This week, I'm volunteering to help with the blood drive that is being held at my church.

2) Participating in Catholic Relief Services' Operation Rice Bowl that helps raise money to help fight global-poverty. CRS provides a calendar of events for each day of lent that helps raise awareness of poverty around the world. The calendar provides prayers, Bible study, opportunities to give, and introduces you to people from all over the globe who have benefited from Operation Rice Bowl along with fasting recipes from those countries.

3) The church bulletin is giving ideas for a "Low-Carbon Lent" in which they provide one "green" idea a day to help reduce our carbon footprint. This weeks ideas are:
• Ash Wednesday – Remove one light bulb (without inviting danger) and live without it for the next 40 days.
• Thursday – Check your door for drafts with a ribbon or feathers. If it flutters, buy (or make!) a draft stopper.
• Friday – Tread lightly – whether that’s by foot, by bike, on to a bus or the gas as you drive. Find a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions when you travel today.
• Saturday – Are you recycling everything possible? Really –everything? Look into it today. Visit earth911.org to get started.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. Hopefully, this Lenten season will be a time for change for me.

Oh, and because Catholics are asked to abstain from eating meat and fasting on Fridays during lent, I thought I'd add some links to some of our favorite vegetarian meals:

• Curried Potato and Vegetable Soup: Seriously, this is an awesome soup. I serve it with rice. The first time I made this soup Dennis said, "I love this soup. It reminds me of Nepal." Hey, if my cooking can help bring back memories, then it must be good!
• Red Kidney Bean Curry: Seriously easy, seriously tasty!
• Lentil-Tomato Soup: An old stand-by at our house. Great for cold, wet days!

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

I made this recipe for company the other night. I have no idea if it is authentic or not, but it certainly is delicious and the leftovers are even better. It's super easy too. There are a lot of ingredients and it takes a little planning ahead and all day (but only because you're soaking beans), but hands-on time is about 10 minutes so in my mind this is a "simple supper". Serve it with a salad and dinner is served.
This recipe calls for epazote, which I had never heard of before. It is an herb traditionally used in Mexican cooking. I borrowed some from my Mexican neighbor who said that it can be hard to find (especially fresh), but you can get epazote at Penzeys and Mexican markets. She also said that with such a small amount it would be ok to omit without making too much of a difference in the taste.

Cuban Black Beans and Rice from Penzey's One Volume 3, Issue 5, 2009
Ingredients
1 pound dried black beans (about 2 cups)
12 cups water, divided
2/3 cup olive oil
1 cup red wine
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped (I used 1/2 green and 1/2 red)
4 cloves garlic, minded
1 whole bay leaf
1 T. dried Mexican Oregano
1 T. epazote
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. black pepper
1 T. salt
2 T. sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar
3-4 cups cooked rice
lime (optional)
cilantro (optional)
avocado (optional)
corn tortillas (optional)

Directions
1. Rinse the beans well, discarding any debris or floaters. Put the beans and half of the water (6 cups) in a large stockpot and soak for at least 5 hours or overnight. Just before cooking, drain and rinse the beans. Place in a pot with the remaining water (6 cups).

2. Add the olive oil, wine, onion, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaf, oregano, epazote, cumin, pepper, salt and sugar to the pot. Place the pot on the stove over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered, for 45 minutes or until the beans are soft. Add the red wine vinegar and simmer, uncovered , to thicken the beans until ready to serve, about 15 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Optional: mash some of the beans against the side of the pot with a spoon.

3. Serve with rice, lime, cilantro and corn tortillas.

Valentine's Day Stuff

We've been busy doing Valentine's stuff from around blogland. Here are some links of what we've been up too.

• Making heart shaped lollipops from leftover candy canes at Skip to My Lou
• Making Flower Valentines at Skip to My Lou
• Making Butterfly Valentines also at Skip to My Lou (Eli has two parties!)
• Making Snail Valentines at Zakka Life
• Growing heart shaped crystals from Mom In Madison
• Valentine color container painting at Scrumdilly-Do
• Making purple kool-aid playdough with red glitter (This is the playdough recipe I have used since I started teaching, minus the kool-aid with food coloring added to the water. I cook it in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so until it is no longer wet and forms a ball. Add the glitter when it has finished cooking.)

MIA, Hotdishes and Orange Cranberry Muffins

It seems that posts are slowing down a lot around here. I've discovered that the less I post the better I'm feeling about life. Not that posting makes me feel bad about life, but just the opposite. It seems that the less satisfied I'm feeling about life, being a stay-at-home-mom and thinking I should get a paying job, feeling bored, feeling down about all the things I should be doing and aren't, I tend to post more to help me feel better about myself, like I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm doing a good job at being a mom, a wife, a person who cares about the Earth and humanity. So I post more so I can see what I accomplish during the day in black and white. When I'm feeling great about life, I still do the exact same things that I always do, I just don't feel the need to post them. So, the bottom line is when you don't hear from me for a while, know that life is grand and that I feel at peace with my situation. Maybe this is also very selfish as it seems by what I've just written that this blog is more for me than you!

I think I'm going to be posting more recipes this year, which means less pictures, because I am not a food stylist and all of the pictures I take of food just make the food look unappetizing, which it isn't because if it was I wouldn't be posting about it here. Anyways, I have dubbed this year "the Year of the Casserole" as I am trying to find really easy, make ahead meals. So, not everything will be a casserole but it will be fast, or make ahead or a one-pot meal. I have checked out lots of books on the subject of casseroles--"hotdishes" as those who grew up in the north land call them, and I plan to make a lot of them, though I don't plan on using a single can of soup. I'll be posting lots of recipes or sending out to favorite food blogs for super-fast suppers.
Here's a couple to get you started:
Chicken and Rice Casserole This is a delicious, relatively quick recipe to put together. You can make it ahead of time, it doesn't call for any "exotic ingredients" and my kids ate it. Bonus!

Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew This recipe is absolutely delicious. It was way better than I anticipated. Though the ingredient list is long, this came together fast in ONE pot (plus the couscous pot, which doesn't count). It's a vegetarian meal, which we're trying to eat more of. The kids would not touch this. Rats!

And now the Orange Cranberry Muffins, as promised... I love these muffins and would eat them everyday if I wasn't so lazy to make them. Not that they're hard, I'm just lazy.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

2 cups flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
zest from one orange
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups and edges.

2) Stir together: flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baling soda and salt. In another bowl mix together: buttermilk, oil, egg, vanilla, and orange zest. Add wet to dry. Stir until just combined. Add cranberries and nuts.

3) Spoon batter into cups. Bake 15-20 minutes.

4) Cool 5 minutes in pan before removing from pan.

The Best Kiss Cookie Recipe

I know that everyone knows the original Kiss cookie recipe. (I have the same recipe at home from Dennis' mom, the year says 1961...) It's a holiday classic and a favorite at our house. However, every time I made this recipe, I thought a) that they are way too sweet and b) that there isn't enough peanut butter. Last winter, I discovered the following recipe over at Penzeys. It's just about perfect; the right amount of sweetness and peanut butter and they're super soft and chewy.

Peanut Butter Blossoms adapted from Penzeys
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 TB. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 bag kisses
extra granulated white sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix together room temperature butter and peanut butter. When blended add white and brown sugar, mix again, then add egg, milk, and vanilla; mix again. Gently stir in flour mixed with baking soda and salt. Chill the dough for one hour or over night. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, roll in granulated white sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake about 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Place a Kiss in the center of the cookies right away, pressing gently. The cookies will crack, that's fine. Remove from pan, let cool.

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

The weather has been a bit nippy here in Columbus and nothing is better than soup to warm up my insides. This soup is a favorite around here and graces our table frequently. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup adapted from Cooking Light August 2004
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
2 stalks lemon-grass, peeled**
1/2 onion, sliced
1 carrot grated
2 cups water
4 cups chicken broth
1 large chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
4 ounces uncooked pasta (angel hair, ditalini, orzo, little stars, chuck soba, etc.)
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
2 green onions, thinly sliced

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add water and broth; bring to a boil. Add carrots, chicken, pasta and mushrooms; cook 5 minutes or until chicken and pasta is done. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Discard lemongrass. Serve the cilantro thru green onions on the side and add them to the soup right before serving. Makes 8 (1 cup) servings.

**I've never actually made this using lemongrass stalks. Instead I use Gourmet Garden Lemon Grass found in a squeeze tube in the produce section of most well-stocked grocery stores. I squeeze in a good 2 Tbsp.

No Such Thing As Too Much Turkey: Cuban Picadillo

I love (almost) one pot meals. Meals where the meat and vegetables marry into a superb tasting supper without a lot of fuss, time or major clean-up. That's why stir-frys, casseroles, jambalaya and soup are consumed frequently in our house. This recipe for Cuban Picadillo is easy and super-tasty. I can make the whole meal during nap and it can simmer it's little heart out until it's time to sup.

Cuban Picadillo
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 1/2 cups sliced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup green olives (about 15)
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 bay leaves
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 8oz. can tomato sauce

1) Brown turkey with a little bit of oil in a dutch oven. Drain and set aside.

2) Saute' garlic and onion until soft 3-4 minutes. Add peppers and carrots cook 3-4 more minutes. Return turkey to pan. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a slight boil, reduce heat and simmer at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with rice.

Fall Activity #15: Making Applesauce

We had some apples left from our apple picking, but they were getting a little wrinkly and soft so we made applesauce with them. Eli helped cut the apples and Sadie put my cut apples into the pot. They also helped measure out the spices. I deviated from our usual applesauce recipe and we were all a little disappointed. It sounds good on paper, but is much too rich to eat plain, though I thought it would be really good on icecream. Eli wouldn't eat any, but Sadie ate two bowls full.

Chunky Chai Applesauce from Cooking Light (November 2008)
Ingredients
1/2 cup apple cider
2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
Dash of ground cloves
Dash of freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
1. Combine cider and apples in a large saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in sugar and remaining ingredients; simmer 12 minutes, stirring occasionally until mixture is thick. Cover and chill.

Fall Activity #12: Popcorn Cake

Before I post the activity for the day, I have so say that today is Sadie's birthday. #2 is two today. Sadie is a such a sweet little girl. No one enjoys life as much as she does. She warms my heart with her beautiful smile, great sense of humor, and independent spirit. Every day is a joy! I'll post more about her birthday party later, when I don't have "fall activities" to post about!

My mom used to make popcorn cake in the fall when I was growing up. I had kind of forgotten about it until I had a craving for popcorn balls which is basically made out of the same ingredients only is much more time consuming because you actually have to make balls instead of just dumping the ingredients into a bundt cake pan. This recipe is very satisfying. It's sweet and salty and gooey. The perfect treat.

Popcorn Cake

1/4 cup vegetable oil 12 cups popped popcorn (plain, unsalted and unbuttered), about 1 cup unpopped kernels
2 cups M & M candies
1 cup lightly salted peanuts
1 stick unsalted butter
1 pound marshmallows

Directions
1. Grease a large tube or bundt cake pan with butter and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix the popped corn with the M & M candies and the peanuts.

3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, 1/4 cup of oil, and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally or just put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes. When melted, pour over the popcorn mixture, and stir to combine.

4. Pour into the prepared cake pan, pressing down to fit. Cover with aluminum foil to keep moist and let rest until firm, at least one hour.

5. To serve, invert the cake pan onto a large cake plate or platter. Shake gently to release. Serve at room temperature.

Fall Activity #9: Ghost Cookies

My kids dig cookies like every American kid should. And these cookies are pretty darn good. While the kids did help make these cookies, I must admit that it drives me crazy and my patience is normally gone about 10 minutes into the process. If I was smart, I would do most of the work myself and have them do the decorating. Instead, I let them help me: make the dough, roll out the dough, press the cookies and decorate them. This usually means that flour gets all over the floor, something gets spilled, egg shells fall into the batter, they fight over the cookie cutters, and I end up thinking that I will never ever make cookies with my children again. **sigh** Then they end up loving it so much that they run to their dad the moment he gets home from work and say, "We made cookies shaped liked ghosts. Do you want one?" Well, how could I not make cookies with them again? Next time, they can just decorate them.

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies from Allrecipes.com
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Fall Activity #5: Apple Picking and Apple Pie

This time of year the apples are perfect for picking and the kids love to get in on the action. We pick at a local orchard called Lynd's that has a variety of apples to pick during September and October as well as pumpkins and pears. We went when we could pick Melrose and Suncrisp. The Suncrisp apples are yellow and tart and are perfect for eating and making pies. The kids did not help me make the pie, but they did help me eat it. Apple Pie with Crumb Crust
For single pie crust crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/8 tsp. salt
4-5 Tbsp. cold water

Roll out and put in a 9" pie plate.

For Filling:
6-8 tart apples (6 cups), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Combine and spoon on top of the pie dough.

For Crumb Crust:
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
6 Tbsp. chilled butter

Combine until resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the apple filling. Bake in a 350 degree oven on a rimmed cookie sheet for 50 minutes to an hour or until the top is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Muffin Tin Monday

Mommies all over blogland have been doing Muffin Tin Monday for forever. OK, maybe only since June, but in blog time that's forever. Well, yours truly finally hopped on the bandwagon last week and provided this meal for lunch on Monday, of course:
The meal included: Bug Bite cookies, parmesan cheese, tomatoes, black olives, grapes, letter-shaped pasta, mixed veggies, ranch dip, blueberries, marinara sauce, broccoli and cauliflower, and goldfish crackers.
Eli and Sadie thought that this was the coolest thing ever. They loved the choices. They loved that they could eat their cookies first. They loved that they could eat their entire meal with their fingers. They loved that their food was compartmentalized. I loved that they ate almost every single bite (except for the veggies for Eli as he won't go near those with a 10-foot pole).

Yesterdays meal was a little less healthy but we were finishing off leftovers from the party: yogurt, blueberries, pasta salad, tomatoes, corn, watermelon, hotdogs, black olives, potato chips, grapes, ketchup, and carrots.

Check out these blogs for more muffin tin inspiration: Sycamore Stirrings, Little White Schoolhouse, Mama Said..., Make and Takes, Muses of Megret.

Edible Magic Wands

It all started when we went camping and Eli wanted to hear a story. I told him Cinderella and got really dramatic with the magic wand "bibbity, bobbity, boo" part. Here is my version of the Fairy Godmother's Magic Wand.

Ingredients:
* pretzel rods
* colored candy melts (found in the baker's aisle at the craft store)
* sprinkles

1. Melt the candy melts according to instructions on the package.2. Pour the melted candy into one side of a shallow pan. Make sure the pan is long enough to lay the pretzel down flat without covering the entire pretzel with the cany coating.

3. Roll 3/4 of the pretzel in the candy, coating it well.

4. While candy coating is still wet, add the sprinkles.

5. Lay the completed magic wands on a cookie sheet covered with waxed paper. Place them into the refrigerator to harden.

6. Think long and hard about the magic spell you're about to cast.

6. Enjoy!

30 Minute Mozzarella

I did it! After several failed attempts and several gallons of milk, I finally made the 30 Minute Mozzarella that I've been dying to make. I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. In the book, Kingsolver describes how she and her family spent a year eating only the food that they had grown/killed themselves or that they could buy locally with the exception of coffee, chocolate, and nuts (because they're not totally crazy!). In order to have cheese around, they had to make their own. The cheese-making process sounded so pleasing and so simple that it was there and then that my obsession to make my own cheese started. I ordered the kit and bought the milk only to discover that the organic milk that I had purchased was ultra-pasteurized, which is not good for making cheese. That batch had to be trashed as it never solidified properly. Then I bought this milk, a local milk that has not been ultra-pasteurized and has the cream on the top, and it all worked out much better. I'd recommend following the recipe on the website instead of the recipe that comes with kit as there are slight variations and after emailing the help-line found that those slight variations are actually huge variations when making cheese.
The process was very easy and very satisfying. It came together so easy and it really did only take 30 minutes. We kept some plain and to some we added olive oil, garlic and herbs. It was delicious. We ate a pound of cheese in about 30 minutes! I'll be making it again soon, as the kit makes 30 batches of cheese.
By the way, I just heard Barbara Kingsolver on Speaking of Faith, the American Public Media radio show, discussing the ethics of eating. You can download the podcast or listen to it here.

Strawberries Part II

This recipe is not quite as healthy as the last, but is equally delicious. Give it a try, I promise that you will not be sorry.

Strawberry/Rhubarb Crisp
From Diana Parton, my next door neighbor growing up who made this every summer

• 2 cups diced rhubarb
• 2 cups diced strawberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup flour

1. Pre-heat over to 375 degrees.

2. Combine the first four ingredients (rhubarb through flour). Dump into a small 8 x 8 baking dish.

3. Combine brown sugar through flour. Sprinkle over strawberry/rhubarb mixture.

4. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve warm with ice-cream.

Strawberries Part I

We've got strawberries coming out of our ears in Columbus, Ohio. We've been eating them by the pint-full. We got a heaping basket in our CSA this morning so I decided to make something special with them instead of just clean them and pop them into my mouth. Which is, in my opinion, the best way to eat them. I made a strawberry vinaigrette and put it on this very tasty salad of lettuce (also from our CSA), blue-cheese, toasted pinenuts and fresh strawberry slices, but would be equally good over a spinach salad with fresh stawberries, goat cheese and roasted pecans.

Fresh Strawberry Vinaigrette
adapted from the May/June 2008 edition of World Ark

• 1 cup fresh stawberries, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar (I just used the dark stuff, so it wasn't as pretty!)
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

Place strawberries and honey into a blender and pulse until pureed. Add vinegar, salt and pepper, combine. Add olive oil through the lid in a small stream. Blend until combined.

Monster Cookies

I'm sitting here eating one of these Monster Cookies wondering why in the world I just made a huge batch of cookies. I need cookies like I need a hole in my head. I just made rice-krispie bars yesterday and those are almost gone because every time I walked by them, I took just a little tiny piece. Well, you walk by them enough and that little tiny piece adds up to a WHOLE PAN. Anyways, these are some tasty little cookies: oatmeal, peanut butter and M&M's. Yummers. Why are they called Monster Cookies? I think it's because they are supposed to be gargantuan, but I just made regular sized cookies so I could eat more.

Monster Cookies
from Lorraine LeBlanc in Watt's Cooking (My dad used to work at a power company.)

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter (I used the natural kind)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
4 1/2 cups oatmeal (I used instant and old-fashioned, otherwise I wouldn't have had enough)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup M&M's

Cream shortening (butter) and sugars. Add peanut butter. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add oatmeal, baking soda, chocolate chips and M&M's. Drop by 1/3 cup (yowzers that's a lot, I just used my little cookie scoop) on un-greased cookie sheet; flatten slightly with a spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes (that's how long mine took, so I'm assuming a little longer for the gigantor ones). Makes 20 five-inch cookies (or 3 dozen normal sized ones).

Casserole Patrol

I have the best mom's group in the whole entire world. You can tell me all you want about all the wonderful things about your mom's group, but I promise you, they just won't compare to MY mom's group. (Side note: Funny how we call it "mom's group" when it's supposed to be about the kids.) One of the really really great things about my mom's group is that when you have a baby, people will bring you over meals. Lots of meals. Lots of delicious meals, that will sustain you and your family for several days kind of meals. They deliver it to your home for free and they don't even care if you haven't showered for days and are still wearing your pajamas. They're just that kind of people. You know, the kind of people you fall in love with who calm you when your horomones are all over the place and offer advice for free when your kids are doing whatever weird things your kid happens to be doing and make you smile when you've had a really crappy day and take care of your kids when you're puking your brains out and your husband has a test kind of people. Did I mention that I love them? Well, I do. And one of these wonderful ladies just had a baby 3 weeks ago and today was my day to deliver a meal to her and her family. What did I make? Only the best casserole I know how to make:Baked Pasta with Tomatoes, Sausage and Cheese
adapted from Cooking Light

1 pound package uncooked ziti
1 pound hot Italian sausage
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 Tbsp. Tomato paste
1 Tbsp. dried basil
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Cook pasta according to package directions.

3) Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onion and garlic until browned over medium heat. Add tomato paste, salt and pepper, dried basil and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

4) Combine pasta and tomato mixture. Place half of the mixture in a 4 qt. Casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with half of each cheese. Repeat layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until bubbly. (If giving this for casserole patrol, don't bake it. Instead, cover and put it in your fridge until delivery. Have them bake it at 350 degrees for 20 covered and 15 minutes uncovered.)

P.S. The really great thing about this casserole is that it makes A LOT so I normally halve the recipe for my family. When I'm making it for casserole patrol, I make the full recipe and put it in two casserole dishes so I have one for giving and another for keeping. So, really, it's no extra work. I deliver the casserole with a bag of lettuce, a loaf of bread and a pint of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra. Don't you want to have a baby just so I can bring you over dinner?

Two Posts Today, Mother's Day and Lemonade

Yeah, I failed. No post yesterday. I didn't get to it at nap time and Dennis had lots of school work to do last night. (Priorities, I know...) So, I finished up a baby gift and went to bed early to read.

Let me tell you about Mother's Day. First of all, my very sweet husband and children bought me a plane ticket to spend three whole days with my BFF out in the Bay Area without them, not to mention flowers, homemade cards, and a green living book!! Oh, this is so exciting, I so need a little get-away. It's in July, so I have some time to plan what we're going to do. I think sleeping in, sipping wine and lots of girl talk are in order.

Secondly, Dennis and I spent most of the day in the ER with Eli as he was up most of the night before with a peeing problem. As in, having to go every 3 minutes and nothing coming out problem. So, after two trips to the ER (really long story about insurance and faulty lab work...) it turns out that he is really constipated, which was totally off my radar because he poops everyday. But, apparently, this is very common in little boys (that they poop, but don't get it all out) and the poop causes spasms in the bladder which is why he thinks he has to pee instead of poop. Anyways, he's cleansed his bowels and is now good to go!! I know, TMI. I'm just so glad we had to go to TWO emergency rooms to find out. Argh!

The Sadester and I made homemade lemonade yesterday. Here she is helping me juice the lemons:Isn't that juicer to die for? I got it for a birthday gift from the above mentioned BFF along with a box full of Meyer lemons from her lemon tree. She got the juicer here.

Freshly Squeezed Lemonade:

• 1 cup sugar + 1 cup water
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4-5 lemons)
• 3-4 cups cold water

1) Make a simple syrup by heating water and sugar together until sugar is dissolved.

2) Meanwhile, juice lemons.

3) Combine syrup, lemon juice and cold water. Refrigerate.