10 Days........

Ten more days till the wedding..........  

Let the wedding crafting craze begin!

30 down.....

120 more to go.....

At least my little helper is entertaining herself.........

In other huge news........ Rhiannon Made the Softball Team!!!!!

Integrating

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  I took the dog and baby to the park.  Then I noticed something that made me really sad.  Every time a little kid came up to play with Clara she ran to me and hid her face till they went away.  I need to make her comfortable with people her own size but I don't want to scare her by throwing her into a play group situation.

When and how did you introduce your tot to other children in a group setting?  

Tell me here! 

Corned Beef & Cabbage

I haven't posted in a while and I am going to blame it all on the wedding (19 more days to go!)  However I think I have everything ready as far as wedding stuff.  It is amazing at how much extra time I feel like I have now!!

That being said my blog can go on.........

I adore My Mister with all my heart and I do for many different reasons.  

Here is reason 45386 on why I love that man.

He completely understands that sometimes his girls just need some delicious hot dogs.  And fettuccine. And (the most delicious) Italian beef.  And a cup of catsup (if your name is Clara that is all you like to eat.)  On Sunday, out of the blue, he threw us all in the car and took up to Portillos to have a very fancy and delicious lunch!  After we were good and fed we headed out to the point for some Sunday Funday relaxation with this gorgeous weather we are having around these parts. 

Indiana!

The girls are channeling their inner Titanic.

Trying to take Clara down by the water.........

However she inherited her fathers sense of adventure and preferred the safety of the rocks.

Rhiannon, on the other hand, was more then happy to jump from rock to rock.

Me and My Girlies......

Corned Beef and Cabbage

MMMMMMM Tasty!!!!  I decided to try my hand at making corned beef this year.  I always love eating it but was somehow under the impression that it would be really hard to make.  Wrong!  It is easy as pie.  It took me about three 1/2 hrs so make sure you start early in the afternoon!!!!

• 3 lb beef brisket (mine came with a spice packet.  I don't know if this is normal or if it is just because St. Patrick's day is a week away.) 
• 1 head of cabbage cut however you like it
• 5-6 potatoes quartered  
• 1 bag of carrots cut however you like them
• 2 onions cut however you like them
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 garlic cloves
• beef bouillon

1. Take your meat, spice packet, and bay leaves and put them in a deep pot.  (I used my stock pot)  
2. Crush your garlic (Pictures of how to do that) and throw that in the pot too.  Since you are going to be cooking this all for quite some time I saw no need to mince the garlic.
3. Cover all of this with water and add some bouillon.  I just eyed this.  The beef is already salty so next time I don't think I am even going to add this.
4. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer for a good 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
5. In the meantime, cut up all of your vegetables.  
6. Once your beef is good and tender throw all of your vegetables in the pot and let it cook for about 15-30 minutes more, or until they are tender.

That is it, folks.  You literally throw it in a large pot and boil it for hours.  I have also read that this can be made in the crock pot.  If you prefer doing it that way you should put steps 1 - 3 in the crock and set on high for 3 1/2 hrs.  Then add your vegetables for another 2 - 3 hours.  Easy peasy.

If you do end up making this make sure you sleep in separate rooms!  The Mister fell asleep on the couch tonight and that is exactly where I am leaving him!

How do you celebrate St. Patrick's day?

Unplugged

I'm leaving the Mister and this city for some nice R&R at my Grandma's.  My cell phone does not work there and I will have no internet for the next four days.

To be quite honest......I can not freaking wait!

Until next time Cyber Friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clara is brushing up on her bubble blowing skills......or bubby's as she likes to call them!

Jitter bug

Yesterday was such a sweet day.  Yes it is cliche, but the Mister really does go above and beyond what he should do for us every year on this fake lovers holiday.  

(Please don't tell him that.  We enjoy it.) 

I especially enjoyed when this box came.  

  I have never had a box of flowers show up on my doorstep before.

Now I must say that it is officially 45 days till the wedding and I am really nervous about getting everything done in time.  It's making my eye twitch and giving me heart palpation's.

Why didn't I elope?  More importantly, why didn't I just hire a wedding planner?  (Over 3/4 of the wedding party don't even have outfits yet!)  I think I might have a serious nervous breakdown if things don't start going according to plan soon.

 Breathe in..........Breathe out.............(repeat) 

Day of Lovers

Happy Day of Lovers! 

Clara drew this yesterday and said,  Daddy.  Daddy.  Pretty accurate drawing of Daddy, if I do say so myself.

Funny story about Valentines Day

If you were ever to go to the cemetery where quite a few of my relatives are buried you will find about 5 or 6 (maybe more) headstones that read either "John Valentine" or "Valentine John".  Not exactly sure what the story behind the original name is but I am told that the name was passed down from father to son to grandson etc because we live in a family of jokesters.

Every year, without fail, this is what I think of on valentines day.

John Valentine and Valentine John. 




Now lets get to the food.

Hey ladies & gents, want to show your other that you love him/her?  

Make em this.

Buffalo Chicken Sloppy Joe's

I based this entire recipe off of this one here.  

*  I'm missing a part on my food grinder so I ground up chicken breasts using my food proccessor.  If the chicken is somewhat frozen it will grind easier.

• 2 lbs ground chicken
• 1 carrot grated
• 2 M onions, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire
• 1/2 cup Franks Hot Buffalo sauce * we like spice.  I felt like it needed more.
• 1 c water or chicken stock (I used water)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp corn starch (mixed with 2 tbsp cold water)

1. Put chicken in a deep skillet and cook over MH heat for 5-7 minutes.  Make sure you break up the chicken while it cooks to keep it crumbly.
2. After about 7 minutes add the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, salt and pepper.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the red wine vinegar, Worcestershire, hot sauce, tomato paste and chicken stock/water.  Add to the chicken mixture, coat well and let it cook for 3-4 minutes longer.

At this point the Mister and I felt like it tasted good but didn't have the right "sloppy joe" texture.  This is why I added the cornstarch mixture which fixed that problem instantly.  I served this on hot dog buns, because that was all I had in the house.

This recipe is good but I feel like it could definitely use some tweaking.  

Have you ever made anything like this?  How did yours turn out?


Happy Valentines Day, Loves! 

Homemade Crab Cakes

As this weekend rolled around the baby started to get really crabby.  We took her temp and found she had sprouted a low grade temperature.  We have been LONG OVERDUE for a quiet weekend and used this opportunity to slow down, pull out our cookbooks and spend some quality time together as a family.

We started the weekend off with getting ahead on some homework...

Then the Mister and I did something we haven't had the chance to do in quite some time.  We rolled up our sleeves and made a beautiful and delicious mess in the kitchen together.  

(This recipe comes directly from The Lady & Sons cookbook.)

Delicious Homemade Crab Cakes

Buehrle is silently willing the Mister to drop a piece of crab on the floor.   Drop it!  Drop it!  Drop it!!!  Droooooop iiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but I am a huge fan of crab cakes.  I order them for an appetizer almost every chance I get.  I was surprised to find these homemade versions cost just as much as one appetizer (usually 3-4 cakes) while dining out and was incredibly easy to make.  The recipe says it serves 4-6.  We used them as the main course, while also serving sauteed asparagus and mashed potatoes.  At the end of our dinner we still had leftovers!!

• 1 lb crab meat (We bought lump crab meat and it worked perfectly)
• 1/3 c crushed Ritz crackers
• 3 green onions, finely chopped with tops 
• 1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper (We used yellow)
• 1/4 c Mayo
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• dash of cayenne 
• Flour for dusting
• 1/2 c peanut oil

*This recipe also had ingredients for a tartar sauce, but I thought it was disgusting.  Next time we make these I will find another sauce to dip them in.  I would love suggestions if anyone has a good crab cake dipping recipe!

1. Mix all ingredients together except flour and peanut oil.  Shape into patties and dust with flour.  (When you shape them into patties make sure you squeeze them a little to get rid of some excess moisture.)  This will help them retain their patty shape.  After you make the patties dust them on both sides with flour.
2. Pan fry in peanut oil over medium heat until golden brown.  (4-5 minutes) Flip and cook the other side till golden brown as well.

* After the first one you are either going to need to cut your cooking time or turn your oil down.  We also lined a baking sheet with paper towel and set the oven to 200 degrees to keep the cooked crab cakes warm while we finished cooking the others.

This meal is definitely family approved.

We finished our weekend with Yahtzee.............

(Where Rhiannon promptly kicked our butts twice!)

(This is how Clara plays Yahtzee.....)
















Story time for the babes....

An early Valentines Mani/Pedi for Rhiannon and I!

Our color choices

And with one of the most delicious things ever created.......

How is this beer still the most delicious beer in the whole entire world?  I'm in love!

Happy Monday!!!