rain, rain, go away

Another rainy day..
I spent the day cleaning a little, knitting, playing with the boys and making a scrumptious dinner.
I finished Liams candy corn hat... a day late... but it was a busy weekend.. and i made up for it by starting.. and almost finishing another hat tonight :)

He was conveniently wearing his halloween pjs today too :)

For dinner, I had planned to make chicken & dumpling soup... but decided i wasn't in the mood for it last minute and decided to make eggplant & chicken parm instead.  It was a good last minute decision.
I ate eggplant, made the chicken for Aaron.. and gave the boys both to try. 

I breaded both in a mixture of breadcrumbs, flour, freshly grated parm, italian seasoning, salt & pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and an egg. First dipping it in the mixture, then in the beaten egg, back in the breadcrumb mixture again.. then fried in a little olive oil on the stove.  Both turned out great :) 

food. shop. more food

Aaron was away on a backpacking trip this weekend..so when doing my weekly grocery planning/shopping...I planned two dinners for the weekend that I knew Aaron wasn't really a fan of but the boys and I enjoyed. ( 1. Tuna noodle casserole 2. Halupki...)
Tuna noodle casserole, I agree just does not sound good...at all.... but i grew up eating it and always liked it.  The boys have had it once or twice at my parents house and really liked it... So i thought it would be something easy for me to pop in the oven. Halupki is something else i grew up eating... and LOVE it.  I think that Aaron would actually like it but he just cant get past the cabbage.
so....Friday night... I had to give in and get chinese.  I LOOOOOVE chinese food.. and hardly ever get to eat it.  It did not disappoint :)
Saturday was spent all day shopping the annual ( is it annual?) sidewalk sales... Which was a blast and the boys behaved so well.. for having to shop around with a bunch of girls all day. Once we finally got home I was so happy that I had planned an easy meal.  The tuna noodle casserole (organic style) was really yummy.. and even better fast and easy.. which was great because we were all pooped.

There was really no recipe with this.. i basically just mixed together cooked/drained whole wheat fusili pasta, cream of mushroom soup, shredded cheddar cheese, one can of tuna, cooked frozen peas, milk, sour cream, and a shake of salt and pepper. - All organic of course :)

Aaron busted butt and finished his hike early.. so he surprised us by coming home today... I decided to hold the halupki off until later this week considering he would probably be pretty hungry from the weekend and i should make something he liked so..I made up some turkey burgers and homemade oven fries for dinner instead.

yumm... love turkey burgers.
I usually make mine up about the same every time...I never measure anything so this is a guess-timate recipe.
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2  - 3/4 cup chopped fresh baby spinach
2 garlic cloves chopped
3/4 cup rolled oats
pinch of salt and pepper
a few splashes of wishishere sauce
-usually i like them grilled but its pouring outside today so the pan had to do ..
Wayyyy better than regular burgers :)

two down..

Another hat finished!
I always like knitting fun little hats for the seasons/holidays.  Last year for halloween/fall i made pumpkin hats for the boys.. this year they are going to be rockin' candy corns :)
I finished up Nolan's tonight and it turned out super cute.

Looks like i finished it just in time for him to use on his camping trip with dada tonight in the sunroom :) 

not so wordless wednesday.

 It really looks like I'm a total slacker.. but really on top of not feeling the greatest.. it has just been a crazy week.
So instead of a wordless wednesday... Here's a nice long post with lots of pics :)

Over the weekend I took the boys to a little fall festival/farmers market in georgetown.  Nothing huge but definitely a nice little adventure for a lazy sunday afternoon.  Both boys enjoyed it and Nolan absolutely LOVED his first face painting experience.  He was very patient and still while the little pumpkin was being painted on his face.  Then had the BIGGEST smile when we was allowed to look in the mirror.  SO cute!   The whole way home i caught him trying to catch a peek in the rear view mirror of his little pumpkin and getting the biggest smile on his face...and of course that put an even bigger smile on my face.  Love him :)

On monday I set myself a goal that wanted to have a new hat finished by the weekend..I finished the hat yesterday and set a new goal to have two more finished by Sunday.  The rainy, pj days at home helped me reach my goal a little faster.. but the cranky, cabin fever-suffering brothers were not so helpful.. but hey, i still got it done.
Here's my upside-down daisy hat:

I love the way it turned out.  I have been dieing to make this hat since i found the pattern in Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Hats book.  Now that i will be attending a few showers for friends expecting sweet little girls.. it gave me an excuse to make one!

Some yummy food was also made this week...
I had some pears that i need to do something with so yesterday I made a pear loaf in my trusty bread machine.

This turned out to be a great sweet bread.  The taste almost reminded me of a mild pineapple flavor.  It was enjoyed by both boys toasted along side their scrambled eggs this morning :)
Another awesome creation from the bread machine was our dinner last night.  Chicken sausage, spinach and ricotta calzones. These were pretty amazing!

This picture really just does not do them justice.  They were REALLY good.  I made the dough in my bread machine... a slightly altered version of the pizza dough recipe and then made a filling of garlic, onions, chicken sausage, spinach, and ricotta with a little bit of provolone and freshly grated parm thrown into the mix.  These will definitely be added to the recipe circulation.  I kind of just threw these together but next time I will measure everything out so I can share the exact recipe.... considering 4 pretty big calzones were gobbled up in a matter of minutes.. i think they were a hit!

by popular demand...

here is the recipe for wordless wednesday's cinnamon raisin swirl bread :)

Another recipe found in my Better Home and Gardens Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes cookbook.

For a 2 lb-
1 cup milk
2 egg
1/4 cup butter, cut up
4 cups bread flour
1/34 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (i skipped this ingredient so that Liam could enjoy it too)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, softened
- the recipe does not call for it but I added in raisins with the first 7 ingredients so that they were mixed into the dough.

- add the first 7 ingredients to the machine according to the manufacturer's directions.  Select dough cycle.  When cycle is complete, remove dough. Punch down. Cover and let rest for 10 min.
Meanwhile for filling, in a small bowl stir together the walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
Grease two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans; set aside.  On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 14x9 inch rectangle.  Spread with half the softened margarine and sprinkle with half the filling.  Starting from both short sides, roll up each side into a spiral toward the center.  Place, rolled side up, in the prepared loaf pan.  Repeat steps to make second loaf.  Cover and let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes or until nearly double.
Bake in a 350 degree oven about 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. If necessary, cover loosely with foil the last 10 minutes to prevent over browning.  Remove from pan; cool on wire rack. 

SOOO yummy!!  What is better than homemade bread?!  We like to eat or slices toasted with a little butter :)

P.S.- if you haven't noticed yet... I am not one of those people who received a bread machine as a random wedding present and let it collect dust in the closet.  I actually rescued mine from collecting dust in someone else's closet :).  I LOVE my bread machine and use it at least once a week.  It makes creating the yummiest things.. so easy!  If you don't have one.. I'm telling you.. get one!  Its a great investment!

welcome fall.

Yesterday the boys and I celebrated the first official day of autumn with sushi, pumpkins and pesto.
I made the boys a fun little "sushi" lunch.  I found the idea in one of those big BJ's flyers that are sent out every season.  This one was back to school... so it had different lunch ideas..i cut a couple out that were cute and added them to my recipe box so I would remember to try them out.  I think the "sushi" was a hit.. considering Nolan scarfed most of his down before I had the chance to turn around and ask him if he liked it.

Mine was not quite as pretty as the picture... and I also think a set of chopsticks would have totally added to it(note to self- pick up a couple pair of extra chopsticks next time I go out for sushi). The recipe called for pumpernickel bread which gave it great coloring in the pic... i used whole wheat... but all you do is make a "sushi" roll with the bread, turkey, avocado and cream cheese.  Just a little something different to make a fun lunch.

After lunch, I told Nolan that if he took a good nap, he could wake up and paint his little pumpkin he got at the grocery store on Monday.  As soon as he woke up he ran down the stairs yelling "took a good rest mom..ready to paint".  This was our first painting experience.. but it actually went really well and he was really good and careful with everything.  His pumpkin is definitely a work of art!

                                      

For dinner, I made one of my favorite vegetarian meals.  Pea & Pesto Pasta. 

                                     

Such an easy dinner.  Just make up the pesto, cook pasta adding frozen peas in with the boiling pasta for the last few minutes, draining then mixing it all together.  Top with fresh grated parm.... yummmm!! So good!!

I love this pesto recipe and almost always use it.  I cant remember where I originally found it.. but I have changed a few things so I guess I can call it my own :)

Add the following ingredients to food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach

3/4 cup fresh basil

1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts ( i usually add these in after i scoop out a little for Liam)

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

3 cloves garlic ( you can always add more or less.. i usually like around 3)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

finally some crafts..

A few months ago I came up with the brilliant idea that I am going to make as many Christmas presents as possible this year.  I had a great crafty start... but I have definitely been slacking over the past few weeks... I really need to get back on the ball.. because we all know.. "it will be here before we know it". Of course I can't post many pics on here because I like surprises (when I can actually keep them)... but I do have a few projects I made and decided against. 
At first I was planning on making a few people a set of knitted dish clothes.. along with some baked goods.  After making a few dish clothes I came across a pattern for something completely different that I love..  and now I am going to attempt that instead.
So here are a couple of my little knitted dish clothes.. I think they turned out pretty cute...I may still use them as a little gift for someone.. we'll see!