Pizza and Giggles

I finally figured out how to make a homemade pizza without soggyish crust! It was so good!

Here's how you do it...

First we start with our dough....

1 cup warm water

1 pkg yeast

1T. sugar

3 eggs, beaten

Add:

1/2 cup soft butter

1/2 cup sugar

5 cups flour

Place in large covered container and refrigerate overnight (I always skip this step.).

Put cornmeal on your baking stone or whatever you are using to bake your pizza on.

Divide the dough in half and roll to the size of your pan.

Bake at 350* for about 20 minutes.

Take the crust out and sauce it.

Put whatever toppings you want.

I use pepperoni, jalapeno and browned beef.

Cheese it and bake it.

I think it took about another 20ish minutes.

Eat it and enjoy it!

Roll the rest of your dough on a little flour.

**Next is supposed to be a pic of the brown sugar and cinnamon on the dough,

don't know where it went.**

Roll it up and cut them into about 2-3 inch sections.

Put your cinnies in a greased pan and let them rise.

Bake them at 350* for 12-15 minutes.

MMM...James ate the whole pan...without frosting!

This dough recipe is good for crescent rolls and pizza rolls as well.

James and Ian playing while I make supper.

Ian giggled while they slapped the chair.

"If Daddy can do it so can I!"

"Isn't this so fun?!?!"

Proud Papa...enjoying happy kiddo!!

Whew! I'm exhausted!

Ian is taking a nap, I have a few seconds...blog I shall!

Very busy few weeks...

I did a gall bladder flush. Sorry to disappoint, but I have no pics of that!

I weeded this 8x4 area for an herb bed...by hand!

James put down the retaining wall. I couldn't get the dirt level so I "let" him do it!

 We still don't have dirt.

I made some garden picks to label my seeds and plants in my garden.

Don't have a finished picture yet..they are cute though!

I'll try to get a picture up when I get my other projects done.

Ian was loving being in the garage with me. He just LOVES being outside in general!

 Chicken Florentine...Delish!

Chicken Florentine Recipe

 Packed and ready for Grandma's house!

Ian went to Grandma's because....

I took a motorcycle safety course that focused on familiarizing yourself with a motorcycle.

I only crashed once before passing the class...SUCCESS!!

Not the greatest picture of Ian..but "His Royal Cuteness" still shines!

"MOM!! Are you looking at me!?!"

He walked the whole edge of the couch!

**Gasp! There is stuff on the floor!**

I'm a grown-up now with a Sam's Club membership.

Guess what they give you for your $40 donation???

**That hamburger on the front is Yummo! It involves marinated fresh basil and mozzarella cheese.**

Last picture...Ian likes grass! He was afraid at first but now enjoys it.

**Look at them lil toes!**

Umm...not what we were expecting!

 Ian helping himself to his Easter Basket.

It wasn't a super exciting basket, just juice, peach yogurt bites, biter biscuits,

sippy cup, and a banana masher thingee.

 "See mom! I'm ready for a sippy cup!"

 Trying out his banana masher with an orange...didn't have banana's.

Apparently, not a huge fan of oranges yet.

My new recipe this week sounded delicious...I was so excited to try it! I watched Rachael Ray make it one morning and it sounded like something we would like. Doesn't Pasta Ribbons with Peas, Prosciutto, Cream and Spring Pesto sound amazing? It wasn't. Maybe our palette just isn't sophisticated enough...but yikes! I thought it tasted more like mint and citrus gum mixed with noodles.

 It looks yummy....

 What we really had for supper...frozen pizza...and it was AWESOME!

In other news...Ian is crawling. I try to get pics of him as he goes but he's very stubborn (much like Daddy). So this is what I got of him today...he was crawling across the living room to his empty bottle.

 "Ready Mom? Here I go!"

 "See...I am the cutest kid you know!"

 ZOOM!

 "Mom, you should totally try this! It is so much fun!!"

 "Don't you dare move...I just crawled all the way over here to get you!"

 "Ha! Gotcha!"

"Num. Num. Num."

Yesterday my mother-in-law and I sat down to draw up my gardens. It was so fun...but now James is mad. I was planning to just do my garden I had last year and maybe an herb bed...yeah I'm not doing that! I am building another main garden near my old one, an herb garden, and a little flower bed down the edge of my garage. They might not all end up "built" this year but I will still plant stuff there. It's expensive to build new beds...sad face. Anyway, I have a plan and my rhubarb is planted, my chives and some leftover garlic is coming up, and my next order of business is to find my "new" strawberries.

Due to a change in plans it appears that we will be starting a remodel on the house this winter/next summer. So now I don't know what to do...do I finish the bathroom and rip all my hard work out in 6 months-1 year...or do I just leave it as is and save the money for my new bathroom, laundry room, remodel?? This is why there have not been pics of my new bathroom up yet...it's not finished!

Roast, Eggs and Babies...oh my!

A couple weeks ago I tried a new recipe but never put it on my blog. It was the day we took Ian to acute care so a friend actually finished it for me (thanks Angie!). Anyway, it was a shredded pork recipe that was delicious!! It was called Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork, from the Pioneer Woman's blog. It was very good! I tried a little straight out of the pan...awesome!

I ate it on hamburger buns with a little Swiss cheese...amazing!

I think my favorite was to eat it was on tacos...with some of my canned jalapenos from last summer!

I think the only adjustment I would make for myself is to use chili verde sauce instead of the chili peppers in adobe sauce. Also, next time I'm going to cook it in the crock pot. Gives me a little versatility to leave the house as it cooks. I actually only made a half recipe and it lasted our family of two a week! Definitely try this one!! It's PORK people!! Those of you who don't know me might not know that I as a general rule don't like pork...but this was SO GOOD!!

See the baby play! He is feeling like his old self again! Ever since he's felt better he has not stopped. He started by getting up on his knees...and then rocking on his knees. Then it progressed until now...he is in his crawling position and then he stands on his back legs! He is SO SMART! I'm going to try to get a video of it posted...as soon as I figure out how to get my camera hooked up to the computer!

Here are some pictures of Ian being himself...

Eating like a pig.

Exhausted from playing so hard!

 Thinking about causing chaos with his bottle...

Causing chaos with his bottle!

This picture is so dark because I had to walk away before he would play...stinker!

The last thing I wanted to share with everyone on this "catch-up post" are the Easter Eggs I made. I made them following this tutorial by Samster Mommy. 

The materials you need...plus toothpicks and paper! They didn't make the picture.

My pretty glitter!!

My eggs in all their glittered splendor!!

Aren't they beautiful?

I layered them in a bowl with some basket filling.

I love my eggs! Thanks Samster Mommy for the great idea!

That's the end of my "catch-up post", hope everyone has a great week!

Remember...all that glitters is AWESOME!

No new recipes...However, a very eventful couple of weeks.

Let's just get right to it!

After Ian's acute care visit on the first of April (no joke here) he really wasn't doing much better and actually seemed to be feeling a bit worse. As the days progressed his breathing was getting more raspy, which I thought may have been because of the meds loosening him up...it wasn't. On Wednesday (the 6th) I woke up early so I could make him a doctor appointment for that day (at 10:45).  I called Amy (James' sister), who's a nurse, to let her know I planned to take him in because he wasn't breathing well. We decided it would be best to head to the city and at least be in the waiting room in case he would be able to be seen right away or suddenly got worse. Turns out we made the right decision. On the way to the city Ian started grunting because he was breathing so hard. We took him to the ER (per pediatrician instructions) after a quick call to the doctor's office on our way.

The ER visit was totally useless. I was told "Babies grunt because they are pooping, playing or have stomach aches." He was on antibiotics for 5 days and had a fever when we arrived..."Oh, he probably just has a different upper respiratory infection." His blood oxygen level was at 93 (down from 96 on the 1st when they told me that wasn't good) when we arrived and at 92 when we left..."That's perfectly normal." Quick check in his ears..."Those look good." After a screaming kid has his 2nd chest x-ray in a week..."Those look a little better." They had us in and out in an hour...with more albuterol treatments (every 4 hours).

I called Ian's doctor's office while still in the ER and told them I wanted a second opinion. They fit us in the next day (7th..Happy Birthday to Me!). We went to his appointment...I'm sicker than a dog and Ian is appearing to be feeling fine. Doctor says it could be a fluke and babies will change their behavior from day to day and still be sick. After I hack my head off and doctor thinks I may have whatever my child has, they decide to run a panel of blood tests to see what exactly is wrong with my baby, who has been sick for a month now.

Turns out...
1) Shouldn't you be on a different antibiotic if the one you're on isn't treating "the upper respiratory infection"?
2) They like to see a babies blood oxygen at 94 or higher. They don't get "concerned" until it's under 90.
3) He still had a double ear infection...that the antibiotic was being used to treat (not the upper respiratory infection).
4) There was no change in his chest x-ray.
5) His blood tests all came back negative, which means whatever he has is viral.

They put him on 5 days of steroids and albuterol treatments only as needed. Since they didn't call with test results until 4:30 on Friday afternoon, I wasn't able to go to doctor to get whatever it is that I needed. I figure "No biggie...I'll tough it out til Monday." Sunday James brings me to acute care after I cough til I gag on the phone with my mom. I have a severe sinus infection (for sure had it 2 weeks) with a cough. They had me continue my Mucinex for the congestion, take Tylenol 3 (codine) for the pain and cough and start a high dose z-pac to avoid infection in my bronchials.

 Anyway, I went to my mom's all day on Monday so I could sleep. I dealt with a screaming kid on Tuesday. Wednesday, I was finally feeling better and babysat for a friend for 2 hours. She in turn watched mine so I could catch up on sleep. Thursday, back to the city for a check on Ian's lungs...clear!!! Hung out with my grandma. I finally stayed home all day on Friday and we had a date night in with rented movies. Today, James, Ian and I went to the city, yet again, and finally purchased me a new wash machine! Yay.

So that is why there are no new recipes this week and I have no energy left to try and post pictures with this...I'm exhausted! Goodnight all!

Meds and Flops

Ok...So this week we will be doing baby things first. Ian has been doing nebulizer treatments for the past three weeks and seemed to be doing really well with them.

Thursday night, before I put him in bed, I noticed he had a temp, he's teething now so I didn't think it was anything to worry about. Friday morning he woke up with a low fever.

Look at those eyes...

His temp continued to go up, even with Tylenol, so I called his pediatrician. They called me back right away and said to take him to acute care so he could be seen right away. We packed up and headed to the big city. Checked in...waiting...temp 102.8.

Poor baby!! Looked him over, took blood, did chest xray, nebulizer treatment. Turns out his white count was fine, his chest xray showed he still has fluid in his lungs and the different nebulizer meds worked better for him. They also found a double ear infection. Looks like the ear infection is what was causing the fever. They sent us home with baby Advil, an antibiotic and the new nebulizer meds.

Today my little man is feeling WAY better! Hasn't had a fever all day either!
**Sorry about the horrible quality of the pictures...used my cell phone.**

On to the "apron" part of my week. I made some Asiago Hash Browns with the leftover cheese from an earlier recipe. I made meatballs to go with it for a little protein. My "smelly brother" was over for supper on a break from loading piggies. Overall the boys (Dirk and James) liked the hash browns, I didn't. The meatballs didn't turn out AT ALL! They just weren't...right.

Asiago Hash Browns (found on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
30 oz bag hash browns, thawed
1 1/2 cups grated Asiago cheese
1 medium onion, chopped
8 oz sour cream
8 oz heavy cream
1/2 cup butter, melted
paprika to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350*. In a medium casserole dish, mix the hash browns, Asiago cheese, onion, sour cream, heavy cream and butter.
Bake 1 hour or until hash browns are fully cooked and the top is lightly browned. Season with paprika, salt and pepper.

I don't even want to get into what I did to the meatballs. I'll try them some other time and make them correctly then...hopefully! The flavor of the hash browns wasn't bad it was more of a texture thing. So...

Since I'm new to this whole cooking thing, I'm wondering if anyone has tips on how to get your fresh onions in baked hash browns to get soft??

Chocolate=Happy Hubs

Not many people know this, but...James LOVES chocolate!! Last year he ordered a chocolate bunny from one of my brothers for a school fundraiser. He "patiently" waited for his bunny to arrive...the day finally came. My mom brought it over when coming over to help paint.

Mom: Guess what we brought?!?!
James-not really paying attention...
Mom-pulls the box with the bunny in it out of her bag.
James: **Huge gasp** My chocolate bunny!!! **Huge smile**

We all got the giggles...what kind of grown man gets that excited about chocolate? He ate that bunny in 2 servings!! It was a really more of a chocolate rabbit than a bunny. This year there was no fundraiser. Wanting to see my husband to be that crazy happy again I bought him a chocolate bunny. This one is about half the size of the one last year. Tonight he shyly (I know...weird right?) asked if he could eat his bunny. I told him I didn't really care if he ate his bunny or not. About 5 minutes later, I look over and he ate the whole ears!

Me: You're supposed to make that last more than 2 servings!
James: **Reads back of package** Umm...nuh uh! It says right here...2 servings!!

So I guess that means I was wrong...dang!

Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi-Week 12

Week 12 of my year of recipes! Can you believe it?!?! With all the stuff going on in my bathroom this week I didn't think I was going to get a new recipe done. However, I decided to pull on my big girl panties, buckle down, and get to work...more work! I hung my cabinet doors, put in drawers, attached handles and hinges and put away all flammable materials. So...my kitchen was a little less hazardous to  cook in! My mom said pasta ai quattro formaggie would be a good, easy recipe to try, since I didn't even think to look for a recipe before going grocery shopping. I thought, "Seriously, she must be kidding!" I can't hardly cook, much less cook something so fancy sounding. Apparently, pasta=noodles, ai=have no idea, quattro=four, formaggie=cheese. So "noodles with four kinds of cheese", she should have just said that! Mom told me the main ingredients, I bought them and made dinner for my hubs last night. Mom found this recipe on Pioneer Woman's blog and has tried it at least once.



Mom said I could just use three cheeses. She recommended cheddar, asiago and Parmesan. Pioneer Woman says you can use whatever four cheeses you want. PW even uses goat cheese! I think someday I might acquire a taste for it (maybe) and try to use it in my cooking. I just really don't like it cold on a cracker and have never had it IN food.

TA-DA!!

James grilled chicken while I made the pasta. We just cut it into chunks and ate it on top of our cheesy noodles! I really liked it with the chicken, but I think it needs more garlic. That could just be me though 'cause I LOVE GARLIC! Anyway...Mom is coming over to watch little man while I work on painting my bathroom today. Almost done!! Gotta go so I can get pics of bathroom posted...SMILEY FACE! Bye!

Refinishing the Bathroom

I used my "Cabinet Transformations" today. I finished the cabinets in my bathroom, except for the last step. They just need the protectant on them tomorrow and TA-DA!

**A huge "THANK YOU" to my sister-in-law Amy!! She came and spent the day helping me do my cabinets. And then offered to watch Ian this afternoon and tonight, so I could keep working.**

THANK YOU AMY!

 To start you have to wash, use a deglosser, and paint the cupboards.

The paint needs to dry and then you paint it again.

 After 2 coats of the "paint" use the deglazer. I was super stressed out about this! Probably didn't help that I had already been working on cupboards and painting for 10 hours....ugh. I think the color looks pretty good. Had one weird spot on one of my long doors...I got it to blend though, so we're ok!!

 To avoid the issue I had on my cabinet door, I did the side of my cabinet in rows (instead of doing the top half and then the bottom half). This seemed to work much better with how much working time I had with the deglazer before it dried. This looks more "streaky" in the picture than it does when you look at it.

 I can't wait to get the top coat on and get the doors and drawers back in! I was hoping to get my painting done today too but only got the ceiling painted. Which I think was an accomplishment for how long the cabinets took!

 DISGUSTING!!

The vent cleaned up with just water (will get washed, with soap, when I can get to my sink!). I vacuumed out the vent and light area. I will be spray painting the vent cover as soon as I get the paint.

Doesn't it look so much better??

I painted the ceiling a really light gray...what do we think of gray ceilings? Or colored ceilings in general?