Routine

Tomorrow is the last day of camp for both kids. K-Girl will have a camp continuing throughout most of the summer, but other than a week long soccer camp for E-Man in August (and that's only an hour each day) this is it for him. I've fallen into routine with our mornings. I still press the snooze a few too many times and leave us to rush to get to camp, but once I get home I slow down and enjoy the quiet.

The first thing I tend to do is brew a cup of coffee and grab my computer. When the coffee is done I sit at the kitchen table and write blogs/read blogs/facebook/etc. I'm not the only one that has fallen into this routine though.

Enter "C", Agent C if we're being proper. You may remember her as "our outside cat". Or those who know me personally may know that our outside cat was in fact a female... was in fact pregnant... did in fact have 4 kittens under our deck... yeah that cat.
Short catch-up for those not in the know, we took care of all her kittens and the momma, fed them all. Once they were too big to keep outside without worrying about them getting away we brought them inside until they were between 9 - 12 weeks old. We found homes for all 4 of C's kittens and we decided that we would keep C. We got her spayed so we can insure no more kittens and she's inside full time now. She's a great cat and Jack is finally not the third wheel to the other two cats. We have two sets that are very fond of each other.

Soooo anyway, back to what I was saying.

C has noticed my routine and has found a way to embrace it. Every day as soon as I sit down she jumps up in the chair right around the corner from me. She'll "talk" to me until I start petting her. I'll pet her for several minutes as I read and sip my coffee and then eventually she gets down when I need to use of both hands to type for a bit.

Unfortunately then after the coffee cup is empty it is time to get some work done, albeit in a quiet house. Today it is time to tackle the closet. I have said this since, I believe, the first day of camp. I'm going to try a different tactic today.

See horribly unorganized closet...



And next time I come back I need to avenge this horrible show of clutter with a neat and tidy organized closet.

Of course you also know that with me saying that, I'll be back in say oooooh maybe November sometime.  ;)  

It's Tuesday so perhaps a recipe...

It seemed only fitting that I am sitting here with pictures of my super yummy dinner from the other night and it's Tuesday. So in honor of the long dead Tofu Tuesday, I thought I'd share it with you because it's just that good. Look I even dug up the graphic for it...

So this is what I'm sharing with you...




Looks good huh?! Definite comfort food and so easy. I took the recipe from my Betty Crocker easy everyday VEGETARIAN cookbook and I changed it up just a little bit. I really recommend checking out the cookbook though. It's loaded with tons of truly easy and yummy recipes.

OK so the recipe...

"Chicken" Alfredo Pot Pie
Prep is about 20 minutes with a total of about 45 minutes
Makes about 6 servings

1 can (11 oz) refrigerated soft breadsticks (I couldn't find these and just used the can of pizza dough and rolled it out and cut it instead)

4 frozen grilled chicken-style soy-protein patties (I can find a brand called Quorn that has these awesome chicken tenders - Look here - and they are already little cubes of chicken substitute. Great texture and perfect for this type of use.)

1/3 cup milk

1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo pasta sauce

1 bag (1 lb) frozen broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower, thawed, drained - (These are not veggies that go over well in my family, nor are they really what comes to my mind with pot pie. So instead I cut up a bit of a potato into small squares that would be sure to cook, added some corn, carrots, and due to lack of peas used lima beans instead. I didn't measure but just eye-balled to see what a good thick consistency looked right.)

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375F. Unroll dough; separate at perforations into 12 breadsticks. Set aside. On small microwavable plate, microwave patties on High 30 - 45 seconds or until slightly thawed. Cut patties into cubes to make about 2 cups.

(If using something like the Quorn tenders, I completely skipped the whole microwave step and went right to step two measuring out 2 generous cups of tenders.)

2. In 3-qt saucepan, mix patty cubes, milk, pasta sauce and vegetables. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Spoon into ungreased 13x9" (3-qt) glass baking dish.

(I did not use a glass 9x13 baker and instead used my deep round silicone dish. I thought that the 9x13 would be too shallow and I wanted my pot pie deeper.)

3. Twist each breadstick; arrange crosswise over hot patties mixture, gently stretching strips if necessary to fit. Sprinkle with cheese and Italian seasoning.

(I did not twist, did not measure either cheese or seasoning.)

4. Bake uncovered 20 - 30 minutes or until bread sticks are deep golden brown.

And this is how mine looked when I broke it open...



For some reason this picture is upside down. I'll have to figure out how to get it to turn the correct way, but I have to run so I'll leave you for now with upside down pot pie. Enjoy!

Soooooo good!

It's one of those recipes that you can use for ideas and then tweak it differently to make it perfect for you. It was an instant favorite for our family. Even the kids mostly ate it...although each of them whined about separate issues - potatoes, beans - but I'm used to this.

And again, if you haven't already you should really check out this cookbook as it's perfect for quick meals and great if you are either new to vegetarian cooking or just interested in making more meatless meals for your family.

Happiness is...

"Wanna go for a ride??"



Windows rolled down. The breeze in your hair.



So many sights to see.



Lots to smell and warm sunshine.


It's not often anymore that the dogs get to come along for a ride. Either we have my car which is too small for us all to go together or we need to go somewhere to do something requiring us leaving the car for a while. And then there is the guilt that if we are to take one then we need to take both. Gabby (the daschund) needs a lap to ride on otherwise she is not able to get up to see and pretty much always ends up getting sick. Molly (bigger dog) loves car rides but takes up a lot of space.

The other day we were going to pick up Chinese for dinner and decided to take everyone to pick it up. The dogs were thrilled to go along. Gabby fully enjoyed herself, tail wagging and nearly climbing out the window for a better look/smell. When we pulled into our driveway I opened the door, sat her down in the grass and she got sick. So I guess she still gets carsick, but at least she enjoyed herself prior and waited until we got out of the car (off my lap) which is much appreciated.

K-Girl's Crossover

This year K-Girl decided (with the help of her BFF) that she wanted to do Girl Scouts. She's been a Daisy Scout which include kindergarten and first grade. This year she's completed all the requirements to crossover to Brownies next year for second grade. At the end of the year the troop leaders, Miss A and Miss K, threw a party for all the girls that included receiving the last of their patches for the year and crossover for the 3 of them that were moving onto Brownies in the Fall.



I cannot tell you how much K-Girl has loved Daisies. She just thinks it's the coolest. We both can't wait until Brownies where they will start doing even more fun things.

One big step for K-Girl

A little background...

On our recent trip to Canada we had along K-Girl and E-Man's scooters because they were small and were easy to pack. When it came time to leave I totally forgot about them being that the last time the kids played with them they had parked them in the garage. I only realized that we had forgotten them once we were just an hour and a half from home...there was no going back for them. Not one of my finer moments, but these things happen.

This past Sunday K-Girl took her bike to Nan & Pap's house and being that she's nearly 7 we thought it's time to take off the training wheels and learn to ride without. Well we tried taking off the training wheels. She pretty much had a nervous breakdown so we put them back on. Since we don't have much area to ride bikes at our house we took the kids' bikes over to the school that isn't too far from here and let them ride there for a while after dinner. After K-Girl was off speeding around we told her it was time the training wheels came off and this time stayed off. She broke down crying and basically told us she was going to die without them. I took her around holding onto her and she'd chant "I can't do this I can't do this I can't do this" over and over. I told her to knock off the negativity because once you decide you can do it you will do it. Shortly there after I was barely holding onto her and then a little while after that I was jogging beside.

The following video was taken later that same evening...

Now that she gets it she is obsessed. The first thing out of her mouth in the morning is asking if we can go bike riding later. I'm glad we finally just gave her the push she needed. It's obvious she was ready. All that was lacking was a little confidence.

Strawberries!

Earlier this month, E-Man and I went strawberry picking with our playgroup. E-Man had a good time. He was much better this year than last although he had a problem with eating a lot of what he picked. We picked 6 pints of berries in all though.

For all of those berries we paid $11.70. That Sunday I got to work in the kitchen. I washed a LOT of berries.



I got done making the first batch of jam only to realize that I had plenty left to make another batch. I ended up making 2 batches of strawberry jam resulting in 18 jars of jam in total and still had more berries.





As I was thinking of things to do with my extra berries I noticed some very ripe bananas that we had sitting on the counter. The thought of making banana bread popped into my head and then I thought how much better it would be to add strawberries. Well the bread turned into muffins after a short search for recipes.



The muffins were delicious. If you'd like the recipe I used here's the link - Strawberry-Banana Muffins. They even have a video and whatnot with it.

So in all my berries went to making - 18 jars of jam, 18 muffins, strawberry shortcake for 4 of us, and a few left over to eat as is.

I'm now making plans of going back for raspberries. Mmmmmm.

...and now it's June

No promises as I am experiencing problems with staying with this whole blogging thing anymore, but here's at least one post.

School's out for the summer. E-Man will be in preschool again next year before heading to kindergarten. K-Girl received her report card letting her officially know she is now a second grader. E-Man hasn't done a huge change, but it seems K-Girl has done a lot of growing this year.

So far we are enjoying our summer. I was a bit nervous about it, but we seem like we'll be plenty busy to keep most of the craziness at bay. Since getting out a week and a half ago we already went on one trip - to Canada to visit my sister and family. It was a nice visit. The kids just loved spending time with their cousins. We only wish they all were a little closer.



This week and next both kids are at a camp for the morning hours, to which I am quite excited. I have 3 hours of quiet time Mon - Thurs this and next week. It's quite a treat after the trip to Canada without The Husband last week.

My tattoo is now finished and I'm already starting to roll around ideas for the next one. ;) So this is my 4th and final session:



I celebrated my birthday last month. I'm now 29. I can't believe I'll be 30 next year. Crazy crazy. I also have trouble at times believing I have been married for 8 years and have an (almost) 7 year old and a 4 year old. Kind of mind boggling.



E-Man also celebrated his birthday on May 30th. So as I said he's 4 now.



He had a small birthday party here at home with just family. He is completely and utterly obsessed with Star Wars so we did it all out. I made him a name blanket just like K-Girl has with this awesome repurposed fabric I found on Etsy. I photoshopped the name off the blanket if you notice the weirdness in the pattern. We had a Star Wars ice cream cake from Dairy Queen that he thought was the coolest.



I've got a couple more things to share so I'll try to get back with those in a timely manner.