Dinner!

This is a Giada DeLaurentis recipe. She is one of my favorite Food Network Chefs. I made this for dinner last night and it was so good! Max is by far the pickiest eater among us and I was not expecting him to be excited about meatloaf, but he ate all of his and said, "This is really good mommy, make this again sometime!"

Turkey Meatloaf with Feta Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

• Vegetable cooking spray
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped garlic and herb-marinated sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced, optional
• 2 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
  
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 pound ground turkey, preferably dark meat

Directions

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, if using, eggs, milk, feta, salt, and pepper. Add the turkey and gently stir to combine, being careful not to overwork the meat.

Carefully pack the meat mixture into the prepared pan and bake about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and slice. Put on a serving platter and serve.

Weekend Wrap Up

It is Sunday night and the weekend is just about over! This weekend has been full of sunshine and fun for us. On Friday night Ty and I headed over to Regal Cinemas for a movie. I always enjoy holding hands and talking like real adult people.

Saturday was the official grand opening of the Gigi's Cupcakes store in Hendersonville. They had free balloons and cupcakes for the kids so I took Max and Mia over first thing. After cupcakes we spent the afternoon in the pool. I think I may have gotten a little color. After the pool we ordered a pizza from Roma, the best pizza ever! I am a pizza fanatic and I usually just make it at home but I love to have it delivered when we can!

The kids discovered the joy of ice cubes and I have a new appreciation for the icemaker.

Sunday has been nice and relaxing. Church was wonderful and we even had some friends come with us for sacrament meeting! After church we had some other friends over for dinner. I made pasta with tomatoes, shallots, and goat cheese. I thought it was great! After dinner we had peanut butter bars and talked. I love catching up! This week marks the end of June. I can hardly believe this year is half over! I am 27 weeks pregnant and getting very excited about another little boy at our house!

Ghiradelli

It is my opinion that Ghiradelli makes the very best brownie mix out there. Today I made a batch and layered brownie batter in the pan with cherry preserves. They turned out pretty divine.

Primary Pool Party

Today was Max's Primary Pool Party! Mia of course came along for the fun, because she always does. Max had a great time swimming in the pool with all of his friends. He wanted to be very brave and jump off of the diving board, but this was as far as he got before deciding against it. We all cheered him on anyway. Mia, on the other hand, climbed onto the board and jumped right into the pool. She is our little daredevil. There were delicious hot dogs and chips, but Max's favorite were the brownies with the little flag toothpicks in them. It was a great party!

Chalk, Flowers, and the Mall

Isn't Max adorable picking flowers out of the grass! He was so cute on Sunday; singing Father's Day songs with the primary. Today we went to Opry Mills. Max and Mia had $5 each that my parents had sent them. Max bought a little green football and Mia bought a little pink phone. It says alot about each of their personalities. I checked out all of the clearance racks in Carters and Children's Place looking for baby boy clothes so our little guy doesn't have to be naked. I found some great deals. Before we left we had apple cider from the apple barn. It is so delicious and refreshing.

We spent the afternoon outside. It is not quite as hot today as it has been so I thought we should take advantage. Mia had a great time playing with chalk. I am glad they can be entertained by such simple things!

Happy Father's Day!

(my older bro. Josh, Ty and Max, my dad)
I have such a bunch of great guys in my life! It's a
good thing we have a day set aside to celebrate their awesomeness. Ty is the best! He is a great friend; a great provider; a master taste tester in the kitchen; super good looking; a wonderful dad; incredibly fun; and so smart! I am so glad to have Ty! I am glad that he likes my cooking and ate all of the crepes this morning! Besides having a great husband who is a great father to our children I happen to have a pretty great dad myself. My dad has become the best grandpa to my kids. Max adores him and loves to call him on his cell phone and talk about nothing. Thanks for being so fabulous!
Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day Prep.

We are busy getting ready for Father's Day tomorrow. Max has been painting pictures to give to Ty and I have been cooking. We are having crepes for breakfast and I usually serve them with strawberries and nutella, but I decided to shake things up a bit and try something new. I made a really delicious blueberry filling that will be perfect with crepes and whipped cream. I also made Ty's favorite treat, peanut butter bars. Hopefully he will feel spoiled and happy on Father's Day. As for my birthday, we are splurging tonight and getting take-out! It should be great!

Blueberry Filling

1 Qt. fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. In a saucepan heat blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and 1/4 cup water to boiling. Cook until thickened.
2. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice. Allow to cool
Serve as a filling for crepes or on top of waffles or anything else that needs a little blueberry goodness.

Cheetos!

Ty and Mia are big fans of cheetos. Today they enjoyed a bowlful while Ty watched NCIS. It was a very "cheesy" father-daughter moment :)

Happiness all Around

Today I opened our mailbox and found : A birthday card!
My parents sent me a happy little Target gift card. You can have soooo much fun with one of those. I headed straight over with the kids and tried to be reasonable. I want to make the fun last. Today I bought myself a crepe pan. I have wanted one for quite a while and we will be making crepes for Father's Day/my birthday, so I decided it was about time. I treated Max and Mia to a little set of playground bouncy balls. There were 3 in the set. Mia got the pink one, Max picked out the red one and then he told me that the yellow one would be for the baby in my tummy. So cute!
Thanks mom and dad!

Water Fun and Birthday Week Continues

When it gets really hot and muggy and I need to occupy Max and Mia for a while I fill up a big pot with cold water and let them have at it. I usually have to keep a pitcher close by for refills, but the kids love it. It keeps them busy for as long as I will keep filling up the pot.
Today I decided to make myself a chocolate birthday cake. I know my birthday is not until Sunday, but this way I can enjoy a piece every day until then.

Chocolate Cake
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups warm water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour cake pans. (2 8x8 or 1 9x13)
2. Mix together the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients. (all in one bowl, totally easy!)
3. Bake 30-35 minutes.
4. Allow to cool and then frost with some fabulous frosting or ganache.

This is a very dense and moist chocolate cake. 1 piece was enough for myself and I am the chocolate queen so chocolate haters be warned.

All of my chocolate postings seem kind of ridiculous because I did get a treadmill as my official birthday gift. Oh well.... Balance in all things.

Smile!

I found it! Now we can get our mail :)

Keeping cool and the search begins

This is Mia watching "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" from her very own movie theater seat. She looks very intent, but don't be fooled, she was soon out of her seat and tickling Max for most of the show! After our free movie Tuesday we went to Maggie Moo's ice cream. I had a coupon for a free cone on my birthday. My birthday is not until Sunday, but I like to enjoy my birthday for at least a week. I got the dark chocolate with strawberries, my favorite combo. It was huge so there was plenty to share with the kids.

After ice cream we headed home for a quick swim. It is a great way to wear out the kids. I am so glad we have a pool close by!

We had a very fun start to the day. My goal for the afternoon is to find our missing mailbox key. I am always amazed when things get so very lost. There are only so many places it could be! Wish me luck.

When Mia gets really upset this is what calms her down. I put her on the couch wrapped in a blanket with her baby dolls and soon she is a very happy little mommy.

A Happy Wednesday Post

We had an appointment in Hendersonville this morning. I thought it was about time we tried out the new Gigi's Cupcakes store. Max is a big fan of anything blue when it comes to dessert so we got the Blueberry Swirl cupcake. It was so delicious and it had too much frosting even for me, which is always a good thing! Cupcakes always make for a happy Wednesday.

When we got home Max discovered this giant moth outside the apartment. It really was huge! Mia was pretty worried about the whole thing.
Good thing she has such a brave older brother to protect her from the bugs of the earth.

Cooking up a Name

It was free movie Tuesday again today! We made it through about 50 minutes before Mia walked out. She has very little tolerance. We played in the fountains, but decided to have our ice cream at home today. I went shopping yesterday and bought a bunch of cones and ice cream. Max and Mia love the minty green and I decided to try some of that, sort of healthy yogurt blends ice cream. It was all very refreshing. Another week is going strong. Ty is headed to scout camp this weekend so I am busy freezing cookies and goodies for him to bring along. I have got the cooking bug again. Food was gross for a while, but now I am excited to try some new things again! I am 24 weeks pregnant and the name of the day is : SAWYER

Lunch!

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

I made these delicious little pizza rolls for our lunch today. I found the recipe at ourbestbites.com
They were a big hit and I will for sure be making them again!

1 roll refrigerated pizza dough
marinara/pizza sauce
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1 T olive oil or melted butter
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t dried Italian seasoning
mozzerella cheese
Pizza toppings of your choice (I used ham, bacon, and pineapple)

Preheat oven to heat specified on pizza dough package. Usually it's 400 degrees.

Unroll your pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into little squares. I think I got about 14 squares from my dough.

Place cheese and desired toppings on each square. (Note that you're not putting the marinara sauce on the dough- it's for dipping after)

When all of your dough squares have cheese and toppings on them, carefully lift up each square and wrap the dough around the toppings. Pinch to make sure each ball is sealed shut and then place them seam side down in a lightly sprayed pie pan (or similar sized dish).

Brush the tops of the dough balls with olive oil or melted butter and then sprinkle with the garlic and Italian seasoning and top with Parmesan cheese.

Cook them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Serve warm with warmed marinara sauce on the side for dipping.

Chocolatey Summertime Goodness

I tried this drink recipe today. It was totally awesome and hit the spot for this chocolate girl!

Iced Mexican Chocolate

1 cup milk (I used vanilla soymilk)
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used cocoa powder)
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a blender and whirl until pureed. Delish

Construction Zone!

This morning Ty broke out the power tools and, with Max's help, took the crib apart! It is time for an upgrade.

We moved Mia into Max's old bed. She is very excited to be a big girl. I can't believe we are getting ready for another baby again!

Our neighbors happened to have an extra twin bed that they were in great need to be rid of. I was super excited to help out and take the bed. Max is looking forward to his bigger better bed.

After the beds were assembled it was cookie time. It was very fun. (Even though Mia refused to smile for the picture) Today we made Ty's favorite: Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Cream the butter with the sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt. Add to the wet ingredients.
Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Free movies and Fountains

This morning we headed over to the Regal Cinemas at Indian Lakes for a free showing of "Horton Hear's a Who". We only lasted an hour, but it was nice and cool and free!

After the movie I changed the kids into their swimsuits and slathered them in sunscreen to play in the fountains. The water felt so good I was tempted to run through with my clothes on.

After the fountains we went to Marble Slab Creamery for some chocolate covered strawberry ice cream goodness. It was a huge hit. Mia fell asleep on the way home. It was a great time! We will definately do it again. I love summer!

Biscotti Moment!

I am a huge Gilmore Girls fan! There is an episode when Lorelai and Rory have just returned from their backpacking trip through Europe. They bring home a big bag of biscotti and eat some whenever a great moment needs to be made a little bit better. They refer to these times as a "biscotti moment". In addition to Gilmore Girls I also love Biscotti. I have recently discovered nonni's chocolate decadence biscotti. There are so many fabulous moments in the day that can be enhanced with a bit of biscotti. Today I had a biscotti moment while the kids were temporarily occupied in the tub. It was great...I highly reccomend finding your own biscotti moment of the day!