Make this for dinner tonight

Mushroom Broccoli Fettuccine

Cook 16 oz. noodles*
Saute veggies (we do mushroom, broccoli, and zucchini) in 3-4 T real butter
Add noodles to veggies
Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Add 1 cup grated parmesan cheese, mix it all as you go.

Serve on plate with a sprinkle of nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Don't ditch the nutmeg! It's the finishing touch!

*Ok, personally I think 16 oz. noodles it a little much for this recipe--it comes out a little dry. (But that is how Daniel prefers it.) If you want it to be saucier (or you're using lots of veggies) I'd cut down to 8 or 12 oz. of pasta. See how you like it...then make it again next week. :)

Thank you, Sarah for this recipe you gave me years ago!

Mother's Day Moment

As usual, my family pulled off a wonderful Mother's Day for me. I enjoyed flowers, a collection of Beatrix Potter books I've been long looking for, and adorable cards and handmade gifts from the kids. Daniel even made my dinner request of veggie fettuccine alfredo. (Sarah's recipe, thanks Sarah!)


So, the Mother's Day moment? Dinner. But not the dinner itself (delicious as it was). It was the right-after-the-prayer moment. I got to EAT! With my food HOT! While Daniel attended to the last-second jobs: grabbing the sour dough loaf out of the oven, cutting it, serving it, buttering all the kids's slices, cutting the pasta for kids. Phew. But wait--clunk--SPLASH! He even cleaned up fresh spilled and far-splattered apple juice! I just sat there and realized how beautiful a moment it was as I kept eating my delicious, warm dinner.


Thanks, honey.

Butter Burger

A couple months ago some friends took Daniel and I out to Solly's Grill, home of the famous butter burger. My friend told us exactly what to order to get the true Solly's experience. No messing with the menu. So I ordered the Solly's burger with grilled onions. She ordered the same, but light on the butter. Light on the butter? Hmm, we weren't told about that. Well, we got ALL the butter and ALL the experience. As I looked at this juicy burger on its little plate I knew I should not eat it. This thing was dripping with butter from the inside, had a thick warm pad still melting on the meat, and the bun was soaking in a large pool of melted butter climbing up the plate's lip. It took everything within me to put the thing in my mouth. I did, and yes, it tasted great. But I finished it as fast as I could so as to not allow the bun to completely soak in the butter puddle on my plate. Why someone thought of putting SO much butter on a burger, I don't know. But be forewarned, if you come here for long enough, we may just take you to Solly's to get YOUR fat intake for the year! Your mind may tell you NO, but your stomach will say YES.



To see the butter burger click here

How to get your child to take a bath

We went through a difficult phase with Eliza about a month ago. Every time we stuck her in the bath she would crouch down and cover her front parts with one hand and reach around and cover her bum with the other. Along with this bizarre there's-no-way-I'm-sitting-down posture she would scream bloody murder. Oh WOW was bath time horrible!! She hated it, we hated it. UNTIL, we went to Peter and Michelle's and Peter threw the magic tablet into the bath. Yes, the fizzy tub colors have saved out lives! That night Eliza took her first happy bath in weeks. She actually sat down sans torturous screams. Once we returned home I quickly procured the fizzy tablets and bath time has taken on it's old happy meaning once again. Now Eliza goes to the linen closet at bath time and asks, "Can I put food coloring in the bath?"

Making purple...

Enjoying purple...and whale tug-of-war...

LIPS!

Eliza has been really into chapstick and lip gloss lately. When she's in the mood (or when I'm trying to take a tube from her) she hollers, "I want lips!" My lip gloss has been diminishing greatly as of late and chapsticks are marred with bite marks. I finally took my chapstick out of my nightstand drawer and hid it under my mattress! This little habit is messy, but somehow endearing.

ComedySportz

Daniel and I went on a double date last night to a show called "ComedySportz". Despite the fact that it annoys me when people replace S's with Z's (but not as much as when people spell C words with K's on purpose, think Krispy Kreme) we LOVED the show! It's just like "Who's Line is it Anyway," but with a sports twist. The stage/room is decked out like an arena and they use sport uniforms and keep score. It was hilarious!! We had so much fun and the guys were great! We found out about it because a lady Daniel worked with in Iowa has a son who performs there. Comedy Sportz is great too because they keep it clean--they brag, "It's the only entertainment that's funny enough for bachelor parties and clean enough for your church group." And they're right. Check out this page to see if they're in your city!

P.S. I do have 2 links here, but they don't show up unless you scroll over them. The "ComedySportz" is a link, and "this page" in the last line is a link.

Where's the beef?

Usually when I get my ground beef I skip over these tube packages. Last I saw them (in Iowa) they were only the 80/20 variety. I'm not so much into 80/20--especially when I got a batch that had unnervingly LARGE chunks of fat in them. Anywho, a few days ago the big 93/7 caught my eye! And the price? Only 2 bucks a pound! I usually only see 80/20 at such a price. Now here's the kicker. The bulk pack in the nice black plastic tray was $3.59 a pound. Wow. That's a huge difference! So I asked the meat guy, what gives? Is the meat the same? He said it's packaging--that $3.59 covers the nice plastic. The expensive variety also has more preservatives. However, the meat in the tubes is ground, vacuum-packed, and doesn't need the preservatives. It was worth asking, eh? So, now I can buy 93/7 at the price that 80/20 usually is. That was an amazing discovery. So, go enjoy your beef and save a few bucks! Oh, oh! The best part is I don't have to separate it into 1 pound baggies for the freezer. Did you think you'd get to read so much about ground beef today!? Lucky you.

P.S. Get this deal at your local Wal-mart meat department.