Logan loves playing games!! This past weekend hubby and Logan played several rounds of Don't Break the Ice and Don't Spill the beans. However, I caught them playing one round of Don't Spill the Beans differently than I seem to remember playing it....
I think in this case, it might be Please Spill the Beans!!
Last week we tried Barb's spaghetti sauce and really loved it. We ate dinner off of it, put some in the fridge for leftovers and I froze four full quart size ziplocs with the rest. I didn't make the meatballs. I just browned some Italian sausage and we put that on top of our pasta, then covered it with sauce.....DELICIOUS!! Oh...and I put it in my crockput and let it cook on low for about 8 hours. I have a large crockpot and it was full the very brim!! Just a warning if you try this out in your crockpot...you might want to cut the recipe in half, especially if you plan on simmering meatballs in it.
We were also very busy last week. The week before, I had taken my youngest, Lucas, to his 18 month well-baby. He is small and I have been taking him monthly since his 15 month check up for weight checks. He had only gained 8 ounces in one month and they were getting concerned. Logan was also very small, but not as small as Lucas. At 17 months, Lucas was 16.5 pounds. At his 18 month well baby he was 17 pounds. They said they thought all tests would come back normal, but wanted to check to be safe. So, we drew blood and last week we found out that he had a low hemoglobin. She asked that we bring him back to the office and wanted to send him to the lab again and also get a urine sample with a catheter. We decided that if it was just a low hemoglobin, we didn't want to do more tests until trying other things first. When I took him to the office (exactly one week after his 18 month check up), he had lost that 8 ounces and was back down to 16.5 pounds. Turns out, he had WAY more stuff wrong with his blood, so we agreed to further testing. To make a long story short, we were at the doctor's office and or lab for three days in a row and I didn't get to all of our meals. We won't know any results until at least Tuesday.
We have two meals left over and I was bad this weekend and didn't plan for the rest of the week. I am not sure what order we will have things in, so here are the two carryover meals....
*= new recipe
--crock pot pork chops and potatoes (still haven't had this from two weeks ago), green beans
--orange chicken*, Jasmine rice,stir fry veggies, store bought egg rolls
I'm thinking for the other meals we will have:
--chicken salad sandwiches on homemade bread with tomatoes from the farmer's market, chips, fruit
--taco salad
--fish, cheese filled shells with sauce, bread
If you'd like to see more menus, head on over to Laura's!!
This morning I was sitting at the table and I thought I heard the sound of keys jingling. My husband has a mini wind-up flashlight on his key ring and Logan loves it. If hubby leaves the keys in Logan's reach, I can just about guarantee that Logan will take them and play with that flashlight. I told hubby, "I think someone is playing with your keys". He says, "I know someone is playing with my keys". Logan came up from the basement with his hand behind his back and the sound of jingling keys got closer and closer with each step he took towards us. I laughed and told him there was no sense in hiding the keys behind his back because I could hear them. He looked at me and said, "That's not the keys, it's just my butt ringing". HA!!
Last week we tried lots of new recipes, but our two favorites were coconut chicken and tomato rice
*= new recipe
Monday--salmon with peach/mango salsa (from Costco...they were giving samples of the fish with salsa and it was sooo good), wild rice pilaf, steamed broccoli
Tuesday--chicken chilaquiles casserole (recipe below), tomato rice, chili beans
Wednsday--crock pot pork chops and potatoes (still haven't had this from two weeks ago), green beans
Thursday--spaghetti*, garlic bread, salad
Friday--orange chicken*, Jasmine rice,stir fry veggies, store bought egg rolls
Sat./Sunday--leftovers
Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole
1/2 c. veg. oil
10 flour or corn tortillas (6-8 inches in diameter), cut into 1/2" strips
2 c. shredded cooked chicken or turkey
1 jar (16 oz.) green salsa (salsa verde) or salsa (2 cups)
2 cups shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese (8 oz.)
1. Heat oven to 350'. Spray 2-quart casserole with cooking spray. Heat oil in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook tortilla strips in oil 30-60 seconds, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
2. Arrange half the tortilla strips in the bottom of casserole. Top with chicken, 3/4 c. salsa, and 1 c. cheese. Gently press layers down into casserole. Repeat with remaining tortilla strips, salsa, and cheese.
3. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown.
***I prefer this made with flour tortillas and I have only used the green salsa for this recipe. It is sooo good and pretty quick. I got it out of a betty Crocker cookbook.
If you'd like to see more menus, head on over to Laura's!!
Last week I made green chili cheese bread and thought I would share a picture of it. It turned out sooo good. It was only my second time to make it. I cut the recipe in half to make only one loaf except I still used the whole can of green chilies and added a little extra cheese. 
Time to get back on track this week. We are trying lots of new recipes that I will mark with an *. I was surfing Mommy Cooks and found lots of yummy looking recipes. I decided we'd try some of them out this week!! We're also trying another yummy sounding side dish of Sandra's. Thanks to you both for taking the time to post your recipes!!
Monday--coconut chicken*, Jasmine rice, Syrian green beans, corn on the cob
Tuesday--fish, tomato rice*, sauted zucchini and summer squash
Wednesday--Tuscan fusilli with sausage*, salad, bread
Thursday--honey mustard chicken, pasta carbonara*, steamed broccoli
Friday--beef tips and noodles, buttery cooked carrots, Syrian green beans (yes, we love them enough to have them twice in one week!!)
Saturday--leftovers
Desserts--I will make cookies* for the boys and Oats 'n Honey Granola Pie for the adults. I tried this pie almost two years ago (at a friend's) and have been wanting to make it, but haven't gotten around to it....LOL! I had the swirled choc chips already so when I saw the cookie recipe, I knew we had to try them out!!
If you'd like to see more menus, head on over to Laura's!!
My mother in law purchased a butterfly habitat for Logan a while back and it took me forever to send the postcard off to get our caterpillars. Finally I did, and the fun began. Five caterpillars arrived in a little container with food. At first we thought two of them had died, but after a few days they were getting bigger. One of the little ones was the last to form a chrysalis and ended up knocking two of the others down. The first butterfly to emerge was one of the fallen ones and it came out deformed and didn't make it. All of the other ones did, though. We kept them for a few days and Logan loved watching them. I did, too!! Oh....and our cat Molly loves insects, so she enjoyed them, too. We had to hang them and make sure there was nothing near them that she could jump off of to get them. We found the habitat knocked over a few times and at first we thought Logan had done it. Nope....it was Molly.
I took a few pictures of them before we released them. I balled up some tissue and put sugar water on it for them to eat. That is what they are eating in the pic. Also, I don't like bugs, spiders....mostly anything that flies or crawls and it seems that has rubbed off on Logan. You can tell by the pics that he wasn't to sure about it. Anyway, I thought it was too funny not to share!!
The other day the boys and I ventured to the mall. I was hoping to find some good summer clearance sales....and boy did I!! We went to the food court for lunch and Logan made some new friends. There were two older ladies (I say older...older than my parents, younger than my grandparents) sitting at the table beside us. Logan was watching them very closely...his way of getting someone's attention. They noticed him and said hello. He ducked his head and they thought he was shy. I told them that he was just pretending. After he finished his lunch, he proved to them that he was indeed pretending. They talked about so much stuff.....funny what all kids talk about. One of the ladies asked Logan what he wanted to be when he grows up. He told them a daddy (this is always his answer...sometimes he'll also include that will make me a grandma). The lady said, "Yes, but what will you do for your job?". Logan, doing what he loves most lately, made up a word. The lady thought he said astronaut and he was very excited about the thought of being an astronaut. Of course, he doesn't fully understand it because he went on to say that he would build his very own rocket ship and that Momma would clean it for him. So...there you have it, we're good for cleaning rocket ships!!
