What were we talking about?

We were having an ominous conversation yesterday, my husband and I, about plans for the future, finances, and the like. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad conversation, just a serious one, one that involves my going back to work and being the sole source of income and how to proceed with that.

Anyways, we were in the thick of the conversation as we had come back from having dinner out and the kids were getting out of the car to go inside. Evy and Seren were running like crazy nuts up and down the sidewalk and Penny was taking a long time of it to get out of the car.

After a period of time, Penny finally got out of the car and, as the parent of a two year old, I'm keen on her whereabouts when there are cars.  I look out the window to verify where she is and I see her approaching the sidewalk, like a good little girl, but with her farmer pants (overalls) down around her ankles!  So, here we are, in the thick of a serious discussion and, somehow, Penny took her straps of her farmer pants off her shoulders, and there she stood in her purple "World's Greatest Sister" shirt, Hello Kitty panties, pink and leatherette boots, and a crumple of farmer pants at the ankles, as she innocently watched her sisters run up and down the sidewalk while she tried to navigate her way over the curb to join them.

Nothing is more comical than catching someone with their pants down!  On a toddler, it couldn't be more cute either.  Now, what were we talking about? Lol

Oh, and the day ended with a Serenism.  We were coming home from our late night meeting last night and Mike was using the van's rear sprayer to clean the back window of the van so he could see.  Evy heard the sound and, since we don't use that feature often asked, "What was that?"  Mike turned the sprayer on again and we all saw a stream of water running up the back window of the van while the rear wiper cleaned it off.  Seren answered the question matter of factly, "Evy, the car is just peeing and wiping it's bottom."

Onion and Mushroom Soup

Based upon the recipe I posted earlier, this is what I made as shown in the photos.  I started the recipe off right with onions then added some mushrooms I had to use up.  I also added some garlic and, unfortunately, added a bit of wine that was turning the wrong way.  Thankfully I caught it in time before I added more and a Pinot Noir along with some Sherry bailed me out.  Of course, I didn't add the sugar or corn starch.  The soup was topped off with my not so fluffy bread I made yesterday. So, how did it turn out? Pretty good after all :)

I had the same soup as everyone else, but topped it directly with shredded Swiss.  Awesome!

White Bread

Yup, my oven was not warm enough yesterday.  I warmed it up well today and the dough rose real nicely.  Now, Evy will try it and let me know how it turned out :)

The verdict is in: It's a hit!  Evy said, "It's the best bread I ever had. You always make the best bread, Mama."  You just can't get a better  compliment than that!

Dinner Tonight

Is Onion Soup Gratiné.  I've made this before and it was absolutely awesome!  Happy to make it again.  I will be using my failed bread from yesterday as the floater on top with the cheese.

Speaking of bread, I am retrying yesterday's recipe and the dough is currently in a warm place for its first rise. We'll see how it goes!

I messed up...

...the white bread.  It didn't rise.  I think it's because the oven wasn't warm when I stuck it in to rise.  Also, I overlooked the step where I was to oil the dough, which would give it elasticity to rise.  I'll try it  again today.  Despite the fact that it didn't rise, my husband absolutely loved it!

I didn't mess up on low carbing though and it seems the weight is dropping off.  I wore a dress yesterday that I haven't worn in 6 weeks and it is slightly loose whereas it used to fit before.  I haven't weighed in almost a month.  Xander has a doc's appt this Friday, so I'll weigh in then.  BTW, the artichoke dipped in melted brie w/truffles last night was absolutely HEAVENLY. I'm out of artichoke, which makes me sad, but I'm not quite out of brie, so I got to figure out where I will be using it soon ;)

White Bread

This is what I am making for the family tonight.  I've tried it before and it is one of my favorite breads (theirs too). 

Dinner tonight will be leftovers served with fresh baked bread.  My dinner will be Chicken w/artichoke, which I am serving with melted brie w/truffles.  I just love the Atkins diet! And low carbing in general :)

Marinated Chicken w/Spiced Pears, Rice, and Artichokes

That's what we had for dinner. The kids loved it!  Of course, I just had chicken with the artichoke.

As you can see, I marinated the chicken pieces instead of using the whole chicken.  I made the rice almost as directed but I think I put too many carrots in there (although it was great). The pears were supposed to be made with cranberry juice cocktail, but no one here will drink the rest of the juice but me (and it's off limits for me for now), so I used grape juice and added a few tablespoons of lemon juice to give it the tart flavor.  The kids couldn't get enough!

I made the artichokes by sprinkling salt, garlic, and lemon juice over them, then steaming until the leaves detached easily.

Here's an idea of what I am making tonight

I'm basing my chicken on this recipe a bit.  I'm actually using my own marinade for the chicken and using leg quarters since this recipe requires nothing special with the chicken other than stuffing it with rice.  So, I'm making the rice and serving it with the chicken, along with the poached pears.  No one at my house (besides me) likes giblet gravy, so I'm not going to make that, but I have posted it in case you'd like to.  I am also preparing artichokes to go with it and they will be steamed with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic.  If I had capers, I'd serve those on the side in a sauce of olive oil, lemon, and garlic...but I don't.

I have made the recipe before and it was very good.  Looking forward to making it again.

Gifts from Grandma

It's amazing how something that looks so hideous can make a girl feel like a beautiful princess.  Most of the time it's costume jewelry.  This time it's hair extensions.

About the recipes, I meant to warn you all yesterday that Fridays are my date nights with the kids, so we do something easy like leftovers.  I had a couple slices of salami with a slice of cheese (smoked gouda).  Tomorrow night I plan on a whole dinner of chicken, rice, and spiced pears.  Of course, I'll only be having chicken and I plan on serving artichoke with it. 

I'll be posting the recipes tomorrow with pics.  The chicken recipe is supposed to be a whole chicken, but I'm using leg quarters.  The chicken is supposed to be stuffed with the rice and then rubbed with butter and salt.  I don't believe in preparing meat without garlic plus I had some extra wine that was beginning to spoil on hand taking up room in the fridge so I'm marinating the chicken in it with galic and salt.

Herbed Orange Rice

This is what I made tonight.  Doesn't look as pretty as the Good Housekeeping pic because the orange just would not separate into sections.  I didn't have celery to add to the recipe, but I don't think that altered the flavor much.  I also used fresh squeezed OJ since I have oranges coming out of my ears.

So, how did it taste?  Interesting.  Tart from the fresh squeezed oranges.  However, it was really good when paired with soy sauce and downright awesome when a bit of herbed white vinegar was drizzled upon it (homemade w/ tarragon, sage and like spices).  I'm low carbing so I only had a tiny sample of each flavor.

What did I have for dinner? The last piece of Saucy Chicken with a salad.  Very yummy :)

Here's what I am making tonight

Herbed Orange Rice

Saucy Chicken

Well, the recipe turned out great!  I made some changes though.  Of course, as a low carber, I didn't add the sugar and I didn't use catchup (however people wanna spell it). Oh, and I used whole leg quarters because that's what I had on hand.  So, this is what I put in:

Chicken
1 cup vegetable juice
Soy sauce
Garlic powder (I HAVE to have garlic)
Ginger

I browned then cooked until the chicken fell apart.  It is pictured here with Brie with truffles and cucumber.

The sauce was 11g net carbs altogether and the chicken picked up the flavor but left the sauce in the pan, so net carbs would be about 2g per leg worse case scenario.

My first recipe I am trying

So, I have faltered on my diet a bit.  Not enough to gain weight, but enough to stall.  Anyways, I figured that I am probably getting bored with my food choices, so I have decided to pick out new recipes to try.

I have a carb loving family, so I am warning you that some recipes I will try may be unacceptable for low carbers.  Other recipes I may de-carb or change a bit to be more affordable or tasty.  At any rate, when I try a recipe, I'll try to put a before picture so you know what the original was and then an after picture with an explanation of what I did to it and how it turned out.  Sound good?  Okay, here's the first one: Saucy Chicken Wings taken from my favorite cookbook: Good Housekeeping All American Cookbook.

Little Miss Tinkle Panties...

...fell asleep on the toilet :)

Today's Serenisms:

This morning: "I have diahrrea and it's not coming out!"

This afternoon she was playing I Spy: "I spy with my little eye something green!" she says.  We guess everything there is to guess from grass to lights, so I finally ask, "Your boogers?"  She says, "No, they're black."

It's 4:30PM and I'm having my first cup of coffee...

Yes, it's been that kind of day. Early this morning, my 2 year old Penny was praying to the porcelain Budda for the first time in her life (well, that she can remember).  Here I woke up thinking it would be another potty trip for lil Miss Tinkle Panties. As I lifted her up onto the potty, I noticed she was wet and then I woke up enough to notice the smell and the chunks (tmi?).

Anyways, I ran a shower for her, undressed her bed, remade her bed, dressed her, started a load of laundry, went back to bed, then got up for a whole other cycle of the same. Again, and again, and again.

This sounds terrible, right?  It is...but I learned something about Penny that I never knew before.  Well, maybe I learned a couple of different things.  One, she may be two, but she has a maturity level well beyond her years, maybe that of an 8 year old.  My other girls threw colossal tantrums because they were absolutely mortified their first time.  Penny was different.  Oh, she was a bit disturbed by the whole experience, as anyone would be, but once I showed her how to lean over the toilet, she did just fine on her own. 

This is when I learned that she has the sense of humor of an 8 year old as well.  In fact, I'm probably going to have to admit that my sweet, little, innocent, Pennies from Heavens is nothing other than a SICK, TWISTED, LITTLE FREAK hiding behind kissable chubby cheeks.  Why would I ever say such a thing about this beautiful child???  Because, even though this little girl was going through a puking spell brought on by some sort of food poisoning, she would get up between puking spells to sit by the toilet, look at me and say, "Try again?" then make pretend retching sound in the toilet bowl.  Then she'd look at me and grin the biggest, mischevious, ear to to ear grin!  She was getting a kick out of it!  Then she'd actually puke.

Now that I type this, I really should have seen this coming.  This is my child who used to give me heart attacks when she was just 9 months old because she would fake having a seizure.  Seriously!  One day I looked at her and she started making spasms with her body and I watched in horror wondering if I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing.  When she was done, she'd give me that same evil grin.  She never did have a real seizure.

Between her and Seren, I'm in for it.  At any rate, she is better now and we are all exhausted from being up all night (morning?).

Update: Since I first posted this, I learned that Penny has been passing nasty raunchy farts and saying in her sweet little voice, "Daddy did it! Daddy faaaaarrrted!"

A dinner at our house...

Tonight was a great example of a typical dinner at our house and for once I wasn't too stressed out to appreciate it. 

Mike made an awesome Mexican dinner that I was too exhausted to cook myself (spent all day trying to clean up after 3 little disasters, oops, disaster makers).  The dinner was tacos, beans, and mexican style rice, which was very good (well, I just tried the taco meat).

Anyways, dinner started off with Seren sneezing all over the food (I already had my bowl of meat and it was out of range, haha!).  Then Earl, our gray cat (Earl Grey) tried to make his way up to the center of the table via climbing up to the sink, then poising next to the fishbowl to jump on the table.  Mike had the squirt bottle handy to discourage him from ever coming back into the area this evening.  This was when I told him about the picture I had taken of Earl making friends with the fish today (pictured here). 

Penny is making dinner coversation very interesting now that she can talk.  At this point she exclaims, "A squirt it, a fishbowl, a Earl!" in the broken English of a two year old.  Seren says, "I'll take the squirt bottle, Daddy, and watch out for Earl beacause he might eat the fish!"  Mike assures her that such extreme measures need not be taken as the cats are too intimidated by the water in the fishbowl to be interested in fishing.  He explained that Grimmy tried but decided against it when his nose got wet.  I interjected that Earl would really like to get the fish but seems to only go as far as savoring the fishwater, or fish "tea."  Mike comments that it's disgusting considering the main ingredient of fish tea.  Seren pipes in, "Poop!"

At this point, Penny asks me, "Mommy, a help you a burrito?"  "Do you need help making your taco?" "Yes!" she says, so I make her a taco.

Mike launches into a different topic of conversation, more scientific than the contents of fish "tea,": Why Pink is Not Really a Color.  Evy is mortified.  She seems to be close to giving up all of her hopes and dreams as Mike explains that there is no color of pink in the rainbow and that this color is simply a figment of our imaginations, something that we think we see.

Penny breaks in, "Mommy, a burrito?"  "You want another 'burrito'?" I ask.  Penny grins, "Yes!"  So, I grab another tortilla and begin to make her another taco when she says, "A Meeeee help you make a taco!"  "You want to make it yourself?"  "A make it MYSELF!" she says.  I give her the plate back. 

After being fully devasted by the truth of the color pink, Evy is happy to have a change in conversation and is inspired by Penny's new taco to request more tortillas and ice cream -oops!- sour cream for herself.  Penny realizes something is missing on her plate and immediately requests (demands excitedly), "Arse cream!?"  I would normally correct her and enunciate ICE cream, but Mike handled it by responding, "SOUR cream?"  She nodded, and as Mike reached for a scoop for her she dumped her cup of water in her plate.  That was when I decided to disappear and write this all down to share with you folks!

Bon Apetit!

So I weighed in today...

...and I lost an entire pound in a month! Lol, what do I expect for dragging my foot off of the wagon?  Oh well, at least I lost something.  On the bright side, my tight pants are fitting better.  I suspect that, even though I didn't lose more than a pound, my body is moving stuff around like dropping some fat in exchange for muscle.  Plus, it's possible I am retaining a pound or two of water right now since it is about that time for me.  So, I am treating myself to a Ceasar salad and soda water for brunch.  Nose to the grind...

Oh, and by the way, we are down to one goldfish.  This guy seems to be a happy clam so far.  May have to buy another school of fish to see if any survive so he has a buddy.

Gonna be a busy day for me...

...actually, a busy week.  Today is my day to clean (and declutter).  I have aapointments the rest of the week.  A couple are doc's appts, a check-up for me and Xander.  I can weigh in at both.  I've been dragging my foot off of the anti-carb wagon, so I'm just hoping I didn't gain anything the last couple of weeks.  My first weigh in is tomorrow.  At least my old clothes are still loose, so the only direction I can go is down if I keep at it.  The last couple weeks are a good preview of what maintaining will be like: being mostly good with a bite and splurge here or there in the carb department.  I can live with that.  It's just hard to cut back between now and then to shed the extra poundage that came with overdoing it.  But that is what makes success taste that much sweeter :)

Now, off for one more cup of coffee and to get started on my chores.

I was trying to watch the halftime show...

...tonight when I got home.  Well, really I was just trying to watch the 12 min video of Madonna's part on SBNation.com.  I guess 12 minutes of peace is too much to ask for. 

While I was watching this, the kids were supposed to be making their beds or cleaning up their room so they can lay down their mattresses and make their beds (we have portable mattresses for the kids that stack to save space during the day).  You think this would keep them occupied the whole 12 minutes.  Well, it does, but the problem comes in when they think this should keep me occupied as well.

From the very start, Xander needed to be fed and swaddled.  I let him watch Madonna with me.  Two minutes in, Evy, our informer, breaks in with, "Seren won't..." (insert whatever Seren is not doing here).  I tell her to leave me be until the show is over and go back to do what she was told.  A minute later, Seren comes in to whine that she needs to change.  Leave me be until it's over.  A minute later, Penny comes in to tell me her eye hurts.  I wet my finger and wipe her eye as I keep one of my own on the show.   Not long after that, Seren comes back in to whine about her clothes and I shoo her off.  A couple minutes later, Penny takes a nose dive off of a stool.  THAT deserves my attention.  I pause my YouTube to console her and drop her back off into her room.  I warn everybody to just let me have a couple more minutes until the show is over.  I unpause show.  A minute later, Seren comes in to whine about her clothes.  I shoo her away.  A minute later, Evy interrupts to tell me she is done.  A minute after, my show is over.  A minute after that, everyone's needs are addressed and there is a chorus of crying as everyone is put to bed not wearing the clothes they wanted to wear or with the blankets they wanted to sleep with.

I am really hoping they stay in bed all night...*sigh*

We have new pets...

...in addition to our kittens we got in October, we now have new goldfish.  My husband insisted that it would be good for our girls to have goldfish.  I assured him that Grimmy and Earl, our kittens (now half grown), would agree with him.  I warned him that our older cat, Thissy, may just hide under the bed for a week once she has discovered their presence. 

Personally, I can't say that I'm terribly excited to have 5 more little creatures to clean up after or take care of.  I can hear my readers say, 'But goldfish are simple and contained.  They're really easy.'  My answer to that would be that cactus are simple, contained, and easy also, but I've never had one survive in my care.  I'm pretty sure my children survive only because I'd be arrested if they didn't.  Plus, like cats, they kind of fend for themselves.  I'll I need to do is keep them away from the street and throw a bowl of chow their direction once in awhile.

Anyways, I really did try to talk my husband out of the purchase of goldfish yesterday.  However, since the bowl, gravel, peek-a-boo hideout, and fish food (to feed our live cat treats) only cost about $15 altogether, I gave in. 

As we made our way to the cash register at Walmart, I envisioned what the future of these poor fish would be at our house.  Of course, I envisioned Grimmy and Earl overcoming their fear of water to chase fish in the bowl rather than chase the bugs attracted to the light of the TV as we tried to watch a movie.  To me, that right there made the fish a good investment. 

I had other visions too.  One of which was the future of the fish if Penny decided to play with them.  I can see it now: Penny takes ownership of the fishbowl from off of the counter and walks it on over to the kitchen, splashing the water every which way.  Then, realizing the bowl is empty, holding it up under the ice dispenser at the refrigerator and overfilling the bowl with ice and water the way she does with her water cup.  I can also see her pouring the contents of the bowl into some other container, back and forth, just as she does when she gets her hands on two cups when one contains her drink.  And, if she's anything like Seren, I could see the fishbowl making it all the way into the bathroom.  Will the final destination be the bathtub or the toilet?  Either way, I'd better have the number for Roto Rooter. 

This was all running through my head as I carried the fish in a bag, in my hand, trying to keep it out of reach of Penny who kept running up to it and clapping her hands around it on each side like it was a baloon she was trying to pop.  The thought occurred to me that maybe the fish wouldn't make it to the checkstand alive.

We did make it to the checkstand though. As we waited, I evaluated the contents of our cart: 2 large packs of beer (found on sale), snow saucers, and goldfish with all of their necessary accesories.  With this being a Walmart checkstand and SuperBowl being so soon, I kept trying to think of an appropriate redneck joke as I held the goldfish out of the reach of a dodging Penny and collaborated with Seren on what their names would be.

In the midst of this, we got a wiley cashier who was either too intelligent or too oblivious to be working at Walmart.  As she was scanning the alcohol, she asked who was buying it.  We both indicated that Mike would be and she asked for his identification.  After she saw his, she asked to see mine also because I look under 40.  She seemed as if she was teasing (dry sense of humor?)  Not that I care whether I'm carded or not, but when I have my hands full trying to pacify 3 small children, who were both clamoring for the goldfish and for their lunch, I couldn't help but be a stinker and tease her in return that since I'm not making the purchase, I don't have to provide my ID.  She did explain that I should feel flattered that she thinks I'm under 40 and said something about it being policy to card everyone in the party with the person making the purchase who looked under 40 to be sure the alcohol is not being purchased for underage persons.  She said that if we didn't have our little ones with us, then she'd probably insist on it.  Asked her that since we do have them and they look under 40, would she be carding them too?

As we left, Mike tried to explain that she had a dry sense of humor and was trying to pay me a compliment by saying I look under 40.  I explained to him that I understood that and had even thanked her for that, but if she is going to pretend to hassle a frazzled mom busy with 3 small kids, she'd better expect some light hassling back just because I can.  It doesn't mean I didn't get her joke or her humor, but she obviously didn't get mine ;)

At any rate, we got the fish home safely then picked Evy up at school, got the kids a snack, and made a fun shopping trip to Ikea.  After that, we went to dinner and that is what supplied the inspiration for yesterday's Serenism.

Today's Serenism poll:

What were we doing when Seren said, "The dumping area is already open"?

A) Waiting for the waste management center to open
B) Refilling Seren's to-go cup
C) Impatiently waiting for Seren to get off the pot

Bonus round: can you guess what Seren was referring to when she said:"Look, Evy! I'm squishing it out very, very slowly..."

Answer: We were refilling Seren's to-go cup and she was holding the flap back on her lid when she said that the dumping area was already open. 

Answer to the bonus question: She was opening her after dinner mint.

I went shopping at the thrift store today...

...and so did Seren.  The picture is of what was in her basket: fancy party shoes, party invitations featuring martinis, and a package of drink umbrellas for fancy drinks.  Keep in mind this is my 4 year old daughter who helps herself to Mai Tai dispensers at weddings, sneaks the adult beverage menus out of restaurants, and, more recently, snuck a sip of Mike's shot glass of whiskey and accused him of drinking root beer without sharing.