Menu for the week!

Because I am on my 5th piece of quiche in 15 hours and I LOVE it I thought I would share our menu for the week. Also because I've been "pinning" recipes while eating this quiche. I really love cooking for my family and trying out new things, but I don't love planning the meals or purchasing the ingredients so maybe, if you're like me, this will help in some of your planning. I also randomly took pictures (they aren't the best because they are cell phone pics) of 2 out of 3 meals so far this week. Monday because Matt served me up the BIGGEST bowl of pasta I have ever seen...and I ate it all and a little more. I ran 7.5 miles that day so it was a good meal. I photographed the quiche because I loved it so much. Yum! I'm so weird about food. Is anyone else with me?!

Monday-Chicken, Broccoli (I added diced Red Pepper too) Alfredo 

Recipe:
[Ingredients]
8 oz Fettuccine Noodles
1 bag Broccoli Florets, 12-16 oz 
1 red pepper diced
1/4 cup Butter 
1 lb chicken breast, cooked and cubed 
1 bottle Alfredo sauce, 16 oz 
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese 
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 
1/2 tsp Garlic powder 
1/8 tsp Pepper

In a a saucepan combine broccoli, red pepper, chicken breast and sauce. When it's warm add the butter, cheeses, garlic powder and pepper. Let simmer on low for about 5 minutes. 
Howe easy is that! And it was so good. Since we didn't have fettuccine noodles, I put it over elbow macaroni and it was still delish. (that was a pinterest recipe)


Tuesday-Taco Spinach Salad-no recipe needed! (hopefully)


Wednesday-Ham and Cheese Quiche (I love breakfast for dinner)

Recipe:
{Ingredients}
one 9" deep dish crust pie shell, unbaked- I found it from the freezer section and it came with 2. Make sure you get DEEP DISH!
5 large eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbs butter, softened
salt & pepper 
Dash of nutmeg-I added nutmeg instead of parsley/oregano which it originally called for.
1/2 lb ham, cooked and chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar or other sharp cheese

Make Ahead Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spread softened butter on the bottom of the pie shell.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs slightly. Add the cream, salt & pepper and nutmeg and beat until combined.
Pile the ham into the pie shell. Top with the shredded cheese. Pour the egg and cream mixture over the top.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300 and cook for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Quiche can also be tightly wrapped in tinfoil and refrigerated for several days or frozen for up to four weeks.
Another super easy one!


Thursday-Beef Stroganoff 
Hopefully this one is as good as the others. Haven't made it yet since today is Thursday.
Recipe:
{Ingredients}
1 lb ground beef
1 diced onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery or chicken soup
¾ cup milk
1 pint sour cream

Brown ground beef, onions, and seasoning in skillet. Drain any fat. Add soups and milk, stir until well blended then simmer 10 minutes. Add sour cream simmer 2 minutes. Serve over cooked egg noodles.
Easy!


Friday-Stir Fry
No recipe needed


Saturday-Mexican Lasagna
No recipe needed


And then I'll start again on Sunday! And now, I must go get my gas mask and jump suit on and start deep cleaning this apartment. Ugh! I have been such a slacker with cleaning this place. 

Read more...

So vacations always consist of the beach and FOOD, of course!

D babes-another one of my posts that will probably make you hungry! :-)

Each night, one couple was in charge of dinner, so you could either choose to take everyone out or cook for everyone. First up was Lace and Ty who prepared tacos! Can't go wrong with those and some chips and salsa from Chili's.

Matt and I did our famous....low country boil. Definitely the way to go when feeding a large crowd and it's SUPER easy!


Photographer Luke!



And then the rest of the time Papa treated us to some delish cuisine. :-)

We had Italian at Bella Rosa. AMAZING!!! Parker's first fancy restaurant! I have no pics during dinner, but we did family pics before:



And on the last night we went to The Lobster Pot. AMAZING!!! Seafood and lobster oh my! The lobster bisque was out of this world. That was a good place to wrap up our vacay.


Nene and the NEW GM at Revere Electric!


Stuffed Lobster for Uncle Ty!




Party girl getting tired!


Look at my cute hair. Nene braided it for me in a different way, just about everyday!


Most lunches we packed and took to the beach. One day we ate at The Salty Dog.




I knew I would be able to make an entire post about food! Yes!

Read more...

Cooking with Lane

So our new thing is cooking...well not mine, but Lane's. And honestly, it started several weeks back, but I am just getting to the pics! Whoops!

Sometimes when I start dinner, Matt is not home yet to keep the little bugger occupied and I don't want to just sit him in front of the TV...he sees plenty of that and I don't really want to add any more. So lately, instead of me being frusturated with him "wanting" me during dinner-making time, I've started including him. It never fails: "Hold you momma?" says Lane, the minute I pick up a pan...I had to do something!

I've found a few things to be true while he helps me in the kitchen.
1. He is more apt to eat whatever it is we made.
2. He loves to help and he's a pretty good helper.
3. It sometimes wears off within minutes and he is off to occupy himself somewhere...it's a win-win for everyone!
Here are some pics of us cooking meals to freeze for when Parker arrived.
Spinach Lasagna




Whisking the egg






Stirring the filling


Turkey Meatloaf time!


Fake enthusiasm?




The boy knows how to use a whisk!

Read more...

How's that for colors of the rainbow...

Trying to eat the colors of the rainbow everyday can be hard, unless you make this for dinner:


Sunday night I made Pasta Primavera...another great dinner that incorporates tons of fresh veggies! (stir fry is also good for this too, in fact, these 2 meals show up at our house several times a month!)



We had the red, orange, yellow and green plus some whole wheat pasta enriched with OMEGA 3's. I could feel myself getting healthier ;-) And since we were missing the blue/indigo/violet, I tossed some grapes and blueberries in a bowl and we had that for dessert. Yu-mmmmmy!

It was definitely Lane-approved!

Read more...

Watermelon and Waffles

One afternoon a few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided it would be a good idea to let Lane eat outside. On the lunch menu for the day...waffles with blueberry jelly and watermelon. I'm not a whim kinda person. You've probably gathered that already. It took me 9 months to hit "buy" in my shopping cart that housed my Canon, 2 months after that to finally decide on a camera bag that would work best for me, and don't even get me started when I have to book a hotel room whether it be for a quick overnight stay or a week-long family vacay. I don't make decisions very well. I like to think things through and then do them the best way they play out in my mind. Although the way they play out in my mind doesn't=the way they actually play out...

It started out...let's say just ok. I had just downloaded the FB App back to my iPhone and I settled in a chair to catch-up on some much needed FB time. Lane was sitting perched on the step with his waffle in hand and watermelon at his side.

 He was looking quite cute in all his jelly-faced glory so I decided to fore go the FB time and take out my camera.

All was well....until he started to move from his perch....

and came at me with a mouthful of watermelon and watermelon drool...

he wanted to sit on my lap...

and then proceeded to give me a jelly-lipped kiss. Which I didn't so much mind, but that made it hard to take pictures when he was sitting on me. So when I asked him to sit elsewhere is when it got a little hairy. He thought I meant lay halfway outside the house and halfway inside on the wood floors I just scrubbed on my hands and knees during nap time the previous day.

And then he thought walking under the table looked like fun.

Fun for him...yes...fun for the person that decides to sit on the chair full of jelly...not so much.

This was not turning out as planned.

Needless to say my anxiety of sticky fingers at my lens and on my outdoor cushions got the best of me and we ended our waffle and watermelon lunch inside...strapped in a confined chair where lenses and cushions were far out of reach.

Read more...

Berries on Steroids

Look at our 'berries' this week. They're huge!








I tried to have Lane hold them, but as soon as he got a hold of them they went straight in his mouth!




(The one on the right is a more average size blueberry.)

Read more...

The Igloo

For anyone living under a rock...or that doesn't know me, my family owns The Igloo! (I would love to link to a website, but they're old school!) They don't accept credit cards and still write orders down on a paper tablet. But it works!

So let me describe The Igloo to you. A place to go for home-cooked "fast food." Where the porks are pounded and hand-breaded daily, the fries are cut from REAL potatoes, and the minute you walk in you hear "O baby!" from the ever-familiar Mr. Bob Kessel.

The Igloo was originally founded and run by my Great-grandparents who also lived across the parking lot from the restaurant. It was a family-affair and in fact, my late grandmother's siblings and their spouses STILL run the joint! For some reason, the men, which included my Grandpa George (who's since retired), were the faces behind the service. They would greet you and take your order. And the women in the family did and still do the cooking. With the exception of my great-aunt Judy, she also waits tables there.

This is Stella, although she's not a relation to us, she's been cooking at the Igloo for ages and she still makes the best darn pork tenderloins around! (We tried to get Lane in their with her, but he was being a spook.) Photo Credit: my mom

They used to have car-hop service, but that faded (sad, I know). But they still have a diner-style bar

And some really old-school booths and tables.

The juke box is still rocking, although it doesn't look like it used to! And it doesn't sound like it used to either...hello N'Sync? and Carrie Underwood? Goodbye Buddy Holly and The Supremes.

And the suckers, oh the famous Dum Dum tree. Sure to be what any young child thinks of when coming to the Igloo. Photo credit: my mom

Whether it's a cup of the famous chili or a slice of one of the many pies, you're taste buds won't soon forget.

Oh the pie! I still can't stop thinking about that darn chocolate pie.

Although I constantly complained about going to work there at the ripe age of....oh....10? I didn't see the gift that was given to me. A place to learn work ethic, social skills, math (you should have seen the registers, they didn't calculate change!), and the even greater gift to work along side my Grandfather, who hustled me along to clean those tables, even if one of the tables was occupied by the "older" kids at my school who laughed when I flung a ketchup bottle off the table with the dish rag while I was hurriedly trying to clean it up. The gift to work next to my great aunts and uncles who taught me a thing or 2 about running a business. The gift to earn and budget money, even if it was the minimumest of minimum wage and paid in the form of cash. (old school, right!?) As much crap as I gave my mom for making me work there, I am forever grateful!

Trust me, if you haven't been there, you must go. And if you haven't been there in a while, you must go. And since I will be home in 4 days (again), I must go. Even though I already have been there 2 times in the past 2 weeks.

Read more...