Birthday Party

Tonight Molly is having friends over for her birthday party. I made it easy on myself. I am taking the girls to Moe's, then home for an ice cream cake. I needed to leave the mess someplace other than my home.

That leaves the boys, who have practice. Hubby is in charge of getting them fed.

All done!

Tomorrow night we have a birthday party to go to for my neice. Dinner served!

Sunday, big dinner plans...keep posted.

Have to be home

One of the requirements of cooking homemade meals is that you have to be home- at least for a little while. Last night was a night that the time spent at home was minimal. And, by the way, how does the house get messier when there is not anyong there?

At 4pm, I made grilled cheese for everyone. At 4:30, we hit the road to get everyone to practices, dance lessons, and meetings. At 7:45, I picked up a tray of pizza. Not the most healthy day in our lives. But they are fed.

Tonight, I am skipping my oldest son's baseball game (dad will be there for support) jsut to catch up. Jack needs shoes and spikes and the house needs some order. Salad and tortellini alfredo for dinner. A favorite of everyone.

Is that sun?

The Easter holiday is past and thankfully we did a lot of relaxing and had a lot of family time. I served the later meal of the day and included some friends who are just as close as family. I served a simple dinner and great desserts. Ham, cheezy scalloped potatoes, cole slaw, individual cheesecakes, and charolotte russe. The links for the potatoes, cheesecakes, and charolette russe are posted.

The sun came out this afternoon. I had planned on serving cheeseburg sliders this week and took advantage of being able to eat outside. It was a night when the whole family was home. The kids were playing outside as I cooked and we were able to go on a family walk after dinner.

My plan for the rest of the week:
Breakfast for dinner one night my husband works late
Pasta with alfredo sauce
Leftover buffet

Rain, rain, rain

The weather in the Northeast has not been good. We have been having a rainy and cold spring. Last night, a baseball game and two practices were crossed off the schedule because of the weather. My husband was working late, so at least that created some down time for the kids and me.

I had meatballs and sauce leftover from the party. I made some pasta to go with it. Add a salad and dinner was done.

I like entertaining and I make it work to my advantage. I make sure I prepare extra food and it forces me to clean the house. I love a clean house, I just hate doing it.

I have a lot of food in my refrigerator so it will be leftover buffet for tonight to clean it out.

Whew!

The weekend was a blur...again. Friday we had pizza with friends. Saturday I co-hosted a birthday party for my 30 year old Godchild! His finance and I planned the party to be his favorite things. I decorated with NY Yankee plates and decorations (even though my family likes other teams). We had his favorite foods:

Antipasto
Sausage and Peppers (see my recipe posted under "cookmom originals")
Meatballs with sauce
Hot wing stromboli ( we must get that recipe)
Taco dip
Bruschetta

It was a fun evening.

Sunday, we had lunch and dinner at relatives houses. My sister-in-law came in from South Carolina so we had visiting to do.

My plan for this week:

We have two baseball games, the usual number of dance lessons, softball practice, baseball practices, and meetings....

At today's baseball game we packed sandwiches, salads, and drinks to eat at the game.
Tomorrow, leftover meatballs and I will cook some pasta
Wednesday- grilled fresh mozzarella cheese sandwiches on some good Italian bread
Thursday- Oven fried chicken that I have in the freezer. The recipe is listed under "cookmom originals"

Changes by the Hour

Last night:

Game cancelled.
Husband goes to football meeting.
I drive to birthday party and dance lessons for drop offs.
Grandparents help to clean house for the open house this weekend (I'm sure the lucky buyer will be there this week).
Grandparents refuse dinner out. Still have to feed the rest of us.
Drive to birthday party and dance lessons for pick ups.
Text husband...agree to go out for dinner. His treat!
Grateful for doggie bags.

Tonight:

Husband working late.
I teach late tonight.
Tim to practice (hubby, I think/hope)
Molly to science fair with a friend
Little kids to grandparents, grandparents return them later
I pick up from practice and science fair.
Again, grateful for doggie bags from restaurant last night.

I think tonight is set...but, you never know. I hope all parent's lives are like this sometimes.

Sausage and Fontina

Last night was the usual craziness. I had leftover ham and the sausage and fontina mixture (recipe linked) ready to go. I heated both meat items, made some mashed potatoes, baby carrots, and polenta. The kids mostly had the ham and the adults had the sausage and fontina over polenta. The leftovers can become sandwiches all around.

Tonight:

Tim game at 4:30 (weather permitting)
Meg at a party from 4:30 to 6:30
Molly dance from 5:30 to 7:15
Husband going to game
I'm going to a football parent meeting at 5:30

I had to call in the "Big Guns" for help-- the Grandparents! All kids will be with an adult at some point- the adult is responsible for feeding that child dinner. I can only do so much!

Tacos

With the taco meat already prepared, dinner was easy. All I had to do was cook up some rice and heat the taco meat. On the assembly line, were the taco shells, black beans, grated cheese, lettuce, onion, rice, taco meat, and tomatoes. Everyone got to have exactly what they wanted. I had a taco salad. I'm all cleaned up and it's not even 6:30. Yea.

Already Monday

The weekend was so fast! Yesterday, we hosted a family brunch for Tim and Molly's birthdays. I like to have brunches...they are inexpensive, fast, and clean-up is easy. My menu was:

Ham
Scrambled Eggs
Southern Style Biscuits
Home Fries
Fresh Fruit
Cole Slaw

My Aunt brought a breakfast pizza that had eggs, cheese, pineapple, and ham on top and my mom brought Pistacio Pudding.

I tried a new product with the scrambled eggs; Philadelphia Cooking Cream Cheese. The cream cheese melted nicely into the eggs as they cooked resulting in creamy scrambled eggs. I will make scrambled eggs like this all the time.

After the crowd left, I needed to get some prep ready for this week. This week is busier than usual (somehow I feel like I keep saying that...perhaps I should evaluate what is usual). We have extra meetings and parties this week.

My plan for the week, in no particular order:

Leftover ham sandwiches
Tacos
Sausage and Fontina Sandwiches

on reserve in the freezer: Stuffed Shells, Marinara Sauce, Oven Fried Chicken (all made last week).

I preped the taco meat and the sausage sandwich filling last night. I'm ready and I'll keep you posted.

Easy Night

It's rainy and cloudy and I am grateful that dance was cancelled and the hubby came home early. And I had time to play with one of my cookbooks.

I made two recipes from Margaux Sky's Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings. The first recipe was Red Wine BBQ Sauce that I had planned to serve with the London Broil. I also tried the Marinara Sauce from the book. The marniara sauce is in the freezer for use later. I have stuffed shells and manicotti in the freezer. That is another meal ready to go for a busy day.

The BBQ sauce needed an hour to simmer so you will need to plan ahead to make it. If you would like the recipe, let me know. All I did with the meat was grill it, slice it, add the sauce and mozzarella. I served the sandwiches open faced on some French bread. Roasted asparagus and a salad completed the meal.

It was nice to slow down a little tonight.

Working Late?

My husband said he would be working late tonight. That left me flying solo to take Molly to dance lessons, Tim to practice and the pick up of each child. Hmmmm, what to have for dinner and not drive myself crazy while I was driving the kids around.

Originally I wanted to prepare the BBQ London Broil. Without the driving help of my husband, it was not going to happen. Wednesday's schedule included dance and a baseball game so the London Briol was just not going to work this week. Into the freezer it went.

I decided on offering the family the chicken noodle soup, leftover pizza, and then made buffalo chicken nuggets (from frozen). The nuggets could become a sandwich or salad. That worked out well so everyone ate when it was best for them.

I had time to bake a Sweet Potato Pound Cake. I like to have some desserts in the freezer for times they may be needed. This time of year is active for bake sales and get togethers. If I am in a pinch for time, there is a cake ready to go. I have had the recipe for a while and cannot find the exact one online. Let me know if you would like the recipe. You can use canned sweet potatoes in this recipe to save time.

On the pick up run, I found out that there will not be dance lessons Wednesday, and the game is cancelled. The London Broil came out of the freezer.

This Week's Plan

I used some time on Sunday to get some prep done for the week and beyond. Two new dinners for this week:

Honey chicken sandwiches
BBQ London Broil

On sunday, I made chicken noodle soup, roasted 4 chicken breasts (for the pizza, soup, and sandwiches) and oven fried chicken legs that I put in the freezer for a later day when needed.

Here's the recipe for the chicken legs:

In a plastic bag, combine 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 2-3 tablespoons of paprika or other seasoning. (I used Emeril's Essence this time.) Pour a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in the bottom of a roasting pan. Dredge the chicken legs in the dry mixture and place in oiled pan. Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, turning the chicken at 20 minutes.

Today we had a showing for our house at dinnertime (maybe they will be the lucky buyers). I was teaching a food lab, Molly had to meet at a friend's house to work on a science project, and Tim had a CCD function. My meal solution: the family came to our food lab. Home cooked meal without the rush at home.

The rest of the week is the usual dance lessons and baseball practices/games. Tomorrow my husband is working late so I'm flying solo with the kids. I will keep you posted...

Make Your Own Pizza Night

This Sunday, instead of a big "traditional Sunday dinner", I was having some friends over and wanted to have more of something fun. One of the friends requested chicken soup. Make your own pizza was the main course and chocolate covered fortune cookies were our dessert (I could not resist buying the fortune cookies when I saw them).

As things change...My girlfriends ended up going for a drink or two (or in their case, 12)in the afternoon. They did not drive to my house for dinner. I'm glad they were safe. We did the pizza for the family and gave an extra pizza to one of our neighbors.

The combinations of pizzas were:

Just regular sauce and cheese, some with pepperoni (the kids)
Chicken alfredo: jarred alfredo sauce, roasted chicken, rosemary, red onion and mozzarella
Shrimp and hot pepper on top of red pizza sauce and mozzarella
A mixture of sauces, olives, capers, artichoke hearts, capicola, and goat cheese.

We had great family time at the table.

Back to blogging

Life sometimes gets in the way of some things. In this case, it was my blogging. We have had some challenges as a family and the blogging could not continue. But, now I'm back...in case anyone was missing me.

Every once in a while, it is necessary to revaluate your organization in work, family, etc. Recently, I made a change to how I plan my meals. I usually do meal planning on Wednesday evening, constructing my grocery list as I plan. I kept that part- it relaxes me. Here's the change: I used to assign a meal to a day based on our family calendar. Not a bad idea. However, I was making too much food and I hate waste (even though my familiy eats leftovers). There was just too much food in the refrigerator. Instead, I have been making a list of the meals that I have ingredients for or ingredients I buy. If my husband has to work late...the meal plan can change. I have a little more flexibility and sometimes I have ingredients for meals the next week.

One change that comes with every spring is planning food around baseball practices and games. Spring is a busy time in our family. My oldest son will play on three baseball teams, my youngest son on one team, and the youngest girl is trying softball this year. Both of my daughters dance and it is recital time.

I try to plan meals that can be eaten at the baseball field. Veggies and dip, wraps and sandwiches come to the field often. I try to bring food or snacks as often as possible so that we don't eat the pizza, hot dog, slushie, candy, etc from the concession stand. Please don't get me wrong-- I do sometimes plan on the concession stand.

I will start to post the weekly meal plan and will make comments about the day and how the meal went. Keep posted for the recipe links and I'm going to start adding more of my original recipes. Lastly, I plan on blogging about other adventures. That leaves me a lot of leeway for rants and fun... keep posted and let me know you are there!