Whole Grain Waffles

These are good, healthy waffles. Not nearly as good as the pancake recipe I recently found, but this will be our standard waffle recipe until I find a better one. (and yes, I'm open to suggestions if you have a great recipe to share) These have such a strong cinnamon aroma that Mike asked me 3 times if I put apples in the batter. He obviously associates cinnamon with apples!

Whole Grain Waffles
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons wheat germ

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch fine salt

2 large eggs (I used 1 egg and 2 whites)

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (I didn't use it, didn't miss it)

1/4 cup peanut or walnut oil (I used canola)

Preheat a waffle iron to medium-high. Whisk the flour with the oats, sugar, wheat germ, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then add the milk, butter, and oil.

Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon, to make a batter. Take care not to over work the batter, it's fine if there are a few lumps.

Pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup of batter per waffle (it depends on the size of your waffle iron) and cook until the outside of the waffle is crisp and inside is cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. (The time varies depending on the size and spread of a waffle iron). Serve warm with maple syrup, powdered sugar or applesauce. Repeat with remaining batter.

Tip: keep waffles warm in a 200 degree oven. You can actually eat a warm breakfast WITH your family for a change!

Random tips for your Labor Day BBQ

Food storage:
Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Wrap celery in aluminum foil in the fridge and it will last for weeks.

To keep potatoes from budding, keep an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

Cooking/Baking:
Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza - Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No more soggy microwaved pizza.

Easy Deviled Eggs - Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done - easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting - When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread - To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Measuring Cups - Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Other interesting tips:
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Newspaper weeds away - Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for- get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass - Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

Reducing Static Cling - Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Reopening envelope - If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner - Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Foggy Windshield - Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth! (you can also hit the A/C button on your vent - even with the heater on in the winter - and it will reduce the moisture in the car so the fog evaporates)

Flexible vacuum - To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Pest control:
No More Mosquitoes - Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away - To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Goodbye Fruit Flies - To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2 with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants - Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Phoenix Children's Museum

Today we went with our mom's group to the new Phoenix Children's Museum. It was amazing! It's in an old high school, so it's 3 stories high and has seperated rooms with different themes and activities. There were all of these hands-on, child-sized sensory things for kids to touch, feel, and experience. Within the hour, I was so overstimulated that I stopped with the "Look over here - WOW! Check this out...Hey guys...did you see this cool thing?" and had a seat to just observe. If I was getting myself worked up, I can't imagine how the kids were feeling. I was just so excited with all of the fun stuff there was to see and do - I was like a kid myself! I wish it was in the budget to get an annual pass to this place - maybe next year. It's kind of beyond words, so I'll just narrate some of the pictures I took.

There was a child-sized grocery store with mini-carts, full aisles of food and a stock room in the "back"



Complete with a scale with beans and scoops



And 2 full check out counters (Ryan was checking Kaylin out...it was hilarious)



A kitchen, where Kaylin made "pizza" in a "wood-fired oven" (behind her)



An area with tons of contraptions to drop balls through



A designated area for the under 3 crowd with houses and slides and toys and all sorts of balls and stuff (this is Kaylin standing in the flower bed of one of the houses)



There was an ice cream cart with scoopers and cones

A place with musical things (this picture is hard to see, but there are pedals and levers for the kids to press and it bangs pots and pans, symbols and drums on the wall above.

And while Ryan made a monster mask-turned-hat...



...Kaylin added to the building covered in buttons (she loved putting the paper clips through the holes of the buttons...the things this place came up with for their motor skills was awesome!)...



...and painted a house that changes color every day...



...getting paint everywhere, including in her hair



There was an area with sand and rollers and things to "move" the sand (who needs tools when you have your whole body, Kaylin?)



And an area for kids to "drive" (or be chauffeured, as the case may be)



We spent over an hour in this next section...there was an old car and motorcycle for the kids to climb on (and fill with "gas") and a HUGE contraption to race wooden cars through.



We stayed much longer than most people. I brought us lunch, so after taking two food/rest breaks, the kids continued playing and were so well behaved, I didn't see a need to leave! We finally left just after 1:00 and the place was nearly empty. All of the other moms from our group were long gone. We will definitely be returning - Ryan wants to go tomorrow, but I told him we have to save up enough money to come again. We got over 1/3 off with our group rate, so maybe I'll try to get another group together sometime soon? (Local friends...wanna join us? I'll probably set it up for a Monday or Friday so Ryan won't be in pre-school)

300th post and learning that Ryan needs responsibility

First, this is my 300th post. Woo hoo! I realize my 200th post was just in May, so yeah, I've been a blogging fool lately. And what's crazy is that I had 10,000 hits less than a month ago and I'm just a few hundred away from already being at 15,000!!! It took me 7 months to get to 10,000 and only ONE month to get another 5,000. I must be posting something interesting...someone out there is reading what I have to say!

Moving on...I'm feeling a little nostaglic. I had "my girls" over for a play date today. Three of these five girls were among my very first friends in Phoenix and we figured out today that we've known each other almost 10 years! We started a Bible study and all of us were single (Mike and I were "just friends" at the time) and there was only one child between us, Kelsey, who was 4. She's now a freshman in high school and there are a slew of kids in the group. Over the years, a few girls came and left the Bible study, but this is our new core. Unfortunately, we live all over town and are busy with life, so now we hardly see each other. But I'll always love my girls! (This is the group, minus 4 kids who were in school):

And Sunday, you got to see me at 20, now you can see me at 2. How cute was I???

Last, a picture from this morning. We had a big storm last night, which brought in unusually cool weather, so the kids wanted to play on the swingset after breakfast. I was taking too long doing the dishes, so Ryan decided to help Kaylin put her shoes on. Notice Kaylin lounging back, watching him wait on her hand and foot. (pun intended!)

I've realized something in the last couple of days: Ryan desperately needs responsibility. When I don't give it to him, he takes on certain tasks by himself, often getting in trouble. I noticed that this morning...I was still in bed and heard Kaylin emerge from her room before 7:00. (a big no-no...she knows to wait until I come in to get her) I heard Ryan's door open, Ryan gasped, told her to go back to bed and attempted to usher her back to her room, Kaylin refused, Ryan tried picking her up and carrying her, Kaylin screamed...it was not what I wanted to wake up to. But I started seeing that, all day yesterday, Ryan was trying to "help." I'm constantly telling him that this or that is "not your job...it's Mommy and Daddy's job..." yet I've encouraged him to work things out with his sister on his own to avoid tattling.

Have I set this poor kid up for failure? "Try to work it out on your own, but if Kaylin gets mad at how you handle it and screams bloody murder, everyone gets in trouble." I hear him negotiating with her all the time, desperate to get her to comply so he gets his way, whether it's for her benefit or not.

So all day today, I asked him to help me. With everything. And I think it really worked...he felt like he was able to do big-kid things, I felt like I de-throned him from trying to be the third parent in the house to Kaylin, he felt important, Kaylin didn't get annoyed that he was doing things for her that she wants to do herself (because she is simultaneously becoming SUPER independent all of a sudden) - it was a good day.

A love/hate relationship with naps

I love naps. LOVE them! Because I love sleep. But when a good nap makes me toss and turn and get up out of bed after laying there listening to my husband snore for over an hour and a half, well, I stop loving them quite as much.

After eating too much at my birthday dinner last night, I stayed up way past my bedtime, high on chocolate souffle. This morning, the lack of sleep resulted in a snippy mom and an annoying wife, so after church, I laid down for two hours a few minutes to recharge. I slept so soundly that my arm was numb and tingly when I woke up...I feel asleep on my right side and didn't move a muscle.

And here it is, 12:12am AGAIN...and I can't sleep.

In my boredom, however, I came across this blog post that had me trying so hard not to laugh out loud that I was snorting to keep from waking up the whole house. Yes, I'm overtired and a bit giddy, but it's seriously funny stuff. Check it out.

What are 3 things you wish you'd known at 20?

I got this idea from this post and it really got me thinking. Looking back, I had a pretty level head at 20 (no excessive debt, I didn't drink, and it was around that time that I finally started attending my classes at Kansas State and bringing up my grades), but I've grown an awful lot since then. **I scanned a picture of "1996 Katie" for your amusement viewing pleasure. Oh, to have that natural hair color again...

So what would you tell your 20-year-old self if you could go back in time? I'm really curious...I can't wait to see what you guys come up with. Don't be shy! I want everyone to join in on the fun. Here are mine:

1. Stop letting your ex-boyfriend back into your life. He's not worth your time and good news -you won't be the last person you know to get married.

2. Buy a car already...by leasing you're just throwing your money away every month. Someday you'll enjoy not having a car payment!

3. Quit eating cereal and Pasta Roni for dinner. Make a real meal - you're not doing yourself any favors. And wear clothes that fit you...I don't care if "baggy is in," you look frumpy.

Okay, now it's your turn. What would you say to the 20 year old you?

Pink Piggy Pancakes

Friends, I found it. The perfect pancake recipe!!! I've looked high and low and I think these taste restaurant-quality. The recipe, coupled with my new Food Network tip that if you overbeat pancakes to get all the lumps out, they'll be tough. *THAT'S why my pancakes are never fluffy?!?!?* Being a semi-perfectionist has it's downfalls...

This morning, Ryan asked for red pancakes and it got me thinking: I remembered a pancake recipe in the Deceptively Delicious cookbook that had pureed beets and, sure enough, we got beets in our basket at the produce co-op recently.

Hmmm...if I added more liquid (the puree) I'd have to add more dry ingredients, right? So while I was at it, why not sneak in some flax seed?

By the time I was done, I had complicated the recipe up quite a bit, but made it significantly healthier. And for those of you who like heathy, especially when it's delicious...THIS is for you. Here's what I came up with. Also, I divided the original ingredients list by 2/3 because our family isn't as big. (You can easily omit the beets and flax seed and I think that would keep the consistency. If not, add a little milk at the end.)

Pink Piggy Pancakes

2 eggs
1 cup nonfat, plain yogurt
1.5 cups milk
4 T. vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup pureed beets
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal (fresh ground seeds is healthiest - I use our coffee grinder)
2 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt

Mix wet ingredients first, then stir in the dry ingredients. DO NOT beat out the lumps to much or the pancakes will be tough. If the mixture is too thick for your taste, gradually add milk to thin it to your liking. Cook on a hot, sprayed griddle until golden brown. The leftovers freeze very well.

Yields: 12 pancakes (feeds my hungry family with a few leftover)

To make the piggies, make one large pancake and two smaller ones. Cut on of the smaller ones in 1/2 for the ears and use 2 chocolate chips for the eyes and 2 for the snout. (I got this idea from the Mom Advice blog - click here for her other kid recipes)

A buttermilk tip: if you make the original recipe that I linked to above, but don't have buttermilk, for every 1 cup of milk, you can add either 1 T. fresh lemon juice OR 1 T. white vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes before adding it to your mixture. When I know something calls for buttermilk, I always do that first and let it sit while I get out the rest of the ingredients.

My windows have been mistreated

I would hardly call these "window treatments," but I can't wait to show off what I've been doing over the last week.

If you're looking for something cheap-ish, quick-ish and easy (I don't sew, so these were right up my ally) to do to your windows, this is it. Last weekend, I noticed some cornice boxes in my friend Cathy's kitchen. She briefly told me how she did them and I was on a mission. As early as the next morning. They were all done a week later!

Saturday: I bought the fabric and batting

Sunday: I spent an hour at Lowe's (with a total of 7 men working together to help me...they just love a damsel in distress who's doing a project involving wood)

Sunday afternoon: Mike connected the side pieces to the longer pieces

Monday: Cathy came over with her staple gun to help me attach the fabric to the wood

Friday: my mom brought over some extra chocolate brown fabric to add some detail (and to cover up a cutting error...) to the downstairs cornices

Saturday: Mike hung them all up

The process of making these seemed really quick and easy, likely because I never spent more than an hour doing any one step. Materials include: wood (Lowe's or Home Depot will do all of the cuts for you), L-brackets, screws, fabric, batting, staples for the staple gun. That's it!!!

In my craft room (click on the picture to see the fun stitching)...

In the family room...

A different accent in the kitchen, but similar concept...

If you want to recreate these, measure the width of your window plus about 3 inches on each side for the length of the cornice and cut 2 side pieces that are 3-6 inches wide. (I did 6" and think they stick out a little too much, but Mike had plenty of room to move around with his drill when hanging them) Next, I'm going to use this gray-blue and chocolate brown fabric to do something to our office window...but I need a creative break, so it will be a while. (can you tell I'm into brown???)

Tea for Two

Kaylin got a teeny tea set for her birthday and Ryan helped her set up her first tea party tonight. (PS - she also got a bunch of dress up stuff, hence the tiaras and the tutu) Notice that Ryan was putting his napkin on his lap, which we haven't even started encouraging yet!

Yes, I let my son wear a tiara to a tea party. I must say, however, that I stopped the cross dressing behavior at polishing his nails (despite his begging) 10 minutes before this picture was taken, when I was polishing Kaylin's fingers and toes.

Wanna be Disorganized and Unproductive?

Anyone? Can I get a show of hands???

I'm recently in love with a blog called Simple Mom. A neighbor recently shared the site with me and was feeling overwhelmed by all of the blogs and ideas and websites for moms that are available. But Simple Mom seems to be a one-stop shop. She has great ideas, Christian inspiration, and everything she shares makes sense. It's like having the perfect girlfriend give you all of her tips and tricks.

Her most recent series is "6 Keys to a Disorganized and Unproductive Day at Home." There are 6 separate posts...here's the list with each linked to the more detailed blog. Again, lots of great tips - check them out!

6. Neglect Yourself
5. Overcommit
4. Don't plan your Time
3. Have too much Stuff
2. Aim for Perfection
1. Don't Enjoy your Job

After reading the "Overcommit" post, I felt empowered to decline a recent request to help. If my calendar is free and I don't have much going on that day/week, I generally jump at the chance to pitch in, but that is the EXACT reason so many people tell me I'm overcommitted. So I turned this person down (giving the reason, feeling a little guilty that I'll spend that time at the gym, instead) and you know what happened? She responded with, "Thank you for your honesty, as it turns out, we have plenty of people who are available that morning, so don't feel guilty!" I need to remember that in certain situations, if I'm NOT the one to volunteer, someone else might be motivated to get involved. Something to think about for those of us who overcommit...of course, then I think of the times that there will be 1 or 2 people doing ALL of the work because no one stepped up. Hmmmm. What am I saying? Here I go psyching myself out again. You can't be all things to all people. I'll end on that note.

Baked Oatmeal Recipe

I got this recipe from my blogging friend, Emily, who got it from Money Saving Mom. Healthy, cheap, quick and easy. I tried it this morning with MUCH less sugar than MSM recommended and replaced the oil with applesauce and it was delicious, but still a little too sweet for my taste. Here is what I recommend...

Baked Oatmeal
1 cup applesauce (can substitute with oil or butter)
½ cup sugar
4 eggs
6 cups oats
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups milk

Combine all ingredients in order listed. Pour into lightly greased 9x13-inch pan. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned. Can refrigerate overnight before baking. Serve topped with milk.

Yields: Approximately 8-10 servings.

Sorry, no picture this time...just imagine oatmeal in a baking dish. Can you see it in your head? Good - that's what it looks like!

Healthy Corn Soup with Cheesy Garlic Toast

We're not "soup people" around here, but I've noticed that many of the frugal bloggers out there make soup. As a meal. I didn't think it would fly with my "where's the meat?" husband, but he loved the Spaghetti Alla Carbonara I made last week and the protein was kind of hidden in that recipe. So I thought I'd try to finally make the corn soup recipe from my meal plan last week, but I wanted to punch it up a bit. It was already packed with veggies and the "cream" base wasn't even cream, but I wondered if I could make it healthier.

I pureed some white cannellini beans for added protein and fiber, plus I reduced some of the liquid because it was too brothy for me. I had planned on trying to make some homemade artisan bread that I have a recipe for, but I cheated and bought some demi baguettes at Costco while I was picking up pictures today. A large bowl of soup and a whole mini-baguette actually filled Mike up. I was shocked.

Healthy Corn Soup

4 cups fresh corn kernels or 2 (10-oz) packages frozen, thawed
2 (15-oz) cans white beans
1 cup nonfat milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced (about 2 cups)
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Put both cans of white beans, 1 cup of the corn and the milk into a blender or food processor, until smooth. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over a medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and zucchini and cook, stirring until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups of corn and the broth and bring to a boil. Add the pureed corn and tomatoes and cook until warmed through, but not boiling. Add the salt and season with pepper.

Cheesy Garlic Toast

1 large baguette

1 clove garlic

2 T. olive oil

1/2 c. shredded parmesan cheese

Cut baguette in half, lengthwise. Toast under the broiler for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, rub with garlic clove and drizzle olive oil. Sprinkle cheese on top and put back under the broiler for another 5 minutes, until the cheese and/or the edges of the bread begin to brown. Watch it carefully...toasted bread turns into burned bread really quickly.

Easy (and CHEAP) Wall Art

The blank wall above my bed has bugged since we moved into this house 2.5 years ago. But today...we have art.

Recently, I fell in love with the idea of adhering 12x12 scrapbook paper to square canvases. When I went in search of the perfect papers, the lady at the scrapbook store convinced me that foam core board would be easier and significantly cheaper than canvas. My friend April scored me some free core board and cheaper became FREE. I even added a letter "R" that I bought for 50 cents on clearance a few months back. I painted it, distressed the edges and it was a perfect addition!

All in, paper, embellishments, spray adhesive and all...this project came in under $12. Check out the cool blue dragonfly at the bottom near the red scroll. I cut him out and put him on top of the dragonfly on the paper in the corner for some dimension.

I painted the edges of the foam core with some gray paint I had lying around, sprayed the adhesive and (not so carefully) stuck the paper onto the boards...

Added the embellishments...

Made a juvenile attempt at gluing string onto the backs of each board and hung them on the wall.

The measurements still are a teeny bit off, but I'm sick of messing with it, so it's good enough for now. I actually may space them out a bit more...they look a little dwarfed above my headboard now that I'm seeing them in pictures.

My next project is to get the stray spray glue off my kitchen table. Then I'm on to making the cornices for my family room and craft room. Pictures of those to come soon!

WFMW - Print blog posts to read later

I have to share this little secret because I don't remember how I lived without it! I have over 60 blogs that I peek at regularly. Yes, I'm serious. I've mentioned before that I get idea overload from all of the amazing bloggers out there - mom ideas, pre-school ideas, frugal ideas, organizing ideas and decorating ideas. Well, well, well...check out my newest idea.

I like to read magazines at the gym, if I'm not in a mood to just completely zone out and let my brain wander to get all of the pent-up thinking out of my head. One day it occurred to me...I could print some of the longer blog posts that I skim through but wish I had time to read and bring them to the gym! So every week or so, I go through and create a Word document and paste the longer posts to print off in one huge 4-6 page reading for the gym. It is SO efficient and I don't feel like I'm missing out on the great tips and ideas that are out there.

I went through most of my favorite blogs and got caught up this weekend, then went into my Bloglines tonight (whenever my husband sees this up on our computer, he thinks it says, "Blogliness" like it's next to Godliness or something!) and there were 75 new posts. No joke. Since yesterday. I spent about an hour reading the short posts, skimming the long posts to see which ones I wanted to read in detail, then deleting, deleting, deleting. I still ended up with about 20 longer posts that I wanted to truly read, so I just copied, pasted, then printed them all off for my 45 minutes on the elliptical in the morning. I love being efficient!

Spaghetti Carbonara

I went to make Spaghetti Alla Carbonara from my meal plan and realized that I had accidentally used the evaporated milk I needed for the new recipe. Hmmm...I also didn't have the heavy cream or half and half as replacement items. I needed to improvise and I'm not one who improvises well!

I remembered a delicious recipe for "Buttered" Noodles in the Deceptively Delicious cookbook that used pureed squash in the "sauce." I combined the two recipes and it turned out delicious! The kids ate all of their dinner (of course, I told them we'd make Monkey Munch if they were still hungry after finishing their plates) and Mike went back for seconds. He was shocked when I told him what was in this meal. He was convinced it was a butter cream sauce that was really fattening! Here's what I came with...

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (with hidden veggies)

1 - 16 oz. package whole wheat spaghetti or angel hair
6 oz. bacon, ham or panceta (I used turkey bacon)
2 eggs (I used 2 whites and one whole egg)
1 cup pureed squash (any variety - cook/steam it first, then puree in blender or food processor - I always have purees in the freezer b/c I use the D.D. book a lot)
1/4 cup milk
1 T. butter
1 cup parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)
1 t. black pepper

1/2 cup peas (optional)

- Heat bacon or ham in a skillet until done.
- Once it is fully cooked and cool enough to handle, dice into small pieces.
- Cook pasta per directions on package.
- In a bowl, beat eggs, squash puree, milk, butter, cheese, pepper, peas and cooked, diced bacon/ham.
- Drain pasta and return to pot. Immediately toss in the egg mixture. The residual heat from the pasta will cook the eggs, yet you can't taste the eggs on the pasta.
- Serve right away.

I know the idea of trusting that the "pasta heat" will cook the eggs may not appeal to some of you, so if you're weirded out by it, either eliminate the eggs or use pasteurized eggs as a substitute. I actually made more spaghetti to use for a recipe later this week and forgot to take 1/2 of the pasta OUT before adding the egg mixture (oops) so this recipe turned out a little drier than it should have. The good news is that it wasn't moist and slimy, making me question that the eggs were cooked. I figure: I'll eat raw cookie dough, so what's the big deal, right? Just don't sue me if you get salmonella. Deal?

They were so quiet...

Whenever the kids are quiet, I should assume something's up. I feel like I haven't blogged about their antics in a long time. It happened pretty often last year and I blogged about it in September, October and November when they really started playing together instead of just near each other. (take a peek at the past posts to see how bald Kaylin was back then...so cute)

Tonight while I was making dinner, the kids disappeared upstairs for quite a while. I went up to tell them that dinner was ready and this was the scene I found on Ryan's top bunk. (you can also see Kaylin doing the "please" face with her hands on her cheeks that I mentioned in the post earlier today)

And after dinner, this was the scene around our kitchen. (one of Kaylin's pigtails is out because she started by pushing Ryan around with the Spiderman mask on...she took it off before I could take a picture)