My Tapestry

See that babe in arms? That's my Uncle Johnny. He passed away yesterday, leaving a legacy of kindness, gentleness, and love of family. He was the last of my grandfather's siblings to pass away, the youngest son in a big, loving, Italian family.

Of course, none of them were perfect, but every single memory I have of these great-uncles and great-aunts is just that: GREAT.

Outbursts of laughter around overloaded tables.

Good-natured teasing and bickering.

Stories of stark but happy childhood.

Bear hugs & kisses until you were gasping for breath.

And yes, food. LOTS and LOTS of food at every single gathering.

OH! THE! FOOD!

Not a bad way to grow up. Not at all.

By now, you all know I'm hopelessly sentimental when it comes to matters of family and legacy. Uncle Johnny's passing has provoked a myriad of memories all rife with emotion today. Anchoring all of those feelings is an overwhelming gratitude, I'm so incredibly grateful for the great big tapestry that both sets of my grandparents' generation wove for me and my generation.

This tapestry has been many things

for many people in our family.

A work of art, giving testament to the family's status and standing in society. A witness, if you will, of that which they have achieved together.

A rich backdrop, giving color, depth, and texture to our collective coming story as new immigrants to this country. Bringing their history to their present.

A thick and stable rug to stand upon, when building a life together. A plush but firm "take your stance" kind of setting point.

A soft landing place, a net of sorts that was wide and secure into which they could fall when hard times rocked them off their feet.

A warm wrap into which they could burrow when life felt cold and brutal.

Today, we mostly think of intricate tapestries as works of art to be hung on a wall. But a true family-woven tapestry wasn't always meant to be just gazed at and admired. Admittedly, we aren't as familiar with the many uses that a hand-woven, artfully crafted tapestry can have in today's world. We don't need one piece to do all those things anymore. We have Wayf@ir for rugs and T@rget for sweaters, right? But if you look back in history, family tapestries had many functions beyond their artisan beauty.

It strikes me that my family tapestry has both beauty and function that is sadly becoming more and more rare in this culture in which we live. I'm proud to declare that I will stay anchored to both families who wove this tapestry before me. I will continue to teach my children well in the art of weaving their rows to grow it strong and beautiful for generations to come.

********************************

Uncle Johnny, say hi to Grandpa Sam for me. Enjoy your reunion and your time to worship Jesus to the strains of heavenly Italian opera with him. You are missed here. All of you.

Allllllll-most Fall {and a recipe!}

Yesterday was a cool and breezy day full of little hints of autumn. Football was on the tv screen. BBE spent the whole afternoon prepping our fire pit and side yard for LadyBug's "end of summer" bonfire with friends. The Boss was working in the master bath, prepping for our big re-do (pictures coming soon) that starts on Tuesday. I had spent all Saturday afternoon filling the freezer with yummy casseroles for those weekday afternoons full of junior high football games and other Mommy taxi duties. Yes, fall is definitely in the air these days!

I was really looking for something easy to make for the family, given that I'd cooked for 4-5 hours straight on Saturday. I knew left-overs one!more!time! wouldn't cut it for the Gang, no matter that I felt wiped out. I also think I might be brewing a cold, so I was pretty motivated to simplify my day. This recipe was JUST the ticket! It's been going around the interwebs in a few different forms, with a few variations. It sounded really delish and easy to pull off so I gave it a whirl for The Gang this Sunday. It felt like just the right "introductory" fall meal. 

True to form, I couldn't just leave the recipe alone, so I'm sharing here what I did. Feel free to make it your own. It was indeed very easy and all The Gang members, including Shaggy and Miss A who joined us for Sunday dinner, gave it a huge thumbs up! I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did. The kids are eating it now, as I type this, for a delicious left-over lunch.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:

 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, in 1-2” chunks

   (or 6 skinless chicken thighs)
2 Tbsp. butter, chunked
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

2 cubes chicken bouillon

1 12 oz. bag frozen mixed veggies, steamed and drained well

Cornstarch and cold water (if needed)
1 roll (10 per pkg) refrigerated biscuits, quartered
Flour to coat biscuits

Directions:

1. Lightly spray a crock pot with baking spray. Place chicken in bottom of crock. Over the chicken, dump the butter, onion, soup, broth and bouillon.
2. Cover crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours. If using frozen chicken, cook on high for same amount of time then reduce to low for the remaining time.
3. Around the 3 or 4 hour mark, add steamed, drained veggies and stir well. Re-cover and allow to cook for an additional hour or two.
4. While you are waiting for serving time, quarter the biscuits and toss them to coat in all-purpose flour.
5. About 30-45 minutes before serving, thicken the mixture with cornstarch and cold water (shaken together well) if it’s too loose and soup-like.
6. Drop flour-coated biscuits onto the top surface of the chicken mixture and cook with lid on for another 30 minutes. (For a single batch of these proportions, you might not need the whole roll of biscuits.) Do not stir!
7. Once the biscuits are puffing and the broth is really bubbling well around them, it''s ready to serve. Be careful, those biscuits are HOT HOT HOT inside! Enjoy this hearty dish with your family!

I'd be interested in hearing what you did to change it up for your family's taste buds. I'm thinking that I might do a combo of white wine and chicken broth, with a dash or two of rosemary or dill added in with the liquids next time for a little added burst of flavor. There's just something about those flavors that really speaks "fall" to me.

Leftovers and the Frugal Re-do

I love to cook. I've shared tons of great recipes here that I've gleaned from friends, family, and other sources. You've shared some of your favorites with me. But one thing about cooking that I haven't tackled much here on the blog is the topic of leftovers. It seems to me that the word brings up a "love them" or "hate them response" among my friends. I'm in the "love them" camp. Because, really, as much as I love to cook, I don't love to do it from scratch every single night. Nor do I really have the time in our busy calendar to do so. To help keep things fresh and interesting, I have a couple ways I like to deal with leftovers.

One of the best things we do here at The Gang's house is our "Leftover Smorgasbord." It's exactly what it sounds like. I empty the fridge (and sometimes the freezer) of the smidges of this and the dribs and drabs of that. I put them all out on the counter and the gang lines up to pick a couple portions to fill their plates. It's kind of a "First come, first served" night and the slowpokes around here have learned that sometimes it's a good thing to live life at a slightly faster pace. Heh.

But the other thing I love about leftovers is a challenge of a complete re-do. I enjoy taking what I have, be it from the fridge, the freezer or some additions from the pantry to make a whole new meal that fills The Gang's bellies and makes them all sigh in satisfaction. This post is to walk you through the most recent, most successful re-do that I did this week.

I made a simple, but amazing pork roast a couple Sundays ago. Man, it was juicy, tender, and full of flavor. Literally ALL I did to prep it was lay it on a bed of thick cut onion chunks in a well-sprayed crock pot. Then I sprinkled the top with garlic powder and pepper. That's IT. This thing was HUGE, so while it was slow-cooking, I was already starting to dream up meals to make with the leftover meat. The pleasant surprise was that I also had at least 4 cups of thick, flavorful pork broth to use. I asked around on F@cebook and got some good ideas for using the broth. Here's what I settled on!

I started by thawing out the 4 c. of rich broth.

To that, I added 4 c. of water, a touch of salt and some olive oil.

(That's my new thing, olive oil in my rice water instead of butter.

Gotta get my healthy fats where I can!)

To the boiling broth & water, I added 2 c. white rice

and 2 c. brown rice. I let it simmer low and slow

until all the liquid was absorbed and the rice

was light and fluffy.

(Truthfully, I could have left it on a tad longer

as some of the brown rice was a little tough.)

Once the rice was up and running, I started a big bowl of these.

You don't HAVE to buy the fancy kind.

But that's how we roll in my kitchen!

Ha.

As the rice cooked and my fancy veggies steamed,

I chopped the freshly thawed leftover pork.

It was really cold but my new Tigger mug

kept my fingers from suffering too much.

The awesome thing about this meal, which by now I think you might have guessed to be Pork Fried Rice, is that I prepped all the ingredients early in the morning while we watched Fox News and hung out in our jammies with our coffee and pancakes.

   

Later, when it was time to assemble the whole kit and kaboodle,

I made sure my griddles were well prepared with this.

I have found this little bottle to be my secret

weapon for AWESOME fried rice.

I forgot to get pics of the assembling,

as there was SO much going on in the kitchen

& immediate surrounding areas at that moment.

Shaggy decided to go from THIS

to THIS!

At the very same time that The Boss and I

were warming the meat on one griddle,

stir-frying the rice on another, and warming the veggies in the microwave.

When everything was sufficiently heated through and blended well 

on our huge griddle and Shaggy was all cleaned up from The Big Shaving,

 I made two wells in the rice and poured in 6 eggs that I'd scrambled lightly.

We let the eggs set up and didn't incorporate them into the rice

until they were almost cooked through.

The Boss gave the whole batch one more big toss around

and brought it to the table. Doesn't that look YUMMY?! 

Everyone had a ball trying the chopsticks that Shaggy

brought home from his trip to Cambodia.

By the end of the meal, both Li'l Empress

and Mei Mei were quite proficient.

But everyone decided that the Congo Bars for dessert

were best eaten with our fingers! YUM.

So, let's make this interactive! You leave a comment with your favorite or most recent leftover re-do. Or with a link to your own blog post like this, sharing a leftover re-do. I'll come by and visit. If you aren't a blogger, share this link on Facebook and tag me with your recipe. Let's share our creativity to help beat the winter dinner rut that so many of us battle. If nothing else, you'll have some fun new reading material for the big snow day that most of the East Coast is bound to have tomorrow.

Can't wait to hear from you all!

Catching Up A Bit

Today is Tuesday, April 16th. We are in Guangzhou, settled into the luxurious and elegant China Hotel (a 5-star Marriott). The place has a bit of a resort/vacation hot spot feel to it - the trees are green and lush, the air warm and humid, and tons of Westerners all around. Many of these Westerners are fellow adoptive parents chasing around multiple Chinese children in multiple ages and stages. It's a very festive feel and today we got to meet in person several of the families with whom I've been connecting via some of the adoptive moms sites on F@cebook. After our medical clearance exam (which Mei Mei passed with flying colors and NO SHOTS!), we ran to W@lmart for supplies and then horned in on a group of folks from Bethany Christian Services and joined them for lunch. Such fun!

While Mei Mei is napping this afternoon I wanted to be sure to back track and document our wonderful adventure on Sunday with Dion. We had requested one more sight-seeing type of event, with something fairly historical or culturally significant but also with a low-pressure, easy-paced tone. Man, oh, man, did he deliver! We had the best afternoon with him, enjoying a little gem tucked away in the heart of Beijing.

We spent the afternoon in an ancient Hutong village, in the shadows of Beijing's Forbidden City, flanked by the city's Drum Tower, and Bell Tower. Each little series of alleyways and winding streets hold scores of courtyards and off each courtyard are little homes. The entire village is only one level - nothing was ever allowed to be built to a second or third story in the scope of the Forbidden City of the Emporer, to ensure his privacy and separation from the common peoples at all times. Originally the courtyards were shared by family groups but now the courtyards have been further divided and many unrelated families live in the spaces around the smaller courtyards.

The front gates of each home tell the status and story of those who dwell there. Each of those round beams at the header of the door speak of their financial status - and their financial status determined how they went about arranging the marriages of their children, among many other important functions. Four-beamed families need only seek sons of other four-beam families for their daughters. Eight-beam families are the wealthy and powerful, usually a government or royal official.  The ancient beams of this entry way indicate a four-beam family. Note the intricate hand-painting and high thresholds. The ancient Chinese believed that the evil spirits would be kept out by high thresholds.... those little devils must have had short legs!

As part of our tour, we took our first rickshaw ride, bumping and jostling through the little alleyways while our guide rode a bike behind us and shared the stories of the hutong. Mei Mei loved the bumps and giggled often at the jostling.

This hutong is teeming with life - such a juxtoposition of ancient and modern throughout the whole village. Audis and BMW's parked alongside old, rickety bikes you'd see from the 50's. Old men and women carrying baskets for market shopping and young men loading a flat screen tv onto a hand truck. It was fascinating to take in.

Many families have lived here for generations and the young people go to school here, raise their families here, and enjoy Beijing's modernities right along side of the old world feel. It's a small, tight-knit community and we got to visit a home, enjoy a small sip of tea, and hear from the "lady of the house" about her husband's familial home. His family has lived in this particular courtyard for four generations, originally fitting 8 people in a "house" that is only the size of my dining room and living room combined. Eating, sleeping, living all together for generations. Currently, only this woman and her husband and three year old daughter live there and she said she feels lucky for so much space!

She shared that her husband's hobby is collecting ancient Chinese artifacts. We got to see an ancient scroll of beautiful hand-written calligraphy on rice paper, some amazing antique benches and bureaus, a couple of very old and intricate prints of Chinese opera puppets. It turns out, he is an artist on the side of his government construction job - he had hand-drawn in colored pencil some roly-poly Chinese children in traditional style clothing playing an ancient stick game together. It was beautiful work! It was an honor to spend a half hour in her home, asking questions and hearing about their life in the hutong.

In the space between the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower is a community park. It was a Sunday afternoon, so families were out enjoying the day together. Kids were playing hacky-sack, moms were chasing toddlers, young people were sipping coffee and listening to music, all on this large open space. The park had a series of little shops and markets all around the perimeter and people were shouting back and forth, visiting and enjoying the gorgeous weather. It was obvious by the atmosphere that this is a strong community and the values of traditional Chinese culture were really shining through on this day. Respect for family, honor for tradition and appreciation for the future - we got to experience it all in this little village.

The Drum Tower

The Bell Tower

Dion picked this trip for us so well - showing us a tiny slice of "regular Beijingers' lives" and we walked away with a great appreciation and respect for this city. It was such a high note on which to end our time in our daughter's province, to be able to walk among the very people from which she came and store it all up for sharing with her as she grows.

The weather was so nice we decided to walk the shop-lined streets that surrounded the village area and check out the sites. We got our first taste of milk tea and I might be hooked! We saw our fair share of tiny Chinese hineys, as lots of families with young children were out and about and split pants abounded. Tee hee, I feel silly admitting this but it is one of my favorite things about walking around the streets of China - all those little buns peeking out!

One of the shopkeepers had this little guy out on display - not sure what kind of store it was, as this was the only critter in sight. But it was enough of a sight to keep ME from entering the shop!

And just when we thought the day couldn't get any better, Dion whisked us off by taxi to a tiny little hole in the wall restaurant that specializes in Uyghur food. It's pronounced "wih jer" - or something close to it. The Uyghurs are a people group of China's most western province, bordering countries like Afghanistan and Russia. Their religion is predominantly Sunni Islam and their food is a great mix of traditional Middle Eastern style and Chinese style. We had huge plates of thick chewy noodles, a spicy chicken and potato stew, round-spaghetti-like noodles in a thick tomato-y sauce, spicy chicken kebobs, and two different kinds of lamb kebobs. I am not exxaggerating when I say that these lamb kebobs were THE.BEST.LAMB. I have ever eaten. This was the one and only meal that I came even close to over-eating. Not that the other meals weren't fantastic, because they so far all have been. But this dinner was just so amazing. I can't even describe it and do it justice. And you can BET I'll be searching the web once the jet lag fog clears for some Uyghur recipes for lamb kebobs for home. I can't wait!

It was a perfect day for us. Mei Mei was happy and giggly, charming all the passers-by and shop-keepers with her smile. We got to enjoy some beautiful weather and we had a peek into a way of life that we might never had seen or even know about had we stuck with the ordinary and more well-known tourist hotspots. And best of all, we got to spend it with Dion, who has become "family" to us in this important week for our gang.

Another Delightful Day!

Yesterday (Friday, April 12th) was another "delightful day with Dion!" Seriously, this guy is a gem - we are so grateful for the blessing of his companionship and guidance through this part of our journey.

We had requested to visit the LHAA offices here in Beijing so after a nice leisurely morning with Mei Mei and lingering over breakfast, we met Dion in the lobby and whisked off to the local Carrefoure, which is the local "carry it all, at decent prices" kind of store. We needed a small suitcase since the in-country flights have a lower weight limit than the international ones and we were looking for a few food items to help our voracious little one make it between meals. Like right now - I'm sitting here trying to type this and Baba is cutting up some fruit for her - no matter that we finished breakfast less than an hour ago. She's had no adverse reactions so far to any of the foods we've offered, we just find that she is always, always, always hungry for something. As tiny as she is, I'm sure that she has some nutritional catching up to do....

Anyway, we whipped through the store fairly quickly and grabbed a taxi to go to the offices. Miss Grace, the newest facilitator who was with us on Gotcha Day and Adoption Day, was working from home. But we got to meet Zhang Mei, who is the in-country gal that has been feeding us our updated pictures of Mei Mei. She runs this office and all of the parts of the processes for the Living Hope families. I joked with them that "this is where the magic all happens!"  The Boss got a chance to chat on the phone with Samuel Fang, the director of our agency when we first got there, as he was on a business call with Zhang Mei

It was incredibly gratifying to see the humble little apartment where they work and to meet her and thank her in person for all the help and the pictures and information they were able to get us on Mei Mei. I reminded her of the blankets that should be coming in small bunches for the orphanage that we made and thanked her for taking care of delivering them on our behalf.

I don't have the pictures of our time with her and Dion yet, but while we were there, The Boss snapped this cute one of Mei Mei falling asleep after the excitement of taxi rides, long walks in the sunshine and shopping at Carrefoure.

She had a death grip clutch on that snack cup - those whole wheat puffs we brought are almost gone and the dried yogurt snack chips are completely gone! We tried to find more at Carrefoure but will have to keep looking as they had none. 

After shopping and the visit to the offices, we dropped off our load here at the hotel and headed out to find some good old fashioned pizza. The Boss is fully recovered and that is what sounded good to him so that is what we found.  The Pizza Hut was crazy - soooo many foods on the menu beyond pizza. We ordered and enjoyed it all immensely!

Unfortunately, we returned to the hotel to find that we had new neighbors. LOUD, CHAIN SMOKING, RAUCOUS neighbors. The noise didn't quit from when we arrived around 4 till literally 4 a.m. And the room still feels dark and foggy with their smoke. We spoke to the manager about it once last evening and they agreed to contact the guests to remind them that this is a non-smoking floor. But we had to go to the manager again this morning to let them know that one of the rooms had to be moved - ours or theirs. With Mei Mei just recovering so recently from pnuemonia, we can't take any risks with her. Just now (11 a.m. on Saturday, our time) the manager asked us to let them clean our room more thoroughly (deodorize, etc) and to check back around 6 to see if a room had opened elsewhere that would be smoke free.

Soon, we are heading off to one of the Living Hope International Training Centers to tour the new orphanage facility and visit with Samuel's wife Lily and their daughter Elizabeth, who are here in China for an extended visit to work. I'm so excited to see someone from home - we just love the Fangs so much and are so grateful to have the relationship with them that we do. It's one of the things we love the most about our small, family-style agency. It's shaping up to be another slow-paced, easy going day and we're very excited to spend it with Lily and the kids.

Out and About In Beijing

Today was a great day for the three of us. Daddy woke feeling much better so we got ourselves up and ready for breakfast while Mei Mei slept in a bit. She's still a little surprised to see my face each time she wakes but is settling into it more easily and even smiled a bit at me when I got her calmed down. And surprise of all surprises, she polished off a 6 oz. bottle of formula! Granted, it was seriously doctored up formula but she drank it and we can correct the bad habit later. Thanks to my reader-friend, Amy, for the tip of adding stuff to the formula. Apparently, I got the recipe right!

After a simple and bland breakfast in the hotel buffet, we did a quick load of hand-washed laundry while we waited for Dion to pick us up. And then we were off!

Our first stop was about an hour away, on the outskirts of Beijing, at a beautiful jade factory and store. We got a personalized tour as we were just about the only ones there during the lunch hour. We learned about the 8 different categories of jade quality, the ranges of colors and translucency of jade, and the traditional meanings associated with jade. Then we got to wander around a huge show room of jewelry, statues, statuettes, more jewelry, showcase furniture, and home decor. The intricacies of the carved pieces were amazing.

This huge boat is ENTIRELY jade.

It was magnificent.

A beautiful table and four chairs of jade.

I'll bet it's too heavy for my dining room floor!

The Boss, Shaggy, Dr. D, and Baby BlueEyes....

forever enshrined in jade!

After that, we hopped back in the van and Dion asked if we'd be interested in visiting the Olympic complex. Interested?! ME? HEH! Uhhh, yeah! We're interested! I spoke for the both of us. (And yes, I know there's no Olympic games going on now. Yes, I know that I got to see the complex in 2008. But this is OLYMPIC stuff guys! And we all know how crazy I am about all things Olympic!)

We got to walk right into the campus, stopping on the way for a little snack from a street car. YUM! It was a tortilla like wrapper filled with shredded veggies and a bit of a kick in flavor. Mei Mei, The Boss and I all shared one - which Mei Mei was NOT a fan of at all. She really does love to eat - pretty much anything we offer. (Don't worry, I'm careful not to overwhelm her system with all the new things and I keep an eye on quantity while we're learning her signals and cues!)

This was our first attempt at using the Ergo

carrier that my friend, Lisa, lent me.

She resisted at first, which I'm getting used to,

and then snuggled in to enjoy the sights from a safe perch.

I'm still pinching myself.... I got to stand at the foot of

The Bird's Nest! Aaaaaaaaaaah!

The Ling Long Pagoda, where

most of the broadcasting studios for the games

were located, including The Today Show.

The Water Cube from across the complex.

This sculpture is called "Olympic Torch Relay."

One side was smooth and intricate, the other very rough and primitive.

It is really amazing and beautiful to see up close and personal.

After the ooohing and aaahhing over the Olympic sites, we hopped back into the van and headed to a little noodle house for a "light lunch." Heh. We're learning that there's no such thing when eating out with Dion. He ordered for us and our driver, plate after plate of local deliciousness. We had stir-fried cabbage, noodles with a sweet Peking sauce and veggies, sauteed eggplant with green beans, fried rice, and a chicken dish with little wraps and bamboo shoots. So fresh and flavorful - all of it was just amazing! I really need to hit the internet when we return home and do some recipe research.

Next door to the noodle house was a traditional tea house, where we got a mini-version of a tea tasting ceremony. We tasted about 6 or 7 different teas and learned about the health benefits of each featured tea. Just my luck, the one noted for its slimming and healthy heart properties tasted the worst! I was tempted to buy a tea set for Mei Mei while there but we could tell it was a bit more upscale and we wanted to avoid the hard sale. Big spending at the jade house was enough for one day!

This was our hostess for the ceremony. She was so patient

with all of Mei Mei's interruptions while explaining the right ways

to drink tea and to hold tea cups.

Through all of this activity, Mei Mei did great - even though she was skipping a nap. But man, sitting back in the van for the hour drive through rush hour traffic was no picnic. It was like wrestling an octopus at points. Granted, she's easily distracted and was pretty pleasant tempered about it all but I am sure glad we use car seats in America to restrain our kiddoes. Letting her loose in a car on errand day would be downright insanity! 

Finally, because I know most of you are really only here to see her and her sweet little face, here's one that The Boss snapped of us while we were admiring the blooming forsythia.

It was a beautiful day and I love that we got to spend so much of it outside in the beautiful weather to enjoy our time here and each other. Tomorrow, we've got a lighter schedule so hopefully nap time will still happen at a decent hour. We'll all need it for Saturday's big trek to The Great Wall! 

What's a Girl to Do?

It's likely because of the cold weather and biting winds we've had lately but this momma has been CUH.RAY.VING. some good old fashioned comfort food. In particular, as I was compiling my grocery list Tuesday night, I was craving a heaping dish of The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti. But my frugal side could not bring myself to actually fork over the money at my nearby grocery store for such recipe specific ingredients when I wasn't at my normal "discount" store. It was meant to be a quick run out for just the immediate needs. But the craving would not go away.

**Side note - I've let this month's meal planning and regular grocery shopping slide far too long with the crazy grumpy weather we've had so it's my own darned fault, I know. I'm sorry. Moving on.**

When I got home from the quick run, I took stock of the pantry and left-overs to plan Wednesday's dinner

What's a girl to do when she has a big batch of left-over shredded BBQ Chicken and can't face eating one more sandwich from it?

What's a girl to do when she finds a huge R*bberm@id container of whole wheat spaghetti left from Monday night's family feast? (Shaggy has been gone since September and I'm still making spaghetti portions like his carb lovin' self is at the table every time! Oh well. He's coming home Saturday so why bother adjusting portion sizes now?!)

(Yes! I said Saturday! Shaggy is coming home on SATURDAY!!!!!! 

Yay, Yay, YAY!!!!!)

Where was I?

Oh, yeah. The spaghetti. Lots of left over spaghetti.

Here. Right there. See?

Well, the girl gets inspired and turns on the Phillip Phillip tunes while she creates her own knock-off of a yummy family favorite! Who knows? Maybe the girl is about to stumble upon a brand. spankin'. new. family favorite? Crazier things have happened 'round these parts. Here's how it went down. In case you want to try such craziness in your own kitchen!

I warmed both containers up slightly, to loosen them up and make them easier to mix. Please. DON'T forget to cut up the spaghetti in smaller pieces once it's warmed... it'll be a lot easier to blend in with the other ingredients. NOT that that ever happened here. Heh. I'm just sharin' the benefit of my mistakes, er, wisdom.

I put all the meat and long stringy spaghetti in my largest mixing bowl and started adding the yumminess.

For my-sized crowd, I used about 2 cups of cheddar. 

If I'd had two cans of beans, I would have used both.

But one can, rinsed and drained well, went into the bowl.

Followed quickly by these little green bites of scrumptious,

drained lightly, of course.

It was a little thick and hard to mix thoroughly,

so I added a can of this. Low fat, low sodium.

Cuz that's how I roll with the cass-ah-rollz!

It looked like this while I was adding and mixing.

Poured it all into my trusty P@mpered Ch*f

9x13 deep baking dish.

Well-sprayed to avoid sticking and staining.

I slid it into the oven without covering it.

Voila! Dinner was done before 1:00 in the afternoon!

Do you use your timed cooking and delay start

options on your oven?

If you have them, you should use them.

I LOVE them. They have set me free from the madness

that is 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. 'round these parts.

Homework, lessons, chore charts, meltdowns, you know what I mean.

Back when the older kids were really little,

my mentor-mom-friend called them the "witching hours."

Cuz if a momma isn't careful, 

she can get pretty witchy-like.

Yeah. You know what I'm talkin' about!

Anyhoo..... back to our story.

As the madness subsided, I had Li'l Empress and Baby BlueEyes set the table.

LadyBug made the salad and all the fixin's for it.

All that was left was the eatin'. Mmmm, the eatin'.

Oh. Wait. Can't forget that once it cooked all it's yummy goodness

together for about 45 minutes, I added a little bit more of this on the top.

I cooked it for another 10 minutes or so

till it got to this stage of melty, ooey-goodness.

You can see, we almost forgot to snap a picture before digging in!

YUM!

You're welcome.

More Partying than Olympic Village!

I'm back. Did ya miss me? I've been soaking in family time and getting my love tank filled to overflowing by hosting my side of the family for the weekend. We planned a big get together just to celebrate our family and the great things God is doing in and through all of us.  It's becoming a bit of an annual tradition that we enjoy, usually in August since we have soooo many August birthdays.

I wish I had thought to snap some "Before" and "After" pics of the refrigerator and pantry to show you all. Use your imagination when I tell you that I prepared well for the 25 bodies that descended upon our home for a family Sunday of grilling and swimming and hanging out. Here's the spread we all put together for Sunday dinner.

And that most of those same bodies came back again on Monday. D*min*e's Pizza was running a special for on-line ordering so I chose that option for the evening meal and made it easy on all the mommas. My poor dishwasher ran 4 times on Monday alone, even with paper plates and disposable utensils!

Sigh. I've said it before and I'll likely say it again. Those are THE.BEST.DAYS. of the year to me. THE.BEST. bar none.

Are these not the best looking kids ever?! We're so numerous now that we had to have one table for the teens, one for the "youngers" and one for the adults!

2012 has already been quite a milestone year for just our family here in the Gang's household, but it's also been a big one in many respects for my whole side of the family. Big moves from state-to-state, new jobs, graduations, missions trips, retirements, and other big life changes to celebrate in addition to the birthdays. I'm so grateful to navigate those changes and this journey with them.

And it certainly didn't hurt that we gathered to celebrate our family around big platters of juicy steak. Mmmm, steak.