the stuff of life

We've been a bit absent from the bloggysphere lately, but its all for good reasons.

I've been pampering my only child while he's still the only child, taking him to numerous parks, to the zoo, and just spending a lot of time outside in general. Its been therapeutic for both of us.

Before I get to the cute pics of my little man, I feel the need to update on the pregnancy. Things are still going well - we're almost 17 weeks (and almost halfway there!). I think I have felt the baby move, but its very sporadic. May 29th is the big day when we get to find out if Baby Homer is a boy or girl. Last doctor's visit, the heartbeat was 162 bpm which is indicative of a girl, but we'll see. Every time I ask the Redhead if he wants a baby brother or sister he always says sister. I hope he's not too disappointed if it is a boy!

Now, on to the good stuff. Yesterday we spent the day with my sister, Sarah and Baby Jack (who is now 5 weeks old!). Of course I didn't get a picture of my sister and I...we were too busy snapping pics and video of this precious moment.

No, he wasn't shoving the car up Jack's nose,
he was just showing Baby Jack his "Jeep" (a little too closely)


Following this little bit of family time, Sarah and I, along with the kiddos, headed over to a local strawberry farm to pick some berries.




The Redhead appears to be all into strawberry picking in these pictures. His excitement however was short-lived. I guess he's not one for repetitive activity (aside from playing cars). He did pick a few berries, but I'll take credit for filling our basket thankyouverymuch.

I've already made a strawberry pie and look forward to eating that and more of these red "dewishous strawberries" (as the Redhead would say).

promised cake pictures

Last Saturday was one of my sister Sarah's baby showers. She has about 4 more weeks before Baby Jack will enter this world, thus changing her life forever. We are more than excited about meeting this little bit of preciousness. And I will be posting pictures.

But until then, you'll have to enjoy these pictures of the shower. She has most of them on her camera, but I did manage to take a few.

Here's the cake I made for my sweet sister. It was an almond-flavored poundcake with real buttercream icing. And it was yum.

The redhead helps Aunt Sarah open one of her gifts.

I tried to get a sweet mother/son picture, but the redhead wouldn't cooperate. At least its a decent picture of me!

Sarah, the redhead, my mom/"Nano", and me

We had a lot of fun - I got to see friends from college I haven't seen in a while, some family that I haven't seen in a few months, and chow down on some yummy food, all while celebrating my sister! I love you Sarah and I'm so excited for you and LeGrande to enter into parenthood!

cookie capers

Tracy P. at The Journey is having a Cookie Exchange today. I thought I'd pass along my No Bake Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies. They are to. die. for. Melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness.

You will not be able to resist the goodness of these morsels. Truly.

I thought I had pictures from making a previous batch, but alas, not a pic to be found.

Darn. I guess I'll just have to make them again.

After all, a cookie post without pictures just isn't a cookie post.

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

2 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/4 c. cocoa

1/2 stick butter
1/2 c. milk
2 c. oats
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 t. vanilla

Mix sugar, salt, and cocoa in a medium saucepan.

Add butter and milk; bring to a boil, stirring continuously

Boil for 1 min 30 seconds
(this is very important and will affect how the cookies set up).



Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients, mix well.
Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Allow to set in refrigerator.

These cookies make a simple but yummy treat to take to a Christmas party or special event. They taste so good, people will think you slaved away making them when all it really took was about 15 minutes and ingredients you already had in your pantry!

Enjoy!

the better late than never birthday party

This past Saturday, we had a family birthday party for the redhead (whose real birthday was Oct. 3). Mr. Baseball's mother, sister and her 2 kids, my parents, and my sister and b-i-l were all there. The weather was great so we decided to grill out and eat outside.

After dinner, we decided to let the redhead open a present before we
presented him with his "special cake". Look at this face as he checked out his "BIG TRUCK"!

The truck didn't leave his sight, even when the cake made an appearance. This (photo below) was his actual face when he saw the cake. And since this reaction wasn't acceptable to me for all the hours and hours I spent on "The Cake" to make up for my Worst Mother of the Year Moments, we finagled it so that I could get a picture and use it as his real reaction to the cake.





Oh what's that? You wanna see the confectionery wonder I slaved and sweated over for hours?


Wait for it...



Wait for it...




Here she is...

Yes, I did all those little starry bits of icing...over the entire cake top.
I've never had hand cramps so bad in my life, but it was all worth it.

Anything for this bit of preciousness-

and a blue tongue.

my fortune

Mr. Baseball and I love us some Chinese food. More specifically, sesame chicken. Even more specifically, from Chu's Express. Yum.

Part of the meal is reading each other our fortunes. Of course this is just for kicks and giggles since we don't really believe a little manufactured cookie could actually predict our futures.

I tried to take a picture of my fortune, but it just didn't work, so without further adue (or however you spell it), here is what my fortune is (cue drumroll please)...

Your future looks bright.

I will now be able to sleep at night thanks to this profound information.

cooking with the carolines

As I mentioned earlier here, I have been keeping a little girl named Caroline for about an hour and half after she gets out of school. Its really an ideal situation, and we have had fun this first week she's been here. We've played many games of Memory (so many in fact, that my el cheapo memory cards bit the dust, so I went out and bought some real ones), watched Shrek 3, danced to ABBA music, and played balloon volleyball.

On Friday, Mr. Baseball and I were having dinner with another family and were to bring a vegetable and dessert, so I enlisted the help of my name twin. She's quite the chef...who knew?

Our first assignment...

Chocolate Chip & Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

12 oz bag of chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips (oops, we used the whole bag - and they were still good)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 stick of margarine

Melt margarine and mix with graham cracker crumbs. Press to cover bottom of 9x11 dish. Pour sweetened condensed milk over graham cracker and margarine mixture. Mix chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and pout over the milk. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven. (You may want to pull from oven before chips are completely melted.) Set up until cool and cut into bars.

Paula Deen's Corn Casserole

1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4) can cream style corn
1 (8oz) pkg. corn muffin mix (Jiffy works well)
1 c. sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 - 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, stir together 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. (Please allow my lovely assistant to demonstrate)

Pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with cheddar cheese. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes and serve warm.

Enjoy!

caro's cuisine

Alright my saucy friends, here's a recipe sure to satisfy the hungry men (and women) in your lives! In my bloggy travels, I've noticed that all the cool people are posting their recipes. Since I only aspire to be cool, I'm going to attempt a recipe too. This is not just any recipe though, this is...LL's Meatloaf.

Lindsey Lohan? She cooks? Well, my guess is no, and this meatloaf is about twice her size. But my friend Liz does cook and this is her meatloaf recipe (it's really easy).

First, start out with around a pound of ground beef.

Add to the beef these ingredients:

1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
3-4 oz. cheese, shredded (I use cheddar)
1/3 c. shredded carrots
1 medium onion, chopped (or 1/2 lg. onion)
1/4 c. milk
3 T. breadcrumbs
1/2 pkg. Onion Soup Mix



Once added to the meat, take off your bling that yo' baby daddy gave you and mush and smush all ingredients together with your hands.



then, form into a giant meatloaf.



At this point, it looks like a chunky turd, but please, for the love of all that is good, stay with me!

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. While baking, prepare the glaze.

1/3 c. brown sugar
ketchup
BBQ sauce
**I usually just mix to taste.



Pour glaze over baked meatloaf and put back in oven for 20 minutes.



The finished product!



Voila! I also fixed garlic/cheese mashed potatoes and sauteed some squash/zucchini/onions in a little butta and BAM!

The hubby said, and I quote, "I LOVE this meatloaf."

I just about fell over backward in my chair. He never complains about my cooking and will eat almost anything I put in front of him, but he has NEVER as best I can remember said that he LOVED anything I cooked. Said that it was good, maybe. Really good, maybe that too, but LOVE? Never. That was major! So, its sure to be a winner at your house. The redhead even partook of the loaf that was meat.

Sadly, it was so good that it didn't last long at all. The potatoes, well, there's another story. I made enough to feed us until the redhead goes to college. Good thing they are tasty.

they're calling to me...

I'm locked in a battle today - a battle of wills - and I'm losing. Of course it has to do with food. A bit of minty deliciousness...with a chocolate coating...and a shiny wrapper. You know the one. The York Peppermint Patty. Mmmmmm. I bought them at Bottom Dollar the other night in a moment of weakness. In my defense, I went there to get ketchup, but I couldn't just buy ketchup. It's forbidden to buy only one item at the grocery store. You didn't know that? Well then, consider yourself warned. Anyway, like I said, it was a moment of weakness where I had to have something sweet. But not just anything sweet. It had to be somewhat "good" for me.

I thought "Adam will help me eat them, that way I won't end up eating the whole bag". When I got home, I was so excited about my purchase, but Adam said, "Oh, I really don't like those all that much. Duh - I should have known. I'm the one who always gets Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream whenever I get the chance. His first choice is never mint. Oh well...more for me!

And therein lies the problem.

We don't ever keep sweets in the house, so when we happen to buy something, I don't EVER forget its there. Right now, the Peppermint Patties are sitting on the kitchen counter, next to the mangoes I bought yesterday in an attempt to expand my fruit palate. The mangoes aren't ripe yet, otherwise I might choose those over the patties. Wait, who am I kidding? Choose fruit over chocolate?...yah.

How many have I had today? Um.................I plead the 5th!

You would be happy to know though, that every morsel of pepperminty goodness that I ate yesterday and today has been documented in my food journal. I am keeping up with what I am eating. Its the only way I can lose the extra 10lbs I'm still carrying from pregnancy (I knew those Cheese Puffs would come back to bite me!).

Fortunately, or unfortunately, there are only 5 Yorkies left. I don't plan to finish them off tonight. For now they have been silenced and banished to the pantry where they will be out of sight, but not out of mind. I guess since I've already eaten dessert, I need to be a good girl and eat my dinner.

So York Peppermint Patties, until we meet again...

the extra "ingredient"

I love to eat out. We used to eat out a lot more when we were DINKS (dual income no kids). We'd drive to Greensboro and eat at Carrabba's, Olive Garden, Outback, you know, nice restaurants. Now our idea of a nice restaurant is one where we can all eat for under $15 and don't have to leave a tip. Places we frequent include Arby's, Chick-Fil-A (that one will never get old), and Sir Pizza (a small chain).

Now it makes complete sense why, when we were little, the only place where we ate out was Po' Folks!

Before I digress any further, let me get to the point of this post.

The plan was to take mom to a special "expensive" restaurant for Mother's Day. I won't name said restaurant but I will say it was/is in Charlotte. I think I was probably no older than 12 or 13 which would make my brother around 10ish.

We sat down at our table, placed our drink orders and perused the menu. I probably ordered chicken fingers and fries or something just as healthy. My brother placed an order for a personal cheese pizza (it probably had some other toppings that I can't remember), followed by everyone else's orders. We waited a normal amount of time, received our food, then bowed our heads to pray. Following the "amen" was a quiet gasp from my mother. She said (in a very calm voice), "Daniel, don't eat your pizza." Now, if you're going to tell a prepubescent male not to eat, there better be a darn good reason. This particular "reason" had two black antenna poking out from under a layer of cheese. Clearly, the extra ingredient had been added prior to the baking process and the brick oven had simply sealed its fate.

I think my response went something like this: "Eeeewww. Gag me with a spoon."

Daniel was simply without words. I think he considered passing out. He was kind of squeamish as a kid.

My mother promptly reported this unfortunate incident to the wait staff who promptly sent the manager to our table. The manager was totally embarrassed and apologetic. He was even generous enough to offer to refund Daniel's meal and offer us free dessert. Wow, so generous. My brother could have died from eating a baked roach and you want to offer us free dessert? Do you really think we want to continue to eat food after seeing that? Yah...thanks for coming out.

We finished eating (somehow), and left the restaurant. I have yet to return. My mother, however, says its under "new management" and has been back several times. She reports that the food is "very good". I bet she has yet to order a personal pizza.

I would love to hear your dining out mishaps. Do tell.

Ode to the Texas Garlic Toast

Oh Garlic Toast, Oh Garlic Toast,
We love your yummy goodness
Your buttery outside, your crunchy edges,
We cook you to perfection each and every time.
You are a perfect companion to Greek Chicken and sauteed green beans, but you also pair well with Lasagna and a salad.
You don't require any prep and you lay nice and flat on a cookie sheet.
You obviously like to please your consumers as you can be prepared in the conventional oven or in a toaster oven.
From Wal-Mart you come, fair in price, big in taste.
The only downside to you, Texas Toast, is that you contain too many ingredients I can't pronounce.
Thus, we only buy you on special occasions because you stick to our hips and you know our "hips don't lie".
If only you didn't contain Azodicarbonamide, Ethoxylated Mono-and Diglycerides, and Xanthan Gum to name a few.
Why Texas Garlic Toast? Why must you betray me nutritionally?
I will remember tonight Texas Toast and savor your buttery goodness forever (okay, maybe I'll eat you again at some point in the future).
We love you Texas Garlic Toast!