Naptime Blog

During the summer months, we did a lot of barbecuing. In the beginning of the summer, this was easy. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, steaks, London broil, pinwheels, sausage, spare ribs, even roast beef.  We would barbecue ears of corn, grilled vegetables, you name it, and we grilled it. But after a while, even barbecued foods got redundant.  As we started to see cooler weather, we were ready to start changing things up again with oven cooked meals.

So here we are, early fall, and I am already stumped on what to cook for dinner. I’m thinking of doing a meatloaf one of these days, which is something I haven’t made since the spring. I have a slow cooker/ crock pot, but never seem to remember to start something in the morning that could simmer all day.  And I would need to find good recipes my husband would eat.  I can’t let the thought of cooking beef stew in a crock pot sink in. To me, it belongs in a pot on the stove.  Regardless, I don’t have the time to cut up all the vegetables and watch a stew all day long.  And I cannot believe some people actually do dinner early in the morning!  All I can manage to do in the morning is take the meat out of the freezer to thaw!  The rest I need to do later in the afternoon.

Hmmm. Chicken soup sounds good.  And I must admit I can make a pretty good chicken vegetable soup from scratch.  And my Italian roots allow me to whip up any pasta also, something I am looking forward to making a lot of in the next few months.  But my favorite dish, my mother’s signature dish, is eggplant parmagiana. Yummy.  It just takes so long to prepare!

So there’s also grilled chicken, grilled salmon, stir fry (I love using my wok for chicken stir fry!), pork chops, lamb chops, veal cutlets… I can make a pork roast, turkey (although the husband only likes turkey on Thanksgiving), a Caesar salad, linguini with clam sauce, and I can even make pizzas with different toppings.

I like a variety of different side dishes as well.  I am lucky to have children that enjoy eating their veggies, so any meat/chicken/fish dish can be altered from one meal to the next by changing up the vegetable or other side dish.

So I have listed many different options here, haven’t I?  So can someone tell me why I am stumped about what’s for dinner?

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (1) and Anthony (1)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com

When finished this is more like a thick soup with big potato chunks and Kielbasa! This was easy to make and very warming on these cool fall nights.

PREP TIME 15 Min
COOK TIME 1 Hr 30 Min
READY IN 1 Hr 45 Min
8 Servings

INGREDIENTS -

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pound kielbasa sausage, sliced thin
• 4 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

DIRECTIONS -

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together soup, milk, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3.  Stir in potatoes and kielbasa. Spoon into a 7×11 inch casserole dish. 
4. Place casserole on a baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

 ENJOY!

-Chrystal

When was the last time you made S’mores with your kids??  Talking about a fun an INEXPENSIVE treat!!! My oldest son Jeromy caught the end of a movie on Disney and the kids were having a camp fire. He immediately ran into our room saying

“We have never made S’mores Ma!’ I replied, I know son,

He immediately rushed us to our local Wal-Mart Supercenter to get our supplies!! Well, I know it cost all of $5.00 to get everything we needed. My husband was very hype about finally getting to use his fire pit that we bought about 2 yrs ago.

It took a little while to get the fire going. We searched all over our small town for some skewers, uuuggggg (small towns)

Well, we finally got things going and they were GREAT!!! We all had chocolate and marshmallows all over our faces. Baby Jayce, with his FAST hands managed to grab a melted marshmallow and smash into his face. He was all sticky and loving every minute of it!!

Here is the easy recipe:
(1) Place Hershey bars on graham crackers.
(2) Toast marshmallows.
(3) Place toasted marshmallows on Hershey bars to melt chocolate.

Eat & Enjoy

~Shanta

Since Tristan is still under a year, I try to go by the no dairy rule. Here is a great alternative to frozen yogurt or ice cream on a hot day. Tristan loved it and it is super easy to make. I take 3 bananas and cut them up and put them in a plastic container. Then freeze over night. I keep some frozen for up to a few days at a time. Then when you are ready to use them Place frozen bananas in the bowl of a food processor. (NOTE: This doesn’t work with a mixer or blender, so you have to have a food processor.) Pulse several times to break into smaller pieces, then turn on and run for about five minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. The bananas will start to resemble soft serve in a few minutes. It will be chunky and gooey at first and will clump together, but after a few minutes, it will take on a pale yellow, fluffy texture. Transfer to a bowl and place in freezer for about 15 minutes, if you’d like, or serve immediately. (Makes four 1/2 cup servings) Each serving is about 100 Calories so this is also a great treat when counting your calories, plus a fun way to slip in a serving of fruit.

Chrystal
www.everydayoates.blogspot.com
www.everydayoatescooking.blogspot.com

My husband recently turned 40 and on Saturday we had a party for him in our yard (which actually turned into our basement because of the rain).  My mother-in-law, mother and I did all of the cooking, and the whole week before I spent shopping, cleaning, cooking, and preparing.

On Thursday night I made the cakes.  I prepared two half sheet cakes to make a double layer cake filled with chocolate pudding.  After cooling a bit, the first one popped out of the pan beautifully.  The second one got stuck to the bottom of the pan.  No matter how I tried, I couldn’t release it.  Finally, it came out – in a million pieces, and half still stuck to the bottom.

The next morning I asked my husband to run to the deli to get more eggs, and when he returned, he had coffee, cold cuts, and other groceries, but no eggs.  So trying to avoid being late for work, he once again ran back to the deli for the eggs.

I prepared the cake, put it in the oven, and began preparing the baked rigatoni.  Then, since my daughter had a half day of school, I took the cake out of the oven, popped the trays of pasta in the refrigerator, and off we went to the bus stop while the cake cooled.

When we got home, Juliana and I were making the icing. I popped the now third cake from the pan and Viola! Beautiful! I went back into the dining room and continued with the icing.  I had forgotten an ingredient and asked Juliana to get it. When she returned, she forgot to close the kitchen door, and the dog took full advantage of that.  In the two seconds it took us to run in the kitchen, King had taken a chunk out of the cake.  Exhausted already with so many more things to do, all I could do was cry.

Paul had called in the midst of all this, and I cried to him.  And I felt terrible that of all the cakes I had made, it was HIS that I couldn’t get right.  He suggested that instead of making a fourth cake, I should just cut off that corner of the cake and replace it with on of the corners from cake number two that got stuck the pan the night before.  Great idea!  Just as I was about to go get the cake, Juliana walked back into the dining room with a chunk of cake saying “Mommy, it’s good cake!”

Aaaaaahhhh!  My daughter just pulled off another corner of the cake!  So again I cried! The twins were sitting in their high chairs through all of this just watching the show, and now Juliana ran into the living room in tears, knowing she made a big mistake.

So I had to try to rig two corners of a cake with remnants of another cake.  Somehow I managed to do it and it didn’t look bad!  Actually, it would be the bottom layer, so once I had it ready to go, topped it with chocolate pudding, and placed the other layer on top, I figured I should be in the clear!

I usually have Paul’s help in layering the cakes, but this time it was the seven year old and myself.  I used the cake lifter and also grabbed a huge spatula, but it was still too big and had to ask Juliana to help by holding a corner and maneuvering with me to place it on the bottom layer.  I was in a sweat, but somehow we managed to layer them perfectly!  Finally we caught a break!  And once the cake was together Juliana and I were high-fiving each other, yelling out in total happiness, and the pregnant mom that I am, I was jumping up and down clapping.  But the cutest thing was my twin ten month olds were squealing and clapping along with us!!!

Finally it was time to ice the cake.  I decorated it beautifully, and then was ready to write in the words…  And halfway through “Happy Birthday, Daddy” my daughter asks me “Mommy, what is a Birthay?”

How did I spell birthday wrong?  So once again I had to make another fix… 

So all in all, I took way too long to make this cake, and had it been for anyone else, I probably would have thrown it away and gone to the bakery.  I must say, through it all, it looked great and was delicious!  I got so many complements and everyone loved it!  But boy was I pooped! 

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (10m) and Anthony (10m)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com

I like to experiment with recipes during naptime. The boys eat around 11:30 a.m. and then take their nap at about 12:30 each day. That’s usually when I take the time to make mommy something to eat. I am a big fan of grilled cheese and recently had a bunch of farm fresh tomatoes from family members. In addition, we are growing a pot of basil on our front porch, so I try to incorporate tasty fresh herbs into as many recipes as possible.

Taking all those ingredients into consideration, here is the jazzed up grilled cheese sandwich I came up with recently.

This picture shows it grilling up in the pan. I took a generous pat of butter and melted it in the pan then added a slice of white bread. On top of that, I stacked a piece of sliced Colby jack cheese, several freshly cut tomato slices, another piece of cheese, a few dashes of lemon pepper and then freshly picked and freshly sliced basil was added last. After it sizzled for a bit, I added the top slice of bread, flipped the sandwich to coat thoroughly in butter then finished cooking on each side until golden brown and the cheese melted.
Here’s the finished sandwich…

Mmmmm yummy! NowTHIS is comfort food. On days I really want comfort, I’ll dip my bites in ranch dressing.

Since I am from the south, I also highly recommend washing this down with a big glass of fresh brewed, sweet iced tea. I do all sorts of variations on this, so you can change this to suit your tastes. I have done this same recipe as an open faced sandwich that I broiled in the oven with feta cheese instead of Colby jack. Since I didn’t need butter for the oven version, I drizzled a bit of olive oil over the top for added flavor.

Shannon
Potamus Prefers
http://www.potamusprefers.com/

We went over a friends house for the 3rd of July, part of that was fireworks over the bay. It was a beautiful clear warm night and we had a blast. I was worried Tristan would be scared of the fireworks, but he loved them and actually watched them. It was amazing! I was a little nervous with all of the bang pops and sparklers around, my nephews kept wandering closer to the baby. I can’t seem to relax around sparklers, I feel that everyone forgets how hot they are and that they can seriously burn you. I saw 2 and 3 year olds with sparklers and they had them right by their faces. I found it more stressful then fun, I know that every parent has to make their choice about children and fireworks, I just have a hard time keeping my mouth closed. Thankfully a DC firefighter came over and reminded everyone how dangerous they can be. After that I relaxed and enjoyed the show.

Tristan is now eating a lot of table food, he got to try bbq ribs, grilled chicken, potato salad, and pasta salad. I can’t get over how good he was the whole day. I try to plan my schedule around his so I can keep him on his eating and sleeping schedule. We had him out until one am and he was fine. He went to sleep around 10 pm after the fireworks and stayed asleep through all the transfers from the party to the car to his crib. I truly have been blessed with a good baby.

Chrystal
www.everydayoates.blogspot.com

Ok, I need your help, readers. I need your ideas for healthy and fast food ideas for my two boys. My youngest will eat ANYTHING, literally. My oldest is much pickier. He would live on chicken nuggets, fried okra, bananas, strawberries and milk if he could. I’d love for him to have a more rounded diet and am looking for tips on how to do this.

One thing that is fast and the boys really enjoy is pizzas made out pretty much any type of bread with whatever leftovers we have.

We also keep whole wheat pitas on hand (in the freezer) so I’ll take a couple of those, brush them with olive oil, pizza sauce (I use the Great Value brand because it’s cheap and tasty, but any type is good), cheese and a few herbs and spices.

I even “let” my oldest son help me pick out the spices on occasion. See?

Here is a finished pita pizza…

I also make pizzas out of left over biscuits from breakfast. We usually have one or two left so I split them and then do the same process as I do for the pita pizzas. Plain bread works too! Sometimes, if we have leftover chicken, broccoli or other meat and veggies, I put that on top too to increase the healthiness of it.

Now, it’s your turn, I’d love to hear your recipes or ideas. This will help me out immensely (and our readers too). If you use a store brand that you like, I’d love to know. I am also out for a good bargain!

Shannon
Potamus Prefers
http://www.potamusprefers.com/

I love to cook.  I would say that I am pretty good at it, too!  I am of Italian heritage, so I guess the best dishes I make are pasta in tomato sauce and meat (“macaroni and meatballs”!), eggplant parmigiana and sausage and peppers.  I also enjoy making pasta salads and outdoors barbeque dishes.  I try to make a variety of meals, if I am cooking a meat entrée, I always include a vegetable and a starch.

Food shopping gets pricey, especially in today’s economy.  I cannot believe how much more expensive everyday food items have gotten over the last few years, such as milk, eggs and meats!  Olive oil can cost $25!  I often try to clip coupons, but $.50 off of a $4.50 item, although it helps, doesn’t really lessen a grocery bill of $200 that much!

My husband is a stickler for being sure I only buy name brands on certain items…  We can only have Gulden’s Mustard in our house, for instance.  And if I buy anything other than Thomas’ English Muffins, he refuses to eat them (“it’s the nooks and crannies that make an English Muffin, and only Thomas’ has them” is usually his famous line).  But yet he is always making comments if I go grocery shopping without him that I spend a fortune!  Which is usually why I like to go with him so we compromise.  And since I have to be mindful of our budget (which keeps expanding out of necessity as our twin boys are now beginning to move from just formula to formula and baby food and now to formula, baby food and table food), I have to steer away from brand names in some cases.

Since I enjoy cooking and since I make dishes that require spices, I absolutely refuse to spend $3-$5 on a McCormack garlic powder.  I try to use fresh garlic wherever I can, but I still love to add some powder as well.  I was in the dollar store a while back and decided to try their brand of garlic powder.  And unless I took out the container of it during dinner, know one would have known it wasn’t a name brand spice!  Little by little I began to replace the spices in my cabinet with store brand spices as they ran out.  I have yet to have any problems with any of the spices I have bought.  Recently, I found 5th Season spices in Wal-Mart.  The garlic powder, onion powder, parsley flakes and red pepper I bought were only $0.50 each!   I bought four spices for less than the price of one name brand spice!

My husband has gotten used to looking in the cabinet and seeing store brand spices in there.  He no longer makes a face and asks “Why didn’t you buy McCormack?”  He does not taste any difference in my sauce or meatballs since I switched over.

Over time, I am going to try to sneak in some other store brand groceries and try to save more money.  I am not sure I will ever be able to fool him with mustard or English Muffins, but I will try other items.  And if I need to purchase over the course of a year 12 to 15 containers of spices, that’s $36.00 in savings!  Imagine what I can save if I threw in some more store brand groceries in the bill!

Well, I better go.  I have to go check my sauce which is simmering on the stove!

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (9m) and Anthony (9m)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com