farewell to 2015

First I'll start by saying this year flew by in what feels like the blink of an eye. So many great memories and only a few horrible things.

Snapchatting the New Year in from "work". Maybe.

• turned 25
• got a new car
• read a lot of great books (current: The Power of the Dog - Don Winslow)
• survived polar vortex
• started hating SeaWorld
• saw a great bond form between sisters
• celebrated the birth of two litters of kittens
• found really hilarious stuff on the internet
• didn't get fired from my job in the process
• MOVED INTO A NEW HOUSE!
• celebrated two years of marriage
• traveled to Ohio for a James Franco gallery
• selfie'd with James Franco! (yes, the picture is small but I like to show my proof!)
  
  

  

• stood up as a bridesmaid at one of my best friends weddings
• celebrated and wept when Piper turned one
• cried when Kennedy started pre-school
• celebrated and wept when Kennedy turned four
• started a little blog
• successfully completed my first semester back to school
• only cried a little bit from stress of that first semester back to school

The worst thing that is coming to my mind that personally affected me was having my rims and tires stolen off my car. It was totally a 'WHAT IN THE DAMN HELL' moment and I'm still baffled by it when I think about it. The punks who stole my tires not only stole my tires, they used our landscaping bricks to prop my car up in the driveway! Oh, you shouldn't have.

The worst tragedy I experienced was mourning with a family and our community over the loss of Amelie, or Amie. Diagnosed in 2012 with an extremely rare form of brain cancer fought her hardest until the fight became too much early this year. Unfathomable. Scary. Insane. My heart continues to ache; and more selfishly the thoughts of something happening to my children.

To add a little cheer back to the post this is what's currently happening at the raging party at our house while I'm toiling away at work. I mean HOW DARE ANYONE compose a blog post while they are on the clock!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Leia

mid-week meal share: creamy spinach tomato tortellini

Remember when I said that I had prepared a recipe, but forgot to get the pictures onto the computer? Well! You can stop holding your breath because here it is! I present to you, the spectacular and delicious creamy spinach tomato tortellini!

Cost effective: yes ~$15-20 depending on what you already have in your pantry.

Easy to concoct: indeed.

Nutritious: yes, when you don't eat to whole pot.

Eleven items will need to be collected:

I only changed two things this time; and they are VERY small changes!

1 bag of tortellini

2 tsp minced garlic

1 cup chopped spinach

1 can of petite diced tomatoes

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper
1 tsp onion flakes (I used onion powder)

1½ tsp dried basil (I used Italian seasoning)

2 tbsp flour

1½ cups half-and-half

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Boil water for your tortellini's.

 2. While your water is boiling, and your tortellini's are cooking, chop up your spinach. I just cut each piece in half.
3. Once your tortellini's are done, drain and set them aside for later.

 4. At this point you're supposed to heat the 2 tsp of garlic in a saucepan until fragrant. Usually about 30 seconds or so. Puh, last I checked that shit is fragrant from the moment you take the lid off.
5. I jumped the gun and added the garlic, tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, onion flakes/powder, and basil/Italian seasoning all at once. Do I think it made a difference? Not even a little bit.

6. Cook over medium heat (until it's boiling but you need to multitask until then).
7. In a mixing cup (or bowl if you so choose), combine the flour and half-and-half and whisk until smoothish.

 8. Once the spinach, tomato, and spice mixture begins to boil add the cream mix and Parmesan cheese into the skillet.

9. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir until the mixture is heated through and begins to thicken. About five minutes.
10. Make sure your supervisor doesn't topple off the chair she's standing on.

11. Add your tortellini and mix together.

12. Enjoy!

This recipe is a favorite. I've made it a few times now and everyone really enjoys it. There's really nothing difficult and I don't have any tips to make it better or any easier to prepare.

Here's a typical, blurry ass action shot of a toddler eating and dancing simultaneously. It's hard to use her as a critic because I don't think there's much that she actually dislikes. But I promise, this recipe is a good one. I mean, cream sauce, cheese, pasta stuffed with cheese? What could go wrong?!

*Thanks to Pyrex for sponsoring all posts and forcing me to use a damn measuring cup as a mixing bowl!

Haha, thanks to anyone who believed me for a second. Just kidding, it's just the most common sense thing for me to do.



How would I go about getting Pyrex to sponsor my posts?
Leia

merry christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year (aside from having to see Santa)!

Christmas Eve we hosted our families annual Christmas party and it was especially nice since it was our first Christmas in our new home. So much better for gatherings! I intended on being a super host and having the place decorated to the nines. It ended up being decorated to the threes. In addition to my 4 year old dusty and falling apart miniature tree's from Target the fanciest lengths I went to were candy cane striped paper straws and green glittery plastic-ware. Family: I apologize.

Home Alone Shirts

Seriously though, that picture of the girls.. I asked them to smile and Piper put her arm around Kennedy and pulled her closer to her. I almost died.

Around 10pm when most of my family had left and Piper was put to sleep, Kennedy and I stayed up a little later to make Santa some sugar cookies. BECAUSE DUH, isn't it best to have the cookies made mere hours before Santa's arrival?! 

The fun part is always making sure the cookies are properly frosted. Kennedy went entirely overboard with the sprinkles, but that was to be expected and it only makes it that more festive, eh? It was needed since she was against wearing her Christmas jammies.

Wahoo! Now it's time to set out the milk and cookies! Sorry Santa, we were out of 2% that's why you got some of Piper's almond milk. I KNOW, I don't know how she tolerates that shit either. 

I let Kennedy do the honors of setting out the cookies which meant most ended up on the floor outside the fireplace after sliding off the plate. Now to wait for Santa. Yippee!

Santa is one of the things that I think is just so magical about childhood. I was a firm believer in Santa - probably way longer than I should have been, but hey! I had a good Santa growing up. Our tradition was that the gifts from Santa were set-up under the tree or next to the fireplace. No boxes, no tags. Why on Earth would The North Pole have a box for a Barbie? Last I checked the Barbie was crafted by Elf, not Mattel, Inc. JUST SAYIN'!

Oh, look he stopped even though we were so late getting to bed! Why didn't I take a picture of Piper's little haul? Exhaustion.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

We all slept in. Brendon's brother rang the doorbell at 9:30a to bring the kids their presents and we jumped out of bed Home Alone style. Well, Brendon did and he proceeded to get Kennedy out of bed.

Brendon: "Ken, it's Christmas!"

Ken: "Okay."

B: "Uncle Derrick is here with presents, and Santa came!"

K: "Just a few more minutes......"

Kennedy got her Easy-Bake Oven like she requested and Piper got a nifty Little People Zoo set. The gifts from us weren't too flashy as they (Kennedy) didn't have a lot they asked for. Besides the Easy-Bake Oven, Kennedy had been asking for a 'cam' for months on end. Pure happiness when she opened it! She's now been taking pictures of everything and is constantly begging us to put the waterproof case on so she can dunk it in the fish tank. Yayyyyyyy.

It was so much fun with Pipes this year. She was so interested in opening presents and shredding the wrapping paper and tissue to bits. Her only hang-up was loving each present so much that she wouldn't want to go onto the next. Not the biggest problem in the world.

And present opening turned into a fun game of jungle gym.

After opening gifts at the house we got all fancified to make our usual rounds of family time. Oh, this means great photo opportunities?! Hell no.

First we headed to my mom's, then to Brendon's aunts. It always makes for a busy, family filled day that has us crying for our beds by the end of the night. We got home early enough this year that we were able to try out the Easy-Bake Oven. All I have to say is that they have greatly improved since I was a kid, and Kennedy loved every second.

Our tree is already in the garbage.

Leia

sunday meal share?: meatballs

I wanted so badly to include this recipe on my meal share that had party foods/snacks but this is not a dish that I ever randomly make for my family since there is simply TOO MUCH food. So, I feel like I somewhat dropped the ball on this one but there's still an opportunity to make it for any upcoming New Year's parties between work and home!

Meatballs! Does everyone have a recipe for meatballs? Yes. Are they all pretty much the same? Yes. Is this one going to fall into that generic category too? I don't like to think so! The recipe is uniquely generic in that it pulls ideas from a lot of recipes I frequently see and eat.

Cost effective: for a large Crock-Pot full will run you around $15.

Easy to concoct: totes.

Nutritious: if you only eat one or two, maybe.

Be prepared for some camera phone pictures because I was making this for my families Christmas Eve party and I didn't think to document until midway through preparation.

Here's what you'll need:

1 large bag of Italian meatballs

1½-2 cups brown sugar

1 jar of chili sauce (I always use Heinz)

1 can of jellied (or whole berry) cranberries

1 can of sauerkraut (rinsed and drained)

1 cup water

1. In a large mixing bowl combine the brown sugar, chili sauce, cranberries, sauerkraut, and water. I personally start by adding the cranberries first and mashing them up.

2. Add meatballs to Crock-Pot.

3. Pour sauce onto the meatballs. At this point it's difficult to mix even if you do a layer of meatballs then sauce, and then add the rest of the meatballs and sauce on top of that, so I usually wait until it's been cooking for a little while to do so.

4. Cook on high for 3 hours, or cook on low 5-6 hours.

5. Enjoy!

I have confidence that your party goers, coworkers, and children will enjoy this one. And if there are any sticklers in the audience that don't like sauerkraut, urge them to try it. I hate when people tell me: "well, you can't even taste the onion in this French onion soup!" Well, if you can't taste it, why in the hell put it in there?! With that being said, I don't think the sauerkraut necessarily adds flavor. It adds more texture. But who knows, maybe the sauerkraut flavor is apparent but I don't notice because I like sauerkraut. Please let me know!

Happy meatballidays!

Leia

christmas eve eve

Initially I prepared a mid-week recipe for you guys but I'm BUSY TOILING AWAY AT WORK *cough*, and I forgot to upload the pictures to Google Drive.. I didn't want to post the recipe without the pictures because since I set aside the time to document the recipe I am damn sure going to include pictures!

But here's a recipe for my Christmas week!

1. Miss three Christmas parties because you work evenings. Caytee, Chelsea, Janell, Rawlin, and Alicia.. trust me, I am more upset about this than you are. Probably.

2. Annual Gandy Dancer 'Christmas' Brunch with dad and family where you'll get 3 servings of eggs benny, because it is heaven, and you'll try to coordinate outfits perfectly to achieve a level right in between tacky and festive.

3. You'll try hard to get a photo with Kennedy but she somehow turns into the grinch in the blink of an eye.

4. Fed up, you'll then try to get a picture of the two rascals together. Piper will run away but Kennedy will be there to try and save the day. Dying.

 5. The girls get some early gifts during the celebration with papa and gramma. You graciously let Kennedy keep her coveted Barbie Dreamhouse in the foyer because her room is too messy and you both know it will be a disaster.

 

6. Piper wants nothing to do with her gift, and everything to do with her gift. DUH.

7. Craft some ornaments for your friends and family. This is a tradition I've had for the last several years (whether store bought or handmade) so if any of them are so kind as to read these words, nothing will be spoiled.

 8. Remove the one present you put under the tree as a test because the cats destroyed the wrappings. And here you thought the problem would be the toddler.

9. Wait to wrap presents until after work on Christmas Eve Eve. It will be fun they said.

10. Let Kennedy play outside in a t-shirt because it was a balmy 60°! INSANE.

11. Hope Miss Colombia is able to have a good holiday.

Time to finalize the menu for my own Christmas party.

Leia

santa claus: your neighborhood tear maker

So, what can I say about Santa 2015?

• the mall parking lot was A MESS
• the line to see Santa was incredibly shorter than I had imagined
• Kennedy and Piper both enjoyed the artificial snow falling from the ceiling of the little North Pole setup
• Kennedy was envious of the kids whose parents let them roll around and throw the 'snow'
• Piper's boots were to die for
• Santa had a different face this year
• my kids don't remember what Santa looks like from last year  
• Piper was not happy that I handed her off as an apparent Christmas Sacrifice
• Kennedy was much less nervous than I had anticipated
• Kennedy would like an Easy Bake Oven
• Kennedy: "yes, we're going to have cookies and milk for you."
• Piper: "laskjdfoiejasldkfjFUCKalskdjfoiawsejf!!!!!"

HO, HO, HORRIBLE.

Leia

r.i.p. fall 2015

EXAMS ARE FUCKING OVER!

That is all.

Leia

mid-week meal share: brown sugar carrots, mini monkey bread, mozzarella chicken poppers

Christmas is next week and I know some, if not most of you, will be attending and/or hosting a holiday party! Maybe your party consists of you and your adult cousins still sitting at the kids table; maybe it consists of you not getting a chance to sit down with a hot plate of food because somehow you got stuck wrangling the kids and cooking the meal; or maybe it just consists of you getting drunk on the punch that you spiked even though you were told repeatedly not to do so because 'there are kids here!' Regardless of which scenario you fit into, or whether it's all three, these THREE delicious recipes are sure to help you cope!

#1

MINI GARLIC MONKEY BREAD

Cost effective: YES! The only thing I needed to buy was a tube of biscuits. $1.67!

And I have faith that if I had everything else on hand, you do too! Yes, I'm

talking to YOU, broke college kid who's potentially reading this!

Easy to concoct: YES!

Nutritious: NO!

Here's what you need!

per recipe:

1 tube buttermilk biscuits

¼ cup of unsalted butter, melted

2 tbsp grated parmesan

4 gloves (2 tsp) minced garlic

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried parsley

pinch of salt

per average mom:

1 tube buttermilk biscuits

¼ cup of salted butter (because it's what you have), melted

2 tbsp grated parmesan

2 tsp minced garlic

1½ tsp italian seasoning

pinch of salt?

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces.

3. Place all the biscuit bites into a mixing bowl.

4. Measure out your butter into a large, microwave safe, mixing cup and place in microwave until melted.

5. Add your parmesan, seasonings, and salt to the melted butter, and mix.

 6. Set aside 2 tbsp of the butter mixture and pour the rest over your mini-scuits and gently mix. 

7. In a lightly greased muffin tin (12 cup) place 4-5 buttered and garliced biscuits pieces and pinch them together.

 8. Put in oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

9. Once that oven dings hotline blings, spoon or brush remaining butter mixture on top.

10. Serve and enjoy. Or hoard an entire pan for yourself because they are that damned good.

There is nothing that I would change about this recipe. Well, actually, I would have gotten enough ingredients for two batches. SO GOOD.

#2

 CINNAMON & BROWN SUGAR CARROTS
Cost effective: YES! $5, because instead of substituting cinnamon sugar for cinnamon, I finally bought some.
Easy to concoct: YES! Pending you can cut carrots in half.
Nutritious: If you eat the carrots immediately after cutting them. 

Here's your trusty list of ingredients:

 8 large carrots
3 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
2  tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp water

1. Wash and peel carrots and then cut into halves.
2. In a casserole dish combine brown sugar, butter, salt, cinnamon, and water.
3. Microwave until butter is melted.
4. Once butter is melted, add and mix your carrots into the 'sauce'.
5. Microwave for 6-8 minutes. Should I have put these into the oven instead? Sure. Did I? HELL NO.
6. Mix carrots.
7. Microwave for another 6-8 minutes, or until tender.
8. Enjoy! 

 The only thing I would've changed about this recipe is the size of the carrots and the amount of cinnamon. I would have cut the carrots closer to the size of the ones pictured in the recipe because mine sort of came out soggy. But I guess if I had tested them before cooking them for 8 additional minutes the second time this could have been avoided. And as far as the cinnamon goes, I wouldn't have necessarily added less, but I definitely would have added more brown sugar. They were actually a little spicy.


#3 - saved the most difficult for last
 MOZZARELLA CHICKEN POPPERS
Cost effective: quantity vs yield these are more than the rest, but for approximately 25 bites you'll spend around $15. I think it's worth it.
Easy to concoct: more messy and time consuming, but not really difficult.
Nutritious: I'm going to say yes for this one!

Here is the down low on the fixin's:

1 lb ground chicken (yes, it looks sketchy as hell)
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1 block mozzarella
2 tbsp bbq sauce
seasoned breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cut the mozzarella into thick slices, and then cut into cubes.
3. In a large bowl combine the ground chicken, bbq sauce, salt and pepper. It probably would've been easy to use my hands but I used a spatula instead.
4. The method I used to form the 'meatballs' was flattening the chicken into the palm of my hand, placing a cheese cube in the middle, then rolling the sides up and around the cheese.

5. Place chicken popper into breadcrumbs and roll around until covered.

6. Once your fingers are disgustingly coated with raw chicken and breadcrumbs, place poppers onto a greased or foiled cookie sheet.
7. Let them puppies sit in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
8. ENJOY!

For the bbq sauce I chose Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet & Spicy. Guys, Brendon and I looooooooooooved these. As with any time I cook meat in the oven, I always second guess myself when it comes to checking for 'doneness'. I cooked these for almost 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for because they turned out really juicy. In the end I concluded that it was probably form the cheese and we dug in.

BAM - MULTI-TASKING!

 And of course, our biggest little critic had to inspect everything.

LOVED the monkey bread.
DISLIKED the carrots.
LIKED the chicken poppers.

I say it was a nice outcome for the test run of my holiday party sides and snacks.



Your tinsel might get tangled if you attempt all three at once.
Leia