Corban's Lego Birthday Party

Corban turns 6 years old today....crazy how time flies! We had his birthday party last Saturday, and due to his love of Legos, it was an easy choice for a theme.

I'll go into more detail in another post on how I made this cake...it was a big hit!

One of the activities was a Lego building contest - each child had a pile of Legos with which to build whatever they desired - within five minutes. The creations were then "judged" by the dads attending the party, with each child getting an award.

Corban and Marissa hard at work. Marissa got the award for "The Tallest", Corban's was "The Strongest".

The kids lined up for the Lego toss....where they had 5 tries to get a Lego into a series of boxes with point values assigned to each one.

The Lego Pick-Up game - the kids had to use chopsticks to pick up Legos and put them into bowls. The child who got the most in 1 minute won. It's much harder than you'd think!

The kids are ready for the "awards ceremony" for their Lego creations.

Corban and Marissa posing.

With his cake....and his goofy portrait.

It's time to sing!

Opening presents.

When a child is opening gifts, everyone wants to practically sit on top of them. Happens every time.

Ummm...what IS this thing??? A Slinky? What's that???

Oh, it's a gift from Mom. He did end up liking it, once he figured out what to do with it!

This Transformer from Grandma and Grandpa is one of his favorite gifts.

Another favorite gift: A Big Tub of Legos. Can't go wrong with that!

Everyone had a great time and I was so relieved that it went well. I was pretty wiped out afterwards...but it was worth it.

A Trip to the Zoo

I am running so behind! I just don't seem to get the time to sit down and blog about all the things I want to, but better late than never, right?

Last Monday, Grant had off for Columbus Day so after my early morning (kid-less!) grocery trip, we packed up and headed for our first trip to the zoo in more than two years. Apparently I'm only capable of going to the zoo when I'm eight months pregnant. What is wrong with me?
At least this time it wasn't July with the accompanying sweltering heat!

We brought light jackets, even though at home we felt fine without them. It was a good thing....as we all needed them, Corban more than others. (He had an unfortunate incident in the bathroom right after we arrived that .... well .... left his shirt soaked. With toilet water. I have no explanation. That jacket came in mighty handy.... as we're not in the habit of packing extra shirts for him.) Moving on.

Parts of the zoo are undergoing renovation and were closed, but we got to see some really cool animals nonetheless.

Grant and the kids checking out the Red River Hogs.

I think they were looking at the rhino here....Annika wasn't too impressed.

The giraffes were very popular.

But the lions were our favorite. We got to watch the mother with her four cubs frolicking around and playing for quite awhile.

They were literally just a pane of glass away from us! So cool!

Impressive creatures....and so entertaining!

The kids thought this (very cold) metal rhino was really fun.

A little better expression from Corban here.

Look at our little monkeys!

The spider monkeys were the other favorite - they would come right up to the glass and act like they were going to give "Hi-Fives". The kids LOVED them.

We saw other animals, of course, but these were most of the highlights. We really had a great time....and maybe we'll make it back again in less than two years. I'm really wanting to make a trip up to the National Zoo in D.C. sometime, but that's definitely a bigger trip. Maybe next year.

Chicken Pot Pie....Sort Of

This recipe is a combination of a couple of different ones. The filling is from a friend who makes it into real pot-pie, and the biscuits are from Tammy's Recipes. I really like this because Grant isn't a huge fan of pie crusts and quite frankly, I'm not very good at making them! Plus, they're more time consuming, as these biscuits literally took me less than 5 minutes to make and the baking time is at least 1/3 of that of a real pot-pie. You can just use regular potatoes if you want, but I like the added nutrition of the sweet potato, and it really does taste good.
This fed our family for two dinners plus we have enough left over for a couple of hearty lunches. Not too bad! And it truly is delicious....even as leftovers.

Recipe:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 small russet potato, peeled and diced

5 medium carrots, diced

1 onion (red or yellow), chopped

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

1 t. salt

1/2 t. dried thyme

1/2 t. pepper

2 cups chicken broth

3/4 cup milk

1-1/2 lb. cubed cooked chicken (I sauteed the chicken in a bit of olive oil with some garlic salt, onion power, and dried parsley sprinkled on)

1/2-3/4 cup frozen peas

3/4 cup frozen corn

Drop Biscuits:

2 c flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/3 c. butter

1 c. milk

Place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan; cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simer for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet (I used the same one I cooked the chicken in), saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, thyme and pepper until blended. gradually stir in broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the chicken, peas, corn, potatoes, and carrots. Remove from heat. Pour into a 13 x 9" pan.

Preheat oven to 400°.

To prepare biscuits, combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in cold butter until the largest pieces are the size of peas. Stir in milk until you have a sticky dough. Drop by large spoonfuls on top of chicken mixture. I made 12 biscuits.

Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until biscuits are lightly golden brown.

CVS - October 10, 2009

Question: What do you get when you have some great coupons to your local CVS that just opened a new store and some really helpful manufacturers' coupons on top of that, along with $17 ECBs (extra care bucks)?

Answer: About $50 (retail) worth of merchandise for just $2.50 cash + $10 ECBs left over to spend at the store on my next visit.

Too bad I can't get a deal like that every week!!

Swiss Steak in the Crockpot

This is comfort food to the hilt. I love this stuff. We're not big beef eaters, but this is definitely worth indulging on once in awhile. Adjust the proportions as desired....this amount made two dinners for my family, plus three hefty lunches, two for Grant and one for me. If you want to add other colored peppers, feel free....I just never have them on hand.

Recipe:

1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 T. seasoned salt

1 t. garlic powder

ground pepper to taste
paprika to taste (optional)
3 pounds beef cube steaks
1-1/2 green bell peppers, sliced into rings
1 large onion, sliced into rings
2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes

1-2 T. worcestershire sauce

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Mix together the flour and seasonings. Dredge the steaks in the flour mixture and brown on both sides. Remove from heat. Repeat until all steaks are browned. Put peppers and onions in a large crockpot. Top with steaks, and pour the tomatoes over it all. Add worcestershire sauce.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Lasagna Casserole

This tasty dinner came from Laura over at Heavenly Homemakers and was a favorite with my family. I did alter the recipe a bit, so this is my version.

Recipe:

1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 onion, chopped OR 4 T. minced onion
1 large can + 1 small can tomato sauce (total of about 36-37 oz)
heaping 1/3 cup spicy spaghetti seasoning
½ t. salt
16 oz. cottage cheese
13.25 oz. pkg. pasta whole wheat pasta (any shape)
8-12 oz. mozzarella cheese (or cheddar, or a mixture of both)

Brown ground meat and onion. Drain grease. Add tomato sauce, spaghetti seasoning, and salt. Allow meat and sauce to simmer about 20 minutes. Boil pasta according to package. Drain and stir pasta into sauce. Add cottage cheese and half of mozzarella, stirring until everything is evenly mixed. Pour into a casserole dish (9×13). Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly.

Chocolate Caramel Supreme Pie

I made this pie for the first time on Saturday. I actually made two of them - one for a pie contest and one for a pie auction to benefit my MOPS group. Our church was having our annual community day with an outdoor service, picnic, and various activities afterwards. Ever determined to have my pie stick out in the crowd, I avoided traditional sorts of pies (good thing, there were at least 4 apple and 3 pumpkin varieties in the contest) and went for something I had never tried. I found it in one of my Taste of Home cookbooks. Fortunately, I did get to try it, and I absolutely loved it. How can you go wrong with caramel, chocolate, and pecans? I mean, really. It ended up winning "Best of Show", which is somehow differentiated from "Grand Prize" in a way which I don't know....but anyways, it was popular with the judges as well. Hurray!

Recipe:

1 (9-in) chocolate pie crust (I used storebought for simplicity's sake)
30 caramels, unwrapped
3 T. butter
2 T. water
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 (3 0z) package cream cheese, softened (I actually used 4 oz)
1/3 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet - but milk chocolate would be good too)
3 T. hot water
8 oz whipped topping, thawed


In a large saucepan, add the caramels, butter and water. Cook and stir over medium heat until caramels are melted. Spread over crust; sprinkle with pecans. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth; spread over caramel layer. Refrigerate.
In a large saucepan, melt chocolate chips with hot water over low heat; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over cream cheese layer. Garnish as desired - I grated some of a frozen chocolate bar on the top.
Chill until serving. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 8 servings.

This is the pie that was judged...with the tasting piece cut out.


Ummmm.....apparently the judges loved how the caramel oozed.