Minnie Mouse birthday party

Sweet Pea turned two this weekend and since she is still young enough I get to choose the birthday theme.  This year I went with Minnie Mouse, but you know not just Minnie, the red Minnie Mouse.  I'm totally about the classic, red is no less girly than pink in my opinion.

So we had a family party played a couple games and managed to sit around and have adult conversation while the 3 kids were running around.  I didn't get a lot of pictures because I was also running around getting stuff ready.

Here are a  few pictures to hold you over until I can do a few posts on the stuff I did for the party.

Mmmmm Manicotti

I'm a big fan of pasta dishes particularly if they also have cheese.  I saw this is Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine and finally made it.

Here is the recipe from her site.  There is just something about it that makes it seems a bit fancier but it could not be easier to make.

Thaw out the frozen spinach, this took a bit longer than I would have thought so I ended up microwaving it a bit and then squishing the water out.

Then mixed up the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and I added a bit of oregano and paprika.

Mix in the spinach.  Put it into the baggie.  Cooked the noodles.  A note on this, I cooked my a couple minutes shorter than the package said and still thought it was too long since some of the noodles ripped easily. For those that ripped I just opened them the rest the way then filled and put them ripped side down.  I had enough filling for another noodle if you are not one to waste.

Then to save myself dishes I used the same bowl from the ricotta and put the jar of sauce (I used the entire thing else it would sit in my fridge and be forgotten) with oregano, some chili powder and cream together.

Ladled it on top and sprinkled it with some more Parmesan cheese.

Why yes it was awesome.  We had it with some peas and carrots and garlic bread (because we needed more carbs).

Disney on Ice

Don't worry, I'm not one of those Rabid Disney Moms ™ yet, but my daughter is still young and there is time.  This weekend we went to Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes.  I don't know that I've even been to an ice show, and if I have it obviously did not make an impression on me.  I do have to say that the cast members are real athletes.  They have a fairly small rink and do some pretty good moves inside the small area.  I mean they aren't going to be joining the Olympic team anytime soon but they did a great job of putting on a show.

Most of the princess crap that is shoved down young girls throats gets my goat but at the same time as a parent I am responsible for what I expose my child to.  I like Disney, I grew up on Disney movies, I've been to Disney World and couple times and really want to go again.  While I don't agree that every little girl should be a princess from birth and I don't agree that the movies always send the right message.  Take Beauty and the Beast for example.  Belle is a independent thinker who stays in an abusive relationship to save her father.  No parent would/should ever ask that of their child but that isn't the real story.  In the story the Belle goes by her own free will and is well taken care of by the Beast, only to be tricked by her jealous sisters.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that you have to take it all with a grain of salt and enjoy it for what it is, plain and simply, entertainment.  I had a great time watching the show and I would happily go to another one.  I was impressed with Sweet Pea and her cousins for actually watching almost the entire show, I think they all really enjoyed it, yes even the little boy. :)

 My MIL with an anxious SP.

 Monsoon and I in a picture taken by Cyclone.  She always looks so stoic, but she did have a great time.

 He likes it!

 

Sweet Pea and Monsoon's favorites, too bad they were only out there occasionally.   Next time we'll have to see the Mickey and Minnie show.  Also a big thank you to my Other Mother who was a complete trooper when my mom got sick the morning of the show.  She and I kept a 4, almost 3 and almost 2 year olds in line and we got them around safely.

French Toast

I love breakfast, I could eat breakfast foods all day long.  But I'm sure everyone else would be tried of them.  One of my favorites is french toast and when I make it I make an entire loaf and freeze most of it for weekday mornings.  How nice is it to have homemade french toast or pancakes on a Tuesday morning and all you had to do was put it in the toaster and go finish getting ready for the morning.

All these are approximate measures and you could surely half/quart the recipe for what you need.
1 loaf bread (I like a hearty wheat that will hold up and not get too soggy)
8 eggs
1/2 -3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
Mix up the eggs, milk and salt in a  low flat container, get out those 9x9 or 13x9 inch pans.  I will sometimes do mine in batches so that the pan does not get too full.

Now get out your cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, take the lids off and leave them off because you are going to be using them again and again.  Sprinkle a generous amount of the cinnamon on the egg mixture, and very small amounts of the nutmeg and clove.  You really just want a hint of spice, not an overpowering taste.

Then dip the bread into the mixture and put onto a  hot griddle/frying pan. Flip once and done.

 

So why are the spices still out?  Well the bread is going to take it out and so you are going to want to put more on the egg mixture so that all of the bread has some of the spices on it.  You do not want boring french toast!  And if you are the Mr. you've gotta top them with peanut butter and syrup.  I like just butter and syrup most the time though.

Then bag up the rest the freezer safe baggies or containers.  I usually let them cool down most the way before sealing them up.

My new love

Yes, don't tell the Mr., but I'm in love.  I've only see him once but it was enough.

I'm talking about this guy right here.

My sister had her baby and he is just adorable and darling and sweet.  Vincent (who will be known as Vortex here) was born on March 11th, weighing 9lbs and 3oz and is 20in long.  He and his mama are doing great, but for his jaundice.  He also has a small heart mummer that is being kept under watch, but so far so good.

All wrapped up with the Bili.  And squee, tiny toes!!!
 
Not so sure what she is supposed to be doing with this tiny creature. :)

Now if I can just get Sweet Pea done being sick I can go get my hands on that baby again!

Mail time

The Sweet Pea has be interested in mail lately.  Her vintage little people have a mail box with letters she likes to play with.  For Valentine's day I got her and her cousins little metal mailboxes with treats and she loves to carry it around with her.  So when I saw this I knew I needed to make one too!

I cut apart a large cereal box and painted the outside blue
 

The inside white, because I wanted it to look a tidy

Taped it together with packing tape.

Probably should have got The Mr. to paint the word mail on it.  I have terrible penmanship, ask anyone!

Get a little person to try it out!  I was saving all our junk mail for a week and then the Mr. came up and opened it all, so I have to try again.

 

Quesadillas!

Who loves Mexican food?  This lady right here.  I try to rotate tacos every few weeks but I could eat them a few times a week if it was just me.  Also it just so happens that quesadillas are easy for Sweet Pea to eat, unlike tacos they don't fall apart..

First thing I did was cook the chicken then cut it up with kitchen shears (love those things) then cook it in a frying pan with half a packet of taco seasoning. 

Then layer the stuff on the tortilla shells.  I did it the way pictured and also only working on half the tortilla and both worked fine for me.  I did black beans, chicken, corn and cheese, but really use what you have.

Then cook until everything is melty and hot.

Cut it up with a pizza cutter and top with salsa and sour cream.

Mmmm steak!

If I plan to be anything like The Pioneer Woman I've got to get a cast iron skillet.  The other day I was checking out her cooking section and this lovely recipe came up and I knew that I had to make it.  Well the only problem with it is I don't cook stuff in oil and I've only made gravy like once.  So I sucked it up because the recipe seemed fool proof.  I ended up halving the recipe because I'm not feeding 6 people, only 2 1/2.

The easy part was getting the stuff together.

Still not bad breading and egging the steak.  At this point I'm feeling conifdent but a little anxious for the hot oil part.

Sizzling steaks, it worked!

I did not get another picture because Sweet Pea chose this time to hang out in the kitchen so it was enough to get her away form the stove and cook dinner let alone take more pictures.  We had the steaks with gravy (which had a lot left over, biscuits and gravy for this weekend) brussel sprouts and carrots.  Best of all it was really quite cheap and filling.

Now I just need to decide what to make next of hers.

Book display

This project was amazingly easy and in my opinion it is just darling. Here is the link to the tutorial that I used. You'll need 1 1/3 yard of fabric, 2- 4ft long dowels or curtain rods, 2 double curtain rod hangers. Pretty simple stuff and easy to get.
 
I had a hard time deciding on which fabric to use because I thought they'd both look great in Sweet Pea's room.I went with the pink. Here it is all sewn up, not that you can notice because it all looks the same.
I am thinking I'll use the other fabric for the play room, we have a lot of books round these parts.

Here is the finished product with bonus baby checking it out.  It also now needs to be reattached to the wall because apparently my stud finder failed me.

Jello Poke Cake

The Mr. recently celebrated his 27th birthday and for the occasion we had some family over and had pizza, other munchy foods and cake.   I've never made a jello poke cake before but it was so simple, here goes.

Ingredients
1 box cake mix (I used white but you can use your imagination for flavor combination)
1 small box gelatin (I used strawberry jello)
1 large container cool whip
Berries, fresh or frozen (optional)

Directions
Bake the cake as directed.  While it is cooling make the jello as directed.  Then poke holes (I used a fork) in the cake and pour the jello on top of it.  Let it cool in the refrigerator and before using frost with the cool whip and top with berries.

Store in the fridge if there is any left.

Fresh out of the oven
Poked!
Mixed it up in a measuring cup for easy pouring.

Frost and done.