Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Zucchini Fritters

This recipe was left for me in my comment section a few posts below this one by a sweet reader named Angie. The recipe is SO GOOD that I just had to move it up here to its own post in order to do it justice. Even my hubby, who only eats zucchini bread, loved it. So I have to send a big "Thank you" out to Angie for expanding my zuchinni options and encourage the zucchini shy folks out there to try this recipe. It is very, very good.

(Angie, I hope that you don't mind me doing this. If so, please let me know and I will remove this post. This is a great recipe! My kids gobbled them up and asked for more.)

Zucchini Fritters
1/3 cup biscuit mix
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups shredded zucchini, unpeeled
butter or margarine

Stir together biscuit mix, Parmesan cheese and pepper. Stir in beaten eggs just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in zucchini.

Melt butter in a skillet, spoon zucchini mixture in like you are making pancakes. Cook until browned on both sides. You can serve these with a little bbq sauce, but my favorite condiment with them is ranch dressing.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Cravings

I am not usually one who craves crazy things when I am pregnant. But I must say, if I never had to eat anything other than any type of Mexican food and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream I would be one very happy preggo momma. My family seems to want a bit more variety, so I am forced to concede to their wishes. They have no idea how much I love them.

Friday, August 22, 2008

I passed, and now I will make a roast

I passed my glucose test today! It was a bit nervous just because my Hashimoto's Disease makes me more prone to complications. But I have been enjoying good health with this pregnancy, so I figured that I would be fine.

I hate the glucose test. It was especially yucky for me today because I couldn't take my thyroid meds until after the test. I need to eat about an hour after I take them (and I take them at 6 am), but my dr appt wasn't until 9:30am and I needed to do at least a 12 hour fast before the test. I was so tired without my medication and so hungry without food that I went straight for McDonald's after the test. And I HATE McDonald's. To add insult to injury, their debit/credit card machine was out of order so I had to cancel my order and go to Burger King where I stood in line for 10 minutes waiting for someone to take my order. I never eat fast food. Now I know why.

So, I am a bit tired today because the delay of taking my meds and the blood sugar shake up kind of wore me out. I am cheating for dinner with my hubby's favorite pot roast recipe. It's so good and so easy! It's not organic, uses nothing from the garden, and is probably pretty bad for you. But we all have those days, right? Just in case you ever want to be bad, here is the recipe:

French Onion Pot Roast
__________________________________________
1 Beef Pot roast apx 3 - 4 lbs (or smaller works fine too)
1 can condensed french onion soup mix
1 box savory herb stuffing mix
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown the pot roast in a bit of olive oil and season to taste (I use a bit of pepper, garlic, and Italian Seasoning. I recommend skipping the salt because of the high sodium content of, um, all of the other ingredients.) Put the pot roast into your crock pot and pour the french onion soup on top. Cook on high for about 3 - 4 hours. Add the stuffing mix (sprinkle on top of the roast and do not mix in) and continue cooking on high for another 1 -2 hours. Add the shredded mozz cheese and cook until cheese is melted. Remove from crock pot and serve. I like to serve this with some carrots and a big huge salad to remove some of my guilt.

I try to cook healthy as much as humanly possible. But life happens sometimes. Now I can try to regroup myself after running around while dead tired, maybe get something done around the house, and still have a hot dinner waiting for my hubby that he loves. We can splurge on the bad stuff every once in awhile, right?

I'm going to go lay down for a bit and then do some laundry. Have a great day!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

How to make fresh tomato sauce

Just 4 easy steps!!

Step 1: Walk out to your garden to pick some fresh, red, delicious tomatoes to use for your sauce.

Step 2: Remember half way there that you forgot to grab your basket. Opt to not go back and grab it. Real gardeners don't need no stinkin' basket. Right.

Step 3: Grab as many fresh, juicy, ripe tomatoes as your hands can hold. Then grab more. Because you don't want to have to walk back out to the garden to get more. Just REALLY load up.

Step 4: Attempt to leave the garden, but trip over an air molecule. Catch yourself enough to prevent bodily injury but not enough to prevent smashing all of those red, ripe, and juicy tomatoes all over the front of your shirt.

To add extra flavor, jump up and look around to make sure that nobody saw you. Then notice that your neighbor, who could really use a laugh, saw it all and is attempting to make sure that you are ok without bursting into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Yes, this really did happen. I think that my garden is mad at me for having a bad year so it is now seeking it's revenge.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Zucchini?!?

It has been my worst garden year EVER. I am so unimpressed with myself that I can't even bear to blog about it. Then this guy named "Murphy" decided to walk into my garden with his goofy laws. You see, my neighbor gave me two small zucchini plants last spring. I planted them just because I can't bear to see a plant die, but my hubby doesn't like zucchini for anything other than bread. Just for fun, take a guess at what is ready for harvest. If you said zucchini you'd be 100% correct. It's almost like someone is playing a cruel joke on me. Almost everything else in my garden stinks this year except for the one thing that my hubby hates. Darn Murphy and his laws! I am so not amused.

Monday, August 18, 2008

As always, someone has said

everything that I feel about motherhood in a much better way than I could ever dream of. Shannon, from Rocks in my Dryer, has a wonderful post about Great Things.

When I was a college student I was going to graduate, have a fabulous career, and change the world of psychology. I wasn't going to have children. My how my life has changed! And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Let the countdown begin

By the time I have this post up it will be about 48 hours until I have to pack my kiddos up in the car and take them to their first day of school. Lots of my mom friends are incredibly happy that this day is finally almost here. I, in the most pathetic way, am very sad. I will miss my kids and I will miss the days where we were able to learn and get things done without being on someone else's timetable. I think often of homeschooling. But then I think again. I know that my children are receiving a fantastic education. And as a former student of that awful liberal art known as psychology I also know that it is incredibly valuable for my children to learn things from people other than me. My ultimate job as a parent is to turn them into proper functioning adults. I really doubt that I could achieve this goal by homeschooling them. I smother, I baby, I am quick to spare them the pains of life. It's my most primitive mothering instinct. I am a momma bear. Now don't get me wrong, I am fully able to stand on the sidelines and watch them go through the emotional and physical pains of childhood. I only try to step in when the need it. I try to be the voice of reason. But it is so hard, and I think that the act of letting them go to school away from me is the way that I am able to accomplish this.It is a process of letting go and growing up for ALL of us. No one ever told me how hard it would be to let them go after you carried them and cared for them. But it has to be done. And for me, it has to be done this way. Sigh.

I have very fond memories of my school days, especially grade school. My grade school was a small private school that was filled with fantastic staff. I still remember the name of every teacher that I had even though I graduated from that school over 22 years ago. I learned so much from them, more than just reading and writing. My hubby and I hope to accomplish the same thing with our children, and that is why we make the large financial sacrifice and send them to a private school too. They are very happy there, they get a great education, and they have a great social support network that extends beyond just the children who attend there. Our choice of education has so many advantages for our family. But I still dread the first day of school.

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying that any one method of education is better than another. Homeschoolers are great! It just won't work for us so we go the private school route.)

Well, it is time for me to quit bellyaching and get moving. I have to go get a blood test today (TSH, t3, t4), clean the car and house, go shopping, and be back by 4:30 so that the tile guy can work on the bathroom.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Tomatoes!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I apparently can't grow much besides babies when I am pregnant. But I sure can grow tomatoes right now. I wonder if there is some odd connection. Tomatoes are round....I'm getting pretty round, and red too because I am so darn hot. Oh, who knows! But I have to run out to my garden and water and pick a whole bunch of tomatoes. Big toms, tiny tims, super sweet 100's, and romas are all coming in right now. And on my stove top sits a beautiful pot of homemade marinara sauce made from my big toms and romas that I whipped up for dinner tonight. This is the one bright spot in my pretty dim garden. Oh well, there's always next year.

Well, I have to go water and spiff up the house before the tile guy gets here to do the bathroom floor. I forgot to mention that we are finally finishing our second bathroom (after being in this house for 10 years!) so that my hubby can have some sort of manly refuge when the baby gets here. Or at least a bathroom that isn't occupied in a house with 4 women. My poor hubby!!

Have a great day and weekend!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Why do I do this to myself?

And why can't I just say "no"?

My neighbor who lives behind me called and asked me to watch her kids for her. Her THREE children. Her THREE children that do not behave in the same manner as my children do. Now, I am not saying that her children are bad. They are just different. I am a very mellow person. So are my children. I am very blessed in that way. God gave me just the kind of children that I need and can handle considering my personality and illness (Hashimoto's Disease). My neighbors children make me want to drink. ALOT. They are much more, um, creative and energetic than my own children. When my children get creative and unruly, it consists of putting barbies in their toy car and rolling them down the slide. When my neighbors kids get unruly, it consists of throwing large rocks to see if they leave a mark on my nice white pvc fence. They give me twitches. I just cannot handle it. But I still said "Yes, I'll watch them for you." And not just for an hour or two. But for TWO WHOLE DAYS. God help me. I need a spine. Sometimes I hate myself.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Where has the time gone?

Did you ever just wake up one morning and feel like an entire month or season or whatever has gone by and you completely missed it? That is what I have been feeling like this whole week. I just realised that my children have to be back in school by the 20th of this month. Now please understand, I KNEW that they went back on the 20th, but I just didn't really grasp how incredibly close we actually are to that day. Does that make sense? Good, I'm glad that you guys understand it because I am still a bit dazed by the concept. Where did the summer go? The last time I checked, it was the 4th of July and I still had a month and a half of relaxing summer fun left to enjoy. Oh well, I guess all good things must end and now I have to get the kids ready to go back to school and myself ready to go back to work. Sigh.

I actually ventured out to my garden the other day. I have a sad confession to make. Apparently I don't garden well while pregnant. I might have something to do with me being physically challenged to bend, move, breathe, etc. (I am quite an ungraceful pregnant woman!) It might have something to do with the lousy gardening weather that we have had all season long. I really just don't know anymore. All I know is that I am going to be making a ton of marinara sauce this fall because tomatoes are about the only things that are growing well for me. I am going to plant some more rows of carrots, some spinach, and some peas. I'll see what else I feel like doing, but I just feel like a dismal failure this season. But every true gardener always knows that there is always next year, so I am already planning what seeds I am going to start in February. No sense in dwelling on failures. Look to the future instead. Hey, it works for me.

I am off to wash school uniforms and clean my house. I have one more glorious week to enjoy with my children before it's back to the old school grind. I intend to enjoy every minute of it. Hope that you do too!

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Here's a hint......

We never found out what we were having before our babies were born with our first two daughters. I much prefer the surprise in the delivery room. But this time, I am feeling a bit too old for surprises so we decided to go ahead and find out what we are having. Because it just pains me to make the "official announcement" before the baby is actually born, I am leaving you all a clue about whether we are having a girl or a boy. Care to take a guess?? ;)