Week 21: Crockpot Mac and Cheese!

You know when I'm only doing my food blogs once a week that life is really busy.  But, might I add, fun?  It's that time of year when we're all too busy outside, trying to soak up all the warm weather and fun summery activities that we've been deprived of for way too long.

A week full of 80 degree temps and a cool weekend.  Sounds just like Michigan, doesn't it?  But, that's okay.  We were still able to do everything we wanted to!  Our weekend started on Friday with our new tradition of dinner out and swimming at the Rec Center.  This week we grabbed pizza at Buddy's and swam until bedtime.  Sean is getting so great with being more independent in the water.  He doesn't mind going under, especially if we go under while coming down the slide.  He'll stand on the bench under water and he'll jump to one of us.  We're bringing his Puddle Jumper this Friday to see if he'll let go of us and swim independently for a minute or two.

Saturday, Sean and I headed to the Farmer's market for fresh corn, strawberries, Kettle Corn, and our usual muffins.  We left Evan at home with Scott since it was a little cool out and Evan had a cold.  The rest of the day was spent playing inside and outside with bubbles and a Father's Day painting project for Grandpa.  A blog post will follow with those details...

Saturday also made me more aware of the amount of laundry I'll be doing for the next...17 years or so...

Sunday, I woke up and took the boys to the Zoo in the morning to meet up with my parents.  Scott stayed home and started the fire pit project I've been begging him to do.  And what a perfect day for both of us!  The zoo was PERFECT in the morning.  Not too crowded, not too warm, the animals were all out, and everyone was happy.

I came home and realized I should have put some sunscreen on.  Oh well...a little color on my skin never hurt, right?

We BBQ'd some shish-ka-bobs, boiled up the fresh corn from the market, and ate ourselves into oblivion.  And after dinner, Scott lit up the inaugural fire in our new fire pit!  We plan to add some DIY wooden benches around the fire pit and maybe pavers or stones about a foot or two out, but for now, it's what I was hoping for!

What a fabulous day!

Monday, we got up and rushed to get out the door in time for the Memorial Day Parade in downtown Plymouth.  Sean was so excited to see the firetrucks!  Despite the fact the parade only lasted 15 minutes, it was still something fun to do.

The rest of the day we just hung out and played inside because of the rain.  Not the most exciting Memorial Day, but we enjoyed the extra day at home as a family.  And of course, it was nice to share stories about my Grandpa and Scott's two Grandfathers at dinner.  They're forever in our hearts!

Speaking of dinner, we put together a nice BBQ dinner for Memorial Day.  We made BBQ chicken, green beans, and crockpot mac and cheese!  I've tried a few recipes for the crockpot mac and cheese, but this one was my favorite!  I found it online through a google search and it ended up coming off of www.cooks.com.

1/2 box of elbow noodles (8 oz. cooked, drained)
3 cups sharp cheddar shredded cheese
2 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups milk
1 stick butter, melted

Cook macaroni noodles per the directions on the box.  Drain.  Pour into a greased crock pot.  Add the 3 cups of sharp cheddar shredded cheese and the melted butter.

Beat eggs and mix both milks together.  Pour mixture over the noodles and mix well.

Cook on low for 3 hours.

and voila!  An easy side dish to add to any meal!  Sean loves it, it left enough for us to bring for lunch today, and it was minimal work.  I wish there was a way to add crushed Ritz crackers to it, but there's some liquid at the top after cooking, so it would have to be added after it's served on a plate.  Plus, because it only cooks for 3 hours, it's not something you can throw on and leave on all day while you're at work.  It's something you have to be home to make.  Otherwise, no complaints. 

Happy Memorial Day! 

Week 20: Peanut Butter Cup Brownies!

3 more weeks until summer vacation!

15 more days until 2.5 months of days spent like this:

Or this:

Enough said.

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend.  A busy one.  But, definitely worth all the scrambling, packing, and driving around.

Friday, we picked up the boys from daycare and went to dinner at Senate Coney Island after hearing for months about how delicious their food is.  I was impressed.  Their greek salad dressing was awesome!  We went on to the Livonia Rec Center to get a summer membership.  Even as a non-resident, it's ridiculously cheap to access the type of gym equipment, indoor and outdoor playscapes, rock-climbing wall, zero-depth pool, water slide, and lazy river.  It was a blast!  We've already decided this is our new Friday after work tradition until the end of the school year!

Saturday morning we headed over to the Farmer's Market for yummy muffins and some shopping.  It was like the boys knew we were going to have a long day and a night out.  They both slept through the night and slept in until 7:45am!

I went to go get my hair cut and done for the first time in a....year?  Clearly I need to make a point of taking better care of myself.  Then we were off to Troy to drop off the dog, the boys, and head over to Rochester for Dave and Christie's Wedding!  It was an absolutely gorgeous day to get married and both the bride and groom looked stunning on their special day.  Congrats guys!

Sunday, Scott met up with his dad for some golf and I hung out with the boys at my parents' house.  We took the kids up to the park.  Considering it was 80 degrees at 10am, it was a hot walk there and back.  The rest of the day we hung out inside and we all took an afternoon nap.

By the time we got back home Sunday afternoon, we were ready to just unwind.  This warm weather really has me itching for the school year to be over so that we can do fun activities all week long instead of trying to jam it all in one weekend.

Since there's only 3 weeks left of work and I love my lunch group so much, I decided to make them peanut butter cup brownies.  I've made them once before, so technically I cheated this week.  But, seriously, these are so good and so easy to make, I had to blog about them!  Whoever came up with this is a genious!  One of our co-workers buys a Costco bag of assorted chocolates and the peanut butter cups are always the first to go.  So, it was a no-brainer that these will be a hit tomorrow!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Recipe adapted from Nestle’s Very Best Baking

Makes 40 brownies as adapted

1 box of your favorite brownie mix
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease 40 mini-muffin cups.

 Prepare boxed brownie mix as directed. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups (about 1 heaping teaspoon). Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into center comes out slightly wet. After brownies are out of the oven, wait for centers to fall. This will happen upon cooling. If not then tap the centers with the back of a teaspoon to make a hole for the peanut butter.

Place peanut butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds then stir. While brownies are still warm spoon about half a teaspoon of peanut butter into the center of each brownie. Top with semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Cool completely in pan.

 Enjoy guys!

Week 19: Cheesy Chicken Southwest Pasta Casserole!

Mmmm...tomorrow night's dinner.  I just finished putting this sucker together and the aroma of onions, peppers, and garlic is still lingering in the house.  Cheesy Chicken Southwest Pasta Casserole.  Shy of some tortilla chips on top and some more cheese, this casserole is ready to go.

1/2 pound whole grain pasta such as rotini
4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups diced onion
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
3 ears of corn, kernels removed
1/4-1/3 cup all purpose flour {depending on how much liquid the veggies give off}
2 cups chicken stock or milk
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt & pepper, to taste
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken
1 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips

Start by boiling a large pot of water and cooking the pasta for half the time recommended on the box. Drain and set aside. In the same hot pot, melt butter and saute onions, garlic, peppers, jalapenos and corn until tender, 7 minutes or so. Sprinkle in flour and stir. Cook 2 minutes, then pour in chicken stock or milk. Increase heat to thicken sauce, then sprinkle in cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, cheeses, cream, chicken and cooked pasta. Stir to combine and pour into large casserole dish. Top with crushed tortilla chips and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve.

While I can't speak to how tasty this recipe is since we haven't tried it yet, I can say that it's a bit of work for a normal week night.  Definitely something to put together ahead of time like I did tonight.  Lots of chopping and prep work since a rotisserie chicken needs to be pulled apart.

I used chicken stock instead of milk and used a can of mexicorn to save time from actual ears of corn.  

I'll have to check in next week with how this tasted, but I can't imagine something with these ingredients would be anything less than delicious!

Now to recap last week.

Whew!  It started off a little rough.  I took a sick day last Monday to stay home.  My sinuses were driving me nuts and I literally had no voice.  Aside from feeling like crap, we needed a small appliance repair company to come out to fix our oven that stopped heating.  $176 later and she's good to go!  Later that afternoon a trip to a new doctor confirmed an upper respiratory infection and I was sent home with a z-pack.  Oh, and a referral to a general surgeon.  I guess it's time to get my umbillical hernia fixed this summer.  Another surgery...

Tuesday night we reached a new low with Evan.  He was up from 11:30pm-3:00am!  He maybe gave us a half hour of sleep in between after a dosage of Tylenol, but for the most part, required us to be holding him and rocking in the upright position.  Considering he finished his meds on Monday night for his double ear infections, I assumed they were back/never went away.

Wednesday I took him to the pediatrician after school and shockingly, he was fine.  No ear infections.  She couldn't see a tooth.  It was a mystery.

Until Thursday morning when I saw his bottom right tooth poking through the gums.  I was relieved to know it was a tooth since his next step with an ear infection is tubes.  But, then it hit me.  This was how he is going to react to getting teeth.  And we have....19 more to go.  Gahh!!

With the gorgeous weather on Wednesday, we have Scott's family over to celebrate Mother's Day.  Scott brought Sean, a carry-out from East Side Mario's, and a speeding ticket home with him from work that day.  Joy.  Another unexpected expense in the last week.

By Friday, I was more than ready for the weekend.  To kick off Mother's Day weekend, daycare had a Luau at pick-up.  Some chicken wraps, fruit, veggies, and a chocolate fondue fountain, we had dinner and had fun watching Sean interact in his classroom with his friends and teachers.  The gifts the boys made were priceless - I love all the homemade things!

Saturday, we were up bright and early to head over to Greenfield Village for our 9:30am tickets to ride Thomas the Train!  Sean was pumped, but of course, the weather was a little less than desirable.  Figures the day I have tickets, it's going to be 45 degrees.  Oh well!  We had a great time, Sean loved the train, the Hobo Jamboree, and the little cars.  This kid needs to learn how to pedal!

Lunch at Las Palapas and an exchanging of our gifts for Grandma, Sean was exhausted.  We all were.  I shouldn't have had that Margarita at lunch...it knocked me out for a good hour or so after we got home.

The week ended on the best note!  The best Mother's Day I've had yet!  Scott let me sleep in, brought up breakfast in bed with my boys and puppy by my side, and a bouquet of handprint flowers!  It didn't stop there.  As I walked down the stairs, he had a huge banner that I got to walk through that said, "Happy Mom's Day, We love you!".  Once downstairs, he had taped big posters of cards the boys made for me.  Evan's had a body traced with his handprints, butt print, and foot prints and said, "I can't pick up my toys, I can be a pain in the butt at times, and I can't walk or crawl yet, but I do love you."  Sean's was where he took his monster trucks and rolled them through paint and it said, "I may drive you mad sometimes, but you drive me to grow into a great boy!"  How stinking cute.

I spent all morning with the boys, then I got a few hours out to go shopping while Sean napped (although he decided to take down the vent in his room and stuff all his stuffed animals down there...oops!).  Finally, we had dinner at EG Nicks downtown - yum!- and Scott gave me the necklace I had my eye on!  

I feel so blessed to have such a fan club!  I love my little family!  There's no greater gift than being a mom, but today was icing on the cake.