Katie and Kip and Kyra and Jack and Emmett and we should throw Pepper in there, too.: March 2008

This is not the first time

If you can't tell, that bird that is walking in front of my car is a PEACOCK!! I don't know where they come from, but I've seen several of them over the years. They're always running on the street instead of on the lawn.

Disney inspires twirling

Point - Disney

"Heaven... I'm in heaven..."

Shrimp and penne pasta with tomato cream sauce heaven, that is. Thanks, Amy, for alerting me to this recipe and the cool site from whence it came. I made this the other day and it easily grabbed the very top of my favorite pasta dishes of all time list. If you like shrimp and you like carbs, you owe it to yourself to try this one. Just be sure to hit the gym extra hard the following day. The website I linked you to explains the process in detail and has excellent visuals. Here's the condensed version:

Ingredients:

3/4 lb penne pasta
1 lb fresh, deveined, peeled large shrimp
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken broth/white wine
Fresh parsley, chopped finely (1 tbsp)
Fresh basil, roughly chopped (2 tbsps)
Salt
Pepper

Boil 3/4 lbs pasta to al dente. Drain, stir in a little butter or olive oil and salt, and set aside.
Rinse peeled, deveined shrimp and saute in 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter. Cook until just opaque.
Take shrimp out of the skillet to cool.

In skillet, heat the remaining 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil. saute the diced onion and minced garlic until the onions are clear.

While cooking the onions, pull off the shrimp tails and cut shrimp into bite sized pieces.

Add 1/2 cup wine/chicken broth to cooked onions. Let the alcohol cook off for a few minutes. Stir in 8 oz can of plain tomato sauce and 1 cup cream.

Cop finely 1 tbsp fresh parsley. Chop 1 - 2 tbsp fresh basil. Stir in herbs, shrimp, and pasta to the tomato cream sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!!

I love these!

Love them, love them. Half washcloth, half scrubbie that cheese and egg won't stick to. The sponge doesn't disintegrate because it's enclosed in material. They could probably be thrown in the wash when yucky - haven't tried that yet.

Unofficial Easter Pics

Official ones will come when we can finally make it to a garden-like place.

I've been tagged!

I have been tagged by my friend Amy. For those of you who don't know her, she is one of the moms on my internet parenting board.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Let's see... 7 things you don't know about me....
1. I have horrible hearing. I often have to watch someone talking to pick up everything that is said.
2. Sometimes I think we should have gone with the other name we were considering for Jack (Ethan).
3. I'm using my crockpot for the very first time today. I'm making Stephanie's pulled pork sandwiches. Mmmm!
4. I have absolutely no fear of Kip getting hurt on the job. That's strange for someone who has as much anxiety about that sort of thing as I do.
5. I am so happy to be in contact with Deawn, Shanna, and Kathlene. It's so nice to still be friends, after all of these years.
6. A random memory - Tom - do you remember when we used to try to make potato chips at home?
7. I finally feel like a grown up. For a long time, I felt like a kid pretending to be an adult - even after Kyra came along. I don't know when that changed.

I'd tag mom and dad, but they don't have blogs. So, instead, I'm going to break the rules and not tag anyone else directly.

To appease the tagging gods, I'll post some recipes:

Stephanie's pulled pork

Cook in crockpot
4lbs pork shoulder or butt roast

1 tbs liquid smoke
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup cider vinegar
8oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp. chili powder
4 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp pepper
Cook on high all day until very well done.
Pull meat apart.

And, for Amy, here's the frosting recipes. I liked the cream cheese one. The chocolate one - eh - it was ok.

Cream cheese/orange zest frosting
1 package cream cheese
1/4 c unsalted butter
1 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated orange zest

Quick chocolate buttercream frosting:
6 tbsp butter, softened
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/3 c milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Mix dry ingredients and add to the butter in thirds, alternately, with the milk. Beat until smooth. Blend in vanilla.