Sweet Shoppe Party

We had a great time with Natalie and all her friends. Come see more party pictures at Paper Capers!


Natalie rushed through opening all her gifts, but was excited to play with them all once they were all unwrapped.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today was Natalie's 7th Birthday... a very busy day for me. I volunteered for a couple hours in Natalie's class, then I decided to join her for lunch in the cafeteria...she was pretty excited to have me stay with her. When I left, I had to pick up Zander from pre-school. Then I decided to go to the store to pick up a cake for this evening, but when I got to the bakery section, there were only 2 or 3 cakes to choose from, none of which really wowed me...so we tried another store which had more selection, but nothing that I wanted to buy. I decided to leave without a cake and go home and make one myself. But first I had to stop back at Natalie's class to deliver her birthday treats. When I got there all the class was at P.E. so with Zander's help, I passed out the cinnamon rolls. Natalie was surprised to see us and the balloon we brought, but really just wanted to eat her cinnamon roll!
After she got home from school and I finished cleaning the kitchen, Natalie and I made her birthday cake.

It was a yellow cake with chocolate mousse filling and pink 7- minute frosting on top with sprinkles...perfect! Dan stopped by the florist on his way home to pick up some nice flowers for the lucky birthday girl!
At 5:00 our family started arriving for the birthday dinner...Natalie requested stuffed pasta shells. After dinner, Natalie got to open her gifts. In the photo she is holding up a dress my mom made for her new American Girl doll (which she will be opening at her party on Saturday with her friends). The doll's dress is made from the same fabric as my wedding dress!

After presents, we had cake...I wonder what she wished for?

...my little girl...is not so little anymore. Every birthday is bittersweet for me, but it seems like turning 7 is a bit harder for me to accept. In my head, my vision of motherhood usually includes little ones running around, but now it seems Natalie has gone from little girl to a big kid. Her early childhood is slipping away so fast and no matter how hard I try to hold on to my little girl, she keeps growing up. She can read, is learning to write, has her own sense of what clothes she wants to wear and loves to act crazy most of the time. I am thankful that she still loves to spend time with us and I am reminded that I need to be better at spending spontaneous time with her, having fun doing the everyday "stuff" that seems so mundane.

This Sunday we stayed with Natalie for Kid's church and it really hit me when the children's pastor said we only have influence on them for a few more years, then they become more influenced by their friends. I just pray that we can teach her how to make good choices.

Natalie is a great "little" girl and I love how enthusiastic she is about life. This weekend we will be having her Sweet Shoppe birthday party, so stay tuned for more birthday fun!

It's Caturday!

Welcome to a special birthday edition of Caturday...in honor of my Dad's birthday today!

Fabulous Food Friday

Do you still have turkey leftovers, are you getting tired of turkey sandwiches?

Well, let me come to your rescue! Today I'll be showing you how to use phyllo dough to turn ordinary leftovers in to an extra special meal that tastes as impressive as it looks.

Don't be afraid of the phyllo!!! If you've never used it before there are a few things to keep in mind.
• It's found in the freezer at the grocery store (near the pie crusts and frozen desserts)
• It will need to be thawed in your refrigerator overnight
• It dries out fast, so wrap up the unused phyllo and keep in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

To start out, remove enough phyllo dough (I used about 4 sheets) and store the rest in the refrigerator. Starting with the bottom layer, brush on melted butter (or use cooking spray) until you have layered all the layers with butter.

Next spread on your leftovers. I put mine in rows, starting with the mashed potatoes, stuffing and then turkey.


Over the leftovers I added a sauce too keep it moist. Sauce: 1 cup sour cream combined with 4-6 T Dijon mustard. I used Sara Lee Garden Pepper Trio Dijon Mustard with jalapeno peppers and it was yummy! Next, fold over top and bottom edge and brush on an egg wash over entire exposed surface. This will keep it from drying out while you are working and it will help "stick " it all together.

Using a sharp knife, cut the phyllo starting at the leftovers all the way to the edge of the phyllo. Do this all the way down on both sides (about every inch to inch and a half). Now you have strips which you can fold over towards the center, alternating sides. (my camera batteries went dead, so I don't have a photo of this step!)

When all the strips have been folded into the center, brush over the entire top of the phyllo with the egg wash.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes and you're done...

Now pair with some leftover cranberry sauce and a salad and you've got dinner!

Now you see me...Now you Don't

Don't worry, I'll still be here, but you won't see much of me. Here's why:

All of the solid bars represent birthdays (7 of them are family birthdays)...How do I keep track of all these birthdays? A few years ago I signed up for Birthday Alarm and now a reminder comes to my email box. It's great!

The remainder of the calendar is filled up with Awanas, volunteer time, doctor's appointments and Christmas programs...See you in January! (of course I will continute to post on my blogs, LOL)

Adventures in my Kitchen

This
weekend it was do or die for my Hood River apples. Several had already gone bad. I borrowed the canner from my mom and on Sunday afternoon, I began canning apple pie filling. I hadn't made this recipe for pure goodness in about 5 years or so and I was a little rusty. I had to process my second batch twice to make sure that the lids were sealed nice and tight. The syrup from my first batch didn't thicken up quite right, so I hope it will still make a good pie. I'll be more confident next year and hope to make twice as much.

Do you realize how much salt is in your food?

A LOT!!! Just for fun try finding something in your pantry that isn't loaded with salt. I think this is going to be harder than I thought. At first when the doctor said to avoid salt/sodium I just nodded my head and thought "okay great...no more crackers and chips, reduce my cheese intake, okay...I get it." No problem, right?

Then today I had a bit of trouble finding food to eat for lunch. Normally I would have a weight watchers meal or a diet bagel, toasted with ham and cheese, v-8 or low cal yogurt and carrots or apple...most of these are now off limits... To the pantry I go. Soup...no, risotto...no, sandwich...without cheese and cold cuts, what's the point? Weight watchers frozen meals...oh, my no...salt, salt, salt. I ended up making a rolled whole wheat tortilla with a small amount of peanut butter and dried cranberries. Not filling, so I am in the kitchen again looking for food. Carrots, yes, banana bread...kind of okay, and lots and lots of water!

All day I have been thinking about how I love to cook and how that will all change...or at least how I will be cooking will change. I was also thinking about all the salty foods I have eaten lately...Thanksgiving (gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole), Chinese food (soy sauce, fried rice), Olive Garden (soup and bread sticks) even some salads with the dressings and sunflower seeds.

I'm not really even in mourning about reducing my dairy (yet) because I am so overwhelmed by checking the labels for sodium. I spoke with my Nephrologist on the phone today and he told me my blood work came back fine (checking for abnormal parathyroid). I asked to be referred to a dietitian to help sort this all out and he was going to get back to me. Until then, I feel like I am just not sure what is really "safe" to eat. This frustration is all very much compounded by my on-going quest to "eat right" and loose weight.

Really it all boils down to this...I'm going to have to make most of my food from scratch. Packaged food is made up of so much chemical garbage and TONS of sodium... and I'm going to have to eat more fruits and veggies for crunchy snacks instead of crackers or popcorn.

Sorry I am rambling on tonight...this was mostly intended to be therapeutic for me. Kudos to you if you have actually read this whole mess!!!

Cut the Cheese!

Today I had an appointment near Good Sam. Hospital (NW Portland) at 4 pm to meet my Nephrologist. My mom drove me there early and we spent an hour and a half window shopping on NW 23rd beforehand. After warming up with a peppermint mocha at Starbucks, we walked back to the medical office (which was way more complicated to find than all my other doctor's offices). My doctor was really easy to talk to and explained things really well. From what I understand, it seems my right kidney has a problem eliminating waste from acidic foods which in turn causes extra calcium to be released in an effort for my body to try to regulate it's ph. This extra calcium, when combined with another element (maybe phosphorus)...forms kidney stones. He said I am lucky because it can be resolved by changing my diet...I need to increase the water I drink, and decrease my salt and dairy intake. (AKA cut the cheese). In theory this seemed like this wouldn't be hard to do, but then I came home and looked at all the food we have that contain these things...soup, rice cakes, crackers, v-8 juice, cheese, salad dressing and pretty much all processed food (which I try to limit, but lately has crept back into my pantry). So it looks like I am left with fruit, veggies and rice!!! (LOL!) I need to increase my intake of acidic foods (citrus, tomatoes, etc) in an effort to force my kidneys to flush out the acid by overwhelming the system with it. He recommended I have the juice of 2 lemons daily in my water.

I know there are serious health benefits to all these modifications regardless of my kidney issues, so I am looking forward to making my body healthy...but it will be challenging planning meals until I get the hang of these changes...especially reducing cheese, my comfort food!

It's Caturday!

Actual Firefox logo...good work kitty kitty!

Fabulous Food Friday

Yesterday afternoon I decided to take a nap (because I was one of the crazies who got up at 5 am to shop!). Before doing so I grabbed a few handfuls of Cheeze-it crackers. When I woke up from my nap I had a horrible migraine and I really felt it was from the all the salt intake from Thanksgiving, but then I looked at the ingredients in the crackers and MSG was listed. Since MSG is linked to migraines I will blame my troubles on the crackers.

Since I was hugging the toilet all night, I didn't get back to update my blog with a Fabulous Food Friday...so here it is:

Last Wednesday was Zander's preschool Harvest program and feast...see him giving a thumbs up when he finds us in the audience!!!

After lots of cute songs, we headed over to the feast where we had fruit salad, corn bread, pumpkin pie and pumpkin "s'mores." We dished up Zander's plate and set it at the table to hold his place while we got food for the the other kids. When we got back to our table Zander's plate was gone...and of course, there were no more "s'mores left, which made Zander sad.

I went into the kitchen to ask for the recipe and told Zander we would make them at home.

Pumpkin S'mores
1 C. cool whip
1/4 C. Canned Pumpkin Pie Mix

Graham Crackers (I found gingerbread flavored crackers)

Mix cool whip and pumpkin pie mix. Spread on crackers and top with crackers. Freeze until ready to eat. Tasty!

So easy...the kids will love to make them!

Thanksgiving Details

The Kid's Table

On Monday I got a wild hair and decided to make some fun kid's place mats. I had seen similar ones at Pottery Barn, but never could justify ordering them...On Tuesday as I was cutting them out, I realized I was crazy...then by Wednesday I was wishing I just ordered them from Pottery Barn. They turned out better than I anticipated...you can see a more detailed photo on my Paper Capers craft blog.

The Grown-up's Table
No cute place mats here, but lots of fun pumpkins.

The Thanksgiving Spread
Our Dinner
Warm Jalapeno-Artichoke Dip served with Whole Grain Mini Bread Rounds
Rolls with my yummy homemade Pumpkin Spread
Veggies and Dip
Green Salad
Green Bean Casserole
Andrea's homemade Cranberry Sauce
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Turkey Gravy
Mom's homemade Stuffing with Cranberries and Apples
I tried Pioneer Woman's recipe for Sweet Potatoes (*highly recommended!)
Andrea's amazing Turkey
and what Roush holiday would be complete without Aaron and Tami's Pink Stuff!
Andrea also made a Pumpkin Pie and a Lemon Meringue Pie, but we were too stuffed to eat dessert.

Here is the yummy cranberry sauce.

Sweet Potatoes (photo from Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Andrea made a really good turkey...mmmm!

The Roush Family Thanksgiving
When we all get together, there are 10 adults to squeeze around the table. Sadly, we don't own a very large dining table (and there is always about 3 different pairs of mismatched chairs), but it makes for a very cozy get together.
Mom and Dad (with his broken arm!)

Alyssa and Dan

Chucky, Tami and Aaron
John and Andrea
and their baby, Brandon's first Thanksgiving:
mmm...celery!

Toni and Chucky...oh, I mean Dan and Chucky. (Toni couldn't make it because she had to be to work at 3:45 am for the Black Friday Sales)