Playdates and Pumpkins

Naomi and I have been having play dates with our friends (Gracie and Jennifer respectively) since the girls were a few months old as they are only a few months apart.  It's been quite an interesting relationship for the littles.  The first dates when they were old enough to actually play the sharing of toys on both ends was a challenge, things in that area have dramatically improved.  There was one play date at our house when the girls were around 1 and there was some toy that Gracie was crawling over toward and Naomi just plowed her down.  I thought for sure it would be the end of the dates.  Thankfully it was not and we still get together every few months for play time.  This past weekend we had Jennifer and Gracie over, it was some much needed Gracie and Mommy time, Gracie has a newish little sister and it was a nice outing for just the two of them while sweet baby girl was home with her daddy. 

Someday, their playdates will actually involve them playing together not just both in the same room at the same time :)

I like that it looks like they are sharing a giggle over something

So, I typically have a grand idea of some crafty and photogenic moment that we can all embrace and look back on fondly.  However, we were painting pumpkins this time and frankly I was a bit leery of trying to wield my camera around two little munchkins with paint all over their little fingers.  And Jennifer and I got lost in catching up while the girls painted.  The pumpkins did turn out cute though and both girls were such typical girls wanting to wash the paint off their hands right away :)  Funny.

Trying to get them both to look and smile was a bit of a challenge...

I think they were probably snickering at Jennifer and my attempts to get them to pay attention to us and smile!

It's a keeper - our little pumpkins with their pumpkins

I made a little luncheon for us to have together and made Bow-Tie Pasta with Peas and Ham.  It turned out alright, it was a little on the bland side for me, if I make it again I would add chives, garlic and a bit more Parmesan cheese.  Here's the recipe adapted from the Martha Stewart recipe:

Bow-Ties with Peas and Ham

1 lb. bow-tie pasta (farfalle)
Coarse salt & Ground pepper
3 T butter
1 onion diced
2 C frozen peas
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 lb cooked ham
Grated Parmesan cheese

1) Cook pasta in a large pot until al dente according to package directions

2) Meanwhile, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, cook stirring until soft, 3-4 minutes.  Add peas and half-and-half, season with salt and pepper.  Simmer until thickened.

3) Dice ham, add to sauce and cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes.  Toss sauce with pasta, serve with grated Parmesan.

HOWEVER, I didn't want to be cooking while our friends were over so I put it in a greased cake pan and baked it at 350 for about a half hour.

For dessert I made 7 Layer Bars.  Well kind of, growing up they were called Jane's bars.  I have no idea why they are Jane's bars or who the recipe came from, I am guessing she got it from Aunt Jane, just a guess though because we also have a recipe in the recipe box from Mom called Snook's pickles...there were two Snook's in our lives growing up, the lady we went to get our eggs from (do any of my sisters remember the chalkboard in her house or getting a stick of chalk from her? Insert weird random memory here) and also our Grandparents dog was named Snooks. I'm going to venture a guess the pickles came from the lady.  Back to the bars...what I know I can call them is gone...because I made the pan on Friday night and by Sunday afternoon they were G.O.N.E.  Yum.

Also, a note about my mom's recipes.  One of the many things that I miss about mom is talking about recipes, rarely would I make one of her dishes without calling to chat about it...I kind of forgot why until Friday night when I looked at the recipe and it has ingredients and cooking temperature and time listed but no instructions.  Nada.  Zilch.  Make it up as you go.  Once again, I am really starting to grasp where my cooking ideals came from :) Thanks Mom, even without detailed instructions they turned out heavenly.  Pun fully intended. 

Jane's Bars/SIX Layer Bars

1 C melted butter
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (I used like twice the amount, it just didn't seem like enough!!!)

Here's where I am taking liberty on mom's recipe...adding instructions!  Mix the melted butter and crumbs together in a bowl and press into a greased 9x13 baking pan.

Layer remaining ingredients over the top of the crust:
1 C chopped nuts
1 C chocolate chips
1 C butterscotch chips
1 1/2 C flaked coconut
1 (15 oz) can condensed milk

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Cool then devour enjoy :)

Pizza Hot Dish and Baby Travel Pack

Tonight we had our new recipe of the week dinner - Pizza Hot Dish.  Which actually was fantastic on a number of levels:

1) I put everything together last night for the dinner because I knew that I had an appointment after work tonight so that Ryan could just preheat, put it in the oven and walk away.  So when I got home I literally just made the veggie to go with and dinner was done.  Presto! 

2) I doubled the recipe so not only did we have a homemade dinner ready in a flash tonight but we also have a few spares tucked away in the freezer for future meals.  I love being able to make double recipes and squirreling away a few extra to be able to pull out on a night when we either don't have a lot of time or I don't have a lot of motivation.

3) They liked it, they really liked it!  Naomi is going through a cute stage of saying nummy, nummy whenever she is eating something that she likes and there were nummy, nummy's a plenty with this one.  Ryan liked it as well but didn't think it was very pizza-ey as the title says.  The only adjustments I would make would be to add some minced garlic and a lot more herbs but it's a great base.  You could also throw in whatever toppings you like on your pizza.

Kudos and a shout out to Jennifer for sharing the recipe with me from at our playdate a few weekends back.  I hope you don't mind me sharing it!

Here is the recipe:
Pizza Hot Dish
1 lb. hamburger
1 large onion
8 oz penne pasta
1 can tomato sauce
1 can pizza sauce
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 pkg. pepperoni
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Brown hamburger and onion, cook noodles according to package instructions, my suggestion would be to leave slightly more al dente than what the package says - you are going to be cooking it with lots of pasta sauce that will absorb some of the liquid.  Mix the hamburger and onion with the pasta, sauces and soup and 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella cheese - place in a pan (when I doubled the recipe it made up 3 very generous 9 x 9 pans which will allow us a couple of days of leftovers) and layer pepperoni's over the top. 

Bake covered at 350 for 30 minutes, add remaning 1/2 cup of cheese and bake uncovered until bubbly - about 15 minutes.  Some additions I would have made, I would have put 2-3 cloves of minced garlic with the hamburger and onions and added a handful of oregano (I am not very good with actual terms of measurement in cooking - I prefer handfuls, pinches, dashes and scoops :) ha!). 

It would also be fun to throw in your favorite pizza toppings, i.e. olives, peppers, etc.  Overall I was really happy with the recipe and will be making it again.  Great comfort food for a family that likes pasta and cheese on a cold winter Wisco night!

On to the second portion of this post which will be about the finished sewing project to go along with the travel changing pad - I also made a bib and 2 matching burp rags to go along with the changing pad.  I think that everything all tucked together and rolled up will work fabulously in your regular purse as a quick throw in on the way to run errands or when you aren't going to be out for long but don't want to lug the entire diaper bag with you. 

The bib was very simple, I traced one of Naomi's bibs on the wrong side the fabric, cut it out, pinned and cut on the corresponding wrong side of the other  fabric and sewed around the perimeter of the bib - I left a little space open on the bottom in order to turn the bib out  then just ran a stitch very close to the edge of the big.  I added velco for the closure but threw around the ideas of a button or ribbon for future bib projects...viola bib city. 

The burp rags were also super easy and quick - I measured the fabric against some store bought cloth diapers to 1/3 of the width of the diaper, turned and pinned down the edges, and sewed them down.  Then I pinned the fun fabric rectangle to the cloth diaper in the center and ran it through the sewing machine. 

All in all including the changing pad, the project took about 4 hours for a newbie like me and I now have a baby gift to give to a friend (if any of you are preggo and reading this - sorry to ruin the surprise but guess what you are getting - haha) whenever their new little bundle of joy arrives.  I loved receiving homemade presents for Naomi, the personal touch and thought goes a long way, plus there is always a history and story behind it then.