Two Favorites

Well, my dear friend and cousin-in-law was asking for these recipes, and I thought, why not put them here on my blog for all to see? 

The first is a Nila special.  My Mom and Dad were somewhere for dinner, and they had a yummy pasta.  Dad raved about it, so Mom replicated it to the best of her ability--and of course, made it even yummier.  I know, I wish I'd gotten some of that talent!  Anyways, my Mom called it "Chicken Gregorio," being translated, "chicken the way Greg likes it."  I also have a Gregorio, but since he pretends to dislike chicken in any form, we have tried to pretend that there ISN'T chickien.

Chicken Gregorio
2 (12 oz.) bags rainbow rotelle or rotini
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. flour
4 c. milk
1/4 c. white cooking wine
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 T. dried parsley (opt.--and I don't usually use it)
8 oz. cream cheese, cut in small pieces
1 c. parmesan cheese
1 large can cooked chicken

Cook noodles in a large kettle; drain.  Make white sauce of butter, flour, milk, wine, and seasonings in small kettle.  When thick, add cheeses and stir until cream cheese melts.  Stir in chicken.  If sauce is too thick, add more milk.  Serve over noodles.


Super super yummy, kids like it (until they figure out there's chicken in there ;).  Pretty sure it isn't super healthy, but what can you do?


The green beans were a Martha Stewart recipe (have I told anyone besides Annie how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE that website?  Careful--you'll be addicted too...)

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/lemon-green-beans

My Mom--who worked at a cannery canning green beans won't ever be able to eat canned green beans happily again.  Since we never had them growing up, I wasn't sure she was a fan of ANY green beans.  But I brought these to Sunday dinner once, and she's asked for them several times since.  Yay!  Success!

More Gregory-isms

Tee hee hee.  You just have to laugh!  Or maybe it's just me cuz I'm his Mom and I was there.  :P

So, this child has figured out one of the principles of persuasion (not the book, just the general concept): ETHOS.  Yes, he appeals to the great character of someone other than himself in order to get something he wants.  For instance, "Mommy, Kelsi says she wants me to drink that apple juice," or "Josh thinks that I need that cookie, Daddy."  Mind you, we were together with Kelsi or Josh for the same amount of time Gregory was, and I never HEARD them make those suggestions.  Perhaps he's not only good at persuasion--he can READ MINDS!!!

Using his new persuasive powers took a new turn when we were by ourselves getting dressed for the day however.  There was no person around to quote, so naturally, he chose the next best thing.  "Mommy," (gesturing towards the article of clothing I was currently helping him with) "they want me to go eat breakfast now."  "Oh, your pants want you to go eat breakfast?"  "Yeah."

Family Dinner tonight.  My job was to bring cookies.  My plan was to find some sort of choclatey-coconuty-oatmealy-goodness recipe.  Mmmm.  But, since it's a million degrees (seriously) round about these parts, I wasn't fancying the oven usage.  "Wait a second," I think, "MUD COOKIES!  I don't have to bake them AND they have coconut, chocolate, and oats PLUS peanut butter!!!"  I begin making these, and consider calling Lauren for her secrets--she's the MASTER MUD COOKIE MAKER.  It's true.  But I got distracted while melting the butter because I was nearly out of peanut butter!!  No WAY I was going to have a full cup (it's okay Lo, I was doing a double batch).  So I do what I always do when I run out of something and need it quick.  Head to Mom's.  I grabbed the Gregory and left a sleeping Daddy and Isaac to their slumbers.  We headed out the door into the hot sun.  Got the peanut butter.  Caused a bit of mystery and wonder--who WAS the mysterious person that came in while everyone was asleep and got a new jar of peanut butter out of the storage room but didn't but it away because she didn't know where it went?

*Geez, why am I TELLING you all this?  The Gregory-ism is still to come.  I guess I just wanted to set the scene.  Or I'm getting pretty tired and I need to go to bed before I ramble right off the page...*

Walking home, I noticed that poor Gregory's lack of hips was causing pants slippage.  He finally resorted to holding them up with one hand as he walked. "Oh, honey, do your pants keep falling down?"  "Yeah, but I saved it," he reassured me.  "You saved the day?"  He's been saying this every once in a while and it's so funny: "Gregory saves the day!!!"  But no, that's NOT what he saved today: "No, I just saved my pants."

We brought up patty cake again the other day--Isaac thinks it's a scream, but Gregory loves it even more.  His version goes like this: "roll it, and pat it, and mark it with a 'G.'  Then throw it in MOMMY!!!  I GOT CAKE ON YOU!!!  HaHaHaHaHa."  At which point I am supposed to be outwardly dismayed that I have cake all over me, and inwardly excited--as noted by the fact that I start EATING said cake.  I only just figured out that this whole "I got cake on you" game actually stemmed from us doing patty cake--he started out by just doing the "throwing" action from patty cake and it didn't connect.  Finally I saw him doing it all together.  :P 

The things kids think of.  Like how I thought the song "Swing Lo, Sweet Chariot" was "Swing Low, Sweet Cheerio" (don't you think it rhymes better?) and imagined  a giant, rideable (how else was it going to carry me home?) Cheerio swinging down from the sky...

Weyull, I KNOW I owe you a majillion pictures--I finally got my camera back!  But you know, I can't do too much in one day!  Spread the blogging joy...or procrastinate.  You know me!!!

Our latest craze!

I know, I'm behind!  I have so many things to catch up posting on.  :S  In my defense, I left my camera at the in-laws when I helped throw my sister-in-law a bridal shower, and I therefore cannot share the precious images there contained.  But after Sunday, expect pictures galore.

I can, however, tell you a funny story about the life of my family.  We have currently become obsessed with the Disney show Phineas and Ferb (thanks Mom).  It is delightful, zany, and clean.  My kids LOVE to watch it--Gregory will actually stay put on the couch for an entire episode!  Mike and I love to watch it too because it is HILARIOUS!  Mike had been working on burning a bunch of episodes to DVD so we could watch them.  We don't have a very high-tech DVD player, however--it struggles with normal DVD's, when it's "tired," and burned DVD's?  HA.  So, I decided to buy anything I could get my hands on for Father's Day.  I found these two compilations.

The Fast and the Phineas

 

The Daze of Summer

I wish they had the WHOLE season on DVD, but I suppose we'll have to keep burning and buy a new DVD player.  While searching for these gifts, I also found this little beauty.

Perry the Platypus T-Shirt 

I should have prefaced this by telling you that Perry the Platypus (here immortalized on a T-shirt) is Mike's favorite character.  He does the noise Perry makes very well--and has had to learn that romantic situations are NOT the best time to imitate Perry.



So I simply HAD to buy this shirt for Mike--I figured it would be much more useful than the plush doll (though the kids would have loved that!  What was I thinking?)

Yesterday, Mike was wearing this shirt and we all enjoyed it immensely.  We kept quoting Phineas and Ferb, and singing Perry's theme song.  When the day was done and Gregory was being tucked in, I said goodnight, gave him a "hug and a kiss and an I love you."  Then it was Daddy's turn.  "Goodnight Gregory."  "Goodnight, Perry the platypus..." said Gregory sleepily, with no hint of humor or irony, as only a little child can.

I love my boys.