Quiche tonight!

Remember that sausage from yesterday? Today, I crumbled it in the bottom of a pie shell with some cheese, poured in a mixture of egg, milk, salt and pepper, and topped it with more cheese (oooohhhh, yyyyeeeaaaa!). Baked it for 40 minutes, and

Presto! a quiche, or "egg pie" as Megan calls it. I love quiche, especially because it is so easy.

Busy Summer Weekend

This weekend was super busy - almost too busy, even for me! Friday night, I took Megan and Danny back-to-school shopping to beat the tax-free rush. We didn't get home or eat dinner until about 9:30. Then, on Saturday, laundry, cleaning, and mowing the front yard. By the time the yard was done, I collapsed on the bed for about an hour until ny children reminded me that we hadn't eaten dinner...Thank God for frozen corn dogs and hamburgers. I know, I'm so bad for feeding my kids processed foods, but I made up for it tenfold on Sunday.

Sunday - meal planning day! First thing I did was make pancakes (blueberry for me) and packaged the leftovers for the kids' breakfasts over the next two days.

Then I made bacon (for breakfasts and sandwiches for the week) and cooked some sausage for future use in the week (Harley could barely contain herself as you can see).

I boiled eggs for George's breakfasts this week, for snacks, and for salads (egg, cobb, etc.).

I made two loaves of Danny's Boonana Bread, and while they were cooling, ran errands for prescriptions, dog food, and groceries.

When I got home, I made George some lunch before he went to work, made Fiesta dip for the kids' snack (boy, that didn't last long!), and mowed the back yard.

For dinner, pinwheels for the kids and Caprese salad for me (with home grown tomatoes from my boss' garden, basil from my garden, fresh mozzarella olive oil and balsamic vinegar).

Then I prepped ingredients for George's dinner and sat back and read my book until I drifted off to sleep.

Before George got home, I woke up, got out my ingredients and made panini duos for my real dinner (Caprese salad did not last very long) with the Panini maker that I got for my birthday this year.

The first was a Mozzarella, Raspberry and Brown Sugar Panini from (who else?) Giada. The second was a savory panini  of my own creation. Here is the recipe:

Mozzarella, Bacon, and Sundried Tomato Pesto Panini

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, two slices per sandwich

Maple Bacon (from earlier), two slices per sandwich

1 Tbsp. Sundried Tomato Pesto (Giada brand, available at Target) per sandwich

Fresh Basil (from my garden)

Ciabatta bread or rolls

Olive Oil

Assemble the sandwiches by drizzling Olive Oil on the outside of each bread slice. Spread 1/2 of the pesto on the inside of each bread slice. Layer bacon on the bottom sandwich slice, Mozzarella, then Basil leaves (I used 4 large leaves per sandwich).  Place in the panini press for about 5 minutes. Delicious!  

We ate our sandwiches while watching the latest True Blood. I don't remember anything else, I was so tired.
Phew! What a weekend! I think I work harder on the weekends than I do all week long.

We love Shark Week!

This weekend, we had an On Demand marathon of Shark Week. One episode in particular,
SHARK BITES: ADVENTURES IN SHARK WEEK, features Craig Ferguson, hilarious Scottish comedian, in a montage-style episode leading up to a shark-feeding trip. The kids absolutely loved this episode because of Ferguson's humorous antics, the stories from 20 years of Shark Week, and the phenomenal underwater footage. Don't think we'll be swimming in the ocean any time soon, though.

Vampires rock!

Our neighbors think we are vampires. Seriously, this summer has been so hot that they rarely see us until the sun is going down. Last night was no exception.

Our 2.4 mile walk with Harley (see dark picture above) was a 9pm event. Then, George and I got to spend some quality vampire time together watching Sunday's episode of True Blood (oooohhh was it good!), and munching on goodies. We indulged in Cinnamon Twists and dessert wine. I altered the recipe for George by omitting the cardamom, and they were de-lish. George ate the whole pan, pretty much counter-acting the walk entirely. The way to a vampire's heart...

Victory!!!

Or as Danny would say, "Yea, Baby!" When I got home from work today, this is what I saw:

One down, several million to go... but you never know. Maybe ours will be the yard they tell their friends about. Obviously, it is the little things in life that make me happy. :)