A Year in the Life

My fam loves pizza.  A few summers ago I think I averaged cooking at least 2 homemade pizzas a week. I like homemade pizzas better because I know exactly what is on it & can load it with different kinds of vegetables & the people will gobble it up.  Tonight, I went into uncharted territory.  Henry is trying to lean up for lacrosse season.  Being 16, it shouldn't take him that long.  I hate teenage boys.  They can burn 1000 calories by just blinking.  That's fair, said no momma ever.  I've been on a diet most of my life & I'm still trying to lose baby weight I gained when I was pregnant with Henry.  Granted he is 16, but I still have about 10 pounds I need to get off.  I'm thinking at this point it may just be a permanent part of the bod, boo.  Anyway...  Henry started eating much leaner last week, aaannnddd he lost 5 pounds in one week.  (Insert huge eye roll here.)  All he did was cut down on his...

It is called soul food for a reason & I have my own definition too.  To me, soul food is feel good food.  It reminds me of my grandmother's & mother's kitchens.   Old school southern cooks are some of the best around.  Do you think they worry about fat, sodium, or calories?  Um, no.  No they don't.  They want you to leave full and happy.  The biggest insult to a soul food cook is for you to leave hungry.  If you want bland, soul food is not for you.  Anyway, who wants bland?  Not I, said the pig.  In case some of you are not from the deep south & wonder what in the world is soul food, I found a great website that describes what it is .  I love the line that says:  "...all soul food is southern food, but not all southern food is soul food".  Amen to that.  If you've never eaten soul food, I'm so sorry.  It's homemade with heaps of love, so you an have happiness on your plate.  I...

Ok, I have a new recipe for y'all & I'm so EXCITED.  I know that I should post it on a Measure of Joy, but I haven't posted anything on there since 2013.  Wait, what?  That's 4 years.  Yikes!  I'll post it there too.  OMG. It has finally cooled down from the raging summer we had this year.  We had a few weeks of cooler weather in, I think, early September, but that was a joke.  It happens to us every year.  We have a cooler spell for about 2 weeks & we think fall is here!  Then we act shocked when it shoots back into the 90's or high 80's until November.  (there's usually humidity that goes with it and makes it feel like you're walking around with a wet towel on your head.) With the cooler weather brings, for me, soup season.  My people are sick of the same old soups though.  Chili, a southern staple.  We also have wonderful variations of white chicken chili and taco soup.  I make beer cheese soup, ve...

I was accused, and rightly so, of not teaching the children how to cook.  Apparently they didn't learn by watching me cook for hours on end all through their childhood.  Yes, I'll be waiting on my mother of the year trophy and accolades from each of you reading this.  ;)  Well, the not being able to cook stops now for the 4.  Since this may be the very last time I have all four under one roof for the summer everyone is going to learn to cook, even Henry. (who, by the way, turned 14 yesterday!  HBD Hen!) Sunday night we sat around the table eating dinner and we planned out the menu for the week.  Several rules were laid out for the summer of cooking:  You cannot grill out two weeks in a row.  No repeating meals over the weeks.  I will do the grocery shopping, but I have to know what you need.  I'm pretty sure I'll have to throw a few other rules in as we go along, but this was a good place to start. Here's what everyone is cookin...

BBQ the Bucs Big & Midge #1 on your plate & #1 in your heart Every  year to raise money for Relay for Life our local high school hosts a huge event called BBQ the Bucs.  (This is one of our big rivals.)  Teams sign up to compete in the category of their choice:  hamburgers, chicken or steak.  The competition is judged and winners are announced.  Who will be king of the grill?   This is the 2nd year that Harry has competed with his friend Anthony.  The name of their team is Big & Midge.  You understand the name when you see the picture of them together.  :)  Harry and Anthony have been friends, I think, since they were 2.  Old friends are special, and theirs has always been an easy going friendship.  We love Ant.   Last year Big & Midge came in 2nd.  Harry was not very happy with that.  He felt team Big & Midge deserved to win.  Since they didn't, those two redouble...

Anytime I do something that falls under the mommy job description (that means anything that the rest of them have trouble doing) and am successful, I always tell the fam that that is why I make the big bucks.  There are days I wonder if they just expect it of me or if they really appreciate it.  I mean how do you really quantify finding something that's lost?  I guess it's up to the person searching for what is missing.  Cleaning & cooking are much easier, but you get my drift. Well tonight was a big win for me personally.  Not cooking for 8 days has spoiled me.  I have to admit, I really like someone bringing me my dinner and cleaning up.  No wondering what in the world I'm going to cook & not spending an hour cleaning it up.  Now it's back to the old grindstone.  So, this afternoon (around lunchtime) I was trying to figure out what to feed my people.  You know what I do in that situation, I go to my fridge, freezer and pantry...

I need to learn that when I haven't had a lot of sleep I do not need to write on this blog or anywhere else. Oh.My.Goodness. They say that if you drive while you're very sleepy it's almost like driving under the influence.  Well, I guess that applies to writing as well.  I need to learn to just say no.  I wanted to get the pictures on Pinterest of the Magnolia leaves I used on the buffet table & wanted to  have a blog posting to go with it.  Well, that went well didn't it?  Thankfully a friend called me out...Allyson...yesterday over my phrasing.  I heard how I wanted the sentence to sound in my head, and it was fine.  But, the transfer to the blog was disastrous!  After I got over my mortification I had a pretty good chuckle.  I know y'all all laughed at me, so I might as well laugh at myself too.  But no worries, I promptly fixed it. I told everyone I had a huge breakfast & then I pooped.  So not what I was t...

Had a big breakfast, that I hosted this morning & can I just say I am pooped.  It's only 12 PM, but I feel like it should be about 5 or 6 in the afternoon.  I guess that's what happens when you start your day at 4:30.  I'll drink a Coke Zero & be fine in about 30 minutes.  Yea for caffeine! I have to say that I think it was a success.  You know when you know something will just work?  I had a feeling that this would just work.  It was happy food, so how could it not work???  I'll stop talking so you can see what I did.  Here is the room.  I know, it has an industrial feel, but it was not too bad.  I tried to go simple on the decorations. I was limited with, well, everything.  Maybe a better word would be steward.  I was trying to be a good steward with my resources.  There were five tables total.  I couldn't fit the last one, that would be at the bottom right, in the picture.  Every table was f...

Well, not chicken dinner, but more importantly...what am I going to fix these people for dinner?  It's a series of questions that rolls around in my head daily!  What can I give them that's both healthy and easy to make? Are they going to eat it or turn their noses up at it and complain?  They better not complain, because I just might implode, or lasers might shoot from my eye sockets...it's a toss up. Last night I was able to put up a W!  Yea...I must do the dance.  I needed a good win, and it was a new recipe for us.  Well, not really new, but some favorites combined into something new.  It was fairly labor intensive, so as I'm chopping and dicing & trying to get it finished, I'm really hoping they love it. The first good sign was that they all wanted to eat the fresh veggies out of the bowl that were waiting for the meat.  I had to smack a few hands and give a stare down or two.  So, I get all the veggies cut up & t...

This is one of favorite sayings from the movie, The Help.  The way Skeeter says it with just the right touch of 'I don't give a flying monkey's behind' is perfect...I.mean.PERFECT.  And you have to say it like  you are from 1960's deep south.  Which means you don't really pronounce your r's.  Here's the clip from youtube. This is a saying I'll say sometimes if somebody is talking about something I don't give two shakes about.  I thought it just a few hours ago as I was listening to the radio.  But to back up just a bit so you know why I said it... ...The older I get the more I don't  understand our fascination with Hollywood stars, musicians, and people who play collegiate/professional sports.  Most of them are not worth our time of day.  There is a large portion of them that are just, well, trash.  If they were living in your community, and were just a plain Jane normal person, you probably wouldn't have anything to do with t...

I've been so remiss lately about posting.  I had forgotten how CraZY December is.  One more big deep breath...tomorrow is the last day of school for this semester.  The fam is very excited about this fact.  (I would be lying if I said that I wasn't ready too.) Anyway, I posted something on my sorority alum blog & wanted to send you over.  Anyone can read it.  It about the 'S' word.  It's a word we don't say here in the south unless we want all heck to break loose.  :)  Y'all know what it is! Well, gotta go.  Have to pick E up from dance & help Hopson make some Red Fish Cubion .    I'm not too crazy about it.  I like butternut squash bisque myself.  :)  Yum, comfort food!  I may have to make some for me.  Have a wonderful Thursday! Celebrating Life! ~ashley

My post went up on my sorority blog yesterday & want to send you over to read it.   It has a recipe in it...Something easy & and my fam gobbled it up.  I'm all over easy & kid friendly.  Know what I mean jellybean?  Well, gotta go!  About to run to go do Zumba...gotta workout so I can eat later.  Yea!  I get to move my booty!  Celebrating Life! ~ashley

  The Before Picture...  Lizzie & Hop No, really, I do, I'm not being a smarty pants here. Yes, they have drama. Yes, they can be trying at times. But I'll take a room of 15 year olds over a room of 2 year olds any day!  Homecoming was this past Friday.  Both boys had precious dates...see pictures.  :)  Hopson and I had to divide and conquer.  Every time this has happened & I've had to trust him to take pictures of which ever child he is trailing I've ended up with 2 pictures and at least one was blurry and the other was off center with no one looking at the camera.  This year, I was VERY specific about what I wanted.  (he was going with Harry) I have to give him props, he took some great pictures.  He took some with Haley's mom's camera in it too, but I can crop that out.  See below, it's rather funny.  (insert eye roll here.)  Dads, what are you going to do with them?   ...

I love it when I hit one out of the park.  Sometimes mommies just need to know that we have done well.  It may not happen very often, but when it does, I must  do the dance . Last night, as usual, I was scrounging for dinner.  What to cook, what to cook, what to cook.  "Hey mom, I'm hungry..."  "Hey mom, what's for dinner..."  "Hey mom..."  "Hey mom..."  "Hey mom..."  Hey fam, don't call me mom right now.   Hey fam, trying to figure out what we're having for dinner.  Hey fam, I know you're hungry, got it & am working on it.  Just give me an hour, I'll have something for you soon, I promise. I have chicken, now what to do with it.  I don't feel like baking it.  Bleh.  I don't want poach it.  Meh.  Ok, I'll cut it up and saute it.  But with what spices?  Just sauteing it is boring too.  Oui.  What makes chicken taste yummy?  White co...

Just some of the dishes I used while baking tonight. :/ ...I hate to bake.  No really, I do.  Love to cook, hate to bake.  I'm so bad at it.  It's partly because I'm lazy, partly because if you mess up while you're cooking you can usually doctor it up and make it taste OK.  Not so in baking.  If you mess up what you're baking, just save yourself some time & throw it in the garbage.  I know some great bakers, and they make some of the best looking and best tasting desserts.  (my mother-in-law can bake like no body's business!)  So, I tell you this because I told Elizabeth I would bake a cake...from scratch.  What?!  Who said that?!  Did I just say I would bake a cake from scratch?  I want to ask myself:  "Are you stupid or something?".  If stupid is as stupid does, then pass the dunce hat.  I need to wear it for a bit.  I tried to make a German chocolate cake....

Wow, I feel like I need a nap.  I have been cooking dinners this afternoon for the next few nights.  CraZy.  I grouse, but you know I love it.  Especially since I'm cooking some of the things the fam has been asking me to cook for at least the last month.  :)  I hope it is like a happy little surprise.  Hopson will get his chicken meatballs, Harry his Friday special, and they all like the hamburger pie.  Wins all around, and a mom who will be at peace because no throwing something together last minute.  :) Yea!!!  I think I may have to start doing this more often, especially once school starts.  It's kind of a pain while you're cooking, but now that I'm done I feel such a sense of accomplishment.  It's not that what I was cooking was difficult; it just takes time to get all the ingredients together and cook each thing.  I used three different kinds of meat for the meals this week, but normal...

Well, the pretty pretty princess has developed a bad case of swimmer's ear.  I really didn't want to go to the doctor's office today.  I really didn't want to go to the doctor's office today.  I really didn't want to go to the doctor's office today.  Did I mention...well, you get the idea. I decided to try some homeopathic remedies to see if I could get them to dry the water in her ear, and possibly clear any infection..  First I made some homemade Swimmer's Ear.  Equal parts white distilled vinegar, rubbing alcohol, and a little water.  Just in case you don't know:  the vinegar kills any bacteria because of the acidity, and the alcohol helps the water in the middle ear evaporate.  I filled a dropper with the concoction, and then proceeded to burn her ear.  Yep, I did.  She immediately told me it was burning her ear.  You know what that means?  She as an infection.  The alcohol was irritating the inflammation....

Oh...My...Goodness, I can't wait for dinner tonight.  It's going to make me so happy.  Now, I'm not going to lie, it wasn't a hard dinner to make, but it was time consuming.  I love to cook for the fam, especially when it's something healthy and different from the normal fare.  It's so worth all the work you put into this dish.  It's light, it's summery, and it's happiness on a plate.  It's a great meal to share with family during the summer. Sunday night, my brother's neighbor, Diana, came over and made a form of Ceviche called Picarro .  (or at least I think that's how you spell it)  She is so precious.  She's American-Colombian and is a great cook.  She wanted to cook for all of us, but we talked her into cooking with us so we could get the recipe.  :)  I'm so glad she was willing to share it!  We added chicken that I baked, rice, and served it over a bed of lettuce with the picarro.  No salad dressin...

It seems for the last few years our summers have had themes.  The children decide they really like something & then want it all the time .  I can't complain because the things they want aren't really that bad for you. Last year was the summer of homemade pizzas.  We made them at least 2 times a week.  It's actually a lot of fun to let your kids make the pizzas.  Yes, it's messy, but at least you know exactly what your kids are eating.  I really saw some creativity come out, and the kiddos feel a sense of accomplishment when they can eat something they have made.  If they were tired, I made them & watched as they came down like a plague of locusts. This summer seems to be the summer of homemade fruit smoothies.  I felt so badly on Henry's birthday because he had to get a shot & finger prick that I told him we could look up how to make smoothies.  (I would love to use ice cream all the time, but that's not...

I'm so glad my children like to be independent!  I'm glad they are not super needy.  It may be because we don't have time for it, or it may be because I'm a mean mom.  I'm not sure which.  I do push them to be independent, because one day they will not live with us anymore, and I want them to be able to cook for themselves, wash their own clothes, and have at least some idea on how to clean their own homes. We came home a few days ago & Elizabeth wanted to make a homemade cheese pizza by herself.  Of course her brothers were all about it, and I knew she could do it.  She didn't make homemade dough, but she followed the directions on the box very well.  She had me look at the crust to see if it was precooked enough before she added the toppings.  Of course Harry wanted it super cheesy, so Elizabeth coated it with cheese for him.  He was happy to say the least.  I was proud of her, her pizza was gobbled up, it looked pretty, and...