tasty tuesday's

*Warning: if you would like to skip to the recipe please feel free to scroll down. If you want the longwinded, babbly version read on. And don't say I didn't warn you.*


...I already know what you're thinking. "Heather, your very own blog is telling me you posted this on a Wednesday. Are you crazy?" Yes, I am crazy. But let me take a moment to explain myself...
  So there I was, peacefully sleeping. Deep, wonderful, dreamless sleep. When BAM! It hits me. No, not an ingenious idea or invention that will make me a bajillion dollars. Graham's knee. Yup, a good old Graham knee straight to my thigh. Now, this isn't the first time I've fallen prey to one of his crazy, sleeping limbs. I've been bonked on the head, kicked in the shins, even elbowed in the nose. And let me be the first to tell you, that it is not a pain you can sleep through. Ouch.  And on top of that, it seems that the conversation we had before bed, about the room feeling "a little warm", has gotten worse. You see my wonderful, loving husband and his sleeping self must have subconsciously thought, "Gee, it sure is hot in here, I bet my beautiful and caring wife would love some extra covers. Here you go baby, you can have them all!" So not only have I been kneed in the leg, but I wake up not just "a little warm", but burning up! No not burning up, I think I'm literally ON FIRE. And I'm starving. And it's one something in the morning. Great. So I unsuccessfully tried to will myself back to sleep for about an hour and a half and decided it just wasn't going to happen. Plus, in the time that I tried to fall back asleep my creative juices started flowing. And I don't know about you, but when those juices start flowing in my head they are very difficult to stop. So alas, I am here at almost three in the morning posting about my new idea that came to me because of a knee to the thigh. 
   I have been a fan of blogs and have been reading them for a while now and always like it when people have special themes devoted to a certain day of the week. You know like, "wordless wednesday" or "thrifty thursday". I mean this shouldn't come as much of a shocker because my last post was titled magical, mystical muffin Monday's. Anyway...as I'm laying there - hungry I might add - it hits me. No not a crazy limb this time, but "tasty tuesday". That's it. That's my special themed day of the week. So each tuesday I will share with you a favorite recipe of mine. I mean who doesn't love a good, tested and approved recipe? So without further ado, here's the first recipe I'm going to share with you.


    Poor Man's Lasagna
If you know me well, then you know this is my 'go to' recipe. Small groups, new babies being born, last minute vacation meals, you name it I'll make this dish. It's been nicknamed P.M.L. at our house and I hope that it becomes enough of a favorite that it will get it's own name at your house. Now I've got to give credit where credit is due and tell you I first had this at a small group gathering at my good friend Ansley's house. (They call it "Sebring Surprise") I seriously couldn't believe the deliciousness that I was tasting for the very first time. I got her recipe and immediately started making it. I know it's not the most healthy recipe, but I think my favorite things about it are: it's a crowd pleaser (and if you're not feeding a crowd it reheats beautifully!), it's easy to make, and it's inexpensive. If you coupon like me, it's very easy to stockpile super cheap pasta and spaghetti sauce and always have it on hand for PML. So again, without further ado, here's the recipe. Enjoy!


   What you need:
      1lb. ground beef
      1 box of pasta (ziti or penne will be great for this, or whatever "short" pasta you have on hand)
      1 medium sized pasta jar (any flavor you would like) 
      1 box of cream cheese
      16 oz. of sour cream
      1 bag of shredded cheese (mozzarella and parmesan work the best)
   What you do:
      Preheat your oven to 350.
      Boil the pasta according to the box instructions.
      Brown the meat and drain the excess.
      In a large bowl, mix together the sour cream, cream cheese and spaghetti/pasta sauce. We only use about half to 3/4 the jar of pasta sauce. We like ours less runny/saucy so just eyeball it 'til you're happy with the consistency. Also, it's nice to leave a couple of chunks of the cream cheese together rather than blending it through. That way you get a good "gob" as we like to call it, in every bite or so. Mmmm.....
      Throw in the pasta and meat and mix all of it together really well. Then pour it into a 9x13 pan. (no need to spray it). Sprinkle the cheese on top, just eyeball this too. You can use more or less it's totally up to you. Then bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese is all melty and delicious looking on top. Serve and enjoy!


   I hope that you guys try this and LOVE it. Feel free to comment back when you have, and feel free to share any variations or findings you have! And I'll see you again next week with another recipe for Tasty Tuesday's! ;-)

magical, mystical muffin mondays

 Why all the alliteration you ask? Simply, because it's fun! And that's what Graham and I refer to as my latest "job" ;) As if being a wife and mom to a bunch of barbarians wasn't enough, for the past few months I have had the pleasure of working for a wonderful lady named, Karen. She runs a bake shop out of her kitchen in Norcross and makes delicious and yummy baked goods! On a weekly basis we'll make ezekiel pumpkin chocolate chip mini-muffins (or sans the chips and get golden raisin and cranberry...mmm...), whole wheat honey bread and whole wheat flaxseed chocolate chip almond cookies...all with flour that we milled just that morning. And the best part of it all is that it's all healthy and nutritious!! So fantastic. Anyway, I just thought I'd share this with y'all and take you through a typical baking day.

First we prepare all the ingredients and line them up. 
Today we made two batches of ezekiel pumpkin chocolate chip mini-muffins.

Then we mix all the batter and bake and bake until we can't bake anymore. ;) 
Then we let them cool.


Mmmm...yummy muffins... ;)


And at long last, we package them up!


This is actually a picture of our half dozen bag...our full dozen (baker's dozen as a matter of fact!) is much bigger and comes with a cute ribbon. :)

I strongly suggest that y'all check out Karen's website, www.13moonsbakery.com . She's got all the nutrition facts and products there, too. And if you're in or around the Norcross area order some stuff! I'm sure you'll love it! Lincoln calls the muffins "treats", but they are actually much more healthy for him than most other "non-treat" foods! Gotta love it. Hope you enjoyed this. And I most certainly hope your Monday was also magical, mystical and magnificent! ;)

                  

some of my favorite pictures....

the barbarians in their natural habitat

Hiking at Brasstown Bald

We took a family beach trip to Hilton Head - this is courtesy of

Aunt Madeline and Uncle Mason

We attended a coupon workshop put on by thebudgetauthor.com and 

there was a fun photo booth set up with props! 

 Yes, that is really Graham throwing Quinn in the air. He loves it. 

And usually Quinn will stand in Graham's hands with his 

knees locked and we call it his circus trick,

but apparently he was in more of a squatting mood that night. ;)

Hope you enjoyed some of these...I will try to post more soon

Let's try this again....

   So I have been getting frequent requests to update our shutterfly account, except the only thing is I can't access the account! I think ever since I switched to a mac shutterfly has been discriminating against me. Whatever the case may be, I am ditching the old site and starting this blog now to hopefully keep you all updated on our rapidly changing lives! 

   So far in 2010 we have celebrated three birthday's. Lincoln turned two on May 28, Quinn turned one on September 11, and I just turned twenty-five on the 21! Phew! Lot's of growing going on...and as long as we're on the topic of growing, we are expecting our third baby (gender unknown at this time!) in mid-April! We are super excited (even though this wasn't particularly planned) and feel honored that God trusts us with his little people. 

   Also in 2010, Graham has gone back to Georgia State and is looking to graduate pre-Med and hopefully go onto medical school. (Crazy we know!) He's been doing a great job in all his classes and we couldn't be more proud of him! He's a wiz. And since he's gone back to school and has been working as a golf caddie also in downtown Atlanta that leads me to our next big bit of news.

   We are moving! We currently have our house on the market and are waiting on an offer to be approved. (Yay!) We are hoping to move to an apartment in Decatur that will put us much closer to the action (the action being school and work! ha!) and give us a lot more quality time together as a family. Hopefully if/when we move we will post pics of the new place! 

   A lot has changed so far and we still have two and a half months of this year to go! Let's see what else God has in store... ;)