Scooter's Spaghetti

Anyone notice a change with the blog? Not only have I given it a minor face lift I've made the decision to combine Babies make Three and Four together with Katie's Korner. I figured with as little as I blog between the two there was really no need to keep them separate. Now the goal is to get really creative and come up with a new blog title...lol. Suggestions???


Anyway, can you believe I have another recipe to share with you? I originally saw this recipe over at Cassie Craves where she had included it on one of her weekly menus. Go figure right? Cassie Craves and Kaitlin in the Kitchen are becoming what allrecipes.com used to be to me...lol.


I thought it looked really good then, but was hesitant to give it a try mainly because I figured everyone would freak when I served them spaghetti with the fried onions on top. Well after then seeing it on my new favorite website Pinterest, I figured why not. So...I gave it a try, used a little more spaghetti then the recipe called for, how Katie like right? It's was a little dry for my liking BUT it was because I used to much spaghetti. I will say though, as leftovers, it was delicious.

This is a recipe that will definitely be made again, this time either using the correct amount of spaghetti or adding extra sauce but either way, it's gonna be made again, and don't fret about the fried onions...they were totally awesome on top!!


Scooter's Spaghetti~
Compliments of: Salad in a jar

Ingredients:
8 ounces cooked spaghetti
1 lb. ground beef
1 large can spaghetti sauce (26.5 oz.)
1 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped green peppers (I used red peppers)
1/3 cup chopped onion
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. milk
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
French Fried Onions (small can)

Directions:
1.) Cook spaghetti according to the directions on the package. Cook to al dente, drain and set aside.
2.) Brown ground beef. Drain excess grease. Add spaghetti sauce to skillet and heat.
3.) Combine onions, peppers, and butter in a small glass bowl. Cover and microwave four minutes on high until soft.
4.) Add cream cheese and milk to vegetables and stir well.
5.) Using a 10x6 dish, assemble in the following order: thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish, spaghetti, cream cheese/vegetable mixture, remaining spaghetti sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Add the fried onions to the top during the last five minutes of cooking.
6.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Remember, top with the fried onions and then bake for another five minutes. That's thirty minutes of baking total...just helping you all out...lol.

The author of Salad in a jar says this is a great dish to make ahead and refrigerate or even freeze. She does recommend doing so without adding the fried onions though, just add those during the baking process.



Looks yummy right? Her picture is even better so please scoot on over to her site to check it out!

Copycat Chili's Salsa

Boy do I have a recipe for you...

I don't know about everyone else but when we go to our local Mexican restaurant the thing I enjoy most is the free chips and salsa. I usually get so full on that stuff that I very rarely finish my dinner. Normally in this house I make my pico de galla but when I saw this recipe over at Kaitlin in the Kitchen I knew I had to give it a try because it looked so similar to the stuff you get at the restaurant. I doubled all of my ingredients and used an entire bunch of cilantro because, well, we love cilantro in this house. I'm so glad I made a big batch because Daniel took some into work and ended up sharing with a few people. They loved it so much that I sent the rest in with him the next day and one lady went as far as drinking it out of a cup because she didn't have chips.

While I don't think it's good enough to drink out of a glass, it was pretty darn good. It has a bit of a kick too it which I could do without because I'm a wuss like that, but the kick didn't slow me down one bit...the stuff is addicting. Even my Mom was eating it and she hates spicy stuff even more so than I do...lol.

Copycat Chili's Salsa~

Compliments of: Kaitlin in the Kitchen

Ingredients:

1- 1o oz. can tomatoes and green chilies

1- 14.5 oz. can whole tomatoes, use juice as well

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1.) In a blender add all of your ingredients and mix until everything is chopped up and fine.

2.) Put in an air tight container and allow to sit for 24 hours.

Once again blogger isn't allowing me to link up to Kaitlin's blog. If you go to the bottom of my blog you will find a link to her blog where you can find the original post. I'm honestly starting to consider moving away from blogger and combining both of my blogs into one. I wonder how much something like that would cost me? LOL

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Since I'm still feeling pretty good I decided to whip up a batch of no bake cookies last night for Daniel, Addie, and my Mom. I'll admit I had one to make sure they were edible for my family but other than that I'm gonna have to stay away from them. I'm not allowed to have a lot of fiber so the oats aren't very friendly to me right now.

I attempted to make no bake cookies once before when I was in high school or something and if I remember correctly they didn't turn out. Tonight's turned out pretty good even though all the times I watched my step-mom make them I don't recall her putting peanut butter in them. Maybe that's why the first batch I ever made failed to turn out correctly?

Anyway, I grabbed the recipe off line and now I'm sharing it with you!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies~

Source: blisstree.com

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

4 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 stick butter

1/2 cup milk

1 cup peanut butter

1 tbsp. vanilla

3 cups oats

Directions:

1.) In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk. Allow to boil for one minute. Add peanut butter, vanilla, and oats.

2.) Drop by tablespoons onto waxed paper until cooled and hardened.

*I was trying to get dinner ready and keep a certain toddler out of trouble while making these so I didn't have time to make actual cookies. I lightly sprayed a baking sheet and spread the mixture out evenly in the pan. After it cooled I cut them into bars.

Seriously, what is going on with blogger? One minute I can't link up to anything and the next I can. I'm also having problems with spacing...am I the only one having this problem or what?

Salsa Ranch Burgers

I can't believe I haven't posted anything on the blog since July. Can you tell I've been sick? I just completed my second four day hospital stay for a perforated colon and between it and my Crohns disease and other complications, I have been under the weather for a few months now. There for awhile I was living on sherbet, popsicles, and pudding and have managed to lose close to thirty pounds. It's weight I've needed to lose but its most definitely not the way in which to do it.

Anyway, while I have been cooking it's not been things that are blog worthy. Since I hadn't been eating the stuff, I've been making quick and easy meals to satisfy Daniel and Addie.

Today was a good health day for me so we did a nice big grocery trip and I decided on making these burgers for dinner. It's yet another recipe that I've snagged from Cassie Craves and I must say it became a favorite. The one thing I hate about making new recipes is that I can't always trust that Daniel will enjoy it, which is the majority of the time. This recipe was another story though. He took one bite, looked up, and said "this is pretty good". We went out for dinner Friday night for my 28th birthday and he said tonight's burger was better than the burger he ordered at the restaurant. I think that makes this burger a winner and one that will show up on the menu again!!

Salsa Ranch Burgers~

Compliments of: Cassie Craves via Tried-and-True Cooking with Heidi

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chuck

1/2 cup salsa

1/2 cup shredded colby-jack cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper (I used regular black pepper out of the container)

Shredded cheese, salsa, and ranch dressing

Directions:

1.) In a mixing bowl, combine the ground chuck, 1/2 cup salsa, shredded cheese, cumin, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Mix by hand and form into four patties.

2.) Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray it with cooking spray. Carefully lay the patties in the skillet and cook over medium heat for several minutes on each side, until done.

3.) Combine equal parts salsa and ranch dressing. Place burgers on bun and top with shredded cheese and the salsa/ranch dressing sauce.

Does it not look amazing? Daniel added a slice of onion to his but I'm trying really hard to take it easy with stuff. I figured adding an onion to my burger would be overkill for my digestive system right now. Once again blogger isn't allowing me to link up with Cassie's but you can find her blog at the bottom of mine and then look under burgers and you can locate the recipe there.

Free Fallin'

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in forever. I've had a rough couple of months with my Crohns disease which unfortunately involved a four day hospital stay about two weeks ago. I don't even want to know what that bills going to look like. I was diagnosed with a perforated colon which as serious as it sounds was the least of their worries. Because of the perforation, and two back to back pregnancies, my hemoglobin level was a six. The normal range for women is twelve to fifteen. Needless to say I required three blood transfusions and because I have such small veins they had to insert a picc line in my upper arm leading into my heart in order to even get the transfusions accomplished. I went to the ER Thursday morning and they inserted the picc line Friday morning. I lost count of how many times they did/attempted blood draws on my arms during that period of time. It finally got to the point where as soon as a tech would come in to do a blood draw I would just start crying. I swear getting blood out of me is like trying to milk a cow using your feet...it's near impossible. I'll admit I did have a mini, OK, major, panic attack when they came in to do the picc line. No one had told me why they were doing it so I automatically assume they are prepping me for surgery and of course because it's early in the morning, none of my family was with me. Thankfully my Aunt works at the hospital so when I sent my Mom, Dad, husband, and sister the "somebody get here now" text, my Mom called her and sent her my way to figure out what was going on and to calm me down. I don't think it helped that the only other times that I had experienced picc lines involved my Grandma's who were on their death beds. Both of their picc lines were in their chests and it involved stitches and everything. Now had I have known from the get go that this was only involving my upper arm, didn't require sutures, and involved three shots of a numbing agent I sure wouldn't have freaked out like I did. It was seriously a piece of cake, even though having it was uncomfortable at times.

Anyway, not only did I require the blood transfusions, but I had/still have a massive infection raging in my body. That tends to happen when you have crap, literally, leaking into your body. As of today, I have four more days of anti-biotics to take and after yet another blood draw to determine whether the infection is gone or not, I will finally begin the process of treating the severe inflammation I have in my digestive system. Unfortunately, all of the drugs they use to treat my Crohns disease, specifically the inflammation, lower my bodies immune system. This means that we haven't been able to treat the disease just yet so I'm still suffering quite a bit. I am currently on several different prescriptions. I am on two maintenance drugs for my Crohns which do not interfere with my immune system, I am on Tylenol 3's for the pain, anti-nausea meds because I'm nausea's all of the time, a new med for GERD, and my anti-biotic. Two weeks from Monday we will begin the new med for my Crohns disease as the maintenance meds I have been on have obviously not been working. This new med is actually an injection that I will administer once a week in either my thighs or stomach and when I say "I", I actually mean Daniel or my Mom because let's face it, my fear of needles and IV's has now gotten so bad that I honestly don't think I could do it. It's bad enough they have to do it because from everyone who I've talked to who have taken them, they hurt like a bitch. I just keep telling myself a few minutes of pain afterwards will be worth finally going into remission with this disease.

Now that you know my reasoning for not blogging here's a quick update on the girls.

Addison is now officially eighteen months old and getting smarter every single day. These past few weeks her vocabulary has really picked up. We've noticed the past few days that she's talking in what appears to be full sentences. We can't understand a single word, but they sound like complete senteces...lol. She currently has four molars coming in and to say it's been a nightmare would be an understatement. She loves animals, especially the dogs and horses, and loves to be outside. Her favorite foods involve pretty much anything with pasta, goldfish crackers, cheerios and milk, cheese of any kind, scrambled eggs and sausage, and just the other week I made her a deconstructed soft taco and she loved it. Beverages of any kind are not safe in her presence and because of this we go through a lot of cups during the day. It doesn't matter if she has the same drink in her sippy cup or not, she would rather drink from our cups.

Cadence is now six months old and she is currently sporting six to twelve month clothing. She's wearing Addison's twelve month pajamas and I can see in a few months them being too small. She's all over the place but still not crawling. She rolls everywhere and loves being in the middle of all the toys with her sister. She contines to be a happy little girl although she's not shy when it comes to letting us know she's wearing a dirty diaper, is hungry, or needs a nap. She hates being left alone, but unfortnately I can't take both girls with me when I go to use the bathroom. This means she's stuck in her excersaucer for a few minutes and she cries hysterically to let me know it's not ok. We're still working on getting her to sleep through the night but I'm starting to think I have another Addison on my hands. They probably won't sleep through the night until their 18 and in college.

And because no post in complete without a picture...here you go!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Man, oh man, do I have a recipe for you tonight. I made this casserole for dinner tonight and it was definitely a winner. Both Daniel and myself had two helpings and even my Mom had a piece. You know it's good if my Mom eats it. She pickier than most toddlers when it comes to eating. This was quick and very simple to pull together which is what I like. I think next time I might add some onion and maybe even a small can of the tomato with green chile's. Even without those additions it was a winner and it will be made again!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Source: Cassie Craves

http://cassiecraves.blogspot.com/2011/02/chicken-enchilada-casserole.html

(Sorry, blogger wouldn't allow me to do the link up properly)

Ingredients:

3 C. cooked & shredded chicken

1 packet taco seasoning

2 C. salsa verde

9 small flour tortillas (I used the ten inch tortillas and ended up using nine for each layer.)

1 15.5 oz. can of refried beans, warmed

8 oz. sour cream

3 C. shredded colby jack cheese

Directions:

1.) Heat oven to 35o. Mix together shredded chicken, taco seasoning, 1/2 cup water, and salsa verde in a skillet. Simmer for ten minutes.

2.) In a 9x13 baking pan spray with non-stick cooking spray. Layer bottom with three tortillas, or in my case, six tortillas. Top with half of cooked chicken mixture. Cover with another three or six tortillas, depending on size. Combine beans and sour cream and spread on layer of tortillas.

3.) Sprinkle half of the cheese over top the bean and sour cream mixture. Top with remaining tortillas. Top with remaining chicken mixture and then remaining amount of cheese. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until bubbly.

Enjoy, I know we did!!!

17 months old, where's my tissue??

I haven't done an update on Addie since her first birthday, I think, so since she is up to so much I figured I would give everyone a little update!

Addie, today you turned seventeen months old. In seven months you will be two years old, lord help me. You are such an amazing little girl and I can't help but smile each and every time I look at you.

Your next appointment isn't until next month so I do know your official stats but you are getting so tall and you are thinning out so much. You still have a little bit of your chunky baby thighs left which I appreciate so much. It allows me to still think of you as a baby even though your are all toddler now.

I adore hearing you talk and you are learning new words each and every day. One of my other favorite things is sitting back and watching you run. When you snatch things you know you shouldn't have, you take off running knowing that I'm not far behind to take the item from you. We run, and run, and run around the house, you trying to outsmart me and stay just a few steps ahead of me and I purposely stay those few steps behind you all because I love watching you. You just laugh and giggle the entire time and I love when I finally snatch the item from your cute little hands, that I can grab you and cuddle you and blow into your neck and make silly noises and make the loss of your item worth it.

Daddy and I both love this age so much. You are big enough that we can do things with you and watch you as you try so many firsts such as your first trip on a merry-go-round, yet you are still small enough that we can cuddle and hold you as if you were just born.

You love being outside. You are just like your Daddy on that aspect and it just tickles him to death. I know he is secretly counting down the days until he can take you out in the canoe and out fishing. You are our little tomboy and while we are just fine with that, I would really like to be able to do your hair once in awhile. Is a ponytail really that bad child? I don't take you outside much for one reason. You are a busy body!! We live on ten acres out here that is only fenced in for horse pastures. We go outside and you take off straight for the barn to see your horseys, which by the way, is one of your new favorite words and it's the most adorable thing ever!! We go from the barn to the pastures to check out the spring, and then we circle back around to the house, and then back to the barn. You wear me out child! Daddy is always taking you for a ride in your wagon around the farm and you love it. I can't wait until Sissy is big enough that she can sit opposite you in the wagon.

One of the reasons why I wish so badly you would let me do your hair is because it's everywhere. You have so much hair and it's always in your face. After I cut your hair prior to your birthday and got so much grief from the family, I'm not a beautician here people, I was afraid to attempt to trim your bangs. Since Mamaw use to cut hair I gave her permission to give it a go. This picture was right when she started and it was before your complete meltdown. You hate getting your nails cut, and apparently you hate having your hair cut...your going to have to work with me child. We did manage to get the majority of your bangs cut that day and Grandma snipped a piece a few days ago that was driving her crazy but I honestly don't know what we are going to do when they are back in your eyes. Letting Mommy put your hair up would solve this problem...just sayin'!

You have gotten to swim a few times this summer and you really seem to enjoy it as long as you have someone to play with. You love playing with cousin Dylan in the pool and just think, next year your sissy will be big enough to play with you as well.

Speaking of sissy...you love her so much. Whenever Mommy or Daddy are holding her you run up to us with your arms outreached wanting to hold her. When she's laying on her playmat you run over to her and try picking her up. During the day I stick her in her swing to feed her because she is such a slow eater. When we actually hold her to feed her nothing gets accomplished because she farts around laughing and smiling at us the entire time...lol. So now Mommy sticks her in the swing with a towel or blanket to help prop the bottle up. You are such a good little Mommy that whenever she's in her swing now and she starts crying you grab the nearest bottle and shove it in her mouth and then you grab a towel or blanket and throw it on top of her. You have also started to help feed her her solids. I give her the actual food and then when I sit down the little container and spoon you grab them and start trying to feed her....so cute!!

You still aren't the greatest of eaters. One day you will eat both Daddy and I under the table and the next you will hardly touch anything. You love to snack...gee I wonder where you get that from? You love when I make scrambled eggs with a piece of cheese melted over top of them for you and it isn't unusual that you eat three eggs. You love to eat whatever we're eating. I could serve you the same exact meal but you would still rather have us feed you off of our plates. It's like you think we're holding out on you.

You are finally sleeping through the night...praise God. Every now and then you have a bad night where you are up once or twice but it's typically on the weekends when we have run around nonstop and it's affected your naps. Grandma says its because you are reliving your day and it causes nightmares or something...who knows.

You have become a little monkey. You are climbing onto everything. A few weeks ago we caught you sitting in Cadence's bumbo seat on top of the kitchen table. You had pulled out a chair and scaled up onto the table...lol. So far you have not found a way out of your crib yet but I know the day is coming.

Let's see, what else...you love bath time, especially when we take a bath together. You love it when I slide you down my tummy onto my legs and you love the deep water so long as you have my legs to hang onto. Our days of bathing together are coming to end though because the tub is only so big and you keep on growing...maybe if Mommy could lose a few inches around her middle we could buy some more time together. Also, you love your Grandma, it drives me crazy. When she walks out of room without you, you scream hysterically. I honestly don't know that we will ever be able to move out...lol. You also love your Mamaw, you are always spending the night at her house and doing fun stuff together. I can't tell you how much I miss you during those times. I look at your pictures the entire time because I feel as if I can't remember what you look like...lol. My love for you is bad, it's like I'm a drug addict, expect I'm an Addie addict, I just can't get enough of you.

That's it for now baby girl, happy seventeen month birthday!!!