Welcome back to my “Tour of Italy” recipe week! I began yesterday with my Caprese Tomatoes appetizer and am continuing the tour today with a main dish of Bolognese Pasta. I had only eaten Bolognese a few times before but had always remembered how incredibly delicious it was each time I tried it. When my cooking club’s menu for this week was Italian, it got me to thinking about this pasta and wanting to finally try my hand at making it. I didn’t take it to cooking club since we already had enough main dishes coming, but as I was getting into the Italian cooking spirit, I decided to make it for my family. I researched several recipes for Bolognese that seemed pretty involved, but I was still ... Read more
Caprese Tomatoes
Hello, friends! Welcome to the first of three Italian cooking posts! It will be my own little “Tour of Italy”! I'm in a cooking club that meets every other month. Each of the women in the group takes a turn hosting and choosing the menu. We're notified of the theme about a month in advance to allow us time to decide on our recipes. We can either select new recipes to try, or bring our signature dish for the featured menu. I enjoy sampling the dishes all the ladies contribute. It's always an outstanding meal, and I come home with some great new recipes! Plus, we just have a lot of fun and do a lot of laughing! Our group met earlier this week and our hostess chose an Italian theme. I took a ... Read more
Upside Down Pizza
If you know our family at all, you know that every Friday night at our house is PIZZA NIGHT. Whether it’s just us at home or company is joining us, pizza (or some variation of it) will be served. Period. End of story. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of fun exploring the many different styles and flavors of pizza. When my older girls were little, a favorite for them was Upside Down Pizza. I made this anytime we had a backwards day or we just felt a little silly. I don’t know why I had forgotten about this one since it was once a favorite of ours. But it came to mind last week, and, much to my family’s delight, I decided to bring it back!! I think we’d all forgotten how wonderful it is! It’s ... Read more
Fluff the Nest Friday: The Aroma of Clean!
Around here, Friday is the day to "fluff the nest", which is just a much cuter way of saying "clean the house". Am I right? So my Friday posts are all about tidying up and getting the house fresh and in order for the weekend. Some weeks my nest-fluffing comes more easily than others. I need motivation each Friday. Good Friday morning! I'm just popping in quickly this morning to share one of my biggest motivators for cleaning. THE SMELL OF CLEAN! I am extremely motivated by my sense of smell! I love the fresh aroma of a spic-and-span house just after cleaning. It doesn't last long, especially once the dog makes her reentry. But while it does last, it's glorious! So to keep that fresh scent ... Read more
“Heavy Pasta” Birthday Dinner!
Hello, and welcome back! Yesterday I told how we planned, decorated, and pulled off the surprise party for Piano Girl. Today, I'm sharing the menu and recipes. A week before my daughter's birthday, I asked her what meal she would like for her birthday dinner. Now this didn't tip her off to our surprise because I always cook the birthday person a meal of their choosing. She just didn't know it would be for a group! Her reply? With a sigh and a far off gaze (literally), she said two simple words. Heavy. Pasta. So, we went Italian! I set out some water and Artichoke Spinach Dip for the guests to snack on while the garlic bread was in the oven and Piano Girl was recovering from the shock she ... Read more
Birthday Melodies
My oldest daughter, Piano Girl, is in her first year as a music major in a local Christian university. She is loving it, learning a lot, and making great friends! A while back, her little sister and a couple of friends started to talk about a wanting to throw a surprise party for her 19th birthday! With their help, everything came together without the birthday girl suspecting a thing! One of the girls attends the same college as Piano Girl so she took care of the guest list, scheduling, and inviting. This was a huge help since I had not yet met some of the new friends and didn’t know how to contact them. Country Girl helped with color and pattern choices for the tables. We purchased ... Read more
Monday Morning Hello
Good Monday morning! I missed posting last week! Let's just say, my hands were at work and there was little time left over. So, I just wanted to pop in this morning to say that I'm still here and will be back this week to finish up details about the last of the parties we hosted last month. I'll have some tablescape photos and recipes from Piano Girl's surprise party! On a bit of a housekeeping note, I had some friends tell me the other night that they had tried to subscribe to my blog with the "follow" button, but without success. If you've had the same experience, my apologies! Just shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will try to add you to the subscribe list ... Read more
Racers, Start Your Birthday Engines!
Today I'm excited to share a few photos from Incredi-Boy's eighth birthday! These days, this kid is so hot for Hot Wheels that a race car theme was the natural choice for his party. After years of raising girls and being immersed in little girl world for so long, I think people who knew me wondered how I would embrace my new role as a boy-mom. Well, while I have absolutely loved doing the girl-mom thing (sooo many sweet memories), I have to say that, overall, I just really love being a mom, period. So, I am very much enjoying and embracing boy-mom life as well! Incredi-Boy and I had a lot of fun planning this party! Oh, and with Joel having been a HUGE Hot Wheels fan growing up, and a HUGE ... Read more