recipes, reunion, random thoughts & recovering

Here's my latest and most used recipe. It's oatmeal bars for breakfast. A good friend brought them to me right after Carson was born. She brought both dinner and breakfast, which was so appreciated! There's no better gift for a new mom than a meal or a clean house :) Emma calls them "opie meal bars." I adjusted the original recipe a bit, cutting out the oil and making them a little less crumbly for Miss Emma. I usually make a pan every Sunday afternoon, and that's breakfast for our family for the whole week. Here it goes...

Mix:

2 eggs

1/2 cup applesauce or cinnamon applesauce

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups milk

1 T cinnamon

1 T vanilla

Mix the above in a large bowl. Then add 4 cups old-fashioned oats, 1 chopped apple, and 2/3 cup raisins. You can even add a handful of chopped almonds or walnuts, if you wish. Spread evenly into a greased 13X9 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Refrigerate after it cools.

About two weeks ago, Emma visited her best friend's farm. She brought home eggs from the chickens and picked a watermelon, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and peppers from the garden.

I still think she was a farm girl in a past life :) I didn't get to go, but would love to go next time. Sometimes the simple life sounds so nice.

We had a mini reunion at my house last week. My mom, sister Lindy, cousin Coco, Aunt Marg, and Aunt Char came for a visit. Getting to see everybody was quite a treat. Everyone lives so far apart these days that our time together is so limited. Rob was in Seattle for most of the week that they were here, so it was all girls, plus Carson :)

The week didn't quite turn out how I had planned... For starters, I came down with a cold/sore throat/cough/aching all over. It was delightful! It's been over 10 days since it hit, and I am so grateful to be feeling some better. So, I was sick for their visit and the hurricane hit :) We had big plans to hang out at the Splash Pad, play outside, and feed the ducks with all of the aunts and cousins, but the pouring rain kept us stuck inside with alternative plans.

We did do some shopping, and I got to go without my children, which is always a huge treat for me :) We did some eating, some visiting, some margarita-ing and some painting! Once Carson was born, I was convinced that I had retired my paintbrush forever :)

They all helped me paint my bedroom, and I was ever so grateful. I would have never tackled it by myself with two kiddos, so I was thrilled to have their help. Aunt Marg and I did most of the painting, but everyone else helped with the kids, cooking, etc. It took a village to say the least.

I am ashamed to say that I don't have one photo from our week together. I think that the cold had me in the "don't do anything that you don't absolutely have to" mode. So, the camera remained put away. There were five other adults in the house, so maybe some of y'all got photos? If so, I would love to have them!

I did say recipes, so here's our latest~Eggplant Parmesan. My Aunt Charlotte brought me eggplant that she had grown in her very own garden, and I was so excited to cook with them. I used this recipe, but made some modifications. I breaded the first batch of the eggplant with Emma, and then my enlisted team finished the rest...

It was messy, but well worth the effort. The roasted red pepper tomato sauce was divine and will be my spaghetti sauce recipe forever. Rob said it was the very best marinara that he had ever had :) It's always good when they approve isn't it? The only shortcut that I took for the marina part was using the jarred roasted sweet peppers. As for the eggplant part, I used store bought breadcrumbs (some regular and some panko) and baked the eggplant, instead of frying it. Here are their finger in all of their gooiness...

And here are my faves. I should have a four month post of our little fellow coming soon. I am already wishing that he had either a "pause" or "rewind" button. He is just so precious and growing oh so fast.