Beyond Gross

As parents, we all have our strengths and weaknesses dealing with bodily fluids. Poop is not a big deal for me. Well, unless they've taken their diaper off and done something with it. I really hate snot, though. Snotty, drippy noses. Mucus streaks on my shoulder from a crying kid. Gross, gross, gross. Well, I should have been thankful for the shoulder swipe because Bean has found a new place. For the record, I am pretty vigilant about wiping and blowing, but the thing is a faucet this week. So, where, you may dare to wonder, is this new handy handkerchief? I'll give you a hint: It's about his height, so it's pretty handy. It's always covered with fabric. It's nicely rounded to give him a good swiping place. Yep, the kid will walk up behind me and wipe his snot on. my. bottom. YUCK! It is sooooo violating and disgusting. I mean, when it's on the shoulder you can try to wipe it off and rationalize, "You can barely see it. It's nothing compared to the pureed squash droplets." But with this new location, I can't see what he's done, but I know I can't even sit down. I don't have a million pairs of ratty pants to change throughout my day! I'm really trying to nip this habit in the bud.

Editor's note: I am aware that my mother will be appalled that I put this on the internet. This is no reflection of the genteel lady she raised me to be.

Cullen at 6 months

Here is Cullen at 6 1/2 months. I won't go into all the details that no one but grandmothers care about, but he is a joy and it's been awhile since I posted a pic. We shaved his head a couple months back because it was falling out very patchy, so this is the new growth and I think he has brown hair. Yay! I love blonde, but it's nice to have variety. Love those expressive eyebrows!

Quiche

I think I've mentioned in a post or two that I've been teaching a cooking class. It is seriously the most fun I've had in a long time. My friends and I were having a playdate one day and we were talking about how we need to share our knowledge or skills - Amanda is the most amazing seamstress, Kelly has mad organizing skills, etc. They said I should teach them how to cook better and I said "OKAY!" in a very peppy, Monica-from-Friends way. So I thought a few people would come, but it has grown and now we have 8 girls signed up. I send out the menu, divvy up the ingredients, they bring them, we crowd into my kitchen, I teach, we eat, they clean. It's heaven. I love cooking. I love teaching. I love eating. I hate dishes. It's a no brainer. So it's been a blast and I toyed with the idea of starting a cooking blog, but decided I'm not ready for the commitment. I don't post on this blog often enough, although I have great intentions of coming up with fresh and witty posts on a daily basis. I just don't need another blog to feel guilty about. So I thought I would just post them on here and if you're not interested you can skip it and check back later when Blake does something naughty again.

I feel that I should emphatically state that not any of my recipes are purposefully low fat or fat free. I try to avoid processed foods, boxed meals, so on, but not fat. I would rather have the good stuff and eat a smaller portion. I use good oils, like olive oil, and butter, not margarine. You will never see a dessert recipe on here that calls for applesauce instead of oil! I would rather not eat it. We do eat plenty of healthy things, like tabouleh, and thai food, so if I remember to keep posting recipes, you will see a very eclectic mix.

So, Quiche Lorraine. Kyle loves my quiche and says it is his favorite thing that I make. Of course he says that about several things, but this does get good reviews.

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients:

Pillsbury roll-out pie crust

3 cups fresh spinach, packed

1 ¼ heavy whipping cream or half and half

6 eggs

1 heaping Tbs. sautéed onion (or dried minced onion microwaved in butter)

½ tsp. dried mustard

1 ½ tsp. Mrs. Dash

½ tsp. McCormick Seasonall

1 ½ Cups cheese (any ratio of swiss and/or cheddar, I used all the brick of gruyere and then whatever’s left I used cheddar)

5 pieces crumbled bacon – you can use Hormel bacon pieces (about 1/3 cup) in the condiment aisle, but microwave on a plate for about 30 seconds to crisp it up.

1 tomato

Microwave spinach to wilt, layer in pie dish with spinach, bacon, and cheese. Mix all other ingredients with whisk or fork, pour over. Slice tomato and arrange on top.

Remember, Quiches are VERY forgiving! Take the same basic recipe and put all swiss cheese and Herbs de Provence instead of Seasonall, or use ham and broccoli with cheddar, mushrooms are good too, whatever. Be creative.

Bake at 400° for 10 min, then reduce to 350° for 30 min or until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs on it. Let set for 15 min. before serving.

I've included all the shortcuts to take, but obviously, the less shortcuts, the better the quiche. I usually take a few shortcuts but not all.

Thanksgiving

- We had Thanksgiving in Winnsboro and a ton of relatives came this year, although by no means all.
- We went horseback riding and on an adventure walk. His parents have a lot of land, and about 10 acres of woods to explore! We pretended to be Indians.
- We pulled an old sled behind the golf cart - super fun!
- We ate too much.
- Gloria and I did Black Friday shopping. I didn't buy much though and I still have tons to do.
- We went down to Longview and saw Mark and Amy. Love their new house!!! Makes us want to build when the time comes. We miss them so much and wish they lived here.
-Thought about accidentally-on-purpose leaving Daisy at my in-laws house, but decided I liked my mother-in-law too much to do that.
- The trip home took over 8 hours - it's a 6 hour trip. I35 was a parking lot from Dallas to Austin, so at Hillsboro we drove an extra hour and a half west and came down 281 instead. I'm sure we made it home faster and at least we were moving. It was actually not that frustrating of a trip, or the longest trip home from Winnsboro. That would be this one.
-Not sure why I did this in bullet points.
-We almost hit a huge owl that swooped down in front of our windshield.
-Decided to listen to Jingle Bells as many times in a row as Friggs wanted. The winning number? 30. Did he get tired of it? No, he fell asleep. In fact, I turned it off at 25 because I thought he was asleep, and he sat up and groggily said "Hey. I'm still awake." Hmmff.