Baby sling question!

Hey girls! So, I am looking for a good baby sling for Lucy. Does anyone have any suggestions? She is definitely a cuddly baby. I have a fleece sling that she loves, but it is WAY too hot for me.

Things to do in OC

Hey girls, I wanted to compile a list of everyone's favorite things to do in our area. It will be nice to have lists to share with visiting relatives, new move-ins, and for ourselves (I know I haven't done nearly enough of the things I should before we end up moving away from here). So, leave your best ideas in the comments of this post, or email me, and I'll compile a complete list and post it. Also, see if you can indicate whether or not the activity costs $ and if so, how much. Thanks in advance everyone. This is going to be so awesome!

Examples:

• Disneyland $124/person for cheapest annual pass (not counting parking)

• Aquarium of the Pacific $125/family annual membership, daily admission--Adult: $20.95, Child (3-11): $11.95, Senior (62+): $17.95

• Science Discovery Center $89/family annual membership, daily admission--Child (3-17) and Senior (55+): $9.95, Adult (18-54): $12.95
  

Meal Planning

I saw a really neat way to plan meals in "Family Fun" last year. You assign each day of the week a food nationality or leftovers. Then for each of those days you have 4+ meals you rotate though the month. If you don't have leftovers, you can always make hot breakfast or something easy.

My example:

Monday: American
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: International
Thursday: Pasta (Anything that has pasta in it)
Friday: Fiesta
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Missionary (Large Sunday Meal fit for missionaries)

This way the entire family knows what to expect which days, so there is no more "Whats for dinner?"

Super Easy Chili Recipe

Alberta said I should post the recipe for some chili I brought to Emma's party. So, here it is:

2 cans 16oz. diced tomatoes (don't drain!)
2 cans 16 oz. red or dark red kidney beans, drained
1/2 lb. - 1lb. browned hamburger (or whatever meat you want, really)
2 tsp. sugar (cuts down the tomatoes acidity)
1+ Tbs. curry
1 tsp. cumin
1+ T. chili powder
salt to taste
pepper (optional)
taco toppings (optional)

Basically, just throw it all (except the toppings) in a big pot or crock pot, stir and cook it until it gets warm and bubbly. If you like to freeze your cooked hamburger, you can throw it in frozen and just cook until the meat is thawed and warm.

Dave and I like shredded cheese, cilantro, sour cream and crumbled tortilla chips on our chili, but that's just us. Hope you all enjoy a super easy meal idea!

Birthday take 2 (or three)

Jeremy is turning two tomorrow so we are going to be copycats and do what the Lemans did. Cake outside the Commons around 6.

Ina Garten's flag cake

Here's the recipe for Ina Garten's (the barefoot contessa)4th of July flag cake. My sister in law Amy is to be thanked for introducing me to this incredibly yummy cake. I would suggest using half of the butter in the frosting, because a pound of butter seems excessive. I make it using remainder of the butter from the cake, so about 2 sticks. Maybe it pipes better if there's more butter. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Bekah!

Hope you had a great day. Just wanted to send out a thanks to you for being so awesome. We'll miss you terribly next year!

{Bekah had this flower on her table the other day when I stopped by. It was a simple & surprising spot of beauty in my day.}

"Amish" Cinnamon Rolls

I'm not usually a big cinnamon roll fan, but I just can't seem to get enough of these! It does require some "Amish Friendship Bread" starter, and I have two bags available if you want some. One condition, give some starter back to me with you finish with it!

Enjoy!
Alberta

========================

"Amish" Cinnamon Rolls

In a bowl, combine:
2 cups flour (I like whole wheat flour)
1 cup milk
1 cup "Amish" starter batter

Let sit at room temperature overnight or 10-12 hours. Stir down.

In separate bowl, combine:
3 Tbsp. sugar (I think honey would work as well)
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Stir into dough mixture all at once. Stir in about 2 more cups of flour (whole wheat), then pour dough out onto a well-floured surface. Knead in more flour (white this time) until no longer sticky. Roll out to 1/2" thickness in a rectangle shape.

Sprinkle evenly over dough:
1/2 cup butter, cut up
lots of brown sugar
lots of cinnamon, more than you think
lots of nuts, crushed (pecans are my favorite)

Beginning at wide side, roll up and seal seam. Use string to cut 1" to 1 1/2" slices. Spray a large casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and place rolls inside. Let rise 30 minutes or more. (I've had good success letting them rise overnight!) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. You can frost them if you want, but they really don't need it!

Sherbet Dessert

Yummy!

This is one of my favorite dessert recipes this time of year. I love it because it is not heavy and it is cold.

Raspberry Sherbet Dessert
Crumble 1 box of macaroon cookies. To do this I put them all in a large plastic zip lock bag and then use a rolling pin to mash them up. You could also use a blender.

Put almost all of the crumbs in the bottom of a 9X12 pan. The remainder will be used for the top and so you just need a little left over.

Combine together:
1/2 gallon of raspberry sherbet (or any other kind you want)
8 0z. container of cool whip (I use the light kind because it doesn't make a difference in the taste)

Spread the sherbet mixture on top of crumbs and then sprinkle the remaining crumbs on top and freeze.

Enjoy!

Calzones of Love

Hello all, I've had a few requests for this recipe so here it is. Warning! Each recipe makes four large calzones! Don't make two full recipes unless you want a lot of food!

Spinach artichoke calzones

FILLING
2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
A few pinches nutmeg
A few pinches pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
1 (15 oz) can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped (or 1/2 bag frozen trader joes artichokes)
2 finely chopped cloves garlic

OTHER STUFF
2 10-oz tubes refrigerated pizza dough (or use 2-lb dough setting on breadmaker)
2 cups shredded mozz. cheese
Pizza sauce, warmed

Combine filling ingredients. Roll out each tube of dough, and cut each one in half (you'll have four pieces of dough). Put 1/4 of the filling on HALF of each piece of dough (leave an border--if the dough gets wet with filling it won't seal), and top with 1/2 cup cheese each. Don't put the pizza sauce inside! Fold the dough over and pinch the edges to seal. Bake 12-15 minutes at 425 degrees. Serve with the pizza sauce for dunking. (Because there's no sauce in the actual calzones, they don't get soggy. That was always my problem before).

Sausage calzones

WARNING: these are good, but a bit heavy on the stomach! These are made the same as above, but here are the filling ingredients:

FILLING

1 1/3 lbs bulk Italian sausage, browned in a little olive oil and crumbled
2 cups ricotta cheese
Some parsley (handful fresh chopped--less if using dried)
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
Few pinches ground nutmeg
Few pinches pepper
2 tbsp chopped pimiento (don't know how crucial this is)

Same amount of dough, same amount of cheese, dip in pizza sauce, etc.

Birthday party

Hi all,

Caleb's birthday is on Saturday so we'll be having cake and bubbles/kites?/beach balls on the Commons lawn this Saturday at about 6:00 pm. We decided to forego a barbeque since there seem to be quite a few coming up, so it will just be a simple cake/running around affair.
Hope to see you there!

Christi L.

Preschool

I am looking into preschool for Alexander, who is turning three this month. I am interested to see if anyone wants to do group preschool for their three year olds with me. I was thinking of one or two days a week with a set curriculum - with a couple of kids and us moms would take turns teaching. Anyone with the right aged children interested? Let me know. I was thinking of starting in the fall.