In Pursuit

Fall is definitely in the air here in north central Alabama. Cooler temperatures make me crave comfort food and what is better comfort food than macaroni and cheese. The idea of homemade mac 'n cheese has always epitomized comport food in my head, but none of the recipes I had tried in the past ever measured up to how cheesy and delicious I wanted it to taste. Well, this summer I finally found a recipe that measured up all the way around the table at our house. Mary Frances even requested it for her birthday dinner. Be careful not to add too much nutmeg - a little goes a surprisingly long way.


Here goes:

Three Cheese Pasta Bake

1 (8oz) package penne pasta
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 ½ cups milk
½ cup half and half
½ cup (4 oz) shredded white cheddar cheese
1 cup (8 oz) shredded Gruyere cheese, divided
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Pinch of ground nutmeg
· Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
· Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour; cook, whisking
constantly one minute. Gradually whisk in milk and half and half, cook constantly 3-5 minutes or until thickened.

An aside “until thickened” always takes me longer than a recipe say even when I increase
the temperature. Any suggestions welcome! Now on with the recipe~

· Stir in cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, ½ cup Gruyere and the next three ingredients
until smooth.
· Stir together pasta and cheese mixture. Pour into lightly greased 11x17 inch baking dish.
· Top with remaining Gruyere. Bake at 350 degrees 15-20 minutes – until golden and
bubbly.


Now that you've read the recipe you can tell it is just cheesy enough for the children's taste buds and the Gruyere cheese adds a grown-up element but in truth what grown-up doesn't love good ol' fashioned mac 'n cheese. Probably only those who are watching their waistlines...

I owe a whole lot of people recipes so I am going to try to catch up. Sorry no pictures today~

Not bad...

I finished two out of the three! Not bad if I do say so myself especially since Walker wanted nothing to do with sitting with his brother and sister to get a picture take. It made me feel better in the end. I won't tell you how late I stayed up or how early I got up but Mary Frances and Stephen were able to wear their new clothes for pictures on Friday. Let's just say it was a good thing that Frank was out of town. I felt like Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. Instead of never before had the sun seemed to go down so fast, I felt like never before had the sun come up so quickly. By the way, the book is one of Stephen's current favorite books. He can listen to it over and over again. He wants to check out the other Virginia Lee Burton books from the library. He turns the book over and points and asks what it is and then says, "we can check those out of the library" so they are on my list for the week.

We were so excited to have a relatively dry day that the boys and I went to the park for a few minutes before picking Mary Frances up from school. They had a ball. I wish I had pictures of Walker in the swing, but I was a bit leery of carrying the camera in without a bag. I'm afraid I've broken some part of it.

Check out our precious new sweaters ~ hand delivered by Tootsie on Thursday evening because she knew the temperatures were going to drop. And drop they did! I don't knit and don't really have any desire to learn how because Frank's mom creates such marvelous sweaters for my children. Stephen was particularly proud of his puppy dog. He was telling anyone who would listen that his Tootsie made it for him.

Almost finished... The Power of New Play Dough

I have had this bag of play dough and accessories in my sewing closet for at least a year, but there has been no need to pull it out. Well on Friday, there was need. I was looking around the house at all the picking up, vacuuming, dusting, etc... that needed to be completed as well as wondering what I was going to do for supper when I pulled out this treasure. They played sweetly, together for over an hour while I completed some of the tasks at hand and it is a good thing.

Little did I know this face was the beginning of a weekend of bellyaches for all of us!

My Sweet Boys in Helicopters

Well, I finally finished the helicopter outfits for my boys and they are a wonderful reminder of why I can't stop sewing or throw my sewing machine out of the window. Recently, I've had both of those thoughts a lot because I have so many ideas and can't seem to complete anything. I have to remind myself that I will never have enough time to do all the ideas that I can think up in my head, and I just need to be grateful for what I get done. Please forgive me for my pride, but I think my little ones look precious in these new outfits.

Stephen wore his to school yesterday for his school pictures, and he was so excited to wear it. Though he was a bit sad when we told him that daddy was riding on an airplane not a helicopter to get to California today.

My sweet Stephen...The boys were finishing lunch and I was unloading the dishes. Stephen looked at me and said "you wash those." I answered, "yes, they are clean," and he responded "thank you." He is always the first to show appreciation when someone does something for him. I hope and really expect my children to say "thank you" when they receive something from someone, but this is different. Almost daily, Stephen will realize that I (or someone else - usually Frank or sometimes Tootsie) have something for him. He always acknowledges it, and then looks me in the eyes and and says "thank you!" It melts my heart each and every time. I hope he can keep this grateful spirit

As for my Walker these are not the greatest pictures. The lighting is off and the background is dreadful but just check out that hair....

and cheeks!

My sweet third child... He scoots like Mary Frances did at 9 months and has the most precious smile. Every now and then he puts both hands on the floor and his weight on his feet so it looks like he is trying to stand up. Maybe he will be my bear crawler. We finally stopped swaddling him when we put him to sleep. Hopefully that will give him more opportunities to move since he isn't confined to his papoose during sleep. Poor thing~every thing he tries to pull up on falls over on top of him. I've seen it happen with the kitchen stool and a chair. I'm trying to prevent it, but inevitably it is going to happen again.

Frank is away for the remainder of the week and I have LOTS of sewing I would love to accomplish. You know me - it won't all get done, but a girl can dream can't she. School pictures are a huge motivation! The wonderful director at my children's preschool scheduled pictures for the entire week instead of just one day. She is so kind to let me get Walker's picture taken even though he is not enrolled this year. She also said I could get the three taken together, and so I sew with a goal of Friday morning.

I am beating myself up...I've inadvertently let my teaching certificate lapse. In reality it isn't a huge deal because I was going to have to take college classes to keep it up anyway. It sounds like I will have to take three additional hours and possibly re-take the Praxis examinations. I guess this is my motivation to clean up my filing so I can get to my Praxis results, dates, and phone numbers. Say a little prayer that they will still transfer, but I'm not counting on it. I'm mad at myself for completely missing it and then frustrated that the people at the Department of Education are not very helpful. I'm trying to cut myself some slack that three children and being out of the classroom for 5 falls now counts for something, but I can't stand that I missed it. Who knows if I will ever go back to the classroom, but I want to keep my options open. I love the idea of teaching kindergarten in an inner-city district once my children are all in school.

Okay, I best go check on my big two who were sitting on the wet front steps watching the neighbors play football in our soggy front yard. Have I mentioned that I am considering building an ark?

Celine, Celine

Zoom in on the title...

Yes, you read it right Celine, Celine What Have You Seen: A Book About Cousins. I am going to be an aunt and even better my children are going to have cousins. Not just cousins, but first cousins! I am ecstatic - I haven't been able to keep the smile off of my face all weekend as the thought enters my mind. Anna and Bill are going to be wonderful parents, and I already love this little one "to the moon and back" as they once told Mary Frances.

It was a soggy, rainy weekend around here. Lots of inside playtime and football. The picture doesn't capture it, but Stephen was so excited that Mary Frances painted his toenails. My poor child - first pink cowboy boots and hats and now painted toenails. We finally made a break and headed for a playground after naps yesterday.

Our breakthrough for the weekend...

Walker finally loves his bath with big brother and sister. We have been struggling because he has such bad eczema on his bottom. That bath water hurts, but for now brother and sister's entertainment has him laughing, splashing, and playing.

Off to change sheets, make a picnic, and get everyone dressed for storytime, errands, and gymnastics. The question of the day - Where to picnic in the rain?

Recently Completed Applique

About the newly posted applique creations...

Raggy Pumpkin

I did the raggy pumpkin on WalMart's granimals white top. Because it is a swing top the applique can really only go in the corner. Next time I do the pumpkin, I would put a piece of brown fabric behind the stem, but it really turned out cute. Mary Frances can't wait to wear it. Now I just need to make some matching pants.

Santa Face

I am beginning to think about Christmas. I have this santa face in two different sizes. The small size is perfect for a pair of holiday fancy pants or baby's bid. It is also good on an infant's sleep saque. The large size is great for a t-shirt or turtleneck. I have done it in red {as shown} which is good for boys or girls and also in pink with green trim which is really cute for your girly girl.

Sock Monkey

My little monkey needed a "monkey" to wear. This design is meant for an insert. It is two small sock monkey heads that I put an S in between. I did the "s" instead of a name so both of my boys can wear it. I think one of these monkeys would be cute on a onesie for an infant and one might fit on a pocket of Target's white shirts. I haven't tried it but I think it could be done.

Our Dirty Joke

Mary Frances was about two when my dad taught her a "dirty joke". She went around telling everyone she knew a dirty joke. When asked what it was, she replied, "A white horse fell in a mud puddle." Well Stephen's dirty joke of the day is, "I fell in the mud puddle," and he really did. Sadly, he didn't think it was too funny when it happened.

This One's for MaMa

I consider myself blessed beyond measure. One of the greatest blessings and priveleges of my life is that I knew three of my great-grandparents. MaMa was my father's grandmother. My scanner is broken or I would include a picture. MaMa lived until she was 98. Wow! I was at summer camp when she passed away, and I distinctly remember making the realization that in her life span she saw gas powered automobiles become the standard mode of travel all the way to space exploration. That was staggering to me!

My brother and I, along with our double first cousins, had the privilege and pleasure of spending our summers at MaMa's summer home. Many of the best and most vivid memories of my childhood come from those summers. MaMa was the matriarch of the house and one of the duties of the matriarch was to plan and do most of the cooking. Well into her 90's you could find MaMa at home in the hot kitchen of March Inn.

Peaches are among my favorite summer foods and MaMa would go at least weekly to the "little girl" to buy peaches and tomatoes. She would then make scrumptious peach cobbler. For those of you who know anything about southern peach cobbler you know that it is very sweet in its own right. It doesn't need a topping to make it any sweeter. Well in MaMa's eyes cobbler wasn't complete unless ladened with what she called "hard sauce". Hard sauce was a delectable combination of softened butter and confection sugar with a dash of vanilla. This combination was put back into the refrigerator to harden and then spooned onto hot out of the oven fruit cobbler. I think I truly liked the hard sauce even better than the cobbler.

So what's the point? Well about a month ago a couple came over for dinner with their precious little one, and she brought a yummy strawberry shortcake. Mind you it was different than any strawberry shortcake I had ever had, but I loved it. There was a familiar taste that I craved, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. I asked my friend for the recipe and prepared it the following weekend. The familiar taste that I loved so as a child was the combination of butter and confection sugar - uncooked mind you. Here is the recipe:

Strawberry Shortcake

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup soft butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups strawberries (or other fruit)

1 cup whipping cream lightly sweetened

Press crumbs in a 11x7x2 pan. Cream butter and gradually add sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat until fluffy but do not overbeat. Spread over graham crackers. Place strawberries on top. Whip cream and lightly sweeten. Spoon over berries. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

You might want to try it before summer completely slips into fall. Will try to post other promised recipes soon!