Monday's Menu Item

Photo credit: MeeMom

Note: It has taken (literally) years for MeeMom to find a chocolate chip cookie recipe that works for her.  This is THE recipe!  Enjoy.

MeeMom's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
2 cups butter (no substituting)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond oil (or 1/2-1 teaspoon almond extract)
4 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips (DooDad prefers milk chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and sugars until creamy.  Add eggs, vanilla and almond oil. Add dry ingredients: flour, salt, and soda.  Mix until incorporated into dough.  Mix in chocolate chips.

Make cookie dough balls the size of golf balls.  Place 2x3 on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes on until golden brown.  Remove from pan and let cool on cookie rack . . . if they last that long!

Monday's Menu Item

photo credit: MeeMom
Pizza Soup with garnishes

We know, we know.  It doesn't sound so good, but try it once and you'll be hooooooooked!  In our family, we like to start with the soup as the base and then have a bunch of "garnishes" or "sides" that are added to the soup.  This allows for everyone to put in their soup what they like. That means they'll eat every bite instead of picking out the onions and the olives and the peppers and . . . .


PIZZA SOUP
Feeds a Hungry Family of Eleven

1-2 pounds ground beef or Italian sausage (or both)
2-3 Tablespoons oil
2 large cans or bottles of your favorite spaghetti sauce
2-14oz cans of Italian tomatoes, pureed
6 cups chicken broth (or 6 cups water + 7 boullion cubes)

Brown meat in oil.  Drain and rinse.  Place remaining ingredients in large stock pot or slow cooker.  Let simmer for an hour or longer, if you have a lot of time.

Soup Garnishes/Sides:
cooked macaroni or shell pasta
bell peppers
onions
cheeses (Mozarella, Parmesan, Cheddar, Colby)
fried pepperoni (yum!)
kidney beans
black olives

Serve with bread sticks or garlic toast

I'm Sick!

photo credit: MeeMom

MeeMom: While on the phone on Sunday evening, Staccato held up this note for me to read because, unlike some multi-tasking women, I am incapable of talking on the phone and effectively communicating with my children using out of control hand gestures at the same time.

Staccato: I felt very sick and I wanted MeeMom to know because DooDad had been sick all day and didn't go to Church because he was feeling that bad.

Treble: And I stayed home from school on Friday because I felt so gross.  Actually, I felt gross on Thursday but went to school because I had a test.  What a great student I am, don't you think?

MeeMom: Ahem.  So once I read the note and took a look at Staccato I noticed that he was ghostly white.

Bass: That got MeeMom off the phone right away.  I'll have to remember to use that tactic next time. :)

MeeMom: So I tucked sick Staccato into my bed with a heating pad and a cozy blankie.

DooDad: Staccato is a little tease.  And I really thought he was pulling my leg when he said he felt like he wanted to throw up.  Until a little while later when Staccato was out of bed, fumbling and mumbling for the "Throw-up Bowl."

Middle C: We have an official "Throw-up Bowl" so we won't use it when we make a salad or something.

DooDad: And lo and behold, my bedroom floor was covered with his dinner.  Poor little guy.  And it just got worse from there.

Staccato: I tried to sleep feeling so sick.  I kept asking MeeMom if it was morning.  It seemed like forever just laying there and feeling so icky.

Fermata: And that was about the time that I found THIS on our dining room wall and well, it helped
Staccato forget his ickies for a few minutes.

MeeMom: Thank goodness Allegro and B Sharp were in bed - asleep! - or we would have had chaos times ten.  Let's hope no one else gets sick (or eaten by a spider)!

Monday's Menu Item



photo credit: MeeMom
Waffles with sour cream sauce and fresh peaches!

Truth be told we DO have breakfast for dinner!!  This is one of our very favorites!

WAFFLES WITH THE WORKS
Yield: Enough for a hungry Family of Eleven
(This is a perfect recipe for a Belgian Waffler Iron)

5 1/4 cups white or wheat flour (or half and half of each)
3 Tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
5 1/4 cups milk (I always use pre-made powdered milk)
1 1/2 cup oil

Place all ingredients in a large mixer.  Beat until smooth.  Bake in heated waffle iron.

Serve with all or some of the following:
Maple Syrup
Peanut Butter
Powdered Sugar
Fresh Fruits
Jams or Jellies
Honey
Ice Cream
Whipping Cream
Yogurt
Sour Cream Sauce: mix with sugar to taste and a drop or two of almond oil
Fruit Sauce

What We're Laughing About Today

Monday's Menu Item

Photo credit: MeeMom

DUTCH OVEN IN THE OVEN STEW
Feeds: A Family of Eleven


Ingredients (add what you like, the amount you like)
Potatoes, quartered
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts cut in pieces
Roast Beef, cut in small pieces
Carrots, cut into pieces
Corn
Onions, cut into large chunks
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive Oil
1/2 cup water

Place in 350 degree oven and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until potatoes are soft.

Serve with gravy or BBQ sauce.

Saturday Sound Off

MeeMom: Another Saturday. Another Sound Off.

B Sharp: I did SOMETHING that WAS COOL. I was in BASs AND TREBle's room AND I shot the little basketBALL from FAR away and made iT iN the HOOP!

Allegro: l love my family and my parents, even when my dad stole my scooter and Mezzo stole my scooter. We were going on a walk to the school and they stole the scooter away from me and rode it down the street. Signed, Allegro.

Middle C: So today we had to get out of the house. We weren't given a lot of options so we were happy to walk to a school near our house and we raced on a track. We were all running the 50 yard dash and Doo Dad was timing us. On the last race before we left I came in second because I was slower than Bass. My best time was 7.9 seconds I was pretty fast, but my slowest time was 8.00 seconds. After, we went to our neighbor's house, The Rock Stars, because they let us watch College Football at their house because MeeMom says she won't get satellite TV and DooDad couldn't find the games on the internet. It was a lot of fun of fun for me because I ate tons of food.

MeeMom: Let me just say a word about these little foot races we had at the school. I discovered a fifty yard dash marker and thought it would be fun for the kiddos to time themselves because, if I remember correctly, I ran the 50 in 7.2 in 6th grade! I was just checking to see if my kiddos are as fast as I was. Notice the operative word is was. Because before we walked home, we had one final race that involved everyone. Yes, I thought it would be fun to see how I would fare running against all the kiddos. I should have listened to my gut because I never finished the stinkin' race. I pulled some glute muscle that rendered me a limper for the rest of today. Tomorrow's pain doesn't look too promising, either.

Staccato: I don't really want to write anything because our neighbor, Maraca, told me today that she's reading our blog. So I want to be on my best behavior.

Bass: I wish that we had Comcast, but I also like that we don’t have it. I want it so we can watch sports such as football and basketball. But I am glad we don’t have it because it is so much money to get it and pay for it every month. I like sports very much.

Treble: I so agree with Bass. I want Comcast or whatever people have these days, but we can't afford it. Today I went to the Rock Stars' house to watch college football.  They are nice to let us come. What excitement! Thanks for reading the blog!

Mezzo: There is a lot to say on this "free day" Saturday. First, what an exciting day to talk about sports. College football, that it. I always like the exciting, edge-of-the-seat last play, a field goal block, an interception or a touchdown. When we went to the school this afternoon played some basketball, rode bikes, and ran a timed 50 yard dash. My best time was 7.1 seconds. My legs start to hurt after awhile. I tried to help DooDad connect our internet box to our TV so we could watch College Football in the confines of our own family room, but it didn't work. So we went to our neighbors, The Rock Stars, and ate and watched football games. Treble and Bass are bad sportsman and have bad sportsmanship. They were cheering for the team I wanted to lose and booing for the team I wanted to win.

MeeMom: About the food at the Rock Stars' house. I am so embarrassed because it wasn't supposed to be us, Family of Eleven, going across the street to watch football and eat them out of house and home. I tried my best to make some eats to take over, but I must have been overtaken by an alien cook because nothing I made turned out. Nothing. So I went over with a bowl of sad, sticky popcorn and ranch dressing and left my excuse for breadsticks at home, cooling off in the garbage.  My kiddos owe them a HUGE thank you for the intake tonight! I'm thinking I owe them a dinner. . .

Fermata: I forgot I that I hadn't summarized what I had read this week, so I ended my Saturday doing Language Arts homework.

Coda: All the football made me grumpy and tired. I kept trying to wail my way back home, but everyone thought I was just plain cute. It finally took falling asleep on MeeMom's shoulder that got me home and to bed.

DooDad: Yo MeeMom, I ran the 50 in 6.8 in 5th grade!! And yes, we definitely owe the Rock Stars dinner!