I love sweet potatoes. I love that they are so nutritious, and everyone in my house loves them. Last week we got several large ones in our produce basket, so I made this dish when I went over to a friend's house. We always do a kind of pot luck type of meal, and the oven is always in demand. The best part about this dish is that it can be prepped in advance and then no oven is needed--perfect for hot summer days when you don't want to start up that oven!

This isn't your mom's marshmallow covered casserole--it is way better,with way less sugar. You can also make this recipe gluten free by replacing the flour in the topping with a gluten free option--or you eliminate the topping completely. But since I love the pecans, I don't recommend getting rid of the topping.

Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

8 large sweet potatoes, baked and mashed, or (2) 29 oz cans of sweet potatoes
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp orange juice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk

Topping:
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour (a gluten free product of your choice can be substituted)
2 tsp butter, melted.

Grease slow cooker.
In a large bowl, blend sweet potatoes, sugars and spices. Beat in orange juice, eggs, and milk. Spread this mixture into the slow cooker crock. Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl. Spread this mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
Cover and cook on low for about 5 hours, until bubbly. I don't recommend cooking this on high, as the bottom will burn before the top is bubbling. Don't make my mistake from the first time I tried this!


 

Well, it's been a long week. Out of the three kids, only one has slept well, and she's been fighting the reactions to a immunization. And when the kiddos don't sleep well, mommy and daddy don't sleep well, which sometimes leads to interesting choices for dinner. We managed to follow the menu somewhat, but considering the amount of sleep, I'll just take what I can get!!

Here's the plan for the coming week:
Monday: Asian Sausage
It's been a while since we had this family favorite, and it's time!!
Tuesday: Leftover Sweet Potato Casserole from the weekend and Chicken Nuggets
Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner (eggs with veggies inside--yum!)


Thursday: Chicken Tacos and Apples
Friday: Green Beans and Pork Chops
Saturday: Leftovers or family time--we're going to the NICU reunion in the morning, so we'll have to see how tired we are.
Sunday: Group Bible Study.
 

Usually, when I have a craft project, I have a goal in mind--either it is for the home or for a gift. Occasionally, my goal is something for myself. Nevertheless, I have some type of goal in mind. However, sometimes I need a chance to create with little to no pressure, to have a project with no goal in mind. I recently got the opportunity to do just that--and even better, there was no cleanup!

My dear husband has been saving up for an iPad with gift money and doing the occasional extra thing to earn a bit of cash. We recently purchased it, and he surprised me with an early birthday gift--a stylus for the iPad. You see, he loves for me to do art, but the prep and cleanup is often disheartening, especially when I rarely have much time to devote to it at any one time. It seems by the time I have my supplies out and ready, I find that it is time to clean up. And heaven knows with the little ones running around, I rarely have the desire to clean something else up! Anyway, back to the iPad and the stylus. I had the opportunity to mess around with these awesome art tools. I used an app called Art Rage, and I must say that it was very intuitive. (No, I'm not getting reimbursed for writing about this app--I just liked it!) It was like being able to use oils, watercolors, pencils and markers. Without cleanup. I don't think I can say the "no cleanup" part enough. I loved just messing with this new medium for art, and after just maybe a couple of hours, I came up with a little doodle that I liked. There's no purpose to this little wading bird. Just pure enjoyment.


I hope that  you enjoy it too!

 

This was going to be a post about the pattern for this crocheted basket. I developed it after a couple of patterns I found on Ravelry. It is also the first time I have ever completed a full crochet project.I learned how to crochet when I was young--my mom crochets, and she taught me the basics. I have to say that I was never very good. I blame it on my left-handedness. My poor mom, as a righty, was trying to teach a elementary school child who was awkwardly trying to hold the hook the same way as her mom--let's just say that my skills with my right hand has improved with age.

Fast forward over 25 years, and I've picked up the crochet hook again. I love the look of crocheting in the round, as well as crocheted flowers. This little basket was one of the projects that I did while at the beach at Easter. It's nothing special--just single and double crochet in the round. I was pretty satisfied with the project...until I tried to photograph it to share with you. Let's just say it looks better in real life, and leave it with that. If you want a pattern, search Ravelry for baskets--there are oodles of them.

But this basket isn't what this post is about. While I was working on this project, my 4-year-old was fascinated with it. She's seen me knit lots of things, but this was new to her. She loved it! As a matter of fact, she loved this so much that I gave her this basket. As I was finishing up the basket on the car ride back home, she informed me that she wanted to make things with "string"--just like mommy.

I asked her if she wanted to knit or crochet. When she wasn't sure, I asked, "With one needle or two?" She said one. A few days later I was trying out a new pattern and she asked again if she could have some string and a hook. I could have shot down the idea as too messy. I could have thought how awkward it was learning from a righty (my daughter is a righty and since I am a lefty, you can just imagine the confusion). I could have shot down the opportunity because I know she doesn't have the fine motor skills to crochet yet. But she has seen me do crochet (or my rough attempt) and seen my sister and oldest niece work on crocheted pieces as well. So I sat her down and helped her make a chain. Then I let her just sit and mess with the yarn. I can remember being not very much older than she is now and messing with yarn. Maybe it has made me the crafter that I am today, maybe not. But I know that she enjoyed working with the yarn, and was very proud to show her daddy what she had made.

After that, I decided that it was okay if she didn't like crocheting. It was okay if she got frustrated with it. It is okay that I had to keep reminding her how to hold the hook. It was okay if I never made anything cool by crocheting.

 

This past week's menus were thrown for a little loop when both twins started having tummy problems. We had to go super bland for them for a couple of days, but I think we're back on track. I'm looking forward to another produce basket tomorrow, and hopefully there will be no more sickness in the house!

Here is the new menu:
Monday: Sesame Chicken (Kashi's finest, yes I do cheat sometimes)
Tuesday: Salad with Honey Pecan Chicken
Wednesday: Pancakes and fruit
Thursday: Crockpot Chili and fruit
Friday: Pork Chops, Veggies, and Applesauce
Saturday: hanging out with friends!
Sunday: we'll see what opportunities arise--there's always leftovers.


 

I was introduced to the concept of mini-meatloaves by Gretchen at Extraordinary Ordinary Life. We love the concept of individual portions. It makes it quicker to cook and easy to make and then freeze to warm up later. And the crunchy edges of a meatloaf is the best part!! We love Gretchen's recipe, but this evening, I found myself without eggs. Kind of crucial to hold it all together. But I also love Pioneer Woman's meatballs and she uses milk and oatmeal to bind them together. All that to say that I mixed the two recipes together and threw in a vegetable puree for good measure. It was inhaled by my whole family. I'm happy that I got some extra veggies in them too!

Mini Meatloaves with Pureed Veggies
1 lb ground beef
2/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal
2/3 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of grill seasoning
4 oz vegetable puree--I used summer squash puree
Barbecue sauce
Shredded Cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Put beef, oatmeal, milk, puree and seasoning together in a bowl.Let sit for a couple of minutes to allow the moisture to soak into the oats and meat.



Mix gently until well combined. Spray with cooking spray a non-stick muffin tin. Equally divide the meat mixture in the muffin tin compartments. Press your thumb into each mini-loaf to make a depression. Put a dollop of barbecue sauce in each depression.

 Bake for 15-20 minutes, until juices run clear. Sprinkle with cheese and put back in oven until cheese is melted, about 5 more minutes.

If you don't eat them all, you can freeze them and eat them for another meal. A dozen makes 2 meals for us, but we tend to be light eaters.

Hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

One year ago today, I gave birth to two little sweet babies. They are so sweet! However, the last year and a half was very stressful. The twins were in the same amniotic sac, a condition called Mono-Mono twins for short (Monoamniotic Monochorionic Twins). This is actually very rare and the biggest fear is that they get tangled up in each other's umbilical cords, cutting off the blood flow to one or both twins. This is in addition to the usual risks for multiple births (prematurity, low birth rate, etc). As a result, I went into the hospital daily the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy to have monitoring done on the babies. Also, when we had the twins they were 8 weeks early, which was planned to try to keep them from pressing on the umbilical cords. I was very scared that the twins would have lungs that weren't developed enough and they wouldn't survive to take a breath on their own. I cried when I heard two angry babies crying out at the huge world that took them out of my womb early! I have never before and never since been so glad to hear a baby cry. We were so relieved to find out that we had made the right choice to have them early--they had knotted their cords together so much that the folks in the OR stopped counting at a dozen knots in their cords!! We weren't through the woods yet; the girls ended up staying in the hospital for another 5 and a half weeks, but now, other than their small size, you really can't tell that they went through all that.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few things I learned along the way about how to deal with a high risk pregnancy and then a NICU stay.

How to deal with a high-risk pregnancy:

• Educate yourself. I love my OB group, but this condition is so rare they didn't know what to do with me. Know the risks and demand that they send you to a perinatologist. Perinatologists deal exclusively with high risk pregnancies. Check out if there is a support group locally or online for people with your condition. I found a group online that really helped me out.
• Be willing to fight for what you want. For the most part, I had great doctors who were right in line with what I felt was the best treatment to get these babies born at the right time. I dealt with a couple of nurses who thought that I was getting monitored because I was being a worrywart. I explained to them patiently the reason why the monitoring was being done. Most of them didn't even know what the condition was. With one rather stubborn nurse, I basically told her that this plan was written up by her boss (the OB) and the perinatologist (the expert), and if she had a problem, she should take it up with them.
• Be prepared to make a joke out of it. The folks at the labor and delivery ward at my hospital knew me by name by the time we had the babies, and we were able to joke around. It was still not very fun, but I figured a bad attitude could only make it worse.
• Ask for perks. The worse thing that can happen is that they say no. I asked for a parking pass for while I was being monitored, and they gave me one!
• Involve your loved ones. My husband was a part of every decision. It helped to know that he was behind me when I had to make the tough ones, like having the babies early. We also took our eldest daughter with us some when I was monitored. She actually thought going to the hospital was pretty fun!