Lazy Perogy Casserole

Kim's been knocking "momming" out of the park these past few weeks that I've been working at inContact. One area that she's been doing amazingly well at has been in the kitchen. Now don't get me wrong, Kim's always been a good cook. However, as of late she's been out doing herself again and again. 


One of the dishes that she has tried a couple of times and has really perfected lately is Lazy Perogy Casserole. If you've never had a perogy, you really need to fix that. Basically they are raviolis that are stuffed with a mashed potato + awesomeness mixture of sorts. This casserole recipe replicates the flavors without all the work of stuffing individual pasta pockets. Tasty and awesome, FTW. 

Lazy Perogy Casserole

Ingredients 

• ~15 lasagna noodles
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 3-4 cups mashed potatoes (however much it takes to cover the pan)
• 1 tsp onion salt
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese (plus extra to sprinkle over the top of the casserole)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 finely chopped onion

Directions

1. Cook noodles (or use awesome shortcut). Drain, rinse, and set aside. 
2. Combine egg, ricotta cheese and 1/2 tsp onion salt. 
3. In separate bowl, combine potatoes cheddar cheese, remaining onion salt, salt, and pepper. Set aside. 
4. In a frying pan, melt butter and sautee onion until soft and yellow. 
5. In a greased 9x13 casserole dish, layer in the following order: 
1. 5 noodles (or however many it takes to cover the pan)
2. Ricotta mixture
3. 5 noodles
4. Potato mixture
5. 5 noodles
6. Onions
7. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over top if desired
6. Cover with foil and bake in oven at 350 F for 30 - 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 
7. Spoon into bowls or onto plates and top with sour cream and/or green onions. Enjoy!

Eating Solids

We started Makaila on rice cereal at the beginning of the month.  So far, she is not a fan.  I am thinking we might switch to oatmeal soon and see if that suits her tastes better.  Here are pictures of her first time trying cereal:

Every time we've eaten rice cereal since then she makes similar faces.  Kind of funny and sad all at the same time.

A weapon of mass destruction in the making...

Eyeing Dad's XBox after knocking over the garbage can

And oh so happy about it!

What do you do when you are home all day?

It's always funny to me when my friends who don't have children (and obviously haven't babysat in awhile) ask me what I do with all my time since I'm not working anymore...


Seriously?!  What time?  It's not like I am sitting around looking for something to do.  But I never know how to answer that question because when I say "I spend all day playing with and caring for my baby" get I an odd reaction out of these friends.  Almost like they think I am leaving something out or holding back on them.  Sure, there's more to it than simply playing with Kaila.  I do cook, clean, and even squeeze in some "me" time here and there, but they never seem impressed if I elaborate.


It's amazing how busy you get when you are at home with a baby.  I get up with Makaila between 7 and 8am and we are busy, busy, busy all day!  Sure, she naps, but that is my chance to do things that are more difficult when she is awake (like showering!).  We are on a pretty nice schedule, so I get to spend some quality time with Trip after Makaila goes to bed; that is my chance to unwind.  Then it's off to bed for me and we start over the next day.  I love our little life and our new routine, I honestly wouldn't change a thing.  Makaila and I have a lot of fun together and I can't imagine doing anything else but spend time with her right now!  All my personal goals and wants are put on hold for now, and that's okay.  It's a hard feeling to describe but that's how it is for me at least.  Maybe that makes me sound lame or boring, but I don't care.  I think most mom's feel this way to some extent.  So I am going to enjoy being a stay at home mom as long as it lasts :)


Here's to all those mom's who have little bundles of energy that steal time and hearts.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

5 Months

"Makaila is...so big!"

Makaila is growing up so fast!  I can't keep up with this girl.  She has so much personality and makes our days so entertaining and interesting. At 5 months she:

• Talks and talks and talks
• Loves to talk so much that she tries to hold conversations while eating (also likes to blow bubbles while eating or chewing on a finger, hand, etc)
• Has started running her fingers through her mom's hair.  Sometimes she tries to eat it but mostly she just likes to feel it
• Can travel across a room in seconds with a combination of rolling and scooting
• Has started giving big juicy kisses
• Is developing a sense of favoritism towards certain toys
• Likes to sit at the table with mom and dad during meal times
• Is fascinated by everything.  Wants to touch, inspect, and chew anything and everything she can see, hear or feel
• Enjoys going on walks with mom and Jack
• Loves to watch Jack and Tigger.  She gets so excited when they let her near enough to touch them
• Is showing a real interest in food and likes to try drinking water out of mom or dad's glass
• Goes to sleep every night by herself and sleeps through the night.  Is also starting to nap all by herself during the day (yay!)
• Is so friendly.  She loves to see other babies (especially the one in the mirror)
• Loves when dad tosses her in the air or hangs her upside down
• Loves to listen to music
• Sticks her tongue out
• Went through a growth spurt this month.  Grew out of her 3 month and 3-6 month clothes all within a few weeks!

I think that pretty much sums up the last month of Bean's life. Hopefully I will be more on the ball and post her 6 month update earlier :)  Now for the pictures you have all been waiting for!

One of Kaila's many facial expressions that we love

Loving Tigger

Getting Jack kisses

All dressed up and ready for church

"I don't know how the keys got there...or how to get them off"

Practicing standing like a big girl

Just hanging out with dad, and loving it

One of her first times hanging upside down.  She leaves her mouth wide open the whole time!

Helping mom with laundry

She's cute and she knows it

This is a talking face.  I caught her in the middle of her talking to Trip

There's the tongue

More daredevil antics with dad

Ready to run some errands, and looking super cute

All tucked in like a big girl

You can actually see her get bigger in these photos!  More coming soon :)

Uncle Tim

Here is some more catch up...

Tim came out and spent a week with us in Utah before moving to Bend, Oregon.  We really enjoyed having him around, and now that he is gone we miss him.  If Oregon doesn't work out for you, Tim, we would love to have you live even closer to us, like say somewhere in Utah...no pressure ;)

Anyway, while Tim was here we went out and did some touristy things and had some lazy hang out days.  We got Tim to Temple Square, Sundance, BYU, and Neumont.  We watched a bunch of movies and even managed to get out and see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  Steve came over a few times and we played some games.  Jack got almost all the attention he desired and Bean had some good chats with Uncle Tim.

Unfortunately, I didn't take nearly enough pictures, so there isn't much to post this time.  I will have to be better at using the camera next time Tim visits.

Peanut Butter Nutella Fudge

I spent the Thanksgiving holidays trying out new recipes and making some goodies.  This one was so good that I had to make a second batch just to make it through the holiday!  It went that fast :)

I got this recipe from the Cake Duchess.  She has a lot of really good recipes that I want to try; I would recommend visiting her site.

And now the fudge...

Chocolate Nutella Peanut Butter Fudge

Butter, for greasing pan
1 (14 oz. ) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz. high-quality bittersweet (60% cacao) chocolate chips
1 cup Nutella, room temperature
3 tablespoons peanut butter (*I tried adding an extra tablespoon which was good if you want the peanut butter flavor to be stronger than the Nutella)
3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Sea salt, approximately 1/2 tsp

Grease the bottom and sides of an 8- by 8-inch baking pan with butter. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overlap on the sides.

In a medium glass or stainless steel bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, bittersweet chocolate chips, Nutella, peanut butter, and butter.

Form a double-boiler by setting the bowl on a medium pot of gently simmering water. The water level should be low enough that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir until the chocolate chips are melted and the mixture is smooth, 5 to 7 minutes.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan, spread the top smooth with a spatula, and sprinkle with sea salt.

Refrigerate until the fudge is firm, at least 2 hours.

Run a knife under hot water, dry it off, and run it around the edges of the pan to loosen the fudge. Using the overhanging parchment paper, lift the fudge out. Peel off the parchment paper. Cut the fudge into 3/4-inch squares. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container or wrapped well in plastic wrap and foil.

Makes approximately 50 3/4-inch squares.

Baby Blessing

This actually happened just after Thanksgiving, so I am obviously playing catch up.  Nothing like being 3 months behind :)  

We did Makaila's baby blessing out in Columbus, Ohio when she was almost 3 months old.  We had some great support from family and it was so nice to have almost all of our family there.  We really enjoyed spending time with everyone!

Here are some pictures of Makaila in her dress, since that's what everyone really wants to see :)

 

Unfortunately, the rest of our pictures are backed up on the hard drive and I am too lazy to go get it right now.  I will add more photos of the blessing when I get the hard drive up and running so I can post about Christmas and Thanksgiving too.