Recipe Friday

Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups

Sorry if you're getting sick of all the spinach recipes, but it's a handy veggie to have on hand, and it's one of the only green things Nate will eat, so boo on you. I liked the recipe because it was tasty like lasagna but without all the layering and cooking time.

12 lasagna noodles

2 eggs, beaten slightly

2 1/2 c. ricotta cheese

2 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (recipe says 10 ounces but the bags I buy come in 16 ounces, so that's what I used)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. nutmeg (didn't have this)

1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce

Preheat oven to 375. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the eggs, cheeses, spinach, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Drain noodles. Spread 1/3 c. cheese mixture over each noodle. Carefully roll up. Pour 1 c. sauce into an ungreased 9X13 dish. Place roll-ups seam side down over sauce. Top with remaining sauce. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Serves 6.

cheerios

I gave Colin some Cheerios to play with for the first time this morning. I think he likes them. It only took him a minute to figure out how to pick them up, and then it took a little longer to think about putting them in his mouth. He would just pick one up, look at it in his hand, and then turn his hand over and drop in on the tray. Finally he decided to try sticking one in his mouth. I'll let you watch to see how that went down. (Sorry the video is a little long. I didn't want to try and chop it down. He makes some good faces at the end though.)

scooter

Sorry, I don't have a great new video of Colin crawling this week. The batteries in my camera are dying and won't work well enough for videos. This one that I did get doesn't show him at his finest, but you can all rest assured that he is scooting around the house getting into mischief all the time. He gets faster every day. Yesterday he crawled from my bed, across my room, across the hall, and into Nate's office. Wow!




Such an adorable boy.



Colin really enjoys his bath time. I'm trying to get him on a nighttime routine so that he'll fall asleep on his own better. So now every night we give him a bath, read him a story, and sing I Am a Child of God. What a cute li'l bum he has!



A favorite place to crawl into is his exersaucer. Apparently the bottom is just as awesome as the top.



Nate turned 27 on the 19th. His family came over for cake and ice cream, but they only got cake because I didn't buy any ice cream. Nate doesn't care much about if cakes look awesome or not, but I decided to try and do something a little more special than just a cake, so I present to you Cupcake/Cake! I made cream cheese frosting and it was delicious.



Nate blowing out the 2 and the seven single candles.



Nate underneath the present from his mommy. He snuggled up inside it as soon as he pulled it out, so I guess that means it's a good blanket.



It's really hard to keep Colin from spitting all over the rug and carpets now that he's mobil. I try laying out a bigger blanket for him to play on, but he like to find the uncovered spots to spew on.



Another peek from the bottom of the exersaucer.



I think in this one he was pulling himself up onto his toy bin and then he fell over. I looked down and he was giggling on the floor rolling back and forth between the bin and the exersaucer.



Colin likes to chew all of his many Mickey Mouse stuffed animals. I think it's because they taste like Disneyland.



He also likes to chew this plastic bib. I think it's because it tastes like food.



9 times out of 10 Colin will dump his toys out of the bin and play with it instead. He likes to chew on the edges and stick his head inside and play with the bottom. Weirdo.



He discovered the latch on the trunk in his room the other day. My mom said he sat and played with it for quite a while, slowly inching closer, always trying to eat it.


This morning while I was at the computer Colin played with the laundry bin that I put down to keep him away from the computer cords.



I think maybe I'll leave him in there. That should keep him from getting into too much trouble!

Recipe Friday

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained (I used the Italian flavored petite diced kind)
1 pkg. (6 oz.) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1/2 cup water or chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ lb. chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
2 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place tomatoes in medium bowl. Add stuffing mix, water and garlic; stir just until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside. Place chicken (I brown my chicken first) in 13x9-inch baking dish; sprinkle with the basil and cheese. Top with stuffing mixture. Bake 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

This recipe came courtesy of the Stove Top box. It was pretty good.

Recipe Friday, Saturday Edition

Spinach Ravioli Bake

I made this for lunch/dinner today, and I think it's a winner. It was easy to put together, and it really dressed up the plain ravioli. Nate said, "It's better than regular ravioli. I'd eat it again." Talk about rave reviews...

2 c. spaghetti sauce
1 pkg. (25 ounces) frozen Italian sausage ravioli or ravioli of your choice
2 c. (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pkg. (10 ounces, but I used 16) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Place 1 c. sauce in a greased shallow 2 quart baking dish. Top with half of the ravioli, mozzarella, spinach, and parmesan. Repeat layers. (If I were to make this again I would probably put the sauce, ravioli, cheese, all the spinach, and then ravioli, sauce, and cheese. The spinach on the top got a little toasted doing it the way the recipe said.) Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

videos!

Here are a couple of videos we took this week. I take videos pretty often, but I rarely post them because it's such a pain in the bum. Hopefully these ones worked. Please to be enjoying watching Colin being awesome.

lollygaggers will be shot on sight

I didn't know what to title this post, so I went with a favorite quote from Muppet Treasure Island. More likely than not there will not be any lollygagging or shooting in this post.

So, Colin has been a real bundle of joy the last few days. His top front teeth are coming in, and that's been making him a little cranky. He tries really hard to be happy, but sometimes life is just too much for him. If you look closely in his mouth you can see the teeth poking through his gums. Hopefully he'll be back to his normal happy-go-lucky self soon.

Colin also got his first haircut this week! Yay for Colin! Nate cut it since I didn't want to be responsible for a bad haircut. We put Colin in the exersaucer, and I was in charge of entertaining him and keeping his head still. Nate did a pretty good job, but there are a few places where things are a little uneven. Good thing Colin has such a cute face that no one will notice. (Pictures of before and after are down below.)

We had a couple of snowstorms that dumped a ton of snow here last week. I'm glad it's stopped snowing for now because I'm tired of shoveling the driveway. This picture really doesn't do justice to just how much snow we had.


Colin is pretty good at being up on his hands and knees...until he tries to move. Almost as soon as he reaches for a toy he falls down onto his tummy.


While he's not crawling just yet, he is adept at moving himself around on the floor. He goes from sitting to lying on his tummy, to lying on his back, to scooting all around the blanket/floor. Also, I love the lace on that blanket.


Giving Sorcerer Mickey some loves.


Colin wore his UVU shirt for the first time this week. I made Nate take a picture with him since it's his alma mater. I bought the shirt for Nate for his birthday a year ago. It was kind of one of those delayed gratification gifts. What sweet red-eyed, gray-shirt-wearing boys I have.


Colin was being way too cute when I was taking a picture of him in his shirt before his haircut, hence the multiple pictures.



Here are a few after pictures. I had a hard time getting a good shot. After having his head pinned between my hands during the procedure, he couldn't wait to be free and to move around like a crazy person.


This one's a little dark. I'll have to take more pictures (darn) to show off his hair. We cut quite a bit off the top. I'm surprised at how different he looks without that clump of hair in the middle of his head.


Here's a teething shot. Colin is happiest when he has something in his mouth. He's really been enjoying his pacifier this last week, much to my displeasure. Hopefully he'll go back to being indifferent towards it once his teeth arrive.

The end.

Recipe Friday

Parmesan Ham Pasta

Nate got a ham for Christmas from work, and we cooked it last night for dinner. Since we have leftovers, this is what I'm making for dinner. Here's hoping it's good!

16 oz. bow tie pasta

2 c. cubed fully cooked ham

1 can 4 oz. mushroom pieces (I will be omitting this ingredient)

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 c. milk

1 pkg. 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute ham and mushrooms in butter. Stir in flour and salt until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat. Stir in spinach and cheese. Cook and stir until cheese is melted. Drain pasta; stir into the ham mixture.

Edited to add: Success! Nate said, "I'd eat it more than once." That means this is a good recipe.

not enough pictures...

I was worried that I wouldn't have enough pictures of Colin to make a very good post, but lo and behold I had plenty. You might not believe this, but there are actually MORE pictures that I didn't even post! Nate would say that I wasn't being very discriminating with my choices, but believe me, I was.

We start our photographic journey on Christmas night. Colin was having so much fun playing with his new dinosaur blanket.


As always, there's a nice trail of drool going down his chin. I keep thinking his top teeth are going to come in, but nothing is there yet.


What a face! He almost looks like he's ready to attack.


I think these next few are from right after Christmas. Colin's sporting one of his cute new soccer shirts. I guess I do need to tell you that it's a soccer shirt because his arms are covering up that part of the graphic.


Sometimes I feel like a mean mom because I get such a kick out of putting strange clothes on poor defenseless Colin. Really, what was I thinking with his outfit? (But before you go calling Child Services on me, keep in mind that he only wore this for about two minutes.)


The face and the hair work really well together in this one.


He looks so mischievous peeking out from behind Nate's hand. I think he's trying to chew Nate's thumb. Colin basically isn't happy unless he's chewing on something.


Another cute new shirt, this one courtesy of Cousin Donovan. I know he's leaning in this one, but he really is getting good at sitting up all by himself. If he gets too excited or upset he'll topple over, but for the most part he's solid as a rock.




Colin likes playing with his penguin punching bag that Aunt Hannah gave him. My favorite part is when it bounces back and hits him in the face. He looks kind of confused when that happens.



I stole this one from Granny's blog. How cute are these two? I wish we lived closer to Colin's cousins. He has a great time watching them, and soon he'll be big enough to actually play with them!


New Year's Eve morning, Colin and Scott tried to break out from behind the stairs.


Colin's newest trick? Chewing on the food tray on his exersaucer. He really likes to do it when he's being fed in there. He'll take a bite of food, then a bite of the tray, then another bite of food.


Another new soccer shirt. He looks so grown up in this picture.


I think Colin recognizes his name now. He'll turn and look at me when I say it (most of the time. Sometimes he's too interested in his toys to care that anybody is talking to him).




Huzzah for solid foods! Colin LOVES eating his rice cereal and vegetables. He's already had squash and peas, and he seems to enjoy both. He screams at me if I run out of food and he hasn't finished eating yet. He really looks like his Uncle Grant in this picture. Maybe it's because of the food on his face...hmmm.


I think this is one of my new favorite faces.


Colin is an avid reader. He's very interested in the safety instructions for the exersaucer. He probably understands the French and Spanish instructions too. He's pretty advanced.


Don't worry. The diaper on his head is clean.


What big teeth you have! And what a cute new shirt! Too bad he's growing so fast that his clothes only fit him for a few weeks, if he's lucky. His hair is getting out of control too. Any suggestions on how to cut a wiggly baby's hair?


And now we've caught up to the present. In other family news, I am now a Wii Fit Yoga Master, Balance Champion, and Calorie Incinerator. I borrowed my in-law's Wii Fit and get a kick out of playing around with it. Nate made up for lost time in the World during the break. Last I heard something was going on in the battle ground with a group of twinks and his new character Meltsface is like level 37, so things must be going well.

Recipe Friday

Spinach Alfredo Sausage Lasagna

I really liked this lasagna. It seemed like a lot of work (probably because I don't make lasagna all that often), but it was tasty. Nate didn't care much for it, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. He was against having sausage in his lasagna. Weird. 

12 oz. lasagna noodles, cooked according to pkg directions

1 lb. pork sausage

10 oz. pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained

17 oz. jar alfredo sauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 egg

2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

15 oz. ricotta cheese

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

Brown and drain sausage. Add spinach, alfredo sauce, salt, and pepper. In separate bowl combine egg and all cheeses except mozzarella. Mix well. In ungreased 9X13 pan layer 1/3 sausage mix, 1/3 noodles, 1/3 cheese mix. Repeat 2 more times. Sprinkle top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.