Day two

Here it is, day two on my blog, and I've written in it. I'm so proud of myself.

Randy was giving me a hard time that I hadn't put very many pictures up yet. I know that most of you have seen these pictures, but for those who haven't, this is my life! My kids and getting settled into my "new" almost 80-year-old house. Kate and Luke are getting so big. I told Kate today that she was Miss Independent and she walked around all day calling herself that.

The weather here was SO nice today!! It was in the low 80's most of the day. I had all my French doors open (fortunately they're all screened in), and loved smelling the freshly mowed lawns and hearing the birds! I know this nice weather isn't going to last for long, so I'm enjoying it while I can.



Kate LOVES pushing Luke on our swing set. She acts like his little mother. I tell her all the time that she's not the mom, that I am. She always tells me back that she's the big sister AND the mom. . . that would be interesting.



Our fun historical house, built in the 1930's.

Here's our house! We love it so much! I don't know how I'll ever move to anything smaller!

I thought I would start something, we'll see if I can keep up with it. . . but I ALWAYS have people asking me for dinner ideas. I LOVE cooking, and try to do it as healthily as I can. So, I'm going to try to post what I make for dinner each night (it may not be too exciting, especially with Randy gone, but I still try to fix a few good meals each week, then we eat the leftovers the other nights).

Tonight, I made WONDERFUL meatballs. I am NOT a meatball fan. Having been a vegetarian the majority of my life, I've had to get used to eating meat (Randy was dead set on breaking me of that when we got married). I invented these meatballs, and they were SO good! When I cook, I just add a little of this and a little of that, so these amounts are NOT exact. I served it with homemade whole wheat rolls, and Greek spinach salad (Kate was even eating one, although hers didn't have as many veggies as mine, I loved seeing her eat spinach, feta, and cucumbers. I hope she'll be a well-rounded eater!).

1lb. ground chicken
3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (I take my homemade bread and put it in my food processor when it's getting a few days old. I store the breadcrumbs in the freezer, and presto! Healthy breadcrumbs; far better than the ones from the store with hydrogenated oils and MSG)
1 egg
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 can Italian stewed tomatoes pureed (I just pureed the whole can, then saved the rest to add to a marinara sauce another time)
1 tsp. of Uncle Dan's ranch salad dressing/dip mix (it's from Costco and it's AWESOME! There is no garbage in it! It's MSG and dairy free!)
2 tsp. Italian seasoning

I mixed this all up, shaped the meatballs, then baked them on a foil lined baking sheet (I sprayed the foil with cooking spray first), then baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. They were SOOO good!!! I served them with marinara sauce that was leftover from the lasagna I made for Sunday dinner (which was really good! I'll put the sauce recipe below). My kids just GOBBLED these up!! They dipped them in the sauce, I just put a few in a bowl for myself topped with sauce and ate them that way.

Marinara Sauce
1 lb. Johnsonville bulk mild Italian sausage browned (out of all of the bulk sausages, this was the healthiest. There wasn't a bunch of artificial garbage in it. No MSG!)
2 cans Del Monte Five cheese spaghetti sauce (yes, I cheat, but I REALLY like this sauce!)
1 can pureed Italian stewed tomatoes
3 cloves garlic (minced, grated, or pressed)
3/4 cup pureed *lightly* steamed organic baby spinach
3/4 cup pureed steamed carrots
3/4 cup pureed steamed zucchini and summer squash mix
3 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. fennel seed

Brown the sausage, add all of the other ingredients and simmer for at least 45 minutes. This sauce is SO good!! It has a hearty, yet fresh flavor with all of the vegetables. No one ever knows they're in there, so it's great for picky eaters that you want to get more veggies into!! I use this for my lasagna, made with whole wheat noodles! My friend's kids always eat SO much of this, and they are some of the pickiest eaters I know!!!