I never thought I’d hear this! Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Yesterday, the neighbors were playing outside, riding their skateboards since the weather was a little warm. I told Joseph to go out and play with his friends and this is what he said to me:

"I don’t want to go outside and play. I want to stay in and read a book." I was so proud of him.

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I never thought I’d hear this! Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Yesterday, the neighbors were playing outside, riding their skateboards since the weather was a little warm. I told Joseph to go out and play with his friends and this is what he said to me:

"I don’t want to go outside and play. I want to stay in and read a book." I was so proud of him.

Comments Off on I never thought I’d hear this!

 

I never thought I’d hear this! Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Yesterday, the neighbors were playing outside, riding their skateboards since the weather was a little warm. I told Joseph to go out and play with his friends and this is what he said to me:

"I don’t want to go outside and play. I want to stay in and read a book." I was so proud of him.

Comments Off on I never thought I’d hear this!

 

I never thought I’d hear this! Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Yesterday, the neighbors were playing outside, riding their skateboards since the weather was a little warm. I told Joseph to go out and play with his friends and this is what he said to me:

"I don’t want to go outside and play. I want to stay in and read a book." I was so proud of him.

Comments Off on I never thought I’d hear this!

 

I never thought I’d hear this! Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Yesterday, the neighbors were playing outside, riding their skateboards since the weather was a little warm. I told Joseph to go out and play with his friends and this is what he said to me:

"I don’t want to go outside and play. I want to stay in and read a book." I was so proud of him.

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Memorial of St. John Bosco Thursday, Jan 31 2008

Novena in honor of St. John Bosco

Father and Teacher of the Young, In need of special help, I appeal with confidence to you, Saint John Bosco, for I require not only spiritual graces, but also temporal ones, and particularly…

(add your personal intentions here)

May you, who on earth had such great devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to
Mary Help of Christians, and who always had compassion for those who were suffering,
obtain from Jesus and His Heavenly Mother the grace I now request, and also a sincere
resignation to the Will of God.

(Recite the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be)

Today I’ll be making stuffed peppers for lunch in honor of St. John Bosco.

Stuffed Peppers

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 1 cup water
• 6 green bell peppers
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.
3. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)
4. In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.
5. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.
6. Top with Cheddar cheese.

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Simply Lovely Soups Fair Wednesday, Jan 30 2008

In order to have a more organized family life, I came up with a 4 week meal schedule. Every Monday we have soup for dinner. Suzanne is hosting a "Simply Lovely Soups Fair." Here are a few of my favorite recipes.

Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups water
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1/2 tablespoon packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. In a 5 quart Dutch oven, brown sausage. Remove sausage and drain, reserving 1 tablespoon of the drippings.
2. Saute onions and garlic in drippings. Stir in water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Skim fat from the soup. Stir in parsley. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top of each serving.

Chili

• 1 pound ground beef chuck
• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 2 can black beans
• 1 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 (10.5 ounce) bag corn chips such as Fritos®
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.
2. Pour in the beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion,  green and red bell peppers, chile peppers. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.
4. To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.

Ham and Potato soup

• 3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 1/3 cup diced celery
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 3/4 cup diced cooked ham
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

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Freeze Yer Buns! Tuesday, Jan 29 2008

Ever since I read about the Freeze Yer Buns challenge at Elizabeth’s blog, we have been keeping our thermostat a lot lower this year. We are keeping it at 65 during the day and so far we’re at 69 at night. Tonight we’re going to lower it to 67 since I found our warm blanket I purchased last year. We’ll see how we do tonight.

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Happy 14th Birthday, Marygrace Sunday, Jan 27 2008

We love you so very much. God bless you, sweet girl!

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12 weeks old Saturday, Jan 26 2008

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