Happy 1st Friday in September!!
I treated myself to a new coffee mug for the school year, and it is just so pretty and the mouthpiece is designed so comfortably that I am getting an inordinate amount of joy from it:
I also bought a rice cooker, which I have wanted for a long time because I LOVE rice but I have a hard time getting it perfect...usually because I'm cooking something else at the same time.
We made the seasoned rice recipe with chicken cutlets and a salad and it came out great!
Leftover rice with the lime grilled chicken skewers from Aldi's and roasted cauliflower another night.
I also bought a big chuck roast from Aldi's and made pot roast and mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner:
My dad's tomatoes are finally coming in, so a BLT with extra mayo was on the menu. Just for me. The others are weird and don't like them.
Speaking of things nobody else in my family likes, here's one of my favorite snacks - cottage cheese with Popcorners or Sun Chips:
I like to make a crockpot meal on Saturdays so that when we come home from the vigil Mass, dinner is ready. Last Saturday I made Chicken and Noodles which the kids call CaN CaN and we have to play the can can song while we eat.
I only had to cook for three one night (weird!) so I just airfried perdue chicken patties and turned them into chicken parm for the boys and a salad for me:
Chocolate chip cookies because why not?
The college kiddos got together and cooked breakfast after Latin Mass on Sunday. So wholesome!
Andrew's manager duties include filling our minivan with lots of water for the team. Good thing we didn't send him out in a mini cooper.
The team went on retreat at the same campgrounds where we attended Catholic Family camps for a couple summers:
I think he's trying to get Karolina to love golf as much as he does:
Eamon sent me these pictures...of his friends...just hanging out I guess?
They went to Raccoon Creek State Park and played spikeball and wanted to swim but there was E.coli in the water - eew:
Smiles came to visit campus and Andrew picked up Eamon and Maggie and they went on a "nature walk" that Maggie said was crazy and she got so many scratches. The boys did it barefoot because...they are boys?!?! I don't even.
JP sent this photo from a farmer's market, they even hyphenated it like him! Side note, we are watching Death of the Pastor's Wife and it's the first time that I hated strongly disliked someone named John-Paul.
We voted in the primaries on a rainy Tuesday and I remembered why voting upsets every time because they don't want to look at my ID and just need my name. Voting is a privilege and I want it to be done right.
Last weekend it was just me and the littles at home while Phil and Xander did double shifts at the cottage, and we walked down to the library one afternoon and just had to swing by the cottage after :)
I've used this shoe holder as a uniform system for a few years now, and it works great to keep their uniforms in one place and sorted. They go straight from the dryer, roll up, into their slot:
Xander had shin splints this week from all the miles he has been putting in at cross country, which I told him wouldn't have happened had he been running all summer, ahem:
Maggie's texts from college are so funny. I now know that her priest professor wears a toupee, and that she put two bagel halves in the toaster but only one came out. The amount of times I have thought about the other half is embarrassing.
She's also so great at appreciating the beauty around her:
Have a wonderful weekend everybody - I hope you can appreciate the beauty around you this week!








My favorite way to eat cottage cheese is with bacon and black pepper on top!
ReplyDeleteBLTs were also on my menu for this week! So yummy!
Franciscan has a really pretty campus and I love the picture of the Market Street bridge!
Mmmm bacon!
DeleteThe food (and ice cream) all looks delicious!!
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to me to think of how much smaller your at-home family unit must feel these days, but how sweet to know the older siblings are together and having such a great time making memories. That must tug at all the different emotions in your Mama heart, hopefully most of all pride to watch them thrive.
I'm not used to cooking for only 5, but it's way easier! Because the three left at home can't drive yet, and two of them are too young to be left alone, it still feels like a lot of logistics and driving :(
DeleteSaving that chicken and noodle recipe -- looks right up our alley! A rice cooker is THE BEST. I've had one since college and refuse to cook rice any other way. My instant pot supposedly has a rice cooking function but I don't trust it, and the times I've made rice on the stovetop I invariably burn the bottom. We just had BLTs last week with the bounty of tomatoes from Nick's garden -- sooo good (although the littles just like to eat the bacon and bread separately without any of the L or the T...)
ReplyDeleteHiking barefoot in the woods sounds like a good way to keep future JP in business, ha! (Does he know what field of medicine he wants to specialize in?) All I can think about is poison ivy, tetanus, and ticks.
Cooking together after Latin mass is exceptionally wholesome. And that is a beautiful house!! Certainly looks nothing like the houses where I lived in college ...
Love all the photos from Maggie! So much beauty all around.
Just don't overcook the noodles like I did! Girl, all I could think about was ticks when I saw the photos - God protect them! The house is owned by Karolina's parents and her mom is an interior designer and house flipper with great taste :)
DeleteLove the recipes! We decided to have "theme" dinner weeks to try out new recipes- last week was sandwiches (favorite was Pioneer Woman's Ranch Chicken sandwiches), this week is crockpot dinners. Maybe Pasta Week after that. Mostly to force myself to try new recipes and get out of my rut. : ) Have a great school year!
ReplyDeleteTheme dinner weeks is so fun! Going to look up that sandwich recipe right now!
DeleteBLTs are my favorite. Especially on toasted Aldi sourdough bread. I am addicted to that bread! We watched The Pastor's Wife last week and yes, I have the same feelings about that JP!
ReplyDeleteNow I need that bread, mmm. Oh my gosh what a creep and I found out more about his past that wasn't even on the show, so disturbing!
DeleteColleen - Curly told me this week that she put a bagel in the bagel toaster thing (like the conveyor belt type) and it disappeared - never came out. Feels like a freshman thing. I'm cracking up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm new to the cottage cheese world, having just eaten it for the first time a few weeks ago. I had not heard of Pop Corners as an option.
I laughed at the title of the post. Funny. And so fun that you have 3 in college together.
Blogger wouldn't let me comment on blogs - not even to reply to comments on my own blog on Friday. It's working now!
The bagels!!!!!!! I love to use cottage cheese as my dip for chips - lots of protein! I tried to comment on your blog and it wouldn't go through, glad to know there was an issue overall.
DeleteBut what happened to the other half of the bagel?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteIt's in bagel purgatory, I suppose!
DeleteThe bagel mystery is baffling. Glad Maggie is enjoying her college days, so far.
ReplyDeleteI also love your new coffee mug.
Girl, you made some great meals. I can't imagine all the cooking you guys have done with such a full house, so only prepping for three must feel like a walk in the park.
I totally understand what you are saying about the voting process---such a privilege, and it seems to be abused more and more.