Recipe of the Day: Cheesy Hash Browns

These are DELICIOUS for brunch or dinner!

When making them for dinner (which is when we generally have them) they are great with pork!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of potatoes o'brien (Ore Ida has the prefect ones - frozen)
• 1 16 oz. container of sour cream
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups of grated cheese (i generally use a little more since i like to cover the top once it's all mixed)
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 cups of corn flakes crushed (definitely NOT necessary-but more appropriate for brunch if you want to use them)

Cook:

Mix all ingredients together in a casserole dish, top off with a thin layer of (more!) cheese and bake covered in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. After 45 minutes remove foil and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

If adding the corn flakes they can be added along with the thin layer of cheese on top, before baking.

Note: you may have to hit the bag of frozen potatoes against the counter a couple of times to separate all of them before mixing with the other ingredients.

Did i already mention that these are delicious?!?!

Yum.

Enjoy!

Blessed

Well it's official - Reese and I will not be making the trip to CA for Thanksgiving. And to that i say "EF YOU SWINE FLU!"

I'm so completely bummed out. I LOVE going to CA for Thanksgiving (or any other time of the year for that matter) and just relaxing at my Dad and Lisa's house - just kickin' it. But, i guess it's not to be this year. This also means that Nathan won't be with Reese and I for our first Thanksgiving as a family. Super sucks.

When i arrived to pick up Reese from Kathi's house today i met her niece, Jackie. Apparently she's a pediatric nurse so of course i seized the opportunity to pick her brain on the whole thing. She made it perfectly clear that bringing Reese on an airplane right now was NOT a good idea.

I also asked her for an opinion on getting her vaccinated and she expressed what Nate and I were thinking - not enough research done for someone her age. SO...looks like we won't be making the 1.5 hour trip to the only county in NJ offering a clinic for her age group (FYI - children who are between the ages of 6 months and 2 years old can only get the injectible vaccine - not the nasal).

Apparently her co-workers who have children are acting just like me. Not bringing their kids to malls anymore - or even the grocery stores. They also aren't getting them the vaccine. She told me not to think twice, that i wasn't the only mom being this cautious. Although i didn't give a rats ass what anyone thought of me for being so careful, it is nice to hear that you're not the only Mom who is taking precautions that, to some, may sound a bit overboard.

I have to say though, just when you think you have it so bad as a parent you hear something that makes you so completely grateful for every moment - good or bad. We found out today that a girl we went to high school with just lost her third and youngest son (17 months) when he was mauled by the babysitter's dog. Why these things happen i will never know. All i do know is the thought of what they are going through right now is enough to make me physically ill. How helpless and lost they must feel is unfathomable. Not only have they lost a son, but their sons have lost a brother. God bless them.

So tonight i am reminded to count my blessings - every single one of them. Sometimes life throws you some pretty crappy situations and decisions to be made, but never can anything come close to losing a child.

You Can't Prepare for This

When i was pregnant with Reese i would receive endless, unsolicited advice. Most of it consisted of the same stuff, "Oh god. Just be prepared to get no sleep for a few months." "That's it! Once that baby arrives you can't just pick up and go when you want, where you want!"


Ok. So, it is true that you don't get sleep for quite some time. And it will get to you, and some days you'll think you can run on 3 hours of sleep - and other days you're pretty sure they're gonna have to cart you away to the looney bin because the exhaustion has taken on a life of it's own. But honestly, there is no way to prepare for sleep deprivation. Not when you're being deprived of sleep because you're a new parent. Not only are you not sleeping, but the first few weeks are spent learning how to do all this crazy stuff, while not sleeping.


Sure, we can take classes to "prepare" and read books, but the emotional decisions that we make as parents are something you just can't prepare for.

Now something as, what used to be simple, as traveling home for the holidays has proven to be a difficult decision. Our tickets are booked and we've been planning on going for quite some time now. Enter the swine flu. Yup. It may sound totally ridiculous to some, but the swine flu may just be keeping me and Reese from going to California for Thanksgiving.

I know this would probably sound so totally asinine to me before i had Reese, if i knew of someone who was considering cancelling a 3,000 mile trip with their baby because of the swine flu. But you know what? Now that I'm a Mom and have this tiny little person to protect, it doesn't sound so asinine anymore.

Right now I'm doing my due diligence to ask doctors and others in the medical field for their opinion. I've also gone to several websites to find out about the vaccination and side effects. At this point our pediatrician does not expect to get it at his office. So the first question is can we get it. The second is, do we want her to have it. I don't know about either of these.

Then there's a question of if we should bring her on a plane. Expose her to thousands of other people who may or may not be sick, possibly with this flu, and have her sit with 100+ other people on a plane for 6 hours where the same air is circulated the entire time.

I'm thinking...NO. But the thing is...never did i ever think that making this type of choice would be such a big deal. THIS is the kind of decision that you don't think about when you're preparing to be a parent. And even if this type of situation has crossed your mind...there is no way you would know what you would do until you're in the situation.

So, as of now, i really don't know what we'll do. From the medical professionals I've spoken to, most of them are saying they don't recommend she travel. That, to me, is huge. Basically, my gut is telling me she shouldn't go on that plane. Because, as a parent, i would never forgive myself if anything happened to her because i decided to take a chance.

Whether we go or not remains to be seen. I'll be making the decision as the best parent i can be. I'll be prepared to upset people and receive plenty of comments and insight - but i don't care. When it comes to being a parent, nobody can (or should) ever judge you for protecting your child.

Period.

P.S. ALL of the sleep deprivation and emotional decisions...totally worth it. Hands down.

Steady as she goes...

Sorry, no recipes tonight...but i will leave you with something else that is delicious...to look at.

In chronological order, here is a visual for attempting to snap the perfect picture of a squirmy and fearless 6 1/2 month old sitting on the couch:

She had some new clothes from The Gap to model...including a new super awesome hat.

P.S.

If you do read my blog and think others would enjoy...please pass it along! It would be fun to see how many recipes we can exchange.

Recipe of the Day: Salsa Chicken

I certainly won't be posting recipes every day...but the mood struck so here goes:


This is another crock pot recipe - my apologies for not switching it up tonight.



Ingredients:
3 - 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (defrosted)
1 can corn
1 jar of salsa
1 can of black beans (I drain the juice prior - but that's up to you)
1 packet of taco seasoning
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Tortillas

Cook:
Put all ingredients in crock pot
Add 1/2 cup of water
Cook on low all day
30-60 minutes before serving shred each chicken breast with a fork

Side dish: Goya Spanish rice is yum with this!

Serve a couple of (big!) spoon fulls of the salsa chicken in a tortilla with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Credit: Jessie

Recipe of the day: Crockpot Chicken

Well that's what i call it anyway.

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
1 packet of Lipton onion soup mix (the kind you make onion dip with)
A splash of cooking sherry wine (not necessary if you don't have it)

Now...all hail the mighty crock pot! I want to meet the person who invented these suckers. I'm pretty sure it was probably a woman...a mother to boot. What a fricken genius idea! Check this one out - it's going on my Christmas list...it has a timer!!!

Anyway...

Cook:

Put all pieces of chicken in the crock pot
Mix both cans of soup and packet of onion soup mix in crock pot over chicken
Mix all together so that all breasts are coated

• If you're going to be home while it's cooking: Turn to "high" setting for a couple of hours, then turn to "Low" and leave until you're ready to eat
• If you're going to leave the house for the day while it's cooking: Turn to "low" and allow it to cook for at least a few hours.

Side dish:
Cook some white rice on the side - instant, stove top or in a rice cooker

Once all is cooked - place white rice in the center of your plate, put a piece of chicken on it and smother it in the delicious gravy that cooked all day...and ENJOY!

It's also really, really good with some Pillsbury flaky biscuits!

Credits: Lisa Innis