excuse me while I gain 5 lbs...

Patti LaBelle's Mac and Cheese is the best I've ever had. EVER.
Mark made this for Thanksgiving...and we liked it so much we (*he) made it yesterday. AGAIN.
I'm eating it for lunch...and I may eat it for dinner too.
Here's the recipe and a pic of ours....before we devoured it.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound elbow macaroni
1/2 cup butter (PLUS means this ingredient in addition to the one on the next line, often with divided uses) PLUS-1 tablespoon
1/2 cup shredded Muenster cheese
1/2 cup shredded mild Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
2 cups half & half
1 cup Velveeta, cut into small cubes
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350:. Lightly butter a deep 2 1/2 quart casserole. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat, add the oil then the elbow macaroni and cook until macaroni is just tender (about 7 minutes). Do not overcook. Drain well and return to the pot.
In a small saucepan, melt the first measure of butter. Stir into the macaroni. In a large bowl, mix the Muenster, mild and sharp Cheddar cheese and the Monterrey Jack cheese. To the macaroni, add the half & half, 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheeses, the cubed Velveeta and the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the buttered casserole. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and dot with the remaining butter.
Bake until it is bubbling around the edges, about 35 minutes. Serve hot.

o.m.g.

Turkey Day 2010

We shared our Thanksgiving this year with a family friend. Akin is actually more like an Uncle to our kids...we've known him for awhile now. We are going to be stationed with him and his new family in June at Camp Lejeune. We made a HUGE feast and gorged on some plate(s) full of food. Then we proceeded to melt into the couch. I, of course, had to capture it because I'm ADDICTED to my camera.

And Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without going around the table telling what we are thankful for.

Mark- Our family
Ethan- My parents
Adelle- My clothes (?)
Amanda- Our health
Akin- Our food
Max- Bread

This continues Max's food theme this year...at preschool the kids were asked what they were thankful for- every single child mentioned someone in their family. As for Max...well....

I have a dream.....

That's a little dramatic....but I do have a dream of running, not walking 3 miles in October. Keep in mind I'm not a runner, and I haven't been running regularly until recently. I'm doing a training program called "Couch to 5k" and I'm really loving it. I am already seeing the weight come off- not as fast as I want it too, but I guess it takes time. I'm really excited about the possibitly of finishing my first race!
Along with this running, Mark and I have drastically changed the way we are eating. It's all thanks to this movie "Food Inc." If you haven't seen it- DON'T! Not unless you are wanting to overhaul the way you think about food. It scared us to death really made us think about what we are eating. One huge thing we did was switch to grass-fed meat. It's not too much more than regular meat, and from what weve eaten so far tastes just the same. We are also eating a ton more fresh fruit and veggies with our meals. We've never eaten "bad" to begin with, but there is always room for change.
The kids are sloooowly getting used to our new pantry. Max asked for a snack the other day, and I gave him cashews...he looked at me and said "Where da Cocoa Puffs?" He's not sold yet, but Dell and Ethan are doing great.
Let's hope our new plan for being healthy works!

So what.....

if when Mark is deployed I give my kids an extra dessert...or two.

for Kristen....

I just made this for my MOPS Spa Night, and it was deeeee-licious. I was talking to my friend Kristen while I was making it, and she told asked me to blog it. So I broke out the camera and had some fun.

Ingredients:
1 Devils Food Cake Mix
1 Jar of Hot Fudge
1 16 oz tub of Whipped Cream
Mint Extract and Green Food Coloring OR Creme de Menthe liquor


First, prepare a regular devils food cake, in a 9X13 pan. (A little trick I just learned- after letting it cool for 2 mins, pop it in the freezer until cooled- this makes for a SUPER moist cake)
After you take it out of the freezer, let set for 15 mins. Poke a few holes in the cake and then pour the hot fudge all over the cake.

Once that is finished, get to work on the whipped cream. Add a little mint extract and a smidge of green food coloring at a time (tasting all the way of couse) until you find that pretty mint color.


Now spread all that minty goodness over the cake...I crushed Andes mints on top too!
As my kids would say...."Hellooooo Gorgeous!"


(Oh and then came clean up....BEST TIME!) While the kids were coloring on the porch, I had NO ONE asking 8000 times to lick the spoon. C'mon people SOMEONE had too!