Portabella Herb Stuffing

This dressing got rave reviews today. I got the recipe from my parents, who got it at http://www.foodmanitoba.ca/.

Portabella Herb Stuffing

1/3 cup butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup chopped celery
2 Portabella mushrooms, gills removed, chopped
1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
1 tsp each savory, thyme, poultry seasoning
9 cups fresh whole wheat bread cubes
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter in a large frying pan. Cook onion, garlic, celery, and mushrooms until soft. Stir in wine, herbs and poultry seasoning. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and turn into a large bowl. Add bread cubes and parsley. Mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stuff turkey just before roasting.

OR (and this is the option we chose)

Stuffing can be baked in a lightly greased 2.5L casserole. Stir 1/2 cup chicken broth into the mixture. Cover and bake at 325F for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 minutes.

Thanksgiving 2008

Welcome to Thanksgiving in a house with 4 adults and three youngsters aged (almost) 4, (almost) 2 and 7.5mths:

- Dads struggle to get the turkey into the oven while attempting to contain a mischevious and rambunctious young boy and keep an eye on the little girls

- One Mom catches up on some sleep

- The other Mom relishes a solo trip to the grocery store

- Football on tv

- Kids splashing in the kiddie pool

- 21 on the Little Tikes hoop

- Sweet afternoon naps

- Teething takes a toll on baby and her Mom and Dad

- Beautiful spread on the table! Four year old refuses to come eat because she doesn't like her chair assignment. Two year old is done in a matter of minutes. One Dad leaves to supervise shenanigans. That leaves three of us. Baby tired of exersaucer. Two of us left eating at the table. Baby throws up on bed. Other Dad leaves table to help. Remaining Mom supposes she should be grateful for the rare opportunity finish her plate without needing to be up and down serving and chasing and cleaning up little faces and hands but still, feels a little lonely for everyone else.

- Peaceful Pumpkin Pie Plan: enjoy with fresh whipped cream after all the kids are in bed.

Correction

Jeremy made his first pumpkin pie.

Looks and smells yummy! Can't wait to tuck in tomorrow!

Houseguests!

gorgeous baby Izabel

We are blessed to have houseguests this week! Jeremy, Rita and 7.5 month old Izabel are staying with us this week. The guys have been working this week (Jeremy works for Palliser as well) and us girls have been enjoying talking and getting to know each other better. We're excited to have some fun times together as a group now that it's the weekend. By the time the kids are all in bed we only have a few tired minutes together before it's time for us big kids to get to bed too.

Tomorrow we'll break out the kiddie pool and check out the local sights. Sunday we get to celebrate Thanksgiving together with turkey and all the trimmings. (I'm going to make my first pumpkin pie!)

Interview with Eva

Yesterday Eva used her 'spending' allowance. When we were at the grocery store she saw some Disney Princess Barbies and wanted one very badly. We agreed to go out later that day so she could use her allowance to buy what she wanted. We went to a different store and the selection wasn't quite the same, so she ended up with a Polly Pocket type princess rather than a Barbie. Which might be for the best because as I understand it, one Barbie leads to another in an endless cycle of consumerism.

Here she is telling us all about Cinderella:

Micah's Speech

Micah has now mastered Eva's name. He no longer says "Ee-ah". He can almost say his own name. For yes he often says "la". For no he often says "nope". For okay he often says "otay". So cute.

Micah: (demanding) Tic Tac!

Me: No sweetie, you just had one. You can have another one once we get to the store.

Micah: (adorably, winningly) Pleeeeeease??

Me: Once we get to the store.

Micah: (sweetly, acceptingly) Otay, Mommy.

I am always in shock when he accepts in this way. And I think is incredibly cute.


Micah: Mommy! No hurt booboo!

Me: Oh good, your booboo doesn't hurt any more!

Micah: La.

More Outside Time

The kids and I have been driving each other nuts lately. And I knew that our days didn't have nearly enough outside time and exercise. Finally I took action and made a change. We spent the better part of the morning outside today. And it was good! Eva and I still butted heads a few times, the kids still managed to hurt each other a few times, but overall it was a much more peaceful day and I am SO grateful. I have been at my wits' end the last couple of days.

We played a lot of chase and Dragon on the trampoline, we played some Red Light, Green Light, some baseball, and some soccer. And we painted on the patio door.