Gołąbki – Stuffed Cabbage

This is one of my most favorite Polish meals. This recipe makes a lot so I freeze them in sauce and they are great reheated. Enjoy. (Full recipe in Meals for Two)

Ready or not here I come.

Daddy and son were playing hide and seek. I am sure that you have heard me sing prizes to my husband for being the best player ever. He turns into a kid around our son and just gets creative and has a blast playing. While they were playing hide and seek daddy hid under our computer desk, son found him right away because he is too tall and could not squash his six one under the desk (it’s a built in) and his feet stuck out.  Daddy hid in the closet, behind the door in the bathroom, behind the couch, in the laundry room. But the behind the suitcase under the blanket was the most successful. Our little guy ran by him like three times and did not notice daddy hiding there. Awesome hiding daddy, and kudos on being able to squeeze yourself into that tight spot between the cabinet and wall. It is so much fun when daddy is home.

Ok this like NEVER happens to me.

I know that some people can shop and save $90 plus on their grocery bill and pay only $30.00 for a bunch of items (to see an amazing coupon saver check out Runblondi26). I am nowhere near that good of a shopper. I just don’t know how to do that my hat comes off to her and I hope that maybe just once in my life I will manage to save like that. Once in a while I get lucky and I manage to save close to 50% of my grocery bill. Today I ran out to buy bread and some stuff for lunch for tomorrow and I had few coupons – and I scored. I did learn that the best savings you can get are when the item is on sale and then you have a manufacturer’s coupon. I get my coupons on line because I never think to buy a Sunday paper. Our stores will not allow you to double or triple coupons except on very few special days so the doubling of coupons just is not working for me. Today Kroger had crazy savings buy 10 save $5.00 so they had caned veggies for $0.32 per can and pizza for $2.49 and a ton of other items. I had additional coupons for some of the items and ended up saving $19.50 on a $45.23 bill. The cool thing is that I bought fresh veggies and some fruits dairy products and just everyday stuff that you need. I know it is not fabulous savings but I am darn proud of myself and I wanted to share with you.

He is really baking!

I love to cook and bake. Not that hard to figure out. My husband likes to eat what I cook as long as I don’t go to creative but he does not cook. Let me give you some examples that will clearly explain to you exactly how little my husband knows about cooking. He can set a calzone on fire in a microwave oven, he has also managed to set popcorn on fire in a popcorn maker, my friend threw him out of our kitchen when he was helplessly trying to control macaroni and cheese that was overflowing all over the stove top (I was not at home). You get the picture. The guy is amazing at most things that he tries but a disaster in the kitchen. (I love you baby) Continued in Hanger Rats

Employed on my terms

Source

Ok so I am a stay at home mom, but once in a while I need to do something other than teaching our son. Since no HR department will hire an HR person who works when she wants to, I came across a perfect solution that works. I substitute teach - this position allows me to work when I want to which also means that our son gets to stay home with us, we get to take trips and have family tme as we choose to plan it. Our son gets time with mommy when daddy is away and when mommy is at work he gets daddy son time. Win win.

After 7 months of not working I returned to subbing today. I woke up at 5:30am, rolled out of bed, got dressed in professional attire, put on my make up and went downstairs. I ate breakfast standing up while renewing books at the library and packing my lunch. I wrote a honey do list for my husband and I headed out the door. I was covering for a speech teacher but since there was a mix up I only ended up covering  part of the day and was home by 9am. Way easy day, and what a sweet way to get re-entered into work. It was a little weird leaving this morning, sneaking out trying not to wake up anyone and being in the car alone, eating alone – can you tell I am not used to being alone. I thought at one point in the car “I didn’t check on my son!” – I didn’t want to wake him but it felt strange not to have seen him in the morning and kissing him. It also felt wonderful seeing all the teachers I have come to know over the last three years and catching up with them, put on pretty cloths and do something new.

I enjoy substitute teaching as it lets me into a new environment and it is fun to see the highschoolers , it takes me back in time. I usually sub for the math department because it is my favorite subject. The sweet thing about this job is the fact that I make my schedule and being married to a pilot it allows tremendous flexibility, keeping me involved in the work place at the same time. I am very lucky to have such a good thing going.

Entertaining heaven

I absolutely love entertaining so I do it quite often. Sometimes it is a pot luck party and everyone brings an appetizer, it is a wonderful way to taste many different things from different kitchens. Other times it is a private diner party that is more intimate time to catch up or just enjoy company.  Entertaining by my definition is an evening of friends getting together and enjoying great food and wine and of course beer for the men.

Tonight I had a diner party. My dear friend and her husband joined us for diner. Even though she lives a stone’s throw away we have not seen each other since October so there was so much to catch up on.  I was really looking forward to having our friends over to share an evening and talk about the highs and lows of last few months.  In addition to the fabulous company we had great food and wine.

I served an Italian Herb Chicken and a wonderful polish potato dumpling as a veggie I served Honeyd Carrots and corn. For desert my friend brought a wonderful cheese cake and I had some fabulous Mocha Crinkles and brownies. The brownies were Betty Crocker so there is really no recipe to share.

 

Italian Herb Chicken

Honeyed Carrots

Mocha Crinkles

 I am just thrilled when I get to entertain. Our house has the perfect set up and not much makes me happier than cooking for my family and friends. I am not a fabulous cook but it is an area that gives me an outlet for my creativity so when my husband is home and I get a day or two of entertaining our friends I get so excited. I come up with fun menus or just an appetizer or two either way it is very satisfying.  I try to plan these get togethers when my husband is home but from time to time I do a girls night only. Either way it is always fun and this weekend was especially cool because I got to do a potluck and a diner party. Thanks Love.

Omelet

This is an easy yummy breakfast that my 3 1/2 yr old requests with regularity. So I thought I would share it. Recipe in Meals for two

And now I am a bread maker

After yesterday’s adventures to put it lightly I had a very productive day today. It began with playing with my son hide and seek then we cleaned the garage, washed my broken car, collected all the leaves from our back yard, washed the back deck, went for a 3 mile hike with a friend and her mom and met a friend at a park for play date then came home to make bread.

I think that I was so determined to have a good day that I just kept going like the energizer bunny. I really miss my husband and I tend to make myself very busy when I miss him.

I was a bit nervous about making the bread since I have never done that before and I don’t have a bread machine. None the less I had no bread and husband highly recommended not driving my car with the clutch on the fritz, and even though I could walk to the store, or ask someone for help my friend talked me into trying my hand at bread baking. Why not it is a wonderful opportunity. So I got the recipe from Food.com and it came out delish. I think I will be trying my hand at more types of bread beyond the French bread. All in all a very good day indeed.

At least I have very clean floors ...

All pilot wives know that it is the  Rule is that when crap hits the fan it is always when the pilot is gone. Right ladies? Let’s take a look at my day today shall we?

At midnight because that is technically when the day began I was happily sitting in my bed reading a book that was so suspenseful that I just could not put it down.  By one am I decided that I really need to get some sleep before the little guy gets up and wants to start his day.

My blissful sleep was interrupted by a whining dog at three am who wanted to go potty. All right at least he woke me up so we are still doing good. Four am another nudge from Mr. Jitters who just can’t wait even though he went an hour before. So out we go.

Seven thirty am my eye is being forcefully pried open by the fingers of a three year old. I smile and then I think: "Man that poor dog has some gas". I wish! This is where the poo started to roll down hill. Mr. Jitters decided that waking me up was a pain in the ass so he was going to use the guest room as his place to relieve himself. The dog is 10 he knows better. So I start my day by picking up poo and cleaning rugs with my steam cleaner. Yey!

Ten thirty I am on my way to the library for story time and all is going well. Upstairs rugs are steam cleaned and the house is picked up, so we are doing good. Story times is fun we get some new books and DVD’s then off to return some stuff at Toys R Us. So far so good, bank and back home.

I am a little annoyed because I really wanted to walk but it is raining and it’s cold so there is now way I can hit the trails. Let’s try to be positive it’s not that bad even though it is raining and foggy and yucky and cold. I usually like a rainy day … today not so much.

Upon pulling into the driveway my car makes a grinding noise. Ugh REALY! Realy realy realy! So I try to reproduce the noise … being the wife of a pilot we always try to reproduce the problem because I know that I will be answering ten thousand question about the noise and where it came from and what is sounds like because you know he is not coming home for two more days and he will want to diagnose over the phone so he knows what he is up against. Well I hope that it will not be there but sure enough the car is grinding and now I figure out that it is most likely my clutch. Yey at least $700.00. Fabulous just what I wanted this month a new clutch … how did you know.

After venting to my girlfriend and brother I decided to wash my floors. Since the upstairs is so nice and clean might as well get on my hands and knees and get the rest of the house clean and get my frustration out. So I clean and I let my son help, he only pours a gallon of water onto the floor which I have to clean up but I am already cleaning so what’s the difference. In addition to cleaning an pouring water everywhere he keeps arguing with me and screaming – cleaning therapy … no success. And this is how I have the cleanest floors and I only feel a little bit like screaming. I see a glass of wine in my future.

It’s a delicate balance

I think I am experiencing some growing pains. My little guy is three years and seven months old and is seeking more and more independence. It is more and more often that he and his friends play on their own, sometimes out of eyesight, but always within earshot. I am struggling with letting go and I am trying to figure out if I am over protective or responsible - it is a delicate balanceContinued in Hanger Rats

What it’s like

The excitement of what is about to happen builds

Almost like no one else gets to know this beauty

Everything is perfect and ready

I enter smoothly without flaw

Continued in Pilots Voice

Back to Spark

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Now that my pilot is on hitch and it is just me and the little guy and the holiday cookies are all gone I am back on the Spark. Let me preface by saying that I am no being sponsored or compensated by Spark People in any way for putting the post on my blog. They probably will never even know that I wrote about this.

Spark People is an awesome website that helps you track your calories, your exercise  and your accomplishments for free. The rewards of being on this program are not only a weight loss but it is a change in lifestyle to a healthier life with better diet and exercise.  I have been doing it on and off for 6 years I use it to get me back on track when I stray and it is amazing what a huge difference it makes when you treat your body well.

I am eating healthier with the ultimate goal of losing the unwanted weight that snuck up on me with all of the holiday deliciousness that was all around hard to resist. Because you know at no point while I was consuming chocolate and cookies by the truck load did it occur to me that I may suffer some added padding on my derriere.  I am also back to walking. It is a little cold so my walking partner and I have been bundling up the kids in the Shwin with blankies and scarves and hats, but having two kids under the age of 5 has not slowed us down a bit we just make sure they get a playground reward during our journey. The exercise serves the purpose of walking off the darn mountains of cookies I ate in the last month. It is also amazingly refreshing for the mind. The cold air and the fast pace along with some wonderful company makes for a very relaxing even if a little masochistic pass time – since after - even though my heart and soul are happy my body feels beaten but I guess what else is there to expect after a 6 mile power walk. Oh I do hope that my walking and eating routine that is on the healthy path will remain so.