Lasagna

I promised my sister I would post my new favorite recipe for lasagna. Enjoy!!

LASAGNA

Ingredients:


1 pound ground beef or ground turkey (or cooked chicken, Italian sausage, seafood, andouille, etc.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
26 to 28 ounces (about 3 cups) pasta sauce
Salt and pepper
1 cup chicken stock
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons white wine (optional)
12 ounces (3 cups) freshly grated mozzarella
6 to 8 no-boil lasagna noodles
2 cups cooked, well-drained broccoli, spinach, peas, or other vegetables (optional)
1 cup (about 4 ounces) freshly grated parmesan

Heat oven to 400. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan. Thoroughly cook the ground beef, garlic, and herbs in a large skillet, stirring frequently and breaking up the meat. Stir in pasta sauce and bring to a simmer for about 2 minutes. Season to taste and add the red wine, if using. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring chicken stock to a boil. Add cream cheese, turn heat to low, and whisk until smooth, about 6 minutes. Season to taste and add the white wine, if using.

Spoon half the meat sauce into the pan as evenly as possible. Sprinkle 1 cup grated mozzarella over the meat mixture. Top with 3 or 4 lasagna noodles. If using vegetables, toss them evenly over the noodles.

Pour the cream-cheese sauce over the noodles and cover with another cup of grated mozzarella. Arrange 3 or 4 lasagna noodles over the cheese, then spoon remaining meat mixture over noodles as evenly as possible. Top with the rest of the mozzarella and the grated parmesan. Bake until brown and bubbling, 35 to 45 minutes. (You'll need the longer cooking time if you have made and chilled the lasagna in advance.) Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes or it will be too gloppy to cut well. That would drive you crazy this late in the game.

4-2-4

All three children went to the pediatrician yesterday for their well checks: 4 years, 2 years, 4 months.

Andelynn talked non-stop. I think the P.A. was probably glad for the silence when our appointment was over! She also kept asking for her shots because, "I can go to school after I get shots." Yes, that's right! I convinced Andelynn to be excited for shots by telling her they were required for preschool. She really wants to start preschool, so she willingly got the shots. She wasn't happy about it, but she didn't fight it, either. She is finally gaining some weight and actually made it clear to 34lbs!

Carys impressed the P.A. by 1-being basically potty-trained, and 2- stripping down to absolutely nothing during the appointment. No shirt, no pants, no panties, and no socks. She was 100% au naturale! She is weighing in at 27lbs.

Clayton was just a drooling cutie patootie. He spent the appointment blowing spit bubbles and grinning. He is growing strong and seems to have absolutely no need for a regressed age. Yay!! He weighed in at an even 16lbs.

 Clayton's new hair

She adores him!

Andelynn posing and Carys and Clayton watching T.V.

Lovin' the thumb

Pretty Girl

"Cheese!"

My Money Maker

Alert the presses! I have the next Taylor Swift living in my home!!

Andelynn loves to sing. She sings about EVERYTHING. She also loves Taylor Swift and models many of her songs after popular Taylor songs. This morning she was singing for me. I thought the song was so inspired, I decided to share it with all of you.

Stupid Old Man, Marry Me

True Love's Kiss, you never come true.

If you love me, I will marry you, stupid old man.

True love’s kiss you never come true,

stupid old man, I will marry you.

If you will marry me, stupid old man,

I will give you a wedding ring!



A LOT of catching up to do

This will be a post full of random information. A lot has happened since I last updated, so I am going to do my best to update ALL of it here!

April 17: Andelynn turned 4! She was very excited for her birthday- especially because it was Sunday and the primary sang to her. She wore her new dress, which she picked out on ebay. It's a little big, or she's a little small, but it worked!

Andelynn's Birthday Dress

  April 19: Carys had tubes put in her ears and her adnoids removed. We have dealt with constant ear and sinus infections since she turned 10 months and she has been sick non-stop since January.It was time to do something about it. My little girl was a trooper! She didn't cry, at all, and woke up feeling GREAT. She immediatly insisted on getting dressed and having breakfast. She hasn't stopped since! We have now gone over two weeks without a single fever- a miracle has occurred!

April 24: Easter! We decided, at the suggestion of Nicole, to have Easter dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Christina, Devin, and children were able to come and we had a great time. It was an interesting day with Grandma, but she enjoyed the company and that's all that matters. I also learned that Carys loves hardboiled eggs, but only if they're dyed. She was constantly stealing them out of the fridge and trying to eat them!!

Beautiful Kyra



Easter Egg Hunt



Carys gorging on left-over cabbage salad. She LOVED it!

April 29: Andelynn had her first dance recital. She was in tap and ballet, and had a wonderful time. Her teacher, Marie Cummins, is wonderful with all of her students! The recital went off without a hitch. Andelynn was nervous at first, but soon got over it- thank goodness! She HATED the noise of the locker room, so I took her out to watch the other dances. As soon as it started, she calmed down and wanted to perform. She was actually upset that she only got to perform three times: tap, intermission (hokey pokey), and ballet. 

Tap- posing before going on stage

Ballet- intently watching her teacher.

 April 30: We decided to have a joint birthday party for Andelynn and Carys. Their birthdays are only 4 weeks apart, so it makes sense to combine them in the middle. Both girls had a GREAT time and were exhausted by the end of the day. Aunt Nicole was here all week, so I had the time to get creative (with Nicole's help, of course). I actually successfully made both birthday cakes.

Andelynn's was a cherry chip mix with a homemade butter cream frosting (with chopped cherries) between the layers. I then topped it with fondant (thanks Christina for the recipe!) and decorated it as Princess and the Frog.

Princess and the Frog

 Carys's was a chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding and chopped strawberries between the layers. It was covered in chocolate butter cream and topped with fondant. It was decorated with her favorite movie: Toy Story. She was beyond tickled with Buzz and Woody on her cake!

Toy Story



 Although Josh decided, at the last minute, to clean his entire shed in the backyard, we had a wonderful day. Grandma and Grandpa, Christina, Cortlynn, Tristan, Kyra, Sarabeth, Morgan, Hunter, and Samantha all attended. The kids had a great time playing with the dog and riding bikes outside. It was almost a nice day- I think the sun did shine for part of it!

Josh got in the way :(

To end the post, a picture of my beautiful little boy chillin' in his bouncy chair. I couldn't end a post without at least mentioning him! He's growing every day, and is somewhere around 15-16 pounds now. I'll update for sure after his 4 month appointment (May 16th). He is now eating rice/barley cereal and LOVING it! He had his first haircut the other night. Josh was threatening to buzz it, and it was long enough for pigtails, so I gave in and trimmed it. He now looks a lot older and a lot more like my brother! I will post a pic soon!

My two new loves

#1

Bread pudding. Yes, you read that right- my new love is bread pudding. OK, so it's not really a new love, I've loved it for years, but it is definitely a new obsession. I would eat it every day if I could! I, however, like fitting through my door, so I will limit my consumption.

When my mom was here she made a fantastic bread pudding. It included a whole list of ingredients and had a sauce, so it wasn't a quick, get it in the oven before little Tsu (Carys) makes a mess kind of pudding. I was looking through my random recipes and found one I copied from the Amish Cook when I was working in Pennsylvania. I decided to try it. HEAVEN!!!!! It was really easy and really tasty. The bread on top was crispy, and the bread inside was perfect- not soggy at all. I thought I'd share my new favorite recipe so everyone can appreciate this delectable dessert!!

BREAD PUDDING

The Amish Cook (Lovina Eicher)

2 cups milk, scalded

1/4 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups soft bread, torn/cut into small pieces

1/2 cup raisins (I use craisins)

Combine milk and butter, stirring until butter is melted. Cool to lukewarm. Combine eggs, sugar, salt, and nutmeg; beat at medium speed of mixer for 1 minute. Slowly add milk mixture.

Place bread in a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish; sprinkle with raisins and pour batter over all.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until set.

#2

This blog. I was reading through the blog of a friend from high school, Sami Jo. She has a wonderful "mommy blog," her household, where she talks about her beautiful little boys, her days, her thoughts, and anything else she feels the need to share. Well, she gave a blog award to a friend she met through church. I was bored, so I thought I'd read the blog. It's FANTASTIC!!! I seriously have not laughed so hard in months. Maybe even years. If you want to laugh, read this blog. Just be sure you're not drinking anything at the time- it will shoot out your nose!!

Random Cuteness

Life at the Haroldsen home has been going on as normal. We spend our days cleaning messes, making messes, and wondering where the messes are coming from! Carys began running a fever, again. It was up around 104 for over three days, so we finally took her in. Turns out she caught the flu. I'm not sure where or how she picked up the flu, but she did. She's feeling much better now, but is still running a low grade fever and complaining about hurting. Poor girl!!

Clayton is growing every day. He still loves nothing more than sleep, but is beginning to spend some time awake during the day. Josh says he plays "possum." Meaning he plays dead to protect himself from his sisters. They mean well, but they are a bit suffocating. They love their brother!

Carys about to give Clayton a big hug and kiss. Isn't she "nice"?

The onesie my sister Christina gave Clayton for Christmas

Clayton at just under 2 months

Aren't they adorable?!

5 weeks- not too bad. . .

Too cool for words!

One month old
Clayton and his very proud sisters

Right after bath time. If you look close, his hair is very curly.

It's been 5 weeks since our new little addition joined our lives. I know it's really pathetic that I have not posted about his birth, but I figure 5 weeks is really good for me- the world's WORST blogger.

Anyway, Clayton Bo Haroldsen was born on January 4th, 2011, at 7:05 pm, 6lb 5oz and 19in. He was exactly 4 weeks early. He caught us, to say the least, by complete surprise! I had everything planned. We were going to pick my mom up on the 8th (she was at my sister's). She was then going to have a nice quiet week at my house helping get things ready and basking in the joy of a quiet house. I was going to work until at least the 15th and then take the last week of the semester off to prepare for baby. My plan was to have him around my mom's birthday (18th) at the earliest.

Clayton had other plans. Around 2 am on the 4th I woke up thinking I'd maybe had a slight "accident." Nothing major, so I went back to bed. I then had another "accident" as soon as I fell back to sleep. I thought that was really odd, but I was 8 months pregnant. Normal, right? I stayed up on the couch for a while to make sure it was nothing serious. A couple HGTV shows later, and I went back to bed. I was just drifting off and it happened again. I woke Josh up and told him either my water broke or I was having some serious issues. He got up, went to the bathroom, and returned to bed. I returned to the couch. I kept busy on the computer and watching HGTV/DIY. Josh got up and went to work. I still wasn't positive it was my water, but was beginning to think maybe I was in denial. I got the girls fed, dressed, and packed for a few nights. I packed my bag and Josh's bag. I called my mom who, of course, told me to go to the hospital. Josh finally thought maybe he should check in around 10. I told him to get home. We headed to the hospital with the girls.

Thank goodness for the BEST sister-in-law and brother EVER!! Daniel agreed to meet us at the hospital to take the girls to his house. Josh dropped me off and I walked myself to labor and delivery. The nurses thought I was there to visit someone. I think my calmness caught them off guard! Josh switched the girls to Daniel's car and they went to spend some fun time with Aunt Jen. Devin took my mom to meet them there.

We were trying for a VBAC, but Clayton had other plans in mind. He just didn't want to cooperate. After 4-5 hours of pitocin he decided he'd had enough. Repeat c-section it was. After he was born all seemed fine, but then they took him to the nursery. He never returned. He'd developed pneumonia and had to stay in the NICU. He then developed severe jaundice (due to a blood incompatability) and had to be under the lights. He was in the NICU for 8 VERY long days. It was horrible! I missed all three of my babies for those 8 days!

He is now home and thriving. He loves to sleep and does so for over 20 hours per day (sorry Christina!). When he's not sleeping he's eating. Very little socializing on his part. I think he sleeps so much to escape the constant "care" of his sisters! He's still very little (newborn clothes), but growing every day. And, yes, that is really his hair. It was over his ears and collar at birth.