Sam's New LEAF -Cooking

There are SO many things we're doing to get ready for little miracle- One is understanding that both Joe and I will have new roles.

Joe really wants me to be a SAHM. That is something that I don't want to do but before we got married I said that I could compromise and work less. That started a whole train of job/career switching and brought me to the wonderful world of contract work. Contract work I love- Inspiring High School students year round as a motivational speaker. This gives me the ability to have all holidays and the summers off! I've worked in a little boutique in Mystic to stay busy since we didn't have kiddos yet-but that will soon end(or decrease). The job with Making It Count allows me to have adult time, reconnect and network with the other speakers (about 280 of us in the US) twice a year at trainings and feel like I'm participating financially. We've eased into it and it's been great. It should be easy to co-op with another parent and be able to keep my same speaking schedule. Some months (September, January) are really busy and others(May,December) aren't. All in all - I'll only be away from my peanut a maximum of 15 hours a week. How blessed am I? It's like having that cake and eating it too! And Joe feels good about the compromise as well.

Well this little compromise I made two years ago has come to bite my little behind. We have realized that I will now be the chef of the house. I thought Gift buyer, card sender, laundry do"er", bill payer, finance manager...etc was enough. But after much thought and deliberation- We realized that chef will need to be added. Well, those who know me... You know this is VERY new uncharted territory for me. I am (of course) up for the challenge though. I got out cook books. I made lists. I made menus. I am diving in head first. (What other way do you dive in?).

And...so it has begun. Right now - I'll be making 4 "dinner" dishes and 1 dessert dish every week. We may add more in the future-but right now, this is what I am starting with. My new chef job started on Sunday(9/27). I had an assistant for my first day(he was really cute too!). I learned a lot. I'm actually really excited to provide for my family in this way too(Who would have thought!!!).

So my first main dish was Prosciutto, Spinach and Pasta Casserole. It was YUMMY. Not bad to make either. 25 minute prep. 25 minutes to cook.

Ingredients- 2 and 2/3 cup of dried pasta, 2 medium onions(thin wedges), 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1/2 tsp of anise seeds, 1/2 cup flour, 1 and 1/2 of chicken broth, 1/4 cup of grated parm cheese, 1 10 ounce pgk of chopped spinach (thaw and drain), 2 ounces or prosciutto, 1 medium tomato (seed and chop).

Cook Pasta and drain. Rinse with cold water.
Cook Onion and garlic in hot butter until onion is tender. Stir in flour and anise seeds. Add milk and chicken broth. Cook and stir until slightly bubbly and thickened. Stir in Parm Cheese(I added more then called for!). Stir in cooked pasta, spinach and prosciutto. Spoon mixture into 2 quart casserole dish.

Bake covered for 25 minutes at 350. Serve with chopped tomato (optional)

It smelled the house up something very YUMMY. When reheating -we've enjoyed it with some provolone cheese melted on top.






My first dessert dish was Brownie Pie. A little longer on the prep(40 minutes) and longer cook time(50 minutes). My husband is a chocolate nut- so this was a must for my first dessert.

Ingredients: (1/2 cup butter, 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, 1 single pie crust, 3 eggs(beaten), 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of flour, 1 tsp of vanilla, hot fudge topping and 1 cup chopped walnuts(optional, hubs doesn't like them-so I didn't)

Filling First- Melt butter and chocolate in saucepan. Cool for 20 minutes
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare/Make/Roll out Pie Crust. Use 9 inch pan. Crimp edges
For Filling - Combine eggs, sugar, flour and vanilla. Stir in Chocolate mix
Pour Filling into pie crust. Back 50 minutes. Add fresh fruit or hot fudge sauce.
Yum

Khaki Ball 2009

Khaki Ball was a nice evening out filled with khakis and many different semi-formal cocktail dresses. This year it was held at the Mystic Marriott. The guest speaker was Big Al. He passed on some great words of wisdom and kept the speech short and sweet. And we're always proud when the CPO's raise enough money to make the entire night open bar. Joe was happily telling everyone he had a built in designated driver. The funny part was he was ready for bed after just three drinks. I guess since I haven't really drank anything lately, neither has he. And as we're not big drinkers to begin with...well.. Yeah. My husband was home and asleep by 11:30.

It's a wonderful evening steeped in tradition. A good time for the Chiefs to reconnect with each other. A great time to honor all of the new CPO's and welcome them to the mess. A fun time for wives to dance with one another. The best part is hearing the newly frocked CPO's sing the star spangled banner. We had a nice table. The picture is of Joe and I and then Joe and a long time friend of his- Labue.

Update - belly and leather!

Some of Joe's new projects. My quiver and his shield.

There is...(drum roll) my baby bump! 14.5 weeks and that's how big I am. Joe and I can't imagine 8 months. (side note: I had only left from 4:45-6:30 and then done a presentation in NY and drove home from NY when Joe took this picture- so I look like crap)

That's all for now!
xoxo
Joe, Sam and baby!

travels, babies and more!

Japan was wonderful. Exhausting with the time change- but we're back home and getting into the swing of things again (or trying to). We moved Dee in to Toyo University and aside from looking nervous- I think she was excited to start her year long journey. And we(Joe and I) are glad we got to visit and settle her in. Should be a great year for her. We're jealous!



This cutie above is our 13 week sonogram! They can never get the kiddos heartbeat with the Doppler- so I keep getting free sonograms- woohoo! (Although when they can't find the heartbeat, I freak out and start shaking)- nerve racking! We're so amazed with the difference the 8 week picture was to the 13 week picture though.

We decided to go ahead with the quad screen which will happen in 2 weeks. So prayers, fingers crossed - that it comes back fine and we don't have to make any decisions for further testing.

How our little monkey is growing:
Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

That's it for us. Oh, we did get some crappy news- Our doc only does the gender determination in the 25th week ( REALLY LATE- most get to find out week 18-week 20.) So, we won't be painting the room anytime soon- BUT we will be repairing that ceiling and getting the room as ready as possible until we CAN paint which now looks like late December.