Saturday Night Special

Last night was Italian night at our house with my brother-in-law treating us to some delicious spaghetti with meat balls, shrimp lasagna rolls and prosciutto mozzarella appetizers. We sampled wine and porked out on the food. It was a good night and I am so happy to have close family who also loves to cook. The spaghetti was delicious again today for lunch...my brother-in-law is like my mom in that they prepare way too much food for gatherings. And in this economy, actually in any economy, we like leftovers in this household.

Today has been a dreary day. And as much as I really wanted to get out and dig and chainsaw in the backyard, the forced down time was good for us. We watched Wreck It Ralph and Here Comes the Boom with the kiddos.

David had a soccer game before the rain hit and his team won (again)! David has a pattern in which he scores the winning (or the last, depending on how high the score is) goal. He is really relishing these wins because he is on a new team. His first team in the Fall won every game and so had some reservations about playing on a new team (he was worried they were going to lose). I personally think that he needs to experience a few losses to be humbled and know that life is not all about winning. But Lord help us when that first loss happens...

The girls and I hit the mall while the guys were at the soccer fields. We had to get some pants for the Emster and socks for the Little Ones. Just in time for the warmer weather too... We also hit Natural Grocers to pick up some stuff they don't have at Homeland (ingredients to make "wheat meat" and other hippie food). I have wanted to make seitan for a while now, ever since I saw how easy it was on HHH and now I have all of the ingredients in my pantry...it's on the menu for later this week.

Making Greek Cucumber Salad

Greek Inspired Dinner (Lemon Chicken with Brown Rice and Greek Yogurt/Cucumber Salad)

My little helper also helped me make another pecan pie like we made 2 months ago using this recipe, but it didn't come out the same. It might be because I was trying to "healthy" it up a little by swapping out corn syrup with brown rice syrup. It seemed a bit soupy the first time out of the oven....and also the 2nd time out of the oven 20 minutes later.  I am sure I messed the custard up earlier, not mixing it up properly because I don't think that corn/rice syrup made the difference. I will have to test that theory out later this week.

Meanwhile, this pie works as a topping for vanilla ice cream and milk mixture.