recipes and a sunny, cloudy day

i do love to cook.
and i love them.
and sometimes it's fun to cook with them.

but, if i'm going to be honest, i like to have the kitchen to myself.

i have some recipes to share with you.
these pics are from us making the chocolate chip scones.

we don't love italian food around here...red sauce is not our favorite.
not sure why...maybe too many meals of spaghetti and lasagna and baked ziti for months after each baby :-)

anyways, i made a couple meals this month that are "like" italian, except not.

Sweet N Sour Meatballs
1 lb ground beef
1 piece white bread
1/2 cup beef bouillon
1 10 oz bottle sweet n sour sauce
10 oz bbq sauce

Soak white bread in bouillon. Mash bread into meat. Pour bbq sauce and sweet n sour sauce into frying pan and mix thoroughly. Form meat into 1 inch balls and dip into cold sauce. Heat sauce on low heat and cook meatballs, turning until all sides are cooked. Simmer in sauce for about 2 hours (or 20 min if you forgot the recipe said that and started dinner too late... :-)) or until sauce has become thick, dark and glazed. Stir occasionally. Drain off fat. May be frozen and reheated.

i served them over rice. everyone loved them. LOVED them.

These were GREAT!
I doubled it and froze half and i'm SO glad i did.

next up, Pastor Ryan's Mexican Lasagna.
also amazing.
lasagna...but without the red sauce :-)
watch the amounts.
his recipe is for a HUGE amount...i halved it for a 9 x 13 and it fed us for 3 days.
i will definitely be making it again.

and, lastly...

No Bake Granola Bars
{i think these are from you, Holly??}

i made these the for the first time sometime last year...and kinda forgot about them.
well, with my new kick on eating "healthier" and more "organic" i was looking through my recipes and found this one.

we've eaten 3 9 x 13's of them in the past week.
YUM!

1/2 C honey
1/2 C brown sugar
1 T vanilla
3/4 C peanut butter
2 C oats
2 1/2 C rice krispies
1 T flax seeds
1 C chocolate chips (or coconut or dried fruit...)

Combine dry ingredients. Heat honey and sugar to boil. Turn off and add p.butter and vanilla. Pour over oats. MIX WELL. Press into greased 9 x 13. Cool and cut.

and they help you with portion control all on their own.
you will KNOW when you've eaten too much with that flax seed in there!
and you won't do that again ;-)

that's all i've got for recipes.
some good ones this month, though!

ok...so how cute is he??
it has been so fun to have him happy again!
doesn't he have the BEST smile?!?

but last night he woke up in the night.
didn't think a ton of it...except it was weird.
he never wakes up in the night.

then, when i picked joshua up from the gym childcare place today, his eyes were all red.
took him to the dr - pinkeye in both eyes.

since we were there, i asked her to look at sawyer...since he woke up last night and was kinda fussy today. he has an ear infection! sad!

they both have medicine.
i'm thankful for our medical insurance.
and everyone is on their way to being healthy...

it was a GREAT day.
it was cloudy.
and i had to clean my whole house.
and change all the sheets.
and take 4 kids to the dr.
and go to the pharmacy 2 times with 4 kids.
and our approval didn't come in the mail.

but His joy was bigger than all of it.
that's all i can attribute it to.
is HIM.

praying for another day close to Him tomorrow.