Birthday Parties

A recent FB question posted by T for he job at GUIV got me to thinking about birthday parties I threw (paid for) for my daughters.

In no particular order & for no particular child, here are the "themes" and/or parties I remember (this is key because I don't recall many of the themes anymore!) throwing for T & C on their birthdays. There may also be one or two included in the list where they attended someone elses party & I remember how much they enjoyed it.

Most were home parties, usually w/a theme, such as "Under the Sea," Easter, Bubbles & Cookie Monster. There was the Princess Tea Party where a lady came w her good china, dressed as a princess to serve tea & cake. A fun time at Amazements where we rented a party room for 10 people, served cake & ice cream then let the kids run free onto the indoor playground mazes. A spa day at the hairdressers where they had their hair done up, nails painted etc.

Stampin' Up was a fun party! The girls got to make all sorts of projects using paper & stamps. There was an outside party where we jumped Skip Ball, played hopscotch & limbo-ed. I never did Chuck E. Cheese though they did attend for their friends party once or twice!

Those are ones I can recall. Maybe C & T remember others?  

C is Home, An Even Easier Beef Stroganoff Recipe!

C is almost done w/4 years of college! We got the expected amount B & I will have to pay each month over the next 10 years & it's not very pretty! I will have to work full-time for all of those 10 years!

She has made an appearance here, for the overnight, so no take-out meal for us! She wants real food! In no mood to really cook a big meal, I turned to my recipe box & found this recipe I had forgotten about.

Super Easy Beef Stroganoff  

serves 6

What you need:

• 12 oz wide egg noodles (cook according to package directions)
• 1 (10 oz) can of Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk (optional: I use it because I found the sauce too thick w/o it)
• 1 envelope of onion soup mix
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef, browned & drained
• 5 oz peas (frozen or drained, canned peas)

What to do:

• Add to the cooked ground beef, cream of mush soup, sour cream, milk & onion soup. Stir well.
• Add in the peas & heat through.
• Serve over the hot, cooked egg noodles.

This meal is ready to eat in less than 30 minutes!

Not This Year!

The NE Patriots just lost the AFC Championship game to the Denver Broncos led by P. Manning. Oh... & my ex-favorite player, Wes Welker is on the Broncos team this season! I hope Manning doesn't expect Wes to catch any passes in a Super Bowl! He didn't catch any for NE against the NY Giants in his 2 previous Super Bowl appearances! If he had... NE would have FIVE Super Bowl rings!

Now I must cheer for the Seattle Seahawks (my SIL, Ms, favorite team) They do have a former Patriot coach (Pete Carroll) leading them now, so I guess it's OK. Go, 'hawks!

Easiest Stroganoff Recipe (and it happens to be very tasty too!)

As I sit indoors today because of some very wet & sticky snow falling outdoors, I began cleaning some "clutter" in the house. I came across this recipe which I've tried twice & was yummy, both times! I have no clue as to why I didn't file in my recipe box or post it here before now!

Easy Stroganoff Crock Pot Recipe (serves about 6-8)

What you need:

• 3 lbs. of stew beef (I like an assortment of extra lean & regular)
• 3 cans of Golden Mushroom soup (the regular sized soup cans, not "family size")
• 1 1/2 lg onion, diced
• 4-6 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup water
• dash of garlic salt
• dash of paprika (smoked paprika, if you have it)
• 12 oz of softened cream cheese... to be added near the end of cooking time

What you do:

• Mix together, the soup, onion, Worcestershire, water, garlic salt & paprika in crock.
• Add the beef & stir to coat. (If you wish to "sear" the beef first, it's OK, but not necessary)
• Set crock pot to LOW, cover & cook for 8 hours
• 30 minutes before serving, add in the cream cheese (in small pieces to melt well)
• Re-cover the crock & let the cheese melt.
• Serve over egg noodles or rice or your favorite pasta!

A side salad or veggie would also be nice! I served some sliced, raw mushrooms & those who like mushrooms added them to their own dish. 

This recipe can be frozen! 

Before you add in the cream cheese, that is! 

Just remember to add the cream cheese in after you heat this dish back up to eating temperature!

9 Days In...

Nine days of 2014 & nothing exciting has happened! Phew!

I'm counting the days to our trip to VA for Carlotta's 4th, YES, I SAID FOURTH, birthday celebration! She's growing so fast! I clearly remember her mom's 4th birthday. It fell on Easter that year, so we threw her an Easter themed party! 

I enjoy seeing Carlotta on Skype whenever we can get it connected. Because I work 50+ hours a week, I'm too tired to ask her mother to set up a session in the evenings. I rarely see past 9pm! 

Daily photos, while I enjoy them & would love one every day, have become a nuisance to Carlotta & I'd rather not be known as "the Nonie who insists I wear a smile every day" to her. I don't ask for them anymore. I love getting photos though!

Thanks to menopausal symptoms, I was only a little bit chilly during the latest cold snap to come through NH. A "polar vortex" is what they are calling it! How can I be this old, live in a cold region & never heard of a polar vortex before? Then again, I'd never heard of "El Nino" until I was in my 20s!

The 3 snow events we've had so far in this winter season have been light, fluffy snow, very easy to move. Torrential rain is due in by weeks end so the snow on the ground will absorb the rain, then it will all freeze into a solid mass! Yuck!

See, nothing exciting going on here! I'm boring myself to death just typing this entry! Time for sleep!