Back to School

I have anxiety. Sometimes I can be riddled with it over the stupidest things. Some know what I am saying, some think I am bat shit crazy, and some understand that I have anxiety and am still bat shit crazy. I am bat shit crazy, but it is not because of my anxiety. Have you met my Mother? Kidding, Mom, you’re one of the only people who would read this.

This Tuesday RMA started Kindergarten. There were so many mixed emotions. I think that I tailored my emotions of sadness by thinking of everything that we weren’t doing right and everything that I have not yet prepared. While on a family vacation I freaked. I ordered everything on Amazon. With one day shipping and a Bento Box on its way – I felt better. I am sure someone out there is thinking that shopping is in no way a good coping mechanism, but it helped. Hubs agreed because whatever would keep me at bay.

So what was giving me the most anxiety? Lunch. What do I pack for his lunch? Does he have a fridge? Is he going to like it? I can’t even pack lunch for myself. Seriously, I eat like a college student off of popcorn and apples (I ate apples in college…). Thanks to my newly arrived bento box I was armed with a convenient storage container that make people like me feel at ease.

All of my boxes that we NEEDED to have in order for RMA to start school

We are in day three of lunch and his lunch is successfully packed; however, I am running out of ideas. I went to Pintrest for ideas because I wanted to feel inadequate as a mother, wife, and add a kick in the balls. I was not disappointed! When searching “lunch for school”, a plethora of images of cute shaped lunches jumped out.

What the shit is that!?! In the words of Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

 

I didn’t make this meme, but it shows that more than me have had this thought…

Some might be thinking… Why doesn’t he buy? He will buy. I need someone to tell me how that works. They need a pre-k for parents.

First day was a success and RMA is happy, which makes us happy.

Caroline Is Two!

This past weekend we celebrated our little sweet pea’s second birthday. She really is the definition of a sour patch kid: step 1 go up to an individual randomly and slap them in the face. Step 2 immediately hug said individual you just slapped. Sour then sweet.  I don’t know where she gets it – most likely from her father. The weekend took a turn since we were supposed to celebrate her birthday at a winery (she asked for it to be there) then our good friend Eric pointed out that our scheduled party was right in the middle of the Virginia Tech Notre Dame football game (Hokies won – though it was an ugly game that I didn’t even watch.) Being the good Hokie Alumni that we are we canceled the party and scheduled a sitter…

Don’t worry! We still did something for Caroline Christine! I made my standard short rib and cheese grits recipe and family came over along with our bestie and her boys.

Veggies

Short Ribs

I decided to make up for the lack of party by buying 2 dozen balloons that elicited about 2 seconds of excitement, screams over who was touching balloons, and then a massive balloon knot. Money well spent. Caroline had a fun birthday, though. She got a really really creepy looking baby and a stroller that, as of today, she has broken twice.

Creepy Baby

It was such a fun night and day. It was sad to see that my baby is another year older, but also proud. I can’t wait for what this spunky little girl has in store – the only thing I know is it will be a wild journey. I also can’t wait for her mullet to grow out…

Oh and remember those balloons I got? Well, turns out they were worth the money. Look at how happy our neighbor/friend Jaime is playing with them.

May your day be as happy and drunk as Jaime is playing with these balloons.

Cheers! ~ Amanda

Memorial Day

Marine Corps Ball circa…

Memorial Day. A day when we take time to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I would like to not only say thank you to all of those who gave their lives, including my Father Captain, Patrick J. Behnke, but also to the families those heroes left behind. To me these family members are heroes and I am lucky enough to call one of those heroes my Mom.

Patrick J. Behnke

That’s a big helicopter!

He’s on a boat!

See my Mom is a true hero too. I grew up not knowing my Father because he passed two months before I was born. To me I didn’t know what it truly meant to lose my father, but my Mom did. Not only did she lose her husband, but she was also getting ready for another life changing event – me! Sure it was sad that I never would see the man who gave me my nose, lips, and eyes, but I grew up speaking of my Dad with pride; my father died for his Country. Not really did I ever think about what hell my Mom had to go through.

If it weren’t for the tremendous strength of my Mother, I have no idea where we would be. We had help, but it was my Mom that got it together and had to keep living despite a terrible loss. I was lucky in that my Mom had great friends and next door neighbors to help her out (shout out Chris and Steve – fun fact, my middle name is Christine named after said friend Chris) along with the help of both Grandparents. My mother went back and finished up college, met a man that I am lucky enough to call my Father as well, and decided that she was going to live, but never forgetting my Father.

This image haunts me, my Grandpas face says it all.

I am who I am because of my hero. I may look like my Father, Patrick, but I like to think that I have the strength of my Mother.

Thanks for your sacrifice, Mom. I love you.

To all of the other families that have lost a loved one. Thank you for your sacrifice. I recently learned about an organization that assists family members of fallen soldiers Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). Check it out here for more information. http://www.taps.org/.

Happy New Year!

2014, where the hell did it go? It seems like just yesterday we were driving home from Deep Creek celebrating the New Year of 2014 and stopping and eating McDonalds, which prompted me to start eating better and tackling a New Year’s resolution to make a new recipe a week and blog about it. I may have been a little overzealous to say I would blog every week…  I didn’t quite live up to my resolution for every week (resolutions are so stupid and made to be broken, right?).

This year as we were driving home from Deep Creek celebrating 2015 and, coincidentally, stopping at a fast food place for breakfast that I truly reflected back on this amazing year.

Cheese and Egg Biscuit – first meal of 2015 and it was delicious. No regrets! Well, maybe a little…

While I may not have blogged every week – or at all – I did make new recipes every week (almost). But in 2014 I did make one of the most important recipes in my life; my Sous Chef in life, Adam, and I found out that we were going to be parents again in April with a little girl due in December. Though we planned on her arriving early in November, which she did on November 18th at 8:18 am.

We could not do this journey without the love and support of family, friends and wonderful Dr’s and nurses that took care of us. Shout out to Women’s Health Corp/Dr Solomon (awesome OB care), Lisa Brady, nurse at VA Hospital, all our other nurses at VA Hospital including our favorite Murse, Bryant, and our very special Doula 😉 Dr. Jennifer Biggs. Dr Born, you were missed!

Caroline is such a precious gift to us. She is beautiful on the outside and I can’t wait to see the beauty of her personality flourish.

Fastest year of my life. Time, you can slow down now.

Just told Grandma that she was going to be a Grandma again!

16 weeks and Ryan’s birthday!

That’s a good sized basketball!

24 weeks

28 weeks!

Meeting Kinsley Mae aka future bestie!

Meeting Sadie and Libby for the first time aka other future besties!

Last belly picture before Caroline’s arrival at week 37!

Introducing Caroline Christine!

For our story, the recipe for Caroline was traditional, but I have learned that there are so many ways to grow a family. This will sound cheesy, but whatever, the main ingredient in all recipes for family is LOVE. I will remind myself of this when I post pictures of my toddler being a toddler and then remind myself how fortunate we are. Caroline will be an excellent little sister to her big brothers. Evan will teach her the lessons that he has taught us and I am sure Ryan will teach her all the ways to make Mommy say a bad word.

2014 was such a great year for us. 2015 promises to be such a great year for so many of our friends that we love and I can’t wait. 2015 is going to be awesome.

For those who are wondering, I did make a new recipe on New Year’s day.  It was not good, but that was most likely due to the quality of the frozen fish. Recipe can be found here.

Cheers!

Feliz Día de Gracias!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Why? It involves my favorite things: Being with friends and family, eating, and drinking – with no pressure of gift giving. Even though Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I actually don’t really care for the food. Go figure. So this year, our family went outside of the box on traditional Thanksgiving food, but kept the family, eating and drinking.

We decided to do a Mexican inspired menu full of appetizers, cheese and margaritas! Alderson’s were in charge of an appetizer and ingredients to make margaritas. My Sister-in-Law made the delicious jalapeno cilantro dip, which we named crack dip because it is so good. I made this dip and blogged about it earlier in the year. My Mother-in-Law made the main Mexican casserole dish, which was very yummy. All made for a successful Thanksgiving meal. I did not partake in the margaritas, but I was told they were delicious.

The Ladies in our festive hats.

Team Landers minus Drewdle who did not want to participate in a family photo. Probably because he did not want this goofy look documented.

The recipe I made was again found on Pinterest. Jalapeno Popper Pinwheels – It was delicious and extremely easy to make. Recipe is found here.

Dinner was delicious and we succeeded in spending a lot of quality time together. Ryan and Drew had lots of fun playing with the toilet – flushing a little car down the toilet. Adults played a traditional game of Rummy. It’s a running joke that my MIL has crazy rules that she makes up as she goes along – who has ever heard of the Queen of Spades being 30 points!? I just say that she has crazy rules because I have yet to beat her, which is annoying.

I got spanked!

I didn’t get any pictures of our meal, so instead here is a picture of Ryan still wearing his sombrero while watching a movie.

To all of our friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving! Love the Alderson’s

Cheers!

Today is October 15, every day is our October 15.

While strolling through my Newsfeed on Facebook this morning, I came across something from March of Dimes:

Now, I know that Oct 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. I just couldn’t believe it was Oct 15. It snuck up on me. Then I thought, that is probably because every day for our family and many others (unfortunately) is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

People often ask both Adam and I how we deal with it – the loss of our sweet boy Evan. Our answer is always the same, we just do. Some days are better than others and some days are just plain hard. We promised ourselves that we would live life to the fullest for our little boy Evan. Sometimes I struggle with the fact that I don’t feel as though I follow through with my promises: I am not as kind as I swore I would be for Evan. There are things that I want to do for Evan, that I have not done. Sometimes I go days without stopping to think about our little boy, which seems terrible. I struggle with these feelings, but then I remember that Evan is always with me. This picture from the March of Dimes sums it up, you were here for a moment and left a lifetime of love. Either consciously or subconsciously, I know that I thank Evan every day for a lifetime of love.

As our family grows, each day brings new beginnings, new hopes and new challenges, but that’s life and that is exciting. Life is so very precious. Evan taught me that; he also constantly reminds me of that.

To all my Sisters out there that I have met through this journey *Hugs* today and every day.

Virginia is for Lovers – and Wineries!

Last weekend I did something that I hadn’t done in a very long long time – toured wineries. Well, I actually did two things that I hadn’t done in a long long time – toured wineries and was the designated driver for the whole day!

To celebrate Pops’ birthday, the family decided to make a day out of touring beautiful Virginia wineries. Since I have a case of the baby’s, I was suited up in the drivers seat for the day – uniform not included. I truly forgot just how beautiful Virgina is. Honestly, before traveling down to Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!) for college, I thought all of Virginia was like Northern Virginia. So so so wrong. Virginia is gorgeous with so much beauty to offer and, lucky for us, so many wineries!

We left Falls Church (sans kids), headed to Reston to pick up the rest of the group and were off!

Group shot for the fam leaving Reston Town Center. Off to the first stop! You can’t see Paul, but he’s in the back with Adam.

We started off at lunch at Tuscarora Mill in Lessburg. This place was delicious! Apparently it is best to sit at the bar, so we sat at the bar. The dining room did seem a little “stuffy.” Since I cannot drink, I eat. Had our food not been so yummy, I would have probably been a little salty. If you are ever in the Leesburg area, check it out – Tuscarora Mill. 

Our first stop was The Barns at Hamilton Station. Again, beautiful scenery. This being our first stop, we stayed here for some time. 

View from the deck

Baby Girl Bump and me lounging outside while the group tastes.

Love!

Our next stop was Sunset Hills. This place was also beautiful, but it was HOT inside. After tastings were done and my well water was poured, we ventured outside. They did have a delicious looking wine slushy that reminded me of an adult Slurpee; this was the only time that day that I was jealous that I could not partake in a beverage.

The last stop was at Stone Tower Winery. Believe it or not, we spent hours at the other places and this was on the way back and opened until 5:30. The winery is down a very LONG gravel road – so long that I thought we had been duped into thinking that there was actually a winery. Sure enough, what felt like 20 minutes later, we arrived to a parking lot. This place had the best scenery of all three that we went to, but, so I am told, the worst wine. While Virginia is beautiful, it is not known for their wines. This vineyard brought in their wine from another location, but apparently wherever they brought it in from wasn’t good at growing grapes either… Again, the scenery was gorgeous and the accommodations were really comfortable (couches, chairs, bar stools, etc…). They even had corn hole to play.

Last Stop! Apparently the champagne was really good.

Everyone had a great time. By the end of the day, I was ready to go home and see my boy. I also started thinking at about 3:00 that afternoon about making chocolate cookies (we got home at 7, this was 4 hours of thinking of chocolate chip cookies), which brings me to my blog post: Amanda’s Chocolate Chip Cookies!

During this pregnancy my cravings have been fruit, tomatoes, both eggplant and chicken parmesan, and sweets! With my boys I wanted carrots, apples, carbs, and m&m’s. I will say that this pregnancy has been a little healthier in terms of indulgence (again, I have a long way to go). Anyway, since I was thinking about chocolate chip cookies for 4 hours, I was determined to have them. After saying hello to Ryan, I went to the kitchen to look up recipes for chocolate chip cookies. Seeing as how there are a million recipes for chocolate chip cookies, I was getting impatient on my quest and started in on the chocolate chips as an appetizer to my cookies. I flipped through about 30+ recipes on pinterest before finally picking a recipe that I liked. By that time, 30 minutes had past and I looked down to find that I ate all of the chocolate chips… I did not have enough to make 1 batch of cookies. I realized then that I didn’t feel like baking and my craving had been satisfied by looking at all of the pictures of cookies and eating chocolate chips. Easiest recipe that I ever made!

Amanda’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 bag of chocolate chips (dark, milk, white – whatever)

1 iPad

Open iPad to whatever you would like to look at. Then open bag of chocolate chips and proceed to eat until you are full. Close iPad when you are done.

Cheers!

 

Easter ham and Throw Back Pics!

Easter has always been a favorite holiday of mine, second to Thanksgiving of course. It reminds me of my Nana and Papa’s house, spending time in Virginia Beach with Nana, Papa and my Grandma and Grandpa Behnke. My Grandma Behnke was always a big fan of ham. Much to her dismay, I was never a big fan of ham- I still am not. I blame it on the fact that my Mom used to put big chunks of ham into stringy green beans that made me have a terrible gag reflex where I would dry heave after I forced my throat to swallow – my parents loved this trick. Anyways, ham is a tradition on Easter and since I was cooking Easter dinner for family, I went with ham.

First some throw back Easter Pics…

This outfit haunts me…

No more evidence, please

Grandma and Grandpa Behnke’s house

Getting ready in what I can only assume is a very uncomfortable Easter outfit

My beautiful Mother and Me in that unfortunate outfit

Master Egg finder (I was my only competition)

Yes. That’s a He-Man Master of the Universe action figure, folks! Best Easter basket addition.

Dad doing whatever he was doing in our old house in Burke. Notice the ham on the table!

Nana and Papa

Grandma and Grandpa in matching plaid pants, for some reason… (this is not Easter, but I wanted to give them a shout out)

My first instinct was to get a complete baked ham from Honey Baked Ham, but I wanted to cook it and I am also too cheap to purchase a $50 ham.

For my recipe,    I searched for something easy that I could handle and not mess up. I ended up going with a slow cooker maple brown sugar glaze ham that only needed 10 minutes on broil in the oven – the rest was done in the slow cooker. Broiling is another thing that I am always scared to tackle, but that is for another time. Recipe here.

We waited until the last minute to purchase said ham, which could have been a mistake since ham is such a hot commodity on Easter. Who knew there were so many ham options! After the grueling decision on which one to pick, we selected a nice non sliced bone in ham.

The recipe calls for cutting the fat and cut the fat I did. It was pretty gross. I shaved a lot of fat off that lil’ piggy. If you are going to do this, I found placing parchment paper down under a baking sheet the easiest.

Lots of work. Lots of fat.

Close up of the cubes that I cut, which was pretty easy

The authors directions are pretty easy to follow with great pictures. I really did just trim the fat (the hardest part), cut it, plop it in the slow cooker and make the glaze.

Here she is in the slow cooker

 

After about 6 hours, I took the ham out (very carefully) and placed it on a baking sheet covered in foil – I didn’t want to clean that pan… The recipe calls for the ham to rest for 20 min and during this time the oven heated up and I prepared the glaze.

Ham in the oven with glaze

 

Because of my fear of broiling food, I constantly stood at the oven to watch the ham. Really, on a scale of easy to I never want to make this f’ing dish again, this was easy. It allowed me to prepare the rest of the meal and not worry about keeping the meat from drying out (I refuse to use the M word). I was told the finished product was good, so I am putting it in the Yum category. I myself didn’t care for it because, well, I don’t like ham. My Father In Law liked it and that’s what counts; he is the one that reminded me that ham is served on Easter – Turkey was on my menu originally. I know my Grandma was smiling down on us nodding in her approval of ham on Easter.

Finished Goods

Not everyone could be with us on Easter and those who couldn’t were missed. It was fun collecting past Easter pictures and served as a reminder that I need to dress Ryan up in ridiculous outfits and take more pictures. Also, another reminder of how important family is and to treasure those moments. But mostly that I need more embarrassing pictures.

Friends and Family

One thing that I really wanted to do when creating this blog was finding delicious meals to make for the family that we enjoyed and that we would either make again or laugh at how bad the meal was. Luckily, there hasn’t been too many of failed meals and unfortunately there hasn’t been many blog entries. The most important part, though, is that we have been successful in, which is having weekly family dinners and inviting friends over to share in the recipe roulette. I may not write about it as much as I had hoped, but at least the important part has been accomplished.

Parmesan Cilantro Corn

This recipe was the perfect side dish to a pork tenderloin (I always migrate to a pork tenderloin for a group – so easy). We had friends and family over and it was a hit. Easy yummy side dish to serve hot. Only problem is making it 15 minutes before everyone is seated for dinner, which can be pretty hectic.

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 4 cups fresh corn kernels (approx 6 large ears) (I used 4 cups of frozen corn)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ⅓ cup heavy cream
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ½ cup chopped cilantro

I also used frozen corn and it turned out great. I used low fat heavy cream, so that is an option. The blog site that I got this from did a really good job at laying out the directions and also has a printable version. Recipe can be found here.

End product of Parmesan Cilantro Corn. Very yum.

I didn’t take that many pictures of this dish. We were too busy corralling little boys. Besides, a good friend of mine who reads the blog (thanks PAJ!) suggested that I post more pictures of people eating the foods instead of still shots of food. I couldn’t agree more. Here are some pictures of family and friends enjoying our time together – the most important part!

We still have many more recipes to make (Thanks Pinterest!) and still need to invite many more friends over. Can’t wait!

Winner Winner this was a damn good Chicken Dinner

Winner Winner this was a damn good Chicken Dinner.