Categories
Food

{Make Ahead Meals} Shrimp & Wild Rice Casserole

This is another great recipe courtesy of friends of my Mom’s. She’s even more social than me & lucky to have friends willing to share when they make an awesome casserole. The original recipe is for chicken & wild rice casserole but included how to do it with shrimp. Since we were at the beach {for Easter}, we made it the shrimp way & the casserole was delicious. We halved the recipe & it was plenty for 6 adults.

Shrimp and Wild Rice Casserole 

1 (2.25 oz)  pkg sliced almonds {skipped}
2 (6.2 oz) boxes fast cooking long grain and wild rice mix
1/4 c butter
4 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 lb medium sized raw shrimp, peeled & deveined
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 (8 oz) can chopped water chestnuts
1 (8 oz) container sour cream
1 c dry white wine
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 c shredded parmesan cheese, divided
2 C shredded monteray jack cheese, divided

Preheat over to 350. Bake almonds in single layer 4-6 minutes, until toasted, stirring half way through.

Prepare rice mix according to package directions.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat, add celery & onions. Saute 10 minutes or until tender. Add the shrimp. Stir in soup, water chestnuts, sour cream, wine, salt & pepper, rice and 3 cups of the cheese. Spoon mixuture into lightly greased 15 x 10 dish or two 11 x 7 dishes.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Sprinkle w/remaining 1 C of cheese and almonds. Bake another 5 minutes.

You can also do this recipe with chicken {5 c chopped & cooked}. Change 4 c cheddar for the monterey jack & parmesan & sub milk for the white wine.

Categories
Family/Travel Travel

Babies First Easter

Last Easter was my last time travelling while pregnant/without babies in hand. It seems like a lifetime & just weeks ago at the same time.

My parents, Lucy, Zach & I packed up & headed down to my grandparents’ on OIB Thursday night. Lucy & Zach slept & did great until about 15 minutes left & then I was finding Baby Eisten videos on youtube as quick as they would load!

Friday, we brought Lucy & Zach along for Mom, Nana & I to make Walmart & grocery store runs. They fell asleep in the van so we ended up shopping in shifts leaving one adult & both babies in the car at all stores. My Nana has agreed to make Lucy & Zach baptism outfits using the fabric from my mom’s wedding dress. We found patterns at Walmart & I’m so excited!

Friday night, my mom made this awesome shrimp & wild rice casserole. The recipe will soon be it’s own post & to be remade soon at my house.

Saturday morning, I took a mommy break with my Nana & went to Happy Nails for a pedicure & my first shallac manicure. So far, my nails are holding up to all that two babies can throw at them. I returned in time to feed both & for Lucy to take a nap while Zach accompanied Jason, Nana, my mom & me to the local neighborhood Easter egg hunt & raw egg toss. We just watched from the sidelines this year. But it’ll be so fun for Lucy & Zach to participate next year in something that’s been going on since before I was born!

Easter 13 1

Saturday afternoon, Mom & I took the babies for a long stroll {yay for stroller naps!}. We took over the floor in my grandparents’ den with baby toys. Their dog Bocce was unsure what to think of mobile babies at first. He quickly learned to like them after we let him clean up the floor around their high chairs! And he learned quick to follow behind to pick up dropped Cherrios from the stuffed plastic eggs we gave them to play with.

We dyed Easter eggs that evening. The babies thought they were pretty cool.

Easter 13 2

Sunday we started off at the beach church service. Both babies were interested at first then got warm & snuggly on us & took a nap. I found their super cute, casual & coordinating without being too matchy/matchy bunny onesies at The Children’s Place on clearance btw.

Easter 13 3

We arrived home by late afternoon {the babies napped most of the car ride while I read a book in the back seat!}, enjoyed Easter lunch KFC leftovers for dinner & went to bed early. Happy {late} Easter all!

Categories
Motherhood

I’m a Crafting Slacker

I talked holidays, Pinterest, crafting & being a working mom over at Liberating Working Moms yesterday. What’s your take on crafting with little ones?

In the age of pinterest, blogging & Facebook bragging, it’s easy to get caught up in the holiday crafting spirit. And as a working mom of two 10 month olds, by caught up I mean left feeling pressured & overwhelmed. And guilty.

I haven’t made time to be crafty in years & haven’t had time in the past year. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s a new mom thing. Maybe it’s a working mom thing. Maybe it’s a multiples mom thing.

But all I know is that now somehow I’m supposed to turn into super mom that can whip up perfect DIY holiday creations in our spare time.

Or not.

Read the rest here. Is there one craft I shouldn’t be missing out doing? Let me know in the comments!

Categories
Babies

Zach’s Weight Check Update

We went Monday morning as a follow up from Zach’s 9 month pediatrician check up. If you’ll remember, that’s when our PA was nervous at how small Zach still was. We decided as a result of that appointment, for me to stop breastfeeding him in the evenings & give him fortified bottle{s} instead. We also talked about continuing to encourage solids.

I’m happy to say the appointment Monday morning went really well. Zach had gained a pound {he was 15 lbs 5.5 oz naked}. So yes, he’s still little. And yes, he’s still not on the WHO growth chart. But as I told the doctor, I can see in photos that his cheeks are puffier & he’s eating bottles & solids great.

His doctor felt like he showed enough improvement that we don’t have to go back until their 12 month appointment! Our plan is to stick with what we’re doing. Keep encouraging healthy high fat solids & doing fortified bottles at daycare & in the evenings. She also recommended added rice cereal/oatmeal into yogurt/fruit to up the calorie count just a little bit more.

She gave me samples of a new preemie formula to start using. Gerber Good Start {the preemie 22 cal version}. Anyone used it? Since I noted my frozen stash is dwindling & we might have to give part formula bottles at some point in the next couple months, she recommended the Good Start stating it was supposed to taste more like breast milk than Enfacare while still having all the preemie formula benefits. So we’ll start giving that a try when our current can is done.

Yay for our ‘{not so} lil guy beef up goal’ to be working! Here’s hoping he’s grown into the 9 month {16.5 lb+} summer outfits I got him at the consignment sale last Friday night by spring!

Categories
Reading

Perfect Match

I finished Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult last Thursday {I’m a fast reader}. And I’m left feeling that I’m 62% sure I read it before. Maybe? Years ago, I went on a Jodi Picoult tear, reading everything of hers that I could get my hands on. And Perfect Match was left in my PBS wish pile. So maybe I hadn’t read it.

I feel like if I had, it would’ve left a mark on my brain. But at the same time, reading it {maybe again} as a mother, makes me see events & characters completely different. Where before I would’ve felt very bad for 5 year old Nathaniel & his mother Nina as they dealt with his sexual assault, now I was haunted to the point of almost having to put the book down. Perfect Match definitely caused me to open up some communication lines with the husband over when to discuss stranger danger etc with the babies.

I won’t go into all the details & spoil this book for you, but as a mother of young children, the thought of Lucy or Zach being harmed by someone we know or don’t know or by whom we entrust their care, scares the shit out of me. And I honestly don’t know what I would or wouldn’t do if that situation occurred. So I can’t blame Nina for the actions she takes in Perfect Match. As a county DA who prosecuted sexual predators, she knew the way our system can {& does} often fail the young victims.

Perfect Match is yet another {like Lone Wolf} Jodi Picoult book that I couldn’t put down. You know that I normally read while pumping. The last two novels, I brought home with me & had to read at night before bed to get just a few more pages into it before the day was done.

Perfect Match is one of Picoult’s earlier books, so while it’s told from multiple points of view {first person from both Nathaniel & Nina}, the different voices don’t have their own fonts in this one. But the author does a great job with diction & sentence structure so that you can easily tell which character is currently telling the story.

I’d recommend Perfect Match to any Jodi Picoult fan. But I’d warn a new or young mom before hoping into this one blind.