Tasty Tuesday - Chicken Tetrazzini

I recently made this delicious casserole for a pot luck because it looked pretty easy to make and I think that it is now one of my favorites! For the pot luck, I doubled the recipe and put it in a 9x13 pan instead and also left out the pimentos because I didn't have any. It still worked out great!

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked spaghetti (broken into 2-inch pieces)
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
3/4 cup boiling water
(Or you can use 1 cup chicken broth and omit the bouillon and boiling water)
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons diced pimientos, drained
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Directions: Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, dissolve bouillon in water. Add the soup, celery salt and pepper. Drain spaghetti; add to soup mixture. Stir in the chicken, onion, pimientos and 1/2 cup of cheese. Transfer to a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Fluff Talk Thursday!

Since I've begun using cloth diapers for my kiddos, I've had a few people ask questions about them: why, what kind, how many, how do you wash them, etc. And since Beth over at Happily Domestic is hosting Fluff Talk Thursdays, a weekly meme all about cloth diapering, I thought I would join in sometimes for any of my readers that are interested in learning more about it! After you are finished reading my post, click the Fluff Talk Thursday button at the top of my post to head over to Beth's blog and read what she and others have to say for the week.

This week's topic is cloth wipes, what system do you use?

I don't use very many wipes a day, only 1-2, so I usually just wet the wipes when I need them. My wipes consist of baby wipes, baby wash clothes, and extra regular wash clothes that we didn't use. I keep them stacked by my changing table next to a squirt bottle of my solution. I add a drop of baby wash, olive oil, and tea tree oil to about 1 cup of water. I just wet each cloth as I need them, so that I don't have wet clothes around getting smelly and mildewy. I also keep disposable wipes around for when we go out, but have found that tossing the cloth wipes into the pail with the diaper is easier than trying to have a separate garbage for disposables.

Last week's topic was showing a picture of your stash, and since we were on vacation, I missed it. Our computer isn't working right now, so I can't upload a picture, so I will just list the diapers we currently have.

16 Bum-Ware size medium that L has just outgrown
3 one size Blueberry deluxes
3 Fuzzi Bunz one size
3 Grobaby shells and 9 soakers
2 Wahmies one size
1 GAD Baby size medium
4 AppleCheeks shells and 8 inserts
1 Booroi shell and prefold
3 Meduim Fuzzi Bunz
1 Knickernappies one size
2 BumGenius one size
1 BumGenius organic AIO
1 WeeHuggers AIO
1 Drybees AIO
3 Happy Heiny small trainers

To see Beth's easy wipe system, head on over the Happily Domestic and check out her blog!

Fluff Talk Thursday

Since I've begun using cloth diapers for my kiddos, I've had a few people ask questions about them: why, what kind, how many, how do you wash them, etc. And since Beth over at Happily Domestic is starting to host Fluff Talk Thursdays, a weekly meme all about cloth diapering, I thought I would join in sometimes for any of my readers that are interested in learning more about it! After you are finished reading my post, click the Fluff Talk Thursday button at the top of my post to head over to Beth's blog and read what she and others have to say for the week.

This week's question is: Why Cloth? What made you decide to go the cloth diapering route? Who introduced you to the idea?

With my first 2 kids I never even thought about cloth. I just assumed it was pins, plastic pants, and saggy, bulky diapers. After I had L, I found taking 3 kids to the store was not the easiest thing to do and started looking for ways to not have a reason to go to the store. Since we get our milk from the farm, eggs from the chickens, and most of the veggies from the garden, diapers were one of the few things I still needed to get from the store all the time. I looked online and was amazed at the diapers that were now available! I found a site called The Cloth Diaper Whisperer with a ton of info and 2 of the article on it gave me a few more reasons to switch to cloth: How much money can you save? and 10 benefits to using cloth. However, I was pretty overwhelmed with all the options and wasn't sure where to start. I ordered a few FuzziBunz one size diapers, but when I got them on L, I really didn't like how bulky they were and was about to give it all up. Then I noticed on Facebook a college friend's kids were wearing cloth in her pictures! I asked her to recommend a few brands to start with. She said Bum-ware and Blueberry were her favorites. I tried them and loved them! The Bum-Ware are sized so they are very trim and the Blueberry one size ones are so absorbent because they use hemp, and are still fairly trim.

I am so glad I stuck with it and switched to cloth. I wish I had looked into it when I had J and saved all the money we wasted on disposables for him and S! And cloth diapers are definitely a lot cuter than disposables!

Tasty Tuesday - Fresh Blueberry Pie

Fresh Blueberry Pie

I always have way too many blueberries and spend a ton of time picking them every summer, so I make this pie quite a bit. It has become one of our favorites and is very easy to make!

Ingredients
Crust:
1 1/3 cups flour
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cold water

Mix flour, salt and oil and then sprinkle with water, 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing until all the water is absorbed. Make it into a ball and press it into the bottom and sides of a pie dish. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork and then bake a 475 degrees for 10 minutes.

Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold water
5 cups fresh blueberries, divided
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice

In a large saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and water over medium heat until smooth. Add 3 cups of the blueberries. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and add butter, lemon juice, and remaining berries. Stir until butter is melted and then put into pastry shell. Cool and refridgerate until serving.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Linked to: Smockity Frocks

Tasty Tuesday - Zucchini Bread

We still have zucchini coming out our ears, so I have been making a lot of zucchini bread this week. A few years ago I found a recipe for the best zucchini bread. It is so good! And it freezes really well, so you can make a ton and stick them in the freezer for later. Enjoy!

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup veg oil
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
1 cup chopped walnuts

Beat the eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla until thick. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and spices together and stir into first mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into two 5x9 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.