Bathtime for the babies!

I know this is technically a food blog, and you all come here for the recipes. But, as with all blogs, there is a real live person behind this operation, and I thought I'd introduce you to my life. How better a way to do that than to lead you through my day? I have a special treat for you--a photoblog that will take you through the adventure that was this Sunday. Oh the hilarity! Join me, will you?

After lunch, I returned to my basement to discover a muddy mess on my couch. Who could be the culprit? I set out to find her. It wasn't difficult, as she had left tracks everywhere!

My basement carpet is caked with the brown stuff.

Someone has been in my office...

And the bathroom...

Heading into the dining room...We must be getting close, I see a hint of the culprit now!

Ah ha! Caught redhanded! Getting ready to head back out to get even MORE muddy! Look at this mess!

"You have no proof! It wasn't me! I am innocent I promise!"--Jenny

"Mom, look what I can do!!! No need to worry about a little mud. What mud? I can catch my tail! Isn't this cool?"

What a brown noser.

She got what she deserved though. And her sisters got punished for it too. All three got a much needed bath today. Jenny didn't do too badly. She was pretty meek.

Smokey acted EXACTLY how we expected. She HOWLED. And squirmed. My old girl was NOT happy. Poor baby. She forgave me once she dried off though. She was purring when I gave her a treat later.

Keira surprised us both. While Smokey is declawed in front, Keira has claws on all four paws still. She's our wild child, so we were expecting a show. She freaked out a bit when J. turned on the water, and hooked her claw into my neck (check it out in the pictures below). She calmed down after we got going.

She looked like a drowned rat though. My pretty princess was not so pretty soaking wet.

It may not look like much, but that tiny dot is a puncture wound where her claw was stuck in me. Unfortunately, these are really unflattering pictures of yours truly.

The felines also got collars. With the recent installation of the doggie door, we've been a little nervous about them getting out, so we decided to make sure no one mistook them for strays. We didn't get name tags for them yet, but we will once they are used to the collars.

I had planned to cook tonight, and was going to have a recipe for you. Unfortunately, all of the water from the girls' baths and my laundry is standing in my garage right now. My main drain is clogged and blew the cap off my cleanout. Which means I have no use of my drains until one of my guys can get here to help me out (good thing I work for a plumbing company!). Just not the best environment for cooking in, when I can't run water in my kitchen or anything. Luckily, I have lots of material for you today :). Hope you enjoyed it!

A Non-Eggy Egg Casserole

There's something about me you should know. I am a little bit of a freak of nature. (You might have figured that out already.) I rarely do anything the way everyone else does it. Or if a food is really super popular, I probably don't like it. Take mayonnaise for example. Who doesn't like mayo? Me. That's who. Blech. Or Deviled Eggs. Or Egg Casserole.

So when my "other moms" (aka my mother's long time best friends) threw my wedding shower brunch, they had a dilemma. What in the world were they going to serve? Egg Casserole is the norm at these sorts of functions. And of course, Haley doesn't eat them (seriously, who doesn't like egg casserole, that's just weird)! Have no fear! TO brought this lovely concoction. I had tried it once before at some other get together right before the shower, and loved it. It was the perfect solution. She was kind enough to include the recipe in my shower book too :).

Sweet Girl's Shower Casserole

(Well, I had to give it a proper name didn't I, T??? :-P)

From T.O.

16 eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup Evaporated milk

1/4 cup butter

6 slices of bacon, browned

4.5 oz jar of dried beef

2 cans cream of chicken soup

3 cups milk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 cups shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Scramble first 4 ingredients and set aside.

Mix flour and onion powder with soup. Add milk and cook in skillet for about 5-10 minutes, or until bubbling. Cut up meat and crumble into mixture.

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Pour in scrambled eggs. Sprinkle with 1 cup shredded cheese. Pour gravy mixture over eggs and cheese. Top with 1 more cup cheese. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Missing Recipes...

For the most part, we are moved in and unpacked. We are down to the boxes of crap that we just don't know what to do with. The stuff that I just need to take a weekend and get out of the boxes and put away, but a lot of it is decorative stuff, or stuff for our living room. The problem? We don't have furniture for our living room. I also don't have the bookshelves for my office, so a lot of that stuff hasn't been unpacked yet. So I have a bunch of random junk boxes in my garage. It is driving me CRAZY!!! I am constantly running into nights like tonight, when I need something, that I know I have somewhere, but can't find it anywhere. I looked through every single one of those boxes. I had a very specific recipe I wanted to share with you guys, but it is in my recipe box that has not appeared yet. Urgh I am so frustrated!

Instead, I pulled out the recipe book that my sister made for my wedding shower. I found this simple recipe from my mom that made my mouth water with nostalgia. I remember munching on these at Thanksgiving every year, but I never realized she was the one who made them. Although as I'm writing that, I have the vague memory of eating them warm out of the oven...mmmm.... Anyway, I haven't made this recipe myself but these are fantastic, trust me. And the recipe looks fairly simple to make (and knowing Mom, it has to be simple to make. LOVE YOU MOM, but I know how much you to hate to cook!)

Oyster Crackers

From My Mom

1 pkg oyster crackers

1 cup Wesson oil

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing

1/2 tsp lemon pepper

Mix last 3 ingredients, add crackers. Spread onto cookie sheet. Bake at 200 degrees for 1 1/2-2 hours. Stir every 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container. Wash entire kitchen 3 times until there is no trace that you did any cooking in the last 6 months. (Hehe *kiss*)

Note--As you can probably tell...this post is all in good fun. My mom and I are two very different people. She loves to clean, I love to cook. We tease each other quite a bit about each others strong points (like when I knew that the mystery sauce served with the asparagus at dinner the other night was beurre blanc. I never heard the end of it.) My mom and I fought like cats and dogs when I was in high school, but now that I have moved out, we spend as much time as we can together. Love you Mom!!!!