Alphabet Soup

Planning   Yes, it's been a while.  I'm not going to apologize or give excuses.  I've just been dealing with a lot lately, and as usual when that happens the blog takes a hit.  That's just...me!  :) Earlier this month I cleaned out my pantry, which wound up being more of an undertaking than I had planned, but it definitely needed to be tackled.  I couldn't believe how chaotic the pantry had gotten!  This weekend, I decided to tackle the freezer, and restock it as well.  I know I am lucky to have a stand alone freezer.  I've had it for years and it is such a wonderful asset!  Like the pantry, sometimes it gets disorganized and I have no clue what's even in there!  I try to do a deep clean (I also have to defrost it...unfortunately it's not self-defrosting, lol) at least twice a year, and take an inventory, which I then print out and stick on the front of the freezer.  I don't always keep the inventory updated as I ...

When I was a little kid, I loved canned spaghetti.  I would even make a spaghetti sandwich out of the stuff.  I can't make this kind of story up!  What's funny is that real homemade spaghetti is actually one of the things that my mom would make, and it was good.  I just still loved the canned stuff too. Anyway, I can remember when the Munchkin was younger he would see commercials for Spaghetti O's and ask me to buy them.  In contrast to my childhood, I would never buy the canned version.  I caved and finally bought him a can so he could try it.  He took about two bites, declared mine much better, and wouldn't eat any more.  Score one for mom!  {virtual fist bump} But, you have to admit, Spaghetti O's are cute!  They just are.  Here's my take on a homemade version.  It makes a lot, be warned.  However, if you aren't feeding the entire neighborhood you can freeze it.  I tried it and it heated up quite well without ...

Do you remember when fast food french toast sticks became a hit?  You know -- those deep fried sticks of bread?  Yeah, I don't know exactly when it was, but I do remember asking my mom to take me to get some.  I thought they were wonderful!  And I have to admit, there are times when I still get a craving to run to Sonic and order some.  I will even admit to feeding them to my kids before.  However...never again.  Not after making them myself!  :) They're really not that hard to make, and the best part?  You can make them ahead of time, freeze them, and just heat them up when you're ready to eat.  The first time I made these, Munchkin and Squirt gobbled them up.  Sprout?  Well, he was too busy being...himself to eat that morning.  Although I did catch him taking a "picture" with a toy camera instead of eating.  Couldn't possibly be because I had just been taking a picture of the food myself, right?...