Recipe Time and More

"More bocky!" Ahhhh, music to my ears. That was Easton at dinner last night actually asking for more broccoli! He also asked for more noodles--we had mac and cheese. He ate so well but it's a meal he'll usually do well with. We should have it more. You all should try it too. It's my "famous" tofu macaroni. But, we are sooooo not health-nuts, I think it's the only thing we eat with tofu but you can't even tell. We like the taste, even without knowing about all the tofu-y goodness. Here's the recipe:

10 oz. macaroni
12.3 oz. silken style tofu
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt to taste

Cook and drain noodles. Meanwhile puree the tofu in a food processor until perfectly smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan and add butter and cheese. Slowly bring to a gentle simmer, stirring often, until cheese is melted. Stir in the macaroni. Season to taste. If you want, bake it at 400 until top is golden and crusty.

Now for my own commentary...10 ounces of macaroni? The boxes come as 8 or 16. So, I use an 8 ounce box and add 2 small handfuls from another box. There...roughly 10 ounces or so. I also wanted to say that I don't salt ours. However, I use more flavorful cheese. Jason is always a fan of sharp cheddar but then I also buy the Kroger brand. We can really tell a difference in taste versus the Wal-Mart brand of cheese. So, that's what we do. And then Jason salts his anyway but mine doesn't need it. Oh, and I do bake mine while the broccoli cooks. In the annoying words of Rachel Ray: Yum-O! (No, it's not one of her recipes, I found it online).

Jason asks for this often. And Easton gobbles it up. Seriously, you should try it, my friends.
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Now that we're done with the cooking segment of the blog we can move on to other news. Sometimes it occurs to me how stupid my blogging is when I realize what some of my blog buddies or even my real life friends are going through. They've got real things they're dealing with and here I sit typing about phone nurses or Gymsters sessions. However, it's still our lives and our family so I'll keep talking about it, and sometimes we have real issues too, but thankfully not too often at all...it just makes me pause sometimes, ya know? Anyway...

I think Dalton is getting sicker. Last night I was worrying about him a little more. Then this morning he kept coughing and coughing. He even had a hard time nursing because he kept popping off to cough. Eventually he coughed so much and threw up a bunch of mucousy milk. Eew, right? Sorry. Poor guy. We tried nursing about 3 times over an hour. So, he got some nourishment but I'm still a little worried about him. I put him to nap in his carseat afterwards because a.) we had to leave for my doctors appointment before long and b.) I wanted him even more upright than his angled crib. I hope he gets better soon as I'm of course feeling guilty about his being sick so soon. Easton was 11 months old before he ever even got his first cold (okay, I know he had other things we were dealing with--like complete resuscitation and life support!, but still...) I feel bad that because I have such a hearty looking kid this time around I didn't treat him the same as far as making everybody wash their hands or keeping him away from germy zones (a.k.a. Gym and Circle Time...and Wal-Mart!) I know I can't prevent everything and it's likely that Easton is the one that gave it to the rest of us since the boys didn't get sick at the exact same time. I just still feel bad. My milk isn't enough to keep him healthy, and he's getting worse. Here I go with the guilt again...

Well, anyway, today has been good enough. Both boys were up before 8 and we just hung around till it was time to leave for my appointment. Jason met us there to watch the boys in the waiting room. This time the office was stupid again. Okay, so I'm not quite 6 weeks postpartum (I will be on Friday) so I originally had an appointment for Friday but it wasn't at a convenient time for J to watch E & D so I called to change it. I said, "I don't care which provider I see." But whichever incompetent office girl I spoke to was like, "Ohhhhh nooooo...you can only see the provider that delivered you." I know this is most likely preferred but is it really that big of a deal who does the follow up Pap smear, huh? So, they scheduled me with the doctor that delivered me for a few days before 6 weeks (which was today...you follow?) Okay, so the fact that it was a few days early doesn't matter at all, that's not really a detail you even need to remember for this story. My whole point is: they scheduled me with a different doctor anyway!!! I'm sitting there in my gown and drape and in walks another doc and I said, "Oh, you're not Eryn" and she said, "Oops. Am I supposed to be? Let me check. Do you want to see Eryn?" So I glanced obviously at the clock and I told her I didn't care I just wanted to see somebody. And I hear her in the hall saying, "This isn't my patient" and the cow receptionist going, "Yes huh" and all that B.S. Anyway, I saw the "wrong" doctor that came in and it was all okay...see, I knew it wouldn't matter. Jason stood in the waiting room saying hopefully, "This might be the last time we're ever here." That stupid office is just so darn flakey, except for the doctors which are great. Next time I need an OB/GYN I think I'm looking elsewhere...

While we're talking about doctors, I still haven't heard from Easton's surgery scheduler but I did decide (while nursing in the middle of the night) to call the general surgeon that would do the hernia operation. Because, why wouldn't I get a second opinion about the whole "combining-the-two-surgeries-at-once" thing? Duh--I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. I'm fine if that's truly what they recommend, but no other doctor has seemed to think it was a bad idea to combine the two. And even if they say it's fine we're still not "for sure" going to do the hernia yet anyway. We may just watch it a few more years. I dunno...I just want to know what our options are. Make sense?

Okay, well I still have no new pictures for you today. I'll have to fix that. And would you believe we still didn't go to Wal-Mart? I had to wake both boys up from their naps at 4 yesterday and they were both a little cranky. So, instead we headed to just the "regular" grocery store where I would have had to go to get the macaroni ingredients anyway. Wal-Mart stopped carrying silken tofu (or moved it to where I can't find it) and like I mentioned, we prefer the Kroger brand cheese in this particular dish. It was a quick trip where Easton could drive the car cart and Dalton could stay in the carseat instead of the Snugli. When we got home they were both all better. Whew.

I guess that's it from me. I'll try to snap at least a few pics of my cuties later today. Or tomorrow. Check back then...

Edited to add: Oooooh, Oooooh, check out the new "This Time Last Year" SLIDESHOW. I don't update it often enough (too hard on the laptop...or I'm too lazy) and there were too many winners to pick from. Fun. It's the month of April 2006. Now I know everyone wants to copy it since it is so very cool so go ahead. :) It's not like I invented slideshows, right?