not tuna noodle casserole, tuna pasta

dinner tonight needed to happen fast. my husband left his lunch at home (again) and called on the road to say he was starving. mr. hyde has nothing on my sweet, scholarly, husband when he's hungry. so, pasta it was. and oh, what pasta. when i waitressed at an italian restaurant during my misguided youth this particular pasta was one of my favorites. it also happens to be one of the first things i made for my husband, and consequently, one of the reasons he didn't head for the hills when he got to know me better. it's simple and tasty, just heat olive oil in a pan, before the oil is hot put some red pepper flakes in so they will flavor the oil, which by the way, is the sauce so don't be stingy with it. when the oil is nice and hot add plain ol' canned tuna. if you want to spring for it you can get the stuff packed in olive oil and add it with the oil it came in, if you're like me (cheap) press as much water out as you can before plunking it in the pan, mince a clove or two (for us three) of garlic and put it in at the same time as the tuna. you still want the garlic to be sharp when you serve it, not sweet and browned. salt to taste. give the pan a couple of good shakes and heat the tuna through. squeeze some lemon juice in once it's hot and sprinkle with some dried parsley. could you get cute and use fresh parsley? sure. don't get carried away with the lemon or the parsley though, the star here is the pepper flakes and tuna. pour over the pasta of your choice and serve with grated cheese and fresh lemon slices. if it looks a little dry when you toss it together just add some olive oil on top.

chili verde, the second generation

so the recipe for the chili verde is already out there, it's one of our favorites. usually when i make this, as i believe i stated in the recipe, i use a rather large pork roast, usually butt, cushion, or picnic shoulder. this being the case when i made a batch a few weeks ago i had about a quart of leftovers, which i put in a plastic bag and threw in the freezer. last night i wanted mexican food badly, as only a pregnant lady can, and decided to try something new for the leftovers. i'm going to level with you, mostly i wanted to cut down on the dishes i had to wash. so here's what i did: i warmed about 9 small corn tortillas, i mixed the chili with a hand full of shredded 'taco' cheese and rolled enchiladas in my 8x8 glass casserole dish, nothing fancy. it wasn't greased, there wasn't any extra sauce to layer under it, it just all went into little rolls crammed into the pan, i put a little warm water in the bag the chili had been in and swished it around to get all the sauce out and poured that over the enchiladas. i spooned refried beans right out of the can all over the top, used my scissors to chop some fresh cilantro over the beans, and topped with cheese. cover with foil and bake for about an hour, maybe only forty-five minutes, until heated through. i just served it with chips, a tub of salsa from the store, and a chopped up avocado. yumm!

thing three update

well, our wonderful OBGYN got us in monday afternoon to talk over the ultra sound. our regular appointment was for wednesday, so it wasn't really that early. after i once again checked out right on target for weight and blood pressure and tummy size the dr came in and cheerfully said, "well, there is nothing else wrong in your ultra sound, so this means nothing. it can be cause for concern, but not to you, you're fine." he did say that he might (might!) send us to a specialist for a detailed ultra sound to track/compare baby's growth in 6 weeks, but that would be after next months appointment. so, after about three more rounds of the "you're fine, your baby is fine" litany he smiled, shook our hands and said, "see you in a month!" our feelings afterward: let down. hunger. we shuffled off to wendy's saying things like, "well it's a relief, of course, but i knew we were fine." and "see i told you, we're all good, the baby was fine all along." because these are the brave things you say after a long weekend of trying not to worry, because worry wont help.

thing three

i may have mentioned before that we are expecting thing three this june, or as it happens, a bit earlier. this was one of those times when one partner says, "hey, you know, we could do that again." (my husband) and the other partner (me) laughs and says "well yes, but let's wait just a bit, shall we?" and then POOF the jig is up. my mother warned me about this, she said one afternoon she and my father had a conversation that went something along the lines of "hey, lets have kids" (my father) "hey, let's have puppies instead" (my mother) and there was my brother. apparently the women in my family are highly susceptible to suggestion. this left me a bit on the ambivalent side when, about 5 months ago, i confirmed that i was expecting, again. already. so soon. thing two had left me with some problems in my back and the joint in my pelvis that only just started feeling better a few months before, and i was terrified of going through all the debilitating pain again. the delivery was a breeze, but at around two and a half months my back went out, my pelvic joint slipped and the bones overlapped into a pinching position, and there they stayed until evan was about six months old. i was working my way to better back health and a slimmer pair of jeans at the gym, and finally starting to progress, and now i'm gaining again. *sigh* fast forward to about 8 weeks ago, i'm warming up to the idea, i really am. then i start bleeding. and i panic, just a bit. i get a sitter for the kids, my husband runs me down to the dr, and the whole time i'm thinking, "i finally get on board and you bail on me? i don't think so. stay in there baby, stop scaring mama." the dr does an ultrasound and everything checks out. the bleeding stops and i have to sit on my butt for a week. we have a follow up, and everything looks fine. great. in the mean time my back is getting worse, but not miserable, and my pelvic joint is getting sore but not nearly as bad. in short, things are looking up. then yesterday we go for the 20 week ultra sound. i'm now 21 weeks, and this is the one where they take forever and check everything twice. so the tech tells us it looks like a boy, we ooh and ahh over little fingers and toes, she finishes up, then says, "um, i'll be right back" then a dr breezes into the room, they goo me up again and she says "yep, see there's only two vessels showing right there, lets just have a look for anomalies" anomalies? like, abnormalities? i'm no english major but i'm pretty sure that's not a good word when it comes to my baby. she then proceeds to mutter things like "oh, good, there's one hand. he's a mover! and ok-ay yes there's the other hand. that's good. and, alright two feet. okay. trisomy 18, mutter mutter. spot on your placenta, oh you bled? okay, well there it is. i'll get this to your dr, soon." okay, we're given our little picks of feet and blurry arms and shuttled out. hmmm. last night i get home and all i can think is trisomy 18, what? turns out pretty horrific. then i look more. most sights say a baby can be fine with a two vessel umbilical cord, but there's a likelihood of the baby not growing as fast inutero due to decreased flow. so, either horrible genetic malformations and congenital problems with a high mortality rate, or a kinda small perfectly healthy baby. wow, i feel great. and gee, friday was a great day to schedule this, because now i get to spend the weekend with this hanging over us. i'll tell you one thing for sure, as i sit here with little (probably) Ian kicking like crazy as i type, i'm off the fence. i'll take a small healthy, somewhat sooner than hoped for baby, thankyou.

cottage reflections

i'm sitting here on the couch with my feet up, listening to my kids play outside, and marguritaville is on the radio. does it get better than this? i propose that it does not. sure, my husband could be home, but he's at work, slaving away because he loves me and these kids and if there's anything better than having him home, that's the one thing. could i have a frosty little drink in my hand? well, yes, but i did make some guava orange passion fruit juice earlier as a treat, and i'm about sugary drinked out. i'm content. i remember two moments in my life very clearly right now: the first, standing in the kitchen of my trailer (not makin' it up folks) experiencing once again the eye of the hurricane that was my life at the time wishing desperately that life could just always be as perfect as standing in the clean kitchen watching the curtains blow in the breeze. it didn't last back then, poor choices and perceived chains kept me from much peace. now i'm blessed to have a life that is almost always curtains in the breeze, so to say. the second, an afternoon bible study where the pastor posed the question "what does 'life abundantly' mean to you?" my answer was to not be hungry in any way. just let me have enough. enough food, enough love, enough warmth, enough friends. there have been more times than i can count when my life was anything but abundant and rather than make me greedy, it has made me humble. i don't need excess, i don't want too much, i'm no glutton. just give me 'that life abundantly' to the point of contentment, then pass the rest to the next guy. so today, the house is not sparkling, the yard is not ready for sunset magazine to show up, the kids are in a somewhat random state of being (dirt on shirts, snot on noses) and i remain adamant that this life, right here in this cottage, right now on this unseasonably warm january day, could not be improved.

aye, there's the rub.

if you've been to my house at all in the summer, chances are you've experienced The Rub. i'm talking dry bbq rub here, and i humbly posit that it's the best i've ever had. also, quite versatile. of course anything that starts with a big pile of brown sugar can't go too far wrong, can it? a few years ago my dad and i really got into bbq, we were watching shows and reading books and i wont lie to you, some bad things happened on our family grill. after much research (see also: beer drinking) i've settled on a good method for mixing up rub and i usually mix a whole bag of brown sugar at a time, as you experiment with your own i suggest starting with about 1 cup of packed brown sugar and adding spices from there. the key, i've found, with rub for pork or chicken is to soak the meat in cider vinegar for a while before cooking. for my pork ribs i usually let them soak in straight cider vinegar for a few hours, with the chicken i mix a bit of the rub in with the vinegar. the rub itself? i'm glad you asked! brown sugar, garlic salt, white pepper (or finely ground black pepper), paprika, a bit of poultry seasoning, a touch of cumin, ground cloves, and onion powder. this is a basic mix, and i don't list amounts because you'll just have to follow your nose. i've been threatened by my husband with work as a drug sniffing dog, and i know that not everyone has the same olfactory prowess as me, but you know what your family likes. if you mix a basic batch and try it, well maybe next time you'll add some cayenne, or mustard powder is a good treat but i don't put it in every time. tarragon is also a tasty addition but if i'm going to sauce my ribs at some point i don't add it because it gets buried and detracts rather than adds. the point is this: dry rub is a great way to go. as always i like it when i know exactly what's in the food i'm serving my family and friends and as a method it's simple and effective. back to said method. if your meat is still soaking, drain the excess vinegar and rub thoroughly with your mix. if you're cooking on the grill set yourself up for low, indirect heat. i like to start in the oven on racks, it's just easier for me to make sure little hands don't get burned that way. low and slow is the way to go here, 275 for about 4 hours is best. it sounds like a long time, and it is. flip your ribs or chicken some time in the middle. a note on chicken: if you're cooking breasts, mix the rub with the vinegar to marinate, reserve some marinade for basting, soak the meat in the rest and throw them right on a low grill, baste with the sauce a few times while cooking. leg quarters make excellent bbq meat and can cook for a long time to absorb the flavor without drying out, they come out tender and delicious. marinate them with rub and vinegar, then add extra dry rub when you put them in the oven. i usually start them at 300 for an hour then turn it down to 275. i think the meat is wonderful just with the rub, but you can brush it with your favorite bbq sauce at the very end if you like, or just serve it with sauce on the side so if people want that extra kick they can add it themselves.

thing one

pearls of wisdom passed to thing one from my husband and i:

God made you.
Jesus is a name for God.
You need your blood.
If you play with sharp dangerous things you can get cut (ouch).
If you get a cut big enough all your blood can go out, and then you die.

What he did with the assembled knowledge:

Mama i can't touch your kitchen knife because i can get a cut and the i'll die and then Jesus will have to make me all over again!

um. yes. sort of. okay, we'll leave it at that for now. i made it all the way until after bed time when i was taking my shower to laugh out loud, although, i'm not sure how. kids are priceless.