Things I cooked today.

If you are a regular reader (and I sure hope you are, and if you are, thank you thank you thank you), you know that Mr. Smith and I have had a rough couple of years (legally speaking). My dirtbag mother-in-law is suing us and that has put a great deal of strain on us.

Don't get me wrong. Our marriage is fine, better than fine, actually. We are very happily married. Our children are wonderful, puzzling, maddening creatures, but our lives, except for one big, fat, glaring exception are pretty happy and basically good.

In an effort to make Mr. Smith's 42nd birthday happy, I decided to make him breakfast. He slept in, and I got breakfast started. I ended up making lunch (okay, it was frozen, but I still had to cook it!) and dinner. Oh yeah, and dessert.

Boy are my dogs TIRED!

1. Buttermilk pancakes (Trader Joe's has awesome pancake mix that was on sale for $1.99!)


2. Applewood bacon (As Mr. Smith says, "Bacon makes everything better).

3. Kind of gross Weight Watcher English Muffin Egg and Cheese Sandwich (for the 3 year old that ate one of everything today and refused to wear anything more than a diaper all day). These are gross because the microwave, in general, is not kind to any bread products. English Muffins, it turns out, are bread products. One side gets hard enough to drive penny nails and the other side is wet and soggy. Blech.



4. Scrambled eggs to appease the raging 3 year old who was not happy with the quantity of scrambled egg product contained in #3.

5. Trader Joe's Frozen Fettucini Alfredo (YUM!)

6. Trader Joe's Frozen Haricot Verts (you know, those little French green beans that are so great). Added to #5 with a little leftover #2 (bacon) thrown in for good measure.

Baby C's hands and face are regularly stained indigo. She is on an all freeze-dried fruit kick
(mostly blueberries, hence, the bluish cast to her hands and face).

Is 14 months too young to be described as an Emo kid?



7. That Graham Cracker Thing in celebration of Mr. Smith's 42nd birthday. If you have failed, for what ever reason, to make this recipe, shame on you!

8. Mr. Smith's Mythical Mystical Bundt Cake also in celebration of Mr. Smith's 42nd birthday. The whole sordid tale of this recipe is here. Apparently, when you are freshly 42 and can't make a decision about which cake you would like for your birthday, you get both of your choices. I tried to be a hard ass and insist on one, but I got guilted into making both by my mother and Aunt M. They both uttered the following, "After all, it is HIS birthday." So I did some more damn dishes and got to work.

9. Horseradish Mashed Potatoes.

10. More Trader Joe's Haricot Verts.

Pop Pop (aka The Monkey) and H clean up after my cooking frenzy.

I am not complaining. Obviously, I love cooking. I have a cooking blog for Pete's sake! I love to cook for this man, my wonderful, patient, loving, handsome husband. He is a self-proclaimed picky eater, but I know, if Mr. Smith likes it, it is culinary gold.

Our anniversary (4th) was yesterday. Yup, we got married the day before his birthday.

Anyway, before I pass out after all this cooking, I just want to let Mr. Smith know, you are the light of my life. Every single day that you are in my life is like Christmas, the best birthday, the best day ever.

You have given me everything I never thought I would have and for that, I will be forever in your debt.

Thank you for joining me on this crazy ride. I can't imagine what the next four, or forty years hold for us!

To wrap up this post, I wanted to include a quote from H. When asked what his hand smelled like, "Dog ball."

I think that kind of says it all doesn't it?

Post edit: I forgot that I also cooked Orzo (aka "Little Tiny Noodles") for H for lunch. That was after his absurdly huge breakfast and mid-morning snack.