Normal?

Is this normal?  Because lately I am starting to think that things don't happen in our house like they do in others.

My middle mini lost a tooth last night.  I am certain that losing a tooth is normal for a 7 year old.  But this is how the whole thing unfolded....

Mr. McGhee and the boy minis were snuggled up in my bed reading a book before bedtime.  My middle mini was laying there, listening, and playing with his loose tooth.  Apparently this book is so hilarious, that at one point, my middle mini laughed so hard, he lost his tooth!

Upon hearing that her brother had lost his tooth, my tiny mini went into full-on panic mode, screaming in terror because the tooth fairy was going to be coming that night.   So, I started consoling her and was doing my best to calm her down, wavering between losing my patience with her and understanding her fears.....because, I agree, the whole fairy coming into your room while you're sleeping thing is sort of freaky.

At this point, the boy minis were laughing hysterically at the flying tooth AND their hysterical sister.  I finally calmed her down and convinced her she is safe because we will leave the tooth on the back deck OUTSIDE of the house with a note on the door that says this......

Normal?

So, now I have this shaggy-looking adorable mini that despite missing 3 front teeth still needs to bed fed.

The first thought I had was grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I shared this tomato soup recipe back in January, but it is definitely worth a re-share.  I got this recipe from Our Best Bites, which I can honestly say I love every recipe from them that I have tried!

Creamy Tomato Soup (makes about 3-4 cups)

• 1 T reserved oil from sun-dried tomatoes, or olive oil
• 1 C chopped onion
• ¾ C shredded carrot
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbs dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2/3 C sliced sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 14 oz chicken broth
• 3 oz reduced fat cream cheese
• optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Optional: Parmesan cheese and fresh basil for garnish (not optional in my opinion...but this is the way recipe was written). 

1. Place oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic, and cook for 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring often.

2. Add sun-dried tomatoes, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, salt, pepper, oregano and basil.(If you’re adding red pepper flakes, add them now)

3. Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Remove from heat. Place soup in a blender (do this in 2 batches if necessary). Add cream cheese. Remove center piece of blender lid to allow steam to escape, but place a paper towel over opening in blender lid to avoid spills. Process for a few minutes until smooth. You could also add cream cheese directly to the pot and use an immersion blender to combine.

 

5. Add additional salt and pepper to taste and then divide soup among bowls. Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan cheese and a fresh basil leaf if desired.

Here's my soup simmering away.  

And here's how you blend it using a blender.  Make sure you take the top off of the lid and cover with a papertowel.  If you don't, the pressure will build up from the steam from the hot soup and pop the lid off while you are blending.  

And here it is all blended.  Delish.

We will eat our tomato soup with grilled cheese.  The minis will probably have plain grilled cheese on Great Harvest honey wheat bread with muenster and cheddar cheese.  Mr. McGhee and I will probably get all fancy and add pesto and avocado to ours.

And hopefully all of our teeth will stay put where they belong for the evening, so we can get back to "normal".

Irony, at it's best

Does anyone else here just love irony?  You know, moments like this when your family is enjoying the RV show and discussing how could anyone in their right mind ever justify spending $250,000 on this.....

.....followed by moments like this, when your family is crammed into the car while stranded for hours on the interstate which has been shut down due to a freak ice storm.

Irony.  It's hilarious!  I am still laughing about that 12 hour car trip that should have only took 6 hours.  When we finally made it to our friends house, we crashed and slept until the following morning.  We woke up to find muffins and cookies waiting for us.  Now, I always knew that my bestie was truly a great friend because she does these things and these things for me.  But, she totally outdid herself this time, by cooking for me!  Yeah!  Nobody ever cooks for me, so I was way excited.  So excited I forgot to take pictures.  But, I will post the recipes of everything she made.

Morning Glory Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar (bestie only used 1/4 cup and they were still sweet)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 apple - peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup apple butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons toasted wheat germ
• • 
    
  • Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly oil 18 muffin cups, or coat with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, apple butter, oil and vanilla.
  3. In a large bowl, stir together flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in carrots, apples and raisins. Stir in apple butter mixture until just moistened. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 full.
  4. In a small bowl, combine walnuts and wheat germ; sprinkle over the muffin tops.
  5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and spring back when lightly pressed.

  
  

  
  

Starbucks Molasses Cookies

• 2 ¼ cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon allspice (optional)
• ½ teaspoon clove (optional)
• ¾ cup unsalted butter , softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 extra-large egg
• ¼ cup regular unsulphured molasses
• granulated sugar (for coating cookie dough before baking)
• vegetable oil cooking spray (for coating) (optional)

Directions:

1. 1
   Heat oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the center. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. 2
   Sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves into a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. 3
   Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. With mixer on medium speed, beat in the egg and molasses, then increase the speed to high and beat about 1 minute longer, until the mixture no longer looks curdled. Scrape the sides with a rubber spatula several times while mixing.
4. 4
   Mix in the flour mixture on low speed. The batter will be rather stiff. Place some granulated sugar on a small plate or saucer. Use a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop or a measuring cup to form 1/4-cup portions of dough. (Spray the cup or scoop with the optional non-stick vegetable spray to make it easier to release the dough.) Transfer the dough to your hands and roll each portion into a rough ball, then roll each ball into the sugar. Place six sugared balls on each baking sheet, spacing them evenly, because they will spread during baking.
5. 5
   Dampen your fingers with water and press down lightly on each cookie to flatten it a little and dampen the top. Refrigerate one filled baking sheet while the other bakes.
6. 6
   Bake for 12 minutes, or until the cookies have spread and are firm to the touch. Rotate the sheet 180 degrees halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet.
7. 7
   Note: This dough can be frozen for slice-and- bake cookies. Just roll into a log 2-1/2 inches thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil. Can be stored in the freezer up to 6 months.

These cookies are so delish!  Like, really really really delish.  Today when I was cleaning out our car, I found a piece of cookie in my mini's car seat from last night's car trip.  I ate it.  That's shameful, but the cookies are that good!

Creamy Tomato Soup (from Our Best Bites)

• 1 T reserved oil from sun-dried tomatoes, or olive oil 
• 1 C chopped onion
• ¾ C shredded carrot
• 4 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper 
• 1 Tbs dried basil 
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano 
• 2/3 C sliced sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (14oz) can chicken broth 
• 3 oz reduced fat cream cheese (we were all fancy and used goat cheese)
• optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (I have never done this)

Optional: Parmesan cheese and fresh basil for garnish

1. Place oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion,  carrot, and garlic, and cook for 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring often.

2. Add sun-dried tomatoes, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, salt, pepper, oregano and basil.(If you’re adding red pepper flakes, add them now)3. Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.  Cover pan and simmer for 30  minutes.4. Remove from heat. Place soup in a blender (do this in 2 batches if necessary). Add cream cheese. Remove center piece of blender lid to allow steam to escape, but place a paper towel over opening in blender lid to avoid spills. Process for a few minutes until smooth.  You could also add cream cheese directly to the pot and use an immersion blender to combine.5. Add additional salt and pepper to taste and then divide soup among bowls.  Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan cheese and a fresh basil leaf if desired.

This soup is delish.  We served it with garlic cheese bread from Great Harvest, greek olives, strawberries, carrot sticks, sliced orange bell peppers, and a spinach salad.  

Spinach salad

• spinach leaves
• sliced green apple
• raspberries
• goat cheese, crumbled
• red onion
• walnuts
• brown sugar
• butter (1-2 tbsp)

1.  Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Add brown sugar and stir.  Add walnuts.  Stir for several minutes.  Remove from heat and cool walnuts on a plate.

2.  In a large bowl, layer spinach, apple, raspberries, cheese, onion, and walnuts.  

3.  Enjoy with your favorite salad dressing.  I recommend trying to make your own.

Dressing 

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• salt and pepper

1. Add chopped garlic to balsamic vinegar
2. Season with salt and pepper
3. Slowly add olive oil and stir to mix. 

It was a truly delicious weekend.  Despite the irony, we also had a blast at the RV show.  Here's a few pictures, I thought you would enjoy!

Mr. McGhee is thrilled to fry up a burger for that sweet lady behind him.

Look mom, a potty!

My dream fridge.  In an RV.  

School lunch-inspired dinner

Am I the only one with fond school memories of Tuesday tomato soup with grilled cheese lunches?  You know, when the cooks opened 10 lb cans of this....

And slapped a few slices of this....

on this.....



Delish, right?  Fill your belly with and you were all set for a mean game of red rover at recess time. 

Tonight's dinner was inspired by all those warm fuzzy tomato soup Tuesday memories.  We had tomato soup and grilled cheese.  This soup is my favorite, I got the recipe from Our Best Bites.  This recipe makes a small batch, I would recommend doubling it. 

A quick **sidenote** before we start.  I am not a fan of canned tomatoes because of the controversy surrounding them.  If you can find diced tomatoes in a jar, I highly recommend it.  If you can buy fresh tomatoes and boil them and peel them, good for you!  I live in the middle, and would have to drive about 8 hours to find a decent tomato right now, so I used jarred tomatoes.  Also, cream cheese.....I would consider cream cheese a processed food, however my unprocessed food girl crush says it's okay.  So, we're moving forward with cream cheese!

Creamy Tomato Soup

• 1 T reserved oil from sun-dried tomatoes, or olive oil
• 1 C chopped onion
• ¾ C shredded carrot
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbs dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2/3 C sliced sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 14 oz chicken broth
• 3 oz reduced fat cream cheese
• optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Optional: Parmesan cheese and fresh basil for garnish (not optional in my opinion...but this is the way recipe was written). 

1. Place oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic, and cook for 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring often.

2. Add sun-dried tomatoes, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. (If you’re adding red pepper flakes, add them now)

3. Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Remove from heat. Place soup in a blender (do this in 2 batches if necessary). Add cream cheese. Remove center piece of blender lid to allow steam to escape, but place a paper towel over opening in blender lid to avoid spills. Process for a few minutes until smooth. You could also add cream cheese directly to the pot and use an immersion blender to combine.

 

5. Add additional salt and pepper to taste and then divide soup among bowls. Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan cheese and a fresh basil leaf if desired.

Here's my soup simmering away.  I am always tempted to not blend it, and just try it like this but I know the mini McGhees will resist eating it that way with all those big chunks of vegetables floating around in there.  Therefore, I blend it in order to fool please the minis.

And here's how you blend it using a blender.  Make sure you take the top off of the lid and cover with a papertowel.  If you don't, the pressure will build up from the steam from the hot soup and pop the lid off while you are blending.  It happens, trust me.....Cara, are you still cleaning tomato soup off your white kitchen cabinets?

And here it is all delicously blended.  Delish.

We had apple slices and grilled cheese on bread from Great Harvest since I ran out of time to make a homemade loaf (and because I really wanted to go visit the ladies at Great Harvest).  We put fresh basil and guyere, gouda, and sharp cheddar on our sandwiches.  I sliced them into small wedges, so we all could enjoy the different flavored cheeses.  We're cheese nerds raising mini cheese nerds. 

And, I did all of this without a hairnet and disposable plastic apron.  I sort of wish I would have had them to wear though, just to really capture those Tuesday tomato soup day memories.

And, for dessert........HOMEMADE YOGURT!  BOO-YAH!!!!  I finally figured it out, I needed to use a smaller crockpot and keep it really wrapped tight overnight.  I woke up this morning to this....

We drizzled some honey and mashed some brown bananas in it.  Delish.