CHICKEN AND PASTA PRIMAVERA

Hey! Our internet has been down for the past 3 days so I haven't been able to look at the blog and I've missed out on all the news!! Al, I didn't think that putting Peyton's picture in the pick-up would cause such drama! It's amazing to me that Dave and Mitch work together EVERYDAY and still Dave is finding out info from you? I guess it's a guy thing that they don't talk, I think it's odd but hey I guess I not a guy right?! Peyton fell asleep in his bouncer the other day so I had to take a picture of him sucking his thumb!

I also found a good recipe, and it is acutally on the back of the cream of mushroom soup can. You have to get the "Healthy Request" can but it's for the Chicken and Pasta Primavera. It's really quick and easy and mighty tasty!

CHICKEN AND PASTA PRIMAVERA

1 can cream of mushroom

1/2 cup milk

3 TBS. grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 bag (16 oz) frozen veggies (I like just broccli but it calls for broccli, cauliflower,and carrots)

2 c. cubed cooked chicken

4 cups cooked spaghetti noodles

MIX soup, cheese, garlic powder,and vegetables in saucepan. Heat to a boil. COver and cook over low heat 10 min. or until tender-crisp.

ADD chicken and heat through. Serve w/ noodles

Lasagna Alfredo Roll-ups

Here is a good recipe I made a couple days ago and Dave was eating left-overs for lunch yesterday and Mitch wanted me to send the recipe. It takes a little time, but looks impressive.

Lasagna Alfredo Roll-ups

8 lasagna noodles
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach
2 Tbsp thinly sliced green onion
1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
½ tsp salt
1 egg
Olive garden Alfredo sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Rinse in cold water and drain well. Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan over medium heat add oil and cook spinach and green onions until tender, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat and stir in ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt and egg. Preheat oven to 375. Place noodles in a single layer on a sheet of waxed paper. Evenly spread some of the cheese mixture on each noodle. Roll up each noodle from the short end, jelly-roll style. In a 8x12 inch baking dish, spoon about ¾ of the Alfredo sauce on the bottom and spread evenly. Arrange the rolled noodles, seam side down, in the dish. Top with mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce. Cover loosely with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the cheese is melted. Serve.

(I also make this with bacon, cooked chicken, and steamed broccoli instead of spinach and green onions. I fry 1 pkg chicken and 1/2 pkg bacon together, steam the broccoli for 5 minutes, then add it all to the ricotta cheese mixture. It's good!)

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

½ cup butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups heavy cream
1/8 tsp pepper
Pinch salt
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, cream, pepper and salt, and bring mixture to a simmer. Add the cheese and continue to simmer sauce for 8 minutes, until thick.

Our Feathered Friends

We took the kids to feed the ducks on Monday night. They had such a fun time--even the older boys loved it. Kacie was so funny. She just giggled the whole time.

Haley has been wanting baby chicks for weeks and we finally broke down. I am affraid these are going to be more work than I bargained for. The kids are excited to have them, though, and it is fun to see them get excited. Brett says we are real hillbillys now that we have chickens--I think he's right!

Ok, Yum!

I just made Brigit's Buttermilk Pancake and Syrup recipe for lunch. They are delicious! I tasted them and said to the kids, "Mmmm, these taste like cake." Kyler said, "No, mom, they're better than cake!" And Porter kept saying, "I want another one mom!" So, Brigit, thanks for another great recipe!

Word of caution to you others who make the syrup, she really did mean use a large pan! I was thinking large sauce pan, so I used my biggest little pan (did that even make sense?!) and it overflowed all over my cooktop when I added the soda. Not a big deal, just a word of caution...

Now I'm going to go have 4ths! :)

Pictures and Pancakes

We got our JCPenney pictures back yesterday. It just reminds me of our crazy day, hard to believe they all look so pleasant in the picture. I love all your blogs and pictures. Sounds like you're all doing great! We're just waiting for spring to come here. Yesterday day was nice, we all got a little sun at the park. Brigit's pancake recipe reminds me of our favorite wheat pancakes. Here's the recipe, if you're ever in the mood for wheat pancakes. They're very hearty and yummy with Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. I think I'll make your buttermilk pancakes for lunch today, Brigit, so I don't have to wait until tommorrow morning to try them!

Wheat Pancakes

2 cups wheat flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup oil
2 cups milk
2 eggs

Cook on hot griddle. Flip. :)

A Favorite Breakfast Recipe

Hi All,

I hope that things are going well. We had a ton of rain today. I hope that it helps "green" things up a little. Our lawn needs a lot of help (hope Dan doesn't read this).

Anyway, here is a recipe that we love. My kids can't seem to get enough when I make these pancakes. Enjoy!!!

Buttermilk Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

2 1/2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
2 eggs
4 Tbs oil
2 1/2 cups buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients then add eggs, oil, and milk

Buttermilk Syrup

1 cube real butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups white sugar

Melt butter, add buttermilk and sugar. Stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil, remove from heat add:

1 tsp soda (Make sure the pan is large, soda expands mixture)
1 tsp vanilla

Peyton's New Pickup

Hey everyone! Here's Peyton sitting in our new pickup. Mitch's dreams finally came true and we bought a pickup on Saturday. It was funny because the salesman gave Peyton a balloon. It was bigger than him! It was the biggest baloon I'd ever seen, and he loves it! We are also going to be going to San Franscisco at the end opf May for 6 days to visit my best friend, so that will be very interesting to take Peyton, he has never slept any where except at home or even been in the car that long (we fly out of Boise) so I am really excited but nervous too! Any advise to make things run more smoothly I'd appreciate from you more experienced mothers...So anyway I hope everyone had a good weekend!!

Growing Up!

Before

After

I can't believe that my baby is growing up! He had his hair cut for the first time the other day. It is crazy how much they grow up when you trim off the baby hair. And, in Cole's case (well all of my kids) it is crazy how much he looks like his dad!!!

Not only did he get his first haircut, but I also finished nursing this week. He takes milk from a sippy cup and loves it! We bought Abbie a new booster seat for the car, so Cole now gets to move into her forward facing car seat. AND, we left him with a babysitter for the first time tonight while we went to dinner. So many changes!!!


Keep the posts coming! We love them!!

Yeah! I realized that I didn't have enough patience with the loading part and so I figured it didn't work--guess it was. This is just Kacie trying on hats. Hopefully I will post more exciting pictures in the future.

This is my attempt at this blog. It has been fun to read about everybody and to see pictures. Everything is going well with us. I am "training" for a couple of fun runs this summer, so this is everyones invitation to join me--it's always more fun with more people! I'll try to get a picture posted. Hope all of you are well!

Hey everyone! I hope everything is going well. Mitch has finished school and is just working now Yahoo! It is so nice having him just come home from work and just being home and not have to go do homework! But I'm excited that he will be working close to home noe on Bev and Perry's instead of driving to Victor. Sorry Al, I guess now you'll have to put up with Dave coming over here all the time now. It's not fun..But I have finally gotten motivated to start on Peyton's scrapbook I did 5 pages yesterday! Aren't you proud of me!? ;) Anyway I still have a lot o f work ahead of me but it fun. I love to scrapbook it's just getting started and getting all the pictures organized. Well I hope everyone have a fabulous day!!

10 Reasons Why Everyone Needs to Come and Visit Us in Denver This Summer

10: Estes Park - a fun mountain town (like Jackson or Yellowstone) where elk roam the streets.

9. Water World - a huge water park

8. Colorado Rockies Baseball Game

7. Six Flags Theme Park

6. Denver Zoo

5. Downtown Aquarium and Children's Museum

4. Boulder - street performers, acrobats, Cheesecake Factory, need I say more?

3. Nature and Science Museum

2. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert (we bought extra tickets)

1. Just to see us - this might be our last summer here????

Boston Cream Cupcakes

This is a great new easy recipe I tried this morning and they are really good! so I had to share...

Boston Cream Cupcakes

1 pkg (18.25 oz) yellow cake mix
1 cup cold milk
1 pkg (6 serving size) Jello-O Vanilla Instant Pudding and Pie filling
8 oz tub of thawed Cool Whip
4 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cake batter and bake in 24 greased muffin tins as directed on package. Cool 10 minutes in pans. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes until well blended. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken. Meanwhile, using a serrated knife, cut cupcakes horizontally in half. Gently stir 1/3 of the tub of whipped topping into the pudding. Spoon 1 heaping Tablespoon onto the bottom half of each cupcake; cover with top of cupcake.

Microwave remaining whipped topping and the chocolate in small bowl on HIGH for 90 seconds (stirring every 30 seconds) until chocolate is almost melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Frost each cupcake with about 1 1/2 tsp. of the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes before serving. Store leftover cupcakes in refrigerator. (Makes 2 dozen)

Easter Sunday

Hi everyone! I didn't know if anyone still checks out my blog, and I put this picture of my kids on there but I wanted to share it with you guys too. So here it is of them on Easter. A rare moment that they all stood still and looked at me at the same time!

I had some of those JCPenney Portrait coupons so I decided to take the kids to Idaho Falls and get their pictures taken yesterday. What a nightmare! First, Porter would NOT sit still so we only got one picture of all 3 of them looking somewhat pleasant, but I felt lucky that we got at least one! Then, while we were waiting FOREVER for the people in front of us to pick their pictures the kids were climbing around in a shopping cart, and Lexi's skirt got caught in the wheels and it pulled her skirt clear off so she was standing there in her underwear. Kyler tried to get out of the basket and it tipped over on top of he and Porter. It sliced Kyler's finger and it was bleeding, and fell on Porter's leg (I was afraid for a minute his leg was broken). The boys were screaming and everyone was staring. It was so embarrassing. The store manager said an accident report had to be filled out, so 2 1/2 hours after we went in we finally came back out to drive home. What an adventure! Everytime I take the kids to Idaho Falls I always think, "I'll never do that again!" And then it's like childbirth and I forget until the next time I do it again! Ahhh!

Hi All,

Thank you so much for posting all of the pictures from the egg hunt. It looks like the kids had a great time. I can't believe how big Ethan and Peyton are. They are all adorable.

Here are a few pictures of the kids on Sunday morning. Cole has decided not to cooperate for pictures anymore.

We love hearing from everyone. Please keep the pictures and recipes coming!!

Love,

Brigit

Hey everyone! It's a miracle...I can blog!! I hope everyone had a good Easter. I'll repost Peyton's pictures...

We love Easter-time

We had a great time at the Robinson Family Easter Egg Hunt! Always a favorite. We missed you Debbie, Bill and family and Dan, Brigit and family! I always get carried away with pictures and I took a million, sorry to post so many! Perry said they're probably not doing an Easter egg hunt next year at their new house (they won't have a yard yet), so maybe we can have it in Victor next year. We have to keep the tradition alive! I would love to see everyone's pictures so feel free to post away (Kris, Kara, and Katie this means you!) :) P.S. Katie, also I would love your recipe for those cookies you were talking about, with peanut butter and no flour. Thanks! (Oh, and also if you want to see the photos bigger you can just click on them.)

Easter Eggs and Cupcakes

I hope that everyone is having as much fun as we are getting ready for Easter. The kids and I made bunny cupcakes and then colored Easter eggs.

The weather has been extremely cold the past couple of days. The high today was 26 degrees. Needless to say, we didn't get to attend any egg hunts.

Dan went fly fishing today with some of the doctors that he works with. I hope he isn't frozen!!

I hope that everyone had a great time at Bev's. I wish so bad that we could have been there. Please send/post pictures of the kids. We would love to see them.

Happy Easter!!!

General Conference

Didn't you all love General Conference? It is always one of my favorite weekends. This a picture of Dave wrestling with the boys on Sunday. He had them laughing pretty hard.
Then we played Hi-Ho Cherry-O (a game I loved when I was little). We're looking forward to the Easter egg hunt this weekend! That's another one of my favorite things! We never did that when I was little so I love it for our kids. I think it's so fun. Anyhow, hope you're all doing well!

Peyton

Hey everyone! Well things are going good here Mitch will be done with school on Thursday!! He said that on Thursday the angels will sing and champagne will fall from heaven! Anyway you get the idea that he's excited. Peyton is doing great he's 5 months today! I can't believe it he is so fun. He definitely keeps me busy. I'm sending some recent pictures His favorite toy is his feet..good thing their always attached and he doesn't drop them! and Al he loves the book you gave him!!;) Anyway I hope everything is going great for all of you!
luv ash

Hi All,

I thought that I would see if I could post a picture.

If I can get this to work, I'll try to post a picture of Cole that I took the other day. He was so proud of himself; while I was in the shower, he got hold of the toilet paper roll. He had toilet paper all over the bathroom. Along with toys and dirty clothes (I had just sorted the laundry).

I hope the everyone is doing well. Please write soon. We miss hearing from all of you!!

Testing?

This is all new to me. I am hoping that this works. If it does, I'll post a few pics tomorrow. Thanks so much for setting this up Ali. I think it will be a lot of fun and a great way to keep in touch!