Casseroles!

I just love them in the fall! So easy and delicious. Probaby highly fattening, especially the way I make them, but yummy nonetheless. Here are a couple I made this last week.

Jumbalaya Casserole

1 box Zatarans Jumbalaya rice mix

1 jalepeno (to taste)

1 package kielbasa sausage (cut up into bite size pieces)

1 tomato (can easily be left out if you don’t like them)

1 cup bread crumbs

4 cups shredded cheese (I used mexican blend)

cook Zatarans as directed and then add in jalapeno, tomato, kielbasa and any other seasonings you want (I added cayenne pepper yum!) then place in casserole dish and cover generously with bread crumbs and shredded cheese. Bake uncovered at 375 for 15-20 minutes and then broil for 3-4 minutes to really make the cheese crusty. Let cool for 10 minutes and then serve with a salad.

I liked that so much that I made another with a different twist a couple of nights later. The only thing I didn’t like about this next one is how greasy it seemed. Not sure how to remedy that, but it was delicious, just could use some refining in that area.

Twisted Kielbasa Potato Casserole

3 small potatoes chopped small (think 1/2 the size of a home fry, or smaller)

2 whole onions (I used one sweet and one red)

1 box of *rice

1 tomato

1 packet ranch dressing seasoning

1 pat of butter (for sauteing the onions)

1 package kielbasa

1/4 pound ground beef (season with kosher salt and pepper to taste)

4 pieces bacon (chopped)

4 cups cheese (I used half mexican blend and half fresh parmesan)

*1 cup bread crumbs

*I cannot cook rice. period. I think this might be part of the problem I had. I used a rice r roni which I don’t like, Zatarans or a plain, fluffy white rice would be better

* I did not have any bread crumbs this time so I used cheese alone and it does not make for as good a crust, use bread crumbs

cook up your rice as directed on packaging, cut up onions and saute with butter in pan then add the kielbasa and continue to saute on low heat to let the kielbasa soak up the flavor, add chopped bacon if desired (everything is better with bacon!)  Add tomato, cooked ground beef, potatoes and ranch dressing seasoning. Cook on low heat on stove top until potatoes are beginning to soften (they’ll fully cook in the oven) Place ingredient mixture in casserole pan and bake uncovered for 10 minutes at 375, then cover the top with bread crumbs and cheese and bake uncovered for about 15-20 minutes more and then broil for 3-4 or until top is golden brown. Let cool for ten minutes and serve. I didn’t have it with any sides, the consistency is like a thick stew or goulash and was very filling alone.

Making Grown Up Friends

The older I get the harder it is to make meaningful friendships. Scratch that, it’s always been hard. Maybe for some people it’s different but for me I’ve always had lots of acquaintances, “bar friends”, people I party with, even share hobbies with, but true “Friends” have always been rare. And that is not a diss on all those people I know, it just takes a lot of effort and time to be a really close friend and, especially as you grow older, it seems like everyone already has that person in their life. That grade school friend, that “bestie” (I HATE that term BTW) from way back when, you know what I mean. And then with kids and a husband and a job, there’s not much time to make new friends and cultivate new relationships. But….I feel like I’m turning a corner there, I now have a few people in my life with whom I am making it work, people who don’t mind coming and sitting at my  house with me and my children, people who are ok with going for a walk instead of out to a bar, people who feel natural in my life and not people whom I have to make time for because they can just be there anytime in my own everyday life and we enjoy each other’s company. For that I am grateful. Al will always be my best friend, but it sure is nice to have a few other outlets and people I can confidently called “friends”.

The New Normal

So life after baby as a parent has been a breeze, sometimes I wonder if adding a fifth wouldn’t even be a big deal because with Eli it doesn’t feel like any more work than before and isn’t overwhelming at all. It’s been simply fabulous. He is a delightful child and his little oo’s and coo’s and smiles are the most delicious thing ever. Not to say that he is any more adorable than our other children, I wasn’t in the two oldest’s lives at that age so I have no comparison, and with my own daughter, I don’t remember things clearly. I blocked out so much from that time in my life, it’s like remembering through a haze. And it was the first time so you don’t realize how precious each moment is until it’s gone. With Eli I try to imprint every second with him on the deepest part of my memory because I now know how fleeting childhood is in a way I couldn’t fully appreciate with my first.

Over the course of my pregnancy and since Eli’s birth I have fallen in love with Al in a whole new way, he is amazing with him and I love watching them together, the way each of their faces light up, there is nothing quite like the father/son bond when it’s done right. And it is being done so right with those two.

Unfortunately the relationship between Al and I has suffered. It’s stressful. We had kids before but they are older and more self sufficient. And they don’t sleep with us. We had our space and now we don’t, we share it with Eli. It’s not optimal and at times it is very frustrating because we’re trying so hard to find our new “normal”. There is less sex. There is less sex drive (on my end). There is less kid-free time for us (virtually none). It’s no cake walk, but we are getting there. Eli is turning four months in a few days (man time flies!) and I feel like we’re on the upward swing. Of course there are other factors too. We have both been under a lot of stress. Al has been unemployed for most of the year, I don’t know when my next paycheck is my last and it’s been that way for months (project funding gahh!!). That stresses a marriage also! So… new baby, check- job loss, extreme money problems, check- we’ve been through a lot this year but we’re still here and stronger I like to think.

So as we come up on six years together, I look forward to many more. We are stronger each day than the last and I love him forever and always and I know he feels the same way about me and that’s special. I might have challenges but I am a lucky woman.