You’re probably wondering what’s with the deluge of recipes today, but my church back in Shell Lake is putting together a cookbook to honor a dear member.  (For those who attended our wedding, it’s for Ray Grahn who cooked meals at church for our out-of-town guests.  What a sweet guy he is!)  I thought I’d get a couple of my very favorites typed up to include.  Enjoy!

This is absolutely the best I’ve tasted.  We love to order this as an appetizer at restaurants, but honestly, this recipe is better than any we’ve had.  It’s a little bit of work to roast the garlic, but definitely worth it for the subtle flavor. (found on Allrecipes.com)

 Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

    * 4 cloves garlic
    * 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
    * 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
    * 1 (10 ounce) container Alfredo-style pasta sauce
    * 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
    * 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
    * 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

   1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F .
   2. Remove garlic from skins, place garlic in a small baking dish, and drizzle with olive oil Bake in the preheated oven 20 to 30 minutes, until soft.  Mash with a fork. 
   3. In mixing bowl, combine roasted garlic, spinach, artichoke hearts, Alfredo-style pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and cream cheese.
   4.  Place in a square baking dish, and bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until cheeses are melted and bubbly. Serve warm with tortilla chips or sliced baguettes or french bread.

In the oven for dinner in 30 minutes.  Delicious and easy, specially with a couple shortcuts!

Chicken Divan

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 2 cups cooked broccoli (or a 4 serving pkg) (Shorcut: Bird’s Eye SteamFresh Broccoli Cuts work wonderfully – cook right in the bag for 4 minutes, no draining necessary!)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 servings cooked rice (Shortcut: Boil-in-a-Bag rice – what a concept!)

Saute the chicken pieces in olive oil, seasoned dried onion, salt and pepper.  Mix cream of chicken soup and sour cream.  In a deep baking dish, layer cooked rice, cooked chicken pieces, soup mixture, broccoli.  Top with shredded cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. 

Good weekend.  And even better, good sleep last night!  Woohoo!  Going to bed last night wasn’t pretty because my kiddos were up late while we had a meeting here.  But Josiah only woke up once, and both kids slept until 7am.  Yeah!!!  I feel like a new woman.  And yesterday, I was feeling like I had a cold about to hit me, so I was just dreading waking up feeling terrible this morning.  But I don’t, so that makes me feel even better.  The week is starting off well!

Brian’s races were good… I’m sure he’s planning on a little post to summarize it eventually, but here’s my side of the story:  In Saturday’s race – full of good racers and a couple pros – he was in all the early breakaway groups, but they eventually got caught.  Then the chain dropped on his bike, and while he was pedalling through to fix it at the back of the group, a break got away, and they were the eventual 4 winners.  Bummer!  But in the finish sprint for the main pack (his group) he got 5th, so 9th overall, which was still "in the money".  Yeah!

We got back at 11:30 (adjusted time) Saturday night for a short night before a busy morning at church.  I didn’t go to the afternoon race, but he did pretty well.  One of his teammates was in the breakaway group, and ended up getting 2nd, while Brian got 7th.  Good weekend.  He’s pretty pleased with it overall, I think.  He raced long and hard both days, so it was great training for other multi-day races coming up. 

Ok, gotta go enjoy my Monday with my sweet kiddos.  Have a good one!  

So I’m here at the motel in Knoxville.  Last night was a TERRIBLE
night’s sleep for us, thanks to Josiah.  Not sure what his deal was,
but he was miserable, and thus, so were Brian and I.  Of all nights,
too, as I’d just put his swing away yesterday, so I had no place to put
him but his crib, where he was quite unhappy.  Brian’s LUCKY – as
several times I nearly shook him awake to go get it out of the garage
and set it up… but I didn’t. 

Analise is back in Birmingham with Bwacka and Poppa.  She’s had an
exciting day as we checked out a couple consignment sales, and we found
a fun little Dora van to add to the Dora collection at our house. 
She’s having a wonderful time with them, so it’s just Brian, Josiah and
I.  Josiah was a sweetie on the trip up, but the night already doesn’t
bode well.  He fought and fought and fought going to sleep, finally
ending up wailing in my arms for about 20 minutes.  Inconsolable.  Ag,
I hate not being able to make him happy – he was exhausted, too, but
still crying.  Maybe, though, he’s exhausted himself into a deep sleep
for a couple hours.  Man, we all need a good night’s sleep…

Brian’s race is tomorrow at 2:30, something like 75 miles – 5 laps of a
25kilometer course.  I really, really am to busy to have made a 4
hour-each way trip up here to Knoxville, but I just love watching him
race and cheering for him.  There’s a good possibility of rain, but it
still should be fun! 

Ok, i’m gonna go try to sleep. We’ll let you know how the race goes.  ‘Night, all!   

So I’m here at the motel in Knoxville.  Last night was a TERRIBLE night’s sleep for us, thanks to Josiah.  Not sure what his deal was, but he was miserable, and thus, so were Brian and I.  Of all nights, too, as I’d just put his swing away yesterday, so I had no place to put him but his crib, where he was quite unhappy.  Brian’s LUCKY – as several times I nearly shook him awake to go get it out of the garage and set it up… but I didn’t. 

Analise is back in Birmingham with Bwacka and Poppa.  She’s had an exciting day as we checked out a couple consignment sales, and we found a fun little Dora van to add to the Dora collection at our house.  She’s having a wonderful time with them, so it’s just Brian, Josiah and I.  Josiah was a sweetie on the trip up, but the night already doesn’t bode well.  He fought and fought and fought going to sleep, finally ending up wailing in my arms for about 20 minutes.  Inconsolable.  Ag, I hate not being able to make him happy – he was exhausted, too, but still crying.  Maybe, though, he’s exhausted himself into a deep sleep for a couple hours.  Man, we all need a good night’s sleep…

Brian’s race is tomorrow at 2:30, something like 75 miles – 5 laps of a 25kilometer course.  I really, really am to busy to have made a 4 hour-each way trip up here to Knoxville, but I just love watching him race and cheering for him.  There’s a good possibility of rain, but it still should be fun! 

Ok, i’m gonna go try to sleep. We’ll let you know how the race goes.  ‘Night, all!   

Today has been one little victory after another. 

• We had a relatively good night’s sleep.  That, in itself, starts us off in a great mood! 
  
• Analise is in a very good, obedient mood.  She eats her breakfast without any coaxing. 
  
• I manage to get a shower, get 2 little things done that needed to be taken care of, and we get on our way to church for a meeting without any problems. 
  
• Analise is on very good behavior, as is Josiah, and he falls asleep on the way home while Analise and I enjoy Chick-Fil-A. 
  
• Analise has been to the bathroom twice today, with no accidents (this is noteworthy because we’ve had tons of problems lately with accidents).  Once, she even told me herself, rather than me telling her she needed to go. 
  
• We haven’t had the TV on yet today – woohoo! 
  

Now, though, it’s time for PBS’s Between the Lions, Analise’s favorite show, which is part of her nap-time ritual.  As soon as it’s over, she’ll go right to sleep.  The day is coming together quite nicely!

Whew!  This early part of the week has been spent recovering from an overwhlemingly busy weekend.  Here’s the recap:

Friday

• Early doctor’s visit with Josiah downtown at Children’s – all’s well, no problems with his urinary reflux, and he continues to do well.  We hope maybe at the next visit in August we’ll find he’s outgrowing the problem.
• Consignment sales have started!  We found some deals – yeah!
• Dinner with Brian’s parents and his aunt and uncle from Nashville
• Scrapbooking!  My dear sweet husband took care of the kiddos while I escaped for a few hours to scrapbook with friends from church.  Yeah!

Saturday

• Early bike ride for Brian, while Analise, Josiah and I started getting ready for a what we thought would be a small gathering (8 people, 6 kids) of his cycling team for a pasta dinner.  
• Somewhere in the day, I move 4 loads of laundry though the wash and dryer, but no time to fold…
• Afternoon – we find out that 12 or so people and 8 kids would be coming for dinner.  Scramble to plan more food and quick get a babysitter to help out.
• Evening – a great evening with Brian’s cycling team… 14 people, 6 kids, 4 jars of spaghetti sauce, 3 lbs of ground turkey, 3 loaves of bread, double batch of my favorite hot spinach artichoke dip, 2 bags of salad, one delectable chocolate bundt cake.  After everyone leaves, the dining area (i.e., front living room and dining room) and kitchen look like a tornado has hit.  But it was fun!  To bed without worrying too much about the mess because we’ve got a super-busy Sunday…

Sunday

• Brian has a bike race, so I get the kiddos and I out the door to church.  Materials for my Sunday School lesson aren’t available which is frustrating. 
• After church I’m supposed to go to a children’s ministry meeting, but I’m overwhelmed with the kids and starved because I couldn’t mange to get myself enough to eat in the busy-ness of getting us all to church on time, so I sneak out to the usual lunch with Brian’s parents.  
• At his bike race, Brian gets 4th… A bit disappointed because he thinks he could have won the race.  I’m sure he’ll share the details.  
• I have a Tastefully Simple party (the first one not hosted by me!) to do, so I spend the afternoon getting things ready in my already-messy kitchen.  
• Brian relieves the fill-in babysitters (ie, his parents) at does a wonderful job on his own with the kiddos until I get back.  What a pleasant surprise… both little ones are in bed!  Good job, Brian!
• The party went GREAT!  I had fun, the hostess was great to work with and we got quite a few orders.  Yeah!  I’m in business!
• Collapse into bed exhausted after the weekend, ignoring the 2 baskets overflowing with clean clothes in my room and the kitchen disaster area.
• (The link above is my own Tastefully Simple website!  Anyone can order through it, and your order will ship directly to you.  How convenient!)

Monday

• Whip up some Tastefully Simple snacks for a Women’s missions meeting at Brian’s parents church.  (New spring/summer items, a Key Lime Cheese Ball and a Dried Tomato and Garlic Chicken cheese ball with this pesto mix).  The kitchen gets worse…  But everyone loves the treats, and we take the leftovers to Brian’s office.
• Finally, we’re home, and the kitchen is un-ignorable:)  I get it mostly cleaned up, but thank goodness for Moe’s Southwest Grill and their Kids-Eat-Free Monday deal (Brian gets a huge burrito, and I share Analise’s huge kid-sized burrito.  With extra queso sauce, we can eat for $10!)!  
• The laundry is now taking over the couch in the den… good thing we have a sectional sofa with 11 feet of space!

Tuesday

• Finally!  A day to catch up!  Nowhere to go, except school for Analise.  Josiah naps all morning and I start to get CAUGHT UP.
• I get all my TS orders placed, and the party wrapped up.  Yeah! 
• The rest of the house is nearly back in order after the busy weekend, I’m sure only to unravel as this week comes to and end with another busy weekend!

 We’re going to Knoxville on Friday/Saturday for a bike race, coming back to be in charge of the nursery on Sunday morning, leaving church quick for Brian’s Sunday bike race, coming home to host a home church meeting at 7pm.  Whew! Oh well… such are the circles of our life!  Now you’ re all caught up with us!    

Kristine, Analise, Josiah, and I road out our first potential tornado here in Alabama, and we are all very thankfully safe. I can’t imagine what the people in Enterprise, Alabama are going through right now. I was actually within an hour of Enterprise at a conference this afternoon at Tuskegee University. Fortunately, the conference was very short and I was on my way back home by 3pm. I drove through a blinding rainstorm in Montgomery and made it home to this:

Note that there are four watches and warnings and two special weather statements. I took the last picture above right before we headed downstairs to our basement. The clouds kept getting darker and darker, and the path of the "mezocyclone" prompting the tornado warning was predicted to pass right over our house. We decided it was best to head downstairs. Fortunately, we just had very heavy rain and then it was over. The pictures from the Enterprise High School are just devastating:

(NPR image, Photo Credit: Rob Carr)