Menu & Recipes for Last Week

Per Jamie's Request:

Mon--Crockpot Tostadas:
1 lb ground beef, browned
2 cans refried beans (or black beans)
1 envelope taco seasoning
8-oz can tomato sauce
1/2 Cup water
Combine in slow cooker, cover, and cook on low for 6 hours. Spread on tostada shells and top with your fav toppings. These are super yummy! Recipe from "Fix-It and Forget-It" slow cooker cook book.
Tues--Chicken Arrabiata with Linguine & Salad:
6 ounces fresh linguine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup prechopped onion
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 1 T evoo
Grill/saute chicken breast with italian seasonings....
Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm. Heat tblespoon oil in pan. Add onion, minced garlic, basil, and crushed red pepper to pan; sauté 1 minute. Add tomato paste and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes or just until sauce begins to thicken. add chicken to pan and cook 3 more minutes. Add parsley to the pan, stirring well to combine. Serve over pasta.
Wed--Lentil Soup with Sausage & Bread:
1 lb sweet Italian sausage
1 chopped onion
3-4 cloves diced garlic
2 stalks celery, chopped
Saute all 3 in EVOO until nice and soft and slightly brown. Add some thyme, salt and pepper, baby carrots, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 cup lentils and 4 C chicken broth. Simmer for at least 1 hour.
Thurs--Chicken with Gorgonzola Sauce, Salad, & Mashed Potatoes:
Cook your chicken however you want and top with this delish sauce:
1 Cup whole milk
1/2 Cup gorgonzola cheese
2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
Shortly before serving, warm the milk over medium heat in a small pot. Add the cheese and melt it into the milk. Stir sage into the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes. Recipe from Rachael Ray.
Fri--Rosemary Chicken Potato Pizza:
Boboli pizza crust, homemade pizza crust, or a loaf of foccacia bread, sliced in half width-wise (to make two big pizzas)
garlic sauce (2T garlic to 2T melted butter; i usually 3x it)
cooked/chopped chicken
fresh rosemary finely chopped
fresh flat leaf parsley finely chopped
3 boiled and sliced thin small red potato
shredded Mozzarella
combine and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.
Recipe from my sis Jamie!

Woah, There Little Brynne!

This picture is for Grace and Norah. It seems that "Cupboard Love" runs in the family...

Check out the Busch Family Blog (click on name) to see what I'm talking about...

War, Part 3

Jonah, Adian, and Makaena, and I (elisabeth) toured the USS Blueback Submarine at OMSI yesterday. The kids were so awestuck by how compact everything was and of course the periscope, all the switches and lights, and how cool it is that this sub had been involved in a war (Vietnam).
Plus seeing the torpedoes was really cool (about 1.2 million apiece!) Our guide asked if anyone knew the difference between a missile and a torpedo...his answer: 12 million dollars. Yikes!

Outside the partially submerged sub (we were only about 12 feet underwater).

Ava's Song

You know how sometimes you can't make out the words in a song?
The kids listen to a CD that is all Scriptures put to music often ("Hide 'em in Your Heart", & "Sing the Word from A-Z") and this is what Ava was singing as she was coloring this morning:
"Honor your father, and your mother
So that you may live long in the land...
our God our God is giving you...
that's what it takes from a horrible break!"

War Part 2

My Grandpa Fred (Jonah Fredrick's namesake) served in the Navy during WWII aboard the USS Nashville CL-43 as General MacArthur's personal signalman. The bottom picture is of General MacArthur aboard the armed cruiser. There was a book published in 2007 called Humble Heroes (click on title to follow link) solely about this cruiser during the war. Needless to say, it is being shipped to us as we speak. :) Click here to read the author's blog.

Boys, Girls, and War

Jonah has been all about World War II lately. It all started with playing Battleship and reading a book for school called Twenty and Ten (fiction story about 30 children hiding from the Nazis in France). Anyway, we are now buried in books about submarines, battleships, destroyers, true stories (I threw these in more for my sake and Ava's, and to put a face on the victims of the war), activity books, and history books. I think next week we're going to try and tour the submarine at OMSI. Tonight Jon wanted him to see the movie U571 (censored) about a Nazi submarine boarded by the US Navy (Matthew McConaughey). Ava sat and watched it with us and amidst all the explaining she finally sighed and said, "I don't like this movie cuz it doesn't have any songs in it!!"
(BTW: If anyone has some tips on age-appropriate WW II info for Jonah right now, let me know in a comment! Thanks!)

Roll Fish

Ava: Momma, do you have a seven?
Momma: Go Fish. Jonah, do you have a Jack?
Jonah: Nope, go Fish. Ava, Do you have a seven? (Ava hands him the seven card)
Momma: Woah, someone was paying attention!
Jonah: Yeah. That's how I roll.

Jonah's First Time "At Bat"

After the game, I asked Jonah what he thought of the game.
He replied, "I never knew baseball could be so fun!"

The Newest Brawley

Meet Blossom Brawley!!
This is Ava's cat. Blossom is four years old and we got her yesterday at the Oregon Humane Society.

Making herself at home

Keeping watch over Daddy while he naps. Within two hours of being home she was already snuggling with me on the couch voluntarily. She really is such a sweet kitty.

Spingtime!!

It's finally springtime in Portland and our garden is growing all these cute little "buds".
See if you can spot a handsome One in our Camelia tree!

One of the prettiest flowers in our garden is the Ava-Lou

Budding Blossom Brynne is growing sweeter everyday!

My GG's (Grandma Grace's) favorite flower: The pink Camelia. I always think of her when I see this tree.

Knittin'

A little sweater and bonnet I made for my friend Tonya's new baby, Samuel. I think I'll never go back to knitting blankets; it knitted up so much faster!

Annual Spring Visit

We had a great time with Gammie and Papa Mel this past week. While the men went to the Portland Swap Meet the women and kids enjoyed some shopping! Some highlights from the visit include: Thai food, Woodburn Outlets, playing Craps, my mom's bran muffins, lots of babysitting, and Juicy Fruit (Just to name a few).

AVA

Ava made this today with some legos--I thought it was pretty cool how she used the sides of the A's to make the "V".
It's "AVA" lego style!!