What's For Dinner?

We decided to make a special meal last night as a thank-you to all Grammy has done for us in the past two weeks she's spent with us & the week she still has until it's time for her to head back to Chicago.



We made the champagne sangria from Columbia Restaurant which is delightful. Click here if you're in the mood for a yummy-licious drink!



We always make sure to hit Wildfire when we head back to Chicago since I adore their crusted steaks. Since we don't often get back to IL, we decided to recreate their Parmesan crusted steak from the comfort of our own home! It may not be exactly as good as the real deal, but it's darn close.

To make a Parmesan crusted steak, mix freshly grated Parmesan cheese with panko breadcrumbs, dried thyme, minced garlic, salt & pepper. Gradually mix in olive oil until it's able to be compressed & hold a form. Do it gradually since you don't want an oily mess. Cook steaks to a few minutes less than you normally would for your desired doneness, transfer to a baking pan, top with Parmesan cheese mixture & broil for a few minutes until golden brown.

My favorite crusts at Wildfire are the Bearnaise, Parmesan & blue cheese! To. Die. For.



I made the English roasted potatoes from this blog post again & foil-bagged asparagus that we threw on the grill with salt, pepper & olive oil. All in all, it was a very easy yet impressive meal. Oh & did I forget to mention that we also had King Crab Legs with our meal?! Oh yeah, we were highfalutin last night!

I'm King of the World!

This little boy gets me through any low moment I may be going through! I thank God every single day for blessing me with this nutty guy. Just the thought of him puts a massive smile on my face!

Oh & yes, suddenly you're seeing videos on our blogs since I'm getting a better hang of this whole YouTube thing... Yes, I'm a little technologically slow!

Brightness Amongst the Gloom

I've had a rough & emotional week, but my spirits were lifted when Mike surprised me with these flowers on Wednesday.

I'm definitely not one for New Years resolutions but this year I decided I would try to work on becoming a more patient wife & mom (especially wife since I can be easily snippy & not always give Mike the credit he deserves for all the wonderful things he does for our family). But so far I have not been doing a good job of sticking to my resolution. I can blame it on the stress of losing my grandma less than a week ago or having my other grandma very sick in the hospital. I can also blame my stupid PMS hormones. Whatever it is, I've certainly not been very patient or content. I can just feel this anger bubbling within my chest & stomach & it's not fun. All in all, I'm keeping it in rather well & trying not to take it out on my innocent family, but I'm not feeling comfortable in my own skin with this negative energy I'm carrying around.

Plus, with all that I've had going on in my personal life, the last thing I want to do all day is go to work. Sometimes there is so much nonsense & pettiness that goes on at my work, as it does anywhere, and I absolutely do not have the patience for it. Since I just couldn't afford to make the trip to Chicago, I wasn't able to go to my grandma's wake or funeral. I really do feel at peace with the fact that I'm not there since I was always there for my grandma while she was living. We were extremely close & I have no regrets in thinking I didn't do enough. But, the point is, I have so much on my mind that I cannot be bothered with the crap around me. I just want to put my headphones on as I'm charting in my office & scream, just leave me alone!

Of course I'm not doing that, it's just what I'm carrying around inside. I would never take negativity to work since it's not professional nor is it fair to anyone else. I'm just overwhelmed & hoping that these horribly negative, whoa-is-me feelings pass once my hormones begin to simmer down. Tomorrow is my grandma's funeral & I know in my heart that she's in Heaven where she deserves to be, back with her family & my grandpa. And I know she's looking down on me, knowing how much I love her & miss her. I want her to be proud of the person I am. I want to be proud of the person I am. So far I'm not. Like this morning when Mike's alarm went off earlier than I felt it should have & I snapped at him. Ugh. And I immediately regret it after, knowing I'm wrong. I just need to get my head on straight, do some soul searching & have a more positive energy about myself.

Tackle Mommy!

Cameron loves playing the Tackle Mommy game! And since he's the size of an NFL linebacker, he can really pack a punch! You'll also notice that in the beginning of the video he tries to look down my shirt... like father like son! Maddy joined in on the tackling at the end & we finished with Cam jumping on Maddy's back to make a Maddy sandwich!

Bad Santa!

Darn Good Dips!

I'm always looking for new appetizer recipes whenever a get-together is in the works. So when it was time to host Christmas Eve as we so love to do when we're in town, I stumbled across a Greek-layered dip in my Food Network Magazine & decided to make it.



This recipe was so tasty, unique & fresh. If you're a fan of Greek food, definitely give this recipe a whirl! Click here for the recipe. And if you aren't a fan of lamb (or too skeeved out by the idea of it), ground chicken would be a good substitution.



The other recipe we've been making for at least three years is our "Good Luck Dip." Apparently black-eyed peas are good luck when eaten during the new year, so we make this each year. The actual name is Texas Caviar but we preferred the name we came up with! This recipe is healthy, tangy & utterly delightful! Click here for the recipe.

Hope you'll enjoy these recipes just has much as we do (or I should say did since they were gone in a hurry!)

Christmas & New Years 2010

Wow, I haven't blogged in almost two weeks!! When I finally went to edit pictures, I had nearly 500 on my card! And that is so not like me since I normally do editing each time I take a grouping a pictures. So that just goes to show that things have been rather hectic over the holidays.



But we ended up having a wonderful Christmas/New Years & it was great to have a lot of quality time with family & friends.







Here's Cam with his dinosaur, Steffan! Auntie Lauren was nice enough to give it to him! It just so happens to be an inside joke of ours relating to the movie, Clifford.



Though it was a fantastic Christmas, the new year has proven to be bittersweet thus far. Sadly, I got a call from my mom last night letting me know that my Grandma Lewandowski passed away. I say bittersweet because she lived a full 93 years & passed away peacefully in her sleep. As much as she'll be missed, I cannot be more grateful that she didn't have to be ill or suffer in any way. My grandma played a HUGE role in my life, spending nearly five days a week with us from the time I was a baby, up until I was 18 when my parents moved to Florida. As I stayed behind to go to college in Illinois, I still saw my grandma & grandpa a couple times a month until I moved to Florida after graduate school. I will always fondly remember my grandma & all the time she devoted to her grandchildren. She was so selfless in all she did for us.



So I shouldn't be selfish & dwell on the sadness I feel over the loss of my grandma since I know she's where she would truly want to be, back in the arms of the love of her life, my grandpa.

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Mikayla wasn't initially thrilled to perch on Santa's lap as he visited on Christmas Eve, but she soon warmed up as she eyed the presents that he carried!



But Maddy was as pleased as punch from the get-go!



Other happenings include the fact that we finally started implementing the discipline tactics from 1,2,3 Magic. Although the book encourages that you don't start until you've finished reading, we had it with Cam's misbehavior the night before Christmas Eve, felt like we read enough to have a good grasp of things, and have been absolutely delighted with the results so far. Cam has responded so well to it & seems to be a new kid which has made our house a lot more pleasant these days.



Anyway, Christmas morning was absolutely awesome! We woke up, opened presents & enjoyed some Crockpot oatmeal that had been cooking through the night.





And Santa brought me the sunglasses I had my heart set on!



After breakfast, we headed to my brother & sister-in-law's house & had an amazingly relaxing time. We caught up with each other, watched the kids play in the yard as we sipped mimosas & ate a delicious meal.



Beyond all the presents & hoopla that are involved with Christmas & New Years, it's the time spent with family & friends & reflecting on all we have to be thankful for that mean the most. And I have so much to be thankful for.

As I hit publish on this post, I found out that my other grandma was hospitalized today. From what I know so far, she's doing a lot better now & will hopefully be discharged in a few days. Please pray that my grandma has a speedy recovery!!!