breakfast

My breakfast - An omelet with 3 egg whites, one yolk, and a little bit of sharp cheddar. And two slices of bacon.

Tony's breakfast - two eggs over easy and bacon.

How to make baked penne

Step 1 - Make a lot of homemade red sauce, cook some penne to al dente, and brown some ground beef or sausage (I used ground beef)

Step 2 - Put a layer of pasta in a baking dish and top with stuff that you like. One the left, I've topped the pasta with sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese. On the right, I've topped the pasta with ground beef, sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Now, stir it all together.

Step 3 - Add another layer of ricotta (on the left) and ground beef (on the right). Top with a lot of sauce and then add some shredded cheese.

Step 4 - Bake

Ste 5 - Eat and enjoy

Chicken nuggets - 2 ways

Ian loves him some dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. These are made by Tyson and are all white meat. I've tried them. They are tasty.

I prefer the Morningstar Buffalo Wings with a side of blue cheese dressing. Imitation chicken pressed in to the shape of a nugget and flavored like a spicy Buffalo wing. What's not to like about that? Seriously, these are really good.

Carsonie's in Upper Arlington

Tony and I went to Carsonie's in Upper Arlington for the first time last night. The high point of the meal was the pizza that we split as an appetizer. The dough was fresh and thick, but not too thick. The cheese and toppings were good quality and plentiful enough. We will definitely go back for the pizza.

The pasta dishes that we ordered were just meh. Not bad but not great. I am a stickler for al dente pasta and was disappointed that my penne was over cooked. The sauce was good - roasted red peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and a light cream sauce. Tony had Chicken Carsonie, which is actually just chicken Parmesan. I cannot recall one single time that Tony as dined at an Italian restaurant and not ordered chicken Parmesan. I think that pigs would fly, hell would freeze over, and the Earth would stop turning if Tony ever ordered anything but chicken Parmesan at an Italian restaurant.

Other notes: Carsonie's has Peroni beer on draft. They score extra points for this. The stromboli here looked amazing. I will definitely go back to try it.

As Seen On TV

I am the proud owner of the Big City Slider Station. You may remember this genius piece of cookware being sold on TV by Billy Mays. I had almost forgetten that we had the Slider Station when Connor suggested that we make mini-burgers a few nights ago. This product works exactly as depicted in the infomercials! It takes about 3 minutes to cook the sliders all the way through and they come right out of the pan without and sticking. The end product was really yummy topped with American cheese and ketchup.

Sidenote - The ads for the Slider Station claim that you can cook perfect eggs in the pan as well. I recently tested this (but forgot to take a picture). You actually can cook a really good egg in this pan, and it's the perfect size for an English muffin. The only trick is that you have to spray the pan with Pam first and flip the egg part way through.

Rest in peace, Billy Mays. Thank you for bringing the Big City Slider Station in to my life.

Cafe Corner

I recently had lunch at Cafe Corner in Victorian Village. The dine-in area is small and the overall vibe of the place is charming. They have huge menu of sandwiches, salads, and soups. I couldn't make a decision so I went with my safety choice - the Cuban sandwich. It was good, not great, but definitely not bad. Next time I will try the Green Eggs and Ham - two eggs, pesto, and prosciutto on sourdough.

Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Flu Flu, Black Plague...

I have no idea what kind of virus that we were recently been afflicted with, but it was pretty brutal. Ian was sick for 8 days, I was sick for 9, Connor and Tony were sick for about a week. The kids missed an entire week of school. I did my best to take care of the kids and myself but the entire time period was a blur. I can't even tell you much about what we ate during that time.... Gatorade, water, diet soda, baked potatoes, soup...

I found this picture on my phone, so at some point I know that Ian had pancakes. By process of elimination, I can tell you that I made these pancakes. Tony, Connor, and Ian don't know how to make pancakes and these clearly aren't the frozen variety. That means that I made them. Go mom!


Here is Ian on day 5 of the illness. We had all had a temperature of 100 degrees or higher for several days. Some of us (okay, most of us) were not bathing daily.


The plague started to lift just in time for a most joyous occasion - my sister's baby shower! Yep, she's having a baby and I could not be happier for her and David. In preparation for the shower, I made 3 dozen homemade sugar cookies with a confectioner's sugar glaze. FYI - these cookies are supposed to resemble baby boys wearing diapers not fat, bald, European men wearing speedos.

Best intentions

This meal had the potential to be really good. This is breaded and sauteed chicken breast topped with a homemade sauce of basil and cherry tomatoes with fresh mozzarella on top. Despite sauteing the chicken for several minutes on each side and then baking it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, it still came out under cooked. No big deal really, I put it back in the oven and cooked it for a while longer. Problem was that even though I knew it was thoroughly cooked at that point, I still couldn't get them image of raw chicken out of my head and was convinced that I would get food poisoning. Next time I'll butterfly the chicken first. The wilted spinach with garlic was really tasty.

Oh, Lucy

It doesn't matter how far back on the kitchen counter a food object is placed, Lucy will still find a way to grab it. I suspect that she has Go Go Gadget arms.