Helping With the Easter Baking

Cute Easter Stuff

Since I'm going to be spending the next couple days getting ready for Easter, I thought I'd share my idea block. We'll be celebrating Easter this weekend with Anthony's family and Greek Easter next weekend with my family. What will I be bringing you ask? Your guess is at good as mine right now, but here's what I have in mind...

Play Date

More pictures are coming but here's one of the best pics of the day:

Picking Out The Perfect Birthday Card

Spring Cleaning Has Commenced

I've slowly, very slowly, been going through our house one area at a time and trying to throw things away. Jaxon's room has taken the most effort because he's grown out of most of the things in his closet. I've been trying to figure out what clothes still fit him and what stuff needs to be packed up for future baby boy #2.

Prior to this sprucing up, I stalked Pinterest for ideas on organization and cleaning tricks (mine are limited to shoving everything in a closet). I found this perfect boy closet that I practically drooled over:



Unfortunately, here's where I am right now:

Atlantic City

Well, it's Wednesday and I haven't written so we didn't come home with tons of cash from Atlantic City. But we did have a good time. Here's a few pics I was actually allowed to take from inside the casino

All Packed Up and Ready for Nono and Nona's this Weekend!

Ant's Rants

Tired of recipes, food, patio plants, and pictures of Jaxon? No, of course you aren't, but if you need a more well rounded diet of reading material check out Anthony's new blog: Ant Rants.

He finally got tired of ranting daily about sports to a semi-disinterested wife and a seven month old who just giggles as he flails around.

Tell him I sent you.

Family Lunch Date

Magic Cookie Bars

It's our weekly Monday family date night. The one night of the entire week that neither Anthony or I work at the bar, have errands to do and can lay around catching up on television without feeling guilty for being lazy.

If time and Jaxon allows it, I love to bake for date night.

Here is tonight's Magic Cookies and I'm even giving you the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

HEAT oven to 350°F. Coat 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

COMBINE graham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with fork.

BAKE 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars or diamonds.

For perfectly cut cookie bars, line entire pan with foil, extending foil over edge of pan. Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked and cooled, lift up with edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into bars.





recipe borrowed from: EagleBrand.com

Happy St. Patricks Day!

The Green Onion Bounty

Thanks in part to Pinterest, I have become an excellent housewife. Move over Martha, Mama Maria is here.

Anthony teased me about this one, so I'm writing this post to prove how right I was.

Green onions are a typical staple on our weekly grocery list and either I go through them like crazy or they end up turning mushy. Either way, it's almost become an annoying expense. Then I ran across this idea on Pinterest: take the bottoms of the onion, put them in a glass and place it in an area that gets plenty of sunlight.

They grow. 

These little guys were mere stubs earlier in the week. Now they're onions.



Irish Breakfast/Murder Mystery Weekend

It was a busy weekend for the Amato clan. After working my Friday night bar shift, I returned to Foley's a mere three hours later with Anthony and Jaxon to set up for Foley's 2nd Annual Irish Breakfast.

After breakfast ended, it was time to start thinking Vegas and murder. We got a bunch of errands done and then headed to Connecticut where Mimi Martini and Jim Beam dropped off Jaxon at Grandma and Grandpa's and headed to solve a mystery and eat dinner. Here's a couple party pics:

Another Day of Patio Planting

This time JMA helped a little...

57 Degrees and Sunny

Spring is hopefully here to stay. Otherwise I'm pretty sure I'll my patio plants will die because I got too excited and planted them early. Here's a progress report of their current condition:

JMA St. Patty's Day Pics

Jaxon and I spent some time this morning getting St. Patrick's stuff ready for Foley's. This Saturday is our 2nd Annual Irish Breakfast and next weekend is of course, St. Patrick's Day.

Of course there was a photo session.

Of course I am posting pictures from it.

I'm saving the best one for a post this weekend, but these are the ones that almost made the cut.

Weekend Update

Being our last weekend totally free for awhile (We're booked through May, Amato reservations have to be made way ahead of time), we decided to do what we love to do best: bum around and just enjoy some quality family time.

There's nothing better after a long Friday night working at Foley's (or taking care of a baby for that matter) then waking up to freshly made beignets. These phenomenal little treats are a staple on our visits to New Orleans. The Cafe Du Monde serves them with a dark chicory roasted coffee, we served them with freshly brewed Starbucks courtesy of our Keurig machine.

We put in some time today on working on Ma's: a trip to Home Depot for more gardening supplies, some time spent on label making and of course, researching what bottles and canisters we'll be needing.

Our research has also led us back to the kitchen to try out some of our recipes with the products to test flavor profiles.

I just happen to still have the fryer out so fried green peppers were today's test:

Here was from our visit to Home Depot earlier, JMA and all.

Huggies Babies Have Nothing on JMA

It's A Writing All Day Kind Of Day

The First Batch of Cajun Seasoning

The first batch of Cajun seasoning has been bottled and ready for grinding. It took me several days to dry out the onions, peppers, garlic and herbs that make up the flavor combination that we were looking for.

Ideally, the next batch will be made with all home grown patio plants. This particular one contains all store bought ingredients. It will however, be used to season chicken for dinner tonight. So as long as Anthony doesn't gag, it will be all systems go for Ma's Cajun Seasoning.

Just When You Think You Have It All Figured Out...

The MCK Patio Garden is Back

Last summer, while pregnant, I started a patio garden since I wasn't working at night anymore and was able to get up in the mornings and actually tend to it.

Although I grew about five working peppers, I was immediately hooked on the idea of expanding my garden. This year, the patio plants are; oregano, cilantro, parsley, hot peppers, sweet onions and green beans. Hopefully some celery, green peppers and a few other varieties of hot peppers will be joining the team.

Along with our love of Cajun food, Anthony and I have been trying our hand at hot sauces and spices. Hence, the reason these plants were chosen. Minus the green beans. I just have a weird obsession with green beans.

Sunday Morning Cartoons

Pinterest - 1, Maria - 0

Contrary to blog post, I really don't have as much time on my hands as it seems. Today however, I simply had a lot of cooking to do to prepare for this weekend so while I was in the kitchen I whipped up these little babies.

If you haven't already discovered Pinterest, I suggest you run, don't walk to this site. You can thank me later. This is a recipe I found while aimlessly perusing one evening.

Simply use mini muffin pans to make brownies and push down the center before they cool. Add peanut butter and voila... the most sinfully non-healthy thing I've made in days. 

Happy 6 Months JMA!

How do you celebrate a six month old half birthday? Why, Pizza Hut of course. Jaxon had craving for pizza while in the womb and today proved to be no different. He tried to grab at every pizza slice on the table and after getting cranky, Anthony allowed him to suck on a plain bread stick.

We figured if anything detrimental happened, we're going to the doctor's tomorrow for his six month checkup.

Turns out it was pure love, Italian style. 

Happy Mardi Gras!

2 Days Till Krewe du Amato Presents: Mardi Gras

Today I cross pollinated the Amato home with Bourbon Street. Here's the lovechild:

3 Days till the Krewe du Amato Presents: Mardi Gras!

Now that Valentine's Day is over, the official countdown to our first annual Mardi Gras party is on! The Krewe du Amato has put their creative geniuses together to come up with the most decadent New Orleans style shindig this side of the Mississippi.

Here's a look at what inspired some of our decorations this year:

credits from left to right: thepickyapple.com, fancyfaces.com, mardigrasoutlet.com, thetablescaper.blogspot.com, homeiswheretheboatis.wordpress.com

Happy Valentine's Day

How Old Are You, Jaxon?

Happy Valentine's Day

Do It Myself Photos

After staring at a blank wall night after night, I decided to head to Michael's craft store and do a little 'do-it-myself' crafting.

My inner Martha was certainly in full force.

I found a picture that I LOVED, printed it out and cut it into perfectly portioned pieces. I then glued each piece on canvases that I bought. Lastly, I painted glue seal over each picture.

They didn't come out as perfect as I would have liked, but I think the idea was there.

voila!...

What We're Reading

Aside from the barrage of baby books that I am now rereading to Jaxon, I decided it was time that I get my own reading level book and get back to having a little 'me' time. Since I'm naturally a night owl, the boys usually go to bed before me and I stay up watching television. Last night, I turned it off and started mommy reading time.

After promising myself I'd just read one chapter, I was instantly hooked. Three chapters later and Jaxon's first nightly feeding time, I finally put it down. Needless to say, the coffee is flowing this morning.

I'm not the only one who can't put a book down, JMA has recently discovered, 'The Very Hungry Caterpiller' and it quickly became one of his favorites.

Game Day Goodness

Dog Days of Winter

Very Low Fat Buffalo Chicken Dip

With a low key Super Bowl Sunday right around the corner, I was searching through my fridge for something that would replica the usual foods I would gorge on if I would be going to the bar.

My creation: Very Low Fat Buffalo Chicken Dip...Ma's Spicy Chick Dip?... Buffalo Bleu Dip? Okay, well the dip is good, the name still needs some work.

Ingredients: (this is a rough guestimate)

• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1 tablespoon buttermilk
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream
• 2 wedges Laughing Cow Blue Cheese
• hot sauce

Instructions:

• Combine all the ingredients except the hot sauce in a bowl. Stir until well blended together.
• Add hot sauce till you get the desired amount of heat that you like.



Dinner Tonight: [Not So] Greek Meatballs

I case you were getting bored with my constant post of Jaxon (although I know you aren't) or just frustrated that I don't post enough, I now give you: Dinner Tonight.

This recipe was borrowed (word for word) from Weight Watchers. It's their recipe for for Greek meatballs, although in all the years of my mom making Greek food, I couldn't find one ingredient that was actually a Greek staple. Therefore, I "cleverly" renamed this dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb uncooked turkey breast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sage
• 8 small uncooked new potatoes
• 9 oz frozen artichoke hearts
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions:

• coat a skillet with cooking spray
• season turkey with salt and sage, shape into balls. Add turkey to the skillet and brown on all sides, about 3-5 minutes. Remove and place in slow cooker.
• Add potatoes, frozen artichoke hearts, oregano, pepper and broth. Cover and cook on high heat for 5-6 hours.
• About 15 minutes before serving, spoon cornstarch into a cup. Add one tablespoon of the slow cooker liquid and lemon juice; stir well.  Stir into slow cooker, cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes more.

First Oatmeal Baby Meal