Things I learned this week...

1.  That Doctors don't actually "check in" with patients in person... they 'call in" on their patients...  Nurses need to get paid a LOT more.

2.  That if the Doctor is hanging around the patient... that's a BAD thing... thank God... there wasn't a Doctor for miles around my Mama this week...

3.  That my Mama having surgery was a huge distraction to the fact that I was without one child this week... Thanks Mama... great planning as usual!  LOL

4.  That you should NEVER, EVER, EVER flip off an idiot that almost sideswipes your car on the freeway... EVER...
Why? Because it MAY just turn out to be YOUR SON'S PRINCIPAL!!! (Did I mention he goes to a CHRISTIAN school? Yeah... I'm toast...Oops... my bad... AND... I'm human... sue me for being crude... it's been a hell of a week... glass houses... people... glass houses...

5.  If you scratch it... it will get infected... duh!!!

6.  That my sons truly miss each other when they are away...

7.  That I am NOT ready for my sons to grow up and become independent people... just yet...

My new Business...

BELLA SERA MEALS...
Do you hate to cook? Do you work full time and dread having to make dinner? Do you HATE that the Drive Thru window is how you feed your family most evenings? Would you like a solution to that? What if you could feed your family a nutritious, satisfying, easy to heat meal, complete with bread and dessert, knowing it was prepared by a Mom, for a Mom, who loves to cook and NOTHING is processed, from a box, and everything is handmade?

Welcome to my kitchen. I am here to serve you.

I offer a wide array of good, healthy, affordable dinners that you can either freeze and keep or have delivered fresh for dinner that evening. All you’ll have to do is put together a salad… and I can even do that for you… if you like.

I offer dinner for 1 to 25 people. If you have a special occasion coming up… and want a complete meal, that you can just heat and serve and impress your guests and ENJOY their company… I am the chef for you! My Mom and I will also cater for up to 200 people…

I use no lard, and no shortenings. I use ONLY Olive Oil or Extra Virgin Olive oil. All the breads I use are made by me, with no artificial ANYTHING! I can enrich all breads with Flax seed meal and wheat germ upon request. I use ONLY the freshest ingredients available, and if I can’t find a good quality ingredient, I won’t use it.

Save money eating this way… in your own home! These prices beat restaurant prices!

Call 909.641.5375 OR Iamchefsaundra@yahoo.com

Pasta, Meatballs (8), Fresh Sourdough, French, or Spinach/Feta bread or Garlic Bread, grated Pecorino Romano cheese, 8 cookies (Biscotti or Pizzelles)………… for Family of 4 = $29.00


Eggplant Rolletini (10)… Eggplant rolled up with luscious Ricotta Cheese w/herbs, smothered in Sauce, Fresh Sourdough, French or Spinach/Feta bread or Garlic Bread, Grated Pecorino Cheese, Cookies (8) ………For 4 = $35.00

Calzones … Choose your filling… Meatballs and Provolone or Mozzarella. Or BBQ Chicken, or Roasted Eggplant and veggies and cheese, or Ricotta Pesto and herb… (All bread is handmade, and you can choose your bread…
With a green salad and my famous Bella Sera Dressing & 8 cookies
A Calzone per person for 4 = $40.00 meal
Ala Carte Calzone = $12.00 each (no salad or cookies)

Bruschetta Appetizer– Fresh baguette bread of your choice, toasted to perfection with fresh garlic rub. On the side, will be a tomato, herb, olive oil topping to spoon onto your bread. Divine!!!! A great after school snack!
Feeds 4-6 = $15

Chicken Parmigiana – Freshly breaded chicken, homemade sauce, baked… not fried… to perfection, topped with fresh Mozzarella and Provolone Cheeses, smothered in homemade Italian Sauce, your choice of bread, cookies (8), side of Pasta and sauce… Family of 4 = $39.00

Lasagna Rolls – 10-12 rolls, filled with Ricotta cheese, smothered in sauce, topped with cheese, ready to bake or prebaked, you choose. Salad, Bella Sera Dressing, Choice of bread, cookies (8)
Family of four = $35.00 Family of six = $45.00

Meatball Sub – on your choice of baguette…topped with Provolone and Romano cheese, smothered in sauce… $15 (feeds 2-4) add Salad and Dressing for $10 with this meal!

Bresagna- My own creation! It’s Lasagna… but make with BREAD!... You have to see it to believe it. I layer fresh ricotta cheese mixed with sun dried tomato pesto/garlic/basil , or spinach/feta/Romano, or zucchini/pesto/feta between hand rolled layers of bread of your choice!!! One 13 inch loaf with salad and cookies for $28!!!

Ala Carte

Baguette of French, Sourdough or Spinach Feta Bread = $5

Side of Salad for 4 with Bella Sera Dressing = $17.00
Artisan lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, shredded carrots, Kalamata olives, shredded cabbage.

Bottle of Bella Sera Dressing = $4

Bucket O’ Pasta Sauce = $25.00 (sauce for 6- 12)

Meatball Madness… = $30.00 meatballs & sauce for (5-10)

Sweet Hawaiian Bread braid = $6 (great for breakfast)

School lunches = I will make school lunches for your kids for the week! Delivered on Sunday evening, they stay fresh in the fridge all week! A gourmet artisan sandwich a day for your kids! $2, or $4 a sandwich… I use only NON nitrite/nitrate meats, from animals with NO growth hormones or preservatives! Lettuce, Bella Sera dressing, tomatoes, pickles, lunch meat and cheese if desired!
Your choice of bread, handmade only!

Biscotti Platter (25-30 large cookies) = $20.00
Lemon Cranberry
Almond Chocolate Oatmeal
Double chocolate Almond

Pizzelles -5 inch diameter Platter (50) $25.00

Vanilla
Chocolate
Swirl (vanilla and chocolate)

*** I also do lunches… and if you live within 10 miles of GT… I WILL DELIVER! Order must be in by 9 a.m. for same day lunch… or order ahead for a luncheon!!!

My Mama has been in the hospital this week.  Knee replacement surgery with a little bit of complications...

I'll write when I get her all settled and out of the hospital.

Sunday Prep... More cooking...

So, yesterday... was my prep day for the week...

I made a bunch of my Bella Sera Balsamic Bliss salad dressing  (AKA "Salad Crack" named by my friend Andrea) so we can have salads at the ready this week for dinners...

And I cut up a bunch of veggies, peppers, onions, zucchini etc... for quick stirfries.  It's so nice to get all the time consuming partS of cooking over with in one fell swoop, instead of piece mealing it all week long.

It seems like so much less work... and it is less!

Made a bunch of biscotti... but healthy... no egg yolks, raw nuts, flax seed meal, good, grainy flour...

These are an old picture... but I made Lemon Cranberry and Espresso, chocolate Almond last night...

NO ONE suspects they are healthy... everyone says they taste sinful... so that's good.

Also made a bunch of healthy meatballs... I LOVE this pan... it suspends the meatballs 3 inches above the pan, so all the fat drips down and doesn't sit in a pool of fat...

I added shaved carrots, green onions, organic, non RBST beef, grass fed only... so there was MAYBE three drips on the whole pan...

Then I made a huge batch of pasta sauce...

washed and dried 10 heads of artisan lettuce and packaged them in Lock n Lock,

four batches of bread dough...

And now... I'm done for the week.

I just need to pull what I need out of the fridge, heat it up, and maybe make a little pasta or bread...

PREP...

I LOVE IT!!!

Sunday stuff...

My Johnny is leaving for a week to Hume Lake for an Outdoor Education Trip.

I HATE that it's an 8 hour bus trip away...

Why can't they just go up to Arrowhead?

My other two boys went on the same trip in their 5th and 6th grade years... so it's only fair that Johnny gets to go.

As if tuition isn't enough, it cost an arm and a leg to send them to this camp...

new gear, new this, new that, not to mention the cost of the trip... all tacked on to the monthly tuition so it "Doesn't hurt as much" according to the schools finance dept... LOL!

I swear, when these boys go to college and we are paying THAT tuition... we'll be paying LESS! 

I know... I've asked other parents that have graduated kids from private school...

So we are actually LOOKING FORWARD to paying for college.. I might be able to buy a new car one day... !

I'm not really complaining.. it's a choice... a privilege... I don't take it lightly...

I just get all bejiggety when all the birthdays start coming around, and we can't do as much for them... but everything is a compromise... no?  In my heart, I know we are giving them an opportunity of a lifetime to experience an education that is tailor made for them, with all the advantages afforded to them within the school.

The difference between my kids and the other kids?  Mine won't be getting Mercedes or BMW's for their 16th Bdays... they'll be rolling up in used trucks... LOL

Ugh... rant over...

Bill is working really hard on our outdoor fireplace area.  Johnny's end of year school party is going to be here this year.. and I want it all done and gorgeous come June... so I have been lighting a fire under his butt.

It doesn't help that we keep adding in features, like copious amounts of electricity for lighting all around the area...

that just takes more time... but in the end... I think it'll be worth it.

The 28 day waiting period before swimming in the pool is up... and every minute today... they have been BEGGING to go swimming.

I may say yes... because I KNOW it will only be a few minutes before they realize that just because weather outside is 75, doesn't mean the pool is... it's more like 55-60 and they'll jump right out... complain it's cold... and get my clean tile all wet...

I am soooo not one of those Moms that lets their kids swim just for swimming's sake... it's cold...

no one needs a shock to the system like that... unless you are in the Polar Bear club... there'll be plenty of hot weather to come... they can wait...

I've got to go do my Sunday Prep now... then I'm off to church tonight... and last minute shopping for Johnny's trip...

A little piece of my heart will be camping this week... my baby... I may be a little weepy...just sayin'

Just a little note...

I'm having a little giveaway at my other weight loss blog... if you wanna come on by and join in... I'd be honored...

it's at...

http://www.eatabiglunch.blogspot.com/

You can see what I'm giving away there...

Thanks!!!

Remember this toy?

Remember this toy?

If you don't... you are obviously younger than 30 or 35...

But when I was a kid... they actually sold these things TO KIDS...

What were they?  A "toy" made of either tempered GLASS or HEAVY RESIN... that when one flicked the hands up and down in a fast motion... the balls would hopefully hit each other and bounce to the opposing side and do the same...

Did I mention they were HEAVY, and HARD... and DANGEROUS???

I must have had, in my childhood... at least 5 of them at any given time.

My little brother and I would hurt ourselves so much with them, my Zia kept taking them away from us by throwing them in the garage, way up high so we couldn't reach them...

Did I mention that this particular Zia is 4'3" tall?

Yeah... by the time I was 8 or 9... I could reach them...

She was just trying to protect us.

We jammed our fingers, hit our heads accidentally with them, swung them over our heads and broke windows...

They were these heavy balls on tiny strings with a tiny plastic ring holding the strings together...

Catastrophe was BOUND  to happen.

When I asked for another pair after an initial waiting period, so my parents would "forget" how stupid and dangerous those Click Clack's were, my Mama got hip to my jive and told me

the company got into trouble and no longer made them.

That didn't seem too far fetched to me... we caused a LOT of damage with those insipid things...(which incidentally, I loved... the toy... not the damage) (except that one time my brother got one right between the eyes... THAT... I liked...he cut up my jump rope... and when he hit himself in the head... Karma was on my side...)

Then... we went to Woolworth's... and there they were... and she just said... "NO!" when she saw me eyeing them.

No explanation that they weren't discontinued... just "NO!".. and back then, kids had the good sense to understand that "NO!" was the final answer, and not another word was spoken about them...

Until the other night... when I had a dream that I was a kid, playing with them... and getting hurt... all over again...

and I called my Mama up in the morning to reminisce with her about that toy...

Instinctively she said... "No!"... "You will NOT BUY THEM FOR MY GRANDSONS!"

I wasn't going to...

But I shut up... said... "Yes Mama" and hung up the phone...

Some things never change...

Shoes for a better butt? Really?

I have officially seen and heard everything now... when it comes to what people will buy and sell.

Let me first preface this post by saying... If you have, or plan to own these shoes and products I am about to mention... don't get all up in my grill about how you love them, or how I should just shut up... this is my opinion, and it's meant to be satirical in nature... chill out...

Ahem..

Shoes... that make your butt and legs look better... hmmmm.... remember the 70's?  Yeah.. nothing is really "new" anymore huh?  Remember Dr. Scholls?  Those clunky, wood bottomed, leather across the toed "leg shapers" that sounded like a Clydsedale horses were within 10 feet of you?  Yeah... I owned them... and they were UNCOMFORTABLE AS ALL GET OUT...  I was 10 in the late 70's... and my older cousin told me the shoes were a "miracle" and that I should get them... whatever she said was like listening to God himself... boy was I dumb...

So now there are these commercials touting that these sneakers are made in such a way that it will exercise the butt and legs...

Really?

Are we gonna go "there" again?

They. are. shoes.

What exercises the butt and legs? EXERCISE... WALKING... SQUATS... etc...

I want advertising agencies to STOP thinking we are all stupid know nothing's that will buy ANYTHING they put out there...

Oh... You own a pair?

And?...

Is your butt not touching the ground anymore?

Are your legs back to the shape they were in at 18?

You wanna know what I wish they would come out with?

A freaking bra that will ACTUALLY make my boobs not be 4 feet long anymore...

It's really annoying when I need to scratch my knee, and I have to move my once perky, now stretched beyond recognition breast out of the way...

Why doesn't Madison Ave come out with an advertising campaign for a bra that makes boobs up tight and outta sight... without surgery!!!

Oh wait... I know why... IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!  Just like I feel it's impossible that a shoe can do, what an hour a day at the gym can do.

Unless those shoes have weights sewn into them... I don't see how they'll work... but they sure don't have a problem with charging $100 for them!!! or more!!!

Look... if you own them and love them... great... I hope your butt tightens so tight that you can bounce a feather off of it.  I hope your legs get so shapely, they ask you to be a leg model for pantyhose...

I just get cynical when they make things out to be something they aren't...

Don't even get me started on anti wrinkle creams... and breast firming butters...

Lord have mercy!

Progress and prep...

The backside of the new Fireplace.  All that wood is for the forming of the area around it so cement can be poured.  Bye, Bye beach sand...

This is the stamp we used ALL over the fireplace.  Next... I need to buy a cement stain, and some cement water colors to faintly color in the grapevines, and to give the cement coating some character.  It's pretty gray right now...

So while the fireplace was getting worked on... I went about my Prep for the week...

So I made all the bread for sandwiches...

And all the bread for breakfast for the week... just slice and toast...  this is Raisin/Cranberry cinnamon bagel bread.  It's FULL of flax seed, whole wheat flour, no yeast, just my starter, yogurt and other yummy things...

And I made another batch of Butternut/Corn/Pea Slurry.... I thinned this down with some homemade stock...

it's in the fridge waiting for dinner bowls...

Then I sliced all my onions for the week, bbq'd all the chicken, made a 2 bean chili soup, made a mayo free coleslaw (yum) recipe will be here soon, and made 4 batches of dough...

I'm pooped... but I feel ready for the week now.  We have 5 baseball games in 4 different cities and dinner's need to be healthy, ready, and on the fly... so preparation is my saviour...

Time to take the kids to school now...

The next two days will be my last two days driving my own car... my oldest will be commandeering the steering wheel from now on...

Has anyone seen my suit of armor, and our crash helmets... and those industrial strength seat belts?

Hey... where's a good tank when you need one!!!

I want...

I know I shouldn't wish my life away... I know it won't do any good... but why... oh why.. do kids have to grow up!!!

I remember when the boys were all small... and I thought I was never going to be able to shower again at a decent hour... or I was always going to be destined to rock them to sleep forever... that they would "need" me for everything forever... and I'd never be a woman again... with thoughts and dreams and goals and aspirations...

And then BANG!!! Fast forward 11 years... My men are 16, almost 14 and almost 11. 

Oh... how I wish they were small again.  I would love it if a tiny person would pull on my blouse and bend over and ask me to wipe his behind... in the kitchen... with the entire length of toilet paper trailing behind him...

I would LOVE it... if when they needed a bath... I could pile them all into the bathtub and have splash time again... and say things like... "No Johnny, don't drink the bath water... and No... Alex... no peeing while washing... that's what the toilet is for."

I NEED someone to ask me to read him a story.

I MISS being asked to "Marry me Mommy" every single day.

I miss having a baby boy sleeping on my shoulder...and sighing the sigh of a satiated, clean baby... while his bottom lip quivers in his sleep.

I miss my baby boys.  They are getting so big... so independent.  One is going to be driving in one week.  How the hell did that happen?  It just can't be!!!

 I want naked little boys to run around the house again... laughing about being naked... and screaming... Mama!!! I'm naked!!!  You can't catch me!!!  While I playfully scold them to go put their clothes back on.

I want to step on Legos again.  I want there to be too many toys cluttering up my house.  I want tiny chairs, and Little Golden Books all over the place.

I want them to fit in my lap again.  I want to have to get a babysitter again.

It's weird... when they were little, I always seemed to be going somewhere where I needed a sitter.  Now... that I don't need a sitter... I never go anywhere anymore...

When I used to long for time "away" from being a Mama, when they were little... I now long for MORE time... for the Mama time to last just a little while longer.

They wash their own clothes, they can cook their own food, if I'm not available, they can reach things on higher shelves than me.  They don't need me for anything anymore... and I'm heartbroken about it.

Luckily... William will hold my hand, kiss me in public, even at his High School, and tells me he loves me... but I know it's only for a little while longer... until a *sigh* girl takes his heart...  Alex tells me his friends like me, and think I'm "cool"... but once again... only until the 'girl' takes his heart... and Johnny... thank God... he's still young enough to think I'm still the living end... but he has two older brothers that are making him grow up faster than normal... it's inevitable...

I'm going to be phased out... all too soon.

I'm. Not. Ready.  It's too soon.  I was just holding them and cooing at them just yesterday... or maybe that was 16 years ago... yeah... it was... it seems like a dream...

I need more time... I need to reinvent myself... so I can occupy my time when they are on their own...

Is it too late to be Cindy Crawford?