These are a few of my favorite things…

Wanna talk about being random? Okay – here we go. First of all, P’s new favorite book? Is my favorite book. I found a Sesame Street book in the $1 bins at Tar-jay (score) and so picked them up. We love books and for $1 hello! Why not? Plus they’re small and flexible so P can hold on to one (or a bunch) “read” them, turn the pages, they’re a great source of entertainment when she’s doing her business on the potty and I grab a stack. But I digress…

“Red or Blue, I Like You.” Elmo has met a new friend Angela and goes to her house to play. When he gets to her house he wonders why all of the monsters in her neighborhood are blue? Angela has no clue what he’s talking about. Her brother Tony has made all sorts of assumptions about red monsters – they love a certain show, he didn’t realize they liked the same kinds of foods, etc…

Then Angela visits Elmo at Sesame Street while Elmo is having his family reunion – it is wonderful to see her “reaction” as she interacts with orange monsters, red monsters, pink monsters and sees the diversity at Sesame Street. It’s a new world for her and once she adjusts is loving it. At the end of the book there’s a new family moving in to Sesame Street and Prayse and I talk about how the Daddy is Red, the Mommy is Blue and their baby is Red like Daddy but has Blue hair like Mommy – the perfect combination.

LOVE! She hasn’t asked too many questions for awhile about Mommy and Daddy looking different or her looking different (or the absolutely perfect combination, the best of both worlds as we like to say) but I think she’s picking up on it as she chooses this book to read every night. She has noticed that her hair is different than Mommy’s hair, so we talk about that a lot. She also once noticed how Mommy and Daddy’s legs are different, so we’ve talked about that. We had our legs on top of each other so we pulled her into our lap and put her leg on top as well to discuss how she’s the perfect combination and how we love her and each other so much.

Diversity while not as common in her school let’s say (she does have one friend who was adopted from SE Asia) but in her life we have some pretty amazing friends who are mixed couples so I’m not sure she recognizes it as anything different. Someday she will, someday she’ll get questions – but books like “Red or Blue, I like you” are such wonderful resources for kids of any age, any race, any family situation – Two thumbs up Sesame Street!

Also – here’s the random part – I’ve actually been cooking as of late and wanted to share a few fave recipes I’ve either pulled out of the arsenal or found. (You know they’re either something simmering or a crock pot right? If not I’m just telling you to be prepared, it’s my thing. I’m a working outside the home Mom and need dinner quick when we get home )

Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu
4 chicken breasts
1/2 lb sliced ham
1/2 lb sliced swiss cheese
cream of chicken soup (one can)
dry stuffing mix – prepared

Cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. (Note – if you cook it for 8 hours and then have a particularly long day and it sits on Warm for an additional 1.5 hours – it may end up slightly overdone, not that it happened to me last night or anything – but still really tasty! I almost think the 6-7 hour range is perfect for this one).

Sour Cream Pork Chops
6 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste
garlic pwd to taste
1/2 c all purpose flour
1 onion – sliced 1/4″ thick
2 cubes chicken boullion
2 c boiling water
2 T flour
1 (8 oz) container sour cream

Season pork chops with salt, pepper, garlic. Dip in 1/2 c flour. Brown in skillet over med heat with oil.
Place chops in slow cooker and top with onion slices. Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water and pour over chops. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 200- transfer chops to oven to keep warm
In a small bowl blend 2 T of flour with sour cream and mix w/ meat juices
Turn on CP to High for 15 – 30 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve over chops.

We served this over brown rice, noodles were also recommended. I personally have never been able to get any gravy to thicken (it’s a gift I think) but it was still delicious and Prayse gobbled it down.

Chili
2- 29 oz cans tomato sauce
2- 28 oz cans peeled/diced tomato’s
2 c diced onion
1 T Italian Seasoning
1 lb bacon – drained
2 lbs spicy sausage
3 lbs ground beef
1 – 18 oz hickory smoked bbq sauce
1/4 c chili powder
4 – 15.25 oz cans kidney beans (undrained)
2 – 1 oz squares unsweetened chocolate – chopped

1. Combine tomato sauce, diced tomato, onion and Italian seasoning in a pot.
2. Cook bacon until slightly crisp. Drain and stir in pot.
3. Cook sausage, drain and stir in pot.
4. Stir in BBQ sauce and chili powder. Taste and adjust seasonings. Stir in kidney beans and chocolate and simmer until flavors are well blended.

My Notes – Go with the Spicy Italian Sausage. I was lame and scared of making something too spicy and went just regular, the extra spice is needed if you’re to know there is sausage in here (and I am not one for spicy food even). Also – if you’re jut making this for your family, HALVE the recipe. This made one entire crock pot to take with us to the church along with taking up my biggest pot. I didn’t know what I was getting into and realized half way through I needed to transfer half to the CP.

Enjoy friends!