Dom leaves the house by 6:30 most weekday mornings. Now I love him dearly; but I’m not a morning person. Not only do I not get up to make him breakfast, I usually only grunt and roll over when he comes in to kiss me goodbye. (Yes, he always comes in to kiss me goodbye before he goes. Such a good husband, he doesn’t even mind my surliness. Or at least he does such a good job of pretending that I haven’t yet caught on.)
Anyway, this means that most days Dom is grabbing a couple of nutrigrain bars on the run or a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast when he gets to work. He’s not stopping at Dunkin Donuts anymore cause that’s just too pricey. I’ve recently got pretty good about packing his lunch for him, usually leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. But not so good about the whole breakfast thing.
Then recently while perusing a copy of Cook’s Country magazine (a great publication by the same people who brought us Cook’s Illustrated Magazine and America’s Test Kitchen) he saw a recipe for sausage and cheese muffins that was a runner-up in their recent muffin contest. “That sounds good,” he pointedly said. And since he doesn’t ask for much very often, I made a note of the recipe and determined to try it out soon.
On Thursday I planned to have leftovers for dinner and so had some free time in the late afternoon for some creative baking and I threw together the muffins. I wish I could share the recipe; but you’ll have to get a subscription.
I have to confess the idea didn’t appeal to me when I first saw it. I was imagining chunks of sausage and cheese. But the final product was quite tasty. You pulverize the meat and the cheese along with some red bell pepper and onion in the food processor so it’s not chunky at all. I can’t think of exactly what they remind me of it’s somehow familiar but I can’t put my finger on it… Dom says it’s maybe a little like stuffing, though that’s not quite it either.
I’m so glad to finally be able to offer my husband a healthy, homemade alternative for breakfast, something that will fill him up and keep him going until lunch. The only problem may be keeping a stash of them on hand. They’re so tasty it’s tempting to have one for a snack. And Isabella likes them too!
Oooh! Good job! I can’t believe how baby clothes seem to multiply. I managed a good clear out of Cherub’s outgrown clothes over the past few weeks and have distributed them to three friends with baby girls – I even managed to find a home for the tiny baby stuff with our neighbour who gave birth to a 5lb 10oz 36-weeker last week (and the tiny baby sundresses I kept for Cherub’s dolls). Given that Cherub is still only in 9-12 month clothes I can’t believe the amount that had accumulated!
It doesn’t adctually get better with age, at least not yet. My girl is 5 and I have three bags of 3-4 y.o. clothes. She’s my one-and-only, so I have to find friends and cousins to give these to. She doesn’t yet wear them out faster than she outgrows them. I’m finally taking a bunch to a 2nd hand store in town for resale. The money can go in her bank account.
It’s my first foray into baby clothes land. My MIL has already sent us two huge boxes of clothes, exclusively for a girl, in spite of my pleas for no pink. I like pink, but there is a chance that the baby (due February 22) might be a boy. Oh well. Some are going to a crisis pregnancy center, some we will save.
We did get the perfect little gender neutral outfit for the newborn. It has teddy bears. Makes me smile just thinking about it.
Good luck with preparing for Sophia! Prayers are with you.
One thing that makes my situation more difficult is my reluctance to give away anything that might be useful at some time in the future. We’re almost positive we’re having a girl now; but the next one might well be a boy. Right now I need newborn winter clothes, but the next baby might be born in the summer.
Heather, I still need to get all the too-small and out of season clothes out of Bella’s drawers too. I’ve been reluctant to do that, though until I’ve got all the baby clothes sorted and stowed away. Meanwhile, she loves pulling everything out of her dresser.
Lydia,
Oh I feel great sympathy. I remember very well my alarm and dismay at all the pink we received at Bella’s baby shower. Fortunately, she was a girl and we were able to use most of what we received.
I’ve even found that in the past 20 months I’ve come to rather like pink. (I really loathed it before.) It’s helped that Isabella looks especially fetching in pink. Anyway, thanks for the prayers. We’ve been praying for you and your baby too.
On recycled clothes: My sister has two boys older than D3 and has regularly dropped off trash bags of clothes. I’ve been grateful, but sometimes it seems she’s just getting rid of laundry instead of passon on hand-me-downs. What am I going to do with one of her husband’s undershirts?
A storage suggestion: Use clear plastic tubs so you can see what’s in them. Or, label the tubs with numbers, then keep a list of what’s in which tub. “Oh, Number 3 has the boy’s/unisex winter, but 4 has summer. That’s the one I need.”
Your post reminds me, I still need to get the summer clothes out of Rachel’s drawers…