Mac and Cheese recipe

So, I completely forgot about the recipe.....until reminded. So here it is from the Ratatouille What's Cooking cookbook for kids.

1 lb elbow macaroni, cooked according to directions
Butter for greasing the dish
3 cups half-and-half or whole milk (I've used 2% with no real problems)
18 slices of American or cheddar cheese
12 Ritz crackers
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste

1. Heat the oven to 350 and grease a 13x9 baking pan or large casserole dish
2. Spoon a third of the cooked macaroni into te pan, then pour in 1 cup of the half and half or milk and cover with 6 slices of cheese. Add two more layers of pasta, half and half or milk, and cheese.
3. Place the crackers in a ziplock bag and crush. Add the salt, pepper and paprika, then sprinkle the crumbs on top of the pasta and cheese. Bake until bubbly, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Now for my additions. I put salt and pepper on top of every cheese layer, but the last. I do two layers of American cheese, with a layer of cheddar in the middle. I also put tiny pieces of butter all over the top, makes the crackers yummier. And I use a few more crackers than called for. Oh, and you really have to cook it 45 min. It has to be very bubbly to get all the milk and cheese mixed. Also, put a cookie sheet under it because it spills over.

Enjoy!

Family Day at City Hall

Today we went to the family day celebration at City Hall. They had carriage rides, a juggler, a magic show, and an outdoor movie. We didn't really stay for the movie. The temp was around 32 F, which was a little too cold for us. But we had a great time. I'm amazed at how many free events they have, and how poor the turn out is. In Houston an event like this would definetly have more to see and do, but it would also cost $10 a person, and still have about 10 times the turn out. Edmonton has over a million people, but from all the events we have been to you would think we were in a small town.

See more pics http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/10305932570-1203305537-19018/ .

The Silver Skate Festival

This weekend is Family Day weekend. Monday is Family day, a provincal holiday, so the city is filled with Family Day events. Today we went to The Silver Skate Festival at a park in the river valley.

Here are snow scultptures. Aren't they cool?


Sleigh rides! And as you can tell the sun was quite bright today, and them temp is right around freezing, but windy. Made a fairly comfortable day.
The boys went cross country skiing.

Frank chose snow shoeing instead.
And I understand Grant spent most of his time on his bottom.

Mason and I stayed at the build it yourself snow castle.
Where he played with shovels.
Isn't the colored ice cool?
Then we went to the ice skating pond.

Mason got to go in his stroller.
The boys tried out the skates for parapalegic's.


And I had to go after the boys when Grant started to go into the water. I think ice skating might have been easier than walking on ice. The ice is so pretty and thick. Not like ice skating rinks.

I think Family Day is an awesome holiday. And we have lots more to do this weekend. Tomorrow the boys will try ice skating.

The World Thaws

The Snow Man!
Mason and Tyler in the snow
Mason can finally find the rocks he loves!
And then he would throw them!
Because look how cool they are when they sink in the snow!

And then we threw snow at Tyler!

Grant made a chair in the snow.

Well, I believe I have found my favorite thing about snow......when it melts! The temp got up to 42 F today. And it felt absolutely wonderful! Really, I was a little warm in my coat and didn't have a hat or gloves or anything. We all went outside and played in the snow. It was finally sticky enough to make a real snow man! It will all be frozen again tomorrow, but today its all drippy and melty. The sound outside is just fabulous. When you haven't heard rain in 4 months, its amazing how much you can miss the sounds of rain. Only problem is the mud gets thrown up on your car and there is no rain coming down to wash it off. People go through a lot of windshield cleaner here. I'm going to love the Spring here.

And yesterday morning we heard birds! Mason pointed them out, but they were hiding in the trees so we couldn't see them. "Hiney, Hiney!" as he says!

Our days

Well, I thought you might want to see how things look around here. Here's the snow in our front yard. The side by the door is at least knee deep, and the other side is waist deep. Of course a lot of that is from the driveways. And see how nice the road is? Its all packed down, and covered in dirt. There are empty spots on the roof because it has been so windy.

This is a pile in the cul de sac down the street. it truly is almost as tall as the garage. But it has warmed up, but that means more snow. We are expecting 5 - 10 cm of icy snow tonight. Snow shovelling will be fun for Frank in the morning.

Mexican Food

We finally found a place to eat Mexican food. I went on-line and searched Mexican food in Edmonton. Found 4 restaurants, most didn't have good ratings, so we went to the one with the best ratings. Its downtown, and about 20 min away, but for Canada its fabulous! The food was served differently than most in Houston, but it tasted pretty good. And actually just having chips and salsa on the table was AWESOME! Although they were not too happy when we ate 3 bowls of chips (they were really small bowls.) Then I'm sure they were shocked when Mason ate the guacamole out of the bowl with a spoon. But we will definitely be back. And they will notice as it only has 6 tables, and we are still the loudest people in all of Canada.

And now we have heat!

Well, I tried to be adventurous today. Grant got a Ratatouille cookbook for Christmas that has had some great recipes. (I'll have to post the Macaroni and Cheese one. Its almost as easy as Kraft, but tastes almost as good as Luby's.)

So I decided to make Vichyssoise - French Potato and Leek soup. I ended up making a double batch because I peeled more potatoes than necessary. Well, the last step is to puree the soup. I knew putting hot soup in a blender was not a good idea for me so we went ahead and ate. It was pretty good, but you could tell it would be better blended.

So after dinner was over I tried to blend it. Well, turns out you need the lid on all the way! Hot soup when everywhere! And mostly on me! I had to throw off my shirt rather quickly with everyone in the kitchen. Luckily it was just us. And thankfully it wasn't that hot. I have a few red patches that burn just a little, but it could have been so much worse if I had done it first. And it does taste so much better blended. I guess thats why they serve it cold....no one gets hurt that way!

Temperature Changes

When I got up this morning the thermometer said +23 F. Yeah! When I got out of the shower, +21 F. Ok, it often drops a little in the morning. I went to the grocery store, and with the sun it was back up to +24 F. But when I came..... + 17 F........and after putting all the groceries away in the house.....+11 F! And I was hoping for a nice day! And its so windy, I'm sure the windchill is 20 degrees colder.

Superbowl Party

We went to a SuperBowl party tonight. We had a good time, but I had to share this with anyone that didn't see it.

http://video.msn.com/?vid=1e124de4-c1c2-4abe-9f35-0f35c8463676&mkt=en-us&brand=foxsports&from=SuperBowlAllWidget


Ok, for anyone who missed the SuperBowl here are the best commercials every. They are both e-trade commercials with a baby in them. The second one is on page 3, its actually the first one and it works a little better if you see the one on page 3 first.

Thaw?

Well, I wanted to wait until the temp was above 0 F to update, but I'm just not sure when that will happen. The weather forcast says it will get to 4 F today. The highest I've seen in a week is +0.8 F, and I'm just not sure if that counts as being above 0. Although, it started raining on the couch the other day. I guess it was warm enough to melt the ice on the inside of the skylights, and it all fell out. Luckily, it wasn't that much, but it sure scared me when water starts falling in on me.