Schedules and Recipes

Guys, I'm so freaking exhausted. How am I managing to do all of this? Let's run down the list:

• Monday, Thursday, and Saturday: get up for work at 3am. Work anywhere from 8-13 hours on the bread route. Come home, take a short nap (hour, hour and a half maybe), get up. Clean kitchen. Cook dinner. Eat. Unload truck. Clean kitchen. Rest. Shower. Bed between 9 and 10pm.
• Tuesday and Friday: get up at 3am. Work at the warehouse for around 2 or 2 and a half hours. Come home. Sleep till 9:30 or 10. Breakfast. Play time until 11:30 or 12. Errands until 3 or 4. Come home. Rest. Clean kitchen. Cook dinner. Eat. Unload truck. Clean kitchen. Rest. Shower. Bed between 9 and 10.
• Wednesday and Sunday: off work! Sleep in! Get up. Breakfast (usually pancakes or french toast). Play time until whenever. Laundry, lots of it. Plenty of cleaning. Sometimes unloading the truck. Clean kitchen. Cook dinner. Eat. Clean kitchen. Shower. Bed between 9 and 10.

So that's what I do during the day. I'd also like to note that while the beginning of the week was pretty bumpy, this has been the easiest week with Kerri and the kids so far! We got the kids on WIC and baby girl on Medicaid. Jon has to have a dental checkup before they give him Medicaid. The food stamp thing is still up in the air. Kerri needs to call them back to see if she'll get any assistance in that department. Nobody is really hiring right now, but she put in an application at my old job. My old boss is a good guy, so I have a good feeling that if an opening comes up he'll call us first.

While we're here, I'd also like to note that I still think infertility is a real bitch. It's so so hard seeing Keith love on these kids and play with them everyday and know that I can't give him one of our own. It's easy to see that he'll be an amazing dad. I know that someday Kerri and the kids will have to leave us, and it's just going to break Keith's heart to see them go. Another reason this is hard on me is that for right now, with our finances the way they are, we cannot pursue any further treatment. That means we can't even TRY to make our own baby. And there's no telling when we'll be able to jump back into the world of treatments, either. Why does it all have to be so difficult?

Today I have been preparing to go to Keith's family reunion. His dad's side. Preparations involved mostly cooking tons of food. Also picking up a 400 degree glass baking dish with my bare hands. Awesome! Anyways, Twitter friends suggested I blog my recipes. So here they are:

Awesome Baby Red Potatoes

This recipe fills a 13 x 9 glass baking dish. I came up with this one day while trying to figure out a side to make for dinner.

• 20 assorted sized baby red potatoes
• 1 large white onion
• 1 24oz package bacon (pork, not turkey; can be peppered)
• 2 packets Hidden Valley ranch powder
• Lots of shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400.
Cut baby reds into bite sized chunks.
Chop half of the white onion.
Chop entire package of bacon.
Combine.
Coat with ranch powder.
Add tons of cheese.
Stir well.
Top with a thick layer of cheese.
Bake at 400 for one hour. Time may vary slightly. Just be sure that the potatoes are soft all the way through.
Just so you know, the top layer of cheese will come out dark and slightly crunchy or chewy. If you don't like that, go ahead and top with cheese after baking. Also, if you desire, you can use a couple less potatoes and add in other veggies. It's all up to what tastes good to you! If you're making this as a side for 2 people, scale it down to about 4 big baby reds. The rest is up to you!

Disclaimer: The following three recipes are NOT my original recipes! I found them on About.com.

Easy Cheesecake Filling

For 9 inch pie pans, non water bath recipe. Helps if you have an oven brick or pizza stone to help even out the oven temperature, but it's not absolutely necessary.

• 3 packages (1.5 lbs) cream cheese, room temp (can be full or low fat)
• 4 eggs, preferably room temp, but not required
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 1/3 cups sugar or sugar equivalent (I use blond evaporated palm sugar)
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Heat oven to 400.
In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy.
Add in other ingredients. I find it's easiest to add them one at a time and beat until completely combined before moving on to the next ingredient.
Pour the mixture into the pie dish, over whatever crust you're using (I'm including my favorite crust recipe after this).
Place in oven on a cookie sheet to catch any spillage.
Lower oven temp to 200.
Bake for 90 minutes to 2 hours. (It will still be runny looking in the middle. It sets up once you refrigerate.) I usually check it after 90 minutes. If it still looks extremely runny, I bake for the extra 30 minutes.
Once it's finished, let it cool for a little while, then refrigerate until firm in the middle. I usually just refrigerate over night and it turns out perfectly!

Pecan Pie Crust

For 9 inch pie pan.

• 1 cup pecans
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons sweetener of your choice

In a food processor or blender, combine ingredients.
Chop until the pecans are tiny and everything is well blended.
Pour into pie dish and press out to cover the bottom and up the sides. I find that it doesn't cover the entire sides of the dish, but that never turns out to be a big issue anyways.
It's not really necessary to bake this, but since my oven is usually preheated to 400 to make the cheesecake, I like to pop it in there for about 5 minutes.

Strawberry Cheesecake Topping

For cheesecake made in 9 inch pie dish. You can use basically any fruit, strawberry is just easier because it doesn't have seeds like blackberries or other yummy fruits.

• 1 container (16 oz) strawberries
• 1 cup sugar

Very, very simple!
Chop or slice strawberries. Discard stems.
Put into a sauce pan with sugar on medium heat.
Stir frequently.
After a minute or so, water starts to cook out of the fruits. If you're too worried about burning it, add a tiny bit of water at the start. Note that if you add water it will be slightly runnier than it would be without it.

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And there ya have it! Those are my recipes for today. Next time I make something good I'll try and remember to post it. Hope y'all enjoy!