10/19/12 - 3-Cheese Keilbasa Bake with Sesame Green Beans

Today was my Friday off. YAY! My mom also had today off because of her work conference last week, so she had Olivia for the day. Amelia actually slept in until around 8:30, so that was a wonderful start to the day! Though, my weigh in brought that down a notch. I gained a pound this week. Ugh. Just a pound, and it's to be expected seeing that I haven't been at the top of my gain, but still. Boo.

Once up, we got right to potty training fun. Amelia was ready to go right away…I asked her what we were going to do today, and without missing a beat, she said “use the potty!!!”. We made her little sticker sheet, we filled her M&M jar, we took her diaper off, and we got to it. She played, colored, ate breakfast. All of the usual. She wouldn’t really sit on her potty much though. Shortly before her nap, I finally got her to sit down on it for a good long time (we looked at pictures on my phone to distract her). Yet, she still didn’t go. She made it through the morning with no accidents, but also didn’t go at all. A little frustrated, I put a pull-up on her, convinced her it was underwear and we don’t go potty in our underwear, and put her down for a nap.

She took a nice, long 3-hour nap. When she woke up, she proudly told me “I didn’t go potty in my underwear!”. I checked, and sure enough, she was dry as can be. She sat on the potty, but nothing happened. We went about our evening….ate a little snack, I made dinner, we played for a while. Christian picked up Olivia on his way home, we ate dinner and spent the evening hanging out together. NOTHING on the potty front though. No accidents, no success – she literally held it ALL.DAY.LONG. I finally got her back into the bathroom before bed and she sat on the potty for a while. I ran the water, I had her soak her hands in a warm bowl of water, we talked about it. Nothing. I decided I better put a diaper on her, because she was going to blow at some point, and a pull-up wasn’t going to do the trick. Sure enough, on the way to their room, from the bathroom, she went. UGH!

So, she clearly knows how to hold it and what the potty is all about, but she’s just not interested in using it. I don’t think she’s ready to give up “being the baby” quite yet. I know it was only one day, but I think we’re just going to take a break, and try again in a few weeks or so. I’ll see if she brings it up at all tomorrow, but I’m not going to push it at all.

Once the girls were in bed, we just had a quiet evening. We were both pretty exhausted, so we didn’t have the energy to do too much.

Tonight’s dinner was a 3-Cheese Keilbasa Bake with Oriental Green Beans.

Ingredients:

• 6 oz Elbow Macaroni
• 1 pound Kielbasa or Polish Sausage (halved lengthwise and sliced)
• ½ tsp Olive Oil
• 1 medium Zucchini, quartered and sliced
• 1 medium Carrot, grated
• ¼ tsp minced Garlic
• 14 ozs Spaghetti Sauce
• 7-8ozs Stewed Tomoatoes
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 7-8 ozs Ricotta Cheese
• 1 cup Shredded Cheese
• 1 cup Park-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

• 1-1½ pound fresh Green Beans
• 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 6 minced Garlic Cloves

Sides:

• Biscuits – cooked, according to the package

Directions:

Pasta

1.      Preheat oven to 350.

2.      Cook the macaroni according to the package. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown the sausage in the oil over medium heat; drain. Add the zucchini, carrots and garlic; cook and stir for 5-6 minutes, until crisp-tender.

3.      Stir in the spaghetti sauce and tomatoes, Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Drain the macaroni.

4.      In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta cheese and egg.

5.      In a 9x13”, greased pan, layer the macaroni, the meat sauce, the cheese/egg mix and top with the cheddar and mozzarella cheese.

6.      Cover and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover, and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Green Beans

1.      Cook the green beans in boiling water, 4-5 minutes and drain.

2.      Combine the soy sauce, oil and sugar in a bowl and mix until smooth.

3.      Spray a skillet or wok, and cook the garlic over medium-high heat, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds.

4.      Add the beans, stir, and cook for about 2 minutes

5.      Add the soy sauce mixture, and cook for 1-2 minutes.

This one actually had some really good flavor. The girls loved it, and it was nice that the carrots were grated into the mixture – flavor, and guaranteed veggie intake. They actually really like the zucchini too though. Winner!