Biscotti

Every week I am trying to find a new recipe to make. I am sure like most of you, you get stuck in a rut. This week I ventured to make cornbread chicken pot pie...and it was delicious. If you have a chicken pot pie recipe, just make cornbread your topping. The other new thing I made was Biscotti. It is David's Aunt's recipe, and it is great for the dunking, whether you like coffee or tea, this is a treat. See below for this awesome recipe.

Makes 3 dozen

3 large eggs
Grated peel of an orange
1 tsp. vanilla

For almond biscotti
½ tsp. almond extract
1 tbs. anise liqueur or anise extract

For hazelnut biscotti
1 tbs. Frangelico liqueur

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup nuts

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease a baking sheet or cover with parchment paper
2. In a bowl, whisk eggs, orange peel, vanilla extract and any other extracts or liqueurs.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. Add egg mixture, mix just until blended.
5. Mix in nuts
6. Divide dough in half. Form each half into a log, 12 inches long on baking sheet, side by side.

Bake in center of oven for 50 minutes until golden

Cool for 5 minutes, then slice diagonally about ½ inch thick.

Lay slices flat on baking sheet, bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes then turn and bake another 15 minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight container.

Surgery

Evan 2 weeks old.
Evan now. What a face! I could just eat those double dimple cheeks of his.

Well, I have spoken to Evan's ENT. It looks like Evan will have surgery. The way it was explained to me was that we will need to do the surgery in two parts. The 1st surgery will consist of lengthening his soft palate. It looks like Evan has a deep pharynx, which can then create the look of a short palate, even if it is not, because the palate and the pharynx never touch allowing air to escape out of his nose. It is possible he may need a 2nd surgery to add more skin to the back of the throat to create less of a gap. We are hoping the 1st surgery is all that is needed, because having the 2nd surgery often times causes sleep apnea. With Evan being a terrible sleeper as it is, I am praying the 1st one works for him. We scheduled the surgery for January 14th, after the holidays, and when Evan's ENT will be back in the country. Below is some more information for those of you who are interested on the medical part of it.

Deep Pharynx — This is the most difficult to recognize since the deficit is in the size of the nasopharynx and not of the soft palate. The soft palate may appear normal by oral exam. The velopharyngeal deficit can be identified only by lateral radiographs or lateral fluoroscopy. The primary features are the speech characteristics of hypernasal resonance, nasal air escape and possibly “cleft palate-like misarticulations” without obvious physical deficits. Other characteristics are nasal regurgitation as a newborn, difficulty nursing and delayed, hypernasal speech with normal language development. The speech-language pathologist is extremely important in the ultimate diagnosis and referral for appropriate evaluation and management of disorders of the deep pharynx. Speech deficits are the primary characteristics.
VPI is often not diagnosed or diagnosed late because the palate appears normal and the pharynx is not evaluated. When diagnosed after speech has begun, sparse adenoid mass may be a factor.
Hypernasality is the primary presenting factor. Hypernasality may be present from onset of speech — some children do not grow adenoids. After adenoidectomy — deep nasopharynx is unmasked (velo-pharyngeal mechanism seems able to adjust to slow involution but not the sudden increase with adenoidectomy).

The house....basically done

Front of the house
New concrete porch...no more plastic wood porch to slip on. Yahoo!
Back of house with new concrete slab, retaining wall and cedar deck off the master.
Retaining wall
Side view of yard...now I just need to get my grass to grow again.

In case you were wondering.......

This is what yucky stew looks like. Just ask my kids, they will tell you all about it. This seems to be the time when they get along the best....when they make yucky stew together.

Yucky stew...take one
Yucky stew ...take 2
Hard at work making yucky stew
Yes....yucky stew a mother's favorite....especially when the kids come inside! (double click on the picture to get the full effect)

Has it been a month?

Grace with her build a bear. That bear has some crazy red hair and sketchers, with of course a princess dress.
Evan on our way to VBS. I was lucky to get a smiling picture. He has not been a ham for me lately.
David with the Florida family. Left to Right: Aunt Carolyn, David (Lauren's boyfriend) cousin Lauren, cousin Rudy jr., cousin Gilly, David and Grandma Garcia
Grace on her 1st day of preschool. Daddy took her, so that was extra special.
Evan trying to say cheese for the camera, but is really trying to get away from me.

Grace and her first fish. She caught it at David's company picnic.

Wow, I can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a month. Well, I guess I can. Every time I sit down at the computer, there is something else that seems to be calling my name.

So I guess I will recap the last 4 weeks.

What David has been up to: Well, work, work and more work....but he is enjoying his new position and the challenges that it continues to present. He finished his softball season in Mid August. He traveled to Florida for work, and then stayed the weekend to see his Grandmother and Aunts and Uncles. He even got to see a Bucs game with his Uncle, which was awesome for him. Now this week he is starting his last year of his Masters degree, and he left for Amsterdam for a few days. I am not sure how he does...oh yes, I know how....he has me as his walking, talking, personal assistant :-). No really, he seems to manage his life pretty well with only having 24 hours in a day. Most people couldn't hang with the amount of sleep he gets or doesn't get and flying across the world back and forth in a few days to go back to school and work again with no recuperation time. Way to go David!

I have been up to the usual Mom thing. We have had our usual Dr. appointments, playdates and zoo trips this past month. I have also been getting ready for the fall with many trips to the store trying to get clothes for these kids. Grace is rather thin, so trying to get pants that fit has been my challenge. I think we are good now though. I helped with the Back to School party at our church where we handed out over 750 backpacks with school supplies inside this year for those in need. It was such an awesome ministry, and it made me so thankful for what I have.

I think I left off with Evan getting his barium swallow test done. Well, it was not a fun experience for anyone, but I am thankful it is over, and it looks like the Dr's got enough information. I meet with Evan's ENT to discuss surgery options on the 16th. I will post again to tell you how it goes. I am excited to find out what we can do to help him. Evan started back up with Early intervention again this week. Everyday I see progress with him. It makes me hopeful for what is to come post surgery. He is still refusing to potty train....not sure if it is a stubborn child, a control thing, a developmental thing, but I am trying to relax a bit. I just thought we would be on our way out with the diapers by now. Evan is really into his Geo track trains right now, and showing his independence by telling me "No" a lot more.

Grace started preschool again this week. I wasn't sure how it would go since she has struggled with anxiety this summer, but so far so good. She is such a sweet girl, and I just want her to enjoy her last year of preschool before real school starts. Wow, that is scary. I can't believe how quickly times passes....days are long, but seasons are short. She is turning into such a beautiful young girl. She loves wearing dresses and playing dress up with her dolls. She is quite the little artist making a picture for anyone who walks in the house.

Our house is basically done. It looks like the final touches will be done this weekend, so then I can really get some cleaning done! Not that I am looking forward to cleaning, but I am looking forward to a little normalcy with no contractors under foot anymore. It has been a little over 2 months since we started. It has gone pretty well over all, and we are really loving the changes we made.