I admit it...

...I fell off the blogging wagon. I have thought about sitting down and blogging but honestly my mind just doesn't want to work right lately. The overpowering tiredness has returned and I find myself sitting down to watch a movie or just hang out with the kids and wake up a half hour (or more) later. Ethan thinks it's quite funny and a few times I've woken up to him giggling and saying "you fell asleep again!!".

I am still going thru the book "The Power of a Woman's Words" (although not as consistently as I would like...another thing I need to get back into) and when I do sit down to read or work in the study guide I am very blessed.

This weekend is a very busy weekend for us. Our church is having a missions conference so I was at the church last night helping prepare the food for lunch today. Today we were at the church most of the day; then we came home and I made a casserole for the carry-in dinner tomorrow at church. Tomorrow will be another full church day. It is a blessing and also a good challenge hearing from the missionaries that are speaking.

Monday I have my next appointment with my midwives. So far all is going very well, baby and I are both healthy and we have officially started the waiting game. I'm officially due April 28th but since I was late with both of the girls I'm expecting to go late this time also. The kids can't wait to meet their baby brother and we finally have everything ready for him. :)

So that is a quick update on us. Ethan is on school vacation this week so I'm really hoping to sit down and share at least a few quotes/thoughts from "The Power of a Woman's Words".

Another "from the pantry" recipe

I thought I'd share another recipe I came up with using "on-hand" ingredients. I used my baked mac & cheese recipe for the basic instructions but changed the ingredients to remove the lactose and make a full meal. It's nothing fancy but was a big hit here.

Baked Chicken & Broccoli Pasta

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, divided use
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 lb pasta (I used penne)
16 oz frozen broccoli, thawed and drained of any water
2 cups cooked chicken cubed
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups shredded cheese (I shredded some partial blocks of yogurt cheese I had on hand to eliminate the lactose since I can't have it)
1 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to package instructions. While pasta is cooking melt 4 TB butter in saucepan. Add flour and stir together for a minute. Slowly stir in chicken broth; bring to boil, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 2 minutes to thicken. Add all cheese and stir until melted. Add broccoli and chicken to cheese sauce. Drain pasta. Add 2 TB butter and all garlic to pasta. stir until butter is melted. Mix sauce with pasta. Pour into lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Melt remaining 2 TB butter and mix with bread crumbs until all are coated a bit. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of pasta. Bake 30-40 min or until the top is just browned.