Picnic Pasta Salad.

Oh my goodness when was the last time I blogged about a recipe?  Too long and I'm pretty surprised with myself considering how much I looove food!  Over the Easter weekend I made a humongus batch of my picnic pasta salad.  When you gather with my hubbys side of the family you gotta make enough to feed an army.  I tripled what I'm showing here.

My mom would always make a similar simple pasta during the warm months and camping season when we were kids.  I've sort of taken over for her in that department.  I don't think she minds.  With that being said here is my recipe for the pasta.

Picnic Pasta Salad

1 16 oz package Tri Color Rotini Noodles
2 6.5 oz jars of quartered Artichoke hearts
1 4.5 oz jar of sliced Mushrooms
1 4.8 oz can of sliced Olives
1 diced Red Bell Pepper
1 small diced Red Onion
1 diced Jalapeno
1/2 chopped Cilantro
1/2 cup shredded Parmesean
1 Bottle Italian Dressing, season to your liking

Obviously you can add or subtract any of the ingredients  I just boil the noodles, drain and let them cool.  Then I add all of the veggies except the cilantro, add the Italian dressing and mix.  I usually put in fridge to cool completely and mix in the cilantro last.  I hope you enjoy this pasta! If it makes any difference I was told twice last weekend that a person could bathe in this dish!  Thank you for reading. 

Easter Weekend!

Happy Tuesday friends!  Hope that you are feeling refreshed from the great Easter weekend.  Everyone celebrates in their own special ways and follows family traditions.  I loved seeing all my friends beautiful pictures on IG and FB. 

 

The girls found their baskets in morning and relished in all the chocolate goodness.  They loved all the coloring crafty parts too.  Later that day after they bathed and dressed up in girly fashions they did a backyard egg hunt.  They found all 24 eggs and had a time cracking them all open to see what treasures were inside.  Their piggy banks have some extra change flowing through them and we are rationing out the pastel candies till I can toss it all out, haha.

We finally colored eggs, and I must admit I was way behind on that fun activity.  Amira kept asking me when we were doing it and each time it would slip my mind.  Mommy brain is alive and well over here!  I do love how the eggs turned out.  They look so rustic.  I'm sure if I had used white eggs instead of brown they would have been more vibrant.  (I don't think I've ever bought organic white eggs)

Later that day we celebrated Easter with some of Mario's family, something we do most Easters.  It was an amazing gathering of family and everyone was grateful to be together.  There was huge spread of delicious foods and I was stuffed to the max.  At his uncle and aunts house they do egg hunt as well.  One for the kiddos and one for the 20 plus adults there.  Hundreds of eggs are hidden throughout their property and everyone is tromping around searching for these special silver and gold eggs!  It can be pretty comical to watch, I stay back with my girls and look around with them.  It was all around great weekend and this week I'm prepping for this coming weekend, Amira's 5th birthday bash!

 

Thank you so much for reading!

I've Never Heard That Before...

It goes a little something like this.  "Oh, your daughter looks nothing like you."  "She must really look like her dad."  "She's her daddy's mini alright." 

Little me on Easter Day ;)

What can I say?  I have heard these comments way to many times in my life as being a mother.  At first I kind of nod and say yes, or try to convince the person "No she really does look like me."  Then after hearing it so many times I sort of get annoyed and feel like, "Hey I carried this child in my body for 9 months and pushed her out all by myself.  I'm pretty damn sure she looks like me!

Obviously I hear this about both of my girls.  Should I feel bad about getting irked the more and more I hear it? Sometimes it makes me feel pretty crappy.  I know we all say things without thinking first, once and a while.  Maybe I'm just PMS'in. What I do know is that I hear and feel the exact same way my mother did with me. I just never gave it much thought until I became a mom, myself.  Or maybe she has thicker skin than me and let comments like this slide off her back. 

 

My mom is totally Irish looking with the exception of red hair.  She is fair skinned, blue green eyes and light brown hair. When she gets a tan its pretty much freckles.  Then there is my dad who is pure Cambodian, brown eyed, black haired, and has brown skin.  Apparently the darker features usually dominate the gene pool, like they did in my case.  However for little Amira she has the most porcelain skin and blue eyes.  So I definitely hear this about her.

Now there is my little baby Gia (yes I still call her that)  Everyone always say she's the spitting image of Mario.  Yes, I know she looks so much like her good looking daddy.  But come on, they look like me too! There are many features my girls and I share that most don't take the time to see, so I am getting use to that.  I use to say, Oh we have the same ears, or same birth mark, nose, or whatever. Finally I just stopped.  I just have to keep those things special to me and see them through my motherly eyes.

I was reluctant on posting this only because I don't love blogging about negativity in my life.  Then a wonderful friend reached out to me talking about very similar issues in her life. As humans we all make mistakes and can pass judgement, but really, we as a whole should work on that.  Especially when children are involved and the hurtful things are being said in front of them...