Deep Fried Mac and Cheese

Cooking time: 15 minutes    Servings: 15   

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 recipe "The Lady's Cheesy Mac" prepared, chilled in the refrigerator overnight, and cut into 15 pieces
• Flour, for dredging
• 1 egg, beaten
• Italian(or plain) bread crumbs, for dredging

Heat 2 inches of oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.
Dredge each Cheesy Mac square in flour, then egg, and then bread crumbs to coat. Fry for about 1 minute on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels before serving.


The Lady's Cheesy Mac

• 4 cups elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Once you have the macaroni cooked and drained, place in a large bowl and while still hot and add the cheddar.
In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and add to the macaroni mixture.
Pour macaroni mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

Top with additional cheese if desired, and bake a few minutes more until cheese is melted.

Summer Vacation

For those who have been following me on twitter, you'll know we're in Georgia visiting family. Brendon is on block leave and it's the last time we'll be together in Georgia as a family for a while. I'm nervous because we've gone from months down to weeks before the deployment. I don't like thinking about it, and I'm trying to stay positive, even though I'm getting some extremely bad vibes about it.





We've got some plans for r&r, tentatively. He asked for r&r around Braden's birthday, so if that happens, our plan is to go to Disney World for his 3rd birthday. I can't believe in 6 months my baby boy will be 3 years old.

I know I'm not updating very much, but we're on vacation and it'll be come and go with blogging until we get home.

My Last Few Weeks In Review

I went on a mini hiatus on my blog for a few reasons. I was dealing with a lot and now I hope things can calm down some. I'll bullet the main points:

• My grandma passed away last Tuesday. She was the grandma I grew up with(my other was in Texas and sometimes didn't really care about my brother and I since we were the older grand kids.) and the one I adored. She hadn't been the same since my papa died December 2007. She's been sick ever since then and has been put on dialysis and had surgeries. She was in pain and didn't want to suffer anymore. She had another surgery before she died, it was a catherization. She had told my mom how scared she was to have this surgery this go around. Two days before she passed away, she left my mom a voice mail saying "hey girl, i'm still kicking..."  I drove home with my mom so I could go to the funeral. I wasn't able to go to my papa's since I was 9 months pregnant. I felt I said my peace with her and Braden got to see his great grandma one last time. Braden has never blown kisses to anyone before, and at the viewing he started to blow kisses to her. I broke down into tears because it was so sweet. He patted her head and said "night night". 

• Originally, my plan was to stay in Georgia until Brendon came down and was off work for leave, which he signs out on the 21st. Of course, that changed because he went on a bananas spending spree. He told me not to spend anymore money because he needed to go grocery shopping. So I only bought pull ups for Braden. He had gone out and put out bank account almost $200  in the hole.He had gone to a whole bunch of fast food places and went out to eat at PF Changs. He doesn't like to go inside and eat at places like that with me, but he could go and drink with his friend? KNOWING there wasn't money to be spent.  My grandma bought Braden and myself plane tickets home because Brendon needed to hear what I had to say in person and not over the phone. I told him he needs help and he also needs to figure out what's more important: the partying he's doing every weekend or his family. His friends see him more than we do every week. He comes home from work, we see him for 30 minutes to an hour and he's asleep. We really went into more depth about his having ptsd and him getting help. He was skeptical at first because "it's so close to the deployment, what's the point?". I had to tell him talking to someone will also give him ways to manage while he's gone. He's going to talk to someone on Friday since he's off after PT. Brendon got very emotional when we talked about his problems and he said the reason he's probably still a specialist is because he doesn't want to become one of those nco's that yell at privates just to do it.(which is what they want) They're talking about giving him his CPL rank, but we have no idea why. It's the same pay grade as what he is now and he'll have the same responsibilities. 

• Brendon got his deployment orders in hand while I was gone to Georgia. I'm realizing how real this is now. Gotta stay positive. 

• Potty training with Braden is going WELL! He's used the potty at least twice a day since we've gotten back. He loves using the potty.