Sauteed Kielbasa and apples

**This recipe is great served along side Macaroni & Cheese**

Makes 3 1/2 cups
Total time = 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb Kielbasa cut into 1 inch slices
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tblsp unsalted butter (if you don't have - don't add any salt later)
2 cups of Granny Smith apples - cored & sliced
2 Tblsp of sugar
1 Tblsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt

1. Brown Kielbasa in olive oil in a nonstick skillet over med heat - about 5 mins.
2. Transfer to a plate & keep warm
3. Return pan to burner
4. Saute apples in butter until softened - usually 2-3 mins
5. Add remaining ingredients and cook until sugar dissolves, 1-2 mins.
6. Return sausage to skillet and toss to combine
   

Macaroni & Cheese

Makes 5 cups
cook time 45 min

Topping:
1/2 stick of butter melted
1 sleeve of saltine crackers, crushed

Ingredients:
1/2 lb of dry macaroni noodles - cooked
1 cup of reserved pasta water (from the cooked pasta)
2 Tblsp of unsalted butter
2 Tblsp all purpose flour
3/4 cup of whole milk
3/4 cup of heavy cream
pinch of nutmeg
2 cups of white Cheddar, shredded
4 oz of cream cheese

1. Pre-heat oven to 400
2. Rub the inside of 13x9 baking dish or 4 8oz small baking dishes with softened butter
3. Boil noodles in salted water according to package
   
4. Melt 1/2 stick of butter for topping in a small nonstick skillet over med heat. Add crackers and cook until lightly browned - about 5 mins. Season with salt, remove from heat & set aside.
5. Drain noodles making sure to save 1 cup of the water that they were boiled in - set both aside.
6. Melt 2 Tblsp butter in small saucepan over med heat
7. Whisk in flour, cook 1 min then gradually whisk in milk, cream and nutmeg.
8. Bring mixture to a boil - stirring constantly
9. Add cheeses, stirring until melted.
   
10. If sauce seems to thick, add the reserved pasta water as needed.
11. Mix with the noodles.
12. Coat baking dish with a thin layer of topping mixture, dump in the macaroni mixture and top with remaining topping mixture.
13. Bake 20 minutes
    

1-20-2009

This past MOPS meeting was excellent. After our time of announcements and diving into all the scrumptious food the mentor mom's held a question & answer panel.

The Mentor mom's are Margy Grenell, Georgia Harlowe, Judy Marshall, Colleen Stephen, Galene Divine, Sandy Hoflin and Margo Ritchie.

Here are a few tid bits they shared with all of us & a few other mom's shared as well:

• Teach manners one at a time till each one is learned. Don't overwhelm your children while trying to teach them.
  
• Are you making it better or worse? Have your children ask themselves this when they are fighting with siblings. It causes them to have to think about their actions.
• Each time they say something mean to another sibling make them say something nice about that sibling.
• One of the mentor mom's said that she realized a long time ago that the day's she tried to be Martha Stewart seemed to be the worse days. Be yourself & set realistic expectations for each day with your children.
• Pray, pray, pray, pray on those bad days
• You as the mom make the choice to be cheerful each and every morning. Your children will react to how you are reacting. Remember it's a choice.
• Focus on the kids in the room and not the room itself. (such a good one)
• On how to get kids to eat veggies & fruit - Colleen suggested while you are cooking dinner to give your children the fruit or veggies first. It's like their appetizers - we eat them why not allow them too. Then you have gotten the important stuff in and when it's dinner time they aren't starving & they will eat the other stuff.
• "He who remains flexible does not get bent out of shape"
• On how to get on the same page with your husband - Recognize each parent's strengths and balance out the fun guy with the structure guy. It's okay to let Dad be the fun guy if you're at home all day being the structure one. Kids need balance between the two.
• Finally, begin praying now for your children's spouse & your grandchildren. It will make a difference later on.

See you next week!