50 NEW Recipes In 2010- #3 London Fog (Earl Grey Latte)

So when you are directing a high school theater production of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, attempting to be a teacher, husband and father of four children, AND taking an online class, you just don't find much time to cook, let alone, post anything on your blog to show what you have cooked.

  Despite being away from my tiny little kitchen due to two weeks of tech on TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, I have managed in the past months to occassionally put together something new in my kitchen, in addition to the regular dishes I like to rotate.  So Starbucks has this amazing tea latte I stumbled upon one morning at our local Meijers over a year ago.  It's called the LONDON FOG.  I might have even had it first when hanging out with friends over the 2008 Christmas break.  It is not a permanent part of their drink menu, but I have yet, over the past year, to run into a barista at Starbucks that cannot make this sweet, vanilla drink. 
   Basically it is Earl Grey tea, which my Grandma Russell raised me on, with vanilla syrup and steamed, frothy milk.  Not having purchased an espresso maker or milk steamer/frother, I have to follow these "old school" instructions of making my own frothy, steamed milk....microwave for a minute and then whisk in a bowl until frothy. 
   While the drink is NOT quite up to Starbucks standards, my wife and I have enjoyed these sweet little tea drinks a few times.  A milk frother or steamer is on my "wish list."  You'll note that we also made cinnamon rolls to go with this batch of "frothy" London Fog.  I just like the word "frothy."

50 NEW Recipes In 2010- #2 Stuffed Chicken Breast

I must be really craving ricotta cheese this week because I tried a SECOND recipe this week that had ricotta cheese as one of its main ingredients. This one did NOT take as long as the lasagna recipe from Monday night. The only thing that baffled me with this one was creating the "pockets" for the ricotta, sun-dried tomatoe, basil, and garlic stuffing. It was really quite a simple little recipe.

I know Amber and Michelle, my sister-in-law, appreciated the lower calorie dish. Scout liked it, and my three boys were unsure. Of course, Logan doused his in Italian dressing (Ketchup was not an option this time for him.)

This recipe also came from the February 2010 Family Circle magazine. I will do this one again also. I just need to get my paring knife skills down.

50 NEW Recipes 2010- #1 Homemade Lasagna

On Monday night, I decided to make my first batch of lasagna from a recipe (this link omits that the meat can be a mix of veal, pork, and ground beef) in the February 2010 issue of Family Circle. I failed to look at how the recipe laid out how much time ACTUALLY is needed to prep and cook (Hey, I'm a guy. What do you expect?). Normally, my kids and I eat at 5:00/5:30 p.m. at the latest. By the time I spent three plus hours prepping, cooking, and baking, it was nearly 7:00 p.m., and my kids' bedtime is at 7:30 p.m.

Well, it was definitely worth the wait. Thanks to the aid of my brother, Joe, I was able to move things along in the kitchen. It was very yummy lasagna. While it had a great deal of meat, using more italian sausage (I used Bob Evans) than ground beef made it not "quite" as heavy. The sauce is made from a combination of tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, sauteed onions and garlic, and fresh basil. I served this with a fresh spinach and cherry tomatoe salad.

I will definitely make this again.

Morning Insights

It's been sometime since I've written on my blog. I certainly had hoped to become this prolific writer here. This is one of those rare, unplanned little blogs. It's 6:50 a.m.. I've been awake for just a few moments, mulling over some of the hurt and pain that have accompanied my heart and soul this summer. Most of it has had to do with tension within the greater McCulloch family, which has certainly brought tension into my little home in Port Huron.
By all accounts, when considering everything that Amber, the kids and I have done this summer, this should go down as one of the greatest summer ever. We've gone to the zoo, camped in my in-laws backyard, had a great time at Brown City church camp, spent time with friends, even got some home projects done, and went on several great trips (Grand Rapids, Greenfield Village day, and perhaps Mackinac Island next week). Despite the great memories, I've been clearly in a funk that seem to have begun earlier this year. Anxiety, at least that is again what appears to have been giving me some of the weird issues I've been facing, has reared its ugly head off and on. Despite evolving into the best physical condition I've been in for some time, I've had strange moments this summer. Not getting along with my parents, not seeing them has been tough. To add to this, while at Brown City Camp, I had a sermon on relationships from Pastor Steve DeNeff that basically challenged me to make peace, but I feel like the lone crusader in this area. I realize and agree with the perspective of others in this family tension, but I still feel this insistent spirit to forgive, to move on. And this has happened before, so I'm hesistant to restart the whole cycle of hurt, anger, bitterness, and quick forgivness and then hit repeat again, and again, and again.
But this morning, as I've sensed before, when I begin to wonder why there is such pain. What the purpose would be for the agonizing hours, a wonderful thought occurs to me. There would be no way that I would have matured, have drawn closer to God, and realized some of the weak areas within my own life without this valley. I desire God's counsel and direction more than anything else right now. Without these conflicts, I pretty certain that I would have had a "lazy" spriritual summer, that I would have slowly drifted into certain sins, not caring as much to draw closer to God. Pain has this wonderful cleaning effect about our vision and our perspective. It pokes you and prods you to consider things you might have not. There have definitely have been those moments of anger and questioning to God, but this morning I found a peace in the fact that I'm depending more on God than I would have if not for this darker hours. And one perspective I certainly have gained is that my problems are so minor compared to those of others whose faith is strong. Thank you God for remaining by me and forging my faith to become something more real and not superficial and commonplace.

Logan's Eighth Birthday Party

Fresh from our camping trip at the Varty's house (translation...recovering from the exhaustion of camping), we decided to take advantage of Ci Ci's Kid's Night and held Logan's eighth birthday party there. After some quick Facebook messages and phone calls, we got family and some of Logan's friends together for his birthday party. Ci' Ci's had a really cool party room with decorated tables. Amber and I paid for the kids' meals, which with pop ended up being only $2.00 each. We also supplied the kids with quarters for the game room. What was even cooler about this Kid's Night was that they now had a clown that did balloon animals. How awesome was that for the kids?!?


Logan seemed to have a really good time with his buddies, like Wesley, Megan, and Christian. I believe ALL of his cousins were there, including Dylan and Camden. Transformers, racing cars, camping equipment, and G. I. Joe were the big toys of the evening.

Luckily, I stumbled across this very sweet birthday cake that was frosted and put together to look like one of Logan's favorite food items...a huge hamburger. Logan got a kick out of that cake.

After being stuffed to the max on pizza, cheese stix, and cinnamon rolls, we somehow managed to add in some birthday cake.

It is so hard to believe it's been eight years since I got the call in that two-bedroom apartment in Aspen Grove that Amber's water had broken on the ARC bus. I still remember rushing to Rite Aid on Michigan Avenue and running around, and looking for throw away cameras. I remember just being in a whirlwind, not knowing what lay ahead. Those were some of the best days of my life. I just love the way Logan sounded when he let out his first cries. Now he's my tough soccer-playing, swimming, God-loving, little man. I love my little man.

Living Life Challenge #4- Jumping Into a Pond

I have never been much for jumping into a pond with a mucky, muddy, slime-covered bottom, much less one that also features fish as inhabitants to the body of water I'm entering. Swimming at the beach is fine. Swimming in a lake is fine, but I rarely enter a body of water where the chances of me making contact with a fish are high. Smelling like the fish, after swimming with them, is also not something I enjoy much either.

Still this is the Summer where I wanted to try and do "new things" or try something I have not done in some time. While camping at my in-laws house, my brother-in-law Travis, among everyone else, wondered if I'd truly go for a swim. It took a few moments to get me airborne off the dock, but after a little hesistation, I leaped off the little dock and was soon enjoying muck between my toes. I may never return to pond swimming this summer, but I took the plunge.

July 4th Weekend

The Long Holiday Weekend was very much that a long weekend. The greatest part of the weekend was the fact that my nephew, Camden McCulloch, came home on Sunday, July 5th. He gave his parents and whole family a little scare on Friday, as he was transferred to the main Henry Ford Hospital in downtown Detroit. Watching him breathe in the NICU unit was hear-wrenching. Because he was under a bilirubin light, he wore this sleep mask to protect his eyes. Watching from the hallway as he breathed in and out reminded me of my own kids when they were born, how fast they grow up. I wanted to rush home and hold Sawyer Finn. Nothing compares to watching a baby take in each precious breath to underscore how precious and fragile life is. I am so thankful that he is home with his mom and dad.



Before the initial frightening news about Camden on Friday, Amber and Scout went out for some "Mommy and me" time. Amber, from the huge amount of kids that are babysat at our house, wanted to have some one-on-one time with each of the kids. So as she did some shopping and went to Kohl's, she and Scout want out. In the meantime, it was me and my little men. After doing up some scrambled eggs for breakfast and allowing Sawyer his morning nap, we set out to buy Amber a new bike. After grabbing Logan and Quaid a new toy at Target, I began the grueling process of figuring out what bike to get her (Three bikes have lost their pedals while Amber was biking across major roads in our area.) After nearly an hour of agonizing debating, I chose a Schwin for her. It was very cool pulling up and presenting her with her new bike.
Amber and I headed down to Henry Ford to see Camden that night, thanks to her parents coming to the rescue to watch our own kids. After spending several hours visiting with Joe, Michelle, Mike and Patty (Joe's inlaws), and my own parents, Amber and I stopped off at IHOP for a late dinner.

Because mybrother Jon was not having his usual Fourth of July party at his house in Saint Clair and due to Camden being in the hospital, there were no formal plans for celelbrating Independence Day, so.....I cut the grass and cleaned the gutters. In between grass cutting and gutter cleaning, we took the kids on bike ride through downtown Port Huron, had some Subway for lunch, and headed back. I'm trying to clock in miles on the bike and track this summer to get healthier. We did about five miles with the kids. While I cleaned the gutter, Amber took Scout down to Roosevelt to practice riding without training wheels. After getting thoroughly soaked and covered by the grime from the gutters, I cleaned up, and we headed down to Stevi B's on 23 Mile Road for some pizza buffet. We also shopped at Old Navy (really patriotic of us, isn't it?). From there we began a search for sparklers and found that most of the area around 23 Mile Road does not allow for the selling of ANY type of firework. It wasn't until Marysville Meijer that I was able to buy some sparklers and fireworks for the kids.

At home, Logan and Scout, until she burned herself on a sparkler, enjoyed the little firework show and holding their sparklers. Quaid and Sawyer, still traumatized from last week's Acheson firework display, are still frightened of any type of firework. It was great watching the older two play with the sparklers (until the massive mosquito attack).

Sunday was the annual church picnic at Goodell's park. Logan is less excited about the sprinkler park and more intrigued by the jungle gyms. After roasting in the sun, we left the park and headed to Scoops ice cream parlor. Logan, upon seeing the venue of his seventh birthday party, was convinced that we needed to have his birthday here again. Amber and I enjoyed some Coconut, chocolate almond ice cream (I'm trying to fill my summer with trying new things.) I believe the other kids enjoyed some Superman ice cream and Cake Batter ice cream. We crashed at home (or tried to). We had a second round of sparklers for just Logan and Scout. (Quaid fell asleep at 6:30 p.m. on the new recliner.) As the kids headed to bed, I had only acculated 9,000 steps, so between 8:30 and 10:30, I added, through "some running" and mostly walking fast, 11, 000 steps to make my 20,000 step goal for the day.

Today, I'm really tired.