Cream of Wheat was one of the staples on our breakfast table as children in the snow belt of central NYS. That, and Cream of Rice, Wheatena, Maypo, Ralston hot cereal, oatmeal, MaltOmeal, and some sort of chocolate Cream of Wheat were often options on the table to help stoke the internal furnace before we headed out the door on a long walk to school. Yum...healthful comfort food. ANYway, it's cold here, too! I made Ina Garten's seafood chowder (more or less) for us last night with homemade stock, shrimp, scallops, and cod. My version is full of vegetables, too....so good. It's going to be colder today and I think that I might do chili in the slow cooker to eat on all afternoon. Maybe the sprites and my neighbor will want to come over for some fireplace time. The girls are getting much better about letting the adults chat together while they entertain themselves in our midst. I can clear the central coffee table and put out a new jigsaw puzzle for them.

Hubs took Amiee and the boys to Steak and Shake for burgers and shakes. I stayed home I'm not any where near well enough yet to go out. I ate a cup of Liptons Noodle soup and a grape popsicle. I had hubs take chili out of the freezer for tomorrow, will have a garden salad and corn muffins with it.

We have the Sprites overnight, so G'pa can have a date out of the house. We made our pizzas from scratch as we often do on Friday, then grilled them outside. They like all of the usual toppings, and even some different options like shrimp and spinach on a white sauce pizza. I mixed up some Greek yogurt, chopped fruit, and honey and made little frozen pops for dessert. They are in their jammies; we've been watching School of Rock, and they've been loving it. I'll go up and read to them when the movie is over....we are into the Little House on the Prairie books.

Spaghetti, and homemade meatballs from yesterday. I really love the meatball recipe, but it takes many hours of prep (which I usually try to do the day before) for a large batch. Then my basil plant could not provide sufficient foliage for the 3/4 C of minced fresh basil, and a trip to TJ added to the time. Luckily, I still had frozen sauce, so that part was simple. The garlic bread task was delegated out to a family member.