Olive Garden and Santa Claus

From the title of this post you may be thinking that we ate a nice meal at Olive Garden and then took Boyd Thomas to the mall to see Santa.....SO WRONG!  I wish, but that is not the case!  I thought we had it rough in Wasilla with restaurants, but I now stand corrected.  There are a few good places to eat here that are independently owned, and fast food wise we have a Subway, McDonald's, and a KFC/Taco Bell.  We are constantly overwhelmed by our unlimited choices!  ....Yes that was totally sarcastic!  It is nice to have such limited choices because it makes us eat at home, eat healthier, save money, and have more family time.  Since we aren't eating out much we have gotten creative lately with our meals.

I am excited to announce that in our search for new meals to try we ran across a recipe for Olive Garden's salad dressing.  Olive Garden's salad and bread sticks is probably one of the only reasons I love going there, so when I found this recipe I was so excited to try it out.  It was not hard to make, and it was pretty spot-on!  Boyd and I were so excited it was kind of dorky, and even Boyd Thomas ate parts of the salad with the dressing on it!

Olive Garden Salad Dressing

1/2c mayo

1/3c white vinegar

1tspn canola/vegetable oil

2tblspn corn syrup

4tblspn grated Parmesan cheese

1tspn minced garlic

1/2tspn Italian seasoning

1/2tspn parsley (we didn't have this, but it didn't seem to make a difference)

1tblspn lemon juice ( I would suggest using a little less than 1tblspn)

You are probably wondering where Santa falls into this. After we ate lunch we ran to Wal-Mart, where you could get your picture made with Santa. The only other photo-op place was a photography business that was charging $30 to sit with Santa, and they ended up cancelling their Santa sessions. Boyd Thomas was not a fan of Santa Claus, but we got a kick out of the pictures!  Once he got off my lap he ran away as fast as he could.  Bless his heart!  I am sure he will come around once he realizes how Santa "works"!

Homemade Playdough

I know it has been a while since my last post.  Things have been busy!  We have moved to an awesome place ( Kodiak, AK) and found out we are having another baby in late April!  Now that we are in our new home, which is totally awesome, I am hoping to be able to blog more frequently! 

Since the beginning of this week Boyd Thomas has had a runny nose and our weather has not been the greatest, so we have been indoors.  Luckily Kodiak does not get as cold as Wasilla does so we are able to go out a lot more!  I thought playdough would be something new and fun for us to do inside.  Much to my dismay our Wal-Mart does not carry playdough.  I know...crazy! In their defense they aren't a Super Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart, and I will take it!!  Thankfully I found a super easy recipe for playdough, and I figured if Boyd Thomas tried to eat it at least I would know what he was eating.  I thought I would share because I was so pleased and excited with the outcome!!  It is so soft and doesn't smell, so I am loving it, probably just as much if not more than Boyd Thomas! : )

1 cup Water

                 1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Salt 

               2 tspn Cream of Tartar

              1 Tblspn Vegetable Oil

  Food Coloring

Dump all ingredients into a medium pot and stir until blended together.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it forms a large ball.

Remove from heat and place on wax paper.

Knead several times and let cool.

This is what it looks like once you start stirring..

 Playdough!!

 Boyd Thomas picking out some cookie cutters to play with ..

This kept Boyd Thomas entertained for almost an hour!  That is a lot at our house because it is rare that the boy is still!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!!