Playing the field

Noah followed up his playdate with Ada on Monday with a Friday evening dinner date with his other girlfriend Tilly. What a little two-timer!

The night started with some story time with Josh. Notice that Tilly is listening attentively while Noah rolls around on his big dog. (Also notice that they were dressed alike! how cute, they must have called each other to coordinate for their big date).


I wonder what they were discussing over dinner? Apparently it was pretty funny.

He really needs to work on his table manners if he is going to be dining with pretty girls...


The musical table seems to be Noah's favorite spot to charm the girls.
(just ignore the grubby little finger prints on the window and pretend that I thoroughly Windexed all of the windows before our guests arrived. And while you're at it, pretend I vacuumed too)

While the kiddos enjoyed their lovely meal of cut up peaches, peas and some cornbread, the "grown-ups" had my mother-in-law's shrimp creole, twice-baked potatoes, cornbread and strawberry cake for dessert. Here are a couple of recipes:

Shrimp Creole
1 large onion
1 green bell pepper
4 stalks of celery
4 green onions
1 anaheim pepper
5 roma tomatoes
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
2 15-oz. cans of tomato sauce
1 t dried thyme (or 2 t fresh)
1 bay leaf
2 T Luzianne cajun seasoning (more if you want it spicier)
worchestershire sauce to taste (I use about 1 1/2 t)
2-3 cooked, chopped chicken breasts
1 lb bag of frozen cooked shrimp

Dice all the veggies and saute in oil or butter for about 3 or 4 minutes. Place in crockpot with crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasonings and chicken. Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Add the frozen shrimp about 10 minutes before you are serving. Serve over rice. This is soooo good and easy!

Strawberry Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 (3 0z) box strawberry Jello
1 (16 oz) tub of frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed
4 lg eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/4 C water

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Combine cake mix and Jello. Add 1 1/4 C of the pureed strawberries and the remaning ingredients. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour evenly into the 2 cake pans and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean (it took my oven more like 30 minutes). Cool in the pans for 10 minutes then cool completely on wire racks. For the frosting, cream 2 sticks of butter (don't use margarine! Use the real stuff!) in an electric mixer with a pinch of salt. Slowly add the remaining pureed strawberries and 4-5 C of sifted powdered sugar until you get it to the right consistency and taste. I also added about 4 mashed up fresh strawberries. Frost the top of one side of cake then add a single layer of sliced fresh strawberries. Frost the bottom of the other side and place on top, then frost the top and sides of the cake. Store in the fridge.