"I've Never Heard Silence Quite This Loud"

Gotta love some Taylor Swift - and if you don't, my little "M" has enough Taylor love to go around.

Things have been a little crazy lately over at our house. It just so happens that during this 3 week craziness, M actually called me - TWICE! This is a huge! It's not that we don't get along or there is a lack of conversation during our outings, but since we have been matched I am always the one calling to catch up. Big Brothers Big Sisters strongly encourages littles to call their bigs and I want her to feel like she can call me as needed. I have hung out with one of the other bigs (M is a triplet) and she also said that she never gets a phone call. Therefore, these calls have made me feel extra special. Winning.

I'm going to post some pictures from our past few outings. This week M and I made a mac 'n cheese pizza for dinner. A few weeks ago the triplets, myself and one of the other bigs went to Chick Fil A and bowled afterwards.

M meeting Miss Friski for the first time. Miss Friski is the best animal EVER.

Rolling out the dough for the pizza.

Cooking.

Finished product! 

Triplets at dinner.

On their tour of behind the scenes at Chick Fil A. Yup we were randomly chosen.

Bowling.

Big & Little

Mac 'N Cheese Pizza

Check out my guest blog featuring a Mac 'N Cheese Pizza recipe at And Puppy Makes Three.



Excuse the crust. :)

Ingredients:

Dough - I used a pre-made dough from Pillsbury

1/2 lb. rotini pasta

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

2 cups of milk

1/4 block of Velveeta cheese

Pepper

Garlic

Flour

Olive oil spray

Optional Ingredients:
Bacon pieces
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Pre heat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly coat the pizza stone with flour and roll the dough to appropriately fit on the stone. Make sure the dough is slightly from the edge. Depending on your preference, you can fold the dough over to make an enormous crust. Boil the noodles according to the directions on the box. Drain the noodles and evenly coat with olive oil spray. Brown a bit of minced garlic and add the milk, cheddar, mozzarella, and Velveeta cheese. Season with pepper and heat on low/medium. Continue stirring to prevent the sauce from burning. While the sauce is heating, spray the dough with olive oil and pop it into the oven for 7 minutes. Mix the noodles and sauce. Spread the mac 'n cheese on the dough after it has completed the short time in the oven.Mix the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on the pizza. Sprinkle bacon pieces (once cooked) on top of the pizza. Once the toppings are placed onto the pizza, pop the pizza into the oven for 10 minutes (still at 450 degrees). When the pizza is finished cooking, let the pizza sit for 10 additional minutes. Cut the pizza and enjoy!

Rating: 4/5

Here is my take on the recipe. It was SO yummy! Little sis M helped make the pizza - the mac 'n cheese part was her idea. M is a huge fan of CiCi's Pizza and they have a mac 'n cheese pizza that she tried and loved. I tried it too which is what inspired the hunt for this creation. We added the breadcrumbs and bacon for extra flavor and it was a party in your mouth. Now that I have a pizza stone and have turned into a semi pro pizza maker (okay that is stretching it) I am so excited to play around and make weird, but tasty pizzas!

Guest Blog from And Puppy Makes 3: Lemonade Pie

Hi there! My name is Laura and I'm really excited to be guest blogging for Bentley. Like the car.! You can check out my blog, And Puppy Makes Three, to see Adrienne's guest blog appearance soon! Adrienne asked me to bake something because it's not her favorite thing to do. Ironically, the dessert I chose to blog about is a no-bake pie! Oops! BUT, this is perfect for people who, like Adrienne, aren't too keen on baking. 

This lemonade treat is the perfect end to a summer meal and a delicious way to cool down from the warm, sunny weather! What's even better? You won't have to spend loads of time in the kitchen to whip this up! It takes about fifteen minutes to put this pie together and then you can head back outside to the pool to spend time with your friends and family! 

You will need:

1 can evaporated milk

2 lemon instant pudding mixes

1 tablespoon of lemon zest

2 packages of softened cream cheese

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 can of frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

thawed frozen whipped topping

and a graham cracker piecrust (Click here to get my recipe for a graham cracker crust) 

Step 1: Whisk the evaporated milk, pudding mix, and lemon zest together until well combined and mixture is thickened.

Step 2: Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and vanilla until they are fluffy.

Step 3: Add the lemonade concentrate. Beat until smooth. 

Step 4: Pour the milk mixture into the mixer bowl and beat until blended. I should have beat mine for longer. The cream cheese wasn't complete blended.

Step 5: Pour mixture into the graham cracker pie crust.

Step 6: Cover and let chill for at least 8 hours.

My dog, Jackson, wanted to help ;)

Final Step: Garnish with whipped topping and lemon zest and enjoy!

Emergency Surgery

For those of you who follow Bentley Like the Car, you are probably friends with me on facebook. In that case, I apologize for blowing up your news feed this past weekend with hospital updates. If you have no idea what I am talking about, here is a recap:

Last Thursday afternoon J complained of stomach pains. Coming from a manly man - okay I couldn't resist - but seriously, coming from someone who hardly gets sick and is almost immune to pain it was troublesome. After a visit to a walk in clinic he was sent back to his hotel room (J was about 2 hours away from me on his yearly 2 week tour for the USAF). The pain did not ease and he began to vomit forcing him to make the decision to visit the ER. Needless to say, I did not get any sleep that night and drove into ATL early Friday morning as they had decided to remove his gallbladder. Yup surgery - a very ROUTINE surgery, but still surgery.

His surgery went perfect and I was actually a big girl during the whole thing. I tend to get very worked up over things (can you say anxiety much?), but I was surprisingly calm during the whole ordeal. The hardest part was walking him from pre op to go into surgery. I hope this is the only time we ever have to do that. I'll spare you with the details the doctor used describing his gallbladder, but it was VERY infected aside from having gallstones in it.

J is healing and beginning to eat a little bit of solid food. I have a couple of praises I would like to sing. The first being the Kenestone Hospital in Marietta, GA. I'm not going to say I enjoyed myself, but the staff was awesome. I would also like to sing praises to the military at Dobbins Air Force Base. We were visited by quite a few military members during J's stay. All I could think about was how fortunate someone would be if they were in GA all alone and had no family. They exemplified what the USAF family should act like in case of a medical emergency - granted there are much larger emergencies than what we went through. I was so impressed and grateful for their support and how they handled everything.

Updates will be coming soon.....

Surprise Blogger........

I have wanted to do a wife blog swap for a hot minute. I am so excited to announce that Bentley - Like the Car will be having a guest blogger soon! I have posted her adorable ad that she made for her search for a guest blooger.

Stay tuned.......