Cheesy Saucy Veggie Stacks

I made Cheesy Saucy Veggie Stacks the other night and they were so yummy. A little tedious, because you have to saute all the veggies first and then pat them dry and then put it together and then bake it. It was totally worth it though. They were big servings and less than 200 calories a serving. Not only tasty, but good for you too!

I did learn two lessons while making these. Follow directions regarding which direction you cut things. The eggplant is used as the base and you should have six circles of eggplant. I cut mine wrong and had very thick half circles instead. You need a wider base so the stacks don't topple like mine did. The second lesson is to consider using toothpicks to hold the stacks upright. Maybe if you cut the eggplant correctly you won't need to do this. I guess I will find out the next time I make it.

Here is a picture of them right after I got them assembled. Not to bad considering I did it wrong.

Here is what they looked like when I pulled it out of the oven.

The presentation was not so great, but they were really good. I will definitely be making these again, hopefully correctly the next time!

Ethan's Birthday! Continued

Ethan spent his 2nd birthday party surrounded by friends and family. He is a well loved little boy!

Chillin' with his Grandpa's

Loving the cheetohs

Singing Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candle all by himself! (Daddy had been practicing with him)

Red frosting...always a good idea

Opening presents

Playing with cousin Mason on the family train set

Charles and I had a great time helping and playing at Ethan's birthday party. I can't believe he is already 2! 

Ethan's Birthday!

Today, my darling adorable fabulous and fun nephew Ethan turned 2! Happy Birthday Ethan! Uncle Charles and Aunt Leslie love you!

Isn't he adorable!

My sister Sara, Ethan's super cool mom, threw him a pirate themed birthday party yesterday. Sara is crazy busy. She teaches junior high math and science and she is working on her master's degree. With all of this, she still decided to go the DIY route for many things for his party. The pictures below are the details of the party. I'll post people pictures another day.

Pirate ship with plank

Pirate ship with door

A friend from high school posted these pirate ships on facebook. She had a pirate themed party for her son and she wanted to get rid of these, but didn't want to throw them away because she worked so hard on them. My sister happily took them off her hands.  She placed one in the front yard and the other in the back by the entrance to the pool. Ethan loved climbing around in them!

Treasure Chest

We made this from cardboard boxes, black duct tape, jewels, and a hot glue gun. It was surprisingly easy.

She made this sign to keep people from coming through the house. It sent them around back to the pool.

Gift bags for the kiddos.

She bought black gift bags and used a foam stamp and white ink to get the bags in theme. They had eye patches, pirate hats, pirate rubber ducks and all kinds of other fun stuff in them. 

Crocodile clothespins

Sara painted clothespins green and the inside white. She then cut out cardstock in the shape of the ridge on the crocodile's back and painted that green too. She hot glued that to the top of the clothespins and then hot glued the googley eyes on. They turned out really cute.

Home made mini cupcakes and pirate cookies from Paul's Bakery

Cake, from Confectionately Yours

Sara put a lot of effort into Ethan's party. I know all of the grown up guests appreciated it!