AM~Erica's Seussical Snowy Day

So anyway...

It is another

Seussical day!

It has been

snowy, Seussical day!

Though the snow

was not as it seemed,

a change in the morning

schedule was deemed.

Early prep for the dinner

which I think is a winner!

I think I have

a Seussical

dinner winner!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

OK, I couldn't finish this in my Seussy-style rhyme. I was trying to get this written by last night (starting with the above rhyming), and there were a lot of distractions of kiddos & things. It became extremely difficult to keep up my rhyming when I could hardly keep a thought straight!

As I was saying...

I started the night before with chopping up the veggies for dinner so it would be easier to pop things in the lazy cooker the next morning. And it had so much Seussical color!

Around that time, the weather was getting pretty nasty. Hubby was trying to figure out if our church should cancel any services. He did decide to cancel the first service & Sunday School...so we were just going to have an abbreviated late service. That meant we got to sleep in! (Maybe...unless we got the 4-10" of snow & we needed to cancel the late one, too.)

So we got up the following morning to not a whole lot of snow...just super cold! Not enough to justify canceling church completely...so...hubby & I were getting ready for the day!

I got the lovely veggies in the lazy cooker, seared a rump roast & put it in the lazy cooker, added the seasonings, cider & worchestershire, too, to get the Roast Beast Who Hash going for dinner that night.

Since we were going out...and it was Dr. Seuss' birthday...of course, I had to look as Seussical as I could! Just needed to be smart about it since we were going out in the cold & snow. So...I sported my Seuss-striped shirt over a ribbed turtleneck sweater. I added long red & white striped socks over black skinny jeans, then put on my black boots so the socks could just peek out over the tops. Then I added my head scarf with large red polka-dots, then added a fun flower with long skinny feathers to it. I put some blue in my hair. I then put on a long gray sweater vest & topped it off with a perfect blue knit scarf that looked reminiscent of a thneed in the way I had it wrapped.

My friend, Renae (the one who got me started drinking coffee...HERE), brought up about bringing Seuss rhyme into the liturgical part of our church service! BRILLIANT! Right? I was trying to convince my hubby to at least do the greeting & benediction in they rhyme form! He wasn't too keen on it...he wanted to keep it at a certain level of reverence. I understand that...but I tried to convince him that folks would REMEMBER it! He didn't think it would be for the right reason. *sigh*
However...

Because of the switcheroo of services & times...he did more of a devotion. To begin the devotion...he talked about it being Dr. Seuss' birthday & about it being the kick off to Read Across America! Since Theodore Geisel was an advocate to encourage reading...my hubby talked about how that tied into the ability for us to be able read the Bible. I was so proud! Then he gave a great devotion about it being Transfiguration Sunday & about mountaintop experiences. Then he touched on us going to Colorado this past summer. It was beautiful for all 35 of us at service yesterday.

Then we got home, hunkered down (since we got more snow WHILE in service), and tried to figure out the rest of the day. I did more dinner prep, I could hear weird movies on the TV (not of any Seussical sort), and we were discussing what we could do.

In the meantime, I attempted to make fried eggs that looked like the ones from 'Green Eggs & Ham'...

Not pretty...but you get it! Right? RIGHT?

Yeah...not bad...but certainly NOT great! It may have to stay as scrambled eggs...but if anyone knows where I can find eggs with green yolks, please let me know! That would be awesome!

I also did up some painted toast in Seussical stripes!

Colored milk red with food coloring, then used a wide brush to paint bread,
then popped it in the toaster to set it.

This is what I used as the butter-side-up & butter-side-down bread. I was pretty pleased with how cool this looked!

I also found an adorable dessert idea! It's supposed to be a kid snack of Bar-Ba-Loot mix! I just happen to have chocolate teddy grahams & marshmallows to mix! I came across it on Pinterest, but here's the link to it HERE!

Remember the adorable Bar-Ba-Loots from 'The Lorax'?
The adorable brown bear creatures that discovered they loved marshmallows?
Yes, them. And you can mix them all together! So good! So fun!

Since we didn't do Green Eggs & Hamburger (like I brought up, HERE, in my previous post of ideas), I still thought about purple ketchup...and then my friend, Princess Jules, had a genius idea! She brought up putting blue food coloring in red ketchup! DUH! So...I tried it...
...and then I added some more red...
...and then I tried to add a bit of purple...

Well...it looked more like mud, no matter what I did. So I called it "murple". Pretty Dr. Seuss-sounding, don-cha-think?

BEHOLD: Murple Ketchup

When I grew up, we would have hash & top it with a bit of ketchup. So I thought adding a dab of Murple Ketchup to the Who Hash would be quite fitting.

Then I buttered the bread & stacked it up...

And I got out some colorful bowls in a stack...

Bowls in perfect Seussical colors & stack form

And the hash browns were added to the Who Hash for about 30 minutes before serving it up...

And the Seussical Spread was pretty awesome to look at!

But I mustn't forget the drink! I had Lil Guy make our Pink Ink koolaide to top off this meal! It's a gallon of strawberry & pink lemonade.

And we were ready to eat like a Who & drink like the Yink!

And it was time to serve it up! Notice I love to serve it up on fun dishes? Yeah...I go all out!

Served with Butter-Side-Down

Served with Butter-Side-Up

Of course, I was hoping for a Seussical-themed Oscars...since it was being broadcast that night. (how I pictured it HERE) So, we watched some red carpet...no Seussical gowns. The closest outfit was probably Liza Minelli's look.

I was hoping Ellen DeGeneres would show up in a Cat in the Hat type tux...and it was close...

She was just missing the hat! So...a touch of Seuss...

I thought we could watch a Seuss movie/special after I watched Ellen's opening. We ended up watching all of the Oscars. And...I did get one more Suessical moment...when "Let it Go" from 'Frozen' won for best song! The acceptance speech was SO perfect in SO many ways! Just watch...

OK...I didn't get to read a book for Seuss, or watch a Seussical movie. However, I did get to get more Seussical trivia, and rhyme all over Twitter & Facebook.

I'm hoping to work in at least a movie, today, to help kick off Read Across America...and find books. 

Since we had some Bar-Ba-Loot mix left, I did throw it in with some cereal this morning:

Bar-Ba-Loot mix in Fiber One Cereal...it's good for you!

Since we had 2 pieces of buttered Seussical bread left, I'm going to take the 1 leftover green egg, add cheese & ham to have a sandwich with some leftover Who Hash for lunch. I'm gonna make this last, people!

Leftover Roast Beast Who Hash with Seussical Green Egg & Ham Grilled Cheese

So...what did you do to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday?  Keep it up for Read Across America, folks!

Oh yeah...in the meantime, we got a snow day. May be why it's taken me so long to finish this post! Let's see what the rest of the day brings...

Stay tuned...(Mardi Gras is coming...)

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Has a Poetic Weekend

So anyway...

If you didn't catch it, yesterday I had my family CELEBRATE DR. SEUSS' BIRTHDAY. From rhyming Seuss style, to eating a Seuss-inspired dinner, to watching "The Lorax", I think we did pretty well.

Especially that dinner thing! I couldn't find any specific Who Hash recipes...but there were some trying to pass off spoonable cornbread or another beef hash recipe...but it just wasn't cutting it! So...I had to do what I've been scaring myself with lately: creating a recipe.

That's right! I decided to make a Grinch-based dinner. Since it is difficult for us to do ham much anymore (Teen Girl won't eat pork due to pig trauma from a science teacher...grrrrrr), Green Eggs & Ham was not really an option. So I created Roast Beast Who Hash!

~~~~~~~~~~

Roast Beast Who Hash - lazy cooker

2 lb (apprx) beef rump roast
4 C diced bell pepper – variety (fresh or frozen)
½ C diced yellow/sweet onion (or a variety), divided
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 envelope ranch seasoning mix
1 lb (apprx) quartered or diced potatoes – variety
3 T Worchestershire sauce
¼ C water, stock/broth, or cider
6-8 oz frozen shredded hash browns (about ½ bag)

Coat lazy cooker insert with cooking spray. Place beef into the lazy cooker.
Add ½ the peppers, onion & quartered/diced potatoes onto the beef.
Sprinkle in contents of the onion soup mix & ranch seasoning envelopes.
Pour in liquid of choice plus the worchestershire.
Cover with the lid, and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
1 hour before serving, add in the frozen hashbrowns.
Stir & make sure beef is piecey or in chunks. Serve.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hubby really liked it!!! The kids are always as hard sell on something new, but may do it again anyway. Because I love my lazy cooker, and I love color...and of course...Dr. Seuss.

And to keep it even Seussier, I added a fried greed egg on top! I also included a Seussy staple that began last year: Pink Ink! Pink Ink (like the drink of the Yink) is simply a gallon of Koolaide: 1 envelope strawberry & 1 envelope pink lemonade. That easy, people!

Roast Beast Who Hash with Fried Green Egg & Pink Ink

For dessert, I made Berry Blue jello in tiny fishbowls, added a Swedish Fish to each, and then topped with a dollop of Cool Whip right before serving! Big. Hit.

Now I have an idea for next year for food. I thought about it way too late! The kids seem delighted to try it, and hubby seems entertained by the thought. I will share it when we give it a test run. So watch for that one in the future...

However...I had to dress for the occasion, too! Duh!

Some shared with me what they ate or how they celebrated! I would love to hear what you did! My school mate, Kelly, said they enjoyed purple spaghetti & blue meatballs! Love It!!!

After getting thru a Seussical day, we had a change up in author/poet takeover.

If you remember, Teen Girl made it into THE YOUNG PLAYWRIGHT ROUNDTABLE AT THE COTERIE! Still so awesome! Being a part of the roundtable also requires her to see a few shows at the Coterie. So...I took her to take in a show today: "Tell Tale Electric Poe."

This is sort of a one-man-show. It's one man performing 5 stories & poems from Edgar Allen Poe, as Poe, and with a second guy who is giving some background effect with his electric guitar. It was crazy-cool-intense-insane! I'm not sure what it was exactly like in Edgar's head...but this may have been a glimpse.

The one who adapted & artistically directed this show is the same one who is in charge of the roundtable. So Teen Girl was very excited to see what this one was about...and wasn't disappointed!

Also, the way this play was performed should show any competitive drama kids & who do poetry that rhyming poems can be done successfully...if not "conversationally" (if you want to consider Poe-speak as "conversational").

Plus...we got to get in for free since she's part of the roundtable! So...even better!

Overall, a good weekend. My only disappointment is that there wasn't much going on around here to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. What be up wit dat? Read Across America is a good start...but why isn't there more? If you remember, last year IHOP HAD MENU ITEMS BASED ON THE LORAX.

Why can't Heinz bring out their Color Splash Ketchup for this time? Come on!

Any-hoo...hope you all celebrated, too!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Gets Seussy Again

So anyway...

Who wants to play

to celebrate

Dr. Seuss' Birthday?

Oh! Oh!

Pick Me!

Pick Me!

And we'll have fun...

just wait & see!

A shirt & socks all stripy

and some hair of blue

I'll be Thing 3

to Thing 1

and Thing 2

Already stewing

for our Seussical bash

lazily cooking is

Roast Beast Who Hash!

Giving you a sneaky
itsy-bitsy, teeny weeny peaky

Roast Beast to feast -

Who Hash for bash!

Seussical Feast Bash

with Roast Beast Who Hash!

Maybe even green herb eggs

on a grilled cheese sandwich

that includes ham!

A big kid lunch

for Sam-I-Am!

No Worries! Calm Down!

We will have fish!

Swedish & Goldfish, too

if you wish.

No growing up too fast

is my wish!

Maybe some Lorax

Maybe some Grinch

Maybe a Green Eggs & Ham book

in a pinch.

Busy day here!

So much to do!

We celebrate a Seussical Birthday!

How about you?

But I do 

have chores to do, too.

Maybe I can get help

From a hatted cat

with his Things 1 & 2...

Do you see? I see Thing 3!
And I think Thing 3 is ME!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica