December Service Projects

WOW!!!! You ladies rock!! At our Tuesday meeting we collected a TON, and I mean a ton of stuff for the Life on Lexington MOPS. Thank you to all who gave. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

 For December we will be doing 2 small service projects.

1. Collecting "specific" baby items for the Room at the Inn ladies. We are making baby bags and the items we are collecting are going to be Bedtime Theme.
and
2. Sponsoring a family a for Christmas. She is a Single mom with a disability and has an 11 year old daughter. She has requested very little.

Please look below for what is still needed and email me or Meredith if you would like to contribute.

STILL NEEDED:
-(2) 2 pack sleepers- gender neutral 0-3 or 3-6 size
-(2) Bedtime/Goodnight themed book
-Any used/new Wii games, DVD's and or girly stuff (she is 11)
-used/new girls shoes size 3 1/2 or 4
-used/new size 9 slim pants
-used/new size 10/12 tops

Thank you to all!!!! The Room at the Inn ladies and the family will be so blessed. We will be collecting the items at the next 2 meetings Dec. 4th and Dec. 18th.

Welcome Baby Mattern!

Gwendolyn Mattern had her baby. Levi Tate Mattern was born Thur night, Nov 1 weighing 8lbs 9oz.

Congrats to her and her family.

MOPS would like to provide meals, so Gwendolyn can focus on the newest addition. Here is the meal sign-up. Please consider signing up and blessing this family.

Pumpkin Patch!

We had a great time at our pumpkin patch playdate today! We started at the Pumpkin Patch at Jamestown United Methodist church with a hayride and storytime...then after everyone picked out the PERFECT pumpkin, we headed over to City Lake Park for a picnic and some playground time.  I know my gang had a blast today! Hope everyone else did too...it was so nice to get to know everyone a little bit better while our kids played!

YUMM-O!

The winner of our tastiest breakfast item for our September meeting was Gwendolyn Mattern! Here is her winning recipe:

Breakfast Strata - A La Gwendolyn

Prep: 1 hr - for my version, Let Soak/Refrigerate: 9-24 hrs, Bake: 1 hr

Ingredients:

8 homemade whole wheat Belgian waffles (or any other thicker/dryer bread, enough slices to cover pan in 2 layers)

4 oz sliced or diced fresh mushrooms

1 1/2 C torn fresh spinach

8 oz shredded Mexican blend cheese

8 oz shredded Sharp cheddar cheese

2 1/2 C cubed cooked ham (I bought a bone-in, uncooked, thick slice of a ham in Food Lion's Meat Dept to cook and add - only takes 8 minutes to cook)

8 eggs

2 C milk

Paprika

Oregano

Sea Salt

Waffles:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups warm milk
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar; set aside. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the milk, butter and vanilla. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture; beat until blended.
3. Ladle the batter into a preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Set them aside to cool and harden until your Strata ingredients are prepped.

Directions:

1. Make your waffles, or choose your desired bread.

2. Cook ham in 12-in skillet, 3-4 minutes on each side. Let cool, then dice.

3. Grease 9X13 pan and tear half of the bread and fill the bottom of the dish. Then layer mushrooms and spinach on top. Before adding the ham, I generously sprinkled Paprika and Oregano on top of the veggies. Add diced ham on top of the veggies. Sprinkle with 8 oz of shredded cheese (I used Mexican Blend). Add the remaining bread, torn into bite size pieces. Top with another 8 oz of cheese. Whisk together the eggs, milk and generous salt, and pour evenly over entire dish. Cover with foil and refrigerate up to 24 hours (I only got 9 hours in).

4. Stick pan in the oven with foil still on, then preheat to 350.

5. Once preheated, set timer for 35 min to bake covered with foil, then bake an additional 15 min uncovered.

Note: If the bread you choose is not dense or dry enough, the eggs may be runny.

Yields 8 servings - if served on its own.

 

ENJOY! Thanks Gwendolyn!

Are you reading this?

Hey! Did you know MOPS has a blog? (Of course you did...you are reading it now!) Comment below letting us know that you are reading...then tell your other MOPS mommy friends...I promise to update more often...and clean up the blog as well!
Stay tuned!!!

First Meeting of the year!

Last Tuesday, September 4th we had our very first meeting of the year! It was a great time of fellowship with other moms, both returning MOPS moms and new moms! Its going to be a GREAT year!

Don't forget, our next meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 18.  We meet the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month and we follow Guilford County School Calender.  So if school is out, so are we!

See you next week! Bring a friend and don't forget to bring a dish to share...I hear there may be a really awesome prize for the person who has the yummiest dish!