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Tiny hiatus
2 years ago
Friday, November 27, 2009
Leftovers
Enjoying some Thanksgiving leftovers while wearing my Indian head dress that I made at school!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving Day
Our Thanksgiving dinner was at Mamaw & GrandBob's this year. We had wonderful food, as always. Brendan enjoyed the evening as well.
Dipping his Ritz crackers into the spicy ranch dip.
Playing with his new toy...this was supposed to be a Christmas or even birthday present from Mamaw & GrandBob, but Mamaw was weak and broke down and let him have it already! He really loved racing the car down the ramp!
Hugging his "Kitties!" who live in the empty wipes tub! Yes, I know that they aren't all kitties, and I think that Brendan does to, but that's what he was calling them. :)
Finally, reading some Dr. Suess before bed with Ms. Alana Louise
Dipping his Ritz crackers into the spicy ranch dip.
Playing with his new toy...this was supposed to be a Christmas or even birthday present from Mamaw & GrandBob, but Mamaw was weak and broke down and let him have it already! He really loved racing the car down the ramp!
Hugging his "Kitties!" who live in the empty wipes tub! Yes, I know that they aren't all kitties, and I think that Brendan does to, but that's what he was calling them. :)
Finally, reading some Dr. Suess before bed with Ms. Alana Louise
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Thanksgiving Eve
We gathered with GrandBob's extended family on the evening before Thanksgiving at a local restaurant. Brendan had a wonderful time...sampling the lemons in the glasses of water. 
Brendan eventually got tired and was such a good boy to just lay down on MaMa & Dada's coats and fall asleep!
Then we became bad parents and had to play with him just a little bit!
Brendan eventually got tired and was such a good boy to just lay down on MaMa & Dada's coats and fall asleep!
Then we became bad parents and had to play with him just a little bit!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
New Recipes
I've been doing a lot of cooking with the crock pot/trying new recipes lately. Somewhat in an attempt to eat up what we have in the freezer & pantry. Somewhat out of boredom with our current "cycle" of meals. Somewhat because I'm usually to tired to actually cook by dinner time!
I've also tried my hand at making pumpkin pies - one of my recent cravings! They turned out pretty good, even with store bought crust! (I'm feeling adventurous, but seriously, I do have a 1 year old!) :)
Here are some of the recipes that we tried and really liked. Most are from one of the blogs that I follow - Melissa's Bargain Blog, which can be found in my list of blogs to the right!
Cream cheese chicken (slow cooker) -
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper (to taste)
2 pkg. dry Ranch or Italian dressing mix (Melissa recommended only one packet of seasoning...I'd have to agree!)
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. cream cheese – cut into cubes (I use the 1/3 less fat kind)
½ c. chicken broth
Directions: Brush chicken with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in crock pot and sprinkle 1 pkg. dry mix over all. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. (Recipe doesn't call for adding liquid initially to the crock pot, but we thought that some what definitely needed to keep the sauce from burning on the bottom of the crock pot.) About 45 minutes before serving, add soup, second packet of dry dressing mix, cream cheese, and chicken broth. Cook until smooth.
Serve over rice or pasta.
Creamy potato soup (slow cooker)
Ingredients:
5 lb of potatoes, peeled, raw, and diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 pound cooked bacon (I left this out since we didn't have any. It wasn't missed, but would be a nice addition.)
1 package cream cheese
1 onion
Grease slow cooker. Place diced potatoes on bottom. Cube the cream cheese and place the pieces on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle the bacon on top. Add the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth. Cook for 7-8 hours in crock pot on low.
Crispy ranch chicken - This is another carry over from last week - I found this recipe on Marci's blog, too. I've got a bunch of Rice Krispies from the Randalls cereal deal a few weeks ago, and I figured this would be a great way to use them and something my kids would like.
Ingredients:
-2 c crispy rice cereal
-1/2 c grated Parmesan Cheese
-1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix (1 oz)
-2 egg whites
-8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts)
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Combine cereal, cheese and salad dressing mix in a large bowl.
-Place beaten egg whites in a medium bowl. Dip each piece of chicken in the eggs and then in the cereal mixture to coat evenly.
-Arrange the coated chicken on the baking sheet. Bake until golden and juices run clear, 20-25 minutes.
Pizza rigatoni (slow cooker) - This recipe is from Taste of Home magazine
Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds bulk Italian sausage
3 cups uncooked rigatoni or large tube pasta
4 cups (16 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 small onion, chopped
2 cans (one 15 ounces, one 8 ounces) pizza sauce
1 package (3-1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni
1 can (6 ounces) pitted ripe olives, drained and halved
Directions:
In a skillet, cook sausage until no longer pink; drain. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
In a 5-qt. slow cooker, layer half of the sausage, pasta, cheese, soup, onion, pizza sauce, pepperoni and olives. Repeat layers. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Yield: 6-8 servings.
Rachael Ray's Italian Style Chicken Noodle soup - I found this recipe a couple of years ago - it is a nice change from your standard chicken noodle and my whole family loves it!
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
5-6 ribs celery from the heart with leafy tops, chopped
3-4 medium size carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 cups chicken stock
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounces)
1 can red beans (15 ounces), rinsed
1 can chickpeas (15 ounces), rinsed
1/2 pound whole wheat penne pasta
1 pound chicken tenders or chicken cutlets, chopped
2 cups parmesan pita chips, for garnish
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a handful)
Place a large soup pot over medium-high heat and add the EVOO. Add celery, carrots, onion and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Cook vegetables to make tender, 8-10 minutes.
Add stock, tomato sauce, beans and chickpeas, then bring soup to a boil. Stir penne into soup, cook a minute or so then stir in chicken and simmer 5-6 minutes more.
Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with some parmesan pita chips and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Melissa's variation: I make this in the slow cooker. I put all of the ingredients but the pita chips, the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and the noodles into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. About an hour before I'm ready to serve, I cook the noodles and add them to the mixture.
Lemony chicken breasts with rice (slow cooker) - This recipe came from All You Magazine (they now have a searchable recipe database with over 800 recipes, which is awesome!) We really liked the flavor of this, but the rice didn't seem to get cooked enough.
Cost per serving: $2.25
Yield
4 Servings
Ingredients
•4 tablespoons unsalted butter
•1 onion, finely chopped
•2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
•4 boneless chicken breast halves
•Salt and pepper
•4 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth
•1/4 cup lemon juice
•2 cups long-grain rice
•1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Scrape into slow cooker.
Sprinkle chicken with salt. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp. butter in skillet over medium high heat until foaming. Add chicken breast halves and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to slow cooker.
Add 1 cup broth and lemon juice to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping browned bits from bottom of pan. Add to the slow cooker, along with remaining broth, rice and 1 tsp. salt. Stir, cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender, 2 to 3 hours. Remove chicken, stir parsley into rice and season with salt and pepper. Divide rice onto 4 plates and top each with a piece of chicken; serve immediately.
Nutritional Information
Calories: 534 Fat: 15g (sat 8g) Protein: 20g Carbohydrate: 80g Fiber: 2g Cholesterol: 54mg Sodium: 323mg
All You, MAY 2008
Creamy Ranch Mushroom Pork Chops - Chris & I absolutely LOVED this recipe and will make it a stand by! The pork chops literally fell apart in the crock pot!
Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops
1 packet ranch seasoning
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can chicken broth
1 block cream cheese
Spray a crockpot with cooking spray, and put all ingredients but cream cheese in. Cover, and cook on low "all day" (I did 10 hours, but you could do less). Before serving, stir in cream cheese until melted. The sauce is also delicious with veggies!
I've also tried my hand at making pumpkin pies - one of my recent cravings! They turned out pretty good, even with store bought crust! (I'm feeling adventurous, but seriously, I do have a 1 year old!) :)
Here are some of the recipes that we tried and really liked. Most are from one of the blogs that I follow - Melissa's Bargain Blog, which can be found in my list of blogs to the right!
Cream cheese chicken (slow cooker) -
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper (to taste)
2 pkg. dry Ranch or Italian dressing mix (Melissa recommended only one packet of seasoning...I'd have to agree!)
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. cream cheese – cut into cubes (I use the 1/3 less fat kind)
½ c. chicken broth
Directions: Brush chicken with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in crock pot and sprinkle 1 pkg. dry mix over all. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. (Recipe doesn't call for adding liquid initially to the crock pot, but we thought that some what definitely needed to keep the sauce from burning on the bottom of the crock pot.) About 45 minutes before serving, add soup, second packet of dry dressing mix, cream cheese, and chicken broth. Cook until smooth.
Serve over rice or pasta.
Creamy potato soup (slow cooker)
Ingredients:
5 lb of potatoes, peeled, raw, and diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 pound cooked bacon (I left this out since we didn't have any. It wasn't missed, but would be a nice addition.)
1 package cream cheese
1 onion
Grease slow cooker. Place diced potatoes on bottom. Cube the cream cheese and place the pieces on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle the bacon on top. Add the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth. Cook for 7-8 hours in crock pot on low.
Crispy ranch chicken - This is another carry over from last week - I found this recipe on Marci's blog, too. I've got a bunch of Rice Krispies from the Randalls cereal deal a few weeks ago, and I figured this would be a great way to use them and something my kids would like.
Ingredients:
-2 c crispy rice cereal
-1/2 c grated Parmesan Cheese
-1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix (1 oz)
-2 egg whites
-8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts)
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Combine cereal, cheese and salad dressing mix in a large bowl.
-Place beaten egg whites in a medium bowl. Dip each piece of chicken in the eggs and then in the cereal mixture to coat evenly.
-Arrange the coated chicken on the baking sheet. Bake until golden and juices run clear, 20-25 minutes.
Pizza rigatoni (slow cooker) - This recipe is from Taste of Home magazine
Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds bulk Italian sausage
3 cups uncooked rigatoni or large tube pasta
4 cups (16 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 small onion, chopped
2 cans (one 15 ounces, one 8 ounces) pizza sauce
1 package (3-1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni
1 can (6 ounces) pitted ripe olives, drained and halved
Directions:
In a skillet, cook sausage until no longer pink; drain. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
In a 5-qt. slow cooker, layer half of the sausage, pasta, cheese, soup, onion, pizza sauce, pepperoni and olives. Repeat layers. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Yield: 6-8 servings.
Rachael Ray's Italian Style Chicken Noodle soup - I found this recipe a couple of years ago - it is a nice change from your standard chicken noodle and my whole family loves it!
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
5-6 ribs celery from the heart with leafy tops, chopped
3-4 medium size carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 cups chicken stock
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounces)
1 can red beans (15 ounces), rinsed
1 can chickpeas (15 ounces), rinsed
1/2 pound whole wheat penne pasta
1 pound chicken tenders or chicken cutlets, chopped
2 cups parmesan pita chips, for garnish
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a handful)
Place a large soup pot over medium-high heat and add the EVOO. Add celery, carrots, onion and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Cook vegetables to make tender, 8-10 minutes.
Add stock, tomato sauce, beans and chickpeas, then bring soup to a boil. Stir penne into soup, cook a minute or so then stir in chicken and simmer 5-6 minutes more.
Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with some parmesan pita chips and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Melissa's variation: I make this in the slow cooker. I put all of the ingredients but the pita chips, the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and the noodles into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. About an hour before I'm ready to serve, I cook the noodles and add them to the mixture.
Lemony chicken breasts with rice (slow cooker) - This recipe came from All You Magazine (they now have a searchable recipe database with over 800 recipes, which is awesome!) We really liked the flavor of this, but the rice didn't seem to get cooked enough.
Cost per serving: $2.25
Yield
4 Servings
Ingredients
•4 tablespoons unsalted butter
•1 onion, finely chopped
•2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
•4 boneless chicken breast halves
•Salt and pepper
•4 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth
•1/4 cup lemon juice
•2 cups long-grain rice
•1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Scrape into slow cooker.
Sprinkle chicken with salt. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp. butter in skillet over medium high heat until foaming. Add chicken breast halves and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to slow cooker.
Add 1 cup broth and lemon juice to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping browned bits from bottom of pan. Add to the slow cooker, along with remaining broth, rice and 1 tsp. salt. Stir, cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender, 2 to 3 hours. Remove chicken, stir parsley into rice and season with salt and pepper. Divide rice onto 4 plates and top each with a piece of chicken; serve immediately.
Nutritional Information
Calories: 534 Fat: 15g (sat 8g) Protein: 20g Carbohydrate: 80g Fiber: 2g Cholesterol: 54mg Sodium: 323mg
All You, MAY 2008
Creamy Ranch Mushroom Pork Chops - Chris & I absolutely LOVED this recipe and will make it a stand by! The pork chops literally fell apart in the crock pot!
Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops
1 packet ranch seasoning
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can chicken broth
1 block cream cheese
Spray a crockpot with cooking spray, and put all ingredients but cream cheese in. Cover, and cook on low "all day" (I did 10 hours, but you could do less). Before serving, stir in cream cheese until melted. The sauce is also delicious with veggies!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Poor sick monkey!
Our little monkey came down with a cough on Monday, which by Monday evening became a "croupy" cough. When he coughed or cried, he sounded like a barking seal - a sound that once you hear it, you'll never forget it! Luckily he seemed to have a somewhat mild case. Just some low grade fevers and feeling puny. We kept him home from school on Tuesday and Wednesday and I took Wednesday off work to stay home with him. We've been so lucky with him being healthy, this was probably the first time that he's really been sick, besides ear infections and I don't remember him having to miss school before! He's feeling much better now. Still has a runny nose & cough, but it sound much more like a normal cold cough.
Feeling pitiful, watching Sesame Street
Everything's better with a popsicle!
Feeling pitiful, watching Sesame Street
Everything's better with a popsicle!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Big day! Brendan - 21 months, Baby Bug 24 weeks!
Wow! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by! In 3 months, I'll have a 2 year old and Baby Bug will almost be here (at least I hope that she's almost here and not here already!)
Brendan is talking more and more daily, it's so much fun to listen to him! Funny story to share, since I keep forgetting to post it here.
Brendan was riding in Mamaw's car on the way to her house on Monday morning recently. It was a bright and sunny day. Apparently they were discussing the sun and it was shining in on Brendan. They turned a corner and it was no longer directly on Brendan. He asked Mamaw, "Sun off?!?" Too cute in my opinion!
Not sure if that counts as his first sentence, but he's definitely starting to start to put two words together to get his point across. He watched Daddy put the garage door down this afternoon after a bike ride and he said, "Door down".
Brendan at 21 months:
Me & Baby Bug:
I had my 24 week appointment yesterday. Everything is looking good. I'm measuring big for my date - of course! I'm measuring at 26 weeks, which the OB isn't too concerned about, of course she's going off her due date, so I'm almost 25 weeks per her dates. I was surprised that she didn't start in on the "it's a big baby" talk and talk about another ultrasound to check size and push for a scheduled C-section. She flat out said "I'm not worried...I don't think that you're having a big baby." Basically she just said that I'm short. Duh! So we'll see if that tune changes in the coming weeks as we approach my VBAC. I certainly hope not, but I'm ready for a battle anyway. :)
Next up is my glucose tolerance test, which I'm not worried about passing too much, but I just don't want to do it! I remember almost getting sick on the stupid drink last time trying to choke it down. Ugh!
I'm still doing OK as far as weight gain, I think. I'm up 18 pounds, so hopefully I can stay under the 40 lbs I gained with Brendan! My belly button is nearly flat, which I know happened with Brendan, but I don't think that it was this early...so I fear that it will pop! :) My back is holding up so far...I have good days and bad days...I can't stand in one place for very long I've learned. The couch and exercise ball are my friends...standing at the kitchen counter is not! The fun Braxton-Hicks contractions have definitely started. I did get a little worried this past Saturday as I had 2-3 within an hour, the first started when all I did was roll over in bed! Yikes! They've definitely calmed down since though, so that's good. Baby Bug has some more baking to do and I'm not quite ready for her appearance either!
The nesting bug/2nd trimester extra energy has hit me. I've been making lists and working on tons of projects lately...a lot of them are Baby Bug and Brendan related, but I'm also trying to get ready for Christmas. I'm afraid that when the holidays really roll around I'll be starting to get really uncomfortable and not feel up to doing anything. I think that I now have all of the bedding for Brendan's big boy room. We just need some twin size mattresses. (Anyone know of a deal?!? Not sure that I want used ones from strangers...kinda creeps me out!) Once the bunk beds are finished at Christmas (Chris' parents are going to finish re-finishing them while they are here), we'll get his new room painted and set up. Then we can tackle setting up the nursery.
I'm almost 100% sure that I've picked out bedding for Baby Bug...it's called Fireflies (really they are Dragonflies) and is from Target. I love the colors, now just to find some finishing touches!
Brendan is talking more and more daily, it's so much fun to listen to him! Funny story to share, since I keep forgetting to post it here.
Brendan was riding in Mamaw's car on the way to her house on Monday morning recently. It was a bright and sunny day. Apparently they were discussing the sun and it was shining in on Brendan. They turned a corner and it was no longer directly on Brendan. He asked Mamaw, "Sun off?!?" Too cute in my opinion!
Not sure if that counts as his first sentence, but he's definitely starting to start to put two words together to get his point across. He watched Daddy put the garage door down this afternoon after a bike ride and he said, "Door down".
Brendan at 21 months:
Me & Baby Bug:
I had my 24 week appointment yesterday. Everything is looking good. I'm measuring big for my date - of course! I'm measuring at 26 weeks, which the OB isn't too concerned about, of course she's going off her due date, so I'm almost 25 weeks per her dates. I was surprised that she didn't start in on the "it's a big baby" talk and talk about another ultrasound to check size and push for a scheduled C-section. She flat out said "I'm not worried...I don't think that you're having a big baby." Basically she just said that I'm short. Duh! So we'll see if that tune changes in the coming weeks as we approach my VBAC. I certainly hope not, but I'm ready for a battle anyway. :)
Next up is my glucose tolerance test, which I'm not worried about passing too much, but I just don't want to do it! I remember almost getting sick on the stupid drink last time trying to choke it down. Ugh!
I'm still doing OK as far as weight gain, I think. I'm up 18 pounds, so hopefully I can stay under the 40 lbs I gained with Brendan! My belly button is nearly flat, which I know happened with Brendan, but I don't think that it was this early...so I fear that it will pop! :) My back is holding up so far...I have good days and bad days...I can't stand in one place for very long I've learned. The couch and exercise ball are my friends...standing at the kitchen counter is not! The fun Braxton-Hicks contractions have definitely started. I did get a little worried this past Saturday as I had 2-3 within an hour, the first started when all I did was roll over in bed! Yikes! They've definitely calmed down since though, so that's good. Baby Bug has some more baking to do and I'm not quite ready for her appearance either!
The nesting bug/2nd trimester extra energy has hit me. I've been making lists and working on tons of projects lately...a lot of them are Baby Bug and Brendan related, but I'm also trying to get ready for Christmas. I'm afraid that when the holidays really roll around I'll be starting to get really uncomfortable and not feel up to doing anything. I think that I now have all of the bedding for Brendan's big boy room. We just need some twin size mattresses. (Anyone know of a deal?!? Not sure that I want used ones from strangers...kinda creeps me out!) Once the bunk beds are finished at Christmas (Chris' parents are going to finish re-finishing them while they are here), we'll get his new room painted and set up. Then we can tackle setting up the nursery.
I'm almost 100% sure that I've picked out bedding for Baby Bug...it's called Fireflies (really they are Dragonflies) and is from Target. I love the colors, now just to find some finishing touches!
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