Bon Appétit Baby

Griffin turns 6 months old today so I spent last night making a small stash of baby food for him.  I suppose we'll start letting him eat food now...oh how did this come so soon?  My goal is to make as much of G's baby food as possible.  Since I stay at home and try to make most of what we eat, why not make what he's eating too?  I have got advice from friends who are also doing this, which I am abundantly thankful for, because I was clueless.  My blog pal advised that I visit Wholesome Baby Food and it was super helpful.


I started with sweet potatoes, sweet peas, mango, pears.  The whole process was easy peasy, the hardest part was keeping myself from eating it all.  

We went from this:

To this:

I'm not finished, but I feel good about my start.  Now if I can just keep up the momentum.  

*Griffin has had a few bites of food in the last couple of weeks.  He attempted to try avocado but I ended up eating it.  He LOVED bananas and he's had a few bites of mashed potatoes and green beans.  

I'm Dreaming of a White....

...Chili


My big resolution of this year was to try to make one new recipe a week.  Basically it's to get me in the kitchen more often and become more comfortable while I'm in there.  Part two of this resolution is to journal what I've done.  Too many times I have made a recipe and then later can't remember for the life of me where I got it.  My solution is to keep track of each one,  documenting the changes that I've made and what I liked or didn't.  


In the past three days I've made three new ones.  Friday the snow made me want to bake.  It was a crazy urge, but I went with it.  I figured out that I had everything (sans a stick of butter that I borrowed from my neighbor) for chocolate cupcakes already in my kitchen, and no, there were no boxes involved.  That was an exciting discovery alright.  Then Saturday I made a delicious chicken parm melted my bad mood away.  I found that recipe on Pioneer Woman's website.  If you're not familiar with her, I encourage you check out her cooking site.  Tonight I made her white chili.  It was divine.  And that's a word I've never associated with my cooking.  To top it off, it was pretty easy to do and it didn't require $100 worth of groceries.  So far she's two for two in my book.  I haven't followed the recipes to a t, but I didn't go too far outside the lines and still came out super delicious.  


Since I am fighting the urge not to go into my kitchen and make myself a midnight snack of the stuff, I'm going to share the recipe instead.  Maybe I'll kill my hunger with kindness, or something like that...


Pioneer Woman's White Chili

Ingredients

• 1 whole Fryer Chicken, Cut Up (or 3 Cups Cooked Chicken)
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced  (I used yellow)
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 whole Cans Green Chilies, Chopped
• 1 pound Dried Great Northern Beans, Rinsed
• 8 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
• 1-½ Tablespoon Ground Cumin
• ½ teaspoons Paprika
• ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
• Salt To Taste
• White Pepper, To Taste (I used black)
• 1 cup Whole Milk (1/2 buttermilk 1/2 2%)
• 2 Tablespoons Masa (corn Flour) OR Cornmeal  
• Grated Monterey Jack, To Taste
• Sour Cream For Garnish
• Cilantro For Garnish
• Guacamole (optional)  (didn't use)
• Pico De Gallo (optional)  "
• Corn Tortillas (warmed)  (cornbread was better)

Preparation Instructions

Cover chicken and cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until done. Remove meat from bones. Set aside.

In a dutch oven over medium-high heat, saute onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add chopped green chilies, then rinsed beans. Pour chicken broth into the pan. Add sliced jalapenos. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin. Place lid on pot and reduce heat to low.

Cook for 2 hours or until beans are done (closer to 3 hours). Halfway through the cooking process, add 3 cups of cooked chicken.

When beans are tender, mix milk with masa (or cornmeal) and pour into the chili. Cook for an additional ten minutes to thicken. Check seasoning and adjust, adding cayenne pepper and paprika if desired.

Add some Monterey Jack cheese to the pot and stir to melt.

Yumm.  Maybe I'll post a picture tomorrow when I eat leftovers for lunch, that is if I can stand to look at it without eating for for a minute.

*UPDATE*  I know myself too well sometimes.  Grabbing the camera didn't even cross my mind as I was heating up my delectable lunch, not at all.  I can assure you, however, that it was either just as or maybe quite a bit more delicious for lunch and dinner the following day.
Must. make. again.

Lunch

Lunch, day three.  

What was I thinking eating ramen noodles everyday for lunch?  This lunch has less than ten carbs and is full of fiber and protein.  However, as good as it was it has caused a large problem.   I just ate so much it now hurts to type and I do not have any room left in my chest cavity to expand my lungs to breathe properly. 

This one may bore you.

Not much is new right now which is quite refreshing. The summer is treating us well and I am glad that we're enjoying it. Dave has been doing some work on the house, trying to get us more organized. Well I should say, he has done a lot of work on the closets which in turn should encourage us to be more organized. He had been using the closets in both his music room and the (now) nursery for his clothes and other junk. Our closets basically consisted of a bar set high and a shelf above. Pretty boring and inefficient, if you ask me. The nursery has a "walk-in" closet that is 4' wide by 5' deep. He lowered the bar for hanging clothes to the lower half of the closet and added four 20" deep shelves above, then added five 10" shelves to the right side of the closet. It is now a storage mecca, and it is beyond nice to have that project completed.

*The target will be coming down soon.

Dave took off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with me this week to work on these projects and other things that needed to be worked on. Since he is working on his school stuff, we really only have time on the weekends to get things done and then every other Saturday is occupied by his actual classes. Needless to say, the time this week has been quite valuable for us. It's also been kind of nice to have more than an hour a day to communicate. Tomorrow we plan on going on a lunch date to see a movie (which we never do) and eat lunch, and possibly grab Bean Sprout a little outfit with a BRU coupon that came in the mail. I may even dress up a little for this occasion ;) Speaking of our time together we have played tennis for the last three days. Sometimes I enjoy tennis and other times I am really bad and don't enjoy it at all. On Monday evening we played in something like 98% humidity, which took the life out of me. It was so sticky out and I tired out far too quickly. Yesterday's games were played in the morning and were much more enjoyable and I decided to dress in more appropriate attire. Getting exercise in without hurting, cramping, or sweating to death was a real treat. Today we played around lunch time and it may have been 1000 degrees out, I was having a ton of fun playing and even playing better than I had been, but my body decided it was too hot. I was drinking tons of ice water but I still had to surrender to the heat and not over do it.

Yesterday I made something for dinner that I may end up craving all the time now. It was a delicious combination of chickpeas, cucumbers, red onions, and tomatoes. Ohh....how I love love love chickpeas, I could eat them everyday. I mixed all the veggies with olive oil, a little red wine vinegar, lemon juice, dill, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Yummy!! Healthy and tasty!

Over on the left you can see my latest product of boredom. I had been joking about making "bean spout '09" tee shirts for anyone who wanted one (even if it is just me); and like most things I joke about, it came to fruition. I found zazzle.com and it's now one of my favorite things. You can get to my store by clicking here . The site is very nice, you can customize just about anything you want from postage stamps and travel mugs to dog shirts and baby onesies. Here's the shirt that I created, which you can get to by clicking on the image of the shirt in the zazzle box on the left.
The font that I chose for this shirt is called "birth of a hero" which I thought was fitting (but first I liked it for the way it looked). I also did a Bean Sprout beer stein but felt it a bit unrelated to the birth of my son. I put his "logo" on a mug too and I am considering dog shirts next. Oh let me know if you have any suggestions for anything that I should put on the back, like a slogan...he needs a slogan...

Hopefully I didn't bore you too much. Next time I should have much more exciting things to write about....I hope.

21 Weeks

21 weeks 4 days

We're past the half way point and every day I am more and more ready to meet our little boy. It won't be much longer till I hit the third trimester, and I am hoping that it's all down hill from there. Bean Sprout is a wiggler. I feel him all the time now. He still feels rather low, but I am starting to feel him a little above my belly button too. The other day I was laying in the bathtub and felt a pressure move across the top of my belly, as I looked down my whole belly moved to the left. He must be getting stronger. Dave still hasn't been able to feel him yet. I believe that Dave calms him down, because even if BS is moving around Dave will put his hand on my belly, then BS is still. Dave has a calming affect on me too. All the kicks and movement make this experience all the more real, and draws me closer and closer to my little boy.

The name debacle is still on going. I think I have something in mind, but Dave is still sitting on it. I swear, he is much more picky than I would have ever imagined. I am still trying not to rush the process, but I have some projects that I would like to work on for the nursery that involve his name. I guess they will wait.

My appetite is noticeably increasing. Even with my grazing technique, I am feeling hungry right after I eat. I am trying to keep lots of good foods around to munch on, but we eat them up faster than we can buy them. It would be nice for our garden to be flourishing, and to have the ability to run outside to grab whatever I am wanting. Too bad we're amateur gardeners. It's our first gardening experience and we're doing so-so. In the beginning we had 3 tomato plants, a cucumber, a couple of banana peppers, a jalapeno, and 3 bell peppers. So far we have been defeated by only one tomato plant. We have havested 2 banana peppers and we're waiting on everything else. It looks as though we will have an abundance of tomatoes, unless they're planning on kicking the bucket too. Next year I am hoping to expand our little garden to include a larger variety of veggies. I have read that the baby can now taste what you're eating via the amniotic fluid that he swallows, and that eating a variety of foods will accustom him to different tastes. This hopefully will make him less of a picky eater.

What a weekend!

I hope everyone had a very happy Mothers' Day. Our weekend was filled with fun and family. Saturday we went up to Dave's grandparents' for his Grandpa's 80th birthday. Thankfully the rain avoided us all day, although it was a little on the chilly side. The food was beyond tasty (as always); we had a cajun boil with shrimp, sausage, mussels, potatoes, carrots.....I have to stop--I am getting hungry just typing that. Sometimes I joke that I married Dave for his family's cooking, and sometimes I wonder how much of a joke that actually is. The family is growing and growing, every time we go up there it seems like we meet a new cousin (normally babies). It's nice knowing that our bean sprout won't have a shortage of playmates. The girl cousins out number the boys so I really really hope we are able to help the ratio. While we were there I realized that I cannot remember the last time that I held an infant, let alone a newborn. I don't even recall holding my niece when she was really little. OH NO! I am more unexperienced than I realized. I expressed my fear to my sister-in-law, Jo Ann, of how I am terrified of dropping little bean sprout. She says that I'll be fine, but I am not sure I believe her. Maybe I should find a place where newborns hang out and practice. Where might a place like this be? Hopefully my instincts will kick in when I need them to.

CORRECTION: I have been corrected. Jo Ann sent me a picture of me holding my niece, Katie, at 1 month old. And she didn't remind me that I dropped her or anything. Maybe I can do this!!!


Sunday was lots of fun too. My mom and my little brother came over and spent the afternoon. I like cooking for my mom since she doesn't cook (sorry I'm telling on you), so I think it's nice to provide a nice home cooked meal for her (and myself). Normally Dave helps me cook but I ended up doing this whole meal on my own. I baked salmon in lime and butter, made couscous with tomatoes, zucchini, feta cheese, and green onions, and made some tasty cole slaw with lime. I found a recipe online but made my own alterations too. Culinary comfort is something that I am slowly acquiring, but it's a skill I can't wait to master. I was a little proud of myself for creating such a tasty and attractive meal. Before and after we ate we all played Pictionary Man, which I really enjoy. I consider myself semi-creative but I think I stole any artistic genes that my brother may have had any chance at. He's a lot of fun to watch.

Even though we didn't have much time to slow down this weekend, I had the most fabulous time. With Bean Sprout on the way, family is taking on a whole new and bigger meaning for me. I am so thankful that we have loving and super supportive families. It's making this process much more comfortable and super exciting.

Speaking of Bean Sprout, I am dying to know what he or she really is. I am really trying my best to not get excited about it, but how in the world am I not supposed to?!? Maybe if Dr. Brody would have said that our odds of a boy were 50% (instead of 80%) then I wouldn't have been inclined to freak out on the inside. Boy clothes are looking cuter and cuter and I am doing everything I can to not get just one outfit or toy or socks. I have to tell myself that I only have 2 weeks--only 14 days until we really know, but it seems like so far away. tick tock, tick tock. I am still not having much luck in the name department. I am pretty sure that I have a first name in mind, but can't find a middle name that sticks. (And I am getting a little exhausted of names) For some reason I feel like I need to have a name picked out by my next appointment. It's the only thing I feel rushed for, but I don't know why.


Bloggy stuff:
I have been playing around with the settings on my little blog and I made a change where ANYONE can comment. You don't have to have a blog or google account, you'll just show up anonymous if you don't. So feel free to tell me ANYTHING, this is my source for getting advice and whatnot, so I want to know what you have to say.

I also made a widget of my favorite etsy stuff. If you're not familiar with etsy, it's awesome. It's a site of handmade items that are sold by the artist/crafter. You can find everything on there, and I like knowing that I am supporting the art or craft. A lot of the sellers on there are stay-at-home moms (and inspirations to me). Maybe soon I'll get some of my creations back on there.

Easter pictures

I wanted to follow through and show off the mini peaches n' cream cheesecakes that I made for Easter. They were simple to make and pretty tasty.
And I wanted to show off my beautiful nieces, Lain and Katie. They're too cute for words, hence the picture.

And here's a picture of Dave and I that isn't as cute as above, but it's from Easter so I'll post it. Dave and I have very few pictures together and I have been wanting a good picture before I grow exponentially, so I don't have long.

today's lesson

Today was an interesting and educational experience. This morning, Dave and I went to Target and Babies R Us and tried to teach ourselves about strollers. (I should have filmed this.) First off, it was Dave's idea to look at strollers and it seems as though he's really been thinking about pushing our kid around (I'm laughing and I shouldn't be). I would consider us to be rather practical people; I think that we take function over most other options, even when it comes to strollers. Ideally we would both like something that is lightweight, will have longevity through infancy and toddler years, and is easy to push around. There is a lot of stuff out there that doesn't fit into our criteria.

Let me point out that I do not like, no--make that hate using buggies/carts when I'm out shopping. I am usually found with stuff piled up in my arms, a la Gus, the cheese-carrying mouse from Cinderella. I enjoy being able to weave in and out of "traffic" without worrying that I am going to injure someone else (or myself) with my cart. I find that this not only helps cut down on my shopping time, but also helps distract my shopping ADD by not being able to fit anything else in my arms and needing to race to the register before everything falls.

I realize that I am going to have to sacrifice a bit of convenience when the little one arrives, but I don't see why I need the largest SUV of strollers to carry an itty bitty baby. We played around with several models, and I laughed as Dave attempted to fold them up and then unfold them--who knew this could be so entertaining? I was afraid that we were going to break a couple...which means that we have already ruled those out. If we aren't able to figure them out in less than a minute, then out the door with practicality and off our list. The only reason that I would want a large stroller is so that I could fit in it, I don't want to be tempted to be jealous of the babies luxuries. Just kidding, just kidding (Or am I?)

By the way, I think that this was my first time ever in Babies R Us. I was impressed with seeing a larger selection of stuff, but why do they have to be so MUCH more expensive than Target? (Actually I do understand this concept of Retail Science) But goodness! While we were at BRU I tried on a sling and found out that I do, in fact, want one. The one wasn't a ring sling but it let me see the approximate size relative to my body. It fit comfortably on my (without a baby in tow), and I think I like the idea of using one for grocery shopping or dancing or whatever else.

I am getting more and more anxious every day to get to meet the bean sprout. The pregnancy does not excite me as much as having a little baby around. Today I was thinking how beautiful and miraculous life is, and how amazing the idea of growing a baby inside MY womb is. So why can't pregnancy be as well? Why can't I feel warm and cozy instead of nauseous and cold? Why can't my clothes fit better than they did before the pregnancy? Why can't I have less headaches and be less hungry? I know I am being selfish, but I think it would fit into this theme of beauty and amazement much better than what is actually going on now. I hope you don't mind my honesty here.

Since I should be doing Spanish, I will instead post my latest obsession: Ugly Dolls! I can't get over how much I love them. Maybe I'll get one for myself and then pass it on to bean sprout, like an heirloom, an ugly little heirloom.
Oh...how they make me smile :)

Now I should really get to my homework so later I can make some miniature Peaches 'N Cream Cheesecakes for tomorrow. Click here for the recipe.

Happy Easter!