Friday, October 14, 2011

Pinspiring Friday!

     Have you heard about Pinterest? It's been around for a while, but I just found it and am currently addicted to the website. Pinterest is a site where you can bookmark interesting things you find on the Internet for easy reference later. You can bookmark images of recipes, craft ideas, photographs, fashion, quotes, wedding stuff, baby stuff, etc. Then you categorize the images onto different boards like "Recipes to Try" or "Home Decor" or whatever you want to call it. You can also "follow" friends to see what they think is interesting and then repin those ideas to your own boards if you like them too. Here is a picture of my boards.
     Below is a picture of what I see when I log onto Pinterest. All those photos are "pins" that my friends have saved to their profiles. If I like something I see on this page, I can click on the picture and repin it to one of my own boards. Then someone who follows me can pin it to theirs and it keeps happening over and over again. It's interesting to see what becomes really popular.
     So I've really been enjoying Pinterest for finding new recipes and craft ideas and stuff for Owen and all that, but I'm trying to challenge myself to actually do something with them. So "Pinspiring Friday" is part of that. I don't plan to do it every Friday, but I will post the results whenever I try something I found on Pinterest. In the future I will also try to post photos of my creations along with the original photos from Pinterest.  
     Recently, I started with some of my recipes from Pinterest. I have made three recipes. The first was a complete failure. I found a recipe for an at-home knock-off of the seasonal Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (so yummy, but so expensive). It's originally from a blog called Love Veggies and Yoga. Anyway, I made the recipe at home, but found that it had too much spice in it and was overpowering. It tasted nothing like the real thing. 
    I was willing to give Pinterest a second chance (it wasn't its fault after all), so when my Tuesday morning Bible study group planned a bruncheon the other day and asked me to provide dessert, I knew just where I would search for a recipe! I chose a peanut butter cheeseball (made with cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and brown sugar). It was easy to make for the most part, though forming it into a ball proved to be pretty tricky. I served it with green apple slices and graham crackers. It tasted fantastic (yes, I cheated on my no-sugar diet just this once) and the ladies from my Bible study loved it. Score 1 for Pinterest!
Lastly, I made us dinner using a recipe from Pinterest. I found it by searching for pins with the words "slow cooker." The slow cooker Bajio chicken I made earlier this week was found in a pin that linked to a website full of slow cooker ideas. It turned out really well and was super easy to make. 
     So those are some of my recent Pinterest finds. I have several Halloween/Fall craft ideas that I am interested in trying soon so maybe I will post about those if I have time to do them when I get back from Georgia. What's got you (P)inspired?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Tasty Thursday


     So today marks less than one week until I will be visiting family in Georgia. I’m very excited to be going home to see our family (both my parents and in-laws live in the same town). Owen has a lot of new tricks to show off and we need to restock his closet since he’s moving up in clothing sizes. (Haha!) Unfortunately, my husband will not be joining us on this trip, but I am so grateful that he was willing to let us go since it will mean he has to spend a week away from Owen (and me). Don’t worry too much about him though because I made sure to stock the freezer full of meals for him to eat while I’m gone. That way he won’t have to revert back to his college days of eating frozen pizza and boxed meals. In case you’re wondering, for dinner next week Tim will be eating: spaghetti, chili, Italian drip beef sandwiches, Dr. Pepper shredded pork sandwiches, taco meatloaf, Italian chicken soup, and macaroni and cheese. But if you wanted to give him a call and check in on him while I’m gone, I’m sure he’d appreciate it. Dinners last week went really well. I pretty much made four things and we ate a lot of leftovers. It has actually been a pretty great system. Here are my reviews for last week’s new recipes.

This meal was super easy to put together. I think it took me approximately 5 minutes after I shredded the rotisserie chicken. Then I put it in the oven and we took a walk as a family. After returning home, I threw together a salad and had dinner on the table in minutes. It’s not the most exciting meal ever, but it was pretty tasty and filling.

This soup was really great. And the recipe makes a ton! We ate the soup for two dinners and at least three lunches and still have two quarts stored away in the freezer. I did make several additions to the recipe and in the future would make some changes from the way Pioneer Woman cooks it. For one, I used less than a whole chicken and had plenty of meat, and I also added kidney beans, carrots, and spinach to the soup for some extra veggies. I also halved the amount of cream (at least) that she included in the recipe. I love Pioneer Woman, but she is seriously addicted to heavy cream. She may have to join HCAA (heavy cream-aholics anonymous).

I’m still not having a whole lot of luck with cooking chicken breasts in the slow cooker. They always end up being a little dry. Still, the seasonings were nice. Once again, I changed up the recipe a little bit by using medium salsa and a larger can of green chiles to up the spiciness factor. I highly recommend doing this because otherwise the meat would probably be a little too sweet and needs some spicy to balance out the flavor.

And moving on to this week...

Thursday: Leftover slow cooker Bajio chicken served in baked tortilla bowls with lots of romaine lettuce, black beans, salsa, avocado (for me), and cheese (for the Mister.)
Friday: Chicken curry with coconut milk. This is a recipe from a new site that my friend Katie told me about called Skinny Taste. The blogger makes healthier versions of many common recipes without “[sacrificing] any of the flavor that can be found in their full-fat origins.” (We’ll see…) This recipe seems really interesting and Tim and I both love the taste of curry.
Saturday: Taco soup. This is a recipe that I’ve made before from a blog called For the Love of Cooking. It’s a wonderful cool weather soup and will make plenty for us to have for leftovers the following night.
Sunday: Taco soup leftovers.
Monday: Chicken rollatini stuffed with zucchini and mozzarella. This is another interesting recipe from the Skinny Taste blog. We will probably eat it with a little marinara sauce and a side salad or maybe some steamed broccoli.
Tuesday: I will probably heat up one of the quarts of leftover Italian chicken soup from last week because we will be busy making sure that everything is packed and ready for us to go the airport super early the next day. Also, I can spend more time with my hubby and less time cooking and cleaning up the kitchen.

Halloween costume choice!

Drumroll please.....


























MONKEY!!!!!
Thanks to everyone who voiced their opinion. Monkey was the overwhelming favorite. So stay tuned later this month to see the cutest monkey ever!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Halloween costume opinions?

     Owen is obviously too young to understand Halloween and could care less about having a costume. But... and this is a big but (haha), babies in Halloween costumes are so cute. And my kid is extra cute, ergo he must have a Halloween costume. Plus, with a boy, I need to take advantage of the ability to control his Halloween costume choices before he gets to that age where he wants to dress as a zombie or a serial killer or whatever other grody thing that boys like to dress as for Halloween.
     Anyway, Tim and I have been scouring the Internet for Halloween costumes for Owen and we are having a hard time deciding. So we've decided to ask our blog followers and friends for their opinion. Here are some of the candidates. Let us know if you like one of them or if you have any other suggestions.


Costume No. 1: Baby Monkey (ironic, 'cause he hates bananas)
Costume No. 2: Baby Lion
Maybe with Daddy or Mommy as the lion-tamer?
Costume No. 3: Baby Lobster
With Daddy as a chef?

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Tasty Thursday

Here are the reviews for last week's new recipes in case you're interested in how they turned out. 


Chili Frito pie: A
This was a really good chili recipe and I didn’t have to buy any specific chili seasonings. I could just use what I have in my cabinet. Tim really liked it as well. The only thing I might do differently in the future is add a bit more tomato sauce and some water because I like my chili to be a little more soupy.

Chicken tacos: B
This recipe seemed really great in theory, but the results were not so hot. Also, in case anyone was wondering, using flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas was a big mistake. The flour tortillas puffed up and tried to escape in the pan and chicken kept falling out while they were frying and it was a big mess. Also, frying the taco overcooked the chicken inside. Otherwise, they still tasted okay (because of course, fried foods always taste good). I definitely liked the addition of a can of green chiles to the chicken, but if I made chicken tacos again, I wouldn’t bother frying anything.


Because I'm making some recipes this week that make a lot of food, I'm only going to be cooking a few times and we're going to be eating a lot of leftovers for dinners and lunches. Which means, less cleaning the kitchen! Yay!

Thursday: Chicken parmesan skillet pot pie. I found this recipe online when I was searching for dinner ideas to use up the extra pie crust I still have from when I made Italian pie. I had passed up about a million chicken pot pie recipes when I came upon this one. It's from a website called Picky Palate. It's a blog written by a stay-at-home mom of two boys who creates "family-friendly" meals that anyone, especially those with more limited palates, would love. The best thing is that it seems like it won't take too much time to make and won't dirty too many dishes. And I can throw in a side salad and we have a complete meal. 
Friday: Leftovers, with zucchini casserole on the side. I shred the zucchini and bake it in a casserole dish with a little olive oil, garlic powder, and some parmesan cheese. You can then top it with some breadcrumbs. Yum!  
Saturday: Dr. Pepper Spicy Shredded Pork sandwiches with coleslaw on top. We'll have it with baked sweet potato fries on the side. This is the Pioneer Woman recipe I made a couple months ago. I still have a pork shoulder in the freezer and I wanted to use it and I really liked this recipe so I decided to make it again. It will make for some tasty sandwiches on college football Saturday. And we actually get to watch the UGA game in the evening this week! 
Sunday: Leftovers of the pork wrapped in tortillas with shredded romaine lettuce, salsa, cheese, and avocado. We'll have them with black beans and leftover cole slaw on the side. 
Monday: Italian chicken soup. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe that my mom recommended. I just love soup and I'm so excited that it is fall. And it has actually been really rainy and chilly here in the last few days so soup is just what the doctor ordered. My mom made some changes to the recipe and I think I will add in some of the things that she used like spinach, carrots, and kidney beans. I will also leave out about half of the cream she suggested using to make it a little healthier.
Tuesday: Leftover soup.
Wednesday: Slow cooker Bajio chicken. This is a yummy looking recipe I found online at a blog called Six Sisters' Stuff. We will have it in leftover tortillas from earlier in the week. And we will most likely have the leftovers on Thursday in a salad like in the picture .

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Food processors are funny?

So, if you are wondering, this video was taken with a cell phone and is sideways.  I don't know how to fix it, but we've really enjoyed hearing Owen laugh over and over again.  Enjoy the hilarious noise of the food processor (or Jessica)!  CHU CHU!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Owen is six months old!

I'm six months old!
At six months old, Owen was:



Weight: 16 pounds, 12 ounces (between the 25th and 50th percentile)

Height: 26.75 inches long (between the 50th and 75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16.8 inches (25th percentile)



Eating:
     Owen still drinks about five or six ounces at each feeding. He goes about three to four hours between feedings. He has started touching our faces or playing with my hair while he eats now. He began eating pureed fruits and vegetables this month (see previous post) and seems to like peas and sweet potatoes the best. We generally feed him about two ounces of solid food in the evening and will probably give him another solid food feeding in the morning soon. 

Sleeping:
     Though Owen had been sleeping through the night, he has resumed waking up in the middle of the night for a feeding for the past three weeks or so. We think that he is going through a growth spurt and needs the extra feeding for that reason. He typically wakes up around 3 a.m. to eat and then sleeps until 6:30 or 7 a.m. when he wakes up for the day.  
    I tried to gradually decrease Owen's number of daytime naps from three to two, but he didn't respond very well to it and I have gone back to just watching him for his cues that say "I need a nap." He becomes fussy and starts rubbing his eyes when he is tired. 
    We start Owen's bedtime routine at about 7 p.m. every night. This can mean we feed him one last bottle, give him a bath, read to him, or just snuggle a little. Then we rock him until he falls asleep. If we're lucky, he goes down easily at 7:30, but lately he's been fighting sleep until as late as 8:30 p.m. 
Dad reads with the best voices.
Other Things I Want to Remember:
     Owen is wearing 3-6 month and 6 month size clothing, but will soon outgrow them. We've started putting him into his 9 month size clothes and some of his 6-12 month outfits. They are a little too big, but he is quickly outgrowing the smaller sizes. He is in size 2 diapers. 
     Owen's hair is growing in thicker and is currently really fluffy on the top of his head. It's really cute. His eyes are getting darker and we bet they will ultimately turn brown. 
My eyes still look greenish blue sometimes, but you can see the brown creeping from the inside out.
    Owen has begun sucking on his right index finger. After finding his feet last month, he has recently become enamored with his hands. While I'm feeding him his bottle, a lot of the time he will hold his hands out in front of his face and just stare at them and wiggle his fingers. 
      Owen can now sit in his stroller without being in his infant carseat and enjoys being able to sit up and look around. We have started taking walks daily as a family in the evenings when Daddy gets home from work.
      His favorite toys are his stuffed musical elephant and a Tigger stuffed animal. He really likes playing with some cloth blocks I bought for him recently. He also enjoys his teething bumblebee and anything else he can chew on. His favorite non-toys are cell phones, car keys, and the television remote. He plays a good amount of time on his activity mat and rotates himself around it to play with all of the different features. He has learned how to turn on the music and seems to prefer the classical music over the nursery rhyme tunes.
You can keep stacking these all you like Mom, but I'll just keep knocking them down.
     He still enjoys having us read to him. His favorite book this month is "Are You My Mommy?" Now that he is teething, he often tries to munch on the corners and grab the pages.
Who needs Mom or Dad? I can read by myself.
     Owen has had several "firsts" this month. As we already mentioned, he has started eating pureed fruits and vegetables. 
     Additionally, Owen has started sitting unassisted this month. He can sit for the most part now without falling over. He generally bears some of his weight on his hands on either his knees or the floor in front of him. Now that he can sit, he becomes frustrated at laying back and is constantly trying to sit up for instance when we're giving him a bottle or bathing him in his infant bathtub.
This is my typical half-squint face. It means, "What are you doing, Mommy?"
      Owen has started raising himself up on his hands and knees in preparation for crawling. So far though, he tends to propel himself backwards almost like he's doing "the worm." It's really cute. Lately, he gets up on his hands and knees and shifts his weight forward and backward, but hasn't started crawling yet. 
     Owen "watched" his first University of Georgia football game this month. 
Goooo Dawgs! Sic 'em!
University of Georgia Class of 2033.
      Owen cut his first two teeth (the bottom front two) last week. They don't seem to cause him too much pain for which we are grateful. And they are so cute when he smiles. 
Hey, how did those get in there?
      Owen also got sick for the first time this month. He caught a nasty cold (as did Mommy) and is still recovering more than a week later. He is still a happy boy for the most part. And we have actually been a little happy because he has occasionally let us snuggle him while he's been sick. (Normally he is a very busy boy and has no time for snuggles).
Mommy better enjoy it while it lasts. Next week I'll be back to discovering the world.
      Here are some pictures from Owen's six month photo shoot. As you can see, he is showing off his ability to sit up by himself. And he is photogenic. I had trouble deciding which photos to post because there were so many cute ones!
Why yes, you can call me "Mister Cuteness."
Either I'm growing, or my elephant is shrinking.
That's right Elephant, no more pushing me around.
My feet? Why yes, they are still awesome.
Check out my fuzzy hair. Nana says my head looks like a coconut.
Check out my two newest adorable features. My teeth!
Hahaha! Mom and Dad are sooo funny.
Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.
Let me have the camera. I want to eat it.
Oh, Dad. I am too cool for peek-a-boo.
Just in time for Halloween: my zombie impression. Grr...argh...
They call me "Drool Monster."
Mommy says the girls are going to be jealous of my eyelashes.
How could you ever say no to this face?
You don't know this Mom, but Dad is making a funny face behind your head.
Geez, who are you? The paparazzi? Please, no more pictures.