Meticulous Motherhood

Henry James

2013-01-15T11:35:00.000-05:00

I found out what in my heart I knew all along: we're expecting a baby boy. I got an early ultrasound before Christmas to surprise our parents. I'll be 22 weeks pregnant on Sunday. This is likely (VERY likely!) our last pregnancy - if we want any more children, we will adopt them. So far I've not had any rude comments. Before finding out, some people had expressed a preference for us to have a girl - that I'm not offended by, even my own husband wanted a girl! - but so far, no one has said anything like "So are you gonna try again?" "Sad you're not having a girl?" or anything like that.

To be honest, I'm kinda thrilled about having another boy. I just can't wait to meet little Henry James. I think he's going to really bring something to our family. I worried about missing out on the experience of having a girl, or having a mother-daughter bond, or not seeing Daniel become a father to a little girl. But all that's sort of gender stereotyping anyway, right? I firmly believe some aspects of our brain/personality are hardwired into us via our biological sex organs, but not having a girl doesn't mean I'm going to miss out on sweet, even-tempered, empathetic, tender-hearted children. Donovan is already a very sensitive soul who cares about people's feelings. That's really what I care about the most. I want to raise kids with good self-esteem and a healthy level of independence. My mom used to always say that niceness is more important than smartness, and I absolutely agree with that statement, even though sadly, I don't live it. That's what's important - much more important than what's between their legs.

This pregnancy is different from my last. With your second baby, you feel kicks earlier. I was surprised how much earlier. With Donovan, my placenta was anterior, so I didn't feel him move until almost 23 weeks! It was longer for Daniel to feel him, too. This time, my placenta is posterior and I've been feeling flutters on and off since 14-15 weeks, and since about 17 weeks, I've been feeling it with certainty. Henry moves fairly often and kicks HARD! Even Daniel has felt him move already on and off. I wonder if that's a sign of things to come. My mom told me that maybe Donovan was my "calm" child, and Henry will be my wild one. Um... what? Donovan, calm? Say it ain't so!

We had some Christmas cash so I went ahead and purchased $200 worth of NICE cloth diapers to go along with the ones we already have, and an Ergo carrier and infant insert. Still saving up to buy a GOOD quality breast pump; I had to buy about five different ones last time, and they still weren't effective. Luckily insurance will cover it this time, hopefully. I'm already signed up to be a hippie!

Christmas Cooking (and letting go of weight gain and loss)

2012-12-13T09:38:00.001-05:00

So I'm pregnant with our second child. We'll be finding out the sex of the baby relatively soon. I think it's another boy. I'll be shocked if it's a girl! But either way, I'll be happy. And either way, the journey of two children will end, permanently, after this. I'm not up to more than that. So if I get another boy, I'm dreading the comments of "Will you try for a girl?" Nope, I don't need the whole collection in order to be fulfilled in life. I'll be equally happy with two boys as a boy and a girl. In some ways, having two of the same sex might be easier. Or not, because my love for my child isn't dependent on what's between their legs.

In fact, for a little bit, I thought Donovan might be an only child. We were totally blown away by all the medical issues he had - despite the fact that none of them were life-threatening in any way - and I was dreading going through that again. Of course, the costs, too. But I have some plans set in place, and I really feel like our family is complete at four, not three.

I've been cooking up this baby since September. And I've posted previously about my weight loss - however, I gained ten pounds within the first six weeks after finding out I was pregnant. I was pretty devastated to gain back that weight so quickly, especially since I was still eating healthfully and exercising. I didn't mind gaining weight during my first pregnancy - even though I was 20 pounds heavier starting out! - because I was already fat, I guess. It was much harder to lose weight and then gain it all back quickly for a second pregnancy.

But now, thankfully, my weight gain has completely stalled, even throughout Christmas cooking and Thanksgiving. I'm continuing to exercise and trying to stay active. I'm trying to put good things in my body. That's all I can do. And if I lost the weight once, I can lose it again. Hopefully the journey will be made a bit easier with breastfeeding! Maybe I can lose even more weight than before.

So, in the meantime, I've been baking up some goodies with my AllRecipes/Ladies' Home Journal Cookie Swap. I made these: White Chip Orange Cookies for a community dinner with Bradley Initiative for Church and Community. I'm not the biggest fan of white chocolate (I like it DARK) but these were pretty good. At least the people thought so - among all the desserts, my cookies were completely gone by time I went to go pick up my container.

Tonight I have a cookie swap party with my church's moms group. YES, I'm going to a moms' group. Most of their meetings are in the mornings, when I'm working. They have evening meetings once every few months, but I usually have something come up. It's really hard for me to get out on weeknights after work! However, I am dragging my sorry self to the meeting tonight, come hell or high water.

What am I making for the cookie swap? Fudge, of course. Dark Chocolate Cherry Fudge. I have to be a contrarian and bring fudge to a cookie swap. But I couldn't just stop there. I had to bring actual cookies as well! So I wanted to bring something different and unique, but not TOO different and unique. I went with these Cardamom Snaps, which are not from my beloved AllRecipes site, but looked good nonetheless. I haven't tried the fudge yet, but I did try the cardamom snaps. They are sort of like a mix between ginger snaps and chai cookies. A nice little bite, but a slightly smoky aftertaste.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else brings to this cookie swap tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing what other people are cooking. I'm not sure how my life is going to turn out right now, but I have to trust my instincts and what I feel like God wants for my children, my life, for ME. I'm just sitting here, cooking up a plan, and hopefully things will move forward soon.

Long time.

2012-11-08T09:27:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in a long time.

Not because I haven't had anything to say. I have lots to say. I just don't really connect with this blog so much any longer. Maybe I should revamp it. I have too much inside me, and the experts say your blog should be specific. A mom blog should be about your babies. A food blog should be about food. Eco-friendly blogs should be eco-friendly. Theology blogs should be about theology. Diary type blogs should be in diary format. A fiction blog should be fiction.

There is no overlap if you want your blog to be successful. If you want to garner an audience that attaches itself to you. I have too much inside me to be that specific.

I write in marketingese every day at work. I read constantly and wish I were writing in something else. (not that I'm not grateful for a job.) I'm bursting inside with words that are itching at my fingertips to get out, and I can't make myself do it. Lack of energy, lack of time, lack of creativity, lack of intelligence. I give myself plenty of excuses.

I want to share love, recipes, mothering, and creativity with the world, and I just seem to be unable to do it.

I have so much more to say, but it's a ramble. My whole life is sort of a rambling mess. Moving forward and forward but never quite organized.

I used to have specific desires for the way I wanted my life to go, and I still do. I don't see the path to get there.

Maybe my next post will be a fun recipe. I should probably organize this blog better. I should probably keep writing or I'm going to find myself unable to ever write again.

I couldn't even bring myself to do "22 days of Thankfulness" thing on Facebook, even though I have so much to be thankful for. I really, really do. I do not want for love, family, food, shelter, a job, or clothing. I am extremely fulfilled by my life and religion and friends. Most of the time, anyway. I appreciate my struggles with theology and love reconsidering them over and over again. The personal hurdles I feel aren't anything like the hurdles most people face. I should be grateful. I've always had trouble showing how grateful I am.

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

2012-06-20T09:44:00.003-04:00

Stolen from the list here, I'm putting myself on a reading challenge. I haven't read good books in a while, and I've been itching for a new obsession.

I've never seen the show Gilmore Girls and I don't even know what it's about. But this is a pretty good list, and actually, I haven't read most of these books! If I haven't read the book in the past 5ish years, I'm going to reread. Rereads are in blue, and books I've read in the past five years ~~will be crossed out~~. I also straight up deleted some "collection" books listed here... and there were a few repeats as well. Also, I'm not a big Stephen King fan, but.... maybe I'll give it a shot. I did however delete many political non-fiction opinion commentary pieces. Of all walks of politics. I grew up on political non-fiction and I'm sick of it. But I left some of the historical, educational true political books on here. I would have deleted all the children's books, except that having a child, I figure I'll have to reread them all again anyway, and Donovan being passionate about reading like I am would be a dream come true.

Maybe I'll have to give in and get an e-Reader to buy all these. I have no more room on my bookshelf. Or maybe I'll start going to the library... -_-

1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
~~Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt~~
~~Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy~~
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
~~Atonement by Ian McEwan~~
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
~~The Awakening by Kate Chopin~~
Babe by Dick King-Smith
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
The Bhagava Gita
The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
~~Candide by Voltaire~~
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (uuuugh if I have to)
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
Christine by Stephen King
~~A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens~~
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
~~A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole~~
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac
~~Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky~~
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Cujo by Stephen King
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
~~The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown~~
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
~~Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller~~
Deenie by Judy Blume
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
~~The Divine Comedy by Dante~~
~~The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells~~
Don Quijote by Cervantes
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Eloise by Kay Thompson
Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
Emma by Jane Austen
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Ethics by Spinoza
Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Extravagance by Gary Krist
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
~~The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien~~
Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
~~The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom~~
Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
Fletch by Gregory McDonald
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (haha, I can't wait to hear my Biblical historian husband rant about Elaine Pagels some more)
The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky
~~Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell~~
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
The Graduate by Charles Webb
~~The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck~~
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Group by Mary McCarthy
~~Hamlet by William Shakespeare~~
~~Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling~~
~~Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling~~
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry (TBR)
Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
Henry V by William Shakespeare
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
~~How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss~~
How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
Howl by Allen Ginsberg
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
The Iliad by Homer
I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton
~~Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë~~
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
~~The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini~~
Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
~~Life of Pi by Yann Martel~~
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
~~Little Women by Louisa May Alcott~~
Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
~~Lord of the Flies by William Golding~~
The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Love Story by Erich Segal
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Manticore by Robertson Davies
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
~~Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich~~
~~Night by Elie Wiesel~~
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
~~Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck~~
Old School by Tobias Wolff
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
~~One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey~~
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
Oracle Night by Paul Auster
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
~~Othello by Shakespeare~~
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
~~The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton~~
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
~~The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky~~ (can't wait for the hipster movie to come out, lulz)
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
~~The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde~~
Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
~~Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen~~
Property by Valerie Martin
Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Quattrocento by James Mckean
A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton
~~Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare~~
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition
Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
~~Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen~~
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Sexus by Henry Miller
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shane by Jack Shaefer
The Shining by Stephen King
~~Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse~~
S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
~~Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut~~
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos
The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
Songbook by Nick Hornby
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Time and Again by Jack Finney
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
~~To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee~~
The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
~~Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom~~
Ulysses by James Joyce (Daniel will have to hear ME rant about James Joyce...)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
~~War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy~~
We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
What Colour is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles
What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee – read
~~Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire – started and not finished~~
The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
~~Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë~~
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Hot dog mac & cheese! Made healthy and light.

2012-05-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. It's a cheap meal, classic in the south. But usually it's made by just throwing some Oscar Meyer wieners into prepared Kraft mac & cheese. That's okay, but you can make your own... and make it better. (And as far as processed mac & cheese goes, I was always a Velveeta gal anyway. Take that, Kraft!)

So I present to you an original recipe. Don't let the ingredients fool you. It was good. Even my husband thought so. And so did Donovan, who didn't know he was having a full serving of cauliflower.

Baked Cauliflower Macaroni and Cheese with Turkey Hot Dogs.(!!!)

You'll need:

1 medium sauce pot

1 large sauce pot

1 non-stick skillet

1 9x13 baking dish

1 colander

A stick blender, food processor, or blender

Knife
Cutting board

Ingredients:
12 oz. box Smart Taste Ronzoni or whole wheat elbow macaroni

6 turkey hot dogs

1 head cauliflower, core removed

12 oz. can evaporated milk

1 tbs. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1/4 tsp. smoked or sweet paprika

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 cup reduced fat extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (if you can't find a cheese that's both reduced fat and extra sharp, go for the extra sharp. You need the tang!)

1 tsp. butter

1 dash hot sauce

1/4 cup bread crumbs

2 tbs. Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. (I always salt my boiling water, but that's up to you.) Meanwhile, core and roughly chop the florets of a head of cauliflower. Add cauliflower to boiling water and let cook on medium-high heat for 25 minutes.

While the cauliflower is boiling, cook the six hot dogs on a nonstick skillet, about 2-3 minutes on each side. I used the Applegate brand, because I was feeling fancy and figured if the turkey hot dog was going to be the main ingredient for a meal I was going to feed to my child, I'd be able to splurge. (I hardly ever let him have hot dogs except on special occasions, but that's a different story...) Any turkey hot dog brand will do.

While the hot dogs and cauliflower are cooking, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. There's some multi-tasking involved!

When hot dogs are finished cooking, set aside and let cool.

When cauliflower is done cooking, turn off the oven eye, drain, and return it to the pot. Add entire box of macaroni into the medium-sized pot of boiling water and let cook on medium-high heat until al dente, 6-8 minutes.

While macaroni is cooking, add can of evaporated milk, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and Dijon mustard on top of the cauliflower inside of the pot. At this point you have three options: transfer small batches into a blender, blend, and transfer each batch into a large bowl (good) transfer the entire mixture into a food processor and blend (better) or just plug up a stick blender and blend it right there in the pot itself (best!)

If you really had no other option, I imagine you COULD use a potato hand masher, or electric beaters... but it would take a lot longer and wouldn't be as smooth.

Forgot about the macaroni? Don't! Drain and it and let it rest in the colander for just a sec, mmkay?

See the velvety cauliflower sauce mix
underneath all that cheese?

So back to the cheese sauce... you'll have a delicious, velvety smooth cheese sauce... BUT WAIT?! Where is the cheese...? Oh yeah. Return the mix to the pot if you didn't use a stick blender, and set the oven eye on low. Add a cup of cheese, a tsp. of butter, and a dash of hot sauce (we used Texas Pete's) and mix together until the cheese is melted.

Mmmm. Oh, go ahead a preheat the oven to 400. Are you keeping up?

Now, slice the hot dogs into quarters, or lengthwise and then across if you have little ones like I do. (Hot dogs are the biggest choking hazard PERIOD for children under five!) Grease up a 9x13 cooking pan with a little butter, and toss in the macaroni and turkey hot dog slices into it, and mix 'em up.

Add the cauliflower cheese sauce all over the macaroni/hot dog mix. Just smother it. If you're like "noooo it's too much sauce" then it's JUST RIGHT.

Mix Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs together. I actually had three leftover slices of toasted French bread that had been drizzled with pepper and olive oil the night before.... so I used that. Sprinkle the mixture over the macaroni, stick it in the oven and bake for 22 minutes.

After it's done cooking, remove and let cool for as long as you can stand it, at least 5-10 minutes.

Then you can eat it.

Top with fresh parsley if you want. Salt and pepper to taste (I can never have enough salt and pepper!) and enjoy!

You can make so many variations on this recipe. If you're a vegan, just use tofu dogs, coconut milk in place of evaporated, daiya cheese, and nutritional yeast in place of Parmesan. Lighten it up even more by adding spinach or other veggies instead of hot dogs. If you're not into carbs, just spoon this cheese sauce over broccoli or chicken. Add a packet of taco seasoning and fresh peppers and cooked ground beef for taco mac. The cauliflower is so versatile with the cheese sauce. You can't even taste it.

Which is good, because guess what? Psst... I don't even like cauliflower that much.

If you say Jesus backwards, it sounds like sausage.

2012-04-29T14:44:00.001-04:00

I like sausage, but it's far from being my favorite meat. I'm pretty picky about mixed meats in general. I like pepperoni on pizza. I like hot dogs. I like ground sausage for breakfast. Sometimes I like linked sausage, but not much. I hate pastrami, salami, iffy on corned beef, bologna, and most other types of mixed deli meats.

However, this month I prepared and made three recipes for the AllRecipes AllStars program:
Chicken Sausage with Tomato-Cream Sauce over Linguine
Grilled Mediterranean Greek Pizza
Italian Chicken Sausage and Tortellini Soup

Chicken Sausage with Tomato-
Cream Sauce over Linguine

Al Fresco was kind enough to send me a package of chicken sausage since it's not commercially available in my area, but unfortunately, that wasn't enough for three recipes. So I used plain regular Italian sausage for the last two recipes.

The chicken sausage with tomato-cream sauce recipe was followed to the tee, with the exception that I used whole milk instead of cream. It was great, and the fresh oregano from our garden really made the recipe, so don't leave it out. We liked this recipe a lot.

Grilled Mediterranean Greek Pizza

I made a lot of changes to the grilled Mediterranean Greek Pizza - first of all, I baked it instead of grilling it. I cooked this meal while Daniel was at work and I had no desire to watch Donovan while he was outside in our non-fenced-in backyard while I started and cooked on the grill. So I used a Pillsbury crust, and used Italian sausage instead. To make up for the lack of sun-dried tomatoes in the sausage, I put actual sun-dried tomatoes on top of the pizza, which was a good decision. I liked the flavors... except for the sausage. I'm more of a pepperoni girl for pizza.

Sausage & tortellini soup

The only change I made to the soup was using regular Italian sausage, but I was disappointed in the recipe on its own. It needed a lot more spice and pizzazz than what it called for, so we added Italian seasoning and pepper, which helped a little. Oh, also, I only made half the recipe and it was plenty for my family and still made for leftovers.

While sausage still isn't my favorite meat, I've definitely seen how versatile it can be in different recipes. Maybe I won't pick it up all the time, but if it's on sale, I wouldn't be opposed to getting some and cooking with it more often.

What are your favorite sausage recipes?

Cinnamon Toast Scones

2012-04-24T15:35:00.000-04:00

I made these divine cinnamon toast scones from the "Go Bold With Butter" pinterest board on a Saturday morning where my child decided to wake up at 6:30 instead of his usual 8:00. Bleary eyed, I stumbled through the instructions and used my food processor to mix everything together instead of using my hands or two separate bowls, as the instructions below tell you. Which was nice, because the raisins were sort of finely chopped instead of making for a chunky scone. Maybe you like chunky scones. Either way, I can attest that if you choose just to mix the dry ingredients, add butter, add raisins, then add the liquids together in a food processor, it'll all turn out fine.

Ingredients:
2 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut into 6 pieces)
3/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Sprinkling cinnamon on top of cream-
brushed scones.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and work into the flour mixture, using your hands or a pastry blender, until the butter and flour form pea size balls. Add raisins and stir.

Add vanilla, egg and 1/2 cup of the heavy cream. Mix together. If the dough is too dry, continue mixing and adding more cream in small increments until a pliable dough has formed.

Dump dough onto a floured surface and form into about an inch tall rectangle. Cut into triangles. Brush the tops with more heavy cream. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle mixture on top of scones.

Place on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes. Top with your favorite icing.

The icing recipe I used was just 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, a tsp. of vanilla, and a tbs. of milk. That's about the right consistency for me, but you may need more or less milk.

I can't even begin to tell you how good these were. I ate way more of these than I care to admit. I ate them for breakfast and lunch. Luckily, I took at two-and-a-half hour walk after eating *coughthreeandahalfcough* some, so maybe it undid some of the damage.

Do not try to healthy up this recipe. Use real cream and butter and sugar and white flour. Please. If you want to eat something healthy and cinnamon-y and sugary, I recommend eating a serving of oatmeal made with unsweetened applesauce, a tsp. of cinnamon, skim milk, and sprinkled with a few pecans. Don't waste your ingredients on this recipe if you're going to use fake ingredients! It won't taste as decadent.

The final result, drizzled with icing. Donovan, who had most certainly not been waiting patiently for his second breakfast, despite the fact that he was served milk, scrambled eggs, and orange slices before he was given a scone - was also pleased with the result. And when Daniel got home, he ate the remainder of the scones himself, happy to oblige my "Get these out of my house or I'm going to be 400 pounds!" comment.

Go Bold with Butter!

2012-04-12T09:46:00.000-04:00

One of my sponsors this month with the AllRecipes AllStars program is BUTTER. Not a specific brand, but the butter industry as a whole.

Dieters and low-fat/WW devotees may have cringed, but I was thrilled. There are few things more versatile in recipes than butter. The butter episode of Iron Chef America was amazing. My (always thin/average-weight!) grandmother taught me the value of REAL butter and REAL full-fat cream from an early age. When the book "French People Don't Get Fat" came out, my grandmother was smug, saying she'd known all of this all along, and had indeed, always had small portions of rich, delicious foods fairly often.

I wasn't even aware that oatmeal was a health food until I was older: when I was served oatmeal at her house, it was with a generous pat of butter, ample portions of brown sugar, and topped with half and half. I couldn't figure out why my mother's oatmeal (just skim milk and brown sugar) tasted so different.

With different reports and studies regarding the truth of saturated fat - the paleo/low-carb people celebrate it, the low-fat people/vegetarians loathe it - it's hard to know what's real.

But I think butter is much more real than margarine or shortening. When I cook with fat, and I often do - I tend toward olive oil, or recently, coconut oil. But occasionally the creamy, fresh taste of butter cannot be beat. Just ask Paula Deen.

I even made my own butter, homemade, a few weeks ago. I whipped a pint of heavy cream, just whipped it and whipped it with the whisk attachment on my Kitchenaid, until a soft ball began separating from the liquid. I drained the liquid into a jar and later used it to make real buttermilk pie. Then I whipped some more, until it seemed like real butter, draining the liquid once or twice more, and patted the ball of butter dry to make sure all traces of buttermilk were gone (or the butter will go rancid quickly.) And it was delicious spread on my mother-in-law's homemade bread the next day.

In baking, I cringe at the thought of butter being replaced in certain recipes. While I have made absolutely delicious vegan/healthy goodies before, and have used applesauce and zucchini to replace moisture in certain recipes, I still turn to butter as a staple for the perfect crispness and light texture in most baked goods.

That being said, as someone who is attempting to lose weight, I don't slather every food I eat with butter. A teaspoon of olive oil is my staple fat, because monounsaturated fats keep you fuller longer and are lower in calories than butter. The website I use to log my calories, Calorie Count, keeps track of my carb/protein/fat percentages, and it's rare that I go over on my saturated fats allotment on non-cheat days. (and when I do, it's usually because of pizza or fast food)

So, what are your feelings on butter? What are your favorite recipes with butter in them?

100 Foods to Try Before You Die

2012-04-08T17:53:00.000-04:00

Here's one of those cute little memes. I loved this one because I love food. I even discovered a few foods on this list I didn't know existed. I was like, the heck is an abalone? Now I know.

64/100. Some of these things are out of my price range, some of these are out of my shopping or hunting area range, but for some of these, there's no excuse. I see no reason for my never having had a mimosa or bellini. I should consume both, ASAP. I'm severely lacking in the oriental foods department.

So, yes.

1. Abalone

2. ~~Absinthe~~ (Oh, Cambridge...)

3. ~~Alligator~~ (I lived in Florida, man.)

4. ~~Baba Ghanoush~~

5. Bagel & Lox

6. ~~Baklava~~

7. ~~BBQ Ribs~~

8. Bellini

9. Bird's Nest Soup

10. ~~Biscuits & Gravy~~

11. ~~Black Pudding~~

12. Black Truffle

13. Borscht (I begged Daniel to let me make this at home just so we could try it, and he was totally icked out by it, perhaps with good reason...)

14. ~~Calamari~~

15. Carp

16. Caviar

17. ~~Cheese Fondue~~

18. ~~Chicken & Waffles~~

19. ~~Chicken Tikka Masala~~

20. ~~Chile Relleno~~

21. Chitlins (I reckon I'll have to suck it up and try this one some day.)

22. ~~Churros~~

23. ~~Clam Chowder~~

24. ~~Cognac~~

25. ~~Crab Cakes~~

26. Crickets

27. Currywurst

28. Dandelion Wine

29. ~~Dulce De Leche~~

30. Durian (I think I am more terrified of the durian than any other food on this list.)

31. ~~Eel~~

32. ~~Eggs Benedict~~

33. ~~Fish Tacos~~

34. Foie Gras

35. ~~Fresh Spring Rolls~~

36. ~~Fried Catfish~~

37. ~~Fried Green Tomatoes~~

38. ~~Fried Plantain~~

39. ~~Frito Pie~~

40. ~~Frogs' Legs~~ (Florida!)

41. Fugu

42. ~~Funnel Cake~~

43. ~~Gazpacho~~

44. Goat

45. ~~Goat's Milk~~

46. ~~Goulash~~

47. ~~Gumbo~~

48. Haggis (I had the chance and didn't do it! What a regret!)

49. Head Cheese

50. ~~Heirloom Tomatoes~~

51. ~~Honeycomb~~ (Actually, we recently bought some raw honey and the honeycomb was good to chew, like gum)

52. ~~Hostess Fruit Pie~~

53. ~~Huevos Rancheros~~

54. ~~Jerk Chicken~~

55. Kangaroo

56. ~~Key Lime Pie~~

57. ~~Kobe Beef~~

58. ~~Lassi~~

59. ~~Lobster~~

60. Mimosa (!!!)

61. ~~Moon Pie~~

62. Morel Mushrooms

63. ~~Nettle Tea~~ (I will try ANYTHING to get rid of allergies!)

64. ~~Octopus~~

65. Oxtail Soup

66. ~~Paella~~

67. Paneer

68. Pastrami on Rye (By choice, since I dislike both pastrami and most rye breads... but I guess I'll have to do it just on principle, in order to defeat this meme)

69. Pavlova

70. Phaal

71. ~~Philly Cheese Steak~~

72. ~~Pho~~

73. ~~Pineapple & Cottage Cheese~~

74. ~~Pistachio Ice Cream~~

75. ~~Po' Boy~~

76. ~~Pocky~~

77. ~~Polenta~~

78. Prickly Pear (omg, did not know this was real, I thought it was just in the "Bear Necessities" song, haha)

79. Rabbit Stew

80. ~~Raw Oysters~~

81. ~~Root Beer Float~~

82. ~~S'mores~~

83. ~~Sauerkraut~~

84. Sea Urchin

85. Shark

86. ~~Snail~~ (In the form of escargot!)

87. Snake

88. ~~Soft Shell Crab~~

89. Som Tam

90. ~~Spaetzle~~ (this makes me miss my Nana!)

91. ~~Spam~~ (bleh)

92. Squirrel

93. ~~Steak Tartare~~

94. ~~Sweet Potato Fries~~

95. Sweetbreads (not THAT kind of sweetbreads anyway, haha!)

96. Tom Yum

97. Umeboshi

98. ~~Venison~~

99. ~~Wasabi Peas~~

100. ~~Zucchini Flowers~~ (battered and deep fried my own from the garden last year. Heck yes.)

Weight Loss journey

2012-03-20T13:50:00.004-04:00

Since giving birth, I've been on a weight loss journey. I knew I'd lost a considerable amount of weight, but I didn't "feel" skinny. I still don't feel any different. But I finally sat down and compared two of these pictures last night:

The "before" picture is of me on October 30, 2010 - a week after delivering Donovan. The "current" picture is of me last night, March 19, 2012. And hopefully around June/July I will be able to have a lovely "after" picture to show off!

My secrets? Not much you don't already know. Breastfeeding was definitely the number one factor for the first ten months after the "before" picture was taken. Eat healthfully - try to meet nutrition goals every day (getting enough calcium, fiber, and iron and not too much sodium are my big ones) and eat a variety of foods. Cheat day once a week (and boy do I use that cheat day!!)

Meal plan and stick with it. Chart calories EVERYDAY - this is a big one. With the free apps available on the internet and on smart phones, there's really no excuse to not count calories. Personally, I use Calorie Count. And just because you don't write it down doesn't mean it won't show back up on the scale. (and believe you me, it will!)

Exercise 3-5 times a week. Personally, I try to do two days of heavy cardio (spin class), two days of light cardio (walking), and one day of weight training. I have a gym membership and I go to the gym 3/5 days during my lunch hour, walk with Daniel during lunch once a week, and walk with my friend Arminda on the weekend.

Eventually I'd like to incorporate more weight training into my exercise routine but I'm just not there yet. Also, I always eat more when I do exercise, especially on heavy cardio days .... I find if I don't, I either gorge myself late at night or end up retaining more water the next day! Some women get a little carried away in my opinion and don't eat enough calories. 1200 calories is the absolute minimum for women, and if you get any form of exercise, you'll need to eat more. You might see a lot of weight loss at first, but then you'll starve and overeat, or eventually your body will think it's starving and will store all calories as fat reserves.

I eat a lot of healthy fats - nuts, olive oil, seeds. I eat a lot of fruit and veggies in the form of smoothies. I try to make nutritious and tasty dinners with a bit of a challenge - I find that culinary variety really encourages me to eat better. Some people say the opposite - eating the same low-calorie meals over and over again is more helpful. You just have to experiment.

Also, I don't have a forbidden foods list, period. Sometimes I just want a coke or ice cream or a Zaxby's Kickin' Chicken sandwich, and I am not going to feel bad about it. Just stay under calories or wait until your cheat day.

Anyway, I'm still technically moderately overweight, so don't start feeling too good for me yet! My core also still feels pretty weak and out of shape, and I need to work on it. This picture doesn't show my "shapely" thighs (is "thunder" a shape?) or the unfortunate belly pouch with which it seems every mother is inevitably left. And my arms DO still look fat in the picture, but they're even worse than that in real life, I promise!

I will probably always be overweight, and I'm okay with that. I love food a lot, and I'm not perfect. I have about 15 more pounds to lose before I start trying to conceive again. In my last pregnancy I only gained about 25 pounds, and in the next pregnancy I want to only gain about 20-25 pounds. I don't know if it will be easier or harder with a smaller starting number!

Hold me accountable!!

Erin Go Bragh Meal Planning Monday!

2012-03-12T20:46:00.000-04:00

Monday: Meatless brinner – Portobello pesto egg omelettes, whole wheat bread, and fresh fruit

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/portobello-pesto-egg-omelette/detail.aspx

Tuesday: Stuffed chicken breasts with artichoke hearts, feta, capers, and olives & cooked spinach

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/stuffed-chicken-breasts-with-artichoke-hearts-feta-cheese-capers-and-black-olives/

Wednesday: Irish steaks & Irish cabbage

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/4973/irish-cabbage.aspx

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6181/irish-steaks.aspx

Thursday: Garden veggie-cheese soup & Guinness bread

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/garden-veggie-cheese-soup/detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6002/guinness--bread.aspx

Friday: Homemade tortilla pizzas & broccoli

Saturday: Irish stew with parsnips & leftover Guinness bread

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/5154/irish-stew-with-parsnips.aspx

Sunday: Leftovers, whisky tea and Guinness chocolate cake

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/5103/whisky-tea.aspx

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6196/guinness-reg--and-chocolate-cake.aspx

The veggie-cheese soup, omelette, and stuffed chicken are faceless recipes.

The Irish recipes from the .uk site are Irish recipes. I'm pretty much knocking out my all my AllRecipes AllStars assignments in one week! I'm so excited. Sunday's is pretty funny in particular, since I gave up sugar for Lent and DH gave up alcohol and on Sunday we get to indulge in both. I'm looking forward to drinking alcoholic hot tea, haha.

And -I- didn't give up alcohol for Lent, so more Guinness! No watered-down green beer for me, thanks.

Loved, lost, unexpected

2012-02-28T19:07:00.000-05:00

In a span of four days I found out I was pregnant despite being on birth control, got scared, got excited, confirmed the pregnancy at the doctor's office, and lost my pregnancy. It's been an emotional roller coaster and I'm just exhausted. Daniel isn't holding up too well either.

Because an ultrasound showed nothing in my uterus, my blood levels have to be checked over the next few days and weeks to make sure my hormone levels are going down. If they go up, it means I likely have a tubal pregnancy - more common with birth control pill users.

I'm so heartbroken. It happens all the time. It was so early. I know.

I still have my sweet boy though. And I know that there is something bigger in store for me, my life, and my future babies.

Donovan keeps getting sick at daycare though. This time it's some sort of eye drainage. It doesn't look like pink eye to me but daycare isn't taking any chances. Another day off. Le sigh. But I know I can handle it...

Japanoodles

2012-02-23T09:34:00.000-05:00

I just had to make a quick post about Japanoodles. Because I'd never eaten anything like it before.

I went to three grocery stores and couldn't find miso paste. I give up after two, normally. So I was at a loss. But I did have tahini paste. And soy sauce. So I adapted the recipe accordingly, and it was delicious beyond all words.

MM Japanoodles, adapted from MeatlessMonday.com.
12 oz. rice noodles
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tsp. sesame seeds
5 cups of chopped collard greens

Bring a large pot of water to boil over medium-high heat and follow package instructions on rice noodles.

Mix minced garlic with tahini paste, soy sauce, and sesame seeds in a small bowl until it reaches a sauce-like consistency.

Add chopped greens to boiling water with the noodles right before noodles are done. Let cook 3-5 additional minutes.

Drain noodles and green mix in a colander.

Toss noodles and greens into the garlic mix, toss to combine.

Divide into bowls and enjoy!

Serves 4.

Meal Planning Monday: Feb 20th

2012-02-20T08:38:00.003-05:00

First of all, I would encourage my wonderful readers to follow me on Pinterest! I heard about Pinterest when it first came out, and I thought for certain it would phase out. I put my faith in Google+ instead. I was wrong! And despite what my husband says, Pinterest is better than StumbleUpon.

http://pinterest.com/jennifercmartin/

I'm currently trying to eat only 1300 calories per day, maybe a little more if I work out hard, and I take the rules easy on the weekend. Sometimes I have some calories leftover, so I enjoy a huge chocolate milkshake at night. What, you say?! The horror!? No! But oh yes, I eat a giant chocolate milkshake probably three times a week. And it's good for me, too.

And since I'm giving up refined sugar for Lent.... I'm REALLY going to need my sweet tooth cured!

Banana-Chocolate Milkshake Ingredients:

1 frozen medium banana

1 cup of skim milk

2 tbs. cocoa powder

1 tsp. honey or raw agave syrup

Blend ingredients together until creamy and all banana pieces are broken up. Enjoy! And I'm serious, it's AMAAAAZING. It cures your cravings for chocolate, sweets, cold, and creamy all at once. Makes one BIG serving, at about 240 calories and 2 grams of fat.

You can also make an insanely delicious, EASY, banana-chocolate ice cream with only a few variations to the recipe.

Banana-Chocolate Ice Cream Ingredients

Two frozen bananas
3 tbs. cocoa powder
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tsp. honey

Process together in food processor until creamy and the texture of ice cream. Place into container and freeze until firm. Makes about 3 servings - and guess what? Each serving is only 105 calories and 1.2 grams of fat. Yum!!

So anyway, where were we? MEAL PLANNING! We got our tax return back and before we wave goodbye to our money and send it toward some bills, this week's indulgence was buying tons of fruit for smoothies. I have a lot of celery leftover from a shopping misstep (we already had celery!) and I'm darned determined to eat it all without noticing the taste and get a nutritious boost every morning. Plus, all the smoothie recipes on Pinterest are driving me crazy, in a good way.

Check out my meal planning menu for all 21 meals below...

Monday
B: Healthy smoothie concoction
L: Frozen lunch
D: Taco soup - normally I celebrate a Meatless Monday, but since we need to get rid of some Mexican leftovers, we'll be having taco soup tomorrow made from some homemade black bean & corn salsa and taco meat. Yum!

Mardi Gras Tuesday
B: Bowl of Fiber One & skim milk and apple
L: Blackened shrimp po boy. Is there anything better than a po boy?
D: Jambalaya & fried okra & Cafe du Monde beignets for dessert

Wednesday
B: Healthy smoothie concoction
L: PB&J and carrots
D: Japanoodles

Thursday
B: Bowl of Fiber One & skim milk and apple
L: Frozen lunch
D: Butternut squash lasagna and broccoli

Friday
B: Healthy smoothie concoction
L: Leftover lasagna
D: Stuffed turkey burgers & sweet potato fries

Saturday
B: French toast with fresh fruit and honey
L: Little Caesar’s pizza
D: Leftovers, cereal, or scavenging! Veggies, smoothie, or something low-calorie.

Sunday
B: Cereal, eggs & fruit
L: Out to eat
D: Some sort of healthy lentil soup served with any leftover veggies for the week

My adventures with Fiber One continue!

2012-02-15T23:17:00.001-05:00

As a quick treat for the office, I made these little Fiber One haystacks with chocolate chips and peanut butter. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fiber-one-chocolate-peanut-butter-haystacks/Reviews.aspx

They were extremely good, and healthy as well. I think reduced fat peanut butter is nonsense, and used natural peanut butter instead, with very good results.

And yes, I brought them to work in a Christmas tupperware.

Then I decided to go ahead and make some Fiber One-crusted chicken for dinner. Our dinner was extremely healthful tonight - peas, mashed sweet potatoes, and oven-baked Fiber One-crusted chicken. I tend to think as chicken as a "boring" meat and prefer almost any other meat. So I was pleased that I was able to eat this chicken without it being fried or smothered in cheese!

For my southern-style oven-baked Fiber One-crusted chicken recipe, look after the jump!

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cup Fiber One
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
3/4 tsp. black pepper
cooking spray

Equipment
1 8x8 metal pan
Food processor
Two medium-sized bowls
Latex gloves
Aluminum foil

Preheat oven to 400.

Pulse Fiber One in a food processor until blended - you want it a little chunky, but fine enough to be able to stick to the chicken with ease.

Place Fiber One granules into a bowl and mix with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Add buttermilk to separate bowl.

Coat pan with cooking spray.

Wearing latex gloves, dip chicken breasts one at a time into the buttermilk until completely submerged, then into the Fiber One crumbs. Coat well and place into pan. Repeat for each chicken breast.

Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, remove foil and bake for ten additional minutes or until chicken reaches internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit and the chicken crust is crispy. Enjoy!

Fiber One Bran Cupcakes with Prune Juice-Brown Butter Frosting

2012-02-13T11:45:00.001-05:00

When I was told I needed to make an original recipe using Fiber One cereal (received some great samples at the beginning of the month for my AllRecipes AllStars project!) I joked with my husband that I was going to make "bran and prune" cupcakes. He gawked at me in horror, and announced that such a thing was not possible, and if it were, it would be disgusting, or at the very least, muffin like.

I took it as a personal challenge.

It wasn't gross. It was dense, but in a cake-y way, not a muffin-y way. In fact, I felt like I could have eaten spoonfuls of the frosting by itself. (and maybe I did, asking myself "is this prune juice?!") I couldn't believe how well they turned out. And yes you can taste the flavors.

I think these cupcakes would make a great treat at someone's "over the hill" type of birthday party. Or, you know, just as an after-school snack or something. Not too sweet, but definitely hits the sweet spot. Flavorful and yummy.

Seriously.

Check for the recipe after the hump.

Fiber One Bran Cupcake Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Fiber One Bran cereal, finely processed in food processor or blender

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

2 tbs. molasses

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. maple flavoring

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Prune Juice-Brown Butter Frosting

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted and browned (see instructions below)

16 oz. powdered sugar (1 bag)

1/4 cup prune juice or Plum Smart

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375. Line one cupcake pan with 12 liners.

Process or pulse Fiber One cereal in a food processor or blender until fine, like powdered Parmesan cheese. Set into a glass bowl, blending together the dry ingredients: salt, baking soda, baking powder, flour, and Fiber One mix. Then sift ingredients. (very important for light fluffy cupcake!)

In a KitchenAid or mixing bowl, mix together sugars, oil, egg, and molasses until completely blended, about 2-3 min. Add in vanilla extract and maple flavoring, mix another 30 seconds.

With your mixer on low, alternate the buttermilk and dry ingredients. Add 1/4 of the dry mix, 1/3 of the butter milk, 1/4 of the dry mix, 1/3 of the buttermilk, 1/4 of the dry mix, the remainder of the buttermilk, and the remainder of the dry mix. Alternating liquid and dry ingredients ensures a proper texture of the cupcakes.

The batter will be thick. Using a small ice cream scoop to ensure even, smooth scoops into the lined cupcake mix. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when a cupcake is pierced in the middle.

Let cupcakes cool completely.

...I had lots of pretty pictures for the frosting, but my cell phone ate them. Bleh. It was really the most fun part.

Anyway, melt one stick of unsalted butter over medium heat, whisking occasionally. When butter turns to liquid, watch carefully and whisk more often! Your house will smell amazing. As soon as the butter turns brown, remove from heat, whisk together, and let butter cool to room temperature.

Once butter is cool, move to stand mixer or mixing bowl. Add vanilla and salt, and blend. Then add the powdered sugar slowly with your mixer on slow. Mix will be very thick! Then slowly add the prune juice and mix on medium speed until a frosting-like consistency is reached. It may need a little more or less than 1/4 of a cup depending on how thick your mixture is.

Use a cake spatula to frost cupcakes. You can use a decorator's bag to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes if you desire, as well... but I didn't. I just sprinkled the Fiber One on top for decoration. It's definitely a hearty sort of cupcake, but it's pretty good, too. Daniel and Donovan both LOVED these cupcakes.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Hummus, low-fat apple spice muffins, & mint cookie cookies

2012-01-30T14:39:00.001-05:00

I made the most delicious homemade hummus on Friday. It was divine. But due to a moody toddler who destroyed my kitchen, we didn't get a picture. Oh well - it was still pretty good.

Quick hummus
1 can of garbanzo beans with half the water drained
2 tbs tahini
Juice of 2 small lemons/1 big lemon
Clove of garlic
Handful of fresh parsley (optional)

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Blend all ingredients except olive oil in food processor or blender.

Spoon onto a large plate or into a bowl and pour two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil on top. Cracked black pepper, extra parsley, or pomegranate arils are traditional garnish - we just used black pepper.

You can dip carrot and bell pepper sticks into hummus, or pita bread, or use as a spread in sandwiches, or anything.

However, I did take the weekend as an opportunity to finish my "Faceless" challenges for AllRecipes AllStars. I made Mint Cookie Cookies which were good, but unfortunately met their untimely demise when Donovan knocked them to the ground (yes, I had an interesting weekend...) and some Low-Fat Apple Spice muffins for a quick breakfast grab in the mornings.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/low-fat-apple-spice-muffins/detail.aspx

These were good, but tough. I tried not to over-mix the batter, but I guess I did unintentionally? A quick trip to the microwave seems to fix it a bit, though.

I actually didn't have plain nonfat yogurt, so I used light sour cream instead. I also used brown sugar in place of raw sugar. Raw sugar is seriously expensive.

The mint cookie cookies were also good, and I managed to get this picture of a survivor cookie:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mint-cookie-cookies/detail.aspx

Looks gross, tasted good. I didn't think the pecans added anything, though.

I was able to get a great meal plan for the week, though...

Meal Planning Monday

Monday: My parents are in town and buying us pizza!
Tuesday: Cincinnati chili and spinach salad with grated carrots and homemade balsamic dressing
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/CincinnatiChili.htm
Wednesday: Vegetarian Asian stir fry served over brown rice
Thursday: Tilapia tacos with homemade guacamole and chips
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/01/guacamole-4-pts.html
Friday: Turkey/venison burgers and baked sweet potato fries
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/sweet-potato-fries-recipe/index.html
Saturday: Country turnip greens cornbread, and apricot Dijon pork chops
http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/06/apricot-dijon-pork-chops-700-recipe-175.html
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Country-Turnip-Greens

On Sunday, I'm having a Superbowl party and I'm very excited about it! More to come later...

Crock pot Cookin' - Southwestern Chicken and White Bean & Winter Lentil Vegetable Soup

2012-01-24T11:06:00.001-05:00

Sorry for my lack of blogging. I've been dealing with a severe stomach bug (myself) and then it caught on with poor little Donovan. My stomach flu basically turned my insides outside, but Donovan luckily seemed fine, other than a poor appetite and diarrhea. No vomiting.

Daniel has officially started working. His schedule is actually more hours than we thought, which is both good and bad. Bad because of the 5AM to 2PM shifts on Saturday and Sunday. It makes me feel extremely lonely on my only days off, and he can't go to church with us any more. Good because, well, you know, more money. Which is what I prayed and cried over for months.

He is also working Wednesdays, even though I thought he was just working Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. They even want him to come in on Monday and Wednesday nights as well, which is again, completely opposite of our schedules. He's going to see if there's anything he can do to work with the hours, but there may not be. It would really help reset our savings with all the hours, though....

I'm definitely a glass-half-empty sort of person, aren't I?

Anyway, this weekend, in the midst of the loneliness and difficult adjustment period: cooking! See more after the jump.

I made this winter lentil vegetable soup per my "slow cooker" challenge.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/winter-lentil-vegetable-soup/

I didn't make any adjustments to the recipe except using turkey broth instead of chicken broth, since I had some homemade (from our Thanksgiving turkey bones!) that I needed to use up. Obviously this recipe could easily be made vegetarian just by using vegetable broth. I was really looking forward to it because I've had such good luck with lentils recently.

I also purchased a cabbage for the first time in my life. I didn't eat cabbage growing up (I didn't eat a lot of things growing up, but I'm always willing to try new things and new variations of things I thought I once hated) and I had no idea how to cook it.

But I hated it. I hated the flavors. It was missing... something. It needed.... something. Donovan wasn't a fan either.

But, it might just be me. Maybe I don't like cabbage except stuffed in fried Asian appetizers. Oh well - I have half of a cabbage left and I'm making a cabbage casserole on Thursday. Hah. The ratings on this recipe were all good too. It could really just be me. Still, thought I'd document the process... for those who might find this recipe delicious.

Next, I made this Southwestern Chicken and White Bean Soup.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/southwestern-chicken-and-white-bean-soup/

And while I'm sure it defeats the purpose of the Campbell-sponsored recipe, I used homemade chicken stock and homemade salsa in place of Swanson and Pace products. Oh well - I just used what I had on hand. I actually love Pace salsa, much better than the other store brands, in my opinion.

Looks pretty gross. Darn camera, I need a good one! Topped with Monterrey jack cheese. It was pretty good, but I had to add some "spice" to kick it up a notch for flavor. Cayenne and chipotle. Donovan and Daniel both liked it as well. In the end, I think I'll stick to making my mother-in-law's tried and true taco soup recipe, because it's just the best. When I want chicken-based southwestern soups, I don't think much can't beat chicken tortilla soup cooked with verde salsa and avocado on top.

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue

2012-01-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/zesty-slow-cooker-chicken-barbecue/

One of my cooking challenges this month was to make a crock pot recipe. Now, sadly, I don't use my crock pot nearly as often as I should. It's really a shame, but I can't seem to to remember to turn it on when I leave for work. But one of my challenges of the month was to make a crock pot recipe, so I chose this one.

As a southerner, I love barbecue! Our favorite barbecue joint closed down this year when the owner moved to Louisiana and we've had an itch to fill ever since. This really doesn't fix that itch (hard to beat the smoky flavors of a distinct local BBQ joint!) but this is a nice, easy, delicious meal to make on any weeknight. Hard to beat the simplicity of this recipe.

We only made half of this recipe, served it on whole wheat buns, added chipotle hot sauce (we have four different kinds of hot sauce in this house...) and ate it with peas. A great meal overall.

"The time has come!" the walrus said...

2012-01-10T23:18:00.003-05:00

Not all great Disney movies are about princesses.

"To talk of many things.
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax,
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."

I just quoted that from memory. When my husband and I were dating, I quoted the first line at him in some cheeky response situation and grinned waiting for him to respond. He looked at me dumbfounded. He'd never heard it before. I wasn't sure if I could stay with him or not after that, but after much one-on-one literary counseling, we were able to manage through. Still, sometimes I think back and I can't believe that my husband didn't know that classic Lewis Carroll poem.

Tomorrow Donovan starts daycare. God has answered our prayers and now Daniel is the proud owner of a great part-time job at Lowe's in the morning (like 5AM morning!) and then has the rest of the day to go to class, study, and clean the house.

I'm totally freaking out, though. Donovan has been watched by close friends and family only. The only thing similar to daycare he has attended is nursery at church. And that's for only an hour and a half. He's stayed longer with other people, but we were always close by. It was always someone I knew and trusted. Still, I'm looking on the bright side. It's all positive. These workers are trained professionals - not even my friends or family can say that! More importantly, he needs interaction with other toddlers. He needs more play partners than two busy parents.

So, on Mondays and Fridays I take Donovan to daycare. I pick him up everyday, unless Daniel picks him up after class. It feels really, really bad to know that on some days, Daniel will actually be home for a few hours to do chores and homework without being interrupted by a toddler. A wild toddler. Donovan has so much energy it's unbelievable. He never stops moving. He even moves in his sleep. I've never seen anything like it.

But I still feel mom-guilt over poor Donovan being in daycare when he could be with his dad. Heck, I still feel mom-guilt over having a full-time job and getting to spend quality time with Donovan for only about three hours a day, five days a week before he goes to bed. It's really just awful when you put it like that, huh? But when I was working from home with a little tiny data entry/editing job, I felt terrible pain and guilt that I was just "stuck at home" and wasn't out advancing my career - or worse - using the Comm degree I'd just put myself in debt to procure. It never felt like a "real" job.

Have I mentioned I got my surprise positive pregnancy test a month after I graduated? Sigh. I don't have any advice this time. I'm damned if I don't and damned if I do. I can't ever make myself stop feeling guilty. I want a Master's degree. (in English, or script writing, or something culinary-related, or non-profit administration, or theology, or....) or I want to travel. I want to be the perfect stay-at-home-mom. I want to work at a major social media firm and lead the advertising sector. I want SO MANY THINGS. And they all conflict.

So....er, daycare. I have to pack his lunch, too. (It's a pretty decent rate for a very secure and qualified daycare, so, I guess that's the catch) They don't microwave, either. And they ask for "A protein, a vegetable, a fruit, and a carbohydrate." Very precise. We're pretty stringent about Donovan getting a healthy diet, but sometimes we pawn off leftovers on him or give him a slice of lunch meat and a bunch of crackers. Oh well. I hope the daycare workers don't think room-temperature leftovers are gross.

His first meal? A leftover lemon salmon patty, broccoli, a bunch of homemade crackers that look kind of gross, and a few orange slices. And hey, we had enough leftovers that, except for the orange slices - that's gonna be my lunch tomorrow too.

So fingers crossed for my little guy as our family goes on a new and somewhat daunting journey of daycare. The time has come!

Homemade Cleaning Products

2012-01-04T23:07:00.004-05:00

For the past year, I've been making my own homemade cleaners with various success. This is so much cheaper than other cleaning products, even with coupons. I bought a ton of Borax, washing soda, (stronger than baking soda), vinegar, essential oil, hydrogen peroxide, lemons, Oxyclean, and plain white soap. And I've just been using the containers of my old cleaners to make them.

My favorite is by far the laundry detergent.

However, I did not have success with ANY recipe I used for dishwasher detergent. It just did not take the stuck-on food off. We cook a lot in this house, and working full-time doesn't leave you a lot of extra time. I just can't sacrifice the time needed to hand wash every single dish ahead of time, or worse, rewash the dishes once they've been in the dishwasher.

I'm the kind of person who tosses dishes into the dishwasher without rinsing them off first. And I will forever remain that kind of person. If someone has a recipe that does THAT, then I'll switch back to natural cleaning products.

I also tried the baking soda/apple cider vinegar method for my hair - the "'poo-free" method that eco-bloggers keep raving about. That was a complete and total disaster. It worked great for a few days, but then my hair got greasy and nasty and never felt clean.

This blogger claims there is a transition period where your scalp "detoxes" from the chemicals, but after nearly three weeks of faithful baking soda and apple cider vinegar - and all variations of every poo-free recipe I could find on the entire internet - I couldn't deal with it. I'm willing to give it another try, but I simply cannot go to work with stringy nasty hair for an entire month. I only have two cute hats and I'm not a creative enough of a hair stylist to "fix" it.

However, I LOVE the oil cleansing method for my face. It makes my skin look and feel great. I use 20% castor oil to 80% olive oil, but I'm going to remake the recipe with sunflower seed oil once I can afford to splurge on some.

If you want my green cleaning recipes, look after the jump!

Drain cleaner:
1/2 cup of baking soda
1/2 cup of vinegar

Pour baking soda down the drain, and follow it with the vinegar. Let it stand for fifteen minutes or longer for tough clogs, then follow with about 2-3 cups (I just use a kettle) of boiling water.

Effectiveness: 4 out of 5 - if you have a severe hair clog, you're probably still going to have to get an old, unraveled wire hanger and pull it out first. But for the typical food-based or minor hair clogs, it works perfectly.

Scouring paste:
Baking soda, as much as you need

Sprinkle baking powder over the bottom of your pans, let sit a few hours, and scrub away with a scouring pad and water. For extra effectiveness, use a tablespoon of vinegar.

Effectiveness: 5 out of 5 - admittedly, I never used Comet too often, but this seems to work well to get baked-on (... or burned-on) food off of my pots and pans.

Laundry detergent:
1 bar of Ivory or mild/natural soap, or 1 cup of soap flakes
1 cup Borax
1 cup washing soda
1 cup Oxyclean

Grate a bar of soap with a cheese grater or food processor and let the shavings dry out overnight. Combine the soap shavings with the other ingredients in a big tub (we use an old giant-sized Oxyclean bucket). Use 1 tablespoons in HE machines or for small loads, 2 tablespoons for large loads. For tough stains, let clothes soak in pure Oxyclean first. Don't use on cloth diapers - cloth diaper detergent should not have soap in it.

Effectiveness: 5.5 out of 5 - if I'm ever super rich and people can do my laundry for me, I'm still going to use this detergent recipe. It's amazing, it doesn't break my skin out, we can use it with Donovan's clothes. It's both use and cost effective.

Fabric softener:
Put vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser in your washer, or during the rinse cycle. We also use these Whitmor Dryer Balls in the dryer for added effectiveness.

Effectiveness: 4.5 out of 5 - Okay, okay, it softens fine and beautifully and it even seems to make fabric last longer. But I really LOVE the smell of good old-fashioned chemical-laden fabric softener. You can add a few drops of essential oil to your detergent, of course, but it's not really the same.

Wood floor polish:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup of vinegar
10 drops essential oil, preferably orange

Mix ingredients together in a spray bottle (you may need to shake vigorously) and spray over floor. Wipe clean with a cloth.

Effectiveness: 5 out of 5 - very effective. Takes good care of wood or laminate. But the floor is slippery! Poor Donovan slipped and busted his lip after we used this mix on our floors. :(

Oven cleaner:
Baking soda

Remove your oven racks. Spread a baking soda paste over the black, burned on spots in your oven. Leave a few hours, then turn on the self-cleaning oven function. If you don't have a self-cleaning oven, turn your oven on as high as it will go and leave it on for four hours. Make sure your oven is locked. After four hours, let oven cool, and then use a scouring pad to remove the black spots. (it will look like it snowed inside your oven!) It should come right off. Wipe out the leftover dust from the bottom of your oven, and then use a moist cloth to get rid of any leftover baking soda residue.

Effectiveness: 4 out of 5. Sure worked better than the self-cleaning option alone.

All Purpose Cleaner:
1 cup water
1 tbsp. citric acid
1 tsp. Oxyclean
5 drops essential orange oil

Shake together in spray bottle to combine. Spray over any kitchen counter messes or any hard surface. Also works on porcelain tiles.

Effectiveness: 4 out of 5 - bleach and ammonia mixtures still get the 1up for germ-killing, but my kitchen smells delicious after I use this stuff, and the messes come up perfectly.

Glass cleaner:
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
Newspaper

Shake together in spray bottle to combine. Spray over mirrors and windows and other glass - and wipe clean with a newspaper. I don't know why, but it works.

Effectiveness: 5 out of 5. Works better than Windex.

Mop mix:
1/2 cup of vinegar
1 gallon HOT water

This is what I use to clean my kitchen floors about once a week. I just mix it together in a bucket and mop.

Effectiveness: 4 out of 5. Works fine, but I do miss the clean floor smell.

Shower cleaner:
3/4 cup vinegar
3/4 cup water

I just combine this in my old Tilex bottle, keep it in the shower, and spray after each shower. I haven't had to clean my shower curtain in a long time.

Effectiveness: 5 out of 5. Great formula.

I'm still using chemicals (oh noez! The horror) to clean my dishes in my dishwasher, my toilet, and the inside of my bathtub. Kaboom Foamtastic cleaner is just too much fun. And I do not believe any homemade dishwasher detergent out there is as effective as its manufactured counterpart. I welcome you to leave your homemade dishwasher detergent recipes here to prove me wrong.

Do you have any other natural homemade beauty product recipes or any eco-friendly cleaning recipes? Leave them here!

Meal Planning Monday - 2012 edition

2012-01-02T14:51:00.006-05:00

My New Year resolutions are as follows:

1.) BUDGET
2.) stay under my calorie limit 6 days a week until I lose 25 lbs
3.) Keep my kitchen clean even when baking and cooking even more!
4.) Blog consistently!
5.) Stay active mentally, spiritually, and physically!

So far, I have kept a clean kitchen, have eaten well, started a new year-long devotional book, and obviously have kept my blog updated. But the first resolution - budgeting - is the most important. My meal planning in 2011 was great. I had great meals constantly. However, I planned incorrectly. I would plan meals for what I wanted to eat that week, and then go grocery shopping.

My frugal younger sister has been visiting from Michigan and has helped me come up with a budget that includes $50 a week on groceries. Isn't that insane? I was probably spending $100 a week a least. Isn't THAT insane? And often I would buy produce that I had to toss out later! What is more infuriating than that? So with my grocery bill cut drastically, my new plan is to go grocery shopping FIRST and then create meals around that. I will be using leftovers. I will be coming up with many more of my own recipes. I will use what I have in the cabinets, even if it kills me! I will be CHEAP.

So here's the frugal meal plan for the week:

Meatless Monday: Spinach fettuccine with red sauce.
When I say spinach fettuccine, I don't mean the creamy cheese sauce. I wish, but I don't have the ingredients or calorie allotment for it. I have fettuccine noodles enriched with spinach in my cabinet. To that, I'll be adding a red sauce with bits of baby spinach leaves from our garden (thank you southern weather for allowing my baby spinach to grow!) and chunks of squash to make it heartier.

Tuesday: Roasted chicken baked with cream of mushroom soup and rice.
I've had a whole chicken in my freezer for a long time. I always think that eating a whole chicken is a little boring. I also only like white meat, so that narrows it down some. I will be roasting it in an oven with cream of mushroom soup poured over it for instant flavor - a pretty classic recipe. I'll be eating arborio rice with it, which is a naturally creamy rice without adding and milk or butter. This will be a very creamy meal, but pretty healthy, even without vegetables. I'll prepare a vegetable-heavy meal for lunch for myself and Donovan to accommodate for it.

Wednesday: Venison chili and salad.
Daniel's aunt was kind enough to give us a lot of delicious venison. I do not and never will hunt, but I love venison and I love knowing where my meat comes from. I can't wait to serve up a venison chili - we have tons of dry beans in our cabinets. If our version ends up tasting good, I'll post it here. And instead of cornbread, I'll serve a plain ol' garden tossed salad. Maybe some green beans for Donovan.

Thursday: Brinner – eggs, whole wheat toast, minute steaks.
Daniel has been begging to eat these minute steaks that have been in our freezer. Again - no fruit or veggies - but I'll make up for it at breakfast or lunch. Also, the whole wheat bread is homemade. I have resolved to start making all my own baked bread products because supposedly it's cheaper.

Friday: Chicken and bean soup.
This is another recipe I'll come up with on my own to use up our leftover chicken from Tuesday and use up our immense dry bean collection. It will probably end up having lots of veggies and a southwestern twist. I might make cheese biscuits to go with this.

Saturday: Venison stroganoff and broccoli.
VERY excited about this recipe! We have everything we need but mushrooms. The broccoli will come from our garden (still growing - we planted it in March!!) and everything will taste great.

Sunday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Pretty straight-forward. This is likely going to be my calorie-free day so I can really pile on the cheese and probably grab a pizza for lunch.

Christmas gift review: Doing it homemade

2011-12-28T20:44:00.001-05:00

This Christmas I spent nearly a whole week baking and truffling and organizing gifts for other people. Because money is tight this year, almost all my gifts were homemade. I can finally blog about it because everyone has gotten their gifts.

For my dad and mom, I put together a wine kit. The only big-expense splurge I made was on ChocoVine, which isn't available near my area, thus I had to have it shipped here. It looked delicious. I bought two plastic wine cups (my mom prefers these!) for their new Franklin apartment and also made these homemade crackers and put those next to a wheel of Edam cheese, and made simple milk chocolate truffles for my parents, which were a hit.

I also put together a few bags of Alton Brown's homemade hot cocoa mix and paired them with bags of homemade vanilla bean agave marshmallows from one of my favorite blogs, SkinnyTaste. Presented alongside Christmas coffee mugs, it makes for a nice gift. I made these for Daniel's aunt, uncle, and cousins, my grandfather, my sister-in-law, and my sister and brother-in-law.

I tossed some Oreo truffles into a few of the gift bags - these are a regular hit at most any holiday party you go to, and so easy to make.

Daniel's grandmother is a diabetic, so for her I made one of those "cookie in a jar" recipes - Snickerdoodle mix, her favorite. However, I adapted the sugar for Splenda instead. I haven't heard back, but it should work.

For my uncle Terry and in-laws, I made some cranberry hootycreek cookies - the dough for this was irresistible. I bought my uncle Terry a Darth Vader gumball machine and my in-laws the movie "Fletch" along with one of those "movie buckets" filled with candy and popcorn - we added more candy, Logan's bucks, and a big "one liter" of soda for a real movie night in.

Finally, I went all out for my other Uncle Randy, Aunt Sandy, and my dear favorite and only first cousins, Katy, Kelly, and Kerry. This took tons of prep and time, but it was so worth it. I made a nice spaghetti sauce from fresh garden ingredients I still had left from this summer - fresh basil, parsley, tomatoes, red wine, olive oil, onions, and garlic, with a touch of dried oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt. I did NOT make my own pasta (I do not think it would transport well and boxed pasta is still so much more attractive than my clumpy homemade pasta!) but I made my own compound butter.

Basil-infused whipped butter
3 sticks or 3/4 lb of GOOD quality butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs of olive oil
1/2 cup of fresh basil
1/2 tsp of kosher salt

Whip butter in a stand mixer using the whisk attachment for seven minutes. Meanwhile, pulse together olive oil and basil in food processor or blender until olive oil appears green-ish in color. Add olive oil mixture to butter, and whip two additional minutes. Add salt, and store in small jar or lidded container until ready to use. Refrigerate. Very easy!

I bought a good quality Romano cheese for grating and tri-color spiral pasta noodles. Then for dessert, the grand finale: almond and lemon biscotti dipped in white chocolate. This is EASILY the most complicated cookie recipe I've ever made, but apparently it was well-liked by all. All they had to do was add a fresh loaf of crusty bread (or meat to the sauce if they wanted) and their meal was complete. They were kind enough to send this picture of the completed meal itself:

It's good to know that even though my gifts weren't much, they were still appreciated. It's a lot of extra work to "cook up" food-based Christmas gifts that don't spoil, taste great, transport well, and don't cost too much money - but I think it can be done, and it can be done well. I wish I'd been more pro-active about taking pictures of the gift bags, but I didn't want to ruin it for my family!

AllRecipes AllStar

2011-12-22T12:44:00.001-05:00

I love food. I love social media. I love communications and making connections with people all over the world. So when I heard about the Allrecipes Allstar program, I was excited just to sign up. I was formally accepted two days ago and I couldn't be more excited.

Allrecipes.com is the number one food site on the internet. As an Allstar, I get sneak peek previews of the latest Allrecipe products, promotions, and creations. I get to engage with other food Allstars in my region and share and exchange recipes. I get a free Supporting Membership which means my profile and recipes are top priority and I get the online perks that come along with that - and oh yeah, tons of free promotional items (food products!) from various brands with whom they are partnered.

Anyway, I'm really excited. I'm a part of a few online communities already - a tight-knit one from a pregnancy/parenting website called The Bump, and a gaming community called Shattered Kingdoms. Even though I've expanded my tastes and learned new recipes from the internet, I've never really been a part of a recipe or food-sharing community. Which is odd, considering how much I really do love food creation and culinary arts.

Expect many, many, many more recipe posts. I'm looking forward to seeing how this blog changes as I change the format to consist of mostly food-related topics.

Make Merry.

2011-12-20T09:34:00.000-05:00

I won't lie. This Christmas has been tough. In November, my husband and I took a baby-free vacation to Disney World despite the fact that he hadn't had a job since July. Now before you get your judgmental financial pitchforks out - this trip was completely paid for in February. Everything but food and gas money. I even informed my employer upon hiring about the vacation. If I could have gotten a full refund, I would have.

We pay for everything ourselves. We work hard and we don't see a lot of return. It's hard to remember it's worth it when I see various relatives in the same financial situation just greedily take from their in-laws and other family members. It frustrates me to no end to see married couples living at home rent-free, not working. You're an adult - act like one.

To make a rather long rant short, we don't have much money this Christmas. Frankly, we've been living from paycheck to paycheck. I've planned well, but savings have dwindled to nothing since July.

I'm glad Donovan is young. He won't remember the tears, the stress, or the fact that a majority of his Christmas presents are coming from his grandparents and not his parents. He has everything he needs: diapers, delicious food, warm clothes, toys, and books. In fact, even if I did have lots of extra money to spend, I'm not sure what I would get for him for Christmas. The ideas I have require lots of space, and I don't have that.

I can also attest to the fact that no matter how many toys you buy, a toddler will always find things like cups, spoons, and household objects much more fascinating than the latest baby computer product from LeapFrog. Babies don't need mini-computers. They need love.

Having Christmas with a toddler is still a lot like having Christmas with a baby. I probably have more in common with child-free couples than people with older children. I can't explain the meaning of Christmas to him. I can't read him Charles Dickens. He doesn't understand the prophesy of Isaiah in relation to the chapters in Matthew and Luke. He doesn't care about traditions or the fact that Home Alone 2 is even funnier than the first one or that the Christmas tree we got is too big for our house and the LED lights are more energy-efficient than regular kind or that Santa couldn't come down the chimney in our house because we don't have one.

If being poor at Christmas has any relief, it's that a toddler just doesn't care. He's happy no matter what happens. We're not exchanging gifts this year because we want to give to others, especially Donovan, instead. Daniel and I don't need to saturate ourselves in needless materialism in order to give to each other. We give to each other daily, perhaps him a little more than me. And maybe I need to work on that.

Today is the first day of Hanukkah. I'm not Jewish and I've never celebrated the holiday, but I think they've got the right idea of celebration. They know what is important. Since Christmas is derived from Jewish festival traditions and pagan traditions, I think it's important to at least acknowledge where our holiday came from. Where they once celebrated the sun, we now celebrate the Son. And that's the Light that I want to celebrate everyday, and not just during the Festival of Lights.

"Baruch ata Adonai, Elohenu melech ha-olam."