A coffeehouse with a mission.  That is what The Well in Nashville, TN is all about.  We visited The Well a few months ago after a strong recommendation from a friend.  It resides just around the corner from my alma mater, in the Green Hills neighborhood.

Theologically and missionally focused, The Well is a non-profit coffeehouse that gives it’s money away to those in need.  They are partnered with two other non-profits, Living Water and Blood Water Mission to help bring clean water systems to people in impoverished areas.

Not only does The Well help fund literal clean water, but they also believe in a figurative cleansing. They encourage their clientele to wash the needy with love by helping those around them.  Inside the coffeehouse there is a wall called The Wishing Well where anyone can share their needs by posting a handwritten note on the wall.  Others in the community who feel like they can help can pull a card from the wall and share their blessings. What a great opportunity for people to take care of each other!

And, The Well serves good coffee! I had a flavored latte suggested by the Barista after explaining I wanted something a little different from my usual Vanilla flavoring. It was fantastic! I wish I could remember what he said was in it.

The atmosphere is also fabulous as you can tell even from my insufficient iPhone photo above.  A place where I would love to sit and study, or chat with a friend.

I can’t wait to visit again during our next trip to Nashville.  It has definitely become a “must-do” for every visit.

The Well Coffeehouse
2035 Richard Jones Road
Nashville, TN 37215

Heading to Nashville for a visit?  Don’t forget to check out my Pinterest board for my favorite places to check out in Nashville.  It’s an ever-growing list!

Yesterday morning, I dusted off my tennis shoes and went for a jog for the first time since sometime before I was pregnant with Simon.  It was very early because I wanted to make sure I was back home before the kids woke up.  Do you know what happens when you go for a run that early in the morning?

You think and dwell on delirious thoughts.

Thoughts that normally don’t have room in your mind because you’re too busy planning dinners and grocery lists, playing games with a toddler, feeding a newborn, changing smelly diapers, kissing boo-boos, cleaning house, and helping your husband decide on house projects.  At least, that’s my life.

But, an early morning jog lets you clear your mind and allow some funky mental deliberations to take place. For example, “Where in the world did the phrase ‘The straw that broke the camel’s back’ come from??”  Have you ever wondered that? I often try to say this phrase (and others) and get it wrong.  For example, “The straw that cut the monkey’s back” or “The cup that broke the camel’s back.”  But, if I really understood where the phrase came from, then maybe it would be easier to remember the right words.

Maybe this concept would’ve helped this poor girl remember her lyrics.

Anyhow, let’s talk about this salad and the new “Salad Sundays” feature.  Although this isn’t a healthy focused food blog, I’ve been contemplating starting a new series that highlights different salad recipes.  Since swim-suit season is right around the corner, I thought this would be a great way to introduce fresh and lighter meals into our daily routine.

After thinking about starting this series for some time, the straw that broke the camel’s back was when I went garage sale-ing last weekend and three strangers asked me if I was pregnant!!

It’s time to lose the baby weight.

Which is why I went jogging yesterday.  Which is why I now know where the phrase “the straw that broke the camel’s back” came from.

But, this salad.. yes, this salad.  It’s not really going to help me lose my baby weight, but we can pretend.  It’s a popular salad from one of our favorite Chicago fast-food joints, Portillo’s.  It’s full of fresh ingredients like leafy greens, tomatoes, cabbage, and onion.  But, it also includes your indulgences of bacon, cheese and pasta…all slathered with an irresistible Italian dressing.

This salad is good for a stand-alone meal, or served as a side dish.  You can also easily double the recipe to serve at potlucks or large get-togethers.

Now get your knife out and start chopping.

One thing I am sure about, though, is that we will be grilling up some grub, which includes Chicago-style hot dogs.  Although the most common Chicago-style dog is cooked by steaming in hot water, it doesn’t hurt anyone to grill them instead.  I’ll take this time to admit that I’ve never boiled a hot dog and I honestly don’t think I ever will.  But, heck, I’ll throw one in the microwave when time is of the essence! 

Ben and I grew to love this “dragged through the garden” style hot dog during our six years in Chicago.  Through out both of my pregnancies, I craved hot dogs.  Did you know pregnant women are not supposed to eat them??  I wish I was never told this, because although I’m not sure of the reason they are outlawed, I listened to my conscience and avoided them for nine months.  Consequently, one of the first meals I made after coming home from the hospital were these hot dogs.  And, wow, they taste even THAT much better after not having them for so long!

To assemble a Chicago-style hot dog, you need:

• all-beef frankfurter
• mustard (NO ketchup)
• chopped white onions and tomatoes
• sweet pickle relish (bright green to be true to form)
• sport peppers (hard to find outside of Chicago)
• dill pickle spear
• celery salt
• poppyseed bun (also hard to find outside of Chicago)

For the two ingredients that are difficult to find outside of the Chicago area, here are my solutions.  The sport peppers were impossible to find when we lived in Apple Valley, CA and now I’m having trouble here in Mississippi.  So, I’ve substituted them with pepperoncini peppers in a jar.  Ben said he likes these even better.  When it comes to the poppyseed buns, you can either make your own completely homemade, or buy a pack of buns at the store, brush the fatter side with melted butter and sprinkle with poppyseeds which is what I did for the photo above.

Here’s the recipe.  Although, really, it’s just a list.

Tiramisu was first introduced into my life when I was just a young kid.  My family loves Italian food, and every year for my birthday we would eat at a local Italian restaurant where Tiramisu was my choice of dessert.  This, combined with my infamous love for brownies, makes this Italian twist a perfect combination for my personal palate. 

These brownies were inspired by my recent K-Cup Ambassador delivery that included most of the ingredients and kitchen tools needed for the recipe.  One of the ingredients they supplied was a box of Italian Roast K-Cup packs by Barista Prima Coffeehouse used to soak the ladyfingers and also to sip alongside each delizioso bite.  Barista Prima Coffeehouse offers an exclusive collection of K-Cup packs, including five more varieties: Italian Roast Decaf, Columbia, French Roast, and House Blend.

While we’re talking about the coffee, let me give you this month’s promotional code that is good for 15% off storewide at GreenMountainCoffee.com, and free shipping on orders containing at least one K-Cup pack of Barista Prima Coffeehouse brand.  The code, valid now through May 31st, is BARISTA8166 and cannot be combined with any other keycode discount.

Now let’s talk about these brownies!!  The original recipe that I followed used up a lot of eggs and other ingredients in the brownie batter, but turned out a somewhat dry layer of chocolate (although they were a bit better the next day).  So, I’ve altered the recipe to instead use a boxed brownie mix because I think the results will be much better, especially if you stir in a bunch of miniature chocolate chips!  And, this saves you a few steps and ingredients.

The photo doesn’t show it, but I served these with a drizzle of raspberry sauce to take it to the next level.  Superb, I tell ya!

Full Disclosure: I am partnered with Green Mountain Coffee Family of Brands to serve as a K-Cup Ambassador and report on my first hand experiences of the Keurig brewer and a variety of K-Cup packs. In return, Green Mountain Coffee compensated me with a Keurig brewing system and monthly deliveries of K-Cup products.  Although the products are supplied by Green Mountain Coffee, the views and opinions expressed are my own.

Meet the new member of our family!  Simon Gregory arrived just over two weeks early on April 17th weighing in at 7lb 9oz.  (He’ll already be 2 weeks old tomorrow!)  Labor and Delivery was smooth  and quick!  For those of you who like to hear L&D stories, here’s a quick run-down of the event.    Otherwise, skip to the paragraph after the next photo.

I had contractions through the night on Tuesday (early Wednesday morning), starting at 2:00 AM.  I thought it was just a repeat of the week before where I had contractions starting at 2AM and stopped at 5AM.  But, these didn’t stop.  They only became more frequent and a lot stronger.  By 4:00 AM I was in so much pain every 3-5 minutes, but I wanted to wait a little longer before heading to the hospital so I could let our friends sleep a little longer before dropping Judah off with them.  Oh, I’m so thoughtful. Ha!

By the time we checked in at the hospital, it was 6:30 AM and I was 7cm dilated!  Because I knew my window was short, I immediately told the nurse I wanted an epidural before it was too late.  Epidural was given, pain went away, and then returned shortly as the dosage wore off much more quickly than I anticipated during pushing!  This caused a ton of pain in the left side of my lower back.  The worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life!  I had to stop pushing because I thought I threw out my back, but it was just the contractions.  The anesthesiologist came back to give me another dose, but after 15 minutes of waiting, it never took in that area of my back, so I decided to keep pushing through the pain since baby Simon was on his way out!  If I didn’t wait for that 15 minutes, he would’ve been out in 30 minutes total of pushing.  But, since I waited the 15 minutes, it was a total time of 45 minutes.  Still much faster than the 2 1/2 hours of pushing when I had Judah! 

We’ve been doing well transitioning into a family of four.  Much easier than I imagined!  The day we returned home from the hospital, I was out walking and taking advantage of our beautiful weather through the next few days.  My feet definitely stayed swollen for a while since I wasn’t putting my feet up as much as the doctor ordered, but here in Mississippi, I’ve learned you need to enjoy the 70 degree temperatures before they hit 90 for the rest of the summer!

I love my sweet little baby Simon.  He is sweet, doesn’t cry a ton, and sleeps pretty well so far.  I get up with him only once or twice in the night (he’s formula fed) right now.  Hopefully this is indicative of a great sleeping baby!  As far as his looks, I think he resembles Ben more than me in the face, but has my fingers and toes.  Funny enough, although his older brother is dark complexion, brown eyes and dark features (just like mom and dad), Simon has lighter skin with blondish hair, and the baby grey-blue eyes!  Not what we expected, but I love it!

My best friend (Vicki) came into town last week to snap some newborn photos of Simon.  The KitchenAid stand mixer and cookbooks photo are two of my favorites that I requested her to do for my blog announcement.  Don’t you love them??!!  Big shout out to my blogging friends, Jenny, Lori, and Jessica for using their cookbooks as props.  I think Simon is gaining much cooking wisdom through osmosis in that photo.  <chuckle!>  But, seriously, Vicki took some more adorable photos of Simon and I wish I could share all of them with you!

Judah LOVES his little brother.  He has shown nothing but positive feelings towards him since the day he met him in the hospital.  He wants to hold him, help him, hug him, feed him, etc. all the time.  My heart melts all day long when seeing this.  I hope they become best friends when they are older.

I’ve been taking some time off here so I can fully enjoy my two sons, but I’ll be back to regular blogging soon!  I have a giveaway coming up in the near future, too, so make sure you check back! 

(All photos by Vicki Lindsey)

Our friends and family reside all across the country, so we travel a lot.  Visiting old and new places is something both Ben and I enjoy and share a passion for, so I thought it would be appropriate to add a category for “Travel” on the blog.  This will be a section where I share with you highlights of our adventures, featuring our favorite places to sleep, dine, play and shop!

Today I’m starting the Travel series in one of our favorite cities, Nashville, Tennessee.  Nashville is like a second home to me, since I spent three years there for college and one additional year for work.  It was very hard for me to move away from a city that taught me so much, so I’ve made countless trips back.  Soon after Ben’s first visit with me, he grew to love it, too.  Even though it’s been nine years since I’ve lived in Nashville, pieces of my heart still remain.

Nashville may have been built and known for its music and songwriting scene, but it is also popular for its eclectic food options, museums, parks, and vibrant artistic community.  There are several unique neighborhoods within the Nashville limits, and I plan to explore more of them during each visit.  Some neighborhoods I’m already familiar with, while others are new or revamped since I left.  Either way, there are tons of great places to eat and my plan is to share my favorites with you!

Last month, the three of us drove the 6-7 hours trip to Nashville to visit my best friend and her family so she could snatch some family photos for us.  While we were there, I was craving cupcakes.  After lunching at Music City Flats (food was okay, wasn’t extremely impressed) in The Gulch neighborhood, I did a quick Internet search for a cupcake bakery in town.  After reading reviews, we decided on The Cupcake Collection.

The Cupcake Collection is a family-run business located in historic Germantown.  Up until just about a month or two ago, the bakery was run in the same home that the family lived.  Because of the bakery’s success, the family was able to move to another home allowing the space to be dedicated to the shop.

We had the privilege of meeting the husband, A.E. François, (pictured above) of the family, who gave us an in-depth story of the bakery’s very inspiring success story, including saving their house at the last minute with a payment from the bakery’s sudden success.  You can read about some of their back-story here.  He even told us that he and his wife are the only ones at the bakery who know the cupcake recipes.  They are up very early every morning mixing and baking, and now they close their doors at 4:00PM because they value their family time.  Much respect to you, François family!!

We arrived fairly late in the day since we had a late lunch and took a few more family photos before entering the shop.  Because of this, a few of the flavors we were going to choose were gone by the time we reached the counter.  I was really looking forward to trying the Sweet Lemonade Cupcake, but a customer just two ahead of me took the last one.  Bummer!  But, hey, that’s what we get for showing up late so I’m not at all blaming the bakery. 

The flavors we did get to try were:  Chocolate, Wedding Cake, Red Velvet, Snickerdoodle and Vanilla.  All were great, but my favorite was the Wedding Cake.  That is super unusual for me, as I’m a chocolate cake kinda gal.    It was moist, flavorful and perfectly delicious.

One of the best parts of The Cupcake Collection is the price.  Most bakeries price each cupcake sky high at at least $3.50 per cupcake!  Not so at The Cupcake Collection.  They keep it very reasonable at $1.50 per cupcake!  Score!  Additionally, the service was excellent and cheerful, despite the long lines (which is a good sign in my opinion).

Nashville celebrities frequent The Cupcake Collection.  Mr. François told us that they often arrange special after-hour times for certain stars when requested.  Very cool!  Otherwise, by the end of the day there are pretty much no cupcakes left.

Although I didn’t snatch any photos of the actual cupcakes (what the heck!) I might as well let you see some of the family photos we took while we were there.  The bakery’s purple painted brick was a perfect back-drop!

Make sure you stop by The Cupcake Collection and satisfy your sweet tooth the next time you’re in Nashville!  You can find more of my favorite places to visit in Nashville by following my Nashville Pinterest board.  Do you have any favorite places in Nashville you think I should check out?

The Cupcake Collection
1213 6th Avenue N.
Nashville, TN 37208

Can you find key limes in your grocery store?  One of the things I’ve noticed (and liked) about living in the South is having access to certain produce that I couldn’t easily find in the Midwest.  Key limes being one of them!  However, the crazy thing about Key Lime Pie is you do not have to use key limes.  You can use regular (Persian) limes that are available to you at any grocery store or market year round.  Pretty cool, huh?

In fact, a lot of people prefer to make key lime pie using the larger regular limes because it requires squeezing less of them to get the amount of fresh juice you need.  If using regular limes, you only need about four of them verses about a dozen key limes.  I tried both versions, and because Ben and I really couldn’t tell much of a difference, I think I prefer to use regular limes, too.

Either way, we love this recipe for key lime pie!

Whatever you do, do not try to make your pie green.  Key limes, when at their ripest, are actually more yellow in color.  If you add green food coloring to your pie, you might get a bit teased.  I warned you! 

Pregnancy Update:
Here I am just a couple of days past 37 weeks pregnant! Ben and I both thought we were going to head to the hospital on Wednesday morning after a full night of contractions. Starting at 1:00AM until 5:00AM I was awake with cramping, front and back. The same thing happened when I was 38 weeks pregnant with Judah and later that day I was at the hospital having him! Not so this time. The first hour of the contractions were medium strength and timed anywhere from 3 minutes to 10 minutes apart. After that, they spaced out and became more mild. Finally, after just 10 minutes total of sleep that night (from 4:10 to 4:20AM), I decided to get myself into the shower at 5:00AM and prepare to head to the hospital. But, yeah, the contractions stopped and here I am four days later still waiting.

There are other definite signs of early labor, though, so I could go any day. But, I’m trying not to think that way because then the days will certainly DRAG. I’m sure baby will have a sense of humor and decide to go full into his due date (May 2) instead. Really hoping not!

I had my second check-up by my OB on Monday. At my first check-up the week before, I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Monday I was 2 cm dilated, still 50% effaced. Next appointment is this Monday, so we’ll see if I’ve progressed any more. Sometimes I wish I just didn’t know and labor would just happen. With Judah, I wasn’t dilated at all before going into labor. I had my OB checkup the day before where I told the doctor that I felt like the baby was coming at any time. She checked me and said “Oh no, you’re no where near ready.” But, the next day he came! (Told you so, Doc!)

My energy is definitely not where I want it to be. I think because I was expecting to have the baby this week, I have been less motivated to do anything! So, I’ve been taking it easy. The weather has warmed up, which isn’t helping because I’m hot all.the.time. Right now I’m stripped down to a tank-top and shorts, no shoes, no socks with the air conditioner blasting and the ceiling fan on full speed. I have hardly any spring/summer maternity clothes because Judah was born in December (in Chicago!) and I really don’t want to spend more money for just a few more days. So, yep, taking it one day at a time here!

This pregnancy, I’m 20 pounds lighter than I was when pregnant with Judah. So far I’ve gained a total of 25 pounds, while I gained 50 total pounds my first go-round! The baby is feeling bigger this week, but I think he will weigh less than Judah’s 8 lb 9 oz. I’m going to guess he’ll come out at 7 lb 8 oz. ha! Unless he does decide to go to his due date, then I think I’ll have an 8+ pounder again.

Judah continues to be excited for “Baby Wally’s” arrival. As I told you we would, we went to Build-a-Bear and made a basic stuffed bear (well, a puppy dog, actually) that Judah will bring to the hospital for the baby. We had to explain to him that he was making the puppy for his baby brother, and I think he somewhat understands.

Here’s a super adorable video of Judah adding the heart to the puppy:

I went to a kids consignment sale here in town the other day and found a nice $5 bouncer. One other thing I picked up was a Thomas the Train scooter that sells brand new for $150, and I got it for $12 in perfect shape. Score! This will be Judah’s gift after the baby arrives. I’m going to tell him it’s from his little brother. I also finally decided on a glider/rocker. It’s just this cheaper one that had decent reviews on Amazon that I think will last for this kid, because this is probably it for us anyway. So far, we like it just fine and it looks nice in the nursery.

Since the date is getting so close, let’s start taking guesses on when I’ll have this baby and how much he’ll weigh! I’d love to hear what you think in the comments. My guess is sometime next week, let’s say April 19th and as I said above he’ll be 7 lb 8oz. What’s your guess??

This Week On Seeded at the Table:
This section highlights the recipes posted recently on Seeded at the Table and other updates to the blog, if any.

My lack of energy has kept me sticking to quick and easy recipes I’ve already shared. But, I did manage to give you two new recipes since the last Saturday Seeds update:

Effortless Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies – These easy peanut butter cookies only mess one bowl and one wooden spoon.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn – No need for store-bought and extra preservatives when you have a paper bag and kernels at home!

Some of my dearest blogging friends came together and threw me a virtual baby shower yesterday. If you are dying for some more great recipes, you need to check out their roundup of recipes (and crafts!) You can see the list of participating bloggers at the two hostesses’ blogs: Apple A Day and Sunny Side Up. Thank you, friends, for such a lovely shower!!

Loving Lately:
Here I will share with you my favorite things of late, along with other snippets that have caught my eye from some of my favorite blogs and websites.

Contraction Master – This app is back in my life after 3 1/2 years. I used this to time my contractions when I was in labor with Judah. Makes it SO easy! I reinstalled it last week and actually used it Tuesday night. Hopefully I’ll be using it again soon! Anyway, if you are pregnant, I highly recommend this app. It will even alarm you when it’s time to head to the hospital. (It didn’t have that feature the first time around.)

Lemon Drop Shop – My friend, Brooke, has an Esty shop of adorable party ideas including printables, invitations, props, etc. For my virtual shower, she created a super sweet collection for the theme “A Southern Gentleman”. You must check out her shop. She’s so creative!

My Life as a Professor’s Wife, Mom, Christian and Food Blogger:
Want more insight into my life as a Professor’s wife, mom, Christian, friend, relative and food blogger? Then, read on! If not, ignore this section. This is a place for me to write what is on my mind and journal some of the crowning moments of my week.

This week Ben has been working hard on our landscaping. With spring showers and the warmer weather, plants are blooming and the grass is turning green. It’s beautiful! Judah does an amazing job helping in the yard, too. He loves scooping mulch with a shovel with daddy and Tyler (our landscaping helper).

Ben is also building us a desk for our office. It’s a large desk where we will face each other. I’ll be the main user of our home office, as Ben has his office primarily at the seminary. I can’t wait until he’s finished and we get the rest of the office decorated with our other ideas! We’ll take pictures and share on the blog when done. (And, soon I’ll share photos of Judah’s big boy room and the baby’s nursery.)

The ladies at church threw me a diapers and casseroles baby shower last week. It was such a lovely time and really nice to bring home a bunch of diapers and wipes! One of the ladies made the most adorable diaper “cake” shown above. It’s a motorcycle, or maybe tricycle is more appropriate. lol!  And the hostess sent everyone home with a Mint plant as a favor.  Nice!

Hopefully, the next Saturday Seeds will announce a baby!  xoxo

These last few weeks we decided to start a weekly movie night with our family.  Basically, it means a way to kill time after dinner until Judah’s bedtime.  Since I have zero energy in the evenings lately, relaxing nights like this are perfect!  So far we’ve watched Wreck It Ralph, the old classic Robin Hood, Ice Age 3 or 4 or 10 (how many of those movies are there?) and a few more fun kid movies where the adult humor still shines.

Judah’s favorite part of movie night is the popcorn.  Last fall, I bookmarked a recipe from my fellow very pregnant gal, Lauren, where she showed us how to pop popcorn in the microwave, without resorting to the store-bought bags.  I decided to use this method for our movie nights, and couldn’t believe how simple it was!

It took me a few tries before figuring out my microwave temperature and times to make this work.  For me, it takes exactly 2 minutes for a perfect bag of popcorn.  To figure out when yours is done, listen for the popping to cease to 1-2 seconds between pops.  Any longer than that and you’ll end up with a burnt batch, and that awful lingering burnt popcorn smell for hours.  Trust me, I know by experience.

Get this, all you need is a paper bag and popcorn kernels… and a microwave, of course!

Print

DIY Microwavable Popcorn

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 2-3 servings

No need for store-bought and extra preservatives when you have a paper bag and kernels at home!

• 1 small (lunch size) brown paper bag
• 1/4 cup popcorn kernels
• Salt (optional)
• Melted butter (optional)
• Popcorn seasoning (optional)

Pour popcorn kernels into the paper bag. Crimp the bag shut by rolling the top down and pinching to seal. Place the bag face down in the microwave. Microwave on high for about 2-3 minutes or until the popping slows to 1 to 2 second intervals.

Transfer the popcorn to a bowl and sprinkle with salt, then drizzle with optional melted butter and/or popcorn seasonings. Gently shake bowl to evenly coat.

Source: Lauren's Latest

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http://www.seededatthetable.com/2013/04/08/diy-microwavable-popcorn/

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It’s been a little quiet here in the kitchen lately.  I’m 36 weeks pregnant with very little energy, very high emotions and a ton of heartburn.  At Wednesday’s appointment, my doc said to take it easy because I’ve already progressed and she’d like the baby to “cook” at least another week before going into labor.  Oh boy.

I am definitely taking it easy as far as cooking and baking goes.  Nothing new has happened in days in my oven, sink or stove.  Just the usual go-to recipes, take-out, and eat-out.  Although, I did make a new pie last weekend that was amazing.  But, there was no way I could work up the motivation to get my camera and take a photo of it.  Plus, it just gives me a reason to make it again very soon.

The other day, Ben was opening pretty much every cabinet and refrigerator door in our kitchen, looking for something to snack on.  My grocery shopping trips have been scarce lately, so our pantry is pretty bare-bones.  He finally gave up, turned to me and said “Do we have the ingredients to make your Peanut Butter M&M Cookies?”  Guess what my loving response was?  “Why?  You gonna make them?”  Nice, Nikki.

So I felt bad and made these very effortless cookies instead.

I didn’t get my camera out.  I didn’t style them all cutesy.  You’re looking at the Instagram photos from my iPhone.

Ben ate four of them straight in a row.