Recipe Wednesday - A week of recipes

Over the past few months I have been reading and seeing more about "whole foods" and the ingredients that are in the foods that we eat.  A lot of times I regret reading the information because once you read it, you can't un-remember it, but I know that our family will benefit in the long run by my gradual change into a healthier eating lifestyle.

So I spent some time compiling an ambitious menu schedule for the week of June 22 and, surprisingly, was able to accomplish a lot of the meal goals that I set.  I found some wonderful recipes and wanted to share them with you in case you're looking for more recipes that focus on "whole" foods that are beneficial and aren't filled with chemicals.  And, just to clarify, this is just my take on trying to move away from the more processed foods.  It is by no means an indictment on those who eat processed foods because we certainly do and did use them even in these recipes!

Monday Breakfast: Bacon & Egg Stuffed Avacado

Result: I found this recipe on Pinterest and obviously didn't go and read the entire instruction post before I made them.  Also, my avocado's weren't ripe enough.  I'm going to retry this soon following the instructions in the post and anticipate a winner!

Monday snack: Chunky Monkey Shake

Result: I made this from the recipe listed in this pin and while the shake was good, it was very banana-y and I couldn't finish the entire thing.  That being said, it was good and gave me a boost in the afternoon.  I'm going to try the linked original chunky monkey shake soon as well as merge the two.  I'll update you on my favorite, but in the meantime, this is a good snack for you and the kids!

Monday dinner: Pork Tenderloin with Apples

Result: This recipe is a modification of this one that I found online.  I've worked on this recipe a couple times and think I've perfected the recipe to make a succulent pork dish that almost tastes like dessert.  It definitely tastes like Thanksgiving though!

Tuesday dinner: Parmesan White Sauce Chicken

Result: This was a recipe made out of desperation for the need of dinner and to use what I had on hand.  It's a great, easy dinner option.  The cheese gives the chicken a good amount of flavor.

Wednesday Breakfast: Peanut Butter Bars

Result:  These are fantastic!  I love that the recipe provides nutrition information with them and even though they have a decent amount of calories in them, they are packed with protein and kept me totally full until lunch time which rarely happens.  The kids loved them and so did Jason.  They also keep really well so you can eat on them for a while.

Thursday breakfast: Skinny Strawberry Muffins

Result: These are really tasty.  James and I loved them, while Charlotte didn't like them as much.  They are very thick and dense so don't expect a typical "muffin" texture like you'll get from a pre-packaged mix.  I would suggest that you process the oats before you add anything else to the blender to allow them to get chopped finer.  And it's also better to cut your strawberry pieces up fairly small, especially the ones that go in the muffins.  Also, I baked mine in a non-stick pan and they cooked in less than 15 minutes, so keep an eye on them.

Friday dinner: Turkey Meatballs and Pasta in Cream Sauce

Result: This was another winner.  Everyone loved this recipe (even though I was the only one to eat the mushrooms).  It also was easy to stick the leftovers in the fridge and they were still tasty a day later.  I did end up modifying the recipe quite a bit though.  I omitted the scallions and parsley completely.  I substituted garlic powder instead of minced garlic and a jar of pre-sliced mushrooms instead of fresh (since I didn't make it quick enough and my fresh ones had started to liquefy).  I also used whole milk instead of heavy cream because I failed to purchase it at the store.  My motto: make the best with what you have!  The recipe was still delicious!

Recipe Wednesday - Birds' Nests

I briefly mentioned these last year when I made them but didn't elaborate.  I'm now going to let you in on the best Easter candy secret of all....Birds' Nests.  

Y'all.  I can't even begin to describe how good these are.  They are super easy to make (take maybe 10 minutes) and will get you some of the best cooking compliments of your life.  I'm sure others have known about these for years, but I didn't until last year when I saw them on Pinterest and now I MUST make them every Easter!

You can check out the recipe at The Curvy Carrot.  I think some people make these without the chocolate and with other stuff in them (and call them Haystacks), but I'm here to tell you that this is the BEST way to make them.  They would be super cute for a baby shower (you could use jelly beans if the Cadbury mini eggs aren't "in season") or really any occasion that you can think of.

My one tip is to make sure they stay COLD because they tend to get melty pretty quickly when set out at room temperature or warmer.  The meltiness doesn't make them taste worse (maybe even better), but it makes them even messier!  I wouldn't serve them at an outdoor party, for instance, and might only put a small dish out and continuously replenish from the fridge if possible.

Recipe Wednesday - Strawberry Cupcakes

I mentioned in my Easter post that we celebrated Gramme's birthday on Easter Sunday.  I asked her what dessert she would like since it was her birthday and, while she was reluctant to add more to my plate, she finally said that strawberry cupcakes would be good.  So I set out to find the best strawberry cupcake recipe and I'm happy to report that I think I found it!

I modified the Southern Living Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake recipe to make cupcakes and iced them with the Southern Living Strawberry Buttercream Frosting Recipe.  This made 48 cupcakes and enough icing to ice them with.  They were delicious and moist and so good.  I got tons of compliments on them and even sent the leftovers to work with Jason on Monday where they also got rave reviews.

Some notes from my cooking:

- I cooked each pan of cupcakes for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree gas oven set on Convection Bake.  You'll need to modify accordingly, just make sure to test a couple to make sure a toothpick comes out clean to ensure that they're done.  They're not as firm coming out of the oven as cupcakes usually are and if you leave them until they are totally firm they will end up browning as they cool.

- By using a smaller scoop to get my batter into the cupcake cups I was able to get cupcakes that were flat on the top and perfect for icing.  I would recommend filling no higher than halfway up the cupcake cup.

- I used a little less powdered sugar and chopped strawberries than the icing recipe called for.  My icing was a tad runny as I iced the cupcakes but hardened up to the perfect consistency by the next day when they were served.  You might want to let the icing sit a little while before icing the cupcakes to make it easier on you.

- These are much better the day after you make them and even better the day after that!  If you eat them still warm they are very rich.

- I put my icing into a pastry bag and piped it onto the cupcakes.  This uses more icing than the traditional way of icing (with a spatula or knife) so be aware if you're making a full 48 cupcakes and only one batch of icing.  You'll notice in the picture that the cupcakes on the top level of the stand had much prettier icing on them than those on the bottom.  I started to run out of icing and so didn't use as much on the bottom cupcakes.  If you want the perfect shape for the top of the cupcakes you might want to make 1 1/2 recipes of frosting.

Recipe Wednesday - Cauliflower Poppers

For some unexplainable reason I have always like cauliflower.  However, no one else even in my extended family even remotely agrees with this like.  But I saw on Pinterest a pin for Cauliflower Poppers and it looked like they were dipping them in ketchup, so I thought that this might be a sneaky way to get Charlotte to eat her veggies.

Delighted Momma's recipe (which I followed) calls for 1 teaspoon pepper and two heads of cauliflower.  I ended up only making them with one head of cauliflower but didn't think to cut the pepper.  This resulted in very spicy poppers.  Charlotte tried one but said they were too spicy and I didn't blame her, they were almost too spicy for me!  But aside from the spice they tasted great!  I'll definitely be making these as a more common side dish in our family but will probably limit the pepper by quite a bit.

Raw cauliflower that's been coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper

Baked Cauliflower Poppers

Recipe Wednesday - Chicken and Artichoke Calzones

My friend, Erin, has blogged about her Chicken and Artichoke Calzones multiple times.  She always talks about how this is her "go to" dish for new Momma's or those hurting.  And when she blogged about them a few weeks ago I knew it was time to finally try them out.  Boy am I glad that I did!  They were fantastic and everyone (except James who isn't eating much of anything these days) gobbled them up.  They're a little time consuming to make if you're chopping by hand but well worth it.

All the yumminess before it went into the calzones.  I'll be honest and say that I stole a bite or two and even like this it was fantastic.  I bet it would be great on two thick slices of fresh bread! Maybe grilled into a panini! Yum!

Wrapped up in my (not so pretty) calzones

Fresh out of the oven!

The recipe makes six very full calzones.  You could easily probably make 12 normal sized calzones if you got two cans of pizza crust. I also made mine with thin crust pizza crust (just what I happened to get) and I'll probably try it with thick crust next time.  Or not worry about getting all the filling into the calzones.  Even by stuffing mine to the brim I had filling left over.

Recipe Wednesday - Gooey Cookies and Cream Double Chocolate Cake Bars

Jason came home three days before his engineering Christmas party for work and told me that it was a potluck.  Awesome.  I requested that he try and sign us up to bring a dessert since there were so many on Pinterest that I've wanted to try.  Thankfully, we were able to bring a dessert so I emailed him a few choices like Nutella Pretzel Brownies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie,  German Chocolate Cake Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, Best Ever Buckeye Brownies, Peanut Butter Eclair Cake, and a Triple Chocolate Trifle. (Can you tell that peanut butter and chocolate are my love languages?!?)

Jason chose Picky Palate's Gooey Cookies and Cream Double Chocolate Cake Bars and I have to say that I'm glad that he did!  These were pretty easy to make and baked quickly and tasted great.  They were very rich warm but weren't too rich when they were cooled.  And were just as yummy a day or two later as we enjoyed leftovers!  Definitely a good option if you're looking for a pick up dessert to take to Christmas dinner!

Recipe Wednesday - Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

Last week I tried a new crockpot soup recipe.  It's from Today's Mama and I found it via 365 Days of Slow Cooking.  I paired the soup with homemade Honey Oatmeal Bread and it was a delicious meal.  I'm looking forward to making it often this winter!

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup
Honey Oatmeal Bread

Recipe Wednesday - Alpha Chi Brunch

A few weeks ago I hosted an Alpha Chi Alum group at my home for a morning meeting.  I loved the treats that I served and wanted to share in case you need an easy brunch menu that can be (mostly) done ahead of time.

Easy Monkey Bread Breakfast Ring

Note: In the future, I will probably tear my biscuits in half before putting them in the pan because putting them in there whole means you get a huge piece when you get one to put on your plate.

When I made it: Morning of because it's EASY to throw together

Poppyseed Bread

Note: I'm not sure if I just read the recipe wrong or what but I used the disposable bread pans and since they were small I split the recipe up into six of them.  That still gave me fantastic bread but gave me very short slices.  I would recommend using those pans but filling each one up before moving on to the next pan.

When I made it: Day before and warmed in 300 degree oven before serving

Fiber One Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Note: These are fantastic and one of my go-to muffins for weekend mornings.  The mix made almost 50 mini muffins though so make sure you need enough before you start making mini ones instead of regular sized ones!

When I made them: Day before and served them room temperature (could also reheat)

I also had two friends bring items and they brought a bowl of sliced fruit with dip and a breakfast casserole.  I served lemonade (for the kids), orange juice, and water.

Recipe Wednesday - Birthday Menu

I often have a hard time coming up with complete menu's.  So I thought I'd share our menu for James' birthday dinner.  We had around 20 family members and ended up with just enough food.  Next time I'll make more because I would much rather have too much than not enough!

James' First Birthday Dinner

Two recipes of Crock Pot Barbecue

(with buns -- both slider size and regular size)
(I accidentally got beef instead of pork but Jason claimed that it tasted fine.  I would make sure that you get close to 5 lb roasts if possible, because mine were closer to 4 and we didn't have quite enough.)

Large bowl of cut fruit

One recipe of Broccoli Salad

One recipe of Mrs. Kelly's Baked Beans

One recipe of Corn Casserole

(So, so, so good! Should have had at least two recipes of this!)

One recipe of Slim Potato Casserole

(this was a little bland but at the same time too peppery -- it could have used a lot more cheese!)

One recipe of Arkansas Green Beans

(Jason said that these were the best green beans that he's ever had.  I would have to agree.  They were out of this world!)

Strawberry Birthday Cake

Recipe Wednesday - Cheesy Chicken Crescents

I have seen recipes that involved using crescent rolls to make a ring and so when I was searching for dinner a few weeks ago I thought that I would take that idea and modify it to what I had on hand.  What resulted was a meal that I loved and every single member of our family ate!  Plus, it was somewhat healthy!  I hope it's a hit with your family too!

Cheesy Chicken Crescents
Serves 4-6

2 tubes of Crescent Rolls
1 package of pre-cooked chicken
1/2 can of Organic Soybeans
2 handfuls of Spinach, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 can of Cream of Cheddar Soup
1 cup of Cheddar Cheese

1. Mix chicken, soybeans, spinach, and soup.
2. Lay crescent roll triangles out overlapping to create a sunburst/ring shape.
3. Spoon chicken mixture onto large part of crescent rolls.
4. Wrap crescent roll dough around chicken mixture.
5. Top with cheddar cheese.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Recipe Wednesday - Lazy Cookie Cake

For two people with such a sweet tooth this recipe has become our kryptonite.  It is astonishingly easy and AMAZING! If you haven't seen this on Pinterest yet then you need to go and repine it and make it the next chance you get.  So good and so easy!

Lazy Mom's Lazy Cake Cookies

1 box Yellow or White Cake Mix
2 Eggs, beaten
5 T melted Butter
2 cups Chocolate Chips (or M and M's or anything!)

Mix together, put in greased pan, bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes!

*Recipe via Lazy Mom.  She has great recipes! Go check her out!

Recipe Wednesday - James' Christening Menu

On Sunday we had James' Christening and afterwards our family came over to our home to enjoy lunch.  Mom and I put together and meal and I was very happy with the way it turned out and the ease that it took to prepare everything.  We fed almost 25 people with this so I wanted to share what we made in case you are in need of an easy menu for a lot of people!

Slow Cooker BBQ (2 recipes, cooked on Low for 13 hours) with Buns
Slow Cooker Baked Beans (recipe below)
Strawberry Spinach Salad (substituted Strawberry's for Apple's)
Cut Fruit
The Pioneer Woman's Fancy Macaroni
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Cake


Slow Cooker Baked Beans
Baked Beans
Ketchup
Yellow Mustard
Chopped Onions
Bacon
Brown Sugar
Worcestershire Sauce

1. Mix all together in a slow cooker and cook on High for 6 hours or Low for 8.

Recipe Wednesday - Grilled Romaine with Marinated Cherry Tomatoes and Feta

I haven't been doing Recipe Wednesday lately because the recipes that I've been cooking are mostly from eMeals and I don't feel like it would be right to share those recipes online.  But last weekend my parents had us over for a Memorial Day cookout and in addition to the rest of the wonderful meal they made a grilled salad that was amazing!  I took some pictures before we served it and wanted to share the recipe because it truly was maybe one of the best salads that I've ever had!

Grilled Romaine with Marinated Cherry Tomatoes and Feta
Yields 6 servings

1 pint Cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1/2 teaspoon Coarse salt
3 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/3 cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for Romaine
Coarse Salt and Ground Pepper
1/3 cup Shaved Red Onion
3 hearts Romain, halved lengthwise, left attached at the stem end
15 mint leaves, sliced
4 ounces Feta, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1. In a nonreactive bowl, toss tomatoes with 1/2 teaspoon salt; let sit 15 minutes.  In a small bowl, combine vinegar and sugar; whisk in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Add vinaigrette to tomatoes, stir in red onion and refrigerate.
2. Heat a charcoal or gas grille to medium-high.  Brush cut sides of lettuce with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place lettuce on grille, cut side down, and allow to char lightly, 3 minutes per side.  Remove lettuce to a platter.
3. Fold mint and feta into tomato mixture.  Spoon tomato mixture over romaine and drizzle some of the marinade over the dish.  Serve immediately.

*Recipe via iVillage

Recipe Wednesday - Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

This month is turning into the month of breakfast recipes!  This is another one from our Christmas morning brunch.  It was good to feed a crowd.  I felt like it could have used a little more salt and pepper but it was still great the way it was.

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole
8-10 servings


6-8 Strips of Bacon
1 Onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove Garlic, peeled and minced
1 Red or Green Pepper, seeded and chopped
1 2 lb bag frozen Hash Browns
1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheese
12 Eggs
1 cup Whole Milk
1 teaspoon Dried Dill
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1. Spray crock pot with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Cook bacon until crisp, cool, then chop into 1/2 inch pieces.  Set aside.
3. Saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper for 5 minutes.
4. Place 1/3 of frozen hash browns in the bottom of the crock pot.
5. Add 1/3 bacon, 1/3 of the onion mixture, and 1/3 of the cheese.
6. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
7. In a large bowl mix eggs, milk, dill, salt, and pepper.
8. Pour over ingredients.
9. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

From A Latte' with Ott, A via Pinterest

Recipe Wednesday - Peanut Butter Chocolate Delight

If you're in need of an easy dessert that you might be able to make just from what's in your fridge and pantry this is a good one.  It's something that Jason and I whip up on night's when we need a little pick me up or want to celebrate a little.  This is a single serving dessert so don't expect to make it for a crowd but it sure is the thing to satisfy your sweet tooth!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Delight
Serves 1

1 sheet of Graham Crackers
1/4 cup Reese's peanut butter chips
Instant chocolate pudding
Cool Whip
Graham Cracker Crumbs
Milk

1. Mix up pudding with milk as instructed on package and let chill.
2. Microwave peanut butter chips in 30 second intervals until it is melted, stirring between each interval.
3. Crush up a few graham crackers to make crumbs.  I keep these in my pantry.
4. Lay out one graham cracker sheet.
5. Spread melted peanut butter chips over the graham cracker.
6. Spoon and spread pudding over the peanut butter.  Let chill for 5 minutes or as long as you can stand.
7. Top with Cool Whip.
8. Garnish with graham cracker crumbs.

e-Meals: A Review

Over the past six months or so I had heard about a service called eMeals.  From what I understood it was a meal planning service that provided you with recipes and a grocery list on a weekly basis to help your budget and meal planning.  I heard that it was good for those trying to stick to a budget.

When it came up on Groupon back in December, I had some credit and so I purchased a 6 month subscription for free.  I figured that it would, if nothing else, help me with meal planning and meal variation which are two of my biggest problems.

In the two months since I activated our subscription I have found that I really like the service.  I'm unsure if we'll continue our membership after our initial subscription is over but it has been so nice to have preselected meals to choose from.

And that brings me to all the options that come with eMeals.  We are on the Publix plan for families (3-6 people) that gives me seven meals a week.  There are options for a number of grocery stores (Aldi, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, and a general store) as well as options for dinner for two.  But those are just the "regular meal" options.  There are also "speciality meals" that give you recipes every week for things like Gluten free, portion control, low fat, natural and organic, etc.  You can only see your menu during the week (not choose from all of the menu's) and I'm not sure how often you can change your selection but I find the idea that there is lots of customization available nice.

Each week I download a menu with seven meals and a grocery list with items for each meal grouped, a description for which menu item the item is for, price, sale price and a few other things.  These come in a PDF format so I can print them straight off or I can save them to my computer for future reference.

We're getting seven meals in a row but I'm cooking maybe four of them.  That lets me choose the ones that our family likes and that meets my needs from a nursing standpoint.  The meals that I've made have been pretty easy and quick and I like the plethora of crock pot recipes that they have.

I share eMeals not because I'm getting compensated or anything.  Frankly, eMeals knows next to nothing about me other than a record in their membership if they cared to check.  I'm sharing about them because I'm enjoying their recipes and they're easy and GOOD.  If you want to chat about eMeals with me just let me know, I'll be happy to pass along what I know about it!

Pinterest Projects

A little while ago I posted about some pins from Pinterest that I was interested in doing.  Having made a few I thought I'd update and show you what I did!

Covering the fridge shelves with saran wrap

Difficulty: Easy

Application: I used press and seal and I had a hard time getting it to stick on my shelves.  I took the shelves out, cleaned them, and then applied the wrap.  While I think it will be nice to just be able to peel it off and have clean shelves, in order to propagate the cleanliness I'll need to replace the liner which took about the same amount of time (if not more!) than just taking the shelves out and cleaning them.

Worth it: Not for me

Easy, Healthy Breakfast

Difficulty: Easy

Creation: It didn't take long to mix these things up in a coffee cup.  And the one minute cook time is hard to meet in the morning rush.

Worth it: Yes! I didn't have blueberries, which I think would make this even tastier, but it was still a good breakfast that I still felt full from up until lunch.

Bunny Food

Difficulty: Easy

Creation: A fun, quick project to do with your little one's!

Worth it: YES!  Little one's can help mix this up and it is out of this world good!  Just don't say I didn't warn you if you eat it all in one afternoon!


Cleaning my cookie sheets with baking soda and peroxide
Difficulty: Medium
Creation: The post links to one of her previous posts saying to use 1/4 c baking soda and enough peroxide to make a paste.  I could never get my proportions right to make a true paste.  I tried this on three different things (two cookie sheets and the griddle on my stove) and it didn't make a difference on any of them.  I might not have had the proportions right or might not have given it enough time (5 min scrubbing each) but nothing changed in appearance.
Worth it: Nope, I didn't see any difference and the baking soda coated the area around my bowl leaving me more of a mess to clean up!

Lemon Shrimp

Difficulty: Medium (if your shrimp aren't peeled)

Creation: It takes a little time to peel the shrimp (if needed) and slice the lemons but other than that it's easy peasy!

Worth it: Yes.  This shrimp dish was easy and very good.  Charlotte gobbled the shrimp down and Jason and I thoroughly enjoyed them also!  

Some notes: I cut up 2 lemons and thought that was plenty although if you want yours presentation perfect you might want more.  I bought 3/4 lb of fresh shrimp for us and we ate every piece.  I just estimated with Italian seasoning from my jar instead of from a packet.

Parmesan Zucchini

Difficulty: Medium

Creation: It takes a while to cut up the zucchini and you have to remember to take it out at the right time and add the cheese.

Worth it: Yes.  Great summer vegetable dish.  Next time I'll add squash too and it will be perfect.  This was three smallish zucchini and we ate it all.

Parmesan Chicken

Difficulty: Easy

Creation: The parchment paper in the dish was a good hint that I'd never thought of before.  It made cleanup a breeze.  And they aren't lying when they say that your chicken will be juicy and tender!  But I did have to make myself not think about how much mayo was in the dish.  Next time I'll make sure I have a low-fat version on hand.

Worth it: Yes.  The chicken was amazing and very easy to put together!

Recipe Wednesday - Baby Food Peas, Carrots, and Sweet Potatoes

When I had Charlotte people would mention making my own baby food and I would almost convulse at the thought of it.  So Charlotte ate 100% store bought baby food and while I did try to buy organic most of the times, often they didn't have as good a variety of combinations in the organic section so I would get non-organic.

But for some reason I had an itch to make my own baby food for James.  I'm not sure why since I have four times less time as I did when I had Charlotte but, regardless, I decided to try it.  A well meaning family friend gave me The Baby and Toddler Cookbook when James was born and I finally put it to good use once James turned six months old.

On my first baby food outing I made sweet pea's and carrots.  Then, over the weekend I made sweet potatoes.  Not the most fun baby food but they have to start with the basics.  I did make a run to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get some needed items -- namely a steamer basket and ice cube trays -- but other than that I already had everything that I needed.

I think the cookbook will come in more handy when I'm trying to think of new things to feed James but since this was pretty basic I just needed to know how long I needed to steam this stuff since I had never steamed anything before.

I was very happy with the end product (even though James still isn't a fan of the pea's) and especially with how easy it was.  It took me less than an hour to make both of these batches and I got 24 cubes of baby food out of it.  I'm sure that it will take less time when I'm more confident with what I'm doing and don't want to do one step, slowly, at a time to make sure I'm doing everything right!

And as far as storage goes, the cookbook that I have says that homemade food can be kept in the fridge for 3 days in an airtight container and in the freezer for 3 months.  If you are defrosting frozen food defrost in the fridge and not on the counter.

I am going to try and share recipes as I come across them but I also started a Pinterest board for it too in case you're interested and want to check it out.  Before you start cooking I'd check out the "Dirty Dozen" list to make sure you buy organic produce that's listed on the dirty dozen.

Baby Food: Sweet Pea's
1 package frozen pea's

1. Fill pan with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil.
2. Place steamer into boiling water and pour pea's into steamer.
3. Let pea's steam for about 5 minutes, or until they are bright green and easily smash-able with a fork.
4. Run pea's under cold water to stop them cooking.  Reserve cooking liquid.
5. Pour pea's into a food processor (or blender).  Puree until they are the desired consistency, adding cooking liquid/milk to help thin out the mixture.
6. Pour into ice cube trays and cool until they are room temperature.  Cover with saran wrap to seal them.  After they are frozen you can transfer the cubes into a plastic bag.

Baby Food: Carrots
1 bushel organic carrots

1. Fill pan with 1 inch of water.  Bring to a boil.
2. Place steamer into boiling water and pour carrot's into steamer.
3. Let steam for 6-8 minutes or until they are tender.
4. Remove carrots and run under cold water.  DO NOT reserve cooking liquid.
5. Pour carrots into a food processor.  Puree until they are the desired consistency, adding fresh water/milk to help thin out the mixture.
6. Pour into ice cube trays and cool until they are room temperature.  Cover with saran wrap to seal them.  After they are frozen you can transfer the cubes into a plastic bag.

Baby Food: Sweet Potatoes
2 sweet potatoes

1. Scrub the sweet potatoes clean.
2. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes or until they are soft when you prick with a fork.
3. Scrape the insides into a food processor or blender.
4. Blend until you reach your desired consistency, adding water/milk as needed to help thin out the potatoes.
5. Pour into ice cube trays and cool until they are room temperature.  Cover with saran wrap to seal them.  After they are frozen you can transfer the cubes into a plastic bag.

(Step 5)

Even though James wasn't the biggest fan the first time he tried them, he ate the peas better than cereal!

The birthday before...

So far I've considered Jason and I to be in our mid-twenties but I think with Jason's birthday just past and mine approaching I don't think I can consider ourselves by that title anymore.  This was Jason's last birthday before the big milestone and it probably couldn't have been celebrated in a less low-key way!

It always amazes me how quickly Jason's birthday approaches after Christmas.  I know March should seem like a long time since December, but somehow I'm always taken aback when it rolls around!  This year I had a meeting in Tuscaloosa the day after his birthday so we celebrated the night before his birthday.

When we started talking about his birthday Charlotte decreed that he would have a birthday cake with polka dots.  By the time it was time to make his cake it had morphed into a cake with polka dots AND sprinkles! Such is the life with a two year old little girl making your cake decisions!  Thankfully, she did acquiesce and let us make the yellow cake with chocolate icing that he requested, she just had rule over the decorations!

I wasn't sure how to make polka dots but remembered a pin on Pinterest about making candy dots.  I figured that candy dots on a larger scale would be perfect so Charlotte and I set out to make them.  They turned out great but to warn you, this recipe makes a TON of icing!  We still have three almost full cookie sheets of dots and hearts and letters in addition to what went on our cake.  That being said though they were really easy to make and very fun to write with and they still taste yummy a week or so later!

Charlotte chose purple, pink, and green polka dots! Sorry Jason!

This was the point I realized we had waaaay too much icing!  I had done all this, still had most of the bag of pink and the larger bag of purple and the smaller bag of green!

Thankfully Jason is easy to please and he didn't care what his cake looked like as long as he 

got to eat it!

Charlotte loved the cake!  She ate it in big huge bites!

However, when she finished her piece it cracked me up so much that I had to take a picture.  Charlotte takes after Mom and I in many ways, and one of them is eating salty things along with her dessert.  Case in point here, she was eating her cake along with sweet potato fries and a dill pickle (that's what's on Kitty's head).  The funny thing is that she ate around the icing (which is also what my Mom does) but then took one bite with the chocolate icing and refused to touch the rest of it!

James enjoyed our celebration from his bouncer with his elephant!

Even though our celebration was a day early it was still a day to celebrate the wonderful husband and father that Jason is.  We are so blessed to have him and are so thankful for all that he does for us!