My beautiful Hannah November 6, 2009

Hannah means Grace.

And truly, God’s grace has been abounding through her.

In August, when we had Jonathan’s birthday party, I found myself elbow deep in 20 pounds of ground beef. It had been a long week (Jonathan was gone every night for work or school) and I still had a party to prepare for. I got Julia off to bed and Hannah just sat in her swing for two hours while I cleaned, cooked, and prepped. Not once did she make a peep.

Last week, while I was doing laundry, she started to get sleepy. I put her in her crib, but she wasn’t going to sleep. So I brought her down stairs and put her on my bed. After just a few minutes, she stopped fussing. I looked over and she was fast asleep!*

This week, I went to Dollar Tree. It was during Hannah’s late afternoon/early evening nap.

And she fell asleep.

In the store.

No crying. Just closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Now, Hannah isn’t always this amazing.

She is really not a fan of anyone else but me – mostly she just doesn’t like other people holding her.

Not even Jonathan sometimes (sorry babe!).

And she does want to nurse all night long.

But, it’s a small price to pay when she’s such a good baby (especially since she comes to bed with us after her first feeding ).

She turns 5 months old on the 15th. She can now roll over front to back, back to front. As of last week she is sitting up on her own. It’s not for very long, but she’s getting better and better.

She loves being naked (reminds me of her big sister!) and most thoroughly enjoys when I blow raspberries on her chubby cheeks, neck or tummy. She gets to laughing so hard it makes Julia and I both laugh.

Hannah Michelle is a wonderful, beautiful addition to our family. She’s a keeper.

*Passed out from all her hard work!

Getting all bundled up to go out into the cold.

Laughy baby!

Truthful Thursday – Psalm 31 November 5, 2009

“But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, “You are my God!” My future is in your hands.” Psalm 31:14-15a

For more information on how to participate in Truthful Thursday, click here.
Don’t forget to comment on my blog and mention TT on yours!

Monthly menu planning November 3, 2009

Whoa! I gotta say I’m excited at how excited everyone has been about my No Cook November! Hopefully all you ladies (and gents) will be inspired and start your own No Cook month and open up a little more time for yourselves.

My friend, Leah, asked me how I was liking NCN this afternoon.

I love it!

Hands down.

I know I’m only on day two, but there is something about having dinner “done” by 10 am that makes a girl smile.

Anyways, I thought I’d share what I do to plan for a month of meals.

We have a large monthly calendar that hangs on our fridge. At the end of every month I write up next months meals (ok, ok, I confess, I have waited until the month starts before planning). First things first, I see what we have planned for the month and assign the easiest meals for the hardest days. Thursdays are killers around here. Jonathan has work and then class and I have the girls all day till my Body Attack class. So, I usually make bean and cheese tacos, salad or spaghetti on these days. Our babysitter never complains, so I keep it really simple.

After all my easy meals are on the calendar, I start filling in.

With a red pen.

Red on my calendar always means food.

I did that as a way to make the meal stand out, catch the eye and hope that people would want to join us for dinner.

And just so you know, you can always join us for dinner.

Always.

Anyways…. back to my planning.

I will put down oldies but goodies.

I will put down surprises (Jonathan loves him some steak!).

I will put down something more adventurous (i.e. time consuming).

If I plan to use chicken one night (for a soup or stir fry), I will plan to thaw extra to use two night later. The same night I thaw it, I grill it on my Foreman (LOVE my Foreman) and use the grilled chicken for a salad or something two days later. A sample week might look like this:

- Turkey tenderloin with potatoes and veggies
- Tex Mex lasagna
- Turkey salad (using leftover turkey from Monday)
- Spaghetti (using leftover ground beef from Tuesday)
- Bean and cheese tacos (a staple for my family!!)

I have several “healthier” cookbooks that I take ideas from, but I love All Recipes and have gotten some amazing recipes from them.

I plan to eat leftovers or sandwiches on the weekends, as we tend to be on the go and need food that is quickly reheated and doesn’t take much time to cook.

As for getting good deals on food….

I plan ahead.

Way ahead.

Like buying 40 pounds of ground beef and chicken ahead.

When Fareway runs an amazing deal on meats, I buy it and freeze it. I might not have pork on the menu this month, but it will be on next month’s! Example: Monday Wal-Mart was marking down a lot of meat that was coming up on it’s use/freeze by date. So I bought a lot. I mean A LOT. I have no plans to use it this month (with the exception of a few things), but I will set out to use it over the next few months. I don’t worry so much about saving 50 cents on sour cream or that sort of stuff, so I’ve stopped really running around town looking for the best deals. I won’t move around meals because potatoes are on sale this week but I don’t have them on the schedule till next week. I figure if it’s going to save me lots of money (like $5 plus) then I will budge. But I’m way too lazy to buy something that is on sale when it’s inconvenient for me.  On the other hand, it’s nice knowing what we’re having at the end of the month when pasta sauce goes on sale. I buy it and save it for three weeks.

So, that’s pretty much what I do. It’s not too hard and after a couple of months is really quite easy. I love it. I love having everything planned out and ready to go. Makes life that much simpler.

The month I stopped cooking November 1, 2009

November is a big month for our family.

Julia turns 2.

Two of my best friends from college are coming to visit.

We are spending Thanksgiving in Tennessee; it will be the first time in 10 years the whole family has been together.

And, of course, I’ve decided to give up cooking.

Well, not entirely.

I might, on occasion, brown some meat.

Or boil water.

But for the most part, I will not be cooking.

My crockpot will.

In the “eating healthy on a budget” world, I have stumbled across this site numerous times. I’ve read about it, heard about it and even talked about it, but never given it much thought. Until this past month.

I love to cook.

I love to bake.

I love pretty much anything revolving around the kitchen and food.

But it’s gotten harder and harder to incorporate Julia and Hannah into my dinnertime cooking. I want Julia to “help” as much as she’s able, but 4:30-5 seems to be Hannah’s fussiest time of the day (she’s phasing out her last nap). Which means, I find myself a tad stressed with a little helper, a cry-baby and the clock ticking. So, I resolved to make things easier.

Starting tomorrow (or for most of my readers, today), I am making crockpot meals every week day for the month of November*. This will allow me to have Julia help me with dinner in the mornings, free myself up to have more time in the late afternoon to focus on both girls, while still providing nutritious meals for the family.

It’s a win-win.

Here is our meal schedule for the month (most of these recipes are from Crockpot 365, but a few are ones I already had):

Pumpkin Soup

Pasta Fagioli

Maple Dijon Chicken

Harvest Stew

Turkey and wild rice soup

Peppercorn steak

Potato Soup

Sloppy Joes

Salsa chicken and black bean soup

End of summer harvest soup

Philly cheesesteak soup

Chicken makhani Indian butter

Autumn sausage casserole

Chicken and sweet potato stew

Pumpkin black bean soup

 

*I currently have planned to have leftovers for the weekends, but I’m sure I will end up cooking at some point over the next month. Unless I can convince Jonathan on those times….

Truthful Thursday – 2 John October 29, 2009

“Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.” 2 John 1:6

For more information on how to participate in Truthful Thursday, click here.
Don’t forget to comment on my blog and mention TT on yours!

New favorite recipes October 27, 2009

Last week we bought a pumpkin for carving. I was at a loss as what to do with all the pumpkin guts so I asked my BFF, Google.

Turns out you can just puree up those puppies.

So I did.

I set aside the pumpkin seeds for roasting, then I tossed all the guts into my blender (a little at a time) and hit “puree”.

I ended up with about 30 oz of puree.

With all my yummy pumpkin-ness, I made some new favorite treats I thought I’d pass along.

Pumpkin Pancakes*:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar (I used sucanat instead)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I ran out of cinnamon, so I used pumpkin spice)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

I made about 4 pancakes the first day and saved the batter. It filled up 1 1/2 12oz mason jars. It was even better the second day! And the third.

Pumpkin Muffins*:

1 small sugar pumpkin, seeded (about one can of puree – 2 cups)

3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose)

2 cups white sugar (I used sucanat)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cloves

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners. *Makes 24 muffins.

Split pumpkin in half. Remove seeds and strings. Place on baking sheet, cut side down. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven until tender, about 90 minutes. Remove pumpkin pulp and puree in blender. Measure out 2 cups pumpkin puree; set aside. *Again, you can just use the canned puree, or homemade puree.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 2 cups pumpkin puree, vegetable oil and eggs. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Jonathan and I both agreed that these taste awesome, but are lacking something. Next time I make them (which might be pretty soon – as they are almost all gone!) I’m adding chopped up cranberries.

One hour, thirteen minutes October 26, 2009

I ran my first (and hopefully not my last) 10K this past Saturday.

It was exhausting.

It was exhilarating.

I hated it.

I loved it.

6.2 miles is the furthers I have ever run.

In. My. Whole. Life.

It was exhausting (did I mention that?!).

It was exhilarating.

Special shout outs to Jonathan for all his continued support, to Jamie for her encouragement to run and Derricca for running the race along side me!

Looks like I’m gonna start training for this run in April ‘10.

Truthful Thursday – 2 Peter 3 October 22, 2009

“But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent… And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.” 2 Peter 3:8-9;15a

For more information on how to participate in Truthful Thursday, click here.

Regift Christmas October 20, 2009

Yes, yes, I know Christmas isn’t for another 66 days. My Christmas lights aren’t up yet, promise*.

Every year, without fail, I never know what to get Jonathan. Last night I asked him what he wanted. He had no clue.

And that’s when it happened.

My genius of a husband came up with a spectacular idea.

Regift Christmas.

Here’s the idea:

We have to regift items the other person hasn’t used in the last year, or hasn’t used as it was originally intended.

Honestly, I’ve no clue what I’m going to regift Jonathan, but I’ve got a garage and closet full of things I’m certain he hasn’t used that will be pretty sweet to regift.

I’m really looking forward to Regift Christmas and what I re-get!

*Last night, while discussing our regift idea, I told Jonathan I was planning to put up the Christmas tree on Sunday, November 15th. His response, “Why so late?”. And that, my dear friends, is why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my husband.

For those curious minds, the tree is going up November 6th. Oh yeah.

That’s kinda corny. Get it, corn-y. Ha ha! October 16, 2009

This last week I watched King Corn. It was very fascinating. It’s a genuine eye opener about what Americans ingest and how corn has taken over our diets. I highly recommend it.

Anyways, two things I learned from this movie kinda unnerved me:

- 70% of the antibiotics used in America are used on cattle.

- Americans, on average, only spend 16-17% of their monthly income on food. 50 years ago it was closer to 50+%.

My friend, Dana, recently posted her thoughts on eating more organic. She’s taking baby steps towards using organic meat in her meals once a week.

I like baby steps.

Well, not really.

Really, what I love to do (and Jonathan can attest) is start these really grand wonderful schemes.

And never follow through.

So, in all reality, Jonathan likes baby steps for me.

And so, I like baby steps.

Rather than banish the 40+ pounds of chicken I have frozen in our freezer, I decided to make a list of the products we consume on a regular basis that could easily be substituted.

Here is said list:

potato chips

graham crackers

snack packs (100 calorie packs)

chicken broth

eggs

I went to New Pi to do a little more price matching. I knew the amounts for the eggs (roughly $3.50 for free range organic) but needed a better idea on the other items. Wanna know what? Organic potato chips are $5.99. Organic chicken broth – $3.99. Ye-ow!

But, really, if I step back and think about it, I’m use to only spending approximately 16-17% of my income on food. So, I need to change my expectations… and start experimenting.

Which leads me to my newest adventure:

potato chips

I borrowed a mandolin from Ambre and sliced up 3 potatoes. I did them in different sizes (1/4″, 1/8″, 1/4″ ruffled) to get an idea of what might work best. I covered them with a tad amount of EVOO and salt and baked them. So far, the only ones that came out crispy like a chip were the 1/4″. The other two were just french fries in a chip form. I think it might be because I had a smaller amount of the 1/4″, so they were spread out and given a better chance of baking without getting soggy. They turned out really tasty and chip like. Julia and I ate them all. So, clearly, no complaints. I’m gonna practice a little more tomorrow and this weekend. I’m hoping to find the perfect potato chip so we can start substituting as soon as our current bag runs out.

My second adventure was making homemade chicken broth. I’ve done this once in the past, but it didn’t turn out nearly as good.

This time I used the bones from a chicken we purchased at New Pi. I followed a trusted recipe and got 80+ ounces. I refrigerated most of it, since I will be using it next week in two soups. But I also froze two ice cube trays full, in order to have it on hand when needed in the future.

I’m kinda proud of myself. I felt all pioneer-y and susie-home-baker.

Next week I plan on tackling the graham crackers.