Food for Thought...

Every once in awhile I like to bake. I don't really have a sweet tooth so it isn't very often I dream of eating chocolate...I love the idea of it and the smells and the smile on someone's face when they are devouring something warm, sweet and delicious...but for me, I would 9 times out of 10 choose a big, hearty meal. I also have a tendency to tweek recipes or fail to measure with accuracy which works fine with enchiladas but not baking! But I stumbled onto a new favorite cooking blog (smittenkitchen.com) and have been perusing lots of her recipes. I love her pictures, writing style and lets face it...recipe for homemade poptarts--one of my most favorite things! I came across this Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake recipe and have had my heart set on making it.

While chatting with my friend Kim today she said "I want my kids to always remember how delicious my cooking is and hope it always brings them home!" Yes!! That's what its all about isn't it?!?! Everytime I think about going to visit my grandmas the first thing I think about is what they would fix to eat!! My grandma Kay would make Scott and I HUGE breakfasts served on fancy dishes on the patio. We would sip our orange juice out of wine glasses and eat until our hearts (and bellies) content. Nanny made the most amazing family lunches, took me to farmers markets, grew her own garden and made every kind of Christmas candy imaginable! She would also make me hamburger helper when I was sick--even if I wanted it at 7 am. The point is, I want my sweet girl to always look forward to her mom's cooking! And when she is off at college and has a long, hard week to know that she can come home and be spoiled rotten with love and yummy food!

So after my conversation with Kim, I was inspired to get to my chocolate cake...if I am going to win my daughter over through her belly I better get a start on my baking skills!! Oh, did I mention I also never make anything pretty...I just don't have it in me...I'm not artistic or patient...or Martha Stewart like. But none the less, the cake is AMAZING and I got more excited as I whipped through each step...then when I put the final touch (chocolate peanut butter glaze) it was supposed to ever so perfectly drip all over the cake ??? Hmmm...nope mine globbed...but my hubs and babe thought it was the best thing they had ever tasted!!! WIN!!

So whatever your motives are for cooking or baking...if you like chocolate and/or peanut butter, this one is for YOU!!

WARNING: This is not a quick, throw together kind of recipe...you MUST be in the mood and with cooling times and different steps does take quite awhile but so worth it!

Here is the link to the recipe and her beautiful photos!!

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/

Thank you to my friend, Jordan for teaching me how to make a photo collage!! :)

To Blog or Not to Blog, that is the question!!

I disappeared from the blogging world 8 months ago and have gone back and forth on whether I wanted to invest the time to keep it up! During that time I have started several posts but left the computer before ever finishing another one. Lots of reasons...distractions, lack of creativity, my beautiful-sweet girl, my puppiccino (Oscar) and various new hobbies. It was also overwhelming thinking about how I would account for lost time and try to blog about the past 8 months...well, that would take FOREVER!! So, I am just going to get back into it and maybe tell stories from the past as they relate to whatever I happen to be talking about.
There are several reasons I DO want to blog...I want to remember the funny things that happen in our day-to-day lives, I am passionate about cooking and creating my own recipes but I NEVER write them down and dare I say it...trying my hand at gardening yet again! More on that later...also learning to sew, decorating, mothering, parenting, homemade baby food.....organizing...cleaning...activities...getting to know my neighbors (and realizing I already knew some!--small world)
To say the least, I am LOVING my life...my baby, my hubby, my doggy, being a STAY AT HOME MOM, you get the point~enough gushing!
I try to do a good job of taking care of the hubs since thanks to him, I get to be the CEO of our household--yes I like fancy titles:) BUT he is very health concious and is serious about eating healthy during the week...grrr...I do love to cook but I am a southern girl through and through...you name it and I can cook it...what's that you say?? No potatoes, no fried, no mayo, no butter, no pasta...on top of that no onions?!?! Now I am in trouble...Hubs wants healthy, bland meals for dinner. BORING! I try to be creative but my brain always steers a hard left back to homemade mac & cheese, garlic potatoes, chicken fried steak, fettucine, the list goes on...so I read a lot of blogs and try to find delicious things YOU all are cooking so I can motivate myself to learn to make delicious healthy meals for my family! Then the weekends I can go back to my roots!! So to finish off this post before I get distracted, I will leave with the meal plan for the week:
Monday: Not So Fried Rice w/sirloin (cheap/easy/delicious-think healthy Pei Wei!)
Tuesday: Halibut w/ Peach Salsa, fresh green beans, cilantro lime rice
Wednesday: Hamburger patties, avacado salad, Ranch Beans
Thursday: Date Night (Yay!)
Friday: BBQ Chicken, garlic mash, skillet broccoli
Saturday: Porkipine Meatballs & Fettucine (Janet's Recipe--Yummalicious)
Sunday: Roast with potatoes and carrots, dinner rolls, maybe a salad
Also will be making a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (which I will force Tyler to try) but I cannot wait until the weekend to make it, its calling my name...
Pic and recipe to follow of the halibut--unless it is a disaster!!

8 months

Seven Months!

1/2 a Year! 6 Months Old

Where did the time go?! 

27 inches long and 18 pounds, 4 ounces!

5 Months Going on 15

This was definitely the biggest month of first’s!!! Paige has been a busy girl lately! We celebrated our first Christmas as a family of three and it was wonderful! She loves all of my Griswald decorations everywhere and actually loved opening presents and ripping paper!

Best of all we traveled to Vegas to be with my family for the holidays which means first flight! It was a great experience and we can already tell she will have lots of stamps in her passport before she reaches the double digits in age! She loved going to the new casino “City Center” to see all the lights and action—she is an avid people watcher! She has decided it is much more pleasant to sleep on her belly and her favorite song is Itsy Bitsy Spider.

She looks like daddy but is ever as animated as mommy and loves showing off! She cheered her team in the national championship and had to learn the hard lesson, no matter how cute you look in your team colors, they can still lose. She enjoyed her first helping of baby cereal during the game last night and is definitely going to be a great eater (duh!). She is rolling all around everywhere and loves petting Oscar and dies laughing when he gives her “good morning kisses”.

Here are her current stats as of yesterday: 15 pounds, 9 ounces, 26 inches long, 76-90% in all categories, and healthy as can be! The doc said she is the smartest, funniest, prettiest baby he has ever met—oh wait, maybe Tyler said that?? She is quite the social butterfly and has several best buddies she plays with—and quite a few new friends on the way!! Life is good…

Coming soon: favorite foods, toy reviews and dealing with outgrowing your favorite dress in ONE week!!

Love,

Tyler, Heather, Paige and Oscar

Four Months!!!

It’s crazy that four months have already flown by since Miss Paige made her arrival!! It’s even crazier all the changes and new things happening! Her favorite thing right now is getting into a laughing contest with me or Tyler…she also likes to compete with me on who can yell louder…it is quite entertaining!! She is flipping herself over in rapid speeds and tries her hardest to sit up all by herself!! I don’t have her exact measurements but she is super long (wearing 6 month pj’s so they are long enough) and stores fat reserves in her wrists:) ! We are preparing for a few more 1st—we are heading to Vegas next week for Christmas with my parents and it will be her first plane ride, first trip out of the state and of course, first Christmas!! We can hardly wait!!

We hope you all have a magical Christmas!! Here are a couple pics from this week!