Recipe of the (yester) day!

Thursday was an interesting day...or was it Wednesday??  Paige is by definition a dream baby...since she is my first I have nothing to compare her to.  I didn't grow up playing with lots of babies or babysitting tiny babies so my only knowledge of babies is from reading and from other mothers.  During my pregnancy, I was given lots of advice...advice from friends, family, strangers, co-workers, a man at Home Depot (ha!) and my doctor--who happens to be a man.  Lots of great advice, in fact, I love advice if the delivery is right.  But the thing that came up most was preparing for the lack of sleep and as my doc referred to it "Baby Bootcamp".  It was a little scary, I'm not going to lie...so I did what any intelligent, young pregnant woman would do...I started taking lots of naps to prepare!  Well, Paige came and sure she got up to eat every two hours but she went right back to sleep and at 3 months + 1 week, she started sleeping for at least 10 hours a night.  There was ONE night that we had to walk around rocking her, taking turns...she wasn't crying, just wide awake and wanting to be held.  We were wore smooth out by 1 am.  Really??  Just a few short years ago it was nothing for us to stay up until 1 am. That is until Wednesday night!  For some reason I decided to be a night owl...that NEVER happens.  If I make it until 10 pm it is a modern day miracle!  At 11:30 I decide to head to bed and as soon as my sweet little head hit my pillow I hear my dumpling.  I went to check on her and she was wide awake!  She stayed up until 3:30 am playing with me in her room then crashing.  I thought for sure that we would sleep in but Tyler locked himself out and had to start ringing the doorbell so I could let him in...grrrrr....BUT luckily for me, morning nap would come soon enough and I would be partaking!!  Before I went off to dreamland, I decided I had better eat and in a delirious state, I came up with a delectable sandwich for lack of better description.  Here is how it went:

The CobbWich

1/2 avocado

sliced turkey deli meat

swiss cheese or blue cheese

bacon

diced red onion

wrap-I used a Mission Sun-dried tomato wrap

drizzle of honey mustard or any dressing you like

I had no intentions of this becoming such a wonderful lunch but as I started putting it together I realized it looked just like a Cobb Salad minus the lettuce!  I heated the wrap on a pan and put the swiss cheese on so it would get melty and then just layered each of the ingredients.  It was too full to wrap up but I folded in both sides and ate it kind of like a slice of pizza.  It was sooo yummy and didn't need any chips or anything.  After wolfing it down, I was off to dreamland for a few hours waking up full and rested...Long story short...there really isn't anything in my life that can't be solved with a great sammy and a nap!  For awhile I thought, "are moms just dramatic and whiny?!?!"  Nope, we just got extremely lucky and will probably be WAY to scared to have baby #2!!!!!!!!!!!  HAHAHAHAHA

~A Southern Affair~

Everything about a party appeals to me!! Well...besides cleaning of course:) I married the perfect person for a lot of reasons but in regards to entertaining, Tyler enjoys it as much if not more than I do! There is nothing we would rather do than spend time with our friends and family, so why not have lots of silly parties with lots of food?!?! We have had Christmas parties, fiestas, football bashes, PINK party, Girls Nights and so many other fun events but one party we love having is the Derby Party!! Tyler loves horse racing and I actually really enjoy it too.
May 1st was the Second Annual Red Carpet Derby event at the Beaver house and it was a huge success again this year! All the ladies looked beautiful in their best dresses and wonderful hats and the gents looked dashing in their seersucker, southern duds!! Tyler and I did A LOT of research last year making sure we were well educated on how to throw a proper derby party. Only serving the appropriate food and drinks at our event!! This year on the menu was Hot Brown Sandwiches, bowtie pasta, potato salad, coleslaw, shrimp-topped deviled eggs, lil smokies, fruit and veggies AND of course Mint Juleps!! Thanks to my dear friend Buffy, I was able to get the food all set up (almost) on time!!! Tyler created bio sheets for each of the horses and displayed them on a wall and roses were featured all over the house--for those of you that don't know the derby is "The run for the Roses"!! I had cookies made with this year's derby logo and some other fun designs with jockey hats, lady hats and horses for a fun decoration and snack for the kids! Those were a HUGE hit and I highly recommend http://1smartcookie.com/ !! The weather was perfect so we were able to enjoy the backyard and some good ol fashioned corn hole and bubble blowing!
The next BIG party we have will probably be Paige's 1st birthday, which of course I started thinking about months ago--hee hee! More to come on that soon but please feel free to pass on any great ideas you may have!

PAIGE POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION: I know MOST of the people that check out this blog are coming to see updates about the tiniest member of our family...and NO I have not gotten sick of writing about my little ham bone, I PROMISE to not only write about food BUT there are a few things I am waiting on for her "Next Grand Post!" (ha!)...she has a well baby check next week (Stats are important, people) AND one of my dear friends who happens to be a soon famous photographer (Tanda) took some new pics of her today and they are sure to be a delicious treat ! SOOO, stay tuned for more on our tator tot and info on a fantastic photographer!! Tanda--don't forget the little people when you become rich and famous!!!! Here is a photo she took back in December that Tyler and I both fell head over heels in love with to leave you with a little teaser to come back for more...

Summer Salad

Summertime is my favorite time of year!  I can't think of anything I don't like about it!  Warm, sunny, bronze skin, pools, flippy floppys, sitting on a patio, cucumbers soaked in vinegar...the list goes on...

Last night I was trying to decide what to fix myself up for dinner--didn't make the halibut yet--so I decided to mix up some of my favorite things to make a nice early summer salad!!  I have about 30 varieties of the tomato avocado salad in the summer but this is my current favorite. 

What you need:
1 medium tomato-chopped and sprinkled with salt and pepper
1 avocado-sliced
1/4 cup chopped red onion
chicken breast (I used the Tyson chick breast strips pre-cooked)
goat cheese (just a little bit)
optional-walnuts

After you chop everything and throw into a bowl, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and a little EVOO and enjoy!  Tastes like summer~

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!