Finger Food

Bopper has puree foods down pat.  He even does thicker ones well.  Now we're working on finger foods.  It might be a bit before he gets the hang of it.

Potatoes

Does he or does he not like them?  Well, at least it was good for a laugh.

Family Breakfast

When Bopper was 7 weeks old we took a trip to Maine.  We drove.  It was a long two days.  But it gave Hubsters and I a chance to talk about some of the things we would like to institute as a family.  One of those things was family breakfast Saturdays, where the whole family sits down together for breakfast.  We decided that this tradition, along with some others, should start when Bopper was 6 months old.  Well, his 6 month birthday came and went and we didn't do any of these things because life got busy and we forgot.  So we started when he was a hair over 7 months.  Our first family breakfast included Grandma Bennett and pancakes!

Hubsters getting ready to make pancakes.

The secret recipe!

The first batch.

Bopper patiently waiting for breakfast to start and working on those sippy cup skills.

Bopper watching Daddy with wonder.

Bopper decided my knee was more interesting.

Yummmmm.

Let's eat!

 

A First Taste

Just because I'm on the mend from shoulder surgery doesn't mean that Little Man doesn't stop growing.  He's at the point where he is downing 8 ounces of formula like it's nothing, and he gets hungrier sooner.  I had wanted to wait until he was 6 months old to introduce other food into his diet, but I don't think he (or Mommy or Daddy) will be able to make it that long.  So, this morning at the ripe old age of 5 months and 15 days, Little Man had his first taste of non-formula food - baby oatmeal thinned down with formula.

It was more successful than I had expected and so far so good.  We'll see what tomorrow brings and then we'll add in some veggies in a few days.

Fresh Bread

I love bread.  It's one of my favorite foods.  I love to bake bread too.  One of my favorite things about it is the way it makes the house smell - all warm and yeasty....yummmm.

Since E was born, I haven't had much time to do anything in the kitchen, and I consider it a success when I am able to get dinner on the table before 8:30 PM.  Yesterday I was feeling good, and ambitious, and decided I would make some bread.

Thanks to my friend Jenn, I have this great 5 Minute Artisan Bread recipe.  It makes enough dough for 4 loaves, Hubsters likes it too, and it is one of the easiest bread recipes I've encountered.  No need for kneading.  Just mix and let it rise.

This is the story of my bread making journey from yesterday.

Here is what I started with:

Yup, not much and pretty simple.  Then it looks like this:

Again, can it get any easier?  Then you start the mixing of everything.  First the yeast into the warm water, which turns into yucky looking water, but you know it's for the best.

Then add the flour and salt.

Then comes the dough whisk to the rescue.  Never heard of a dough whisk?  Neither had I until I read this book and watched this video (from where the original recipe comes).  It looks like this:

And it turns the flour/salt/water/yeast mixture into this:

and then this:

in less than a minute.  And another great thing about it...there is hardly any dough death (the dough that is lost from stirring because it sticks to the spoon).  See, minimal:

Anyway, once mixed, pop the lid on and let it rise for 2 hours at room temperature.

 

After a two hour rise it looks like this:

Then it went into the fridge to chill until it was time to make the loaf for dinner.

When making the loaf, I just pulled out a grapefruit sized piece of dough, and formed it into a nice round ball.  Then it sits for 40 minutes to rise.

After it sat for 40 minutes, I slashed the top, popped it onto my baking stone in the oven, threw in some water in a metal pan for steam to create the crunchy crust, and let it cook at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.  And then I got this:

It was good and Hubsters and I restrained ourselves at dinner and didn't eat the whole thing!

First Christmas as a Family of Three

It's one of those times that we will never forget - when Christmas went from something we celebrated as a couple to something we celebrated as a family of three.  It was E's first Christmas.  Like me, many, many, many, many, moons ago, E's first Christmas was so close to his birthday that he really had no idea what was going on.  No idea why we traveled to Aunt Sharon's house, why there were so many people there, and why he got presents.  He doesn't even know what presents are yet.  But we are still so blessed to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and to be able to include E in that celebration.

A Christmas tradition for me growing up has been eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Granted, these are not homemade (but they never were when I was growing up either) but they are a tradition, and they are yummy.  One day, E will enjoy them too.

Hubsters, E, and I celebrated our first Christmas morning at home, as a family.  Hubsters read to us the story of the birth of Jesus and E enjoyed listening to it.  This is one of the new traditions for our new family and we are looking forward to many, many, more years of listening to this story.

Then, because it was Christmas, we dressed E in his Christmas PJs that were a gift from Kim, and said hi to Grandma and Grandpa.

Then E went down for his morning nap and Hubsters and I opened presents.  I have to remind you though, that we had a baby three weeks prior to Christmas, so presents were minimal, and both of us went shopping a couple of days before Christmas.  But, Christmas isn't about the stuff, it's about remembering the birth of Christ.  Anyway, we didn't really even have a tree, except for this little one that Kim got us two weeks prior.  So we put all the presents under it and had a good time.

Then it was off to my sister-in-law's house where we had another round of presents and celebrating Christmas with Hubsters' family.  Here are some photos of our time there.

Merry Christmas to all!

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

-Isaiah 9:6-7

Sweet Sleepies

It's another beautiful fall day.  The rain blew through yesterday and brought sunshine and lovely leaves!  Fortunately, I didn't end up going food shopping yesterday...it was pouring.  Hubsters will help me with that today.  But, the best part of the day:

The crib is assembled!  Bopper will have a place to sleep.  Now all we need are some sheets.

But I think Hubster's favorite part of the day is this:

I made apple butter in the crock pot.  It made a lot.  It's yummy, and that's coming from someone who doesn't even really like apple butter.

Fall is in the air!

Fall is FINALLY here, with temperatures in the 60s!  I am so excited.  Fall is my favorite season, and it reminds me of growing up in Maine.  But nothing will ever be as beautiful as the foliage of the Maine trees.  Nothing.  And I miss that so much.  And to honor those, I few pics I took a couple of years ago when I was visiting home.

But this being DC, we have to make do with what we have, and what we have are pick-your-own-apples apple orchards about an hour outside of the city!  Last weekend included Columbus Day on Monday, and that gave Hubsters a three day weekend.  Months ago I put "go apple picking" on the calendar so we would remember to go this year, and we went on Monday.

In my 8 years here in DC, I've been to a few different orchards and apple festivals, and one of my favorites is Stribling Orchards in Markham, VA.  So, after dropping a friend off at the airport early Monday morning, we headed out I-66 to Stribling.

It was a little cold, and drizzly, but we made it, and had a wonderful time!!

Apple picking is one of those things where you can really only pick so many, because, in reality, what are you going to do with all those apples?  Well, Hubsters and I really didn't think through this very well, because we picked a bushel and a half of apples, which translates to about 45 pounds.  Yes, 45 pounds.  When we had them in the car, it didn't look like much.

But when we got them home and put them on the counter, I went, "What am I going to do with all these apples???"  The gallon of milk is in the picture to help give you some perspective of size of the bags.

Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do with those apples.  I'm going to cook them.

I made a batch of apple sauce yesterday, and I've got another one simmering on the stove this afternoon.  It's my mom's super-secret recipe.  But not so secret that I wouldn't share it with you as I've already given it to my mother-in-law and the check-out lady at Stribling.

I have a recipe for apple butter in the crock pot that I'm going to try out this weekend after a friend from church loans me her apple peeler.

Other things I intend to make:

• More apple sauce - it freezes so well and we love it
• Apple bread
• Apple cake
• Apple cookies
• Apple pie for Hubsters
• Did I mention more apple sauce?

Another friend from church gave me a wonderful suggestion today, which is to slice up all the apples and freeze them so that you can make apple pie later in the season.  I'm going to try that one too.

It's fall, and that means apples, and pumpkins, and open windows and fresh air.  It's my favorite time of year!
 

A Clear Schedule and Banana Bread

Now that I'm officially in the third trimester, I am tired ALL the time.  And if you're curious, Bopper is about this size (but a little heavier as he was 2 lbs 6 oz last week at our last sonogram).  Hubsters was gracious last night and let me sleep for 11 hours.  Well, I was in bed for 11 hours though it wasn't all sleep, but it was all sweet.  Yay for pillows, a Kindle, and a great book!

Anyway, today is one of those rare days when there is nothing on the schedule until I go to my prenatal pilates class tonight.  I'm taking advantage of the opportunity with nothing on the schedule to do not much at all but putz around the house.  Especially when it looks like this outside:

(Which, if you can't tell, is drizzly, gray, and very muggy)

My husband likes to eat bananas with his cereal, and I like bananas in general, but sometimes I purchase too many and they get mushy.  It's a good thing that along with bananas, my husband likes banana bread, and my mother-in-law has a GREAT recipe for banana nut bread that she passed on to me.

A few banana loaves ago, when I ran out of nuts, I learned that Hubsters likes the bread better without the nuts.  Which is a win-win-win:  a win for the wallet as nuts are expensive, a win for me as I don't have to keep nuts on hand and it's one less step to do in making the bread, and a win for Hubsters as he gets bread that he likes!

I hope you enjoy my bread making journey as much as Hubsters and I like to eat the bread!

After 60 minutes in the oven you end up with this:

And of course, a sink that looks like this (with the exception of the large pot on the right which is still soaking after being used to make mashed potatoes for dinner last night), which makes me miss my sous chef very much:

I'd like to take a moment to showcase my favorite cabinet in the kitchen, my baking cabinet:

Now that the bread is done, it's time to start organizing Bopper's dresser and put away some clothes that were passed on to us by Grace after her son grew out of them.  Hubsters and I are so grateful for her generosity since we won't have to purchase many newborn clothing items at all.  And then I think I will work at rediscovering my enjoyment of embroidery, or maybe not.

Yummy

This makes me happy.

A Dinner Experiment

Over the last few months dinner has been less than creative, and my husband might say rather boring.  I have always enjoyed and taken pleasure in experimenting with new dinners.  Some worked (pineapple chicken bake) and some did not (don't even want to mention).  But then I got pregnant, and spent the first sixteen weeks not even wanting to think about or smell food.  My husband was a trooper during that time, and managed dinners himself and did a wonderful job.

I dubbed August "eat through the pantry month" so we didn't do much experimenting.  Now that September is here, we're back to trying a new dish in the bi-weekly dinner plan.  Today's try is Betty Crocker's Taco Beef Bake with Cheddar Biscuit Topping.  You can find the recipe here.

This was pretty simple, I had everything I needed in the pantry except the taco seasoning, and the frozen corn (and no, Dad, it's not because the frozen corn was in the freezer instead of the pantry).

Oh, and of course I have to display my FAVORITE part of the kitchen, my spice rack!

Next: 

• Brown the meat with my own special seasoning
• Add the taco spices, corn and salsa

It said to bring to a boil, but there wasn't enough water in the pan to make it boil.  I think it really meant "cook until the frozen corn isn't frozen anymore."

Then what makes it good - the Bisquick and CHEESE!  Mix it all up and heap it on top.  Then bake, but not as long as the directions call for, or it will be burned.

And the outcome...

Hubsters said it was a success!

It was a meal enjoyed.  And simple.  And I managed to time it just right so that it came out of the oven just as Hubsters walked through the door.  Now that's what I call an achievement!