A New Diet

So, since Laurie is beguiling us all with tempting visions of decadent deliciousnesses, I thought I would share a food-related tidbit to balance it out. I am beginning a new diet! I don't know if any of the other readers of this blog are working on those post-baby pounds, but for me, in my "pre-diabetic condition", food has become a daily struggle and concern. I need fast, easy food that fits my low-glycemic diet and can serve the needs of the rest of my family as well. Enter Anne Collins! She is a dietician who runs an online diet support program with about 15 different diets to cater to different needs and metabolisms. The site includes a 24-hour hotline, support forums, complete meal plans and (veeery important to me) shopping lists based on the meal plan for the week.

I found Ms Collins when I was dieting after weaning Sofi and her plan helped me lose 25 lbs-- back to my wedding weight! (and that's after giving birth to a 9lb baby!) I have great hopes that her low glycemic index plan will do me just as well. I'll let you know how it goes!

Turkey and Dumplings...

Wondering what to do with all that leftover Thanksgiving/Easter/special occasion turkey? Wonder no longer!! I used a "slow cooker chicken and dumplings" recipe with some left over turkey and it was great!! I read lots of the member reviews and seasoned the soup with.... paprika, garlic powder, salt, pepper, seasoned salt....I think that's it. I added 2 cans of vegetables, 1 of peas and 1 of mixed veggies. (I would normally go fresh or frozen, not being a huge fan of veggies from cans, but I think those are better for soups and stews). I didn't use a slow cooker since the turkey was already cooked, just heated everything up in a big stockpot. Then made the dumplings...the fun part!

So this recipe is unique because you use refrigerated biscuit dough for your dumplings. It's not alot of work but it tastes like you went to alot of trouble (the best kind of recipe!). I used 1 can which was plenty for 2 of us. You can make them as doughy or as done as you like. My husband usually ends up begging for big doughy goo-balls.
There is actual soup underneath those dumplings! (Here they are cooking)
Mmmmm!

Baked Ziti

And it was gooooooood.

4 Layer Strawberry Cake

An in-process...

Finished
Cut
Enjoyed.

Arbonne

Yeah for your first post Becky!  Now maybe if we can get something out of Laura..... (hint hint) we can go public ;-)

Well I really understand the feeling of wanting to contribute to the family finances.  I'll be thinking of you and keeping an eye out for opportunities, but just for info I found the link for Arbonne baby products.  Their stuff looks really nice!  If you don't have to make a financial investment, then... why not??  

So everyone....check out the website for Arbonne!  

What do you think?

So as a SAHM, I am constantly trying to find little things I can do to not only save money but potentially make some money on the side. At this time I still do the bookwork for the local grain elevator and watch my neighbor in the afternoon after preschool. And as much as I absolutly love being a SAHM and would not trade it for the world, I feel like I should find some way to help out financially as well as meet some of my own goals. But what can I do to accomplish this. I have been asking myself this questions for months. I think that is why I started making the taggie blankets, hoping that maybe it would be something I could do and succeed at. But I don't know if I have the skills or opprotunities to do it. And recently I started using Arbonne baby products on Eve and love love love them. A Christian woman I met approached me about praying about joining the company part time and I am so torn about it. That is why I am writing this post and putting it out there to get some imput. I have always talked secretly of having my own business, but selling things scares me to death. I really like the products, but they can be kind of expensive and I don't want my friends to feel like I am pushing things on them. So if you know anything about the company or have any advise PLEASE share. Thanks and yeah for my first post!
**Becky**

Babyfood!!

I am having a great time making baby food!! I can't believe how much money it saves and I really enjoy doing it. It's nice to know that my son is eating something that I made. Making it, has been a learning experience though, mostly in the area of quantity. These pictures include the first things I made, peas and carrots, but I've branched out a lot since then.

This picture is to give an idea of quantity. That jar is .79 and the amount of peas in the homemade food cost about $2.00. Bon Apetit!

Coming soon...

Homemade Baby Food
Baked Ziti
Turkey and Dumplings
Review of Three Cups of Tea
4-layer Chocolate and Strawberry cake
Beer. See Here please.

This really is all coming soon!! Mmmmmmm, I can't wait!!

Another Recipe

Since Laurie's posting a recipe this week, I think I'll join the trend. I made this tonight for our family and a friend who just had a baby. Super easy, best-tasting chicken ever! (let's not get into the fat or calories though....) I have to put in a plug for my favorite recipe site: recipezaar.com. That's where I found this recipe last year and have made it often since then. I usually serve it with garlic mashed potatoes, veggies, salad and sometimes bread.

Cheesy Chicken Breasts:

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breast

1/3 cup olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated

1/3 cup cheddar cheese, finely grated

1 tablespoon parsley, chop

Directions

1. In a bowl combine oil and garlic and let set for 15 minutes.
2. In a bowl combine breadcrumbs, pepper, salt and paprika. Stir well.
3. Add parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and parsley to the breadcrumb mixture and stir well to combine.
4. Dip chicken breast into oil to coat on both sides, then dip into crumb mixture coating well on both sides. Place chicken breast on greased baking dish.
5. Repeat with all chicken breasts.
6. Drizzle remaining oil over chicken breasts.
7. Bake at 400° for 35 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Gymboree!

I love gymboree!! If you are shopping for something cute for your under-tweenage child (read: elementary or younger) then Gymboree is the place for you!! Normally, it's a little pricey, but if you catch a sale....it's awesome. I can't rave enough! Their pajamas really fit, closely too, which is good, in case like me, sometimes you go in to check on your sleeping baby and he has somehow worked a foot out through a roomy arm or neck hole.
Joey has this to sleep in. I think it's precious! I also think that zippers are the only way to go! Their girls clothes make me insanely jealous. I look at them all the time. The little dresses.... well I think they are adorable!!

Biscotti

Last year I went "scone crazy". I made every type of scone I could think of. It was great fun. I'm trying out biscotti now. Since I mostly use allrecipes to find my recipes, you'll probably see me point you there plenty. For my first try at biscotti I used all recipes' version of Spring Biscotti:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange zest (this is really what makes this recipe....don't skip!!)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 1/4 cups pistachio nuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and egg white one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually blend into the creamed mixture using a wooden spoon. Stir in the white chocolate, dried cranberries, and pistachios. Cover, and chill for 30 minutes, or until dough is no longer sticky.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface, and divide into halves. Form each half into a flattish log about 12 inches long by 3 inches wide. Arrange logs at least 3 inches apart on baking sheet.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven, or until pale gold. Allow logs to cool on the baking sheet until cool enough to handle. On a cutting board, cut logs crosswise on a diagonal into 1 inch thick slices. Arrange on baking sheet.
5. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until golden. Transfer biscotti to wire racks, and cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour for one of the cups of white flower and used dried cherries instead of dried cranberries. I also used much less pistachios...maybe 3/4 cup. It just took forever to shell them! All and all I think they turned out well and I was amazed how easy it was to get the shape and texture. They are perfect dipped in some tea or coffee. I drizzled with confec. sugar and milk because I didn't want to mess with melting the chocolate but next time....

The recipe makes enough to have plenty for home and give some to a neighbor. Enjoy!!!

Hi there

Since Laurie introduced herself, I will too! I'm a wife, mother and teacher-- amongst other things. I have two beautiful children and a husband that no other man can hold a candle to! (sorry, Laurie...) I teach music, my hubby teaches middle school (because he's a saint-- and because someone has to) at a small Christian, classical school here in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

Some things I am passionate about:

My marriage
My children
Natural Childbirth
Homeschooling

Some things I just enjoy blogging about:

Weddings
Flowers
Gardening
Cooking

I will probably use this blog to talk about things I discover/learn in the areas of child-rearing and home-building, in particular, with the occasional vent or inspiration in other topics. If you disagree with something I post, feel free to comment! I enjoy discussion and debate-- probably more than I should.

Mmmmmm!!

A brief introduction. My name is Laurie. I am married to a wonderful photographer, Matt and have a sweet 6 mo. old baby boy, Josiah. I imagine most of my posts will be related
to cooking. To decorate the blog I spent...well - a pretty good amount of time, looking at food images on Google Images. I had a great time. Honestly, I really like food, cooking it, making it, thinking about cooking it or making it. :-)

I live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area far away from most of my friends and family. I have asked several friends to do this blog with me, in general good friends that are far away from me!! (very sad) Friends that, I regularly depend on for advice parenting, figuring out what books to read, or what to make for dinner. Basically I think that these ladies are like domestic goddesses, and since that blog name was taken, you'll have to just keep that in mind.

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to more blogging! Enjoy my "montage" below of images that I liked and am hoping to talk about. There are alot of cupcakes because that was the background on this template and they just looked so yummy!

What you can find on this blog

In this expansive world of blogging, you can locate websites that discuss almost everything. Looking over the blogs of others, strangers mostly, I became interested in beginning a new blog. The food blogs were the most interesting to me, I found a whole group of vegan blogs (an idea that I wouldn't be interested in doing exclusively but I do like reading about it) and lots of blogs with recipe reviews and ideas. Then I joined a book club and thought it would be neat to have a place to write about books I've read. With friends that have similar interests for cooking, reading, religion, child-rearing, etc I thought it would be neat to have a place to talk about some of those things. So, feel free to cruise this blog to find out about some of our "favorite things". I'll let everyone introduce themselves in their own time, and I hope you enjoy these snapshots of our lives.