A Baking Adventure

I don't bake often at all, but I have been longing for an excuse to bake lately so that Amaia and I could make cookies together.  She is a very good and healthy eater, but my girl loves her cookies!  She has the eating habits of her mama, go figure!  This week our community group decided to have a dessert/snack night and I had my excuse!

I knew this could have gone either way: a first world disaster, in which Amaia was mad at me the entire time for not letting her eat the cookies or a really sweet mommy-daughter experience.   I am pleased to report that it was super fun and sweet!

I have been trying to work on the concept of pretending with Amaia, so that when she tries to give her dolly a bath I can tell her she needs to pretend to give dolly a bath and not actually throw her in a tub of water :)  Thus, I had her pretend to make cookies in her kitchen while I prepared our ingredients.  I gave her a real spatula and she was happy as could be.

Once I had things assembled I pulled up a chair and had her stand next to me. She was slightly freaked out by the electric mixer at first, but I had her put her arm me and "hug mommy" and we were good to go! 

Don't we look cute in our aprons?!  A shout-out to Aunt Ashley for Amaia's super cute apron!

Amaia mostly watched the cookie making, but she did help me stir in the chocolate chips.  She was a great little assistant! I did let her eat a couple chocolate chips and as you can see here she did try to sneak a bite while I was snapping a photo.  Can you really blame her?? Not to worry though I put the nix on that pronto!  I also learned that one benefit of making cookies with a toddler is that you really have no time to struggle with the temptation of eating the dough.

Of course we did enjoy the fruits of our labor after lunch :)

It was a really sweet time together.  I am looking forward to many, many more baking dates with my favorite girl to come!

The Great State Fair: 2012

Our little family of 3 ventured out to the state fair again this year!  Neither Adam or I are big fair people, but we do enjoy the food (of course!) and I thought Amaia might enjoy seeing the animals this year.  Also, I did discover that getting to the fair bright and early, which for us means 9 a.m., will win a great parking spot!

The first thing we did was eat - duh :)  We had cinnamon rolls for the first time and they were sooo good.  Then I wanted to do something Amaia would enjoy so we went to see the baby animals.  I was sure that Amaia would enjoy this, she usually gets excited when we see dogs, birds, etc. but she was unimpressed.  She also got poked by a little chick while her hand was up on the fence and she was even more unimpressed by that, but daddy was there to save the day!

To be perfectly honest, other than that we pretty much just walked around and ate our favorite foods and made a brief stop in the varied industries building in search of free Hawkeye tattoos.  I'm just not sure what other people do at the fair other than eat.  Please do tell :)

My new favorite at the fair....the hot beef sundae....it did not dissapoint.

And of course a few customary pics of my beautiful girl with the state fair signs....

All in the all, the weather was perfect, it was a great morning out and I am again inspiried to eat healthy :)

LOVE: Food Style

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"

A common saying and so very true for my man.  He loves food.  He loves good food and he has very good taste!  So I really, really try to be good cook.  I occasionally fail.  For example, our first Valentine's day together as a dating couple I attempted to make salmon and completely burned it.  I believe the smoke alarms even went off.  Needless to say I was scarred by the experience and no longer attempt to make salmon :)

However, sometimes I am quite successful!  I found a new recipe for Thai Basil Chicken and Adam loved it!  I made it for the first time last week and thought it would be perfect to make for my love on Valentine's day.  Do you have a husband that loves spicy Asian foods??  You really should make this! Personally I find Asian recipes intimidating to make on my own, but this one was actually quite easy and quick.  It is actually pretty healthy too with the exception of the fish sauce which is a bit high on sodium.

Thai Basil Chicken (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons chili oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 hot chile peppers
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 5 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 bunch fresh basil leaves

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the garlic and chile peppers until golden brown. Mix in chicken and sugar, and season with garlic salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is no longer pink, but not done.
2. Stir fish sauce into the skillet. Mix in mushrooms and onions, and continue cooking until onions are tender and chicken juices run clear. Remove from heat, and mix in basil. Let sit 2 minutes before serving.

A couple friendly tips:

*I buy the mushrooms that are already sliced.  They cost the same as whole.
*Buy a good quality fish sauce!  From what I hear it makes a difference.
*I served over brown rice

I also made chocolate covered strawberries to celebrate! Last year we went to a local chocolate shop that shall remain unnamed and purchased ONE chocolate covered strawberry for $6.  This year it cost less than $6 to make ALL of these and I am pretty sure they were just as good.  Just sayin'  :)

It was a tasty Valentine's day!

Fall in Our Home

Have I mentioned that I LOOOOOOOVE fall.  I love the open windows and cool air, I love wearing layers and scarves, I love pumpkin spiced lattes, apple cider, apple cake, candles, being cozy on the couch....i even get excited about football season.  Now if only the weather would remember that it is fall :)

This is what fall looks like at our house....

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!

 Sqaush, nutella (with cinnamon graham crackers!), lasagna, tea, candy corn and of course pumpkin all speak of fall to me.  I am semi-obsessed with this new Kashi cereal and I also should have included apples in this picture.  I tried a honeycrisp apple and a sweet tango apple for the first time this year.  I know everyone loves honeycrisp, but the sweet tango was about 1,000,000 times better in my opinion.  So good!

 And I finished my yarn wreath!!

What is your favorite thing about fall?

Some August Happenings

Top of the morning to you!!

 Can you believe that this little girl is going a whole half-year old tomorrow?!  I certainly cannot!  We have her doctor's appointment on Monday, so I will have a full report on her official stats next week.   All I can tell you right now is that she is my super sweet sunshine girl.  I know that I am supposed to be savoring every day with her and not wishing the time away, but personally I am so excited for her to get older.  It is SO fun to watch her learn new things.  She is laughing now.  I am always figuring out new ways to get her to laugh. She is sitting up on her own now too!  I can't wait for the day when she can talk with me and tell me what is on her mind and help me in the kitchen and dance around in the living room.  We are going to have so much fun together!

Now, I'm just forwarning you - the rest of this post is going to be random....

We celebrated Adam's birthday last weekend.  Just the two of us went out to a really lovely dinner last Friday evening.  The resturaunt was actually in the first building that out church met in when it first started.  It was a really cool place.  And the food was wonderful.....very fresh and unique and served on pretty plates! I made Adam trade appetizer plates with me because I thought his plate was prettier - ha :)  Here is a picture of Adam and I on the way to dinner taken by our wonderful babysitter aka.  Amaia's grandma-ma.

Love him so much

In other news, sometimes I try to make cute things in the kitchen and sometimes I fail!  On my new favorite toy Pinterest, I saw this recipe to make a calzone with a pretty lattice style design.  You might think that it looks good, but here was the problem: approximately 10 minutes into baking I realized that I had totally forgotten to the put the cheese in the calzone - duh!!  I am seriously absent minded more often than I should be.  I don't think I can blame it on pregnancy brain or baby brain any longer. 

See how pretty it looked!

Then I had to put cheese over the prettiness :(

I thought it was still pretty good.  However, I also tried to make this a healthy version of a calzone - whole wheat dough, lots of veggies....Adam gently informed me that he would prefer some meat next time around :)

Here is more proof that I have absent minded tendencies

Yes, I put piping-hot corn on the cob onto my dinner table and have these gorgeous white heat marks to prove it.  Has anyone else had this happen to them?  If you know of a way to fix it that doesn't involve me purchasing a new dinner table please do share :)

Mmmm Mmm Good

I have been trying out some new and at least semi-healthy recipes lately with some success.  I always enjoy what I call "real people" recipes, so I thought I would share a few of mine.

Healthy-ish Blueberry Muffins  (Fair warning - Adam and I both really liked these, but they do taste very bran like, just in case you don't like that)

1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 cup nonfat milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or use paper muffin liners. Mix together wheat bran and milk, and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together applesauce, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat in bran mixture. Sift together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into bran mixture until just blended. Fold in blueberries. Scoop into muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped.

Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard Sauce  (I'm excited to make these for Amaia some day soon!!)

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F 
2. Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2-inch sized pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put beaten egg in a bowl or dish for dipping.
3. Dip chicken pieces into the beaten egg first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place the well-coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cooling rack placed on top of a cookie sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

• 
  
• Honey Mustard Sauce
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I use the kind made with olive oil - half the calories and less saturated fat!)
• 2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Whisk all ingredients together and refrigerate.

Viva Vivanno

Meet the VitaMix 5200.

I wanted a blender to make my own baby food for miss Amaia and Adam has talked about this blender ever since I have known him.   

Apparently it is royalty in the blender world.

It was sort an investment, but I think it already paid for itself.  This afternoon I made my version of the banana chocolate vivanno smoothie (ala Starbucks) and it changed my life.  Ha.  Okay, I don't know how much life change occurred, but it was rather amazing.

1 frozen banana + chocolate protein powder + 1 cup skim milk + 1 cup ice cubes +  1 squirt of chocolate syrup = deliciousness!!!

I highly recommend making this after a long walk in the sunshine.  

And really what kind of a blog post would this be without a picture of Amaia??  A boring one!  And who wants that?!

Tuesday Randoms

Amaia was like a new child yesterday.  She was extra smiley, didn't cry one bit going down for her afternoon naps and even went a big longer in between feedings.  She is growing up and it is SO FUN!

Today Amaia is the opposite.  She is crying a lot and not sleeping very long.  I can hear her stomach rumbling and I fear that the Thai food that upset my stomach yesterday has made its way to her.  Note to self: only order 0 starts from now on.  Amaia - if you are reading this 15 years into the future - mommy is sorry!

I feel sort of weird that our country is celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden.  I am torn I guess...between being glad that he is gone and feeling some sense of justice, but on the other hand I don't know if i can rejoice that even he is in hell now. It brought this verse to mind: Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? --Ezekial 18:23


I am so pumped that then sun is making more appearances lately.  I need to get outside and walk of the rest of these pounds!

If anyone is looking for another good and healthy recipe check out these asian lettuce wraps.  Adam aka. Mr. very high standards on the food front is a big fan (and so am I) so you know it is good!


Mother's day is this weekend and I am a mother now...weird!

Going Healthy!

One of my desires as a wife is make food that is good and healthy for Adam and I.  This also now goes for our little one now too, since whatever I eat, she eats :)  I really don't cook dinner very often right now.  Our lifestyle is just a little too out and about to lend to that very well, but I am actually excited about being home more and cooking more once our little girl in here with us.  Another desire of mine is to be frugal  - thank you Mom and Dad for this good quality!  It just seems silly to be to spend gobs of money on going out for lunch every day.  It adds up to a lot of money FAST.  I do believe that I now have Adam convinced that packing your lunch is best.  We were bringing grilled chicken salads with lots of veggies, but it gets cold in Iowa and my mom's tomato plant froze - sadness :(  Plus, we needed to change it up a bit.  I am always on the quest for easy/healthy recipes, so I thought I would share a few that we have been enjoying lately.

Chicken Salad 
This recipe is courtesy of Kristin at Iowa Girl Eats.  Super easy, super good and packed with lots of protein and good stuff that the pregnant girl needs :)  We actually have been taking this recipe x's 5 and eating chicken salad sandwiches all week for lunch.

Ingredients
6 oz shredded chicken
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 green onion, sliced
2 small ribs celery, chopped

Dressing:
1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons soy sauce
squeeze of lemon juice
salt, to taste

Directions
Combine chicken through celery in a bowl. Mix dressing ingredients and pour over chicken mixture. Toss to coat. Serve! Makes 3 sandwiches.



Turkey Chili
Again, super easy!!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground turkey
2 (10.75 ounce) cans low sodium tomato soup
1 (15 ounce) can light red kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 pinch ground allspice
salt to taste

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place turkey in the skillet, and cook until evenly brown; drain.

2. Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray (or use a liner like me!).  Mix in turkey, tomato soup, kidney beans, black beans and onion. Season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, allspice and salt.

3. Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High.