First Taste

On Superbowl Sunday, I decided it was time let John explore solid food.  I have been super busy as of late, so I have not had a chance to create my own baby food.  I settled for Gerber rice cereal.

I mixed one tablespoon of cereal with one scoop of formula and two ounces of warm water.  To be honest, it didn't look that appetizing.  I wouldn't want to eat it.  Truth be told, I gave it a taste too.  It seemed fairly sweet.  I guess it was as good a time as any to give it a shot.

 

 

 

I suppose for first tastes it did not go over too badly.  We had a couple of spoonfuls of the cereal.  By "had" I mean "let it sit in our mouth while we chomped on the spoon then spit a bunch of it out once the spoon was removed."  John was over the moon happy when this experience was over.  He got his face cleaned up and maneuvered his thumb right into his mouth.  I have a feeling the next couple of days (probably more like weeks) of this eating cereal will be slightly rough.  But the bright side is I know JT watches our mouths while we eat dinner.  So hopefully his little brain will make the connection soon. I can not wait to get him introduced to green beans and the like.

Slow Cooker Chicken Parisienne

I almost did not think I would get in a slow cooker recipe this week.  So, I did a quick search for what is probably the most common main ingredient - chicken.  It was getting close to a grocery trip and that grossly limited the pool of prospective recipes.  This one comes from allrecipes.com.  

 

Slow Cooker Chicken Parisienne

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
paprika to taste
½ cup dry white wine
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup all-purpose flour

Steps:

1. Sprinkle chicken breasts lightly with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. Place in slow cooker.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the wine, condensed soup, and mushrooms. In another bowl, mix together sour cream and flour. Stir sour cream mixture into the mushrooms and wine.
3. Pour over chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle with additional paprika, if desired. Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

The final product:

This was absolutely fantastic.  The last time I used wine in the slow cooker (Lamb Stew) we found that the alcohol left the stew with a weird tinny aftertaste.  I was a little hesitant this time but there was no funny aftertaste.  It reminded us of the favors of a beef stroganoff but considerably lighter due to the chicken.  The paprika provided a great spiciness to the dish.  Hubby said it could have used a little bit more but I thought it was just the right amount.  As you can see from the picture, I thought it needed a little starch so I boiled up some egg noodles before it finished cooking.  Definitely a keeper for my recipe book.

Speaking of which- I managed to get all of the recipes from my old program over to MacGourmet.  That was big considering I had nearly 50 recipes there.  I wish though that that meant I was done.  Unfortunately, that means I need to search through the mound of recipes I have collected over the years that are held on random scraps of paper.  I wish I had been more organized with my recipes from the beginning.

 

Exercises with Baby

We are closing in on five months of JT being around and I think we have finally have gotten ourselves into a good rhythm.  Feeding time happens pretty consistently every four hours.  We know when someone gets a little over stimulated and needs some me time.  But I still find it difficult to get in some time to exercise and then be able to shower.  Apparently, an hour is almost to much mommy alone time.  

So I have turned to jerry-rigging exercises that involve JT.  He is my natural weight set.  He is constantly getting a little heavier each day - no need to buy new weights.  I have been doing two specific exercises.  I call them the Baby Lift and Baby Squat.  I do them in sets of ten.  

Baby Lift consists of lifting John up over my head in a slow controlled manner.  He loves flying in the air.  I usually tell him he is a frog jumping, or a kangaroo, or a spaceship taking off with the appropriate sound effects.  Lots of smiles.

Baby Squat involves holding John cross cradle and doing controlled squats.  Well sometimes I change up the timing so it is a surprise to him.  He provides a fantastic laugh track while I do them.  A good incentive right?

Maybe someday I will have time to get in a real workout.

Crazy Polenta Concoction

A few months ago I tried my hand at making polenta.  In case you don't know, polenta is primarily just cornmeal boiled in milk.  I had seen it done at a class I had taken at the local Hyvee.  It turned out alright but polenta always seems bland to me.  I needed, well, wanted to kick it up a notch.  I think I found my answer to bland polenta.  Here is my concoction:

 

Creamy Mexican Polenta

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of milk

At least 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

1 bay leaf

1 cup white cornmeal (not quick cooking)

6 oz of white Mexican dipping cheese

 

Steps:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring milk, 1 1/2 cups of broth, bay leaf, and cornmeal up to a boil.

2. Reduce heat to simmer.  Stir frequently, adding more broth if mixture becomes to thick.  Cook a total of 30 minutes (includes time brought up to boil).

3. After 30 minutes, add Mexican dipping cheese.  Mix well and serve.

 

The spiciness of the cheese (ours had jalapeños in it) really made this side enjoyable.  The cheese also made the polenta a lot smoother than usual.  Try it for yourself!

 

Hair, hair, everywhere...

So I got my hair cut 2 weeks ago.  My stylist is really nice.  We spent quite a bit of time talking about our babies.  Her little girl is a month younger than JT.  At the end of the session, she warned me - your hair is going to fall out now that you are done pumping.  I kinda laughed it off - I have thick hair, so a bit more falling out would be totally fine.

Boy was she right.  It has been two weeks of nonstop hair shedding.  I barely run my hands through it without ending up with a handful.  It is slightly frightening.  It probably would have be more scary if my hair was it's original length.

Lesson learned:  Always listen to your hair stylist.

Slow-Cooker Lamb Stew

Living in Kansas, you are sure of one thing at the meat counter - BEEF, and lots of it.  Steaks, T-Bones, Kansas Strip, Ground Beef, Roasts, a plethora of moo-meat.  Chicken is another favorite out here.  Pork has its fans as well.  Unfortunately, that is usually the extent of the butcher counter display.  So whenever I see turkey, veal, and lamb, I snag as many portions as I can.  And yes, I have been verbally berated - by other customers, mind you - at the meat counter for getting these items instead of a nice Kansas Strip.  So I managed to snag a couple of packages of lamb chops recently and thus my muse for this next slow cooker recipe.  I found this one at the Crock-Pot Recipe Center.

Irish Lamb Stew

Ingredients:
6 large slices bacon, diced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup beef broth
1 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups frozen peeled pearl onions, thawed
3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 medium potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 whole bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Steps:
1.  In a medium skillet, cook the diced bacon until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside.
2.  Combine the flour, salt and black pepper.  Dredge the lamb cubes in the flour mixture and brown in the bacon fat in the same skillet.
3.  Remove the lamb from the skillet and set aside.  Deglaze the skillet with the beef broth and white wine.
4.  Place the lamb, bacon, and the beef broth mixture in the Crock-Pot® slow cooker and add the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly to combine.
5.  Cover; cook on Low 4 to 6 hours (or on High for 2 to 3 hours). Skim any excess fat off the top of the stew before serving.

The finished product:

A shot after we had already dug in!  Yum!

First, a warning - this made the house smell absolutely delicious while cooking.  The only way to keep myself from popping the lid was to remove myself from the kitchen.  The recipe calls for boneless lamb shoulder but, seeing as how I already explained my meat predicament, I used bone-in lamb chops.  I think it added something extra to the stew.  The meat was super tender and fell right off the bone with your fork.  For the white wine, I used a cup of Little Penguin Chardonnay and don't forget - a little sip for oneself during the process.  I had no pearl onions - so I just quartered 1 medium sized white onion.  I peeled and chopped 5 smaller sized potatoes.  I cooked on low for 4 and a half hours.  About 20 minutes before the end of cooking time, I threw some crescent rolls in the oven.  I don't think you can eat a hearty stew without some bread.  Verdict:  Totally yummy with one little issue.  I need to boil off the wine a bit longer during the deglazing process - or possibly use a different white next time.  Other than that, we had a fantastic dinner, definitely being added to my recipe book.  So good, even JT spent the time in his high chair smacking his lips like he wanted a bowl.  Just another week before he gets started on solids!

CrockPot Turkey and Rice Casserole

Earlier this week I tried my hand at a another slow cooker recipe.  This time the subject was turkey.  Now there are quite a few recipes for nearly whole turkeys cooked in the crock pot.   But I was looking for something to use up a frozen package of turkey breast cutlets.  After lots of searching I settled on this recipe from momswhothink.com:

Crock Pot Turkey and Rice Casserole

Ingredients:
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 cups water
3 cups converted long-grain white rice (uncooked)
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 to 2 cups cubed cooked turkey
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (peas & carrots, oriental mix, etc.)
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 Tablespoon dried minced onion

Steps:
1. Pour soup and water into Crock Pot and stir to combine. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
2. Cover and cook 6 to 8 hours on low or 3 to 4 hours on high.

The finished product:

First, let me get a few recipe specifics out of the way.  As I said at the beginning, I had a package frozen turkey.  So I thawed them out and cubed the cutlets into bite-sized pieces.  The pound package of turkey yielded about 2 whole cups.  I placed the slow cooker insert on the stove, added a touch of olive oil and cooked the turkey cubes.  I used 2 celery stalks and a frozen steam-fresh mixed vegetables package.  I recently got a sampler of Penzey's Bouquet Garni - which they describe as going well with poultry and fish.  So, I used that for my poultry seasoning.  I cooked on low for 6 hours.

I can not deny that as it was cooking it smelled really delicious.  I had to hold back from lifting the lid on a couple of occasions.  When we were finally ready to eat, I lifted the lid to this wonderful sight.  Two little problems that I found.  The recipe calls for 3 cups of rice.  It is a lot and I mean a lot of rice.  So, next time I would either cut back to possibly 2 cups of rice and 2 cups of water or cut more turkey cubes.  The second issue was the taste - it turned out very bland especially when it smelled so fantastic.  I would probably add a bit of garlic, some pepper (maybe red pepper flakes or cayenne for a kick), and a little salt.  All in all, it did win the hubby's approval so I am pretty sure we will keep the recipe around for later consumption.

Frustrated Son

My son was born nearly 4 weeks early.  With the exception of his time at the NICU, a herniated belly button, and a bit of reflux, I can not really complain.

The doctors warned that he would be behind his peer babies developmentally for a little while.   Whatever a three month old should do, John would be performing at two month old levels.

At his 4 month immunizations, we had to fill out a little form indicating what functions John had mastery of.  Apparently, screaming your little head off is not one of them.  They said it would be totally fine if we had to stop on the front page.  John made it to the back of the form and stopped just into the 5 month level skills.

Yes, so you say he is frustrated.  Nothing of what you wrote indicates frustration.  My son likes tummy time but despises the "crawling" motion.  He would much rather stand.  I mean a nearly unaided stand.  His leg muscles are strong enough to support his weight but he needs a bit of help to keep his balance.  I can get away with very little support under his armpits or his now preferred balance assistance method - gripping onto my thumbs.

It is a little disconcerting to see this little not nearly 12 pound kiddo making like he is walking down the street.  Yes, I said walking.  He likes to pick up his feet one at a time in an ambulatory fashion.  Now he gets extremely mad when you do not allow him to stand up and let him take a walk.  I have been getting this face

on more occasions than I would like.  I apologize for the grainyness.  Crying babies won't sit still for a picture for some reason.  So I am stuck between a rock and a crying baby.  I would love to let him walk around - but that requires both hands and all of my attention.  We have a great exersaucer but unfortunately JT's legs are not long enough to touch the bottom nor is he heavy enough to cause the springs in it to compress, allowing him to touch the floor.

What is a momma to do?  I guess I will be waiting for JT to get a bit bigger.  It also means I get to see a lot more of that oh so adorable angry frustrated face.

New Year - New 'Do

This past Friday, the 13th, I took a plunge.  I walked through the salon doors and got my hair chopped.

I am an odd person when it comes to my hair.  I am not a fashionista at all.  So hair styling has never been a big deal.  I get the urge to get it cut and then it usually goes away.  Case in point:  I spoke with the stylist to find out the last time I was in to see her was October 2010.  That means, I got it cut just in time for my hubby to return from deployment and then it grew unchecked through a pregnancy, birth, and nearly 4 months of a new life.

It was a lot of hair, and a lot of time - the entire chunk of time missing from this blog.  But now I get to start off fresh and short.

I guess the good thing is that the cut did not turn out a disaster given the date.

Pork Chops on Rice

Sunday night I tried my hand at another slow cooker recipe - Pork Chops on Rice.  I had some pork chops in the deep freeze so I set out on a hunt for a pork chop recipe.  I found this one at the CrockPot Recipe site.

Pork Chops on Rice

Ingredients:

½ cup brown rice

⅔ cup converted white rice

¼ cup butter or margarine

½ cup onion, chopped

14 ounces sliced mushrooms, drained

1 teaspoon dried thyme, divided

½ teaspoon rubbed sage

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

4 boneless pork chops, 3/4" to 1" thick

10 ½ ounces beef consomme

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Steps:

1. Spray inside of stoneware with nonstick cooking spray. Combine white and brown rice with butter in skillet.

2. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until rice is golden brown.

3. Remove from heat and stir in onion, mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, sage, salt, and pepper. Pour rice mixture into stoneware. Arrange chops over rice.

4. Combine consomme and Worcestershire sauce and pour over chops. Combine remaining thyme, paprika, and nutmeg; sprinkle over chops.

5. Cover and cook on LOW 7–9 hours (HIGH: 4–5 hours).

The finished product:

Normally, I shy away from recipes with a long ingredient list.  But I realized that most of it was herbs and spices.  Those are no biggies.  Until I checked my drawer of spices and herbs.  I guess I do not really cook recipes with thyme, or sage, or nutmeg, or even paprika.  This called for a food shopping trip.  It also meant that the taste of the dish will be something new.  It opened up a whole new flavor experience for me.

It was really quite tasty.  My only reservations are that food was turned out this dark brown color and that the one inch chops really shrunk over the course of cooking on low for seven hours.  But it is so yummy that I can overcome these and add this recipe to my cookbook.

Speaking of my cookbook - I have been really awful with data entry.  So I might take a couple of days off of blog posting to type in my recipes.  Check in with you in a few!