Mind Development
I have been trying to introduce JT to new tactile experiences even though we have been on the go recently. The last time my husband's parents came up they brought up a toy bead maze. I had been reluctant to give it to him because his teeth have been bothering him and thus he pretty much took to chewing on the wire maze portion. But now that we have gotten over the teeth, JT loves navigating the different beads along the wire paths. I try to point out the color of the paths and the color/shape (yes, I call them cylindrical or spherical) beads that are on each wire. Here is some footage (sorry it is a little dark):
On a roll...
and then we come to an abrupt stop. I wish that I could set aside more time to write - even if it is copying a recent recipe that we have tried. With the upcoming move, JT, and baby 2.0, I have little energy. Not to mention, every time I turn around it seems that our calendar has exploded with events for which we need to be in attendance. Juggling events and trying to purge the house in under 3 months is boggling my mind.
I only have a few more necessary tasks to get out of the way in terms of moving:
Purging of the kitchen/dining room
Purging our basement(which I have slowly been working on)
Getting a contractor to come in fix the short list of problems that were in our inspection
Getting a list together of all utilities that need to be turned off and all companies which need to be notified of address changes
As for prepping for baby 2.0, we should find out by the end of March what the gender is. And yes, I do want to know. Do we keep all of the JT's baby clothes or do we need to donate/consignment sale it all and get girly clothes? I am also thinking about a new diaper bag (one that can handle two sets of diapers and child necessities) and some sort of dual stroller.
It does not seem so bad when I write it...but I get the feeling managing to do this will cause my head to spin.
I only have a few more necessary tasks to get out of the way in terms of moving:
Purging of the kitchen/dining room
Purging our basement(which I have slowly been working on)
Getting a contractor to come in fix the short list of problems that were in our inspection
Getting a list together of all utilities that need to be turned off and all companies which need to be notified of address changes
As for prepping for baby 2.0, we should find out by the end of March what the gender is. And yes, I do want to know. Do we keep all of the JT's baby clothes or do we need to donate/consignment sale it all and get girly clothes? I am also thinking about a new diaper bag (one that can handle two sets of diapers and child necessities) and some sort of dual stroller.
It does not seem so bad when I write it...but I get the feeling managing to do this will cause my head to spin.
Slow Cooker Turkey Ragu
While I am regaining my energy to cook, these slow cooker recipes have been really really helpful especially on snow days! When I am filled with energy in the morning, I can get all my ingredients together and throw it in the cooker. Then I have the rest of the day to play with my son and hubby out in the snow. The house is filled with delicious smells and I can relax when dinner rolls around. Here is a great one to try:
Ingredients
This was a really tasty and hearty meal. I had thought that I would miss having ground beef in a tomato sauce type mixture. The ground turkey was a refreshing replacement. The red pepper flakes gave it a little kick and cooking creme provided just the right amount of creaminess and extra herbs. It is a nice cold weather addition to have in our recipe book.
Slow Cooker Turkey Ragu
Ingredients
28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I used crushed tomatoes in tomato puree)Steps
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 pkg lean ground turkey
2/3 cup Philadelphia reduced-fat Italian & Herb Cooking Creme
1 lb cooked rotini pasta
1. Coat slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.The Final Product
2. Stir tomatoes, onion, carrot, garlic, oregano, sugar, salt, and red pepper flakes in slow cooker.
3. Crumble in ground turkey and stir to combine.
4. Cover and cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.
5. Stir in Cooking Creme until evenly incorporated.
6. Stir half of sauce into the cooked pasta.
7. Serve individual dish with extra sauce. Garnish with basil or cheese if desired.
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
Normally, I would right a whole post about a recipe but I am being a bit lazy today. I really wanted to make some beef in the slow cooker. I thought - beef stroganoff sounds yummy. I have tried a couple of stroganoff recipes before - but I think this one is probably the best one I have come across:
I think was really sealed the deal for me was the little bit of red wine and the onion soup mix. It hit the spot. Now my go to stroganoff recipe!
from Crockin' Girls Website
I think was really sealed the deal for me was the little bit of red wine and the onion soup mix. It hit the spot. Now my go to stroganoff recipe!
Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Butter
In preparation for our impending time in India, we have been slowly trying out Indian cuisine. Since there really are no Indian restaurants in the middle of KS, we have been doing it at home. Unfortunately, given my pregnant aversion to all food, I had not made Indian dishes in a while. Enter sad husband. He really really wanted some. So for about 3 days, he bugged me to make food. Then he started telling me - I will make it for us. To be honest, sometimes I cringe when he gets in the kitchen, or when I have to direct cooking. But he said I want to make some for you. After some inner thought, I resigned myself to letting my husband spend an afternoon in my kitchen making me dinner with the express condition that he must find a recipe where the ingredients are relatively benign and won't cause any pregnancy unpleasantness. Here is want he found:
Ingredients
After spending most of the afternoon smelling the mixture of spices from the kitchen, I almost had second thoughts of sitting down and eating this meal. But I am glad I pushed through the queasiness because it was totally yummy. The spice was not to hot but definitely gave a kick. Not to much of a kick because my tummy really enjoyed the meal. We ended up with a lot of sauce mixture. Next time, I would probably throw in another pound of chicken breasts just so we don't have to get rid of the sauce.
I have to thank my hubby for insisting that he make me dinner. Now for his immortalization:
Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Butter
from Madhur Jaffrey's An Invitation to Indian Cooking
Ingredients
4 chicken legsSteps
2 chicken breasts (we just used a pound and half of chicken breasts)
2 medium sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
fresh ginger, 2 inches long by 1 inch wide, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 cinnamon stick, 2 1/2 - 3 inches, broken up
Seeds from 6 whole cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 hot dried red pepper, crumbled (to save my tummy - I think we added about a 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes)
3 tbsp water
6 tbsp vegetable oil
16 oz canned tomato sauce
3/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp lightly salted butter
1. Since we only had chicken breasts, we just washed them, quartered them, and set them aside. If you have chicken pieces, remove skin, pat dry, and put aside.The Final Product
2. In a blender, combine the onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, red pepper, and 3 tbsp water. Blend to a smooth paste.
3. Heat oil in a 3.5 quart dutch oven over a high heat. When hot, put in the chicken pieces, and brown them quickly (a minute per side). Remove with slotted spoon. If need be brown chicken in batches.
4. Turn heat to medium and pour in paste from blender. Stir and fry for 5 minutes, scraping bottom of pot well.
5. Add tomato sauce, 3/4 cup water, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir every 6 to 7 minutes.
6. Add the chicken pieces to the pot along with any juices that may have collected. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on low for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir gently to avoid sticking.
7. Cut butter into 4 pats, Take chicken off heat and drop in the butter. Stir to incorporate and serve immediately.
After spending most of the afternoon smelling the mixture of spices from the kitchen, I almost had second thoughts of sitting down and eating this meal. But I am glad I pushed through the queasiness because it was totally yummy. The spice was not to hot but definitely gave a kick. Not to much of a kick because my tummy really enjoyed the meal. We ended up with a lot of sauce mixture. Next time, I would probably throw in another pound of chicken breasts just so we don't have to get rid of the sauce.
I have to thank my hubby for insisting that he make me dinner. Now for his immortalization:
Catch Up
Since this whole second pregnancy thing got started, I have been quite bad about posting. We have a fun little weather even coming up so, I am hoping to play a little catch up on some recipes. I have couple of new ones that we have tried out that have turn out well and one, well, not so well but I won't post it to save you the attempt of trying it.
I decided one night that I had these nice beef steaks - perfect for grilling. The packaging was all sorts of misleading - the shape made them seem like steaks. Once I opened the packaging, I found that it was steak pieces. Would have been great for stew - except, yeah, I already had potatoes boiling in water and breaded broccoli in the oven.
So, I made some stuff up on the fly. I'll be honest. I can work a recipe like it's nobody's business. I even feel comfortable switching out ingredients to obtain new tastes. But this - this usually doesn't happen.
Quickly, I move the grill pan, which I had heating in preparation of a nice sizzly steak searing, and got out a saute pan. I whipped out an open carton of beef broth, dumped about a quarter cup into a pyrex measuring cup and began to whisk in some flour to make a little slurry for some thick sauce. I added the steak pieces to the pan to get the pieces browning. I think I added another 1/4 cup of beef broth to my slurry before dumping it in my saute pan with my meat. Then for my stroke of genius - who wants beef pieces with a beef broth sauce, that isn't fun or exciting? - I ran to the fridge and pulled out a container of dijon mustard. A little mustard goes a long way. So, I added two little squirts from the bottle and mixed away.
There we have it. It was edible, HURRAY! Not to mention it had a nice tangy sauce. Some mushrooms might be good with it, if I ever decide to do it again. Although, I don't plan on having to make something like that on the fly again - that's why we meal plan!
Random Concoction
I decided one night that I had these nice beef steaks - perfect for grilling. The packaging was all sorts of misleading - the shape made them seem like steaks. Once I opened the packaging, I found that it was steak pieces. Would have been great for stew - except, yeah, I already had potatoes boiling in water and breaded broccoli in the oven.
So, I made some stuff up on the fly. I'll be honest. I can work a recipe like it's nobody's business. I even feel comfortable switching out ingredients to obtain new tastes. But this - this usually doesn't happen.
Quickly, I move the grill pan, which I had heating in preparation of a nice sizzly steak searing, and got out a saute pan. I whipped out an open carton of beef broth, dumped about a quarter cup into a pyrex measuring cup and began to whisk in some flour to make a little slurry for some thick sauce. I added the steak pieces to the pan to get the pieces browning. I think I added another 1/4 cup of beef broth to my slurry before dumping it in my saute pan with my meat. Then for my stroke of genius - who wants beef pieces with a beef broth sauce, that isn't fun or exciting? - I ran to the fridge and pulled out a container of dijon mustard. A little mustard goes a long way. So, I added two little squirts from the bottle and mixed away.
There we have it. It was edible, HURRAY! Not to mention it had a nice tangy sauce. Some mushrooms might be good with it, if I ever decide to do it again. Although, I don't plan on having to make something like that on the fly again - that's why we meal plan!
Work of Art...Sort of
Yesterday, JT and I had a day to ourselves. I realize that it may have been way to early for me to introduce coloring to JT but heck I felt like breaking out the markers. So, we did. Thank goodness for Crayola's Color Wonder markers - no messy clean up afterwards. If I had a pack of regular markers, I might have thought twice about this little project.
While we didn't seem to really to care much about getting the marker on the paper, getting the markers in and out of the box was loads of fun. We did manage to get something on the paper though - so JT's first work of art:
Ignore the sun and the flower...and the red birds. I was trying to entice JT to scribble. :o)
Snow Day
Yesterday, we had what some were calling "The Blizzard of Oz". Disregarding the fact that we only got about 6-7 inches here (other places did get 12 +), this was the first snow that JT could really interact and run around in. So here are some snow videos (they are not very exciting seeing as I bundled JT up to the point where he could just about shuffle his feet):
Posted with BlogsyNew Marching Orders
Orders 364-758
Baby
You Will Proceed On Permanent Change of Station
ASSIGNED TO: Giesey Family Unit
REPORT DATE: 17 AUG 2013
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS:
(A) Report to Central Clearing Agency no earlier than 21 days but no later than 10 working days after to your anticipated report date.
(B) In the event you need emergency assistance after your departure you should contact your gaining unit.
(C) Once you arrive at your gaining installation, you are required to report to the housing office to make arrangements for renting, leasing, or purchasing of any housing.
(D) Babies moving to privatized housing must comply with all installation specific requirements- including sleep schedules and noise restrictions.
The first trimester has been brought to you by our sponsors: Eggo Waffles, Ramen Noodle, and Carnation Breakfast Essentials. The only things I could stomach for the past month and a half without wanting to well...you know... I hope that explains my lack of yummy foodie posts. I am slowly returning to normal - not everything makes me nauseous now. Here are shots of the little bugger (includes 10 week and almost 13 week shots):
Baby
You Will Proceed On Permanent Change of Station
ASSIGNED TO: Giesey Family Unit
REPORT DATE: 17 AUG 2013
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS:
(A) Report to Central Clearing Agency no earlier than 21 days but no later than 10 working days after to your anticipated report date.
(B) In the event you need emergency assistance after your departure you should contact your gaining unit.
(C) Once you arrive at your gaining installation, you are required to report to the housing office to make arrangements for renting, leasing, or purchasing of any housing.
(D) Babies moving to privatized housing must comply with all installation specific requirements- including sleep schedules and noise restrictions.
The first trimester has been brought to you by our sponsors: Eggo Waffles, Ramen Noodle, and Carnation Breakfast Essentials. The only things I could stomach for the past month and a half without wanting to well...you know... I hope that explains my lack of yummy foodie posts. I am slowly returning to normal - not everything makes me nauseous now. Here are shots of the little bugger (includes 10 week and almost 13 week shots):
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)