Recipe of the week: Zucchini Boats

As I mentioned earlier this week, I decided to join Pinterest.  Love, love, love the website and all the amazing ideas you can find on there.

But being 24 weeks pregnant, every time I see a picture of food, I HAVE to have it! So I have already tried several recipes that friends posted! And I can't wait to try some more (like the cookie dough, oreo, brownie dessert, looks so yummy).

But I went with a healthier option for my first recipe and made what I call "Zucchini Boats".  I kind of "winged" it based on what I saw in the picture.  But they turned out really well.

Ingredients

Cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, tomato, basil, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper

 Directions:
1. Cut zucchini in 1/2 lengthwise and scoop out seeds, place in baking dish, and brush with olive oil and garlic
2. Add sliced tomato to top of zucchini and sprinkle with bread crumbs
3. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
4. Remove and sprinkle cheese over top, bake for 5-10 more minutes until cheese is melted.
5. Drizzle with olive oil, fresh basil, and Parmesan cheese

They definitely don't look exactly like the picture, but they were yummy!

"Nesting"...or something like that

Since we didn't want to venture out on this snowy day, I decided it would be a great day to ORGANIZE!

Let me first start by saying, we are "messy" organized people.  I can usually tell you where anything is in this house at any given time, but if someone else tried to find it they would be lost...so our organizing might not be very organized for other people, but it works for us!

Started with the bathroom drawers...

I used these "gift boxes" I got after Christmas! 50 cents each at Target.

I'm sure there are some better options for draw organizers out there, but for $1.00 I have a somewhat organized drawer! 

After weeks of procrastinating, I decided I really needed to clean out our craft closet.  Alissa asked me a few times for certain crafts and it would take me 10 minutes just to find everything! 

The beginning of the project

Of course when my husband came home he said "Is this some kind of nesting thing, or just organizing stuff that doesn't have to be organized?"  Haha! One day he'll appreciate the organization! 

After sorting and labeling, this is what our new craft/motorcycle jacket closet looks like.

                                                

I'm sure there are better craft storage options out there also, but we like the cheap plastic drawers and bulk pack of Ikea magazine holders! 

Mommy's little helper

Tonight, as I was "reminding" my husband that I cleaned the bathrooms today, My 2 year old says "I want to clean 2 bathrooms!!" So we decided to let her clean her "bathroom" :)



Hopefully she will say the same thing when she's actually old enough to clean the bathroom!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pinterest

Well, I jumped on the Pinterest Train..had to see what it was all about!  I've only spent a little bit of time looking at "pins".  So far I have learned there is so much cool stuff out there and I am so not creative at all! The site has definitely made me wish I had a creative bone in my body!

In my few minutes on searching through my friends' pins, this is one of the favorites I have found!

Sneaky, Snacky, Squirrel

Since the House Transformation is a bit overwhelming, I think I'll blog instead of organize files from 1995!

Santa was very very good to us this year, and Alissa has enough new toys, games, clothes, gifts, to fill an entire room! And all of them are awesome! Christmas was so different this year! I really felt like every gift we got was awesome, meaningful, and very useful! (yes, greedy little me will admit there are some holidays you get so much stuff you just don't need) So I thought I would slowly share some of the new items she got for Christmas and how much she loves all of it!

Sneaky Snacky, Squirrel...what?  Well that's what I thought too, but Santa knows what he is doing and found this awesome game!

Of course it says for ages 3 and up because of small pieces, but I think everything says that now a days! My daughter loves this game! She knows how to play it and can follow the directions (although she has a hard time understanding when Mommy is "sneaky" and steals her acorns, part of the game of course).  But we have a lot of fun playing it together!

What are some great things Santa brought to your house this Holiday? Always looking for great, new products!  I'll be sharing some more posts of all the other great things Santa, Grammy's, Pappy's, Aunts and Uncles brought to our house!

The house transformation!

We have begun the house preparation for baby boy! Although, it feels like we have spent hours working on everything, we have yet to get anything done that is actually for the baby! We decided to completely rearrange the upstairs and move pretty much every room, but the master bedroom!

The fun began with an office cleanout and moving our office to the "nook" in our bedroom. Seems like a fairly easy project....or so we thought.  We aren't the most organized people in the world, yes my house tends to look clean and organized, but open a drawer or closet and you will find the total opposite! (and you might get hurt in the process) We had about 1 year and 1/2 worth of filing, that was never filed, 2 years of scrapbook items, that were never scrapbooked, I even still had my teaching/lesson plan bag completely packed in the office closet (I haven't been teaching for 3 years!!!) We had a lot of stuff to go through and organize in order to fit an entire bedroom and closet into one little nook.  And...we are still working on it! Anyone know a professional organizer cause I could really use one???? 

The new office "nook" (and yes it currently still looks like this)

And this is what my child was doing while all the organizing was taking place! 

We only had a few days to work on this project, we decided to order new furniture for Alissa and use her furniture for the baby.  When I ordered it (didn't want to miss the sale price), I really thought it would take a couple weeks to get here, but about 5 days later, they were delivering it and setting it up in her new room! (which was our office).  We had about 5 days to empty everything out of the room! But we did it (sort of) and my "baby" now has her big girl furniture! :( 

And well as you can see we have a blank slate!  We still have to paint her room, as well as the baby's room, and then touch up the paint in Alissa's old room to transform that into our guest room!!! Ahhh! 

Oh yes, the baby's room.... He will be in our old guest room and here is what that looks like right now....

What you can't see in the picture is the entire twin bed along the wall, 3 tv's, and a floor filled with stuff!

Any decorators, organizers, moms, dads with any advice for this craziness??? We pay with beer, wine, and food! :)

"Mmm, that sure is good!"

Today started out as one of those days where every little thing would annoy me! (I know, surprising coming from the pregnant lady) I think it was a combination of being out to late last night and the wacky dreams I had all night! So, by lunch time I was in one of my moods, tired, and ready for nap. As we get 1/2 way through eating our soup, Alissa sets her spoon down and says " Mmm, it sure is good!" I of course had to smile at that! She just brightens my day and reminds me how blessed I am to spend everyday with her! :) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Moon Dough...

My wonderful hubby decided to buy a surprise gift for Alissa for Christmas. (I usually handle the Christmas shopping) He picked A Moon Dough pizza kit! Thought he did a pretty good job...until we started playing with it!!!


Although she loves it, I am totally not a fan of Moon Dough! The stuff gets everywhere! She loves to cut it up into a million little pieces, which means I find a million little pieces all over!!! I would definitely pick Play-doh over Moon Dough any day! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy New Year!

Well after hearing about and seeing Pork and Sauerkraut all day on facebook, the prego that I am, I decided I had to have some! :) Thought about going out to eat, but my baby girl was sleeping, and well I was still in my PJ's at 3 PM.  So my loving, wonderful husband said he would run out to get some pork and we could make our own.... so that is what we did!

And OMG it was amazing! It wasn't ready til almost 7:30 since we made such last minute plans.  But it was the perfect craving stopper!

Made some mashed potatoes to go with it! MMM MMM GOOD!

I used what seemed to be a "nontraditional" recipe that of course I found using my AllRecipes app for my iphone, Sauerkraut Pork Supper.  I wasn't sure how I'd like it, using tomatoes, but it turned out fabulous, and the tomatoes and other ingredients took a little bit of the "sour" out of the sauerkraut.  Definitely would make this again! Made me miss my Grammy and all the New Year's dinners we had at her house! Hopefully she'd be proud of this meal! :)

Great way to start off 2012! Happy New Year Everyone! Can't wait to enjoy all the blessings 2012 brings to our family!

Stride Rite Outlet Closing!

Well, I haven't been there, but according to my Mom the Stride Rite Outlet at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets is closing!!! Don't have to many details about the closing, when or why. But my Mom picked us up 4 new pairs of shoes for about $7 or $11 each.  No returns, but we stocked up on some bigger sizes for her to grow into. Also haven't seen the shoes yet, so I am not sure what they have left! But if your in the area check them out!

Recipe of the week: Singapore Five-Spice Stir Fry

Needed a quick and easy dinner (as usual). I had purchased Chinese Five Spice for another recipe that I never made, so decided to search for a stir fry recipe using it. I found Singapore Five-Spice Stir Fry on the web.  Here is my version of their stir-fry.



Sauce:
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1 tablespoon flour
3/4 teaspoon Chinese Five spice powder
1/4 teaspoon  crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons honey

Stir Fry:
2 cloves garlic
2 chicken breasts (bite size pieces)
1 bag frozen stir fry veggies (I used thai style for this recipe)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup uncooked rice

Directions:
1. Cook the rice as directed and keep warm.
2. In small bowl, combine all sauce ingredients and mix until blended. Set aside.
3. In large skillet or wok, heat olive oil, add chicken and garlic, and cook over medium high heat until no longer pink.
4. Add Veggies and cook until tender (4-5 minutes)
5. Add sauce, cook and stir 2-3 minutes until bubbly and thickened.
6. Serve over rice.  (or pasta if desired)

I have tried several recipes for stir fry sauce, and this one was my husbands favorite.  Although, it didn't taste much like orange juice, for some reason little 'ol pregnant me could not get over the orange juice smell, and it was a bit spicy. But overall pretty good and really easy to make! Check out the actual recipe for an alternative to the frozen veggies! 

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Merry Christmas!

Had an exciting week of Christmas celebrations! So thankful for all the time we got to spend with everyone!

Due to all the excitement/traveling all week long, we have made the tradition of staying at home in our PJ's on Christmas! And what a great day it was!

Baby girl slept til 11!!! Opened her presents, ate, and watched a little TV snuggled in her "bed".




And then it was back to bed for her! And she napped til 6:30!!! (and well so did Mommy). We then had amazing steak salad dinner!


And my child actually ate all her steak, cucumbers, egg, and applesauce! I offered her a Christmas cookie for dessert and she turned it down?!?!? (pretty much the only thing we don't have in common, cause I ate 1/2 the cookie jar for dessert, but definitely justifies the parenting choices that I made when we started solids forever ago).

We had a great Christmas week! We are so blessed and so thankful for the relaxing day with my little family!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"God Gave Us Christmas"

Bought the book God Gave Us Christmas by: Lisa Tawn Bergren on Amazon.com a few months ago and it somehow got buried in the sea of Christmas stuff in our office.

As I was wrapping the final Christmas presents this morning, with the help of a cute little 2 year old, I found the book and we stopped and read it. WHAT AN AWESOME BOOK! We have been very wrapped up in Santa, and Santa's bringing gifts,  and lets name his reindeer, etc.  It was so cute to read this book and have her ask me, "Mommy, where is God?"  (the bears go looking for God in the story).  Also a great reminder for Mommy of what Christmas is really about.  Favorite quote from the book that is perfect for Christmas Eve:
"'Santa Claus reminds us about many good things like generosity and care.  But it is God and Jesus that we celebrate most come Christmas.  We always want to thank God for giving us Christmas.'"

Also discovered as I ordered this book that Lisa Tawn Bergren has written many similar books, the next one I plan on ordering is "God Gave Us Two" :) :) 

Snakes, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

You guessed it! It's a boy! We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and learned that we have a healthy baby boy on the way! Very excited! Although, Alissa still insists she's having a baby sister!!!

So glad that we decided to have the ultrasound.  We aren't great with surprises, but I also feel such a different connection with the baby and being a little bit of a "planner" I feel that it calms me down a little being able to prepare for Baby #2.  As I plan things like nursery decor, double strollers, and baby carriers, my husband is already planning his 1st motorcycle trip with his baby boy! :)

"C" is for Cookie!

The past two days have been filled with relaxation and COOKIES!

Spent Sunday night making some chocolate chippers(as we call them) with my little family! Babygirl loved helping and kept asking to help me more! The hubby was even a participant (and managed to drop the mixer and 1/2 the batter on the floor)!


But either way we had fun making them, and even more fun eating them!









Today we drove to my Mom's for our annual cookie baking with friends! For as long as I can remember, I've been baking cookies with my 2nd family at Christmas! Unfortunately this year one of our helpers couldn't be there :( We found a temporary replacement...




She took her job very seriously, and sat for an hour helping unwrap Hershey kisses, without eating or even asking to eat a single Hershey kiss. (she did however eat quite a few cookies!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Christmas in Disney

Just got home from our amazing vacation in Orlando! Gave us a nice little break right before Christmas, and brought us home in time to stress for the next 9 days about the million things that need to be done!

But we had a fabulous time with family, friends, and Minnie Mouse!

Breakfast with the Characters at the Beach Club Resort

And we can't forget her absolute favorite part....meeting Snow White (wish we would have had more than 1 day at the parks so we could have found all the princesses)

So thankful for the time I got to spend with my family for the holiday! With baby #2 on the way, I am not sure when we will get back down there.  And Alissa had an absolute blast with her cousins!

Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we spent 2 nights!

Love all the great memories with my family!

Christmas in Disney, December 2008 (with Alissa in my belly)

Christmas in Disney, December 2011 (with baby #2 in my belly)

Paper Chain Christmas Tree craft

Crafts don't happen much at our house, at least planned/organized ones. So decided to plan a "cute" Christmas craft. We had watched Bubble Guppies for the first time on Nick Jr. and loved it, so when I found this craft on their website, I decided it would be fun to try. I am also pretty much artistically challenged and it seemed like it was on my level! :)

She had fun with it, but there weren't to many steps that she could really do on her own. She ended up putting the glue on the rings...



She also helped tape all the Bubble Guppy ornaments on the tree...




We had fun, and we now have a cute little ornament for our craft closet!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Recipe of the Week: Alphabet Pasta Tomato Soup

Thought the Eden Organic Vegetable Alphabets looked fun and yummy, so we decided to try them out.  I used the recipe on the back of the box to make this tomato soup.  You can also find the recipe here.  Here is the slightly modified to fit my fridge/pantry version of the soup!

Alphabet Pasta Tomato Soup


1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup carrots, diced

1/3 cup celery, diced

1 1/2  vegetable broth

2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes 

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon Sea Salt, or to taste

1/2 cup Eden Organic Vegetable Alphabets

Directions:
1. Cook the pasta according the package, rinse, drain, set aside.
2. Heat the oil in medium soup pot.  Saute the onions and garlic for 2 minutes.
3. Add the celery and carrots and saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Add the basil, oregano, black pepper, sea salt, and tomatoes. Mix, cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
5. Puree 1/2 of the tomato/vegetable mixture and pour back into soup pot.
6. Mix in the pasta and simmer 1 to 2 minutes until pasta is warm.  

Soup was very yummy, unfortunately, I'm not really a tomato based soup fan, and found out neither is my toddler.  But my husband loved it.  Now just have to send him to work everyday this week with his container of alphabet soup so we don't waste it all! :) This recipe makes a lot of soup so I will probably freeze some! Would go great with a grilled cheese sandwich! 

Also,  The recipe with the noodles also calls for soy, which I didn't add. That would probably add a little bit creamier texture to the soup. 

"Giantly" disappointed

We grocery shop at Giant in Exeter regularly, mostly because they were the closest grocery store (besides Wal-mart) that I could find when we moved here.  So since then we continue to shop there.  They have a nice organic section, and produce is USUALLY pretty good.  The store is new, large, and always clean! And I usually earn a ridiculous amount of gas rewards points each month.

There is also a Giant in Lionville, next to our My Gym class.  So this week instead of driving 30 minutes home from My Gym and another 20 minutes to a different Giant, I decided to stop at the Giant in Lionville to grab a few produce items and somethings for dinner.  I can honestly say almost every produce item I picked up to buy was not fresh.  The lettuce was brown, strawberries just about on their last day, and blueberries moldy.  The store is also so much smaller than the Giant we normally shop at, they didn't have a few of the items I was looking for.  One thing they did have going for them was their customer service was great at checkout.

But overall I left very disappointed....Anyone have suggestions for a great grocery shopping experience where I can get everything in one place??

Leftovers anyone??

Oh wait, there aren't any!!! So apparently dinner was pretty good tonight, and both the hubby and I were definitely looking for leftovers! Next time I will remember to double the recipe!

Broccoli Chicken Divan

1 lb. chopped fresh broccoli

1 1/2 cups cubed, cooked chicken breast

1 can condensed cream of celery soup

1/3 cup milk

3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon melted butter

2 tablespoons dried bread crumbs 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2. Steam broccoli for 5 minutes or until tender

3. Place cooked broccoli in a 9 inch pie plate.  Top with the chicken.  In a bowl, mix the soup and milk, and pour over the chicken.  Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese.  Mix the melted butter with the bread crumbs, and sprinkle over the cheese.  

4.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly brown.  

Guess it was good! 

Here is a link to the recipe I modified slightly.  I also added some spices to the chicken and soup! Broccoli Chicken Divan