Christmas Recap

Santa's elves got a break this year at our house.  We didn't have a single toy to assemble.  With such requests as a kite, a boat, an airplane, and Toy Story 3, there's not much assembly required.  I was a little sad Wes didn't get to don his handyman hat (that is hilarious for anyone who knows him because a handyman he is not) because he enjoyed it so much last year.  It was like a rite of passage to becoming a father.  Instead, I was in bed by 10 and he was soon to follow (with our hoot owl, we try to get our sleep whenever we can!).  

The next morning, Colin was up by 7.  Surprisingly, he didn't ask to hurry downstairs - further proof he really didn't get the whole Santa concept.  Instead, he went about his normal routine of watching cartoons and barking his breakfast orders to me.  It wasn't long before Wes must have planted the seed because Colin was ready to go down to see what Santa had brought him.  I was feeding Sawyer, so I missed the initial excitement.  Wes was in charge of the camera and we had left the "good" camera at my mom's the night before.  Therefore, these pictures aren't the greatest of quality but in a case like this, it's more about preserving the memories.

Here's our Christmas in pictures (and a few words since I have diarrhea of the mouth).  These first 2 are actually from Christmas Eve when he got to open 2 gifts.  One was from my friend and the other was our new tradition of pjs.

Christmas morning.

The first present from Santa, the kite.

 FOOD!  No surprise, this was one of the favorite gifts.

 And to complete the outfit, all chefs need a hat.

Our elf, Poof Guy, had to get in on the giving too.  He left a gift for Colin and one for the family - Super Why computer game for Colin and CandyLand for the family.  Wes took on the role all by himself, completely unprompted.  What a guy!

This is an adorable mohawk-style hat Wes' family gave Colin but Colin hated it.  He refused to wear it and would say, "I told you I don't like it" every time we asked him if he wanted to wear it.  It was later exchanged for some corduroy pants that he liked much better.

Sawyer got one too, a little different though.  His thoughts were similar to Colin's but his was TOO darn cute to return!  He has since accepted it.

Some family shots.

Colin hugging Granny.

Helping Buff open her present.

Grandpa reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."  His eyebrows are starting to look sort of grinch-ish!

Poor Sawyer is going to have a life of hand-me-downs.  I think he had 2 gifts under the tree but like he knew the difference.  I'm frugal, remember?  He did get 3 of the same toy from 3 different people.  I guess the glow worm was a popular gift this year!

 Just look at my precious baby!

I've saved the best for last.  This could be the only picture I'll ever have of the boys willingly holding hands.  Wes said we'll look back on this picture in 20 years and wonder what happened to our little boys.  And on that tear-jerker note, I'll conclude our Christmas 2010 slideshow.

Hoarders

It hasn't been intentional but I've been hoarding a boat-load of recipes from you.  Most of them I didn't have a picture for and I decided not to post them.  Who wants a recipe without a picture?  Then I got to thinking that a lot of these were solid recipes and that I should at least mention them.  By now you've surely developed an opinion as to whether or not you trust my reviews.  I won't be disheartened either way because I know everyone's taste buds are different and not everyone enjoys the same taste and flavors that I do.  I'm fine with that.  Enough about my disclaimer, here is a list of some favorites we've had over the past month or so (most of the images have been hijacked from the respective sources).  I encourage you to try some of them and let me know what you think.  I'm always interested in the feedback.

Sweet Corn and Carrot Cornbread - I've made this several times and it is just delicious.  The carrots are a great way to sneak in another veggie for picky eaters.  They also add extra moisture, making this a super moist cornbread.

Balsamic Honey Chicken - I actually used maple syrup in place of the honey.  Maple syrup and mustard have quickly become my favorite flavor combination.  I use it in dressings, sauces, and marinades and it has never let me down. 

Cincinnati-Style Chili - For those of you that don't live in this region, Cincinnati-style chili has a very distinctive flavor.  I'd go so far as to say you either love it or hate it.  Luckily, Wes and I both love it.  This recipe tastes darn near close to the real thing.  Now if I can just figure out how to get that delicious cheese they use!

Sweet & Sour Meatballs - I think we liked the fried rice as much, if not more than, the meatballs.  The meatballs were good but not quite as saucy as her picture indicates.  Since the recipe doesn't indicate a quantity, I think we got 12-14, 1-2inch meatballs.

Savory Spinach, Feta, and Peppadew Muffins - It's been a long time since we've had these but I remember them being quite tasty.  I remember the spinach and peppadews taking a backseat to the feta.  I know I didn't use whole milk, as the recipe indicates but I can't recall any other changes.  The picture is actually of my finished product.

Lasagna Pizza Cups - We all really liked these, that is once Colin believed us that it was like pizza in a biscuit.  What kid wouldn't like that combination?!  So easy and quite delicious.  I paired it with a salad for a quick and easy week night dinner.

Quinoa and Pomegranate Salad - This is a great, nutritious side dish that goes with just about anything.  It's also very interchangeable with whatever you might have on hand.  Quinoa packs a lot of nutrients into a tiny grain and it cooks up very quickly.  I think the only modifications I made were to use the No-Chicken Stock (by Imagine) and I substituted maple syrup for the pomegranate molasses.  I may have doubled the amounts of the vinaigrette too.

Chicken Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese - This is an all-in-one kind of meal.  I love those on busy nights.  I substituted spinach for the arugula but kept the rest of the recipe as written.  This would also make a good summer dish because it's light.








Maple Mustard Pork Chops - I am not a huge fan of pork chops but this sauce made me a believer.  Wes couldn't say enough about how tasty the sauce was and we both agreed it would be great on chicken as well.  I really think it would be great on just about any protein for that matter.

Sweet Potato Rolls - These were my contribution to our Christmas Eve dinner.  I love that I was able to sneak a vegetable into some of my non-vegetable eating family members!  The rolls turned out great (they rose twice!) and the flavor of the sweet potato was undetectable.  It did make for a pretty, golden roll though.

RED BEANS AND RICE

Source:  John Besh from Comfort Food Magazine, Winter 2010

Serves 6

2 onions, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 stalk celery, diced

2 T. rendered bacon fat

1 lb dried red kidney beans

2 smoked ham hocks (I only used 1)

3 bay leaves

½ tsp cayenne pepper

3 green onions, chopped (I omitted)

3 cups cooked basic Louisiana white rice (I used brown rice)

Cook the onion, bell peppers, and celery in bacon fat in a heavy soup pot over medium-high heat.  Once the onions become translucent, add the kidney beans, ham hocks, bay leaves, and cayenne, then add water to cover by 2 inches.

Increase the heat and bring the water to a boil.  Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and allow the beans to slowly simmer for 2 hours.  Periodically stir the beans to make sure that they don’t scorch on the bottom of the pot, adding water if necessary, always keeping the beans covered by an inch or more of water.  Continue cooking the beans until they are creamy and beginning to fall apart when they’re stirred.

Remove the ham hock meat from the bones, roughly chop it, and add it back to the pot of beans.  Stir in the green onions and season with salt, pepper, and Tabaso.  Serve with white rice.

*This is a stellar recipe.  I have made several other iterations of red beans and rice but none compare to this one.  I'm sure it was the ham hock that did it but whatever it was, we'll be doing it again and again.  Yum!

Green Beans and Tomatoes

Source:  Paula Deen Magazine Nov/Dec 2010

 ¼ cup olive oil

2 cups chopped onions

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 (2lb) package frozen cut green beans

2 cups chicken broth (I used No-Chicken Broth by Imagine brand - LOVE that stuff!!)

1 (14.5oz) can petite diced tomatoes (I actually omitted)

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (I omitted)

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion and garlic, and cook for 6-8 minutes; stirring frequently, or until onions are tender.  Add green beans, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes or until desired degree of doneness is reached.

*These were actually really good green beans.  I have a hard time making green beans that actually taste good without using 10 tons of salt or salted meat.  Surprisingly, these hit the spot.  I love that you can use frozen green beans and the finished product still tastes good.  I'd be interested to taste them with the tomatoes but Wes is somewhat averse to them, so I don't think I'll be making them that way anytime soon.  

Christmas Eve

This was the first Christmas Eve in many years that I haven't had to work.  It was a real treat to wake up and get to spend the entire day with my family.  After 8 hours though, I was ready for a change of scenery. We headed over to my mom and dad's for dinner.

After a yummy, belly-filling dinner, we exchanged gifts with my sister and her family.  It was organized chaos as paper flew, boxes were ripped open, and thank you's were exchanged.  It was all over in a matter of minutes and the kids were off playing with their new toys.  I prefer the one-at-a-time routine but there was none of that going on.

Everyone had a good time though and before we knew it, it was time to head home to get in bed so Santa could come.

Here are a few pictures from the melee, I mean festivities.

My beautiful nieces.

Colin with one of his favorite people, Grandpa!

Sawyer enjoying his after dinner snack - daddy's thumb.

Elise showing Foxx how to ride his new bike/car.

Sawyer fighting to stay awake on comfy Buff.

Sweet Baby Jesus

My mom has a nativity scene under her Christmas tree this year.  When Colin saw it, he thought we needed one too.  So my mom bought us one.  After all, every house needs a nativity.

Much to Colin's dismay, our nativity doesn't have any movable parts.  That is except for baby Jesus.

Well baby Jesus went missing this weekend.  We searched everywhere we could think of, but he was no where to be found.  Wes told Colin it was "time to find the Lord."

Colin still had no idea where he was but suddenly disappeared into the basement.  Let me let the pictures do the talking now.

Who is that, you ask that has arrived on the scene?  Let's take a closer look who's about to dive right on in.

None other than Wolverine!  Baby Jesus, Wolverine, both super hero's, right?  Perhaps next year we'll better understand the nativity a bit more.

**Update:  We have found Jesus!  He was in the dryer of all places.  Colin has an affinity with pockets and apparently thought Jesus was better served in his pocket than the manger.  At this rate, he needs to keep the Lord close by before his mother looses it on with him.  Poor Jesus suffered greatly with 2 severed limbs.  He's now armless but back in the manger. 

Budding Photographer

I'm trying to teach Wes to use my SLR so that I can occasionally be in pictures and not just taking them.  We had a rare occasion this weekend when both boys were being fairly agreeable, awake, and presentable (at least somewhat).  I seized the opportunity for some practice.  After discovering his shaky hands, he learned to prop his elbows on his knees and then he got a fairly decent shot.  Now if I can just figure out how to get both subjects looking at the same time!

Blurry but we were actually all looking, serious or otherwise.

Not blurry but Sawyer was losing interest.

To prove he was there, here's Wes with his little precious.  For the record, Sawyer is totally a daddy's boy right now.

Again blurry, but I have very few pictures of just me and Sawyer.  At least we were both looking.  2 out of 3 isn't bad.

Good job, Wes!  Your first lesson was a success. 

Weekly Recipe: Ricotta Cheesecake

Growing up, we always joked how my Grandmother would never throw any food away.  We always said it was because she grew up during the Depression and she just couldn't bear to see any food go to waste.  It was such a precious commodity during those times, that it's almost sinful for her to be so frivolous to throw something away. 

Well fast forward 80 or so years to today and my life.  Guess who must take after her grandmother?  Yep, me.  I make it my mission to use up every ingredient and eat every leftover in the fridge/pantry each week.  So when I had 3/4 of a container of ricotta cheese leftover, I searched for a recipe to use it in.  I had always wanted to try a ricotta cheesecake, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. 

I actually had a hard time finding a recipe that received decent ratings that didn't use a bunch of other ingredients I didn't have.  You can easily get into a lot more money trying to use up the last of an ingredient than you're saving if you're not careful.

So I found this recipe on Southern Living's website (my go-to recipe destination) and made some modifications.  I completely changed the crust to a graham cracker crust but otherwise kept it mostly the same.  

Ricotta Cheesecake

• Crust:
• 1 2/3 cup crushed graham crackers (1 sleeve)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• Filling:
• 3/4  (15-ounce) carton fat-free ricotta cheese
• 1  (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup spreadable reduced-fat cream cheese
• 1/4  cup  all-purpose flour
• 3/4  cup  sugar
• 1/2  cup  plain fat-free yogurt (I tried strawberry and it was undetectable in the final taste.)
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 2  large eggs
• 2  large egg whites
• Cooking spray

Preparation

To prepare crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl.  Combine and press into the bottom and up the sides of a 8 or 9-inch springform pan.  Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated 325 degree oven.

To prepare filling, place cheeses in a bowl, and beat at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Lightly spoon 1/4 cup flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Add 1/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, and the next 4 ingredients (sugar through egg whites) to cheese mixture; beat until smooth.
Preheat oven to 325°.
Pour filling into crust.  Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until filling is set. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula; cool on a wire rack.
Serve with dulce de leche sauce.  

A Letter

Dear Old Man Winter:

I'm going to need you to go ahead and pack your bags and be on your merry way.  Two snow storms and an ice storm is enough for one season.  If you go now, we can part ways amicably and I'll allow you to return next year - as in next December, not January 2011 (don't try to pull one over on me). 

Thank you for your time,
Danielle

Can't Hold Me Down

If Sawyer could speak, those would surely be his words.  He jolts himself from his tummy to his back, practically propels himself out of your arms, and squirms his way out of any piece of baby equipment we own.

Case in point:

I definitely remember Colin not wanting to be confined but I can't say I remember the thrashing this early.  Then again, I can barely remember what I did yesterday, so 3 years ago is really pushing it.

Sawyer is already scrunching his little legs up under him when he's on his belly and trying to lunge himself forward.  The other night we were eating dinner and he was on the floor in the adjoining room.  By the end of our dinner, he had scooted himself into the kitchen to join us.  Clearly, he wanted to join in the family meal.

It won't be long friends until this little one is mobile.  I'm not sure I'm ready for round 2 of the whirling dervish.  I guess I better get ready!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

With the not-so-desirable behavior a little 3-year old boy as of late, I eagerly anticipated the arrival of Santa this year.  In years past, we've talked about Santa and even sat on his lap but I could tell it wasn't registering with him.  I had high hopes for this year, but alas, it looks like I may have to wait one more year for the concept of "you better be good for goodness sake" to sink in.

Colin has a tendency to be somewhat frightened by men dressed in over-sized costumes (remember the Chik-fil-a cow saga?).  Last year he was very hesitant to sit on Santa's lap but ultimately a full belly did the trick.  Not being one to tempt fate, I opted for the eating approach again this year. 

Let the questions begin.  We started the day with some confusion.  Somehow he thought breakfast with Santa meant it was Christmas morning and Buff, Grandpa, and Granny were coming to our house to eat breakfast.  Once we got that straightened out, we were off to celebrate with the old people at our Shriner's Temple.  Immediately upon arrival, Colin wanted to know where Santa's reindeers were.  Um, they're either on the roof or he parked around back.  I've learned to be quick on my feet with my responses!  Once inside, how come Santa isn't eating with us?  He probably already ate.  But you said we were having breakfast with Santa.  True.

After 3 sausage patties, 1 pancake, a bowl of fruit (eaten in 2.5 seconds during the car ride over), and a full glass of milk, he was ready to sit on his lap.  Not much hesitation this year.  Up he went.  I tried to chat it up with Santa because I knew Colin would not.  I told him about the reindeer question and luckily he played right along, saying that the reindeer were up on the roof.  Other than that exchange, I don't think Santa said another word.  I snapped my pictures and that was it.

Oh sure, he'll smile for the random lady taking his picture but not for me.

I had hoped I could get him to hold Sawyer, so I could get a picture with both but after seeing how unfriendly he was, I didn't even bother asking.  So Daddy played Santa for Sawyer.  He was too busy looking around and it was doubtful I would have gotten a good shot anyways.  I did snap these of my nosy, totally uninterested little boy.

Next year, I think we will forego the breakfast with the elderly and seek out a real Santa place where Mr. Claus actually knows how to interact with children.  And both boys will be in the picture, even if that means tears.  Torture Memories here people!

Little Man

Today is Little Man's 5-month birthday.  We're not breaking out the cupcakes and candles but I did want to give a few updates (if for nothing else, so that I'll have them actually written down and can remember them months from now).

So far he's tried rice cereal, prunes, and oatmeal.  The 2 cereals have gone over fine but the prunes were yucky to you.  Who could blame him?  You still very much prefer milk in it's unaltered state but you'll at least eat the cereal without gagging and making a horrible face.

The prunes were an attempt to get your bowels flowing.  You must be storing up for the winter because what goes in does not seem to come out.  So far you don't seem to be in any discomfort, so we'll just keep waiting...and waiting.

You have discovered your hands and haven't removed them from your mouth ever since.  You recently were sitting in your Bumbo seat and bent over to discover your feet.  You tried your hardest to get one in your mouth but you couldn't.  You then got frustrated and wanted out of that seat.  Patience is a common trait in our house!

When you hold Daddy's fingers, you love to pull yourself up to a standing position.  You've skipped the seating or kneeling position and have gone straight to full on standing.  You lock those little knees and are strong as an ox.  Daddy predicts you'll be an early walker, maybe even foregoing crawling.

You are also constantly moving and kicking and squirming - another sign you'd love to take off.

 
Your hair is still rockin'.  I'm not sure anything short of a buzz is going to tame that beast.  Between your pretty blue eyes and your wild hair, you get a lot of comments from onlookers.  We think it's super cute and couldn't imagine our little Sawyer without it.

Your smile is infectious and lucky for us, you still give it to us a lot.  You're talking and cooing away and we just need to learn your language so we can engage in a conversation with you.  Right now it seems very one-sided.

It's hard to believe it's already been 5 months since you were born.  You are getting to be such a big boy!  We love you and your beautiful smile.