Testing.... Testing.... 1 2 3

Update on being a test cook for Once A Month Meals!

Hubby and I got it all done in about 7 hours, in our tiny little kitchen, with the baby and Izzy!  Woo hoo!  If you've never tried this, you should!  For your sanity I suggest enlisting help wherever possible.  Whether it's an extra set of hands actually in the kitchen or wrangling the kiddos outside the kitchen, it definitely helps!
Que photo of my handy husband... now:

 And here I am all aproned out, staging for prep.  FYI, kids bowls work great for once a month cooking!

 We had a lot going on, and I definitely should have taken the "night before" prep advice.  7 hours straight trying to cook with 2 kids leads to this:

And after a few hours of this, you start searching for other options.  I really needed to do a back carry, but the only wrap we have is a stretchy moby.  So, necessity is the mother of invention, and I came up with this quickie wrap using a sheet!  You might also notice my strategically placed ipad on a stand to my left and waste bag attached to the cabinet on the right.

And here is the outcome of all that prep work, ready to start assembly and cooking:

I wish I could share with you the recipes I'm in charge of, but that is locked down for now!  How about this preview pic of the bags going down to the freezer?

And after all that hard work, taste testing and lining up the menu, this is what we were left with - YIKES!

It was totally worth it!  Every recipe was delicious, and we always save tons of money when we do this!  Check it out, feel free to ask questions!  I'm happy to answer!

Me! They picked me!

So excited to take on something pretty new and be a part of Once A Month Meals.  I've been chosen to be a test cook!  Very cool!  Shortly before I had Olivia and once in a while thereafter, I'd do once a month freezer cooking.  Sometimes I don't have the time to do a whole month's worth of shopping and cooking, so I'll spend an hour or so getting together meals for the week.  And now that I'm working from home and cramming in a busy home and volunteer schedule, it's becoming harder and harder to keep homemade meals a priority.  I constantly chicken out and wind up going out to eat instead.  And of course the family has no problem with that! Not against my cooking, just that they'd rather have pizza and other goodies I don't often make at home.  But, I need to watch my calorie intake, spend less money, and have more time with family (think about the last time you went out to eat, when did you leave and get home?  I bet it didn't "save" you any time at all!) - so, I'm happy to be testing this menu out and get back into it!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Rosemary Bread

I'm starting this one while the bread's baking, and man - if it tastes as good as it smells right now.....

Here's the recipe as I made it:

Romanos Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

1 packet yeast (1 tbsp)
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups flour (plus more)

Water, sugar and yeast went into mixer bowl, let sit for 5 minutes until bubbly.  Added rest of ingredients, except flour, and mixed with dough hook attachment.  Added flour in 1/2 cup increments until I reached 2 cups, then, because dough was so wet, put mixer on low and added by the tbsp until dough pulled from the edges.  Dough was still pretty wet, so I probably added 3 more tbsp after that.

Put dough into oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour on top of oven after I made dinner.  Then punched dough down, split in half, oiled cookie sheet and rounded the loaves.  Let rise again, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Cook in oven 15-20 minutes at 375.  A lot of reviews said to brush butter over top, egg wash, etc.  but for this run I'm not putting anything on top to see how it comes out.

Verdict is - delicious!  Did not need wash in any form.  Was light and fluffy and have to go because now I am officially designated "bread cutter" by the family as they beg for more!

Christina

First Try Cooking with Pinterest!

This entry marks another journey - not that of working or nursing mother - but chef!  Using Pinterest, I'll try some recipes and - down to the littlest of substitutions (I almost always make one or skip a step) - record what I found.  You can see the original pinned recipes I try under Cooking with Pinterest (Mostly) Board on my Pinterest account.  Please note that these recipes are "Christina Style" which means they aren't always exactly measured.  Also, I add what type of pan or whatever I used to cook it in since usually I don't have what the recipe calls for.  Today I actually tried 5 recipes - but I've only got pictures of one - so here goes:

Upside Down Potato & Onion Tart  - Mostly

Ingredients:
2 T salted butter
"sprinkle" of italian seasoning
1/2 a giant Costco onion, fairly thinly sliced
3 russet potatoes, thinly sliced
1.5 cups Kirkland shredded mexican cheese
a "swirl" of veggi oil
Pie plate

Turn oven on to 400.  Melt butter, "sprinkle" with italian seasoning, layer slivers of onion over that.  Mix remaining ingredients in bowl while onion and italian seasoning cooks until you start to smell onion cooking :) - that's about 5 minutes.  Take the bowl ingredients and put on top of onions, put in oven for 45 minutes (suggest 1 hr after this trial run if using harder potatoes like russet).

Here it is:

Do your best to flip:

Ok, so it's not as pretty, and russet potatoes definitely need an extra 15 minutes to soften all the way.  45 minutes had them soft but still a bit starchy.  Still were great with the steaks - see you next time!

Funny thing I named this blog "Please Don't Puke On Me".....

I actually narrowly avoiding getting puke IN MY MOUTH.  So yes, I was puked on - my daughter doesn't read this blog, obviously.  I sat there for a good minute going "MMM, MMM!!!! MMMMMMM!!!" to my husband who had no clue what happened.  So here's a note to nursing mothers - don't play airplane with your baby after you feed her.  I would give yourself a good hour before doing it.  Will you listen to this advice?  No.  Because our babies are so cute and loveable and squeezable and we want to play with them all the time, conveniently forgetting that we just fed them.  So don't come crying to me when they puke on you.  Just know we're all laughing at you.  I mean, WITH YOU.  By the way, husband was definitely laughing at me, while wandering around "trying" to find something to wipe the puke off my face.  Awesome.   PS - I'm "Cooking with Pinterest" where I try all these pinterest recipes, complete with not following them to the T because I'm not Suzie Homemaker who has every spice, meat, and pan available to make them with but who is still very hungry when roaming through the food section of pinterest and wants to make it all.  Lots of love! - C

I'm back!

So sorry to keep everyone waiting. A lot has happened in the last few months, and I have to say, my fashion journey has gone out the window while I work on myself first. I'm nearly 30 days into Power 90, and I feel great. That's actually why I'm up this morning - although feeling great isn't happening because I've been pretty sick for 3 days. I'm also super addicted to Pinterest now, and that's the other reason I'm up right now. I'm about to whip up a blueberry breakfast cake, do my workout while it's baking, and then sit back with some hot cocoa an enjoy the snow. Weather is calling for 3-6 inches and my older daughter is thrilled! I am secretly too - this is the reason we moved back east!
So I'm going to see if this pinterest pin is worthy - talk to you soon!

Sky High!

So today, as with every Sunday, I stare at my closet of "Sunday's Best" and reminisce about the days when I didn't have to figure out how to pull my boobs out of a dress.  In my case, it my be easier than those of you with smaller ones, since anything low cut I'm pretty much falling out of it anyway.  Yes, I know.  I'm a size 6 on a 5'1'' frame with a "nice rack".  That I hate because my arms are shorter than most people and all the stuff I want to do my boobs get in the way.  Ok, rant over. Here's what I finally went with:

I actually spent time on my hair and makeup today, so didn't really have time to accessorize.  This dress has a cowl neck and it's stretchy so I can pull it down to feed.  Dress is White House Black Market (on sale for $40 from $160 - SCORE), sky-high pumps are BCBG.  Yes, I wore 4" heels to meeting because it's only a few hours long and I don't stand a lot.  Word to the wise: if you have a fussy  baby, don't wear sky-high heels!  Remember that you will be up and walking around to settle them.  Oh yeah, I definitely regret all the walking I did while pregnant, it is definitely my baby's preferred method of soothing!  Do you also see that I managed to style my baby today too?  All pink and frilly!  Here is my hair:

I saw an actress with her hair like this and I really like it because it solves the issue of having to wear an entire thing of bobby pins in the back of your head when trying to pull off a side 'do.  Must look pretty nice, as several people came up giving me compliments on it!  Talk to you later in the week!