{Recipe Recap} Sweet Potato with Spinach and Peas

So this is a bit of a different food post for you guys.  Guess what?  I made baby food!  I’m pretty happy about it, too.  Breastfeeding was a challenge mostly because of supply issues, and I worked so hard to feed Connor as much and as long as I could.  So I’m thrilled that I can fairly easily whip up some healthy purees for him.  No worries about supply now!

The first thing I tried was a combo puree of sweet potato, spinach, and peas.  There was supposed to be some leek in it, but I didn’t have that.

I have two baby food-trays so I filled them up and stuck them in the freezer then I pull out a portion as I need it.

So, what did Connor think about his mom’s food?  He really liked it!  Heather and Bronte were over when I was making this, and we all taste-tested it and while it was fairly bland, none of us had any complaints.

This recipe came from Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel.  It was 12 oz of sweet potato, half a cup of peas, and 3/4 cup of fresh baby spinach.  I sauteed the sweet potato in a tablespoon of butter, added some water and let that boil for about 10 minutes, then threw in the peas and spinach.  I pureed everything with extra water as needed and voila – baby food!

We have some great little containers that are working perfectly for the portion size that Connor needs right now.

I’m excited to try something else, but I know Connor’s supposed to eat the same thing for a while and I’d rather use this stuff when it’s fairly fresh and not in danger of being freezer burnt.  So he’ll eat this for the week and I’ll make up a batch of something new this weekend.  Potato, carrot, and corn puree, anyone?

{Sorry for the terrible phone pics.  I’ll try to do better with future foods.}

Hope everyone’s had a good week so far!

Party animals

Two weekends ago, we traveled to Matthews (just outside of Charlotte), then Clover, SC (just over the border), and finally ended up in Greenville, SC for a wedding reception.  All in the same day.  The McHusband’s cousin had gotten married in Cancun the previous weekend, and then he and his new bride had a local party to celebrate.

We took the pack n play and put Connor down, but he didn’t stay that way and soon joined the fun with his cousins Leah and Chase.

Family photo: the McHusband, me, and our kid, Deer Inthe Headlights.  But we call him Connor.

Cousin Henley was a happy little party animal.

While her mom and siblings broke it down on the dance floor.

Grammie even joined in the fun!

Speaking of Grammie, let’s rewind to when we were less sweaty at the beginning of the part.  Jenny got some photos of Grammie with her grandkids.

Leah wasn’t in the mood to smile, but check out this picture of her at the table when we were eating.  Gorgeous, right?

Okay, fast-fowarding back to later in the evening when we were all sweaty and overtired.

Poor baby could barely keep his eyes open.

We wrapped things up with a group shot…of tequila.

We headed back to Matthews that night.  We really appreciate the McDad driving us, and we were especially grateful that he stopped at that McDonald’s on the way so the McHusband and I could get cheeseburgers.  Best. Cheeseburgers. Ever.

Who says family fun can’t involve tequila?

Recent. Random.

Where do the days go?  The weekends used to fly by before we had a baby, but now, even though the days are longer because I’m getting up hours earlier, there really isn’t enough time in the day for everything.

I kicked off the weekend with some Friday-night backyard boot camp, went to my first Jamberry Nails party Saturday night, then ventured into baby food-making territory on Sunday.  I also managed to finally get Connor’s six-month pictures so that post’ll go up this week.

Oh, and did you see that I got a new-to-me car?

The weather was iffy Saturday evening so I drove to my neighbor’s house for the Jamberry party.  My cup holders are very deep, as you can see.

I can’t let a Monday go by without telling you about some recent sweets: a lemon cookie cake, brownies with an Oreo cream filling frosting, and some peanut butter fudge bars with chocolate ganache.

I prefer those treats in the reverse order of how I listed them.

I want to get Connor a high chair this week.  He needs to sit up straighter than his lounger allows, and my chunky monkey isn’t going to fit in the Bumbo seat for much longer. 

Plus I just want him to associate meals/eating with the high chair.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to get the kind that straps onto an existing chair as I don’t need one more piece of furniture or baby paraphernalia in the kitchen.

Hope you guys had good weekends!

{Recipe Recap} Pesto Ranch Crockpot Chicken

Just a quick post for you guys to help you plan your dinner on Sunday.

I know the crockpot seems like a cold-weather appliance, but it’s also great in the summer because you don’t have to heat up your oven and therefore your kitchen.

I had pinned this recipe and the McMom saw it and gave it a try.  She said it was good and that was all I needed to hear to throw my chicken and pesto in the crockpot two days later.

I know it doesn’t look all that great, but I promise what it lacks in appearance, it makes up for in flavor.

I had some leftover Parmesan cheese so I shredded it and added a little to our chicken.  You can’t go wrong with a little cheese.

I ate the leftovers cold, and we also had a cold orzo pasta salad that the McMom made with the chicken when we were in Charlotte last weekend.  I liked it any way I could get it. 

Hands-off AND versatile?  I don’t know why you WOULDN’T make this.

Hope you guys have a good weekend!

TGIF!

{Recipe adapted from here; I used chicken breasts instead of thighs}

Shake It Off

Have you guys all heard Taylor Swift’s new song, “Shake It Off”?  Apparently the country princess is trying to be a pop queen and so far, I’d say she’s doing a pretty good job at making the transition.  I really like the new song, and the video is super cute.

What do you think?

If Taylor came around here again, I would definitely go to another one of her concerts.

Happy Hump Day!

{Recipe Recap} Funfetti Cookie Dough Truffle Bars

I’m messing with your week by posting something sweet on a Tuesday, but today’s my first day back to work because I had yesterday off after we traveled over the weekend.  You guys may not still need your spoonful of sugar, but I do.

These cookie dough bars were for Sara’s birthday.  She chose three treats and let me narrow those down, and I think our partnership paid off because these were delicious.

If you like licking the beaters when you’re making a cake, or you make sure to save a scoop’s worth of dough when you’re filling cookie sheets, these bars are for you.

For the truffle layer, I used a mixture of the Lindt Sweet Dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips.  The cookie dough is very sweet so I thought having a not-as-sweet truffle layer would be a good contrast. 

Guess what?  I was right.

These bars would also make an excellent “filling” between cake layers, and they’d be great spread atop a batch of brownies.  If you want to put in a little more work, you could roll them up and dip them in chocolate.

I wouldn’t recommend you take these anywhere that they’ll sit out in a warm environment, but if you can keep these chilled before serving, they’ll hold up just fine and go over very well.

Thanks for picking these out, Sara!

{Recipe here}

Floorplay

I’ve been waiting to use that title.

Connor’s six months old today and you know what that means:  shots.  Poor guy, he just thinks I’m picking him up early from the sitter cuz I love and miss him so much.  The first rounds of shots were hard on him and me, but I think today’s are going to be especially rough for me because he’s such a little person now, and I hate to see him hurting.

Before people went poking him with needles, he had lots of fun rolling around on the floor.  He’s a pro at going from back to tummy to back and can scootch himself around to where he wants to go pretty well.  I don’t think we’ll have long to wait until he’s crawling.

His life’ll be improved once he realizes he can remove stuff from his face.  In the meantime, he has a mom who’s happy to rescue him from face-eating bibs. (Don’t mind the cupcake, that was the afternoon I was making Vickie’s birthday treats.)

He’s trying to make his getaway from the mat.

We got him to lay on his back for a few beats, but getting to hold still is asking too much.

I’ll be back next week with his official six-month post once we get him measured at the doctor and I get his pictures taken.

TGIF and have a great weekend!