High Five For... Saturday?

High Five For... Saturday?

April 30, 2016

I've been on my own case to share more of our daily lives on here lately. My time slot to blog has just slowly be dwindling down with the active kiddo cruising around.

Last night I made my favorite pressure cooker meal, it's on MPM for this week, and it makes me want to make everything in their.

As in, I need the slow cooker for bone broth and for tonights dinner and I'm wondering if I can get away with putting dinner in here tonight.

I think I will.

Little dude has been crashing in the evenings after we nurse before bed. It's clearly because napping was against his constitution this week and then having a flaming fit for a solid hour + every night wasn't helping. 

Luckily last night he took a break from the nonsense and I got to sleep until 5. (all the praise hands)

With that said...

Y'all. State testing week is already a big UGH, so top that off with zero sleep and no chance of going to the bathroom after having coffee and you've got a pretty cranky Emily on your hands. 

What's sad is that I only drink decaf, it just brightens my mood to have a hot drink in the AM. 

Subsequent bad hair days due to humidity didn't help the situation either. 

If you haven't tried Skinny Taste's Eggs Pizzaiola you're doing yourself a disservice. I added zucchini noodles to it this week for everyone (not just mama) and I stand by this being one of my favorite cheap and quick meals. 

In other news, baby be touching evvv-re-thang. Everything! 

So therefore all books we like were moved out of reach and all the "go ahead and destroy that" was moved down. 

The down side are all the displaced photos that are now in this house and are on the verge of being sent to a photo refugee camp in the guest room. 

Now I'm going to peace out of here and go workout and mop before the child appears to be moving on the monitor. 

Bleach mopping to be specific because our 1000 year old dachshund has taken it upon herself to pee or poop every blooming day in the kitchen by the door. 

It's just lovely. 

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Currently April

Currently April

April 28, 2016

Eating: A mix of Whole30 with the Tone It Up 8 Week Bikini Series. I love their workouts and I'm trying to love their food. I like the reasoning behind why to eat what foods when though.

Reading: Eat Dirt has been the most recent. Before that it was Lady Catherine, The Earl, and the Real Downton Abby. I put a pause on the second one though because we have a long bus ride for a field trip and I'm audio booking that one.

Watching: Still on the BBC kick, I just saw Elizabeth at 90 and it was awesome. It was the most on camera talking I've seen her do in a film. So, so good.

Doing: I'm still slowly killing a garden. Oddly enough it does better when I ignore it. I think I'm saving all my doing for when summer comes. I tend to crash and burn the last month of school.

Buying: Fitness gear, not just yet, but it's on the list. I need to update my weights and what not for the Tone It Up workouts. My light weights aren't cutting it anymore and Jeremy's are far too heavy.

Loving: The fact that his baby is on the verge of walking. Needless to say his need to climb isn't on my loving list. Neither is his need to cry at 3am lately.

Hating: The crying baby every night. I guess we are in a sleep regression, but I don't have the books to support that theory. I need to look at the Chronicles of a Babywise Mom and see what she says for this month.

Crafting: Nada.... eek!

Listening: The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey podcast and Walking Through the Psalms by Kevin Williams (our worship pastor), both are really great.

Pinning: I have no idea. I don't think I've been on much lately.

Going: No where, unless you count that field trip to Houston coming up. Sadly I only want to go there if I'm going to Ikea.

Enjoying: Meal planning for Bikini Series oddly enough, I like to make lists though. It's a sick hobby.

Hoping: That Harrison will decide waking Mama up at 3am isn't necessary and stay asleep again. (all the sad face emojis)

Considering: I need a new pair of tennis shoes, like running around with holes, cover in stain from the table, and hurting like the Dickens. Totally open to a great workout shoe suggestions.

Wearing: I finally fit back into my post pregnancy - lost most of the baby weight but didn't fit in pre pregnancy clothing - khakis. Yeah, the end of nursing caused me to GAIN weight like a crazy woman and thanks to a few weeks of TIU workouts I'm back in my pants. Whoop whoop! 

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German Chocolate Upside Down Cake

German Chocolate Upside Down Cake

April 26, 2016

The 3rd cake of my Southern Cake Series is finally up and it's my grandmother's go to cake that she took to all the family events we had. 

Looking back it's funny she made this considering she didn't exactly like chocolate. 

Regardless, it's good. And it's easy to make. 

German Chocolate Upside Down Cake

From The Louisiana Proud Collection of Sweet Things 1993
Ingredients:
1 box German chocolate cake mix
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 box confectioners sugar (1lb)
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 cake pan. Prepare cake as directed on package. Stir in nuts and pour batter into pan. Blend cream cheese and butter. Add confectioners sugar and coconut. Drop by the teaspoonful on top of raw cake batter(mixture is very thick) until coconut mixture is all used up. bake for 45-50 minutes. The cake batter rises and the coconut cream cheese mixture settles to the bottom. Serve by spooning out portions.

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Meal Pinning Monday

Meal Pinning Monday

April 24, 2016

Here's another Paleo friendly dinner menu for the week. 

If you're familiar with Tone It Up, their Bikini Series starts tomorrow and I decided this year I was game to join in again (It's been a good two years since I did it with pregnancy and what not). My meals during the day that go with that are listed at the bottom. Happy Cooking!

[What is Meal Pinning Monday?]

MPM is how I meal plan for our little family. I once spent a lot of time searching the web and my recipe books hunting for new recipes and ideas for what to cook every week. Then, Pinterest came along and made meal planning much easier for me. Every weekend I look over what I have pinned the prior week and decide what I would like to cook and make my grocery list from these recipes. MPM came about as a way to share what I am cooking, and to also see what others are cooking every week to hopefully get even more dinner ideas from other bloggers. If you don't pin your recipes feel free to just share what you are cooking.

Monday - Beefy Ratatouille (never made it last week)

Tuesday - Eggs Pizzaiola with Zoodles (no cheese for me)

Wednesday - Balsamic Roast with Carrots & Potatoes (for the guys)

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Pressure Cooker Pork with Vegetables

Saturday - Puerto Rican Pork (Chicken) with Brussel Sprouts

(click link, the widget wouldn't work)

Sunday - Italian Ground Beef with Potatoes for the guys and Zoodles for me (Blogilates Hot Body Meal Guide pg 47)

Breakfast - Protein Waffle or Veggie Omlette

Snack - grapefruit or orange

Lunch - Chicken Salad or Kale Salad with Quinoa

Snack - Protein Shake (Chocolate Paleo Protein 1/2 scoop)

So you can see I'm basically just following Paleo, roast is a bit higher fat than TIU wants. All day meals are strict TIU though, plus I'll be following their workouts. 

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Meal Pinning Monday

Meal Pinning Monday

April 18, 2016

After two weeks off, I'm back with a week of my favorites. 

[What is Meal Pinning Monday?]

MPM is how I meal plan for our little family. I once spent a lot of time searching the web and my recipe books hunting for new recipes and ideas for what to cook every week. Then, Pinterest came along and made meal planning much easier for me. Every weekend I look over what I have pinned the prior week and decide what I would like to cook and make my grocery list from these recipes. MPM came about as a way to share what I am cooking, and to also see what others are cooking every week to hopefully get even more dinner ideas from other bloggers. If you don't pin your recipes feel free to just share what you are cooking.

Monday - Spaghetti Squash Carbonara

Tuesday - Puerto Rican Pork (but with chicken)

Here's the link, the pin widget isn't working. 

Wednesday - Lomo Saltado

Thursday - Shakshuka with Zucchini Noodles

Friday - Bacon Lamburger Salad

Saturday - Tuscan Pork Chops

Sunday - Beefy Ratatoullie

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Easy Tomato Soup

Easy Tomato Soup

April 14, 2016

I'm basically floating along the terrible blogger thing lately.

No time to write.

Computer taken when I'm able to write.

Nothing all that jazzy to write about.

But soup, this soup was so good it was worth writing about.

As a kid my mother always made soup and grilled cheese on Sundays, which now as an adult with a baby who eats like a high school-er I can see the merit in cheap meals. 

See also, egg night is becoming a thing. 

This soup though is rich and creamy and comes together in less than 40 minutes. Thirty of that requires very little of your attention. 

I promise. 

Easy Tomato Soup

Ingredients::

2 28 oz crushed tomatoes

1 12oz can of evaporated milk

1 1/2 sticks of butter

18 fresh basil leaves, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan, to serve

Directions::

Simmer tomatoes in a large pot for 30 minutes, covered partially to reduce splatter. Add in basil and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in butter, evaporated milk, salt, and pepper and allow to simmer until butter is melted and soup has warmed again. Serve and top with Parmesan cheese. 

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Easter, a little late

Easter, a little late

April 6, 2016

We took pics of the boys after church on Sunday, sadly ole Daddy-O wasn't in them because by the time he got home the baby was long since asleep. 

Just part of being on music and the baby and I going to the early service. 

Such is life. 

Where last year was the "screaming sleepy baby picture", this year proved to be more of a "oh my word quit moving" year. 

I tried to get one of him and Joshua sitting next to each other, that was a bust. 

So instead we aimed at the restraint pose. 

Which is basically a "I look like I'm sitting in my cousin's lap but really he's holding me down."

That's the best I could get of the two of them like that. 

Josh had his head basically flipped to the side for half the pictures and my child looks like he is in fact being restrained. Which he was, he was very much being restrained. 

The grandkids with their Gigi, or G as she was shortened to by Joshua. 

I'm not going to lie, I almost didn't post one of myself. 

Now that nursing has dwindled to a "I'd really like you to wean but you won't give up morning and night" routine I immediately packed on 10 pounds. I fee like I can see every ounce of it in my face here. 

The issue is figuring out how to lose it, honestly, and next week I'm going to be tracking my food a bit more than I do with Whole30. I just got to willy nilly with the potatoes this last round and my body wasn't burning it off like it did back when we were nursing 12 times a day during that first postpartum Whole30. Plus it doesn't help that it's hard as heck to workout after work when the baby didn't sleep good, after being around kids all day I just want to lay down. 

But enough of that nonsense...

Harrison's first Easter Basket - I didn't do one last year. Postpartum was hitting me hard and I was doing good to appear to be functioning.

This year he got a few books, a bunny, and some organic baby cookies.

I love all the books I bought, but Wolfie the Bunny is the funniest one by far...just in case you are making a Scholastic order soon. I totally recommend it. 

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Lemon Whipper Snappers

Lemon Whipper Snappers

April 5, 2016

I'm a bit behind on sharing this recipe, but it's another from the Nanny's recipes folder. 

Or the envelope, if I'm being totally accurate. 

I made this for Celebrate Recovery a few weeks ago and they were a hit. I'm not a huge lemon person, but if you are - this is your cookie. 

Lemon Whipper Snappers are insanely easy to make, especially since they came to be from the decade of prepackaged goodies. 

I know my generation wants everything to be from scratch, and honestly the recipes that I call "mine" are from scratch.

Our grandmothers though, they had just come off of a childhood where prepackaged foods weren't what they were by the 1960's. Cool Whip and cake mix were new, exciting, and no one was thinking about health when they all came to pass.

I recently watched a really neat series called "Back in Time for Dinner" with Giles Coren that really put that all into perspective. The speed at which food has changed since the 1950's is insane, and being a child of the 90's and ready made meals I totally see why my crowd is pushing to go back to basics.

If you get a chance look that series up on YouTube, I'm totally obsessed with BBC2 series that we can't get here on BBC America.

Now for the cookie of my mother's childhood.

Lemon Whipper Snappers

Ingredients::
1 box Lemon Cake Mix

1 12oz bowl Cool Whip

1 egg

Directions::

Mix ingredients and drop spoonfuls in powdered sugar. Roll into balls and place on a cookies sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. 

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