Foodie Pen Pals (June 2012)

You want to know something cool? (Do people still use the word “cool” or am I showing my age?)  My little bloggy post about last month’s Foodie Pen Pal swap encouraged two other people to join this month’s swap!

If this is your first time hearing about it, the Foodie Pen Pal swap is a huge swap between tons of people.  It’s organized (quite efficiently) by Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean.  Basically, you send your name to her and she sets you up with a pen pal.  You send a box of food to your pen pal and receive one from a separate pen pal.

It’s a great way to connect with people from all over the country.  My last pen pal and I found out we have a great love for Hawaii and have chatted several times since last month!  Unfortunately, this month her pen pal burned her by not sending a box.  VERY UNCOOL BEHAVIOR.  Word to the wise…if you sign up to participate, then participate.

My pen pal was great however!  Her name is Beth and she (coincidentally enough) has a son named Jacob!  Beth has lost over 75 pounds in the last year, so she knows a thing or two about healthy eating.  She picked out some treats for me (and Jacob) that were not only delicious, but healthy!

The first thing that caught my eye was the Almond Berry Snackle Mouth granola clusters.  I love granola (and almonds and berries), so I popped these bad boys in my mouth and was not disappointed!  They were quite yummy!

The next thing I tried was the New Tree Superfruit chocolate.  I am a milk chocolate lover at heart, but have started eating darker chocolate because it’s better for me.  I usually choose Dove Dark Chocolate Promises or Hershey Special Dark bars, but they aren’t as high in the cocoa % as I have been wanting lately.  This 65% cocoa chocolate was just the ticket.  And you know what?  It wasn’t half bad!  I mean, it wasn’t milk chocolate, but isn’t that the point?

After that, I saw the Strawberry Pepper Jelly.  What the heck?  She included a little note telling me she got this at the local farmer’s market.  Apparently, she gets a sample when she goes to the market.  They serve the jelly with Ritz crackers and a little cream cheese.  She absolutely loves it, but is doing the Paleo diet, therefore she hasn’t bought any for herself.  I’m still on the fence with this one, but I haven’t tried it with crackers and cream cheese yet.  We shall see…  I wonder how it would taste with the chocolate almond Justin butter she included? 

She also included two bars for me to try:  a Pecan Pie Larabar, which I had had before, and a Almond and Coconut Kind bar, which I hadn’t.  I’m not a huge fan of Larabars, but that Kind bar was ohmygosh delicious!  I googled where to find them and was pleased to learn they were available at both grocery stores I shop in!  Definitely gonna have to pick some of those up.

Finally, Beth was so sweet to include a little something for baby Jacob.  Her little guy loved these spinach, collard greens, and kale puffs when he was learning to self feed, so she wanted my little one to try them.  I cheated and tried one and I thought they were pretty tasty!  I have been so blessed to have gotten ladies that include my boy in the fun!

If you want to participate, it’s quite simple.  Head on over to this post and sign up.  You will receive a pen pal on the 5th of July and will be responsible for sending a box of goodies around $15 to that person.  That’s all!  If you’re a blogger, you will be encouraged to blog about your goodies on the 30th of the month.  It’s really fun and it opens your palate to lots of things you might not ordinarily try (like the Kind bars for me).

Wanna play?

Whole Foods

Diet.  Low fat.  Light.  Fat free.

When you’re trying to lose weight, the no-brainer move is to switch from full fat to fat free right?  Well…not quite.  When you switch to lower calorie options, more often than not, you’re replacing those calories with lots of chemicals and additives.  It might work to help you drop the pounds, but in the long run you’re filling your body with crap you could do without.

So where does this leave me?  Turning to whole foods.  I have decided to try to eat as much minimally processed foods as I can.  I am going to shop from the perimeter of the grocery store as much as possible and really focus on reading food labels.  Have you looked at some of those food labels lately?  They are a mile long and contain so many words I don’t even know how to pronounce.

It’s going to be a work in progress though because I use Sweet-n-low in my coffee and enjoy the occasional Coke Zero.  Baby steps, people.

To get things started, I went to the grocery store and think I did pretty good!

I ended up coming home with just a few things that weren’t considered “whole” foods.  But to be fair, they are for Jeff. 

It’s berry season, so I stocked up!  I’m planning on freezing some of these berries for future use.

Look at all that produce!  Some of those items will be turned in to yummy baby food for the little guy!

Have you tried roasted cauliflower?  I’m not a big fan of cauliflower, but I’ve heard roasting it makes it really delicious.  I think I’ll try it!

Carolyn told me she loved the gyoza potstickers with the gyoza sauce from Trader Joe’s.  I’m a huge fan of potstickers, so this purchase was a must!

I only have a small weakness for Chobani.  And wine.

With all the produce I purchased, I wanted to try something I’d seen on Pinterest a while back.  Have you seen the Salad in a Jar?  I thought it was quite a concept.  I love salads but am always running late for work, so I never have time to put them together.  This way, I can just grab a jar out of the fridge and throw it in my lunch bag.  We’ll see if this works…

I made three kinds:
Harvest Salad with Homemade Raspberry Vinaigrette,

Mixed Veggies with Asian Sesame dressing (store bought…boo!),

and Mixed Veggies with Ranch dressing (again, store bought.  I forgot I had the stuff to make homemade until after I put the jar together…fail!).

I bought the pint sized Ball jars, but realized afterwards I should have grabbed the quart sized ones.  Oh well.  If you’re looking for another blog post in addition to this one, check out Lauren’s guest post on Lindsay’s blog:

Salads in a Jar

After making my salads, I went to pick Jake up.  I discovered it was time for him to eat, so I strapped him to the high chair and had him try peaches.  The verdict?  You be the judge.

OMG he loved them!  He was actually asking for them by opening his sweet little mouth.  (Watch the whole video for a really sweet interaction between the two of us.  He’s so sweet!)  Towards the end, he was starting to lose interest, but perked up again when I tried BLW (baby led weaning) with a banana.

I can’t decide which way Jake prefers his food, but we are going to keep trying both ways.  No matter which way he chooses, it’s going to be as many whole foods as possible for this family for the foreseeable future!

Question:  What’s your best tip for losing the pounds and getting healthy?

Blog Love: Warm Potato Salad

Pinterest is evil.  I can’t even tell you the number of recipes, craft projects, and gift ideas I have pinned in the last few months.  The bad part is, for ever one pin I complete, I pin 10 more!  At this rate, I will never work my way through all those pins!

Carolyn and I did come up with the idea of making a “Ten Pins to Try First” type of board, so I could always have an idea of what I was really looking forward to trying.  I haven’t done it yet, but if I had, I would have had this recipe on there for sure.

I love potatoes and I love salad.  What I don’t love is potato salad, mostly because of the mayo involved.  When I saw this warm potato salad recipe floating around on Pinterest, I knew it was a must try.  I mean bacon, caramelized onions, and potatoes.  What’s not to like??

The recipe comes from Ingrid at The Cozy Apron.  It’s such a delicious recipe and really not too hard to make.  I started with my caramelized onions and while that was simmering, I baked my potatoes and fried my bacon.  The rest was simple!

After your bacon is cooked, you make the warm bacon vinaigrette and then it’s as easy as tossing everything together.  I served our potatoes with some burgers from Dorothy Lane and, I must say, they made a perfect pair!

Jake kept me company while I cooked dinner.  He’s my little sous chef!

Jeff offered to grill the burgers.  What a great guy!  I could get used to this!

So, head on over to The Cozy Apron and show Ingrid a little blog love.  Try her Warm Potato Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette.  I promise you won’t regret it!

What pins on your pin boards are you most looking forward to trying?

Garage Overhaul

We have a bad habit.  We tend to bring stuff home and, if we can’t find a place for it or we’ve used it and no longer need it all the time, we get rid of it.  And by get rid of it, I mean we banish it to the garage or basement.  Over time, our garage looked like this

and this

and this

and this.

To be fair, a lot of those items were on the shelving units in the back.  I got started before thinking, “Hey, this would make a good blog post!”

I had been planning to work on the garage for weeks.  I took some vacation this week to spend with Jeff and get some projects done around the house.  Early Thursday morning, I got started.  At first, I had no clue where to begin, but after a while I got into a rhythm.  At least it was a gorgeous day out!

After I had worked for a few hours, Jeff and I ran to Lowes to pick up some supplies.  There were several items we kept strewn around on the garage floor I thought should be on the walls, so we were in the market for some sort of organizational system.  At our condo, we installed wire shelving on one wall and a pegboard on the other, so we could hang various items like hammers, screwdrivers, etc.  Jeff received a large tool box for Christmas one year, so the small items were taken care of, thankfully.

There were a few different organizational systems from which to choose at Lowes, but we ended up going with the Kobalt K-rail system.

(source)  **BTW, there are no good pictures of the K-rail system online!

We didn’t pick up any of the cabinetry, but rather focused on the rails you hang on the walls.  There are several hooks you can get to hang your stuff.  I knew I wanted to hang the ladders, the lawn chairs, and a couple more things, so we got hooks for those items.  I also picked up a brochure listing all their products just in case I needed to reference it later.

When we were checking out, our cashier asked us if we’d received a myLowes card yet.  Nope.  What’s that?  It’s basically their version of a rewards card, though I don’t think you get rewards with it.  It’s a way you can keep track of your past purchases so if you don’t have to remember what color paint you bought back in 2007 to paint the bedroom or which organizational system you bought in 2012 to redo your garage!  I think it’ll be handy down the road.  If you have a Sephora card, you may be familiar with the process.  Sephora keeps track of all your past purchases for you just in case you forget!

We came home with our loot and I recruited Jeff to install the rails.  He was less than enthused.  He showed me how to install the first one and after that I took over.  I proceeded to install 2.5 more myself (he had to help me with my first one) and hung what I could with the hooks we purchased.

I’ll have you know, not only did I hang most of the rails myself, they are all level!  Bonus points!

Afterward, I realized I had a lot more that I wanted to hang, so I made a list of items, consulted the brochure for the best hook for the job, and went back to Lowes.  The items weren’t exactly cheap, but they were good quality.

I am a firm believer that you may have to pay a little more upfront if you want a good quality product that lasts.

After the second Lowes trip, we had to pick Jake up from daycare.  We returned home, had dinner, played with him for a bit and then, once he was in bed for the night, I returned to my task at hand.  I spent another three hours outside finishing everything up.  I put away all the little odds and ends in bins, hung the rest of the K-rails, and swept the garage.

Isn’t it crazy how a little cleaning and organization can change the look of things? (Some items are still being dealt with, but will hopefully be out of the garage soon!)

Before:

After:

We are very pleased with the results!  Jeff was even able to get his second car out of the garage for the first time in months.  (We have a pile of dirt in front of the garage door.)

My next project is the basement and it’s going to take quite a while.  I ended up moving all my kitchen items we had stored in the garage down to the basement and now I have to figure out what to do with them.

Question:  How do you store your kitchen equipment (examples: ice cream maker, bread machine, rice cooker, etc) you can’t quite fit in your kitchen?

Note:  Though it may seem like Lowes paid me to talk about their card and the Kobalt K-Rail (only available at Lowes), they in fact did not.  All opinions are my own and I purchased all products myself.

Milestone: Sitting Unassisted

I know I’m deviating from my MWF format, but I have the next week’s posts already planned out and I really wanted to get this one up sooner rather than later.

We’ve celebrated several of Jake’s milestones here on the blog in the past few months including giggling and rolling over.  Today, we need to recognize the wonderful achievement of sitting unassisted!

He’s been sitting for a while, but usually I’m nearby with my hands at the ready to catch him when he inevitably topples.

He’s been holding himself up longer and longer.  Soon, I won’t even have to worry about him falling over and bopping his sweet little noggin.

One of his favorite places to sit up is in the bath.

I think the little ledge helps him hold his balance.  I haven’t tried a bath without the whale tub yet; I need to get some adhesive ducks (BBT, Carolyn??) or a mat or something.  We did break out some of the bath toys for him today though.  He loved it!

I am thoroughly enjoying each and every milestone we pass.  He just gets cuter every day!  I love that little boy more than words. 

Grillin’ Frenzy

Carolyn was here for a visit earlier this week.  On night one, I made my Pistachio Chicken with roasted veg and some fruit.  When I asked her what I should make on night two, she suggested grilled pizza.  When my mom is visiting, she almost always requests grilled pizza.  It was the perfect night for it!

After a quick run through of the ingredients we’d need, we stopped at the store before picking the little guy up from daycare.  Once home, I gave C the task of stretching the pizza dough, a task I really hate doing (don’t as me why).

I had sliced an onion and cooked it down in a little butter so it got caramelized and delicious.  If you have time and like onions, I highly suggest doing this.  It gives your pizza another dimension you can’t normally get otherwise.

After the onions were cooked and the pizza dough stretched, we prepped the other ingredients.  If I can give you one piece of advice when making grilled pizza, it’s to have your ingredients ready to go before you step foot outside.  I also suggest using white dough as opposed to wheat, but that’s me.  I try to use whole wheat ingredients when I can, but honestly the white is just better!

So, when your dough is stretched, your ingredients prepped, and your grill is preheated, you’re ready to start.  I have made the pizza two ways:  taking all the ingredients outside and doing the entire process out there and just taking the dough outside, then bringing it back in once it’s partially cooked.  In my opinion, the second way works better.

I take the dough outside with a little dish of olive oil.  Then I brush the dough with the oil and put it, oil side down, on the grill.  Cook the dough until it’s slightly done and the lines from the grill are golden brown.  Be sure not to over cook the dough.  It will burn quickly.

Once the dough is cooked, take it off the heat and bring it inside.  Add your desired toppings.  That night, we made four different pizzas:

Jeff’s pizza-pizza sauce, large pepperoni, proscuitto, thin sliced tomatoes, basil pesto, crushed red pepper flake, parmesan cheese, thin sliced fresh mozzarella, and sun-dried tomatoes.

My traditional style pizza-pizza sauce, large pepperoni, proscuitto, caramelized onions, basil pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, torn basil leaves, and thin sliced fresh mozzarella.

Jeff and I typically have very similar pizzas as you can see.

Margherita pizza-very traditional with tomato, torn basil leaves, and fresh mozzarella.  We didn’t put pizza sauce on this one and I was kind of regretting it.  I think we did put pesto on it.

Peach & Proscuitto pizza-since it’s peach season, C and I wanted to try something with peaches.

We did thin sliced peaches, proscuitto, a bit of goat cheese, a little mozzarella, and a drizzle of the Balsamic Glaze I picked up from Trader Joe’s the last time I was there.  YUM!  C and I decided it was the best one of all of them.

This stuff is seriously good.  They suggest you “Use it on salads, as a drizzle over grilled meat and fish, or as a dessert topping for fresh, summertime berries or vanilla ice cream.”

If you’ve never tried grilled pizza, you need to.  It’s delicious and so much better than oven baked.  The fire gives the crust a nice flavor and crunchy texture.  Jeff and I grill pizza probably once every couple weeks in the summer.  It’s the perfect dinner!

Just Say No…

…more breastfeeding!  I don’t breastfeed anymore.  I officially stopped about two weeks ago and it was one of the most liberating, exciting things I’ve done.  Let me give you a little back story.

When Jake was very young, I breastfed him pretty exclusively.  After a while, I was having a hard time functioning due to lack of sleep.  My mom was visiting and offered to take some of the nighttime feedings.  I would pump and she would feed Jake with my breast milk.

Often, I didn’t have enough milk to give him only breast milk.  This was most likely caused by my not feeding Jake using both breasts at each feeding, resulting in decreased supply.  I also had a hard time drinking enough water to produce the correct amount of milk.  For some reason, I have always had a hard time drinking my fluids!  Because of my decreased supply, we supplemented with formula.

Let me tell you, ladies, breastfeeding in the beginning (especially when you have no idea what you’re doing) is challenging, frustrating, and exhausting.  It’s also very rewarding, don’t get me wrong.

Anyhow, as the weeks went on, I continued to have to supplement with formula.  I would nurse Jake and then when I didn’t think he was getting any more, I would offer a bottle.

Then I went back to work and Jake went to day care.  I would pump about half the amount of breast milk he needed, so we continued to supplement.  He got so used to the bottle at daycare that when I tried to nurse him, he would get distracted, not latch properly, etc.

Finally, after about three months of trying to nurse, I gave up, choosing to feed him strictly from the bottle.  I continued to pump, but no longer offered the breast as it was too difficult and ended with both of us frustrated and dissatisfied.

Pumping at work can be challenging, especially when you stay as busy as I do throughout the day.  Being a manager at Walgreens, my assistance and knowledge are used throughout the day by all members of staff.  At the time (before we got the new registers), I was required to be present for all returns or exchanges, I had to get change for cashiers, assist in the pharmacy, address customer service issues, along with various other tasks.  This is not including the projects I was involved in (such as building displays or working in the stockroom).

Every 3-4 hours, I would have to excuse myself and go off to a little room for 20-30 minutes.  Sounds nice, right?  To have a break in the midst of the chaos to take a little time for myself.  Not really.  Often, I would get a page or a phone call while pumping.  Someone needed my assistance or help finding something or had a complaint I needed to address.  If there was another manager there, it wasn’t a big deal as they could handle the issue, but if I was alone it was frustrating.  I would have to stop pumping, get all unattached, redress myself, take care of the issue, and then undress and attach myself again. I am grateful to my manager, who covered my “alone time” more times than I can count.  Thanks, Kristy!

So, to sum up this long winded post, I chose to stop pumping at six months instead of the originally intended 12 months.  It was a personal decision and I wrestled with it for several days before I took the plunge, but I must say, it was one of the most freeing decisions I’ve made in quite a while.

No longer and I living in 3-4 hour increments.  If I want to go get my hair done, then go shopping, then go to a movie, I can!  If I want to get a big project done at work without constantly watching the clock, no problem!  I love that I was able to give my baby breast milk for the first six months of his life, but I also love that I’m done.  Now I can focus on solids.  We started vegetables yesterday!  Stay tuned for that post…

PW’s Spicy Pop Pulled Pork

The other day, I was watching my version of Saturday morning cartoons:  Food Network “In The Kitchen”.  One of my new favorite shows is the Pioneer Woman.  Sure, she’s not the best on camera, but she’s a food blogger.  I’m a food blogger.  We have something in common.

So anyhow, there I was watching the show when she did a fancier version of my Crock Pot Pulled Pork.  Just the other day, I was rereading my food diary from when I lost 35 pounds a few years ago and I noticed a common theme.  Pulled pork and barbeque.  Since my pulled pork had been lacking something the past few times I’d made it, I decided to try Ree’s version.

It’s quite simple, really.  You lay your pork roast over a bed of onions, top with a can of chipotles in adobo, brown sugar, salt, pepper, pop and you have her recipe for Spicy Pop Pulled Pork.  I made it the other day before going in to work and I gotta tell ya.  It’s pretty yummy.  Just spicy enough to hit all the notes on your tongue, but not so spicy you’re gulping water.

I topped our sandwiches with a little Dorothy Lane BBQ sauce.  It’s the best I’ve found in Dayton.

Then, the next day, I was hunting around in my fridge for breakfast options and saw the pulled pork.  The wheels in my brain started turning and I created Pulled Pork Scramble.

Scrambled eggs tossed with leftover pulled pork and topped with bbq sauce.  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  Eggs with pulled pork?  Really?

Well according to my brother, eggs go with everything.  Who am I to question a chef?

So what do you think?  Do eggs go with pork and BBQ sauce?

Cardboard Crap

It’s that time.  The time every parent dreads and looks forward to.  Time for solids!  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let’s back up to Monday, when Jake went to his 6 month checkup, shall we?

I was looking forward to Jake’s appointment for quite some time for a couple reasons.  One, I didn’t know how much he weighed.  Yes, I would do the deal where I would get on the scale with Jake and then get back on the scale alone and subtract the numbers, but I like weighing him with the same scale (i.e. at the doctor’s office) so I know the amount is accurate.  I also had a couple questions regarding sleep and food.

When we got to the appointment, Jake was weighed, measured, and had his head circumference taken.  What’s the point of the head circumference anyhow?  Do they want to see if his brains are growing? 

Jake is 17 pounds 9 ounces, he’s 26″ long (that’s over 2 feet, y’all!), and I can’t remember the exact number for head circumference, but it’s in the 50th percentile.  In fact, he’s in the 50th percentile for everything.  Well, sort of.  The doctor said he was in between 25-50th for height.  I told Jeff this and he said, “I hope he’s not short!”  I guess we’ll see, huh?  Not much we can do…

After the doctor did his exam, I asked him some questions about sleeping habits.  I asked if we should start weaning Jake off his nighttime bottle (sometimes he has 2) and he said it wasn’t necessary and Jake would let us know when he wanted less to eat at night.  Since the checkup, Jake has been doing wonderfully with his nighttime habits!

He typically falls asleep around 6p after daycare and then wakes around 11p for a bottle.  We have begun giving him a full bottle (9+ ounces) at this feeding and letting him eat as much as he wants.  We were just doing 7 ounces and he would finish it and cry for more.  Since we started filling it up, he’s been much happier.

Then he wakes up usually around 3 or 4a for another bottle.  After that, he will sleep until usually around 6a but today he woke up at 7a!  He’s still not sleeping through the night, but we think once he’s eating more solids, he’ll do better.  We’ll see…

Speaking of solids, we introduced them on Wednesday.  The plan was to give him rice cereal on Tuesday night, but by the time I got home at 5:45p, he was already asleep!  We opted for Wednesday morning instead.

When Jake woke up, we played with him for a little while to make sure he was alert and ready to receive food.  Jeff kept him occupied while I prepared a little cereal, then we put him in his bumbo and went to town.

His first bite wasn’t too bad, but every bite after that, he would make these faces as if to say, “Mother, what is this cardboard crap?”  He had Jeff and I in stitches!  He’s so sweet.  I love that little boy.

The second day we gave him cereal wasn’t much better.  In fact, it was pretty much exactly like the first.  Then today, he just wasn’t having any of it.  I offered it and he just looked at me and said, “Uh, no.  You ain’t foolin’ me today, lady!”  He tried to grab the spoon to fling the junk across the room! I think part of it had to do with the fact that he had just eaten a few hours prior and was probably still full and sleepy.

We are going to do like the doctor suggested and do the oatmeal this weekend, and then on Monday we will introduce a veggie!  I have sweet potato and avocado right now, but I’m hoping to make some more options to have for later in the month.  I received a Baby Bullet for Christmas and so far I love it!  I’m sure I’ll do a post about it in the future.  For now, I leave you with Jake’s first solid experience.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Do you iQ?

So…originally I had planned to update you all on Jake’s six month doctor’s appointment as well as his introduction to solids.  Well…that didn’t go exactly as planned.  I came home tonight to find Jake already in bed.  At 5:45p.  Usually if he goes to sleep after daycare, he is out for the night.  He might wake up around 9 or so for a feeding, but he’s still typically very sleepy and I just don’t think it’s the right time to feed him solids for the first time!  So, please enjoy a post I had in reserve for just such an occasion:

__________________________________________________________

A long time ago, I wrote about one of my favorite apps for the iPhone, Grocery iQ.  It still continues to be one of the most used apps on my phone.  Recently I discovered a new “trick” I guess you could call it and, it may be simple, but it makes my life a lot easier.

Have you ever gone to the store with a list of ingredients only to sit there and think, “Now, why do I need six cups of spinach leaves?”  I do this all. the. time.  Then I opt not to get it (especially if I am halfway across the store when I notice I missed it) and get home, only to find it is the key ingredient in a dish I plan to make that night.  Fail.

I have never really figured out a good way to add a list of foods I’m making to the app.  Until today.  See, when you type in a special ingredient (i.e. one that’s not already in the grocery database) it defaults to the “Other” category. To take advantage of this category, I type in the name of the recipe I want to make and click “Add to List”.

Then I navigate to the “Other” category and my recipe name is listed below.

To further take advantage of this little trick, I click edit and copy and paste the web address of the recipe I’m making into the “Description” field of the recipe.

Now, when I’m at the store, I not only have a list of recipes I plan to make, but the web address in case I have questions (like how much spinach do I really need?).  Make sense?

It’s the little things in life that make me happy.