Delicious Dish: $5 Dinners' Curried Chicken With Quinoa and Peas

Baby F showing off a very happy (and messy!)
dinner-time smile!

I made another delicious dish from $5 Dinners tonight and it was delicious! Erin's recipe for Curried Chicken With Quinoa and Peas was not only easy, it was relatively quick to make and had Baby F and my husband gobbling up their meals! I have to admit that I was inspired to make the meal mostly because of the photos of Erin's darling little boy literally licking his bowl. He's apparently got good taste - because the same reaction was had in my household!

I made another recipe from $5 Dinners recently and it was also delicious. If you haven't yet, I highly recommend you check out the site!

Crafty - Spring Wreath

So it's been Spring Break at our household for the past week so I've taken a bit of a break from blogging - although there have been lots of blog-able things going on in our lives including a getaway trip to the mountains, Baby F's first haircut, lots of Baby F "food firsts" including quesadillas (hit) and cottage cheese (miss - just like his Mommy), and planting our spring garden - including spinach, peas and several varieties of lettuce. Stay tuned for updates on that project...

Recently when I was fighting an ear infection I found myself up late one night perusing craft blogs to try to take my mind off the pain. Who knew I would have so much success - having identified a few new favorite blogs that led me to a craft project tonight! I started with Young & Crafty - a great blog that I literally could spend every day being inspired by! Hannah from Young & Crafty made this cool spring wreath, and I knew I had to have one... I followed Hannah's link to UCreate which led me to the original tutorial at StoneGable. If you've clicked on any of these links I dare you to tell me you weren't inspired by something you found there...

Wreath parts - most expensive was the twiggy willow wreath,
but all materials were half-off at Hobby Lobby.

Just before gluing - lavender stems in place!

The final product. I think I want to add some more lavender stems...
The color is more vivid in person, too, but overall I'm happy!

Although my creation isn't nearly so beautiful as what Yvonne created at StoneGable, I am pretty happy with it and considering I got all of the materials half-off at Hobby Lobby, the total end cost of about $15 plus about 30  minutes worth of work makes it worth doing again! Enjoy my photos - but for the real how-to please visit StoneGable, UCreate or Young & Crafty. Now for my next project. This one from Modern Jane has me thinking... We do need a new side table in our TV room!

Cooking Makes Me Happy

I've always loved cooking, but now that I'm a mom and a wife I find real pleasure in being able to provide for my family by making great food. Maybe it's a little June Cleaver of me, but hey - it makes me happy...

Lately I've been on a real slow cooker kick, but this week I decided to go old school and make some quicker recipes. Thanks to my best friend Jody I was inspired to make chicken pot pie tonight and it was delicious! Basic recipe:

• Lay a pie crust into a pie pan
• Pick the meat from the bones of 1 roast chicken from the grocery
• Combine meat with 1 can cream of chicken (I used low fat/low sodium) and 1 can cream of potato
• Add veggies you'd like - I chose carrots, celery, onion and peas
• NOTE: I used all fresh veggies except the peas, which were frozen. I sauteed them slightly before mixing them in just to soften them a bit.
• Layer into a pie pan and top with pie crust
• Bake at 400 for about 30-45 minutes - until pie crust is browned and contents are bubbly

It was that easy, and totally delish. While the pot pie was baking, I also made Baby F some more apples and pears. The boy LOVES his fruit! I want to thank my dear friend Ashley for giving me two baby food books as gifts at my Book Club book baby shower. I love the books and find great joy in making Baby F's food from scratch. It tastes delicious and is very economical!

Okay, enough June Cleaver for tonight. Off to plan my next cooking adventure!

Letting go...

So tomorrow is Baby F's 6 month birthday - yeah! When he was born, I made 6 months my breastfeeding goal and I'm proud to say that while we have introduced solids and supplemented sometimes, he's been breastfed for the majority of his life which is amazing. What is surprising me now is how hard I'm finding it to let go... There are aspects I really loathe about breastfeeding (pumping - you know I'm talking to you!), but ending this ritual also means letting go of the closeness I have with him during each feeding and letting go of the fact that I've been his sole provider for more than a year. Maybe it's my Type A personality (okay - it's my Type A personality...), but I'm surprised it's this hard for me to let this chapter close and truly enjoy the freedom I'll gain with not being tied to the kid or the pump, and relish in making him delicious, nutritious, homemade baby food and getting to stay in bed when he wakes up needing a midnight snack (Daddy - your turn!)

Everyone says that time as a parent goes by so fast. I'm amazed at how true that statement is! Six months has flown by and I can only imagine that it gets faster from here. I am truly blessed to have a little one in my life!