Christmas leaving our house

I made our Christmas cards! With the emphasis being on the fact that they are done and mailed not so much the hand made part. Our cards from last year,

was photographer by my husband and I loved them. But with a little bit more on our plates this year, and the fact that I didn't really want to send out cards with my rounded face on them for everyone to remember, we decided to go crafty. It was pretty fun making the stamps and mixing paints until little man tate woke a bit early from his nap. Did I mention he needs to do everything you do? Only a hand full were ruined, and the rest were stamped and sent today! We'll deem that one a success.

I don't know if everyone has as much trouble as I do getting my 22 month old to eat anything green. He does considerably well will cucumber. But they are really just a lot of water.
Well, I was reminded (by the muffins yesterday) I could at least try hiding the green if it didn't seem so friendly at first. So I made zucchini bread. I altered the recipe a bit and used whole wheat flour and a bit less sugar. It called for a whole cup! I think its tasty. Lets hope he thinks so too. That would make my day.

Thank you Martha

We were on the Martha Stewart show today. We had a lot more fun than I thought we would. Martha served us what I believe was cranberry zuchini muffins, and gave away lots of goodies.
It was a Blueprint subscriber special. (this is how I inquired my free set of tickets). I guess they brought us there to spill the beans. Which I'm sure most of you already heard via d*s.
I'm not so sure what went wrong. This is one of my current favorites. I'm sad to see it go. If anyone happened to see the show today, that was my pumpkin belly in the bright orange cashmere sweater. I wanted to look crisp and bright, not stand out in the crowd.

Christmas in our house

I got around to making some stockings. I really wanted linen, but at $16.99 a yard, I had to look for something else. I found some felt and at $4.99 a yard I found my winner. I Oh the joys of sewing with felt. I left them completely plain. Sometimes I get fickled and I thought, the less I do to them the harder it will be to get sick of them in years to come. Speaking of years to come I bought enough to make 8. You know, just in case th kids keep coming, or some need replacement and what-not. They are a dark charcoal grey, and even thought that not what I had in mind, I pretty happy with the turn out.



We had house guests last night and this is what I served. So easy, it felt like cheating.

slow-cooked tex-mex chicken and beans
(from everyday food november 2007)

serves 4 15 min prep 8 1/4 hours total time

1 cup dried pinto beans, rinsed
1 11 oz jar mild or medium salsa (1 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotles in adobe sauce
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
course salt and ground pepper
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), chopped
1/4 reduced fat sour cream, for serving
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving

In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, stir together beans, salsa, chiles, flour, and 1 cup water. Season chicken with salt and pepper; arrange on top of bean mixture. Scatter onion and bell pepper on top of chicken.

Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours. (do not open lid or stir)

Remove chicken from stew; shred into large pieces, and return to stew. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro.

I used canned beans instead of dried, so I used 1/3 cup of flour instead of 2 tablespoons. I also went heavy on the salsa which was medium and used about 2 cups because I couldn't find the chipotles at all. I also used a white onion instead of the red. I have and over abundance of white onion right now.

I will be making this again.

teas please

We have been drinking lots of tea over here lately. I'm blaming it on the combination of our general appreciation for the drink and the fact that we've been under the weather for the past 2 months.

We each have a favorite. (Even though we stock more than just these 3 flavors.)
I'm stuck on traditional medicinals pregnancy tea for obvious reasons. Its very sweet and mild. Which makes it easy to drink the recommended 3 cups a day.

I got some premuim Ceylon as a gift and boy is it tastey. I think Joel would have a hard time choosing between that and a specialty chinese mango blend we picked up at Pearl River.

Sam is still training his tastes buds and goes for a good cup of decaf black. And sometimes I can get him to drink chamomile.

I like to keep a variety of honeys. Buckwheat, dessert misquite, and the regular clover. I won't lie and say I really tastes to much of a difference at all. Its just nice to have choices. :)

All I want for christmas::

I've been spotting things that catch my fancy. You know along with the other things that I already knew I wanted for some time now. Besdies I think even adults should have Christmas lists.

1. an iPod. yeah, I know. I still don't have one.
2. this sweet little jobbie. A girl can never have too many bags
3. anything and everything from this shop.
4. these boots. A size 7. I'll save them for my non-pregnant feet.
5. Amy's book.
6. such a cute tea set don't you think?
7. I love these cards.
8. this beautiful yarn
9. these chairs to go around
10. this table

Whats on your list?

we throw up

And when we're done, we do a home detox. Then go out to see the fish. It helps the "we feel better now" factor. 21 month olds are too small to have the stomache bug I think.

8 random things

Libby tagged me. So here goes nothing.........

1. I hate getting up in the morning. But, love to be up early.

2. I love the rain. It rained/drizzled throughout my entire honeymoon in London with my husband. Something about it always brings me back to that dreamy week.

3. I Love the hustle and bustle of shopping on black friday. Its kind of like the playoffs for sports fans. Only for shoppers.

4. I love the act of drinking tea. But never get around to it as much as I would like.

5. I am extremely indecisive. This drives my husband and everyone around me stark raving mad.

6. I would love to have 7 children.

7. I live in a sea town, but don't boat or like the beach that much. (I'll take the lobster thank you)

8. My hair and nails grow extremely slowly. This has been a sad point for me all my life. But now that I'm I'm on prenatal vitamins, they are growing like weeds. And all I do is cut them.

Hopefully I didn't just bore anyone to sleep.

I'm tagging Alexis, Nicole, Fanja, Sally, Erin, Grace,

Here are the rules:

*link to the person who tagged you
*post the rules
*name 8 things others don't know about you
*link to 8 other bloggers.

Even though I could only come up with 6. Maybe you have more friends than me.

28

Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.

Song of Solomon 2:3

Happy birthday to the best husband a girl could ever ask for.

walks::adventures in toddler beds

We had such a gorgeous late fall day this week, we had to go out and enjoy it. We usually get our snow late. As in, when you are just about ready for spring. So we'll keep the colors for as long as possible.

Sam has been out of the crib for just about a month now. He would go to sleep willingly on a regular basis. But, since the bars have been removed he has embraced his new found freedom. Not to much crying goes on, but there is plenty book reading, swinging,( We put up the infant swing in preparation recently) and just plain ol' playing. Add to the mix the fact that he can now open doors he feels the need to regularly check-up on what we are doing outside the room. He's also been wandering the apartment at night. finding cups and toys he needs to have stashed in his sheets with him. I guess it could be worse.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you find and never ending list of things to thank God for!

baby on the brain

My fingers hurt, (I'm still knitting) and my belly is itchy( its still stretching). I'm pretty ready to have this baby. But now would be to early. This waiting game made me realize how much more fun it was being pregnant last time around. I spent more time dwelling on the pregnancy because I had no idea how much fun things get after the baby is born. So now I'm just as anxious I as think I can be. With only 7 wks to go I'm doing lots of oogling at these cute shops. Yeah, some stuff is a little pricey. But so worth it.

Thanksgiving is next week. Gosh time goes fast. This is all my favorite time of year. Basicly from back to school, until new years. So much wonderful cold weather and joy. Oh and Love don't forget love. The food, the family, and the fellowships. Sometimes I wish it was a year round ordeal, but then we wouldn't be able to look forward to it. Do you think it would make it less special?

Here is a recipe for Butternut squash Risotto:

6-8 cups chicken broth (use vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided into 4 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups butternut squash, peeled, and finely diced
2 cups arborio rice (can substitute medium grained white rice, but arborio is preferred)
1 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped chives or garlic chives
Salt

1 Heat broth in medium sized saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Melt 4 Tbsp of butter in a large saucepan; add onion and butternut squash. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

2 Add rice to onion and squash. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine. Cook, stirring constantly until wine has been absorbed by the rice or evaporated. Add a few ladles of broth, just enough to barely cover rice. Cook over medium heat until broth has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes.

3 During the last minutes of cooking, add remaining tablespoon of butter, 1/3 cup Parmesan, and chives. At this point the rice should have a creamy consistency. Add salt to taste. Serve with remaining grated Parmesan.

Serves 4 to 6.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I want too.