Goodbye Fall! Hello Autumn!

I have a theory….

You see, I believe there are two seasons between Summer and Winter; there is Fall and then, there is Autumn.

Fall is jack-o-lanterns, Halloween, jumping in leaf piles, and the brilliant colors of the leaves that have just turned.  Fall is the smell of apples and burning pumpkins.

I collected these pictures from various websites. Outside of organization/collaging, this is not my original artwork.

Autumn is pumpkin pie, roasted turkey, the more muted colors of the leaves that have fallen to the ground and the bare tree limbs.  Autumn is more somber while Fall is more wild.  Autumn is warm family dinners and Fall is chilly football games.

I collected these pictures from various websites. Outside of organization/collaging, this is not my original artwork.

Autumn is elegant while Fall is whimsical.  So goodbye to the whimsical fall and hello to the elegant Autumn.  Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

Intentions

Last Sunday was Apple Day!  Baby J and I made applesauce and apple pie – very delicious apple pie.  I took pictures and fully intended to post a tutorial – so much so that I actually made an unexpected second pie because I forgot to take pictures of the first pie crust in the making. 

Where are those pictures and that wonderful perfect-for-the-season tutorial?  Well, the pictures are on my camera – which means the tutorial is in my head.

In spite of the missing tutorial, I thought I would share a wonderful and INCREDIBLY healthy recipe with you!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Baby J’s first birthday.  We had several people staying at our home (our living room looked like a childhood slumber party with grown ups).  I planned breakfast the morning after for everyone: Breakfast Quiche and Fruit Salad (pineapple, pears, grapes, and bananas – it was yummy). 

Quick side note: My brother had a heart attack this past summer.  It was a real shocker for all of us – most especially him.  Anyways, he really turned around and got his life in order afterwards; most importantly, his diet. 

In consideration of said life changing experience, I prepared a healthier quiche for him and myself (since healthy and sans-cheese are easily combinable).   This creation is in part due to my mother-in-law’s Kindergarten Quiche and my need to make it my own.  Anyways, the healthy version was a hit – even for those it wasn’t intended for.  And, despite the lack of cheese (okay – I will admit it, I love cheese; my intolerance for it is a cruel joke) I really enjoyed it.  On with the recipe!

Easy Healthy Spinach Quiche

1 package frozen spinach, thawed

1 package Grands biscuits*

6-8 egg whites

Cooking Spray

Spray a round 8 or 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray.  Place biscuits in the pan.  They are going to be touching – you want that.  Don’t squish them down though.  They’ll grow together and form a nice fluffy crust when baked.

Bake the biscuits per the directions on the tube; cook for the minimum amount of time.  If your oven tends to run hot, cook less than the minimum time – long enough for the biscuits to get fluffy looking.

While the biscuits are baking, separate your eggs and mix with package of spinach.

Set the heat on the oven to 350-degrees.  Pour spinach and egg mixture over the baked biscuits and spread evenly.  Bake until the eggs are no longer shiny and wiggly.  This is 15-20 in my oven.

*I use off brand Morning Delight Texas Style biscuits from Save-a-Lot.  Basically you want the big fluffy biscuits that usually come about five to a container. 

Don’t want yummy healthy quiche?  Mix in cooked sausage with whole eggs rather than just the whites.  The last five minutes of baking spread cheese and chopped bacon on top. 

Okay, that made me drool.

Eating Soup with a Fork

This could also be titled “Success”.  You see, we have been having trouble getting Baby J to eat meats.  She holds ground beef in her cheeks and won’t swallow it and she just spits out her chicken.  I don’t have anything against vegetarians and, if she decides later in life she doesn’t want to eat meat, I will fully support her decision.  However, meat is currently one of her very limited sources of protein, so it is a must in her diet.

Solution to meat problem:  Chicken & Rice Soup.  Baby J can’t have wheat or it would have been chicken noodle soup.  I came up with the idea when I picked her up from the sitter and had to get a tissue to take with us since her nose was mimicking the River Nile.  Chicken soup heals everything, right? 

So here’s what I did.  I peeled and chopped one carrot and boiled it in a small pot.  I pulled the carrot pieces out.  I measured out two tablespoons of instant rice and mixed in two tablespoons of the carrot water (boiling pulls a lot of nutrients from the vegetable, so whenever you can, use the boiling water to mix in with other things).  I sealed the rice in a Gladware container (I firmly believe 1/2 cup size Gladware containers are a necessity for any new mom; especially one who makes her own baby food) to let it steam. 

In the meantime, I defrosted a container of chicken stock.  Whenever we have chicken or turkey, I take the leftover carcass and boil it for quite awhile to make stock.  Then we strain the stock out and reduce it down to half.  We store it in small containers in the freezer for whatever we might want to use it for.

One small container of stock mixed with the rest of the carrot water and boiled for awhile with the carrots, rice, and a handful of frozen peas tossed in – Voila!  Two 1/2 cup servings of soup and one 1/2 cup serving of broth.  And Baby J ate it.

Now is where the comedy of a one year old comes in.  Could we just eat the soup like normal people?  Nope – we had to stab the carrots with a fork.  One carrot stabbed and served with a fork equals two – three spoonfulls of broth, rice, and peas. 

She said “mmm” so I think she liked it.  Of course, she said “mmm” when she was chewing on the metal thing on Superhero’s sweatshirt hood drawstrings, so maybe that’s not an accurate measurement.  But at least she ate it.

Technical Difficulties

Does anyone know why my Flickr photos won’t show up in the stream?  I thought I used the correct link, but it doesn’t look like it’s working right.

In other news…oh wait, that’s it.  There is no other news today.  On with your normal day to day activities.

Want to check out the odd, and yet strangely beautiful?  My best friend hosts a blog to celebrate all that is odd.  Definitely take a moment to check it out.  I just LOVE the christmas cards…maybe it’s the remnants of the X-Files fan in me.

Tootling around online…

…I found this!

I’m in love!  I love recipes period – but recipes with real ingredients that real people have (I’m sorry Rachel Ray, but no one keeps anchovy paste in their fridge regularly except you) are my FAVORITES!

Did you see the colored cupcakes?  Wish I had thought of that for Baby J’s party!  Oh well….

However, it inspired me to share a recipe with you all!  I am going to make it a goal to toss in a recipe at least every other week.  They might be easy, hard; dinner, dessert; who knows!

Anyways, tonight I am thinking our yummy standby – Chicken Pot Pie!

Ingredients

1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded* or leftover cooked chicken.

2 cans country-style vegetables (these have cubed potatoes in them)

2 packets of chicken gravy or 1 jar chicken gravy

1 roll crescent rolls (we use off brand regular shaped crescent rolls which we just lay on top of the mixture and they’re just as yummy – however, the BEST is the crescent rounds, unrolled and basket weaved across the top).

Mix everything but the crescent rolls together and spread in a 9×12 cake pan. 

Lay the crescent rolls over the top and bake as directed on the crescent roll package.  HOWEVER, you need to pull the top of the crescent rolls back to check how well it’s cooked.  We baked the crescent rolls separately once and then placed them over the top of the mixture, which worked just fine.  But we found we enjoy the goopiness (technical terminology, of course) of the not fully baked crescent rolls.  This is ENTIRELY your choice.  We’ve never gotten sick from the crescent rolls.

*EASY yummy shredded chicken:  Pop boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot and let it them cook all day.  I tossed a little bit of water in to make sure it didn’t dry out too much.  Let it cool and then use a fork to pull it apart.  We do this in bulk for several different recipes and then pop it in a freezer bag in seperate portions.

A Wonderful Afternoon

I spent a wonderful afternoon with great friends and their beautiful new baby boy.  It was so relaxing!

First, there’s the scenery.  Their house is right on the border of Cain Park, which is just beautiful.  Add in the gorgeous fall colors with tons of leaves and you can’t find much better.

After some relaxing time with Baby J playing on the floor with musical toy balls, we went for a walk and had lunch at this incredible little eatery.  One half a roasted vegetable sandwich, some very yummy chips, a Nantucket Nectar Apple Juice and great conversation later, we walked back to the house. 

It was neat to watch Baby J with little G-man, my friends’ little boy.  I don’t realize just how much she has grown up until I see her next to a little baby.  She was nice enough to share with him, too!  I can’t wait to get some pictures from them.  I will definitely share them.

In other news…

I had another blog that I was running specifically for crafts.  I came to the realization that I can’t run two blogs, so I’m going to be combining the two slowly before deleting the other. 

However, aside from combining, I actually have a reason for mentioning this link.  I am going to be making my neices small purses for Christmas.  I figure I use this technique with some beaded straps to match.  I am thinking solid color outsides with freezer paper stencils to personalize them – maybe Js, maybe swirls or whatever floats my boat at the time.

In the spirit of relaxing, I’ll leave you with this picture.  I took it last year before Baby J was born.  I took a walk in early October in an unsuccessful attempt to induce labor.  I did have some successful pictures and this one just makes me think “sigh”.

Hope you have a relaxing evening!

Happy Handmade Halloween!

hj1, originally uploaded by jmommy08.

Alright, I’ll admit it.  I am very proud of this little outfit.  So proud it warranted a third post today.  Why not?  I have a lot of posting to make up for.

The little ditty you see above is my Baby J in her handmade Halloween costume.  That’s right – I made it!  Well, I didn’t make the tights and turtleneck – she had those, but I made the ears, shoes, tail, and skirt.  The pumpkin was provided by JCPenney’s! 

I would have in the process pictures, but I’m not smart enough to come up with how to make this stuff AND take pictures while I’m making it.

EARS

1. Purchase supplies: headband (I found a 2 pack at Dollar Tree – anyone want a white and black headband with a zebra on it?), 1 piece of 11″x13″ black felt, 1 piece of black stiff felt. 
2. Measure the width of the headband and double it.  Create a pattern using two circles with the doubled width of the headband in between.  Cut two of the pattern out of the piece of regular black felt and two of just the circle out of the stiff felt.
3. Sandwich the stiff felt between the two circles of one of the cute out patterns, wrapping it around the head band.  Glue with tacky craft glue (I learned my lesson when the super glued ears fell apart half way through trick-or-treat).  Repeat with the other ear.
4. Cut a thick rectangle of fabric from the fabric you used for the skirt.  Cut a thinner rectangle too.  Fold the thick rectangle together matching the longer sides and right sides of the fabric together.  Leaving enough room to flip right side out, sew around the open edges.  Flip right side out and sew the last little open piece. 
5. Fold the thinner rectangle right side out together so that the edges meet in the middle of one side.  Wrap around the sewn fabric rectangle and the headband in between the ears.
6. Sew in the back of the headband/ears.  I found leaving a little extra fabric helped to keep the headband, which was a little too big for a one year old, from sliding off the backside of her head.

Tail

1. Purchase one piece of 11″x13″ black felt.  Roll from the corner (in a circular motion – not straight because you want it to taper at the end). 
2. Leave enough for one more wrap around the tail and sew a line to hold the tail together.  Wrap the extra around and slip stitch the corner to keep it connected.
3. Pin into the skirt.

SHOES

For the shoes, I used Heather Bailey’s Bitty Booties modified slightly.  Instead of cutting a straight line, I cut a U-Shape out of the middle.  Then I attached a small rectangular piece of felt across the top and velcro to the outside.  They are a little big because I had to size up the pattern myself and I used the outside of her shoes instead of the inside, but they worked and they left a little room.  Plus, they were SO easy that I am dying to make some more of those cute little Bitty Booties!  If you follow the link, make sure to check out Heather’s incredible blog.  Her little batties are SO darling!

The skirt is three seams and a piece of elastic – easy cheese!  I am going to make some more skirts for her – I just LOVE them and they are so easy!

I guess this would technically be my first Tutorial.  I am probably not the best at Tutorials, but enjoy anyways!  When I get a new skirt made, I will do an official tutorial with pictures and everything!

In the spirit of Halloween!

sign, originally uploaded by jmommy08.

My moment of irony on the way to the grocery store….

You can’t even get into the cemetary through here. But the sign makes you think, doesn’t it?

An Early Resolution

It dawned on me the other day that I can’t have blog readers if I never post anything.  Okay – I’m blonde, it takes awhile for somethings to set in, what can I say.

We are in the process of changing around our internet (and cable).  We have worked on the possibility of setting up a wireless network, which we hadn’t set up previously because we didn’t think our laptop was wireless compatible.  Guess what!  It is!  I am typing to you, at this very moment, from my bed – comfy cozy after putting Baby J down. 

This led me to a resolution.  You – the oh so many people who read my blog – are going to be seeing some changes around here in the next couple of days.  I’m going to mess with the everything I can mess with until I figure out exactly how I want this to go.  I am also going to blog more often.  It’s my early resolution.  I am a frequenter of several different blogs and constantly wish that mine could be as interesting as theirs. 

That’s my goal – to be interesting!

So, I figure I will cover all the topics of life: my crafting addiction, my adventures with Baby J, and all the mediocrities that make the upper-lower class American interesting.  What have I got to loose – I think I only have one occasionally regular reader (Hi Amy!).  Enjoy!

Random Musings and Updates

Apparently, I am not all that particularly great at this blogging thing.

In the last two months life hasn’t been crazy or anything; just the regular day-to-day. However, the only time I am actually on the computer is at work. Once I’m home I’m playing with a baby, cooking dinner, phinagling a budget, trying to catch up on sleep, and just plain attempting to survive. Unfortunately, all that doesn’t leave much room for trolling around on the computer and once I do sit down there are so many things I want to catch up on.  So here I am, two months later thinking, “Gee, I should update my blog for the skamillions of readers I have.”  I am pretty sure no one missed me.  Oh well.

Baby J has cut her two top teeth making four teeth total (two top, two bottom) and a little biter that is giving my breasts a run for their money (just what my whole two readers want to know).  She is cuter than all get out so the occasional nibbling is worth it.  It is hard to believe that her first birthday is right around the corner!

About the most interesting thing that has happened to us recently is that Baby J took a plane ride to go meet her Uncle who lives outside of Baltimore, MD.  She did great on the plane and we had a great trip that consisted primarily of doing nothing.   However, it was nice to be around other parents who understand trials and tribulations like teething and seperation anxiety.

Possibly more later as I slowly regain my control of my schedule.  I say slowly as it has been nine months and I still haven’t figured it out.  I’ll get there.