Making Food and Saving Money!

I told you all that after the power went out for 2 days, a few months back, I lost all of the homemade food I had made for Owen.  I was so bummed out about it.  It takes awhile to make the food on top of making our meals and James' lunch everyday.  After those 2 days, and we were able to get back into the house, I put all the food down  the garbage disposal.  It pained me to do it, and ever since then, I have been buying Gerber and Earth's Best jars, which are just fine.

But now Owen's eating 3 meals a day and I am going through 21 jars a week.  That is about  $0.89 a jar for Earth's Best (organic) and $0.50 each for Gerber.  Now, that is on top of the $30.00 a week for formula. (maybe more) and then there's the puffs, juice, rice cereal and oatmeal for thickening purees.  It has really hiked up our weekly grocery bill.  So I have put my foot down and made the promise to make his food again.  It has to be less expensive, but there is the time that you need and just the structure to come up with more meals aside from what we are eating.  The good thing is, he is now old enough to have meats and many of the things we are eating.  So when I make dinner I can separate some items out and blend them for him. Eventually, we will all sit at the table and enjoy dinner together. Looking forward to those nights!

I really can't complain about making the food, because you all know how much I love to be in the kitchen coming up with recipes, but it does seem like another task on top of the many others I already have.  I really commended working moms and those woman who are out of the home all day.  Then they come home and have it all still to do.  I imagine one gets very good at being structured and organized and on tight schedule.  I am finding every day that I am getting the hang of things better, and the older Owen gets, and the more consistent he is with naps and feedings, I can really plan and get more accomplished in a day.  So maybe making his food now,  won't seem as challenging as before.......

So tonight while James was out at the game and Owen was in bed, I really used this quiet time, to knock out my new stash of baby food.

I boiled chicken, for my chicken salad,  that was to take to the picnic tomorrow for Mom Group.  I thought I should make a good stock, and that way I can freeze some and also use the stock to thin out his purees.  So that was good thinking there!


This is what's on the menu for Owen:

roasted bananas with oatmeal
(Tyler Florence suggest roasted bananas for babies)
I bought a bag of very ripe bananas for $0.33 a pound
(the old ones)

risotto with zucchini (yes, I stirred that risotto for 25 min)
*used the chicken stock

roasted summer squash and zucchini purees
*used the chicken stock to thin this out

baked sweet potato and chicken mash
*used the chicken stock to thin this out

I made a total of 25 jars for about: $6.00

* I would consider these more of the gourmet baby foods that you can buy in stores now, and they go for about $1.20 per serving. I know I'm doing better to make my own, since I already have so many of these ingredients in my pantry.

Tomorrow I am making a stew for James and I and I'll take some of those ingredients and make a "stew" for Owen.  It has chick peas, spinach, chicken stock and butternut squash. A nice fall stew.

This is how I have to think these days, somewhat outside of the box.......  I figure this creative thinking will only help me become a better cook and that makes me smile.  Making something out of nothing! Ha, that would be a good Blo......

Oh, and did I mention I am saving on my grocery bill!  I'll let you know how Owen likes the food.  He didn't like my boiled turkey, carrots and potato puree the first time he ate it.  Kinda hurt my feeling. Laugh,  I worked so hard on it!

F is for

 Fall and Football! 

Gemboree was  having a great sale on their fall football collection for baby boys and Owen was running out of clothes that fit......  This stuff was too cute and of course, it was an easy sale when I showed it to James.  I showed him the outfits on line, and all pieces coordinate. I love this because you can mix and match and come up with so many outfits with just a few pieces.  Yes, I used the word outfit and we have a boy!  So it turns out, you can have fun dressing baby boys too.  Yes, I just love girl clothes and I never leave the baby department without having a look at all the little dresses.

Oh they are just too cute!  Skye is always scolding me for this!  Anyway, we had a cool day on Friday and it felt like a Fall day so, I got Owen dressed in his new football clothes and was even able to get some picutes of him too.  He looks so grown up!

The only way I could get these shots was to give him his bear.

How do Baby Photographers do it?  It's truly a gift!

He tried to climb out of this glider more than once!

I got him, but notice he is leaning forward to get out of the chair again!

But look at his shirt and matching socks!  This is one of the outfits from Gemboree.  Baby Aidan - yours next!  Well provided Owen doesn't soil them too badly.

Mommy got your toes! Again!

And now time to attack Mr. Bear!

Got him!

 Finally a good shot and I cut his head off!

 Oh Mom!

And I'm done!

When I took him to daycare, at the Gym, the girls couldn't believe how grown up he looked.  They said he has really grown and changed in the last week.  Ha, tell me about it!  He is getting a little big for his britches, as my Granny would say.  A little Evil Kenevil we have on our hands!  This boy has NO FEAR!  He just amazes me, with all the tumbling over and then looks up like, that didn't hurt.  He's mobile now, in case I haven't mentioned that lately.  Any way, I'll save this story for the next post.......back to Fall and Football.

 This is a peak at what I'm talking about.  

I can't turn my back for a second.  He is into everything.

I now have to change him on the floor because he tried to climb off the changing table.  But once that diaper comes off now, he is off!  Loves to break free and crawl around in the nude!  

I know, this is pay back right!  

I have been told I did this too! Here he is making a B-line to get in the bathroom.  

He heard the tub water running.  And he loves his bath!

Owen has it least 6 or 7 Redskins "outfits"  as well as the new stuff from Gemboree.  All of which, I had never taken the tags off of until today.  Now the wash is full of reds.  That's dangerous!  One white sock in the mix and it's a goner!   Well, I was at Sears one day, when he was just a month or so old, and they had Redskins clothes marked way down.  Some were going for 2$.  I guess they were considered out of season and they were practically giving them away.  I snagged a few there for this coming season.  I knew James would love my purchase.  A - because I was frugal and B - because It was his team and now it would be Owen's team.  Ahh, the luxury a father gets in life....to make his son a Fan-ataic for his team, just as his father did for him.   Although, Paula is also a huge Skins fan.....I guess when you are born and raised in the DC area, it is almost sac-relig if you are not a fan of the Skins.

Being born and raised in the South, Georgia to be exact, everyone follows College ball but, I was an odd kid, I guess.  I never liked Football.  Actually, I hated when ever we had to sit and watch UGA on TV and listen to Larry Munson on the radio at the same time.  That was torture for me as a kid!  The only good memories I have of College football, University of Georgia football, is ringing The Bell  in Athens, eating at the Varsity and sometimes getting BBQ from the fire department for their fundraisers.  That's what made football for me. Oh, and the Cheerleaders....  I liked them too.   I wanted to go to UGA when I was little to be a Cheerleader, but turns out, I inherited bad genes for being coordinated and never learned how to do a cartwheel.  Hahaha!  That dream was shattered!  Lol!  I'm not the cheerleader type anyway!  So I went to art school at SCAD and well, we didn't have a football team.  I don't think I missed out really, but I guess this is why I have never been a huge fan and not loyal to any one team.  I am learning to love the Skins and NFL football.  I think the best memory for me when watching NFL, was preseason this year, when the Vikings 2nd string quarterback threw a 60 yard pass and it was caught!  It was caught!  That is some football!  That was great!  I was excited to see that type of risk taking!  That is good football!  But that was preseason and in the real season, they are RARELY that daring. Most games I am bored right after half time.....

Well, between my purchase at Gemboree and Sears - Owen's growing Redskins collection - I think it's safe to say, this boy is covered and Ready For Some Football!  His Daddy is going to the opening game tomorrow night with the guys from work.  I plan to dress Owen up tomorrow afternoon before James heads out to tale gate for some family photos.  Mommy doesn't own anything with the Skins on it.  And today when Daddy & Owen had on their matching Skins hats, I wore my Nats hat.  We went down to Bethesda to walk the Capital Crescent Trail and have lunch.  We wanted to hit up Georgetown Cup Cake too, but there was a line around the building, so we headed back home.  It's a cup cake for Pete's sake!  I told James I'd bake him some cupcakes!  It was such a nice day out.  We had a nice family outing and  really beautiful weather.  We haven't had a day like today in a very long time and it was much needed. We just get so busy with life and it's great when we get to all be together just relaxing and enjoying the day, as low key as it was.

Hoodies and Hats! Man I look so tired!

I love this one!  We posed the same and what a smile Owen!

I had a crab salad sandwich and Owen had some puffs. 

And he dropped a few in my salad for extra flare! 

What a great day!

Yummy!  See him eying my food!

Da Da and his boy!  Let's go Skins! I love this picture!

Hat on!  He's not a fan of hats!

Sweet baby boy and his Daddy!

 Hope you all enjoy some cooler days and football season!  Looks like I better get on this wagon and support my Skins!   Did I mention, Fall is my most favorite time of year.  Halloween, cooking  and baking are my things!

This has been our dinner for the past two nights.  I made a crock pot of Texas Chili.  Then used the left overs for a Chili Corn Cassarole.  The recipes were featured in FoodNetworks September issues.  It was the best dinner I've made in a long time.  Such a great way to kick off Fall and Football season.

 Topped it off with sour cream. Yes, this is my portion! 

I was hungry and ate a huge bowl full! 

And washed it down with a Fire Fly: 

Vodka Flavored Iced Tea mixed with Country Time Lemonade.  

If you like sweet tea with lemon, you'll like this drink! 

May cause one to get a little warm!

Anjoli, this is so similar to your 3 Bean Tamale Pie.  But it doen't have beans and lots of beef.  It has a sweet cornbread and monteray jack topping.  The recipe called for pre-made Polenta.  Where do you buy that?  I used homemade sweet cornbread.  I guess you could make your own Polenta and chill it and cut into rounds for the topping.  Too much work and cornbread was awesome!

Happy almost Fall everyone!

Cooking In the Kitchen with Mommy

Today while Owen was napping I made chocolate chip cookie dough.  My back has been acting up so I needed a distraction.....And when he woke up from his nap I needed to get the cookies in the oven.  So I brought Owen into the kitchen with me.  I brought his toys over, but he wasn't interested in them at all.  So I gave him a few things from my kitchen drawer to play with. Would you know, he sat in the floor playing next to me for two hours!  He never fussed or got distracted.  I looked over at his play room (once our semi formal dining room) at all the toys and just shook my head.  You can spend so much money on stuff for babies and all they want is a wooden spoon, a small spatula, and a  measuring cup.

I had to get pictures of our time together.  I think we both enjoined it very much!  I haven't had the chance to bake like this in over a year!  I hope when he gets a little bigger I can let him help me cook.  Maybe he'll be the next Gordon Ramsey, well I hope not dropping the F bomb, but a renown chef would be cool.  Or even just a good Chef ;)  I broke a cookie during the transfer so I had to eat it and I had to wash it down with a glass of milk.  Oh my, it was so good!  Sorry to toot my own horn, but it was good!  I packed the rest up for James to to take to work. 

I spilled all my puffs out on the floor 

Everything goes in the mouth!

 Hot out of the oven!

If you like to bake cookies and have them golden brown but chewy
I highly recommend using a SILPAT.  It gives you the perfect cookie every time.
And I guess it's "green" too since you aren't using parchment paper each time.
I LOVE my SILPAT!

Cooling Cookies 

Notice there is one missing

I ate it!  It was still hot and melty!

Milk and Cookies make the back better!

Eating the wooden spoon

So content with this spoon never even looks up at me

 How fascinating!  It's a spoon!

Concentrating so hard

Yes 2 hours of play time with this!

I like cooking in the kitchen with Mommy!

Owen Gets Puppy Kisses: Revisited

I just now, after 7 months, have figured out how to upload my Youtube videos of Owen to the blog.  It really wasn't that hard but , I just never had the time or attention to detail, to sit down and investigate it.  Michelle even was so kind to send me directions back in February, but with a new born and all that came along with it, I just never got around to reading it really.

I knew that Anjoli had bought a new camera so she could get some mini clips of Aidan on her blog and I know how slow Blogger is with uploading them.....  It just makes you crazy!  We don't have all day to sit on here and wait for these 2 minute clips to upload and most of the times it wouldn't work after you waited for it.  Maybe my files were too large?  I don't know what the problem was, but I had finally had enough and I knew it was time to figure out how to upload from Youtube!  I knew Anjoli would like this information too.  So I finally figured it out and sent her the info on how to do it.  And now I can enjoy some longer footage of baby Aidan! And stress less when trying to add clips of Owen.

Well, back when Owen was 2 weeks old, I posted a blog called: Owen gets puppy kisses, which I'm pretty sure no one got to see that video, because again, I just hadn't properly figured out how to embed it.  So 7 months later with out further ado.....  Here is my little tiny peanut getting his first set of kisses from the dogs.


Enjoy!

Labor Day

Since we just got back from GA and needed to recover, we hadn't made any real plans for the holiday weekend, so it was so nice when we got an invite from my friend Elaine to come over to their neighborhood pool. The weather was perfect all weekend! It was sunny but, not too hot. We even managed to get Owen out for a stroller ride! Something we just haven't been able to do in months. It was such a nice day and so good to catch up with Elaine and her family.

Owen and Abigale have been friends since Owen was 6 weeks old and today was the first time that they really interacted with each other. It was so cute. They seemed to smile as if they recognized the other one and then they wanted to touch faces and pat heads. It was so cute to see them together. Owen wanted to touch Abigale's hair, kinda the way he does mine, but she wasn't so sure. I just kept telling him to be gentle with her. I think at one point when they were in the water together, Owen almost bit her fingers. These little ones are so unpredictable. It's cute to see them exploring their surrounding and other babies, but you really have no idea what they will do.

The two babies enjoyed time in the sun and all the parents were able to talk, get some sun and enjoy a nice big burger for lunch. It is so nice to have friends with kids the same age. You can share stories and vent about sleeping issues or fussy days and they understand. You can talk about poop and its cool too. They don't mind.

We had a nice weekend and it was a great way to end what has been, a long, hot, crazy summer!

Owen and Abigale Meet Again!

Owen liked he hair

Going in for a closer look

Owen's girlfriend - Abigale & her Mommy Elaine

How cute is she!

Water in the mouth!

Mommy and Owen taking a break in the shade

Daddy resting after his burger, fries, coke and chocolate ice cream

And a few laps in the big pool ;)

Taking a rest!

 Sweet baby boy

Very tired little boy

Owen & Ball

Owen likes this ball that belongs to his friend Ethan.  

We have to return it soon!

My camera is not equipped for action shots.  

And now all he does is move!

Ball!

Gifts from Great Granny

New T-Shirts that are 12 months & My First Bible

And the T-Shirts already fit!  These socks are new 6-12 months 

and too small.  

Looks like baby Aidan will get them soon.

This bib made me laugh but, I never thought I was the boss!

Big Boy!