Basic Pea Baby Food

I love love love peas...not too many people would say that.  M hated peas, but loved frozen peas (just like his mommy).  This recipe is from the "Baby Love" cookbook by Norah O'Donnell and Chef Geoff Tracy (my baby food bible).  L loved peas, but C was a little unsure...Either way they are super easy to make.

Perfectly Basic Pea
from the "Baby Love" cookbook by Norah O'Donnell and Chef Geoff Tracy

Ingredients:
1 1/2 bags of frozen peas
8oz water

Directions:
Fill pot halfway with water.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Pour frozen peas in colander and get all ice off.  Pour peas into boiling water and cook for 3 minutes on high heat.  In the meantime get a shock station ready of a bowl of water and tons of ice cubes. 
Once peas are done pour into colander and run cold water over them.  Pour peas into ice bath and let them chill for 3 minutes.  Pour peas into blender (or my machine of choice the food processor) and blend until smooth.
Pour into ice cube trays, wrap and freeze.

*to be honest I had to puree these for a super long time.  I couldn't get a smooth consistency, but in the end I think it worked out.

Aquatic Sensory Bin

During a rare nap by all 3 of my kids I decided to throw together a sensory bin for my 3 year old since we have had numerous days in a row with rain.  He spent hours playing with this one!

Apple Baby Food

Basic Apple Baby food.  C and L absolutely love apples (who doesn't?).  I love the recipe for "Perfectly Basic Apple" baby food from the book "Baby Love"  by Norah O'Donnell and Chef Geoff Tracy.

Ingredients:
5 apples
8oz water

Directions:
Wash and peel apples.  Cut in half and remove stem and seeds.  Cut into 6 pieces and place in a pot filled with water.  Turn stove on high and cover.  Cook for about 8 minutes stirring once.  Pour everything into a blender or food processor and puree until desired consistency.  Pour into ice cube trays, wrap and put in freezer

Fruit Infused Water

Wondering what to do with left over fruit?  Why not make some fruit infused water!  It's so easy!  Just cut up left over fruit and put it in a water jug with water.  I leave it in the refrigerator overnight so there's more flavor.  I had some left over strawberries and basil so I made some Strawberry Basil water.  I also had some left over cucumber and a lemon laying around to make another fruit infused water.

Slow Cooker Beef Pitas

This recipe is so easy and super yummy for dinner or even lunch.  It's from the Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good.  Enjoy!
p.s. of course my mommy brain made me forget to take a picture...

Beef Pitas
from the Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly cookbook by Phyllis Pellman Good  -  Recipe submitted by Dede Peterson of Rapid City, SD
Ingredients:
1/2 lb beef or pork cut into small cubes (I bought stewing meat so I didn't have to cut anything)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
pinch of black pepper
1 cup chopped tomatoes (fresh)
2 tablespoons diced fresh green bell pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Pita bread

Directions:
Put meat in slow cooker and sprinkle with oregano and black pepper.  Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.
In a seperate bowl, mix together tomatoes, green peppers, sour cream, vinegar and oil.
Fill pitas with beef and the sour cream mixture

Kale Orzo Pasta Salad

When we lived out west we were absolutely in love with kale.  Surprisingly I had never had it until we moved out west.  Today I decided to make it for the first time in a pasta salad.  It was way easier than I ever thought it would be.  Going to Whole Foods with my "L" was the hardest part.  This is a great salad that really keeps you full all day long.
Below is the link to the recipe:  ENJOY!
Kale Orzo Salad

Strawberry Mango Salsa

Because i'm thinking of summer and i'm hoping we skip through this crappy winter/spring the midwest has been putting up with I decided to make a summer salsa from one of my favorite bloggers:  Jenna from Eat Live Run.
Below is the link to her site:
Strawberry Mango Salsa
Strawberry Manga Salsa...YUM!

Butternut Squash Baby Food

I'm baaack!  Well it's been about a year since my last post...what could I have possibly done in the past year:
1. moved out west
2. got pregnant with twins...yes twins...
3. gave birth to twins...yes twins...
4. moved back to the midwest to be near family
5. survived one of the snowiest winters in the midwest in years

Well, here you all go with my first post back as a mother of 3 kids!  I'm not too sure how many posts on cooking i'll have since i'm just trying to get back into cooking after having the twins, but for sure the beloved pop culture posts will be abundant (since that's all I watch in the middle of the night while feeding an infant).
When I had my first child I made all his baby food.  Call me crazy, but I have decided to do the same for my twins...I may be crazy after all...  Anyways C doesn't like rice cearal and L loves any food you put in front of her so first pureed food is Butternut Squash.

Pureed Butternut Squash for babies
Ingredients:
Butternut squash (big or small)
8oz of water

Directions:
preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or one of those silicone baking mats.  Slice the Butternut in half and remove all seeds.  Place on parchment paper or baking mat cut side down and bake for about 1 hour (until the squash gets bubbly).  Put the squash and water in blender or food processor and puree until desired consistency.
I take an entire weekend and puree food and just spoon them in tons of ice cube trays and pop them in the freezer (covered in plastic wrap).  So easy and great for baby!

Pineapple Chicken Skewers

This recipe is sooo easy.  I'm not 100% sold on it, but i'm also not a fan of chicken.  I feel like I just need to have it once a week so I'm always in search of that one recipe that will blow me away.  This was was okay.
Below is the link to the recipe on allrecipes.com
Pineapple Chicken Tenders

P.S. I apologize for the terrible picture.  I was super hungry and really just wanted to eat...

Giada's Lemon Spaghetti

Okay I love lemons, but this recipe might only be good for someone who really really loves lemons.  I think I made that sour face you do when you bite into a lemon every time I tasted this pasta.  I even thought I was being adventurous and added tomatoes and asparagus to the dish.  I'm not sure if I did someone wrong, but you can bet that we will not make this again in our house. 

English Muffin Pizza

What do you do for lunch when you have no food in the house.  Well you make something you did back in grade school.  Yup, English Muffin Pizzas.  Super easy and fast...

English Muffin Pizzas
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Split the English Muffins in half and place on cookie sheet.  Top with pizza sauce (I used spaghetti sauce), cheese and pepperoni (of course I did not have pepperoni so these were just cheese pizzas).  Pop them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes or until the cheese has melted on top.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken and Green Beans

Well...Someday I will get grilled chicken right.  Almost every time we grill chicken it comes out dry and tasteless.  Tonight was that night.  Just blah!
And to top everything off the green beans that we got at the farmers market had no taste what so ever!  Definately not Grandpa Bud's green beans (my mouth starts watering when I think about them). 
Note to self: remember to ask my parents to ship me some of Grandpa Bud's green beans this summer.
Honestly the only good part of this meal was the grilled sourdough bread....Ah well...

My Mom's Egg Salad

I have to say I LOVE egg salad.  Whenever I order some at a restaurant for lunch it's never the same as my mom's egg salad.  I don't have a picture of the egg salad sandwich, but the recipe is below:

Mom's Egg Salad Sandwiches
6 eggs, hard cooked and smashed (simmer, just below boiling, covered in water for 8 minutes)
In a separate bowl mix:
1/2 cup mayo
4 squirts mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
sweet pickle relish to taste if desired
salt and pepper

Mix with eggs and enjoy!

Home made fruit popsicles

And another summer post.  I found this recipe on Pintrest and I  can't for the life of me find the link to the recipe.  It's super easy!  Just cut up any fruit of your choice and fill the popsicles with white grape juice or any other fruit juice of your choice.  This is a great healthier treat for the little ones too!  I have to apologize for the pictures since it was taken on my phone.

Happy Summer!

Happy Summer!  Well at least on the west coast it feels like summer.  I swear we haven't had rain in weeks!  Sunny and in the 70's sounds great to me!
Because it feels like summer we decided to make some kabobs and a summer salad.  All we did was stick some steak, mushrooms and red peppers onto skewers and threw them on the grill.
For the Summer Salad I mixed together cooked spiral pasta, salami, pepperoni, provolone cheese, chopped green pepper, olives, cherry tomatoes and drizzle some Italian dressing over the salad.  YUMMY

Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

I was so excited that this dish was super easy to make since the premier of Real Housewives of New Jersey is on tonight.  I just had to get through cooking dinner, cleaning up, watching my husband's show and then it's just me & all the Jersey housewives!!!
This pasta has just enough spice and I love the peas (my favorite veggie) added to the dish!

Below is the link to the recipe:
Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Well I was excited for this dish because it requires little prep.  It was just okay.  First I was so hungry that I cut down the cook time and the rolls didn't cook all the way.  Tops looked nice and brown, but the bottoms of the buns were doughy.  Maybe i'll make it again.  It might be a good way to hide veggies for kids!

Recipe from Real Simple Magazine (link below)
Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Aden & Anais Crib Sheets!

How many times have you purchased crib sheets and wash them a million times only to find out that they are not soft and will never be soft?  I feel like i've spent a small fortune trying to find soft sheets for my little guy.  He loves his Aden and Anais dream blanket and security blankets that he sleeps with them under his face.  I almost died when I saw that Aden & Anais just came out with their super soft fabric in a crib sheet!  Now they are super expensive for sheets (I mean all their other stuff is expensive), but it's worth it right?? 
Below is the link to Amazon.com where you can purchase these sheets!  My credit card is already out!
Aden & Anais organic sheets via Amazon

I LOVE SPRING!!

Just a few pictures of the new spring flowers I planted and some others around the house.  Enjoy!

Perfection!

Kate Middleton is perfection in my mind.  She looks so stunning in this Orla Kiely dress.  I just love everything she wears and how she carries herself.  Just lovely!  Photo from People.com