Bye! Bye! Baby Food!

Even though Adalyn is just shy of 9 months old she no longer wishes to eat baby food! The past few weeks she has been dabbling in "real" food and no longer wants to eat her bland ol baby food. This makes me kinda sad but she has two teeth already so I guess it's time to let go of the baby food. Today we had spaghetti for lunch!

I am a pro at "arms up" now! All thanks to mom and your baby can read :) She gets so excited when she learns something new that she claps for herself. It's TOO cute!

Hide-N-Seek

After breakfast this morning I wiped Adalyn's face and hands and set her down with her toys. I went into the kitchen for a quick second to throw away the wipe and came back and she was NOT in the living room. She is SO quick! For a second I couldn't find her and then I looked under her favorite spot (the dining room table) and found this:

Then she proceeded to play in the chair for a good 10 minutes!

She grows more and more everyday! It's crazy to see the intellectual changes that happen in just a weeks time. I can't believe in just 4 months she will be a year old! Time to start party planning ;)

Pork Chop Yumminess

Is yumminess a word?! It is now! My husband and mother can both tell you I am not a fan of pork chops. So you can imagine my husbands reaction when we went to the grocery store last week and I tossed a package of center cut bone-in pork chops in the cart. "You're buying pork chops?!" "Yes, yes I am."

This wonderful recipe has changed the way I think about pork chops. A few weeks ago I attempted to make a white wine reduction sauce based on what little I could remember from the food network. Needless to say I failed, miserably. It tasted aweful! I think my mistake was not letting it reduce enough. Anywho, this dijon mustard and herb sauce was FANTASTIC! I got the recipe from my new favorite blog which can be found HERE.

Recipe:

• 4-6 Center cut bone-in pork chops
• 1 tbsp butter (i used light butter)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock (low sodium)
• Half a medium onion
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 3-4 tbsp chopped fresh herbs
• Salt and Pepper

Now lets talk pork chops. The boneless pork chops you get at the grocery store are usually a few inches thick and take a while to cook. For this recipe I recommend the bone-in pork chops that are about an inch in thickness. While they may not be as filling, the bone gives the meat more flavor! Begin by seasoning with salt and pepper then cooking the pork chops in 1 tbsp of light butter (olive oil would be an even healthier choice). After about 7 minutes turn and cook the other side for another 7 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the chops. Internal temp. should be 160 degrees. Be careful as it is very easy to overcook thin pork chops such a these. Once the pork chops are done, place them on a platter and set aside to rest.

Turn the heat up to a medium/high heat. Add the onion, chicken stock and dijon to the same pan you cooked the pork chops in. After about 2-3 minutes throw in the chopped herbs (i used parsley and cilantro) and simmer for another 1-2 mintues. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Once the sauce has reduced to about a half a cup pour over pork chops and serve!

Trust me, this is a super delicious way to make pork chops. Especially for picky eaters like myself! It also takes under 20 minutes to put dinner on the table.

I served this with brown rice and corn. ENJOY!

WW Spinach Lasagna Rolls

I stumbled upon this wonderful blog full of easy weight watcher recipes. Most recipes you find online these days say they are "easy" recipes, but are chock full of crazy ingredients you've never heard of let alone find in a grocery store! I decided to make this next week a weight watchers week in our house starting with tonight. We had the spinach and ricotta lasagna rolls. My husband's first reaction: "there isn't any meat in this?" Typical male response.

For those of you who know me, you know I don't eat very many vegetables. I have been trying to change that because Adalyn learns by example so I think it's high time I start leading.

Here's the recipe:

• 9 Lasagna noodles, cooked
• 15 oz. Ricotta cheese, fat free
• 30 oz. Tomato sauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzerella
• 9 oz spinach, thawed and drained
• Salt and pepper

I tweaked her recipe just a tad! First thaw a 9 oz box of frozen spinach and strain it in a kitchen towel. You can use cheese cloth if you have it. Then mix together the spinach, ricotta, parm, salt, pepper and egg in a bowl. After cooking the noodles, use parchment paper as a working surface and spoon the ricotta mixture onto each noodle. In a 9x13 baking dish spread half the tomato sauce. Roll each noodle and place into sauce. The recipe calls for 9 noodles, however, I only used 8 in the dish. This worked out great because one of the noodles broke in pieces during the cooking process so it was wonderful to have a back up!

Once you have rolled all noodles, pour the remaining tomato sauce over the top and add a tsp. of shredded mozzerella to each roll. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 40 minutes, covered.

YUM! I was able to do this while Adalyn was napping and it took no time at all. I popped it into the fridge and when Scott got home from work all I had to do was stick it in the oven.

It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding!

Another whirlwind weekend passed as we ventured back to good ol' Indiana for my brothers wedding. It was a beautiful service and we wish you both the best of luck!

This was the first time in a LONG time that all of us kids were in one place together! It seems like every family function someone is missing for some reason. I loved seeing both my brothers and my sister and wish we got more time together.

Adalyn was super sick the whole time. While she is feeling MUCH better I wasn't sure if she, or I for that matter, was going to make it. She spent some quality time with grandma Marchbank, Aunt Jaime and Uncle Sam while Scott and I went to the rehearsal dinner and ceremony. When she finally made it to the reception all she wanted was mommy. After calming down her chubby little legs hit the dance floor! Thanks again to our wonderful family for putting up with her sickly fussiness.  

SNOW DAY!!

Here in Missouri we got a bit of snow :) Daddy got two days off of work and we had some fun sledding!

 Adalyn's First Snow

 Chasing Daisy!

Matching Monkey Hats