Love this little guy...

Stewart Raymond "Ray," born January 12, 2012

Someday I'll get back to blogging recipes. For now, I'm enjoying every minute with this litttle big guy, as well as getting settled into our new home in Connecticut! Love to all!

-Heather

Hello There!

I haven't been blogging very much lately, not really any excuse except for this little guy:

That's right, in January we will be welcoming a new baby boy into our family! We couldn't be more thrilled.

We had a great summer and our kids enjoyed every minute of it. I found myself spending a lot less time in the kitchen, first because of the morning sickness all-day nausea, then because I found it easier to stick with some of my old favorites instead of trying new recipes while we enjoyed the beautiful Colorado weather.

In July, Hannah turned two. Cake and a balloon, all a 2 year old needs, right?







Isn't she turning into such a pretty little girl? She has such a fun personality too, a little more feisty than Nathan, but we figure with an older brother already and a younger brother on the way, it's a good thing that she is able to stick up for herself.

While I haven't been experimenting too much with new recipes, I have been starting to bake my favorite pumpkin recipes. Yummy!

 

I've picked up crocheting again. Check out this cute hat I am making for our new baby boy! I purchased the pattern from this seller on etsy.





I also have started making my own cleaning and personal care products incorporating essential oils, thanks to a class I attended by Jenn Oldham. This is a video of her demonstrating how she makes her own laundry detergent, lip balm, and deodorant.

The secret is in the Certified Pure Therapeutic-grade Essential Oils sold by doTerra. I'm sure I will blog more on this in the future, because I am falling in love with all the uses I have found for these awesome oils, including relieving stress, nipping colds in the bud, and cleaning my house.

I hope to be back to the blog a little more consistently in the future, so see you soon!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Yesterday was my husband and my 4th wedding anniversary! Unfortunately he was out of town, but when he comes home tonight, I intend to celebrate a little by serving him Texas Sheet Cake and Blue Bell ice cream. Yummy! We've been eating well and exercising hard all week, so it's time to treat ourselves a bit. Besides, he deserves something special for putting up with me for this long!

Happy Anniversary, honey! I love you!

Macaroni and Cheese

Home-made macaroni and cheese, does it get any better than this? This beats the stuff in the box hands down. I actually didn't feel guilty serving this to my kids because it was made completely from scratch. It's not low-fat of course, but it isn't full of processed ingredients I can't pronounce!

This is a Pioneer Woman recipe so you know it's gotta be delicious!

printable recipe

Macaroni and Cheese

serves 6

16 oz box dried macaroni

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 egg

2 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp dried mustard

1/2 tsp each of salt, seasoned salt, and black pepper 

1 pound cheese, I used half monterey jack and half cheddar but you can use whatever sounds good to you!

Preheat oven to 350F. Boil macaroni until it is very al dente (still firm but chewable), about 6 minutes. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat.

Add flour and whisk for 5 minutes, do not let burn!

Add milk and mustard and continue whisking for another 5 minutes, mixture will thicken to gravy consistency. I had to cook it a little longer and turn the heat up to medium to get this to happen, just depends on your stove.

Reduce heat to low. Whisk an egg in a separate bowl. Add 1/4 cup of milk mixture slowly to the egg, whisking continually. 




This is called tempering and will bring the temp of the egg up gradually so you don't have chunks of scrambled egg when you add it to your sauce. (This happened the one time I tried to make alfredo from scratch, disgusting).

Add egg to milk mixture, whisking constantly until well-blended. Stir in salt, seasoned salt, and pepper. Add more to taste, if desired.

Stir in all but about 1/2 cup of the cheese. I was in a hurry and accidentally dumped it all in, oops. Stir it all together until blended and cheese is melted.

Stir in the cooked macaroni. Pour into a buttered casserole dish, 2 quart or 9x13 and top with remaining cheese (assuming you aren't an airhead like me). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

I don't have a picture of the finished product in the baking dish because Nathan high-jacked my camera. He took this picture.

And this one. My husband was trying to entertain Hannah, who was getting fussy and hungry.

And this one. I have no idea what I am doing here.

Eventually we dished up the food. It was delicious.

I just happened to have an avocado so I sliced it up. It was so good eaten with the macaroni and cheese. Who would have thought?

This recipe is featured in Menu Plan 8.

Christmas Break Musings

We are having such a fun Christmas break. No preschool, my husband has been off work most of the week, and we are just relaxing.

We've played with trains. Uh-oh Thomas, watch out for Percy!

We've started a 2000 piece puzzle. Because we're cool.

This is what it will look like. Someday. Vegas, baby!

We've busted our black lab on the living room furniture many a time this week.

We haven't busted him chewing on the furniture, but something tells me he has.

Just a hunch.

I'm beginning to wonder if my pets aren't as well behaved as I thought they were...