Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Cooking Bug


Mummies and pumpkins brownie pops!

I've been on a cooking/baking kick lately. I've always loved cooking/food/new recipes, but I had gotten out of the habit recently. But I feel the cooking bug coming back now, I'm drooling through recipes again, planning meals I want to try. It used to be my obsession to find new recipes and print them for my "big book of recipes"! Alas, many were not made, only salivated after.... But, I've decided to try and make some new stuff every week, and actually try some of these recipes I just HAD to print out or HAD to buy the magazine for. I'm not buying anymore cookbooks, I have way too many recipes stocked up! And..... its the holidays around the corner, and that means I'm going to have the food network on a lot soon, and then I'll have oodles more recipes to try...

The latest thing I made are these Brownie Pops. These things are addicting!! I've had three already today. Good thing I gave John a bunch to take to work with him. I had gotten a Williams Sonoma email that advertised these things- $30 for 6! So I used trusty Google (has it ever failed me? I don't think so.) to find a recipe for Brownie Pops, and the first link was a girl who had seen the exact same thing at Williams Sonoma and wanted to make them for herself... so I stole her recipe! They are SO yum!! Brownie bites dipped in chocolate??? How could you go wrong? Sure, they don't look as pretty as WS, but they taste awesome! Fun to make too. I can't wait until Sadie is old enough to do stuff like this with me. And of course, EAT them with me too!

Next on the food list? Baked chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese, rosemary, and lemon zest.... a Rachel Ray recipe I have had torn out of her mag for awhile.

Sadie is still napping. Perhaps another brownie pop???


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Thank you, Paula Deen!




When you make something of Paula Deen's, its probably going to make you gain 5 lbs, but damn, it'll be worth it. Like the cake I made for John's birthday this weekend- Chocolate Sybil Cake. Oh. My. God. It was soooo rich, decadent, and totally sinfully delish...... but what wouldn't be with a pound of butter in it?!?! Its a perfect "me" type of cake, meaning, its quick, easy and ready to eat in no time. No waiting to cool or frost! Its a "John" type of cake because you'll OD on chocolate. Its a warm chocolate cake served with a warm chocolate sauce..... YUMMMMM. Because its served warm, I decided to make it when Sadie went to bed, and of course, that night she decided she wouldn't sleep until 10:30. So, by the time it was made, it was close to midnight. And then we ate huge portions of this thing, and conked out. Can you say heartburn that night?!? HA! I feel so old saying that, but its true. Anyways, totally worth it. Here's the recipe- Chocolate Sybil Cake.


We also took Sadie to the pumpkin patch they have set up downtown, she had a blast. "Puntin! Puntin!" she kept saying. She also firmly told a little boy "NO!" who was trying to take a pumpkin from her. The girl's got some spunk, let me tell you! It has been absolute heaven having the tube out. No worries of it coming out, no night feeds, no reflux/throwing up, no maintenance, etc. And I'm sure she is much more comfortable too. She had her first weigh-in yesterday, and as expected, she did drop in weight. Even though I knew this would probably happen, its still stressful to see, and also to know, that next week's weigh-in she can't lose anymore weight. She can stay the same, but the doctor doesn't want anymore weight loss. It's just a lot of pressure during meals, which is the opposite you want during a meal with a kid who has issues with eating. But I still think she can pull this off, here's hoping for a good week for her and that Monday brings us good news. Until then, I'm soaking up all this tube-free time!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Special Day


Today was special for two reasons. The first was it is our 3rd wedding anniversary! John is such an amazing husband, father, and friend. I am well aware of how lucky I am. I can't believe how fast time is flying. And although we didn't get to formally celebrate our day by going out, we did get the best gift possible. Which brings me to special thing #2. Today (actually, about 30 minutes ago) I pulled out Sadie's feeding tube. We are going to see how well she does without the tube and hope it makes her hungrier. We are praying for little to no weight loss, although some loss is expected at first. I just hope and pray that she is able to do this, to be self sufficient in this way, so she doesn't have to have the tube reinserted, or worse, have the tube surgery done. We'll just take it one day at a time and keep up a positive attitude. I believe she can do this!

Tomorrow, I believe a wordless Wednesday "tube free" picture of Sadie may be in order! I haven't seen her without a tube for more than a couple hours since April. Looking forward to seeing her beautiful face, without all that tape.

Short post, but its time for bed....

Monday, October 12, 2009

Ode To Fall


I actually made what I said I was going to make! The mother of all fall desserts- a super yummy apple crisp! Usually I save a recipe to make and never get around to making it, but ha ha! I did it! It was mmmmmm mmmmm and a great comfort dessert. Even John liked it, and he's really only a chocolate kind of guy. I have to give a shout out to my food processor...... wow, I really should use this thing more. Usually I would do the crumb topping by hand, and it takes a bit to do and semi-annoying to do as well, but with the processor- VOILA! I had my topping in about 15 seconds. Nice.....

So I have to start watching what I say around Sadie, she listens to whatever we say, when I don't think she is, and then is like a little parrot. Today was funny- I'm not sure what I was annoyed about, but in an annoyed voice I said "John....." and from the other room I hear my exact annunciation and tone come right back to me... "John...." and John and I were practically rolling on the floor with laughter. Which made her repeat it over and over again with glee. "John!" "John!" So funny. Well, it could have been a LOT worse!

Off to have dinner. Did I mention that we ate the apple crisp before our actual dinner? Yup, it was dessert first tonight, meal second :) The way it should be.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

It's been awhile...


Sadie in pigtails

Well, I guess its been nearly a year since writing on this blog. I really enjoy keeping up on other people's blogs and its made me want to start mine up again, if only to be an online journal of sorts and to keep in touch and update family and friends on the comings and goings of our little family. Most recently, my friend Karen (if you know me, you have undoubtedly heard many stories with that name in them.) got me reading this amazing blog (matt + maddie) that has captured my interest and has won my respect, with this father's account of life after the death of his wife and raising a baby by himself. Stuff like this really put things into perspective and make you thankful for what you have. I can't help but admire his strength, humor, and candidness of his writings. Check it out if you get a chance (see my links).

Noticing Elmo was at the Festival...

My little Sadie girl is 18 months old now, which is completely mind boggling. How did that happen? She is sweet, silly, smart, funny, spirited, spicy, loving and despite her parents two left feet, has some pretty sweet dance moves. She's going to be a strong, confident woman, who knows what she wants in life, that I know, since she already shows some of those traits already! She's pretty amazing, and not just because I'm biased! She's got an unlimited supply of hugs and kisses, especially for her kitties, which makes mommy and daddy nervous. To see her bending down, hugging Owen, bury her face in his fur, and you hear a big smack of a kiss, its adorable, but well, I am sure you have all heard Owen stories before and so I try to keep her at least at a slight distance! Owen and Bean however have been nothing but wonderful to her, and are soaking up the extra affection.

Petting the Fuzzy Shark

You've probably noticed the tape on her cheek. That's a feeding tube, and is what has kept us pretty busy since early spring. Long story short, Sadie had to get the tube because she refused to eat. She would nurse, but would not take solid foods. So she has had this since April and we have been in a hospital program specifically designed to get babies that refuse to eat, eating. She has come a long way and actually, right now, we are doing a test of cutting back on her tube feedings to see how much she will take orally. They will then pull the tube to see how she does on her own. Fingers crossed and many prayers said that she will be able to do this. We will still have a long way to go to get her to eat like a normal toddler, but this will be a start. I feel like I have dropped off the planet, in social terms anyways, since this has taken all of our time and energy. It was hard for me to talk about, so I didn't. It still is, but I am in a different place now. Now I feel like I'm ready to get back on the planet. We feel very grateful though that otherwise, Sadie is a healthy, happy toddler. But man, that kid likes to keep us on our toes. :)

Happy Fall!

Today we went "punkin" (yes, how Sadie says it) and apple picking. What an absolutely gorgeous day for it. Sunny and crisp outside. I think it just might be perfect apple crisp baking weather. With vanilla ice cream, of course. I always love going to this farm that is down the road from us. You can pick your own strawberries, raspberries, peaches, blackberries, apples..... you name it, they have it. Its so relaxing and fun to do, and the taste is out of this world. I got a mix of cortland, macintosh, macoun, and jona gold. Hopefully will make a good crisp. And we also got a couple pumpkins too, Sadie picked her own out. She even managed to carry it a little ways, but the weight of it made her off balance and she had a few falls! It was pretty comical actually, this little girl trying her best to carry this big, heavy pumpkin, for her size anyways!



Off to peel the apples.... the crappy part of making apple crisp.