Housekeeping

We have made a huge dent this weekend in getting ready for Islay’s arrival.  Our nursery is what was our guest room.  While we’re keeping most of the furniture in there, but the baby doesn’t need a queen size bed or a desk right now.  We finally got those items moved into storage this weekend.  Up next, painting and flooring!

Part of our remodeling is (finally!) getting our wood floors installed.  Those are going in all 4 bedrooms. So we’ve been sorting, purging, donating and storing our stuff.  It’s been crazy. We’re going to paint before the floors go in, so that’s on the plan for the next few weeks.  Luckily we’re only painting 2 rooms – Jonathan’s batcave and the nursery.

We still have more stuff to move temporarily to the garage, but we’re so tired from all the stuff we’ve done the last few weeks that we’re putting it off for a few days.  We’ve been helping my parents clean up their house and storage units – in part because my father is about to start dialysis and in part because we needed room to store our bed and desk.

I hope the nursery is finished by March.  That’s my unofficial goal. Wish me luck.

One other thing I want to do before my due date is get some meals stored in the freezer.  Which, since it’s just the two (soon to be three) of us, isn’t as hard as it sounds.  I can usually double a dinner recipe and freeze one.  I’ve got a longer list of ideas than I thought I’d have.  Meatloaf, meatballs, chili, hamburgers, greek meatballs, breakfast burritos, pancakes/waffles, baked ziti, lasagna, enchiladas, pot pies, shepherd’s pie.  Many choices!  Now I just need to get cooking.

A look back at 2009, and forward at 2010

Last year I wrote, “This year, I’m going to quit trying to make everyone else happy and try to make myself happy.”  I think I did that.  It was a year of despair, acceptance, anger, and finally joy. But as part of my resolution in 2009, I took a look around me.  At my life, at my relationships, at how we live. I made some hard decisions, some of which were easier once we found out about my pregnancy.  Suffice it to say, that I am living my life more on my own terms.  I’m not exactly where I want to be, but I’m certainly closer.

For 2010, we’ll have many changes.  A baby! It’s still a shock. I think we’ll spend most of the first part of the year getting ready for her arrival, because we have a LOT to do. And the second part adjusting to having her in our lives.  It promises to be an interesting year.

Finding out I’m pregnant as also forced me to evaluate our lives again – take stock, weed the garden, etc.  I want Islay to be brought into a positive environment. I want us to have people around us we can count and depend on, and that she can depend on.

For myself, I’m going to stop feeling guilty for things I can’t control, try to give up a little of that control, but also change the things I can about my life.  I think all of that will make me a better mother for Islay in the long run.

I want less clutter in our lives, and I don’t necessarily mean less stuff.  For the physical stuff, we have started clearing out the house and selling items through amazon.  All the money we make is going towards our baby fund.  But most importantly, we are looking at the things in our house and our lives with a new eye, and clearing out things we don’t need anymore.   I feel very positive about it.

Saturday Morning Pancakes

Did you know you can make pancakes without using Bisquick?  Honestly, I didn’t.  Until I wanted pancakes Saturday morning and realized I didn’t have any Bisquick.  (And how does that happen anyway?)  So I found a recipe online and tweaked it.

Single Serving Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (substitute 1 Tbsp. White Vinegar in 1 cup of milk)
• 1 teaspoons vegetable oil
• Butter and maple syrup

Directions:

• To make a buttermilk substitute, place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.
• Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add egg, buttermilk and oil. Stir until blended.
• Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot pan; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until the second side is golden brown. Serve with butter and syrup. Yield: 1 serving (3 pancakes).

These were delicious.  They made big fluffy restaurant style pancakes and were so tasty with my pure maple syrup!  Definitely a keeper recipe, since my husband doesn’t like pancakes.  Just enough for me.  Though I left a few bites for J, and even he said they were good!

So Yummy!

Avoidance & Other Things I’m Good At

I always have such big plans for this blog. And I’ll be pretty good about posting for a while, and then…nothing. I just kind of forget that it exists.

So here’s the latest news from Casa Watmough. I’m pregnant. Yup, after 2 and 1/2 years of trying, and getting *this close* to accepting that I might not get pregnant, I get knocked up. It’s still kind of a shock. I’m 11 weeks so far. Here’s our first picture of our little Lima bean.

I’m due for another ultrasound next week.  So far, it’s been a pretty easy pregnant (knock wood). I’ve only had mild nausea. I feel tired, but generally pretty good.  All in all, aside from a slight set back this week from a cold, I’ve been good.  I’m turning my other blog into the baby blog. Though I’m not posting there anymore than I do here. *shrug*

I hope I finally get over this crap and start cooking again.  I’ve already started planning some goodies for Thanksgiving.

Crock Pot Roast

Our local grocery store (Kroger) had beef pot roasts on sale last week, and since I’m all about shopping the sales, I picked one up. (I always buy meat on sale, and freeze it if we can’t use it right away.) Ours was smallish, only about 2 pounds and it only cost me $4. I’m pretty sure we’re going to get 5 – 6 servings from this, maybe more.

Ingredients:
Pot Roast
4 red potatoes
2 carrots
1 small can mushrooms
1 can Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup
dried basil
salt
pepper

Directions:
1. Wash the potatoes, and cut into quarters
2. Wash & peel the carrots, slice into pieces.
3. Add potatoes & carrots to the crock pot.
4. Open and mostly drain the mushrooms, add to crock pot.
5. Top all of this with dried basil. I covered the ingredients pretty well and didn’t measure.
6. Brown the roast on all sides. Remove from skillet. Salt & pepper all sides. I used fresh ground pepper and sea salt. I also threw a little more basil on the roast. Add to crock pot.
7. Pour can of Golden Mushroom soup on top of roast.
8. Cook on low for 10 – 12 hours, stirring only occasionally.

We also made some asparagus as a side dish, since we trying to eat more green veggies. The meat just melted in your mouth. This is really easy to make. I threw it all together before I left for work this morning.

Meredith’s Frugal Vegetable Soup

I read a Heloise column a few months ago with a reader tip that said to dice and freeze any leftover fresh vegetables you had, to use later in soups or stews.  This seemed like such a smart idea to me for a number of reasons. First, I love to buy fresh vegetables when they are in season and cheap. Second, I usually ended up buying too much and throwing away what we didn’t use before it went bad. Third, things are too tight right now to just throw food away. Fourth, I love stew, so having my prep work done ahead of time seemed like a no-brainer.

So I took a large tub, and just added to it with any leftover veggies we had from whatever dish we were cooking for dinner that night, and kept it in my freezer.  Since it is summer, I ended up with a lot of zucchini, celery and carrots.  I had leftover V8 and chicken broth from my latest batch of Almost La Madeleine Tomato Basil Soup.  So tonight I decided it was time to try making a vegetable soup.  It was amazing.  Really, some of the best vegetable soup I’ve had and far superior to any canned version we’ve been eating.

Meredith’s Frugal Vegetable Soup

3 cups V8
1 ¼ cup chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can white kidney beans, rinsed
1 can black eyed peas, partially rinsed
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
2 red potatoes, peeled and diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup corn
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
salt & pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon paprika

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Simmer for 2 hours, stirring periodically.  Enjoy.

Notes: In my frozen tub, I had shredded carrots, zucchini, celery, and corn.  I added fresh the parsnip, potatoes and yellow squash (which was on sale at Kroger this week).  The other ingredients are all pantry staples for me.  Jonathan deemed it “delicious!”  I ended up with probably 8-10 servings from the entire pot.  I put part of it away to freeze, and still have enough for us to have dinner again and for me for lunch tomorrow.

It will be wonderful with some warm crusty bread or cheese on top.  The best thing, is you can completely customize it for your tastes.  I’m really pleased with the result, and probably won’t ever buy canned vegetable soup again.

Cruising Food

Some of you might disdain a cruise, but we had some wonderful meals on our latest vacation.  We began in Vancouver, spent a night in Whistler (where I had a delicious Steak & Guiness pie at an Irish pub), then moved onto Victoria.  I had amazing halibut fish & chips, including sweet potato fries in Victoria.  Then we started our cruise of the Inside Passage of Alaska.  It was the trip of a lifetime, and I heartly suggest that you go to Alaska at least once in your life.

Today, I’m just going to share some of our meals.  It was truly a culinary experience.  We traveled on the Carnival Spirit.

Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella Appetizer in Dining Room

One Empire Dining Room dessert, which I could remember what it was!

We also took the opportunity, on the last night of our cruise to eat in the Supper Club.  It was an additional cost of $30 per person, but it was more than worth it. A masterpiece of a meal.

A Mushroom Cappucino as a "pre-starter"

Duck Confit also as a prestarter

My Crab Cake appetizer

Dad's French Onion Soup appetizer

My Lamb Chop Entree

Chocolate Tarte with Bitter Chocolate Pate, Pineapple Croquant and Tirimasu Notre Facon

I thought I’d be getting one chocolate tarte, but instead I ended up with 4 different desserts.  Just amazing.  I’ll be posting more pics as I sort through J’s pictures, but this was a cruise a foodie would love.

Banana Bread

We had 3 very ripe bananas that need to be used, and I was in a baking mood.  So I made banana bread. Not generally my favorite, but I’ve never made it before and knew J would love it.  So really a win-win.

I used this recipe from SimplyRecipes.com.  It turned out great.  Probably didn’t need to cook the entire hour, but definitely yummy.

Blackberry Cobbler

I had Friday off, and wanted to do some baking.  Since blackberries were super cheap at the store, I felt compelled to buy some.  But then, what to make?  I found a Blackberry Cobbler recipe over at Pioneer Woman Cooks (two actually) and went for what seemed the simplest one – here’s a link to her post, where you can find a printable recipe.

It was apparently so tasty my husband had to eat the entire thing, almost by himself.  The best thing I’ve ever made, he said.  I did mess up and mixed all the sugar in, instead of sprinkling it on top.  Oh well.

Here’s how mine turned out:

PW's Blackberry Cobbler #1

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening (half butter or margarine)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 package chocolate chips (whatever you prefer)

Mix shortening, peanut butter, sugars and eggs thoroughly. Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Blend all dry ingredients; stir into shortening mixture. Add chocolate chips.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough in 1 1/4″ balls and place 3″ apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Flatten crisscross style with a fork dipped in flour.
Bake 10-12 minutes.

These turned out big, just the way I like them.  They ended up about 3 inches across, so I only made a small batch and froze the rest to cook later.

Note: I have no idea where this recipe came from, so if it’s yours please email me so I can give you credit!