Thursday Weigh Day!

Okay, so after my first week I only lost 1.5lbs. I have to be honest with myself though, I wasn't a strict as I should have been. I have to own all responsibility for that.  I did make some good choices though.  On Monday I went out with a girl friend for lunch.  I really wanted to order the angel hair pasta, or a club sandwich w/fries.  But I ordered a side salad with a vinigarette dressing with only veggies on it and a slice of pizza with pineapple and onions.  So my goal for this next week is to continue making even better food choices and also to get Aiden out in the jogging stroller at LEAST 3 times.  If you have any other tips or advice you would like to give me please leave a comment for me!  I will check back in next Thursday!

Total weight loss  -1.5lbs

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

So today I thought I would attempt to make homemade cinnamon rolls for the first time.  It was a LONG process, but they taste amazing! The website says the total time to make is 1hr 50 min, but it took me about 2 1/2-3 hrs! I used Paula Deen's recipe, so yes, there is a lot of butter. Since I am on my weight loss mission, I indulged in one and will be sending the rest of them with my husband tomorrow to take to his office for everyone to enjoy.  The recipe can be found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/cinnamon-rolls-recipe/index.html

Making the dough from scratch

Let the dough rise for 45 min.

Punch down and roll out the dough.

It says to roll into a rectangle, but this was as close as I could get.

Fill with butter, sugar, cinnamon, pecans, and raisins.  I was sinful and doubled the filling!!!

Roll it up.

Cut into 1 1/2 in pieces.  Butter and sugar the bottom of the dish.

Fresh from the oven!

(my house smelled AMAZING!)

Yummy Icing!

The finished product! They are SO moist and devine!  Will definately make these for Christmas!

Etc...

Cupcakes inspired by NY's fashion week.

courtesy of http://www.cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/

Bruschetta Recipe

So today I was having lunch with a friend of mine when we got to talking about how yummy bruschetta is. I told her my recipe that I use and she told me that I should share it. So, thanks to my friend Dianne, here is my homemade bruschetta recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. ripe plum tomatoes
1 vidalia onion
2 cloves garlic (minced)   *I just use 2 tsp. of the jarred minced garlic.
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
7 fresh basil leaves chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Prepare
1.  Parboil the tomatoes for 1 minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. (DO NOT parboil for longer than exactly 1 minute or your tomatoes will be mushy)  Drain. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are skinned, cut them in half and remove the seeds and juice from the centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area.

2.  Chop the tomatoes

3.  Chop the onion

4.  Mix all ingredients together and add the salt and pepper to taste

ENJOY!

You can slice a baguette (diagonaly) and brush with some olive oil.  Then heat on a hot skillet on both sides to lighty toast the bread.  I also eat it on top of some egg whites and toast for breakfast.

Bounce Baby Bounce

My very energetic son in his door jumper!

Dear John

I read the book Dear John by Nicholas Sparks last week.  I finished it just in time for the movie to be released in theaters. I went to see the movie on Friday night, and thought I would give a review of both the book and the movie.

I really enjoyed reading the book Dear John.  It was a quick read which is great for me since I am chasing a baby around the house all day!  The story starts off mainly focusing on the relationship between John and his father and his fathers obsession with collecting coins.  John was a rebellious teenager (who isn't) and drives a wedge between himself and his father.  After graduation John is extremely lost and finds himself inlisting in the Army.  John is stationed in Germany and while home on a 2 week leave, runs into Savanna.  To make a long story short, they fall deeply in love with each other. Now, the movie changes a LOT of the storyline during this 2 weeks.  I honestly didn't like how it played out in the movie because they left out a bunch of information (in particular, Savanna opens up to John about how she was almost raped and her friend, Tim, saved her) that makes the love in 2 weeks more believable. 

When his 2 weeks are up, John and Savanna decide to keep the relationship going and agree to write letters as often as possible.  After a year apart, John gets another 2 weeks of leave.  He spends the first couple days with Savanna at her parents home, the a week with Savanna at her apartment while she attends her college courses during the day, and the last week with Savanna at his father's home.  While staying with Savanna at her apartment they begin slowly drifting apart which leads to a big fight between them.  They soon make up and make love for the first time.  Now, in the movie that was ALL left out, except the sex scene.  I really wish the "drifting apart and fight" was included in the movie because it makes what is about to happen not such a shock.

John returns to Germany.  His duty is up in a couple of months when 9/11 strikes.  He decides to re-up for another 2 years without telling Savanna.  He calls her on the phone and tells her what he has done.  She is upset but also encourages John to not feel bad about his decission and that she is so proud of him.  In the movie, this whole scene plays out very differently.  He tells her while away on his first leave (the movie plays out of order) and she makes him feel guilty for his choice, then the sex scene takes place. (didn't really like how it played out in the movie)

In the book, the letters from Savanna start to slow down and 9 months before his 2 years are up, Savanna writes him to tell him that she has met someone else and their relationship is over.  John's heart breaks and feels he has lost everything and continues to re-up his time with the Army.  In the following months his dad has a heart attack and John flies home to help him out.  John then returns to Iraq to fight in the war.  In the movie John gets shot, but that never happened in the book.  In the book, his good friend gets shot and dies.  Soon after that John gets word that he is going back to the states because his father has finally past away.  While in the states, John drives to Savannas parent's house and finds Savanna outside. 

John discoveres that she is married when he notices she is wearing a wedding ring.  Again, the movie has Savanna telling John in the last letter that she in engaged.  Of course the love is still there, but John finds out that her husband (Tim , mutual friend of theirs) is dying of cancer.  Savanna tells John that there is a treatment out there that iwill not pay for that can possibly save his life. 

John spends a few days visiting Savanna and finds their relationship growing more and more stronger and decides he must leave and let her be with her husband.  On his way out of town, John sells his father's cherished coin collection and makes an annonymous donation to Tim for the medical treatment.

The book flashes forward several years.  John drives to the farm where Savanna lives and sees Savanna and Tim outside and madly in love.  Well, the movie shows Tim living for 2 more months and finally passing away. Then flashes forward to John and Savanna (now widowed) running into each other at a cafe and embracing each other.  I do like the way the movie ended better than the book.  I never thought that Savanna and Tim were a good fit for each other and wanted Savanna to wind up with jon.  The movie gave me the perfect ending I was looking for.  The book left me sad and crying.

All in all both the book and movie were good.  Of course the book is SO much better!

Heaven and Hell Cake

I discovered a new cake that I just had to share.  This is definately not healthy by any means.  But, if you are going to a party or host a party, this cake will surly impress others!!!!!!!  It is called the Heaven and Hell cake because there are layers of angel food cake and devils food cake.  In between the cake layers is peanut butter mousse, and the the whole cake is topped with chocolate ganache! 

FOR THE GANACHE:

2 lbs. milk chocolate, such as Valrhona, chopped

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

FOR THE ANGEL FOOD CAKE:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup cake flour

1 1/2 cups egg whites

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. almond extract


FOR THE DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE:

1/2 cup vegetable shortening, plus more for pan

1 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for pan

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 cup coffee

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs



FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER MOUSSE:

1 1/2 lbs. cream cheese, at room temperature

4 cups smooth peanut butter, at room temperature

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 1/2 cups heavy cream



1. Make the ganache: Place the chocolate in a medium-size bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan; pour cream over the chocolate and let sit to melt for 5 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, combine the chocolate and cream. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to let rest for 4 hours.

2. Make the angel food cake: Heat oven to 325°. Line bottom of a 10" round cake pan with ungreased parchment paper. In a medium bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and flour; set flour mixture aside. In a large bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt with a handheld mixer on low speed until frothy. Increase mixer speed to medium, sprinkle in sugar, vanilla, and almond extract, and beat until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle half of the confectioners' sugar–flour mixture over egg whites; using a rubber spatula, fold until just combined. Repeat with remaining flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake until top of cake springs back when touched, 45–50 minutes. Transfer cake to a rack and let cool.

3. Make the devil's food cake: Heat oven to 350°. Grease a 10" round cake pan with shortening and dust with flour to coat; shake out excess flour and set pan aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder; set flour mixture aside. In another medium bowl, whisk the coffee and cocoa powder until smooth; set coffee mixture aside. In a large bowl, beat the shortening, sugar, vanilla, and eggs with a handheld mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 minutes. Alternately add the flour mixture and the coffee mixture to the bowl in 3 stages, beating to combine after each addition. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean, 30–35 minutes; transfer to a rack and let cool completely.


4. Make the peanut butter mousse: In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and confectioners' sugar with a handheld mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Put cream into a large bowl and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture; set mousse aside in the refrigerator.


5. Assemble the cake: Using a serrated-blade knife, slice each cake horizontally into 2 layers. Place 1 layer of the devil's food cake on a cake stand and spread 1/3 of the peanut butter mousse over the top with a butter knife. Top mousse with a layer of the angel food cake and spread with half of the remaining mousse. Repeat with the remaining devil's food cake, mousse, and angel food cake. Wrap cake in plastic wrap and freeze for 2 hours. Stir ganache until smooth and spread evenly over the top and sides of the cake with a butter knife. Refrigerate the cake for 2 hours before slicing.



SERVES 10 – 12

No More Excuses

I was just cleaning out my closet and bagging up all the clothes I can not fit into any more to donate to Goodwill.  While I was in there digging around I came across a box filled with old pictures. Pictures of me when I weighed a lot less than I do now.  I looked at the girl in those pictures staring at the girl I am now and I barely recognized her.  I want to be her though. So this is it.  I have said it before, but today is the day that there are no more excuses.  I know I can do it, I've done it before.  I have a son now, and don't want to be that fat mom.  I want my husband to be proud of me for making a change.  I know I had a baby, and my body will be forever changed because of that, but I need to take back control. 

So, what does this mean?  Well, I figured that this blog can help me.  Today I start counting my calories and watching my sugar intake.  Exercise is a must!  I will check in every week and log my progress.  So today is the day. Every Thursday I will post my progress for the week.  And, hey, if you want to drop some pounds too, you can leave comments on my weigh-in posts and post how you are doing too!  This could be something quite fun.  I will try and share new healthy recipes that I am trying too.

Well, here I go.  Wish me luck!!!!

Me 4 1/2 years ago

Me now

The above picture will be a good reasonable goal to set for myself.  I know that I can maintain that weight comfortably.  I will give you an update next Thursday!

Twilight Saga and New Moon dvd

I am a HUGE Twilight fan!!!! And for those of you wondering, I am totally team Edward. YUM! I just couldn't get enough of the books and, of course, didn't want them to end. Twilight and Eclipse were my favorite books from the saga. I must say that I was just a tad disappointed with Breaking Dawn. Why did it have to get so weird? Oh well, the last page made up for it when Edward was finally able to see Bella's thoughts.

I was never much of a reader until I read these books. I couldn't put them down. Now, I am addicted to reading!

I was a bit late when I got into the Twilight saga, and felt like I was the last one out there buying the books. I actually saw the Twilight movie before reading the book. Of course the book was so much better. I just wish the movie would have stuck more closely to the book. Boo, for Catherine Hardwicks directing. But the movie New Moon was a totally different experience for me. I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!! I saw it 3 times in the theater. I couldn't get enough. I have been waiting for the dvd release. Finally there is a release date set for March 20! I am so excited. When I found out the I could pre-order the dvd, I started searching for the best "special edition" version. I wound up pre-ordering from Target who will be selling a 3 disc special edition! Everywhere else only has the 2 disc editions. Target was said to only have a limited supply of the 3 disc dvd and once sold out, they would not be getting anymore in stock. So those of you who want the 3 disc dvd version, I would hurry and pre-order it from http://www.target.com/. I cannot wait for it to arrive in the mail! My husband is going to get very annoyed because I plan on playing that dvd until it won't play anymore. A bit obsessed? YES!

Here are a few pics for those of you who are also Team Edward!

Better Nights

Our nights are starting to get better. Aiden has been waking up all throughout the nights lately. He has been teething for 6 weeks now...VERY bad teething. For the past 3 nights, he has been sleeping much better. I can see his top left tooth trying to break through the gums, but it isn't coming through. I though for sure it would have come through by now. I feel so horrible for Aiden and the pain his tooth is causing him. But, at least Aiden, mommy, and daddy are sleeping better now. We were having flashbacks of when Aiden was a new born and we were up every 2-3 hours! Wow, how did we survive that? I guess you just love your little one so much that you find this strength deep inside you that you never knew you had.

Flashback picture: Aiden and Daddy sometime in the middle of the night. Shawn was so good about taking care of Aiden after all the midnight nursing sessions so I could get a couple hours of sleep before I had to do it all over again.

New Beginings

Some of you already know that I am opening my own daycare. For those of you that didn't know....well, now you do! :)

When I thought that I would be returning to work after I had Aiden, I just couldn't find childcare that I felt comfortable with. I felt that no one would take care of Aiden the way I could. Now that I have been a stay at home mom for a while, it is time to start helping out with the income. So, I decided that providing a daycare would be the best option for me. For one, I still get to remain in my home and with my son. Also, I know that I can provide young children with an enriched and loving home for them to learn and explore their new world. I hope that I can provide peace of mind to mothers who must leave their children to go to work. Although I have never left my son, the thought of it alone brings me to tears (sobbing, actually). So, I can only imagine what mothers go through who really must leave their children. I also feel that this will be good for Aiden's social development. It's a win win!

Today I spent the better part of the day meeting with the state inspector and gaining more information that is leading me towards getting my In-Home Daycare license. It has been quite a process, and after today, I realize that I have even more work to do. I have completed all my classes and got first aid certified last weekend. I take my exams on Feb. 8, the take my infant/child CPR class that Saturday. Today Shawn and I went to the police station to get finger printed. (Shawn was joking around too much during that experience!)

Now, we are ready to start setting up the house. We are trying to be cautious of money, so I know that this is going to be a process. We have been finding deals at consignment shops and garage sales. It's AMAZING what great deals you can find!!! Aiden is loving all the fun toys we have been bringing home.

I will keep updating my progress and hopefully post pictures soon after we have everything set-up!

Baby Food How-To

Okay, so on many occasions I have been asked what I feed my baby. When I tell people that I make all my baby food homemade I get these looks of, "Oh my, how do you have the time." or "Wow, that must be a lot of work." The reality is, it is so simple and doesn't take much time at all. PLUS, it is so cheap! So, I thought I would post a blog showing how easy it really is.

Now, some people go a bit over board and buy fancy baby food makers. What a waste of money, in my opinion. Williams Sonoma makes a popular baby food maker which costs $150!!!! I can think of a million other ways to spend that money.

I also found this ridiculous item on their webpage. This is what you freeze the baby food in. It costs $20! I use ice cube trays for $1. Plus, Ice cube trays hold 12 servings, unlike this product which only holds 7.

Okay, lets get started.

Today I made homemade apple baby food.

First, peel all your apples.

(Peeled)





Next, chop and core the apples.




I use the cheap metal steamer, that is all you really need.
(no fancy $150 product required)



Fill bottom of pot with a little water then dump in your apples on the metal steamer.



Cover and steam until apples are soft. About 5-10 minutes.

When apples are done, drain.

(I save the water. It is just like a very diluted homemade apple juice that you can give your baby in a sippy cup. (I never give my baby straight juice, too much sugar. I always dilute it with water.)

All i use is a simple potato masher to mash. It barely takes any effort to mash. I actually timed myself. It only took 20 seconds!




Mashed up!

Put in ice cube trays ($1) to freeze. Each block holds approx 1 oz.

Cover with plastic wrap while you freeze. Do not use foil because you will get bits of foil that stick to the food that you won't be able to pull off.

Once frozen, dip bottom of ice cube trays in warm water to loosen. Dump the cubes into freezer bags and label.

To thaw cubes, place in fridge over night. By the morning the cubes will be thawed and ready for your baby to eat.

This whole process took me 30 minutes. I have almost 2 weeks worth of food, and I only spent $2.99 for the bag of apples. That is only $0.21 a day for baby food. Plus, I save the apple water from the pot and now I have apple juice as well! And the best part is, it is all natural, healthy baby food with no preservatives. There is no need to spend all that extra money on fancy baby food makers, those things only make baby food in small quantities too. So, you will be making baby food ALL the time. I hope this encourages you moms out there to give it a try!