What’s in all those little jars, how do I know which ones to buy, what other stuff is going in to his body as a result of this convenience? I spent a lot of time on the internet, and Pinterest, trying to find “recipes”.

Finally I realized it’s just about picking age appropriate (I love Wholesome Baby Food for this!) fruits and veggies. Steaming or roasting them. And pureeing them down. If you want to do a bunch at once, it can be frozen for up to a month and thawed as needed.

I also thought this was a fun opportunity to get us to eat more fruits and veggies by incorporating what I was making for baby food into our own dinner.

I found this recipe for Butternut Squash Risotto. I became obsessed with risotto over the winter and this recipe actually used squash puree! So it was already in baby food form for our dinner.

I started by slicing a butternut squash open the long way. This is kind of tricky. I mark around the skin with a knife then work, pressing the squash down until I can cut through the whole thing. Then scoop out the seeds.

I roasted the squash face down on a pan for 30 minutes at 400. Then I turned them right side up for about 10 more minutes until I could poke them with a fork. The roasting time will depend on the size of squash you have. Check it every 5-10 minutes for softness.

When it’s done – let it cool a bit. They will be hot for a long time. You can also try to hold onto it with a pot holder if you’re impatient. This gets a little messier.

Then scoop out all the goodies. You can get super close to the rind and still get good “meat”

Put it all in your food processor or blender. I pulled out my trusty Baby Bullet for this. And add about 1/2 cup of water. Add more as/if needed.

It should look like a smoothie when you’re done. More on the risotto another time since this post is about the baby!

I was also doing apples at this time. I cored, peeled and sliced my apples and steamed them for about 10 minutes until they were soft with a fork.

Then blended them. You do not need to add water to the apples because they are packed full of their own juices, and steaming gives them a little more moisture.

I have a few reusable baby jars that I fill first. The jars are what I send to daycare. I just fill and freeze and take two out every other day to thaw.

For his home eating, I fill ice cube trays. Depending on your trays, 2-3 ice cubes makes a 2oz meal.

When you’ve got them all filled, cover with stretch wrap and pop em in the freezer.

After they’re frozen, crack the food out of the tray like you would ice, and dump into freezer lock bags. When dinner comes I pull out three cubes. Either all the same, or you can mix and match flavors. I nuke mine for 1 minute. PLEASE BE AWARE that it is not advised to microwave anything for baby. Microwaving makes hot spots. I only microwave mine enough to make it stirabe. Then I let it sit for about ten minutes before he eats it. You could also take the cubes out the night before to defrost.

Frozen food can be kept for a month. After defrosting it’s good for about two days.

I’m a big fan of the apples, when I make them, I usually snag a small bowl for myself before freezing! You can play with lots of varieties of apples for a yummy taste! When I’m doing a big batch, I use about 16 apples which after steaming will all cram into my vitamix.

Happy Pinning!
Happy Cooking!!

{1. Honey Roasted Cinnamon Chickpeas} I’ve been dying to try roasting Chickpeas and this might have just set me over the edge.

{2. Anchors Away Cake} This cake is simple and gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

{3. Royal Bathroom} Can I please live in this bathroom? Seriously, if that were my house I would ALWAYS be in the tub!

{4. Photo Books} I just found this on Pinterest and have been checking out every nook and cranny of their website. I’ve never done a photo book before, because I’ve been trying to find the right one. Artifact Uprising might be it…

{5. Magnatize your board games}  How have I never thought of this. This would be good not only for kids, but for grownups while camping or boating, or any other traveling. It makes so much sense.

There we go! Five Pin-tastic reasons to love Friday!! Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Happy Pinning!

Happy Friday!!

They’re built in ombre effect is perfect for tags and cards:

Project range from simple like above to more complex like this bird house!

I had a pile of old paint chip colors laying around (because I’m a hoarder) and decided to give them a new purpose.

I was relaxing before bed in front of the TV and thought I’d just start punching these. I used a 1″ circle punch. I had to cut my samples into strips first because my punch doesn’t have a very deep reach.

I just like the look of a million little circles.

I think I will use these to make a little bunting for my son’s first birthday. I’m not sure yet if that means gluing them around twine so they’re two sided…or just sewing them in a line.

For now they’re sitting in wait for the next Pin There Done That Project!

Have you re-purposed anything lately? What would you do if you had a big stack of paint chips?

Happy Pinning!
Happy Crafting!!

A quick search of the word WASHI on Pinterest and you’re flooded with hundreds of ideas! Like these…..

I recently scored a huge stash of Washi from Pick Your Plum. If you haven’t heard of PYP – go check them out. A deal a day on crafty and cute things. They had two washi deals in the last couple months. I’ve also picked up bakers twine, stamps, lace socks for boots, and paper straws!

I wanted to try something with it, so I looked around my office and my eyes landed on this drawer set. It’s a plain birch drawer set from Ikea that I’ve had for years. I’ve always thought about painting it bright colors – but Washi seemed like a better idea!

Yes – my office is a mess, please excuse

I started by just tearing off strips of washing and lining up the pattern.

Here’s a couple of the colors I got in my mixed bag of washi.

I finished covering the front of the drawer. I initially covered up the finger hole that you use to open the drawer.

Then I used an exacto knife to cut slits in the finger hole so I could lay down the washi.

One cute complete drawer!! The rest still sit bare, but I just received my second mixed bag of Washi and it’s screaming at me to finish this project!!

Have you fallen in love with the Washi Tape craze? What have you washi-ed?

Happy Pinning!

Happy Crafting!!

I kept my promise on the baby food (more on that to come) and we had made a few all fruit smoothies. I’ve been scouring Pinterest for the last couple weekds trying to find the perfect, basic, green smoothie recipe. I didn’t find much. I found lots of very green good for you smoothies – but I needed to start plain. I needed just the very simple basic that I could build on on my own.

After a recommendation from a friend I ended up at Oh She Glows. She has a recipe for “Classic Green Monster”. Her recipe does include protein powder and flax seeds which I wasn’t ready to tackle yet. But, I did end up with a very basic easy recipe that I can build on and add to as I get more comfortable.

Basic Green Smoothie
1 cup Almond Breeze (or any non dairy milk)
2 handfuls of washed spinach
1 peeled and frozen banana

AND THAT’S IT! So easy-peasy. Put the liquid in the blender, followed by the spinach then the banana and bled til smooth!

Today I threw in 3 frozen strawberries and 2 chunks of frozen pineapple. I couldn’t tell that they added much taste – but I prefer my smoothies cold, thick, and ultra smooth and I think this helped with that.

The basic recipe just tastes like bananas. You honestly don’t even taste the green. The plan is to venture out from here, maybe adding some cucumber, carrots, and one day maybe even kale! (I had a terrible first encounter with kale and it still makes me a little nervous).

I’m hoping that incorporating these leafy greens every day will help my body and mind. I have a history of Crohns disease and while it’s in remission now, I could stand to healthy up my digestive track too!

Have you gone green? What’s your go to smoothie recipe?

Happy Pinning!
Happy Blending!!

{1. Layered Fruit Salad Bowl} This looks DELICIOUS! And what a cute way to display a side dish for a party!

{2. What to do with extra yolks} This site is amazing! I baked a recipe this week that called for 22 egg whites. Yup, 22. I found a couple of great ideas on this site of what to do with the yolks! Stay tuned for posts on that!

{3. Reviving wood furniture with coconut oil} I have a patio set in desperate need of some moisturizer! When I get a chance to try it, I’ll let you know how it goes!

{4. Ribs} Enough said. Mouth Watering. 

{5. Paper Dahlia Wreath} This is adorable and looks pretty simple! Could be a fun burst of color for Spring!

Have you done anything from Pinterest this week? I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Pinning!

Happy Friday!!!

Pinterest is littered with cauliflower recipes that boast a smooth and yummy potato flavor, but this is the one that finally caught my eye.

photo: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2279106

I made this like a month ago. But, because I was trying to be super mom and do seven million things at one time, I didn’t take any pictures. I recently made them again, but the “unloaded” version. So, I’ll give you the recipe and method for both kinds, but only pics for the latter.

{Ingredients}

1 head of cauliflower
2T butter
3 cloves garlic
dollop of sour cream or plain greek yogurt
{Optional extras}
1/2 c shredded cheese
1/2 c bacon crumbles (unless you’re in my house and you just cook a whole pack)
1 small bunch of green onions, chopped
1/4 c diced chives

{Method}

1. Steam your cauliflower. I did this by breaking up the head of cauliflower into a small pot and filling it half way with water. I let it boil, turning the contents occasionally, until the stem of the cauliflower was tender to poke with a fork.

2. In your blender/food processor/baby bullet, add your butter, sour cream, and pressed/minced garlic.

3. When the cauliflower is soft, add it to the blender. Pulse a few times to make room for the rest if needed, then run until smooth. In my baby bullet it takes about 30 seconds.

4. At this point, you can stir in whatever extras you have. Pretty much anything you could think of to put in your mashed/baked potato will taste good in here!

5. Divide the mixture in to oven safe ramekins or bowls. At this point if you want to bake them, you can, 400 degrees for 15 minutes. In my experience, it didn’t do much to change the texture or flavor, and mine was already hot from boiling the cauliflower.

6. Top with cheese, and serve!

Yes, I know my chicken looks delicious as well! All I did was marinate it in a ziplock bag with honey mustard salad dressing for 15 minutes, then cooked it in my panini press pan! So fast, easy, and yummy!

Have you jumped on the cauliflower band wagon? Do you prefer it raw or “mashed”? Do you think it could ever really replace potatoes?

Happy Pinning!
Happy Cooking!!

 Spring time is the perfect time to make this dish.  It’s semi-light but warm and comforting for the damp spring evenings.

Here’s a look at her pin:

Photo: http://www.petitfoodie.com/classic-chicken-pot-pie/

Does that not look heavenly?! I used her recipe more as a guideline. I knew I wanted to put fresh carrots in mine, and I since I had to grocery shop before dinner, I had no time for my own crust.

Here is my modified recipe

{Ingredients}
2 Chicken Breasts
4 Cups Chicken Broth
1 bunch of organic carrots (about 6 medium carrots)
1 small bag of frozen peas
3 small yellow potatoes
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 stick of butter
1/2 c of cream
3T flour
1 package of flaky biscuits

{Method}
1. Saute the chopped onion and chopped/pressed garlic in the butter in a large pot. While this is going, chop up your carrots and potato.
2. Toss in your chopped potatoes and carrots. Add half of the chicken broth. Let simmer while you cook your chicken
3. In a small pot, boil your chicken breasts until fully cooked (I did this in chicken broth for more flavor). Then dice the chicken and add to your veggie pot.
4. Whisk the cream and flour together with a fork and slowly incorporate additional chicken broth until thinned. Add this mixture to the pot.
5. Season with S&P as desired, and add chicken broth until desired consistency is reached.

6. Spoon into oven safe dishes. I used two oven bowls for our dinner, and a 7×11 dish for the rest.

7. Gently pull the biscuit dough to lightly stretch them to cover your dish.

8. Bake according to the biscuit instructions.

This meal was DELICIOUS! I’m hoping that I can try her crust recipe in the future because it looks beautiful and flaky and scrumptious! I think next time I do this, I might chop up enough veggies, and cook enough chicken to make a few freezer bag meals.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Happy Pinning!
Happy Cooking!!

Here’s the link so you have no excuses: http://pinterest.com/pintheredonetha/

Yes, it’s pintheredonetha. Yes, it’s missing the last T. Which sucks. But, Pinterest has a character limit on your name, so it is was it is for now!

Why would you want to follow me? Well, I have a BOARD for everything that I do on the blog, so you have a quick reference back to your favorite posts!

I also have lots of boards full of DINNER RECIPES, DECORATING, FITNESS and more!

But, I think one of my favorite boards to add to lately is the FREEBIES board! What is better than internet freebies?!?! This board is full of fun fonts and printables that you can get FOR FREE. Want to see what I mean? of course you do…

Delicious! So, if for nothing else, follow my Freebie board for the Freebies – but I’d love to have you on board {bad pun, sorry} with all my topics! If you follow me, I’ll even invite you to join my group board of pins YOU want to see me do! If there’s something you’ve been eyeing on Pinterest for weeks but are too nervous to try – let me know and I’ll be your guinea pig!

Thanks all for reading!

Happy Pinning!!

Finally the occasion arose. My husband’s little brother’s birthday! We were going out to the standard family birthday dinner at the Mexican place in his hometown that we all love, and I asked if I could bring a cake! His name is Devon, so I went with a monogrammed D.

This wasn’t too difficult – and since I was making it in a hurry, I didn’t have time to defrost my fingers for an in progress pic. But, it’s fairly simple to follow along.

{Method}
1. Bake your cake.
2. Frost as usual for a smooth white base. Let set.
3. Cut out your Monogram/Number out of Waxed Paper.
4. Lightly mist the top of your cake – very light as to not let the frosting run, but enough to slightly stick the waxed paper and sprinkles.
5. Set your cut out on top of your cake and tap lightly to stick to cake.
6. Dump sprinkles on your cake. I dumped a layer and lightly patted them into the cake, then added more on top. I knew I was doing a top border, so I went about half an inch from the edge. Then I used a toothpick to push the sprinkles off the D and onto the cake, this helped form a border and sharp edge to the monogram.
7. Add your top border.
8. Gently add in more sprinkles if desired
9. Carefully remove your “decal”. I pulled up one corner with the point of a toothpick and very slowly peeled it back.
10. Let the top of the cake set again and gently pat the letter with waxed paper to smooth if needed.

The cake was a hit! My brother in law thought the restaurant made it! I’ll take that as a win.

Have you tried a sprinkle monogram? I’d love to see how yours turned out!

Happy Pinning!
Happy Cake Making!!