Ode to Robin

Despite all of the samples listed above, I actually have the world's best Mother In Law.  Robin has always been so kind to me and I have learned a lot from her.  Even though I know she doesn't judge, I want to show her my best when she comes to our house.  She came up to Grand Forks last week with two of her close friends, Sharon and Colleen.  They were coming to bring Grandma Lee's ashes to Grafton to be laid to rest with her husband.  All three women are extremely cool and I admire all of them very much.  So it was with great bravery that I invited them for dinner.

Cat and I had watched an episode of Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d'Arabian the week before, and were planning on making the recipes we learned, so I thought it would be perfect to show off a little.

I made Caprese Tartlets, Parmesan-Crusted Pork Loin Cutlets and Garlic oil Sautéed Pasta with Broccoli.  Everything turned out really well, and the Caprese Tartlets were topped with fresh basil from my garden.  There some small snafus, I didn't have any napkins in the house, so had to use kleenex and Dan threw away half of the fresh mozzarella when he was trying to help in the kitchen!  It was a meal that was really enjoyable with guests around the table, and they even helped clean up afterward!

We had frozen most of the raspberries that we picked and I used some of those to make a Raspberry Cream Pie for dessert.  Using fresh home made whipped cream really put this dessert over the top.

Aren't you all hungry yet!

That evening was a lot of fun visiting with these ladies and it was so nice to entertain in our new place.  I am so thankful that my husband has such a wonderful mother, my son has a cool grandma and that I have a friend in her.

Splish Splash

A Free Year of Prime Shipping on Amazon.com for Students!

While I was at work today (I work for Amazon.com customer service) I just found out about a great new promotion from Amazon.com.  Students with a valid email address at a college (one that ends in .edu) can get a year of free Prime shipping.  That's the free 2-day shipping from Amazon!  I paid $79 for my year of Prime, so this is really a good deal.

Here is the link with more info, pass this on to any college students you know, and if they have questions, they can ask me, since I work for Amazon and know the website pretty well.

Join Amazon Student

Food. Good.

It seems that ever since I became pregnant last year that food has been a major topic in my life.  Cravings, eating the right kind of food and being hungry a lot.  This summer, thanks to my reduced work hours, I get to focus on making food from scratch.  My weekly box of produce has been very inspiring.  Here is this week's box, with my helpful demonstrator, Baby Daniel:

He is excited because we received beets, lettuce, raspberries and an herb called summer savory.

We still had raspberries from our picking on Monday, so I made a raspberry sauce to go with pancakes on Tuesday night.  I put two handfuls of raspberries in a saucepan, added some water, several tablespoons of sugar and a dash of lemon juice.  Then I boiled the sauce and mashed the berries for a while.  When we couldn't wait any longer, I strained out the seeds and we were left with a brilliant red, sweet sauce.  Poured over pancakes, it was a wonderful dinner.

I have plans to use the lettuce for a taco salad, (and guinea pig food), the beets for baby food and the summer savory in a chicken dish and a pork dish.  Wish me luck!

Summer Raspberries

We had so much fun today!  There is a Pick Your Own berry farm near Fertile MN and we drove down and picked 3 pints of raspberries.  I am not sure how I am going to use them yet, but I am pretty sure muffins are in our future.  Most of them I am freezing for later.  Besides, we ate plenty while out in the field today.  Here are the pictures from today:

How Dan Celebrated the 4th of July Weekend

Surprise!

So, funny story today.  FlyLady's habit for July is swishing and swiping the bathroom every morning.  Yesterday, I finally got the bathroom cleaned for the first time since I moved in.  This morning, I wiped it down before leaving for work.  I even made my bed!

I got a call while I was at work from Dan's Aunt Susan, and she was sitting in front of our house!  She lives down in southern MN and happened to be up here for a reunion in a nearby town.  She came and went while I was still at work, but I wasn't freaked out.  The peace of mind that a clean bathroom brings is so nice!

Summer Bounty

How many pennies are in two water bottles? Quite a bit actually. I have been randomly saving pennies in 20oz bottles randomly over the years. When asked why, I always said "to use as a club against burglars of course!"

I was de-cluttering this week and emptied out two of these bottles and brought the pennies to the bank. To my surprise, they were worth $21.41!

Our second box of produce arrived yesterday. This week we had spinach, a large head of some lettuce (maybe romaine?), a very large bag of mixed lettuce greens, small radishes, raspberries, and some homemade granola.

For dinner, I used the entire bunch of fresh spinach on a Spinach and Caramelized Onion Pizza. 

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced (about 4 cups) (I never seem to get mine thin enough)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (or more if you like garlic)
1 can (11 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated thin pizza crust
1 box (9 oz) Green Giant® frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to drain (here is where I microwaved the bunch of fresh spinach in a glass bowl with a few spoonfuls of water for 5 minutes in the microwave, then drained)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
1 cup shredded provolone cheese (4 oz) (or any other cheese you have, I used the Italian blend from Kraft)
1/4 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, sugar and vinegar. Cook 8 to 12 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is golden brown; stir in salt and garlic. Remove onion from skillet; set aside.

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray or grease 15x10-inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet. Unroll dough on cookie sheet; starting at center, press dough into 15x10-inch rectangle.

Spoon onion mixture evenly over dough to within 1/2 inch of edges. Top with spinach; sprinkle with cheeses.

Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Then for dessert (which wasn't chilled enough to eat until today), we had Lemonade Cheesecake Pie:
Ingredients

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 tub of cool whip or 2 cups of whipped cream  (We whipped our own heavy cream for this, so good!)
1 Graham Pie Crusst
Fresh Berries (We used  fresh raspberries from our box)

Beat cream cheese in medium bowl with electric mixer until creamy.  Gradually add concentrate, beating well after each addition.  Stir in 2 cups of the whipped cream.  Spoon into crust.

Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.  Serve slices of pie topped with the berries and any remaining whipped cream.

I still don't know what to do with the radishes.  I really don't like them raw, but maybe I will try to make chips out of them.  Anyone else have any ideas?

Wordless Wednesday - Our Little Boy Can Sit!

Sparkly!

Boy, summer is just flying by!  Up here in North Dakota, it took a little while to get started, and we only just got into the high 90's this last week.  My garden really enjoyed the rain and now the sun, and I have harvested my lettuce mix and some of my basil. 

I have been working to keep flying with FlyLady, but it has been a challenge.   She really disproves of being mean to yourself, so I just wake up every day and tell myself to get one thing done at a time and let the day before go.  However, my sink has remained clean almost every night, and our bed is getting made most of the time.  I even got the vacuum out this week! (and used it)

We have used up all of the greens from our produce box, and our salad dinner on Monday night was awesome!  Mixed lettuce leafs, roasted chicken strips, dried cranberries, feta cheese, sunflower seeds and a Basil Vinaigrette Dressing.  It was so much better than I ever knew salad could be!

On Monday, Catherine and I took the baby out to buy fireworks.  Confession: I have never set off any fireworks in my life, including sparklers.  I know, I was deprived!  We mostly got sparklers, and some small noise makers and set them off after the baby had gone to bed.  I was not ready for him to try and eat a sparkler yet.

I don't know where the time is going, but I am making sure that we enjoy as much of it as we can.

The Box has Landed

Sooo, anyone who has spoken with me recently has heard that we signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm.  Red Goose Gardens delivered the first boxes of the season to my local co-op.

We got a huge bag of mixed lettuce greens, a large head of green lettuce, a large bunch of spinach, a container of tiny strawberries, and a jar of apple raspberry butter preserves!

So last night for dinner, I made a casserole and to go with it, a Chive-Mushroom Spinach Salad.  We have chives in the back yard so that worked well with the fresh spinach.  Then for dessert (don't hate me), all natural vanilla ice cream, sliced strawberries, whipped cream, angel food cake and chocolate syrup.  And just think of it, we get a new box of produce every week until late October!

Minnesota Gurls

Apparently there has been this pop song called "California Gurls" (no, not the Beach Boys song, a different one), and it has been getting a lot of air time.  So the bright kids in Minnesota have come up with their own version that I think is spot on.  I may live in North Dakota now, but I am still a "Minnesota Gurl"!

Thursday in the Park

With settling into a new house, and our trips to Minneapolis, its been a busy June so far.  Its been really nice having a week with a normal routine.  I love having my sister here for company, and the extra help has been really nice.

Today we put sunblock on Baby Daniel and took him to University Park.  They have a spray park that kids just love.  However, the water is pretty cold, and Daniel didn't appreciate having his toes wet.  Then we tried the swings, and he wasn't sure that was fun either, but he didn't fuss. 

Later this afternoon, I introduced Cat to our local chocolate shop, Widman's, where we stocked up on dark chocolate covered cherries, yum!

Kisses

Our love for Baby Daniel grows and grows every day.  Dan can't walk past him without stopping to play, and I miss him every time he takes a nap.  Even though nursing hurt so bad for the first month, I am so glad I stuck with it, because nursing my baby is the best part of every day.  Last evening, he fell asleep while nursing and took a nap while still attached.  When he woke up, half of his hair was curled and messy!

We have also found that we will do the grossest things and act like fools just to play with our baby.  Daniel likes to suck on my face and inspect my teeth, and I let him!  We also let him kiss us with an open mouth and slobber on us, just because it makes him laugh.  Catherine, my 16 year old sister staying with us this summer, thinks we are beyond crazy, but she doesn't know how happy we are. 

She was able to get a video today posted on her blog, showing Daniel dancing for her.  I love how serious he gets and then at the end, how he gets distracted.

In Memory

On June 5, my husband's grandma passed away.  Aileen Jaehning was 95 years old and with her daughter (my mother in law Robin) and Dan.  She was in her home and sleeping when she went to be with the Lord.

Dan was so glad he was there to be with her and to support his mom.  He was able to spend the day before she died by her bedside.  He read the Bible to her and talked to her while holding her hand.  Grandma Lee lived in Grafton, ND most of her life, but moved to Minneapolis around the time Dan was born.  She was always in his life, and he has a lot of memories of special time with her.  Her love always surrounded and supported him.

I am very grateful to have known her for the past 12 years, and that she was able to meet our son Daniel this year.  Here is the only video I was able to take with her and Daniel, along with Robin.

Splish Splash with Daniel

Lessons Learned

Well, I pulled off my first yard sale last week.  Let's just say I won't be repeating that experience any time soon.  At least I got some fresh air, and we made just enough to purchase a used lawn mower, a yard rake and a couple of lunches.

We found out that our new next door neighbor is crazy particular in a very different way from our old neighbor.  She is very, very  protective of her privacy fence, even going so far as to sweep off the grass clippings from our side of the fence.  Oh well, at least we don't share any walls with her, and we won't have to worry about her peeing in the yard.

This week, we are discovering just how much dust one can accumulate in three years on blinds and behind the stove.  Every evening we are going back to the old house to clean and finish moving the last few items.

Yet Another Reason for Moving

So we were over at the old house getting prepared for my yard sale tomorrow, and we were reminded why this move is so worth it. 

Not only were the downstairs neighbors enjoying the front yard with beer and very loud music, but the guy had the audacity to ask me to be extra careful not to move his satilite dish in the back yard while setting up for the yard sale.  This is the same guy who had tapped into our cable line this winter.

Then, while Dan was walking out to the car with Baby Daniel, he walked past this same guy peeing outside in the backyard.  Not more than 10 steps from his own bathroom inside.  I kid you not.  This guy is too lazy to walk inside to pee while it was still light outside.

Anybody still think it was a bad idea for us to pay more in rent to move?

Under Water (Boxes)

We are sleeping in our new house!  The weather was beautiful on Saturday and several people from our church showed up early to help us move.  They had all of the furniture and boxes moved in two hours.  It was such a blessing to us to have that help!

Now we are wading through the boxes as I work to get us unpacked.  There have been some interesting problems for us to solve.  The dryer cord needed to be switched from a 4-prong to a 3-prong, we needed to put up mini blinds right away, and the cable TV won't be hooked up until Friday.  That being said, I love having central air in this place, and Baby Daniel is right at home and still sleeping through the night.

I have continued to do stretching exercise to strengthen my back (since a certain 20lb baby has wrecked it), and Daniel likes to help me.

My First Mother's Day

Mother's Day started out a little silly.  There I was, 6am, with a baby nursing on me, and all I could think was "this still doesn't seem real".  I turned to Dan and told him how I was feeling, and he agreed.  After six wonderful months with our baby Daniel, sometimes I can't believe how much life has changed for us.  Do all parents feel this way, and if so, for how long?

Daniel's present to me was three separate spit ups down my bra, so I can feel the love!  Dan surprised me with a beautiful card that he made himself. He stayed up late the night before and used my stamping and paper craft supplies all without me knowing.  It was so sweet and I know he put his heart into it, which is the best kind of present.

I feel so thankful for all of the mothers that welcomed me into their secret club this year.  The support, sympathy and celebration that I have received makes me proud to call myself "mommy".