STILL WORKING ON IT

Just a quick note, to let you all know that my blog currently looks the way it does, because it is "under construction"... I am giving my blog a face lift, and trying to learn a few web design/coding basics while at it, so it's taking some time, and is a work in progress.

See you soon!

MEALS FOR MEN 101

I know, I know... ANOTHER blog post this week... just stop whining and keep reading :D

Ok, so I have gotten a lot of flack from certain family members (I won't mention names, DAD and MANDY) in recent months about how starved my husband is, due to my negligent ways in the kitchen... chicken nuggets and ravioli apparently isn't a suitable meal for a man. LOL... Although, in my defense, it is actually one of mine AND Jakes favourite quick meals, and we have it about once a week. Of course you can tell by Jakes skinny, sunken belly and disappearing thighs, that he is just fading away before our eyes from his constant state of starvation.

Anyway, I was reading a friends blog recently (the same blog I saw the post about Taylie on - Yes Valerie, I am talking about you, and your very handy blogging) and came across a link to a website that has a 30 recipe meal plan... in a nutshell, you try a bunch of recipes over a few months etc, in a search for 30 recipes that your family really likes, and that you can then compile into a file or book and use as rotational recipes for every month - this is suppose to make shopping easier and eliminate the 6:00pm "What should we have for dinner?" question that goes through most moms minds every evening when their families are already starving. Well, I liked this meal planning idea, and I loved the idea of using 30 tried and tested family favourites, so I have started my hunt for my 30 recipes. Below, are pictures of 2 of my attempts...

First on the menu is butternut soup (served with rosemary foccacia bread)

My rating: 6/10
Jakes rating: 7/10

With ratings less than a 9 or 10, this one doesn't make the 30 recipes list, so I am still on the hunt for a YUMMY butternut soup, cos we both love soup, and I love a good butternut soup... so if you have one, please send it my way...

Second on the menu is wild caught Salmon, with hollandaise sauce (sauce courtesy of my co-chef Jake, who made the sauce while I fed Luke), Spicy apple filled Acorn squash and my yummy green bean & potato mushy stuff - This meal was YUMMY... the salmon was great, however this meal won't go onto our 30 recipes list in it's entirety because we were gifted the Salmon, and are too poor to pay $6 per lb in order to have it regularly...so this meal will need a substitution. The apple filled acorn squash however, is pretty darn yummy and will definitely be made again.

My rating: 9/10
Jakes rating: 9/10

With a less expensive substitute for the salmon, this is a definite for our 30 recipes.

So there you have it... my 'meals for men 101' - Hopefully in the coming months, and with the help of the more functional and spacious kitchen in our new house, I will be able to compile a file of 30 tasty family favourites to feed my malnourished husband and 'tiny' son.

AUTUMN IN MICHIGAN

This evening, we went to an apple orchard/cider mill with a few friends. This time of year, cider mills are VERY popular here in Michigan... if anything, you go for the cider and doughnuts. YUMMY! It was pretty cold out - winter is definitely on it's way to Michigan, but it was fun. We got a few cute pictures of Luke, and a couple of family pics. The cider was divine, and the cinnamon sugar doughnuts were still warm - it tasted so yummy! We are really going to miss Michigan (well, all except the dreadful winters) and we are going to miss our good friends here even more. I am excited about moving into our new home, but I am really sad to have to say goodbye, and I am going to miss having friends to hang out with at parks, cider mills and just doing whatever else it is, us Michigan folk do together around here.

MISCHIEF, PEAS AND TROUBLE

Luke has reached the 5 month mark...well a few days ago actually.
He is a chubby chunker and just full of personality, with far too many opinions. Our little boy has something to say about everything. LOL.

5 MONTH MILESTONE: Luke started to roll over.
He had actually rolled over once at around 4 months, but not again after that, then on his 5 month birthday, he did it again, and then again, and has been able to roll from his back to his tummy multiple times since then. At the moment it's just to the left side though.

Luke LOVES his food, however, we have discovered that he doesn't at all like PEAS... I tried him on peas a few weeks ago, and he didn't like them, so I waited a while and then last night tried him on the 2nd food peas, which I thought he might prefer because they are less watery than the 1st foods. Well, Luke still doesn't like peas. In the video you can see him doing a little fake 'gag' with almost every mouthful. He wasn't enjoying his dinner. LOL.
Also in the video, is some footage of Luke hanging out in our bathroom basin... now you might be wondering why he was there. Well, yesterday, he was being as demanding as usual, and Jake was running out of things to do with him to keep him from whining consistently. I was sitting in the lounge on my laptop, when I realized that Jake and Luke were no longer in the lounge... where had they gone... so I got up to see what they were doing, and found Luke doing a 'time out' in the bathroom basin... Jake had run out of things to keep him from whining, and eventually just stuck him in the basin, where he remained for about 5 minutes. LOL... I thought it was pretty funny.

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BUBBLE BUBBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE

JUMPEROO

Luke seems to have a bit of a problem... his chunky little 5 month old body, is not able to keep up with his fast developing mind. Our little monkey, is just that... a monkey - he has a very inquisitive nature, and he wants to be everywhere, in everything, doing anything but being stuck on his back where he can't see everything going on around him. His eyes are always wide open, his head is always looking around, and his little feet just cannot stay still for more than a second. Our little boys brain is just buzzing with curiosity and interest. Unfortunately, at not even 5 months old, he is still months away from being able to crawl or move around. This leaves Jake and I with the task of constantly having to entertain Luke, to keep him from getting bored and frustrated. As a solution, we bought him a Fisher Price Jumperoo...this, while not getting him from a to b, at least allows him to be upright, so he can see everything going on, and allows him to burn some energy jumping as much as he wants. Hopefully this will enable us to be more productive, while he hopefully entertains himself a little more.

We only got the Jumperoo a few days ago, but Luke already seems to be getting the hang of it... hopefully he will get many fun hours out of it, and it will temporarily satisfy his need for mobility until he is able to crawl. I never thought I would say this, but I am genuinely excited for the time that he can move around, and is able to busily get into everything...unpacking our dvd cupboard, pulling our books off the shelf, and rearranging our tupperware cupboard... anything that will keep our little energizer bunny entertained. LOL

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