This Week's Recipes - CATCH UP - March 8th to 29th

March 8th - It's Chili by George!!

I tried out my Crock Pot for the first time with this recipe! And I LOVED it! Love the Crock Pot and LOVE this recipe! Anthony loved this chili as well. I did make few adjustments to the recipe though so I could just use what I had on hand. Instead of tomato juice I used a can of diced tomatoes, I did not use any pinto beans because all I had was kidney beans so I just doubled those. As for the spices, I doubled them (except for the salt and the chili powder) and I also used Italian Seasoning instead of Oregano. I topped it with shredded cheese, sour cream and jalapenos. And we used Frito's scoops to eat it with. It was FANTASTIC and I do plan to make it again. I would rate this one 5 stars out of 5!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/its-chili-by-george/detail.aspx

March 11th - Hawaiian Calzones

This was okish. The only thing I did differently was I used the pizza dough that comes in the packet that you mix water with. And instead of making one huge calzone I made 4 small ones. Anthony did not like it at all and I did not care for it that much either. It just lacked flavor. I think also it tasted too much like kid food. I definitely will not be making this again. I would rate this 2 stars out of 5.

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/hawaiian-calzone/bf2f549d-80a5-404f-a273-cf0114fe7da0

March 15th - Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ok first of all let me start off by saying... no one told me you are supposed to soak the corned beef in water before you cook it! So when I cooked this it came out VERY salty even though there was not a single grain of salt in it. The meat was very tender though and the flavor (aside from the salt) was very good. I will definitely try this one again next year (I make this meal once a year around St. Pats day) but next time I will soak the beef for sure. No rating on this because I am not sure it would be fair. But if you would like to try it I do think you should! It really is a great recipe I just messed it up. Live and learn.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-corned-beef-and-cabbage/detail.aspx

March 18th - Pizza Casserole

Does this taste like pizza? No. Does it taste good? Absolutely! When I told Anthony I was making him pizza casserole he was very put off by the name and did not want any, but after tasting it he decided he liked it. He even went for seconds. This is quite yummy and a quick meal you can throw together when in a bind, we both liked it and will probably be making it again sometime. I would rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pizza-casserole/detail.aspx

March 20th - World's Best Lasagna

This recipe was great! I really did like it a lot and so did Anthony. Anthony complained that I did not cook anything to go along with it though. So you may want to make a side salad and some garlic bread to accompany it, if you ever cook this. The flavor of this lasagna was amazing! It was incredibly rich, in a savory way. It took about 3 hours to make, and did require some work but it was worth it and I will be making it again. This is my new go-to lasagna recipe for sure. I would rate this one 5 stars out of 5.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/worlds-best-lasagna/detail.aspx

March 22nd - Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

I loved these cute zucchini boats! I used pork sausage in mine and green bell pepper instead of red because that was what I had on hand and they turned out fabulous. Anthony loved them as well but not the zucchini part lol. He ate the stuffing out and left the zucchini, I could stuff a bell pepper with it and I'm sure he would just love that. I will more than likely make these again and I rate this a 4 out of 5 stars.
http://www.ziplist.com/souschef?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.skinnytaste.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fsausage-stuffed-zucchini-boats.html

March 23rd - Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

This was pretty good! We halved the recipe because there are only 2 of us and it was plenty. I doubled the lime, cilantro, and taco spices. The flavor was very nice and strong just like we like it and the chicken was very tender and fell right apart. The chicken was slightly dry in some places I did notice but overall it was okay. I served this over rice with sour cream and scallions on top. I do plan to make this again and I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-cilantro-lime-chicken/detail.aspx

March 24th - Blackened Shrimp Stroganoff

This was bad. Neither I nor Anthony liked it. We cooked it just like the recipe said, the only thing we did differently is we left out the capers because turns out our jar had expired. We ate what was in our bowls but the leftovers all went in the trash. It was edible but the flavor was just odd. And the shrimp tasted very ocean-y I am not sure why, I got the same shrimp I always do and I have never had it taste like that before. I think it may have been because in this recipe you do not cook the shrimp that long so you don't have time to really cook that flavor out? Who knows. We will not be making this one again for sure! I would rate this a 2 out of 5 because it was edible.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blackened-shrimp-stroganoff/detail.aspx

March 26th - Salisbury Steak

Loved this one! While I was cooking it, Anthony thought I might not like it so he told me to take a few of the patties out and save them so he could make burgers out of them just in case (Those burgers were fantastic btw!). Turned out he liked the recipe too. I added mushrooms to mine and served it with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. The flavor was very good and strong and the meat was very moist and tender. I think the flavor of ketchup was a tad but too strong but Anthony thought it was perfect. I will more than likely be making this again. I would rate this one a 4.5 out of 5.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/salisbury-steak/detail.aspx

March 29th - Creamy Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

This was great! We both loved it. I sort of thought it needed a little salt but Anthony said it was perfect ( I think I just have a thing for salt! lol). I made a few changes to the recipe when I cooked it. I seasoned my chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. And I mixed the pasta with the sauce in a bowl instead of pouring the sauce on top of the pasta. I also made layers with sliced Swiss cheese instead of adding shredded Swiss to the pasta. I did pasta, cheese, pasta, cheese. It came out fantastic and I will definitely cook this again. I would rate this one a 5 out of 5.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-chicken-cordon-bleu-casserole/detail.aspx

10-15 Months Old!

Today Bear turns 15 months old! I can't believe he will be 18 months in just 3 months! Yikes! Where does the time go?

He is doing great all around! Here are all the new things he's been up to!

• Standing unassisted 
• Walking 5-7 steps before falling (we are still working on the walking)
• Pointing to things
• Clapping his hands
• Pulling Legos apart (he can't put them together quite yet)
• Eating solid foods only, he eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and two snacks daily
• Sleeping from 7 pm to 7 am
• Babbling, he still is not saying any clear words
• Hugging, this is quite new
• He also has lots of teeth! I lost count how many but all the top front four are in as well as some top molars
• His health has been sorta off this past month, he has had lots of diarrhea and we are working with the doctor to figure out what all is going on. I will know more about that in a week or two.
• Loves his cats, race cars, Mickey Mouse, Mom and Dad, Gatorade, Chicken Nuggets, Snacks, His Binky and crawling around on the floor playing
• Hates getting his face wiped, taking medicine, sippy cups in the morning time, getting his diaper changed, when mom and dad leave, being still or stuck in one place more than 20 minutes (like waiting rooms) and laying down on hard surfaces.
• He weighs 20 lbs and I am not sure of his height

Here are some pictures from month 10 - 15 since I have been away from my blog so long!

10 Months Old:

11 Months Old:

12 Months Old:

13 Months Old:

14 Months Old:

15 Months Old:

Baby's First REAL Foods

Bear has REALLY taken off in the eating field! He LOVES to eat! While he loved to eat just about anything we offered him when it came to purees, real food is another story.

Bananas- He loves bananas and for a very long time they were one of his most favorite foods, as of late he has started to not eat them though. I am not sure if this is a phase or if he just does not like them anymore.

Chicken Nuggets - This child eats chicken nuggets everyday! He seriously loves them that much. We buy them from Walmart (the frozen kind) and he eats them at school for lunch everyday. We would send other things with him for lunch but so far this is the only thing that we have found that he will always eat no matter what. He also loves fries as you can see in the pic below. We only give him fries once in a while though as a treat. This pic was taken at a festival so he got a little spoiled that day =]

Rice and Eggs - We have only tried eggs a few times and he did not like them either time. Rice, he is up and down on, some days he will eat it and other days he won't.

Spaghetti - He wanted nothing to do with the stuff.

Snacks - He loves animal crackers, Teddy Grams, dry cereal, Club Crackers, Ritz Crackers (the cheese filled ones), and anything sweet. We have found that he does not like cheese flavored crackers like Goldfish or Cheese-Itz. But snack time is always a big hit with him.

Poptarts - His school sends home daily reports of what he does there each day, and one day they said on the report that they gave him 1/2 a poptart... so I thought "hmmm maybe he likes those and I should buy him some" and I did, and it turns out he loves them!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich - I tried this only one time so far and he was unsure about it. The sandwich I gave him was real small and he ate half of it. He seemed to like the flavor of just not really the texture. When I gave it to him he had just woke up as well, so I think I may try this one again at a latter date and see if he goes for it.

Ice Cream Cones - We tried this the other day and he had no interest what so ever in the ice cream he just kept pushing it away. We then tried taking the ice cream out of the cone and giving him just the cone, and he loved it! Ate it all up! The same day we also gave him a pretzel rod and he loved that too!

Other foods he does not care for - He is really so so about veggies, I know he does not care for them but we still send them with him to school everyday. I am pretty sure that some days he eats them and others he does not. He also is up and down with macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes, sometimes he will eat it and other times he will not. He did not want anything to do with meatloaf, pizza, potato salad or any meat other than chicken nuggets (not even chicken).

Foods he loves - Bear loves canned raviolis, grilled cheese sandwiches,  fruit (he loves all kinds), anything sweet, juice, milk (he is now on whole cow milk), Gatorade (this is his all time favorite drink he goes bonkers when he sees we have it!), bread or anything similar to bread with the same texture like rolls or bagels... muffins etc. 

There are still a lot of things that we have not offered him yet but we continue to offer him new things all the time. We are really hoping to get out of this (only eats chicken nuggets) stage soon.

ZipList

If you have never heard of ZipList.com you have really been missing out! This site is great! A friend of mine from work showed it to me and I have been addicted ever since.

Basically the site helps you with your grocery list. You can make the list online and then add the app on your phone and access it while in the store! And no need for a pen because when you can mark things off on your phone which just requires a tap!

ZipList also organizes the things on your list into categories in the store; like all the veggies will go to the produce section and be together in your list. That way you do not have to scan your list 100 times and you don't have to walk back and forth in the store. This is one of my favorite features! I always hated having to re-type my lists just so they were organized.

It can also find deals in your local area, and you can see what is on sale and where. So when you add something to your list, if looks for deals and will let you know if there is one. This is quite amazing in my opinion. I do not use this feature because I like to buy all my groceries at one place but I could imagine this would be very good for saving money.

That's not all though! There are also recipes on ZipList.com! You can find a recipe you want to cook and add it to your cart, and all the ingredients will automatically go into your grocery list! How great is that! Then you can just go through and mark off the ones you already have at home. This makes life so much easier if you are someone who plans meals weekly. Trust me, I have tried LOTS of methods and this is by far the best thing I have found!

I have found tons of new recopies I am going to be trying and sharing with you from ZipList! I have about 3 months worth! I am so super exited. We will start that in about two weeks or so, once Anthony starts working and I can spend more money on food. I did make a whole bunch of recipes over the past three weeks and I will be sharing those soon as well.

Seriously though, if you have not tried ZipList, you need to get on it! No one asked me to make this post, I just really love the site and wanted to tell people about it =]

Silent Sunday: More Wedding Photos

March 28th Blood Work Results

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my follow up appointment. I had a physical done and everything was normal with that. I got the results back from my stool sample and it was negative for everything they tested me for so I was referred to a GI specialist. I am currently waiting on them to call me back with an appointment.

I also got the results back from my blood test and they found three things. First off, my cholesterol is high, it should be under 130 and mine is 153 :O guess I don't eat that well? Not sure. He started me on medication for that. The next thing they found was that my thyroid gland does not work... at all. The doctor told me this is very bad and I need to start medication ASAP, so I am now also on medication for that. I am not sure what this means, I do know that when there are issues with your thyroid it makes your hair fall out sometimes and I have been having issues with that, so maybe that will get better now with the medicine. The third thing he found was that I am in fact anemic. Not only am I anemic but I am extremely anemic, he ordered more blood work to see if I had a B-12 deficiency as well as an iron deficiency and in the mean time he started me on iron supplements. This would explain why I am cold all the time and why I get tired so easily. He also gave me a medication that stops stomach cramping and diarrhea, about a weeks worth supply until I can get to a GI specialist. And he ordered me to come back in one month to see how things are doing.

All in all I think it went well, I went to the doctor to get a GI specialist referral and he found 3 other things that were wrong with me that I would have never found if I had not gone to get the referral. Hopefully I can start taking these meds and get better real soon and hopefully my GI specialist is a real good one who knows what he's doing and can figure out what is wrong with my stomach! I am quite optimistic at this point :]

Catching Up - Part 12 - Etsy

Etsy is going very well! We have now reached 291 sales! We made around $700 in the month of February as well! We are beyond exited about where our Etsy adventure is going and we are now expanding!

I am in the process of adding lots of new crayons shapes too the shop. I believe I have somewhere around 45 new products to add! I hope to have them all listed with in the next 2 weeks. 

I also bought a new background and I think it looks just fabulous! Check it out for yourself! I LOVE it! I am even thinking about re-doing all my old pictures on this new background.

The other major development going on with Etsy is........ we are preparing for the opening our soap favor shop! We have bought all the soap supplies and plan to launch on or before May 23rd. I am so exited for this! We are going to have around 50-70 products to start off with but that will just grow as time goes by. We are hoping to be making $700 a month on this shop as well for a total of $1,400 a month, that is our current goal. 

Now I know you are just dying to know what my new shop's name and theme is and so here it is! Introducing our new soap favor shop.....

Smellepahnt's! I can't wait to see where this adventure takes us!