Tether My Heart: February 2012

Friday, February 24, 2012

The Little Things — Diapers & Donuts

It really is the little things...

This sight is enough to do a cloth-diapering mama's heart good.

A shelf full of clean diapers!

If you're on Pinterest or follow any blogs, you've probably seen lots of homemade baked donuts floating around. And if you know my husband, you know that donuts are one of his favorite things. So I figured I ought to make him some before we gave up sweets for Lent.

I made two batches this past weekend. The first batch was an apple cinnamon donut that I found via Pinterest. I really liked this recipe, but next time I'll use half the amount of apples, and I'll use a box grater to shred them instead of dice. The flavor was great though. The second batch was just the buttermilk donut recipe on the donut pan packaging.

I made four chocolate glazed...

...four vanilla glazed...

...and covered the rest with cinnamon sugar.

It'll be an unfortunately long time until we eat those again. Let's be serious: I will probably make them Easter morning to break our sweets fast. :)

Peace,

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Embrace the Camera — February 23, 2012

Oh! My first Embrace the Camera! Was anyone else sorta jealous that you didn't have a kid to embrace the camera with? I was. Now I have a little buddy, and I also have the energy to take pictures and post them. Woo hoo!

Here we are in all our jammied glory... ;)

He's lovin' it. Here's to many more photos with Mama.

Peace,

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Work Table Wednesday

On Monday I gave a sneak peek of what has been on my "work table" for the last year:

At the end of January—January 31st, I believe—we brought home this little peanut.

How ridiculous is that face?

He's a mutt from the Humane Society. They said he's a chihuahua/Jack Russell mix, but at 30 pounds with a curly tail, that can't be all. Many people think he has some Basenji in him. Which we can sort of see. But the common name for Basenjis is the African Barkless Dog, and, well. Lincoln barks. Like, a lot. At everything. So... we just call him a mutt. And boy do we love him. :)

Then on Valentine's Day last year (just a little over a year ago. how nuts?!) we found out we were expecting this guy:

That's my Little Buddy, Abe.

He's pretty much the best.

And yes, we do know that we have an Abe and Lincoln. We didn't set out to make it happen, but we didn't stop it. Does that make sense? Abe also has a cousin named Isaac, and if you know your Bible trivia, you'll remember that Abraham was called to sacrifice his son Isaac. Luckily, he didn't have to go through with it, so I don't think the cousins will have any problems. :)

I haven't done much creatively in the last year, but I've been hard at work.

Peace,

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Meal Planning

Is it just me, or is everyone learning how to meal plan? I mean, it's a great idea. Saves time and money at the grocery; it brings a bit of peace, or at least ease, to that witching hour in the evening when everyone's hungry and cranky. I got pretty good at meal planning in the first year or two of our marriage, but then lil Abe came along, and it all went to pot. So now I have to re-learn that habit. I'm also pretty bad at planning complete meals, especially in regards to having veggies on the side and all that. So, I want to use this space to hold myself accountable. :) I'm going to try to post my weekly menu on Tuesdays, because I usually go grocery shopping on Wednesdays. And I'll also try to review the recipes from the last week, and note any changes I made or will make the next time.

Here's how I do it: I only plan three to four meals for each week. We usually have dinner at church on Wednesdays, and we usually eat out or have pizza about once a week. Sometimes we order pizza from somewhere, but I almost always have dough in the freezer and some sort of fixings lying around. And though leftovers are generally lunch food, we have at least one night of leftovers for dinner. I have recently discovered how cheap, easy, and yummy a pork tenderloin can be, so I think I'm going to keep one of those in the freezer for those nights where I just don't want whatever is on the menu.

So, that said, here's what I'm planning for this week for this week:

Slow-cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu **NEW** with steamed green beans.

Slow-cooker Sausages with Sauerkraut and Potatoes **NEW**
Some of the reviews recommend adding a beer since the sauerkraut is drained, and that sounds like a good plan to me.

Cranberry Bean Pasta Fagioli — I've made this before and substituted a pound of sweet Italian sausage for the beans, and it was delicious. Might try it with both sausage and beans this week. And a salad on the side.

I also have ingredients on-hand to make my mom's spaghetti and meatballs. Maybe I'll make those tomorrow... Or maybe we'll have left over slow-cooker lasagna.

Lots of slow-cooker meals. My crock pot is a life saver with an infant in the house. I have the most energy and determination in the morning, and he takes the best naps in the morning, so while he's sleeping, I can get dinner started. Then when 5 o'clock rolls around, I don't have to think about dinner at all.

Any dinner suggestions for us? Or hints for meal planning and grocery shopping?

Peace,

Monday, February 20, 2012

Grace & Splendor: Happy President's Day

Today I'm linking up with Laura at Bits of Splendor and Ruth at Grace Laced for a little bit of Grace and a little bit of Splendor.

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Some people think that Valentine's Day is a made up holiday. The truth is that it's not anymore "made up" than any other holiday. But it's just as over-commercialized as most. I keep telling myself that someday I'll do the research to find out the real story behind St. Valentine. Maybe when Abe reaches school age? All I know is that it didn't happen this year. ;)

Anyway, Rob & I don't go all out for Balentime's. I made him some special food, and he bought me flowers.

Pretty right? I love daisies, and I think it's fascinating to watch the lilies open up.

As for my gifts to him, I made pork picatta with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed spinach from Ellie Krieger's So Easy. I totally biffed the mashed poes. First I added the white wine that was supposed to deglaze the pork pan instead of the chicken broth. And then, once I got the broth in, I realized that I had added twice the amount called for. Sheesh. They were super-smushy mashed potatoes. I just made this meal two weeks before, and it turned out great. Not sure where my brain was.

OH! AND I froze the chocolate covered strawberries that I made. Which was great for hardening the chocolate. Not great for the actual strawberries, which turned to mush (what's with the mush?!) when they thawed.

All in all, Rob ruled, I drooled this Valentine's. But he still loves me. :-)

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On a completely unrelated note, a few weeks ago, a friend brought her baby over for a play date.

Since my baby is 3 months old and hers is 5 months, I didn't expect them to interact much. But when we put them together on the couch, this is what we found: