Do you do organic?

I have to confess, I could have cared less about organic foods a year ago. Ever since A came along I have been more interested in what we eat. I try buy our meat and produce at Sprouts and I always use a produce cleaner....meat and produce are our main organic areas. I am not as much concerned about the nutritional value of organic vs. non-organic, but rather all of the chemicals, pesticides and steroids that food comes in contact with.

Since i love to cook, I knew from the beginning I knew that I wanted to make A's baby food. Not only is it easy, but it saves money, you can make a lot at one time, and you know exactly what your little one is eating. I just steam or bake the food, toss it into the Cuisinart and then freeze in ice cube trays. Each cube is the perfect little serving. Just thinking about the chemicals that go into baby food makes me want to gag.

Wholesome Babyfood is a wonderful website that gives you lots of ideas and information on baby and toddler recipes. Right now A is eating peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potato, pumpkin, banana, avocado and oatmeal cereal. We are going to introduce apples this weekend. She is not a fan of the peas or green beans that I make, but she loves the Gerber Organics variety.

According to Health magazine, this is where you should splurge on organic:

Do you do organic?

Hey good lookin... What ya' got cookin??

It seems like I have been cooking up a storm lately. Dinners...baby food... desserts. You name it.

A couple of weekends ago, we had a pizza par-tay with some of our friends, Lauren & Ethan. Lauren and I made the pizzas while the men folk played with the baby.

Here is Lauren with her masterpiece: homemade crust, red sauce, pepperoni, yellow bell peppers, mushrooms and cheese.

I added some basil in the crust of my pizza and topped it with alfredo sauce, homemade pesto, grilled chicken, mushrooms, and cheese.

Last night for dinner I made Martha Stewart's turkey burgers. Yum.

What have you been cooking lately?

Mommy and Me

I think I need to make a trip to Payless for these mommy and me shoes.

This Payless 15% coupon makes the deal even sweeter.

Hey good lookin'...What ya' got cookin?

Breakfast foods are my all time favorite, so much so that we usually have breakfast for dinner once a week. Pancakes. BACON. French Toast. BACON. Eggs. Sausage. Waffles. BACON. Quiche. Biscuits and white gravy. The list could go on and on....

Last week I made breakfast muffins for dinner. They are wonderful be cause you can throw anything in them and they taste great. And, they are perfect for breakfast on the go the rest of the week.

This recipe is not very exact, alter the wet/dry ingredients based on how much other 'stuff' you put in them.

This batch I used:

3 eggs

1/2 c skim milk

salt / pepper

bacon

fresh chopped spinach

chopped red bell pepper

chopped onion

1/2 - 3/4 c Bisquick

cheese

Mix everything together and put in muffin pans. Bake at 350 for about 20 min.

**The are all flipped upside down because they were cooling and I did not want to get out the rack...***

Home Decor

Our next home improvement project is going to be to re-wallpaper our downstairs half bath. I am not much of a fan, but when a room is already wallpapered, you are pretty much stuck with it.

I am in love with this pattern from Ballard Designs.

Add a new mirror...

and a new light fixture....

and voila!

My soapbox

Nie Nie was on Oprah yesterday… she was incredible to watch. Her faith, will to live, and spirit are enough to make anyone take a second look at their life and be thankful…Plus, she looked wonderful in her pumpkin colored sweater and top!

And this is when I step on my soapbox…. My issue was with the stay at home mom who was also a guest with Nie Nie. This woman made my blood boil. She is able to stay at home with her children yet she is bitter and angry about this. The very thought of play-do makes her want to throw up….she does not like eating meals with her children… she does not like playing games with them. Hearing her say this made me so angry. Does she not think her children are listening to her? Does she not think that they can sense your disgust about having to be at home with them? She was one of the most self centered people and now she is on national tv talking about how she does not appreciate her day to day life with her children.

If your life is so awful, get a job. Work at Target. Work at Starbucks. But, don’t complain and moan about having to spend time with your children. You are not going to get any compassion or sympathy. Not from Nie Nie. Not from Oprah. And definitely not from me.

In my next life

I am going to come back as a dermatologist. I think I missed my calling. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to pick at stuff, pop stuff and mess with things that should not be messed with. And I am a product junkie, so it is the best of both worlds. (yes, I know there is much more to that field of medicine..)

Right now my medicine cabinet is full of potions from my dermatologist.

Latisse – I am in love. Being the mascara lover that I am, this is a dream come true. I have been using it for about 2 months now and my lashes are almost touching my eye brows.

Ziana – This is just like RetinA. I have only been using this for a couple of weeks, so I cannot tell a difference yet. I have heard great things about retinoids, so I had to try one. Hopefully this can help undo some of the sun damage I experienced in my yunger years and prevent some of those pesky fine lines and wrinkles. Right now, my face is sloughing off like a snake shedding its skin…. But I know this can’t last forever.

Melasma cream – My brown spots are almost gone! Yipee!

In the past, I have had things lasered off. I have had zits shot full of cortisone. But, I think if I had free reign to all of the dermatological goodness, I might go overboard. I want Botox in my forehead/between my eye brows. I would get rid of the annoying veins on my legs. I would use every cream, laser, peel, injection, plumper and filler out there.

One area where I need some guidance is the order in which to use this stuff.

Ziana, melasma cream, sun screen, moisturizer?
Melasma cream, Ziana, moisturizer, sun screen?
Moisturiser in the am or just the pm?

My cold & dark heart

Last night my cold, dark heart began to thaw out… just a little. Last night’s episode of Brothers and Sisters did just that. (No spoilers here…) And it got me to thinking about how my life has changed since Miss A was born.

I used to never cry or tear up. I don’t like to cry. It gives me a headache, makes my eyes puffy and my mascara ends up all over my face. BUT now I get a lump in my throat at the most random things –

ASPCA commercials – lump
Josh Groban songs – lump
Brothers and Sisters and Grey’s Anatomy – double lump

And I hear stories on the news and the mama bear comes out in me… big time. I want to protect her. I want to do bad, bad things to people that harm or hurt children. I want her to grow up surrounded by people that are head over heels crazy about her. I never want bad things to happen to her. I want to protect her for all the evil in the world. I have only been a parent for 7 months, but I was in tears last night listening to Sally Field/Nora Walker at the end of the show. Something happened to me on 3/10 and I am not the same person I used to be.

If I keep this up for too much longer I am going to become a sap….. or have a lot of wrinkles.

The Preppy Baby also has a great post about this very thing.

**I am not going to be a crazy controlling or overbearing parent because we all know those kids end up in major therapy**

NEW pictures over at Baby M.