Delicious Dinner Ideas

I know he's cute, but he's not edible. See delicious dinners below :)


Good morning! Although the weather is fluctuating, the bursts of cool air put me in the mood to whip up a nice Fall meal, whether it be a soup, some delicious apple butter, or experimenting with some more squash!

Last night I made this delicious Hearty Bean and Barley Soup. Scroll down the page on this link to access the recipe. And the recipe does not say, but make sure to drain the cans of beans and tomatoes before adding them to the soup. So easy, so healthy, and I used some leftover barley that I had from the following recipe, starring Acorn Squash.

Remember in the previous post how I had no clue what to cook with the acorn squash I bought? Well, that night I was flipping through The Saturday Evening Post magazine that my grandparents sent us, and I found this amazing recipe. So delicious! A little time-consuming, only in the sense that I've never made it before, and I had doubts running through my head the whole time I was cooking it, but it turned out amazing, and a yummy vegetarian meal it was for two!

All you need is one small acorn squash for a dinner for two.



Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Be careful, as these suckers are mighty tough to cut when they haven't been cooked.



Then you roast the squash until tender and gently scoop out the squash from the peel.



Add all the fixings, and bake!




Stuffed Acorn Squash with Barley

1 small acorn squash (about 1.5 pounds), halved and seeded
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1/4 c pearl barley (I got mine at Whole Foods)
1/2 fennel bulb (~6 oz.), trimmed of stalks, cored, and chopped fine
1 shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1 pinch dried thyme
1 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (about 3/4 cup)
2 Tbps minced fresh parsley
2 Tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Balsamic vinegar, for serving (I forgot this last step and it still tasted great)

1) Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil spray.

2) Brush cut sides of squash with 1 Tbsp olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and lay cut-side down on prepared baking sheet. Roast on lower-middle rack until tender (tip of paring knife can be slipped into flesh with no resistance), 45-55 minutes. Remove squash from oven and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.

3) Meanwhile, bring 2 cups water to boil in small saucepan. Stir in barley and 1/4 tsp salt and cook until barley is tender, 20-25 minutes. Drain and set aside.

4) Wipe saucepan dry, add remaining 1 Tbsp oil, and heat over medium heat until shimmering (whatever that is??). Stir in fennel and shallot and cook until softened and lightly browned, 5-7 minutes. Stir in garlic, coriander, and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

5) Off heat, stir in cooked barley, 1/2 cup Parmesan, parsley, pine nuts, and butter. Season w/salt and pepper to taste.

6) Flip roasted squash over and scoop out flesh, leaving 1/8-inch thickness of flesh in each shell. Gently fold cooked squash into barley mixture, then mound mixture evenly in squash shells. (Stuffed squash can be covered loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 4 hours. Finish and bake as directed, increasing baking time to 25-30 minutes.)

7) Sprinkle squash with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake on upper-middle rack until cheese is melted, 5-10 minutes. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar to taste and serve.

*Note, I committed the worst faux pas in all of cooking: I used dried herbs! And it still tasted great. I didn't have any of the fresh (although I did cut up some green onions for the shallots...aren't those the same things, or similar to the same thing?). So I kind of estimated and took into account that dried herbs are stronger than fresh, so I used way less than the recipe called for. Sorry to not have exact measurements. I bet it would have tasted even better if I had all fresh, but I thought it turned out just fine.



And last but not least, this is James Farmer's Mimi's Apple Butter

I've posted this before, but I thought it was worth it to re-post, since it's such an easy and delicious recipe, perfect for a nice Fall morning. Slather up some toast with a hearty helping of the apple butter, grab a hot cup of coffee (spiked with Pumpkin Spice creamer), and head out to your front porch for a nice quiet (can it be quiet with kids around?) morning.

You'll find the recipe here

That's all for now!

Fall is in the air!

Jackson is wearing "old school" Auburn overalls in this picture. My cousin, Alan Thomas, wore these when he was Jackson's age, and Alan is now 16! (Fun fact, Jackson's middle name, Thomas, is for the Thomas side of our family, who are ALL major Auburn fans, by the way.)

Hooray for 60 degree weather! Our leaves are falling from our trees, the air is clear, cool, and crisp, and Fall produce are peeking their lovely heads from behind the lingering peaches and summer squash in our grocery stores. Seeing pumpkins on display at the Piggly Wiggly this morning made me smile.

So with the introduction of acorn and butternut squash in the grocery store (and on sale, even better), I decided to enter the realms of cooking squash. Hard to believe I've only ever touched summer squash. I suppose I didn't grow up eating butternut squash, so it's never really interested me before to buy it. However, having a baby, and seeing all the easy recipes for homemade baby butternut squash, I decided it's time to branch out even more than I already have since being pregnant (last Fall, I tried cooking with Swiss Chard and Kale for the first time).

I first followed this recipe to roast and then puree the butternut squash.

Jackson is checking it out:






I saved some Butternut Squash puree to make these delicious looking Whole Wheat Butternut Squash pancakes on Saturday.

I did buy one (huge!) acorn squash. Anyone have any good recipes for that? I'm still searching...

Last week, I made this yummy Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake. So easy and so good.


(Note, I probably should have taken this picture BEFORE we ate it all up with our dinner guests.)

Here's the recipe:

CHOCOLATE CHIP BUNDT CAKE

1 Box yellow cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
4 eggs
1/2 C. oil
1.5 C. milk or water
1 pkg. chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients but the chocolate chips with a mixer. Stir the chocolate chips in by hand. Put in greased & floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes or until done (test for moist crumbs with a toothpick. You don't want to overbake it and dry it out.)~See Rushton's note on her blog about the chocolate chips. I should have done that but was too impatient. Hence, the chocolate chips all sitting at the top of my bundt cake instead of throughout it.








I feel like Jackson is making a "James Bond" type face in the above picture. Maybe that's his pick-up face for girls when he's 30. (just kidding, but not really)








Andy and I just got back from a FUN wedding weekend in Washington, DC this past weekend. My camera battery, that I thought I had charged, died right when we got there, so just trust me that the bride (Meg Simone) looked stunning, and we had the best time celebrating with our friends for Matt (Kemph) and Meg's wedding! This was my first time to leave Jackson, and it was harder than I had thought it would be (imagine, all smiles and laughter at the Birmingham airport, and then when we start boarding, a Flood of Tears. I think poor Andy was too scared to walk near me as we boarded, fearful of the comments from other passengers. "Why else would this woman be crying, other than her husband following right behind her? Maybe he had something to do with it." Ha, quite comical. Glad I didn't see anyone I knew.)

Andy's sweet mom, Ya Ya, drove down from Memphis and had the best time watching Jackson. I am so glad they got that sweet time together, and I know he was in good hands (after all, she's raised 4 amazing, godly children, one of whom I'm married to!). And since I've been home, baby boy has been sleeping 12 hours straight at night. Let's hope this good streak continues.

 

Since my last post, we've spruced up the house a tad bit more.



I bought these Martha Stewart drapery rods from Home Decorator's Collection. We also ordered a rug from there for our living room, and thus far, I've been really pleased with my purchases. I plan on using them more in the future. The curtains used to be in our bedroom, and are from Restoration Hardware. My parents came over one Saturday night, and they and Andy madly hung them right before we had dinner guests over.


Excuse the darkness of this picture, as I'm having trouble with camera lighting on this overcast day. I just wanted to show what my mom does at my house while babysitting Jackson (and I've so appreciative for all her decorating!). She hung my fine china plates on the wall, and every time I come home from work, some other little decorative touch has been completed, a lamp moved around, or a living room entirely re-arranged.

One more recipe, and then I'll end this long post. I'm making this for dinner tonight, and it's really easy and delicious. (And can I get an "Amen" for whomever invented crock pot liners?! Does anyone know if they are BPA-friendly? I guess I don't really care, since they save me loads of washing and cleaning.)



CROCK POT CHICKEN (can anyone think of a better name?)

Ingredients:
6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup butter
1 envelope (0.7-ounce) Italian salad dressing mix
1 can (10 3/4-ounce size) condensed golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup dry white wine or sherry
1 tub (8-ounce size) cream cheese with chives and onion (or plain cream cheese)
hot cooked angel-hair pasta
snipped fresh chives, optional

Directions:

Place chicken in a 3 1/2- or 4-quart crockpot.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the dry Italian salad dressing mix. Stir in mushroom soup, white wine, and cream cheese until combined.

Pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours.

Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked pasta. Sprinkle with chives, if desired.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 198 Calories; 9g Fat (42.9% calories from fat); 27g Protein; trace Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 89mg Cholesterol; 155mg Sodium. Exchanges: 4 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat.
serves 6

(Above recipe came from my mom's best friend, Jan Dickerson, who is an amazing cook).


(No, he's not really drinking from it, but he's just playing with it for now. It occupies him long enough for me to unload the dishwasher or cook dinner. It's the little things...)

7 Months

Eating pureed pears for the first time

Well, our sweet Jackson is 7 months old. I've been negligent in uploading our blog, primarily because I've been working a good bit of hours at the hospital, trying to clean up our house and get organized, unpacking more boxes, and taking care of my sweet baby. I've also taken a hiatus from Pinterest, as I was becoming a little addicted. Amazing how much time you can waste on the Internet!



I love these faces he makes while eating. We're still working on getting him used to the textures of food. Jackson is still nursing every 3 hours during the day, sleeps anywhere from 4-12 hours at night (4 hours, feeds, goes back to sleep...growth spurts?!).



We borrowed a doorway jumper from a friend, and to say Jackson loves it is an understatement. He's obsessed! I'll put him in the jumper while I'm cooking dinner, and I can hear the gentle tap-tap-tap of his bare baby feet on the hardwood floors, combined with much ooh-ing, aah-ing, and coo-ing.



Jackson's 2 bottom teeth are in, and I'm waiting on him to get more teeth in, evidenced by the continual drool.





Still no coordinated crawling yet, but he can definitely go after what he wants. He's such a happy baby and such a joy to us! We feel truly blessed.





Need a good end-of-summer read? I highly recommend Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder." Ann is an absolutely brilliant writer (and she lives in Nashville, fun fact). Another of her books I love is "Bel Canto." I promise you won't be disappointed in either book.





I just started Laura Hillenbrand's book "Unbroken," a true story about World War II. She's the author of "Seabiscuit," which I hope to read after this. "Unbroken" is a really intriguing read. It makes me appreciate our service men and women THAT much more than I already appreciate them! And it makes me sad that we don't have many WWII veterans left. Hillenbrand echoes my sentiments exactly in her dedication on the last page of her book: "I wish to remember the millions of Allied servicemen and prisoners of war who lived the story of the Second World War. Many of these men never came home; many others returned bearing emotional and physical scars that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. I come away from this book with the deepest appreciation for what these men endured, and what they sacrificed, for the good of humanity."





Next week, we get to visit with some of our best friends, one of whom who recently came back from Iraq, and is now reunited with his infant and adorable wife. Thanks for your amazing service to our country Matt!

Oh wow, just finished watching the Auburn game. Close game, but at least we pulled it off! War Eagle!!!!

War Eagle

Above is a picture of how my child usually falls asleep at night: right arm raised up and resting on the bumper pad. He slept like that for a few hours last night. I have no idea how he doesn't lose all feeling in that arm from the lack of blood flow, but oh well. He sleeps.

I couldn't think of another "Title" for this blog post, and since football season is right around the corner, I thought I'd just say War Eagle :)

Pinterest has gotten me on a craft kick. These are the projects I've been doing lately:



These are lavender scented sachets from Kimberly Kennedy's book



These are fun little housewarming gifts, and if anyone wants to know how to make them, just let me know.

Second craft: Crinkly Taggies. You can find the tutorial here.



I thought I'd use wax paper as the crinkly inner part. But once I washed it, the crinkliness (made up word?!) was greatly diminished. Next time I'll use a baby wipes plastic packaging like she suggested.



This and this are next on my sewing agendas.

I just now realized that I'm not a big fan of messy eating. See Exhibit A below.



I also realize that I've got to get over myself, and that really, the sweet potato/breastmilk/rice cereal combination really wasn't that messy on Jackson, and I've only BEGUN to see messy days. Many more to come, Lord-willing.

Jackson is just now deciding he wants to eat foods, and thus far he's had teeny amounts of blueberries, a little bit of sweet potato, a teeny bit of squash and also banana, and just today, a huge helping of pureed zucchini. He loved it! Jackson still nurses during the day, every 3 hours, and he sleep for long stretches at night, getting up to nurse usually once or twice. His two bottom teeth are coming in more, and I know he'll be getting more teeth in soon as he continues to drool and gnaw on everything.






Jackson is definitely moving, as in he'll get whatever object he's after, whether he has to army crawl, do forehead-down-bottoms-up crawl, or get up on all fours, rock fiercely, and propel himself forward. It's so cute and so funny.

Bread & Jam

First of all, War Eagle! Football season is only a few short days away, and we're getting geared up in our house :)

Second of all, I'm ADDICTED to Pinterest. Maybe it's an unhealthy addiction right now, but until Andy is done with tax busy season, I'm going to continue this awesome search for DIY projects, recipes, decorating ideas, party ideas, etc.

That being said, I've found 2 great blogs and made these EASY and delicious recipes. Enjoy!

This bread is delicious and easy to make. I made this this morning and slathered it with this homemade jelly