Bruschetta

Last night, I had some tomatoes to use up and couldn't think of a better way to use them than to make bruschetta. We had picked up some of those French baguettes that are half cooked and have a long shelf life from Menards. I believe they are called Oven2Table. They're fantastic.

So I popped those in the oven while I made the bruschetta.

• 3 on-the-vine tomatoes (you can use any kind), seeded and chopped
• a splash of balsamic vinegar
• sprinkle of salt
• dash of crushed red pepper flakes
• a lot of garlic (I use powder but you could easily get away with 2 or 3 cloves)
• italian seasoning (this is an actual spice in my spice rack)
• parsley
• basil
• mozzarella cheese

Obviously, I didn't measure anything but it doesn't really matter. This recipe is very versatile.

After you mix all that together in a bowl, you take the bread out of the oven (or its package if yours is already cooked) and slice into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Then spread with butter and top with mozzarella cheese (I used shredded but slices work well too). Then top with tomato mixture.

Put under broiler for 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

It's really good and simple. Perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. You could even make the bruschetta ahead of time!

Taking Care of a Baby When You're Sick

Last week, I wasn't feeling well at all. I even threw up. It reminded me of when I was pregnant (don't worry, I'm not. I just wanted to add in that I don't know how people take care of a little baby when they're pregnant with the next one!). I could barely get out of bed because any moving made my nausea that much worse. I was still able to nurse as long as I stayed hydrated. However, I couldn't take care of a baby like this.

I looked online and it seems like most people call for help. I'm lucky that I have a husband who was able to take the day off to take care of the baby while I tried to sleep all day. Other than being woken up every two hours for a feeding, I think it worked out pretty well. I also liked that he was able to see what it was like to be me for a day. It's not exactly a walk in the park, even if you are feeling well. It's hard work, especially with a lack of sleep!

My advice to you if you are sick is to take it easy as much as you can. If your kids are older, maybe you can get them to play quietly next to you in bed or at least explain you aren't feeling well. If you have a baby like I do (or impossible kids), don't feel bad calling in help. A friend, family member, or even a neighbor could maybe come to your rescue if your spouse is unavailable.

If nobody can come, some people mentioned that sometimes their babies seemed to know they weren't feeling well and behaved better or took more naps. I suppose worse case scenario, you just do it. It may take you longer to feel better but sometimes you don't have a choice.

Getting Back to Reusable Pads

I would love to get back to making my own reusable menstrual pads but I am currently stuck. The plastic disposable ones from the store have sticky backs so they stay in place. Without having special underwear with velcro or something sewn into it, I am not sure how to make mine stay. I started using some of my prototypes and my free trial one from Party In My Pants, and both slide around. I tried to look it up online and see what other people do but most people say this doesn't happen to them. Anyone with advice, please comment below.

I have also wanted to try the reusable cups for a while too but they are rather expensive. I know in the long run they will save you money over buying tampons but it is a big initial investment and I'm not even sure what brand to buy since they differ so much. I did find a website that teaches you how to knit your own tampons that I'm pretty excited about. Some people think this is going too far but if you look at the amount of waste from tampons, that's more extreme than making your own.

I will advise you that if you make your own, make sure the yarn is undyed and preferably organic hemp or cotton. I think this is one use where organic actually makes sense.

I will try to post more when I get farther but in the meantime, this is all I have thought up.

Elvis Bites

I had some bananas to use up and I was too scared to put them in a smoothie because I was afraid the noise would wake up the baby. Instead, I made them into a different delicious treat!

You slice your bananas (make sure you have an even number of slices) then spread half of them with peanut butter. Top them with the other half of the slices. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for an hour.

Then, you're supposed to dip them in chocolate but I didn't have that much chocolate on hand so I just melted my remaining chocolate chips and put as much as I could on top of each banana pile. Then you put them back in the freezer for another 3 hours.

These are soooo good! The only problem is when you put banana in the freezer, it gets crazy cold! These would be better on a hot day than a day where my husband couldn't make it to work because it was too slippery out.However, this is a great dessert recipe that's no bake (another reason to make it on a hot day!)

(For those of you curious about the title, Elvis loved all things with peanut butter, bananas, and chocolate!)

Sour Cream Pound Cake

I needed to use up 4 oz of sour cream and in our family, that's sort of hard. It's too much sour cream for baked potatoes or for tacos, since there's just two of us. I decided to bake with it instead in a pound cake. I found the recipe online at allrecipes.com but I think I made enough changes to it that I'm going to be lazy and not link it (you can ask me for it in the comments if you are interested).

• 2 tsp vanilla extract (or any flavor works)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature (I used light butter)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (you could use light but I happened to have regular on hand)
• 3 whole eggs, room temperature
• 1/8 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan (double the recipe if you want to use a bundt cake pan). In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in sour cream. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Add baking soda. Add flour, a little at a time (I added a half cup at a time). Mix in vanilla extract. Pour into pan and bake for 60 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean. 

This cake is very good! The crust is perfect and the inside is moist and rich, like a pound cake. Next time, I would be interested in adding a different extract but vanilla tasted just fine. I think lemon would be a good one.

Pinterest Obsession

So for a while now, I have been using pinterest as a good place to get ideas. However, until recently, I did not have an account and didn't even necessarily see the point (I used it sparingly). Then I got an account and all that changed. What an addicting place!

I have ideas from exercise routines to recipes to home decor! I am very excited and I try to only pin things that I'll actually come back and read when I have more time. We have already implemented a few ideas that I have pinned.

For instance, we are going to start using a seam ripper to untangle the hair, threads, etc from the roll-y part of the bottom of the vacuum. We also started keeping our soap and scrubbers on a plate atop a candlestick holder we had. The website suggested a cake stand but we didn't have one of those so we made our own. We picked out a cool plate at Goodwill (our new favorite place!) and super glued it to the candlestick holder. This keeps the counter from getting sticky and full of soap residue.

Basically, it's my new obsession and I'm on it in a lot of my free time (what free time? with a baby you don't get much).

I will also point out that I don't understand the social aspect of it and it's rather similar to StumbleUpon, which I also like a lot.

Bread Maker Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

A long time ago, David and I bought a bread maker at Goodwill for 5 dollars. We were lucky enough to find the manual online. We have used it a handful of times since then. This morning, I made the chocolate chip banana bread recipe for the first time.

It's a rather simple recipe and I LOVE that bread makers do all the work for you. I was able to put it all together in less than 10 minutes, which is good since that is when baby woke up from her nap.

It tastes really great and of course, the bread maker bakes it to perfection. My only problem is the chocolate chips. I mixed them well into the batter myself and then the bread maker also mixes and kneads the whole thing. Well, the majority of the chocolate chips ended up all on one side so you either get bread or you get chocolate chips. I am not sure if this is a fluke thing or if this always happens with chocolate chips. I am willing to try it again next time though.

For those of you interested, here is the recipe

• 3 medium bananas, mashed (we used ones we had frozen and then thawed)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons sour milk (1 tablespoon vinegar, 2 tablespoons milk)
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup nuts (optional, I left ours out)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Measure banana, milk, eggs, and butter into bread pan. In a medium mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients, stir together. Add to bread pan.

Select Quick Bread setting. Press Start/Stop. When unit signals and the display reads 0:00, press Start/Stop. Remove bread.

I will mention our bread maker is a Regal KitchenPro. 

Time to Start the Garden

Where we live, it is time (okay, about a week late) to start planting things indoors so they are ready to be replanted when we thaw out. We did this last year with our broccoli and cherry tomatoes but they never made it outside. Our broccoli completely died and our tomatoes grew pretty well (surprisingly) inside. This was probably because last winter, we had our house set at 55 degrees and it was too cold for the vegetables but with a baby this year, we've had to bump it up.

In addition to the baby increase, we also bought an indoor greenhouse (only ten dollars at Menards when it was on sale). Hopefully between these two things, our garden has a fighting chance this year. We've also been composting our egg shells and banana peels, which are best for the soil (depending on what you're growing).

We have lots of seeds to plant this year and we are hoping to actually have fruits and vegetables this year so we can buy less produce at the store. It is a lot of work and you need to upkeep it every day but I think it is do-able.

Hopefully we find time this weekend to do our indoor plants!

Organizing the Master Closet

Our master closet is nice but rather small for a walk in (so I apologize for the lack of pictures. There's no room to stand to get a good picture of anything). It also doesn't help that one of our walls has a slant, making that part of the closet pretty much unusable.

We have a basic series of shelving in there with some higher up shelves for things like sleeping bags and luggage. All the lower shelves are used for clothing. Then we have a column of shelves, about a foot apart each, that are used for smaller things. We purchased baskets from the dollar store to help keep things organized for those shelves. One is full of my purses and little bags, one is for personal mementos that I don't want to display, etc. We also have a sliding pull out bar of hooks for belts and ties. That piece was rather pricey but I think worth it.

Today, I finally finished organizing the whole thing. Up until this point, we basically had just our clothes somewhat organized because we hadn't finished putting up all the shelves before we moved in.

My section of the closet is much more organized than David's--mostly because I am able to keep it that way. After laundry, with his stuff, he has a hard time sorting it back out. My categories are: short sleeve, long sleeve, sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets, and fancy (skirts, dresses, blouses). Within each category, I used to have everything color-coordinated but that got to be too much.

Some day, I would love it if our shoe rack could make it into the closet but for now, there's not a good spot for it and our bedroom is big enough to accommodate it without it being in the way too much.

I am very happy with the way it turned out today, especially because it has been so long coming. It has definitely been a process and now it's almost complete!

Ways to Get Your Baby to Sleep

Obviously, I am a new parent. My baby is less than 3 months old but you learn things as you go along. Every child is different but some tips I have found for getting my baby to go to sleep are:

• Simply put them in their crib (or wherever they normally sleep). We do this with our baby every time we notice her getting tired. She usually cries for a few minutes but shortly calms down. We also give her a pacifier and rub her tummy if she's not calming down. 
• Distract them from their tiredness. Now, I don't mean play with them. This tends to wind them up even more. I mean put on the radio, carry them around the house while pointing out things, or singing to them.
• Take them for a car ride. Up until about a week ago, without fail, our daughter would fall asleep during every single car ride. The city driving wasn't pleasant for her (she hated to stop at stop signs and red lights. Plus the different speeds really confused her) but she loved highway driving and would calm herself and fall asleep surprisingly quickly.
• Go for a stroller ride. Fresh air always wears kids out. 
• Hold them as if you were going to breastfeed (cradled in your arms, with one of their arms behind you, baby tilted towards you) and gently sway them. Our baby also likes if you pat her (somewhere near her butt but it could be a leg if you don't have access, depending on how you're holding her). This is also a good time to give them a pacifier (if you give them a pacifier---some parents don't). 
• If you know they are tired and have tried everything else (burp, feeding, diaper change), lay them in their crib and let them cry. This is really hard to do and I usually make David do it if it comes to that but sometimes, they just need to cry themselves to sleep. Also, sometimes if you let them cry for a few minutes and then you intervene (with a pacifier or rubbing their tummy), they'll calm down to that. 

This is all I can come up with for now but I hope these help. Sometimes the best answer is the most obvious but not what you think of when you're sleep deprived too. 

Baby Nap Time and Sleep

Ever since my mom left after baby was born, baby has been sleeping in a bouncer next to our bed at night. We also haven't really established any nap times and when she falls asleep, she falls asleep. At the doctor last week, we were told to try to move her to her crib since 2 months is the time to start making habits.

We weren't sure if it was because she should be sleeping in a crib or if she should sleep in her own room. After looking up what other people thought, a baby can stay in your room until you're all ready to move them to their own room. I've also heard that the SIDS foundation recommends leaving them in your room until 6 months.

We decided baby can stay in our room but we do need to establish a night time routine so she knows when it is bedtime. She gets a bath, although not every day, then gets a book read to her and we say her night time prayers and lay her down. Because she actually likes her crib for the most part, she ends up being laid down in her crib at first and then as the night goes on, she has the option to stay in our room after feeding.

Last night, she slept 8 hours and 45 minutes in her crib (between feedings, might I add...!!!). We have a monitor to hear her at night but I am still on edge all night, worrying about her. We have discussed setting up a web cam so I can see her all night too.

As for nap time, it is pretty easy to tell when she's tired (she's fussy but she's already been fed, burped, changed, etc). It's times like these I place her in her crib and she quickly calms down and falls asleep.

Of course, as your baby grows up, they need less naps (our baby takes 3-4 a day) and everyone's baby is different. I just thought I'd let you know what works for us.

I am finding it easier to get stuff done during her nap time instead of constantly needing a nap when she needs one but that could also be due to her sleeping longer at night. She can easily go 4 hours or more between feedings instead of 2.

I apologize if all this is boring but I hope someone finds it helpful.

Shrimp Spinach Stir Fry

Once again I was looking for a recipe to use up a bag of spinach. I was inspired by something David's mom made us the night before. It was a rice stir fry with chicken and vegetables. It was really good and a good starting point for our dinner last night.

Because brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook, I made it during the day while baby was sleeping to speed up the time it took to make dinner. I only used 1/3 dry (about 1 cup cooked).

Then at dinner time, I chopped (okay I had David chop) up half an onion and a handful of mushrooms. We already had chopped carrots and red bell pepper in the freezer so I added some of that too. I put it all in a large skillet on medium heat and cooked until the veggies started to melt (I put them in frozen). Then I added the entire bag of spinach and waited for it to wilt. While waiting, I started the shrimp on moist heat (bowl of warm-hot water, dump the shrimp in. Then de-tail). We decided to go with shrimp instead of chicken since our chicken would've been too much prep work for this quick dinner.

When the spinach was wilted, I added the shrimp and the rice to warm through. I also turned the heat down to low at this point. Then I added some garlic, paprika, and cumin. We had planned on adding coarse sea salt but our grinder wasn't working right.

It's so easy (especially if you get someone else to do the prep for you) and delicious! 5 vegetables in one simple dish. Of course you can change out anything. Shrimp could easily be left out entirely or substituted for a different protein. You can use white or brown rice, or even quinoa or couscous. And of course the vegetables and spices can vary too. This dish is very versatile!