Butternut Squash Everything & Other Thoughts...

Doesn't it just feel sometimes like life deals you a sucker punch straight to the gut? Yesterday felt like that for me. As a mom of young children, 9, 5, & 8 months, it's tricky when you are feeling emotional. The horrific violence that happened in Las Vegas Sunday was so upsetting, but it's not really a subject that children can process, as an adult I can't really process it... I feel strongly that protecting my child from knowing or hearing about something like this, is part of my job. But, since kids do talk and some parents don't have such strict views, I did have to have a little conversation about a very sad thing that happened. It breaks my heart to tell my child that there is someone out there that could do something so awful.

I feel so strongly that the answer to hate is love, I do my very best, as a mom, to show love, acceptance, kindness. To be a good example for my kids. And to love them. Love, love, love.

Not to go on and on, but for some reason, losing a music icon, Tom Petty, on such an already hard day... then, hearing one of my best friend's lost her grandmother yesterday, well, it made for a very heavy heart and I'm feeling lots of feelings today.

Going on with your day, your life, well, that's just what you have to do.  For me, cooking has always been a way to express my feelings without words. Cupcakes when there's something to celebrate, soup when someone's sick, comfort food when you're feeling lost...

Butternut squash everything when the mornings and evenings are cool and the leaves are beginning to fall... it may not be much, but sharing a recipe is something I can do. It's a way for me to cope with my feelings and share my love with others. It brings me comfort to cook for my family.  Maybe it will do the same for you.

Ingredients:
1lb. fettuccine
1 butternut squash (not too big)
1 oz of cream cheese
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt, pepper, granulated garlic
sage

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds.  Drizzle with olive oil and season liberally with salt, granulated garlic & pepper.  Cook until tender, about 30 minutes.
• When squash is tender remove from oven and put large pot of water on to boil.  Follow cooking instructions for the pasta and drain when al dente.
• Use a spoon and scoop out the flesh of the squash and transfer to food processor.  Add chicken broth 1/4 cup of broth and milk and puree until smooth.  Increase liquids if needed up to 1/2 cup each, depending on how much squash you have, until the puree reaches the desired consistency.
• Add the parmesan cheese to the food processor and pulse until combined, then check the seasoning and add additional salt, pepper and garlic if needed.
• Transfer puree to a sauce pan and heat over medium low until it is hot.
• When the pasta is cooked to al dente and is drained, transfer to a large bowl, add sauce and toss well.  Garnish with sage and additional parmesan cheese if desired.

Fall Favorites ~ Meatball Stroganoff

This recipe is one of my abso-fave weeknight meals.  It is so easy to make and is delicious.  My hubby requests this one about once a week and I'm happy to comply!  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Ingredients:
1 package of frozen Party Size Meatballs (Trader Joe's)
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
2 handfulls of sliced crimini mushrooms (button of white are fine too)
2 sprigs of fresh thyme removed from stems
1/2 tsp salt
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1/2 cup of dry white wine
2 cups of beef broth
1/2 cup of whole milk
1 cup sour cream
1 pkg of egg noodles
chives to garnish

Directions:
In a large non stick skillet over medium-low heat melt butter.  When butter is melted add flour and stir together until it becomes a paste with no lumps.  Continue to cook the flour for a minute or two, then slowly whisk in white wine.  When The mixture is free of lumps slowly whisk the beef broth in a little at a time.  It should look like a thick gravy.  Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt, pepper and meatballs. Reduce heat until just simmering and cover with a lid.  Allow to reduce and cook for about 20 minutes, until meatballs are completely cooked through.  While meatballs are cooking prepare the egg noodles according to package.  After meatballs have been simmering and are cooked through, add the milk and stir.  Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream.  Return to low heat and continue cooking until sauce is heated through.  Ladle sauce over noodles and garnish with fresh chives.

Sweet Kale Salad

My kids are picky eaters. I mean, they are pb&j or plain pasta eaters. They nearly never eat what I make. And friends, when you have three kids and you feel like a short order cook, it can get discouraging. And frustrating. That's where this salad come in. Ha! You're thinking, a picky eater isn't going to touch that!! And, you're right! But, I love this salad because it takes just a few minutes to put together and, I can still make the girls their sandwich or pasta and I don't feel like I spent hours in the kitchen!

I know, this isn't actually my recipe. Costco helped me out big time here, but I'm all about sharing good food, even if it means I didn't actually cook it! Do your self a favor and pick up a bag of this salad at Costco, a rotisserie chicken, these beets (if you like beets) and some blue cheese or feta. Top the salad with the chicken, slice up some beets, top with cheese and use the poppyseed dressing and toppings that come with the salad. You won't be sad and you will be happy you got dinner done in 5 minutes! You're welcome!

**In no way did Costco sponsor this post or provide free product. Although  I would not be sad if they did!!! This review is just one honest momma providing a fast dinner tip.

Summertime, Life, Motherhood

I don't know about you all, but this summer has flown by way to fast for me.  I've been so busy. Six out of the eight weeks we've had off I have been watching a friend's child. Having four kids to take care of day after day... Well, I don't know where the time has gone, but my day pretty much goes like this- fix kids food, clean up, put baby down for nap, fix snack for kids, baby wakes up, feed baby, feed kids lunch, put 2 year old down for nap, clean up food, feed baby, put baby down for nap, fix kids snack, clean up......... You feel me???  Yeah, a lot of food, a lot of naps..... throw in a few dirty diapers.... And six weeks later, summer is nearly over.

My baby is two months older than she was at the beginning of summer. She's finally out of her Pavlik harness, you can read more about that here if you don't know her story.  And we are adjusting to life without it.  It was a challenge in the beginning.  She was so used to having her legs strapped in and held still that she didn't know how to sleep without it.  All of the sudden she would move her leg in her sleep and startle herself awake.  She also was very behind in her milestones. At nearly 7 months old she is still unable to sit up on her own.  She didn't begin to roll over until recently, and although she can get up on her knees in a crawling stance, her legs are so used to being out and open that she has a hard time keeping her knees straight under her.  I'm okay with all of this.  She's my last baby and I want to savor these moments when she can't get away from me yet.  When she still depends on me to hold her and carry her around to see things.  This phase isn't going to last forever and I am not ready to have her crawl away from me just yet...

My oldest daughter, Lily Claire, turned 9 this summer. She just got back from a two week trip to Europe with her grandparents. I think she grew 4 inches and became a young lady while she was gone.  She went from playing with American Girl Dolls to strolling along the Champs-Elysses and nibbling pain du chocolate.  I want to hold her closer and beg her not to grow up, but I can see how much she loves the world. Sketching in front of Monet's water lilies, exploring the grounds of Versailles... these things change you. They open your eyes to new possibilities.  I can see the change in her. And I want to hold her tight and beg her not to crawl away from me just yet...

My middle baby, Ella... She starts kindergarten next week.  I see the anxiety and excitement she is filled with. I feel the same way.  She will be going to "big girl school" with her sister. She will have homework, learn math, read books, make new friends.  And be farther away than my arms.  And I want to keep her in a bubble, so she never knows cruel words, so she is never disappointed or scared. I want to keep her home and never let her crawl away...

These changes are so big, so life altering. But when you are making snack after snack, planning your day around nap after nap, you don't realize what's happening until you realize it happened.  Your kids are bigger, smarter, stronger.  And it's because even though you didn't mean to, you let them crawl away.  Because that's your job.  To raise them to be strong enough, brave enough, curious enough to stand on their own.

So as another summer comes to a close, and school supplies line your kitchen counters, and the Costco list once again contains juice boxes, snack packs and sandwich makings, take a second.  Take a moment to see all you did this summer.  Even when it felt like you were a slave to the kitchen, or never going to catch up with the laundry.  You did more important work.  You cared for your people and loved them.  And that is all that matters.

Lily Claire & Ella's New Bedroom

A few months ago I started noticing that my girls were getting older and that there was a lot of stuff in their bedroom that they didn't use or play with anymore. I also started thinking that the paint, bedding and decor in general could really use a change up and a more "grown up" feel.  I scrolled through lots of photos on Instagram with my oldest daughter, and she picked one room that she loved, by @nestingwithgrace. It was also a shared bedroom space in a similar style room with the sloped ceiling. It had a very cute eclectic vibe and I fell in love.  If you haven't checked out Brooke's feed, please do! It's so cute and cozy.

I started collecting pieces for the "re-do" for the last 2 months, and then, finally, the last two weeks, while Lily Claire was on a trip to Paris with her Grandma, Ella and I got busy on the room.

We painted the walls a color called Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams, and the beds are painted in Four Winds by Valspar. I found the desk at a thrift store and painted it with Valspar's Gentle Blush.

The prints and wall hooks are from Ikea.

The vintage beds I found on Cragislist and the dresser and doll cradle are thrift store finds. The duvets are from Ikea, large pattern pillows are Ikea, pink velvet pillows Burlington Coat Factory, the bed skirt is from a shower curtain I bought years ago at Anthropologie, I love it, but id doesn't match the paint color in our bathroom. I cut it apart and used a staple gun to staple it to the undersides of the bed.

The pink bins desperately need to be replaced, but Ikea doesn't carry pink ones anymore and the other color options wouldn't match this room, so I'm still on the look out for a good replacement.

I made the mobile with leftover felt and fishing wire.

Most of the art and accessories were collected over time or gifted to the girls. I really love the way the room turned out. It still has a whimsical feel to it, but seems more "grown up" now. 

What do you all think???

Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I have to trick my kids to get them to eat their vegetables. I mean, being a food blogger and all one might think that my kids have well rounded meals with exotic spices and a wide variety of proteins and vegetables, but in reality I'm just like you.  My kids want pb&j, plain spaghetti with butter, and chicken nuggets and french fries.  Getting them to eat carrot sticks with ranch dressing feels like a victory.  I have been known to consider ketchup a vegetable.  (It's made from tomatoes!)

Sneaking zucchini into brownie mix has happened around here!  Butternut squash macaroni & cheese is also a trick I use...

Basically what I'm saying is I have picky eaters, so if you're like me, give this sauce a try.  And hey, if your kids won't eat it, at least you've already made the plain pasta...

Ingredients:
1 onion diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 cans of tomatoes (whole peeled, diced, doesn't matter)
1 large eggplant diced into 2" chunks
3 zucchini diced into 2" chunks
2 green bell peppers diced into 2" chunks
1/2 cup red wine
olive oil
salt & pepper
dried italian seasoning

Directions:
You will need 1 heavy bottomed pot such as a dutch oven and a large non-stick skillet.  Heat non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  Add olive oil, onions and garlic, salt and pepper.  When the onions turn translucent spoon them into the dutch oven.  Add a little more olive oil and then saute the eggplant, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Repeat all steps until all of the fresh veggies have been sauteed and are golden brown and soft.  Add the two cans of tomatoes to the dutch oven and stir all vegetables to combine.  Place dutch oven over medium high heat, add wine and cover.  Stir every few minutes.  All vegetables should begin to fall apart.  Using an immersion blender puree the vegetables until they are smooth.  Add italian seasoning and check to see if the sauce needs more salt and pepper.  If the sauce is too thick you can add a little water to thin it out.  If you like spice add a pinch of red pepper flake.   Serve with meatballs & spaghetti. (Unless you are vegan or vegetarian!)

 

French Dip Sliders

First off, I want to say thank you, thank you!! Buddies, your response to my post about my baby girl's hip dysplasia was overwhelming!! I'm really hoping it helps someone else who is going through the same thing! If you didn't catch the post but are interested it's the post right after this one or click here!

If you are just looking for a really good recipe and aren't interested in hip dysplasia, that's okay too! I've got you covered! French Dip Sliders. Yup! You're welcome because these are so stinkin' good and so easy!



Ingredients:

1 pkg of hawaiian sweet dinner rolls
thinly sliced deli roast beef
6 slices of provolone cheese
1 sweet onion thinly sliced
6 tbs of butter divided
1 tbs ppoppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp seasoning salt

Instructions:
Sautee thinly sliced onion in 2 tbs of butter over medium heat until caramelized. This takes about 10 minutes, but while they are cooking you can start prepping the bread and other ingredients.

Remove the rolls from the package and slice completely in half with a serrated knife while still stuck together.  You should have one half with bottoms and one half with tops.  Place bottom half of rolls in a buttered or sprayed baking dish. Add a layer of thinly sliced roast beef and a layer of cheese. When the onions are done spread them over the layer of cheese and top with another layer of roast beef. Place the top half of rolls.  In an oven safe bowl melt 4tbs of butter for 30 seconds, then add worcestershire sauce and seasonings and stir well. Pour butter sauce over the top of the rolls and then cover with aluminum foil. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes covered, then remove the foil and bake for 5 minutes uncovered.

Camille's Hip Dysplasia ~ Life with a Pavlik Harness

This is not my typical post. No recipe or home design tips today. Just one momma's heartfelt experience with her newborn's diagnosis of hip dysplasia. Feel free to skip this post if it's not helpful to you. My hope is, that someone else out there just got this diagnosis and it will be helpful to them! If you follow me on Instagram of Facebook, you may be aware that our baby girl Camille was diagnosed with DDH - developmental dysplasia of the hips, when she was 2 days old.  I thought I would share some of what we went through now that her harness wearing days are officially behind us!

When Camille was two days old we went in for her first well baby check. Since our insurance is different than our older kids insurance we went to a pediatrician that we were not familiar with. We would have 30 days to add Camille to our other plan, but for the time being Camille would be covered under our plan. The new doctor was very nice, and she noticed that Camille's hip was making a click sound. I didn't really understand what she was talking about, but she referred us to a specialist that was going to explain things to us. When I called the specialist I was told they don't treat patients that are this young and we were then referred to Shriner's Children's Hospital. Since it wasn't an emergent case we had to wait almost 6 weeks for an appointment. Since I wasn't thinking this was a big deal, she wasn't in pain or discomfort of any kind that I noticed, I didn't think much of it. My main concern at the time was trying to get her to gain weight, as she had gone down to 5 lbs after being born 6lbs 3oz. Plus, we were adjusting to life with a newborn and juggling having 3 kids now...
It just didn't worry me much.

On the Friday we went in for her first orthopedic appointment I was floored when the doctor said both of her hips were completely dislocated and she would need extensive treatment to fix them.  She was immediately placed in a Pavlik Harness. I was so unprepared, I didn't even have a onesie with me in the diaper bag! And for some reason the PA who fitted the harness on Camille made me feel terrible about that. How could I not have a onesie? What did I think was there for today? It was awful.  I cried the entire way home from the hospital.

Camille right after being fitted, in her borrowed onesie.

It was February, it was cold, my baby couldn't wear pants, footie pajamas, nothing but a onesie. I could not take her out of the harness. Ever. At. All. for the first 3 weeks. Ever. At All. Even to bathe/change diapers. Not. At. All. Queue the ugly cry.

But we made it. We got through it. And if you are in the same boat, I'm here to tell you, you will too! My friend made Camille some pants with snaps down the side that went over the harness. My other other friend ordered her leg warmers to go under the straps of the harness.

The first month was the hardest. Then, after we switched insurance, we met her new doctor who gave us permission to remove the harness for 15 minutes a day so she could have a quick bath. I was so excited! Another month went by and she had another ultrasound. Things were improving, but we weren't able to go harness free yet. We began a weaning schedule. An hour of freedom twice a day for a month, then two hours twice a day for a few weeks, then finally, just naps and night time until last week. And finally we are harness free!

Yesterday Camille had her hips x-rayed. The doctor said that her hips are in the sockets, but the sockets are still not formed perfectly.  For now he wants to wait and see how they develop. When she is 4 they will do another x-ray and then decide if surgery is necessary. While it is not the "your baby is cured" I had hoped for, I am still relieved that we are done with the harness.

I did learn a few things that I wanted to share with anyone who just found themselves in this boat.

First, it's okay to be sad and to cry. One of the most frustrating things when she was first diagnosed was people telling me "At least she won't remember it." You will remember it! And it's not fun. You have the right to feel upset.

Leg warmers are so helpful! We didn't really need them once it got hot, but when the weather was cold, they really protected her skin and kept her warm.

Keep a onesie under the harness so the straps don't rub. If your baby spits up a lot try putting a bigger onesie over the top of the harness to protect the straps from getting spit up on.

Have fun with hair accessories. I was so sad that Camille couldn't wear any of the cute outfits I had bought her and that we were just stuck with onesies. So, I bought a lot of headbands and they are so much fun! (Girls tip!)

Breastfeeding is tricky. I had to have Camille sitting straight up on my lap straddling my side to nurse. She refused to nurse on the right breast and that was so frustrating. Give yourself grace here. If breastfeeding isn't working for you or her, it's okay! Bottle feeding is not bad!! I did a combo of both because she wanted to breastfeed, but I really think it would have been easier not to. Your choice and don't feel guilty if you can't or don't want to. You have enough going on with this harness!

Try to find a friend who has gone through this! You don't have to be alone! I looked on Instagram and connected with a couple moms who were going though the same thing, and have since been contacted by several others. A support system is so helpful!

This is just a season, but it when you are in it it seems to last a long time. I know! So take breaks when you can. And remember that you are helping your child so they will walk correctly. They will get stronger and hopefully not need surgery. Keep that in mind. This will sometimes seem awful and your baby may cry, but you are strong enough to get through this!

xoxo