When Zane is getting full and isn't very hungry anymore, instead of not accepting a bite, he opens his mouth, takes the food, but then just doesn't chew or swallow.  Today he did this, but wanted down out of his high chair.  I got him down, but thought that he had better chew and swallow before I let him run around because I didn't want him to choke.  So, I had him standing on my lap facing me, and was wondering how I was going to get that food out of his mouth because he wasn't doing anything with it!  Well...he sneezed!  And I had a half chewed pea, small bits of macaroni, etc, all over me!  Problem solved!

Zane kept me company in the kitchen this morning.  He's such a good companion and kept himself fairly well occupied, at least for a few minutes-I mean seconds.  :)

Someone's in the kitchen with Mommy!

Hi!

Here he is at mealtime.  I made some whole wheat pear pancakes the other day and he likes them pretty well!  I'm trying to teach him to put food in his mouth, but I think it's going to take awhile.  Of course, one day will click and I'll be surprised!

He still is a sleepy baby!

Backyard, Homemade Apple Pie

A really nice couple at church gave us a bag of apples from their backyard.   I didn't even know you could grow apples in South Texas!  I thought this was just citrus country.  They suggested using them for baby food, which is great, except I don't have any room in the freezer to store them.  So, the next best thing was an apple pie!

Cute little apples

Mmmm...smells so good!

Baby, Hurricane, or Both??

I am trying to get prepared for this wonderful baby to come, but since I don't really know what to expect, I'm not sure if I'm on the right track!!  Today, I went to the stores and stocked up on canned vegetables, soups, pasta, paper goods, etc so that I won't have to go to the store when Zane comes...at least for a while.  Of course, it's also hurricane season down here, so we're prepared for that now too!  Or maybe it will be a cute little bundle of a hurricane!! 

The cashier was enthusiastic about double bagging!  Really! 

Me in my "fancypants" as Jeff calls them!  :-)

Feeding the Freezer

It's been on my mind lately to stock our freezer so we don't have to worry about cooking when Zane comes.  So far, I have Santa Fe chicken, Red Beans (will have to cook the rice), baked spaghetti, a double recipe of chili joes, rice crispies, Texas sheet cake, cookie dough balls, banana bread, and tonight I will add enchilada casserole.  There is more that I'd like to put in there, but I guess I'm doing it a little at a time.  But I am happy because they are individual portions, so we can just take out what we need at the moment.  I do need to find a good way of organizing them.  I'm thinking about using the freezer bags that were mentioned in an earlier post and making a bag for desserts, main dishes, and maybe lunch stuff?  I'm not sure.  But it would help to get somewhat organized, so we aren't just rummaging through all the squares of wrapped aluminum food!

Mango Salsa

We are sort of into mango salsa these days.  Sort of means I've made it a total of three times.  The first time used avocado and tomato, and then I found a recipe that uses red pepper and is then zero PointsPlus!  And Jeff prefers the second recipe so I'm in luck! 
This is how I made it.
Dice one mango
Dice about 1/4 cup red bell pepper
Dice one small jalapeno, seeds and all.  (We like it hot.)
Add cilantro.  This can be fresh or 2 cubes powdered.*
Add dash onion powder.
1 fresh lime squeezed.
Mix.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before using so the flavors can mingle.  We've eaten it the next day and it's still good.  It adds zip to your Mexican food!
 * Mom gave me some Knorr's cilantro cubes and they come in so handy because I don't have to worry about wasting fresh cilantro.  I use two cubes.

Very tasty Mango Salsa

Mini Quiches

I had so much fun making mini quiches for lunch today for Jeff and me.  I started off thinking that I would make spinach quiche because I hadn't made one in a long time and Jeff was working at home today so I thought it might be a treat.  I told him what I was thinking and he said he would like his without spinach and no meat.  So I saw online where they made individuals in a muffin tin!  Perfect!  I decided to make a whole bunch of different kinds for a mini quiche sampler!

Not all of them had crust.  Actually only 4 out of 10 did because I used the leftover pie crust I had saved and frozen from the pie I made Jeff this week.  It worked well!  I've never been a fan of cooking pie crust with cinnamon and sugar, so I'm happy to have found a use for it instead of throwing it away like I had been.  Eeeek!  Imagine all that pie crust I've wasted when I could have been making minis!  So, here's the sampler:

3 cheese and black pepper with crust
1 cheese,black pepper, red and green bell pepper with crust
2 cheese, mushroom, red and green bell pepper with no crust
3 cheese, spinach, Canadian bacon, red/green bell pepper with no crust
1 cheese, bell peppers, and Canadian bacon with no crust

My favorite was the three with Canadian bacon and Jeff's was the mushroom ones except he prefers it with crust!

It was a lot of fun to make, didn't take too much time...only use 3 eggs (mixed with a little milk), fill muffin cup half full, and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes until light brown and set, and they were fun to eat!  Oh, and don't forget to spray the pan so they pop right out!  We had them with English muffins.

Tasty mini quiches!

    

Oatmeal anyone?

This week I've been into making baked oatmeal.  I've never liked oatmeal or eaten it, except in an occasional cookie, but I've been searching for a recipe to make Jeff a to-go breakfast item that doesn't make a mess when he's driving.
The first recipe I tried is an Amish oatmeal breakfast bar.  These are delicious, but definitely won't work in the car.  But, they are so good, I'm trying them again this morning substituting the oil for apple sauce and adding dried cranberries.
Yesterday, I decided to try making granola bars.  I found a recipe that had rave reviews and bought things I've never bought before-one of which was wheat germ.  I didn't even know where to find it!  But a nice lady helped me and it's in the cold cereal aisle for anyone who would like to know.  They turned out great!  I'm not sure if they will work for the car-that remains to be seen, but they are really delicious.

Granola-it crumbled a little

Bars ready to eat!

Garden Broccoli

Cut today, cooked tonight!

Time for harvest!

Supper!

     Today we went out at lunch to peek at the broccoli and found that one was ready for harvest!  I also found that the weeds have taken over.  It rained just a little over an inch last evening/night and it was a beautiful day so I thought it would be a good afternoon to do some weed pulling.  Before I got started, the first thing I saw was a dead snake!  Ugh!  I mowed the other day and I'm wondering if it was in the wrong place at the wrong time or maybe one of the neighborhood cats that roams our backyard killed it.  Not sure.  Anyway, it wasn't even a foot long and it was pencil thin, but a snake is a snake.    So all the time I was pulling weeds, I was on the lookout for snakes.  I kept asking myself, "Is that a snake?"  I'd pull a weed, "Is that a snake?"  Uffda.  I didn't get very far in the weeding process and it started raining, so I came in!