Beans and Greens Soup

Here are a few pictures from my Beans and Greens Soup that I made. In the blog above this is Rachael Ray's directions how to make this soup. I added potatos and left out the nutmeg! It is delicious and very comforting to eat during winter!

Winter Walk in the Woods....

Lone Star Lakes...

Daddy and his little buddy...

Me & my baby..My other baby...

My precious son...

Enjoying the sunshine on our porch...

No greater love...

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. It felt just like fall and we soaking up the sunshine! Jack and I took Logan to our little spot...Lone Star Lakes. I have mentioned this place before in a previous blog. Logan seemed to enjoy looking around at the nature and Jack and I enjoyed the exercise! Logan has also started eating baby food! At his 4 month well baby check-up his pediatrician gave me the ok to start feeding him all this yummy stuff! I started out feeding him sweet peas. I have always been told to start with your vegetables than start feeding fruits. Clever I think! When I first fed him the peas he gave me a couple frowns like.."What the heck is this stuff, Mommy?!.." Then he ate it all up with no problem at all! My boy loves his vegies! : ) I will upload pictures from that day as soon as I figure out how to do that! (New camera.)

Potted Spanish Chicken

Some of the main ingredients you will need...Parsley to garnish with....

How the sauce looks when you first begin...

Sauce when finished...

After you process sauce...

Add chicken into processed sauce...

The final dish...YUM!

I saw Rachael Ray cook up a meal that looked delicious to me the other day. I thought I would give it a whirl last night. My husband loved it.

Serves 4:

Ingredients:

1 large dried ancho chilie - stemmed and seeded

3 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp butter

1 cup white rice

1/4 cup EVOO

2 onions chopped

2 ribs celery from the heart, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped or grated

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

A few pinches of ground cloves and salt and pepper

One 28-ounce can diced or whole fire-roasted tomatoes

4 small pieces bone-in chicken breast, halved crosswise

4 small bone-in chicken drumsticks

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. In a small saucepan, bring the ancho chilie and 1 cup chicken stock to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until softend. 10 minutes

2. In a large saucepan, bring the remaining 2 cups stock and butter to boil. Stir in rice, cover and simmer for 18 mins. Remove from heat. Fluff with fork.

3. In another large saucepan, heat 2 tbsps. EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, pour over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, garlic, bay leaves, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, and cloves. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened, 7 to 8 mins. Stir in tomatoes and heat for 5 mins. Transfer sauce to food processor, discard bay leaves. Add the soaked andcho and its liquids and process until smooth.

4. Meanwhile, in a large skillet with lid, heat the remaining 2 tbsps. EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to skillet, skin side down until browned, 7 - 8 minutes. Flip over and add your sauce. Cover and cook the chicken through, 10-12 minutes.

5. Serve the chicken on the rice and top with parsley.

~My Recommendation: I cooked this meal using the Cinnamon. We did not care too much for that taste in this dish. If you are not crazy about cinnamon I would leave this part out!

~ ENJOY ~

Homemade Orange Julius...

We got a food processor for Christmas and I LOVE it! Jack went and bought some oranges yesterday. So I thought it would be a perfect time to break out the processor! I decided to try to make one of my most favorite drinks...Orange Julius! YUM! I did not follow a recipie..I just kind of experimented on my own. Scary....I know! However, my creation ended up tasting fabulous! My husband even said so too! All I did was put a fresh and peeled whole orange in and processed it really well. I added a little more orange juice and milk. The best part...add in Breyers Vanilla Ice cream. (I put in about 3 scoops). I then added some ice cubes and processed the mixture really well. It tasted just like something you would buy at Dairy Queen!

Ingridient recap....

1. Processor or Blender

2. Fresh Oranges

3. Orange Juice (optional)

4. Milk

5. Vanilla Ice cream

6. Ice

The true recipie goes like this...

6 Oz. frozen orange juice concentrate

1 cup milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8-9 ice cubes

Blend all ingridients except ice cubes for 1-2 minutes into blender or processor.

Add in ice cubes one at a time while blending.

* If you want a creamier drink - try using 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup powdered sugar instead of the full 1/2 cup sugar.

ENJOY!

Photo Contest Results...

I woke up this morning and checked how Logan ended up doing in his photo contest. Out of the 13 adorable babies competing..my little guy ended up in 6th place with 70 votes! I am so proud of him! Thanks to everyone who supported Logan.

Bluebug Photography Contest...

Logan is in a photo contest! Melissa from Bluebug Photography has entered him into this sweet little competition. She has chosen 13 different babies that she took pictures of in 2009. We had Logan's pictures taken by her when he was 3 weeks old. She has chosen him for one of her contestants. Go to bluebugphotography.com/BLOG/ and vote for baby #7! That is Logan! Thanks for your support! The contest ends at 12 tonight!

1-10-10 ~ 4 Months Old...

Look at the detail on those jeans and those little twinkle toes... Love that smile...

My rocking chair when I was little..now it belongs to Logan...

My baby boy is growing up! We have reached our 4 month milestone today. As I am typing this Logan is sitting in my lap taking it all in. He LOVES to be held! He especially loves to be in mommy or daddy's arms. He is a constant reminder to me everyday how God has truly blessed our lives. I love Logan and my family with my whole heart. Logan still loves his paci and is very passionate about it. At the end of three months he finally can hold his head up on his own during tummy time. That has been an ordeal for him. He hates tummy time! It was all worth it though because it made him into a big boy! He loves to hold hands and it melts my heart! He loves it when I caress the ends of my hair on his face. He just smiles and coos when I do that. He is still VERY good when we go out to eat with him. He is very quiet and enjoys looking around at the new atmosphere. He takes little cat naps through the day and usually one long nap towards the end of the day. He is ready to sleep in his big boy crib but I just can not bring myself to put him in his own room yet. I know I have to very soon though. I love looking in his big blue eyes and I love the adorable gummy smiles he gives me. I LOVE his dimples in his puffy little cheeks. I LOVE LOVE LOVE him! I think he might start teething soon. He is drooling a lot and chewing on his hand, my hand, anything he can get his mouth on basically! I put him to bed around 9-9:30pm and he sleeps until the following morning until about 9-9:30 am...sometimes until 10 am! What a keeper I have! : ) I am enjoying his good behaviors while they last! I know all this can change in time! Hopefully not though! Keep Logan in your prayers..Tuesday he goes for his 4 month well baby check-up and has a round of immunizations! I don't know if it hurts him more or for me to watch that happen to him. It breaks my heart! Also keep my dad, Michael in your prayers..Tuesday he gets his back operated on. Praying for the best for him..it has been a hard and long year for him. Here are some 4 month pictures I took of my baby boy today. The rocking chair he is sitting in used to belong to me when I was little. The little overall outfit was given to me by my sister's mother-in-law and father-in-law Cindy & Al. Thank you for the adorable outfit! I love the little turtle on the front of it! So cute! I hope everyone had a good time ringing in 2010!