Comfort Food!

Whenever the weather is cold and snowy, I crave comfort food! So today I'm having two of my favorites, Corn Chowder and Chocolate Chip Pie. Here are the recipes! Enjoy!

Corn Chowder : this recipe is definately not good when you are counting calories, but it sure is delicious. The half and half gives it a sweetness, while the crushed red pepper adds some spice.

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 lb butter (2 sticks)

5 tsp. chopped garlic

3 tsp salt

5 tsp crushed red pepper

1 bunch green onions

2 lbs peeled shrimp (or salad shrimp) *

48 oz creamed corn

2 quarts half and half

Melt butter. Add garlic and onion, saute. Add shrimp, crushed red pepper, salt, and green onion; cook till warm. Add half and half. Bring to a boil, reduce heat.

* my brother in law, Dave, is allergic to shrimp. So we substitute potatoes. Either way, it's yummy!

Also, this recipe makes a lot of chowder. Unless you have a very large crowd, half a recipe is plenty. I also reduce the crushed red pepper, I use about 1 1/2 tsp. for half a recipe. It just depends on how spicy you like things.

Now on to the best part of the meal, dessert!

Chocolate Chip Pie

1 frozen pie crust (you can make one from scratch if you're really motivated!)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk chocolate morsels

1/2 cup semi sweet morsels

1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped (you can use any nut you prefer)

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, and butter, mix well. Add eggs, vanilla, morsels, and nuts. Pour into pie crust. Bake until firm in the middle, approximately 50 min. (my oven takes longer). Serve warm with ice cream, and coffee of course!

Variation: If you like peanut butter, use 1/2 cup chopped peanuts in place of the macadamia nuts. Also substitute 1/2 cup peanut butter morsels instead of the semi sweet morsels, and add 2 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter. (the peanut butter would go in with the sugar/flour/ butter mixture.)

A day in the life...

I have three weeks left of maternity leave after this week, since I don't go back to work until Feb. 22. My twelve weeks off have flown by. So here is what a typical day is like for us while I'm home from work:

8:00a.m. Kenneth gets home from working third shift and going to the gym. Abby is sleeping in the pack n play beside our bed, Bella is propped up in bed beside me drinking her chocolate milk and watching cartoons. I am trying to pretend I'm still asleep!

8:30a.m. We get up! I move Abby (still sleeping!) to her swing in the living room. I go turn on my coffee maker. Kenneth plays with Bella a few minutes, then goes to bed.

10:30a.m. Snack time! Bella has a banana or yogurt or something healthy for a snack.

12:30 Rest time! Bella doesn't really nap anymore (not consistently anyway) so at 12:30 she has 'rest time'. We put her pillow and blankie on the couch, brush her teeth, turn on a cartoon, and she lays down for about an hour. This gives mommy a chance to eat lunch! - unless Abby is fussy, of course!

1:30 Bella has lunch. (she won't eat a big lunch earlier in the day).

4:30p.m. Start supper! Kenneth usually gets up around 5, and he's usually hungry so we eat around 5:30.

5:30p.m. Eat supper, do dishes.

6:30 I take a shower or bath!

7:00p.m. Bella's bath time! She has her bubble bath and plays with her bath toys. When she gets out,I wrap her in a towel on my lap and we sing a song. Then she has to run around the house naked. This is her new routine: she says, "I wanna show daddy naked!" So she runs into the living room and he says, "Bella, you're naked! Where are your clothes?" Then I get her dressed and comb out her hair.

8:45p.m. Bed time for Bella. We brush teeth, use the bathroom, gather up blankets, and I put her in bed. This is actually a process that lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour before she actually goes to sleep...

10:30p.m. Abby has her last bottle of the day.

11:00 p.m. Abby goes to sleep, Mommy goes to sleep!

3:00a.m. Mommy hears a noise and wakes up- Bella is climbing into bed with me!

5:00 a.m. Abby wakes up for a bottle, eats, and goes back to sleep.

7:00a.m. Bella wakes up for chocolate milk and cartoons!

8:00a.m. Kenneth comes home, and the fun starts all over again!

Of course, all these times and events are subject to change! Our day isn't nearly so orderly in real life. In between all this there are dirty diapers, laundry, "potty" accidents, phone calls, dishes to wash, housework, and any number of unplanned events!

For instance, don't imagine that I've been sitting here at the computer calmly typing for twenty minutes. In the middle of this blog entry, Abby woke up hungry and wet. While I was changing her, Bella hollered that she need help to potty. Then Abby spits out her passy and I'm trying to figure out why there's blood on it while I tell Bella I'll be there in just a second! (Abby was hungry and had shoved her fist in her mouth; one of her nails was sharp and cut her little gums!) So finish changing the baby, help Bella potty, then feed and burp the baby, then finish the blog! Thats pretty much how we get things done around here! Boring, its not!

Cooking up some fun

Today my sister Rachel and her little girl, Ashlyn, spent the afternoon with us. We've been hanging out a lot while I've been on maternity leave. At first it was more of a necessity, since I needed help! But then we discovered that we actually like spending time together!

Just kidding.

Today we had the inaugural meeting of our new Friday Cooking and Coffee Club! We decided a few days ago to fix lunch and had so much fun doing it we decided to make it a monthly event. So while Ashlyn and Bella ran around the house playing (...playing just isn't a strong enough word...their combined force is about an F4 on the Fujita scale) we cooked!

After I made a quick run to the store for necessary ingredients (and Goldfish crackers for the girls) we made a pot of Zippy Potato Soup. It's kind of like loaded potato soup, you put in bacon, and cheese, and grate some carrots in for color. It also has some wierder ingredients like nutmeg and Worcestershire sauce. But it is fantastic! It's one of our family faves.

We tried a new dessert: Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pie. Served warm with ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. And a cup of coffee. Need I say more?

Anyhoo, a good time was had by all. Abby even contributed by keeping Aunt Rachel company while she cooked:


We are currently searching for a yummy dessert recipe to try next month (preferably made with chocolate!) so if you have a good one, let me know!

Six week check-up and shopping!

Today I went for my 6 week postpartum check-up with Dr. Tally-Horne. Oh, the joys of waiting in a cold room wearing nothing but paper... Anyway, she said everything looks fine and I am free to "resume normal activity".

Afterward I took advantage of the fact that my mom could watch the girls for a while, and went to do a little shopping! I stopped at Starbucks for a new coffee go-cup, since mine broke. And of course after purchasing it I had it filled with a double tall non-fat extra-hot caramel latte! It was yummy. (my coffee drinking has totally gotten out of hand lately. I just can't stop.)

Then to the mall. I went in Maurices and was thrilled to find three long skirts, two denim and one khaki! So I happily bought them all. And if you are wondering why I'm so excited about it, I have a challenge for you, girls: next time you are shopping, try to find skirts that are a)below the knee b)not skin tight, and c) not split up to mid-thigh. And there's one more catch- they have to be cute, too! I'm telling you, it isn't easy! So you can understand why I was so excited to find three all at once. And if you are wondering, yes, I wear skirts all the time, and no, I don't mind explaining why if you ask me. :-)

After my find at the mall, I headed to moms to get my little treasures.

Settling In

A lot of my patients who have three (or more!) kids have always told me it's harder to adjust to the second kid than the third. I was always doubtful of that, but now I believe it. Because Abby was a big adjustment! Of course, actually caring for her has been a breeze, because this time around I know what I'm doing! I can tell just by the way she cries whether she is hungry or her belly is hurting, etc. So that part is easier.

The challenge is trying to feed, change, rock her, etc. while chasing Arabella! And Bella takes a lot of chasing most days! She's not one of these kids who will sit in their room and play quietly. She is in to everything! And, of course, she's still little and needs help doing most things. So in the middle of giving Abby a bottle, I often have to stop and help Bella go to the potty or something like that.

In addition, Bella has gotten very attached to me since Abby arrived. I'm sure she feels a little insecure. So I've been trying to give her lots of attention and praise. We seem to have finally left 'the uglies' behind us for the most part, which is wonderful!

I'm continually amazed by the fact that these two beautiful little people were actually inside me! And yes, sometimes when Bella is being a handful, I wish I could shrink her down and put her back! Being a mom is the hardest, most wonderful, scariest, most amazing thing I have ever done. And I really hope I'm doing a good job.

The Other Sister

I know a lot of my recent posts have mostly focused on Arabella, and all the joys and frustrations that come with being her mom. If Abby could read she'd probably be a little jealous. And it's not that I love her any less. It's just that compared to an almost-three-year-old, well, a newborn is pretty easy.

So I've decided to devote this post to my Abby. The other sister.

She has dark eyes, I believe they will end up brown like her daddy's. And her hair is jet black. She still sleeps a lot, even during the day, and when she is awake she tends to be a little fussy. Even with the soy formula, she tends to get gas on her belly and fuss. She's sleeping five or six hours at a time now at night some nights, which is nice.

Right now, love her heart, she looks a little homely. (Don't you love how it's okay to say anything about someone as long as you preface it with 'love their heart'). Her hair is coming out on the sides and she has 'baby acne', so her little face is all broken out. I call her my little ugly duckling.

Today I found her 'happy place' in our house. Its in the kitchen, in front of the laundry room. (see picture above!) I don't know if it's the color or the noise, but she was happy there for the longest time today. And I got a lot of laundry done!

It's both a relief and a tiny bit of sadness to know that (Lord willing) she will be my last. And with another child to care for it's a lot harder to cuddle as much as you did with the first one. But she is just as precious.