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Monday, June 11, 2018

A little interruption

holy computer issues batman...

Basically my computer is down.  I cannot access stuff I need to make exciting blog posts.

So instead of giving you shitty posts with no pictures, I am opting to take a little break from blogging.

I have great things lined up for when everything is working again (or we have a new one) but until then, enjoy looking back over old posts!

And know that we are rocking out over here with the garden.

And getting ready for baby girl's THIRD birthday!  How the fuck that happen?

Anyway, sorry for the interruption, but I will be back as soon as I can!


Monday, June 4, 2018

A nice quiet park

It's very nice outside lately!  Which means it's park days.  We look forward to our weekly stand
ing park date and getting to explore more parks around where we live.

As it stands, baby girl is enjoying being outside.


And she sleeps SO well when we go to the park.

We really should do it more often.


This particular park is a pay park.  We paid a small nominal fee for parking and then have access to the park.

It was perfect.  Because no one wants to pay when there are so many free parks everywhere!


But you wanna know a secret?

I'll pay.

Every time.


In order to enjoy the quiet park experience.

It's not that I don't enjoy the loud, rambunctious park!  I absolutely do on most days!

But sometimes, I just want to watch my kid play without being run over.


Or pushed down.

Or shoved out of the way by a bigger kid.

Because like it or not, my kiddo isn't ever going to be the biggest kid on the playground.

And that factors in to her positive experiences at the park.


So we went to the pay park and had a blast with a friend.

And we played hard on the playground.

And walked around the pond and threw rocks in.

And weren't chased off by anyone or any thing.


We got to enjoy the quiet.

I love these park days and I'm so excited for the rain to finally stop so we can go outside again.

Friday, June 1, 2018

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Lettuce wraps

To keep with my food theme this week, I figured I would show you something we have become obsessed with.

Lettuce wraps!

Here are two wonderful examples.

And the kicker is baby girl eats it too!



 So this is a beef and broccoli in a hoisin based sauce.  With white rice and we used butter lettuce.  We tried the nifty living lettuce stuff from the produce department.  It was... okay.  I mean, nothing spectacular!  But the whole meal was so delicious.

This meal was brought to us because apparently I  bought everything else for chicken lettuce wraps... but the chicken.  Soooo, we did beef and broccoli instead.

Great culinary mistake!



This is my favorite lettuce wrap meal ever!  Chicken lettuce wraps.  It's a soy and hoisin based sauce with ground chicken and water chestnuts.  Again with white rice, which you can totally leave off we just happen to love rice.  This right here is the cream of the crop, best meal I make right now.  At least to me.  (The husband says my "Hunter's chicken" is still primo.)

Anyway, these are two more samplings of the meals we have weekly!

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Pot roast in the dutch oven

I love cooking.

I think we have established that.

I also love pictures of things I cook.  I am not great at getting recipes together, but I am great at taking pictures while I do it so you can see what I mean by a pinch or whatever.

Pot roast in the dutch oven is one of my favorite meals.  I have zero clue why I made it this week... meat must have been on sale or something.  Usually I only make it in the winter... because it's warm and filling and perfect for a snowy winter's night!

But anyway, here is a step by step.  My recipe is super simple!


Start with browning your meat.  I put about a tablespoon of butter in the pan and threw the meat in on one side.  My meat was a little frozen still.  Don't forget to thaw your meat before supper...

While your meat is browning, take the time to slice your potatoes.  I love these little creamers.  They are so easy to split.  


Flip your meat!

Then my secret weapon...


This is honestly my favorite thing ever.  My cooking has changed since finding this stock base.  I highly recommend all their flavors to everyone!


So I had roughly 2 tablespoons left in this particular jar.  So that's what I used!

Melt it down in some hot tap water.  The jar says 1T to 1 cup water, so my almost 2T fit nicely in 2 cups of hot water.


Take your meat out and put it on a plate to rest.


Another case of using what we have on hand!  Along with those tiny creamer potatoes I used some baby carrots.  Husband takes those every day for work, so it's what I had in my kitchen!  Plus there's no prep work for them in this recipe!

Butter in the pot for the potatoes.

Potatoes in the pot.  I halved most of them, but some needed to be cut into thirds because they were too big.  Basically get them all the same size.  

Cook them until they look like this.  They are no where near done, but they got a little color, which means flavor!


Carrots in the pot!  Stir them around.  You just want to cook up a bit to release some of the carrots sweetness.  


Deglaze your pot with a bit of that yummy stock you made!  Basically pour a small amount in the bottom and then scrape to release any stuck on bits of meat or potatoes or carrots.  This is the flavor in the brown you always hear about.  





Make a little well in the potatoes and carrots and put your meat back in the pot.  Then use the rest of that stock to fill it up!  I tend to fill the pot roast up to almost covering.  


Bring it to a beautiful boil!


Lid on and in a 275 degree Fahrenheit over for a few hours.  Yes, I have no set time.  That depends on the size of your roast, beef or pork, and a bunch of other things!  This roast took about 5 hours to cook to tender.


Pull out the meat to slice it up!  Some people like to make their shredded, and that's perfectly okay!  It's yummy either way!


This was the kid plate for baby girl.  She ate exactly zero, but damn husband and I loved it!  It was so good and tender and the veggies were sweet and perfect.  

And the stock made the best ladle sauce ever.  

So there you have it!  Pot roast Parenting Life style!  

Thursday, May 24, 2018

A bubble extravaganza!

Alternately titled

Papa gets out the bubble machine because he's tired of blowing bubbles.

Do you remember when you were so carefree that running through bubbles in your driveway was the best thing ever?

Yeah, neither do I.

Having a kid really makes you appreciate the little things again.

Running through the sprinkler, sliding down a slide, and running through bubbles.



The good things in life are the simple things.  And kids really show that to you.

Baby girl absolutely loves bubbles.  To the point I find myself light headed some days because all she wants to do is have me blow bubbles for her to pretend to eat. 


Oh yes, she pretends to eat them.

And as we were sitting in the driveway the other day, I remembered something.

We bought a bubble machine for her 2nd birthday!

Nothing fancy, just a Walmart special for like 9 bucks.


But the best 9 dollars I spent that year!

So off to the office, where everything goes to die, to find the machine and hope we still had batteries!

Lo and behold the batteries still worked!  


A little miracle bubble and she was off!  Enjoying bubbles in a whole new way.

And much faster than papa could ever blow them!

I watched my daughter dance through the bubbles in the light and just couldn't stop smiling.  


Because she was enjoying life.  

And that's my goal as a papa.  To raise my kid in such a way that she grows up to enjoy life.  


Monday, May 21, 2018

A little photographer

Apparently baby girl got my phone during my last doctor's appointment.

I downloaded my pictures and was really confused.

Then it hit me.  She took pictures!


This one is kinda artsy and gave me the idea that I need to get her a camera and see what happens!

Stay tuned for further updates on her picture taking!