4/52

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
George Bernard Shaw

quote from here

Welcome

I’ve been wanting to use vinyl lettering on my front door for a while now.  I just love the way it looks! So when I found a great deal on Etsy in Bwordy’s shop I decided it was meant to be!

Installation was super simple…

1.  Align stencil

  2.  Attach with painters tape

  3.  Peel off backing

  
  4.  Use flat object to help vinyl adhere.  I used a pastry scraper.

 
5.  Peel off top layer.  And voila!

IWL–2 months

Isaac William is 2 months old!!  We actually are going today for his 2 month appointment.  I am hoping he does well…  Joe and I are making bets for how much he weighs. 

The outtakes were so funny last month I think you’ll enjoy seeing those each month!

     

      

Oh the captions I could apply…  Don’t you wonder what he’s thinking!?!?

Check out 1 month here.

3/52

Playtime…

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Buttermilk biscuits here we go…

Yeah, a little Sir Mix a Lot to start a Friday morning!  I wanted to share this recipe before the weekend so you can make these biscuits tomorrow morning.  Remember that left over buttermilk you have in your fridge from making waffles…  well here’s what to do with the rest of it. 

Bobby Flay’s Black Pepper Buttermilk Biscuits

4 cups all purpose flour	4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda	1 tsp salt
12 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pcs	1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk
1/2 cup cream	2 tbsp coarsely ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450*   Combine dry ingredients

  

   

Cut butter into pieces.

This is an important step.  Break the small pieces of butter up with your fingers but still leaving some larger chunks.  This allows for nice and flakey biscuits.  When the butter melts it leaves little air pockets as they bake.

  

Add buttermilk and work together with a fork.  When the flour on the edges pulls away you should have the correct consistancy.  You want your mixture wet enough to hold together but dry enough that it doesn’t stick to your hands and your work surface.

  

Turn your dough out onto your work surface.  Knead and fold until combined without over working the dough.  Shape dough into rounded shape with a 1/2” thickness.

Flour your biscuit cutter and cut your biscuits.  Place on cookie sheet.

   

Brush biscuit tops with cream (or we’ve used extra buttermilk as well)  Bake for 12 -15  minutes.

   

YUM!

We also made some sausage gravy for our biscuits…  Super easy.

   

1.  Scramble sausage – make sure not to use a non-stick pan (we used 1/2 lb) 
2.  Add flour (1/4 cup flour)

    

3.  Mix flour with sausage (coating sausage with flour) 
4.  Add milk (2 cups)

5.  Bring to simmer.  Gravy will thicken and it will delish!

Weeks 7 & 8

EIGHT WEEKS!  Wowza…  This little boy is so precious.  He is a good baby.  Isaac likes to sleep and EAT.  He’s already eating 4 oz consistently and we’ve had a couple feedings of 5 oz and one time he wanted 6 oz!  We go next week for his 2 month appointment.  You know what that means…  SHOTS.  eek!  I also can’t believe I only have 4 weeks left at home with the little one before I go back to work.  I have been so blessed to get 12 weeks – I can’t imagine only getting 6 weeks of maternity leave.

Isaac playing with his friends

We are having so much fun watching this little man grow!  So blessed!!

Ladies Dinner

This past Friday I had a few ladies over for a little dinner at the house.  I have to say I really enjoyed making dinner at the house and having people here.  Before Mr Isaac made his appearance, we would have planned a dinner out a restaurant, but (as MANY people told us) life is a little different with a little one. 

I wanted the menu to be something that I could prep before hand and just pull together easily once my girls were here.  So I chose Roasted Spanish Chicken with sweet potatoes and onions and sautéed Brussels sprouts with craisins. 

Roasted Citrus Chicken & Sweet Potatoes
adapted from Nigella Lawson & Life is Great

4-6 Chicken Thighs	1 sweet onion
2 Orange	1-2 tbsp dried oregano
3 medium sized Sweet Potatoes	Salt and pepper
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven 350*.  Wash sweet potatoes.  Chop into even sized cubes (about 1/2” square).  Chop onion in similar size pieces.  Place on jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with raised edges).  Drizzle olive oil over veggies.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper – toss to coat.  Spread veggies out leaving room for chicken thighs.  Place chicken on pan and drizzle with olive oil.  Salt and pepper chicken.  Zest orange over chicken thighs.  Sprinkle oregano over chicken.

Place in pre-heated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender and caramelized.

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Brussels Sprouts with Craisins

1 bag Brussels sprouts	1 bag craisins
1/2 onion, chopped	1 tbsp olive oil

Soak craisins in a bowl of water (we’ve also used red wine before) to re-hydrate cranberries.  Remove outer leaves of Brussels sprouts.  Chop off bottom.  Then thinly slice / chop the Brussels sprouts.  Dice onion.  Heat sauté pan over medium high heat.  Once pan is hot add olive oil, sprouts and onions.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sauté until sprouts are tender and onions are translucent.  Drain craisins and add to pan.  Serve immediately.

For dessert I did a simple Peach Crunch Cake from Bakerella.  It’s super tasty and I know it’s a very well known recipe.  I’ve made it before with strawberries but it’s nice to have some yummy fruit cobbler in the winter.  I would use another can of peaches if I made it again.  I would like more peaches!!

Have you been to any dinner parties recently?  Maybe thrown your own??  What’s your “go-to” recipe for having company?

2/52

Week 2 of Project 52

“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
― Mother Teresa

Week 1

Buttermilk Waffles

These are some of the BEST waffles I have had.  The buttermilk gives these a little tangy flavor that balances out the sweetness.  You can add all the obvious additions to specialize your waffle.  We’ve done blueberries, chocolate chips and bananas, etc.

Classic Buttermilk Waffles
from King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

Makes 4 waffles (you can easily double the recipe if needed)

1 large egg	1 tbsp sugar
7 oz buttermilk	1 tsp baking powder
1/2 stick butter, melted & cool	1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract	1/2 tsp salt
1 c all-purpose flour

Mix wet ingredients in bowl. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and whisk together then add to wet mixture.  Mix until just blended.  Add any additional fruit or chips.  Pre-heat waffle iron, once heated add waffle batter to waffle iron.  When the waffle iron stops steaming, the waffle is ready.

I pre-heat the oven to 200* and put my waffles in there while the others cook, that way you can all eat together and have a hot waffle!  In this batch I added blueberries and butterscotch chip…  YUM!

  

 

I know buttermilk isn’t a super popular item to have in your fridge but I would recommend you picking up a small carton.  We use it for making biscuits, soaking chicken for fried chicken, making dips, etc.  It has a pretty long shelf life so you should be able to use it before it goes bad.