Weekend Round-Up

From favorite posts to things I'm drooling over, here is a round-up from this week::

• For when  you can't stand the heat, from The Happy Home.
• Chatting at the Sky and Simple Mom trekked to the Philippines with Compassion International.
• Ideas for raising children you like.
• For my little one, I'm eyeing this.
• To feed my addictions to Amy Butler and all things knit/crochet. {drool, drool, drool}

Hope you and yours have a fabulous weekend!

Made For Each Other

I have a secret.

It's a little strange.  At least I think it is.  What did Shakespeare say about strange bedfellows?

"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows..."  And it's true.

My morning cuppa has a new friend.

It all started when my HEB decided to clearance out Sun Crystals.  Let me just say that I seriously heart me some Sun Crystals.  I happily used Sun Crystals all through my pregnancy because it wasn't artificial {half sugar, half stevia} and it sweetened all my beverages perfectly.  When my canister of Sun Crystals went dry for the last time, I just about cried.

The hubster sweetly bought me every Sun Crystals substitute he could find on the baking aisle.  Imperial's version of the sugar/stevia blend is lacking.  Truvia isn't the same because it's all stevia with no sugar.  Ditto Purvia.

Then I remembered seeing Kyra Sedgwick add honey to her coffee on The Closer.  And I thought, "Do people actually add honey to coffee?  Or is this just a character quirk Kyra came up with for Brenda Leigh?"

So I consulted Mother Google.  It turns out quite a few people use honey instead of sugar in their coffee.  It's sweeter than sugar, so you need less of it...and it's fructose, not sucrose, so supposedly it's healthier for you.  {Though I am not a doctor/nutritionist/etc. so please don't take my word for it.}

Since my beloved Sun Crystals were no more, I had nothing to lose.

I'm not a big honey fan, so when I browsed the honey aisle I picked Harkey's because:

1. It was cheap.
2. It comes from San Saba, TX {where one of my Baylor friends is from so it had to be good}
3. Cute pink tie on the cute bear jar matches my box of half and half.
4. It's wildflower honey...which goes well with my vintage wildflower mugs.

 

Match made in heaven!  

{Although...don't tell the bear, but if Sun Crystals ever makes a return appearance at HEB, I might be tempted to cheat.} 

How do you like your coffee?  Any interesting combinations?

Solid Gold{en Anjou Pear Puree}

My sweet mother has told me the story over and over and over.  Baby Food Fest 1982.  How she and one of her good friends decided to make their own baby food...and the catastrophe that ensued.  How she slaved over the food...how it turned out miserably...and how I refused to eat.

This story is running through my mind as I prepare to undertake Baby Food Fest 2011.  And you know what...

...it was so easy!

I mean ridiculously easy.  So easy anyone can do this.  Really.

Start with 4 ripe pears.  I used Anjou and bought the ripest ones at the store...so ripe their skin was tearing easily.  They smelled heavenly.

 

Next, fill a pot with 1-2 inches of water and put on the stove to boil.  While that is coming up to a boil, quarter and core your pears.

 

Feel free to feed the pooch your scraps.

 

Pile your pears on your steamer tray...

 

And place the steamer tray in the pot of boiling water.  Make sure the water does not touch any of the fruit.

 

Add the lid to the pot to make sure you retain all those yummy nutrients.

 

Twiddle your thumbs...change poopy diapers...whatever you gotta do...for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes check your pears with a fork.  If the fork glides through the skin easily they're done.

Remove the pot from the stove and let the pears cool.  Do not dump the extra liquid.

Once the pears are cooled to the touch {I gave them a full 30 minutes} peel the skins off the flesh and toss the flesh into your food processor or blender {or food mill}.

 

This is where my child got fussy and I left the pears to cool even more for awhile.  And thus the beauty of this recipe.  You can walk away for awhile if you need to.  You don't have to babysit the pears.

Puree your pears until the consistency looks right to you.  If you need to add some of the reserved cooking liquid you can.

Pour your puree into your storage containers.  I used these silicone freezer trays and measured out 2 tsp. portions.  

When I ran out of tray space, I poured the rest into a glass jar to store in the fridge.  

The jar has 10 teaspoons of puree in it...or 5 servings for my first-time-foodie.  

You can use this basic recipe for just about any fruit or veggie you want to puree.  Purees will keep in the fridge for 4-7 days and in the freezer for 3-4 months.

 

Enjoy!

Ready or Not...

...solids here we come!

I found and fell in love with this cookbook last summer.

I read it cover to cover and could not wait to cook for my little one.  Under our pediatrician's guidance, we decided to wait until the Kiddo was six months old to introduce solid foods.  This was not a difficult decision to make on our part...we firmly believe this was the right decision for our little one.  But the decision to introduce solids is very personal and varies from baby to baby...the absolute last thing I was anyone reading this to think is that I don't approve of giving younger babies solids.  This is just what was right for us.  To each his own.  There are enough things we as mamas guilt ourselves over...this doesn't need to be another one.

So...now that Kiddo will be six months old this week {OMG....where did the time go??} the Hubster and I thought it would be about time to buy a high chair and some feeding essentials.

Are these not the cutest spoons ever?

Ok, I know what you're thinking..."they're just spoons"...but let's be honest...anything baby is cute {well almost...} and I'm super excited about feeding our guy new foods.  So just humor me.

And to go with the green spoons are green silicone trays for freezing those homemade purees!

 

I had so much fun at Babies R Us picking these out...but I have to say I felt completely overwhelmed.  That store has way too much.  It's the only store I know who can take meal time and turn it into a gadgety event.  {Tommy Tippee, I'm talking to you with your fancy suction cup trays and bowls.}  So I attempted to keep it simple with these spoons and trays and that's it. 

Except for the high chair, of course! 

 

Doesn't he look so serious?  It's like he knows this is a big deal and he's put on his big boy serious face for the big event.  :)

So, ready or not, solids here we come!