Gardening on the brain!

Last year's garden

It's only January and I can't wait to start my garden. I'm planning and dreaming and wishing and hoping.....and just so excited!

My brother and sister in law gave me this wonderful gardening book, and I have been learning a lot! Learning about what I've done right and wrong in the past. This year I have so much more knowledge than before...I've never been this strategic in my planning and have a little experience on my side too :).

For an early birthday present, Hank set out to make some new garden beds and six hours and three beds later, we now have plenty of garden space to grow food for our little family and to give away to friends too!

What I do when I have extra pumpkin around.....

Pumpkin is too yummy to waste, so this year I am determined to use every last little bit of pumpkin I have. This determination has forced me to get creative with some of my meals. I want to share some of the ways I have used extra pumpkin puree.

These pumpkin cookies are to die for...I've been making them for years and they are definitely one of my best cookie recipes.

Pumpkin pancakes are an easy way to use left over pumpkin puree. I usually put about a half a cup in with my pancakes and add a little less water. You can mix in more water in order to achieve that perfect pancake consistency.

Pumpkin bagels...this Taste of Home recipe is so yummy, especially with maple walnut cream cheese. Don't be discouraged at the thought of making your own bagels...you can use a bread maker!

Last, but certainly not least, pasta with pumpkin sauce. This was my own creation, so no links here.

1 cup of pumpkin puree
1/3 cup of cream cheese
1 tbs white wine vinegar
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup of half and half
1/2 cup of pasta water

Cook pasta and reserve some of the water to put in the sauce. While the pasta is cooking whisk together all of these ingredients over medium heat add salt and pepper to taste and then add in pasta water until you get the sauce to the consistency you like.

I added roasted tomatoes and sauteed rosemary to my pasta, but you can add in whatever seems tasty to you!

Hope you enjoy these recipes!

Fall in the Northwest

So...A LOT has happened since my last post. Summer came and went (it was great by the way), Elijah turned one (!!!), we went to Hamilton, Bridge, and Vegas (lots of grandpa and grandma love), and Hank went back to work. That brings us up to date, maybe someday I'll post pictures of the lost summer :).

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. I love the crisp cool mornings and warm afternoons. Hank is borderline obsessed with hot chocolate this time of year, so we have nice quiet evening sipping lots of hot chocolate and tea together. I am pretty much obsessed with anything pumpkin this time of year (I'll hopefully be posting more about that soon, but it kind of depends on how long Elijah naps). Pumpkin cookies, bread, pie, sauce, pancakes...ahhh I could go on and on.....but I won't because that may bore you. Oh and candles.....I love Autumn scented candles, but most of all this city girl LOVES the pumpkin patch!!

We went to the pumpkin patch as a family earlier this month, and Elijah and I can't seem to stay away. While Hank is off slaying dragons for his family, Elijah and I go play in the pumpkins, or pupum as Elijah so affectionately refers to them.

While daddy's away...

....mommy and baby will play! Hank is out of town today and we (I) decided to have a picnic with my little man. It was our first picnic date ever! Thanks Vicky for inspiring us to do this, we had so much fun!
After eating most of his food, he thought it would be a good idea to sit on his plate....

So, I've decided that a picnic with a 10 month old would be much easier with two people....I didn't get to eat too much of my lunch, but it was fun watching Elijah and snapping pictures.




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Elijah discovers his voice

Elijah's first zoo trip

We really enjoyed our first trip to the zoo!!! The weather was terrible, but the company was great and the animals were visible and so fun to see!

Nine months

I'm so behind on blogging.....

It's been so long, I'm not even sure where to begin....Elijah is almost eight months old and has two teeth!!! He is such a happy boy, and loves to stand and walk. He really has no desire for crawling (maybe that's because when he does, he moves backwards instead of forward). His relationship with kitty kitty is growing, they really seem to be quite fond of one another. I am seriously amazed at how well she tolerates him.

Hank and I are doing well. He is well into track season and really enjoying it, though it takes up a lot of his time. We are working on getting our garden ready for planting, Hank is getting raised beds built, and I'm sorting through seeds and strategically planning planting locations.

That's all for now...hopefully more to come soon!

Peas!!

FOOD

I just would like to point out that this and this both make it very difficult to eat an appropriate portion size. I've lost one pound this week, slow and steady wins the race, right?

...and what's a good blog post without a picture of our little cutie pants?

Huff weight loss challenge

Between left over baby weight, and a lot less time than we're used to...Hank and I have realized that we need to get back into shape. So....we will be using some healthy competition to make it happen. We both want to lose about five percent of our current weight, so the first one to do that wins! Basically, we are done with dessert for a while, we've started running again, and we are watching our portion size. I'll keep the blog updated on our progress.

Elijah is exempt from this contest as he is gaining weight exponentially, weighing at almost seventeen pounds at five months.....such a cute little butterball!

Elijah meets rice cereal

So, I'm pretty sure he had about a teaspoon of rice cereal, but he certainly enjoyed it! I'm really looking forward to making his baby food soon!!!

TOO CUTE!!

CHRISTMAS

So, I'm only about a month late in posting this...getting better! Christmas was wonderful this year. Hank and I hosted my mom and Troy and our friends David and Amber for Christmas Eve dinner. We had a great visit with the grandparents while they were here, it was Grandpa Grimes' first time meeting Elijah and they sure did seem to like one another. While they were here it was Grandpa's job to put Elijah to sleep, mostly because Elijah fell asleep so quickly every time he picked him up.
Elijah had a lot of fun with Grandma Grimes, he thought she was hilarious....


Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Grimes for spending Christmas with us this year, we loved having you!