Friday Kindness

Each Friday I will be highlighting a Random Act of Kindness.  

I invite you to join in and spread some kindness of your own.

Leave Some Diapers

For those moms with kids in diapers out there,

you've probably found yourself in a situation once or twice

where your babe has a blowout and you're without your diaper bag.

Help a fellow mom (or dad) out by bundling up a few diapers and wipes

and leaving them in public changing station.

This is especially easy to do if you have extra diapers your baby has outgrown.

I put a few diapers of different sizes and some wipes in a ziplock baggie,

wrote up a quick note, and left it in a Target bathroom.

While it's quite possible it may have ended up in the trash,

I'm hoping some mom found it and was able to use it.

See other Random Acts of Kindness here.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Kindness

Each Friday I will be highlighting a Random Act of Kindness.  

I invite you to join in and spread some kindness of your own.

This week's Act is super easy and something I'm sure all of you can do:

Return Shopping Carts

Next time you go to the grocery store, Target, or any other store that uses carts, 

take a minute to walk your cart back to the cart corral.  

Even better, gather up a few others you see sitting around and walk them back too.  

You'll help make some employee's day a little better 

and as an added bonus, you'll burn an extra calorie or two!

Be kind this weekend!

Curiosity

It's getting harder and harder to take my monthly baby pictures

with a squirmy, rolling, crawling, curious little babe.

Especially when there's a mirror nearby.

I mean, we all like to make faces at ourselves don't we?

Cooking for Baby

Evelyn started solids at 5 months 

and has loved (almost) everything we've given her.

For the most part, I've been making homemade purees 

using different fruits and veggies.

All you have to do is steam up some veggies until they're nice and soft,

then puree them in a blender or food processor

(or a fancy baby food maker).

It can be a little time consuming, but it's pretty easy.

And it's great knowing exactly what I'm feeding her.

I usually make a few batches on the weekend and freeze them in ice cube trays.

Each cube is about a tablespoon, so it's super easy to heat up a few cubes for a meal.

So far we've made:

Sweet potatoes

Butternut Squash

Peas

Carrots

Broccoli

Spinach

Apples

Pears

Mango

Blueberries

Here we have carrots, broccoli, and pears.

Yum!

Friday Kindness

To celebrate my 35th birthday this past November I was inspired by this video posted on a friend's Facebook page to complete 35 random acts of kindness.  Instead of doing them all in one day, I wanted to spread them out over the course of the month.  I made a list of acts I thought I could complete and each day I tried to do one or two.  Unfortunately I was unable to complete all 35 acts in the month, but that doesn't mean the experience was wasted.  If nothing else, it taught me an important lesson...That it doesn't take much effort to be kind and hopefully brighten someone's day.

In light of that experience, I am going to start a new feature here on Fridays where I'll feature one act of kindness.   I hope it will inspire you to do you own random acts and spread some happiness to others.

The first Random Act of Kindness I'm going to feature is something I'm sure almost all of us have done at one point or another: Donate clothes to Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other charity of your choice.

I recently realized that most of my clothes either haven't been worn in over a year or didn't really fit my new mommy body.  I was tired of looking at a closet full of clothes that I wasn't wearing and I wanted a fresh start.  So I cleaned out the closet, packed up a few bags of clothes, and dropped them off at the local Goodwill.  Easy peasy!

Click here to find your local Goodwill.

6 and 7 Months

Evelyn turned 6 and 7 months in November and December,

so obviously these updates are a bit late.

I wasn't even going to post them but let's admit it,

these updates are more for me than for you!

I love looking back at the photos and seeing how much she's grown.

Here she is at 6 months, right before Thanksgiving.

And at 7 months on Christmas Eve

It's amazing how big she's getting.
Those jeans in the 6 month picture?  Yeah, they're more like capris now.
And we had to lower her crib mattress yesterday because she's starting to pull up on it.

She's been so much fun the past two months that I kinda want to keep her this age forever.
But it's so fun to watch her explore and learn new things.

Her latest accomplishments include:
* army crawling at 6 months
* real crawling at 7 months
* kneeling (to try to push over the baby gate)
* sitting up if she's placed there
* drinking out of a real cup
* loving just about any food (except avocados and bananas)
* plenty of laughing, squealing, and babbling

Time really is flying by
and I know her 1st birthday will sneak up on us before we know it.
So I'm trying to soak up all this baby-ness before she's a full blown toddler.
Maybe by then she'll have some hair!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Cole Slaw

I love my slow cooker.

There is nothing better than to throw in a hunk of meat,

sprinkle in some seasonings,

and come home 8 hours later to hot, comforting dinner.

This pulled pork recipe is sooo easy

there's really no excuse to not try it.

The men in your life will think that you spent all day slaving away in the kitchen

and thank you profusely.

Don't worry....I won't tell.

*

Pulled Pork

put together from a variety of sources

3 lb boneless pork shoulder

1 tablespoon cajun seasoning

1 onion, cut into quarters

3 cloves garlic, smashed

water

1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Rub pork shoulder with cajun seasoning.  Put in the bottom of your slow cooker.  Top with onion and garlic.  Fill the slow cooker with water so that it covers about 1/2 the pork shoulder.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours, until the meat is very tender and easily falls apart.  Remove from slow cooker and dump out the water.  Shred the pork with two forks, return to the slow cooker, and pour in the BBQ sauce.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes until heated through.  Serve on Hawaiian rolls with cole slaw.

Cole Slaw

adapted from Bobby Flay

1 package slaw mix

3/4 cup mayo

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon dry mustard

2 teaspoons celery salt

salt and pepper to taste

Empty slaw mix into a big bowl.

Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.  Adjust the sugar/vinegar/seasonings to your taste.  Pour over the slaw mix and toss together.  Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to come together.

*

You might want to stock up on napkins 'cause it's gonna get messy!

Enjoy!

Quiche Lorraine

If you saw my last post, then you know I made 

this quiche for New Years Day breakfast.

And while I wouldn't recommend getting up early while possibly hungover

to cook bacon, make and roll out dough, and whip up some eggs,

the recipe was pretty easy and turned out beautifully

with a flakey crust, and a light texture.

Quiche Lorraine

from Betty Crocker

Crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening

2-3 tablespoons cold water

Filling:

4 large eggs

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup crumbled bacon (about 8 pieces)

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 cup (4 oz) shredded swiss cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

For the Crust:

Whisk together flour and salt.  Cut in the shortening until dough resembles small peas, using a pastry blender or two knives.  Add the water one spoonful at a time and combine, just until the dough sticks together.  Gather it into a ball, flatten it into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 45 minutes.

When ready, roll out the crust to fit a 9-inch pie dish with enough for a 1 inch overhang.  Place the pastry in the pie dish and press down firmly.  Fold under the overhanging edge and flute as desired.  Line the crust with foil or parchment paper and weight down with dry beans or pie weights.  Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.  Carefully remove foil and bake for another 2 minutes.  Remove and turn oven down to 325.

For the Filling:

Sprinkle the bacon, cheese, and onions into the baked crust.

Whisk the eggs and cream together.  Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Pour into pie crust (careful not to overflow).  Bake for 45-50 minutes until a knife in the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

The bacon and whipping cream may  not make this a New Years diet-friendly recipe,

but I highly suggest you bend the rules a bit for a weekend breakfast

Enjoy!

Happenings

How is it the new year already?

Seriously, I think the holidays go by faster and faster each year.

The decorations are all put away,

the hubby returned to work this morning,

and life has gone back to its regular routine.

Here's a little glimpse (via iphone) at our happenings the past few weeks...

It's been really cold here in LA so baby Evelyn got a new hat.

One morning, we took advantage of the hubby being off work 

and had a family walk to Starbucks.

Christmas Eve and Christmas were spent at my parents house.

It was so great to have the family together,

and fun to watch the baby open presents (aka play with wrapping paper)

New Year's Eve was spent at home with friends.

The hubby made homemade pizza on his new pizza stone

and we counted down to the new year while playing Apples to Apples.

Clearly these weren't my cards.

Evelyn called it a night at 8:00 and spent the final hours of 2012 in bed.

In the morning I made a Quiche Lorraine and breakfast potatoes,

enjoyed with mimosas and bloodies.

And today we went grocery shopping.  

Evelyn sat in the cart like a big girl while we stocked up on healthy foods for the new year.

As my sister said, it looks like she's holding on for dear life.

But really she's just getting ready to lean down and lick the cart.

Yum.

Hope your new year is off to a great start!