the answer is Yes

For those of you who had questions about my previous post...
Yes, it tastes just fine defrosted. We have frozen deli meat before - and we don't like leftovers so if we think it tastes fine my guess is you will agree. :)
Yes, Walmart or any grocery store should shave the meat for free. Although, Sams is the only place I've found a fully cooked turkey breast. But all grocery stores have fully cooked ham.
Happy Savings and happy lunches!

Savings!$!$!$! And a LOT of turkey!

Seriously, we buy a pound of deli turkey every week. My hubby doesn't care for ham so we buy turkey - currently at the grocery store and Walmart smoked deli turkey is $6.99/lb - crazy!
My friend Steph shared with me a while back about how she buys a ham or turkey that is already cooked and asks the deli to slice it for her - much cheaper. If your family will eat ham, you can get it around the holidays for 99cents a pound!
Anyway, yesterday I was at Sams and saw they had JenniO mesquite smoked turkey fully cooked for $3.28/lb! So I picked up a 9.62 lb turkey, rang the meat department bell and asked them to shave it for me - they did - no extra charge!
I found that one pound of turkey will fit in a ziplock sandwich bag so I divided it up and put it in the freezer. Now for more than 9 weeks I do not have to stand in line at the deli, I do not have to spend twice as much on the turkey, I can just go to the freezer and pull out a bag.

Ahhhhh.....it feels good to save money!
Thanks Steph for the FABULOUS idea!

Funny Pics

I took these pictures the other day while Baby K was chillin' in the chair. She was making funny faces and I was cracking up! What a sweetie.
She is 4 weeks old in these pictures.

I want to make these...

Strawberries cored and filled with cheesecake then dipped in chocolate - I must eat one soon! hee hee

Found this recipe on my beloved Foodgawker website.

http://tamiskitchentabletalk.blogspot.com/2008/09/cheesecake-filled-chocolate-covered.html

Unrelated info to this food post...
Baby K goes to the dr. for her 1month appt. I can't believe my baby is 4 weeks old. WOW!
Also, soda pop is now a no go for me. I don't drink it often but the last 2 times I've had it have been Baby K's worst days. The kid's tummy can't handle the stuff, I'm pretty sure.
Dang it! Even though I don't drink pop much, now that I need to avoid it I want it more than ever. :)

Exhausted Mother Saved by Exhaust Fan

My sweet baby is very unpredictable these days. One day she is a perfect angel and another day I think she will never stop screaming and eating.

For example on Tuesday I met up with some old friends for coffee at 10am we sat and enjoyed great conversation and coffee (decaf for me of course) and when we finally decided to check the time it was 1:45! My baby was just hanging out in her car seat sleeping and she ate once but was so quiet. Then we all went to a very late lunch and stayed there until 4 then I went to the grocery store - Baby K was perfect.

Two days later I went to the mall to find a dress for an upcoming event Baby K was having a great morning so I thought we would be fine. Turns out she hated the outing. She screamed pretty much the whole time we were in the mall. Even though I fed her in the parking lot before going in (hoping she would be full and asleep for my shopping) we ended up in the dressing room for more than 30 min. feeding her and then ended up leaving b/c the crying would not stop.

Yesterday evening she was the crying machine again. I think she may have had an upset stomach. Neither my husband or I could get her to relax and go to sleep. She really had not taken more than a 15 min. nap here or there during the day so I knew she was very tired.

A friend of mine had told me that when her son was crying a lot that they would swaddle him up, go to a dark room and turn on white noise and he would settle down.

We don't have a noise maker so I swaddled her up, went to the bathroom with the lights turned off and turned on the exhaust fan and in less than 30 seconds she was silent. I just stood there in the dark swaying back and forth and she was sound asleep in just a few min. We put an air purifier in our room that makes a similar noise and turned out the lights and she slept for 6 hours!! This morning she was not going down for a nap so we went to the bathroom again - works like a charm. I love that exhaust fan!

Maybe I will move her bassinet to the bathroom until I am able to go out and buy a noise maker. ha ha

Here is a picture of baby K learning to pose like a model. :)

Here is a picture of dad asleep with baby and the dog. (we had to touch up some spots on the back wall so the paint is a little crazy in the background)

K-State Fan...

Let the brainwashing begin...mommy is going to turn this little one into a K-State fan if she can.

She seems amused, doesn't she?

Daddy thinks the bow is a little over the top - mommy thinks it is cute and keeps strangers from thinking I'm a boy - Baby K doesn't mind the bow unless she hits it with her hand and it ends up over her eye like a pirate eye patch.

Mommy hopes K-State defense and coaching improve so it is easier to hold your head up high while supporting the Cats - these non conference games are making me nervous - what is up? I totally think they have the talent so why isn't it showing up on the field? hmmm...

Go State!

New Pictures

Photo Slide Show (click here)
Ok, well here is a link to a slide show of some pictures we had taken today. I just wanted to have a few pictures to capture how tiny our little girl is right now.
Baby K continues to be a joy and such a sweetheart.
How do I post a Picasa slide show in my blog? I can't figure it out....hmmmm....

A Fall Day...

It is a crisp fall day today. 58 degrees, a big blue sky with hardly any clouds - after days of rain.

The crisp air and sunny skies make me want:
A Pumpkin Spice Latte
A hayride in a pumpkin patch
A K-State home football game
White Chili & Cinnamon Rolls

I will settle for the latte and a nap and maybe a short walk around the block - oh and wearing a Kstate sweatshirt dreaming of a game day. :)

Our First Week

Here is a link for a slide show of some highlights of Baby K's first week.
http://www.members.cox.net/heather_jane/First_Week/

Some words from Baby K:
These new parents of mine are crazy about me & I am loving it!

Why Dad is great: He is the BEST at swaddling me! I love being swaddled as long as I can have at least one hand by my face - I love my hands! Yesterday mom and dad caught me interlocking my fingers and it looked like I was praying.
Dad is also an expert diaper changer now, I was the first baby he ever changed a diaper for.
I love to snuggle on Dad's chest, he gives me lots of kisses and tells me I'm beautiful.

Why Mom is great: She feeds me and I LOVE to eat! She rocks me and talks to me and we have nice late night and early morning chats when the house is quiet and it's just us. We love to cuddle and she also gives me lots of kisses and tells me I'm beautiful.

Some words from Mom:
Baby K is Great, Fabulous, Amazing! She is such a good baby. She cries when she has a need but then quiets as soon as her need is met - food, diaper change, to be swaddled, to be cuddled - that's it. Only a couple of times have we heard her be really upset or angry. She sleeps through the night and has since birth (although until she gains a little weight I do wake her in the night to eat, which she is always happy to do), she loves to just cuddle and stare at us. She has the most attentive eyes. She is making this new parent thing seem like a breeze and very low stress. I know she has lots of surprises and challenges in store of us but this week has been a dream and we are ready to love her through any challenge.

Pictures of Baby K

Baby K was born Saturday September 6th, 2008 at 2:34pm.

She weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 19 inches long.

Her heart rate started doing some funny things as my labor progressed so the doctors decided it was best to go ahead and do a c-section. This was a little scary because things went from going really great and "normal" or "typical" for labor and in less than 5 min. her heart rate started dropping and then coming back up and then dropping really low when I would have a strong contraction or when the doctors would touch the baby. I still had a few hours to go before delivery and the doctors felt the baby was under too much stress. For those of you who don't know her heart rate should have stayed in the 120-140 range give or take but during contractions she began to drop as low as into the 50's and 60's and once dropped into the high 40's! At this point I was like - get this baby out of me and make sure she is ok!! I didn't say that but I was thinking it when the dr. came over and told me they were going to go ahead with a c-section. I was so thankful they did.

After she was born she cried out like all healthy babies do, they checked her out and cleaned her up and her Apgar Scores were 8, 9 and 9 which is awesome! She has shown no signs of health concerns at all! Praise the Lord! The doctors are a little stumped as to what happened but think because she was over due the placenta may have been too old to support her when things got intense. It's a mystery I guess, but we are thankful for a healthy beautiful baby!!

My recovery is going pretty well - especially because I have been able to get a lot of sleep. Baby K is an amazing sleeper and eater! If she sleeps through the night this will be her 7th night in a row...she is 7 days old...Thank you Jesus!!! I do have to wake her up if it has been 4 hours since she last ate, but the dr. is checking her weight on Monday and if her weight is up then he said to stop waking her in the night and let her sleep until she wakes up wanting to be fed.

Here are some pictures of our sweet angel!

Here is one last look of Baby K in my tummy. :)



She's Here!

We are Loving every minute of it!!

The Big Day...

Tomorrow morning, Saturday September 6th, 2008 at 6:00am my husband and I will report to the hospital and I will be induced. 40 weeks and 3 days into pregnancy and I am SO ready to meet our little princess! Above is a 3D sono pic that was taken at 29 weeks. She has her daddy's lips I think. Pay no attention to the fact that the 3d sono makes her arm look a little weird (that happens when they snap the photo and baby is moving) also, pay no attention to the fact that her face is smashed up against my uterine wall (TMI?).

I have been dreaming of what she will look like, what she will be like and what Labor will be like (with drugs of course, hee hee). My husband is excited too and nervous about the unknown - I am excited to see him hold his daughter and cuddle with her and protect her and love her - he is going to be an amazing dad! I am so excited I'm not really sure how I will sleep tonight. I am trying to rest and relax and praying that God will take over my racing thoughts of excitement and make me sleep.

Tonight we went out to dinner at the same restaurant we went on our 1st date, the same place we went to eat the day after our wedding, and again for the 1st anniversary of our 1st date. My husband suggested we go eat their tonight. It's kind of our special place I guess. Lots of good memories surround eating a meal there. Then we went to get Marble Slap ice cream - yummy!

I can't wait to share with you photos of our little angel, our gift from God, in just a few short days. How exciting!

Simple, Small & Scrumptious!

Honestly, I have not tried this recipe yet. However, here is what I love about it...making dinner for two is a bit of a chore especially if you're like us and aren't fans of leftovers. I have figured out how to cook for just the two of us over the past 2 years and I enjoy the challenge. We LOVE dessert but we also do our best to eat fairly healthy and unfortunately it is rare to make dessert that will only serve two people and dessert is one thing we will eat leftover! So foodgawker.com added this recipe today. It only makes apple pie servings for 2! And the ingreds are simple and I am sure delish! I wish I had an apple so we could try this tonight.
The other thing I love about this recipe is you could easily make it for 4 or 6 or 8 or however many servings as long as you have the ramekins. What a cute little easy dessert that will impress anyone from small kids to even the most talented of cooks. Try it!

Makes two mini apple pies.
Ingredients:
1 Granny smith apple, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tbsp. corn starch
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ cup sugar
1 store-bought pie crust, room temperature
2 tbsp. butter, cut into slices
Directions:
Combine corn starch, cinnamon and sugar in a medium bowl. Toss in apples and stir to coat. Take store-bought pie crust and place empty ramekins on top. Trace around ramekins with a knife, cutting out large rounds of dough. The dough will shrink as it bakes so make sure your circles are larger than the ramekin diameter.
Divide apples evenly into ramekins. Dot with butter, then cover with dough, crimping around the edge.
Place ramekins or bowls on a foil- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and bake at 400° for 30 minutes.

I think another great idea would be to make a crumb topping rather than use pie crust - some brown sugar, cinnamon, a little flour and some butter - when done cooking add some pecan pieces and a little caramel ice cream topping - that would be really yummy but require a little more work.

Happy Baking,
Correnta

Coffee Ice Cream Results...

I made the coffee ice cream - actually we should call it coffee custard. AMAZING!!!
The recipe is in my previous post and if you love coffee and you love ice cream and you're looking for something to do - MAKE IT! This isn't your typical coffee ice cream that really tastes like ice cream w/ a hint of coffee flavor - no this is frozen creamy coffee goodness!

It only makes a quart (which is 4 cups) but it is rich rich rich and if you can eat a whole cup you have a stomach for rich things that I could only dream of matching.

In the future I plan to follow the recipe as directed below - however when I add the custard mixture to the ice cream freezer I am going to add 1 cup of whole Milk to the mix. This should actually make it a little less rich. This stuff is thick, it is definitely frozen custard and not ice cream.
Oh, and 1/2 cup of heath bars didn't seem to be enough if you ask me - I used about 3/4-1cup of crushed heath bar - YUMMY YUMMY!

I'm not a photographer and I couldn't get the light right so the camera wouldn't focus correctly, please excuse my very amateur photograph - but you get the idea.

Sweet Treat...

I am bored just sitting around waiting for this baby to come. Baby is due Thursday - I'll be induced if she doesn't make her appearance by next Saturday morning - this waiting is about to make me batty.
Anyway, what's a girl to do while she waits....hmmmmm....Make Ice Cream! :)

I found a recipe today for Coffee Ice Cream (actually a custard based ice cream) a blogger I found had revised a recipe she found in a book and I have revised her recipe so who knows how much of this is other people's recipe and how much is mine. I'll give a shout out to the original author. I plan to take a picture of my finished product but that will have to wait until tomorrow. The custard/ice cream base is all mixed up and chilling in the fridge. Tomorrow, Adam and I will freeze it (hopefully right after church b/c I am really excited about it!) and then I will take a picture and give you a review.
Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Toffee Crunch is my favorite ice cream so the bar is set high for this experiment.

Coffee Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz - revised by Correnta
3 cups heavy cream, divided
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups coffee beans (whole)-I used Starbucks Espresso Roast b/c the beans are strong and sweet.
pinch of salt
5 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla
Brown food coloring paste - I just threw this in b/c I wanted it to have more color, I am ALL about aesthetically pleasing food.
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped (optional) - I think I'm going to use crushed Heath Bar
Instructions
1) In a saucepan over medium heat, warm 2 cups cream, sugar, beans, and salt until steamy, but not boiling. Cover with a lid, remove from heat and steep for 1 hour at room temperature.
2) Reheat the milk mixture over medium heat until hot and steamy (but not boiling).
3) In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and slowly pour the heated milk mixture with the beans into the yolks while constantly whisking to avoid cooking the eggs. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan.
4) Set the saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly, scraping the bottom and corners of the pot, until the mixture reaches nappe stage and coats the back of a spoon (about 8-10 minutes).
5) Pour the remaining cup of cream into a medium bowl, place med. bowl over a larger bowl that has ice in it. Set a strainer over the medium bowl.
6) Pour the custard through the sieve and stir it into the cream, pressing the coffee beans to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Discard the beans.
7)Mix in the vanilla and stir until cool. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator then freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Stir in the chocolate and set in freezer to freeze.

I'll let you know how it turns out. I can't wait!!

Sweet Websites!

Ok - so my Pioneer Woman obsession has turned me on to two other sites I am now offically stalking. :)

There are some great ideas and beautiful food pictures on these sites. I hate cookbooks with no pictures so these user friendly - phototastic (I made that word up) websites are right up my ally. I can't wait for you to check them out...
Food Gawker
Picky Palate
Enjoy finding some really yummy dishes. The Picky Palate is a blog written by a mom who has picky eaters - her recipes seem to have reasonable ingreds - nothing hard to find and not too many ingreds in a recipe. She has some great ideas.

The food gawker is actually made up of many contributors so you just click on a picture of something that looks good to you and it takes you to that person's blog or website for the recipe.
At the very bottom of the FG home page there is an index that you can use to find recipes in a more orderly fashion (ie desserts, beef, chicken, breakfast, etc.).

Happy Cooking!
Heather

Craig's List Success...

I have been stalking Craig's List and garage sales looking for a few baby items I think would be nice to have but are not "needs" and I can't justify spending full cost on them or registering for them and having someone else pay that much either...

I found our changing table on Craig's list (a garage sale listing), painted it and made it just right for the baby's room.

I have been looking for a simple rocking chair that won't take up much room but would give me a place to sit and nurse the baby if I don't want to be out in the living room. Still hunting for this because either the chair isn't right or the price isn't right...Adam's dad is keeping his eye out at auctions too - it will come I'm sure.

Finally I have been looking for an exersaucer - those things are expensive and they take up a lot of room. I have been thinking I would just wait until Kaiya is age appropriate for one and then look, but I've kept my eye out for a good deal just in case. I have seen them at garage sales but they have been missing toys and have been pretty dirty and I just can't bring myself to pay $20 for something that needs a lot of clean up - assuming it can be cleaned up - ya know?

So on Craig's list this week was an exersaucer for $25 - the pictures made it look new. I looked it up on the internet and it runs for about $100. I went over to the lady's house to check it out yesterday. She says both her kids used it - she must have the cleanest kids in the WHOLE world because it looks like she just took it out of the box! Not kidding. So I decided I would go ahead and buy it. I had hoped to get one for $15-20 so I ended up spending more than I wanted but the thing is so clean - I couldn't have asked for a nicer one. I figure we can use it, others can borrow it and some day I can sell it on Craig's list. :)
Here's a picture of it - It's folded down and ready for storage.

Something Sweet

So I realized a few days ago that The Sweet Spot has not had a sweet recipe since I posted the chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies...
That's just wrong! :)
I can't remember where I got this recipe but I tried it tonight and it's yummy and quick!

Rocky Road Popcorn
1 (3.5-ounce) package natural microwave popcorn (not the buttered kind)
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup salted peanuts, optional
Pop the popcorn according to package instructions. While it's still hot, carefully open and dump into a large bowl. Add the chips and marshmallows. Return popcorn to the microwave. Cook on high until the chips and marshmallows get gooey, about 1 minute. Add the peanuts, if desired, and toss with a spoon until all the popcorn is coated. Cool until chocolate hardens, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a sealed container and tuck in a lunch box.

After the popcorn was coated I poured it out on a cookie sheet I had covered w/ wax paper (so I don't have to wash it) I thought this would help it cool faster and allowed me to go ahead and wash my bowl.

As for my cooking & freezing. I made the Chicken Spaghetti tonight. It's pretty good. Making the recipe whole I split it into one 9x9 pan and one 8x8 pan. The 9x9 I am freezing the other I popped in the oven for dinner tonight. Suggestions: more green pepper - like double. and more chicken - maybe 3 cups instead of 2 cups. use low fat cream of mushroom and low fat cream of chicken, it was still yummy and I can't imagine how rich it would have been if I had not used low fat. Also I used low sodium chicken broth. Serve with something light - raw veggies or salad or fresh fruit.

Enjoy!

I'm Freezing This..

As I venture my way through the Pioneer Woman's Website, I get REALLY REALLY Hungry!!!

This week I am going to make and freeze the Chicken Spaghetti for us to heat up and eat after baby gets here.

Since it's just me and Adam I think 1 recipe split into 2 8x8 or 9x9 pans should work nicely. One we can eat this week, the other pan we can freeze for later this month.

I also want to make the olive cheese bread and freeze some of it too.

Yummy yummy!!

I really need some distractions from thinking about when this baby is going to make her entrance into the world - it could be any day now - my curiosity will drive me crazy if I don't keep busy.

You Gotta Make This...YUM!

Ok so 3 posts in 1 day is pretty ridiculous - oh well, what can I say - I have a lot to share today. :)

My new addiction - The Pioneer Woman - led me to this great potato recipe that we ate tonight along with the BBQ Texas Beef Brisket that I finally cooked. These 2 dishes plus some leftover Mac N Cheese and a fresh peach I cut up made for a wonderful dinner tonight.

All of this good food and really I just keep thinking about having the potatoes again - like more than once a week - I LOVE THEM! And they are easy.

SO make the potatoes! Make the brisket too if you have the time - it wasn't tough at all, tender and juicy - it is spicy so be careful there if you don't like spicy make some simple adjustments and you'll be fine. I am SO glad my brisket is not going to waste. :)

Potato Recipe
BBQ Texas Beef Brisket

Enjoy!

Gift Giving...

I Love buying presents for people and for whatever reason I really like it when the gift can have some kind of theme to it.

Our niece is turning 8 on Saturday and I went to buy her birthday present today. I know she doesn't read my blog so I just HAVE to share what I got her...I'm pretty excited about it. I hope she is excited about it on Saturday.

My inspiration for her gift (other than it's for her) was earring because she recently had her ears pierced. She is very excited about having pierced ears. I thought I would get her some earrings but also one of those stands that has holes in it that you can put your earrings on so they can stay paired up and not get jumbled in a jewelry box. I found a simple - yet cute silver butterfly earring stand. I found 3 pairs of earrings: silver hearts, blue butterflies, and cute flower ones.

Then I went to buy her a card and found one with a cute butterfly on it. At the hallmark store they had little clothing outfits for webkin stuffed animals that our niece loves. I found a shirt and skirt outfit that was pink and purple with a butterfly on it that will look so cute on her webkin puppy - she is going to love it.

And then for the silliest part of all - I stopped by the candy store in the mall and they had gummy butterflies! They were too cute to pass up. I think she will love all these things. I don't think she is really into or not into butterflies but she loves earrings, she loves her webkins and she loves candy so I think I pretty much hit the jackpot!

Here is a picture of the gummy candies I bought. I really hope she shares one with me...they look so yummy and they are big - like almost 2 inches wide.