Blueberry, spinach and apple puree {Baby food}

I can hardly believe Olivia is already SIX month old! It seriously breaks my heart. Does anyone else feel like time flies by so much faster with baby #2? I do! She has already learned to roll over, sit up and is now tackling gerber snacks, LOL. :( We introduced solid foods to Olivia (and Connor too) at four months old. Now, at six months, she's had pretty much all the basic purees and is ready to try things mixed together. This recipe was one of Connor's favorites and goes really well with yogurt as they get older. 

[The picture below was taken just a few days after she was born]

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of organic blueberries
• 2 organic apples
• a handful of spinach 
• 1/4 cup of water - 1/2 a cup

Directions:

Peel, core and dice apples. Place apples, blueberries and water in a pot. 

Heat to a boil and cook for around 10 minutes, or until apples are soft. Turn off heat and add spinach. Stir until the spinach wilts. 

Place in blender and pulse until smooth. This recipe makes roughly 1 - 1 1/2 ice cube trays, depending on how many little fingers want to taste :) You can pour into trays and freeze for three months, or refrigerate for three days. 

Bacon Pancakes! {Toddler Bites}

That's right..BACON pancakes!! Who doesn't love bacon and who doesn't love pancakes? Why not combine the two?? As it turns out, my two year old LOVES bacon, but if I give it to him, he will eat 10 pieces and refuses anything else but more bacon. So I thought, why not make the bacon more filling and sneak in some pancakes!

Ingredients: 

• Pancake batter (Homemade, store bought, whatever you like)
• Bacon
• Spinach *optional*

Directions:

Heat your griddle. I usually cook my bacon around 250 degrees or 300. Throw on some bacon and let it cook. While you're waiting on the bacon, mix your pancake batter. *This next part is optional, just adds a healthy twist* Chop up some spinach, really fine. Mix the spinach into your batter. After the bacon is completely cooked, take it off and let the grease soak into a paper towel. Wipe down the griddle. Place the bacon back on the griddle and pour pancake batter over the top. Let cook for around 2 minutes and flip. Continue cooking until brown. Enjoy!

This is not my original idea, it's something I saw on Pinterest, I just added spinach. My son absolutely loved it, I hope your kids do too! :)

Steak Marinade {Dinner Date}

Date nights are so important! My husband and I would be nuts if we didn't get some relaxing time alone. After all, we are in this big adventure we call life TOGETHER! To be a date, it doesn't mean you have to go out somewhere special. Just spend time alone together, thinking of nothing but one another. :) Date night dinners at home are that perfect balance. We don't have to get a sitter, but we can still have our date. Our last dinner date in I marinated steaks during the day and my husband grilled them up after the kids went to bed. Here's the marinade recipe. Enjoy.

Ingredients - 

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
• a few sprinkles of red pepper flakes

Direction - 

In a blender combine all above ingredients. Blend for about 30 seconds. Pour mixture into a gallon sized ziplock bag. Add two steaks and let marinate for 8 hours, flipping at the 4 hour mark. 

*Makes enough for two steaks

The Basics {Baby food}

One of my very favorite things to do in my kitchen is make baby food. You can be so creative and extremely productive at the same time. Homemade baby food was the right choice for us for many different reasons. It's much healthier than jarred baby food, not to mention it TASTES better. People seem to forget that baby food should taste good too. Have you ever actually tasted jarred food? BLAH! It's awful. One reason people don't choose homemade is because they are worried it will be hard to make, but it's easy peasy! (& fun!!)

Things I use for making homemade baby-food 

• A ninja blender. I don't use any special baby food blender just a normal blender that I use for everything else. I really love this specific one because it comes with multiple containers and it's really easy to wash. You can buy one here.
• Storage containers for the fridge. I love these little guys because they hold the perfect amount, are great for the diaper bag and stack. *I write on them with dry erase to tell them apart* You can buy some here. 
• Storage containers for the freezer. After pureeing, I transfer the baby food to a freezing container and eventually dump the cubes into ziplock bags. When I first started I used regular ice cube trays *Each cube is 1 oz* I was wrapping the trays with press and seal, but I discovered that they make ice cube trays with lids! I'm buying some! I also use these awesome little silicone trays.
• Like I mentioned earlier, ziplock bags
• Steamer bags

The basics

Baby food purees are all basically made the same way. You bake/steam your food, then puree it. *Meats puree best cold* Then either refridgerate for up to 3 days. OR Freeze it for up to 3 months. 

Freezing - To freeze purees pour into freezing tray (ice cube tray), cover and freeze for 24 hours. Then remove baby food cubes and place in Ziplock bags.

Pureeing - Add food to blender, pulse several times.

Steaming - Really depends on what you're making, but basically you place in a steamer bag with water and microwave until soft. You can also use a pot and a little bit of water, boil until soft.

Baking - Also depends on what you're making, but most things (Butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes) bake for about an hour at around 400. Before placing in the oven poke several holes in vegetable with a fork to help cool. If you're making a squash be sure to cut in half and remove the "guts".

That pretty much covers it! If you have any questions, feel free to email me lindsay.havens@yahoo.com or comment on this post. :)

Snowman Poop! {Nap Time Crafts}

Currently we have SEVEN stocking hanging from our fireplace and we are a family of four...Nana and Papa like to send stockings each year and they just keep adding up! I'm always torn on what to use as stocking stuffers. This year Olivia has teething toys, a rubber ducky, diaper rash cream ;) hairbows and some other stuff. Connor's stocking is stuffed with a few bits of candy, matchbox cars, bath toys and now {Snowman poop}!

As it turns out, snowman actually poop marshmallows :) I took a sandwich baggie, filled with marshmallows and glued this print out on it. The poem reads..

"I heard that you've been naughty, so listen here's the scoop....I'm running short on coal this year, so you get snowman poop!"

I have a feeling my two-year old is going to LOVE this! Not that my children have any idea what snow is. It's a lovely 72 degrees here today and we're relaxing with the windows open.  

You can find the snowman poop printables here. 

Baked Sharpie Coffee Mug DYI Project

Merry Christmas!! Yepp, it's that time of year again. :) I've already bought my husband all of his presents but I really wanted to MAKE him something special. Not cheesy, special. ;) After some searching on Pinterest, this is what I've come up with! Not only is this gift homemade and personalized, it's also FAST and CHEAP! Bonus! :)

What will you need?

• A coffee mug from the dollar store
• A sharpie marker
• An oven

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While oven is heating up, take your sharpie and write on the coffee mug. I used two different colors. Then place the coffee mug on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. That's it! An awesome homemade gift in 35 minutes, 30 of which you are watching Grey's Anatomy. ;)

You could do this with lots of things, a coffee mug for your husband, mother-in-law, a cereal bowl for your son (good morning sunshine!), a dog bowl for your best bud (WOOF it down!). A coffee mug and plate for cookies and milk for Santa!! The possibilities are endless!

**It'll stay forever!!**

Nap Time Crafts!

Hello! I know it's been forever since I've blogged. But with Connor finally home and Kiersten visiting, things have been crazy busy. However, today at nap time I got a bit creative. With Halloween almost over, I'm getting SUPER excited for Turkey Day! So I decided to make a countdown. :) After some coaxing of my Cricut, a little glue, and time hiding in my bedroom, this is what I came up with.....

(Sorry for the flash) 

By using a picture frame I can use dry erase marker and countdown each day! 

My partner in crime! ;)

Happy almost Turkey Day!