Star-Spangled Fruit Tart

Hello, here we are at our third post already! I don't know how I've found time to do all of them, tonight it's because my lovely husband is entertaining our little monster. 

I take that back.. (as I get up and make a pizza, hot wings, separate the baby and puppy 58 times!) Ahh.. the joys of motherhood. So earlier today Connor and I made a fruit tart to add to Brad's Father's Day gifts. I would tell you the rest of the surprise, but it's just that and will have to wait until Monday. =) Speaking of, Connor's second Mommy and Me class at "The Little Gym" is on Monday! I don't know if any of you have your children in a mommy and me class, but trust me it's SOO worth the money. They will love it. Anywho that's another post for another day. Like I was saying we made a fruit tart, which is DELICIOUS! My one mistake was using a generic pie crust from good ole' Walmart. It just crumbled to pieces the second I started. Next time I will have to attempt making my own. So with it being so close to both Memorial Day and 4Th of July (& my husband being in the Navy) I figured we'd not only tell him what a fabulous dad he is, but thank him for his service as well. So no more waiting here it is..

Our Kitchen Adventure..

What you'll need:

• 1 pie crust
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 cup halved strawberries 

( I DON'T recommend changing from almond to vanilla, it really makes a difference)

First step - Mix the cream cheese, almond extract and sugar together in a bowl.

Works better with a blender =)

It should look something like this.

After licking the spoon and blender, put mixture in pie crust and spread around. 

Next you need to decide on a pattern, like I said we were doing patriotic so we made a star and added a border. 

Of course we had to try them first, ya know to make sure they were good =)

Apparently he didn't like them, but Yogi does!

Our looked like this...

Then you slice up the strawberries into halves, and place them in the middle.

THE END!!

Mmmmm

This recipe is from our friends at http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Star-Spangled-Fruit-Tart

Butternut Squash && Peach Puree {Baby food}

Hello, welcome to my second post and my first recipe post! As you will soon find I'm a homemade baby food nut. I think homemade baby food is the way to go for SOO many reasons. The obvious, it's healthier, and taste better. And the not so obvious..IT'S EASY! My biggest problem when deciding what to feed my little bundle of joy was time. I thought going the homemade route was going to be like cooking a meal every time I went to feed him. Trust me it's not. It's so simple, a few days out of the month spent in the kitchen, freeze it all up and your good to go. So before we get way off track lets get this recipe up. This is for babies around 4-8 months, however Connor still eats it mixed with yogurt at 14 months. 

Ingredients:

• 4-5 large peaches (or you can use canned)
• 1 large butternut squash

Directions: 

          Preheat oven to 400. Slice both ends off the squash, stand it up and cut in half. Scoop out the seeds, discard. Poke holes in the squash with a fork. Place halves face down on a baking sheet (cover sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up). Bake for 45 minutes. Peel and slice the peaches. After the squash has cooled, scoop out the “meat” and discard the skins. Place one cup of butternut squash and two cups of peaches in blender, pulse until smooth. You'll probably have extra squash leftover, you can just puree it plain or double the recipe. This recipe will keep in the fridge for about three days, or freeze for three months. This goes great with SO many things it's ridiculous! Yogurt, applesauce, cottage cheese, eggs...the list is endless. Well I hope ya'll enjoy! 

Welcome!!

Hello. I'm new to the blogging world. I've always read them but never thought I'd have time to keep one of my own, recently I've decided to try it out and here we are! This being my first ever blog post I'm going to introduce everyone. My name is Lindsay, I'm a stay-at-home mom. I have a curious little toddler, Connor James. He is 14 months old & a handful!! =)

My partner in this crazy adventure we call life is my very best friend who i happened to be lucky enough to marry, Brad (AKA Dad!!). He is in the U.S. Navy (Which is why we are here in SC, thousands of miles from our family). He is my other half, my partner in crime, my missing puzzle piece, and I'd be lost without him. We will be talking A LOT about him this week, because as you all know this Sunday is Father's Day!!

Another big person in our lives that we HAVE to add to this blog is our Granny...

And of course our Papa...

Granny & Papa live what seems like millions of miles away in MO but come see us often. And to wrap up this introduction we have..

YOGI BEAR!

Yogi for short, is our newest addition to the family as of about a month ago. He is a chow chow/lab mix. We adopted Yogi from a shelter in Walterboro, SC at just a few weeks old, he is now about 15 pounds and getting bigger everyday!

Well I think this about wraps up our first post! I think I'll post about once a week on a normal basis. However seeing as I'm just starting today I have a lot I want to get on here, like our first finger painting for Papa...and of course some baby food recipes! See you soon!