She shouldn't be this cute

Do you know how hard it is to spank said cutey for being bad when she is just well...so cute? I waiver too often than I care to admit.

Question for the day

Why is it that babies will see other babies and call out "Baby!"? As if they are so much bigger and older than the other child.

Snippets

I just saw pictures of ice cream being made in an old fashioned mixer. *sigh* now I want vanilla blackberry ice cream really badly! Maybe I will attempt the "frozen dessert maker" we got as a gift. It should work right? Ice cream is a frozen dessert!

In other thoughts, I just bought a bag of Eight O' Clock coffee and really like it! I was surprised because I have been searching for a lower priced coffee that tastes good - and that's hard to do. It still is more than the Costco stuff, but it's not too bad for when you are in a pinch. I would have gotten the Costco stuff since it's less money and honestly tastes better, but I was in a pinch because I already went to Costco today and failed to buy their coffee. And everyone knows you MUST have coffee each day. At least that's what I keep telling myself...

The End

So we stopped our vegetarian diet yesterday. It had been 22 days. I was feeling like it was bad stewardship to ignore the food we already had in our freezer and spend money on other things just so we could keep on with this challenge. So, we had some chicken yesterday.

I'm really grateful for this experiment! It has taught me a lot about being creative and using other forms of protein besides meat, and learning to love vegetables. I never actually hated them, but now I can honestly say I like them a lot! One thing I never could get my taste buds to like was tofu. I tried. Honest! It just was a strange texture and had an odd after-taste. I only liked it in Pad Thai - that was because I fried it within an inch of its life!

I think we will continue to do more vegetable/legume meals, but still have meat here and there. I think it will help with our grocery budget to know I don't HAVE to buy meat each week, but if it's on sale then I can grab some. Plus I really like some kinds of meat and it would be sad if we never had them. ;)

I must go attend to my child who is spreading oatmeal everywhere. Happy Tuesday everyone!

What day is it?

Oh yes, it's day 19. :)

Today I am excited to announce that I actually ran 3 miles today!! Never thought it would be possible. Thank you Jesus for that extra push (aka. road work guys in my normal route so I had to go around).

So I made corn and chickpea patties for dinner tonight and loved them! I added a bit too much salt, but they would work great on a bun with some cheese. Yes, lots of cheese...I'd post the recipe, but I'm too tired and lazy right now.

Josh is going to a men's breakfast tomorrow morning, so I will be getting up early to make his casserole. It's not really that early since Annie wakes up around 7:30 each morning. I decided to drag my friend into the mix and wake HER up early so she could keep me company while my husband is away. I bribed her with pancakes and she graciously offered to bring Starbucks. I should bribe people with pancakes more often!

Pretty Much Amazing

So I tried this recipe today: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/spinach_rice_casserole

And it was seriously tasty! I didn't use Worcestershire, used less spinach, and added a little more chopped onion. I am going to have to arm wrestle Josh for the leftovers.

We were on Oklahoma visiting family last weekend and they tried some new recipes out on us. We liked the nut/rice loaf and the orzo salad - thanks guys! I love anything pasta, so the orzo was my especial favorite. Someday maybe Josh will take me to Italy. Here's hopin'!

Dinner

I mentioned experimenting on a chickpea curry for dinner yesterday. I found a really great recipe online, so I didn't have to do much "experimenting".
I love how the spices are all different colors.
sauteed together
all done!
I made normal rice but put tumeric in it with some peas to make it look special.

The recipe I followed is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chickpea-Curry/Detail.aspx?prop31=1