Watch Out Recipes, Here I Come!

Maybe it's because I have finally gotten over my phobia of touching raw chicken or perhaps I just feel more accomplished when we sit down to a meal that took longer than 10 minutes and boiling water to prepare, either way I'm feeling great about cooking!! So far I have mastered individual chicken pot pies, chicken fettuccine casserole, chicken rice burritos and my own version of potato soup. Yes, yes I know
that's a lot of chicken recipes but I'm taking baby steps. I'll get to the bigger meats later, for now it's chicken and the occasional steak that Eric grills up for us, yum! I have had such a good time learning these recipes and trying my own spin on them. There have definitely been a couple failed meals but luckily Eric isn't that picky and I gave the recipes a second chance with my own take on them to make each one perfect for our family. I never thought that I would be that good at cooking or that I would enjoy it so much, but I have really loved getting to experiment the last couple of weeks. The first time I made the chicken fettuccine casserole I took it over to Nichole and Joey's. Crash and burn.
OK so it wasn't horrible, it just lacked flavor, completely. The next time I made it I added some Parmesan cheese and garlic to the sauce, and wa la, flavor! And a delicious meal that I have made many times since for us and once for our upstairs neighbor that just had her baby. The chicken rice burritos were pretty much perfect from the beginning, other than horrible serving sizes. So, I bought medium tortillas instead of large, and again, wa la, a wonderful meal! The potato soup was a fun one. Eric had a sore throat and was seeming to get more and more sick so I decided to whip up some soup, I used some guidelines from a cookbook that Nichole got me, but I mostly just added things until it was just right. At the end I added another scoop of flour to make it a little less runny, big mistake, kind of. The soup ended up so thick it was more of a potato and mixed vegetable dish with a delicious cheese sauce over the top of it, it was so thick I ate mine with a fork. Even though it wasn't soup it was still terrific! And our new house favorite, individual chicken pot pies. I'm pretty sure we have these at least once
a week now and every time it is a different experience. We use the recipe as a guideline but add new ingredients every time. Mmm mmm! Seriously, Eric and I both decided we could eat these every night for the rest of our lives and be perfectly content! Now that I have these new recipes down I am so excited to scour the internet and my cookbooks for a few new ones to conquer. I feel so good when I can have a nice meal ready for Eric when he gets home and now that we have an actual table to sit down at, it makes the experience that much better. Happy cooking!

Titus' Birth Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcSHXcFwLPU&feature=youtu.be

The Swing of Things

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks! It seems like Titus and I almost have our non-schedule down pat. I say non-schedule because the only two things on the agenda are church on Sunday and work on Tuesday. Going back to work has definitely been interesting, I only work on Tuesdays and I'm usually there for about 11 hours. It has only been three weeks of this so I am still adjusting, and so are Eric and Titus. I am phoning home less during the day though and Eric is sending me more picture messages, which seems to help! I love being out of the house and contributing to the income but I sure do miss my boy. Eric has Wednesdays and Sundays off, so we get to have a lot of family time. The rest of the week Eric works and Titus and I get to do whatever and go wherever we please. I have never had such a flexible schedule before and it has taken some getting used to. Last week, for example, I completely over did it. There was not a day that we didn't leave the house and on top of that, half the nights people came and saw us. By Monday Titus and I were both an over exhausted mess. Note to self: just because you have free time and truly want to spend time with family, doesn't mean you should at every opportunity! Moderation, moderation. This week has been much more relaxing, we have left the house a couple times and seen a couple people but it has been more spread out with more time to rest in between activities. I'm still trying to get a handle on this whole 'stay at home mom' business but I think I am finally finding a grove that works for me and for the little man. I am so blessed to have a husband that has a great job that can support us, yet he understands my want to work and encourages it. And I am so blessed to be able to be with Titus pretty much all the time, and really be able to take all of him in; seeing him grow and develop little by little every day. This really works for us, for now. Inevitably though change will come. But that's the exciting part; figuring out the different steps and stages of life together and really making them work for our family. 

Until next time, happy blogging!