Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 5

I'm a day late to the blog party!

My hilarious, sweet, loving, amazing mommy BFF had her turn yesterday.  We got to hear from Meredith of The White Pages.  She is a great writer (thanks to the very important Communication classes that she took with me at Virginia Tech) while at the same time being honest and real.

I love that  when I read her blog, it's as if we're sitting down together chatting away.  I can only wish...

She mentioned eMeals.  It sounds awesome!  Talk about making the entire process more simple.  We could seriously use that around here!  Maybe that will be an early birthday present for me from my sweet husband......

Do you want to cook well and save money?  Go read her post!!

Whiteds visit for Madison's birthday weekend

Some of Bryce's family came out to visit us for Madison's birthday.  We not only got to see his parents, but also my brother- and sister-in-law and our sweet nephew, Luke.

I think we most enjoyed watching the little ones interact.  They were tiny last Christmas when they last saw one another.  This recent weekend, it was funny because of course, they always wanted the toy that the other one had.  Madison didn't mind Luke taking toys from her.  She did love chasing him.  It was so funny because he acted scared of her when she would go after him.  She's a little stinker.

We went to Cannon Beach for the day on Saturday.  It was Luke's first time to the beach!  He could not get enough of that freezing cold water.  I think he ate his fair share of sand, too.

On Sunday, we went to church, relaxed, and ended the night with a simple birthday celebration.  It was just the family, eating Madison's favortite-spaghetti, cupcakes, and then watching her (me) open some presents.  I kind of wanted to do a bigger party with invites and everything else, but this was just as special and much less stress!  Maybe next year when she's older to actually enjoy it.

She really didn't like wearing the hat.

She loved the frosting.

Playing with all of her new toys

She LOVES to draw

The kids also got to make some dirt soup with Pops in their jammies.

On Monday, Bryce had to work, so I took everyone to the zoo.  We got rained on but still got to see a bunch of animals.  It was our first time to the Oregon Zoo in Portland.  Madison loved watching the animals and only wished I had let her walk around instead of strapping her to the stroller (as usual).

So thankful they were all able to come and celebrate our sweet girl with us!

Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 4

My turn!

Here's a picture of our lovely fridge that needs to be cleaned out.  This feels a little embarrassing, almost like opening my underwear drawer...but not quite.  Don't judge.  But go look at your fridge and tell me how you feel about it.

On the top shelf: yogurt, cottage cheese, odwalla fruit drinks, toddler leftovers
Next: orange juice, thawed salmon, pickles, leftovers
Drawer: Cheeses and lunch meats
Next: eggs, yogurts
Next: toddler leftovers, milk, a couple beers, tortellini soup leftover
Drawer: lettuce, radishes, green pepper, cucumber
Drawer: apples, carrots

Since we've been trying to minimize grocery shopping to 1-2 times a week instead of dropping by for 1 thing multiple times a week, our fridge can get pretty empty by the end of the week.  It's so funny because when I go to the grocery store, Bryce will come home and with a sigh of relief and joy, says "It feels so good to have a full fridge.  Just something about it..."  I agree!  At the same time, we forget HOW BLESSED WE ARE to even have a fridge to fill.  I mean, seriously.  I am really thankful.  I hope you can go to your fridge or pantry today and feel thankful for all the blessings you and I have.

Back to the purpose of this post...

I have to be honest, I prepared this post a couple weeks ago, so this isn't actually THIS week's meals.  But this is a very typical week (without any going out to eat or having friends over for dinner).

Dinners this week:

• tacos (flour tortillas, pinto beans, corn, leaf lettuce, sliced radishes, shredded cheese, and salsa)
• salmon and baked potato (on the salmon: melted butter, salt, pepper, and dill; baked potato restaurant style: brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher/sea salt and baked until done)
• broccoli and beef with rice (recipe similar to this, just take out the oyster sauce)
• tortellini soup (recipe here off pinterest)
• breakfast for dinner (usually scrambled eggs, toast or biscuits with Bisquick, sometimes bacon)
• BBQ chicken pizza (cubed chicken breast sauteed with some onions if we have them, then add BBQ sauce to the chicken and onions and heat through, make the below pizza crust, add chicken mix to pizza and top with shredded mozzerella)

This pizza dough recipe is from a very special cookbook...the Blacksburg Wives Cookbook which was a collection of favorite recipes from a bunch of special friends I had in Blacksburg when we lived there.

Quick Pizza Dough (from Cindi)

2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups flour

1 package active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm water (120-130 degrees)

2 tablespoons cooking oil

(Can make 4 mini pizzas or 2 larger ones; if dividing dough to make multiple pizzas, do so before letting rest)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In mixing bowl, combine 1 1/4 cup flour, yeast and salt; add warm water and oil.  Beat on low speed for 30 seconds scraping bowl constantly.   Beat on high speed for additional 3 mintues.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much remaining flour as needed.  On lightly-floured surface, knead in enough flour to make moderately stiff dough about 5 minutes.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  (After this, I stretch the crust to fit on my cooking pans and place in the over for about 2 minutes just to prevent it from getting soggy from toppings. Then I take it out, add toppings, and pop it back in the oven for about 12 minutes or whenever it looks done.) 

Staples in my fridge/freezer:

Lettuce (one of the following is alwaysa in our fridge: green leaf, romaine, or spring mix)

Radishes

Cucumber

Carrots

Yogurts

Whole milk

2% milk

Ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce

Cheese (usually all these: sliced cheddar, shredded mozzerella, feta or blue cheese crumbles)

Lunch meat (turkey and/or ham)

Staples in my pantry:

White rice

Tortilla chips

Beans (a variety usually-black, pinto, kidney, Great Northern white)

Cereal (currently: Mini wheats, Honey Nut Cheerios, Raisin Bran Crunch)

Bisquick

Baking basics (flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, corn starch, yeast)

Noodles (spaghetti usually)

There's plenty more in there, but I think I hit the basics.

Most of our meals are quick and/or easy to put together with a toddler running around and only about 30 minutes to get it together before said toddler needs to be put to bed.  

Stay tuned for next week's Fridge Finds!

Things you may have not known about this area

There are a few weird things here.  Well, only weird because we're not used to them.

Weirdness in Portland is normal.  Even Portlanders say it's weird here.  I mean, the show "Portlandia" is a little far fetched, but the idea had to originate from something.  If you ask someone from Portland, many people will say that the show is close to the truth.

These things are not necessarily in Portland because we don't actually even live in Portland, we live southwest of Portland.   You could say we are enjoying a good dose of suburbia.  So I guess this list should be titled "Things that are new to us..."

1. No one has an actual mailbox at the end of their driveway.  There are big mailboxes (like P.O. boxes) on the corners in the neighborhoods and you pick up your mail there.  I suppose it is more efficient for the postman, but I miss mailboxes!
2. There is no Walmart close by.  There are multiple "Walmart Neighborhood Market" stores.  I haven't checked them out yet.  I miss cheap prices at Walmart.  Fortunately, I found Fred Meyer. Now THAT was one exciting day for me.  It is a hypermarket similar to Walmart or Super Target.  On top of that, I found it just when I was missing my local Kroger store where I knew where to find everything...and I came to find out that Fred Meyer is owned by Kroger and has pretty much all the same products and more than what our Kroger had.  Awesome!  There are even some Kroger labels.  Aww sweet!  You don't realize how nice it is to know a grocery store until you are in a new huge store and take twice as long to get your shopping done.  Now that I have a baby with nap times and feeding times and limited time in general, knowing a grocery store saves precious moments.
3. It doesn't get that cold here.  That's right.  We are closer to Alaska and Canada than ever before.  But it barely ever snows here!  People bundle up here when it's in the 40s and 50s.  Too bad they haven't experienced walking across the drill field in Blacksburg with a wind chill in the negative teens.  It stays pretty mild but definitely has a rainy season.  When people find out we're new here, they tell us that we've been spoiled by the beautiful weather last winter.  On average, it was sunny 4 days a week.  That's really good.  I expected THE WORST.  I mean, I basically was saying goodbye to the sun until June in my head as we drove (flew) away.  Maybe we were a little prepared because some call Blacksburg "Bleaksburg" because it's not always the greatest weather.  So now I'm nervous as this winter is getting closer which means rain, rain, and more rain.
4. On Interstate 5, the main highway on the west coast, the speed limit is 55 through the Portland area.  Living in Washington DC for our first year of marriage, the speed limit is like 65 on 495 around the city and people go around 75 or 80 most days.  Here, most people drive 55.  Now that is my kind of driving!  
5. You cannot pump your own gas.  I guess because of the unions or something.  You sit in your car, pull up, hand someone your card, and they pump your gas for you.  I guess it is nice to sit in your warm car and not touch the gas handles because who knows what person touched them before you.  

Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 3

Having a hard time trying to figure out what you want to make this week?  Need new ideas for dinners and recipes to go along with them?

We are still enjoying the blog party...

Head on over to Rebecca at Down the Rabbit Hole to peek into her pantry and find out what she's cooking up this week!  I'm dying to try that granola recipe!

Next Tuesday, I'm up!  Better get organized...

Madison: 1 year old!

Talk about the sweetest little bundle of joy!  Full of smiles and character and energy.

What's new...
Words - mama, dada, baba (bottle), uh oh (with a very well pronounced "oh"), stuck, dog ("dah")

While she doesn't say many actual words, she understands a bunch of words or phrases that I say (Where are your shoes?  Where are your socks? Where is the flower?  Nose, eyes, Do you want to eat? All done, more, caterpillar, drink, monkey, bear, spin, hi, bye, stand up, sit down, book, bath, ducky, Give it to mama, doggie, birdie, squirrel, open, close, and probably more that I'm forgetting).  She now uses sign language to say "more" and "all done" very clearly now.  She is walking and wanting to run.  She absolutely loves being outside.  We go outside a couple times a day and just walk up and down the sidewalk, go to the back yard, collect leaves, pick up sticks, and look at flowers.  It is her favorite thing.

Sleep
She sleeps great.  She goes to bed around 7:30pm and wakes up around 6:30am.  She still takes 2 naps a day.  Her morning nap is almost exactly 2 hours after she wakes up and she sleeps for about 1.5 hrs.  Her afternoon nap is about 3 hours after she wakes up from her morning nap and it's only about 45 minutes.  After company left for her birthday, we started a new bedtime routine.  Before that, she basically fell asleep while we rocked her and gave her a bottle, then we would lay her down in her crib.  Rarely was she still awake when we put her down.  Now, we read 2-4 books with the light on while she drinks her bottle.  Then I sing a few songs to her (Jesus loves me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Amazing Grace...) while she finishes her bottle.  Finally, I turn the light off, give her a kiss, and put her in her crib awake.  She is getting better and better at not crying.  She usually cries for 5 minutes or less and then talks for a little bit to herself before falling asleep.  I love putting her to bed.  It's the sweetest time of day because we just slow down and spend a few special moments together.

Eat
Nothing new here since last update.  I'm going to do a separate post about feeding a baby and what I did at different ages.  It really helped me to research ideas of foods to try, good finger foods, and moving from each stage to the next.

Growth:

Birth - 6 lbs, 3 oz , 20 inches

1 month - 8 lbs, 21.5 inches

2 months - 8 lbs, 14 oz , 23 inches

4 months - 12 lbs, 4 oz, 24 inches

6 months - 15 lbs, 12 oz, 25.75 inches

9 months - 18 lbs, 5 oz, 27.5 inches

12 months - 20 lbs, 8 oz, 30 inches

Surprisingly, the doctor described her as "long and lean" while I thought she was short for sure!

Now excuse me while I go cry a little since my "baby" is now a "toddler"...

Fishy

Just so you understand that I literally meant stocking our freezer of fish...

My Dad takes my brother and the husbands out every year on a fishing trip.  This year was Canada just 6 hours north of Portland.  So we got to see the guys on their way out.  Hooray for visitors!

They went out to sea for 3 days fishing and caught a bunch of salmon and halibut.  I think they said it was around 250 lbs of fish.

Cannot complain, we'll have enough fish to last us for months.  I'm wondering when the girls will get a fun annual girls trip...?  I think we need to make that happen.

AND wondering: what is your favorite salmon recipe?

This was not just for our family of 3.  I believe this was all they caught (filleted already) to be split up among all of them.  My favorite is the little piece of meat with big brown eyes to the right.

Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 2

Last week, I joined a blog party.  We have the privilege of peeking into other people's fridges and finding out what they're cooking up for the week.

Go check out what's sitting in Rebekah's fridge from Homemade Engineer.  Sounds like a yummy week for her family!

Dahlia festival

On Labor Day, Bryce was out fishing to stock our freezer for the long and rainy winter.  Has any one else watched Alaska: The Last Frontier on Discovery Channel?  We like to watch it every now and again.  (They basically work all year to survive the winter.)

Sweet friends of ours invited us to join them at the Dahlia festival out in Canby.  Back in April, we went to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn.  Let me tell you, the farmland south of Portland is so beautiful and really grows amazing flowers!  Part of me wishes we had just bought a small house on a few acres of land further south.  It's so peaceful out there.  And because I like factoids, here's a snippet about Oregon's farms.  We (I guess I can say that since I'm part of Oregon now...I do have a driver's license now!) are #1 for Christmas trees, some berries, grass seed, and also big into hazelnuts and nursery plants.

This is Charlie, Madison's favorite boy-friend.  She's not allowed to date til she's 30 years old, so he will remain a friend that's a boy for the next 29 years.  They have a lot of play dates together where Charlie steals her toys and she chases him around.

Emily and Abby visit

I could barely contain myself when I found out my older sister, Emily, and neice, Abby, would fly out here for a long weekend to visit us in early September.  I'm so thankful that they could come, even in the midst of Abby's first year of school (big kindergartner!) and Emily being pregnant.

I wish I had taken more photos.  We really just took it easy, talked a lot, and relaxed at home.  Bryce watched the little girls one long afternoon so Emily and I could have a sister date to Barnes & Noble and out to an early dinner at La Provence.  Love that place.  

We went to the park a few times which Abby loved.  One afternoon, all of us girls went shopping for cute maternity clothes as if we were just hanging out like we lived 10 minutes away. 

Just made me wish so bad that we lived closer.  I love have (2) sisters and especially having one that goes through each phase first so she can give me great wisdom and advice!  She's an awesome wife, mom, sister, and friend.

Fridge Finds: What's (Really) Cooking, Part 1

It's been difficult for me to keep up with the blog lately due to a variety of things.  Writing a blog post, gathering and uploading pictures, and organizing it has seemed extra time consuming, so I've unofficially taken a break.  When it comes to my free time, it seems that this blog is the first thing that gets the boot, unfortunately.  BUT I'm checking in to post about something new despite the many updates I'll post about soon.  I'm really hoping that this will get me going on a regular basis again.

Bryce and I have had a recurring conversation about where we shop, how we meal plan (or don't), and how we spend money on food.  We actually don't have a strict food budget because every week can be pretty different aside from breakfast and lunch.  We have a small group Bible study at our house every couple weeks so dinner that day varies, we will have friends over every now and again so recipes vary, and with Bryce traveling a little more lately, that changes everything (as in, I eat a lot of cereal or whatever is easiest).  On top of that, Bryce and I have made a goal to go on more regular date nights which means no cooking for me! Yay!  No matter what, one recent goal we made was to only go to the grocery store once a week.  This is hard...since we buy some things at Costco, we buy some things at the Walmart grocery store, and other things at Trader Joe's or Safeway.  Plus, Bryce works next door to a grocery store so it makes it even more difficult not to drop by after work for me.

I'm always so curious about...1. what other people eat on a regular basis, 2. how they manage life with a family while creatively cooking nutritious meals with variation, and 3. what they "splurge" on at the grocery store.

My friend, Katherine, invited me to be part of a BLOG PARTY, which I'm really excited about.  This is new for me.  We'll be checking out what some of my friends have in their fridge, what they're cooking for the week, and sharing recipes, too!  We'll link up with each of them on Tuesdays for the next few weeks.

Part I features Katherine at Rhymes with Smile.

I'm hoping that this blog party will give us some (new) ideas for meals, things to consider or think about when going to the grocery store, and a way for us to meet more bloggers.  And let's be honest, it'll give us a chance to peek into someone else's fridge which is always eye opening.