Well...

In case you didn't know...

We'll be having another baby in October! Keller is super excited that she's going to be a big sister! (although I'm pretty sure she has no idea what she's in for!) ha! Anywho, Our due date is October 18th! Woot!

So, this pregnancy has been about the same, except last time I was sick before I knew. This time I knew, and thought 'YES! NO SICKNESS!!' Um, no. It hit me like a ton of bricks last Thursday, which was, thankfully, the same day as my doctors appointment so I could get her to prescribe me some anti-nausea meds.. They seem to be getting the job done for the most part. The only drawback this past weekend has been sinus drainage that has made me feel yuck right along with everything else. I went to the Urgent Care by our house and the doc said I have sinusitis. yuck. Hopefully I'll be back to 'normal' whatever that is, soon.. Nausea is enough.. This on top of it, no thanks.

I go back to the doctor this Thursday for the first ultrasound! I might see if she can give me a little something extra to knock this junk out! blech..

Ok, so on eof my 30 before 30 things was to cook my way through a cookbook. All cooking by me has ceased until I'm no longer nauseated. I have a ton that I've uploaded pics but I still have to put the recipes in, so... soon. =) I'm too tired for that right now. ;-) I know... excuses excuses.. Tyler said something the other night to the tune of 'I'm looking at something online right now..' my response.. 'well, I'm growing another human..' teehee! Milk it baby! ha!

I'm really going to try to do better about documenting things along the way, so bear with me.. I said 'try' ok?! I'm terrible about that kinda stuff. We shall see!

Later!

Keller's Valentines Party at School!

The Valentines we made for her class! (Thanks Pinterest!)

What a sweet little class!!

Happy Heart Day!

Cilantro Cole Slaw

The pioneer woman does it again! Her Cilantro Cole Slaw rocks! We had this with our Spicy Pop Pulled Pork last week! It went great together!

All of our fresh veggies we acquired at the store Sunday morning!

Cilantro Cole Slaw

Ingredients:

• 1 head cabbage
• 1 small head purple cabbage
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup mayonaise
• 4 teaspoons white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• fresh cilantro (I'm not a big fan of cilantro, so I just put a teaspoon of dried cilantro in mine.. I know, I know.. It's called CILANTRO Cole Slaw! =/ Get over it ok!) ;-)

Chop the cabbage and mix

Combine all remaining ingredients

Pour the mixture over the cabbage and chill.

Serve and enjoy!

Happy Sunday Ya'll!

Just wanted to stop in and say hello! Tyler and I cooked up a fabulous meal yesterday afternoon and had some even more fabulous folks over to test out our new recipes! We, of course, used recipes out of the Tupelo Honey Cafe cookbook.. We made Root Beer & Molasses Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Smoked Jalapeno Sauce and Apple Salsa, Tupelo Honey-Glazed Carrots and Spiced New Potatoes! YUM YUM YUM! ...and Mark brought strawberry shortcake to finish it all off! (with coffee of course) (I'm glad everyone was okay with being our 'test rats' since this was our first go at these!)

Don't worry... recipes (with pictures) are coming very soon!!! You don't want to miss these!

Our work turned out quite pretty! ..and tasty! =)

mmm...

Keller being silly with Mrs. Judie!

I mean, who can go to the Fresh Market and resist their beautiful flowers??!

Spicy Pop Pulled Pork!

I've recently fallen in love with the cooking show done by the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond! We have a few things in common.. We both love to blog (time permitting), we both love to cook, and we both love photography! I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I've learned of in just the past few shows. I've TiVo'd all of her shows this season and I think I've watched them all at least 5 times! So... I decided to finally try out a few of her recipes! Since Tyler was gone this weekend, Keller and I ran a couple of errands Saturday, but spent the majority of Sunday at home. Bliss, I tell ya! All of the clothes are washed and folded and put away, I cooked a meal fit for a king, if I must say so myself, and my sweet girl has been awesome all weekend! It's been a great, relaxing weekend, but I'm ready for the hubs to be home! Only a few more hours!

The recipe that took the longest to cook was the pulled pork! It was WELL worth it though! My father in law came over for dinner tonight and LOVED it! It will be on the yum list for sure!

Spicy Pop Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

• Pork shoulder, aka boston butt
• 2 onions
• 4 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 cans 'pop' I used Dr. Pepper
• Can of chipotle peppers (her recipe called for 1 large can) I didn't have a huge piece of pork, so I just used 1 small can and it turned out perfect!
• Salt
• Pepper

Quarter both onions and place them in the bottom of our dutch oven, season the pork with salt and pepper, pour the can of chipotle peppers over the top of the pork, pour in the 'pop,' and add the brown sugar.

Cover and put in a 300 degree oven for 6 hours. (flip it after 3 hours to cook it evenly)

When you take it out of the oven it will be falling off the bone! (I had a smaller pork shoulder so I took mine out after 5 hours and it was done!)

Carefully remove it and put it on a cutting board so that it can be 'pulled'

YUM!

Return it back to the juice and let it absorb all of that goodness!

Serve & Enjoy!

Tupelo Honey's Creamy Tomato Soup

While on our honeymoon in March of 2005, we asked the concierge at the Inn at Biltmore Estate the best place in Asheville to eat breakfast. His response was "Tupelo Honey, of course!" He gave us directions and off we went. I ordered french toast and Tyler ordered an omelet and a cup of the best creamy tomato soup. They just recently published a cookbook that included the coveted tomato soup recipe. Of course, that's the first thing in the cookbook that I attempted to make! First attempt = success! This soup is divine.. hearty, creamy, rich and full of deliciousness. I must say before getting to the recipe, that if you are ever in the fabulous city of Asheville, NC, please visit the Tupelo Honey Cafe and have some breakfast, lunch, or dinner! We did! We went there several times over the course of our trip and in April of this year we will be returning with our dear sweet Keller to this magical city! I'm sure we'll eat at this popular establishment several times that week, but let me tell ya, there's nothing like it.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 1 (24 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream

Combine the tomatoes, water, tomato paste, bay leaf, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan. (I used the covered casserole dish by Giada DeLaurentis and it worked very well.)

Bring to a boil, immediately decrease the heat to medium, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the mixture lightly coats the spoon.

Whisk in the pepper and cream and continue cooking over medium heat for about 2 minutes, or until thoroughly blended.

This is what happens when you try to stir the soup and take a picture at the same time... =)

Simmering...

Ladle into a soup bowl and serve!

Makes 6-8 servings

30 before 30 UPDATE!

Movin right along! Woohoo!! =)

1. Take Keller to Easter at the Biltmore

2. Lose 30 pounds
Down 10 on 1/31/12!

3. Take another photography class

4. De-clutter my house

5. Run a mile

6. Paint the rooms in my house that need it

7. Cook my way through an entire cookbook

8. Successfully keep a plant alive for at least a month… =)

9. Shoot my gun – done 1/8/2012

10. Blog once a week (at least)

11. Make a habit of writing down things Keller says

12. Read a book a month
Jan: Bossypants, Tina Fey (HILARIOUS!!!)
The Heart of the Matter, Emily Giffin
The Hunger Games (book 1) (book 2) (book 3)(FAB!)
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

13. Once a month dates with my hubs (at least)
Jan: The Bull, Starbucks, went to see Mission Impossible 4
Went to see Red Tails
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

14. Do something off of Pinterest at least once a month
Jan: Keller's handprint mardi gras mask!
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

15. Host a 'favorite things' party

16. Go to a Saints game

17. Plant a tree

18. Give away a book a month
Jan: The Hunger Games (drawing held 2/6) better late than never (giving it away on Soulshine Gallery's FB page!)
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

19. Photograph a new city

20. Pay off my credit card

21. Have family portraits taken of my family

22. Go to a concert

23. Do 30 random acts of kindness

24. Make a 2 year old book of Keller

25. Enter a photo in a competition

26. (to be added)
27. (to be added)
28. (to be added)
29. (to be added)
30. (to be added)