Exposing Myself

I am about to completely expose myself to you.  Don't worry - there's no nudity here.  It's worse.  Much worse.  I'm showing you my pantry!

EEK!  How embarrassing.  

I particularly like this shelf... crackers, protein powder, some table decor leftover from the fall, bowl, tongs, a jar of pimentos and I think I see a candle in there.  Makes perfect sense, right?  Actually, it probably does when you have young kids.

Crockpot, more crackers, bags and Syd's LSU purse.

While the kids are a major hinderance to keeping the pantry clean and organized, I can't blame it all on them.  Honestly, when we moved in I just sort of put things in there with the intent to go back and organize later.  Ha!  Almost a year later, it seemed time to finally do something about it!

It's probably a project that should be taken on at least once a year.  I can't tell you how many vitamins and drugs I threw away due to expiration.  Or partial bags of chips or crackers!  They were everywhere.

And the duplicates - oh my!  Just last week I bought a can of green chiles for chili.  Turns out I already had FOUR cans in the pantry.  Just couldn't' find them.  We also have three jars of fish oil supplements.  Seriously?

Sadly, this peanut butter collection is not due to lack of organization.  But rather an obsession.  Peter Pan Whipped is Pat's absolute favorite.  It's not always easy to find, so when he does spot it, we get a stock pile of at least 4 jars.  

One of my New Year Resolutions has been to get a bit more organized.  Now, I'm not getting too crazy.  I am not following any books or lists - although there are many great ones out there and if that's your thing, check out my friend's blog who is getting seriously organized this year!  I applaud her, am cheering her on and can't wait to see what tricks she comes up with to make her home run more smoothly.  I just wasn't ready for all that yet.  I don't need any other reasons to feel inadequate.  


I'm just tackling areas of the house that bother me.  I am not a super organized person by nature (clearly).  Everything does not have a place in my house.  I'm ok with that and I think it would make me crazy to try and be that uber-organized person.  But I can do better.  So I'm getting organized.  But in my own way.


This particular project took me almost two weeks.  But only because it wasn't my sole focus for one day or afternoon like it probably should have been.  A little purging here.  A little purging there.  Trip to the store for bins.  Not the right size.  Back to the store.  Not enough.  Back to the store.  Still need more.  Need another size.  


And viola!  Look, NOTHING on the floor!

 Beauty and peace!

This "organized" pantry isn't winning any style or creativity awards.  And I still have a few tweaks... to add labels and change out those black bins at the back (I was afraid the non-matching bins would bother me - and they do).  But by and large, it's done!  Whew.  And it feels so good.  Sometimes I open the door and just stare in wonder.  Maybe I'm taking it all in before the kids destroy it again.  Sigh.  Now to just keep it up.  

Dinnertime

Dinnertime perplexes me.


Everyday.  Every.  Single.  Day.  Around 5:15pm.  The meltdown begins.  It's like the sun goes down and out come the vampires.  I'm usually in the final minutes of dinner preparation but no manner of snacks will hold off the starving children hanging on my ankles.  They want dinner and they want it NOW.


Finally we get dinner on the table and all sit down.  Only to have them refuse to eat and want down to play less than 2 minutes into the meal (after Fletcher has sufficiently mashed every bit of food into his tray, clothes, chair and floor).  The good news is that most of the time they will go play like angels while Pat and I finish our meal.


So let me get this straight.  They cry.  We put them in chairs.  They stop crying.  We put them down.  They go play.  We eat in peace.


Ok.


Maybe next time I'll try offering plastic food.  At least that way there'll be less of a mess to clean up later.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

To continue my cooking spree, last weekend I began serious research to find the perfect lemon ricotta pancake.


I became slightly obsessed with finding this recipe after traveling to New York City last month and having THE best lemon ricotta pancakes here - at Sarabeth's!

These are practically the only photos I took while in NY.  They serve you 5 generous pancakes.  I ate all 5.  Twice.  Obsessed.

But NYC is a little far away for a Saturday morning breakfast, so I turned to Google for help and found this recipe to try.

Yes, you have to whip egg whites.  Yes, it's a little more time consuming than your average Bisquick pancake.  Hmmm - maybe a little too time consuming.... after tuning out 4,239 "mama's" I looked up to find Sydney changing her own diaper.  Oops.  I was in a zone.

This is probably not going to be a weekday staple.   But once in a while for a special weekend breakfast, it's excellent.

I found the pancakes to be a little too light and will adjust to only whip 4 egg whites next time to see if I can get the consistency right.  But the flavor was pretty dang close to the real thing.


I'm also slightly obsessed right now with the ability to cook multiple pancakes at once thanks to this awesome double burner griddle I got for Christmas!!!

Mmmm.  Got Sydney's stamp of approval too!

 

What's Cookin!

I'm not sure what got into me.  


Since we returned from Christmas vaca I've been on a cooking spree.  And I like it.


Not just cooking because I have to.  Cooking because I WANT to.


I brined a turkey breast and re-created the whole holiday meal (so not ready for it all to be over).  
Made Susan Spicer's shrimp and tomato bisque with homemade shrimp stock (HEAV-EN-LY).
Cooked a New Years meal complete with some if-i-had-a-southern-granny-she'd-be-proud-collards, black-eyed peas and ham.
Braised short ribs, roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts.


Even when I almost missed the mark last night because my protein hadn't thawed, I whipped up a delicious new recipe - banana bread pancakes - I found on Pinterest!  Because everyone loves breakfast for dinner.  And who doesn't love banana bread.  Mmm. Mmmm.  The kids scarfed them down and ate the leftovers this morning for breakfast.


And there are a pile of recipes just waiting for us to try.  One of my new years resolutions was to try at least 12 new recipes/meals.  At this rate I'm going to accomplish it before this month is even over!


Maybe it was my crazy month of travel.  Maybe it was being away from my kitchen and all of my kitchen things.  Maybe it was missing out on all the usual holiday baking.  Whatever it was, I'm having a great time and hope this season of joyful cooking lasts a while.


Sorry there are no photos to further torture you - too busy cooking and eating.

Christmas Celebrations

We've been so busy with family time and travel and holiday celebrating, I've fallen way behind in blogging and photo posting.  So here's a quick look into 48 of the most holy hours of the year with our family!

Attempted family photo with uncooperative Syd.

Attempted grandkids photo with uncooperative Syd.

But then she made up for it all with this sweet smile!

Santa was here!

Christmas morning.  They would have been happy with just the stockings!  Too bad that won't last many more years.

First present!

The random, last minute, after-thought, Wal-mart, cheap-o gift... that was her favorite.  

We love to make Mamie cry.

The gift that did it.

Sydney's gift that her brother loved more.

Traditional holiday morning exercise/football in the yard.

Cousin Sarah's little shadow.

Making pie!  We were all having so much fun we almost forgot Christmas dessert.

Merry Christmas!

This has been a whirlwind month for our family.  I've been gone for business and personal travel more than I've been home which laid a huge burden on Pat's shoulders - one that he carried proudly.  I'm so lucky to be married to a man who truly loves being a dad and relishes this time he had privately with the kids.  He makes me feel like such a whiner when I have to keep the kids by myself for a few days.


I just arrived home this evening but we leave again tomorrow afternoon to spend Christmas with Pat's family in Gulf Shores.  Sadly there has been little in the way of treasured Christmas activities and zero holiday baking around here - which is a first for me.  But even without those traditions, our Christmas spirit is strong... the true test will be when we listen to Christmas carols throughout the entire 9 hour car ride tomorrow!  Woohoo!  I'm ready.  And bring on the Evan & Williams egg nog!  I'm going to cram an entire month of Christmas spirit into ONE WEEK!


But before I get too far in the weeds (or egg nog).  Here is our 2011 Christmas Card.  We cut WAY back on our mailing this year.  Sorry if you didn't get one (but I may still be trying to track down your address if you move as much as I do).  It was out of control and crazy expensive.  


And I didn't do a Christmas newsletter.  Sorry again.  I blog.  It felt redundant.  And it's been a busy month.  


But I love receiving Christmas cards - especially pictures!  Please keep 'em coming.  And I promise, if you send me one, you'll get one in return.  I think.  I'm a little scattered this year.

By the way, when you go out of town for a few weeks, your kids grow up crazy fast!  Sydney serenaded me at the airport today with Frosty The Snowman and has been telling her brother to stop bothering her because "I'm reading."  Whose kid is this?

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

Photos taken at Cartoogechaye Baptist Church in Franklin, NC.


Oh Come All Ye Faithful.  Welcome to Bethlehem.

 Away In A Manger.  No room at the Inn.

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him.  Christ the Lord! 

Angels We Have Heard On High 

He came so that we could be saved.

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth


Merry Christmas All!