Grow.Make.Brew.Eat

This is such a great recipe from Clean Eating Magazine from 2 years ago. I've saved the past 2 years of my fave food magazines (no I'm not a hoarder) and seasonally I check out the recipes that will fit. This one hasn't been made since last year and I couldn't wait to cook it up. I remember the first time I made it. We were at the old house and I was not that great of a cook (not that I'm spectacular now, but I feel much more comfortable and competent in the kitchen). It seems to me that it took me a loooong time to cook this meal that first time. This time it was a breeze. It take about an hour from prep to fork, but much of the time is "down time" so it's really very easy. It's baked and made w/egg whites and panko to boost the healthy content, and then served w/bulgar and pine nuts. We 1/2 the recipe, since it's just the 2 of us...and there were still some left overs for Andy's lunch, as it's meant to serve 3. Yum! The taste buds

Last year I started attending a few craft shows with my jewelry and goodies. They went pretty well and I'm gearing up for the Fall season of shows as I type. I've made some new and interesting items, which I really like, and I hope others like too! Here's what I have coming up:  This weekend-October 1 (10-5) & 2 (10-4)- Cider & Cinnamon @ Edgebrook   November 13-Unique Boutique @ the Hoffman House  November 19-Rockford Charity Market @ St. Rita's Church  December 1- Rockford Handmade Market -----I've put in my application, but we won't know until later in October if this is a go. This is a great event and I hope to get the chance to be a part of it this year!  I may put a few others in there, but I have yet to decided. They are fun, but can be looong. But you can get all of your holiday shopping done at one time...bonus! Hopefully I'll have some of my new items up on my Etsy site before long. And now you can find Curious Whatnots on

The belly is definitely growing. Which, of course, means the munchkin is growing too...so that's a great thing. It's super apparent looking back at the first set of pics from week 13 that we are making progress (and I need a haircut...haha). We have a follow up appointment with the doc this week and so far I think everything is going great. Still reading a lot, which helps to explain all the weird aches and pains that I have. So I don't let it bother me. It comes with the territory. I get tired easily, but luckily Andy is super helpful, handy and a great chef in the kitchen, so we're all set there. 20 weeks 17 weeks 13.5 weeks

Last night I was tired. I didn't want to do a thing. This growing a baby thing can be exhausting at times. Luckily for me Andy was in "provider" mode and more than willing to whip up some dinner. Grilled cheese sandwiches and soup sounded good to me, so that's what we had. He made, from scratch, some noodle soup (with carrots from our garden) and an awesome whole wheat grilled cheese sandwich with caramelized onions, mushrooms and wasabi mayo! Oh so good. It was just what I needed.

We have butternut squash growing in our garden! One was ready to pick and I've been really wanting a hearty squash dish to start off fall. I found a Curried Squash & Chicken Soup dish from Eating Well online. Instead of using pureed frozen squash we roasted our squash in the oven and pureed it for the soup. We doubled the recipe and I was also having an "I really wants spicy food" moment so I almost tripled the curry paste. This was delicious and I definitely want to make this one again!

I spent part of Saturday night searching through old buttons at my parents and sewing them onto the jellyfish for Baby E's room. Sunday they got a little stuffing and were sewed shut. We put up the hooks and settled the jellyfish in their new home. We also put up the trim and ledge on the chalkboard and it looks great. The room is really starting to come together. Now to work on finishing up the closet storage, hanging a few more decorations, recovering the rocking chair and rolling out the rug. Phew. Not much left to do in there really. It's a nice feeling to be "prepared" (at least as far as the room goes).

My Dad turned 60 last week. We celebrated this past weekend by having "Miketoberfest". We grilled burgers and dogs. Served the burgers w/bacon and fried egg. Had traditional potato salad and had not just a deliciously moist cake (the request was for a moist cake), but we had the Ultimate Chocolate Cake w/ Ultimate Chocolate Frosting . We affectionately called it: Earthquake Cake. Note: this meal was not healthy in any way, shape, or form....but it was really tasty and fun. Miketoberfest Celebration was a huge success. oh and hte cake was very moist. Makin' the cake Frosting. mmm. Earthquaaaaaake. A few chocolate chips won't hurt.

I made these this weekend. I know I wrote about them in my "Busy Weekend" post, but I had to share again. The muffins are to die for...at least I think they are. Their double cranberry and have a tart taste because I used sour cherry preserves in them. The past two days we've had a muffin for breakfast with a bit of Nutella, some preserves and a smoothie. Great, healthy way to start the day.

We have an abundance of hot peppers growing in our garden. We decided to make good use of them and make a Hot Pepper Jelly . Besides feeling like our eyes were going to pop out due to the peppers, the jelly was fairly easy to make AND it tastes pretty good too. We altered the recipe and only used hot peppers, no regular. And we used only 3 cups of sugar. 5 just sounded like a lot. We tried it last night on some crackers. Less sugar was just fine! We also made some pickles . We did a dill pickle and made a few of the jars spicy with the addition of some red pepper flakes. We followed the recipe loosely and tried to make it "our own". Hopefully they turn out great. I'm sure they will. About 2.5 hours of work and we ended up with 12 jars of goodies. They just look so tasty.

We stayed sooooo busy this weekend. It was great to accomplish several things around the house. We have been slowly getting the nursery together and want to get the rest of the house in order too. Here's what occupied our time over the past few days. Friday morning Pumpkin Bran Muffins . Made these before Andy left for work. Delicious way to start the day. Nursery stripes, chalk board, and shelves: The chalkboard isn't quite finished. It will have an awesome wood border and little shelf for chalk. That got stained this weekend and will be attached this week. Getting the stripes to be "perfect" was a bit of a pain but it turned out pretty awesome. Bought these shelves at Ikea. A little stain and they look great. Making jellyfish! I saw this idea on Etsy and thought "I can do this". I haven't sewn in a looong time and I'm not good at it. But I impressed myself with some straight lines! All that's left is to sew on the tentacles and