Buttermilk

Getting a little more adventurous in the kitchen will inevitably lead to random ingredients left over. After making the delicious scones last weekend, I had a jug of buttermilk that was certainly going to curdle in the fridge so I set out to find ways to use the rest...

I already had my pork tenderloin and roasted veggies ready to cook last night when I stumbled across a recipe for dessert that I amazingly had all of the ingredients for! Smitten Kitchen has joined the ranks of my go-to recipe sites (I was pretty much a foodnetwork.com girl until recently) and since a few of my friends love her stuff, I gave this one a whirl.

Best Birthday Cake - Smitten Kitchen

I figured this would be yummy with a basic buttercream icing... Add some food coloring and you've turned a birthday cake into a pink Valentine cake!

Ok so I had almost all of the ingredients... My cake making skills pretty much start with a pre-made box normally, because.. well, why the hell not. So "cake flour" is not something I have on hand. Thankfully my other newly found site (Joythebaker.com) had a quick fix. Joy suggested subbing cornstarch with All Purpose Flour to lighten it up and make it suitable for your cake adventures.

Cake Flour- Joy the Baker

So I sifted and sifted to aerate my cake flour and soon enough all of my ingredients were good to go. I was a little concerned with how very thick the batter was, so I splashed a few extra tbsp of buttermilk, hoping it would help.

And while my completely homemade cake baked away, the monster and I took a little break.

Harrison's newest "thing" is to half roll over from his back. Normally to see the dog or something else interesting going on behind him. Nothing has really happened yet, but we are loving seeing his little chin/neck, haha.

 Well about 30 minutes later the cake was baked and later that afternoon, it was iced and ready. Annie stopped by with some really awesome Valentine's Day gifts for us, so we cut it and I sent her home with a fourth... Turns out I should have sent her home with WAY more than that, because this cake is very dense.

Not the best icing job, but that's ok. I like the flavor of the cake, but man is is a lot. Eric cut a large piece last night and even after I took a handful of bites, we threw out most of it. If you cut it razor thin, it may be better. I guess this is what buttermilk and 2 sticks of butter get ya...

No photos of my dinner creation from last night, but I did receive some beautiful roses from my husband.

I was left with 2 cups of buttermilk in the carton, so I found something to try for tonight!

Buttermilk Roast Chicken - Smitten Kitchen

Harrison and I went straight to the kitchen this morning to whip up the marinade and get the chicken thighs in the fridge. 

Raw chicken grosses the bejesus out of me. Normally when I cook chicken, I cannot eat it. I have even had issues with pre-cooked chicken (like those rotisserie ones that I use for chicken salad and such). Not sure where this strange aversion came from, but Eric normally cooks when it's chicken. This morning, in order to curb the disgust, I was barely finished with my 1st cup of coffee and I did not actually touch any of the raw chicken. But just typing this made me gag a little, so Eric may be eating a lot of roasted chicken thighs tonight.

The marinade looks promising... Buttermilk, garlic and paprika with a little salt, pepper and sugar. It is all mixed up and chilling the rest of the day. Thankfully I have some green beans and yummy Annie's Mac & Cheese to make too, so I will not be stuck eating cereal if this chicken mess pans out the way it normally does. 

Adventures in buttermilk to be continued...

A day in the life...

I have had some sort of job since I was 16, so this new phase of my life as a stay-at-home-mom has been an adjustment. I could not wait to quit working over the summer as my belly swelled and the heat made being pregnant unbearable. I had about 2 weeks at home before Harrison made his debut and I filled my days with chores around the house, trips to Target and rest.
Over the past 5 months, I have worked on making this new career fulfilling. I know a lot of moms have a hard time with this... I have heard and read countless times about not having enough "me" time, feeling overwhelmed keeping up with the house and children, feeling under stimulated, etc. I'm not going to lie, I've have my bouts in one way or another with these issues too (talking to an infant doesn't exactly get your brain juices flowing), but these issues (thankfully) were/are fleeting in my case.

I have also realized how lucky I am to get to stay home and raise our son. And while not every day is the best day ever, most days are pretty awesome.

This past weekend Max brought Benji over for a play date. I took a risk and made scones for the very first time and beside the fact that my oven inexplicably smokes like a chimney, they turned out perfectly.

Orange and chocolate scones -- recipe from Joy the Baker. 

So delicious, we ate them all.

And while we caught up on life and vented about well, everything, the little guys hung out together. Harold tried desperately to be included in each diaper change, snack, tumble and photo. 

I was hoping Harrison would try to mimic Benji's awesome rolling skills, but no dice. 

(His singular roll was caught on video about 2 months ago and apparently he has decided no further demonstrations are required.)

Tummy time!

Harrison (5mo) and Benji (8mo)

Trying to get them to laugh/smile at the same time-- Harrison thought he should just make buzzing noises while Benji cracked up.

I swear they both smiled the second before the camera snapped... Difficult little munchkins... :-)

Every day is filled with surprises- some more significant than others of course. Another 1st holiday for our little family this week has sparked an attempt at craftiness... Which the monster man was surprisingly unhappy with.

While I am super proud of our project, I was only able to properly stamp the little baby feet a handful of times. He screamed as if I was stabbing him or something equally mean... So only the Grandparents and Aunt/Uncles will receive these this year.

Now on to this knitting nonsense...

A brief moment

Anyone who has children will understand that blogging, like everything you did before your child arrived, certainly takes a back seat. However, after reading Lucy's adventures, I got inspired to jot down a few tidbits for anyone who is interested.
Instead of trying to wrap up the past 5 months/whenever I last blogged, I figured I would make this a true blog... Ramblings of my current state with a few nostalgic lines thrown in for good measure.

Harrison is 5 months old now and is totally the love of my life. It wasn't as immediate as I've heard it can be... He was kind of a blob to me for the first few weeks and with all of the hormones and sleep deprivation, my complete infatuation was a bit stilted.  I am not one of those moms that thinks their child is perfect, but I now fully understand this intense parental bond. I love this little man with an unfailing fierceness I never could have imagined and it is quite amazing.

Eric and I both comment on how long it feels like he's been here. We reminisced about the first months of trading sleep throughout the night, how tiny he was and how we never ever thought we'd get here. Now his cries do not stab me with fear (as he currently whines in his crib, determined to fight off the nap he knows he needs...), driving in the car doesn't cause irrational freak outs (even though we did get stuck on an icy stretch of mountain highway for 2 hours this weekend without any back up bottles...) and we sleep like normal people (instead of Eric on the couch or me on the floor in the nursery). 
I think Eric will agree that we know we don't have this parenting thing in the bag, but it is amazing how much more confident we are and how (sometimes) easier things become after those bleary eyed panicky first months.

I feel like we are finding our groove, mostly just to expect the unexpected, and now it's time to venture out a bit. Harrison and I go on little outings, he happens to love the grocery store, and I guess I am going to start a hobby. I am really enjoying being a stay-at-home-mom, but I definitely need a little something for me. Since I am not crafty (as previous posts have confirmed), but am already in a knitting group though I do not knit, I am going to give it a fair shot this time.  I do not expect this to be entirely fun, but it'll at least be challenging, have nothing to do with my child and be something just for me... which I've learned is very important. 

And now a few shots from our impromptu photo session over the holidays. We celebrated Betsy's 30th birthday while in Charleston. Pat and Abbi were kind enough to set up a mini photo shoot and capture me and my little monster so perfectly. Eric was unaware he'd be in any of these, but our amazing photographers still made us look beautiful (unshaven and all).