little house

Oh have you seen Little House lately?!! It's perfect for me right now because the frames don't move too fast, and the only food they show is ma pulling out bread from the oven. I can't get over how sucked in I get to these episodes. I called my sister yesterday after having watched the episode The Blizzard. I started crying at some point in the middle of the show, and by the end it was the ugly cry. And then the show was over and I still was ugly crying.

Annika watched Little House faithfully when she little and she claims all of her forehead wrinkles are from watching this show and the worry and heartache she took upon herself on behalf of the Ingalls.

Anyway, if you're looking for a good gift for some girls in your life, I can think of few things better than the books or the dvd's.

my party chicken.

My friend Emily sent this to me this morning and it made me laugh out loud. Because I really need to find my party chicken again. I have been so moody with this pregnancy. (That post I wrote on Friday was so crabby...and you can even pinpoint the moodswing in my writing!) I'm not sure where my party chicken has been, but Emily has unlocked it. Thank Goodness.

christmas lights

 

 

Ivar has some news to share...

That mushroom shaped loaf in the oven is supposed to be a bun. As in, we're pregnant! Expecting our second baby sometime in mid July.

I took the test one night when Rory was out with his brothers. This was the forth month I took the test and was really banking on another not pregnant result. I had planned in my head that I'd take it and let myself be disappointed on the couch that night while Rory was gone.

But lo and behold, that second line appeared. At that same moment the cat was trying to paw itself into Ivar's room, so I had the cat in one hand, the stick in the other and kept repeating to Toonces the big news. He didn't care. He just wanted down.

I didn't know when Rory would be home and was dying with all the time I suddenly had on my hands. So I googled "fun ways to tell your husband" and ended up wrapping the pregnancy test, making an invitation to the birth of our baby, put a bun in the oven, threw one in the toaster oven and tried to keep myself occupied.

Rory came home and I was waiting to read his mood. Maybe he'd be too tired and I'd wait until morning to have Ivar give him the positive test. It would be fun to have Ivar involved.

Rory was in a great mood, super chatty recounting the night. We were reheating some leftovers in the kitchen when he spied the toaster oven. In rapid fire, like some auctioneer, he blurted, "Do you know you left a bun in the toaster oven? Wait is that a bun in the oven? Do we have a bun in the oven?!!"

I was totally caught off guard. He pieced it all together so fast! I think it was my mother-in-law who later pointed out that I have clearly trained him well to look for riddles hidden around our house.

I was shocked! He wondered how I had wanted to tell him the news. I said I didn't know. I had like 14 plans and hadn't decided on one yet. But this was perfect. He figured it out.

We sat on the news for 6 minutes. Then Rory said, "I want to tell my brothers." And I suggested we wait until Thanksgiving when all the families are gathered anyway. And Rory repeated, "I think I want to tell my brothers. Like right now." He dialed Kyle. And then Troy. It was fun. It was high energy. We didn't get the flip camera out. :)

Within 24 hours all family knew. Even our little nieces and nephews, which basically means we were shouting it from the rooftops.

I had my 8 week check-up yesterday and got lots of blood drawn and a few shots. I'm not feeling great with this pregnancy. Totally different than Ivar, but I'll share more about that another day. For now, this is joyous news! We are having another baby!

My favorite story so far comes from Ruby, my four-year-old niece. Her mom had told her we were having a baby, but that it was a secret that she couldn't tell.

When I saw Ruby a few weeks later, I asked her, "Ruby, do you know I have a baby growing in me?" Ruby nodded and smiled and ran to her mom and said, "Mom! Aunt Becca already knew she had a baby in her! And I didn't even tell her!"

here's what's cookin.

I've been cooking lately. That's a big deal. I'm sort of an uninspired cook usually, excited to find ready-to-heat meals at Trader Joes, excited to make another eggs and potatoes breakfast-for-supper sort of meal. But lately, I've been chopping. And grating and things have been bubbling and my house smells amazing.

I'm not sure what brought about this change. I think seasonally, when it gets so cold, there is something in a Minnesota mama that wants to get her family real close and feed them warm things just to ward off the offensive temperatures. So we've had lots of soups and hotdishes.

I also read a quick read called My Homemade Life, a food memoir that painted a picture of the process of cooking that sort of challenged how I see myself in the kitchen. Typically, my goal is to get food on the table, bellies full and the kitchen cleaned up so we can move onto the next thing. This book made me wonder if I'm missing the joy involved in the simmering, the smelly garlic fingers that linger for days, the actual process.

This little shift has helped considerably. I'm not afraid to try new recipes. And as the food memoir recommends, I follow the instructions and ingredients exactly. That's always been my biggest problem. The Scandinavian in me tries to omit the chili peppers, and then wonders why her corn chowder is so bland. Well, I committed to the chile's and that recipe is pure gold.

So, since this little blog is my own journal of life happenings, and because I hope to reference these recipes that shined a bit brighter than the others, I thought I'd post the favorites with hopes of more chopping and mincing and simmering.

Pioneer Woman's Corn Chowder with Chiles
Land a livin. This was so good. Full of cream and butter and bacon, I welcomed it all and it did not disappoint. We ate most of a loaf of crusty bread with it, and that was key. It's a soup for dipping. Pioneer woman is not afraid of butter and cream, and I decided not to be either. But if you are, her recipes will freak you out. They will terrorize you in the night. But I'm not scared.

Pioneer Woman's Lasagna
I used her recipe from the cookbook, which is slightly different than this one on her website in that it uses fresh basil and parsley, and honestly, after eating it with the fresh stuff, I think I might be too snobby to go back. It was utter perfection for a lasagna. Saucy, but didn't fall into a soup when I served it. I mean, perfection.

Paula Dean and Jessica Sprague's Chicken Noodle Soup
I think I've blogged about this soup three times now. It is just that good. We use broth instead of stock and like that much better. And also we cook our own chicken breasts in the oven (using this method for oven roasting) and have much juicier chicken that way. And then we never add the noodles to the soup until it is time to serve. We cook them seperately and mix the soup and noodles in our individual bowls when it's time to eat. They don't get soggy and that's important. And I leave out the cream and Parmesan cheese, but will sprinkle some mozzarella on it if we've got it.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
I had a hankerin' and it wasn't going to go away. I doubled this recipe and it was fantastic. Hit the spot. And spots for days after as it made so much.

And another super easy, I love this meal: Trader Joes Naan bread (toasted), Hummus, Tzatziki Creamy Garlic Cucumber Dip, and chicken breasts seasoned with Lawry's and covered in fresh squeezed lime juice. This meal takes 10 minutes to put on the table and Rory will comment the whole time, "we should have this once a week." It's easier than frozen pizza!

Alrighty. Enjoy. Happy Eating. I sure am happy when I eat.