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Archive for the ‘Kids’ Category

Hello…?

…Anybody home? *cricket*

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog. I miss sharing recipes with my faithful followers (Hi, Mom). If you’ll notice, my last post was in December. Coincidentally, that’s around the same time that this guy started crawling. Things got a little busier around here once he was mobile, especially since he started crawling, pulling up and “cruising” all on the same day. Here is a picture from December:

baby standing

And now he is a 14-month-old extrovert who will eat anything (and a lot of it) and loves being in a crowd and interacting with everyone (I wonder where he got that…).

baby outdoors

(The above picture was taken at my parents’ house, where he gets to borrow Papa’s hat, play with the “puh PEE!” and carry around all manner of rocks and branches.)

Anyway, all that to say… I have a recipe all typed up and ready to publish tomorrow. And hopefully many more after that. Is there anything you would like to see on the blog?

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He has them.

baby faces smiling

baby face collage

baby face trio

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Cheesy grits casserole

My mom made this shortly after I had the baby, and thankfully she left the recipe! Or at least we thought she did… I couldn’t find it, so I called her to get it again, and she realized she forgot to leave me the recipe to begin with. At least having a baby didn’t make me completely lose my mind (only partially).

Speaking of having a baby, anything this cheesy and delicious HAS to help shed baby weight, right? …Right? *cricket*

Ingredients

It’s a pretty flexible dish, and as long as you keep some grits on hand, you can probably whip it up without ever having to buy anything. Since running to the store now involves a lot of carseat buckling and diaper bag hauling, I like to keep those random last-minute trips to a minimum.

  • 4 cups milk
  • 1 1/4 cups uncooked grits (not instant)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar
  • 1/2 cup parmesan
  • 1 clove garlic, minced (or mashed with a garlic press)
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • Optional: onions, can of green chiles, corn, chopped sausage, chopped turkey bacon, smoky paprika, etc.
For this one, I used a can of green chiles and some chopped breakfast turkey sausage, because that’s what I found in the freezer.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

  1. Bring the milk almost to a boil (but not quite!) and slowly whisk in the grits. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5-7 minutes until the grits thicken. Remove from heat.
  2. Mix in all the rest of the ingredients and spread into a greased 9×13 dish.
  3. Bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes. You can eat it right away, but it will be a little mushy and won’t look pretty on the plate. It’s best to let it set for about 10 minutes.

It’s a really easy dish, which is great when you’re wrangling kids or, in my case, trying to cook between feedings and diaper changes and bouts of fussing (le bébé, not me… most of the time…).

Before putting it in the oven:

uncooked grits casserole

After taking it out of the oven:

cooked grits casserole

A slice of cheesy goodness:

serving of cheesy grits

And just for kicks:

Sleeping is his superpower.

sleeping baby superpower

Be still, my heart:

baby sleeping heart

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Nun’s puffs

Nun's Puffs dessert

I really have no idea why they’re called “nun’s puffs,” but if anyone knows where this deceptively stoic name came from, I’d love to hear it. (Sorry for the dark pictures, by the way… I seem to always be cooking after the sun goes down and may also not be interested in taking the time to arrange my photos before chowing down.)

They have a unique cooking process, and they call for ingredients you probably have on hand. They end up with a pretty significant pocket of air inside, but that just means you can eat more with less guilt, right? Don’t listen to me...

Stephen loves them (I do too!) and has asked for them several times since. Though still delicious by themselves, they’re not very sweet, so they make a great dessert drizzled with some honey.

Random side note: My friend owns a “bee farm,” Desert Creek Honey, and we get our honey from him. You cannot beat local, all-natural, raw North Texas honey – so good for you, and so delicious! I highly recommend them.

Ingredients

The recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens. They’re pretty “eggy,” so if you just can’t stand eggs for some reason, you may want to avoid nun’s puffs.

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 Tbs sugar (optional: you can also mix in about 1 tsp cinnamon with the sugar if you want a light cinnamon flavor)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

  1. Grease a muffin tin, including around the edges and top of all 12 cups.
  2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, then add the milk. Bring to a boil.
  3. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously until it forms a ball that is somewhat solid and doesn’t run all over the place.
  4. Remove from heat and let it cool for 5 minutes.
  5. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon for 1 minute after each addition or until smooth.
  6. Divide dough into the 12 muffin cups (they should be about 2/3 full) and sprinkle with sugar (or cinnamon-sugar mixture).
  7. Bake 30 minutes or until puffy and golden-brown. They will deflate a little after a while, so they’re best served immediately, but they’re still wonderful the next day!

I made them a few months ago, but I never got around to posting the recipe. However, now that I don’t have time to cook much, I’m glad I have an arsenal of pictures/recipes that haven’t yet been posted!

Nun Puffs recipe

And while I’m at it, may I just say that these expressions on that tiny face are enough to make me smile uncontrollably?

Baby Lightning Faces

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Baby Lightning

His nickname had been “Baby Lightning” for months and months. Then, after a mere 4 hours of labor + pushing, he popped out ready to join the world 5 days early. Meet Baby Lightning!

newborn 3 days old

He’s almost 3 weeks old now and we love him to pieces.

baby 3 weeks

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to post more recipes, but for now we’re adjusting to life with this fun little guy.

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