Where did the time go?!?!

So clearly I have slacked off on my blog posts, but in my defense, there's been a lot going on "off the court," so to speak.  We've just had a lot going on since around Thanksgiving, and I just haven't sat down to blog.  But you don't want to know all that jazz, so I'm just going to post some pictures from the past month or so for you all who might not have seen them on facebook.  ENJOY! :)

My baby with a rock

G clearly enjoyed the big box which contained the Christmas presents even more than the presents themselves!  Typical, I know, but I love it.

This was a freakishly warm day over our Christmas break, so we had to go to the park!

Finally we saw some snow on 1/2/2012 - G was in heaven!

And this picture is from today.  G is staying with my dear friend Anne.  I just can't get over how HUGE he looks in this picture!  Where is my BABY!?!?!?

And speaking of babies, in case anyone missed it, G is going to have a little BROTHER!  We're totally thrilled about it.  I think having two boys 2 years apart will be a great thing.  I hope and pray they'll be wonderful friends!  Oh, and I'm praying I survive! ;)

New Post, New Life!

So I missed an entire month of blogging.  That's okay though - life happens.  And in case anyone missed it on Facebook, here's a big part of our life right now:

Baby Walters #2 - due May 23, 2012
(sorry for the extra space - I'm too lazy to crop it out!)

Family Vacation!!!

We had the extreme pleasure to spend last week in Lake Lure, NC, which is about an hour east of Asheville.  It's an hour east, but it's only about 30 miles away; it takes so long because of the winding, winding, curvy roads.   I wasn't sure how G$ would do on this road, but he was great the whole trip!  We joined my parents there, to stay in the timeshare they've had for the past 25 or so years.  I have so many memories at this place, and it was so much fun to share those memories with G this year.  I can't wait to make many more together!!!  Here are some highlights from the trip:

G had a BLAST in the pool!



The fam at the top of Chimney Rock.

The boys eating some delicious BBQ on such a gorgeous day!

Failure vs. Success

I'm not immune to making mistakes in the kitchen by any stretch of the imagination.  However, I do try to avoid them as much as possible because 1.)  I am afraid of disaster (imagine a fire needing to be extinguished after a failed homemade popcorn attempt...ahem...not that anyone in my family would know about that) and 2.)  I don't like cleaning up a mess. 

Two weeks ago I wanted to take full advantage of our beautiful sweet corn that we received from the CSA and make a corn chowder.  This is one of my favorite things to eat, and although it's still warm outside, I decided that soup was in order.  I worked hard shucking the corn and getting every last kernel off the cob, etc, etc.  G and I enjoyed a nice big bowl of corn chowder that evening.  The next night I planned to have leftovers.  Instead of microwaving individual bowls of the chowder, I just put the pot back on the stove to heat.  Well, that was my mistake.  I turned the burner on too high (which is something I'm constantly nagging someone else about), walked away, and that was THE END.  What had been a delicious, garden grown corn chowder ended up as nasty, bitter, BURNT corn chowder. 

Underneath this nice top layer filled with corn, onion, a bell pepper (all from the CSA), stock, and cream lay a black layer that totally consumed every ounce of deliciousness out of this pot.  I don't know about you all, but when this happens, I get a wee bit upset.  All of the work and produce had to be thrown down the drain, and the burnt remains took about a week to scrape off of the bottom of the pot! 

So last week I decided upon a fool-proof recipe from my dear friend Nada (also my former boss) that G and I could enjoy together, without any heartbreak or burned pots.  The recipe she came up with was so easy (great for a last-minute meal, or when you just don't feel like taking a long time to cook) and resulted in a really tasty pasta dish.  I know it's not really homemade, but sometimes it's fun to take a short-cut.

Spinach-Alfredo Pasta
1 jar store bought light Alfredo sauce
1 package fresh baby spinach
1 onion, diced
1 lb. penne pasta (or other favorite shape)
Parmesan cheese, optional

Directions:  Cook pasta according to package directions (make sure you season the pasta water with salt!).  Meanwhile, saute chopped onion in olive oil or butter until translucent, about 7-10 minutes.  Add fresh spinach and wilt to desired doneness.  Stir in Alfredo sauce.  If the sauce is a bit thick, save some of the pasta-cooking liquid and add a little bit at a time to get the texture you want.  Drain pasta and add directly to the sauce.  Season with salt & pepper (if needed...it really doesn't need salt if you seasoned your pasta, but you might like pepper or red pepper flakes), and top with some Parmesan cheese. 

Then, watch your G$ devour it like it's candy.

For the love of IKEA.

This past weekend the boys and I made a trip up to Cincinnati for a little whirlwind vacation.  We were only away for maybe 30 hours or so, but it was a great time.  We had several places that were "must-stops" since we were only going to be there a short time. 

First we got to see our awesome friend, Kristin, whom I haven't seen since last fall.  It was great to catch up with a precious friend.  While we were visiting at Starbucks, G$ decided to eat some dirt.  That was his first dirt experience, and hopefully it will be his last, but I'm not going to bank on it.  Since the place we were planning to go for dinner had an hour-long wait, we decided to make Graeter's our dinner.  Smart.  To continue the sugar-high, we then hit up our old friend Tim Horton's for some delicious Timbits.  Thank you, Tim, for the Blueberry glazed!  YUM.  We went back to the hotel and decided to take G for a dip in the pool.  It was super fun, although I think he wanted to swim on his own instead of being contained in the float. 

Saturday we enjoyed a lovely (FREE!) breakfast at the hotel and headed nextdoor to IKEA.  This was the star, and the reason for, the trip.  Keith has never actually experienced IKEA before, except for the 2 times he used their restroom - once in Malaysia, the other in Burbank, CA.  Yep.  We've been wanting to get a shelf or shelves for our kitchen for me to store my ever-growing collection of cookbooks.  We dont' have a ton of cabinet space, and some of the books are simply too big.  We had seen several online that we liked, but once we got there, we knew we had to have this one:

I absolutely love it, and it is perfectly functional.  Thanks to Keith for putting it together and hanging it, without busting a hole in the wall. :)

We also found a cute little chair for G for the living room, now that he's getting to be such a big, big, boy.  He seemed to approve (pardon the paci).

He has loved having his very own chair (and he knows it's his!).  He climbs in and out of this thing all day long.  He's really into "reading" right now, so he will bring one book after another out and throw it in the chair and climb up.  It's pretty cute, if I do say so.

We also hit up the outlet mall a few exits up, where we found some great deals, and then we headed straight to our cherished TJ's.  We have so many favorite things we buy here - can't wait until there is one in Lexington.  Finally we stopped at Mio's Pizza, which took me back to my high school days.  I have lots of memories at this place, so it was nice to think back on them. 

Speaking of high school, we're off to Cincy again tomorrow for my high school reunion: Lucky #13!!!  Can't wait to see some of my dear friends.

What goes around comes back around....

My love of farm-fresh vegetables has definitely been passed down to me from my parents.  When I was in about 2nd or 3rd grade, we were lucky enough to have a garden at our apartment complex.  I'm sure you're picturing some kind of flower box contraption on our deck "filled" with 2 - 3 plants, but this was East Tennessee, and we had land.  It really amazes me once I think back to it, because it was such a unique situation, but behind the pool was a massive garden area, where many of the tenants could plant several rows of whatever they wanted.  We had about 5 -6 rows all total: 4 rows of green beans, plus okra, zucchini and yellow squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  I remember it all so vividly, mainly because we ate green beans, okra, squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers at almost every meal for an entire summer.  I always like to remind (i.e. give her a hard time) my mom that one night for dinner we had zucchini casserole, boiled squash, and zucchini bread.  I love the stuff, but that was a bit much!  My mom was warned that if she ever brought squash or cucumbers to church to give away, people would run in the other direction.  If you've ever seen how much one single squash or cucumber plant can produce, you'll understand. 

Though that was the only year we've ever had a garden, we've been lucky enough to find half-runner green beans every year.  My mom and I (and my dad, if we were lucky) would spend an entire weekend stringing, breaking, and then canning beans.  The process was long, tedious, and hot, but we were always so thankful to be eating green beans in December!  I have many memories of breaking green beans.  We broke beans outside, we broke them inside, we broke them on a car-ride from North Carolina to Northern KY, we broke beans while watching a horse auction at Keeneland, and I could go on.  I'm sure I would always complain, but I always did it.  It seemed to take a lifetime to get all those strings off those beans!

And that brings me up to the present.  The past 2 weeks in our CSA we've received green beans.  Luckily for me (and Keith) these are stringless beans, so it just requires breaking them.  I don't have the tools for canning, so I decided to freeze them instead, so that we can enjoy them in Winter.  I couldn't help but laugh as I stood there with my green beans, breaking them into the pot.  Can't wait until G$ is old enough to help his momma! :)

I'm in a Pickle

Okay, okay, I'm not in a pickle, but I love pickles, and after years and years of wanting to make my own, I finally made a quick version this past week.  Some background is needed, I think.  My Aunt Ann & her mother, Virginia, canned the most heavenly pickles I have ever had.  Virginia was part of The Oakdale Club, and while they produced many quilts during their time, they also produced some mighty delicious food.  The ladies of the Club compiled their many recipes into a cookbook that sits in my cabinet today (Virginia gave me a copy she used).  I refer to this cookbook all the time, and many of my family's favorite recipes come from the pages of this precious book.  One of the recipes in this cookbook is for pickles - the ones Ann & Virginia would make.  They picked their own cucumbers from Virginia's garden, and I've never seen anything like them.  Whenever we would go to visit them in Statesville, I would look forward to enjoying those pickles.  Ever since I had those, I've been a bit obsessed with pickles.  They are a food I crave on regular basis, and I can put down a jar in no time. 

Since I haven't found any perfect pickling cucumbers, but our CSA box has been loaded down with larger cukes, I decided to try to find a quick recipe to satisfy my desire to make pickles.  I found a great recipe, and tweaked it only the slightest bit to remind myself of Ann & Virginia's pickles.  They turned out pretty good.  I think Keith was shocked.  And that's why I love to cook. 

Quick Pickle Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 C white or cider vinegar (just eyeball it)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp whole mustard seed
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 TBSP chopped fresh dill, or 1 tsp dried dill
1 bay leaf
4 kirby cucumbers, sliced about 1/2 inch thick on an angle
optional: 1 jalapeno or serrano chile, pierced with a knife
Directions:

Heat small saucepan over medium high heat. Add vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, salt, and garlic to the pan and cook until it begins to simmer and the sugar dissolves. Toss the dill, bay leaf, jalapeno (if using) and sliced cucumbers together in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the simmering liquid over the cucumbers and stir to evenly coat. Allow to cool to room temperature or chill before serving.

In other food-related news, apparently mango juice makes for a very posh hair styling product.  At least that's what this goober tells me.  You too can look like THIS!

Blueberries

I know it's been a long time since my last post.  I had a little computer mishap, and I haven't been able to get to my pictures or anything for a while.  The computer, while on its last leg, is in working condition again, so here we are again!

Last weekend the boys, my parents and I headed out to Reed Valley Orchard for their annual blueberry festival.  I've been wanting to go for YEARS, but for one reason or another just haven't been able.  I've had this thing on my calendar for about 5-6 months now, and there was no way I was going to miss it again.  The weather was perfect and the blueberries were extraordinary. 

The best part about the morning was picking blueberries with Graham.  He caught on immediately, and I've honestly never seen anything more adorable.  He was grabbing them off the tree and putting them in his mouth so fast I couldn't keep up!  Thankfully we did manage to come away with quite a few berries still in our buckets.  It was such a special day.  Below are some of my favorite memories.

 Enjoying the pancakes



Picking his own blueberries

Going for the big loot

Mouthful of blueberries

Enjoying the harvest - Blueberry buttermilk scones

Dinner & a Cutie

I am late posting about this past week's CSA delivery, but better late than never, right?  We got lots of leafy veg this week, including a TON of spinach, butter lettuce, field greens, and some greens (not sure eactly the variety), as well as some oregano, snap peas (pic below - I love the sweet little flowery-looking tops!) and asparagus. 

With so many greens, I knew I had to do something more than just a plethora of salads, so I decided to make a pizza with the asparagus, spinach & oregano.  I think anything and everything must taste good on a pizza, but that's just me!  Used a basic pizza crust recipe, using half AP flour and half whole wheat flour, sauteed some onions and spinach, chopped up the asparagus & oregano, and threw it all on the par-baked crust, then topped with a light layer of mixed italian cheeses.  It's hard to feel bad about eating this pizza when it tastes so good!!

 

In addition to this delicious food, I have a cutie to share with you.  This picture may not seem special to anyone, but G is wearing his daddy's outfit from 28 years ago.  Thanks so much to the Walters' for keeping these things to share with us.  He's such a cutie!

 

 

WALKING.

The G man has been hinting to us that he might want to begin walking soon.  In fact, the week of his Birthday he fell right into the coffee table because he decided to "let go" moving from the ottoman to the coffee table.  I guess we needed a big hint.  He has continued to show more signs of this 2-legged movement this past week. 

Yesterday was Memorial Day, and a Walters' - Secrest family get together to remember our fallen soldiers (we also got to look through my dad's photo album from Vietnam which was really neat). 

G wearing Papa's army jungle hat

We were sitting around the living room together talking and enjoying some dessert, and G decided to put on a show for us.  He started at the coffee table, and proceeded to walk about 5 or so steps out into the middle of the room.  Obviously we hadn't been giving him enough attention - and those steps sure turned that around really fast!  Time literally stood still (and our mouths stood open) as this little person in our lives walked.  It was an incredible moment.  We are so thankful he decided to put on this little performance in front of his whole family!!!

I know it won't be too much longer until he learns how to RUN, but for right now I am perfectly content with slow, deliberate steps, one at a time.

I love how he's pointing at me.  "I want YOU."

Graham is ONE!

My baby is one.  We can't believe it!  What a year it has been.  It's hard to remember life without our little guy, but it really does seem like yesterday that we were at the hospital ready to deliver. 

We started the day with some fun animal pancakes.  I think G had the monkey and the alligator.

I finally got everything together for the party, and we had a great time.  My parents & Keith's parents and brother came over to celebrate with us.  And we were inundated with gifts!  Graham is not going to be bored for a long time. :)  A couple of his favorite items from the day were the lawnmower (which he amazingly is able to push unassisted!)

And a drum from Uncle Eric:

And we had some yummy cake, although Graham wasn't quite as enthused. :) 

One of the best parts of the whole day, though, was when we gave him his birth minute kiss (9:49pm).  This isn't a picture of that, but it's our night night kiss.  We love this boy so much, and are so blessed God was gracious and kind enough to give him to us.  Momma, daddy, & Jesus love you, Graham!

A new Blog, and a LOT of happenings!!

I decided it was time for me to just bite the bullet and start my own blog.  No, people weren't begging me to start a blog; to be honest, I wonder if anyone would even WANT to read a blog I write!  But, this is really for me.  I don't journal - I know I should, but I don't - so this would be a place that I can write things down, not only for myself, but for my darling G, as he grows and changes.  I also want to record some of the food items I make, so that I actually remember what it is I've done!!!  This year we've joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) via Elmwood Stock Farm and I'm so excited about it!  Not only will it force us to eat lots of fruits and veggies every week, but it will be fun trying to find or create new recipes for these items.  More on this in the next few days, but right now all I can think of is THE BIRTHDAY.

My baby G is turning 1 tomorrow!  ONE.  Can it be?  Has he already been with us a year?  It's so hard to believe.  I know everyone says it, but it really just feels like yesterday that we were driving to the hospital for my induction.  Here's a pic of that first night (before any pain!)!

        (We like to hold up numbers on our fingers signifying important things.  # 1 = our first baby!)

Anyways, the presents have been bought, decorations purchased, special hat made, and the cake just came out of the oven.  I'm making him a yellow cake with traditional buttercream icing.  I'm a yellow cake kind of girl.  That has been my birthday cake almost every year (this past year my mommy went to great lengths to make me a red velvet cake!).  I really like this yellow cake recipe that I'm using, from America's Test Kitchen.  It's super easy (a bonus!), and comes out so tasty.

           (Not that I know how it tastes in raw form.  Not that I licked the spatula.  Nope, not me.)

Cannot wait for the party tomorrow!!  I can't wait to celebrate this past year with my little G Bob!