Finished GPS Classes

The last week has been a whirl-wind.  Work was crazy busy and I loved every minute of it; it was Birmingham Restaurant Week! Our restaurant offered a lunch and dinner menu special for the week and business was great ~ as was the food!  We did a roasted eggplant and goat cheese bruschetta that was mouth-watering, a fried tilapia over mashed potatoes with a chipolte mango sauce that was a flavor and texture delight, and many other truly delicious meals!  What a great time and something I really enjoyed being able to participate in.

In addition to work, is life though.  Saturday night I was able to celebrate with one of my best friends the first birthday of her daughter.  It was a beautiful party and a beautiful family I was able to spend the evening with.  I am so thankful that I was invited and was able to attend this celebration!  Happy Birthday, E, and many, many more! 

My boys are beginning to grow up and I find at least one of them particularly moody at times.  I love them so very much.  I found myself Saturday evening with one of those fleeting moments when they both wanted to be close.  It was so good for my heart.  I've enjoyed all those moments of being close to my children, but now when they don't want it so often it's like it means so much more and it comforts my heart that we'll get through the coming adolescence. 

Monday we finished our GPS class training on foster/adoptive parenting!  These classes were very helpful in a variety of different ways.  Our trainers were great!  Particularly Ms. Fran was wonderful; she's a great resource for fostering and the variety of situations we could encounter.  She tells all her stories with love and passion.  Last night we had a buffet dinner where I was designated pound cake.  I brought vanilla, chocolate, and lemon.  There wasn't a piece left!  I love to bake :)  Our final home visit is scheduled for early October; this leaves us some time to finish the punch list and spend some quality time just the 4 of us before things begin to change!

 I love food and I love to cook.  I love my husband and I love cooking for him.  However, there are times when I just don't have alot of time - but even when pressed, I like presentation!  I cooked this chicken in the crockpot all day after an overnight of marinating in a dry rub.  It was incredibly easy, as well as juicy and fall off the bone tender!  I roasted off some sweet potatoes with rosemary and oregano.  Then topped the two with spinach and red bell peppers that I did a light saute on so the peppers would remain crunchy!  It was visually pleasing and so delicious.  We really enjoyed it and even Coop loved those potatoes!

 Yesterday was a day spent with my niece, nephew, and sis-in-law.  We had the very best time.  We brought the kids to the Botanical Gardens.  It was hot out, but they enjoyed the sprinklers!  They also enjoyed seeing "Tuck" (from Wonder Pets) and the other turtles, the gold fish, dragonflies, and searching for the "hiding" panda bear in the bamboo forest!  It was a beautiful day seen through the eyes of children.  I we were only able to keep that wonder and delight.  I love the glimpses I am still able to see from time to time.

Brown bag lunch - oh no!

The boys went back to school this week.  M began 5th grade and C is in 4th!  It's so crazy to believe they're that big!! When Chris and I began dating M was in kindergarten! How time flies and life changes.  

With school there is lunch.  The boys in past have always eaten "hot lunch", this year we are sending lunches in order to further the healthy lifestyle we are teaching.  So as not to make them feel deprived, punished, or embarrassed it means I'm able to get creative and fun!  I am SO excited about this.  Food is SO important to me and I have wanted to do this for several years now.  

I forgot to take a picture of yesterday's lunch.  I sent italian pasta salad with smoked chicken, fruit, and jello sugar free 10cal dessert.  The boys came home very happy with their lunch!  They were the envy of their classmates! I could not have asked for a better start. It was SO incredibly easy to do too!  I used the boxed pasta salad mix and added some shredded carrots, diced red bell peppers, and some frozen broccoli (just added while the noodles were boiling).  I bought the rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and pulled it from the bone to send.  I cut the fruit into wedges so it was easy to eat and kids like fun shapes!  Took hardly any time and was so nutritious!

Today I sent smoked turkey, 2% cheddar, roasted red bell pepper, and sprouts on a toasted whole wheat bagel.  I used hummus as the condiment to reduce fat and since i used the roasted red bell pepper flavor, it enhanced the flavors of my sandwich!  The sprouts are an interesting twist on lettuce; we'll have to see what they think about it later.  From the picture, I think at least M was excited about it.  :)  I sent some carrot and celery sticks with a little fat-free ranch veggie dip, and I sent more fruit with an easy fruit topping.  Again it took no time to prepare (you can even buy the roasted red bell peppers in a jar at the grocery store).  Presentation is so very important with food.  If the child likes what it looks like, they'll eat it!  I'm so glad I'm getting this opportunity to be creative with their lunches!

I have some other really fun ideas for lunch too!  I saw a "kid sushi" idea for taking bread and rolling it flat, cover with hummus, add long sticks of lunch meat, carrots, and cucumber, roll it up and cut in small pieces to resemble sushi!  What a fun idea!!  

I also just bought a new low fat pasta cook book.  I LOVE pasta.  It's delicious any time of year. You can eat it hot or cold.  It's versatile.  The shapes are fun.  Did I mention that I LOVE pasta?!  Last night I tried one of the recipes - well, I expounded on the recipe I found as I always do.  I used whole wheat pasta, baby portobello mushrooms, fresh spinach, roasted eggplant, roasted garlic, and fresh red bell pepper.  It was served with a low fat ricotta cheese sauce and topped with parmesan.  It was very delicious and nutritious!  I also love left over pasta and am looking forward to devouring mine!

I love my boys and my husband.  I love the creativity and inspiration of the kitchen.  I love sharing my ideas and my foods with the people I love!

Life happens between the red dress and the apron

I really am trying to blog, but life seems to keep wrapping up my time - and not always with pretty packaging or a bow! I did get to break out "the red dress" for a special night out with my Dearest.  We had a great time at The Veranda. I wish I'd taken pictures of the food!  Boudin balls with pickled okra and delicious sweet potato fries crusted in some sort of tasty brown sugar with a french style honey mustard. mmmm Good!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy. The boys and I are always busy but with school around the corner we had extra fun with each of the boys' friends spending the night. I didn't know M's friend well, but he was very sweet and well-mannered and I was glad M enjoyed the time with him.  This week M had his annual eye exam.  His eyes continue to improve and he's getting a new prescription this year.  He has to wear an eye patch for some strengthening for the next few months; I wish he were still young enough to think playing pirate was cool.  It's been a struggle for us all the last few days.  He's becoming quite the pre-teenager and is trying very hard to be assertive of his will.  Sometimes it's quite the test.

We had our first home visit from our social worker yesterday.  She met the boys and talked to them briefly, she viewed our home, and she spent some time talking with us.  She was very complimentary and told us to continue collecting more things for placement time so we wouldn't be overwhelmed when it happens.  WHEN, not if.  That's all very positive and I was more relaxed afterward.  She wants to go ahead and schedule the follow-up meeting! I suspect we'll be licensed early this fall and have our first placement sometime shortly after.  I was a little crazy yesterday and or the couple days preceding the visit, so much thanks for the love, patience, and support of My Christopher.  Our house is beyond very clean right now, so there are some advantages to it :)

As soon as she left I baked some muffins.  Baking makes me happy, or maybe it reflects my inner happiness.  I also got to wear my new apron my mom made me!  It's fantastic! It has cupcake print!!

I think next time the social worker comes over, I'll force her to eat cobbler while I tell her all my strengths!

summer's ending soon

summer's ending soon.  it's been a beautiful wonderful summer spent with the boys.  we've been swimming, blueberry picking, enjoyed movies and video gaming, been on vacation, and as our big finale - they're each having a friend over to spend the night. c had a classmate over last week.  they had a great time; we went hiking at moss rock and swimming and they had a huge nerf battle.  m is having his best buddy over next week.  having an extra kid over is alot of fun and insights alot more giggles, new giggles, boy giggles about things i can't comprehend why they think are funny, but they do. maybe one day they'll outgrow some of it - until then burps and flatulence will remain hysterical.

chris and i are making progress on the adoption/foster care front.  we go to our class every monday night and we work on the mountain of paperwork throughout the week.  i've told all about my childhood, my prior marriage, and our current marriage.  it's funny to see the answers we fill out separately; we really do complete and compliment one another.  our first of two homestudy visits is on the 9th.  please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  after the visit we still have medical exams, cpr classes, and background checks to obtain - all of which will be done by the end of august.  it's going to be a very busy month.  we're very excited, but like any expectant parent we're also both very nervous.

i haven't baked anything new in the last week or so.  i was given some homemade strawberry fig jam this week though and i'm really excited about trying it! i love finding people with common interests and sharing treats!

fun with my niece and our first GPS class

The last few days have been busy.  A couple of doubles at the restaurant, dinner and laughter with friends, spending the day with my niece, and our first GPS class on the road to foster/adopt.

First, I harvested my first eggplant from the garden!  It was so pretty AND tasty!  I was really excited about it given that last year I got some small fruits but then the plants died before any were mature enough for harvest.  I made this delicious pasta primarily with fresh ingredients from my garden!  Whole wheat pasta, tomatoes, sweet peppers, eggplant, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley and I had some fresh spinach from the store!  I sauteed all the veggies and mixed it with the pasta.  I topped it all with parmesan.  It was so very delicious, healthy, and very very simple to make.
After a couple days of doubles at work, it was really nice to get together with my college friend, Laura and her fiance, Brion.  We really don't get to see each other very much, but I love this girl! We spent a few hours just us girls at the pool catching up on each others lives and then picked up our guys for dinner our.  The evening was filled with laughter! Chris and Brion realized they have very similar movie tastes; and Laura and I further discovered that we love a couple of geeky guys :)  It was a great evening shared with friends over some authentic Mexican food at Pinches Tacos in Homewood.  I am intrigued by the cactus taco on the menu, but was hesitant on my first trip to try it.  I tried the pork, fish, and vegetarian tacos.  The vegetarian was my fave! Thin sliced eggplant, peppers, and onions, topped with crunchy cabbage and a spicy red sauce. Yum!

Today was spent with my beautiful niece, Phoenix.  I love this child!  She arrived this morning and we started our day making muffins together!  She loves to cook with me and I have so much fun teaching her! Her new phrase today was "It's missing something" which she'd say with a wrinkled forehead while tapping her chin.  Where did she get that?  Afterward we went to the pool and played hard with Uncle Chris and the boys.  She loves her cousins and the boys are both so very good with her.  I am so thankful for Matthew being such a great kid and looking after his baby cousin.

This evening Chris and I attended our first of a 10-week course on foster care and adoption.  I was anxious about the class, but I'm prone to that so it was expected. I'm still excited, but am feeling somewhat overwhelmed with the paperwork.  In addition, we learned that at each meeting we will complete a self-examination of our strengths and weaknesses based on that evenings topics.  Completing that doesn't bother me, however, doing so under time constraint does!  Composition on the fly bothers me... We've also already been informed that next week will be very important and that at least some portion of the class will involve role playing. 

home alone and blueberry deliciousness

Today began with an emergency run to the grocery store for baking supplies!  Out of eggs and sugar - Oh My!  So I loaded up on all the necessaries and came home to get some serious baking done.  The only question really was "what to bake?"

Well, hubby, the boys, and I picked some blueberries at a local farm on July 4th.  Four gallons of blueberries to be exact! So the obvious answer was blueberry something.  Well I had this great idea for a new challenge.  What if I could make some sort of pineapple upside down cake thingie but using blueberries?  Well as it turns out, that's just what happened!

I also made a dozen blueberry muffins because those are always so yummy!  The cake turned out perfectly!  It wasn't very sweet and was very true to those berries!  The recipe I found was really neat and didn't even use granulated sugar; instead, it used honey in both the berry glaze and the batter. 
Fortunately, Not only did I have honey, but I had special honey from our recent trip to Ringgold, GA.  Down the street from the cabin we rented was "Pleasant Valley Pure Honey by Bobby Gordy Apiaries."  It was delicious! Delicious honey and a fantastic cake!

This was a really fun day off with fun baking projects!  I so love baking!!