Having Fun!

Grant's new favorite thing to do is stick his hands in his mouth while he is eating. It is so much fun! We have to hose him down when he's done. He just figured out how to feed himself cheerios, and I think he's trying to help with the cereal and mashed fruits and veggies too. This particular day, he also felt the need to rub his eyes. What a mess!

This is a super-cute bomber jacket that Grandma Karen gave Grant before he was born. We've been waiting to grow into it, but it's still huge. I don't think Grant felt like he could move much.

We've noticed that after a certain point, the more tired he his, the happier he gets. Most of the time, he is Mr. Serious, although he laughs often for Daddy.

Grant loves to play with Lily, well, at least her tail and her collar. If she doesn't like it, she'll either get up and move, or kiss him until he stops.

I was having fun yesterday taking pictures of Grant in the tub. He can be super crabby and then you put him in the bath and he forgets what he was whining for. We LOVE bath time.

This week's recipes

I tried two new recipes since the last post. I wasn't a huge fan of either one, but I may try them again with some modifications.

The first I made because our friends were coming over for dinner and she is a vegetarian. It was totally different than anything I'd made before, but good for what it was.

Easy Mashed Potato and Vegetable Enchiladas (thanks allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
8 ounces whole button mushrooms (I used bell pepper instead)
3 small zucchini, chopped
2 cups chopped carrots
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups water
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 (7.6 ounce) package instant mashed potato flakes (I used potato pearls)
1 (12 ounce) package corn tortillas
3 cups enchilada sauce
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
In a large mixing bowl, combine broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, and carrots. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Spread vegetables in a single layer in a shallow baking dish. Roast vegetables in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes; stir halfway through their cooking time. When finished cooking, remove from the oven, and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bring water, milk, and butter to a boil in a large pot. Remove the pot from heat, and mix in the mashed potato flakes. Let stand two minutes, then stir the mashed potatoes with a fork until they are smooth. Stir in roasted vegetables.
In a dry, nonstick skillet over medium heat, quickly heat each tortilla on both sides to make pliable. Dip the tortillas in enchilada sauce. Put a large spoonful (approximately 1/4 to 1/3 cup) of potato-veggie mixture into the center of each tortilla. Top mixture with about 1 to 2 tablespoons cheese, and roll tortillas. Place seam-side down in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour extra sauce over top, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 20 to 30 minutes, or until the enchiladas are heated through.

Recipe #2: Lemon Rosemary chicken with vegetables (Thanks Sara) -- I liked the flavor of the chicken but not the lemony potatoes.

Boil 1 lb of red potatoes and 1/2 pound carrots for 5 minutes.
Fry 4 chicken breast filets in 1 TB of oil for 5 minutes/side.
Add veggies to pan and add: 1/4 c lemon juice, 2 TB fresh rosemary, 1 TB honey, 1/4 t pepper, 1/2 t lemon zest, and cook for 5 more minutes.

New Recipes this week

I made a goal a few months ago to try at least one new recipe each week. I have a recipe from my favorite site, http://allrecipes.com , emailed to me every day and I usually print a few out each week. However, the time actually comes to cook and I default to the same old stuff (tacos, chicken honey-nut stirfry, apricot chicken, stuffed bell peppers). However, my Mom and I just started doing Weight Watchers (unofficially, who wants to pay $40/month!), and I can't really eat most of my normal meals anymore, unless I starve myself all day.

So, two new, lower-fat recipes I tried and enjoyed this week:

Apple Bacon Tomato Soup

INGREDIENTS
5 slices bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 cups beef stock
1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 medium apple, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine (I used chicken broth and a splash of red wine vinegar)
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, coarsely chop, and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute white onion and garlic 3 to 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in beef stock, pinto beans, tomatoes, celery, and bay leaf. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the apple in the red wine until soft.
Mix bacon, apple, and remaining red wine into the soup mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until well blended.

Chicken Breasts with Balsamic and Garlic (we don't like mushrooms so left them out, but I think it would be even better with them, if you actually do like mushrooms)

INGREDIENTS
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry. Season the flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and saute the chicken until it is nicely browned on one side (about 3 minutes).
Add the garlic. Turn the chicken breasts and scatter the mushrooms over them. Continue frying, shaking the skillet and stirring the mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the vinegar, broth, bay leaf and thyme. Cover tightly and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter and cover with foil. Set aside. Continue simmering the sauce, uncovered, over medium high heat for about 7 minutes. Swirl in the butter or margarine and discard the bay leaf. Pour this mushroom sauce mixture over the chicken and serve.

Grant's Trouble!

Grant 30 minutes into his nap time (pretty unsuccessful nap, huh?)

Grant has decided that he doesn't need naps anymore. Or, he's just too busy to want to nap. We put him in his crib and he rolls over and gets on his knees. Yesterday, he pulled himself up in the crib to stand. So, we lowered the crib down (hence the wrench-- Grant was such a good helper). It didn't do anything, except maybe make him a little safer. Grant still pulls himself up. There's one more setting, all the way down, which I think we may have to do to discourage him from standing when he should be napping. Grant also crawled for the first time last week. He's all over the place, mostly where he shouldn't be. He goes straight for the Wii and PS3, Lily's toys, and the stairs. He could care less about his toys. I think my days of easy parenting are over!

Ohhh. That (the camera) looks like something good to chew on! Let me have it!

Letter to Congress re: Hope for Homeowners Program

In the past few months, Congress has given money to banks to help people restructure their loans to the current value of their home. Unfortunately, only those people who are in forclosure are qualifiying for this program (the banks choose). I wrote a letter to Senators Feinstein and Boxer, my local representative, Senate's housing committee, and President Obama. I encourage you to do the same if you feel that it isn't fair. Here is my letter (feel free to use the same one)

To whom it may concern:

I am writing because I am very frustrated by the Hope for Homeowners program. I believe that it has good intentions, but I do not believe that rather than helping people, the program is just helping banks. My husband has been in touch with a mortgage broker who has been successful in any Hope for Homeowner applications for their clients, and doesn’t know anyone who has been successful.

A little about me and my situation:
When my husband and I moved from Arbuckle for my husband’s job, we purchased a home in Merced in May of 2006. We paid around $375,000 for it, and currently owe a little more than $290,000. The home next door to us just sold for around $150,000, making our home worth less than half of what we paid for it. I am also currently unemployed. Our debt (home debt only) to income ratio is 38%.
Over the past two years, while we both had steady jobs, we cracked down and paid off our cars and student loans, and put money into savings so we would be prepared for hard times. To live within our means now, my husband had to take a job that keeps him out of our home and away from our children an additional hour and half a day. We rent out a room in our home to stranger to help make ends meet. We drive a nine-year old car with 165,000 miles on it. We don’t travel, and rarely buy new clothes or go out to eat. We have a cash budget to ensure that we are living within our means. We do this because we made a commitment to pay our mortgage when we signed our loan papers. My husband and I both have college degrees, we are not trying to make ends meet anywhere near minimum wage.

What I want to know:
Why shouldn’t I go out and use my savings to buy a new car and stop making my mortgage payments? I understand that my credit rating will go down for a few years, but I am young and have time for it to spring back. Big deal. Really, other than my credit rating, and those crazy things called honesty and integrity, there is no motivation for us to not go into foreclosure. If we did, we could move into a rental closer to my husband’s job, pay rent that is probably half of our mortgage, drive a new car, and have more money to play with.

My point:
The Hope for Homeowner’s program is rewarding people who were financially irresponsible and doing absolutely nothing for those of us who continue to make wise financial choices. While the situation were are in now is not fun, at all, I would have a much easier time with it if the government wasn’t giving money to people who made poor choices. This is the sentiment of myself, and many friends and neighbors who continue to try to make ends meet. I feel like a little kid saying this, but really, it’s not fair at all.
As long as my husband is still employed, we will make our mortgage payments and continue to live frugally because that is what our values dictate. We just feel that if the government is helping some people reduce their loans, they really should make it a little more equitable and reward those of us who are trying and doing everything that we can to be responsible with our money, especially in this market. Making this program available to everyone with a home debt to income ratio higher than a certain percent, rather than just who the banks choose, may be a better way to do things.

Girl's Trip to San Diego

This past weekend, I went with my college girlfriends, Cami and Tamara, to San Diego. I had a fantastic time, but I missed Grant a ton (and Nick a little too). We went to a fancy dinner, the Zoo, the San Diego temple (which is absolutely gorgeous inside and out), a bike ride along the water (maybe my favorite part), and whale and dolphin watching. It was nice to get away and the weather was warm and perfect! It is so great to have such good friends that I can still spend time with even though we don't see each other often anymore.

Help Mom, I'm Stuck!

Grant is trying SO HARD to crawl, he just hasn't quite figured it out yet. He either pulls himself onto his feet (like a bear crawl) or his knees, and then pushes... and goes backward. He's gotten quite good at it, but he ends up pushing himself into corners, and on this instance, under the bed. What does it say about me as a mom that I ran for the camera before I helped him? Hum, no mean comments, please =)