Crock Pot Corn on the Cob

Source: Practical Stewardship

Crock pot corn?  Yea you heard me.  This is my new favorite way to prepare corn on the cob.  I can't wait to experiment with the seasonings to go with it!  The corn turned out tender and juicy, and was a sinch to make.  And unwrapping the corn from the foil was like opening up a present! Ahh, this is making me crave more corn.

Ingredients
-6 corn on the cob, shucked
-4 tablespoons butter, melted
-1 tablespoon garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon italian seasoning
-6 sheets of foil

Directions
-Shuck the corn.

-Mix butter, garlic, italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

-Place each ear of corn on a sheet of foil and fold the sides up so when to pour the butter mixture over, it doesn't spill out.

-Drizzle a spoonful of the butter mixture over each ear of corn.

-Wrap the foil around the corn so that the juices won't run out and place each in the crock pot.

-Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.

Zesty Italian Potatoes

Another Pinterest find.  But I can not find the original source, so if someone knows it, please email it to me so I can give credit where credit is due!  Ever since having a baby, cooking has been a challenge.  Just getting to the grocery store takes some serious determination, and this has only happened once with baby in tow.  So I have been forced to get back to basics and find even simpler recipes to get us back in the groove with our new way of life with a  baby.  Oh, and living on one paycheck for 3 months has also made CHEAP a new MUST when trying a new recipe.

These potatoes flip the bill...cheap and easy.  And yes, of course, yummy...but that should be a given right?  I've found myself using zesty italian and regular italian dressing mixes on so many meals now.  Whenever I see it on sale I buy a ton of them to keep on hand!  It goes great with most veggies and meats...with the help of some melted butter.

   

Ingredients
-1 bag baby potatoes (or cube up some red potatoes)
-1 package zesty Italian dressing mix
-extra virgin olive oil
-minced onion
-salt
-pepper
-grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
-Place potatoes in large bowl
-Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle entire package of zesty Italian dressing mix, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, and 2 pinches of minced onion.
-Stir to coat evenly
-Spread potatoes on baking sheet
-Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until fork tender.
-Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!

Spicy Pork Tenderloin

Source:  Add a Pinch

Pork is not a staple in our house.  Reason?  Because Nate's job revolves around pork.  If you saw, touched, smelled, and tasted pork all day, would you ever crave it for a meal?  Don't think so.  In fact, we often shudder at the thought of eating pork...especially barbecue or ribs.  Every now and then, we think we would enjoy a barbecue sandwich, only to order one, take a bite, and immediately regret our decision.  It's actually funny when this happens, because we do it to ourselves.  People often ask us what our favorite foods are and our answer is usually "Well, a shorter list would be what we don't eat, and that's pork!"  Except bacon, love us some bacon!

While in the grocery store and noticed how inexpensive pork tenderloins are and couldn't remember a pork tenderloin that I had eaten ever being bad.  So I decided to take a whack at it.  This recipe was so delicious, easy, and saucy.  If you do not like your food spicy, you can easily control the heat level with the amount of sriracha sauce you add to the mix.  We will definitely make this over and over.  I'm excited to try it on the grill once the weather warms up.  Nate even commented that the meat was cooked perfectly...thank you very much :)  

Ingredients
-1 3-4 pound pork tenderloin
-½ cup barbecue sauce
-¼ cup grape jelly
-2 tablespoons Sriracha Sauce
-2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon ground black pepper


Directions
Place pork tenderloin into a large ziploc bag.

Whisk together barbecue sauce, grape jelly, sriracha sauce, worcestershire, garlic and pepper. Pour half of barbecue sauce into the ziploc bag with pork tenderloin. 

Remove excess air from zip top bag and seal. Place in the fridge for at least an hour...overnight is best.  Cover and save the extra barbecue sauce in the fridge as well.

Bake or grill pork tenderloins until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. (I baked mine for 25 minutes at 400 degrees and then turned the heat down to 350 degrees for another 15-20 minutes)

Remove from oven or grill and wrap with aluminum foil (to keep warm) for five to ten minutes.

Brush with some of the extra sauce and serve with extra sauce on the side.

3 Months

I remember in the beginning thinking it would take FOREVER to make it to 3 months, and here we are!  What a journey it has been.  Things have definitely gotten better.  I still struggle with anxiety sometimes, but I'm hoping that will ease up as time goes on and we get onto a routine.  Another huge part of my anxiety and feeling overwhelmed is being alone so much and on the weekends.  It would be SO nice if Nate and I could have the same days off for once in our lives...one day.  And I've learned that I get my energy comes from being around other people, so when I'm alone and isolated, it really drags me down.  But what seems so crazy to me is feeling alone even though you have a baby...a person with you at all times, but can still feel so lonely.  Anyhoo, enough with that!

Dillon is still growing like a weed, happy and healthy!  He weighed in at 16 lb 5 oz at his last check up! haha  And we've gotten the OK from the doctor to start him on solids at 4 months...rice cereal.  We've been putting him in his high chair already which has been awesome.  We are able to all eat at the table together again and as long as we are talking (or entertaining) Dillon has a great time!  He is obsessed with this caterpillar toy...I've already gotten 2 replacements.  His hair is still coming in but we have no idea which color it is going to be.  His head is tie-dye at the moment.  His giggles are starting to happen more often and longer, we are still waiting on him to burst out laughing, he is so close!  He grins all the time and they are my favorite.  I don't know how anyone would make it as a parent without those smiles and giggles!

We've been putting him in the jumperoo and he absolutely loves it.  He has been waiting for the freedom to jump around, so we decided to give it a try.  I've only let him stay in for 15 minutes because I don't want him to get overtired.  We roll up a blanket behind him for extra support.  He is pushing up with his arms during tummy time and is starting to like tummy time (YEY!).  He bats and grabs on to toys, play time is becoming more and more fun each day.

He has started daycare and has done marvelously!  The teachers have all commented on how happy he is and how well he has done...like he's done it before!  So that takes away some of the mommy guilt.  I start work on Thursday and of course I have my reservations on that, but I'm hoping it will be a great thing.  Dillon also has his first cold and probably corresponds with starting daycare.  Holy snot.  Somehow, D makes sniffles and sneezes so darn cute though.  And he has always laughed when he sneezes, so it is funny that he is giggling his way through a cold...except when I suction his nose.  He gets PISSED...then sneezes.  It's pitiful!  He loves listening to stories and loves looking at the pictures.  It has amazed me how alert he has been his whole life.  He is mellow about it though thank goodness.

There is so much advice out there and I've realized that is a part of what intimidates me.  So I've decided to cut back on the baby books and Googling.  I've gotten this far by going off of Dillon's cues and my instincts, and he is happy and alive!  So my goal now is just to have a happy and healthy baby...and do things at a pace that doesn't stress me or him out.  So much of parenting is trial and error. If and when he is ever NOT happy, then I'll figure out how to get him back on track.  So until then poof be gone intimidating, anxiety-causing books!

First time in the highchair

Murica

Jumperoo

Visiting Daddy at work! Aka sleeping.

Meeting Roy!

When he discovered his nose...!

2 Months

Wow, time flies.  I can't believe little Dillon is 2 months old!  His check up isn't for another week, so I'll have to update his stats then!  But this little HUGE booger is growing stronger every day.  He loves standing on our legs and trying to push off.  His grins are the best and he wants to giggle so badly.  I think he will do it in the next week or 2.  It's amazing how much more into things he is...you can tell when he is studying something.  It's also cool how the simplest thing to us is so new and interesting to him, you really have to appreciate the simple things with babies.  He is a great sleeper, but the stretches aren't consistent yet.  The first one is always the longest but it is anywhere from 5-8 hours.  Then the next stretch goes down from there.  But getting up for only 1 feeding has been awesome!  We are looking forward to seeing his personality develop, we think he is going to be a ham :)

This past month was probably the hardest month of my life.  No one warns you about the first 6-8 weeks of having a newborn and how you are going to feel as a new mom.  I'm so happy to say that we've turned the corner and things are going great now!  So to other new moms out there, hang in there, it may not seem like it, but things will get better, the first few weeks are temporary...I didn't believe it at the time, but it's true.

Now...I have to be honest...I am now taking Zoloft.  I was embarrassed when I first took it, but quickly realized, it was the right thing to do.  The way I had been feeling for 6 weeks...well...I didn't like it, and guess what, I don't have to feel like that!  I would encourage any mother to be honest with her doctor about how she's feeling because even if you don't feel depressed, you could have a form of post-partum depression.  That's what confused me, I didn't feel depressed, but I was feeling very overwhelmed, had anxiety about the long hours alone, and couldn't sleep.  It is not in my personality to worry about things and not be able to control how I'm feeling, so I knew something was out of whack.  After talking with the OB, I felt so much better and relieved.  She made me feel even better when she told me she had experienced PPD with her 3rd child, so she knew exactly how I felt and assured me it was beyond my control and not to be embarrassed.  After 2 weeks of taking medicine, I feel great, confident, and am having a blast with my baby!