Recipe Catch Up...Not Ketchup :)

Here's a post for Jennifer - 2 new food ideas

So, we love tortillas in this house.  I love them for Mexican food (which  by the way if I had to only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of my life it would be Mexican for certain), I love them for wraps, I love them with breakfast, lunch and dinner.  So, here are two of my favorite takes on things to do with tortillas.

So last week when we got home from vacation we found ourselves with a fairly empty pantry but a few random pizzaesque toppings in the fridge so we made thin crust pizzas on tortilla shells.  A major bonus of this is that everyone can pick their own toppings which is great in our house because Ryan is a meat lovers kind of guy and I am a veggie lovers kind of girl. 

Naomi is completely in the middle of us with liking either or both types of pizza.  So...for starters I put the shells on 2 cookies sheets, topped with pasta sauce (whatever tomato base you have on hand), whatever toppings you like, and cheese. 

Then bake at 425 for about 8-10 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.  (Please pay no mind to the state of my cookie sheets - they are well used and well loved (: )

Easy peasy supper in about 15 minutes.

Recipe 2...Shrimp Tacos with Black Bean Salad. 
Step one, lime and salt rim of glass.  Step 2, pour in Bud Lite Lime-a-Rita...now we're cooking :)

Black Bean Salad
1 can black beans rinsed
1 cup frozen corn
1 can diced green chilies
1 cup salsa
Juice from 1/2 lime
Seasonings to taste, I used Penzeys Adobo Seasoning which has onion, garlic, black pepper, oregano, cumin and cayenne; add a bit of salt too
Let this sit and meld together while you prep the other parts

Thaw and remove the tails of the shrimp, I usually get size 36/40 - they are pretty versatile and not too small when cooked.  After the shrimp have thawed I cut them into smaller pieces (about 3 cuts per shrimp) and sauteed them in a pan with the juice from half a lemon and about 1 Tbsp. olive oil.  You really are just warming the shrimp up and don't want to overcook them otherwise they get really tough quickly.

I heated the tortillas in a small pan, just about a minute per side per tortilla.

Toppings...whatever you like for toppings works, we had avocado, tomato, lettuce, sour cream and Franks Red Hot. 

So, there you have it, two very simple recipes that can be made from fairly standard kitchen ingredients and are done faster than a pizza can be delivered :) Bon Appetite

30 Day Photo Challenge - Days 8 - 17

We've been busy...and I've been having a photo slump...but I have done my homework so far but have really been having a tough time of balancing living in the moment and capturing it...we had 2 events in the past couple of weeks that I did not take pictures at...weird for me.  BUT then we got home from our vacation to Michigan and the urge to take pictures was back thankfully!  I will have a few upcoming posts about our vacation, the fair and some new recipes I've tried but for now on to the challenge days:

Day 8: Silhouette Shot -

I love the black and white of this shot - her eyelashes get me.  I also love the soft round cheeks and wispy hair.

 

 Day 9: Crying or having a meltdown

It was actually more of a challenge to get her while in mid meltdown because most of the time I am trying to soothe her while she is melting.  In this case Ryan was being the soother....by the way - the meltdown was over having to come in and wash her hands from playing outside because she touched bird poop.  Awesome.  haha

Day 10: Holding hands with someone

I snapped this one while walking around the animal barns at the fair.

 Day 11: Tiny Feet

This one is funny because she does NOT have tiny feet...she has big feet...but I thought this was cute as she was climbing around at the park.

 Day 12: Eating Breakfast

I thought I would capture a moment of her actually using her fork somewhat properly...you never realize all of the coordination required to do the simple things in life such as using a fork! 

Day 13: Shoot from above

This was while running around at the park as well.

Day 14: What they do during quiet time. 

We JUST started coloring with markers for 2 reasons - they are a mess and I only had non-washable markers so I picked up some washable ones and her coloring bug is back in a big way.  I needed to get some housework done so I put her at the desk with the new markers and a coloring book and away she went.

Day 15: Playing outside

Coloring away...on the picnic table seat...we've had numerous incidents of colorful backsides...

Day 16: Interacting with friends...

Disclaimer...I didn't actually take this picture...but I was there and thought it was beautiful and special and wanted to share :)  These are 2 of the sweet little girls that Naomi gets to tag along with at Hiawatha.  They are both so sweet and special, I wanted to share the moment of them all coloring together at this age because we only see each other once a year so they will all look and act differently next year!

 Day 17: Walking Away

...this was after bath time...she said she needed socks and Ryan was folding laundry and he gave her his tie dyed socks then of course she needed to put on shoes....oh the fashion choices this girl makes!  I had to include the one of her walking back to us though because the little smile kills me!

30 Day Photo Challenge - Days 5,6,7...

I have really been enjoying this photo challenge, it makes me pick up my camera every single day and try to catch natural kid moments...and perhaps stage one or two :)

Day 5: With their Favorite Stuffed animal/toy...
The funny story behind this picture...Naomi really likes this pig but like the books she is an equal opportunity kind of girl and gives a lot of affection to ALL of her pets...on to the funny story...so about a month or so ago we stayed at a friends house in Madison and were staying in their little boys room.  Ryan and Mindy B. were in the room getting it ready and Naomi kept dragging this pig around with her (she sleeps with it 90% of the time) and Ryan says to Mindy B. "I don't know what to do, she really seems to like that pig, do you think Carter is going to mind if she sleeps with it?"  Mindy's reply...that's not our pig...they come downstairs and I just burst out laughing...boys and the little details...

Day 6: Crack the Door and Photograph what they are doing...

Not that this is news to us, but we are blessed with an EXTREMELY easy going little girl, this is the face I get to see first thing in the morning every morning...she calls out, "Mommy...mom...up...mom....MOM!"  Then when I walk in she says, "Hi Mommy" ahhh....we are counting the blessings, I know that if she is anything like me in about 12 years mornings will but a much more...dramatic....event :)

Day 7: Playing in the bathtub...
So, this day posed an odd challenge to our little family...Naomi has started HATING baths...the timing out is ok though - we are going camping soon so we are "practicing" taking showers because that is all we will have for about 5 days...so in lieu of a pic of playing in the tub, we get post shower BIG eyes...

Spoiler alert...day 9 should be interesting...Crying or having a meltdown - HA!

Hot Child in the City...Happy 4th!

Last week was miserably hot...Naomi kept going around the house saying, “HOT!” most likely because I was doing the same. We had a new babysitter watching Naomi for a couple of days last week while our regular sitter took some much needed, well deserved family time off for the 4^th so Naomi got to spend 2 days at home with her new “friend”. The first morning leaving was a little rough but by lunch time she was dragging the poor sitter around the house (the very hot non-air conditioned house) telling her what to do and where they were going to go.

The next morning when Naomi woke up, I asked her if she knew what day it was and she said, Katie my friend? Yes, honey girl, it was Katie your friend day – super cute. It went remarkably well. So much so that I even was able to get one of my photo challenges done really easily while they were playing “Chase” through the kitchen.

Our only hope to escape from the heat in our house is our basement, we have been in process of converting the former owners old office space into a toy room for Naomi and last week's heat wave was all the motivation we needed. We had carpeting installed, brought down a lot of toys from our living room (somehow it STILL looks like there are a billion toys upstairs too) and enjoyed the basement coolness.  We broke out the camping cots and brought down Naomi's pack and play and slept in there - Naomi thought it was a great adventure.

We hosted a small get together with a couple of friends for the 4^th...it was hot...so hot. I literally brought a fan outside just to get some air flowing!! Ryan picked on me for it but I really do think it helped...that and frequent dips in the kiddie pool!

We tried SO hard to get Naomi to take a picture with us and this is what we got...stinker :)

Baby Girl Charlotte and her amazing eyes

Baby William

Miss Natty P

Busy fingers, even her little fingers are patriotic!

That night we took Naomi down to the fireworks with Grandma, Boppa, Auntie Amber and Uncle Jus-Jus. It was Nay's first time experiencing fireworks – she did really well with holding the sparklers...

 

After the first firework she just said, “WOW!”

then sat in my lap, then grandmas, then Boppa's, then Daddy's finally back to grandmas.
 

They kept her attention for about 10 minutes then she wanted to play. We trekked back home in the dark and Ryan had ridden home with his dad to haul back some chairs and he met us at the end of the drive way with a sparkler and Naomi asked, “Me do?”
 

 

so I got her out of her stroller and let her hold it, half way through it she looked up at Ry and I and said, “Ni-night?” Yes, Naomi, you can go ni-night. Funny girl had had enough of the celebration.

I can remember the 4^th of July being such a huge marker of the halfway point of summer, being so excited to go play at the park with my friends and run around. I can't wait to see what the 4^th means to our little family in future years and what Naomi's memories of the holiday's are.

30 Day Photo Challenge, Days 1-3

I received an email from a friend this weekend with a link to a blog that has a 30 day child related photo challenge...she knows I love homework and that my favorite subject is Naomi...so here we go!  Here is the photo challenge:

Day 1 - You and your child...

Here's what I learned; Tripod + self timer + toddler = a ridiculous number of pictures of us looking very goofy!  It was fun though and it's nice to have another pic of Nay and I...

if not for this "assignment" I would not take a pic of myself.

Day 2: Sleeping

 

What I learned...want to make your husband wonder if you've lost your mind?  Just start snapping a ton of pictures in your toddler's room during nap time.  Our conversation went something like this:

R:"WHAT are you doing in there?!?!" in a whispered shout.

M:"Homework, I HAVE to take a pic of her sleeping and it's too dark at night"

R:"Oh. Weird."

The End 

Day 3: Reading their Favorite Book

What I know.... I took a couple of different pics, Naomi LOVES books but does not have a favorite one per se - she likes all of them, so I wanted to capture that, that phase of her toddlerhood of wanting to experience it all!

I am excited for the upcoming photo challenges, it's fun to try out something new and take an idea and run with it.  Here is the link to the blog that has a ton of photography related ideas, discussions, etc.

http://www.clickitupanotch.com/