First Taste of Cereal

Maddie had her first taste of rice cereal on Saturday when she turned six months old.  She wasn't too sure about it and didn't really eat much of it, but we'll keep working on it! 

Before her first bite--happy baby

She's interested...

First taste on her lips

First bite

What is this stuff?

No more Mommy!

Let's try again...

Maybe if Daddy tries...

This is NOT my milk!

That's enough!

Balsamic Strawberry Pizza

Just had to share this recipe I came across on Pinterest!  It's not something I would normally make, but it was actually really good!  I just used a pre-made thin pizza crust, which made it even easier.

Click here to view the recipe for Balsamic Strawberry Pizza!

A Hawaiian Halloween

Okay, I know this post is long overdue! Better late than never, right?

Each year, Cody and I host a pumpkin carving party at our house with our neighbors a few days before Halloween. Everyone brings their own pumpkin, and we all carve our pumpkins together. The past few years, we have had a special Halloween-style dinner before we get creative with our pumpkins--brains and eyeballs (spaghetti and meatballs)!

Eyeballs (made by Cody)


Mummy Cupcakes (made by Mel)


Our Frankenstein pumpkin (carved mostly by Cody)




For Halloween this year, we decided to dress up Hawaiian-style. I was a hula girl and Cody was a tribal man. Together, our costumes cost less than $10, so I was pretty proud of our budget costumes!


Hershey started out as a moose, but got too hot, so we had to take the costume off. He liked being a hawaiian dog better anyway!




We had around 30 kids come trick-or-treating this year, which I think was about the same as last year from what I can remember. Some of our favorite trick-or-treaters include:

The Hepler family, AKA Uncle Henry, Auntie Em, Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy


The Terrell family, AKA Mom and Football player (Dad Rob was handing out candy)


The Austin family, AKA Ghost, Cat Lady, and Turtle

Faux Chili's Carribean Salad

My favorite salad is the carribean salad at Chili's. It has chicken, lots of fruit, and a tangy citrus dressing. I decided to recreate the salad at home.

Faux Chili's Carribean Salad
romaine lettuce
pineapple chunks
mandarin oranges
dried cherries
black sesame seeds
grilled chicken (marinated in Newman's Own Light Lime dressing)
Newman's Own Light Lime dressing

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

Stromboli, Soup, and Cookies

This week I have been trying some new recipes, and found a few worthy of sharing...

Easy Stromboli

Chicken Broccoli Tortellini Soup

Pink Lemonade Cookies
Ingredients for Cookies
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 (12 oz) can frozen pink-lemonade concentrate, thawed, 1 1/2 c. (reserve 1/2 c. for the icing)
8 drops red food coloring
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. grated lemon zest

Ingredients for the Icing
1/2 c. reserved thawed pink-lemonade concentrate
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
2 c. confectioners' sugar
coarse white decorating sugar

1. Cookies: Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine 1 cup of the lemonade concentrate with food coloring in a small bowl. Beat butter and granualated sugar in a large mixer bowl on medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, add flour mixture alternately with the lemonade mixture, in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour; mix until just combined. Stir in zest. Cover; refrigerate until firm, 3 hours or overnight. (Dough will be sticky.)
2. Place oven racks in upper and lower third of oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 4 large baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick foil. Flour hands, then roll 1 rounded tablespoon of dough at a time into small balls. Place 12 balls on each prepared baking sheet, 6 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
3. Icing: Beat reserved 1/2 cup lemonade concentrate, lemon zest, and confectioners' sugar in a mixer bowl on medium speed until smooth. Spread icing on cookies. When icing is almost set, sprinkle with coarse white decorating sugar.

My Ambitious Thanksgiving Menu

For the first time since we have been married, Cody and I are hosting Thanksgiving for our family. Unfortunately, our entire extended family could not attend, but we are just as thankful to have both sets of our parents for Thanksgiving lunch. Not only is this our first Thanksgiving celebrated at our house, it will also be the first time we have used our fine china since we have been married. We are still collecting it, but we finally have enough to serve an entire meal! We are so excited about Thanksgiving!

Here is the menu:
Homestyle Turkey
Red Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Corn
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing
Grands Biscuits
Watergate Salad
Brown Sugar Pecan Candies
Pumpkin Pie (Walmart has the best pumpkin pies, so that's where I'm getting mine.)
Apple Walnut Pie
Tea
Lemonade
Apple Cider

Cute Cupcakes

On Friday night, the Heplers had us, the Austins, and the Terrells over. Elizabeth had just bought a new cupcake decorating book, Hello Cupcake, so she wanted the girls to give it a try. We made doggie cupcakes while the boys played Wii. Look at all the cute cupcakes!

Susan's beagle cupcakes to match her dog, Riley


Kelley's cupcake to match her dog, Dreya


Elizabeth's cupcake to match her dog, Violet (She also made a cupcake to look like her dog, Daisy, but I didn't get a picture....oops!)


My cupcake, made to look like the cutest cocker spaniel/beagle mix doggie in the whole world, Hershey! (Can you tell I'm a bit biased?!?!)


The guys playing Wii

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

What is better than homemade ice cream in the summertime?

Cody and I had our neighbors over for some homemade cherry ice cream and Cherry Cola Brownies on Tuesday night. We haven't had a neighborhood get-together in a while, so it was nice to visit with one another. It has been so long, I think this is the first time we have all been together with all the neighborhood babies that were born in the past year or so. Hershey had a good time playing with all the babies--Jake loves to throw the ball to him, Grant loved Hershey's toys, and Sophie liked to watch Hershey run after the ball.

Not everyone can say that they have such good neighbors, nor that they consider their neighbors friends. We are definitely blessed!

Mom's Homemade Cherry Ice Cream
1 can evaporated milk
2 pts. whipping cream
2 c. sugar
6 t. almond flavoring
16 oz. Cheerwine
20 oz. Maraschino cherries, cut up (with the juice)
milk

Mix all ingredients together, except the regular milk, with a whisk and pour into ice cream freezer. Add regular milk to the fill line and turn on the ice cream freezer.


Cherry Cola Brownies
Brownie
1 box Betty Crocker original supreme brownie mix (with chocolate syrup pouch)
1/4 c. cherry cola
1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tbsp. cherry juice

Frosting
1/2 c. butter
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
4 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. cherry cola
2 tbsp. cherry juice
maraschino cherries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray or shortening. In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, chocolate pouch, 1/4 c. cherry cola, oil, eggs, and 2 tbsp. cherry juice until well blended. Spread in pan, and bake 28-30 minutes. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In large bowl, beat frosting ingredients (except maraschino cherries) with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread evenly over brownies. Garnish brownies with maraschino cherries.

The Wingler Gourmet Kitchen

Cody and I enjoy cooking, when we have the time. We especially enjoy cooking in the summer with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. This weekend we had a chance to make some of our favorite summertime recipes--chicken saute with island salsa, blueberry lemonade, and strawberry peach dutch babies. Yummy!

Chicken Saute with Island Salsa

Chicken Ingredients:

2 tbsp. butter

1 t. finely chopped fresh garlic

4 (4 oz.) boneless skinless chicken breasts

Salsa Ingredients:
1 tbsp. butter

1/3 c. chopped bell pepper

1 tbsp. sliced green onion

1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 t. freshly grated lime peel

1 mango, peeled, cubed

1/2 c. fresh raspberries

2 tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar

Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a 10-inch skillet until sizzling; stir in garlic. Add chicken. Cook over medium heat, turning once, until chicken is golden brown (12-15 minutes). Remove chicken; keep warm.

Melt 1 tbsp. butter in same skillet until sizzling; add bell pepper, green onion, cilantro, and lime peel. Cook over medium-low heat until vegetables are tender crisp (2-3 minutes). Add mango, raaspberries, and brown sugar. Continue cooking, stirring occassionally, until heated through (2-3 minutes).

Serve chicken on a bed of rice, topped with the salsa. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves.

Bluberry Lemonade Base

1 1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. sugar

2 c. water

1 pint fresh blueberries

freshly squeezed lemon juice from 10 lemons (including the pulp, but not the seeds)

Make a simple syrup by combining 1 1/2 c. sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the mixture boils. Lower the heat an dallow the syrup to simmer for another minute. Remove from heat and let cool. In a blender, puree the blueberries with 2 tbsp sugar. In a pitcher, combine the cooled syrup, lemon juice, and blueberry puree.

To serve, pour 1/4 to 1/3 c. of base into a glass and fill with water. Makes base for 12 servings.

Strawberry Peach Dutch Babies

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1/3 c. milk

1 tbsp. butter, melted

1/4 t. baking powder

1 pint strawberries

2-3 ripe peaches

honey

confectioners sugar

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Generously coat 4 10-oz. custard cups with oil. Place cups on a rimmed baking sheet; place in oven for 6 minutes to heat up while making the batter.

In blender, puree eggs, flour, milk, and baking powder until batter is smooth.

Remove baking sheet from oven; carefully pour 1/4 c. batter into each hot cup. Bake 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake 6 minutes or until puffed and golden, and centers are firm.

Meanwhile, cut up strawberries and peaches. Fill centers of the dutch babies with fruit and top with honey and confectioners sugar. Serve immediately.

Krispy Kreme Goodness

Krispy Kreme has been doing special, seasonal flavors of doughtnuts. I first noticed this around Christmas. They had cinnamon iced, mint iced, and snowman creme-filled doughnuts.

Cody and I stopped at Krispy Kreme last night to try the limited summer edition doughnuts. They have strawberry iced, blueberry iced, and strawberries and cream filled doughnuts. We tried the blueberry and strawberry iced. They were both good, but blueberry was our favorite! Try them! Yummy!

STAWberries (as Jake would say)

We went STAWberry picking with Mark, Elizabeth, and Jake this weekend. We picked about 5 lbs of strawberries....it sounds like a lot, but it gave me an excuse to make something with them.

This was our second time picking strawberries this season, and unfortunately our last time since the season seems to be coming to an end. Last time we got strawberries, I made strawberry bread, strawberry smoothies, and strawberry shortcakes. Of course, Hershey got his share of "baby berries." He is so spoiled! (He loves strawberries, and will sit there staring at you with pleading eyes until you give him a strawberry. Once he realizes you are giving him one, he goes crazy with excitement!) This time, Hershey once again got to eat some "baby berries" and I also made another batch of strawberry bread to freeze.

The rest of the strawberries went towards making strawberry jam. It was just the recipe from the gelatin box, so hopefully it will taste good. Either way, Cody and I had fun making it! We got 12 half pints from the batch.

You might be wondering about the strawberry plants we planted in our garden....they are still alive! They look pretty healthy and are producing some fruit. Cody picked our first strawberry today--very small and a little tart, but good nonetheless. I have a feeling we won't be getting any big berries, and I'm going to have to figure out a way to keep the fruit from rotting before it ripens (maybe some sort of plastic, like at the strawberry patch???). For our first year growing strawberries, I guess they are doing ok. While we are on the subject of the garden, the rest of the plants are looking pretty healthy as well. Everything is growing and getting tall and very green--thanks to Cody's consistent watering! We have one tomato that is still green, but it is getting bigger. The pepper plants and cantelope plant have blooms, so we should be expecting some more produce soon, hopefully! I'll post some pictures once we have a little more to see....

Graduation Pops!

Yummy...Graduation pops!

Cody and I made these cute Graduation Pops out of Reese cups, chocolate squares, Airheads sour belts, and candy sprinkles for our high school graduates in our youth Sunday School class. The idea came from Bakerella....ours aren't quite as cute as hers, but they came pretty close! They were very easy to make, but a little time consuming, but that's ok, because we got to eat some candy while we were busy making them!

Congratulations Josh, Hannah, Stacey, Taylor, and Lily! We are proud of you guys!

Where can you get free pancakes???

At IHOP on national pancake day! That is, if you want to wait for over an hour just to sit down. Cody and I went yesterday to get our free short stack of pancakes, but after seeing the waiting room packed with people and the line coming out the door, we decided to go somewhere else for dinner. I was really looking forward to pancakes! :( Oh well. Maybe next year.

By the way, this reminded me of something I saw the other day. ECU has a building called the International House. As I was driving by, I noticed their sign had some sort of graffiti on it. When I got close enough, I saw that the sign read, "International House of Pancakes." I really wish I had my camera with me--it was kind of funny!