Paula Deen Would Be Proud of Me

I often clip recipes that usually have way too much of everything I am trying to avoid: sugar, white flour, butter, etc. I put them in my jumbled recipe box thinking that at SOME point I will make them, but it just never happens. This year as I started going through my recipes I decided to make everything I'd clipped and had never stopped dieting long enough to enjoy, mind you, I have been trying to lose the same 15-20 lbs for the last year, so it's not as if I've been eating clean the whole time. I came up with 7 recipes and could hardly wait to get started. I shopped and made the first two items, The King's Champion Honey Cheese Ball (with Bacon!!) and Cranberry Dream Salad (heavy whipping cream, two boxes of cream cheese AND mayo!) Tuesday. Of course I had to sample the items to make sure they were Thanksgiving-day worthy. They were mmmm....mmmm...good. Wednesday I baked pumpkin cobbler (1 stick of butter), baked corn (1.5 sticks of butter), and sweet potato casserole (1 2/3 cups of butter & 2 cups of sugar). I didn't sample any of those, well maybe a bite of the baked corn, but that was because I wasn't sure I made it right. I still don't know if I made it right, but it was deee-licious. So by this point, almost every dish, pan and utensil I own was in the sink lounging around til I have a chance to wash them and I decided I couldn't wait one more minute to try to Cheesy Bacon Pull Apart Bread that was meant for breakfast on Thanksgiving. Oh....my.....goodness.....it was sinfully good. Among the ingredients are 12 bacon strips, 2 cans of buttermilk biscuits, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese,Italian salad dressing mix and olive oil. Actually, that's ALL the ingredients. You may now rush to the nearest emergency room as your arteries may be clogging just by reading this. And FINALLY..... I just pulled the cranberry-orange pull apart bread out of the oven. It's smells so sweet and yeasty and orangey and cranberry-y. You can't go wrong with Parker House rolls dusted with vanilla pudding mix, sprinkled with dried cranberries and fresh orange juice, oh and drizzled with, what else? Butter!I feel downright June Cleaver-ish/Paula Deen-ish this week and it's a wonderful feeling. For some reason it makes me really feel like a mom/wife/grown-up. Maybe one reason is that for once I didn't pick recipes based on what other people would like and I made things purely for the joy of making them and eating them myself. Somehow I think people will enjoy them even more for this reason.Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! What did you make?

15 Months!

Max turned 15 months old yesterday! He had his check up today and is right on track with everything. He was 27 lbs. 3 oz. and 32 inches tall - up 1.5 inches since his 1 year check up. I knew his pants were getting shorter! His head circumference was in the 90th percentile! He was in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He is doing well with all his milestones (stacking blocks, taking his clothes off - who knew that was a good thing?? - trying to cook and clean like mommy) and he was a little ahead of the game with throwing and kicking a ball. He's still not talking much and has more signs (about 20) than spoken words, but his receptive language is excellent. It was really cute when he went over to Dr. Lu and did his little sign that he wanted a hug! Dr. Lu gave him a hug and then said, "Go give Mommy a hug!" and he did. So cute! Here are some of the things he's into right now:

• Dancing and listening to music - especially when Daddy puts a rap/hip hop song on and changes the words to baby-appropriate language.
• Being attached to Mommy at all times - especially when she is trying to do the dishes or make dinner.
• Sitting in his high chair and watching Mommy cook.
• Playing chase with Daddy
• Playing with cars and trucks - pushing them around
• Reading - Fave books - This is the Stable (a really cool book about Christmas - I love it too!), Trucks, Pat the Cat, We Like Kindergarten
• Singing - Five Little Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Little Cabin in the Woods
• Talking to Nana & Pappy on the webcam
• Wearing Grandpa's glasses
• Wearing hats
• Going to the nursery at church and playing with other kids