Taste of St. Louis and Visiting Cousins

 Enjoying the view of the changing leaves to fall colors on our travel to St. Louis, MO.

 Downtown St. Louis enjoying all the vendors of food at the Taste of St. Louis. 

We all enjoyed and shared some of the following items: BBQ ribs, pulled pork slider, tenderloin slider, garlic parmigiano potato skewer, cherry chocolate chip cupcake, plain cheesecake, and BBQ chicken wings. Later that afternoon we also enjoyed Ted Drewes Custard. It was a yummy day!

 Spouse and my third cousin Julie. 

 Offspring enjoyed the Taste so much she fell asleep in her stroller while listening to the band playing. 

 Spouse and my third cousin Cindy's husband Doug. They were talking back injuries. 

 Uncle Ronnie tinkering around on the computer.  Probably researching baby gates ;)

 My third cousin Cindy holding offspring. This is the first time she has met baby. 

 Cindy and Aunt Karen enjoying and laughing with offspring. 

Love this woman! We always make time for each other and try to get together at least once a month. 

We love you Julie!

Third Cousins

 Addyson Rae Grundler and Elyse Renee' Hoover are third cousins and are 1 month and 5 days apart. Addyson maybe older but Elyse is giving her a run for her money in the weight department. As spouse says, "Elyse is a chunky chicken." 

 Addyson is a happy baby. Loving the tummy time pictures of them both. 

 Cheese!

Elyse is longer and chunkier then Addyson who is a petite little girl. They both are so 

sweet and very fun to watch!!

Mimi Willan's Birthday Dinner

 Mimi and Papa enjoying dinner. Oops! I got you both with a mouth full of food.

 Uncle Steve enjoying his tea and Daddy loving his picture being taken. 

 Momma made roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, fresh bread, and brown gravy for dinner per 

Mimi Willan's request.

 For dessert she made Mimi a black forest cake. Yum!

GG Willan joined us for the festivities.

A Fruitful and Fall Supper

I have been loving the vegetables from our garden this year, specifically the yellow squash and tomatoes. Tonight I made a Heirloom Tomato Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Sauteed Squash with Apples and Dried Cherries. Below I have supplied the recipes.

Heirloom Tomato Grilled Cheese Sandwich

1 medium sized heirloom or any tomato you have on hand
8 slices of Swiss cheese or any cheese you have on hand
8 slices of any kind of bread
1 T dried oregano
1 T onion powder
3 T extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Heat pan or flat top over medium heat with 3 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle onion powder over the oil. Then place 4 slices of bread down over the onion powder. Then place one slice of the cheese of your choice down on each of the slices of bread. On top of each of the slices of cheese place one slice of the tomato and then top with another slice of cheese and the other slice of bread. Then drizzle each sandwich with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp of oregano. Then flip once you done constructing sandwich. Once each slice of bread is toasted and cheese is melted then remove from heat and enjoy.

Sauteed Yellow Squash, Apple, and Dried Cherries
2 medium sized yellow squash, sliced 1/4" thick
1 medium sized Red Delicious apple, cored and sliced 1/4" thick
1/4 cup dried cherries
2 T olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
Place olive oil in pan over medium high heat. Then place all the squash and apples in the pan and saute until the apple is golden. Add the cherries in at last and saute for only 1 minute longer, salt to taste then eat.

Rattling My Toy

 Our beautiful offspring is so talented. Today she was holding her rattle all by herself and was rattling while Momma was singing her a song, just a little jam session we were having together!!

Our sweet bright-eyed baby girl.

Dog Sleeping, Bow Making, and Playing Baby, OH My!

Aunt Pat Powers Visits

 Loved having Aunt Pat Powers spend the night with us so that she could spend more time holding Elyse.

 Three generations of Finneys. Can't wait until we get out to Rockville, MD to see Grandma Louise so we can get a 4 generations picture.

 Always love talking to this extremely intelligent and loveable woman!

They match!

Our Best Friend

 Our 7 year old Weimaraner, Blue curled up on the couch after a long day of taking walks and sleeping. 

Must be extremely difficult being a dog.

 Blue is very gentle and good with Elyse. Of course, he has been programmed with receiving of treats if he is well behaved.

While I was taking these pictures Elyse likes to move her arms around a lot and also kick her legs like crazy, but Blue just lays there. Such a good gentle boy.

A Brazilian Kind of Day

Even though we are not taking a hike through the base of the balmy Andes Mountains, we are enjoying a little taste of Brazilian fare tonight for din din. Today I made a dish called Brazilian Feijoada  & I paired it with a Spanish wine called Panarroz 2010. This wine is a blend of the following grapes : Monastrell, Syrah, and Garnacha. Even though this wine is not a Portuguese wine, to follow the lines of my Brazilian themed meal, it is still a delicious one. It tastes plummy and has some spicy undertones. Very smooth on the palate. It pairs so lovely with the Brazilian Feijoada because of the mild smokey flavor of the pork, the rich buttery rice and the silky and bright taste and texture of the citrus beans. Below I have included the recipe and a few pictures. Cheers and enjoy!!

2 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
4 slices of smoked bacon, cooked and crumbled
2-3 lbs of boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-3" cubes
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 1/4 cup of chicken stock
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 orange, zested and squeezed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cups chicken stock or water
1/2 cup Jasmine rice
Salt and Pepper to taste

•  Drain black beans and rinse them. Set aside to be used later in recipe.
• Cook bacon until crisp and then remove them from pain and crumble the pieces, set aside.
• In the pan where you cooked the bacon place the salted and peppered pork shoulder pieces. Sear them until most pieces have a good amount of brown on them. 
• Cut up the onion and garlic, place on the bottom of slow cooker. Pour chicken stock over the onions and garlic.
• Transfer seared pork into slow cooker and place top of onions and garlic. Stir all components found in slow cooker. Place the slow cooker on high and cover with a lid. Let it cook for at least 6 hours. 
• The last 30 minutes before the pork shoulder is finished cooking add the beans and white vinegar.
• Melt butter in small sauce pan. Place 1/2 cup of rice in small sauce pan and coat all grains with butter. Let the rice brown very slightly. Add 2 cups chicken stock or water to pan and let boil. Once it has boiled reduced to a simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes. 
• To plate: Place a large spoonful of rice on plate. Then place 1 cup of items in slow cooker on top of rice. Crumble bacon on top, orange zest, and 1 tablespoon of juice from an orange. Serve. 

 After I seared the pork shoulder cubes I placed in slow cooker. 

 Panarroz 2010

 The finished plate of the pork roast, Jasmine rice, and citrus beans.

 I served the dish with  buttery croissants, it was delicious!

Spouse liked it so much that he cleaned his plate.

Miss Socialite

 We can already tell that Elyse is going to be a social butterfly. She loves entertaining her animal friends and herself under her piano jungle gym. The mirror located in the middle allows her to talk and giggle with herself. So adorable.

Elyse holding court with her sock monkeys.

Can You Say Yum?

 I have increased my granola intake since I have been pregnant and breastfeeding. I have read and agree that oats or granola help keep your breast milk production. Plus, its a tasty treat! Here is a fall recipe for granola. Making this tomorrow and I can't wait to try it!

 Pumpkin Granola:
5 cups rolled oats
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
3/4 t. salt
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c. almond oil
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. dried cranberries
1/2 pepitas (I skip this)

Preheat oven to 325.
In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. Mix well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, almond oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk unitl smooth. Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. They will be moist. Evenly spead the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes. Stir. Bake for additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp (I have to bake for about 50 minutes total). Remove from oven and stir in dried cranberries and pepitas. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Thumb Sucking has Become a Life Saver

Over the past week Elyse has become a proficient thumb sucker. This has proven to help her so much in the self-soothing field. It has helped so much that over the weekend she began sleeping through the night.

 The technique above is called the "face grabber". 

Whereas, the below technique is called the "nose pincher".

She doesn't have a favorite yet, just whichever one allows for her thumb to get into her sweet mouth. =)

Grocery List Preparation and Thumb Sucking, Possibly My Baby's Soon to be Favorite Past Time

My Monday ritual is to make our family's dinner menu for the upcoming week and then make a grocery list. I make my breakfast of granola cereal or a  toasted crossiant pastry, juice, water, and my yummy vitamin cocktail. Then I pull out the cookbooks or magazines and thumb thru to find the recipes that best suits my spouse and my taste. Ever since offspring has been born she has taken up this morning ritual with me. As of right now she likes it, but I foresee that once she begins walking she will be nowhere near my normal Monday morning location.

Clean as a Whistle or a Baby

Elyse loves her baths when she is taking them, but as soon as we take her out of the warm water

she isn't so pleased with us. We gave her a bath last night at 11 weeks old and then soon after I fed 

her. Last night was the first night she slept through the night. She slept 11 hours, but I was still getting up every 4 hours to check on her. When I did, she as very content sucking on her sweet little thumb and sleeping. We are so proud of the growth and progress she is making every day. She truly is a joy to watch and listen to on a daily basis.

I Can!

We planted a vegetable garden the entire length of our house in between the goat pen and the back 

of our house. Our bounty was great this year. We produced yellow squash, green beans, sweet peas, sweet corn, 13 different kind of tomatoes, green bell peppers, okra, carrots, beets, and yukon gold potatoes. Everything has been delicious to eat, and we are still enjoying it daily. 

 So, I have been pretty busy canning fresh tomato pasta sauce, sweet and spicy pickled okra, and 

fresh tomato salsa.

 I also have been proactive and already have our baby food prepared from our garden.
What you see here is sweet corn puree, beet puree, yellow squash puree. I still need to make the carrot puree. Can't wait to see Elyse get to try them.  Hopefully she will like her vegetables just like her momma.

This picture is very sentimental to me. This is my Grandma Walters aluminum canner pot. She used this when she canned all of her vegetables and now I am using it. Grandma Walters passed away on June 24, 2011.