Smoked Paprika Potato Egg Bake

You know those nights, where you don’t really have a plan for dinner and then you realize that it’s dinner time?  Well that happened to me and I just had to throw something together with what I had……..I love when that happens and it actually turns out delicious.  To make this dinner better, it’s a one dish recipe!!!!  If I forgot to make dinner I certainly don’t have time to do a ton of dishes! This recipe is definitely going to join the recipe rotation, especially for those last minute meals.

Ingredients

1 lb red potatoes, quartered
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 tbs heavy cream
1 tbs smoked paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
5 eggs
1/4 cup bleu cheese
avocados & bacon for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°. In a pie pan add potatoes, onions, garlic, cream, paprika, salt, & pepper flakes. Then mix together with your fingers.

2. Bake for 10 minutes, stir, and bake for another 35 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

3. Remove pie pan from the oven and create a well in the center. Crack eggs into the well and sprinkle bleu cheese over eggs and potatoes. Put back into the oven and cook for 15 more minutes (or until your desired firmness- I like mine a little yokie so the yoke is like a sauce).

4. Serve with a creamy avocado and some bacon.

5. Enjoy!

Change the Size of Your Heart

I had a post planned for today but it had to be moved.   The message from this little boy is way, WAY, more important! Friends, we need to wake up! We need to make our hearts bigger no matter what we look like on the outside. How come a 6 year old gets this, and so many that are much older have forgotten? Thank you Grant for the reminder with your wish for the world :-)

Hawley Peeps Monthly: Month Six

When I first started keeping track of Dutch’s milestones month by month, I would get frustrated that I never got around to posting them before the next month came along.  And then he turned one and it just seemed kind of silly to post about it especially when my intentions had always been to make it something special.  Of course I would never delete that kind of information, but it just sat there.  Now, though, I’m really glad that life got in the way preventing me from posting each month, because now I am posting about these two together.  Maybe it’s just the mom-brain in me, but I love that even something as simple as a milestone post they are having done together.  I pray that these two are always close and have the most amazing friendship.

Obviously now we’ve reached the 6 month milestone.  I feel like that’s a pretty big one.  Ellis is 1/2 a year old.  That means those infant baby days are fading away and now I’m looking at crawling, walking, talking……I better get my running shoes ready, because I have a feeling the next few months are going to keep me busy :-)

Month 1 ~ Month 2 ~ Month 3 ~ Month 4 ~ Month 5

Month 6- Dutch

• At 23 weeks old you had your first ear infection.  At the doctor’s appointment to assess your ears you were 15 lbs 12 oz and in the 27th percentile for weight.  (At the time I thought this was going to be a one time thing.  Little did I know that you were going to struggle with this for the next 9 months).
• You are officially a thumb sucker.
• You like to blow bubbles and hold mama’s hair.  Thankfully, you’re not pulling my hair yet.
• Your eyes are starting to turn green.
• On 11/15/14 you rolled back to belly...mama cried
• Dutch loves to hold onto a blanket while sucking his thumb- no blanket in particular just a blanket (usually a burp cloth)
• You have a great temperament, except when you get really hungry, and then you want to eat right now!
• You’re a great eater.
• Such a laid back baby.
• You’re wearing 0-3 month tops, and 6 month bottoms
• You like to giggle & play
• Playing with your feet is one of your favorite past times :-)
• You don’t mind having your diaper changed anymore.
• Gonzo is still your favorite toy.
• You’ve started army crawling, and you’ve mastered going in a circle (starting 11/14)
• Dutch can sit up with minimal assistance
• You sleep with a Terrible Towel
• You love to go out with mama
• This month you experienced your first Thanksgiving & first service project (delivery cookies and cards to a nursing home on Thanksgiving).
• You also got your first Christmas tree
• About 3x a night you get up to eat and then you go right back to sleep.
• During the day you still eat every 2-3 hours.
• You usually have 2 naps a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, for about 2-3 hours.
• The alligator on your exersaucer is very entertaining to you.
• Your 1st tooth starting to come in (or we just noticed it really)
• Snuggling is the best with you :-)
• We took the net off your baby tub in the sink so you could have your first bubble bath; you LOVED it.  You had so much fun splashing in the tub.
• For clothes, you’re still in 0-3 tops but you’re growing out of 6 month bottoms
• This month you met Uncle Tyler, Aunt Skye, and cousin Cam

Month 6- Ellis

• Your hair is starting to get much darker
• Mosquitoes love you, sorry baby girl!
• You like to pull your brothers hair.  This will not go well for you so I hope you get over this soon
• You're beginning to rotate in a circle on your stomach.  It takes a little while but you get all the way around
• You've mastered flipping back to belly and belly to back.  You're very fast at it and I can't flip you one way and stand back to get it on camera before you flip back around.
• I think you prefer to be playing on your stomach but you get bored sometimes and let out a squeal when you're ready to be flipped back to your back
• You went to the church nursery for the first time at 23 weeks.  I kept you for church and then you went to the nursery during Sunday School.  I only teared up on the outside a little, but goodness it was tough.  The second time in the nursery at church (at 24 weeks) you were SO upset when I came to get you.  Again you only went for Sunday School but when I get back you had been crying for 10 minutes (mama was a little upset that they didn't call me to come back to you).  You've never cried for more than a minute in your life so it was so odd that you were so upset. I thought after the first time going so well that you would be fine, but the next two times greatly upset you.  Hopefully this next week will be better.
• You like to play with your feet.
• If you’re laying on the floor and I lean down to play with you, you immediately reach up to hug my face and grab my hair.  You think it’s hilarious.
• You're talking more & more while you play; it's precious!
• Watching your brother makes you laugh…..which makes me laugh
• Everyone who meets you comments on how easy and relaxed you are.  Your temperament is SO easy.  The only time you get a little fussy is when you’re ready to eat, and then you want to eat immediately.
• You really enjoy just sitting on mama's lap and watching the world from there.  I really do think you’re a mama’s girl right now
• You favorite toy right now seems to be paper, boxes & the wipe bags...like to scratch things with your nails.  It is the weirdest sound.
• Your favorite way to wake mama up at night is slapping her mouth & laughing
• If I click my tongue you mirror and click yours back at me.  It's very cute because you think it is so funny.  You start laughing so much that you have a hard time clicking back to me
• You are mostly in 3-6 clothes, but I know that they are getting a little too short for you now.  I should probably start moving you into 9 month clothes, mostly jammies, so that you can straighten your legs out.  Shirts and dresses are still 3-6 months, you're just too long for the footed clothes
• You love taking a shower with mama, especially when you get your hair washed.
• I know that crawling is coming soon because you're pretty quickly moving in a circle and rolling.  You're very fast.
• You like sitting up so that you can see everyone, so we’ve started putting you in the Bumbo
• You're still exclusively breast fed, but like to watch us eat. You don't have any signs of teeth yet but you have bitten mama several times :-(
• If you're in a disposable diaper you're still in size 2
• Sleeping this month has been up and down.  Sometimes you only get up three times to eat and then go right back to sleep, and other times it is much (much!) more.....like 8-10 times.

Top *5* Ingredients

I have a subscription to Food Network magazine & I love it (I chat more about it here).  Anyways I was reading one of the interviews in the June issue where they asked the chef, what their top 5 ingredients were.  Simple enough question, so I pretended that I was being interviewed for the magazine and asked myself, “Darby, what are your top 5 ingredients?” I didn’t take me too long to come up with 5 items.  Here are my 5 choices that I buy almost every week at the store or in bulk to have on hand continually.  They are potentially seasonal and I could have a little variation, but these are staples that I’ve been using in our kitchen on a weekly basis for a couple years now.1. Coconut Oil- I’m pretty sure that by now everyone knows the coconut oil is the best thing since sliced bread.  Can’t be beat y’all.  I use it in the kitchen for roasting, sauteing, and baking, but also for diluting essential oils, on my face, in my hair, for baby boo-tays (since we cloth diaper and can’t use other bottom creams), and for a bazillion other things.
2. Lemons- I used to keep lemons around to add to my water, but I honestly haven't done that in a while.  Instead I’ve been using it to add to salad dressings and marinades.  It doesn’t take much and I love to have them just laying around for whenever I want that fresh flavor.
3. Kale- I know this sounds super trendy to say, but we really do eat kale all of time.  I openly put it in salads, stir fry, and coleslaw, but I’m also sneaky and add it to smoothies and yogurt #sneakymama
4. Red Onion- How am I using this on the reg?  I use red onion every chance I get for caramelizing, in sauces, guacamole, salad accessories, shrimp tacos, pizza toppings, greek pitas….seriously I could really keep listing for-ev-er ;-)
5. Dijon Mustard- I rarely use this as the condiment it comes as.  Instead I use it to make salad dressing (especially this one), and sauces (like this one).  I just love the tang and think it’s great for dressings, marinades, & sauces.

What are the ingredients that you are using in your kitchen all. the. time?  Tell me if there is something that I just need to start cooking (and eat hehe)

I'm NOT Bored: What I Wish I Said If I Could Think Faster

"What do you do all day? Don't you get bored being at home all the time?" I smiled and bit my tongue "You should do a project" I literally laughed out loud.

***Now, I know what you must be thinking: this is a post about how stay at home mamas (SAHM) have it hard.  You are wrong!  Mamas that work in the home and out of the home, as well as SAHM are all working hard.  I've been all of these, and honestly they all have their own unique challenges. The job of being a mother has NOTHING to do with whether or not you receive a paycheck.  Every mama is working her hardest to serve her family the best way she can, so bravo to you mamas every where no matter where you work.  This post is for ALL of the mamas!***

So, above was a conversation that actually happened on Wednesday.  Yes, another mother asked me this.  I wish I had answered her instead of laughing.  But sometimes I just can't think fast enough.  Does that ever happen to you?  Maybe with 2 babies two and under I was just too tired to think fast enough to respond?  My entire drive home I ruminated over all of the things that I wish I told her.  So mother out there who thinks I'm bored, this is what I wish I said:

What DO I do all day?
-I change 4 bazillion diapers before noon everyday. -I answer a thousand questions during every meal. -My fingers are chapped because I am constantly washing my hands (ya know, between the poop and all of the other messes; oh yeah, and doing dishes constantly). -I run errands (the vet, grocery store, dry cleaning, etc.)
-I vacuum at least once a day, because 2 dogs....
-I am completely ignorant over what the latest musical group is because I sing about Old McDonald and The Wheels on the Bus. I’m really good. You should see me, I can do the motions and everything ;-)
-I've had at least one person attached to me for the past 2 years, and lately I have 2 people attached or hanging off of me. -I have developed the fine art of guessing. -I play hockey with plastic golf clubs for hours -I make overly ambitious to-do lists that roll-over daily and overwhelm me. -I coordinate when we need to have someone come out to the house because something broke.  This week it's our fridge that broke, and I'm nervous I'm going to lose the thousands of ounces- yes, you read that correctly: thousands- of breast milk I have pumped to donate to sick babies in the NICU.  This means that I pump every 2-3 hours in between nursing my babies. -I'm a chef.  Not a great one, but I do my very best.
-I do a minimum of 2 loads of laundry a day. -I nurse boo-boos back to health with "bam-bams," which translates to "band aids" in case you don't speak Toddler.  Yes I've picked up another foreign language in my free time ;-) -The last book I read was made of thick cardboard, was 5 pages long, and I read it no less than 60 times.  I have memorized it.  My variety comes from "doing the voices." -I meal plan nutritious meals for my family (well not this week because I didn't get to it last Friday and we're living off my freezer meal stash). -I too, keep up with email. -I slept 1.5 hours last night because of a sick baby and today I get to juggle that sick baby while I chase a toddler. #sendmorecoffee -My last hot meal was over 2 years ago. -I learn about the latest breaking news 3 days after the event. -My only communication with the outside world is via Facebook and text. -When the stars align and both babies are asleep at the same time, I blog...it's a guilty pleasure. -I organize art projects and educational lessons for the kids. -My uniform is a headband, leggings, and a nursing top.  (Why do I ever buy anything else?!) -We go through and read our bibles and work on learning scripture. -I sometimes remember to feed the dogs (thank goodness the Mr. helps remind me here) . -I wash bed linens at least 2x a week because.....poop-polosions -I pay bills. #adultingsucks -I make sure the kids are clothed and bathed. -I oversee doctors appointments at least once a month. -I chauffeur to preschool and make sure lunches are packed. -I email myself more than anyone else so that I can remember to add stuff to my todo list . -I counsel toddler problems and redirect behavior. -I dream about hot coffee (“hot” being the key word). -I haven't gone to the bathroom alone ("alone" is the keyword here) in 2 years. -I also haven't showered alone in over 2 years, and I currently don't remember when my last shower was. #IwishIwerekidding #dryshampooismyfriend -I never regret being home with my kids, but my work doesn't end at 5pm, it goes around the clock (and well until the am hours). -I try to "stop and smell the roses" as much as I can.  I hold my babies as much as I can because I know they grow too quickly, and the world can wait while I hold them.  No one will die if I don't respond right away.  Nothing is that emergent.

-Amidst the chaos I try to create a home that is safe, secure, peaceful, & encouraging.


This list of daily activities is NOT a list of complaints.  Far from it!  This list may not seem like important work, but I am investing and contributing to society.

While I absolutely love my job being a mama, and have ZERO regrets, I can assure you, I am NOT bored. 

Matching Jammies

Seeing my babies in matching clothes makes me melt.  I’m like putty in their hands!  I purchased these simple jammies as soon as I found out that I was having a girl.  I know that my timeline of getting them to match is very short so I’ve really got to capitalize on the next couple years.  Here are my sweet babies (and bear of course) in their matching jammies :-)

Tumeric Cauliflower Egg Skillet

To be honest, I had to test this recipe se-ver-al times before I got it right.  The first time I made it, it was so grainy and not appealing at all.  It’s kind of a unique collection of ingredients, but so yummy together.  I can now say that this is a really delicious recipe, and SOOOO easy to create.  I know that I say that all the time, but really if it isn’t “easy” I don’t want any part of it! Ain’t nobody got time for that! Am I right or am I right!?!?!?!?!
Ingredients
6 tsp coconut oil
1 medium red onion
5 cups cauliflower florets
2 limes, juiced
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground ginger
cayenne pepper
6-8 eggs
lime juice, for serving
cilantro, for serving
avocado, for serving

Directions:
1. Over medium heat melt 2 tsp coconut oil in a skillet (I know that I usually use a cast iron skillet, but I didn’t this time.  No real reason, I just didn’t).  Add in the red onions & cauliflower, and cook until the cauliflower begins to brown (this was about 8 minutes for me).
2. Stir in the lime juice, tumeric, ginger, cayenne pepper, and 2 tsp of coconut oil.  Once everything is well incorporated create a well in the center (push all of the cauliflower and onions to the edges).
3. To the well, add 2 tsp coconut oil and once it melts crack in the eggs.  Decrease the heat to low and put a lid on the skillet.  Cook until the whites of the eggs are set & you achieve your preferred yolk firmness (for me it was about 8 minutes).
4. I served mine topped with lime juice, cilantro, and avocado with a side of asparagus that I sauted in bacon fat (yum!)
5. Enjoy! 

Popsicle Puzzles

Wow I seriously wish that I could take credit for this.  This is so creative and fun……there is only one person that this idea could come from and it’s Aunt Nana!  When my sister came to visit in May she told me that she had a craft to do with Dutch.  She is seriously the best aunt and always has the funnest things planned for my kiddos.  She’s golden! On this particular trip she wanted to make puzzles with Dutch out of popsicle sticks.  What a fun idea, right?!

For this craft all you need is popsicles sticks, tape, paint, and a paint brush.  You tape the popsicles sticks together, paint an image, let it dry, and then you have a puzzle!  What a fun personalized little craft?!  This is small enough that you can put it in your purse or diaper bag for fun on the go when you need to be quiet (e.g. a waiting room, a restaurant, etc.).  We’ve also used these puzzles during our home school hour for counting, matching, and identifying shapes & colors.  This is a fun summer art project.  Thank you Aunt Nana!!!
See, isn't that a fun craft with great opportunities for learning?!?!?! Thank you Aunt Nana!!!

The Ducks & The Jumpie-Jump

When Aunt Nana was here in May we had several morning outings and activities.  We went to the fire station one morning and made beignets another.  Before it got too warm we ventured out to the park to check out the gardens and feed the ducks.  We've been to this park many times, but we always forget the bread for the ducks, so I made sure to pack it this time.  I loved feeding the ducks as a kid so I knew that Dutch would have a ball.  The gardens were so beautiful & in full bloom that day.  The gardeners were working while we walked through and they gave us pods of seeds to take home and try out.  I wonder if I can keep mine as pretty as theirs?  Dutch liked feeding the ducks, but I'm pretty sure that his favorite part was throwing rocks into the water.  If he sees water anywhere, he is looking for some rocks to throw.  It was such a blessing to sit and watch Aunt Nana & Dutch enjoy each others company and deepen their relationship while having fun feeding the ducks.   

Another morning during Aunt Nana’s trip we went to Pump It Up.  It’s one of those places that is just a room filled with moon bounces for everyone to jump in.  I love it because it’s a cheap (and AIR CONDITIONED) summer activity.  Dutch loves it because he likes the “jumpie-jump”.  He frequently asks to go when I get him up in the morning and he shows me that he’s ready by jumping in his bed lol  I took several videos of Aunt Nana, her beau, & Dutch in the jumpie-jumps.  It was just another fun activity to watch.  Now that I’m looking through these pictures again, I smile because we joked that it looked like Aunt Nana & her beau worked at the jumpie-jump because they coincidentally dressed similar. Ha!

I think it’s safe to say that we all know I take way too many pictures.  It’s true. I know it.  But in precious times like this one week with Aunt Nana, I’m so glad that I have this problem habit and capture so many savored moments with family.

It's always really tough to say bye to family, but after such a fun week, it really stunk this time.   Now we're holding onto the fun plans for our next visit.