Honestly Hawley {July}

Last month was the first post in this series, Honestly Hawley.  It’s only the second month but I can’t tell you how much I enjoy doing these already.  I think it’s really fun to kind of recap the month.  I imagine that I’m the only one that really likes these posts, and I'm totally okay with that, but everything is changing so fast it’s nice to capture how things are right now before they change again. 

Recap 2016: June

Hope you're July was awesome!
We're lookin’ forward to August :-)

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)