Adventures in Eating: Easy Organic Chicken Noodle Soup

Hello all, I'm cooking dinner and thought I would share one of my favorite quick recipes (well quick to assemble that is).

Easy Organic Chicken Noodle Soup (for 2)
1 Lrg. Container Organic Chicken Broth
2 Cubed Natural Chicken Breasts
1/2 lb Organic Baby Carrots (whole or diced)
3 Stalks Organic Celery (diced)
Enough Organic Wheat Pasta for Two (not sure how to measure that yet, we seem to always have a ton, lol)
3-4 cups of water (most of this will evaporate and you will need plenty of liquid for the noodles)
Salt and Pepper to taste (I like to use garlic salt because I love me some garlic! YUM!)

Basically throw all the ingredients minus the pasta in a pot on medium high heat on the stove and let cook for 40 minutes. You will cook for about an hour total. When the 40 minutes are up, reduce heat to medium and put in the noodles and cook another 20 minutes. Each noodle is different. Egg noodles take about 10 minutes. Regular noodles take 15 minutes. Wheat noodles take a bit longer from 15-20 minutes.

Then ladle and serve. Goes great with French bread!

Hubster gave it 4 out of 5 stars. He said it was a little salty (which I love). Need to try to reel it in on the garlic salt... =\ But overall it is a favorite in our house.

Adventures in Eating: Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron: Review 1

I have been reading this book for just a short time so I am not all the way through it. I have basically gotten too the part of feeding your baby before the age of 6 months. I believe I will do this review in parts as I read for each age level.

Thus far, it has great tips on how to feed your baby before the age of 6 months and what are some good starter foods. One of Zoe's first foods (other than rice cereal) is going to be avocado then moving onto sweet potatoes. Both these foods are more easily digested by a baby's immature digestive system.

We are liking this book and all the great nutritional information and insight it is providing. I would recommend it to any new mom!

Adventures in Eating: Welcome!

Hello anyone who may read this blog... possibly no one. In that case, I'm talking to myself. Which is totally ok.

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle our family's journey to healthy eating and living. We have the desire to transform our lives through God given food and to take the step away from packaged foods.

I will periodically share our stories and pictures of what we are up to. Some other things you will find here: recipes, long term food storage, gardening, food prep, exercise, and anything else that comes we feel led to share.

Hope you enjoy!

Adventures in Eating: Firsts

For my first post on this blog, I will share my daughters first rice cereal experience. Hey why did you stop with the bottle and put me in the bumbo? Oh well I can smile at you from here!

Wait... What is this? I'm so confused.

Huh?

Here it comes again? Ok guys... Am I being punked? You're joking right?

Totally messy baby. Love it!

Hey this rice cereal isn't half bad. And the spoon thing is kinda fun too!

YAY! Again!And Daddy got to be home for the entire thing! I'm telling him all about what a big girl I am.

I will be back in a little while with a few more posts. We are going to wait 4 days to up her rice cereal intake to two meals, then another 4 and introduce avocado! I have a feeling this adventure in food is going to be fun.

7 Weeks

Ok, so it has been seven weeks since my last post. So that means we have a sweet seven week old angel in our midst. I love her more than words can express. Since life with a newborn is super busy I will just give a list of things that have been going on for the past seven weeks.

-Brought home baby (will post about Zoe's birth story soon)
-Was an emotional wreck (thank you hormones) for about 3 weeks
-Baby wasn't growing the way she should, can you say panic?
-Little bit started rolling to her side at 2 weeks which totally tripped us out!
-Praying everyday for seven weeks for our little one has opened up our prayer life to pray for other people/situations
-Breastfeeding has been super challenging: cracked and bleeding nipples are not fun in the slightest, baby having latching trouble, fussy and gassy baby due to my diet, me not eating enough to give the proper nutrition due to stress
-Found out I had plugged ducts about week 4, no wonder little bit wasn't growing, poor thing wasn't getting enough
-Started formula supplementation and now someone has super chunky thighs and I LOVE IT!
-Got mastitis in week 6, I have officially had every breastfeeding issue out there now.
-She started smiling out of emotion about week 4 and now greets me with a smile when I pick her up from her bassinet or glider. What a JOY! Totally makes my heart melt.
-Cuddling a newborn is happy/coma inducing. What is it about a baby sleeping on you that makes you want to pass out? Could be the peacefulness or it could be the sleep deprivation...
-Non baby related: Got better internet and finally broke down and got the local channels. Also got Netflix for the Wii which very well could be the greatest invention ever or the devil. Not sure which yet.
-Little bit has slept through the last two nights, praying this is a continued thing. Hallelujah!
-Hubby has been back at work since week 2. It was sad to see him go back, but now its a whole new thing when he comes home for lunch or at the end of the day. "Daddy's home!" is one of our favorite phrases
-Hubby had his 27th birthday! I love him more and more each day. Watching him with our babykins makes my heart leap with joy. He is a great dad and husband.
-We have had great friends and church family pay us visits and bring food which has been the best blessing! We appreciate all the prayers and support. Thank You Jesus for these amazing people!
-The house has been a total wreck for seven weeks straight and its driving me insane. I will get one area clean, then its crazy again in ten minutes. WHAT UP WITH THAT?
-I love seeing Zoe discover new sights and sounds. She loves the birds chirping and starring at the fan in the living room.
-She cooed and gooed herself to sleep last night in her bassinet and it made me want to cry with joy. How much she has grown and developed in just seven weeks.
-She greeted me with biggest smile today when I picked her up out of the bassinet.

So that's all that I can remember thus far. I'm sure I'm leaving out a ton of stuff. I want to thank everyone for the prayers and support again. Especially the women who have given me so much advice and wise counsel. It has really helped me through so much of the struggle with the breastfeeding/weight gaining issue. I'm learning great and wonderful things each time I speak with them. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Happy New Year!

Best way to start the new year.....bringing home your brand new baby girl!!!!! More details to come!

Loving this...

Hello all, went to the doc today. This was the first time she did the check to see if I was dilated at all. And I was 2 cm dilated and she could feel Zoe's head. So little miss is in prime position. It was so weird and cool at the same time. (Not that I enjoy pelvic exams or anything, yuck!). It was just so cool to know that our little one could be making an entrance sooner than later.

Well I came home and my nesting instinct kicked into overdrive. Which was mostly worrying about making her quilt. House still needs to be cleaned, but I can clean, then cut fabric, then clean some more, then sew fabric, then clean some more... You get the idea.

This is my first quilt ever and I'm so excited! It's already starting to come together quite nicely. Which makes me smile. I love creating things for my sweet daughter! I'm hoping that she holds out just a wee bit longer so I can finish up what needs to be finished, but if she comes soon, I know I will be just ecstatic!

Thank You Lord for this amazing gift. Thank You that joy is in my heart and fear is not present. Thank You for knowing our hearts desires and giving them to us. You are amazing God! In Jesus name, Amen.

Would you partner with me to pray for my labor? I could use all the warriors I can get!