Vacation Photos

Photos from our trip to Wenatchee

Hanging out with Grandma Hassler

Watching football with Joe

Date night in style with the Mustang

Laughing at silly Aunt Michelle

Boat ride on Lake Chelan

View of Wenatchee Valley

One of the winery visits

A few of the photos taken by a family friend

Apples, Boats and Wine

We just got back from a trip to Wenatchee, WA to see family. My mom and Joe live in Wenatchee and my baby sister, Michelle, came home for the weekend from WSU. Its been 2 years since we have been in Washington. It was Holden's' first plane ride and he was a trooper. If you haven't taken a cross country flight its a bear, it took us from 9 am EST to 8 pm EST (5 PST) to get to Wenatchee and that is with only an hour layover in Dallas. Holden had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the 3 hour time change the first night but did pretty well the day after.

We spent 4 full days at my mom's. Holden and Grandma got lots of bonding time in. Wenatchee is the Apple Capital of the World and it was harvest season for apples and pears. We visited a great local fruit stand and there were more varieties of apples and pears than I have ever seen. We tried so many varieties it was hard to pick which to buy. Mom made delicious homemade apple and pear pies while we were there. Not to mention all the other awesome food she made us.

Jeremy and I got a date night Friday night, we went to Leavenworth a small Bavarian town to do some walking around in the quaint little shops and enjoyed some German beer at the beer garden before having dinner.

Saturday we went up to Lake Chelan for a boat ride. Grandma got Holden a life jacket that he took a while to get use to. The lake was nice and calm on the way down the lake but on the way back it was quite choppy. We laid Holden in the cuddy on the boat during the trip back up to the dock, every time we went over a really rough wave and the boat lurched Holden would let out this big belly laugh. I think we might have a risk taker on our hands.

Sunday we traveled a small section of Washington wine country. 4 wineries + free tastings = happy Amanda. I got some great bottles of wine to share at my ladies happy hour.

On our last day we had family photos taken with a quite uncooperative little man. But some of them turned out great.

We had an awesome time and hopefully it won't take us as long to get back next time. Photos of the trip will be posted next.

Meatless Supper Club-Week One

Ok, so not a very healthy start, but a start nonetheless. I had some ricotta cheese I needed to use up, so that is my excuse. It was delicious! A variation of a Rachael Ray recipe.

Tomato, Basil and Cheese Baked Pasta

by Rachael Ray

1 pound small shell pasta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,

3 large cloves garlic
1/2 small to medium yellow onion

A handful of mushrooms (we added this ingredient-using up things in the fridge)
1 (28-ounce) can crushed Italian tomatoes, any brand ( I was out of crushed tomatoes so I just used a jar of spaghetti sauce)
1/2 cup, 10 to 12 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces ( again, I was lazy and just used some dried italian seasoning from my brother-in-law's store, Mondo Food)
Salt and pepper
1 cup store bought basil pesto sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, a couple of handfuls
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt the water. Add small shell pasta and cook the pasta to al dente doneness which means that the pasta will still have a bite to it or be a little chewy.

Preheat a deep, big skillet or a medium sauce pot over medium heat.
Add olive oil, garlic and onion, cut the ends off and cut the whole onion down the center. Cook, stirring a lot, 5 minutes until the onions are mushy and look cooked.
Add the tomatoes (or spaghetti sauce) to the onions and stir. When the tomatoes come to a bubble, reduce the heat under the sauce to low. Stir in basil pieces to wilt them. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to your taste.

Preheat your broiler to high and place a rack in the center of the oven.

Drain pasta shells. Add them to a casserole dish. Add pesto sauce, 1 cup of ricotta cheese and a handful of grated Parmigiano, too. Stir carefully and coat the hot pasta with the pesto and cheeses. Pour the hot tomato and basil sauce over the pasta, as much as you like. Shred up some mozzarella cheese with a grater and scatter it over the pasta. Add a final sprinkle of Parmigiano to the mozzarella as well.

Place the casserole under the broiler in the middle of oven, 10 to 12 inches from the heat. Let the cheese melt and bubble on top, 3 to 5 minutes (we cooked the pasta on a low boiler temperature so the ricotta and pesto had time to heat up).

We served with this great homemade garlic bread recipe from Our Lincoln Log.

Meatless Supper Club

Jeremy and I have been trying to figure out a way to budget for grass-fed beef and 100% free-range chicken to be affordable in our household. The biggest push was the statistic that our conventional meat industry uses more energy than the entire transportation system (public and private) in the US. That stat shocked me into seriously changing our ways. So, after reading up on some ideas (and listening to lots of NPR-I'm a self confessed NPR junkie) we have concluded that if we cut down on the amount of meat in our diet we should be able to afford locally raised 100% grass-fed, antibiotic free meat and eggs. So, we have half heartily been trying for a couple of weeks to make vegetarian dishes twice a week. Well, with our busy schedules we fall back into old patterns pretty easily and I really want to make this change in our diet.

So, I have received some inspiration from a blog I follow, enviromom. She has presented a challenge to create 1 meatless meal a week for 8 weeks. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, and 8 weeks of sharing meatless recipes will give me a pretty substantial arsenal of vegetarian recipes to pick from. So, I'm not going to do her official challenge because quite frankly the challenge of blogging about the recipes is a bigger challenge for me to keep up with than the cooking.

I will try my hardest to post our meatless suppers here and link to the other meatless suppers during the challenge.

Also, if anyone is interested the website Eat Wild is a great resource for finding locally raised meats and dairy in your neighborhood.

Does anyone else want to join us in the challenge? How about other great online resources for locally raised meats or meatless recipes?

Football, Bacon Explosion and Good Times

Labor day weekend symbolizes everything about Fall for us. Its the start of college football, cool weather, city festivals, birthdays and our favorite holiday Halloween. So, we did it up in style. Saturday we hosted a College Football kick-off party. Jeremy made a pork monstrosity of bacon wrapped in pork sausage wrapped in bacon, grilled and sliced for everyone to enjoy. It was delicious but a little over indulgent. Our teams won their opening games, and we had a great time with friends.

Daddy showing his displeasure about Holden wearing Mizzou gear on Saturday

The weather around here gave us a little bit of a reprieve from the summer heat and we have been able to open the windows at night. I'm sure its short lived but appreciated. We have been harvesting hot peppers and tomatoes galore out of our garden and are thinking about trying our hand at some winter veggies for the first time.

We are headed to a cookout this evening. You can't have a complete labor day weekend without a cookout.

Bacon Explosion

1/2 Birthday aka 6 Months!!

Holden is 6 months old as of yesterday. It has gone so fast. He had his 6 month check-up this afternoon and is 16 lbs 2.5 oz (25th percentile) and 25 inches long (7th percentile). He is still on the small side but has had steady growth. We have decided he has his dad's patience (which is not always a good thing). He loves playing with dad, they have their very own peek-a-boo game. Here is how it goes...Jeremy covers his face, shows his face and says "boo"...Holden jumps and then laughs uncontrollably. We have yet to get it on film because he has started to notice the camera and therefore stops what he was doing to look at the camera. Holden went on his second beach trip and second camping trip in August. No crawling or sitting yet so we have a little while longer before we have to baby proof.

Eating our feet, makes diaper changes more challenging these days

He has been on solid food for about a month now and has tried so many fruits and vegetables already including:

• Sweet Potatoes


• Butternut Squash


• Avocado


• Banana


• Pear


• Prunes


• Papaya

Enjoying a good book

Holden's accomplishments this month:

• He is talking a lot, mostly to dad


• He is much more interested in the toys and can reach for something that he wants


• He can pass an object from one hand to the other


• He has found his feet and they are the new fascinating thing


• He has sat and watched both the cats and dog move around the room


• He is trying to blow raspberries with his mouth and hasn't quite mastered it yet

Laughing at Dad

Holden's Hugh Hefner robe