Projects 52 - March

I managed to submit a photo for each week this month.  However, for some, the photo didn't match the theme!  For others, I couldn't decide on a photo and had two or three that fit.  I honestly can't remember if I just submitted one or if I submitted all of them!  The themes really are challenging some weeks - especially for the child related group.  My child is very limited still and can't do a lot.  Also, on weekdays, I'm limited to about 30-60 minutes of free time with him (when he's not eating, sleeping, or bathing) and that time usually coincides with darkness.  I haven't used my flash in ages.  It's challenging, but I think I'm managing okay! Honestly, most of my submissions are taken on Saturday or Sunday mornings when we get some pretty good light in the house.  Light I never knew existed until I was forced to wake early and hang out and play on the floor!

LSL Submissions 

10/52 Enjoying a special treat
Ben can't really eat treats yet.  But, here he is enjoying a 'raspberry' from daddy.

11/52 Close-up
I feel like all of my photos are close ups these days.  That will change once Ben becomes more mobile and I'm chasing after him!

12/52 Take a photo of your child playing outside in the yard
Yeah right!  Not with this cold/snow/muddy backyard.  This theme made me very jealous of all the others who submitted photos of their kids playing outside with no coats on.  Since it wasn't possible for me to get Ben outside to play, I just submitted this random shot of him playing 'outside' his play mat/blanket!

13/52 Clothes
I just thought this outfit was funny/fitting for the theme.

13/52 Clothing
Monkey foot!

M4H Submissions

10/52 Soft
This rug feels very soft!

10/52 Soft
A soft place to lay your head.

10/52 Soft
I added this one after the fact I think.  When I edited it I realized it had a very soft look to it.

11/52 Patterns
I went the animal pattern route with this one.  This is one of Ben's toys.

12/52 Blue
A blue vase - with the morning sun shining in.  Funny background story for this one.  Ben had gone down for his morning nap already so I quickly took the chance to take some pictures not of him.  When Mike woke up, I was in the dining room, standing on a chair wearing a robe and gnome pajama pants taking pictures.  He didn't say a word.  That's just life with me!

13/52 Vast
The world!

Projects 52 - February

I managed to take a picture each week for two of my Project 52 groups.  I have officially opted out of the third group.  A few of the prompts were a bit challenging...I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I'm not stuck taking pictures in the same four rooms in my sunlight deprived house!

Without further ado, here are my submissions:

LSL Project 52

6/52 Everyday Activity
Tummy Time!
This would have been a good one for the next prompt too....

7/52 Feet
Do you know how hard it is to photograph a four month old's feet?
They don't stay still for long.



8/52 Messy Activity
Green beans
Check it out here: http://www.livesnaplove.com/

9/52 Child's Choice
Ben can't talk so I had to take a picture of what I think he might want me to take a picture of.
He loves his jumperoo so I think he's say, "Take a picture of me jumping like a mad man."

This was my second choice for Child's Choice
This is one of his toys that always makes him smile and giggle.
I chose the first one only because I felt like Ben should actually be the subject.

M4H Project 52

6/52 Paradise
My paradise is really a tropical beach, but, we're far from that!

7/52 Focus

8/52 Bright
I struggled with this one!  I tried to get the candle flame, but...eh.

9/52 Color Blind
I think this would have worked for the previous theme as well.

Recipe: Cannoli Bites (and my attempt at home cheesemaking)

For my work team meetings, one member is responsible for bringing in a dairy product to share.  We taste the product and the person responsible has to say a few things about it or the company that makes it.  My turn comes up every eight months or so.  For the most part people bring in various types of cheeses.  Though I love cheese, it gets boring.  Last year around the holidays I brought in egg nog, even though I don't particularly like it.  I felt like it was a fitting product for the season.

This month I decided I didn't just want to bring in the product.  I wanted to make something with it.  So, I chose mascarpone cheese, a common ingredient in one off my favorite desserts; cannoli!  I opted to make the cannoli bites below because those would be easier to 'stuff 'on the spot.  During my research I also discovered that you can make mascarpone cheese at home pretty easily.  So, I decided to try it and see how it compared to the store bought kind.  My final consensus?  Though it was easy and cheaper to make it, I'd just buy it next time.  The cost savings isn't worth my time!  The cannoli bites were delicious though!

Here are some photos of my cheese making process:

Cooking

Pouring into cheesecloth

Draining

Finished product

Cannoli Bites 

Cups

1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box                    

3 tablespoons turbinado sugar (raw sugar)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
                        

Heat oven to 425°F. On lightly floured work surface, unroll pie crusts. Sprinkle each crust with turbinado sugar and cinnamon. Lightly roll rolling pin over sugar and cinnamon to press into pastry. With 2 1/2- to 3-inch round cutter, cut out pastry rounds. Lightly press each pastry round into ungreased mini muffin cup.

Bake about 10 minutes or until pastry cups are golden brown. Cool completely in pans, about 15 minutes. Remove from muffin cups to cooling racks.

Cannoli Filling

12 oz whole milk Ricotta cheese, strained

8 oz Mascarpone cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

In a mixing bowl, using a rubber or silicone spatula, blend together Ricotta and Mascarpone cheese while running and pressing mixture along bottom of bowl to remove any lumps. Fold in powdered sugar. Cover and chill 30 minutes (or until ready to use).

Remove cannoli filling from refrigerator, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a tip (or you can use a large resealable bag and cut the tip of the end). Pipe filling into cups and sprinkle with chocolate chips and dust with powdered sugar. For best results serve within 2 hours. Store in refrigerator.

For the last part, I just used a spoon.  I also threw some chocolate chips into the filling mixture.

2014 Winter Olympics - Sochi, Russia

As is tradition, Mike and I welcomed the start of the Olympics with a meal and snacks similar to that of what people of the host country would enjoy.  I'm very unfamiliar with Russian food and really didn't know what to have.  I wanted to make something we would actually want to eat, had to have access to the food, and it couldn't be too time consuming to make since weeknight dinnertime is a little crazy now that there is a baby living in our house.  I asked for ideas on Facebook and was told that beef stroganoff is a Russian dish and that my coworker would share a crock pot recipe that she liked.  Perfect!  Through some Internet searching I discovered that a traditional appetizer for the Russians is marinated herring.  Well, Ma Baensch's is a local supplier of such a delicacy (grossness!) so that would be easy to come by.  I also read that baked apples are a common dessert.  Easy enough!  While at the store I found a jar of Russian Borscht and picked that up.  Mike was in charge of purchasing the alcohol; we got a selection of Baltika beer and a bottle of Russian standard vodka.  We were all set!!

My thoughts?  The beef stroganoff was pretty good and I have shared the recipe below. I enjoyed the borscht (basically, it's a beet soup.) but Mike said he had to choke his down.  The herring?  It's always been a common thing in my parents' house around the holidays and I never really tried it.  I did this time.  Yeah, still don't like it!  The baked apples were okay.  I didn't have a specific recipe as they were all about the same so I just winged it.  For a dessert it was just too healthy, but for an apple it was pretty good!  The beer wasn't anything to write home about.  As of this writing I had only tried two different 'flavors' and didn't love either.  In fact, I don't think I finished either.  We did a shot of vodka and that wasn't too bad.  Vodka doesn't taste like much so I'm not sure how to tell if it was good or bad vodka.  The bottle is almost gone as Mike has been making White Russians for the last week so it must not be too bad.

I really do love our tradition but it's not as exciting when the foods are hard to come by or just not in our flavor palate.  I'm looking forward to the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro but know that we will struggle with South Korea and Japan.  I'm not eating anything that is still alive!

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

2  pounds beef stew meat 

1  cup chopped onion  

1  can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed golden mushroom soup 

1  can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of onion soup                 

1  jar (6 ounces) Green Giant® sliced mushrooms, drained                   

1/4  teaspoon pepper                  

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed                

1 container (8 ounces) sour cream                 

6 cups hot cooked noodles or rice 

 

Directions

• In 3 1/2- to 4 1/2-quart slow cooker, mix beef, onion, soups, mushrooms and pepper.
• Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours or until beef is very tender.
• Stir cream cheese into beef mixture until melted. Stir sour cream into beef mixture. Serve over noodles.                    

Projects 52 - January

I'm pretty happy with my participation so far in the three (THREE!) project 52's that I joined this year.  I successfully submitted photos each week for two of them.  The third I'm thinking might not last much longer.  It's a Facebook only project and I just don't care for that format for sharing photos or commenting on others photos. 

The project I'm enjoying the most is for mom's who want to document their children's lives.  That's just plain easy for me since I'm always taking pictures of Ben.  For the other project I try to attempt to take a photo that is not of Ben....but that doesn't always happen.

So, here are me submissions this month!

Facebook Group:

FB - Snow/outdoors
Ice 'growing' on our windows

FB - Self Portrait
Taken with my remote shutter release and tripod

My 4 Hens Group:

M4H - Reflection

M4H - Imperfection
Throw pillow that has been losing it's beading and sequence for a long time.

M4H - Inside
Inside of a lime

M4H - Joy
Baby eyelashes, noses, lips, and hands bring joy to so many.  Quiet, sleeping babies bring joy to everyone!

M4H - Noise
Twisted Sister and a grainy (noisy) photo

Live, Snap, Love Group:

LSL - Child in Bedroom
Ben watching his mobile in his crib

LSL - Something that reminds you of your child at this particular age
His hands won't be this tiny forever

LSL - Child and his favorite book
I'm not sure if it's his favorite book, but it's the only book he has the attention span for!

LSL - Child unaware that you are photographing them
I think Ben is mostly unaware still!  But I tried to imply he was even more unaware by stepping behind/to the side of him.

LSL - Photo of child and spouse

Recipe: Layered Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

I made this casserole over a year ago when looking for recipes to use up the massive zucchinis I grew in my garden.  I really liked it but haven't made it since because I didn't grow zucchini this summer and I forgot I could buy it in the grocery store.  I came across the recipe in my recipe box and figured we should give it a try again. I still think it's pretty good.  The Donkey Chips served as a side probably  help too!  It's vegetarian, but there is enough cheese in it that you (or the vegetable hating spouse or child in your life) will never know!

 

Layered Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil      

                                                                                       

2 cups diced zucchini                                                  

                       

1 cup chopped onion

                       

2 cups packed coarsely shredded fresh spinach

                       

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn

                       

1 (17.5 ounce) jar Pace® Enchilada Sauce

                       

12 corn tortillas (6 inch)

                       

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

                       

Chopped fresh cilantro leaves

 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Heat oil in skillet. Add zucchini and onion and cook 5 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Add spinach and corn. Cook and stir until spinach wilts.
3.  Spread 1/2 cup enchilada sauce in 3-quart shallow baking dish. Place 6 tortillas, overlapping as needed to cover bottom of dish. Spread with half of remaining enchilada sauce. Top with vegetable mixture and half the cheese. Top with remaining tortillas and enchilada sauce.
4.  Bake 20 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Cut into 6 squares and garnish with cilantro.

Projects 52

After a year of little photo inspiration I decided to try a project 52 challenge again.  I like the idea of themes but was hoping to find something easier since I know my picture taking time is limited with having Ben around.  Though I did find a group with monthly themes and the rest being personal choices I opted not to join in favor of three (yes, three!) other groups.  All with weekly themes.  My goal is to post weekly in at least one group.  Yes, I'm going to pick and choose my themes!  One group is dedicated to photographing your children so I figured that would be easy for me this year.  Another is a Facebook group created by a friend of a friend.  The third is the group I joined last year.  So, we'll see how well I do this year!