Author: Suz

Categories
Everything Else

Dishwasher Dilema

Our dishwasher died over the weekend. We spent 45+ minutes last night hand washing, drying & putting away our dirty dishes from the end of last week and the weekend.

I’m a little crunchy in that I feel genuinely bad about using paper/plastic plates and throwing them away. I guess I just feel like if we have plates why create the garbage unnecessarily?! Plus I’ve been so excited about having real china since we received them as wedding gifts. I don’t mind using paper/plastic at parties or tailgating, but if we’re home, we use real ones. Also, I don’t hand wash. My mom is the queen of making it all fit in the dishwasher & she’s taught me a thing or two. I don’t think dishes get cleaned as well if not in the dishwasher & I get grossed out by dirty dishes, especially ones that have been sitting around. That said, husband cleans the few items in our house that must be hand washed & he doesn’t plan to spending time all week cleaning dishes. I foresee a week of picking up food out, eating microwaved food on the container or eating on the dreaded paper plates!

So, our options are: find someone to check out our 15 year old Maytag dishwasher to see if it can be repaired or buy a new one! I’m voting to buy a new one because I don’t feel its cost effective to repair one that old. Any one bought a new one recently or know of any deals right now at Lowes/Sears/HH Gregg??

Categories
Trying To Conceive

TTC Cycle Four

This is another TTC post. If you don’t like reading our TTC details; stop reading now. If you’re curious, keep reading!

I realize I’m a week late on updating yall about cycle four. Anyone think we might be pregnant and not sharing?! We wish! But really I was just cooking and doing yard work over the weekend and didn’t get a chance to post. Here’s my chart from cycle four:

I was actually pretty confident for this cycle. I bought cheap OPKs from Walmart & got a positive OPK the first day I tried it! Fertility Friend gave us cross hairs based on temps & the OPKs. We felt like we timed “things” correcting & my temps were going up like they’re supposed to. But like other previous cycles, once I O’d I didn’t have to wait long before I got the drop in temps & spotting started. I’m kind of wondering now if my progestrone levels are low which is causing me to have a short LP.

I’m charting again this new cycle (#5) along with using OPKs. I’m drinking pomegrante juice like crazy because its supposed to help with post ovulation implantation. I’ve also read online that vitimin B6 will help with progestrone levels. I’m still not sure what has the most of that but did see that bananas and veggies were supposed to have a lot of B6. Guess we’ll see…

Categories
Food

Strawberry Banana Muffins

I found this recipe from a fellow NC nestie, Katie Loves Paper a couple of weeks ago. I believe she found it from Joy of Cooking. I’d been meaning to make the below banana bread this weekend, but strawberries were on sale at Harris Teeter & we already had all the other ingredients. UPDATE: I added photos. I think these might be the most delicious muffins I’ve made this year. The bananas are a great background flavor. I might add more strawberries next time because they were a great bitesized flavor addition.

Ingredients
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 c light brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 c)
1 c fresh strawberries, cut into bite sized pieces
2 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cup muffin pan with liners or spray with Pam.

In small bowl, melt butter. (I microwaved. Recipe recommends melting in saucepan over stove.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Add the melted butter and stir until combined.

In another large bowl, add flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, & cinnamon. Gently fold in the strawberries, making sure they’re coated with flour which will help them from sticking during baking. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Overstirring can lead to tough muffins.

Divide the batter into the muffin cups. (The recipe says will make 12. I made small muffins & divided into 15 muffin cups.) Bake approximately 20-25 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Place on wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Categories
Everything Else

Friday Follow

It’s Friday! That means Friday Follow Blog Hop over at the fabulous blog Maryland Pink & Green. This is my second week joining in & I found some really fun blogs & sweet ladies last week. 🙂
Categories
Food

Heathly Banana Bread

If yall don’t know by now, I love bananas & I love sweets! This recipe incorporates both = perfect!! I found this recipe on Elissa’s blog. I thought I’d post it here to remind myself of the ingredient & directions so we could make it this week or weekend. I’ll probably half it though. Thanks for another yummy recipe Elissa!

Low Fat Banana Nut Bread
Ingreidents
7 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce
2.5 c unbleached all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 c light brown sugar
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 chopped walnuts (optional)
baking spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 325. Grease 2 9×5 loaf pans with spray.
In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda & salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar with electric mixer. Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce & vanilla. Beat at medium speed until thick.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add flour mixture & walnuts then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix.
Pour into loaf pans & bake on the center rack for 60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let pan cool at least 20 minutes. Recipe says bread should be room temperature before slicing (I see this being a hard step for me to follow!!)

Servings: 26 slices (2 loaves). With nuts: calories 129.2 fat: 4.4g protein: 2.8 fiber: 1.4g WW points: 3. Without nuts: calories: 106.1 fat: 2.1g carbs: 20.2 protein: 2.3, fiber: 1.2g WW points:2.