I had promised to announce the winner last Friday, then the babies got sick, as did the husband & now me. Through my fog of it all, I’m sorry to say this is late.
But I’m excited to announce the winner of a prize package from Tuttorosso Tomatoes is…
{drum roll}
Father of twins! Congrats! Stay tuned for an email shortly.
And for those who missed out, I have more tomato product love in the works for the new year!
My work had their annual ‘snack day’ last Thursday. It’s a 60 person pot luck which equates to an all day eating feast!
I brought in cranberry white chocolate cookies that I’ve made for years because they’re delicious & look festive for the holdiays.
There were lots of biscuits, cookies, cupcakes, donuts, sausage balls & meatballs. But what stole the show for me was the two recipes below. I begged for the recipes before 10 am & just had to share {plus posting them helps me remember the recipe}!
Fiesta Dip
8oz cream cheese, softened
16 oz sour cream
11 oz can sweet yellow & white corn, drained
15 oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
1 1/2 tbsp taco seasoning
2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
I love the easy directions. Just dump it all together, mix it up & cover for at least 24 hours. It can be served cold or warm with tortilla chips. It had just the right hint of spicy to counter all the sweet dips & cookies I’d eaten that day. Perfect for any event.
Chicken Salsa Wraps
1 can chicken, shredded
1 container garden veggie cream cheese
1/2 c thick & chunky salsa
tortillas
Mix the chicken, cream cheese & salsa together in a small bowl. Spread thin layer on tortilla. Roll up the tortilla & slice in approximately 1 inch pieces. My coworker served them with extra salsa on the side & red & green tortilla chips!
You know you love tomatoes & have had a bit of a love affair with them when a tomato company finds you!
I was contacted a little while ago from a rep from Tuttorosso tomatoes. She’d seen my Make Ahead meals and wanted to send us some tomato products to try.
The Tuttorosso package arrived just in time! My Mom has been down to help the last couple weekends & she’s cooked!
This Sunday we took The Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe {from her latest cookbook} & switched it up a little {my Mom’s adventurous like that}. We made it in the crockpot, boiled the chicken breasts before shredding, & just tossed in a little less of the spices {probably could’ve done more}. We also subbed a big can of Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes instead of the little bit of tomatoes & didn’t include most of the water. The Tuttorosso tomatoes were delicious! We topped the soup with cheese & have had it for three meals this week.
My parents’ stayed in town Monday to help take care of sick Zach. Mom took ingredients we had on hand, chicken, breadcrumbs, cheese, red peppers, mushrooms & Tuttorosso tomato sauce & created baked Chicken parmesan while Zach napped. The tomato sauce was so yummy. And a perfect warm dinner to come home to after a long day of work Monday night. The Chicken Parmesan with the sauce made for great lunch leftovers too.
You can purchase Tuttorosso tomatoes at your local Koger. Or even better, one of you can win your own Tuttorosso tomatoes prize package. Perfect for you to make your favorite tomato dishes to warm up the cold winter nights!
Enter by leaving a comment on what’s your favorite tomato based dish. I’ll close the giveaway next Thursday the 27th & announce the winner Friday morning.
Tuttorosso is also having daily giveaway’s on the Tuttorosso Facebook page leading up to Christmas. Feel free to check it out if you’d like. A little bird told me that today’s winner will get a gift pack of Tuttorosso products and recipes. Friday’s prize will be a utility Set {4 piece} by Wusthof knives, & they’re ending it Saturday with a Tumbleweed Ceramic Tomato Dip Dish {set of two}.
This is a follow up to both my six month Z & L updates & my overwhelmed post from earlier this week. Stick around to the end for some funny photos!
Here’s their official stats for 6 months. Lucy weighed 15 lb 7 oz & was 25.5 inches long. She’s between the 25-50 percentile in both categories.
Zach weighed 13lb 3 oz & was 25 inches long. Zach’s caught up to Lucy in length for the first time & is in the 25 percentile there. He’s most definitely still our skinny guy though at still under the 1 percentile in weight. He’s following his own growth curve well, so for now the doctor isn’t concerned.
The doctor felt they were doing great or even above where she’d think they’d be for six month but really 4.5 months when you adjust for them being 6 weeks early. She thought they’d be up & cruising & crawling by the time she sees them next at 9 months.
They did great for their standard & flu shots, crying less than before & recovering well in our arms. Only disappointment was they got denied from getting the RSV vaccine. They were deemed too healthy of preemies {this is clearly a good/bad thing}.
The pediatrician at their six month appointment Tuesday said for us to go ahead & start solids. Starting with rice cereal for a couple weeks before incorporating veggies & fruits. I was excited to have a plan.
Since I was already late into work due to their appointment & Tuesday are now my long lunch days for December, I went ahead & checked off grocery shopping off my to-do list at that time too. I hit up Whole Foods {it’s called Whole Paycheck for a reason, people, but it’s damn delicious} for a few items for quick lunches & dinners. I also wanted to buy organic rice cereal there. They had Earth’s Best oatmeal & rice/oatmeal/fruit combo but the doctor had said stick with just rice cereal at the beginning.
I went to Harris Teeter next where they had Earth’s Best rice cereal on sale for $2.50 a box. I bought two boxes as well as the best sub I’ve had for a while & enough food for us for breakfast, lunch & dinner for the week. Plus cupcakes because duh, you don’t pass up on sale cupcakes. I think I’ll plan to grocery shop while my in laws are in town this weekend then go with all the suggestions for curbside grocery pickup!
We tried rice cereal with them Tuesday night. As per the doctor & box’s instructions, we mixed 1 tsp rice cereal to 5 tsp of warmed breast milk. We made that amount for each. We’ll split that amount between the two of them going forward.
Zach was way interested in the spoon & would be okay with Jason putting it in his mouth before he quickly stuck his tongue out & let the cereal fall out. There was definitely more on his Christmas bib than in his mouth. Once we let him hold another spoon, he was better at taking {a tiny} amount. Wednesday night, I think he was still kinda hungry from not nursing so well. He had a little rice cereal before he was crying enough that I grabbed him & solo nursed him til he was full & calm.
Here’s the procession of Lucy’s first experience of rice cereal in photos.
Lucy took offense to me feeding her anything other than her beloved boob. She spit it out & more was on the bumbo & blanket than ever got into her mouth. She was pissed. And continued to be upset until I set the cereal down, picked her up & nursed her. First time was quite a fail for her, but I have to say she handled it much better Wednesday night. She still stuck her tongue out {& with it lots most of the cereal}, but she did eat some.
Alena from Charmingly Chandler emailed me this recipe right before I went on bed rest. I forwarded it along to my mom who had these cookies made for me & brought to the hospital right when the babies arrived. She remade them a couple weeks later.
Did they help create my {over}supply? Who knows, but they are delicious. So if you’re a breastfeeding mom-to-be or know someone who is, it can’t hurt to try right?
Bonus tip, recipe calls for brewer’s yeast which isn’t regular yeast. The first time Mom made them she couldn’t find brewer’s but it’s an important lactation ingredient. They did taste a little different the second time once they were done right.
Extra bonus tip, other family members & nurses enjoyed my cookies too. No one else started lactating. 🙂
Ingredients
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 3/4 c whole oats {not quick oats}
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 c peanut butter {almond butter works here too}
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c milled flax seed {typically in grocery stores}
4 tbsp brewer’s yeast {found at oraganic grocery or beer stores}
1/3 c water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 c {or 12 oz} chocolate chips
1 c chopped nuts of your choice
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon & salt in small bowl.
In a large bowl or mixer, beat peanut/almond butter, butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, brewer’s yeast, flax seen & water until creamy. Add the eggs.
Gradually beat in the flour mixture.
Mix in the chocolate chips & nuts. Then slowly add the oats, mixing as you go along.
Scoop out dough onto greased baking sheets or stones. Press down lightly on each dough ball with a fork.
Bake for 12 minutes. Enjoy!
