Oscar Meets The Finlayson Fam

Part 2: Of our recent trip to Utah, not only did Oscar meet all the Craven family. He also met all the Finlayson family as well. Only Holly's Mom was able to come up to Seattle, right when he was born. It was fun to have all his Finlayson nieces meet him. Oscar is the only Grandson on that side of the family. He joins seven nieces. 

We all decided that a trip up Millcreek Canyon one warm Sunday afternoon would be perfect to get some reprieve from the hot Utah weather, and to let all the kids run around and play.

 Natalie and Rachel.

 Me and O.

 Carolyn "Nana" being fed some hot marshmallow goo...LOL!

 Getting the pit ready for S'Mores.

 Abigail & Lydia.

 Me and my peanut.

 A curious one...

 Holly and O on a bottle break.

 No canyon adventure is complete without homemade Dutch Oven Apple Crisp.

 Dessert is served.

 Nana & Oscar.

 A roaring fire pit.

 Beautiful Millcreek Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 Little hands enjoying marshmallow roasting.

 The Finlayson family, except Linda & Amanda.

 Finlayson nieces.

 At Nana's playing on the floor.

 Tired and ready to be done.

 Hammer Toes! :)

 Lydia...!

More Nana...

While we don't get to see our families all that often. We enjoy the times that we do get down to Utah to visit with them all. We had a great time with everyone, and it was fun for Oscar to meet his cousins. 

Oscar Meets The Craven Clan

At the end of July, we took a trip down to Salt Lake City UT area to visit our families. It was the first vacation we've been on in a while, and Oscar's first plane ride. It was perfect timing heading to UT for this trip as Oscar was just turning 6 months old. It was the first time anyone in my family had seen him in person. We had a great time visiting, and introducing him to all his Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandpa Craven. 

 Oscar and Aunt Gretel

 Megan and Pepper the House Bunny that is fully litter box trained...LOL...

 Grandkids playing board games at my parents home

 Some of Mom's vintage decor at my parents house

 Prepping all sorts of corn for the big family bbq feast

 Oscar's Aunt Rebecca and Aunt Corinne

 Some of Mom's fun antique blue ball perfect mason jars

Family room at Mom & Dad's with some of Mom's antique milk glass on display

 Oscar and several of his young Craven Cousins

 Oscar and Lilly

 Holly with Oscar's Aunt Gretchen and Aunt Melanie

 Oscar having cuddle time with Gretch

 Enjoying my parents back yard

 Some of the older cousins "chilling" with my brother in law Dave

Having a nice family bbq in my parents back yard

 Enjoying family time

No trip to UT is complete without some painted toenails. Olivia & Nicole, painted my toenails when I arrived from Seattle. They were painted in "first place gold" as good luck for when I ran my Mt Timpanogus Half Marathon. Painted toenails aside, we had a great time visiting with my family and introducing Oscar to everyone. I don't get to see my family in person very often, so we enjoys enjoy the brief time we are able to spend with my family visiting and getting caught up.

Rhubarb-Orange Jam

My friend Gary gave me some fresh cut rhubarb out of his garden. There were so many options on what to make with it. I ultimately decided to make some rhubarb-orange jam with a few other adjustments to it. 

Dan's Rhubarb-Orange Jam

2 large oranges, juiced and zested

2 lemons, juiced and zested

9 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/4 inch dice

4 cups sugar

4 sticks cinnamon sticks 

4 cardamon pods

1 tablespoon culinary lavender 

1 tablespoon butter

1 package Certo, liquid pectin 

Directions: 

Sterilize canning jars, and prep rings and lids. 

Put the orange & lemons zest, citrus juice, rhubarb and sugar in a wide 8qt preserving pot. In a jelly bag, add the cinnamon sticks and cardamon pods. Adding these items to a jelly bag makes it easier to extract out when you are finished. Cook over medium high heat until juices cover the fruit, about 15 minutes. Add the butter and continue to cook stirring frequently until jam begins to thicken, about 20 minutes more. The addition of butter helps to keep the foam at minimum. Once jam has thickened remove from heat and stir in lavender and Certo. Return to heat and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool for 5 minutes. 

Ladle jam mixture into sterilized prepared jars. Water bath process for 6 minutes. Makes about 8-10 half pints. 

Pistachio-Coconut Pie

It's a gorgeous day in Seattle City today. The sun is finally out in it's full splendor, and honestly feels like summer is here, with "June-uary" behind us. Oscar's daycare and school was closed today for teacher appreciation day. So I had to opportunity to take a vacation day and spend it with him. I do love my little boy to pieces, and really look forward to the day where he can eat all the foods I prepare. 

I had some milk, cream and eggs in the fridge. The milk was going to expire soon, as was the cream. Eggs last forever for the most part. But with summer in full force, I always crave pie. Berry pies. Cream pies. Savory pies. Doesn't really matter to me. Nothing beats a good from scratch pie. So with that thought in mind, I decided to create a pie with pantry staples so we can enjoy it at some point this weekend. 

First, I baked off a single crust pie crust.

Next, I made a batch of custard with the milk, cream, eggs and a few other pantry ingredients that I had. Homemade custard or homemade pudding is really easy to make with just a few ingredients. With the dairy, I added sugar, salt and eventually some cornstarch and vanilla to make a base batch of vanilla custard.

I ended up taking half of the batch of custard and keeping it as basic vanilla. I took the other half of custard and added some unsweetened baking chocolate to it. Once melted I had two kinds of custard to layer into this pie. After I filled the baked crust with vanilla custard, I sprinkled some unsweetened coconut over the top.

After the coconut was layered, I added the chocolate custard that I made. 

After the chocolate custard was spread to my satisfaction, I added an additional handful of the unsweetened coconut, and a big handful of roughly chopped toasted pistachios. Once this sets up in the fridge, all I need to add is a dollop of fresh whipped cream to the top. We'll have a great impromptu dessert indeed to enjoy this weekend.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

I've basically been sick with bronchitis and sinus crud for the better part of a week. I got some mandatories done at work today, and decided to head home early to crash and sleep. I pretty much sacked out for 4.5 hours with a brief awakening to the neighbor mowing his yard. It's just what I needed to try and nip this crud in the bud. 

Whenever I'm sick, I always crave the comfort types of food that I grew up with. Things I remember from my childhood that my Mom would make when the weather turned cold, or warm. Or, if I or one of the many siblings were feeling sick. I love banana bread. So I decided to break out my Mom's recipe of banana bread and doctor it up a little bit with some peanut butter. The house couldn't smell any better with bananas and peanut butter baking away 

Dan's Peanut-Butter Banana Bread

4 medium bananas, very ripe

3 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar 

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder 

3/4 cup chopped walnuts 

6 tablespoons peanut butter, partly melted 

Directions:

Grease and flour one 8X4 (or larger) loaf pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Peel bananas and place in large mixing bowl. I always use my KitchenAid. Mash bananas on slow setting with paddle attachment. Add eggs, sugar, oil & vanilla and mix until well blended. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Once blended add to banana mixture. Mix until blended, but don't over mix. Add chopped not and mix briefly. Don't over mix. Pour into prepared pan. Place 6 tablespoons os partly melted peanut butter on top in big dollops. Swirl in a random pattern until peanut butter is incorporated and swirled into prepared dough. 

Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until knife or toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn loaf out onto wire rack to cool completely. 

Very much looking forward to enjoying this later tonight with Holly, as we enjoy a commitment free Friday evening, commitment free weekend for that matter, and fight this sickness. Oscar is on the mend and back to his self, time for Mom & Dad to nip this in the bud as well. 

Peanut Butter Reese's Pieces Cookies

After my last half marathon run, I was really craving something peanut butter. That along with chinese food and lemonade made for an interesting combination, but I felt like I deserved it after hitting the pavement and burning 3000+ calories in a 2.5 hour run...! I looked at a few peanut butter cookie recipes and came up with this one. We had some Reese's Pieces lying around the house and they seemed like a logical inclusion in lieu of chocolate chips this time around. 

Dan's Peanut Butter Reese's Pieces Cookies 

1 cup super chunky peanut butter
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 
1 to 2 cups Reese's Pieces 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 325°F. 

Line 2 large baking sheets with foil or a silpat baking sheet. Using an electric mixer, beat first 6 ingredients (peanut butter through vanilla extract) in large bowl until well blended. Add baking soda & salt to flour. Then stir flour and oats into mix peanut butter mixture. Gently mix in Reese's Pieces.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets (15 per sheet), spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Flatten cookies slightly with moistened fingertips. Freeze cookies on sheets 15 minutes. Bake cookies 10 minutes. Reverse sheets and rotate in oven and bake until golden, about 10 minutes longer. Let cookies cool on sheets until beginning to firm, about 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.

Active O

Oscar is currently sick with his first cold and is so sad. So I thought I'd share this little video to remind me what he usually looks like happy and playing!

Father's Day

I know this is a little past due, but in honor of Dan's first Father's Day I wanted to post some of the cute photos of him and his little buddy! Dan really is the greatest dad, I love hearing Oscar and Dan "talk" and I especially love hearing Dan laugh at something cute Oscar does...which happens a lot :)

Here's Dan and Oscar at lunch in La Conner for the tulip festival.



In Portland enjoying breakfast at Mother's.



Encouraging Oscar to wrestle with his cookie monster!



Dan has been great helping with Oscar's new rolling phase. We both take turns going in to check on Oscar and help him either sleep on his side, or flip him on his back when he wakes up crying on his tummy.



Lastly, one of my favorite earlier photos of the two of them. Two little peas in a pod!



Love you Dan!

Curried Apricot Chicken

I taught several quick and easy pantry recipes this past Tuesday night at our church to the Relief Society. Several women gathered to learn some hands on prepping of four main dishes for quick & easy weeknight meals for their families. The recipes I demonstrated utilized pantry ingredients and other items you typically would have on hand. 


Holly & I enjoy curried apricot chicken. I grew up eating this quite a bit. I learned how to make this from my Mom, and it's pretty versatile. We make this easy dish all the time for a quick dinner. I typically serve this over rice or some couscous. Often times I'll even add in some chopped dried apricots to the dish as well while it cooks down. And I always look for organic style preserves free of corn syrup and made with reduced amounts of cane sugar. Same approach to the dressing. I like the Roasted Red Pepper dressing base the best as it typically has no sugar in it's ingredient list. You can pretty much substitute whichever way you choose. No need for extra salt in this recipe, as there is ample amounts of salt in the dry onion soup mix base. 


Dan's Curried Apricot Chicken


6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, or 2.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs 
1 1/2 (1 ounce) packages dry onion soup mix
1 (10 fluid ounce) bottle Russian-style, Catalina-style, or Roasted Red Pepper-style salad dressing
1 cup apricot preserves or apricot jam 
1 T curry powder (mild, medium or hot) 
Fresh ground pepper to taste 
Dried apricots, diced - optional 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the chicken pieces in a 4 quart casserole dish. Mix the soup mix, dressing, curry powered, pepper and jam together, and pour over the chicken. Cover dish and bake for 1 hour in preheated oven.

Little O starts daycare + updates

Last week was Oscar's first week of daycare. It was really hard dropping him off the first day, Dan and I were both sobbing when we left and continued to cry throughout the day! This is not a t-shirt we drop off to have cleaned, this is our precious little baby and it was heart wrenching to leave him with a stranger. It really didn't help that we never had him babysat at any point before so we were really new at someone else taking care of him.

One of us went to see him every day at lunch which was nice. It was still so very hard to see him look over his shoulder at me as I was leaving with the look of "where are you going?" on his little face. But, I think he is happy there, his teacher Ki has been with the daycare for years and is so great with him. She tells me what they did and what new things he likes which makes me happy. We've had a few issues with another teacher, but we are working through them. All in all I know Oscar is doing well and that makes it easier for me to be at work.



He had his 4 mo check up on Monday and has been a bit out of sorts since, not wanting to eat, crying and fitfully sleeping. I hope he'll be back to his usual self soon, though he still manages to smile and giggle even when he's out of sorts.



In amongst all this change we are moving. We've sold our townhouse and are packing up to move into temporary housing while we continue to search for a new home. We are having mixed emotions selling our place, happy to sell, but sad to leave our home of 10 years and all the memories there. The home purchase process is frustrating and Dan and I struggle to see the silver lining each day, but we are trying to be hopeful that the home we are supposed to be in for our future will show itself soon.



I'm hoping to be a bit of a better blogger now and keep a better diary of how Oscar is learning and growing. I may even post a video or two :)