Mashed Cauliflower

My sweet husband loves him some cauliflower, I, on the other hand, could take it or leave it. After subjecting him to my favorite dishes over and over again I decided to try one of his favorites in a new way and see if I liked it any more. I was surprised to learn I did! Try this recipe for mashed cauliflower next time you're considering adding it to your meal!

Ingredients 

1 medium head cauliflower, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup almond milk

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. minced garlic

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

Directions

Boil a large pot of salted water. 

Add cauliflower and cook until very soft (10-15 minutes).

Drain in colander.

In a separate saute pan, warm olive oil over medium-low heat.

Add garlic and saute for roughly 30 seconds.

Mash with a potato masher in a large bowl. 

While mixing, slowly add the milk.

Mix in the salt and pepper and the minced garlic with the olive oil. 

Enjoy!

5 on Friday [09.26]

Happyyyyy Fridayyyyyy!

*one*

I love Fall and everything about it. The cool weather, the leaves, the football-everything! Probably my most favorite part is the attack of pumpkin, though. The best place to soak in pumpkin and all its glory? Trader Joe's! I'm literally going to have to limit how much pumpkin stuff I buy on my weekly trip. This week I splurged on pumpkin pop tarts. As delicious as they sound! 

*two*

It's time for the Fall Food Truck Rally!! We went last year with our church community group and pigged out! Excited to share it with our little love this year:-)

*three*

Alright, online shoppers, what are your favorite discount shopping sites? I'm a member of Rue La La and Zulily, but I'd love to hear about any others that will save us money!

*four*

TGIT! The return of Scandal and Parenthood and the introduction of How to Get Away with Murder have this girl excited! What shows are you excited about this Fall??

*five*

Ever look at your calendar and totally freak?? That was us last night. We thought that after we got through the summer our lives would simmer down. Ha! We could't have been more wrong. We are so blessed to have so many people to see and things to do, but we will definitely be soaking in any breaks we get;-)

Lesson Learned

There are a lot of things I miss about being at school and teaching, but one of the things I miss the most is seeing my school family. Y'all, these people are amazing. You need a hug? Their arms are wide open. Advice? They've got a story. A laugh? They have a million to share! Seriously, I miss these people. A few Fridays ago Amelia Grace and I got to hang out with some of them!

Remember this picture?

Well, here we are now!

It's so wonderful sharing stories of our little loves and the chance to see them grow up together:-)

BUT, before we even made it to this wonderful playdate we stopped by the school to visit with a few others. A sweet friend of mine was holding AG while we were all just catching up when I noticed the tell-tale yellow on her dress. Mommas know what I'm talking about. That lovely mustard yellow that signals a poop explosion. Awesome. 

I quickly grabbed AG away from Teri in hopes that she didn't spread the wealth. Luckily she hadn't! Not so luckily was the fact that I didn't have a spare outfit. Little miss had used that one the weekend before when we were in Winston Salem and I had forgotten to replace it. Well, I was not about to let this spoil our coffee date, so what's a girl to do? Put your baby (clad only in her diaper, mind you) and race over to Walmart to pick something up. Mother of the year right here, folks. She was not the least bit fazed and fit right in with the other kooks at the Wally World;-)

Needless to say there are now TWO spare outfits in the diaper bag. 

Lesson learned.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Just like most Americans I LOVE anything pumpkin flavored. Here is a childhood classic, with a bit of a pumpkin twist. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Cookies

 1 cup room temp butter

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla 

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Coating   

1/2 cups white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of allspice

Directions

Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

 Stir in the pumpkin puree.

Add in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate  bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. 

Stir until fully incorporated. 

Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix the coating ingredients in a small bowl. 

Make dough balls and roll into the sugar mixture. 

Lightly flatten cookies with heel of hand (don't smush!).

 Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until baked through. 

Enjoy!

5 on Friday [09.19]

Happy Friday!!

*one*

Wow, this week has been a fun one with little miss! I think she's completed her first "leap" according to the Wonder Weeks concept because she has grown so much! Lots of smiles and focusing on things. She's actually cooing and seems to be "playing"! Well, playing as much as a 7-week old would.

*two*

A longggg while back I wrote a post about shopping local and why we try to do it whenever we can. So imagine how excited I was when I discovered a new farm stand minutes from our house! I mean, I pass this thing on an almost daily basis. When I finally stopped by this week I was quickly greeted with lots of welcoming smiles and free samples. The owner then told me their plans to build an actual shop and "farmer's market" restaurant in that location at the beginning of next year. I just about hugged my new BFF in excitement. One of the things I miss most about Raleigh is the Farmer's Market shops and restaurant. Eeeeek! Cannot wait! Check them out on facebook at Country Olive!

*three*

We are participating in our first yard sale this weekend. When did we grow up?? I feel like yard sales are a very grown up thing to do. 

Who wants to come buy our crap? I mean "stuff". . .

Baby not for sale. Unlessss the offer is right ;-)

*four*

So, I have recently joined a MOPS group and I am in love! MOPS is an incredible Christian organization for mommies of young ones.  I love that the women are from all different walks of life, yet so welcoming and fun. A wonderful group to grow with!

*five*   

Can I just say how much I love this time of year? The cooler temps, the constant football, the constant weekend offerings. This time of year fills my heart!

Seven

Y'all know I love to read and I rarely find a book that I don't like. I also rarely find a book that I absolutely love. Jen Lancaster will always have me rolling around laughing and I can count on a Kennedy biopic to make me want to completely renovate my wardrobe to channel Jackie, but rarely does a book make me stop and rethink the way I live my life. That is until I read this:

Seven by Jen Hatmaker

This book messed me up in the best way possible. Imagine reading a book and pausing every page or so not just to think, but to laugh at how much the author knows your life. That is this book. Jen (I feel like we should be on a first name basis because she knows me so well) felt the tug in her heart to fast from certain things in her life, so she did. This wasn't just a  "I'm going to stop eating chocolate", but a "I need to change the way I'm living if I really want to experience Jesus". Each month for seven months she focused on a different area of her life she wanted to renovate. For one month she only wore seven items of clothing and another month she only ate seven different foods.Yea, homegirl don't play around. 

I can't tell you how many conversations I had with David about wanting to do something like this. We have SO much that we don't need. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely thankful for all the blessings, but how many different black sundresses do I need? And how many different saucepans does one family require? How much food do we waste each week because it goes bad before we can eat it? How much time do we waste on various social media sites or in front of the TV? These questions are all weighing heavy on my heart as I continue to mull it over. 

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Then, give me a call so we can plan a trip to Austin, Texas to meet this woman and be her friend.

Motherhood is. . .

I know I'm new to this game, but a few of my thoughts thus far on what motherhood is. . .

. . . getting all your daily steps in walking up and down the hallway to a fussy baby who refuses to sleep.

. . . learning after one poop explosion you always have an extra outfit with you.

Story to come

. . . prepping supper HOURS beforehand because that's the only time your arms will be empty all day.

. . . letting your baby sleep in the carrier no matter how many times you said you would never do that because that's the only place the baby would sleep that day.

. . . sleeping on the floor next to the crib because you would rather get a few extra seconds of sleep on the floor than waste time walking down the hallway and letting the baby get more worked up.

. . . giving the baby a pacy after a week despite pledging that your baby wouldn't have a pacy until she was at least 6 weeks old. Hmph.

. . . deleting all the other pictures on your phone to make room for a million different pictures of the same thing.

. . . thinking about every day down.to.the.minute. in an effort to maximize naps and happy baby time.

And my personal favorite realization

. . . rocking your baby long after they fall asleep because you just love the baby snuggles.

I love motherhood:-)

Five on Friday [09.12]

Five things for this Friday. . .

*one*

We were fortunate enough to have our sweet friend (and wedding photographer!), Amaris, come capture a few pictures of our little love bug yesterday. Here is a sneak peek:

*two*

The original plan was to wean off the prednisone for good following Amelia Grace's birth. Well, my body seems to have other ideas. After a quick check up and lab work this past week it looks like I have elevated protein levels in my urine. No bueno. Hello, 24-hour urine test and hopefully more answers. Prayers appreciated!

*three*

I am SO excited for a quiet weekend at home with both of my loves. After pure insanity for the past few months it's going to be so nice to do regular Saturday things-leisurely breakfast, run errands, and gorge ourselves on football!

*four*

 It took four years, but the Mobleys officially have cable. *gasp*

So, what have we been watching? Lots of HGTV!

*five*

Y'all know we have a slight issue with binge-watching shows on Netflix. Well, this past summer we started Dexter, and I am happy to say we FINALLY finished. After the tiny interruption of a wee one, we found the time to knock it out this past week. Whew. Now, onto the shows of Fall! 

Less Than a Lady

This past weekend we were fortunate enough to witness my sister, Mandy, marry the love of her life, Tyler! 

Mandy was insistent on Amelia Grace being a part of her big day, so she was! Anyone ever been around a wee one in the midst of a wedding day? It definitely adds an element of adventure to everything;-) 

We made sure to feed her and get her to sleep before the ceremony and she was a dream! At least for a bit. . . as Mandy was right in the middle of her vows, Amelia Grace let out a fart to end all farts. My hand felt the rumble and warmth of the poo as it filled her diaper. What's a mom to do? Start shaking with laughter. Abby and I were convulsing on stage trying our best to hold it in as little miss just kept going. The saving grace? Neither Mandy nor Tyler heard it. Whew!

Right before AG just let it all out. . .

After the ceremony it became a game of asking the guests who heard her big explosion. Lots of people were completely oblivious, whereas a few seasoned mommas knew exactly what had happened. Afterwards, my aunt saved the day by running out to grab more diapers so she didn't destroy her pretty little dress and matching "party panties"! Life is never dull with a baby;-)

This beautiful day signaled the end of the craziest summer of our lives. Between all the celebrating of Harrison and Ashley's wedding, Mandy and Tyler's wedding, and the addition of Amelia Grace I think it's safe to say we are a little tapped out. Don't be surprised if you don't see the Mobleys for quite some time as we hide away and recoup!