{New Products} Preserving Memories…www.simplyheavenbaby.com

Do you ever think about how a child grows up so fast?  I mean literally right before your eyes.  It is like they are a baby one day and a young adult before you know it.  I always feel like I did not take enough pictures of my kids.  I would take pictures of them at school events and holidays but really not the everyday routine.  I also hired a professional photographer a few years ago to take pictures of my girls just being themselves.  I love these types of pictures because it is not the traditional, one two, three, say cheese.  Many people are also using professional photographers today to “capture the moment” of their family.

Sometimes, I will sit down and go through pictures and it is so amazing how fast my kids are growing up.  Some of the pictures are in photo boxes, some are in photo albums, and some are still in the sleeve that the school sent home. 

I know there are parents that take tons of pictures of the babies during the first year.  That is why we are adding large photo albums to our inventory.  These photo albums are so cute and can hold 200 photos.  That’s a lot of pictures.  We also have brag books in stock that you can pull out quickly and show your friends and family.  These items are all sale priced so visit our site today!

www.simplyheavenbaby.com

Pepperpot Nest Large Photo Album 

Pepperpot Molly Large Photo Album 

Pepperpot Molly Brag Book 

Pepperpot Oliver Brag Book 

{New Products} www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyHeaven

Looking for super cute clothing for baby? Don't forget to visit our Etsy shop! We are always adding new items like this one!

Visit our Etsy shop at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyHeaven

{Gifts} Valentine Day Treats

So as usual, I wait until the last minute and run out and try to get everything done at once.  My daughter asked me in January what was I going to do for Valentine’s Day?  That should have been my first sign to begin planning and I did… a little.  I have read time management books, articles, and even did courses.  I have gotten better but believe me I still have a long way to go with my time management skills.

So Sunday we had a Valentine packaging party for my daughter’s second grade classmates.  I bought more candy that I did not plan to buy but we also included a Valentine pencil, eraser, and notepad.  I think they came out great and the kids really enjoyed them.

Did any of you do anything special?  I would love to know.

I do hope that everyone enjoyed their Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

{Recipe Review} Chicken and Orzo Salad

Last month I picked up the latest edition of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine.

http://www.semihomemade.com/

She really had some great recipes in this edition that really persuaded me into buying this magazine.  I recently tried one of the recipes in the magazine.  Chicken and Orzo Salad.  This is a healthy and hearty recipe but it really was great!  The following ingredients are needed:

·         1 16oz package of orzo

·         1 cup of light olive oil and vinegar dressing (made my own version of Italian dressing)

·         3 tablespoons reduced fat pesto with basil (Buitoni) (made my own pesto, get the recipe HERE).

·         2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I cooked chicken breast with Mediterranean spices since this is like a Greek dish).

·         1 pint of cherry tomatoes

·         1 8oz block of feta cheese, cubed

·         1 6oz bag of fresh baby spinach

·         1 4oz jar of pitted kalamata olives, drained

Directions:

1.         Prepare orzo according to the directions; drain and rinse with cold water to cool quickly and drain well.

2.        In a small bowl, stir together the dressing and pesto.

3.       In a large bowl, combine cooked orzo, chicken, tomatoes, cheese, spinach, and olives.  Pour dressing mixture over orzo mixture to coat.

Not only is this a quick meal for your family on any given night but it is healthy and feeling.  Sandra Lee also has a blog that offers great recipes.  You should definitely try the chicken and orzo salad and well as other recipes on her BLOG!

{Sewing} My New Baby

I have been so busy making Valentine gifts for my girls.  (You will see in a later post).  I have been sewing left and right to ensure that I am done on time.  Well I was on my last pair of pants last night and “pop” went my serger.  I was so upset because this was the last pair of pants and now this happens.  I tried to re-thread, adjust the needles, and do just about everything that you can think of and still….the serger would not work.  It is so ironic that this should happen to me because in our local Sunday’s paper there was an ad for a free maintenance check.  I told my husband it is about time for me to get my sewing machine serviced but really I forgot about it.   Once this happened last night, the first thing I did this morning was to start researching for another serger.  I looked at different features and was amazed.  I have purchased several  sewing magazines for the longest and I always see an ad for a Baby Lock product and I immediately went to Baby Lock’s website.   I have read so many good reviews and I think the whole “swoosh” jet-air threading had me mesmerized.  It takes me so long to thread my serger.  I wanted to see this machine but there are no local sewing centers here.   The nearest sewing machine center is in Savannah, Georgia which is about 45 minutes away.  My husband suggested that I just get the serger fixed and I said he was right, I will just get it fix.  If I was taking my serger to be fixed, I thought I might as well take my sewing machine also so that it can be serviced.  I loaded up my sewing machine and serger and off to Savannah I went.  The man was sooo nice and stated that he would be able to fix it.  Then he asked how did I like my sewing machine.  I stated that it was O.K. that I had this machine for like 10 years now, and I was really considering an upgrade once I did my research on sewing machines. 

He showed me a demonstration on this machine below:

Janome Magnolia 7330

I think that I blanked out because while driving I looked in the back seat, and I had a new sewing machine!   So totally not what I went there for but I really did want to upgrade.  I am still getting my sewing machine serviced and will pass it down to my daughter.  As far as the serger I will keep it but the cool thing about the new Janome is that I will not even have to use the serger!

What type of machine do you own?

{Gardening} Seeds Ordered

I tried to trim down my seed order  for this year’s garden but it kept getting longer and longer.  I put items in my shopping cart and then took them out and then put them back in.  Needless to say, I have my seeds ordered.  I plan to start some of them inside so that once I think the last frost has past  they will be ready for planting outside.  I ordered from Burpee Gardening.  It was so helpful to read the reviews that others had written about different types of seeds.  Because of this I will make sure that I also provide a review about my gardening experience in hopes that maybe it will help someone else.  I ordered the following items:

·         Zinnia (Cut and Come Again)

·         Baby Leaf Lettuce Mix

·         Fordhook Summer Squash

·         Fourth of July Tomatoes

·         Roma Tomatoes

·         Bell Pepper (Gypsy)

·         Sweet California Peppers

·         Cucumber (Sweeter Yet)

·         Cilantro

·         Sugar Baby Watermelon

·         Earliglow Strawberry

·         Tenderpod Bush Bean

·         Maple Sugar Corn

·         Eggplant

·         Spinach

·         Argula

·         Basil (Genovese and Sweet)

·         Oregano

·         Thyme

·         Nasturtium (Empress of India)

·         Gourmet Blend Lettuce

·         Lavender

·         Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes

This seems like a lot and it is. I really tried to eliminate some items but I am so excited because this is my first summer back in the United States with my own yard so I wanted to go big.  I plan on doing some garden planning before I actually begin planting all of the items listed above.

I picked up the latest Urban Farm magazine edition (March/April 2011), they had a great article entitled The Birds and the Bees.  It states that pollination is an important part of growing fruits and vegetables.  Birds and bees transfer pollen therefore it is encouraged to plant flowers that bees are attracted to in order for them to pollinate the crops. 

I can’t wait until my order arrives.  I will keep everyone posted on the progress.

{Kitchen} Freezer Cooking

Once upon a time I would make a weekly menu for the family and this is how I planned my grocery shopping.  Those were the best days because we knew exactly what we were having each day no questions ask.  Somehow I have fallen by the wayside but I will get back on track soon.  For the last few days, I have been waiting until the afternoon and asking myself, “what are we going to eat tonight?”  I start looking through the hundreds of cookbooks and magazines that I have and nothing is really popping out at me.  Then I look on the internet for quick meals, and different recipes and nothing there is really popping out.  I know that I have so many under 30 minute meals but I will tell you from start to finish all of them are OVER 30 minutes.  Most of the times if I do see a recipe that I want to make, there are so many ingredients involved and most of them I do not have on hand and.... another trip to the grocery store.

Tired of going through the same situation every day, today I did a little “freezer cooking.”   In the February edition of Martha Stewart’s Living magazine she has a great recipe for a Ground-Meat Mix.  I took the base of the recipe added some Italian spices and parmesan reggiano cheese and made Italian meatballs.  I bought a cute little meat baller scoop years ago (but I added the same meat baller scoop that I have to my Amazon widget below just in case you are looking for one) so I had 62 cute meatballs. 

I put them on a baking tray in a big Ziploc bag so that they would not lose shape and once frozen, I took them off of the baking sheet and into the bag.  When I can’t think of what to have for dinner, I can easily make spaghetti with meatballs or use them as an appetizer .

The next recipe, I have been making for about a year on a regular basis because it is that good.  It is another Martha Stewart recipe.  It is Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes.  This recipe makes enough for two batches.  Now, Martha Stewart states that you can cook one now and save the other for later.  The first one that I make never tastes as good as the one that I freeze.  I think that it is because the flavors have time to “marry” when you freeze them as opposed to when you first make the dish.  I use Martha’s recipe as a base but I always have to go a step further.  For example, I use more chicken breast, and instead of using just salt and pepper, I also use Italian seasonings which really wakes the chicken up.  I also use a provolone/mozzarella mix because while staying in Italy the provolone by itself was very pungent to me.  

 This dish is perfect with a salad and garlic bread.  I have popped this dish when we had friends over and they think that I have been in the kitchen for hours.  Here is the finished product once it goes into the freezer:

 I wish that I could have made more “freezer meals” but my freezer is only so big but this is a good start for those days when I just can’t figure out…what our family will eat.