Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin in Garlic, Herb, and Red Wine Sauce

Right now I am participating in the most fun and interesting blog campaign I've ever done. The Pork Board and Publix are promoting "the other white meat" as a great way to get lean protein and eat more healthfully this year.

For four weeks, I'll be sharing recipes for a specific cut of pork. This week, it is pork tenderloin.

We've decided to share the pork wealth by inviting some friends over to help us eat the pork each week. I hate having leftovers sitting forever in the fridge, and I love having people over, so it worked out well!

Orange-Ponzu Pork Tenderloin with Stir-Fry

Yesterday I made two tenderloin recipes: this Grilled Orange-Ponzu Pork Tenderloin with Cabbage and Carrot Stir-Fry from the Pork Be Inspired site and a recipe I concocted myself from several sources, Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin in Garlic, Herb, and Red Wine Sauce. To accompany the slow cooker pork, I made Jalapeno Creamed Corn as well.

Both platters were beautiful and went over well. Here were the thoughts from my panel of judges (my husband and three other adults):

• The texture of the grilled meat was better than the texture of the slow-cooked tenderloin. (I used a grill pan, because I don't have an outdoor grill.)
• The Asian recipe could have used some spice. If I made it again, I would definitely add red pepper flakes to the stir-fry. 
• No one seemed to worry about the pink pork. The new standard is to cook pork to 145F so it doesn't get dry. (Thanks to my sponsors for my lovely new digital meat thermometer! I'm so excited to finally have one.)

All in all I was pretty happy with both dishes, although I personally enjoyed the slow-cooker pork more. Here is the recipe ... but make sure you read the blurb that comes after it!

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin in Garlic, Herb, and Red Wine Sauce

3 T dried minced onion
1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 c. water
1 c. red wine
3 T soy sauce
3-4 large cloves garlic, peeled and cracked
2 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed of silvery fat
black pepper

In slow cooker, mix all ingredients except pork and pepper. Place pork in slow cooker and flip to coat well with liquid and spices. Sprinkle pork with black pepper.

Cook on low 3-4 hours or until pork is cooked to 145F. To serve, slice tenderloin and serve with jus from the slow cooker.

[The first six ingredients are just a homemade dry onion soup mix. If you are in a hurry or don't stock many spices, you can substitute one package of soup mix.]

 
So, hey! At the end of this four-week series, I am giving away a great package including coupons for $40 of fresh pork, a meat thermometer, a reusable bag, a pedometer, and a nice reusable water bottle. To enter, comment on any post in the series. You can comment once on each one, and then you'll have four entries! I will choose a winner after the fourth post goes live around February 17.

Just leave a comment answering this question: what tenderloin recipe from the Pork Be Inspired site looks good to you? I think I'd like to try Pork Egg Rolls and Pork Tenderloin Cancun with Chorizo Potatoes.

Thank you to the Pork Board and theMotherhood for sponsoring this series of posts. I received coupons, a gift card, and a stipend for my time and groceries, but all opinions are my own.

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Not Worth the Stress

After 4? 5? days of trying to get my blog to migrate to Typepad, I think I've given up. I really only kept going because I was so grateful for winning the free year of Typepad from Hollywood Housewife - I am really hoping they will refund the credit to Laura and let someone else win. My blog is just too ding-dang big to go to Typepad without major complications.

All of this does have me thinking, and I may be attempting a move to Wordpress in the near future! I have ALWAYS wanted their commenting capabilities so I can interact more with my readers. All of the incredible Wordpress plug-ins would make it well worth a move, I think. And my sweet Mr. V, who was a computer science major and STILL couldn't figure out how to make it work simply, told me I should do whatever will make me cry the least.

Thankfully, due to some Blogger miracle, I was able to restore most of my design. That's what was causing me tons of stress! I hated thinking of people visiting my site and not seeing all of it!

So that's the update on life at Vanderbilt Wife. I am seriously hoping for a CALM and NORMAL week. We've had a little too much sickness and turmoil the past two weeks for me. I'm reading One Bite at a Time by SimpleMom, and it's doing me a world of good. So I think for now I'll turn off the computer, drink a cup of tea, and try to relax and go to bed early. How about you?

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Um, Yeah.

If you visit my blog instead of subscribing, you might notice that right now it looks ... well, weird. Boring.

I am in the process of going to Typepad and I managed to screw up my design in the process. So I may be out of pocket here for a few days. Don't worry, I'll let you know when we're back up and moving! Thanks for hanging in there with me. You might want to subscribe below (even if just temporarily) so you know when we're back in business.

Jessie


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Top Ten Recipes of 2011

It's still January, right? So it's completely valid for me to share my Top Ten Most-Visited Recipes of 2011.  Need something for dinner tonight? Look no further!

1. Five Minute Spinach Salad with Cherry Vinaigrette (OK, the vinaigrette doesn't have vinegar, so let's just call it a "juicy salad dressing." - Super customizable, tasty, easy. A trifecta of yummyness!

2. Chocolate Coconut Oat Bars - A great recipe for cooking with kids, this was my first month in the Secret Recipe Club. And it just might give you a hint of what's coming for my February Secret Recipe Club post ...

3. Mexican Corn Dip / Oreo Truffles - The fact that I don't have any pictures of these hasn't stopped the traffic to these delicious recipes. They're both on the same post, "Party Food." Just a few ingredients and you'll be the talk of the party with my "Magically Delicious Corn Dip."

4. Summer Bow-Tie Pasta - Mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and basil are summer staples. This warm pasta salad is enough for a main dish and bring your normal caprese salad to a new level with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

5. Mom's Enchiladas - Thanks to a lot of traffic from Once a Month Mom, this remains one of my biggest posts ever. Thanks, Tricia!

6. Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies - Totally worth upsetting my husband over changing his mama's pumpkin cookie recipe. These tasty treats are an incredible combination of coffee and pumpkin and reminiscent of the Starbucks fall drink.

7. Scalloped Corn - One of my family's holiday go-to recipes.

8. Chocolate Avocado Cake with Blackberry Cream Cheese Frosting - Divinely moist without the addition of eggs or milk, this chocolate cake is perfect for allergy-sufferers. I'm sorry the frosting isn't vegan ... but it is amazing, too.

9. Broccoli and Cheese Soup - This Cooking Light favorite is one of my oldest recipes and still just as good. 

10. Tilapia with Honey-Tangerine Sauce - Beautiful and tasty. Pretty enough for a dinner party and fast enough for a worknight meal.

Risking a little bit of egotism ... do you have a favorite recipe from my site? (OK, or any blog?)

Added to Top Ten Tuesday at OhAmanda.
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Let It Rise

I love bread-baking. I think it’s the simple act of creation: watching a messy pile of flour, liquid, salt, and yeast meld together and then rise, a little miracle in and of itself.

source: torontorob

My first memory of bread-baking is from the mid-90s, when my mother bought into the bread machine craze. She would make a Hawaiian bread, flecked with pineapple and singing with almond extract, that smelled so amazing when it rose we didn’t care that half the time it hit the lid of the machine and fell.

One of my greatest pleasures in being a stay-at-home mom is having the lengths of time it takes to make foods like bread or homemade broths. I may have attempted a loaf here and there when I worked, but not with any regularity. Not enough time to be close to it, carefully evaluating: has it risen enough? do I have time to let it rise AND bake?

Yeast can be a tricky substance, though. If your liquid is too hot, it kills the power of the yeast. If it's not warm, the yeast might not react.

One of Jesus' shortest parables is about yeast. Matthew 6:33 says, "He told them still another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.' "

That's it. The whole parable.

I think it was just assumed that the people He spoke to knew how yeast worked. Bread was probably part of their daily diet; bread-making as familiar as it was in the early 20th century in America.

In a big bowl of flour, yeast is just some tiny granules, a miniscule percentage of the whole. And yet without it, we get flat bread. Make the yeast angry and you've got a clump of useless dough. It might look OK. Sure, the dough didn't get quite as puffy as it should. But maybe it will bake right anyway!

Nope.

The image of the kingdom of God being stirred into a giant vat of flour is beautiful to me. We are in a giant world with billions of people. What can we possibly do to change the world for Christ?

But just like yeast, we ... no, not we. The Word of God, the Spirit IN us is so powerful that it can affect everything around us. If we empty ourselves out and let Jesus live through us, we can show others how to rise.

That's why I feel like it's a miracle each time I make bread.

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Saturday Linky Love

So, want to know what's happening in our neck of the woods? My cutie-pie daughter has pneumonia. Yeah.

We've been cooped up inside since Monday, although thanks to my husband's wonderful teaching job, he's been able to come home early so I can go to my chiropractor and the grocery or wherever.

But it's definitely been one heck of a week. We finally found out about the pneumonia yesterday after a chest x-ray. Libbie had been running a miserably high fever most of the week and coughing insanely. Now she's on antibiotics and an inhaler and I hope we'll be able to nip this in the bud quickly. Thankfully David, Mom, and Dad are fine so far. Plus my mom came from PA to help--hallelujah!

So, when I wasn't administering medicine, cuddling, or chasing after a toddler this week, here's what I read!

• Busy Foxes at For Better and Worse
• The accidental, honey-fied catching of a fly at Pensieve - A short lesson in parenting well. Always appreciated!
• Cardamom Yeast Bread at Salad in a Jar - I made this one day this week and it's amazing. I don't think much has a depth of flavor like cardamom. 
• Esther and Vashti: The Real Story at Rachel Held Evans
• Jesus Saves at Huntington Beach Pier at Elizabeth Esther

And if, like me, you just need a good laugh this week, this always does it for me (sorry about the curse word):

Source: jenniferslinks.blogspot.com via Angie on Pinterest

Added to Saturday Stumbles at Simply Staci. 
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Read in 2012

1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - This is the third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy. I have not talked to one person who wasn't disappointed by it - but that's not to say they didn't race through all three books to see what happened. The trilogy is utterly readable, and yet I think it's one where maybe the author only intended to write one book. Or she was rushed to write the second and third volumes. They are just not up to par with what she could have written. I would say only read the first book, but I think we all know that's laughable. So just consider this your fair warning.

2. The Hipsters by Tim McAtee - I should probably write a long review of this. First of all, because my cousin wrote the book. He's trying to get funded to publish print copies, but through that link you can buy it for $3 on your Kindle (which is what I did). Secondly, because my opinion of the book is so conflicted and ultimately based on the fact that I am a middle-class, suburban, stay-at-home mom in Tennessee.

3. Life from Scratch by Melissa Ford (Stirrup Queens) - I had seen a blurb about this book somewhere and pinned it on my "want to read it" board. My note on the pinboard, however, was that the book was about someone learning to cook. Which is not at all what it's about. The book is about a blogger who HAS learned to cook post-divorce and writes about it on her blog, Life from Scratch. The book follows her new success as a blogger and writer, as well as a new relationship, and the ups and downs of learning to be a divorcee in NYC. I was disappointed that the book skimmed over the part of the character's life I thought I might find interesting, and yet, it was utterly readable. And definitely worth the $1 I paid for it for my Kindle (sorry, it's 9 bucks now!).

Want to see more?

 31 28 Days of Reading Well
Read in 2011
Read in 2010
Read in 2009
Favorite Books of 2007

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Balsamic and Herb Marinated Cheese

This recipe is not going to win any awards for being photogenic. I probably should have taken pictures of the individual ingredients. It was sort of festive for the Christmas dinner, with the green onions and parsley and red pimientos. But really, this is a recipe you make for its taste.

I am not sure where the recipe originated. I am guessing it probably came from the pages of a home magazine, or perhaps the newspaper column, years ago. I first tasted it at a baby shower and couldn't get enough. I begged my friend Jennifer for the recipe and have been making it ever since.

The cream cheese is delicious spread on Wheat Thins or a similar salty cracker. You can eat the cheddar by itself or on a milder cracker. It's a definite one-up on plain old cheese and crackers. Serve this at your next get-together; I promise you won't come home with much, if any. Which might leave you a little disappointed.

Balsamic and Herb Marinated Cheese

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 T chopped fresh parsley
3 T minced green onions
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
one 2 oz. jar chopped pimientos
8-ounce block sharp cheddar cheese
8-ounce box cream cheese (place in freezer for a few minutes to make easier to cut)
Wheat thins or cracker of choice

Cut your cheeses into 1-inch cubes and place in a serving or casserole dish.

Whisk together all other ingredients; taste for seasoning. Pour over cheeses and refrigerate at least 2-3 hours or overnight. You can pour out some of the liquid before serving once marinated.

Have you ever had marinated cheese? What's your favorite party appetizer?

Added to Tasty Tuesday and Things I Love Thursday.

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Saturday Linky Love

Woo-wee! I haven't done one of these posts since 12/16. I'll try not to overwhelm you, but be prepared! But first, cutest picture of the week:

She would wear this dress every day. It twirls!

And now, on with the links.

• Don't Carpe Diem at Momastery - You've probably seen this floating around Facebook, but if you haven't and you are a mom of young kids, you MUST read it! Love the analogy and appreciate the message.
• What I Want Pre-Teen Girls to Know about Sizes at Parenting Miracles - Love it. Great words.
• How to Peel a Whole Head of Garlic in Less Than Ten Seconds - Brilliant!
• How to Make a Delicious 400 Calorie Salad at Can You Stay for Dinner? - I ADORE this site for healthful, tasty, real food recipes. Her outline on making salads is great!
• PJs and Pancakes Party from Tatertots and Jello
• Cookie Dough Eggrolls from Pennies on a Platter - Oh, yes. Come to Mama!

You can always see a zillion other posts I love by following me on Pinterest or StumbleUpon!

Added to Saturday Stumbles at Simply Staci.

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Blogging Recap: 2011

source: Mike Licht

2011 was like making a fresh blogging start for me. In July, I celebrated five years of blogging with little fanfare. Is it a great accomplishment? I'm glad to have stuck by something for such a long time, but it's certainly not earth-shattering. Just me, in my little corner or desk chair, click-clacking away about my life, my kids. Just words.

Somewhere in the collection of months that made up the year, however, I made a decision to stop caring about numbers. I rarely look at my traffic, stats, subscribers. I like to see what posts do well, but I try not to focus on that.

While I pursued some private advertising in the Spring, I decided to let it go. I was worrying a lot about making $15 here and there, feeling that somehow I needed money to defend my space of the universe here on this domain.

Yes, I still use affiliate links and have up Google ads. As a blogger, I think it would be stupid NOT to use these readily available moneymakers. But I've stopped worrying when it comes to blogging. I don't worry about making money; I make enough freelancing. I don't worry about stats. I don't worry about writing with SEO or what will bring new readers or what I can link up to certain carnivals.

source: Mike Licht

I write what I want. I write what's burning on my heart, for the most part. And personally, it's created some of my favorite posts ever this year: heart-revealing thoughts. My comments are down. My traffic is down. But I am happy.

I hope by baring my soul a little, I will show other women that we don't have to pretend to have it all together. We're all struggling in one way or another, whether we want to talk about it or not. And if we are going to grow at Christians, as women, as friends ... we need to let others see the dirty, deep-down places we want to ignore.

I hope you'll travel with me into 2012 if you enjoy my writing and feel encouraged. I'd love to know about you, my reader, if you might take the time to leave me a little comment with your name and blog link, if you have one.

All of that said, here are some of my favorite posts from 2011.
A Good Measure
Appearance of Love
Be Wise, Be Innocent
The Pieces That Make Me
For Libby
Rainy September
Cloudy October
Love Loss Hope Repeat.

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Turn Over a New Leaf and CLEAN!

source: robstephaustralia

So, it's another new year. For me, it brings the realization that I have been a stay-at-home mom for TWO years now! (Um, seriously? Cause I remember writing a post about my first 6 months as a SAHM that I'm pretty sure I never finished. Wasn't that last week?)

I hate to admit it, but with the upheaval that has been our life in the last two years, I still don't have any kind of regular schedule or methods in place. Need a refresher? This has been my life since January 2010:

• Quit my job
• Moved to Chattanooga
• Went from being a full-time working mom to a full-time SAHM and part-time freelancer
• Got pregnant three months later
• Had a baby
• Foreclosed on a house
• Moved to a small apartment on-campus at the school where my husband teaches
• Don't have any family nearby

A little nuts, no?

I am trying to work up the nerve to declare 2012 THE YEAR OF ORGANIZATION.

I am a slob. I would SO much rather sit here click-clacking on my computer than do anything else, and that does present a problem. So if it means I have to set timers and schedule my days in 15-minute increments, I want to change.

If you're like me, you might be interested in my friend Christine's e-book Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule. Honestly, the Motivated Moms schedule worked pretty well for me during the very short period I actually adhered to it while we were in our rental house. But living in a different, smaller space, with no outdoor tasks and some unique circumstances, I really need the customized option Christine offers.

(Christine was my friend before blogging, by the way. We worked on the same floor at LifeWay. And she is the most genuinely nice person I've ever met. Also so happy sometimes I just want to pinch her ... but that's OK.)

Here's how Christine describes the book on her site:

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all schedule.

As I began putting together my own cleaning schedule I looked high and low for cleaning templates and guides. You know what I realized? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all schedule. We all have different homes, needs, and expectations when it comes to cleaning.

I’ve put together an easy step-by-step plan for you to create your own cleaning schedule that fits your lifestyle, your preferences, and your family. It will help you Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule.

The e-book is really an excellent resource, and right now you can get it for 50% off with the code CLEANNEWYEAR2012, making it a ridiculously affordable $2.98. That code is good until the 7th.

So, anyone ready to make this year THE YEAR OF CLEAN? Or at least, THE YEAR I TRY NOT TO LIVE IN A PIGSTY?

Yes, these are affiliate links. It takes me a lot of time to write this blog and if you'd like to help fund that time in the slightest, I appreciate it. If you'd rather go directly to perfectcleaningschedule.com to buy the book, that's OK with me too!

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Favorites of 2011

You know when you have really bad writer's block? After you've been to three states in nine days and thought about nothing but family and Christmas for weeks.

Since imitation truly is the highest form of flattery, I decided to copy Simple Mom and share my favorite books, movies, TV shows, and music of 2011. (As she said, ones that were new to me, not necessarily new to 2011.)

Sometimes it takes the act of writing to spark further writing, which is why "they" say all the best writers write every day. A practice I've fallen out of. I write a lot in my head. Does that count?

So without further ado ...

BOOKS (of course)

I read so, so, SO many amazing books in 2011. I don't know what sparked that, if it was just a streak of luck or coming into contact with great recommendations, but I am certainly glad for it.


You can read my treatise on why I think everyone should read Heaven Is for Real. I zipped through the small book a few short hours and found it very affecting. Read it.

I don't think there's much you haven't heard about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or The Help. Both are wonderful, fast-paced reads that have spurred movies. (The former, movies in both Swedish and English!) There is a reason both are so popular: plots full of detail and excitement, rendering the reader completely unable to put them down. Read when you have the hours to devote to them!

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood was an unexpected favorite from this year. The author created another world ... just after the one in which we currently live. (After reading The Hunger Games, fear of the government is starting to get to me!) Atwood is a word artist and I left this book wanting to read everything she's written.

You can see everything I read in 2011 on this page. A few other favorites: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks; The Paris Wife by Paula McClain; Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis.

TV

I loved watching Top Chef: All-Stars. I suppose it's part of the little voice in my head that tells me I could be a chef if I REALLY wanted to (I don't.) that convinces me to watch the crazy cooking shows. I'd seen most of the prior seasons of Top Chef, though, and enjoyed watching the old favorites. (As I am sure I will love Project Runway All-Stars. Woohoo!) 

I am pretty sure Modern Family is the best show on television. (At least if you vastly prefer sitcoms, as I do. I'm just not a drama girl.) It never fails to crack me up; and mid-week, a girl just needs a good laugh.

Mr. V and I still watch How I Met Your Mother, and we will 'til the end. I won't say it's the best show out there ... it's had its ups and downs and maybe peaked at season 2. But in all its ridiculousness, it just makes me smile a lot of the time.

Honorable mentions to Once Upon a Time and Firefly, which Mr. V and I saw for the first time and proceeded to mourn the loss of all the seasons it should have had.

MOVIES

I confess I am not into movies like I used to be. Mr. V and I went with the crowd and changed to just Netflix instant streaming with the price increase, and we mostly use it to watch old TV shows anyway.

The only movies I saw in the theater this year were Something Borrowed (and you know that was a great cinema masterpiece) and two-thirds of Monsters vs. Aliens ($1 summer movie with the kids, who started crying, so we left).

So, as I can remember, the best movies I watched this year (for the first time) were The Social Network, Edward Scissorhands, and Despicable Me.




MUSIC

Thanks to the wonder that is Spotify, we've listened to a lot of new music this year. (I am not someone who thinks your music, make-up, exercise, etc, need to be "social," but we definitely enjoy being able to listen to anything under the sun!)

Here are some new favorites.


Station Wagon: Songs for Parents by Sara Groves - If you are a parent, you MUST give this at least one listen. All of the songs ring true and some crack me up. (The line "Do you have any idea how much it hurts to give birth?" is sung in the background of one song. Love it.)

Kari Jobe by ... well, Kari Jobe - A great album of praises to God. Love her voice.

The Band Perry - Another great breakout album. Fills my country fix. (Since when do I need a country fix?? I HATED country music growing up. I've been in Tennessee too long!)

Kuhzoo by Bellaruse - The lead singer of this group happens to be my uber-talented cousin, Kay Gillette ... but if I didn't like the music, I still wouldn't listen to it. And I do. It's crazy, jazz/folk/something type stuff. Just trying listening to The Kazoo Song and see if you aren't addicted!

If you've made it through this lengthy ordeal, you must tell me: what were your favorites of 2011?


Let's pretend this is a top ten plus, oh, eight list and link it to Top Ten Tuesday. I think Amanda loves me too much to call me out on it. ;)

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Dear 2011

source: juliejordanscott

Dear 2011,

You have been a strange year.

You've been the year of learning to parent two. Despite the fact that sweet David was born in 2010, he only shared 11 days with that equally awkward collection of days. I've learned about parenting a boy, about the mother-son connection, about passionate nurslings and mama's boys. All those things I heard about having a son? They've proven themselves true.

I've also learned how to survive with only a fistful of whole night's sleeps in an entire year.

2011, you have not been a year of travel. In the past I've gone to Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, Montana. The furthest I flew from Tennessee was Boston. My first venture into New England, and a very fun one.

You contained a lot of heartbreak over our little condo, my first "owned" nest, the home I brought my daughter to and that I still can't ponder without a slipping-down feeling. God has worked in my life and mind and heart a great deal through this experience, but I can tell you one thing, 2011: this experience gave me a pounding about our idea of ownership. And a lot of lesson about pride in our credit score.

You brought a new home, a new life, a new society. Thank you for that. But you also brought some severe bouts of depression and the worst self-doubt I've ever faced. I'm not sure I can handle ten more months of age 3, by the way. Could we move Libbie's birthday to May, perhaps?

Unfortunately I've spent this last day of your melancholy year battling a 3-year-old whilst trying to remember that it's no good to battle. Nights of lost sleep, post-vacation recovery, and a house that is still sparkling with Christmas lights and mess while my mind is ready to move on has made a mess of me.  It's 7:30 p.m. and I'm considering going all Bridget Jones' Diary and eating all the chocolate and singing something pathetic ... or just going to sleep. Probably the better option.

Good night, 2011. I tuck my hopes and dreams into your final moon, imagining it as the shield of God and knowing only He can fight these battles for me. The battles against myself, my will, my dark places.

As I watch the sun rise over the Tennessee River and Lookout Mountain tomorrow morning, I will breathe deeply and pray thankfully.


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We Wish You the Merriest!

From our family to yours, we wish you the merriest of Christmases as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, and a wonderful 2012.

Writings of Christmas Past:

Ten Favorite Christmas Albums
The Christmas Enchantment
Mommy's First Chistmas Miniseries
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas on TV

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One Year

Dear David,

On Tuesday, you turned 1! Crazy! I am pretty sure it was about 10 minutes ago that it was last Christmas, and you were being passed from arm to arm until you wanted to nurse. And then arm to arm to sleep.

I don't even know how to describe your personality. You are giggly and happy a lot of the time. Except when you're not. You have always been very sure of what you want and never failed to make it known. When you are mad, you're mad. You will pound things and throw things and wail like your little heart is breaking. This is possibly why you didn't sleep in a bed until you were at least 3 weeks old.

Right now, you sleep most nights from at least 7:30 to 4. It's not my favorite time to wake up, but it's better than 1 a.m. Some nights you make it until 6 or 7, and then I am ecstatic. You usually take at least one long nap and one shorter nap. You are a very light sleeper, which is a little unfortunate, especially since you share a room with your sister. 

You have had a very healthy year, with just one ear infection and some sniffles here and there. You are maybe on the smaller side, but not from lack of eating. You still love to nurse and do so pretty often, as well as eating a lot of table food. Your favorite is fruit, and you would eat mandarin oranges, pineapple, and grapes until you exploded. I've never nursed a baby past a year, so I guess we're both playing this by ear; but given your enthusiasm for it still, I can't imagine just cutting you off now.

You have 7 teeth, giant blue eyes, blonde hair, and sometimes I think I see a little dimple on one side of your cheek. You started crawling at 5 months and walking at 11, and at 12 months you're toddling along with some surety.

You love balls, dogs, cars, your sister, nursing, and shoving everything you find into your mouth. You dislike it when Mama walks anywhere near you without picking you up, being shoved over and choked by your sister, the vacuum cleaner, and running out of food you like.

My sweetie boy, my Doodle Bug, I didn't think I would ever have a son. But I do, and I love it, and you're awesome. I wouldn't trade all the sleep in the world for one of your precious giggles and grins. You are all boy, and that scares me a little, but I look forward to continuing to see your personality develop.

Love you so so much!

Mommy

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Saturday Linky Love

• Mini Eggnog Doughnut Muffins at Two Peas & Their Pod
• DIY Rhinestone Barrettes at Flax & Twine - Would make a very cute gift for my little girl ... if I were slightly more ambitious.
• Planning for a Christmas Road Trip at In a Nutshell - Something I will need to refer to this week!
• Red Velvet Peppermint Crinkle Cookies at Cookin' Cowgirl
• I made homemade liquid hand soap AND laundry detergent this week. I can't decide if I'm Susie Homemaker or just plain nuts.

Added to Saturday Stumbles at Simply Staci. 

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BLT Bites: They'll Beg You for the Recipe

You just can't go wrong with bacon, cheese, and mayonnaise, right? But when these ingredients come together with some fresh ones, it makes magic.

I have made these tasty appetizers a few times ... even though I don't eat them. I guarantee they're good, though, because every time I make them there is a buzz of "WHO brought these?" around the room. I am pretty sure I had no fewer than eight women ask me for the recipe at a small Christmas party last week.

So make this your signature appetizer! I won't tell anyone that they're really not that hard to make. And you'll be famous among your family and friends.

BLT Bites

Adapted slightly from Taste of Home

2 packages Campari tomatoes (or substitute cherry or grape, but Camparis are SUPER sweet)
1 lb bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled ... or 4.5 ounces real bacon bits
2/3 cup mayonnaise
3 green onions, white and light green parts, chopped finely
3 T grated Parmesan cheese
2 T fresh chopped parsley or 2 tsp dried parsley flakes

The hardest part of this recipe is prepping the tomatoes. Take the tiniest slice off the bottom of the tomatoes if you want them to sit flat on a plate. You don't want to cut hardly anything off, just make it a little flat. If you are going to rest them on lettuce leaves or kale (my favorite presentation, although it's a little retro), this isn't as important.

Take a small slice off the stem end of the tomatoes and then scoop out pulp and seeds with a teaspoon. Set upside-down on paper towels to drain.

Cook your bacon. But really, I won't blame you if you use one of these instead. I did. Otherwise I eat too much bacon before it makes it in the bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together cooled, crumbled bacon (or bits), mayonnaise, green onion, cheese, and parsley.

Flip tomatoes back right-side-up and sprinkle very lightly with salt. Spoon filling into tomatoes. Refrigerate for several hours before serving to let flavors meld.

I failed to get a picture of the finished product, so here is the Taste of Home photo. The Campari tomatoes are much bigger than the cherries, so you'll want to do less "mounding" of the filling until you're sure you have enough to go around.

Source: tasteofhome.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Added to Fusion Fridays, Mouthwatering Monday, and Spotlight: Bacon at Eat at Home Cooks. 

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Love Loss Hope Repeat.

source: Craighton Miller

I’ve never lost a son, but I know two women who have. Both dear, both young, both undeserving of that kind of pain.

In One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp writes that perhaps those tears in the canvas of our life ― the places where we are raw and hurt and wonder Why God? ― are the places where we can see Him most clearly. If we choose. I think those are also the places we can try to patch up with tar and feathers, using scathing words against the One who allowed those rips in the first place.

I think of another mother, a very young one, who wondered why she was going to have a son. I have been there, although unlike Mary, I was not a teenager nor unmarried. But I’ve flipped those flashcards around in my head, too: Why me? What am I going to do with a son? Am I ready for this? Will I ruin him? Scar him for life?

Those perhaps not rips but puckers, places where we’ve doubted the goodness, the grace, the all-knowingness of a Heavenly Father.

We have a second son, a Compassion child, who lives in the scattered islands of the Philippines. Does his mother wonder, too? Why so many? Why so little to work on? Is she embarrassed to have to reach out to help support her children?

All different tears in varying stages. I’m sure at one time or another, we’ve all asked the same questions in different wording, different languages.

Do we see God in the pain? I imagine my heart with tiny pin-pricks straight through, some larger than others … and a flashlight shining from behind, revealing stars. There’s something about stars, isn’t there? Hope. Vastness. Waves of feeling the universe.

I want to swim in the pools of light instead of hiding in the shadows. Finding myself closer to the Comforter, the Giver, whether I feel He is those things at that moment or not. 

Because He is in there, somewhere.

At Christmas, I miss those two unknown men who were lost, my uncle and brother-in-law. I reflect on the hurt of their mothers. And I pray extra-hard that God will seep through the holes and continue to heal, twenty or forty years later, with the promise of glory-to-come.

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He Sets the Lonely in Families

I'd love if you'd hop over to ParentLife Online today and check out my latest original post there. It's about remembering the lonely during the holidays ... and my experiences with that.


My family moved to Richmond, Virginia, when I was 8 years old - quite far away from where my parents grew up and where all of our extended family lived. Dayton, Ohio, was a LONG trek now, and with two little kids my parents decided we'd go for Thanksgiving OR Christmas.

One of those first Christmases we were in Virginia alone, I remember a strange guest around our Christmas tree: my dad's work friend, who had recently had a broken engagement and was suffering heartbreak. … read more.
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Saturday Linky Love

Another week, another fun set of links! Are you getting into the Christmas spirit? I have a whole pantry full of ingredients to make Christmas goodies, a whole lot of presents to wrap, and I haven't watched White Christmas or It's a Wonderful Life yet, which is obviously a problem. Lots to do in the coming week and a half, before we leave town!

Links to read:

• Vanilla and Brown Sugar Coffee Cake from ChefDruck Musings - Vanessa is French, so I trust her when it comes to pastry. This looks delicious.
• An Open Letter to Suze Orman from Smockity Frocks - Yeah, I'm kind of over open letters, but this one is worth reading.
• Paper Plate Pop-Up Snowman from Craft Linky - looks simple and fun to make.
• 8 Tips for Decorating the Christmas Tree with Little Ones from 4tunate gave me the courage to put up my tree this week. No casualties yet, although a popsicle-stick ornament from 1988 does appear to have been taken apart and chewed on. Oops.
• Printable "Names of Jesus" Ornaments from Bible Story Printables - Libbie was happy to decorate these last Saturday morning while I slurped my coffee down. Anything to buy me ten minutes ... right? Plus they coincided perfectly with day 1 of Truth in the Tinsel.

So tell me the truth: White Christmas or Holiday Inn? (Or perhaps you have zero idea what I'm talking about, in which case ... we might not be able to be friends.)


Added to Saturday Stumbles at Simply Staci.

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The Easiest Christmas Decoration Ever

You know me, right? (And if you don't, hey, subscribe! I'm strange but endearing.) I am disorganized. A mess. And I don't really craft. Any craft I do with Libbie is either from Pinterest or laid out explicitly for me a la Truth in the Tinsel.

But I volunteered to host a table at our annual ladies' Christmas dinner at church. And that requires decorating a table. It may seem out-of-character, but I do like to do tablescapes. Back in the day, before kids, I loved making little centerpieces for our formal dining-room table.

On Tuesday I put together my table decorations and realized my crystal candlesticks were still packed away with my china somewhere. I wasn't about to dig through six or eight boxes in hopes of finding them. So I decided to put together a makeshift taper-holder from what I had.

Here's what you need:

• small Mason jar (8 oz.) or other small jar (I save glass jars and put EVERYTHING in them!)
• ribbon or cord of some kind
• rice or epsom salts
• glitter
• taper candle

Pour rice or epsom salts into jar so it is about two-thirds full. Sprinkle in some glitter and mix it around until even throughout. (I just used the candle to mix. Because I'm that kind of girl.)

Break off the bottom fourth of the candle and then push it into the rice/salt.

Tie a seasonal ribbon or cord around the top of the jar.

Tada! It's three minutes later, you're done, and you have done your crafty thing for the year.

I loved how my table turned out, and these little Mason-jarred candles were the perfect final touch.

Added to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family and Show Me How at It's a Blog Party.



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Christmas Baking

See, I have this problem.

I have this little sister Lola.

Oh wait, maybe I've read this book a few too many times in the past week. Ahem. Let me start over.

I have this problem. I REALLY love to bake. You might not think that's a problem, but it is. Because I am afraid it might turn me into a 600-pound woman who can't get through her front door.

Thankfully, I have a whole dorm of high-school boys that I send baked goods down to at least once a week. It's an excellent way to try out recipes.

With all the Christmas decorations coming out, I am just itching to bake. I'm taking suggestions in the comment sections on what I should make (and home addresses, for shipping?!). Here are ten ideas from my readers or recipes that I love!

Hello Dolly bars

Source: homesicktexan.blogspot.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Chocolate Chip Almond Cookie Bars

Source: stolenmomentscooking.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Oreo Truffles

Source: onceamonthmom.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Pumpkin Cookies

Source: vanderbiltwife.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Peanut-Butter Ball Cupcakes with PB Cream Cheese Frosting

Source: vanderbiltwife.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Buckeyes (these are slightly nontraditional, but don't they look ah-mah-zing?)

Source: passthesushi.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Andes Mint Cookies

Source: newlyweds-blog.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Christmas Bark (AKA Saltine Candy or Christmas Crack ... Cannot. Stop. Eating.)

Source: amysfinerthings.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Eggnog Cookies

Source: crumbsandchaos.blogspot.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies

Source: pauladeen.com via Vanderbilt Wife on Pinterest

Do you have a holiday baking list? Or do you break-and-bake or not at all?

Added to Top Ten Tuesday at OhAmanda.

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