Veggie Pasta

It's hard to find time to cook when there is a baby tugging at your pants all evening. Ellie usually gets up from her afternoon nap at 4 or 4:30. I'll be honest we usually don't eat until 7, and I usually don't start cooking until Jared gets home at 5:30 so he can wrangle Ellie. Any who, this is a really fast, cheap, delicious meal for busy week nights.

Ingredients
White cooking wine
1 zucchini
1/2 red bell pepper
10 small mushrooms
1/4 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
2Tbls butter
Oil
3/4. Box pasta (I used Great Value whole wheat)
Salt, pepper, basil to taste

Sauté garlic, onions on med heat. Add veggie, cook until tender. Add butter, let melt and add white wine. Let it come to a boil and and lower heat.

I started cooking the veggies once the pasta water was boiling. This was a perfect amount of time for the pasta to cook and veggies and have them ready at the same time.

Serve immediately topped with some parmesan cheese.

Healthy Pancakes

I made these the other morning, and they were AMAZING! They taste very just like traditional pancakes, the texture is the only thing that is different. Not quite as fluffy but still so good. Ellie loved them too, which was a huge plus. They are an excellent source of protein and no Carbs. I cheated and still put butter and Syrup on mine. ;)

I got the recipe off Pinterest from this blog
http://www.isthisreallymylife.com/2012/10/biggest-loser-pancakes/


Biggest Loser Pancakes
Author: Emily ~ isthisREALLYmylife.com
Recipe type: Breakfast
Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 3 mins Total time: 8 mins
Serves: 3

Super healthy pancake recipe from the hit show Biggest Loser. High in protein and low in carbs, calories and sugar yet still tasty. Crazy, right?
Ingredients
6 egg whites (I used Eggland’s Best Liquid Egg Whites)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp sugar (I like C&H Light Sugar & Stevia Blend)
1 tsp cinnammon
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 cup rolled oats
Instructions
Add ingredients in blender in order listed. Blend on high speed until no lumps remain and batter is smooth. Pour ¼ cup onto hot griddle or skillet. Wait for bubbles to appear and edges to set; flip and cook until done in the center.
WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Winter Walkabout

So we have officially gotten more snow in the last few week than we did all last winter. I have to say we love it! If it's going to be cold there should at least be snow. We have a hard time finding time to get outside as a family, our days are pretty busy, but we wanted to start the New Year out right. We went on a hike with The Hones and had a blast. They have their fancy stroller/sled/trailer that Jades and Ellie rode in, and they were adorable. It was so nice to get out of the house and enjoy the snow.

We saw a Bald Eagle!

It was a good way to start the New Year especially since the Medley clan is participating in "losers for life". Our own biggest loser or get more exercise challenge. This is super helpful for me since one of the things on my 2013 list is to run a half marathon in April. I usually go running outside, but with the below 20 degree temperature I broke down and got a gym pass. I hate the treadmill, but I have to get my miles in somehow.

In other news Jared got a new job! He applied, interviewed, and was offered the job all in one day! Its with a company called Forever Green. They are a health food/supplement company. He will be doing all the design for the company....and in his own office ;)

Ellie is going to start walking any day. She stands without holding onto anything all the time. She has taken A step a few times, and Jared saw her go from sitting to standing this morning! She is growing so fast. She has two teeth, loves finger food and just started clapping. She enjoys pulling all the dvd's off the shelf, books out of the bookcase and ziploc bags out of the draws. Lets just saw she keeps my days busy and exciting. Love her more than words.

Splashing in the tub

Terrorizing Rosie. Rosie is such a good sport 

Standing- Holy cow!

Loves Cheese...

...and her foot

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so nice to be able to stay at home and celebrate as a little family. We definitely had fun shopping for Ellie this year. I can see now how parents tend to get carried away with Christmas gifts, I begin to think she need everything. This year we stuck to the rule of:

One thing you want.

One thing you need.

One thing to wear. 

One thing to read.

It actually made it a little easier to buy things for Jared. Jared really surprised me this year. We finally got a print of the Sacramento Temple for our living room, cast iron skillets (yes plural, he got me two!) TOMS and some dishes and glasses from World Market. He did GOOD! I got him mostly clothes, but thats what he needed :)

It was so fun to spend time together as a family this year. Even though Ellie is too young to really understand what is going on, we were excited to just have her smiling face around. 

I was so grateful to be able to be surrounded by so many wonderful family members and friends this holiday. It made me think that even though there is a lot of bad things that happen in this world there IS JOY, BEAUTY, LOVE, & HAPPINESS. It may be harder to see but it is there, I believe it. 

Loved our card tree!

 Our tree was PERFECT. So glad we decided to put it up high, Ellie would have had a hay day with the ornaments.

This is nothing compared to the amount of snow we actually got. More snow than all of last winter.