Endive Salad with Roasted Beets, Pears and a Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

Salad for two

2 Belgium Endives

1 Bosc or Bartlett Pear

1-3 beets depending on size

3 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tsp Raw honey

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 Balsamic Vinegar

1 Red Wine Vinegar

Crumbled blue cheese, gorgonzola or goat cheese

Salt & Pepper

Mixed salad blend of arugula, baby spinach, red butter lettuce

Preheat oven to 375

Wash and cut beets into quarters. Place on foil and drizzle with olive oil and salt to taste

Wash and cut pear into quarters. Wrap in foil while lying flat.

Roast for 30 minutes - Remove and let cool completely

While roasting produce, mix dressing by lightly whisking together olive oil, vinegars, honey, Dijon and salt & pepper. Set aside.

Wash and separate endive leaves. Place on plate with mixed greens in the center. Sprinkle with cheese, place cut up chunks of beets and pears on salad and drizzle with dressing.

I like to roast more beets and pears than necessary as I will eat them for other meals during the week. You can also store and save the dressing for quite some time, it never lasts more than a week in my household, but that's because it's just so yummy!

How to cook like a domestic goddess

I am really making a conscientious effort at becoming a better housewife/stay at home mom. I really think it is important to have my husband come home to a clean house, a fresh cooked meal and at least halfway decent conversation. Although most of our conversations revolve around dilation at this point in my pregnancy.

Thursday’s dinner…

Ribeye – coarse salt, black peppercorn, red peppercorn and minced garlic

Mashed Potatoes – Boil 4 potatoes with 3 cloves of garlic, reserve about ¼ cup starch water, mash and add 2 tbs butter and about 2 tbs non fat milk and gradually add water till you reach desired consistency. Finish with truffle oil if you have any.

Green Beans – steamed for 8 minutes then light tossed with salt & pepper, toasted almonds

Operation Housewife Goals

-         5 home cooked meals per week

-         5 packed lunches

-         Better budgeting

-         Clean (er) home

-         Be a porn star in the bedroom – ok this one will be on hold for a while

A Chic Little Princess - Nursery for a girl

Can you say lovely?
I found this nursery on one of my favorite sites, Project Nursery and fell in love! If my little nugget was a girl I don't think her nursery would be quite as pink, but I would certainly want it to be this lavish.

                                                          For the rest of the nursery click here



36 weeks . gasp.

36 weeks pregnant, +/- 4 weeks till I meet my little man and I can think about is how much I still have to do. I made a list of nesting activities that need to get done and I can't wait till Friday comes so I can start scrubbing the inside of my freezer.

Baby Bump at The Damned on Tuesday night.

My other babies.

Oh and have I mentioned how hungry I am? I could eat a cow, and coming from an anti-meat eater that says a lot.

Currently addicted to : anything pumpkin flavored & wheatberry salad.

How to make it you ask?

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/8 cup raisins
• 1/8 cup currants
• 3 cups Cooked Wheat Berries
• 1 large honey crisp apple, unpeeled, diced
• 1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted and coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Combine orange juice and dried berries in a small bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes so they get nice a plump
2. Combine wheat berries, apple and pecans in a large bowl; stir gently. Drain the cranberries, reserving the juice. Stir the cranberries into the wheat berry mixture.
3. Whisk the reserved orange juice, vinegar and oil in a small bowl until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the salad and stir gently to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to combine. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Oh and this was our purchase of the week. Hatley "Alien Baby" onesie!

Mod Nursery Inspiration

Nifty Clear by Ubabub

We have already bought our Stokke Sleepi crib, but the Nifty Clear happens to be the neatest thing since sliced bread. Look at that crib! I'm swooning over it.

Baby Shower

The winning onesie by Erin Rembert

"My dad knocked my mom up to Naked Raygun"

Nicole, me and Michelle

Cake

Yes, one of our guests brought Depends(adult diapers)

Erin(winner of the onesie contest) with hubby and me

Holly, me and Shannon

Yay!

Jeff(Naked Raygun) and me

One of the onesies

Yes he does LOVE his auntie Mary

32 Weeks Down

12 weeks vs 32 weeks

The Nursery (so far)

I have a vision for this nursery so far and I'm hoping I will be able to achieve it. I want comfy, modern and non-baby decor. I love mixing patterns and so far have found some really neat pieces that go with the Dwell bedding set this project all started with. I love that the bedding has green, blue, white, brown  and grey. The potential for design is limitless so now the fun begins!

Dwell Studio's Robin Motif Bedding

3 - Missoni for Target milk crates

Black and White Zebra area rug

Hooters

Last night I went to another one of the Bump Club and Beyond events. This time it was at Bubbles Academy and we met with a pair of lactation consultants. It was fun to sit with moms who were all in their third trimester and at the event for the same reason.

I got to go home with a goodie bag of lanolin, breast pads, creams and supplements in addition to winning a Hooter Hiders cover and a Gia by Simplisse feeding pillow.

I have already registered for a Boppy, but I like the design of the Gia pillow and hopefully it is awesome as it is touted to be. I will however need to make a few covers for the pillow as I can only imagine how dirty an all white pillow will get with an infant. The pillow is machine washable and water proof though, so maybe my worries are for nothing!

Only 72 hours till the baby shower! Yay!

Stokke'd for Stokke

Today was spent building furniture, painting frames and sorting through boxes of clothing I no longer "need." Baby will be here in 74 days!

Built our Stokke Sleepi Crib

Stokke Tripp Trapp High Chair

Nursery Inspiration

Love the pop of orange

The charcoal walls are beautiful with the white tree and orange owl

Love the furniture

love this ultra luxurious nursery for twins! The play nook is adorable too!

My favorite rug is from West Elm, but there is no way I am shelling out the $500 for it

This nursery has some really charming qualities, it looks so warm and inviting

I plan on using floating shelves over our changing table too.

Not our color palette, but these details are so beautiful

Another West Elm zigzag rug, i have rug envy.

The practicality of the Herman Miller rocker is still up for debate, but I do love the modern look.

Love the zig zag walls

Bump by Months

4, 5, 6 & 7 months... getting bigger and getting closer!

Frugalnista

When I say I’m frugal, I mean it. I shop a lot and spend about an eighth of what my friends do on clothes, home finds and the like. I am constantly seeking a great deal and enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

When it comes to having our little munchkin I only want the best for him, but since I don’t have an unlimited savings account I have to use the same frugality when shopping for him. It’s especially hard to shop for a boy on the cheap, because most of the clothing that is available is not very cute and the cute clothes are quite a pretty penny.

I have been combing ebay, thrift stores and the outlet mall for cute clothes and so far have spent about $100 and have enough clothing to last him a month without washing any of it... not that I would do that though!

I joined the Bump Club Chicago and have gone to two events so far. The first one was a baby guru event at Galt. If you haven’t heard or been to Galt, just be prepared to be amazed! It is a complete luxury haven for baby toys, furniture, accessories and strollers. The night consisted of an informative discussion on baby products, noshing on yummy sandwiches and treats and a 20% discount for the whole store.

There were also opportunities to walk away with some pretty awesome prizes. The goodie bags were also pretty good and I ended up getting some bottles, pacifiers, body products and a swaddleme for little Pickle. I took advantage of the 20% off discount and bought the Uppababy Vista in Lindsay, the bassinet stand and the car seat adapter.  I can’t wait to use this stroller, I absolutely love it! Best of all Galt is delivering and assembling it all whenever I want so I don’t have to have clutter the house yet.

I also went home with the Stokke Table Top which we won't be using for a while, but it seems like a really great learning tool.

Tonight I went to one of their events at Preggers and in addition to the Petunia Picklebottom goodie bag I won the Boon Stash. This was an item I had on my registry in a different color, but I think the orange is fun and am going to use it in the nursery instead of the kitchen. It will add a fun vibrancy to Pickles room.

Petunia Picklebottom folding reusable tote bag

Boon Stash

Norton Shores

About an hour and a half north of our cabin lies the sleepy town of Norton Shores. They have a beautiful state park that has some great boardwalk paths through the Dunes. One of the best parts of this park is there beach allows doggies. Mister Boris had some serious fun frolicking on the beach while I gestated in the dune grass.