Crock-pot Chow-dah

As you know, I have a new obsession with my crockpot. I don't know what took me so long to get in the slow-cooker game, but I'm making up for lost time, trying to put it to use at least once a week. Fortunately, I not only received a new crockpot as a birthday gift, but I also got an issue of "skinny slow cooker" magazine. I've made two things so far...The first was a chicken dish that was just okay, so I'll spare you that one (at least it was easy! Can't complain too much about failed crockpot recipes when they require so little effort). But my second attempt was awesome, so I have to share.

I come from the "if I'm going to make it in the crockpot, it better require close to zero effort, otherwise I might as well actually cook, and we all know that's not likely" school of crockpot cooking, so I have to admit, the fact that this recipe required not only chopping ingredients, but browning the chicken-in a separate pan-shows I was committed to this one. Yes, I love a "throw raw meat and three cans of condensed soup in a pot, irrationally expect it to taste much better than the sum of its parts, but always end up slightly disappointed" type recipe, but I thought the extra effort (and actual fresh ingredients) might pay off. Fortunately, it did.

Chicken Edamame Chowder

(recipe adapted from the original, here.)

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used about 4 frozen breasts, thawing them in the microwave first).
  
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• (1) 10 ounce package frozen soybeans (edamame)
• 1 large green sweet pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 can green chiles (I subbed this for jalapenos)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin (it also calls for 2 tsps coriander...but I didn't have that, and I refuse to spend a ton of money on spices I'll probably never use again
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• (2) 16 ounce cartons chicken broth (It calls for cans, but I used what I had)
• (1) 8 ounce carton dairy sour cream
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (I think mine were on the large side, so I ended up only using one and a half)
  
• Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• Fresh cilantro-optional (I didn't have this either, so I just sprinkled some dried cilantro on top)
  

Directions

1. Cook chicken in hot oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet until lightly brown.

2. Chop pepper and onion. If you have a ninja, this step is super easy. If you don't...Sorry, sucka.
3. Combine the chicken, soybeans, sweet pepper, onion, chiles, cumin, salt, and black pepper in slow cooker. Pour chicken broth over all. Stir to combine.


4. Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 7 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3-1/2 to 4 hours.


5. Chop the zucchini- lengthwise, and then in thin slices. (You'll be tempted to use the mandolin because it's faster, but don't. You'll just end up slicing your finger. Even if you're being super careful, and going slow. You'll definitely slice your finger. And you'll end up with blood everywhere, a half completed recipe, and a crying baby who woke up from her nap early and doesn't want to wait while you struggle to get a band-aid to stick to the tip of your finger. Trust me.)
6. If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting. Add sour cream, flour, zucchini into chicken mixture. Stir to combine. Cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes more or until mixture is thickened and zucchini is crisp-tender.

7. Ladle into bowls; top with cheese and cilantro, if desired. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
(I served mine with Jiffy Mix cornbread muffins, which turned out to be the perfect compliment.)

I don't want to brag...(and really shouldn't, because it required barely any talent...though I did give up some blood for the cause) but this stuff was guh-uh-ood. Dustin loved it, I got to make a big scene about what a good (temporary) stay-at-home mom I am, and since he doesn't know it was so simple, it was easy to guilt him into doing the dishes. That, my friends, is a good recipe.

Piper's "1st Birthday"

Almost two years ago, our friends the VanHoudnos introduced us to the idea of the "9 months + 3 months" First Birthday celebration. When their son turned three months old, they commemorated the first official year of his existence (even though he spent 9 months of that time cloaked in mystery...it still counts!) by going out with some friends to celebrate. We had a great time eating Asian food, and sampling bubble tea (I guess the "1 year" birthday is a Chinese concept) and toasting this new little life that was starting to take shape.

I (of course) loved the idea of marking an unexpected milestone, so we decided to embrace the tradition. We thought there would be no better way to commemorate a year of Baby Bowden than by breaking bread (or more accurately: eating pancakes) with some of the people that have been instrumental in Piper's life so far.


So after church this Sunday, a small group of us gathered at Pamela's Diner in Oakland for some syrupy sweet, good times.



The Bday girl was in good spirits, content to sit and pose for pics while the rest of us debated how many pancakes would be appropriate to eat in public.



She even got to play with her friends Mike and Lindsey...

...which went well until Mike called attention to his mustache...


Apparently she's not into facial hair (take a note, Dustin!) Look at her lip! But the crying was mercifully short lived- nothing a little cuddle from Daddy couldn't cure.



There were a couple other little ones in attendance too...and they seemed to approve of the party as well (they got to eat, and carry on like hooligans...what's not to like about that?)



And when they weren't eating, they too took the opportunity to ham it up for the camera:



Before long the little guest of honor was plum tuckered out and spent the rest of the afternoon sacked out in her carseat (it's her party and she'll sleep if she wants to).


But that little lull in the action gave us a chance to give a little toast to tell everyone how thankful we were to have them join us not just for breakfast...but for life.

As parents, we are limited in what we can pass on to Piper. She's been dealt her genetic lot, and beyond that, we have a finite set of skills and knowledge base to share with her. We pray for God to grow us in His wisdom, and for His grace to cover our areas of weakness. Thankfully He's provided us with a group of friends and family to bridge the inevitable gaps in our abilities, and faults in our character, and help us to guide Piper along the path of His divine plan.

If it takes a village to raise a child, then you all have been our cul-de-sac. We are so grateful we are for who God has made you and how you are already helping us shape our daughter into who He would have her become.

Perhaps the greatest skill God has provided me with is the ability to seek out friends better than myself to help us as we muddle our way through the journey of parenthood.


You are each a profound example of the body of Christ, and the church in action. Thank you for all the support, love, guidance and fun through Piper's "first year." She is- and we are- truly blessed.



And for those of you who weren't able to join us for lunch, please know that we are beyond grateful for the extended community of friends and family that have been with us on this journey so far. Thank you for loving our little girl (almost) as much as we do.

Calendar Girl

Despite yesterday's post, today is actually Piper's real three month birthday (at 8:29pm exactly!). I have a ton of sappy, sentimental thoughts about reaching this milestone, which I hope to share soon...But for now, I thought I'd let you all in on a little project I've been tinkering around with- Monthly Photos! (this idea shocks no one, I'm sure. A chance to build another "photobooth" type set, take more pictures, and show off my precious little Piper? Win, win, win.)

I knew I wanted to document Piper's growth over time, and thought once-a-month photos would be doable, without stressing me out too much. (I took weekly photos of my belly throughout my pregnancy, and though I love having those pics, it was often a pain to make time to shoot that often). I had seen a few ideas online, so I cobbled together what I liked from those and then tried to make it my own. My goals:

• Shoot full length, to show how her little body is beefing up.
• Maintain a consistant backdrop to show scale and keep the focus on 'lil P.
• Include text, to label the month and record little memory "snippets".
• Incorporate a chalkboard- a feature element in her nursery, and a bit of a theme from my pregnancy.

Thankfully Piper is (usually) a cooperative model, and she was patient with me as I fooled around. I tend to be pretty picky about this stuff, so I'm not 100% thrilled with the lighting (hard to keep that consistent from month to month) and I might play around with the text/fonts before printing them all (that part is all added in a photoshop layer). But those are things that can all be fixed (or forgiven), so overall I'm happy with what we've come up with. I don't exactly look forward to Piper growing up (my baaaaaaaby!), but I am excited to document how she changes over time.

So here's our ode-in-progress to sweet Piper Jane, month by month.

(click on each photo to enlarge)

Dang, I love this kid.

Face time

Guess who's three months old!
If you haven't already checked out her 1 month and 2 month mug shots, take a look. It will blow your mind how much she's changed already. Her hair keeps getting lighter, and she seems to be lengthening out a little (...someday she might even have a neck!) I thought it was hard for her to get cuter, but she just keeps surprising us. Now please excuse me while I go smother her little face in kisses...

(oh, and technically her 3 month "birthday" is tomorrow- 2/4, but she was born on a Friday, so the math gets a little fuzzy. But don't worry...I have more milestone photos in the works for this weekend!)

Say Cheese!

If you saw the photos from our prom party, you'll may feel like it was missing something...

Sure, we had the music, and the dancing, the punch, and the decorations...But there was one prom staple that wasn't represented: The official prom portraits.

Everyone remembers the quintessential prom photo- A cheesy cheap backdrop (might involve some "greek" columns, or a leftover funeral home floral arrangement), a forced 45 degree angle to the camera pose, the guy standing behind the girl with his arms wrapped around her waist, cheesy awkward smiles. Priceless memories.

Now I looooooove a photobooth for almost any occasion, and they're becoming a bit of a staple at any gathering I coordinate (yes...I've been holding out on you- there are a least two other photobooth parties that I haven't shared yet. Someday!) so I knew that we couldn't let this opportunity pass. It's too perfect!

So finding a spot for the photobooth became my non-negotiable for the party. It was a little tricky- our house isn't exactly brimming with extra space (especially once we host out of town guests, create a dancefloor, set aside room for a bar etc. etc.) but I was nothing if not determined. Thus, the famed (ha!) third bedroom became our official photo spot.

We tacked up some tacky stuff...


Did a quick lighting test...(if you look closely, you'll realize it was also an earring test...)


Added some balloons...
and it was ready for action...

One of my friends Holly told me it looked exactly like her backdrop from her real prom. Best birthday present ever. My party mission was accomplished.

Normally when I do a photobooth, I either take the pics myself, or people have to use the timer. But for Christmas this year I got a new gadget- a remote shutter release. That way we could just put the camera on a tripod and people could snap snap snap to their hearts content.

And OH did we snap some pics. In the span of a few hours, we somehow managed to take 277 photos. Two hundred and seventy-seven photos. There were a couple people in the bunch that were more trigger happy than others, but when Dustin and I finally got our chance to play around with it at the end of the night, I found out how easy it was to get a little overzealous. In the span of 2 minutes, we took some 39 pics. It was just too easy! And too fun! When I finally got to go through the photos the next day, I was dying laughing. There are just too many good ones! (I dare you to pick a fav...) It's tempting me to leave it up, and require people to take some shots every time they come over!

So without further ado... I present to you:

Courtney's Birthday Prom Photobooth 2012

(click on each photo to enlarge, and see the awesomeness in its full size glory)