And it's already October...

Hi Everyone,
Long time no blog. I was just looking up a recipe on this and realized it has been months since my last actual posting. And seeing as how it's 1am here, why not just write an update now. Sure. Why not.

Much has changed, much is the same. Eleanor is now 2 years and 5 months old, she's running and talking in full sentences and being goofy and enjoying life. We go to a 2-year-old co-op play group of 10 children that is run at a church in town that has a fabulous co-op preschool. While this play group is not formally associated with the preschool, all of the other children involved are the younger siblings of children attending the school. We meet once a week for 2 hours, most of the moms stay but this past week I left Eleanor there while I went out and she did fine. It was nice to walk around the campus area with no agenda and do some window shopping.

Nothing happening these days on the Civic Theater front. I helped out doing hair for the musical Bye Bye Birdie at the end of September and had a fun time. I auditioned for another play at the beginning of October but didn't get a part, which I am still pretty bummed about. I enjoy having time to myself as a stay-at-home mom, but I miss some of the fun being around other people, and not just other moms or Ben.

As of recently, I am working for my mom processing her online sales and managing some advertisement/promotional aspects. It has been a slow start but I think it will pick up once we hit the advertising aspect harder. I was also recently offered a part-time short-term position doing some administrative work for my church friend Pat and her business. This would also be a home-based position, working on my own time. While this too sounds great for me, the one who is at home all day, I am trying to find the balance between wanting some extra income and doing work that maybe isn't the most enjoyable way to spend what little spare time I feel like I have these days. I have grown selfish with my schedule and I imagine most people assume I am dying for something to do; not so. I look around my house and see a million things I would like to do, and usually it is just a matter of finding tasks that I can do while simultaneously entertaining/watching over/teaching/helping/feeding/loving/reading to our daughter. The balancing act continues.

Ben is doing pretty well- he recently finished the Herculean effort of repainting our garage, almost. He asked that I finish the window sills, and I still have the "attic" window to paint, and the final coat on the back window. I keep forgetting about it... Nevertheless, we are very glad to have that monkey off our backs.

Next Monkey, errr, I mean Next Home Repair: New hot water heater.

Maybe that will be a story for the next blog post!

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/2 flour
1 Tbls. Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cooked oatmeal
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
1/2 cup skimmed milk
2 Tbls. oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup Splenda baking mix
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Sift dry ingredients together, mix with wet ingredients just until moist.
Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes.


Makes 11 muffins at 3 WW points each.

Chicken Enchilada Soup- low fat and tasty!

This stuff is spicy, tasty, and filling!
Don't let the pumpkin fool you- you don't taste it or notice it at all!
My husband had no idea of this secret ingredient until I told him.
Serve with some tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream to mellow it out if needed.

Makes 9 cups, 1 cup is approx. 2 Weight Watchers points

3 c. Fat Free Chicken broth
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1/2 c. diced onion
3 c. green enchilada sauce (or 2 10-oz cans)
1 15 0z can pure pumpkin
10 oz cooked shredded chicken (I used 1.5 raw large chicken breasts)
1 c. frozen corn

If chicken is raw, saute chicken in bottom of large soup pot with 1 tablespoon olive oil or non-stick cooking spray and diced onions. Then remove chicken to cut up or shred and put aside. Add chicken broth, enchilada sauce, tomatoes, and pumpkin to onions in soup pot.

If chicken is already cooked, saute onions alone in pot, then add broth, enchilada sauce, tomatoes, and pumpkin.

Heat to a low boil, stirring occasionally. Add chicken and corn, cook 5 minutes longer. Add salt and pepper to taste (I found it unnecessary). Enjoy!

Tasty Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi friends,

This afternoon I modified a recipe I found in a cookie cookbook and came up with one tasty oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (and I'll be honest-- mine looked WAY better than the pictured cookies in the cookbook).

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes ~50 cookies, 3 Weight Watchers points for 2 cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Dash of salt

1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup superfine sugar (or regular if you don't have superfine)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together first 4 ingredients small bowl, set aside. With an electric mixer, cream together butter and both sugars. Add egg and vanilla extract, beat until light and somewhat fluffy. Add flour mixture and blend on low until thoroughly mixed. Stir in oats and chocolate chips, mixing well. Using a melon baller or cookie dough scoop sprayed with nonstick spray, drop rounded balls onto cookie sheet, with one inch space in between cookies. Bake 9-10 minutes until edges appear firm, but still soft to the touch in the middle. Transfer and cool on wire racks.