A new chapter begins...

Yes, a new chapter in our lives began 7 months ago tomorrow. 7 months ago our son Seth made his appearance. One day I was at work, working full-time, and the next day I was in the hospital having our first child, what a blessed day!
So, for the last half a year + we have been keeping busy living lives as parents.
I am now a stay-at-home mom, and am thoroughly enjoying every moment of it....well, maybe a little more sleep at night would be great, but hey, it is all part of the package. They say you can't have your cake and eat it too...I think we should change that to: 'you can't have a baby and your sleep too'!
We are working on the sleeping 'through' the night. Every time we think he is starting to do better, it changes and seems to almost get worse. We had two really good nights the beginning of this month, and then the next 3 and counting have been HORRIBLE! Hopefully that changes again real soon! It sure is hard, despite the lack of sleep, to get too upset with this cute little face:)



One thing that I have always enjoyed, has been cooking. I love trying new recipes, and new things. Here are a couple recent ones we tried and found to be rather tasty. A Rustic Roasted Vegetable Tart:
This one was really good, and I think I will definitely make it again, but with a few minor changes. The recipe called for eggplant, and having never had eggplant before, I thought I would give it a try. I think the recipe would be better without, I did not find the eggplant to add anything 'good' or necessary to the tart. I also think I will add dried basil to the veggie mix before throwing them in the oven to roast. I love playing with recipes and making changes based upon ingredients in my house, and personal tastes.

Here is another one: Roasted Pork with Peaches:
Another really good dish, that I will most likely make again. I used frozen peaches this time, but I think next time I will try fresh just to see if it makes much difference.

One of the big challenges for me in searching for new and exciting things to cook, is finding recipes that are different, but yet use common ingredients. I don't mind purchasing the odd 'special' ingredients here and there, providing they aren't super pricey. But, recipes that use items that are already stocked in my kitchen are the best.