Almost 3!

On her new Trike!

Ava is such a big girl these days! We're starting to plan her third birthday party in March. She's so excited to have a birthday party coming up and she likes to talk about who will come to celebrate with her. She wants all of her friends and teachers from school to be there. I'm planning to do a bird theme party. Here's a look of some of the fun things that Ava is up to these days.

For Christmas, her Berkey grandparents got her a pink tricycle. We keep it in the basement in our spare room. It's really funny because she disappears for a bit to play with toys in there and then all the sudden you'll hear the little bell and she comes out. She usually pushes it with her feet on the ground instead of using the peddles. We'll put it outside in the Spring when the weather is warmer.

Lunch with Daddy at work

At work with Mommy

On New Year's Eve, Aaron had to work because it was the end of the quarter. I had the week off from work and I was excited to take Ava to visit Daddy for lunch. I had to finish my final expense report before the end of the year so I brought her up to my desk first. She enjoyed playing with her book while I was busy at the computer. Then we met Aaron for lunch! Aaron and I both work at the same company and even in the same building! He just recently moved to another building a couple blocks away, but it was fun when we were in the same building. Ava got to meet our coworkers and she was very friendly that day. We had fun! She's excited to visit Daddy for lunch again soon!

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Watching Diego

Ava is really into watching Diego, even more than Dora! We have Amazon Prime and we can get free streaming movies on the computer. We limit her TV time so it's a big treat! She knows how to work the iPad and iPhones, of course! When she's on my laptop watching Diego, she tries to push bottons on the screen because she thinks it's a touch screen. We just got her a kids table, which is in the kitchen now. She really likes having her own size furniture to have a snack, do art projects, or play with her baby dolls. She often moves the two chairs so they're side by side so she can sit next to her baby, which is really sweet.

Washing dishes after making brownies

For my January Freezer Meal Exchange, I made homemade brownies. Ava is really into chocolate! She was so excited to taste the batter, which she never does with when we're baking. Then after we got the brownies in the oven she asked me to help her wash the dirty dishes. She pushed the step stool to the sink and put on my gloves. It was so cute!

It's so surreal that Ava is about to turn 3 years old. People ask us if we're planning to have more children. We're not sure which way we'll go. Aaron takes the possibility of adding to our family very seriously when it comes to more responsibility where I see more about the emotional side of having another person to love. It's hard to say what will happen in the future, but we're really enjoying this moment in time with our little family!

Freezer Meal: Beef and Quinoa Meatballs, Homemade Spaghetti Sauce, and Pumpkin Spice Mini Cheesecakes

Meat Balls cook quickly in the oven. They were fantastic!

My October meal got really good reviews by the families in my freezer meal exchange group so I thought I would share it! The meatballs were very flavorful and great for kids because they contain shredded zucchini and carrots along with a whole grain. I made 6 whole meals so I bought 5 pounds of ground beef and cooked about 2 cups of dry quinoa to make the meatballs.

The spaghetti sauce was fabulous! The recipe made enough for all 6 of my meals so you can make the entire recipe for many meals for your own family or to share.

With the exception of casseroles, when our meals involve pasta we provide dry pasta since it doesn't freeze well. This meal was very easy to reheat and serve to our family on a busy weeknight. I usually plan on Monday nights as our freezer meal night of the week and sometimes we make two freezer meals depending on how many we have on-hand.

Read below for the menu and tips for freezing and reheating!

Meal exchange day!

Freezer Meal Menu: Serves 5

Quinoa and Beef Meatballs, spotted this in a Whole Foods email newsletter

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce, from the LLL Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook

Dry Spaghetti, cook when ready to serve

Frozen Peas (store bought)

Pumpkin Spice Mini Cheesecakes, made individual sizes in muffin tins and used graham cracker crust recipe from Better Homes cookbook. *I used roasted butternut squash instead of canned pumpkin. You can use any winter squash that you have on-hand.

Very Tasty Spaghetti Sauce (25 servings Large Quantity for Feast or Freezer) --I made 1 batch for 6 meals. Need a 10 qt saucepan or 2 pans.

• 6 onions, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers chopped
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms (I omitted)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 12 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 lbs ground beef (I omitted because I made meat balls - see recipe above)
• 7lbs fresh or canned tomatoes
• 26oz tomato paste
• 48oz tomato juice
• 2-3 tbs dried oregano
• 4 tsp dired basil
• 4 bay leaves
• Dash of pepper
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 3 tbs flour

Saute onions, green peppers, celery and mushrooms in olive oil in a 10qt saucepan over medium heat until tender. Add garlic. Saute for several minutes; remove vegetables to a bowl. Add ground beef to drippings in pan. Cook until brown. Add sauteed vegatables and add the next 8 ingredients; mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce to a heat. Simmer uncovered for 1 hour. Discard tomato cores and bay leaves. Mix 1 cup of the sauce with flour. Stir into saucepan. Cook until thickened, stirring frequently. Freeze in needed quantities for later use. May add chopped green chiles to taste.

Freezer Prep Tips:

• Label freezer bags with printed labels or hand write with a Sharpie pen before you fill them. Make sure to include name, date, and any specific information such as reheating instructions. 
• Let meatballs and sauce cool completely. I portioned 20 meatballs per meal. Package meatballs with spaghetti sauce in 1-gallon freezer ziploc bag. Make sure air is completely out of the bags before sealing and "burp" them. Place flat on a cookie sheet stacked up, then in the freezer. 
• 24 Mini Cheesecakes (each meal had 4 minis): I used the recipe for filling, but to make the individual sizes I made my own graham cracker crust in 2 muffin tins. I made a double batch of graham cracker crust. TIP: replace the Cool Whip brand with Trader Joe's version so you don't get hydrogenated oils. I used TJ's graham crackers for my crust because they don't have high fructose corn syrup. After the crust is cooled, make pumpkin cheesecake mixture and spread evenly in all 24 muffin tins. Place filled muffin tins in the freezer for 1-hour. Using a knife, carefully pop out each cheesecake and place 4 mini cheesecakes in a pint-size freezer ziploc bag.

 Defrost/Reheating:

• Defrost meatball and sauce bag in the fridge for 1-2 days. Remove the cheesecakes from the bag and place into 4 ramekins covered with plastic wrap.
• Meal Day: Reheat spaghetti and meatballs on the stovetop. Cook spaghetti pasta according to package instructions. Cook peas or prepare other vegetable. 
• Serve the dessert in the ramekin or in another plate for dessert. Each mini cheesecake may be a bit large for a small child. I can usually serve 2-3 times to Ava for a small dessert. She loved it!

Christmas 2012

Ava told us she asked Santa for Baby Dolls and Princesses.

Engrossed with her new Leap Pad on the long drive.

We spent a long weekend at the Lake visiting Aaron's parents and siblings over Christmas. We were excited for Christmas because of the break from work and time with family and friends. Aaron's sister, Jessica, and her husband, Nick, were in town from Portland and we spent time with my other sister-in-law Megan and her family from Chicago. Ava and her cousin, Colin, have so much fun together! I wish I had snapped a picture of my 10-month old niece, Grace, who was having fun keeping up with the preschoolers.

It was stressful finishing all the shopping, Christmas cards, and packing for the trip! I had Friday off from work to get everything done while Aaron worked late to finish up his work for quarter. We exchanged a couple presents on Friday night after he got home. Ava opened up a present from us, which was peel-able Velcro play food for her kitchen. She also opened up the gift from Grandma Anna and Bernard, which was a Leap Pad! She was so excited to have her own "pad." After she went to sleep, I configured it on the computer to get it ready for the drive up to the Lake.




As soon as we arrived on Saturday morning to the Lake, she looked around the house pointing out the Christmas decorations that Grandma and Paga put up since our Thanksgiving visit. She loved the nativity scene. Soon enough the house filled up with family. Ava was so happy to see Colin and Gracie! I made turkey and bean chili for dinner, then finally Jess and Nick showed up after a nightmare travel experience from the West Coast. Nick's luggage was stuck at O'Hare and he didn't get it until late Sunday night.

She went right for the nativity scene.

Story time with her Daddy and cousin, Colin.

Playing with her new princess castle!

 On Sunday, we relaxed and had a big dinner with Colin's Gingerich grandparents, Grandma Berkey, Aaron's Berkey aunt and uncle and cousin, and his best friend, Zac and his family. Todd and Megan made beef sliders and garlic mashed potatoes for dinner. It was delicious! Zac's son, Colt, gave Ava her Christmas present - a princess castle. She loves it! It has a princess and a "daddy" in the set too. Ava gave Colt his Christmas gift and we got lucky because he loves match games.

On Christmas Eve morning, we opened all our presents from under the tree. Grandma and Papa Berkey got Ava a pink tricycle, more play food, a kitty music keyboard and more princess things! She got a special delivery from Santa filled with princess dress-up stuff, a baby doll diaper bag, and a set of princess balls. We ate a lasagna dinner and then headed out for Christmas Eve service at church. Ava loved the music! Grandma took her to the front row and she really enjoyed listening to the music. After church, we got home around 9pm. I was thankful that Ava had an extra long and later afternoon nap. She had plenty of energy for the Bollinger-Berkey Christmas Eve get together after church. We gathered at the Lake and had a great time. After the kids went to bed, we played a game and stayed up way too late!

Since Megan and Todd had to leave on Christmas morning to his parents house, we did all of our celebrations on Christmas Eve. So we slept in a bit and relaxed all morning with Nick and Jess. We drove home and arrived late afternoon. We had such an awesome Christmas! I hope you did too!
 

Playing piano together.

Colin, Ava and Colt.

Holidays 2012

We are so excited for Christmas this year! The holidays are so much fun! Ava is now well into her 2nd year so she's so excited about Christmas...and not for the presents. She is excited to see her cousins and family at the Lake! She had so much fun playing with her cousins, Colin (3) and Gracie (9 months). And Aaron's sister and her husband will be coming home for Christmas from Portland. Ava and I visited them earlier this year in February, which seems like ages ago now.

New Year's is special to me and Aaron because it's the day that we met! And this year it will be 9 years since that evening! Aaron and I don't go out anymore since Ava was born to celebrate New Year's and that night that we met, but we usually have champagne at home.


Happy Holidays from Aaron, Amanda, Ava and Bena!

Favorite Cranberry Sauce

Simmering goodness!

Here we are at another Thanksgiving. The years go by so quickly! I found this recipe for Basic Cranberry Sauce in my Cooking Light magazine several years ago and I've made it every year. I'm making another batch for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow as the cranberries are popping. It smells like orange and mulling spices. The sauce is so fresh, tart, but sweetened from the brown sugar and honey. It simmers with orange juice, cinnamon stick, and allspice.

I'm always amazed how the natural properties of the cranberries thicken the sauce as it cools on the stove top.

I think it's best when you make it the day before your meal so it will be chilled for the feast. I always make a double batch to go with the leftovers.

When I was a kid, I loved to eat cranberry jelly from the can. My grandparents would slice it on a plate along side the turkey. But now as an adult, I love whole berry cranberry sauce and nothing is better than fresh.

Cranberries are so good for you! They are so high in nutrients that science research has touted that they protect against a number of things such as heart disease, urinary tract infections, even preventing plaque on your teeth! So grab a bag or two in the produce aisle and try this recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Freezer Meal: Sweet Potato Quesadillas & Black Bean-Corn-Edamame Salad with Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

Quesadillas were perfect directly from the freezer!

Defrost and Mix.

I made this freezer meal for my September exchange and meant to post this recipe ages ago. Better late than never! I try to use seasonal produce because I'm making my meals in bulk and I want to buy top quality ingredients locally as much as possible. This meal is especially easy for the Summer since you don't have to use the oven to heat anything up, but it's great during any season. The quesadillas can be cooked directly from the freezer on an iron skillet. It was so easy!

Freezer Meal Menu:

• Sweet Potato-Sweet Pepper Quesadillas with homemade salsa verde Defrost salsa with salad and brownies. Quesadillas can be cooked on an iron skillet directly from the freezer
• Black Bean-Corn-Edamame Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing Defrost and mix in a bowl
• Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies Defrost and enjoy

Quesadillas: 
The recipe that I based this from used corn and since the salads had corn, I decided to use sweet potatoes and sweet peppers since I had so many peppers this time of year from my produce delivery. I diced the sweet potatoes very small the same size as sweet potatoes and cooked them on a skillet in olive oil with no seasoning, just a bit of salt. I used the Chile and Onion Trader Joe's tortillas. You have to be very careful with tortillas that you buy if you're shopping in traditional grocery stores because of the funky ingredients so I always buy ours at Trader Joe's. I made 30 quesadillas on a large non-stick griddle. I made the salsa verde with roasted tomatillos, onion, and jalapenos seasoned with lime, honey, cumin and salt. To cook quesadillas, warm them on both sides in an iron skillet. Cut in wedges and top with salsa and sour cream.

 

Homemade Tomatillo Salsa packs with the quesadillas.

Salad:

On Labor Day weekend, I had trouble finding fresh corn in Indiana since it was a bit late in the season. But I found an Amish produce stand where I picked up two dozen ears of corn by my in-laws lake house. I used one dozen for the freezer meal salads and the other dozen was for us to keep for the winter. I cut the corn off the cobs, then cooked the kernels in boiling water. You can also use frozen corn for this recipe since you're going to put it right back in the freezer if you make this in the off-season.

I cooked dried black beans in the slow cooker, which is my favorite method. Check out my post. If you use a 14oz can of black beans for each salad, make sure you rinse and drain it first. I always cook my own beans because you end up opening up way too many cans. Plus, it's more eco-friendly and budget conscious if you cook your own dried beans. You will need 1 1/2 cups for each batch for the recipe below.


Brownies:
These were very rich so I made two batches for the 6 meals so people would have a small sweet after dinner. I used a nice quality dark chocolate from Trader Joe's for the brownies. They were amazing!

I hope you enjoy these freezer meal posts. I really enjoy freezer cooking and our monthly exchanges. I usually set aside a couple weekends a month to make my meals on the weeks that we're home. Sometimes I have help from Ava and other times Aaron will entertain her outside while I'm cooking. Then we average a freezer meal per week, which we reserve for a Monday or Tuesday night.

Two-Year Old Art

"Look at my sparkly purple guitar, Mama"

A few weeks ago, we went through a big purge of all the art projects from Ava's daycare. Every week we bring home a tall stack of artifacts of Ava's world.

I filled up an entire laundry basket with the art projects and sorted through all of it. We saved some for us as a keepsake and others for her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Others went to the recycling bin.

Saving my favorites to digital before the recycling!

I also found some old papers from when Ava was 18-months that reported about her day at school. I laughed when I saw her meals. One day she had 6-oz of breast milk in her sippy cup, a muffin for a snack, a taste of ketchup, bun and fruit for lunch. It reminded me of the days that Ava hardly ate any food. She was a late bloomer for eating solid foods. But now, she's eating so much and growing tall!

I'm always amazed by all the textures, colors, mediums that the art projects explore. They do seasonal art with dry leaves in the Fall or paint with balls or cookie cutters.

Now in her two-year old classroom, they do art with lots of glitter, scissors, glue sticks, crepe paper, paper plates, paints, and cutouts. The hat Ava is wearing in this photo says "Hooray for Me." That week, she proudly wore that hat when I arrived to pick her up.

It makes me feel good that she enjoys this time in her life. Art to her is playing with soapy water while exploring red apples and spatulas. Even though we purged the art, we know that the experience is not lost. She enjoyed the process of making the art and her parents enjoy looking at all the fun things she has done!

Freezer Meal: Turkey Tomato Mac Casserole, Ginger Carrots, and Lemon Pound Cake

I've been trying to post this for a month! I finally finished the instructions!

For my August Freezer meal exchange, I couldn't think of anything to make so I decided to make a casserole that I throw together for my family. I made 7 casseroles this month so I could have an extra for our family and to give away to some friends who just had babies. The concept of freezer cooking is pretty new to me and we're loving the convenience of having a weeknight meal from the freezer. We started up a new freezer meal exchange group in February and have been going strong ever since!

We usually have to add a fresh green salad or cut up some fruit to serve on the side, but most of preparation is just reheating, grilling, or putting something in the oven. We defrost the meals in the extra fridge in the garage for about 24 hours. Some meals you can go right from the freezer to the oven or reheat on the stove top.

On Sundays, I pull out the meal for Monday and place the packages in a 9x13 casserole dish to catch any liquids that may spill out from defrosting. I usually prepare a freezer meal on a Monday evening and use the leftovers for lunch the next day.

My August Menu:
Tomato Turkey Macaroni Casserole
Ginger Carrots
Lemon Pound Cake

Tomato Turkey Macaroni Casserole

• 3/4 pound ground turkey (mix of light and dark meat)
• 1 1/2 cups dried macaroni noodles
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cooked corn
• 1/4 diced bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Seasoning - salt, pepper, paprika, oregano

Preparation for Freezing:

• Cook macaroni noodles. Drain and set aside.
• Saute onions and garlic with ground turkey. Then add corn and bell pepper. Season with salt, pepper, dried oregano, and smoked paprika. Add tomato sauce.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine noodles, turkey-veggie mixture and 1 cup of shredded cheese.
• Line an 8x8 square baking dish with foil. Coat with cooking spray. Fill with casserole and add shredded cheese to the top. 
• Cover dish with foil and place in the freezer for about 45 minutes.
• Remove top layer of foil. Flip the casserole dish upside down gently on the counter. Then use the foil to cover the square casserole. 
• Place packaged casserole in a gallon freezer plastic bag in the freezer.

Reheating Instructions:

• Defrost in the fridge overnight. 
• Gently take off the foil from the top of the package. Then slowly remove the bottom layer and place into a greased 8x8 casserole baking dish.
• Cook for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven until bubbly.

Sweet Ginger Carrots 

Dump ingredients in a freezer pint plastic bag. Defrost in the refrigerator 24 hours. Then put contents in a sauce pan until carrots are tender. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. My friend, Windi's husband says these carrots taste like dessert!

• 1 lb peeled, sliced carrots
• 1 tsp ground fresh ginger
• 1 tbs butter
• 1 tbs brown sugar

Lemon Pound Cake:
Defrost and enjoy!

I found the Lemon Pound Cake recipe on Pinterest that made 6 mini loaves of pound cake in a single batch. This is convenient since we prepare 5 complete meals and I usually make 6 so I have an extra meal for my own family. I got a mini loaf pan that makes 4 at once. Then with the rest of the batter, I used my mini muffin tin to make 6 minis for each family (12-total). I have a bit extra batter to bake a ramekin dish size mini cake. The entire recipe was a perfect amount and the lemon pound cake was delicious.

Introducing Breastfeeding USA

You might remember in February, I announced that I became accredited as a La Leche League Leader. After a year of reading and education about breastfeeding, I started to lead support meetings, answer questions via email and phone, and respond to questions in our private Facebook group. At the same time, my co-leaders: Ali and Sara started to pursue a new breastfeeding organization, Breastfeeding USA. So we closed our LLL chapter and opened up Indy Breastfeeding Moms, a chapter of Breastfeeding USA. During this process, I resigned as a LLL leader and started the accreditation process of becoming a Breastfeeding Counselor with Breastfeeding USA. It's been a crazy transition process! Since our group of leaders are an all-in-one unit, it was easier for me to dedicate my time going through the course. And since I had less than 2-years of experience as a LLL leader, I'm going through a comprehensive course and I should be complete in the beginning of the year. It really feels like a college course! I'm enjoying it though! I'm reading about the science of lactation in my first module of training.

Since Breastfeeding USA is a new organization, they went through a branding exercise. That's been fun to watch it with my marketing brain. They just did a big fundraising drive, which ended up exceeding their goal of raising money for the organization. I made a donation and received this really cool tote bag as a thank you gift! I wore it today for the first time. Aaron took the picture for me and then Ava wanted a picture too!

Ava and I are heading to Cincinnati on a day trip next Saturday for a tri-state Breastfeeding USA meeting with other BCs and BC applicants from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. We'll spend the day planning the future of our local groups, which supports pregnant and nursing mothers through their journey of breastfeeding.

So now, I'm doing lots of reading and continuing to learn about all aspects of breastfeeding and supporting mothers. It's very rewarding! I benefited from the help of experienced breastfeeding mothers when I first gave birth to Ava and now I feel like it's my turn to give back! I'm still on the journey!

A Budding Chef

Whisking salad dressing.

Excited to help!

Little hands

I'm sure you're not surprised that Ava has taken an interest in cooking with me in the kitchen. Since she was about 18-months old, she has been standing on the step-stool helping with stirring, measuring, and learning cooking basics. Last night, Ava and I went to our garden to get fresh parsley for my tomato and cucumber salad. For salad dressing, I gave her a mixing bowl and a kid-sized whisk and she whisked like a pro! She asked to smell the vinegar and olive oil. I could tell she really liked the nutty smell of the olive oil.

I cook and bake with Ava as my sous chef. She really likes to whisk eggs too. She knows to put in salt and pepper in the eggs. It's really fun to have her in the kitchen.

I got her some kid-sized kitchen equipment and the set included an apron. She loves to put it on when she's on the stool. Ava really likes making Mommy and Daddy's salads. She likes to tear the lettuce and place the ingredients carefully on the salad like shredded carrots, cheese, and small spoonfuls of pumpkin seeds.

Play kitchen

Ava's grandparents got her a play kitchen for her 2nd birthday and she really loves it! We keep it in the basement and since then we also got her a Melissa and Doug wooden pizza set. Since we made pizza nights our Friday night family tradition, Ava loves to make pizza in her own kitchen. She puts a slice covered in toppings in a bowl and tell us that it's hot and advises us to let it cool off. Then we pretend to eat it. It's really fun!

I'm so excited that Ava is learning to enjoy cooking so much. She feels empowered helping me in the kitchen and I'm amazed by how much I get done with her participating. At meals, she'll proudly say "I made that, Daddy," which really warms my heart!