Cauliflower Crust Pizza

This past week, I decided to copy Rachael and make some cauliflower crust pizza. After all, she made it look so easy! Before I get into my story, I should probably remind you, I generally don't follow recipes. And before I digress too much into my drama story, let me also share Rachael's recipe:


Ingredients:
3 cups riced cauliflower (cooked)
1/4 cup shredded skim mozzarella cheese
1 egg

Instructions:
1) Rice the cauliflower (with a food processor or, if you're like me and don't have one, just chop it up real fine).
2) Cook the cauliflower (3.5 minutes in the microwave per cup... No need to add water, it's already got enough in it).
3) Mix cauliflower, egg and cheese.
4) Spread mixture onto a pan.
5) Bake 15 minutes.
6) Add toppings and broil until cheese is melted.
7) Enjoy! 


Anyway, I headed to the store and bought what I thought I needed. Turns out, I bought shredded parmesan and not mozzarella. Oops! To make matters even worse make this recipe my own I also added shredded cheddar into the mix. And when trying to cut up the cauliflower, I quickly discovered that a blender (or at least my blender) wasn't going to do the trick. So I cut it all by hand. I lost interest in doing this after about 10 seconds, so my cauliflower rice was more cauliflower chunks. 

To make sure you are following me, besides using the wrong ingredients and not pulverizing my cauliflower, I followed the directions to a tee. The only problem was, my cauliflower crust pizza wasn't exactly what you would call crispy, even when giving it some extra time to cook. I am thinking it had something to do with the cheese...or maybe the ginormious pieces of cauliflower! Either way, Ian and I ate it with a fork and still thoroughly enjoyed it. 


Maybe next time I will actually follow the recipe. Or, Ian and I also talked about trying a mix of normal pizza dough and cauliflower crust. Hmmm...I'm not sure how that would turn out. 

Nuby in the Community {One}

I have been given the opportunity to partner with Nuby as a mommy blogger. Besides being gifted product to sample and review, I also get to give out product in the community. Fun, right?! Yesterday was my first opportunity of doing so. I gave out various teethers, sippy cups and diaper rash cream to the ladies at my MOPS group.  

It was a fun experience giving stuff away for free. Everyone loved it and many of the ladies already had Nuby sippy cups for their kids, so were happy to take another one to add to the collection. Our group seems to have way more boys than girls in it, so there were a few boys that ended up with pink sippy cups, but as one mom said, "It's all good. I'll just teach him his colors with it!"

All in all, it was a great experience and I look forward to doing it again in the future.


And here's a little video with me sharing my thoughts on giving out the product. And since I've never done a video on here before, my faithful blog followers can also now here what I sound like! 

Her First Tooth

Tonight we were sitting around the table with some friends when Ian exclaimed "Isla has a tooth!"

My baby girl is growing up! Those pearly whites make babies look so much older. She has been fussy the last couple days, but teething never even crossed my mind. So, way to go Isla...pushing through that tooth drug free!

And in case you are wondering, yes that is my finger in her mouth. I had to get a picture of her tooth somehow!

Happy Mothers Day...

...to me!

I actually got my present on Saturday. And given that Ian was having trouble finding what he was looking for, halfway through his shopping excursion he let me come along for the ride. And we found me the perfect present. A pot and plants for our front porch...to go right in between my birthday present from the inlaws, some chairs.

Anyway, I am not a huge celebrator of holidays. I am more into the calm and laid-back approach to celebrating. I also don't like to be the center of attention. So my mother's day celebration was perfect for me. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out of town up to Railtown 1897 (which is one of the California state parks thats slated to close July 1) with my parents.

It was the perfect weather and the perfect place to take Connor. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and I think the rest of us enjoyed watching the excitement in his eyes. Though, when he gets really excited about something, he becomes very quiet and calm (remember him meeting the train conductor?) so you wouldn't know he was excited. And given that I am the "life documenter" of the family (aka: photographer), there are no pictures of me with my kids on mothers day. Epic fail. Oh well. There's always next year for that!

We ended our afternoon of fun by picking up ice cream on our way home. Yummy! It was the perfect un-celebratory day of celebration for me.


**You can read about our first trip to Railtown 1897 here

Connor {2 Years, 6 Months}

 Weight: 30lbs (my measurement)

Length: 37.5 inches (my measurement)

Accomplishments:

Repeats anything and everything you say

Can count to 10

Knows his body parts

Knows his colors

Can recognize a few letters

My little boy has become just that, a little boy. He has his own likes and dislikes, asks for things when he needs or wants them and has become quite the talking machine as of late. 

Some of Connor's current likes include all things train, all things cheese, and if I let him, he would play with my iPad all day long. A couple times now, Connor has expressed his opinions about what he wants to wear...I knew this would happen eventually, but I don't want it to happen yet!!! He likes his Thomas the Train shirts and his sandals (not his oh-so-cute rainbow flip flips though). And in general, he is not down with me putting him in overalls, though sometimes he doesn't seem to mind. Also, last year he hated wearing hats, this year he doesn't seem to mind. 

Connor now hates having his picture taken. Did I ruin him by constantly taking his picture for the past 2.5 years?! He will either refuse to look at the camera or cover his face. Sometimes I can bribe him, but that only works for a moment. Today, in the middle of our photo shoot (that's right, this mama does mini photo shoots with her kids!) he went inside and tried to lock me outside (hence the last picture). Notice how he was willing to look at the camera as he was shutting me out!

Bedwise, Connor is doing great in his big boy bed. He sleeps all night and generally sleeps until 8am. Naps still aren't happening as often as I'd like. Usually that means Connor is rather irritable and ornery in the late afternoon. I am considering taking all the toys out of his room so he has no choice but to sleep during his naps. Any mama's out there had problems like this before?

After a great interest in the potty a couple months ago, Connor has been pretty against it as of late. My mom bought him a little kid potty last week and he seems to like it, though still isn't super interested in it. The last couple days though, I have been letting him run around in big boy underwear in the morning...every day has resulted in an accident. But today, the accident happened in the bathroom, so I am going to take that as progress! 

My boy is growing up. Rarely does he give me cuddles anymore, but I take them any chance I get. At least he is still willing to kiss me goodnight!

P.S. Isn't it ironic that my kids were born one date apart (the 13th and the 14th) so their little updates are always one right after the other! 

Isla {7 Months}

Weight: 19lbs (my measurement)

Length: 27 inches (my measurement)

Accomplishments:

Eating food!

brown rice cereal, pears, carrots, sweet potato,

banana, rice, celery, butternut squash,

Finally rolls from her back to her stomach

Scoots around on the floor...like a worm

Sits up unaided

My adorable little Isla. She is still cool, calm and collected during the day, as long as she is fed and all up to date on her sleep. Now the nighttime, that is still another story. She still gets up about 3 times a night to eat. On the plus side, she does go to sleep at night without crying and when she does get up to eat, usually goes right back to sleep. 

Isla loves her brother so much. She loves pulling his hair. And he in turn, finds it funny so puts his head right in her face to give her the ultimate in pulling opportunities. She loves watching him play and is entertained by just watching him be his crazy self. And should he actually come over and play with her for a minute, she is all smiles and giggles. 

As soon as Isla turned 6 months old, she started solids in full force. She doesn't seem to like rice cereal at all, so I decided to skip it. She also doesn't seem to like pears. I tried a few times, so I figure I will try again in a few weeks time. But she does love her some carrots, sweet potato and butternut squash. Also, she goes through numerous frozen celery sticks a day. She sucks the life out of them...until they are limp, nasty and a choking hazard so I take them away! Last night she got her first taste of rice and really seemed to enjoy it. Ian set it in front of her and let her feed herself. Sure there was rice everywhere, but she really did enjoy herself. 

Isla is a total mama's girl. I don't mind, in fact I secretly kind of like it! Who wouldn't like that their baby calms down the minute they are in your arms?! Isla is my beautiful little girl. I love having her in our lives and home. She brightens up every day with her big blue eyes and her smile. And those little giggles? They could make even the hardest of hearts smile.

Front Yard Blueberries

Blueberry bushes in our front yard?! It was only the best idea ever! So fun to be able to grab a blueberry or two when we are headed out the door. 

If only I could keep Connor from picking them before they are fully ripe! And speaking of blueberry picking...only a few short weeks until our local blueberry patch opens for picking. Yea! Here's a picture of us picking blueberries last year. 

Ok, me picking blueberries and Connor stuffing his face! Still, it was fun times had by all. I can't wait to do it again...this time with Isla outside of my belly.