Chicken Corn Chowder as Promised

It's warm and chunky, and a perfect healthy dinner! You can't go wrong with this soup, and you can change it up with any ingredients that suit your fancy. Add more potatoes, add more veggies, change the protein...Go crazy!


Chicken Corn Chowder
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup peeled and diced potatoes
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
*1-2 tablespoons cornstarch (if necessary for thickening)
3 cups skim fat milk (if you like it thicker you can do 1 or 2% but I was very happy with skim milk)
2 cups chicken broth
2 chopped cooked chicken breasts + olive oil, salt and pepper for roasting *see below for amazing roasted chicken
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn

*For added heat: add 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced or can of green chilis

Simple Roasted Chicken
For flavorful delicious chicken, I think roasting it is your best option. You definitely can boil or grill the chicken, or buy a pre-cooked rotisserie, but roasting your own chicken is so easy. I like using chicken with skin and ribs because it adds a lot of flavor, and after its done cooking, cut the meat off the bone and remove the skin. You can use boneless, skinless too, so just do what you like.

Drizzle the chicken with a little olive oil and rub in course salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I use seasoned salt too, for a little extra flavor.

On a baking sheet covered with heavy duty foil, drizzle and coat breasts with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Bake uncovered at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes. If you're using skinless breasts, simple cover with foil so the meat does not dry out.


Remove meat from the bone and remove the skin, then cut up or shred chicken as needed for your recipes.



Soup Preparation
Heat the olive in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.


Add onion, celery, potatoes and jalapeño/chilies; cook for 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.


Add flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Stir in the broth.


Stir in the milk and remaining ingredients and bring to a boil;


Reduce heat to medium low and cook until thick. Add corn starch to thicken if necessary.


Turn to low and let it simmer until you're ready to eat.

Pretty cool baby info

I just read this on my weekly pregnancy email:

"Baby can recognize and react to simple songs...time to start practicing your lullabies! In fact, baby will recognize frequently sung tunes after birth and probably find them soothing."

That's pretty amazing!!!

oh ps. Baby's now the size of a honeydew!

6 and 42..

Wondering what that means? Ohhhh yessss...6 weeks or 42 days until DUE DAY!! We're only a little bit excited around here if you can't tell.

Things I have to look forward to to hopefully make the next 6 weeks go by quickly:
1. Baby Bump/Maternity Pictures Friday
2. 10 year high school reunion this Friday Night
3. My last home Gator football game v. Vanderbilt
4. Baby Shower Sunday !!!!!
5. Dad's birthday weekend - brazilian steakhouse dinner...YES!
6. Work holiday party in St. Augustine Nov. 19
7. Thanksgiving - i.e. my last big meal before baby weight shedding time ;)
8. Caitlin's Birthday weekend festivities and UF-FSU game (I definitely will not be in attendance)
9. My birthday weekend (Dec. 5th)...maybe LJC's birthday?!?
10. DUE DATE DECEMBER 12
11. Please be a good girl and don't torture me and come late


I feel like we're pretty ready for her arrival...Her room is finished except for one blank wall where I want to hang a canvas picture after we get our maternity and newborn pictures done. We installed the car seats this weekend in both of our cars. I washed all the clothes we already have. Diapers and wipes are stocked. Garage and all closets have been raided, cleaned and reorganized - nesting anyone? Anything else essential I should be thinking about???

Things I still need to do:
1. get carpet professionally cleaned in baby's room
2. stock up medicine cabinet
3. finish buying whatever essentials I'm missing
4. finish christmas shopping (I've been planning ahead! yay!)
5. find more activities to distract myself so I don't go crazy

Coming Soon...

Chicken Corn Chowder on the stove. Pix and recipe on the way! It's really healthy too!

Barefoot Dreams

One of my favorite go-to baby gifts is the Barefoot Dreams Take Me Home set. It is the softest, sweetest little outfit I have ever seen! It's made with bamboo, and the little hat says "Happy Girl."


Someone has already given us this amazing little outfit for our sweet girl, and I am so in love. I highly recommend it if you're ever looking for a baby shower gift. It comes in white, pink and light blue.

Barefoot Dreams also makes the most amazing blankets. To say I am obsessed is an understatement. They feel like you are laying in a cloud!


We don't have one yet, but it is definitely on the must list! They make throws, mini blankets, receiving blankets and an adorable nap-to-go set with a matching pillow. You can find them at most baby boutiques, like our beloved Little Shop in Tioga, and Amazon carries them too, at the cheapest prices I've seen.

Barefoot Dreams Chic Mini Blanket

Sous chefs

They're all very helpful.

THE Best Carrot Cake Recipe

For my mommy's birthday last week, I made her a scrumptious carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The recipe is adapted from a Gainesville Junior League cookbook and honestly, it is THE BEST carrot cake I've ever tasted. The moistness is like nothing I've ever experienced. I want to make another one asap - I'm craving more of this one so much already!


Carrot Cake
1 1/4 cup canola oil (*see below for applesauce substitute & applesauce substitute post here)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup - less 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
3 cups shredded raw carrots, packed (6-7 large carrots)
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple
12 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.
Start by grating, by hand or with a food processor, the large carrots until finely shredded.


In a large bowl sift together flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and allspice.


If substituting applesauce: use 1 cup unsweetened applesauce plus 1/4 cup canola oil


In a separate large mixing bowl blend the sugars and the oil and/or applesauce.



Add eggs one at a time, beating until well blended.


Add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time to the sugar/oil mixture and blend with mixer on low speed or mix with spatula by hand until just blended.


Stir in the carrots, and then then pineapple and nut.


Pour batter in 2 9-inch round cake pans.


Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, and be sure not to over-bake, especially if you used the applesauce substitute.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove an allow to finish cooling on a rack.


Frost each layer with yummy yummy cream cheese frosting and stick it in the fridge until you're ready to eat so the frosting hardens a bit and stays fresh.



Can you taste the moistness!? Heavenly!



Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-oz package cream cheese at room temp
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)

Cream together cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat until well blended. Beat in vanilla.

Substituting Applesauce for Oil

Substituting applesauce for oil in breads, muffins and cakes is a great and tasty way to trim fat and calories from a recipe. It can cause a slight change in taste and texture so you'll have to experiment with the right recipes for making the swap. Usually sweeter breads, muffins and cakes have the best results, like banana, zucchini, carrot etc.

Note that you want to use unsweetened applesauce so it's not too sweet (or reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe if you use sweetened applesauce)

Use an electric mixer to combine the applesauce with the other liquid ingredients, and then the sugar. Then gently fold the dry ingredients into the mixture BY HAND until just combined.

Measure the applesauce in a liquid measuring cup (not a dry ingredient cup).

Don't over bake because low-fat recipes dry out when they’re cooked too long.

Usually you can do an even exchange, so if the recipe calls for 1 cup of oil, substitute with 1 cup of applesauce...But if you're not sure if you're ready to fully commit, start by just substituting half (so for a recipe that uses one cup of oil, use ½ cup of oil with ½ cup applesauce) and if you're happy, then next time you can increase the ratio slightly until you find the perfect combination. For some recipes a complete substitution may be perfect, and in some you might want to keep 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil in there. It's personal preference for sure based on taste and texture.

Why this works:

The primary job of a fat (aka oil) in a recipe is to keep the flour protein from mixing with the moisture and forming long strands of gluten making the bread/cake very rubbery.

That’s why when you bake, it is very important to keep the liquid and dry ingredients separate until the very end, and to gently mix them together by hand. When you substitute applesauce, it’s even more important to work the batter gently, and as little as possible.

9.5 weeks to go!

The single digit countdown is on! I cannot believe we are so close, and yet as close as we are, I'm sure time will drag by. Things have been going very smoothly, and I am so thankful I have had such an easy pregnancy. The first trimester was, well, just crappy. I had all-day sickness, and generally was not in the best of moods. Second trimester was cake. I really didn't have any of symptoms the books warn you about, and I was pretty much able to do what I wanted, whenever. Now that I'm a couple weeks into the third trimester, again, I am very lucky and have not had any of the major scary symptoms I have read about, however I have been plagued with 2 ailments that are just driving me crazy.

1. Heartburn. OMG. It's terrible. However she is situated in there, I am pretty positive she has herself wrapped around my stomach, and as soon as I eat something she squeezes the heck out of it, causing major heartburn and reflux issues. It's pretty awful. I eat a lot of tums :/

2. The pee situation. I have to go...a lot. I am supposed to be drinking tons and tons of water to avoid dehydration, which can cause early labor, yet I find myself trying to avoid drinking because inevitably 10 minutes after I drink a glass of water I have to run to the bathroom. It's extremely annoying, and very disruptive to working out for an hour, sleeping, watching a movie, driving, walking the dogs around the block. (sorry if TMI)

2.5 I am moody again...it's a minor ailment, but if I seem to sprout horns and a tail, just stay away and I'll get over it. Love will come back into my heart and we'll be just peachy again, I promise ;)

Okay, so that's about it for the bad symptoms. Hopefully things will continue to go smoothly for the next 9 weeks and come early December we'll welcome little Leighton into the world, and have a whole new life to start.

And this just made me laugh this morning.


In fact, I would like a beer, or a skinny girl margarita. I think I actually prefer the midhusband.