Sunday, January 29, 2012

Ranch Pork Chops & Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

I know this blog has been taken over by my little guy, but this meal was too good not to share! We have gone through our freezer stash, so you can expect more new recipes on the way. :)

These were honestly the best pork chops I have ever tasted. I cooked them on low for 6 hours, and they were so tender I could cut them with my fork. I was lazy and didn't add the roasted garlic to the potatoes and think they came out just fine. I didn't salt the potatoes either since some complained that the gravy was a little on the salty side.



6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning
10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup
4 lbs peeled, cubed potatoes
5 Tablespoons real butter
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
6 cloves roasted garlic (directions are below)
1- 1 1/2 Cups warm milk
1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, or to taste

Place pork chops, Ranch seasoning and soup into a medium sized crock pot over high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 6 hours.
Place potatoes into a large pot of cold water. Place onto stove top over high heat and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, cook for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and transfer to the work bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Mix on low until potatoes are mashed then add butter, Parmesan, garlic, milk, salt and pepper. Season to taste if needed. For thinner mashed potatoes add more milk, slowly until your desired consistency.
Scoop mashed potatoes onto serving plates and top with pork chops and soup gravy from crock pot.

Source: Chef in Training Link will also give instructions for roasting garlic if you want to add that.

New Skills!

Emmett has been learning some new skills this past week. His neck control is pretty good. He loves to stare at pictures, lights, faces. It seems like he is just studying everything. He has been craving constant stimulation, which is fun, but also a little exhausting! ;)

Emmett says hi! He loves to kick and wiggle in nothing but his diaper.



The owl takes a pretty good beating from little man.



His newest skill is being able to grab hold of things. He tried out a link and his keys yesterday. He was pretty impressed with himself, flinging the keys all over the place.





Sunday, January 22, 2012

Cloth Diapering

We are trying out our stash of cloth diapers on Emmett. He is finally fitting into some of the size small ones. We tried Lil Joeys for newborns, but they never fit him quite right.

Here he is rocking his cow print diaper by Blueberries.





Friday, January 20, 2012

Growing like a weed!

Sorry for the lack of updates. I got pretty sick a couple weeks ago and had surgery to remove my gallbladder yesterday. I am on the mend and starting to feel much better! :)

Emmett is definitely growing into a very big boy. Some of the 0-3 month sleepers are actually too small in the feet for him. He has giant feet! Here are his newborn footprints from the hospital:



He is in size 1 diapers, but I bet we will be switching to size 2 early in Feb. My sweet boy is growing up too fast!

His growth stats
*12-10-11, 2 days old - Length 19 1/2, 25th % - Weight 7 lbs 15 oz, 50th%
*12/21/11, 2 weeks old - Length 20 1/2, 50th% - Weight 8 lbs 15 oz, 50th%
*1/10/12, 4 weeks old - Length 22 1/8, 75% - Weight 11 lbs 0.8 oz, 80th%

He is also learning to smile, which just melts my heart! He has recently started cooing and loves to play and be entertained.

Here are a few pictures from a couple weeks ago that I didn't get around to posting. He was about 4 weeks in these, and is now 6 weeks. Time needs to slow down!











Friday, January 6, 2012

Starting to like the play mat!

Emmett seemed bored today so I decided to give his play mat another shot. Last time he really had no interest, but today he was actually interacting with me a little while we played on it. It was so much fun!









Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Emmett is 1 Month Old!

My baby boy is a month old tomorrow! It definitely does not seem like a month has gone by. I tried out his onesie stickers today and did his 1 month photos. Ignore the little scratch on his cheek, Mommy didn't file his nails as good as I thought I did. He actually enjoyed our little photo shoot, kicking and wiggling the whole time. :)

1 month! Yeah!