Tried & True Recipe: Tortellini Minestrone

I love soup.  It's warm and comforting and can be very healthful.  It also tends to make a good amount, yielding leftovers to eat throughout the week or to freeze for later.  It's also usually very cost effective because of how many meals you can get out of it.  Mark is not a soup lover, but he puts up with it without too much grumbling throughout the colder months when I like to make at least one soup a week.  Unlucky for him, it's still pretty chilly out so even though we've technically made it to spring, my soup cravings are still going strong!

This Tortellini Minestrone is a recipe I stumbled upon recently and I've already made it a few times.  I love that it has a nice variety of veggies, is meatless, but is still plenty filling because of the pasta and beans, and it's loaded with flavor for a broth-based soup.  It also comes together really quickly so it's perfect even on a weeknight!

I highly recommend you give this one a try while it's still chilly enough to make you crave warm, comforting foods.



Tortellini Minestrone
Adapted from Pink Parsley, originally from Cook's Illustrated, Soups and Stews


1 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
5 oz mushrooms, sliced (optional.  I usually leave these out because Mark doens't like mushrooms, but I think they would be very tasty!)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 1/2 cups V8 vegetable juice or tomato juice can be substituted
1 (15-oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (any white bean can be used.  I've also used chickpeas/garbanzo beans with great success!)
1 (9-oz) package fresh cheese tortellini (preferably whole wheat)
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and chopped
1/2 cup pesto (homemade, or if store-bought, use the refrigerated variety)
1/4 tsp salt, plus additional to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
grated Parmesan, for serving


Heat EVOO in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.  Add carrots, celery, onion, 1/4 tsp salt, plus some ground black pepper, to taste, and cook until softened.  (If using mushrooms, add them once the veggies just start to soften.)  Add garlic and oregano and cook just until fragrant.

Stir in broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.  Stir in vegetable/tomato juice and beans.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook ~10 minutes.

Add pasta and zucchini and continue to simmer until soft and cooked through.

Stir in pesto.  Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve topped with a little grated parmesan.


Enjoy!  


 

A New Adventure

Yesterday I had to take both kids to the pediatrician, Molly for her 2-month appointment and Jack for his 3-year.  Boy oh, boy.  If that wasn't an initiation into dual motherhood I don't know what is! 

First, you have the typical getting out of the house rush involving getting all of us ready to go, bag packed for two kids, everything and everyone schlepped out to the car and on the way (on time!  Go me!).  Then we arrived at our destination and had to do it all in reverse. 

Once everyone (and everything) was successfully inside I, of course, had to fill out forms.  Am I the only one who really hates the form filling out process at the ped's?  Whoever thought this was a good idea clearly wasn't rushing to make an appointment on time and juggling kids at the same time.  You're sitting there, trying to keep them from being a maniac in the waiting area, not wanting them to touch anything because who knows what kind of supervirus is crawling over the solid surfaces at the doctor's office, AND you have to fill out these forms (with info they already have!) and they always, always end up calling you before you're even done just adding to the load of things you have to carry with you back to the exam room.

So anyway, I'm trying to keep Jack off the supervirus covered floor, keeping an eye on Molly in her seat (which, side note: why, WHY do I keep schlepping Molly around in that seat that only gets heavier as the minutes go by instead of wearing her in the wrap?  I don't know why I do this.  It always seems like a good idea for some reason until I'm actually walking around with a diaper bag over my shoulder, trying to keep Jack holding onto my hand, and lugging this giant seat around.  I need to stop this!) and filling out the forms while texting Mark to get his social security number (again!  Must memorize this.  I'll add it to my list of things to do.) and of course they call us back.

First, Jack needs to take off his coat, hat, and shoes and step on the scale to be weighed.  This was probably the simplest of all things to come and he didn't want to remove any of the necessary items or be weighed and instead started running around the exam room area which is just a circle.  Super.  After some finagling, and a second nurse cajoling him onto the scale by demonstrating herself, he finally got weighed. 

Then, all people and goods had to be transported back to the actual exam room were Jack doesn't want to be measured.  More cajoling with me demonstrating and he cooperated without too much drama.  Don't worry, drama ensued when he had to have his blood pressure and temperature taken.  Oy vey.  It was like pulling teeth the whole time.

Then I had to undress Molly, get her on the scale, get out another diaper while she was being weighed, get her off the scale, diapered, and stretched out on the little measurement chart thing so they could get her length.  Meanwhile, Jack is complaining about being there (I don't blame him, I didn't want to be there either!) so I'm trying to tell him what's going on and that we would be done soon.

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long for the doctor to come in.  We chatted for a bit and I answered her questions about their developmental progress.  The only question I had was about potty training, which she wasn't helpful with.  In her defense, I don't think there's much anyone but Jack can do, but still... I was kind of hoping she'd have the magic advice to unlock this whole potty training nonsense.  Alas, I'm not any more enlightened having discussed it with her. 

Anyway, she then checks out Jack.  He fights her when she needs to look in his ears.  He fights her when she needs to listen to his chest and back.  He doesn't want to take his pants or diaper off so that she could check out the boy parts.  He was already in tears before we even got to the shot portion of our visit.  Oh yes, yes, they both got shots today as well.

Jack was MORE than ready to go after his exam, but then it was Molly's turn, luckily that didn't take too long.

Then it was time for shots.  Jack got to sit on my lap while I held him in place for his vaccine.  Then he cried, of course, and I had to ask the nurse to wait a minute before administering Molly's so that I could get Jack calmed down.  Then it was Molly's turn to be stuck.  Instant tears, of course.  Jack's still teary and now I'm also trying to comfort a crying newborn.  The sad part is, when it was just Jack, I could focus all my attention on him until he was calm and ready to go.  With her, I comforted her until she stopped crying, but then had to put her right down so I could get Jack's shoes and coat on to get ready to go.  Then I had to get her loaded up in her seat, which she wasn't happy about AND THEN I had to collect all of our junk along with the stupid clip board of papers I feel like I have to fill out every time we're there.  Don't you have this info in your computers already?  Forthelove!

THEN to add insult to injury I had to stop at the desk to make an appointment to return in just a few weeks to repeat this whole process (without an exam or injection for Jack, THANK GOODNESS!  But he will have to come along.).  Lucky us.

We did eventually make it back out to the car and we stopped by Target so that Jack could pick out a surprise, which I don't typically (well, ever) do, but man we needed some fun after that experience!

Of course a new truck (a tow truck) cured all Jack's ills and Molly slept through the whole trip and we eventually made it home and lived to tell the tale.


Molly's 2 month stats:

   Length - 22 inches  (50th percentile)
   Weight - 11 lbs 3.5 oz  (75th percentile)
   Head Circumference - 15.5 inches  (90th percentile)

Jack's 3 year stats: 

   Height - 3ft 3in  (90th percentile)
   Weight - 37.8 lbs  (90th percentile)

Menu Plan Monday - Week of March 31st

Last week, Monday brought a flooded kitchen cabinet.  Luckily, it ended up just being a minor clog + a pipe coming loose.  I guess on the bright side, the cabinet under my kitchen sink got not one, but two unexpected cleanings as the flooding happened twice.  Not so smart to clean up the mess and then check to see if the leak is still there.  Hopefully this week will start out on a much better note!


Sunday:  Happy Easter!  We'll be celebrating with family

Monday:  Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla Pie with Chips and Salsa - carried over from last week due to an unexpected take out night from said cabinet flooding episode

Tuesday:  Teriyaki Meatballs with Brown Rice and Broccoli  

Wednesday:  Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes with Ranch Potato Wedges

Thursday:  Chipotle-inspired Chicken Burritos 

Friday:  Thai Chicken Pizza

Saturday:  Leftovers/Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Jack & Molly: 2-month Photo Comparison

For fun, here are a few pictures for comparison's sake:

Photo taken 2 days after her 2 month birthday anniversary

Taken on Jack's 2 month birthday anniversary, as best I can remember :)

Molly is 8 weeks here.

Jack is 7 weeks.  Look at how much skinnier he is!

His legs were covered in the other photo... look at his tiny little bird legs compared to Molly's!  Not that his little bird legs weren't adorable, but I was pretty excited when Molly came right out of the womb with pinchable baby rolls :)

And snuggled in the wrap.

Molly - 2 months old

Molly turned 2-months-old on Saturday.  She's growing and changing every day.  Everything just seems to happen so quickly right now!

I think she's going to be our little social butterfly because her favorite thing to do already is "talk" with you.  Any time someone turns their attention to her she just lights up with a big smile and will gurgle and coo at you like you're having a conversation.  She loves when we talk to her and give her the chance to "talk" back.

She's likes laying on her play mat.  It's still early for her to really grab/hit any of the toys, but she just likes to look at new things!

She loves being in new spaces.  Recently we started getting out for play dates, which gives Molly the opportunity to ride along in a wrap.  She spends half the time sleeping and half the time just quietly looking around and observing what's going on.  In the evenings I bring her into the kitchen with me while I'm making dinner and she loves just sitting in her Rock N Play, looking around the kitchen and watching me while I work.  I hope the "newness" of the kitchen never wears off because her contentedness is really helpful when I need to get things done in there!

Overall, she's still a very content baby.  She hit her 8 week Wonder Week right on time (she hit it at 7 weeks versus 8, you have to account for gestational age at birth and she was a 41-weeker) and we went through a few days where she wanted to be held more and was fussier than usual (which is really to say she was fussy when she typically isn't), but we got off very easy and it passed quickly!

Smile brought to you by the Moby wrap.  This was in the midst of her 8th week fussiness.

Molly is starting to be awake for longer stretches, but she still sleeps a lot of the time.  She definitely doesn't have a schedule yet.  She's still in sleep and eat whenever mode, but I do see somewhat of a pattern emerging.  She's on a roughly every 2-3 hour schedule during the day.  She's still sleeping in her Rock N Play wherever I am, which usually means she's just kind of hanging out in the family room during the day, and in our room at night, obviously.

This is what I get to wake up next to in the morning :)

She tends to fall asleep for the night around 9pm.  Sometimes it's closer to 8pm, and sometimes closer to 10pm.  We don't have a bedtime routine at this point, she pretty much just conks out when she feels like it so depending on when she had her last diaper change and feeding before she fell asleep we will sometimes wake her to change her diaper and offer a bottle when we go to bed around 11pm.  We're trying to get a better handle on her desired sleep schedule though and time things to where she falls asleep with a clean diaper and full tummy so we don't have to wake her.  Plus, if we do wake her for a late diaper change she is only sometimes interested in eating at that time because she's so sleepy. 

She used to wake around 2am (if she didn't eat around the time we went to bed) and then again around 6am for overnight feedings.  Lately though she's been waking only once around 5am.  All very respectable stretches of sleep!  She tends to wake for the day around 8am, sometimes closer to 9am.

8 weeks old in a snap converted Clementine bumGenius 3.0

Currently Molly is eating around 4oz of formula at every feeding.  Sometimes it's more like 3oz and lately she's been taking more like 5oz, especially if she's had a longer stretch since her last meal.

The other thing that's nice is she tends to take a decent nap around 1-2pm, which overlaps with Jack's "naptime" (which is typically "quiet time" nowadays) which means I get a little bit of a break!  Often the nap will be in her RnP, but sometimes it's on me.  Either way, it's a nice treat!  It doesn't happen every day though.

Tummy time!  Working on those neck muscles.

I'm totally impressed by how quickly she has gained control of her head.  It seems like so very recently she was a total bobble head, now she can hold her head nice and steady and easily turn towards things she wants to look at.  Sometimes she still has the bobble head effect, but more often she has great control.  It's odd to see her hold her head so effectively and definitely makes her seem a lot older than she was just a couple weeks ago!

Also, her eyes keep getting bluer and bluer!  When Jack was first born his eyes were very blue and never really changed much.  When Molly was born her eyes were much darker and muddier and I was certain she was going to be our brown-eyed baby, but nope!  It seems she's going to be blue-eyed as well as her eyes just keep getting lighter.

Big brother Jack wanted to get in on the photo fun!

She certainly has grown.  It's strange to think that she was still in my tummy just a few weeks ago.  Her 2 month appointment isn't until next week so I'm not sure if her official weight and height measurements, but I'm interested to find out!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of March 24th

We got a ridiculous amount of snow dumped on us overnight considering it's the last week of March.  Definitely not the Snowmagedden that was hyped though.  The good news is it's warm enough that it's probably not going to stick around for long and the roads don't seem to be too bad.  With that said, I'm OVER it!  I'm so ready for Spring weather!  Please, warm weather, come visit us soon! 


Sunday:  Tortellini Minestrone with Garlic Butter Breadsticks

Monday:  Cheddar-Stuffed BBQ Mini-Meatloaves with Mashed Potatoes

Tuesday:  Chicken Yakisoba

Wednesday:  Homemade Spaghetti O's with Salad - carried over from last week because we ended up having leftovers one night

Thursday:  Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla Pie with Chips and Salsa

Friday:  Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches (Crock Pot) with Ranch Potato Wedges

Saturday:  Leftovers/Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Cloth Diapering a Newborn

We didn't start cloth diapering Jack until he was 7 weeks old and at that point he was big enough to go straight into one-size diapers (which, contrary to their name are not really one-size-fits-all.  Some kids will outgrow them before they potty train and they also don't fit the majority of newborns).

With Molly we debated what to do about diapering.  Should we purchase newborn cloth or just diaper her with disposables until she fit into the one-size diapers we already have?  There are pros and cons to each approach, but after weighing our options we ultimately decided to move forward with cloth diapering from the start.

I knew that I wanted to keep things basic and simple.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money considering how quickly she would outgrow these diapers.  I certainly look at cloth as an investment, but there's a difference between spending $15 per diaper when you'll use it for 3+ years and spending $15 per diaper and using it for 2 months.

With that said, if you're looking to resell newborn cloth once you've finished using them you can usually recoup quite a bit of your investment.  Due to the short duration of use they should be in excellent resale condition!  The flipside of this same coin is if you're looking to purchase used to save some money you typically aren't getting much of a discount unless you find some well loved newborn cloth, but there are still benefits to buying used like natural fibers have already been prepped, saving you time, energy, and water, and you will get at least a small discount off of the full price of buying brand new.

After considering quite a few options we eventually settled on newborn Cloth-eez Workhorse Diapers (with snaps) from Green Mountain Diapers with XS Thirsties Covers.  I was able to purchase both on sale and spent $78.95 (shipped) for 24 diapers and $30.37 (shipped) for 4 covers.  With this number of diapers and covers I am easily able to wash every other day.

Overall I've liked this combo.  They're easy to clean and easy to use.  Maybe not quite as easy as an all-in-one or pocket diaper, but not difficult either.  It's nice that the diapers have snaps on them so that you don't have to worry about using pins or a Snappi.  We never had trouble getting a good fit with the snaps, although obviously the closure-less version will provide a more custom fit.  These are not stay-dry diapers (you could certainly use some sort of stay-dry liner if your baby is bothered, but obviously that's another piece to deal with), but Molly did not seem bothered by that in the least.

7 weeks old in a newborn GMD Workhorse

The covers fit well and hold things in well.  I like the design of the covers with the flap at the front because it allowed us to easily add a doubler for overnight.  Molly did outgrow the absorbency of these diapers pretty quickly (which is typical with newborn diapers.  You do compromise some in absorbency to allow for less bulk), but it's not that big of a deal during the day when we can change her every two hours.  A couple weeks ago we did start adding a micro-fiber doubler (just the doubler that came with our bumGenius pocket diapers) between the diaper and cover to add some absorbency at night and that has worked out just fine.

And with an XS Thirsties cover over top

The one caveat I have is that we were not able to use these diapers before Molly's umbilical cord fell off and her belly button was fully healed.  GMD shows pictures of babies wearing these diapers and their belly button is above the rise of the diapers, but that was not the case for us.  They still hit her belly button and she's now 8 weeks old.  When she was brand new they went well over the belly button.  Same with the covers.  The XS size Thirsties covers have a dip in the front that is supposed to allow for use with the umbilical cord intact, but, like the diapers, they covered her belly button completely.  There's no way these diapers would have fit her properly before her belly button healed (in fact, we tried them on, but they were huge.  Like, down to her knees huge since we couldn't hike them up over her belly button!  And she was a good-sized baby measuring 8lbs 11oz and 21 inches at birth.), but I'm sure it does for some babies since they're all built differently.  Even had I known this I don't think I would have chosen another diaper (there are some options that probably would have fit her better before her cord fell off and therefore we could have used them sooner and theoretically for longer) because of the affordability of these and the fact that we are still able to use them at 8 weeks.

Okay, I lied about having a single caveat.  Another negative we experienced was with drying time.  If I dried a load of diapers as I typically would (medium heat, sensor dry setting) everything would be dry at the end of the cycle except for the pre-fitteds.  This was extremely surprising as these were drying alongside large hemp and microfiber inserts, both of which seem like they would take longer to dry, but no, these were the ones that would remain wet, but only around the gathered, elasticized legs and back.  So each for each load, I would have to wait for the drying cycle to end, pull out anything with PUL (only because I like to limit heat exposure to PUL when I can), and then dry for an additional 20 minutes on regular/high heat in order to get the diapers thoroughly dry.  It was kind of annoying, but not a deal breaker.  I'm glad I only had to do it for a short time though because it got old fast!

With that said, yes we're still using them.  They fit perfectly fine size-wise, but like I mentioned she is rapidly outgrowing the absorbency.  She can't go longer than 2 hours during the day without a change or she will leak out of the diaper.  This isn't a big deal, but obviously it's only going to get worse and quickly!

Overall, I'm glad that we did decide to go with the newborn cloth.  I feel like we got enough usage out of them to justify the cost (plus, I will resell them at some point and recoup quite a bit of my investment).  For the time that we were using disposables (which ended up being maybe 3 weeks total because we had to wait for her umbilical cord to fall off, which it did the day before she hit 2 weeks, and then we had some trouble with her belly button healing up so we had to leave her in disposables so that it was exposed to the air) we were quickly reminded of why we cloth diaper in the first place.  They're expensive, we went through them so quickly and had to worry about buying more, the trash piled up quickly, we had at least one poo-splosion, and they smell funny when they're wet because of the chemicals :/

Right now, I'm working on readying our bumGenius pocket diapers for Molly, but 3 years of use with them currently being worn by a 35lb toddler has really done a number on them!  Both aplix and elastics (all 3) are completely shot.  I have completed my snap conversion project (finally, yay!) and I've started working on replacing the elastics, but this process is slow going (and really not fun)!  I currently have 12/23 diapers completed so she has been wearing them some.  We make sure to put her in the bumGenius for overnight (with the one-size micro-fiber insert.  This allows for plenty of absorbency) and then we have some for use during the day as well.  Just have to (find the time) and keep on trucking.

I'll be SO happy once I'm done refreshing these diapers!  They're very well loved so hopefully they'll last a while before falling apart completely!