Baking and Cooking up a storm!

My weight gain this pregnancy has been normal.. which is a complete shocker because I am baking and cooking something new and crazy almost every other day! And I am consuming a LOT of what I make! I love to bake, but I really need to cut back because I love to eat my hard work.. but I did start freezing half of what I make.. There are some yummy rasberry muffins in the freezer right now next to the homemade oreo icecream (made with homemade oreos).. here is some of the evidence: (I'm not a food photographer however, as you will soon tell! sorry!)

*Chocolate Buttermilk Ice-Cream.. so rich and creamy and yummy!

*Old-Fashioned Whoopie Pies- all right.. tastes too shorteningy for me though..*Cake Mix Cookies, YUMMY! apparently I can't get enough chocolate!
*Home-made Oreos.. DIVINE! The cookies were just a little soft, which I love a soft chocolate cookie and I added vanilla bean paste to the cream which added a lot! Some of these went into the oreo ice-cream (no photo of that... but there's still some in the freezer if you want to come over..)*Collard Greens with Ham Hocks, I do eat healthy too! I have never cooked collard greens before but I got some from LPO (Los Poblanos Oraganics food delivery) and read up about them in my favorite vegetable cook book.

*Stuffed Pork-Chops, stuffed with spinach, sun dried tomatos, feta, cream cheese and lemon and garlic.. cooked this for my dinner group but made it again a week later with just a little less spinach and it was even better! John especially LOVES this.. and the chops are broiled and trimmed.. so pretty healthy (got it out of a "Cooking Light" cook book actually)

Speaking of John.. those who know him know of his love for Star Wars.. when I was buying the vanilla bean paste I found these pancake molds and HAD to get them.. I couldn't wait until Father's Day to show them to him so I made the yoda out of my favorite spinach puree egg recipe found in Jessica Seinfeld's Cookbook.. I just had to make him green!

Here's the Father's Day brunch we had.. notice the cream and rasberry syrup.. Emma just wanted cream.. This is Yoda, a storm trooper, and Darth Vader.. It really was great. John found some great music online for us to listen to while we ate. Rage Against the Machine did a great cover of the Imperial March that I really enjoyed.. :)

John is SUCH a great dad. He is gone a lot at school and studying and scouts and when he's home he has to study and sleep most of the few hours he's here but he always (right before bed-time actually) has Emma rolling laughing and giggling and running around having the time of her life. She LOVES her daddy. She hates it when he leaves and is so happy when he comes home. She actually just started calling him John sometimes.. So funny to me because I'm sure she just picked that up from me calling him John (though I don't think she knows my name.. I'm just Mommy or Mamma, sometimes Mom), but John has always called his parents Ron and Nancy- not Dad and Mom..Daughter like Father I guess. I got him the book "Strong Fathers Strong Daughters" for Father's Day and he is doing a serious read of it and is already trying to be better in everyway he can. I am so lucky to have him and our kids are super blessed!

*Beer Shampoo, Okay.. I know, may sound wierd but it's really good for your hair and I used to have a shampoo that I loved that had beer.. parts in it and decided to try my own.. It's out of reduced beer (I actually read beer reviews to find one with a lot of Hops, good for the hair, but didn't smell strong because I HATE the smell of it), Raw Honey, Castile Soap and a little water... this concoction is not what I was looking for, but I'm going to use it up and try another recipe soon.. I also ordered some commercial shampoo's with beer in it. I hope I like them!

Emma Jane likes to be in the kitchen with me and help us eat all these yummy things!