With the need for our family to switch to low sodium friendly foods lately, we’ve been doing A LOT more cooking from scratch. There’s been so many recipes that we’ve tried and just haven’t had time to share, but today’s beef stew and the bread we made in the bread machine deserved a nod.
Lucas got the results of his kidney biopsy yesterday, and we’re happy to share that the damage to his kidneys is not permanent. It’s called Minimal Change disease, and it means that the blood vessels in his kidneys have little gaps between them suddenly, like a gate that’s ajar. Those gaps between his blood vessels have been allowing protein to spill out. …

It’s been a crazy week.
Probably more accurate to say “couple of weeks.” It started with Lucas snoring out of the blue. Then it turned into realizing he’d gained 15 pounds and noticing that it was all fluid retention; his legs, feet, and ankles were swollen beyond recognizable. Some blood work at the family doctor pointed to a kidney issue, and Lucas made an appointment to see a specialist. He’d gained 30 pounds of fluid weight by this point. If he would lay flat, the swelling was present in his face and chest. When he woke up this past Monday morning feeling pressure in his chest with a little difficulty breathing, we couldn’t wait for the …

photo © Baby Be Mine
Oh the cool gadgets and items you discover when you’re pregnant.
I’d heard of belly bands from several friends, and they seem to be quite the popular pregnancy contraption. I didn’t quite understand what they were for until I began looking them up a couple weeks ago, and it was then that I realized that “belly band” was not a brand name, and that there were a lot of people out there selling belly bands. But more on that a little later. First, I needed to know exactly what belly bands were. Did I need one?
Belly bands are like long, stretchy body shapers. They’re simply an elongated ring of fabric meant to …

Two new recipes in one week?! We’re on a roll around here to try new things and today is another delicious opportunity. It’s Sunday, and the weekends are my favorite time to try a new slow cooker recipe. This weekend we’re having the easiest slow cooker beef stroganoff ever! I say easy because it only has 5 ingredients:
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of beef broth
1lb beef for stewing, approximately in 1″ chunks
2 cups (cooked) wide noodles
1 cup of sour cream
I put the soup, broth, and beef chunks in the slow cooker first, on high for 3 hours. Then I switched to low heat for 3 hours. I boiled up the whole grain …

It’s not Sunday, but we’ve been trying so many new recipes lately that I thought I’d share the one we made last night: Bacon Wrapped Pesto Chicken.
The original recipe at AllRecipes.com calls for prosciutto instead of bacon, but based on the user submitted comments I read, bacon was a popular substitution and easier for me to get my hands on this week. The result was a pretty delicious chicken dish!
I opted for the quick way, though, and used the Private Selection (Kroger brand) jar of basil pesto that I found in the pasta aisle of the grocery store instead of making my own pesto sauce. I think it would’ve been a lot better had I not …

As I mentioned in my most recent post, I’ve been doing a lot of baby book reading lately. The first two books I wanted to highlight and review come from my “real mom” category. These books were written from an honest point of view in a humorous way to help the reader relax and stress less about having a baby. As I said before, these moms share the very real ups and downs of pregnancy but in a way that helps you feel like you have someone to relate to instead of feeling like you should panic. They’re not full of lofty parenting methods or scare tactics, but instead help you feel confident that you, …