Our Nest

National Treasure

Andrea Murphree — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:31:00 +0000

While I was up to my elbows in chicken, Mary Reese was helping Debbie clean out her bathroom. She came home last night with some wonderful treasures…

She got a variety of bracelets…

A new watch and necklace…

The necklace is circa 1988 and can be seen here…

Sub Deb Winter Formal 1988. I am the one on the front row in the “Minnie Mouse” dress. Did you notice the necklace gleeming from around my neck? {I might still have the dress, if anyone wants to borrow the entire get-up for their next formal affair…got to love the 80s!} She also found tons of makeup and perfume samples…

If you need your makeup done to compliment your 80s look, I have the perfect makeup artist for you…

Mary Reese spent the afternoon doing her makeup and mine as well…

She gave us “rainbow eyes” and even Owen got some “baby powder”

Thanks Debbie for all our wonderful treasures…they have provided us with an afternoon of entertainment {and smells…yes our house smells like a perfume counter}!

Eat More Chicken

Andrea Murphree — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:50:00 +0000

“The Pig” had their chicken on sale for 99₵ a pound.

When it goes on sale, I like to stock up for some easy weeknight meals. I ended up with about 10 pounds of chicken. First I boiled my chicken {in 2 batches in the pressure cooker} with onions, celery, carrots, rosemary, thyme and salt and pepper…

…then thankfully my head chicken-picker-off-the-boner rolled in from Atlanta to debone my chicken…

…he has experience! Seriously, his first job out of college was a supervisor at a chicken plant. While he was picking chicken, I chopped onions, celery, garlic, green and red peppers. Then I sautéed the veggies in some butter {Paula Deen would be proud…I used 2 sticks} with some salt and pepper…

I ended up with 2 nights worth of Cheezy Chicken, 2 nights worth of Chicken Spaghetti, a batch of Chicken Salad and 4 bags of chicken broth…

The casseroles {& broth} are in the freezer…waiting on a night when I need a quick and easy meal! The chicken salad will be my lunch this week

More peppers

Andrea Murphree — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:34:00 +0000

I used all these great red peppers {bell, jalapeno and habanero}…

to make some red pepper jelly to go with my green pepper jelly.

It will be a festive gift for the Christmas holidays! I used the same recipe…just red peppers and red food coloring instead of green. Easy peasy!

F is for Friendship & Football

Andrea Murphree — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:23:00 +0000

Mary Reese’s class has been studying about the letter F this week. They ended their week on Friday by making a friendship cake…

…doesn’t it look delicious! {Mary Reese said she was in charge of the orange swirls.} They all got to eat a piece at school and bring another piece home to share with family. She shared her piece with Banks and Owen…

…and guess what? He liked it!

I would have never let the other 2 children have cake at almost 6 months! Guess that is one perk of being the 3rd child!

After our cake, we headed to a little football party…

…they always have a tailgate party in the courtyard of my alma mater for the first home game. {This tradition was actually started by my brothers’ class.} We watched the band play and the cheerleaders cheer…

We ate Chick-fil-a sack dinners with friends…

The we headed to the stadium for some Friday night football…

…with even more friends!

A new twist on an old favorite: Zebra Cupcakes

Andrea Murphree — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Wednesday nights at the Alpha Chi Omega house at the University of Alabama was always Chapter Night. It was always my favorite night to eat dinner! We usually had boneless fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and Zebra Cake!

Zebra Cake is simply a layering of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers and Whipped Cream {flavored with a little vanilla extract}. I usually layer mine in a trifle bowl {some people make theirs on a platter or into a log}. I was short on time…so I used Cool Whip instead of making my own whipped cream.

The cookies are the hardest part to find. Walmart use to be the only store in town who carried them. I despise shopping there…so we don’t have Zebra Cake often. I was ecstatic when I noticed them at Publix yesterday {on the end cap with the ice cream toppings}! So tonight I created a new twist on one of my old favorites:

A Zebra Cupcake! I started with a chocolate wafer, added a dollop of whipped cream and repeated my layers…ending with a cookie. {I ended up with 4 cookies sandwiched between 3 layers of whipped cream.} You need to leave them in the refrigerator overnight so the cookies absorb the cream and become almost cake-like! You can then garnish them with chocolate curls, sprinkles or cocoa powder. I was lazy and since they were just for my family…I omitted the garnish! But if I was taking these to someone…they would definitely be garnished!

Sunday Afternoon Project

Andrea Murphree — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:49:00 +0000

Between Debbie/Christopher’s garden and my garden, we had several green bell peppers that were ready for the picking. Christopher also had several jalapenos and habanero peppers. So this afternoon, Debbie and I made some pepper jelly using Paula Deen’s recipe. It was super easy and will be great to have on hand! We have some red peppers that are almost ready…so maybe some red pepper jelly next weekend!

New Cousin

Andrea Murphree — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:06:00 +0000

By brother and sister-in-law welcomed their second baby into the world this morning {and cousin Carter became a big brother}!

She is a small fry compared to the rest of the bunch {weighing in at a pound less than Carter and Mary Reese and about 1.5 pounds less than Banks and Owen}. We can’t wait to meet her! Mary Reese can’t wait for her to play dress up and dolls!

Bubba Beefcake

Andrea Murphree — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Owen has a new nickname around our house…Bubba Beefcake! The boy loves to eat and hasn’t been too picky! Tonight he discovered a new favorite…

Yogurt! I couldn’t get it in his mouth fast enough. He was grabbing my hand that had the spoon in it and shoving it towards his mouth.

Needless to say…he went straight to the bathtub after this meal!

R & R

Andrea Murphree — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:40:00 +0000

This is the view I woke up to this morning:

Isn’t it beautiful! We spent an almost fall-like weekend at the lake getting some R & R! It was so peaceful…the weather was perfect and we had almost all of our end of the lake to ourselves.

These two spent a lot of time doing this…

…nothing better than fishing with your dog by your side! He never caught anything, but he loved every minute of it.

Most of our meals were cooked on this…

…by these two…

Dumb and Dumber is what I called them all weekend {Dana and I decided they were somehow related}. It was a wonderful weekend…probably one of the last ones of summer! I can’t wait to go back in a few months to see the leaves changing!

Baby Food 101

Andrea Murphree — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:02:00 +0000

When Banks was little, my mom encouraged me to make my own baby food. It is super easy, not too time consuming and a HUGE money saver {especially if you know someone with a garden who gives you food}. Owen started eating food a few weeks ago. So far he has eaten these:

First I cut everything up and put it in the steamer basket of my pressure cooker. You don’t have to have a pressure cooker…any pot would do! I didn’t even peel the sweet potatoes or apples before steaming. I did peel the carrots but you could use baby carrots and eliminate that step completely. I just snapped the green beans {actually Popsy did before he gave them to me…even better}!

I steam everything until tender {about 15 minutes}. Then I drain it, remove the skin {if I didn’t before steaming}, throw it back in the pot and use my hand blender to puree everything to baby food consistency:

If you don’t have a hand blender, you can use a regular blender or food processor {the only drawback is more dishes to wash}! Here is some finished product:

Apples, green beans and sweet potatoes

After I get the consistency right, I spoon it all into these…

…and pop it in the freezer! Once it is frozen, I just bag it up in plastic freezer bags until…

…this porky pig is ready to dive in!

I like to make mine in bulk because I have been blessed with this chunky monkey…

Here is a close up of those rolls and those thighs:

He is eating us out of house and home! But I LOVE having a baby with tons of rolls {and I have been blessed with 2 of them}!