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A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

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It’s the middle of the week – that means it’s time for what WE wore Wednesday! Play along by leaving a comment below to link back to your blog or show off your little one on Facebook.

This past Saturday we had such a fun day! We spent the morning at the farmer’s market complete with watching the trains, helping Grammie sell pies, sampling homemade egg rolls (yum!) and of course enjoying all that fall has to offer a market. We ended the day by dinner at our good friend Catherine and Jeff’s home. Great steaks – great wine – and a great time watching B try to keep up with the 3 older boys. Too cute! Here is what we wore:

L: Crewcut tee, Old Navy shorts, and Nikes. He has a Nike obsession now – literally will walk up to random strangers and say ‘wow, you have Nikes too?’ Yes L, you are not the only one.

B: He had an ensemble change today – too much playing in the mulch at the market. He started off in a Gap polo and jeans and then switched to his old man H&M pants. And helloooo – my child is wearing shoes! Aren’t you proud? We made the trip to Nordstroms last week and stocked up on a few pairs for winter. Even though he isn’t walking yet, it was time.

C: I wore a much more casual outfit to the market – can’t even recall what at this point as I didn’t get any pics. I always like to dress up a bit for Catherine because we are weird that way – Old Navy polka dot cropped pants, Theory blouse, J crew necklace and Target flats.

Bonus – my mom joins us this week! Isn’t she adorable? I loved that all 3 had on navy so of course had to snap a shot.

Let’s see those looks!
C

 

C’s picks.

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Guess that baby! Is it B or L in the pumpkin patch? Find out after our lineup:

Sunday night is special – hello, Homeland is back! We can’t wait for the premiere. We’ll be dining on parmesan chicken meatballs. Total comfort food, but healthy. Promise! M’s green beans on the side. Gosh I need to update that picture.

Going along with the whole comfort food/healthy theme I’ll be trying out this version of fettucini alfredo but will add fresh peas and grilled chicken to make it a full meal. Whole wheat pasta helps the health factor as well.

White chili is on the agenda for tuesday night. It’s so incredibly flavorful for being so healthy and it can stretch for two meals, woohoo!

That leads us to Wednesday night and to another night of the chili. When I do this – I try and change it up a bit. Homemade corn muffins will do just the trick.

Thursday night and it’s L’s birthday….! I can’t believe he is 7. His favorite meal will be served. Grilled Italian sausage with green spaghetti on the side.

Friday will be all about prepping for a rather large gathering that is coming by Saturday night. We share a fence with L’s best bud and teammate, Ryder, so between both homes the whole football team and their families will head on over after their Saturday play off game. I’m a bit nervous about (properly) feeding this many people – but, I think we can pull it off!

A lot of cooking this week – can’t wait!
C

P.S. That’s Logan on his first birthday….!

I’m losing my mind.

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homemade bolognese sauce

So, they say when women are pregnant they get something known as ‘pregnancy brain’ which is just a nice way of saying you basically are dumb for 9 months. Rightfully so – the baby and hormones are all consuming. Of course it’s hard to focus on anything else.

Well, something different happens with me. When I’m pregnant, I’m sharp as a tac. In fact, I think being pregnant made me even smarter. I could focus, make decisions – everything was just fine. Then I have the baby. 

Oh my goodness.

I remember with L having severe newborn brain. I’m always certain it lasted roughly a year. Well, with B it’s just as severe and he’s almost 14 months and there is no end in sight. I literally asked M the other day – ‘do you think I should get my head checked?’ Within the past 10 days I’ve lost my keys, left my phone at a Chase bank for a few hours not even realizing it was missing, left my coat and aviator sunglasses in our drivers car in Sonoma (ok, the wine may have had something to do with that), etc. I find things in weird places (i.e. socks in the fridge). I could go on and on but frankly, it’s embarrassing and the worst part is I don’t remember doing any of it.

The past few days had gotten better though – nothing valuable had been lost and I was able to keep up with our daily routine here just fine. Yippee – I am a functioning normal person again! One morning, I decided to take B out to our favorite grocery store to get ingredients solely to make one meal. I didn’t need much – this wasn’t rocket science here, about 5 ingredients and I was good to go.

Of course I left the store forgetting one and important one. I was halfway through sauteing the thick bacon and turkey when I realized whoops – no crushed tomatoes. Kind of an important one for this sauce. Not only did I not have them, I had no type of canned tomatoes I could blend. With B napping away upstairs I turned off the red pot and sent a text to my dear neighbor, Gretchen. Please have some please have some please have some.

She called me right away because she’s awesome like that. My afternoon of homemade bolognese sauce making was saved! Now if only I could shake the baby haze that seems to be clouding my mind….

This recipe is perfect for fall and dare I say it…..winter. It’s hearty and chock full of vegetables and turkey instead of beef so you can enjoy guilt free (huge bonus). That one slice of bacon isn’t entirely necessary, but, can it really hurt?ecipe Card

Homemade Bolognese Sauce
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr
Ingredients
  1. - 2 to 3 TBS olive oil
  2. - 1 onion, diced
  3. - 1/2 zuchinni, diced
  4. - 2 large carrots, diced
  5. - 1/2 green pepper, diced
  6. - 1 clove garlic, minced
  7. - salt & pepper
  8. - red pepper flakes
  9. - 1 slice thick bacon, diced
  10. - 1 LBS ground turkey, white or dark
  11. - 1 big TBS tomato paste
  12. - 2 tsp fennel, crushed
  13. - 1/4 cup good red wine
  14. - 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
  15. - 1 tsp or so of fresh oregano, minced
Instructions
  1. Warm the olive oil in a big pot over low heat.
  2. Add the onion to sweat out for a few minutes.
  3. Add the rest of the veggies and sauté until soft.
  4. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch or two of red pepper flakes.
  5. Move the veggie mixture to the outer sides of the pot, crank up the heat a bit, and sauté your bacon.
  6. Once slightly browned, add in your turkey and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon until no longer pink.
  7. Add in the tomato paste and fennel and cook for a minute or two.
  8. Stir in the wine and bring to a boil until reduced.
  9. In go your tomatoes and oregano. Simmer 10-15 minutes, taste for additional seasonings needed, and simmer for another 30.
Notes
  1. We enjoyed this over fresh whole wheat pasta with plenty of parmesan on top!
Adapted from Dinner A Love Story
Adapted from Dinner A Love Story
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/
Eat up,
C

P.S. Wonder where my keys turned up? Thank you, MB, for finding these. I have absolutely no recollection of this:

 
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It’s what WE wore Wednesday time! You know you want to show your kiddo off – who doesn’t? Comment below to leave a link back to your blog, or, post to Facebook. I love seeing you all each and every week.

This past weekend we had a blast celebrating our dear friends birthdays – Ryder (7) and Meadow (5). Yep – brother and sister have the same exact birthday two years apart, cool huh? These kiddos have a special place in my heart. We share a fence in our backyard with them and it’s really like one big home to the kids. It’s rare they are without each other and it’s been like that since day 1. They went from throwing tantrums in diapers to playing on the same football team. B also thinks Ryder is his best friend, which is just too cute to watch. And then adorable Meadow – she goes back and forth on whether or not L is her boyfriend. Smart girl, keep your options open.

Ok – so here is what we wore to the big bash at Royal Oaks Farm:

L: I knew there would be a lot of football tackling, hay riding, petting zoo mess so we stuck with our Old Navy skinny play jeans. Lacrosse tee on top from abercrombie and his Nike gym shoes.

B: Ahhhhh I love his look this week! Something about boys in flannels…..his is from the Gap as are his skull jeans. His accessory would be a football, as always.

C: I splurged on some new denim this fall, which I seem to do every year – just one pair! These AG jeans ROCK. I can’t say enough good things. Awesome color, slightly whiskered (yep! that’s back!) and the straightest of legs so it looks adorable with flats or boots. Perfect. Loft orange tee on top and my fav scarf knitted by my mom. Frye boots down low which I’ve had for 8 years now.

Bonus – I got a pic of M this week! He had no idea I dressed B to ‘match’ him, ha. His shirt is from Banana and his jeans are Hudson. Yes, I totally pick out my husband’s clothes. He doesn’t mind one bit.

Well that’s our look this week – what are you wearing?

C

 

C’s picks.

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c's picks
Doesn’t that hug just look fantastic? Highlight of my weekend, hands down.

Ok. Whew! What a whirlwind of a week. I am home to my boys and my kitchen – yippee! Sunday we were off to my moms for a special family dinner after a nail biting football game. My fall salad will be the perfect side to her homemade chills. Yep – she’s making two which is just so my mom.

Monday night I’m going with a regular summer fav. The summer tomatoes and corn are still fresh so I’m going to enjoy it while I can. Love the last gasp of summer recipes.
 
A light vegetable soup sounds perfect this week and a minestrone one is hearty enough to not hear a complaint from M. Crusty bread on the side, of course!
 
Wednesday we’ll dine on a short cut bolognese pasta. I made this a ton after having B – it’s a great busy mom recipe. Bonus that it makes enough to freeze half. And it’s delicious.
 
Thursday will be another night of the minestrone soup.
 
And we’ll round out the week with our pizza.
 
That’s our line up – what’s cooking in your kitchen this week? I’d love to hear!
C
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