How to bake a whole chicken and benefits of drinking bone broth

Well, I had never cooked a whole chicken or turkey until past Thanksgiving. I took the courage to learn how to cook it. I was so nervous and preparation time took extra long. To add to the stress I was having guests over for the day after Thanksgiving. I looked at recipes online and looked different videos. Finally, I found the recipe while watching Food network. The turkey turned out great; crispy in the outside and juicy inside. Since then, I have used this recipe every time I have cooked whole chicken. The recipes asks for fresh rosemary, butter, lemon, lemon zest, salt and pepper. The smell of rosemary and lemon while the chicken is cooking is just amazing.

This picture is from last Sunday! This is half way through cooking. By the end the color was darker. I used half of the chicken to make a basic chicken soup. It was simple but very tasty, and full of nutrients from the chicken. Click here to find the recipe for the chicken.

Not only does whole chicken taste better than just chicken breasts or thighs from the store, there are great health benefits associated withe bone broth too. I found some of the health benefits in this website.

Make sure to take a look at the website. Usually, when left to cook longer, bone broth is more rich in nutrients. I gave to Perla some bone broth to drink when she had a cold. I believe it helped her, and she really liked it to.

Take care and leave please leave a comment, I love comments! Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,
Juliana

Following my baby's lead

As Perla was getting older (3-months), I started thinking about sleep training her. At that time she would take a pacifier, take 2-3 30-minutes naps, and sleep at night around 10. She fell asleep sucking her pacifier, and if it fell from her mouth, she would start crying. Then I would go and put it back in her mouth. I would do this a many times until she was completely sleeping and didn't want the pacifier. I felt a little tired of her short naps and running to give her the pacifier a bazillions of times every night. So, I decided that after doing our sleeping routine, I would nurse her, put her in her crib, say goodnight and leave. First night, she cried and cried. It was hard for both of us to listen her cry, so we let her cry 5 minutes. The second night I let her cry 10 minutes. The third night, we let her cry for 15 minutes. And that was it! I couldn't do it anymore. I thought to myself  this is not going to last forever, she will eventually grow up and will be able to put her pacifier in her mouth on her own. So I continued being Perla's helper to put her pacifier in her mouth. I wanted to change her naps and her late night sleep though. So, I started looking for cues. When I saw her rubbing her eyes, or yawning, I would start her sleeping routine (which included a bath every other day, pjs and nursing). I put her to bed with her pacifier, and she fell asleep. So, all of a sudden we had an early sleeping time at 8:30. I was so happy. She established her sleeping schedule, we just followed her lead.

After, a couple of months, baby Perla gave up her pacifier and decided that it was better to use mommy as a pacifier. I wasn't sure if to be happy that I wasn't going to run to her for her pacifier or be sad because  now the "pacifier" had to be there with her until she slept. Now she is 10 months and takes 1-2 naps every day which can go from 1-2 hours, sleeps at 6:30-7 at night (she nurses to sleep), wakes up once or none during the night, and sleeps until 6:00-7:00 am. I probably spend 2 hours only to nurse Perla to sleep for her naps or at night every day. Would I prefer her to fall asleep on her own? Yes! Does this situation bother me? Not all the time. I love cuddling with her, and she loves cuddling with me as she nurses. This is not going to last forever. And honestly I don't think that this is going to affect her long term. For right now, I am enjoying rubbing her hair as she nurses or looking at her pretty eyes as she looks at me. 

My point with this post is that our babies know what they want and what they need (not all the time and not for everything). But I feel that for Perla's sleep, I have only had to pay attention to her and know her cues, and follow her lead. I know that different families use different approaches with their babies, but this one has worked for us until now!

Warmly,

Juliana

What are some ways you are using to put your babies to sleep/setting a sleeping schedule?

Two dinner recipes for less than $10

I have been trying to stay consistent with the days I post on my blog, but this week it has been harder to stay on track. We own two half laptops. I say half because no one of them really works. Since my husband has homework, I wanted him to use the more functional laptop to do homework and to take with him to school. But to make up for that I am posting two very easy, cheap, and delicious dinner recipes. 

The first one is a Mixed Mushroom Rice. You can find the recipe here.

I made mine more like a risotto. The difference between normal rice and risotto is that for the risotto you add the water (should be hot) little by little and let the rice absorb the liquid before you add again (about 30sec) stirring continually. I topped mine with parsley, olive oil and feta cheese.

The second recipe is a Corn casserole. This is super quick and easy to make. You can find the recipe here.

As you can see, I have topped my casserole with french fried onions that I made myself. They are actually baked so they are not cooked with too much oil. This was so good.

Now, if you know us, you will know that we love onions and garlic. I cook almost anything with onions and garlic. Now a few facts about these "Healing Foods".

They might wreak havoc on your breath, but these two herbs, can do wonders for your health. In order to reap the benefits of fresh garlic. you have got to eat it raw, as any cooking dramatically reduces its disease-fighting activity. And don't eat the cloves whole, garlic's active constituent is created when the enzyme is released by chopping or crushing the cloves and exposing them to air for more than ten minutes. Studies show that both onions and garlic contain sulfur compounds that can help with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. 

I would encourage you all to try and implement these two herbs in your daily cooking. Onions are easier, I think, to implement, but you can add garlic to everything you cook with onions. As for eating them raw, use onions on salads, and use garlic on tzatziki, hummus, salsa etc.

I hope you are staying warm, and are enjoying the weekend!

Warmly,
~Juliana~

What I love about being stay-at-home-mom

Before I had Perla, I wasn't thinking to be a stay-at-home-mom. Somehow, I thought I could manage doing both full-time work and full-time mom. I knew I would sacrifice a little bit, but I thought it would be worth it so I could get some work experience. When Perla came, and she stole my heart, I realized that she needed me. She needed me to be there with her all the time. Not only that, but I realized that I wanted to be there with her more than anything else in the world. I love spending time with my little baby. When people would say "She has grown so fast", sometimes I would answer, "I think she has grown normally, and I have been there with her every moment to assist her growth". It has been a blessing! I am so grateful I haven't had to work all this time. I miss my newborn baby, but I have enjoyed every stage she has been in. I have been the first one to notice her milestones, I have been there for every cry, for every diaper, for the first smile, for the first roll-over, and for the first teeth.(Don't get me wrong, I have left my baby when I was going to school or when I went to the store, but you get what I am talking about)

I love being able to serve my husbands as well. He loves seeing me and the baby waiting for him when he gets home, a clean apartment (not all the time, but most of the time), and a warm dinner on the table. This is one of my biggest satisfactions. I love when he compliments my food, or he tells me that he is so happy to be home. Because I am home, I have time to take care of everything else in the home before he comes, so that when he comes home from school and work he can relax and enjoy time with us.

I love having time to dedicate to my passions. Even though a baby keeps me pretty busy, I make time to do things I enjoy doing. Right now I am dedicating time to this blog, I am learning Spanish, I am studying about herbal remedies, and I am making time to work out every day(at least 30min). The list of things I want to learn and do is long, but for right now, I can't focus on more.

I know that this is what God wants me to do right now and I know that being a full-time mom and a full-time wife is my most important role and duty. Elder Chrsitofferson, in the talk "The moral force of women" has said, "There is no superior career, and no amount of money, authority, or public acclaim can exceed the ultimate rewards of family. Whatever else a woman may accomplish, her moral influence is no more optimally employed than here."
Lastly, the joy I feel every day, can never compare to any kind of satisfaction I could feel outside of the home. My family is my greatest joy, and serving them gives me a profound joy and closer relationship to them.

Warmly,
Juliana

What do you stay-at-home moms enjoy the most about your role?

My husband's new favorite dish

Last Saturday, I went shopping with a very good friend of mine, and we got some red and yellow bell peppers on sale. I decided to get as many as I could fit in a plastic bag. Back home, in Albania, we eat a lot of stuffed peppers, but I don't really like how they make it there. So, this time I wanted to try a new stuffed pepper recipe.

 After I made them, my husband ate two of them and couldn't stop telling me how much he liked them. The next day, he took some left overs with him at school. When he came home he said, "I thought that I liked the stuffed peppers that much last night because I was so hungry, but when I ate them today, I felt the exact same way. They were delicious!". When he said that, I was a HAPPY WIFE!

Below I am including the outcome. Isn't the color of those peppers just gorgeous! You can't go wrong with this recipe.

Get the recipe here. (Note I changed the recipe a little bit. I didn't have any eggplant on hand, chile pepper and EVOO)

I hope you will try it out! Let me know what you think!

Warmly,

Juliana

A word to all wives...about your husbands

From the title you may have thought that I am some kind of "men expert". Well, that would be very funny if you thought so. Because I am not anything close to a "men expert". When my husband and I got married, we would fight often, as many new couples do. I had very high expectations and was very critical to most things my husband would do. For some reason, I thought I could change my husband and make him the way I wanted him to be by continually critisising him. Oh, I was so wrong!! Unfortunately, it took me a while to understand that the only person I could change was myself! A really good friend of mine recommended that I read a book (she has a book about almost anything).
The book was titled, "The proper care and feeding of husbands" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The book was very eyeopening to me and it changed my perspective in many things.
One of my favorite quotes from the book, which best summarizes the whole book according to me, says, "Remember, men are simple creatures and very dependent upon their wives for ACCEPTANCE, APPROVAL, AFFECTION. When those three A's are restored, all in well in their world."

Now, this quote is not to make men sound weak. I value men for being "simple" and not complicated as some women are. I value them for needing to be loved because it is amazing that inside a strong man is a tender spirit. And we women are blessed to see the soft side of our husbands, that side that no one can see. For this reason, I believe that we need to nurture our husbands with love and tender care.

I have picked a few quotes that I believe will answer some of the questions we women have or some of the frustration we as women feel in regard to our husbands. I want to use her direct quotes because they are just so great!

1. When our husbands make a mistake or when we think they are making a mistake.
"Wives need to love their husbands as though they have never been hurt before, otherwise, they destroy today"

2. We get caught up on small and unimportant things
"One small step toward a wife's taking responsibility is to keep lips buttoned over things that do not really matter"

3. We criticize our husbands by the way they do things or by how they spend their time etc.
"My advice is that if you continue to nag, control, and be an unpleasant person to be around, then your husband is not going to want to be around you or treat you how you want to be treated.

4. We hold grudges. (I believed that this was my secret arm to make my husband feel guilty. That is so mean of me, right?)
"The cruelest thing a wife can do to a husband is to never be happy and don't forget. Being happy is more and attitude than a reality."

I hope you keep these quotes in mind and try to apply them in your lives.

Do you have a favorite quote or lesson that you have learned which has helped you in your marriage? Please share it with me.

May God bless all your marriages!!!

Warmly,
Juliana

"In the morning the sun will rise" FHE Lesson and dessert recipe

It is again Monday! I am scheduled to give the message for our Family Home Evening tonight. I read the article from Pres. Dieter Uchtdorf in the January Ensign "The best time to plant a tree" and it was beautiful. As we made goals for this New Year, we should know that those goals will help us grow and progress. Some may have already broken one or two resolutions, but that is ok. As long as we keep going, and trying, and never giving up, we are still growing and progressing. The beauty of Monday morning is that it is a new day and a new week. We can always start fresh, not only in the beginning of a new year, or a new week or a new day, but any moment. In the message, Pres. Uchtdorf said "With every new day, a new dawn comes--not only for the earth but also for us. And with a new day comes a new start--a chance to begin again.
In closing, I fully agree with this proverb, "The best day to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second-best time is now".

Now, the treats I am making tonight for our FHE are very simple and cheap. We tried a couple last night and we really loved them. So here you go.

Apple Pie Tacos

Click here to get the recipe.

I hope you all have a great week!

Warmly,
Juliana

Solutions to a crying baby (0- 3 months)

When  Perla was born, I had no experience whatsoever on how to handle a baby, especially a crying one. I am the only child and I don't have any cousins younger than me or with babies. Luckily, my husband is the youngest in a family of 4 and so he had babysat for his nephews a lot. He took a lead on handling our baby as I was recovering and getting used to the whole mommyhood.

In one of my classes I had heard of the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block". I read it and started putting in practice what I had read. IT WAS LIKE MAGIC!! Every time Perla cried, both of us had perfected the techniques mentioned in the book, and we used them on our little bundle of joy "baby". Here is what we learned from the book.

All babies are born prematurely, three months earlier!!! There is a fourth trimester that is missing. This sounds very odd, right? No one would want to carry a baby in the womb for another trimester. Because baby are born early, the first three months of life we need to resemble the warmth, snuggled feeling and noise that the womb offers. The 5 S that Dr. Harvey Karp recommends are

The 1st S - Swaddling
• This is the cornerstone of calming
• Swaddle the baby snug, arms at sides (may resist), hips flexed
• No loose wraps…no overheating…during the first weeks…no swaddling in prone…wake to nurse 8-12/day
• When infants have been swaddled and sleep supine, their risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome
 (SIDS) is reduced with an odds ratio of 0.64 to 0.69.

 The 2nd S – Side/Stomach
• Hold baby on their stomach or on their side
• Don’t let the baby sleep on the side or stomach

 The 3rd S - Shushing 
• As loud as crying (Womb is louder than a vacuum)
• Shushing is the only universal learned sound
• Over-stimulation is not nearly as big a problem as under-stimulation! Babies miss the rhythmic, hypnotic
 sounds and movement. Being in a quiet room is weird for them.
• Sound at 60-80dB significantly increases quiet sleep and decreases active sleep (SIDS occurs most during
 active sleep)
• Don't be afraid that you will make your babies deaf

The 4th S - Swinging 
• Tiny and fast (jiggle not shake…ALWAYS support the head and neck)
• Follow her lead
• Dads are great! Once we get over our initial fears of handling a new baby, we usually feel more comfortable than moms doing the “Jell-O” head jiggle!
• May need swing on fast speed for hours (avoid if premie or muscular weakness…ask MD)
• Never in anger!!!! If you’re getting really frustrated …get some back-up or take a break.

The 5th S - Sucking
• Other cultures nurse 50-100 times/day
• Use a pacifier after the baby is used to breastfeeding

With Perla we didn't have to use all of them at once. Sometimes we would hold her on her stomach and shush to her on her ear, or sometimes we would swaddle her and give her a pacifier. But every time it worked perfectly! She has never cried longer than 5 minutes. You can also find youtube videos where you can see Dr. Harvey as he uses the 5 S on some babies and how magically they work.

I hope this is helpful to some of you new mothers out there. Do you have other methods that worked for you to calm your baby? Please share them with me!

Warmly,
Juliana

Two dinner recipes under $10

This blog has motivated me to try new recipes, so I can share them with you. I like easy and cheap recipes, with easy to follow directions.

The first recipe I am sharing is a Loaded Cauliflower Casserole. Cauliflower is not my favorite veggie and I don't know very many recipes on how to cook it. However, after we tried this casserole and ate the whole pan in one dinner, I knew I had found a new favorite recipe. So here it is:

Loaded Cauliflower Casserole
2 lbs cauliflower florets
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
8 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
8 oz block cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons heavy cream 
2 bunches green onions, sliced (1 1/2 cups)
6 sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 clove garlic, grated
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Steam cauliflower florets until tender.

While cauliflower steams, cream together 6 oz of the shredded cheddar, 6 oz of the Monterey Jack, cream cheese, and heavy cream. 

Stir in sliced green onions, chopped bacon, and garlic.

Set aside.

Drain any liquid from steamed cauliflower and add hot cauliflower to cheese mixture.

Stir cauliflower and cheese mixture together.

Taste for seasoning, and add as necessary.

I tried mashing the cauliflower to give the dish a finer texture

Pour into a 2-3 quart casserole and sprinkle on remaining cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese.

Cover dish with foil and bake for 25 minutes; remove foil and continue to bake until cheese is brown and bubbly. At the end add the bacon and green onions. Serve warm!

I loved this recipe and I am sure kids would love it as well.

The second recipe is a Quinoa and Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes. My husband and I loved it and couldn't stop eating them. They are so healthy and so light, you don't even feel how much you are eating.

Quinoa and Spinach stuffed tomatoes

8 medium ripe tomatoes (I did 6 tomatoes, I thought they would be enough for two people. I was so wrong!!!) 

salt, to taste

2 cups water

1 cup quinoa

2 teaspoons olive oil

6 cups fresh spinach

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Parmesan cheese

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375.

Slice off 1/2 inch of the stem end of the tomatoes and hollow out the inside.

Slice just a small section off of the bottom of the tomatoes so that they will sit flat on a baking sheet. 

Sprinkle salt in the hollow portion of each tomato and place hollow side up on a baking sheet.

Set aside.

Place water and quinoa in a saucepan.

Bring to a boil; lower to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a frying pan and add spinach.

Season with salt and pepper, and cook until just wilted.

Mix in the garlic and parsley, cook for a minute longer, and remove from stove.

Add cooked quinoa to spinach; mix well.

Taste for salt and pepper.

Evenly divide the filling among the tomatoes.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove foil, sprinkle tops with parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Serve.

I hope you enjoy these recipes! Do you have any favorite easy and cheap dinner recipe? Share it with me!

Warmly,

Juliana

FHE Lesson: Missionary work message from the Book of Mormon

Tonight for Family Home Evening, my husband shared a message from the Book of Mormon about missionary work.
Opening Hymn: Called to serve (#249)
Closing Hymn: I'll go where you want me to go (# 270)
The scriptures we discussed are Alma 17 and 26

Alma 17:3 The Sons of Mosiah were very successful in their mission due to much prayer and fasting. This behavior gave them power and authority. (Hard Work)

Alma 17:4 This verse shows us that they had served a mission among the Lamanites for 14 years and brought many people before God. (Good Results)

Alma 17:5 However, the mission brings a lot of challenges as well, challenges which tested the sons of Mosiah in both body and spirit. (Endurance)

Alma 26:35  In this verse the sons of Mosiah state that no other men had experienced such a great joy as they had. (Blessings)

When they returned from their missions, they had much joy even unto boasting because many had been converted and come unto God. Ammon states that this gospel is his light, his life and his salvation. 
In Alma 26:36 we read
Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from it body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.

These powerful stories once again reminded us of the great blessings that come from missionary work. I hope that it will inspire you as well!

What was your Family Home Evening lesson tonight? Share it with me!

Warmly,
Juliana

What Perla has been up to lately!

I haven't said a word about my daughter on this blog yet. Well, here it is what she has been up to lately. 

She had her first Christmas! Yaay! She loved the lights on our Christmas tree, our poor tree has been threatened so many times to be destroyed by her.

She had her first snow a couple of weeks ago. Although she liked looking at it and being outside, she didn't like sitting on it! I don't know why! I mean, don't all kids like to play in the snow??!! :)

She has been trying to fix her own make up. It will be hard to keep her away from make up until she grows a little bit more!

She had her first Halloween, and she was dressed as a lady bug. She was such a cute lady bug!!

Do you wear glasses? She would love to take them out of your face. She finds it so funny.

Look at her trying to walk! She has been taking steps for a long time now, we are hoping she will start walking soon.

She has a messy face every time she eats. It is so hard to keep her hands out of the plate or the spoon. And after her hands are covered with food, she starts rubbing her eyes or touching her hair.

She likes playing with her magnets. After a couple of hours she has been awake, all magnets are scattered everywhere on the floor.

She loves playing with her sensory board her mom made for her. I thought it would be a good idea and a good learning experience, but she keeps pulling all the stuff that's on the board. I glued them first but she pulled everything off the board, and then I used a glue gun. Most of the stuff is still on the board.

She likes to play with her dad with blocks, or actually knock down anything we try to build.

That is all for now. As you can see, our days are full with a lot of activities, fun and troubles!!

New Year's Breakfast

We started 2014 with this delicious breakfast. I believe you all will agree that this is one of the healthiest breakfast recipe out there. Hopefully, this is a good sign meaning that this year we are going to eat healthier.
For breakfast we had Banana pancakes with homemade cranberry sauce and vegetable omelet.

Banana Pancakes
Mix together 1 banana and 1 egg. That's all. Use the mix as you would use a normal pancake mix. I made two pancakes with one banana and one egg.

Cranberry sauce
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
One 12-ounce bag cranberries
Combine the sugar, orange juice, water, cinnamon, salt and cranberries in a medium saucepan. Bring up to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 15 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Vegetable Omelet
1/4 green bell pepper
2 green onions
1/4 zucchini
1 cup spinach
3 eggs
Saute all the vegetables in low heat for 10 minutes with some olive oil, then add eggs. Also add, salt and pepper as desired.
(This is the recipe I used for the omelet but you can add any vegetables you like and add as many eggs as you like).

I hope you enjoy this recipe! HAPPY NEW YEAR! MAY THIS YEAR BE FULL OF BLESSINGS IN YOUR FAMILIES!

Warmly,
Juliana

Do you have any traditions in your family for New Year's Breakfast? What would you do differently in this recipe? I would love to hear your comments.