Dana Burland

Mamas looking to feed hungry children good things, granola fans, peeps who are ready for warming cinnamon laced fall inspired foods--gather round. I made this oatmeal bake last week as a breakfast solution for my little boy, and he’s loving it. And so am I. It comes together quick with mostly pantry ingredients and makes really great on-the-go soft, filling breakfast bars. Once cooled I slice my bake into bars and wrap them in tin foil. I pull them out fast and micro them for 30 seconds for a really yummy start to the day. Baked Oatmeal Bars Modified from All Recipes Ingredients 3 cups rolled oats ¼ cup maple syrup ¼ cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon A dash of nutmeg 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 2 eggs ¼ cup melted butter 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ¾ cup dried cranberries, blueberries or diced apple Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 2. In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients 3. Stir in milk, eggs, butter and vanilla extract 4. S...

Woo! We’re having a murphy bed built! This will be a long road of a project, so I thought I’d blog through it. Chapter 1: Why, though? We have a lot of guests stay with us, and a lovely finished basement (with kitchenette and bathroom!) that's perfect for them. However our air mattress game is losing steam (pun intended), and our big open basement is not much of an actual guest “room”. Our long term plan is to set up a biggg sectional down there for family movie nights, kiddy sleep overs and MSU football parties--a dream that we really, really don’t want to compromise with a sleeper sofa. Chapter 2: Background on the build I’ve got a local handyman who we’re working with for this project. He’s got skillz, is flexible and very into dreaming/discussing the project plan. I have high hopes he’s gonna build us something great. The height of our basement won’t allow a traditional vertical murphy bed. (Don’t forget the total height of this build is bed length PLUS six-ish inches...

Let’s not talk about this weekend that literally contained blood, sweat, tears and every other possible body fluid. Let’s instead talk about how great Friday night was. It was our one year of parenting celebration dinner party with two other couples who are also new parents with a babe around C’s age. These two other women were a huge reason why I stayed afloat this past year. Their husbands are equally great and can swap dad jokes with B so fast and furiously you’d assume they’d been at this for years. The six of us treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at New Hotel Mertens with apps and wine and cocktails and duck and how-did-you-cook-that-meat-so-so-good??? Beyond the food it was such a really, really great night. One of the women gifted me and the other with this framed picture--the first picture of us new moms together, walking our babes, talking, troubleshooting and celebrating each other. It’s the most beautiful picture meaning so many things.

Below is a blog post I wrote for my doula's website in her "Self Care In Real Life" series. "K" and "A", are my closest mom friends and the most recent of additions to my social and support circles.   “Sippy cups with straws. Who is doing this? Discuss.” This was one of the recent texts to come across my mom’s group text. This text is filled with memes, articles, jokes and support. It would take days to scroll all the way to the beginning of this text group which started last summer. It’s been my lifeline, an outlet, and a unique way I practice self care. “What’s the future looking like up there? Is your babe walking yet?” K & A--the other two moms in my group chat--also have one or almost one year olds like me; they’re also working moms like me; they’re also first time moms like me. We’re learning as we go and we’re learning from each other. “Throw up vs spit up, how do you tell the difference? We knew of each other before we got preg...

Why aren’t we more into meatloaf? Am I 40 years too late to this party? I don’t care, I made meatloaf the other night for the second time in my life and it was good. It was super soft, melt in your mouth like a really good burger. And it came together fast, with no laundry list of ingredients AND it reheats so well. So there. I’m on the meatloaf train. And so is C, and he’s the greatest boy on the planet, so with both of us aboard maybe you should jump on too. Real Easy Meatloaf Based off this recipe Ingredients 3 slices of sandwich bread--pulsed in a food processor into crumbs ¼ cup milk 1 pound ground beef 1 pound pork 1 small onion, grated or whirled up in your food processor 2 cloves minced garlic 1 egg lightly beaten Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon thyme, sage or rosemary--or heck, a mix of all three ½ cup ketchup 1 tablespoon brown sugar Directions 1. Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. 2. Mix bread crumbs and mil...

We’re back from a four day long vacation. We spent a long weekend just south of South Haven with family in a rental cottage. We were five minutes from Lake Michigan and constantly in a state of chill and fun times. Over the weekend we blueberry picked, beach dwelled, strolled town, cooked out and chased a giggly little boy in circles around the cottage. We made smores over a campfire just about every night. I got over halfway in a really good book. We watched C dance and taught him how to say “hi”. One of the best parts of having a kid is getting to share his joy with people we love. We got to do a lot of that this past weekend--plus got to relax as parents a bit, too.

We were on the East side of the state for my brother-in-law’s college graduation party this weekend. We made a trip of it and spent some time with family, friends and Ikea. It was a lot of people and a lot of movement for me as an adult, I was completely amazed by how well C did with it all. Even at the graduation dinner party, where 40+ people were tightly wandering around a small house, our boy was cheesing it up and having a great time. He’s simply the best.

Beach? Zoo? Library? Brunch? I had lots of ideas coming into last weekend. On Saturday we went to the farmer’s market where we fed C fresh blueberries during our stroll. Later we went to a new-to-us zoo, Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park . C loved the bats the most. It was a hot, hot day so we didn’t stay very long. On Sunday we went for a long morning walk, and had great intentions of beating the heat by visiting the library later. Unfortunately they were closed so we ran errands instead. In the afternoon we filled up the kiddie pool and splashed around for a while and then layed on the hammock. No wild weekend to report--just a good, tiring one.

Last weekend was so good I didn’t want it to end. Making dinner Sunday night felt like admitting defeat. Tears! But we were hungry, and I was too busy weekending to do lunch prep for the week. I took stock of the fridge and dreamed up a new recipe on the spot. One I knew Ben was going to really, really love. And love it he did. So much that when he took leftovers to work on Monday he texted me to say I had to write this recipe down. So here it is. A great Sunday dinner, happy family and yummy leftovers--all of that is so good I can almost forget the sadness of a weekend end. Summer Sunday Spaghetti and Meatballs Ingredients 24 meatballs--I buy them cooked/frozen and microwaved them to dethaw 2 bell peppers--one red, one yellow Half a small red onion A whole lot of minced garlic Pasta--in some sort of shape. Half a box. 1 jar of tomato/basil tomato sauce ¼ cup of heavy cream Basil--a lot! At least 10 leaves Salt, pepper and red pepper flakes Directions Do what yo...