Meal Planning: Week of June 3rd

I didn't do much cooking this last week - whoops!  This week I'm planning a lot of recipes!

Saturday: With a zoo outing planned in the morning and grocery shopping to do in the afternoon, I think we will grab something quick and easy to have for dinner tonight.  No cooking :)

Sunday: Honey Sesame Chicken over rice.

Monday: Breaded and baked cod with a Strawberry and Arugula Salad (BH&G):

Tuesday: Pineapple Pork Kabobs over quinoa.

Wednesday: Honey and Spice Sauteed Pork Hand Tacos.  This was an add in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine - looks pretty simple, so I thought I'd try it:

Thursday: Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cheese

Friday: On Friday I am leaving town for my friend Jamie's bachelorette party in Chelan!  Words cannot begin to describe how excited I am!  There was a time when the thought of leaving Ben for even an evening felt like an impossible feat.  That time has passed.  I know that I will miss him terribly, and on Sunday morning I will be hurrying home to snuggle the crap out of him, but I'm very much looking forward to drinking wine and having a weekend dedicated to relaxing, celebrating and being off mom-duty!  Oh, and Greg and Ben can enjoy left overs from Thursday.

Favorite Things

One of my favorite things to do is to try new products or foods, check out new restaurants, read new books or magazines, take Ben new places, etc.  And when I get recommendations from friends or family, it makes me even more excited to try things as I have a personal review that all but guarantees I will like it, too!

I thought it would be fun to put together some of my current favorite things in the hopes that my other blogger friends might do the same :)

So, here is my (somewhat random) list of things I'm into these days:

Favorite Magazine(s): After moving (and slightly before we purchased our home), I got somewhat obsessed with home improvement magazines (and TV shows, for that matter).  It was probably because when I didn't have the space (or desire) to decorate or entertain much, I avoided this type of reading material.  Now, I'm making up for lost time!  My favorites are Better Homes and Gardens and HGTV Magazine.  Instead of adding clutter to my life (and in the process, saving a few trees), I subscribe to the iPad/tablet editions only.  It is cheaper than the paper copy subscription, and I can easily download them each month! It also seems to provide extras - like links to videos, as well as links straight to where you can buy specific items you see.  InStyle Magazine is now my distant 3rd favorite :)

Favorite Cleaning Product: As part of a house-warming present, my friend Maureen got me a bottle of Mrs. Meyer's clean day counter top spray.  It is my new cleaning obsession. While they are all good, my favorite scent is Geranium.  It makes the whole kitchen smell amazing!

Favorite Soup: My mom turned me on to this brand - and now Pacific Organic soup is my new favorite thing to have for lunch.  The Roasted Garlic Mushroom Lentil Soup is something I now crave every day.

Favorite Perfume: I tend to select a perfume and then wear it for YEARS.  Back in middle school (or early high school), it was Tommy Girl.  I then graduated to Clinique "Happy".  I then moved on to Ralph Lauren "Romance".  About 5 years ago, I discovered Chanel "Mademoiselle" and I haven't looked back since. 

 

Favorite Podcast: Maybe I'm alone in this, but I used to listen to Loveline All.The.Time. back in the day.  I even used to tape it (on cassette tape) and listen to it on my walkman.  I always thought Adam Carolla was hilarious and thought Dr. Drew had so much insight and common sense.  Anyway, I subscribe to the Adam Carolla podcast, and recently, he and Dr. Drew teamed up and created "The Adam and Dr. Drew Show" podcast.  These days, I rarely drive anywhere without listening to one of these, and I even got Greg hooked on it too.  Also download worthy, This American Life.

 

 

Favorite Baby Wash:  Episencial Playful Wash.  I feel like I've tried so many on Ben, but this has been my favorite by far.  It lathers up easily, smells great, and doubles as a shampoo/body wash.

 

Favorite Place to Shop: DUH - Amazon.com.  Aside from shopping for clothes, which could probably be a blog post all on its own, Amazon is where it's at.  Seriously, if you don't have an Amazon Prime membership, you are missing out on one of life's greatest conveniences.  $79/year gets you free 2 day shipping on nearly everything you would ever want to buy, a free kindle book to borrow each month, and unlimited streaming on all prime eligible movies/tv shows.  We buy all of our diapers, diaper bag refills, a lot of our baby foods (fruit purees, snacks, etc.), KIND bars in bulk, batteries, books, almost everything I need for Ben, (the list goes on) from here.  I also think I did 95% of my Christmas and Easter shopping online, which in my mind is priceless for busy peeps!

 

 

Favorite Skin Care Products: Hands down, Dermalogica.  I love their Special Cleansing Gel to wash my face and their Active Moist moisturizer.  And used with a Clarasonic makes the products work even better :)

 

  

Favorite Beverage: Aside from something alcoholic, La Croix sparkling water in the Peach-Pear flavor is my favorite thing right now.

 

 

Favorite Candle: My mother in law turned me on to the Bath and Body Works 3-Wick candles.  She instructed me to ONLY buy them when they are on sale (2 for $20) and informed me that they often provide free shipping :)  I LOVE having a candle burning in the house, and these really are the best.  My favorite right now is the "Spring" candle.  I also love "Leaves", which my MIL loves, too.  (It's a Fall exclusive).  I also learned on another blog how to re purpose them once they are finished burning - and I now store all of my make-up brushes in one and Ben's tooth brush and tooth paste in another.

 

 

Favorite Place to Buy (Cheap) Art: www.gallerydirect.com - When we moved, I suddenly found myself with large, blank walls to fill.  I cannot even remember how I came across this website in the first place, but I have bought 3 canvas paintings from them and love them all!  The cool thing about the website is that you can choose from thousands of pieces of art, and then choose what type of frame, matting, or canvas you would like - in addition to the size you want! 

 

I think that will conclude this edition of my favorite things, but as I discover new favorites, I'll be sure to share in the future. 

 

So, what are YOUR favorite things?





Super Ben

Ben finally fits into this cute "Superhero in Training" shirt (and cape!) that our friend Adam gave him for Christmas.

I think if Ben could choose a super power, it would be to summon an iPhone from the counter when we have taken it away from him.

 

Memorial Day Weekend

After a long week, one that Ben was sick during most of, it was SO nice to have a long weekend with not much planned.  And I'm not sure WHAT got into Greg, but he was ALL ABOUT taking care of business this weekend.

On Friday afternoon, Ben and I made a trip to Target to pick up some extra pillows, blankets and a lamp for the spare bedroom for when Greg's family comes to visit us next month.  Have I mentioned that Greg's mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew will be here to visit us - all at the same time?  We are going to have a VERY full house, but it is going to be so much fun for us all to be together - and I know that Ben will absolutely love all of the extra attention he will get from his family.

After I taught yoga on Saturday morning, Greg went for a FOUR MILE RUN. (!?!?)  When he returned, he mowed the lawn while Ben and I went grocery shopping, and then grilled the most delicious filet's that evening for dinner.  We also bought Ben a climbing toy/slide for the back yard.  I never thought I would want to have a big plastic toy in my yard, but guess what?  Kids LOVE big plastic toys to climb on, and as a parent you pretty much do whatever will make them happy :)

On Sunday, we went out for breakfast, and when we returned Greg cleaned the gutters while I did some weeding and cleaned all of the windows (inside AND out)!  I also went through my closet(s) and helped Greg go through his to get rid of 3 large garbage bags of clothes to donate.  Today, Greg took both of our cars in for oil changes and then Ben and I vacuumed and cleaned the interior of the cars.  Tonight, Lisa and Evan are coming over for dinner - a great cap to a surprisingly productive weekend!

Oh, and I should mention the book I'm reading now - called The Happiness Project.  My mom recommended it to me, and I have to say, as a person that seems to gravitate towards self-help reading (not sure why...), this is a really interesting and fun read.  This woman (the author) decides that while she has a great and happy life, she thinks that she can become happier - so she focuses on one area of her life each month (while continuing on with her resolutions from all of the months prior) to determine if she can increase her happiness even more.  My explanation of it sounds pretty lame, but I'm finding it kind of motivating.  I happen to know how much focusing on the positive aspect of things (rather than dwelling on the negative) can change your perspective, which will change how you feel, which will change your situation/relationships/whatever - but even knowing that, it can sometimes be hard to execute when you are a person that can also get kind of stuck on the annoying things that happen each day (which I also sometimes find myself doing).  Anyway, it's worth a read :) 

The rest of the weekend has been dedicated to staying in pajamas as much as possible, renting movies, reading, cleaning, snuggling, playing and looking out the window at the gloomy, rainy weather.

Yard in Bloom

I'm mostly posting this so that my mother in law, Marcia, can see how much our yard has "sprung" this Spring!  I know nothing about plants and flowers (yet) so even though she will be here next month, I want to make sure she sees what is happening now in case anything changes :)

 

Back when she was here last October, she did a bunch of pruning for us - I cannot believe how much everything has grown!

 

 

Flowers in the front of the house

 

View from the spare bedroom - on the left side of the house

 

Plants in front of Ben's room

 

Planter boxes in the back yard - I hope these become beautiful flowery plants...

or else I may have to change that some day

 

This plant/tree/bush/whatever over our gate was cut ALL THE WAY BACK last Fall/Winter - it literally grew back in a week's time....and it has these beautiful, hanging purple flowers all over it!

Also, our lawn is growing like crazy!  I had no idea that during the spring it was normal to have to mow it 2 times a week!  I'm told it will become less maintenance as we get into summer, but still - the things you don't know until you are responsible for a lawn!

 

Weekend Recap

We took a walk up to the middle school and played:

 

Greg snapped this on Friday night after a long, tiring day.  Sometimes, I love when Ben has a slumber party with us.  (Although, it usually will only last until 1 am or so, when he starts to insist on laying horizontally, kicking one of us constantly).

We had the Broady's over for a fiesta on Saturday - I have never seen our boys play better together than they did that night :)

 

Playing in daddy's toolbox.  Greg fixed our gates so they now close all the way - so nice to be able to trap Ben in the backyard now!

Being clingy to mama.

 

Greg stretching before his run on the Burke Gilman.  Ben and I walked down to the park and met him there.  Also noteworthy, the Lake Forest Park Farmer's Market is now open on Sundays, and they have SO much great fresh produce!  I am going to try to do my grocery shopping on Sunday afternoons now (when possible) and make a stop at the market first to buy produce.

Self Soothe?

I debated even posting this, because pre-teen Ben may kill me for putting this out there, but I find too cute/random/weird not to.

Ben has gone from always needing to touch some sort of bare skin (my arm, his cheek) when he is tired or getting ready to fall asleep, to now narrowing in on his own nipple.  If he has his binky or a bottle, you can bet money on the fact that his hand will be down (or up) his shirt.  It seriously cracks me up.

Teamwork!

PCC Cooking Class with Mom

 

For our "official" Mother's Day celebration, my mom and I attended a cooking class at PCC.  They have SO many classes to choose from, but we chose the "Springtime Sunday Supper" class.

 

The chef, Pam Sawyer, was really nice, helpful, and gave a little talk about how she tries to always shop in season with what is fresh and local.  It was kind of motivating :)  I wish I had the time to shop every day for what I plan to cook that night, but since that is impossible, I will happily settle for coming away from the class with a few new recipes that I seriously cannot wait to make again!

 

My mom and I were in charge of making the Chicken Paillard with Lemon, Capers and Olives.  It was by far my favorite part of the meal, so I'm happy we got to make that one.  The group also made Lemon-Thyme Spring Pea Crostini, Asparagus Soup, Sauteed Carrots with Herbed Butter, and Strawberry Financiers.  YUM.

 

Here is the recipe from the chicken we made.  I'll probably make this within the week.  It was so good, and my mom told me that the leftovers she had cold were delicious too! 

 

I can't wait to take another class!

 

 



Edamame Hummus

While going through my freezer today, I noticed I had a few bags of edamame hiding in the back corner.  I remembered this recipe for edamame hummus that I used to make ALL THE TIME, and thought I would make a batch and see if Ben liked it, too!

Well, my kid is full of surprises.  He LOVED it. 

Edamame Hummus

Ingredients:

1 bag (12 oz) frozen shelled edamame
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons tahini (or you can grind up sememe seeds with a little olive oil)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Serve with chips, pita bread, bell peppers, whatever.   I am obsessed with the multigrain chips that Costco sells, so I eat them with that. 

Enjoy!

Meal Planning: Week of May 20th

I've got a Costco-sized bag of quinoa, and I'm not afraid to use it.  Here is what I have planned for meals next week.

Monday: Breaded cod, roasted asparagus and arugula salad.

Tuesday: Grilled Flank steak (marinated in this) and Pesto Caprese Quinoa Salad.

Wednesday: BBQ quicken quinoa salad.  This time, we will actually BBQ the chicken (instead of cooking it in the crockpot).

Thursday: Boca burgers, arugula salad

Friday: Lemon pepper cod and Herbed Quinoa Salad.

And since I will already have cherry tomatoes and green onions on hand, why not make a batch of my favorite Tuscan-Style Tuna Salad to have for lunches this week?

I also have a Costco-sized (double dozen) carton of eggs (brown, organic, hella-cheap) to use up this week, so I'm going to try to cook omelettes (1 egg, 2-3 egg white) for breakfast on the days I have a few spare minutes in the morning.

To save time, pre-chop onion, bell peppers, and spinach.  Then all you need is a sprinkle of cheese (cheddar, goat cheese, whatever sounds good) and breakfast is ready in no time!

Quick side-note - since Ben has reached an age where we officially are trying to avoid restaurants unless there is an event where it can't be helped - we have been making more meals at home over the weekend, when we used to probably go out more. I may have to start planning meals for 6-7 days week for the time being, because as the mid-week approaches, we have already gone through all of our proteins and most of our produce.

Mother's Day Weekend

This past weekend felt like one long Mother's Day celebration!

On Saturday morning, my mom and I went out to breakfast together.  She brought me these amazing potted flowers as my gift - which looks absolutely beautiful on our deck!  It already  has me inspired to work on my green thumb and to get more pots and planters for our outdoor spaces. 

 

While I was at breakfast, the boys went shopping.  And Greg dressed Ben like this:

 



 

We then headed over to Rachel and Peter's house to drop Ben off for a few hours.  They had agreed to babysit so that Greg and I could go see The Great Gatsby (which was an amazing movie with an amazing soundtrack - download it!).  Greg and I snuck out while Ben was playing in their back yard, and weren't sure how that was going to go down, but apparently it went great!  I later saw this picture, and received a text saying that we should head back to their house and crack open a bottle of wine - because Ben was still having fun playing at the beach....!  

 

So, we did :)  When they got back, I snagged a few more pictures from Rachel's phone so I could share their adventures here:

That evening we headed back to our place (with Rachel) and Greg made the flank steak chilaquiles for dinner - and they were pretty delicious.

On Sunday morning, I woke up to breakfast in bed - banana and nutella french toast!  It wasn't quite "breakfast in bed" though, because as soon as Ben saw that I was awake, he climbed up on the bed and wanted to sit on top of me - which didn't quite work well with a plate of food.  :)

After opening my gifts - perfume, truffles, and a couple fun bracelets - we headed to the zoo to spend a few hours!

Ben was more interested in this water fountain than he was any of the animals ;)

 

 

But we did get to see a few animals very up close and personal!

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!  I am so happy that I get to be Ben's mom :)