Meal Planning: Week of February 3rd

Review from last week:

Our trip to the Polish Home Association on Friday night was SO much fun.  Polish beers and Polish food and seriously, who knew Pickle Soup would be so delicious???  We will definitely be back.

The beef roast with parsley tomato salsa was very good - the salsa stole the show.  We froze the rest of the salsa to enjoy with another meal in the future.

Beef and Pork meatballs.  Yum.  We both agreed that Greg should have simmered them in his mom's spaghetti sauce recipe instead of the jar of Prego we used, but hey - they were still tasty.

Here is what we have planned this week:

Friday: Pizza Chicken.  

Saturday:  I'll be going out to with some friends to celebrate a couple birthdays (yay!), so Greg and Ben will do something on their own.

Sunday: Superbowl, which means eating all day long but no dinner :)  I'll be making our favorite Mexican Spirals to bring with us over to the Christensen's House.

Mexican Spirals (Makes about 5 dozen)

1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened

1 cup diced cooked chicken

1/4 lb Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

3/4 teas dried coriander

2 Tab diced jalapeno peppers

2 teas ground cumin

salt

4 flour tortillas (10in)

vegetable oil

salsa and sour cream to serve

In large bowl, combine all ingredients up to tortillas.  Spread mixture evenly over tortillas. Roll up each tortilla tightly around chicken mixture. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. Just before serving, cut each tortilla roll into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange on greased baking sheet, brush with oil (or spray with cooking spray). Bake at 350 for 12-15 min or until lightly browned. Serve warm with sour cream and salsa for dipping

Monday: Salad and Chicken Ravioli (Costco)

Tuesday: Pork Chops w/ Salad

Wednesday: Ribs (probably pre-made ribs ready to heat in the oven)

Thursday: Fish Tacos with Chipolte Cream

Interests at 2 1/3 Years Old

First of all, 2 1/3 years old???  How?

Here are some of the activities that we tend to do daily:

Baths!  As of very recently, Ben has learned that "swimming" can be fun in the bath.  For the longest time ever, he would refuse to lay on his stomach in the tub.  But lately, it's his favorite thing.  He enjoys driving his trucks around the edges of the tub, as well as coloring with our bath crayons.

Coloring!  Coloring is not limited to coloring on paper (pronounced "pa-pee").  He will color on the marker jar and his hands as well.  

And pretend they are fatty joints...?

The Park! (Okay, we definitely don't go to the park on a daily basis, but the man loves swinging).

Throwing every item from his train track onto the floor.  Luckily, he is learning how to help us pick up his toys.

Recently, Ben has started putting stuff down the front of his jammies.  I didn't notice it until he walked over to me (with a bulky shin) and made his "stuck" sound, (which is essentially him pulling at something making a grunting sound - he will do this when he can't open something, too) and when we unzipped, I found a few cars.

Flash forward to a few days later (same jammies, different day), and he had put EVERY SINGLE CAR, TRUCK, TRAIN, TRAIN TRACK, AND PUZZLE PIECE into his jammies.  

So naturally, I caught it on video.  I about died laughing.

I'm happy to report that he is FINALLY getting back into looking at books after a VERY long hiatus.  I used to love reading to him when he was little (and immobile), but once he could run and play, that was it.

DANCE!  He will request "dance" multiple times a day.  He will dance every time he hears a song, a commercial with a song, etc.  And now, if he even thinks about dancing, he will start to move.

The Disney Channel.  Special Agent Oso is his current favorite, which is what he was watching when I snapped this.

And finally, cookies.  

Baby Raleigh is here!!

I cannot quite put into words what it feels like to watch my best friend become a mom.  

Rachel has always been a baby person and has been the favorite of all the kids around.  Since Ben was born, she has been like a second mom to him.  On her due date, she came over to go on a long "get this baby outta here" walk with me -  but before we left, she went into Ben's room when he woke up from his nap and just changed his diaper.  And he found it to be perfectly normal - nothing strange about it :)

Learning that Rachel and Peter were expecting a baby was one thing - I was over the moon excited about it.  But witnessing their happiness and seeing them together as a family makes me more emotional than I expected to be.  They are complete naturals, just totally obsessed and in love with the little guy, and Greg and I couldn't be happier!

After much anticipation, Raleigh Walter was born on January 21st.  I got to meet him the day after he was born.  I'm pretty sure that he already is into me.  My only hope is that we can be even half as supportive, loving and fun as Rachel and Peter have been to Ben - because little buddy, we'll be here for the long haul.

#Cougle4Life ;)

Meal Planning: Week of January 27th

Review from last week:

The only new recipes I tried last week were the Pagliacci Chop Chop (which was fantastic and so easy and I'm definitely making a big batch for lunches this week): 

And the Mexican Corn (From The Can't Cookbook), which is really just corn on the cob (boiled), then rolled in a little butter, cayenne pepper and Parmesan.  I loved how sweet and spicy it was.

Plans for this week:

Friday:  Heading to the Polish Home Association down in Seattle for an authentic Polish meal!  Greg is beyond stoked.  We learned about this place from some friends and coming from a Polish family (Greg's grandparents were 100% Polish FROM Poland), we are really excited to try it!

Saturday: Spaghetti and Meatballs - For the past few weeks Greg has been making one dinner a week.  (He totally would make dinner more often I'm sure, but I've been enjoying it so much).  But it has been so nice having him make dinner on the weekends that I'm encouraging the trend to continue :)  He makes a mean meatball - half pork/half beef.

Sunday: Roast Beef with Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce and arugula salad.

Monday: Breakfast for dinner!  I'm thinking omelets and breakfast sausage.

Tuesday:  Pizza and Salad - Delivering dinner to the new parents (Rachel and Peter) and definitely picking up some for us to have too :)

Wednesday: Orange Chicken and salad (and Brussels sprouts for me).

Thursday: Left Overs?

Friday:  Maybe we will go out to eat!  I have a few Groupons waiting to be used.

Meal Planning: Week of January 20th

Review from last week:

I was confusing "gumbo" for "jambalaya" last week, although Greg has made both before and they are delicious.  This batch of jambalaya was sooooooooo spicy, but amazing.  Went very nicely with a Scuttlebutt Blonde.  Greg is going to make it again this next week and add chicken, and make it with less cayenne pepper and less rice.

We took a trip to The Cheesecake Factory.  I had high hopes of ordering something healthy, but the menu is always so overwhelming with wayyyyyyyy too many choices, I ended up ordering what I always get: Chicken and Biscuits.  Please do not ever look up the number of calories in any dish you order there (like I did) because wow.  But whatever, and we also had cheesecake.  

We also made our favorite summer meal, Pineapple Pork Kabobs.

Maid Rites - which I made specifically for Ben because he loved them so much last time.  This time, he didn't touch them and only ate the sweet potato fries.

Flank steak, roasted carrots with rosemary and roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon.

As a side note, I've started reading the book "Give Peas a Chance" by Kate Samela, to address Ben's picky eating and desire to snack his way through life.  Surprise, surprise - this book (as does all others) advises that we STOP letting him snack between scheduled meal/snack times, which is such an easy pattern to fall into.  It also explains the importance of sitting down at a table, free of distractions, and all eating meals together.  All information I have been told in the past but never paid much attention to.  I have not finished it yet, but it's been so helpful already in helping me establish a good food schedule for Ben.  Next up will be to help me identify ways to incorporate new foods (it advocates to always have a "safe" food - a food we know he is familiar with and likes - on the plate at each meal).  It has a really great way to identify new foods he might try based on the flavors/textures of the foods he already enjoys.

And a piece of advice that my friend Callie has shared with me that her doctor told her: It's OUR job to offer them healthy, balanced meals - it's THEIR job to choose to eat it when they are ready.

So, with as much thought as I have been able to put into meal planning this past year, I'm now also going to really focus on making sure that what I'm making is toddler-friendly (or at a minimum, finding substitutions for Ben that will be acceptable while still offering him what we are eating).

Friday:  I mentioned last week that we were having Lisa and Evan over for dinner.  I've finally settled on a menu: cod with buerre blanc sauce, lemon quinoa w/ tomatoes, arugula salad, fresh bread and a berry crisp. (Ben can have most of this, but will probably opt for fish sticks instead of cod).

Saturday:  Jambalaya (Chicken sausage and brown rice with chicken flavoring as a less spicy option for Ben).

Sunday: Roasted Red Pepper and Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken Breast.  (Breaded chicken breast and sweet potato fries for Ben).

Monday: Pagliacci's Chop Chop Salad. (I'll probably "deconstruct" this salad for Ben (offering him salami, garbanzo beans, cheese) and pair it with a pita bread pizza).

Tuesday:  Grilled herb chicken, rosemary carrots and sweet potato with butter and cinnamon.

Wednesday: Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken over brown rice.

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

24 oz (1 1/2) lbs chicken breast
14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies
15 oz can black beans
8 oz frozen corn
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
14.4 oz can fat free chicken broth
3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
salt to taste

Combine chicken broth, beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, scallions, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in the crock pot. Season chicken breast with salt and lay on top. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred . Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in.Adjust salt and seasoning. Serve over rice

Thursday: Spaghetti squash and meatballs (with garlic toast for Ben).

Like Mother, Like Son

Ben is starting to want to do what we are doing more often.  It's been a struggle for me to just let him instead of trying to steer him away from non kid stuff and towards his toys.  I've noticed a totally positive mood improvement on his part when I just relax a little and let him get into things - like my make up drawer, for example, because he is just doing his job - being a curious toddler and exploring his world!  

This morning before getting started on some work, Ben helped me make coffee.  He saw I had just made a cup a few minutes earlier, so he pulled up a chair, grabbed a kcup from the drawer, put it in and pushed the button!  I ran from across the kitchen, grabbed a fresh mug and made it just in time :)  So helpful he is!

Shortly after, he helped me wash some dishes.  

And his face:

When he saw that I was painting my toe nails, he stopped playing with his trucks, ran over and pulled off his socks and said "purple"!  (First color identification - yessss).

It was all fun and games until....

...he took a bubble to the eye.

A trip to the mall

On Sunday, due to the blustery and rainy weather (and also due to Greg having a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory), the three of us took a trip to Bellevue.  We wanted to get out of the house for a little while and give Ben a chance to roam around and explore, and also partake in his favorite activity of all time - escalators!!

Next up we stopped by the play area, which is almost always a zoo at Bell Square.  We had only been there for about 4 minutes when Ben walked up to a little rock structure he wanted to climb on.  There was an older kid on it, and when Ben made an attempt to climb aboard, the kid growled at him.  Ben looked up at me with nervous eyes, so I said, "that kid is pretending to be a lion - what do lion's say?"  After a few more tries to climb, and a few more growls from the kid, Ben moved on.  (He tends to respect his elders - kids anyway - and didn't want to mess with him).

The very next thing he tried to climb on he slipped off of, and bonked his face.  Ben immediately looked up at me and said, "Done, mom. Bye-bye" - and walked straight towards the exit without even looking back.  

Over. It.

I kind of love how Ben is not one to put up with any drama.  A kid growling at me and a bonk to the face?  Movin' on.

Post Bath Photo Shoot

Meal planning: Week of January 13th

Review from last week:

Super delicious flank steak (instead of the skirt steak tacos I had been planning on) marinated by Greg.  He marinated it in coriander, cumin, chili powder, lime juice and chicken rub.  So tasty that I'm going to make him do it again this week.

Chicken Tetrazzini (which I thought Ben would love, but he refused to try) and roasted cauliflower and sage (which both my boys rejected).  

Pizza chicken, which we hadn't planned on, but is such a favorite of both mine and Greg's.

Boboli thin crust pizza w/ meatballs and mushrooms.

Herb grilled chicken (which I grilled on my panini press), brussels sprouts and asparagus.

In the spirit of keeping things low carb, due mostly in part that I can literally FEEL the holiday weight on myself, here is what we are planning for the week:

Saturday:  Gumbo - Greg used to make this all the time but it's been ages since we have had it.  I guess that is what happens when I completely take over the kitchen.  (Control freak.  #typical).

Sunday: Cheesecake Factory - Greg got a gift card from one of his customers.  Wish me luck going low carb at this establishment...

Monday: Pork Tenderloin - hoping to find a good recipe from one of my new cookbooks.

Tuesday: Left overs

Wednesday: Creamy Tomato Basil Soup w/ Grilled Cheese (for Ben) and salad for us.

Thursday: Flank Steak

Friday: We are having my friend Lisa and her Fiancé (!!!!!) Evan over for dinner, so it will be something vegetarian or in the seafood department.  Recipe TBD.

Weekend Recap

Is it Monday already?

It was such a nice weekend.  I wouldn't mind rewinding this one and doing it again.  On Friday night, we had our friends Dan, Jeannette and Laryd over for an impromptu dinner, which evolved into a game night.  

We magically had a Saturday with zero plans, so we took a trip to the mall to exchange a few things Greg received for Christmas.  Then we had lunch at Red Robin.  For all the times I may complain about Ben not eating much, he will absolutely eat when we give him something he loves.  Our new strategy when going out to eat (which is starting to get slightly easier), is to tell the waiter not to put any french fries on Ben's plate.  He devoured both of his pieces of fish and then was rewarded with french fries to complete his meal ;)

For dinner, I made a cheesy pasta with chicken (and peas, and mushrooms), and thought Ben would love it.  He refused, and chose a banana instead.

And then did a little coloring.  And licked the cookie dough off the mixing spoon.

On Sunday, I met up with some friends for brunch and a manicure!  Ben and Greg went out to play.  We had a little photo shoot before I left.

I LOVE HIM.

We finished up the weekend with a purple bath.  These bath dropz are insanely fun.

It's too bad the work week had to arrive and ruin all our fun :)

New Game

Bath Time Cooperation

27 Months

27 months is SO fun.  I'm noticing a positive trend on the last few updates, so I'm concluding that so far, 2 years old is significantly easier and more fun than 1- 1.5 years old was for us.  (Although, it's obviously not without it's challenges)!

Ben's personality continues to develop and I love watching his little mind working.  Questions are now often met with him thinking and then saying:

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, No mom".  Or "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, uh huh mom"!

Another fun development has been being able to reason with him.  In months past, taking an item away from him or saying no to something would be met with him whining and melting down, but lately, I'm able to explain WHY we are or are not doing something and it's often enough for him.

Example - Ben not wanting to get out of the bath, (which normally would result in him crying and kicking to get back in).  Now, I will say, "Do you want to have some milk?  Because we can get out of the tub, into our jammies, and THEN have some milk - does that sound okay?"  And he will stop and say, "yes".

We have also been teaching him to use words for things (instead of crying, grunting, reaching for things out of his reach, being mad at us for doing something, and the occasional hitting, etc.).  Words like:

Sip
Stop
Jump
Dance
Dump
Thomas
Drive
Play with me (instead of being pissed when we are otherwise distracted)
Eat
Open
Close
Up
Down
Done
Juice (the other day he kept saying "door", until I realized he wanted me to open the door to the refrigerator and then said "juice")!
Nuts (when reaching for the almonds I have on my counter right now)

I realize that this is all just him developing his language and speech skills, but WOW is this working to our advantage and creating a happy child.  Hallelujah!

Ben's naptime is still typically about 3 hours in the middle of the day.  He also is back to being a dream at bedtime.  

While I don't have his current measurements, he IS starting to fit into some 3T clothing, which seems insane!  I suppose some brands (Gap) run a little smaller, particularly in their shirts, but it's kind of nice having him able to wear both 2T and 3T - especially when it feels like we go through 3 outfits a day due to peanut butter/nutella consumption.

His current likes - dancing, playing with my hair, (he will just comb his fingers through it for 20 minutes before bed), jumping games, running games, riding piggy back on dad, singing the (insert animal here) on the bus - he will request doggy, "neow" (kitty), "roar" (lion), "sss ssss" (snake), and duck), counting to 10, repeating the alphabet, playing with his train, throwing all of his trains and train tracks off of his train table and then picking them all back up, car rides, going on walks in the stroller, slides, cats, doggies, cookies, crackers, bath time, hugs and kisses, kissing his stuffed animals (and sometimes his trucks), Play-doh, coloring (scribbling), when someone drives up our driveway (he almost always yells "dada!!", and if it's not Greg he will yell "Ta-ma" (grandma), playing on the ipad, Despicable Me 2, Wreck it Ralph, puzzles, any and all trucks, watching truck videos, playing outside, and escalators.

I continue to feel so lucky for the amount of time I get to spend with Ben.  He is the sweetest and funniest little guy and I often still cannot believe that he is MINE :)