My Muse

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to stop taking 20+ photos of him a day.  In addition to being pretty darn cute, his facial expressions and personality make for endless photo ops.  

Waking up from his nap with the most vicious pillow crease on his face.  This filter washed them out a bit...

...but you can see more of what I mean here (I think)?

Shopping with mommy at Payless.  I think he finds the heels the most interesting because there are so few of them at our house :)

Playing with "Thomas" (what he calls anything he keeps on his train table).  All of the little matchbox cars were Greg's when he was little.  I laugh every time I see the "Fun Van".  So creepy.

Extreme puzzles = dump all the pieces of every puzzle out and GO.  Lately, he isn't even interested in putting the puzzles back together (which as I grow more and more Type A by the minute, bothers me on a deeper level than I care to admit), he only wants to "dump" them using his dump truck over, and over, and over...

Breakfast at our favorite local cafe.

A crop top moment.  (He was stuck).

Running out to get coffee (for me) and a doughnut (for him) one rainy morning.  He sat (adorably) all by himself as I watched him while I waited in line.  It cracked me up how many people walked by and looked at him strangely, as if a 2 year old just woke up, threw on his leather hoodie and stopped at Starbucks by himself before starting his day. 

Waking up grumpy from his nap.  He was repulsed that I offered him his favorite snack of goldfish crackers and cheese.  Instead he wanted cookies, (pronounced "cock-ies", and sometimes shortened to, well, you can put it together...).

Working from home with mama.  After never letting him touch my computer, when he sweetly said "touch, button, i try, puter, mama? PLEASE?" I OF COURSE let him.  We opened up a word document and he went to town.

Bundled up for a cold (but sunny) morning walk over the weekend, we stopped by the store to pick up a few things I needed to bake something or other, and grabbed him a bagel and cream cheese.  Such a cool dude.

Meal Planning: Week of March 3rd

Review from last week:

Dinner at Dan and Jeannette's house was delicious, as always.  They have a deep fryer (something I want, but am not sure I can condone owning myself...sounds dangerous - both safety and health-wise), and made amazing halibut tacos with coleslaw.  Yum. 

Chicken Saltimbocca - one of our favorites.  The zoodles tasted great in the sauce, too:

This salmon baked (with lemon and thyme) was delicious.  Greg isn't a huge salmon fan, but I am, and this one tasted creamy and rich.  We had it with asparagus (which I still cannot believe Greg eats now) and the Hollandaise sauce from this recipe.  (It made me want to make Eggs Benedict, ASAP).

Plan for next week:

Friday: Jambalaya!  I'm hoping Greg is up for making this again.

Saturday: Leftovers.  We are having some friends over for brunch, and I teach yoga in the afternoon, so no cooking Saturday night.

Sunday: I have been craving the layered beef chili ever since I made it a few weeks ago, so I'm ready to make it again.

Monday: Leftover chili

Tuesday: Dinner at Becca and Jess's house - no cooking!

Wednesday: Butter-Basted Halibut with Capers and asparagus

Thursday: Pagliacci's Chop Chop Salad and Naan Pizzas.

** side note - I need more words to describe food.  I've maxed out my lifetime use of "delicious", "amazing", and the ever popular "nom".

Growing Up Too Fast

A LOT happened over the weekend.  My brain is having a hard time even processing it all.  So much so, in fact, that I'm considering part of it just a "weekend trial"....  I'll explain:

Over the past few weeks, Ben has started working "I try", and "I do it", and "by myself" into his vocabulary.  His interest in being a "big boy" has grown a lot.

On Friday, as I was cleaning Ben's room, I noticed that the front of his crib was quite dirty - finger prints and such.  Rather than clean it, it suddenly occurred to me that it might be time to take a leap and transition him to a "toddler bed" by removing the front.  I hadn't been thinking about doing this any time soon, but on a whim, I whipped out an Allen Wrench and went for it.  I also, to be cautious, put a door knob lock on the inside of his room in case he decided to get up and wander around in the middle of the night.

We were pleased when Ben stayed in his bed ALL NIGHT LONG.  He did great during his nap the following day.

On Saturday night, Ben suddenly pointed to his diaper and said, "I poop"....(he hadn't).  I asked if he wanted to go sit on the potty, and he said yes.  We went into the bathroom, he insisted on taking his own jammies off ("I DO IT"), and then proceeded to sit on his little potty and pee.  !!!!!  This was a first, and it was so awesome.  I credit this book for inspiring him, because for a few weeks he has been quoting pages from it.  He (and we) were SO proud!

And although I am incredibly proud of my little guy, each time I walked past the crib over the weekend, or even thought about it, I felt a little tightening in my chest.  It is funny how some things hit harder than others.  I suppose I just hadn't thought it all the way through, and after it was done, I realize that I wasn't ready.  On Monday evening, I put the crib back together.  Don't ask me why.  I could rationalize it 100 different ways, but I'll leave it at I wasn't prepared for it to happen yet.

And through this, I've realized that my number 1 parenting issue is going to be not wanting to let go: of the baby stage, of my crazy toddler, of my little boy.  Parenting is hard in general, but this is the hardest part for me.

SO, we (me, with a massive amount of moral support from Greg), will be giving Ben his "toddler bed" back in the upcoming months.  The good news is that he has always LOVED his crib.  And at least I know he can handle a big boy bed pretty well - much better than his mama can :)

Meal Planning: Week of February 24th

Review from last week:

As I mentioned before, Valentine's Day was a hit :)  We made our own crab cake sauce from scratch, and it was great.  Went well with the steak, too.



On Saturday, after having a few cups of coffee, Greg went for a 5 mile run (show off) while I took Ben for a long, hilly walk.  And then we came home and stuffed our faces ;)

More skillet eggs:

I also baked blueberry buttermilk muffins.  My friend Lisa sent me the recipe and I couldn't resist making them.  

I also made a batch of fudge brownies (from a box), but added in some spinach that both Greg and Ben did not detect was an ingredient, which was quite satisfying :)  I used a Veggie Blend-In, which is just pureed vegetables that I bought instead of spending my own time washing, cutting, and pureeing myself.

I didn't end up making halibut last week, but I DID make the Ricotta Meatballs and they were fantastic.  So much flavor.  Ben woke up from his nap on Tuesday evening (he went down late) and kept saying, "I'm hanky...I'm hanky"....until I FINALLY figured out he was saying, "I'm HUNGRY", and proceeded to devour 1 large meatball, zucchini noodles, macaroni and cheese, sourdough toast with butter, and several grapes.  AND he had room for animal crackers and a few bites of spinach-brownie.  Success!!!

And speaking of zucchini noodles (or, "zoodles"), I finally used the contraption I purchased a week ago and these were so much fun.  My friend Kristin told me all about it, as she has been following a Paleo diet for several months, and I'm looking forward to using it to spiral many more vegetables!

Finally, worth noting, my friend Brenna posted a picture of her turkey/spinach/mac and cheese combo she came up with, and it made me want to make it for myself (and for Ben).  I replaced the spinach with brussels sprouts and it was such a satisfying lunch :)  (Greg stayed far away as he hates brussels sprouts, ground turkey, and thinks Annie's Organic Mac and Cheese is the most ridiculous thing ever when Kraft is available at 1/3 the cost - along with all it's delicious chemicals) ;)

This next week will be mostly a "use what you have" week.  When we can hardly open our freezer because it's stuffed full of halibut and salmon (notttttttt complaining), and our pantry has enough various boxed dinners and ingredients to make food for a month, we will only need to buy dairy and produce this week.

Friday:  We were invited to have dinner at Dan and Jeannette's house, so no plans here :)

Saturday: Skinny Chicken Saltimbocca

Sunday: Slow-baked Salmon with Lemon and Thyme

Monday: Costco Ravioli 

Tuesday: Halibut Tacos with Chipolte Cream

Wednesday: Tuna helper and salad :)

Thursday: Left overs.

Valentine's Day Part 2

Knowing that it would be a special treat, I made some chocolate dipped strawberries for my 2 valentines to enjoy - and they definitely did!

On Friday, I came home from work to Greg in the kitchen cooking up the most delicious dinner: steak, scallops and crab cakes.  He also brought me roses and had a pint of Ben & Jerry's waiting for me in the freezer.  What more could a girl want??!

I had put together a bag of Valentine's goodies for Ben:

An alphabet, a number, and a color (fish) puzzle

A new sparkly "big boy" cup that he lovvvvvvvvvves drinking from

A book called "Counting Kisses", which just happen to be two of his favorite activities :)

A new pillow case, which matches the bedding I eventually want to purchase for him when we transition him to a big boy bed.

Monster's University on BluRay, which is one of his new favorite movies.

Valentine's Day

Ben sure is having a sweet Valentine's Day with these two gals :)

Callie, thanks for taking SUCH good care of my little love bug!  XOXO

Meal Planning: Week of February 17th

Review from last week:

Due to us unexpectedly being in town this weekend, I added a few items to our meal plan.  After a few months of it sitting in my Amazon cart, and after a little encouragement from a fellow foodie, I finally pulled the trigger and purchased Kitchen Revelry.  I made 2 dishes from it last week and so far, it's a big hit.  It seriously makes me want to throw a dinner party every single night.

This was the Layered Chili I made on Friday night (served with honey cornbread).  The recipe called for ground turkey, but offered a ground beef alternative.  I used ground top sirloin, and I could absolutely tell a difference using a higher quality meat.  



Layered Chili (from the cookbook, Kitchen Revelry)

3T chili powder
2T ground cumin
1/2t dried red chili flakes
1/4 cup EVOO
3 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped seeded green bell peppers
6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced - (or if you are like me, buy an enormous jar of minced garlic from Costco and forget about mincing your own.  1t = 1 garlic clove)
2 lbs ground turkey meat (or ground beef)
1T dried oregano
1T cocoa powder or 1 ounce dark chocolate, chopped
1 12 ounce bottle lager beer
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
2 15.5 ounce cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Mix the chili powder, cumin and chili flakes in a small bowl.  Heat a heavy large nonstick pot over med-high heat.  Add the chili powder mixture to the pot and stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute until fragrant.

Add the oil to the pot, then the onions, bell peppers, and garlic and saute until beginning to soften (about 5 min).  Add the meat and saute until no longer pink (about 5 min).  Add the oregano, then the tomato paste, salt and cocoa powder; stir 1 min.  Add the beer and simmer 5 min.  Add the diced tomatoes and the beans.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to med-low and simmer slightly covered until the flavors develop, (about 30 min).

On Sunday Morning, after a few hours of playing in the fresh snow, we came in side and enjoyed some skillet eggs with smoked bacon and spinach, also from Kitchen Revelry.  This just might be my new favorite breakfast.  You use bacon and sourdough bread (cubed) to form a crust, and then layer it with spinach, shallot, eggs, and top with fresh chives.  I'm going to attempt to make this a little healthier next time using turkey bacon and fewer bread crumbs...but if that is a bust, I have zero problem returning to the original recipe.  Yum.

This bruschetta was such a crowd pleaser.  We had it on Saturday night when the Cougans were over.  The next time I make it, I will make the bread slices a little larger by slicing them diagonally.  I also might just lightly brush them with olive oil and toast them in the oven instead of sauteing them in SO MUCH BUTTER, (although, I didn't hear any complaints about that).  

My gluten-free coworkers always keep a big bag of this homemade granola in the freezer at work.  A few weeks ago I decided to try some on top of my yogurt and was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was.  I made a big batch to keep at home.  Greg even liked it!

On Sunday evening, I made a batch of our favorite tomato basil soup.  If I haven't mentioned it before, should you make this for yourself, try using less cream than the recipe calls for.  Like WAY less.  The recipe calls for 2 cups heavy cream (?!?!?) but I use about 1/4 cup.  Still creamy, still delicious.

The salad tacos were a huge hit.  It was hilarious watching Ben pick up a taco and take an enormous bite right out of the middle (and then watch as lettuce, tomato, meat and cheese fell into his lap).

Here is what we have planned for the week:

Friday: Valentine's Day!  Our official plans aren't until Saturday night, but I when I mentioned dinner on Friday to Greg, I was told, "don't worry about it, I've got it".  I'm intrigued. 

Saturday: My parents purchased us a gift certificate to our new favorite restaurant, Tandem Wine Bar, along with an offer to babysit :)  Planning to do a little wine tasting beforehand and then having dinner while Ben stays home with my mom.  

Sunday:  My mom and I are going to see Spamalot at the 5th Ave Theater, so I think I will get another batch of tomato basil soup started in the crock pot before I leave.

Monday: Halibut.  There are 2 recipes in The Can't Cookbook I'm debating between.  I'll report back.

Tuesday: Ricotta Meatballs with Chianti Sauce (another one from Kitchen Revelry - I'm clearly obsessed).  I'm planning to make "zoodles" (zucchini noodles) to go with it.

Wednesday: Left overs

Thursday: We have talked about walking down to check out the new Zeek's pizza that opened just down the road from us on Thursday night.

Snow Day

Snow days are for building snowmen, long snowy walks (bundled up in several sweaty layers), making tomato soup, drinking hot chocolate, and Breaking Bad marathons during nap time.

Here are a few pics I snapped before it all melted away.