Ben's Birthday Party

We celebrated a certain special someone's THIRD BIRTHDAY this past weekend!!!

This marks the first "official" birthday party for Ben.  We have certainly always acknowledged his birthday the past 2 years, but this year we absolutely had to do something extra special and include all of his little friends.

I decided to have his party at Elevated Sportz after we attended our little buddy Oliver's birthday there in April.  It all was amazingly easy and efficient and most important, FUN.  The kids all seemed to have a blast, and Ben was over the moon excited to have the day be all about him.

I did the best I could to prepare him for it and tell him everything that would be happening. I really wanted to build his excitement and have him understand that there would be a time to play and a time to eat pizza/cake.  He was SO great about everything and seriously had the best time.

Thank you to EVERYONE that came out to play and get crazy with our little guy.  He took the longest nap ever that afternoon and has been totally enjoying playing with his new loot :)

And we have been singing "Happy Birthday" on a loop for the past 2 days.

Meal Planning: Week of September 22nd

Review from last week:

I'm sure I have said it before, but I can count on one hand the number of Blue Apron meals that have not been what I would describe as "absolutely delicious".  The eggplant Parmesan was one of them - but really, I'm sure it was more about the fact that it was eggplant and less to do with the recipe itself.  (Not pictured).

I seem to have failed to take a lot of pictures this week - except for the Okonomiyaki.  Yum.

The crockpot pork was SO GOOD that I actually made it twice this week.  Once on Tuesday when Kristin and Craig came over and we all partied like it was a Friday night ;)  Kristin brought over slaw with this dressing, and it was absolutely amazing.  

I currently have more pork simmering in my crockpot right now and will make a big batch of slaw to go with it tonight.

Finally, while this is not dinner, it HAS been in my life every day since I first discovered it.

I tend to get a little obsessive when I find something I like love want to marry and spend the rest of my life with.  This is my new thing.  #treatyoself

Plan for next week:

Saturday/Sunday: Chicken Pot Pie

Monday: Leftovers or something from the freezer.

Tuesday: Blackened Chile-Dusted Chicken with Zucchini Rice Pilaf and Corn-Tomato Salsa.

Wednesday:  AKA BEN'S 3RD BIRTHDAY!  No official plans yet, but I'm thinking something of the Red Robin or Chuckie Cheese variety for dinner that night.

Thursday: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans
• 1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (12 oz) can beer  (or 1 can chicken broth)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
• 3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts  (1lb of chicken tenders)
• shredded Cheddar cheese
• sour cream
• tortilla chips

DIRECTIONS

Place the onion, kidney beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer or chicken broth, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker.  **Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend.  Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours. 
 

Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips

Friday: Leftover chicken tortilla soup

Saturday: Seared Scallops with Snap Peas and Pancetta

Cabo Cancellation and Our Week

On Saturday evening, Greg and I were toasting our upcoming trip to Cabo and enjoying a few margaritas...

...and on Sunday evening, this was happening to our hotel:

#HurricaneOdile has required us to alter our upcoming travel plans :/  In all honesty, I'm SURPRISED I'm not more disappointed....but overall, I'm just SO thankful that we were not there when the hurricane hit.  We are going to reschedule our trip for early 2015 - assuming everything is repaired and back up and running - and spend a few days in Whistler instead.  

My mom and I had a fun afternoon last weekend doing some shopping and having lunch out :)  I had forgotten how enjoyable a trip to the mall can be when you leave your kid/family at home!

We celebrated Bronson's 3rd birthday at the Broady's beautiful new home!  It was so much fun to hang out and catch up with these ladies - Steph and Shauna.  (PS the day after the party, Shauna learned baby Broady #2 is a GIRL - we cannot WAIT to meet her)!

We went up to the track to take turns running (Greg 5 miles, me.....1) while Ben enjoyed playing in the dirt on the baseball field.  

Cowlick in the sun

A little Beats by Dre while visiting the Genius Bar at the Apple store.

Playing at Greenlake Park.

The kitty can only take so much

Meal Planning: Week of September 15th

Review from last week:

I didn't stick to the menu plan as much as I normally do. 

We did, of course, make the blue apron dishes.  The tomato/ricotta pasta was amazingly simple and delicious.  I am SO fond of recipes that only require a handful of items, especially when those are things we usually keep fresh at all times.

The swiss chard and black bean tostadas were out of this world - once again proving that with the right recipe, you don't even miss the meat.  (Although, to be honest, it would have been bomb with some carnita meat mixed in).

One night I didn't feel like cooking at ALL so I just made arugula salad.

Another night Ben wasn't feeling well and required my attention, so Greg picked up Spaghetti Factory take out.  Yum.

I never made the sweet potato/lentil soup, but I DID make the potato leek - which I loved and Greg didn't care for.  I also repurposed the shrimp from one of the blue apron meals and made Thai/shrimp salad instead.

Plan for this week:

Monday:  Making the Eggplant Parmesan I haven't yet made from last week.

Tuesday:  Crock Pot Kalua Pork and Kristin and Craig (The Headlee's!!) are coming over for dinner.

Wednesday: Left overs

Thursday:  Trader Joe's Beef and Broccoli - I SWEAR I will finally make this.

Friday:  Okonomiyaki

Saturday: Chicken Pot Pie

Meal Planning: Week of September 8th

Review from last week:

On Saturday night we went out for dinner as planned.  It was fun to sit on the patio while Ben watched all of the cars and trucks going by.  There currently is a LOT of construction going on in Downtown Bothell - I'd love to catch an early dinner or HH here sometime because Ben would go nuts watching all of the construction trucks during work hours.

On Sunday we made chicken and mashed sweet potatoes.  I'm on a mission once again to get Ben eating more of what we eat.  Sometimes it's impossible, but I think it's so important to get him more interested in REAL food and not giving in to toddler food all of the time.

Not pictured, but we had soup and grilled cheese on Monday night.  For all of you moms who have kids that are picky with vegetables, these veggie blend-ins are really quite amazing (and more important, convenient).  When I make grilled cheese sandwiches, I will shred the cheese and mix a packet of butternut squash in and Ben consistently tears it up.

We had tarragon chicken with green beans and Trader Joe's naan.  (The frozen kind.  Makes great pizzas for Ben's lunch, also).

Side note - I'm reading a really great book my mom recommended called The Kitchen Counter Cooking School written by a woman chef (Kathleen Flynn) from Seattle.  It's her story about how she helped 9 women who felt completely hopeless in the kitchen and relied on boxed dinners and ultra-processed, unhealthy foods.  She taught them all cooking basics like seasonings (or as she calls them, "flavor splashes"), all the ways to cook vegetables, what types of knives to use, how to make bread, how to break down an entire chicken (and what to do with each and every piece).  I am finding it completely inspiring.  

Anyway, her chapter about vegetables make me realize that roasting is not the ONLY way to cook them - so I picked up some green beans and cooked them "the French way", as Julia Childs would say (i.e. boiling them for 5 minutes then draining and dumping them into ice water).  They come out so crisp and BRIGHT green that way.  Fun.  (Wow, I'm obsessed). 

We did the vegetarian Blue Apron plan this week, and our first meal was delicious.  Rose romaine salad with cucumber, plums, and toasted red walnuts tossed in a honey/vinegar vinaigrette with a side of tasted brie baguette.  Yum.

The second meal was Japanese Okonomiyaki.  I'm telling you, based on the ingredients and preparation, this is NOTHING either of us would ever think to order at a restaurant or cook at home.  As I was cooking it, Greg and I were both a little skeptical, but we reminded ourselves to keep an open mind because we have had only a couple Blue Apron dishes turn out bad.  

And SURPRISE - it was freaking awesome.  It was essentially a vegetable pancake (made with whole wheat flower) and I plan to eat it all the time now.  YUM.

Plan for next week:

I busted out an old cookbook from my hippie days (when I did yoga teacher training), The Kind Diet.  I thought I would try out a few recipes this to see if any would stick in my family.  Stay tuned.

Friday: Tonight is the last of our Blue Apron meals, Fresh Cavatelli & Sun Gold Tomatoes.

Saturday: End of summer BBQ at Becca and Jess's house!

Sunday: Pan-Seared Chicken & Sauteed Bulger with Tomato salad & Creamy Lemon-Yogurt Sauce.  I'm also going to make Quinoa with Basil and Pine Nuts for lunches (The Kind Diet) for lunches for a few days.

Monday: Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew (from The Kind Diet).

Tuesday: Potato Leek Soup.  Will also make a batch of Red Radish Tabbouleh for lunches(from The Kind Diet).

Wednesday: Leftover soup (and we will freeze the rest).

Thursday:  I have a work event Thursday evening, so Greg and Ben will probably have meatballs and grilled cheese sandwiches. 

Friday: Lisa and Evan are coming over for dinner!  Making Smoky Swiss Chard & Black Bean Tostadas

Saturday: Southern-Style Shrimp and Grits with zucchini, corn and cherry tomatoes.   

Sunday: Eggplant Parmesan with Chia Seeds

The last 2 weeks

The weekend before last, we had the entire day on Saturday free of plans.  I had wanted to go down to Ikea to pick up some frames and photo ledges, so we decided to look for a park down in Renton to visit on the way.  Yelp told me that Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park was THE place to go, and it was soooooo much fun.  This place has everything: a beach, an enormous play structure, a boat launch, a lonnnnng running path right on the water, a fishing dock, and even an Ivar's!  We got there early and spent a few hours there taking turns running on the path, playing with Ben, and enjoying the beautiful morning.  We will definitely be back before summer is over.

When we returned home, Greg and I hung the shelves that I'm using as a book shelf (and a cheap/colorful decoration on a wall that needed something).  This blog has so many fun decor ideas that I'm always using in our house.

Ben and I hit up Trader Joe's (OH how I'm wishing a store would open up in our neighborhood).  The entire time I was shopping he was grabbing things from the cart to make truck ramps - and then driving his little firetruck down them until it fell onto the floor (about a hundred times).  That was fun for both of us.... 

When we got to the checkout stand, Ben was quite helpful handing groceries over to be scanned.  At one point, the checker asked if he should just pretend not to see him and see how long he would hold something out for him, (gotta love messing with your toddler) and we just laughed and laughed as Ben eagerly held out this bag of chips :)  And he was SO happy when the guy finally took it.  LOL.  

Our lives consist of trucks, trucks and more trucks.  The first thing Ben said the other day when he woke up was "Monster trucks are so. awesome".  His favorite thing to do is to hook up the iPad to our Apple TV and recreate the monster truck videos with his own trucks.  It's so adorable.  We are ABSOLUTELY taking him to the Monster Jam when it comes to town in January.

We went to the library to renew our library cards and get my kindle set up to borrow books.  Ben really does not understand the concept of "shhhhhh".  Like, at all.  I swear he talks even MORE when I ask him to talk quietly.  This was his reaction when I had to take him outside.

We have had a few days of boot weather.  And it's amazing.

Blurry picture of Laryd and Ben. 

Even blurrier picture of them + me and Jeannette.  Greg needs a photo-taking workshop.

Sunday night of Labor Day Weekend was spent relaxing at home.  We splurged and opened up a bottle a couple bottles of the better wines we had in our cabinet and enjoyed a fun night at home.

Pics of the boys at dinner in Downtown Bothell.