Back to the Start

I've fallen in love with this:



Hopeful, isn't it?

1st Birthday Extravaganza

Way back in February we had some family out to celebrate C's first birthday.  We did a basic blue and white theme.

blue and white packaged treats for our guests, all from Rocket Fizz

the cake and sodas for the grown-ups

Sodas from Rocket Fizz, Straws from Garnish (I think)

Recipe/instructions from i am baker.  Clearly I should've done a test run first, but it's sort of a heart, right?

The cake in the pictures was topped with white icing, blue and white M & Ms, and white sixlets.  I should've taken more time when adding the candy, but it was late at night and I just wanted some sleep before the next day's party.  C's cake was from Jessica Seinfeld's Angel Food Cupcakes (which are low-sugar and include some pureed yellow squash) in her book Deceptively Delicious, and topped with homemade whipped cream I flavored slightly with vanilla.  I made it in a 6-inch(ish) baking dish.  He didn't do much smashing or tasting on his birthday, but liked it the next day with a fork.  He doesn't like to have messy hands.  I love my clean little guy. 

Eat like it's 1968

Awhile back my mom gave me an instruction manual/recipe booklet from her old blender, printed in 1968.  This weekend I made the Mocha Frappe recipe:

1 T instant powdered coffee
2 T chocolate syrup
1 C cold milk
4 ice cubes

Blend!  I swear, although I was skeptical when I bought the coffee and syrup (let's not discuss the ingredient list on that syrup bottle), BB said it was better than the mocha frappuccino at Starbucks, and we love Starbucks.  I think I spent about $5 on the coffee and syrup, and will get a ton of frappes out of that.  Woot!

I think I'll try the recipe for avocado dressing next.

Also on the menu this weekend was Gnocchi with White Beans.  I was about to brag about how healthy the dish was, when I noticed the sodium in packaged gnocchi.  Hmm.  Well, it was delicious.

Photo from Taste of Home

Cheater Chili

So things are starting to heat up around here, and I want to sneak in a couple of wintery dishes before we hit triple digits.  It's supposed to dip back down to the 70s on Saturday, so I'll be making this, the only recipe I've come up with myself.  Cheater Chili.  Born of laziness and hatred of that lingering smell of onion on your hands that could scare potential suitors away while I was in college, Cheater Chili has actually become my favorite chili.

To be honest, the measurements listed are guesses.  I just tailor the recipe to what I have in the freezer/pantry and how long I want to eat leftovers. 

1 lb ground beef, browned (I usually get 93% lean conventional beef, or whatever is on sale if I get organic beef)
1 can low sodium or no salt added red kidney beans, rinsed (make sure you go with the low sodium, since you'll be adding a lot later on)
1 can chili beans (cheat #1.  I get mild) OR 1 can of any other bean, like pinto or black, rinsed (resulting in lower sodium.  The end result will still have a lot of flavor)
Salsa (cheat #2.  Get whatever heat level you like and whatever level of chunkiness you like for the veggies.  I like a lot of veg and very chunky, and often use a large jar of mild, chunky salsa + some smoother, mild salsa to thin the whole batch out)
1 packet of Chili-O or something similar (cheat #3.  I get mild or original.  Add slowly and taste.  Some are quite salty and you won't need the whole packet.)

Heat up the works.  Garnish with avocado or sour cream or grated cheese.  Use to top baked potatoes.  Anything goes.

Hungry and cheap?

It wasn't necessarily intentional, but we've been eating frugally this week:
Johnsonville Zesty Italian Sausage Pasta - I substituted turkey Italian sausage and crumbled it, rather than slicing it.
Crock Pot Black Bean Soup - I used no salt added canned beans, excluded the bay leaves, and cooked it on the stove.
Cucumber Salad
Mediterranean Muffins

Pretty good all around.

Surprise successes in the kitchen

I needed to head the the grocery store, but hadn't planned anything for the next few nights' dinners, so I printed a few recipes from the first web sites I visted without giving them any more thought. Sometimes it's best not to overthink things. Granted, they are sites I trust, but still. I had most of the ingredients on hand, so there's the added bonus.

Warm White Bean and Spinach Salad (from How Sweet It Is)
Sour Cream Noodle Bake (from The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

BB liked them both, too, and C thought the extra cannellini beans were fantastic.

Eating, Doing

So we have been eating and I have been doing things lately.  Nothing's appeared here, but I assure you, it's true.  C's eating more and more of what we're having, sans salt.  Here are some of the things we've had lately for which I can link to recipes:

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes (C ate, too) from the Williams Sonoma site (a go-to source for me)
Halibut a la Provencal over Mixed Greens (from Nov 2010 Cooking Light)
Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nuts (from Sept 2010 Cooking Light)
Braised Short Ribs in the crock pot  made WITHOUT the beer.  I used low sodium broth instead (C loved this, but we were underwhelmed)
Baked Eggs with Tomatoes, Herbs, & Cream

And what have I accomplished??  I survived C's first actual vomit experience without vomiting myself.  I have a weak stomach, so that's sort of miraculous.  Someone asked me once how you can tell if a baby has vomited or merely spit up.  Let me tell you, if you are not sure, then it was not vomit.  So sorry for mentioning this "accomplishment" if you, too, are squeamish. 

In addition,
- we finished the powder room.  That's been a long time coming, huh?  Anyway, I'll post some pictures after we hang a picture and I find a rug.  Maybe we aren't really done, then. 
- I bought a new car.  I had the old one for 10 years.  Trusty old girl. 
- we had C's 1st birthday party
- I organized the million recipes I've printed on full sheets over the years into a binder.  Still need to add sections (i.e. "appetizers," "soups," etc)
- C had his first dental appointment
- C and I participated in a project conducted by the UNLV psychology department

Homemade Baby Food Faves

So after six months of making C's baby food, here are his favorites:

Purees:
Pears
Peas
Mango
Applesauce
Any kind of squash (an early favorite that's since lost its luster)
Sweet potato (best if it has cinnamon)

Blends:
Edamame, peas, and apples
Baby cereal with steamed and pureed prunes or dried apricots
Pork, sweet potato, and apples
Chicken, carrots, leek or onion, and noodles
Mango and papaya
Mango, banana, and whole milk yogurt
Blueberries, banana, and whole milk yogurt (really can't go wrong with any smoothie combo)
Carrots and parsnips
Any kind of white fish, spinach, brown rice


Big kid foods:
Steamed broccoli
Steamed cauliflower
Steamed green beans
Lima beans, smashed
Chicken or pork cooked in the crock pot (falling apart tender) with vegetables
Salmon with dill (really loves salmon in any preparation)
Halibut/cod/tilapia seasoned in any way, usually with some fresh herbs and/or pepper
Banana bread
Waffles
Lemon-ricotta pancakes
Pita and hummus
Brussels sprouts

The Hate It for Now List:
Cantaloupe
Avocado (loved it the first 5 times or so, then changed his mind)
Egg Yolk
Most preparations of beef

Pet-a-palooza 2011: Train, David Cook, Fefe Dobson, Andy Grammer

Mix 94.1 fm Pet-a-Palooza!
April 9, 2011
Star Nursery Fields, Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas
$8 for adults, free for children under age 3 (-$2 with donation of canned pet food item)
Music, pet adoption, pet-themed entertainment, shopping, etc, etc.

A portion of the ticket price benefits the 40 non-profit Animal Rescue groups that will be at the event. 

If you've been considering adopting a pet, that option is available at the event.  OR, you can bring your leashed pet.  In the past I've seen tons of dogs, a few (brave) cats, birds, snakes, ferrets, an iguana, and a pig.  However, I encourage you to think about how your pet will react to a large crowd, other animals, and the weather before bringing them. 

The rules:
-no outside food/drinks
-no coolers
-no chairs
-no re-entry

There are plenty of good options for food and drink at the event, and the stage is fairly high, so you'll be able to see if you're sitting on a blanket or wandering the booths.

More info, including a David Cook interview and an interview with Jimmy from Train:
http://mix941fm.radio.com/

Personally, I'm excited to see Andy Grammer, and Train is always good.

Project 2011, January 26 - At least dinner was good.

Dinner - Lasagna soup

C's Dinner - chicken and noodles, peas (the kid can't get enough!)

A rough day.

Project 2011, January 25 - The Food Police

Dinner - BBQ chicken pizza (similar to this recipe, but without cilantro and gouda and with green bell pepper), pineapple

C's Dinner - roast pork and potatoes, a tiny bit of pineapple

I mentioned that C moved into the toddler room at day care, right?  Well, apparently that means he can have school lunch now.  Monday that was chili and corn bread.  Tuesday was sweet and sour chicken and rice (both days with a fruit and vegetable).  They offer it to the kids and if they don't eat it, they give them the lunch the parents send from home.  So I guess I was busy reeling from the thought of my baby being a "toddler" on Monday, because I didn't give the lunch a great deal of thought until that night.  Then I pictured him eating canned chili.  Canned, sodium-filled, preservative-laced, questionable meat-stuffed chili.  All going into my breastfed, organic only boy.  So, with Jamie Oliver-esque passion, I called the daycare director.  Expecting conflict.  Scary conflict.  Apparently most parents have this break down when their kids go to the toddler room, though, because the director was totally prepared and knew all the answers to my questions, even if I didn't like some of them.  She acknowledged that the USDA standards aren't high enough, but it's what they have to go on.  SO, I'll be sending his lunches from home and approving any snacks or additional food on a weekly basis.  I feel better, but it begs the question - why don't Americans care enough about their kids' nutrition and all of the implications of the quality of their diets to object to the ickiness that is the standard school lunch?  I'm certainly placing all of the blame on the schools.  It's also our lawmakers that need to understand that this is an important issue.  So, please, educate yourself on what your kids are eating at school, contact your representatives, educate your child on food nutrition, and have a discussion with the dietician/principal/PTA/school board at your child's school.  See if there's any way you can help.

Image from Vertical Harvest of Jackson Hole.

Here's more:
http://www.schoolnutrition.org/default.aspx
http://healthyschoolscampaign.org/
http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/ (a blog by Mrs. Q, who ate school lunch every day in 2010 with her students)

Project 2011, January 21-23 - F is for Failure

Dinners - turkey sausage/pasta bake, Lucille's, leftovers 

C's Dinners - Turkey & green beans, salmon & broccoli/cauliflower mix, mango/yogurt puree & beef roast & carrots

Enrichment - Learning from failure.  Okay, so obviously it's not something I set out to do, but I have a very real fear of failure, and it holds me back.  I know that growth emerges from uncomfortable experiences and often failure, but I avoid them both, which means I rarely try new "scary" (to me) things and if I get the slightest whiff of failure I abort the mission and never try again.  This weekend was a series of minor failures, but I'm forcing myself to try again on all fronts.  Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to take bigger risks.
Failure #1 - I chose an awful paint color for the bathroom.  Then I kept using it after my test spot was ugly.  (Behr Winter Lake)
Failure #2 - Clearly cutting the paint in along the ceiling is not my forte.  Strike that.  It is not currently my forte.
Failure #3 - This is pathetic.  I was going to call my aunt and ask her for kolache tips, but I chickened out (we're not close in any way and neither of has ever called the other, but it would be nice to forge a better relationship).  I'm not really sure what scares me about this. 

So, although I don't trust my ability to pick a paint color or edge the ceiling, I'll be painting the rest of the house.  Lucky for me BB is utterly color blind. 

I can't have C growing up thinking that it's okay to let life pass him by and to stop dreaming altogether out of fear.  So, no matter how uncomfortable it is for me, I'll let him see me try and fail and try again.  And hopefully gain confidence. 

Project 2011, January 19 & 20 - Home Improvement?

Dinners - breakfast burritos & apples, spanish-style halibut and spinach & pineapple

C's Dinners - Beef stew & pears, mango/pineapple/banana blend & broccoli & lima beans

Enrichment - worked on updating our powder room - last weekend we removed the baseboards and everything attached to the wall (tp holder, etc).  Now we've installed new baseboards and started with the installation of wainscoating.  I'll post pictures when we're done.  This has been a learning experience . . . lesson #1:  tile chips rather easily.  Lesson #2:  expect the walls to form something other than a 90 degree angle.  Lesson #3:  builders don't necessarily use acutal wood for baseboards, and whatever it is that they use smells bad and probably causes a multitude of health problems when you breathe the particles. 

We also went to another Gymboree class and were shunned.  This was one tight-knit group, and clearly they weren't excited to welcome any newcomers.  The theme was social interaction, which just makes the whole ordeal laughable.  Anyway, "thank you" to Rylen's Grandma, who was the only person to willingly speak to me and encourage interaction among the kids.  I'm going back to the Sunday class.  Thankfully, C is too young to notice.  I think.

Project 2011, January 18

Dinner - chicken quesadillas with spinach and avocado, pineapple
C's Dinner - asparagus/pea blend, chicken and noodles

Milestone Achieved (!) - C slept through the night!!!  A full 8 hours passed before I heard a peep.  Now why am I a touch sad that he's growing up?

Enrichment - Listened to a lecture on Biostatistics from UC San Diego

Project 2011, Catching Up

I have a little catching up to do from when C was sick...here's what I remember:

Dinners - Healthy Buttermilk Chicken Fingers, New Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette, Turkey Reuben Sandwiches, Southwestern Spiced Sweet Potato Fries, Seared Scallops with corn and basil salad, chicken salad with potatoes and arugula

C's Dinners - basically whatever I could get him to eat, which means a lot of his favorites - mango, peas, baby oatmeal with prunes or apricot mixed in.  He also had sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, and chicken and bok choy puree.  (this was the first time I've had bok choy, to my knowledge, and I love it!  Yay for learning from my baby!). 

Enrichment (I have to retitle this section.) - Very little.  Worked on a new project I'll post about when I have pictures and took C to a new park with an equestrian area.  He loved the horses and kept saying "hi. hi. hi" to them, but squeezed BB's thumb really tightly when they came near.

Project 2011, January 7 - My mother is not a horse

Dinner - creamy rice soup with ham, fruit, spiced pumpkin biscuits (a nice use for leftover pumpkin, but take heed, you really need to use a light hand with the dough).

C's Dinner - Beef stew, pears

Enrichment - For awhile I've been interested in learning calligraphy, and in researching that, I became interested in Chinese characters.  Today I studied some beginners' Chinese language (oral for now, hopefully written some time in the future - the distant future) using the BBC's language tutorials.  Check it out here.  I studied Spanish for two years in high school and it wasn't easy.  Now that I'm more than 15 years older, learning a language without the trusty ABCs would be much more difficult.  Alas, the BBC provides many aides, such as a guide to tones, games, a pinyin guide, and slide shows.  There are also videos, but full-length videos are only available in the UK.  I chose the "Real Chinese" section of the site, and spent quite awhile on Topics 1-5.  It's amazing how much difference in meaning a word has just because of the tone of the speaker's voice.  One word, that sounds like "ma" means mother, linen, horse, and "to swear" depending on tone and inflection.  Be careful not to call your mother a horse.    I'll be back on topics 1-5 the next time I visit the site, too.

Project 2011, January 6 - Crying it Out

Dinner - Tomato Artichoke Pasta, Garlic Bread

C's Dinner - Butternut squash, Blueberry/Banana/Pear blend

Enrichment - A few months ago C got an ear infection that threw him for a loop.  It also wrecked his sleep habits (full disclosure - he was an okay sleeper, but it was all on his own accord.  We couldn't take the credit).  Since then, he's been up between three and ten times per night.  Yes, ten.  It's our dirty little secret.  He's trained me to get up at his first little peep and nurse, although he's not really hungry - he's basically using me as a pacifier.  If I don't get him quickly, he erupts into a screaming, frantic mess and is inconsolable.  Utterly inconsolable.  The whole cry it out solution makes me cringe, and to be honest, I thought C could outlast us any day of the week, so instead I've tried the more mild Pantley method with no results.  So although it might not seem like an enrichment activity, let me assure you that if we're successful and I can get my first complete night's sleep in 10 months, then my life will indeed be enriched.  To that end, we finally resorted to the dreaded Ferber Method.  He cried for 45 minutes (by "cry" I mean wailed/screeched/sobbed uncontrollably) before settling down (we went in the room to tell him that it was time to go to sleep, kiss him, and pat his back about every 4-7 minutes.  He would latch on to us in desperation).  Then he sat staring at his teddy bear for another 5 minutes before falling asleep.  It.Was.Torture.  And yet, he did better overnight.  I heard him stir twice and put himself back to sleep, then he cried at 3:00.  I went to him and nursed (was that wrong?) since I felt he actually was hungry.  He ate steadily for about 8 minutes and I put him back to bed when he slowed.  This time he cried for less than 10 minutes.  He woke up again at 4:30 and needed his nose aspirated and diaper changed.  He was up for the day at 6:15, puffy eyed.  We will give it another go tonight. 

Resources we used: 
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
The No-Cry Sleep Solution

Project 2011, January 4 - Educate!

Dinner - Kalua Pig, rice, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and fruit (thanks Kehau and Pomai for steering me towards the Kalua Pig!).  I loved this recipe, proving Kalua Pig without a pit and banana leaves is possible!  My only complaint was that I probably smelled like a smoked pork chop by the end of the day, myself.

C's Dinner - Butternut squash and dilly salmon

Enrichment - Johns Hopkins panel discussion - Health Care and Its Discontents
                   Oxford panel discussion - The Future of Medicine

I sort of went the easy route .  C had to get his second flu shot (babies get two) and have his ears checked (bye-bye infection!) so I had to work late.

A Public Service Announcement

Get to Starbucks between November 18 and 21 (or all of those days) between 2 and 5 pm for their buy one, get one free holiday drink offer!  Yum!  That includes the caramel brulee latte, peppermint mocha, peppermint white chocolate mocha, peppermint hot chocolate, gingerbread latte, eggnog latte, caramel brulee frappuccino, and peppermint mocha frappuccino.  You know what would go well with any of those?  A cranberry bliss bar or a slice of gingerbread (iced!).  Probably a bottle of water, too....

Vitame Vas, Kolache

The area I'm from in Nebraska has a fairly large Czech and Bohemian population (it's not far from a region known as the Bohemian Alps), my dad's family among them.  After several generations in America, most of the culture brought over by my ancestors seems to have drained out.  Apparently my grandparents were fluent in Czech, although I never heard more than a few random phrases.  The one area where our heritage has paled to a lesser degree, though, was the food:  duck and dumplings, sauerkraut, rohliky, and - most importantly - kolaches.  Now I like to bake, but I've never taken on the kolach challenge.  My mom (who is exactly 0% Czech, incidently) makes decent kolaches - great even in certain circles - but they are just different than those made by my 100% Czech grandma and aunts.  Currently I'm exposing my BB and C to none of my heritage, and I want that to change.  Through food.  So here it is.  The Kolach Challenge, which if successful will be followed by the Rohliky Challenge.  Let me preemptively apologize to my family.  I will do my best, but no one is as good as Grandma was.  Followed closely by Aunts E and R (ladies, do you want to fly out to LV for a lesson??  Bring samples.).  So here goes. I promise to update regardless of the outcome.

Image from Pietz's Kuchen Kitchen
I'm sure these are delicious, but the dough to filling ratio is off.  ;)

 Prosím , ať kolaches dopadlo tak lahodně .