Last Week's Recipes

Curried Chicken Salad

I use this Epicurious recipe, but I modify it as follows:

• 0.75 lbs chicken (in place of 1.5 lbs)
• 2 Tbsp curry powder (in place of 5 tsp curry powder)
• 2 Tbsp finely diced onion (in place of 1 cup onion - GAH - how gross would that be?)
• 1.5 cups sliced grapes (in place of 1 cup grapes)
• Sometimes I used frozen cubed mango in place of fresh mango

Veggie Lasagna

My veggie lasagna is always an evolving thing. Here is how this particular batch was made. This recipe is a little labor intensive so I usually make it on weekends when I can
force
get Husband to help me. I like to make two small lasagnas rather than one big one so that I can cook them up separately. These can go directly into the freezer - just thaw in fridge before cooking or add some cooking time if you want to put it in the oven straight from the freezer.

Ingredients:
26 oz quality pasta sauce or I made the sauce portion of this Food Network recipe
6 oz tub Parmesan cheese
2 cups/8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
15 oz tub low fat cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
Assorted vegetables, sliced (I used two small zucchini, 1 medium yellow squash, 1 container mushrooms)
1 Tbsp olive oil
No-boil lasagna noodles

If you are making your own sauce, start with that step. Sauce all ready? Good, let's proceed. Put a medium sized pot on a burner over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pot and force yourself to wait a minute. Add sliced vegetables and give it a good stir. Put the lid on the pot so that things get nice & steamy. Let vegetables cook, stirring every few minutes or so until they are nice and tender - almost mushy). I don't remember how long this takes - maybe 10-15 minutes? Maybe it's only 5 minutes. Eh, you'll know when they are ready.

Now we are ready to put the lasagna together. First, put aside 1/2 cup sauce and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese right away - this is going to be for the very top layer. The very first layer of the lasagna will be a small amount of sauce in the bottom of dish, followed by noodles. Do not be obsessive about the noodles lining up perfectly - it doesn't matter. Now just start layering the other ingredients. I think we did a layer of half the cottage cheese, followed by half the veggies, followed by mozz & parmesan cheese, more sauce, noodles, remainder of cottage cheese, remainder of veggies, mozz & parmesan, and one last layer of noodles, remaining sauce and remaining cheese. Something like that. Again, doesn't really matter and don't drive yourself crazy trying to get that cottage/ricotta cheese to spread evenly. Cover lasagna with foil and bake for 60-70 minutes at 375°. Remove foil and bake an additional 5 minutes to get the top looking purdy. It's done when you can easily stick a fork in the middle. Now exercise patience and let it sit for 10 minutes before diving in.

Goat Cheese, Red Pepper & Artichoke Heart Stuffed Chicken Breasts
over Greens with a Lemon Vinaigrette

My friend Susan brought me this meal shortly after Bella was born and I fell in lurve with it.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 can artichoke hearts, diced (get the most expensive can...they are much more tender)
4 oz goat cheese
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
Mixed baby greens
Salt & Pepper to taste

Pound chicken breasts to ~1/4 inch thickness between sheets of waxed paper. Mix red pepper, artichoke hearts, goat cheese, and breadcrumbs in a bowl. Spread pepper/artichoke/goat cheese mixture on top of each chicken breast and roll 'em up (there will be a decent bit of pepper/artichoke/goat cheese mixture remaining). Place stuffed chicken breasts in baking dish. Put remainder of pepper/artichoke/cheese mixture in separate baking dish (you can put the chicken & other stuff in one dish, but it will take FOREVER to bake). Bake both dishes for ~30 minutes at 350° or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160° (Food Safety Dietitian Laura highly recommends a meat thermometer). While chicken is cooking, mix 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice with 1 Tbsp olive oil and salt & pepper to taste. When chicken is done cooking, let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting it on a slight angle. To serve, generously spread greens on a plate and top with chicken and remaining pepper/artichoke/cheese mixture. Put dressing on top. Fin!

Bean & Rice Burritos

Ingredients
6-10 taco- or burrito-sized tortillas (depends on how robust you want your burritos to be...)
8 oz shredded cheese
Spanish rice mix, prepared (I use Zataran's)
Can black beans
Can fat free refried beans
1/2 packet of taco seasoning
Jar fresh salsa like Salsa Lisa

Heat both beans with 1/2 packet of taco seasoning. Now spread out a tortilla and fill it up with beans, spanish rice, cheese, and salsa. Roll and stick in freezer bag. Easy peasy. And pleasy. The dietitian in me feels compelled to tell you that this recipe is especially high in sodium given it's use of processed & canned foods. But you can choose to ignore that information and eat them anyway. That's what I do.

Seasoned Quinoa, Soy-Honey Glazed Marlin, and Mashed Horseradish Edamame

Seasoned Quinoa
Quinoa is cooked just like rice. Don't be scared. Husband would also like for you to know that it is a complete protein. And for the record, I think the sage flavor was weird with this meal, but Husband wanted it that way and marriage is about compromise.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp dried sage or other spice
1/2 tsp salt

Add salt to water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling add remaining ingredients (quinoa, butter, sage) and return it to a boil. Then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20-25 minutes and then remove from heat. Let it sit an additional 5 minutes.

Honey-Soy Glazed Fish
Mix 2 Tbsp cup soy sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, and 1 Tbsp honey. Ideally I think it would be good to marinate the fish, but we just covered the fish with the sauce before putting it on the grill. Since this particular fish was sashimi-grade and we bought it from a reputable fishmonger (haha, again with the fishmonger) we only cooked it for 2 minutes on each side.

Mashed Horseradish Edamame (a.k.a. Mashed Soy-tatoes)
*We got ourselves another complete protein here, people. It turns out this meal was a protein-palooza.

1/2 lb frozen shelled edamame beans
1 lemon - zested & juiced
1 Tbsp (or more if you like it spicy, which we do) prepared Horseradish sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp black pepper

Thaw edamame under warm running water for a few minutes. This will be boring. Then boil thawed edamame for 5 minutes to soften. Drain and reserve 1/3 cup of this cooking water. Place edamame and all other ingredients in a food processor. Puree, slowly adding the reserved liquid.

Shrimp Cocktail

This one is easy: Ina Garten's Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce

Letters to Bella: 11 Months

Dear Bella,

Hi, Sweet Pea. Look! A newish nickname. But you remain mostly Chicken. I'm still really sorry about that.

Here is your 11 month picture.
I had to take this during a rare 20-second window of sitting still. You are moving, moving, moving. Like so:

You do tire me out, but it's really exciting to see how thrilled you are with everything around you. Sometimes I think I can see you learning how the world works.
You are up to lots of new things and making us laugh all the time (mostly with you, occasionally at you). I'm going to bullet point this list because, quite frankly, Mama's tired.

• You still love reading together and will turn the page when asked. You also select the book you want to read and hand it to us.
• When you get angry, such as during the last diaper change of the day, you have this angry way of babbling that is pure awesome. "Babababa, bah, bah, BAH, BAH, BAH!"
• When it was raining last week, I brought you out on our front stoop so you could feel the raindrops. Your reaction? You threw your head back and laughed. You are so happy. Oh, please stay like that forever, OK?
• Your eating skillz continue to improve. You can drink from a little glass (um...the grown ups call it a shot glass) and are starting to use a spoon on your own, although you need lots of help with both. Your favorite food is yogurt.
• You just started to clap and dance when you hear music, which delights me to no end.
• You now have 4.1 teeth. The 0.1 is the tooth that has just come through next to your front left tooth and the matching tooth on the right side should come through this week.
• You crack yourself up by throwing your puffs (snack similar to cheerios) on the ground. Sometimes even the thought of what you are about to do is enough to crack you up. Oh, Chicken.

• You love using your walker. And if your walker isn't readily available, no problem. You just grab something else, like the vacuum or a dining room chair. You have even taken a tentative step or two all on your own. But that's not something you are very interested in practicing. When we try to stand you up to do some walking you like to either collapse in a heap or hold your legs straight out in front of you. Funny girl.
• You are a very social baby. You definitely get this from your father. Your lack of stranger anxiety amazes me. You reach out to everyone you meet. Consequently, you have been held by friends, a yoga instructor, a neighbor, and another mom at the library in the past couple weeks...and it's not like we interact with that many people. But even though you love to see other people, your daddy and I are still your favorites.

Oh Bella, you are closer to being a toddler everyday. I can see it in your face, your cute shape, and your actions.
I'm surprised at how OK I am with this. I love you being my baby (and you will always be my baby*), but I am looking forward to seeing the world through your eyes as you communicate with us more and more. We're going to have so much fun.

Before we cross that toddler threshold, though, we have one more month of official babyhood. Thank goodness. There might be a lot to look forward to, but there is even more to enjoy in the here and now.

Love you,
Mama

*As I will someday teach you, this type of phrase must always be followed by a "doo doo doo, yeah" per Mariah Carey 101.

And the winner is...

Ally of Laughing at the Days to Come. Congratulations! Lisa from Sunshine Shoppe will be contacting you with specific information soon.

Last Chance: Sunshine Shoppe Giveaway

You have until 9 pm tonight (CST) to enter for your chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Sunshine Shoppe! Here are some examples of what you could buy with the gift certificate, as modeled by the very adorable Brooklyn (Lisa of Sunshine Shoppe's daughter).



May the force be with you!

A Week in the Life Project: Sunday

I took far less photos today than I did the other days. Partly because the end of the project was nigh and partly because Husband and I were less than thrilled with each other for part of the day. It was just a very little part and was mostly my fault. The funny thing was that Husband brought me a freshly brewed cup of coffee right in the middle of the argument. I started to say something after he handed me the mug and he gave me a terse, "I don't think we should talk to each other right now." He left the room and I had to go find him to apologize a minute later, because how could I stay pissy when he was being all kind in the middle of his fury? All is well now and we even had a fun date night.

I'll do a post next week detailing my plans for putting this project together and my thoughts on doing it. I will also do a post with recipes from this week plus some info on how I meal plan. That's my intention anyway. I might also opt to do very little blogging after this weeks blog-a-palooza. Y'all might be needing some Mothership Detox anyway.

Today's Pictures:

Bella & The Blind Cat

Tulip Power!

Short & chilly walk by the river this morning

Making carrots for Bella. Incidentally, I once again totally over-bought carrots. It's like a compulsion to stock pile carrots. I plan to seek help.

Freshly mopped kitchen floor with Husband & Bella outside in the background.

Afternoon photo session.

She adores playing in the curtains.

On the move

For our date tonight, Husband and I went out to eat (Stella's Fish Cafe) and then were pretty much ready to go home and sleep after we finished at the late hour of 7:15 pm. We forced ourselves to do something else and actually had a great time playing Golden Tee and Big Buck Hunter at Drink. Each time we did something well I kept wanting to do fancy high fives where you slap hands and then butt cheeks, but Husband wasn't as into celebrating that way as I was. Whatever, Mr. Too Cool for School.

Yee haw! Shootin' me some elk! (Husband might have also been a little embarrassed by both the picture-taking and the facial expressions of certain people.)

A Week in the Life Project: Saturday

Today was an all-around nice weekend day. Got some boring task things accomplished but also had fun. I'll let the photos do the talking. Oh! And Bella took her first tentative steps. I think we'll have an official walker in no time.

Soundtrack for a rainy Saturday.
Breakfast. Husband eats the exact same thing everyday: Kashi Heart to Heart cereal. It's an intimate cereal.

Baby tossing

Brunch @ Spoonriver Cafe with my friend Amy

Carrot & Potato Hashbrowns

Smoked Salmon & Spinach Buckwheat Crepes.

I found my baby decorated with her own bindi when I got home. She is 1/4 East Indian, after all.

Aw...
Getting strapped into her car seat.

At the fishmonger. Heh heh.

Awesome pic. This was at the library...for the third time this week. (Addiction comes in all forms.)
Picking cat hair out of her mouth. Typical.

If you thought that last picture of me yesterday was nice, get a gander of this shot.

Here we have quinoa (Husband likes to tell me that it's a complete protein ALL THE TIME, even thought I am a registered and licensed dietitian), seared marlin in a soy-honey glaze and mashed horseradish edamame. Husband thought perhaps "mashed soy-tatoes" would be a better name for the edamame. Has a nice ring, don't you think?

Shrimp Cocktail. First time making my own cocktail sauce and it was ridiculously easy & better than the bottled stuff.

Nothing spells romance like unwashed hair and old gray sweatshirts...

A Week in the Life Project: Friday

I must confess that I am tiring of this project. The endless photos and need to bring my camera everywhere is such a pain. Two more days...

Today was more like Wednesday, which, if you can recall, was the day that smelled of eau d'old garbage. It had to happen after my glory day yesterday, you know? According to my notes, the biggest thing that happened today was when I sprayed Bella poop all over the place using the cloth diaper sprayer that is attached to the toilet (reminder: IT IS NOT A BIDET). That was fun.

Without further ado, here are today's shots.

A little Pat the Bunny action.

Raisin Nut Bran. Good.
Here is my pantry. We don't keep much on hand - I tend to buy what I need for the week and I generally use fresh ingredients when possible. This lack of food can be really depressing when you realize that your snack is going to be freaking raisins. Raisins. Pffft! Also - I am repulsed by that lingering candy cane. I have a no tolerance policy for old candy.

Tired and bored after a quick trip to Target.

I treated myself to a #6 (the vegetarian sub) from Jimmy John's for lunch.

Bella's #1 goal during diaper changes is to raid this basket next to her changing pad.

Reading.

This block foot situation happens several times a week. Still funny each time.

Loves to climb on me.

So I actually ventured downtown tonight for a friend's husband's 30th b-day party (and stayed out until 10:30 pm for the win). I make Husband take a picture whenever I do my hair & make up now since it's such an occasion. This was taken on our deck. Wind that is gently tousling my hair is courtesy of Mother Earth and possibly El Nino.