The Loves of My Life

Looking at these pictures makes my heart swell. One moment I am completely unaware of the involuntary beats and the next I can feel every part of my heart as if my it has been swaddled and all I can do is concentrate on the warmth that radiates through my body from that space. And I am reminded of a quote that I've read and discussed many times, a quote that perfectly embodies Romeo's tragic flaw, "Did my heart love till now?" 

Only for me, instead of wondering that for a different person each week, I have that feeling again and again for the same people. And so, for me the quote transforms from beautiful and tragic to a principle in the infinite capacity of lasting love. 

And I am reminded of my dad, who often looks up from the table with bright eyes and sincerely says, "This is a best bite I've ever had" or, "This to best bite of my life." As a child and teenager, I used to scoff at his sentiment, but now I am in awe of it, craving that superlative experience over and over too. And I wonder if maybe the key to true and lasting love is having that feeling again and again, allowing yourself to wonder at your love over and over for the same people.

They are the loves of my life. I am in awe of them each and every day, and I hope that never stops.

Also, on a slightly less sentimental note, these pics are from this past hot and gloomy (which is what I'm blaming the graininess of the pictures on) Saturday, when Jason, William, and I spent the afternoon all together in the kitchen. Jason and Will sorted and chopped and stirred and made the entire house smell amazing. The delicious recipes that all three of us happily ate for dinner that evening and lunch the next day are below if you are interested.

Balsamic Bruschetta 
(Jason says to sub fresh mozzarella.)

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

THE PERFECT NEW Crockpot Meal

I often switch out crockpot meals in favor of the grill as soon as the weather gets a little warmer, but I recently took a chance on the new Sweet Korean BBQ Slow Cooker Sauce from Campbell's, and Jason and I can literally not get enough of this meal. Combine that with the fact that it's a little bit BBQ and a little bit spicy, and I'm pretty sure I will be using the crockpot all summer.

Like most crockpot meals, it's not rocket science, but the sauce packet makes this one so simple that William might even be able to throw this together for us if I let him have a go at it. As the label says, just throw the chuck roast (Get around a three pound roast. There is plenty of sauce, and you'll want leftovers!) and the sauce in the crockpot and turn on low for eight hours. After about eight hours, shred the beef (and we remove as much of the fat as we can.) Then, you have to make a decision. Tacos or rice bowls? If you bought a big enough roast you can have one the first night and the other the next. BUT for both, the magical ingredient is the ridiculously addicting sauce you are going to make with sour cream and sriracha. This is also pretty easy. Just mix the sour cream and sriracha to taste. We like ours pretty spicy. For RICE BOWLS, throw some rice in the rice cooker right before dinner. Cook up some broccoli or other favorite veggie and layer rice, veggie, bbq beef, and creamy sriracha sauce. For TACOS, layer tortilla, beef, cabbage with a little bit of lime juice squeezed in, and creamy sriracha sauce. Extra points for making homemade tortillas!

We love this meal so much (and it is so easy) that I went ahead and bought out our local store of all the sauce packets, just in case, because the last time we fell in love with a Campbell's product they discontinued it. So if anyone from Campbell's is reading this, please bring back Creamy Chipotle Skillet Sauce... or send me any remaining packets! See, Campbell's is in no way paying me to write this. I just really like this meal, and after serving it to my mom and my sister, they have both jumped on the Korean BBQ bandwagon, so I though you all needed to know about it too.
Also, that really is how you spell sriracha.

Will's Go-To Meal

Will and I eat all of our meals together, every single one, and for the most part, we eat the same thing. Tonight, we had pork tenderloin, broccoli, pineapple, and Fudge Stripes. I also had some wine, and Will had some cheddar bunnies, but besides that, we both really did eat the exact same thing... mostly with our hands. Sometimes, we both eat peaches and pizza. Sometimes, we both eat stir fry. 

And this eating together and eating the same thing idea touted in books like French Kids Eat Everything and Bringing Up Bebe is working... for the most part. I'd say about sixty percent of the time Will is a happy, adventurous eater. Then, about twenty percent of the time, one of us eats, and the other cries and refuses to try tortellini or cries and refuses to eat the shrimp that he happily ate the week before. (So he has to wait unitl his next meal or bottle, which I'm not gonna lie, has never really seemed to bother him and is probably harder on me than it is on him. I just reassure myself that he is fine by loooking at his cheeks, the cheeks of a true American child.) Another twenty percent of the time, I just want to eat a Lean Cuisine French Bread pizza for lunch or to go out to dinner without William, and that's where Will's Go-To Meal comes in. This is the meal that he is always happy to eat that also seems like it includes most of the essentials to a balanced (toddler) diet; I present to you: Annie's White Cheddar Shells and Cheese with wilted, chopped spinach. Protein? Check! Dairy? Check! Carbs? Check! Antioxidants, Fiber, Vitamins, Minerals? Check! Check! Check! Check! 

I've tried mixing peas and carrots and chopped chicken into the shells and cheese before, and Will picked out the shells and left the rest. So for us, the beauty of this meal is that the thing that the Will loves, shells and cheese, is literally stuck to the the thing that is super healthy, the spinach... with the added bonus that it is really simple to make and really simple to eat a.k.a easy-to-grasp. I like to chop fresh spinach before and after I wilt it so that it is super small when I stir it into the shells and cheese. If you have never wilted fresh spinach before, it is so easy. While you are boiling your shells, just throw the spinach in a pot or pan, turn the burner on medium, cover, and stir every minute or so until it looks wilted, darker green, and about one tenth the size. 

Also, I think steamed spinach could be a great add-in to whatever your child's favorite meal might be. I have even served steamed spinach in yogurt.

Do you have any Go-To Meals or tips for feeding your baby or toddler? Besides eating the same thing and always eating together, Will (and I... for the most part) don't ever snack, and I've noticed that he does better if his food is cold. When I was still spoon-feeding him, he always did much better if he got to hold something like a spork or plastic lid. Below, I was trying to get him to use the spork as an actual utensil by putting a shell on the end. You can see what he thought of that.

My New Go-To Meal

Two words. Stir Fry.

The recipe is simple. I take whatever veggies are in my fridge (which is a lot these days), chop them up, add a protein, a little bit of sauce, and I have myself a seriously healthy and filling meal...with no carbs...for the next three days. Last night, I took all the leftover veggies from Jason's soiree with the Vitamix plus the veggies I specifically bought for stir fry this week and ended up with the spectacular (and low calorie) meal you see above.

Specifically, this mix included red, yellow, and green peppers, mushrooms, red cabbage, broccoli slaw (Thanks for that tip, Mom!), and matchstick carrots. I like to start with about two teaspoons of sesame oil and add some low sodium soy sauce while I'm frying up my veggies.  At the very end, I added in some raw shrimp and teriyaki sauce and got the amazing dinner you see above. (If you use chicken or beef, you can cook it first and remove it from the wok, cook the veggies, and then add the meat back in with the sauce.)

Also, Will eats just about anything that has been stir-fried. Last week, it was chicken, broccoli, snap peas, and those little corn thingies, and this week, it was shrimp and all of that goodness above. Don't worry. I also give him a good dose of carbs.

Cheese Tray Turkey, as Promised

Some mild cheddar and colby jack cheeses, Oldani salami, and Flipside Pretzel crackers for the feathers. Two peppercorns for the eyes, half a pistachio shell for the beak, and toothpicks for the legs (basically whatever I could find in the pantry because I forgot about these parts) and a folded fourth of a piece of salami for the waddle (Is that what it's called, mom?), and that's how you make a cheese tray turkey.  This baby is now cooling in the downstair's fridge. Now for some more cooking and cleaning. Thanksgiving is coming! Huzzah!

Also, thanks to A Beautiful Mess for the idea and my mom for picking up the salami from Spirito's in Collinsville. Oh...and Lola for dutifully standing by my side while I carefully placed each piece of cheese and salami.

Lessons in Meal Planning (part 2)

Yesterday, I shared the first three lessons that have made my meal planning goal so enjoyable, and today I come to you with two more.

Lesson #4: Have a Grocery Day Meal. 

I always try to give myself a cooking break on grocery shopping days.  I had been making a frozen pizza and a bag salad (which I think is a great meal, by the way), but since my mom turned me on to the ease and affordability of the rotisserie chicken, I have upped my game just a bit. So far, I have two grocery day meals that are quick and easy to make with the rotisserie chicken that I pick up from the store earlier in the day: 1. BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and 2. Chicken Taquitos.

For BBQ Chicken Sandwiches,  I just pull all the chicken off the bone, shred it a bit more, squeeze in our favorite BBQ sauce, and serve on buns with chips or salad or chopped veggies. It might take six minutes to make, and I think Jason would eat it every other day if I could work it in, so we have dubbed this one a winner. 

The Chicken Taquitos take a tiny bit more work.  See below for the recipe.

Chicken Taquitos: 

Ingredients:

1 Rotisserie Chicken

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I like colby jack.)

1 1/2 cup salsa (I decided to try out two new salsa's this time, mango habanero and garlic lime.  The garlic lime was amazing in this recipe!)

8 tortillas (We really like the low carb wheat ones for some reason.)

Instructions: Pull all the chicken off the bone, shred, and mix with salsa and shredded cheese. (I made two batches with the different salsas so I split the chicken and used 3/4 cup salsa and 3/4 cup cheese for each batch.) Place a thick strip of the mixture just off the middle of a tortilla, roll tightly. Place on baking pan and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit or until desired crispiness. Serve with sour cream and guacamole.  Jason also likes to put more salsa on top of his because people like to say salsa.

Lesson #5: Share your Spare. 

Don't let those leftovers go to waste! Meal sharing has just been happening organically between my mom, sister, and me a lot lately.  I think it has more to do with us making soups and casseroles since the weather has changed than with me starting to meal plan, but I think that if you weren't sharing your meals and wanted to do so, meal planning could help you make it possible. You might be wondering what I am talking about when I say meal sharing, and it's really simple.  I just mean making your meal, splitting it in half, eating one half, packing up the other, and delivering it to another family.  This works so well with soups and casseroles because most recipes make about eight servings.

Right now, there are really only two people in my house who eat my meals and only two people in my mom's house who eat her meals and only two (and a half because Piper can handle all types of food now) people in my sister's house who eat her meals.  So by the time we each eat the meal twice, we still have four servings left. Like I said before, my mom, sister, and I have always shared, but now, I make a little bit of an extra effort to split my meals and get them out the same day or the morning after I make them.  

I think that this, more than anything, has cut down on our waste and helped us save money. Meal planning helps me think about what days I will already be seeing Maggie or my mom so that I can easily share a meal or two. 

Last week, I sent Kings Ranch Chicken to work with my mom for her lunch and over to the Brorby's for dinner along with some crockpot potato soup later in the week.  When my mom came to pick up her lunch, she dropped off some delicious cinnamon banana muffins and Maggie brought over Stuffed Pepper Soup for us one night, which means I had a nice variety of homemade meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all week long.

I love meal sharing with Maggie and my mom because of the reciprocation, but I have been wondering if there is a way to share a homemade meal with family in need. If anyone knows of a local program, I'd love to know more about it. 

So... that's it so far. If you have any other GO-TO meals or Grocery Day Meals or any other meal planning tips or lessons, I'd would be THRILLED to hear them too. 

Also, once again, thanks to Rachel for getting me excited to try out meal planning with purpose.

Lessons in Meal Planning (part 1)

I always thought about the meals that we were going to eat throughout the week, usually on my way or even at the grocery store, but purposely meal planning--actually going through my recipe box, talking to Jason, writing the meals down and rearranging them on the page, and then checking our pantry and fridge while making a list all before I go to the grocery store--has been a great learning experience. Because I am enjoying this one of my Four Simple Goals before 2014 so much, I thought I would share a few simple lessons that have made meal planning so easy and satisfying for me. 

Lesson #1: Make the time and enjoy! 

One of my favorite parts of teaching is actually curriculum design and lesson planning, and although I haven't consciously missed that in the almost eight months I have been off, the thrill of writing out a good plan has come back to me while organizing our meals. Like I mentioned above, every Sunday, I make a list of meals that sound good.  I ask Jason if there is anything he wants (Chinese food), and then I think about what ingredients will stay fresh and what can be prepped and used for different meals. Finally, I write down the plan, cross things off and move them around and rewrite the plan before adding things to our grocery list. And IT. IS. THRILLING. Really. I love it. The actual planning is fun for me. Then, because I have a plan, the shopping and cooking take so much less energy that the 15 minutes on Sunday make my entire week, every single day, easier. I'm not running to the store or asking Jason to stop on his way home from work to pick something up every other day. I don't spend any time throughout the day wondering about dinner. I just know it's all good to go.

Lesson #2: Have a GO-TO Meal. 

My pantry and my fridge are pretty sparse, which is a good thing. We are eating everything we buy and not buying any extra.  But I do have at least one GO-TO Meal, a meal with ingredients that aren't perishable that I can put in my plan every week with the idea that if something changes (like my mom or mother-in-law or Maggie shares a meal or we get invited over or out for dinner) nothing will go to waste if I put off making it for a week or two or three.  So far, my GO-TO Meal has been shrimp, broccoli, and rice, and even though it has been on the plan every week and is a favorite of ours, it hasn't gotten made. All you need is rice, frozen broccoli, frozen shrimp (I prefer the raw frozen shrimp because when I cook the cooked shrimp it gets too chewy. You could also sub chicken.), and this Campbell's sauce. All the ingredients keep for a while, but when you need it, you can whip it up in about 15 minutes, by throwing the rice in the rice cooker, throwing the frozen broccoli in the microwave, peeling the shrimp, cooking it in a pan, then putting the sauce on top to heat up, and serving the saucy shrimp over the rice and broccoli.

Also, my other (not as fancy or healthy) GO-TO Meal is frozen pizza.

Lesson #3: Cook in bulk.  

There are only two adults eating at my house, so cooking in bulk might not seem to make sense, but it has worked out great when combined with meal planning. Last week I planned two meals, one right after the other, that would both use ground beef. Sloppy joes with mac and cheese and green beans on Wednesday and Taco Night on Thursday.  I bought a two pound package of lean ground beef and cooked the entire thing on Wednesday.  Before I added the sloppy joe sauce, I removed half of the beef and refrigerated it. The next night, all I had to do was put the meat into a pan, add the taco seasoning and some water, and let it simmer while I chopped up some tomatoes and grated some cheese. Taco Night was ready in about ten minutes with the help of bagged tortillas, lettuce, sour cream, and salsa. I have also done something similar with chicken, grilling up a few pounds of chicken one night for BBQ chicken with rice and veggies and using the leftover chicken to make a casserole the next day. 

So far, so good!

Also, I have been enjoying this so much that I have even more lessons, so if you are interested, come back tomorrow for part 2.

Back-of-the-Box Beef, Barley, and Vegetable Soup

When I was a kid, I didn't know that you could buy tortillas in a bag because my mom always made them from scratch, and every year for my birthday, I requested and received a made-from-scratch bunny-shaped carrot cake. (Before Pinterest!) Things haven't changed much. When we went to my mom and dad's house a few weekends ago to watch football, my mom made sloppy joes.  But not just regular sloppy joes.  She also made a slaw to go on top and provided a variety of cheeses to get all melty underneath.  Oh, and she made a white chicken chili that she deemed "just okay."  She wasn't even going to serve it, but I insisted that she let Jason and me try it.  And Jason had to steal the spoon away from me to get one bite. Keep all this in mind as you read on.

In my first year of marriage, I knew I wanted to add my mom's lasagna to my repertoire of meals because it was not only the best lasagna but also my mom's lasagna. It tasted like home. One day, I was in the grocery store talking to my mom on the phone and remembered that I wanted to make the lasagna but lamented that it would probably be too complicated to give me the ingredients list over the phone while I was in the grocery store sans pen.  My mom insisted that no, it would be fine and instructed me to go to the aisle with the pasta.  When I let her know I was there, she told me to find the box of no-bake Barilla lasagna noodles. I clarified, "No bake"?  She said, "Yes. Do you have it? Now turn the box over and follow the directions." I was a bit baffled. "That's it"? But she insisted, "That's it." I was now flabbergasted. Why would she insist on not sharing her lasagna recipe with me? Why would she try to trick me?  But I decided to play along.  I bought the ingredients on the back of the box and later that week followed the directions on the back of the box, and when I bit into the back-of-the-box lasagna and tasted my mom's lasagna, I knew. My mom is a genius.  Of course those back-of-the-box recipes would be good.

When I asked her for the recipe for her delicious beef, barley, and vegetable soup a few years later, I was much less baffled when she pointed me to the back of the box and excited when she told me that she didn't follow the directions exactly.  So if you want my mom's lasagna recipe, go get yourself a box of no-bake Barilla lasagna noodles.  If you want an amazing beef, barley, and vegetable soup recipe, see below.

Slightly-Altered Back-of-the-Box Beef, Barley, and Vegetable Soup

1 lb lean steak (whatever looks good or is on sale)

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced (I just use the stuff that comes in the squeeze bottle and squeeze what looks to be about a  clovesworth in the pot.)

1/2 cup Quaker Medium Barley, uncooked

1/2 cup sliced celery (I just chop up an entire bundle and by bundle I mean whatever you call it when all the stalks are still attached. What is that called, mom?)

2 beef bullion cubes

1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed

1 bay leaf

1 (9 oz) package mixed vegetables (I get the corn, peas, green beans, carrots mixture.)

1 bottle tomato juice (The one in the juice aisle.)

In a 4 quart sauce pan or Dutch oven, sear the steak on both sides. Take out steak and cut into bite-sized pieces. While cutting steak, add onion and garlic (and maybe a little bit of olive oil if you have stainless steal pots and pans like me) to the pot and cook under onion is tender. Stir in remaining ingredients (including cut up steak) except for frozen vegetables. Cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 50-60  minutes, stirring occasionally. Add frozen vegetables; cook about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Additional water may be added if soup becomes too thick upon standing. (not sure exactly what that means but I usually add some water).  

The big difference is using steak instead of ground beef and tomato juice instead of water and tomatoes. I feel like you could probably eat bacon (for the protein) and Milky Ways (for the dairy) all day if you are planning on having this for dinner because it contains more vegetables than I probably eat in a week. Delicious and nutritious!

Also, I served this to Jason with salad last night. Soup and salad, yeah! He wasn't as excited as I thought he should be about the delicious and nutritious meal I had planned. And I'll admit, it was a little overkill with all the vegetables. So we agreed that next time, we'll make grilled cheese sandwiches to go with the soup.  For a slightly grown-up grilled cheese, I highly recommend using two slices of Sargento Colby-Pepper Jack. There's just a tiny bit of spice and a whole lot of flavor.

Gourmet Rice Crispy Treats...The New Cupcake?

Gourmet rice crispy treat could slowly start to challenge the ubiquity of the gourmet cupcake.  At first, we would see them popping up in well-established bakeries and restaurants as novelty desserts--key lime treats and red velvet treats and maple bacon treats and caramel turtle treats. Then, entire establishments dedicated to their production and dissemination would pop up in places other than NYC. We would order them for our friend's baby showers and as an alternative to wedding cake. Wedding guests would both marvel and curse them. "I came specifically for the cake," they would hiss to their spouse before scarfing down the treats. Then, on the shelves of grocery stores, we would be able to find crispy treat-pop kits right next those for cake-pops.  All this could happen, except for the facts that: 1. Most college dorm rooms have the necessary appliance to make them. 2. They take about ten minutes to make. 3. The combinations (white chocolate chip and macadamia nut or peanut butter and milk chocolate chip are the ones I want to try next) are all available at every grocery store.

Some of us know the recipe for the basic treat by heart:

6 cups of rice crisp cereal

1 bag of regular size marshmallows

3 tablespoons of butter

All you have to do to make them "gourmet" is add your own favorite ingredients.  

I added:

1/3 cup coconut

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips 

1/3 cup cranberries

1 more tablespoon of butter 

(I figured if I'm adding other stuff, I probably need a bit more butter. More butter=more gourmet, right?)

Instructions: Microwave the marshmallows and butter for three minutes, stirring after two minutes.  I also added in the coconut at two minutes.  Take out of the microwave and stir in rice cereal.  Add chocolate chips and cranberries and stir.  The chocolate will melt a bit, which will be scrupmtious.  Press into a greased pan and let sit for as long as you can wait. Cut and enjoy!

Also, if there is anything I have learned from eating gourmet cupcakes, you'll need to plan some type of filigree for the top. I just dusted mine with extra coconut flakes.

No Fair-Weather Fans Here...also, dip recipes.

My NFL team affiliations are diverse. I root equally for the Rams, the Mannings, and all teams whose seasons of Hard Knocks I have seen, so the Bengals, Dolphins, and Jets.  At my sister's house, where we attended our first football soirrée of the season, there are no such complications. They are Rams fans. And...

...the Rams lost yesterday. But we got to eat chips and dip for lunch, ice cream for dinner, and both babies took over 90 minute naps.  All in all, I think we could consider the day a win.  

Also, Sam Bradford threw for three touchdowns so that Greg the Leg didn't have to carry the team and so that my husband's fantasy football team could stay competitive this week. Thanks, Sam. You have given us hope for this season.

Also, Maggie has the remarkable ability to cull Pinterest and other amazing places where people share dip recipes, pick the best dips, and serve them to us season after season.  My two favorites are after the jump. Enjoy!

What to Do When Your Baby Won't Eat Bananas

My niece Piper, who is about three months older than Will, is a champion eater. The one time that I fed her, she rocked it.  Opened her mouth wide for every bite, kept her hands off to the sides, ate every last drop of her food, and we barely needed her bib. Buoyed by my success with Piper, I was so excited to start solids with Will after his four month check-up.  

HoneyCrisp Outing...also, a recipe.

Sun-warmed, personally-picked right off the branch, with a little bit of shirt buffing, that's it. I now know the most delicious way to eat an apple.  Much like the rest of the world, my family LOVES honeycrisp apples, so when I saw that the picking season had just started at our local orchard, we immediately made plans to go.

We had such a great time that we have already made plans to go back. The workers at Eckerts were very accommodating of our stroller toting gang. There was free wagon riding. And Jason estimates that he ate about ten dollars worth of free apples while we were out in the orchard as shown in the photo evidence below.

Also, we (meaning my brother-in-law Alex because I inconveniently/conveniently didn't have my wallet with me at the checkout) purchased some apples to scarf at home.

Later in the week, I harvested some of the apples to make one of my favorite Fall go-to recipes from my friend, Emily. 

Apple Blondies

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 apple (chopped)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1 stick butter 

Beat egg and butter together. Mix in all the other ingredients. Put in 9x9 greased baking pan. Cook at 350 for about 30 minutes. The top should be just a bit golden brown. 

Because these treats include fruit, they are quite versatile.  I like pass off any leftovers as a balanced breakfast the next day.

Also, they will make your entire house smell scrumptious!