Thursday, February 28, 2013

14 Months

To My Sweet Genevieve,

It's hard to believe that you are 14 months old now.  I think that this year of your life might be passing us by even faster than your first year!  You have held up your tradition of reaching milestones on holidays this month--on February 2nd, Groundhog's Day, you really started walking (your first steps were Christmas morning) and on Valentine's Day you joined Daddy and me and toasted your glass (okay, plastic straw cup) for the first time at our "fancy" home-cooked dinner (it's one of your favorite things to do now and is so cute).

Your favorite activities are opening and closing the doors, walking in the hallway of our building, playing in the pantry, and reading books.  You also love to go to the park and are dying to go down the tunnel slide by yourself (headfirst!).  The swings are still fun for a little while, but you are much more interested in the rivets on the playground equipment and holding court in the tunnel so the bigger kids have to ask if they can go through, and you usually let them squeeze by.



You love being with other kids and we are a part of a playgroup that meets once-a-week and attend Baby Time at the library weekly. Sharing is something that's difficult to understand, but if someone's playing with a toy you want you usually try to trade them for something else.  You also like to play independently and you've started to play in your room by yourself (with Daddy or me around the corner).  The first time you played in your room alone I heard you chattering and peeked in on you to find you reading a book to yourself.  One of the other things you like to do in your room is to look out the window onto the cars below.

You have become an expert at opening and closing containers, which keeps us on our toes.  You can unzip zippers, take chip clips and binder clips of off pantry items, unscrew and screw on the tops of many containers and put on and take off tupperware container lids.  You've even managed to open a factory sealed package.  I know it won't be long until you figure out how ziplock bags work too!

You still love music, and I think all of our rounds of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" are sinking in because you will (sometimes) show us where your nose, toes and mouth are.

Some of your favorite foods are blueberries, bananas, yogurt, eggs, bread, hummus, ham, chicken sausages, tortillas and cheese.  To our surprise (well, sort of), you also like the flavor of curry and are starting to like milk more.  You've tried a few new foods this month too, including: kiwi, clementines (quickly becoming a favorite), peanut butter and shrimp.

You are saying more and more words everyday.  Daw-g, Da-dee, mamamamama and hi are the most popular words these days.  You said "mine" for the first time recently and shake your head when you don't want or don't like something.  You're communicating with sign language too more often now and will sign more, all done, eat and milk.

"You are a happy, active toddler, but there are a few things that you really don't like.  You don't mind getting out of the bathtub, but you don't like getting dressed for bed.  You don't like when the refrigerator or dishwasher are closed because they are so interesting.  And sometimes you really don't want to get in your car seat or stroller.


Vivie, your Daddy and I love you very much, and we can't wait to see what you'll learn next!

Love,
Mommy




Monday, February 18, 2013

Invent-A-Meal

I'm not a meal planner (at all) so I find myself "playing" invent-a-meal with some regularity, and tonight was one of those nights.  I play this game often enough that I've come up with two "rules" that help ensure we aren't clearing our plates when we should be reading bedtime stories.

Before assessing what I have on hand I:

1.  Put on a pot of water to boil.  
2. Preheat the oven.

It turns out that tonight I used both the water and the oven.

I haven't been to the grocery store in a week, but I have tons of produce from the vegetable and fruit share I bought from a local co-op on Saturday (more to come on that).  I scanned the fridge and realized I had chicken sausage I bought when I was at the grocery store (don't worry, it was well within the "sell by" date) and about half of a large log of goat cheese I found on the cheap at Whole Foods (of all places).  Throw in some pasta and produce share veggies and you've got a full fledged dinner. 

Here's what I came up with...


Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta with Chicken Sausage (sounds fancy, right ;)):
1/2 Box Bow Tie Pasta (I boiled the whole box to have the leftovers on hand)
1 pt Grape Tomatoes
1 Bunch Swiss Chard, chopped (spinach or kale would have probably been even better)
1 lb Chicken Sausage
4-5 oz Goat Cheese
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400°.  Place tomatoes in a shallow baking dish, toss in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are slightly wrinkled (toss tomatoes half way through cooking time).

Cook pasta according to package directions (or your preferred "doneness" - I think the package directions usually make it a bit mushy for my taste).

Heat high sided pan over medium-high heat, add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, sear sausage (mine were fully cooked, if the sausage is raw, after you sear the sausage, reduce heat to low, add enough water or broth to cover the bottom of the pan, cover and cook for 10 minutes).  Remove sausage, add a splash of water or chicken broth and Swiss chard, cover and cook until wilted.  Add roasted tomatoes (with liquid) and break up the goat cheese as you add it in.  Stir until cheese is fully incorporated.  Using a slotted spoon add the pasta to the sauce (if you need a little more sauce add some of the cooking water from the pasta).

Serve the sausage on the side (that's what we did), or slice and add into the pasta and sauce.

This was a huge hit with my party of three, including our almost 14 month old who ate about the same amount I did.  I think the only down side was that there was a dish, a pot and a pan to clean after dinner.

Served two adults and one (hungry) toddler with enough leftovers for one lunch tomorrow.  If you had some crusty bread and a salad you could probably stretch it to serve four.

This will definitely make an appearance on our table again. 

What's a favorite meal you've come up with on the fly?






Monday, February 11, 2013

The Lighter Side of Super Bowl Snacks

With the Texans out of the playoffs weeks ago, and our other favorites out of the mix too, the Super Bowl was a bit of a non-event for our household this year.  Of course we watched it, but it was just the three of us--no big party to host or go to, but we still had to have munchies for the big game.

Since it was just us, I thought it was more important than usual to make sure the food was on the healthier side--I mean we were going to be eating everything that made up our spread, and as much as I love sour cream and melted cheese laden dips that always make an appearance on game days I just couldn't do that to us.

I came up with this menu for our party of three:
Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings (I know, it's not really possible to make a healthy chicken wing, but mine are slightly better for you than standard bar fare)
Baby Back Ribs (I can't resist buying them when they are less than $2/pound!)
Cucumber Salad
Seven Layer Dip

This was the first time I had attempted a Seven Layer Dip (light or traditional), so I turned to Pinterest for a little inspiration.  I found this recipe and it was exactly what I was looking for. 

Here's my 5 1/2 Lighter Layer Dip:
Not-Refried Beans*
Pico de Gallo
Guacamole
Fat Free Greek Yogurt
Low Fat Colby Jack Cheese, Shredded
Green Onions, Chopped
Cilantro, Chopped

Prepare the beans the day before, or overnight in the crock pot.

Prepare Pico de Gallo: Combine one chopped medium onion, two chopped medium tomatoes, half a diced jalapeno, juice of one lime, salt and pepper to taste. (Alternatively, you could use prepared salsa or pico, but it's so good fresh-made.)

Guacamole: I'm in love with HEB's fresh-made guacamole, so that's what I used, but by all means, feel free to make your own from scratch, just make sure your avocados are ripe.

Determine the quantity for each layer based on the container you're serving the dip in.  My bowl was 1.75 qts and I used about 2 cups of beans, and  1-1 1/2 cups of pico, guacamole and yogurt.  Whatever the size of your container make sure you can see all of the layers :)

Layer the beans, pico de gallo, guacamole and yogurt.  Sprinkle with cheese and top with cilantro and green onions.

Enjoy with tortilla chips, or we really liked it with sweet potato chips.

*The only adjustment I made to the recipe is I used half a jalepeno which made the beans very mild (I would guess with a whole jalepeno it would be mild/medium).

This dip didn't taste like a light version of Seven Layer Dip it tasted like a really good homemade layered dip.  Even if you're not in the mood for the dip, I highly recommend the bean recipe, I plan on making another batch soon for enchilada night (and perfect for a Friday Lenten dinner too).

What dish do you enjoy "lightened" up?  Do you have a favorite meat-free meal?


Friday, February 1, 2013

Got Milk?

A common school of thought these days is to introduce cow's milk to babies when they reach the magic age of one-year-old and they are supposed to just as magically love it and drink cups and cups of it all day long.

I have bought into the importance of milk--I mean it is a pretty nutritious food source and I personally have always enjoyed drinking it.  Well, a certain 2 1/2 feet tall red head didn't get the "milk does a body good" memo (shocking, I know).

I have been asking moms for months, "How did your baby take to milk?"  And really the only negative was for some it impacted the child's digestion, so they diluted the milk or introduced it very slowly.  Many people I know swapped bottles of formula or breast milk out and offered the cow's milk in it's place without issue.  I don't know why, but I just knew it wasn't going to be that easy for us.

I wasn't going to replace nursing with cups of cow's milk (Vivie was slowly cutting out feedings and was a great solid foods eater) I was just going to give her a cup with her meals.  Since her birthday was six days before Christmas I had decided to wait until after the holidays when we were back on our normal schedule before offering her cow's milk.  This also gave me a chance to drill her pediatrician before starting too--her recomendation, Vivie should get 12-16 ounces of dairy (milk, yogurt and cheese) every day. 

A few days before New Year's I bought a half gallon of organic whole milk, filled one of her favorite straw cups, warmed the milk to room temperature (as many seasoned moms had suggested) and gave it to her.  I wasn't sure what would happen, but I was a little excited that she was trying something new.

One sip and the cup went flying across the room.

I gave it to her cold the next time and she sipped and spat it all out...sigh.

She eventually stopped spitting it out (most of the time), instead she'd look at me like I was crazy when I offered her a cup and she'd pucker her face with every little bitty taste.  Seriously, have you tasted organic whole milk lately, it's basically melted ice cream, how can this kid not like it?

Over the next several weeks I offered her milk 2-3 times a day with little improvement, then the other night I handed her cup to her while I was cooking dinner and she downed six ounces in under a minute!  Eureka, there is hope! Or, maybe the kid is playing me because she figured out that if she empties the cup I open the fridge--her FAVORITE place to play.  Hum...

Have you ever been outsmarted by a baby?