19 (Months) on the 19th

To My Sweet Genevieve,

Another month has zoomed past us and you are now 19 months old.  Last night I was reflecting on all the milestones you have reached during the last few weeks--you've graduated from your high chair to a booster seat at the table, started sitting on the potty before and after bath time, mastered the "ba" sound adding new words to your vocabulary and the most significant (to me at least) is that you are completely weaned from nursing.

I could tell you were almost ready to drop your bedtime snack of "momma milk," then one night you requested a cup of (cows) milk before your bedtime story and after Daddy read your stories to you all you wanted from me was to snuggle, rock and have me sing a few songs.  You were finished--18 months and 1 week after you were placed in my arms and nursed for the first time--it was even a Monday, just like the night you were born.  It was bittersweet for me at first, but I was so glad it was your idea and you have loved coming to get me after your story time with Daddy so I can sing a few songs to you.  You've even started to hum along to "Amazing Grace" and "Silent Night" and sign "more" when you want me to sing it again.

Speaking of signing "more" you can say more now too!  It's still your most common sign and you have even started using it to try to communicate with other children using the sign if you want to play with something when they take their turn on a toy you were eyeing or playing with and when you are having fun playing a game like peek-a-boo, giving high fives or getting hugs.

We did make it back to the library a few times this month to check out books and attended a session about dinosaurs recently which was really geared for kids a bit older than you but you really liked the big fossils and the "dino dig" at the end of the session.  In addition to dogs, cats, birds, squirrels, wild animals and farm animals, dinosaurs have become one of your favorite creatures and you love watching the show "Dinosaur Train" about a family of Pteranodons who tend to break in to song as they explore the different time periods dinosaurs were alive during.

A new favorite song is "The Hokey Pokey" and you are perfecting putting your "right leg in" and you've got the "turn yourself around" down, which we're still trying to capture it on video.

You continue to be very inventive and created your own game that we call "Blockhead" where you put a large soft nesting block on your head so it completely covers your face and walk around running into things and laugh hysterically.  You've gotten so good at navigating our house blind you can go up and down the two stair steps on the main level without trouble.  You also enjoy going "shopping" in your dresser and collect all of your socks and put them in a bag.  You have had a lot of fun helping be in the kitchen especially since we've been hosting frequently now that we're settled in a little more.


We had a great visit with Pappap and Grammy this month.  We did a little shopping and Pappap bought you your first bike and we went on an extra-long hike in Memorial Park when I accidentally took a new path and ended up on the Outer Loop of the park (oops).  We also made sure they sampled our favorite breakfast tacos and went to Rudy's for breakfast one morning.

Your favorite books this month have been The 12 Days of a Minnesota Christmas (a must read for anyone with a Minnesota connection) and Go Dog Go.  Your new words include "more," "bubble," "ball," "ba" (banana), "ball" (clementine), and to Grammy and Pappap's delight, "Pappap" and "ma" (Grammy).

I love you, Vivie and couldn't imagine my life without you and your spunky spirit.

Love,
Momma

When there's "nothing" in the fridge...

Disclaimer: Both of these dishes involve eggs with runny yolks.  If you don't like eggs fried, poached or over easy,  you really should give them another shot, they are amazing and can transform a rather basic dish into something gorgeous and delicious.  I also think that cage free or even better, farmer's market eggs really make a difference when serving these dishes.  If you're pregnant and craving runny eggs (like I always did) just bookmark this and come back to these recipes after the babe arrives.

As I've said before, I am not a meal planner and I don't really plan on becoming one anytime soon.  I've tried, believe me I've tried, but for some reason it just doesn't work for me.  I do, however, have a couple stand-by recipes for when there's "nothing" in the fridge that I turn to and last week I made one of my favorite "something from nothing" recipes--Dave Lieberman's Santa Fe Enchiladas.

I discovered this dish watching a show on the Food Network  in the days when our TV was tuned into cooking shows rather than PBS cartoons.  I was in love with the dish from the very beginning and went strait to the computer, printed the recipe, made the dish, saved the print out for all posterity in one of my recipe binder and  flagged it so it wouldn't get lost in my recipe collection (at least I'm organized with my recipe hoarding).  Well, that was at least six years ago and it's still one of our favorite dishes I never actually plan on making.

One of the reason it's so terrific is that it's so easy to adapt to what you have on hand and it involves a fried egg on top.  I always have canned tomatoes, eggs, cheese and tortillas on hand, even the day before grocery day (which is exactly when this landed on our kitchen table).

This time around I ended up with the version of Dave's brilliant dish I've shared below.  And by the way, where is he these days?  His show was great, am I the only one who remembers it?

This week I ended up with odds and ends for vegetables, and not much in the way of proteins except eggs, so I turned to my good friend Pinterest for a little inspiration and found this terrific idea for a roasted vegetable salad (I'm slightly obsessed with roasted vegetable right now).  I adapted it to what was left in my fridge and pantry and came up with a brand new recipe that Joe and I both devoured.  

 

So next time your cupboards and refrigerator shelves are looking a little bare at dinner time check the egg carton and see if this weekend breakfast staple can help you pull together dinner.

 

What food "staple" do you always have on hand?  What's your go-to dinner the night before a grocery run?

 

Santa Fe Enchiladas (adapted from Dave Leiberman's recipe)

1 Medium Onion, Sliced
1 Bell Pepper, Sliced

4 Cloves Garlic, Chopped
1/4 Cup Salsa Verde (I've used canned chiles many times as well)
1 Teaspoon Cumin
1 Teaspoon Dried Marjoram (which I've been substituting oregano with lately)
1 Teaspoon Chili Pwder

Salt
1 (28-ounce) Can Chopped Tomatoes (I think crushed works best though)
9 Corn Tortillas (I do not recommending substituting flour tortillas)

1 cup shredded cheddar (about 4 ounces)
4 large eggs

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil or canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions, garlic, cumin, marjoram until tender, about 5 minutes, add salsa and cook another minute. Add the tomatoes and simmer about 10 minutes, the sauce will thicken slightly.

Char the tortillas slightly over the flame of a gas burner--keep a very close eye on them and flip when they puff up slightly (do not try this with flour tortillas).  If you have an electric stove top, brown in a dry skillet.
 

These are stacked enchiladas rather than rolled, so the assembly is similar to making a lasagna.  

 

Layer some tomato sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x9 casserole dish then top with three tortillas and 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat this ending with cheese on top. Bake 20-25 minutes until browned and sauce is bubbling around the edges.

While the enchiladas bake heat a medium skillet over medium-low heat and cover the bottom of the pan with canola oil. Break an egg into a small bowl or cup and gently pour them one at a time into the hot oil.  Spoon the hot oil over the tops of the eggs until the whites are cooked through and the yolks are still runny. Use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs from the pan and drain on a paper towel.  I find that it works best to cook them two at a time, and for the little person in our house I break the yolk so it cooks through.  Fry two eggs per person (and one for any egg-loving babies in the house).
 

Scoop out the enchiladas and serve with the fried eggs on top. Enjoy!

Roasted Veggie Salad (adapted from Martha Stewart's Roasted Vegetable Salad)
2 Zucchinis
3 Carrots
1 Beet
1/2 Red Onion
Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons Herbes de Provence
Salt
Pepper
Romaine Lettuce, chopped
White or Apple Cider Vinegar
Poached Eggs

Dressing:
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Heat oven to 425.  Slice veggies into 1/4" thick disks (or chop in similar sizes), drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and the herbes de provence.  Roast for 20-30 minutes, until caramelizing on the bottoms and cooked through. 

While the vegetables roast poach two eggs per person. 

To poach the eggs, fill a high-sided skillet half-way with water and add one teaspoon of white or apple cider vinegar to the water. Bring the water to almost simmering, break the eggs one-at-a-time in a small bowl or cup and gently pour into the water.  Allow the eggs to cook without touching them and remove with a slotted spoon when the whites are cooked.

For the dressing, add equal parts of olive oil to the balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.  Whisk or shake to mix.

Spoon the roasted vegetables over the lettuce and top with the eggs.  Drizzle with the dressing and dig in!

Feeding a Growing Crowd

Last week Vivie and I hosted our play group.  This was my own personal deadline for getting the main spaces of our new house unpacked and presentable and I'm proud to say I met my goal (with a little creative reorganizing).

The play group is something that we really look forward to every week.  After batting the idea around to have a standing weekly play date with the new friends I had made through our activities at the library we started our "little" group in late January with 6-7 mommas and their babies. Since then we have doubled in size!  The play group is at the top of our list of priorities each week--I don't schedule anything that may conflict with it and it's often the highlight of the week for us.  We each take a turn hosting the group in our home or off site and the host provides lunch.  The "babies" range from 11 months-just turned two. When we started none of the original babies were even walking and now all but the youngest two are!  Baby/toddler development really is an amazing thing!

The last time we hosted the group was in March and our numbers and the babies' appetites have all grown by leaps and bounds since then.  When I was planning out our lunch it looked like we were going to have a relatively small group, but by the time Wednesday came almost everyone in the group was able to come plus a couple extra people and we had a total of 12 parents and 12 kids under two come over!  It was wild, chaotic, but also a lot of fun and a great way to "break in" the new house.  We waited a long time to buy a house and I've imagined having a space big enough to fill with friends and family and we finally have it and watching the littles run laps around the kitchen and living room filled me with joy.

Well, like I said the numbers for our get-together ballooned after I went to the store so I did a little creative reworking of the menu and I stretched it out just enough.  After the dust settled there was a slice of sandwich, one deviled egg and about half a cup of salad left!

The original menu was:
Deviled Eggs - recipe below
Roasted Vegetable and Goat Cheese Sandwich
Sunflower Butter and Banana Sandwiches (Usually Vivie's favorite, but she didn't touch hers)
Whole Wheat Crackers and Hummus
Strawberries and (store bought) Shortbread Cookies with Nutella
Ginger-Peach Soda

After the additional responses I decided to make the veggie sandwich open-faced and added:
Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa Salad - recipe below
Roasted Deli-Sliced Chicken and Ham with Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Mashed Avocado

I also put out some cheesy crackers, granola bars and fruit strips (similar to fruit roll ups) for the kids.

A note about hosting with sandwiches:
I love sandwiches and when I'm hosting I try to make things that I really like so they are often on the menu for casual get-togethers.This may sound a little simple and boring to serve to a group, but when you make a few changes to the norm people are surprisingly impressed. 

Goat cheese, roasted vegetables*, avocado and mustard that's not neon yellow are a few of the ways I like to make a company-worthy sandwich.  I always get a loaf of bread like ciabatta or french bread and make one large sandwich then slice it before the guests arrive.  It's much easier to prepare and store ahead of time, and it also looks fancy. 

*I roast the vegetables the night before while I'm making dinner or while we're eating dinner.  425°

for 20-30 minutes usually does the trick for tomatoes and sliced veggies.  Cherry tomatoes, zucchini and red onion tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper are my favorites for sandwiches right now.

I hope you'll try serving a company-worthy sandwich or one of the recipes below at your next summer gathering.  The salad and deviled eggs would also be great to share at a pot luck.

What's your favorite dish to serve to a crowd?


Recipes:
Roasted Red Pepper Quinoa Salad
~2 C Cooked Quinoa
1/2 Cucumber Diced
3 Roasted Red Peppers, Chopped (reserve juice)
1/4 C Feta
1/4 C Chopped, Pitted Kalamata Olives

Dressing:
3 T Reserved Red Pepper Juice
3 T Red Wine Vinegar
6 T  Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Toss salad ingredients.  Add the dressing ingredients to the jar the roasted red peppers were in, toss and serve (I discarded about half of the red pepper juice before making the dressing).

If preparing the night before toss half the dressing in with the salad, add the remaining dressing, to taste before serving.

Deviled Eggs
9 Hard Boiled Eggs*
1/3 C Light Mayonaisse
1 1/2 T Mustard (spicy brown or dijon)
Pinch of Salt
Ground Pepper
2 T Dill Pickle Diced (or dill pickle relish)
Paprika

I realize nine is an odd number when serving eggs, but I have a dish that serves 18 deviled eggs (thank you Shion!), so nine eggs it was (which ended up being perfect for our group).

Shell and cut eggs in half separate yolk from white.  Mash yokes and add other ingredients except paprika.  Spoon yolk mixture into center of whites or place yolk in a plastic baggie and cut off a corner to pipe in (if preparing ahead of time store yolk mixture in baggie until a few hours before serving, then pipe in).  Sprinkle with paprika and serve.

*There are many theories on how to make a perfect hard boiled egg.  My way is not perfect, it's just the way I do it.  Sometime they come out great, sometime they are difficult to peel, but this is how I do it... place eggs in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let sit 10 minutes.  Remove from water and place in colander, cover in crushed ice (or place colander inside a large bowl of ice water).  Allow to cool, peel or place in fridge until ready to use (I give hard boiled eggs a shelf life of 5-6 days.)

Guest Blog Post #2

My friend, Alana, writes a terrific blog for The Immunization Partnership, a non profit organization that focuses on providing information and access to immunizations.  Alana's taking a little time off from blogging while she welcomes her newest addition and adjusts to life as a mother of three (I know, I can barely handle my one) so I shared a few thoughts I have about the importance of getting a flu shot.  The post went up in the midst of our house closing/moving, so it's been up a few weeks, but I hope you'll check it out and see some of the other messages Alana and others have shared.

http://theimmunizationpartnership.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/youre-no-superman-or-woman/

Happy Half Birthday!

Note: Most of the pictures in this post are from Instagram.  You can find me at erinj413 if you're on Instagram and are interested in following me :)

To My Sweet Genevieve,

Happy half birthday, baby girl!  Yesterday you turned 18 months old, a year and a half--why is this such a big milestone in my book?  I have no idea--I was like this with 10 months too, for some reason double digits really got to me and now that it's been six months since your first birthday, well, I guess it's just hard for mommas to see their babies grow up, though it is fun.

Our early Christmas miracle--you were

so tiny even in newborn clothes, but you were certainly born with strong lungs!

On the move at six months, you rolled everywhere, even under the bed!

My one-year-old at the "Pumpkin Park" where we went at least once a week for months.

I barely got your shoes off you were so excited to jump in the pool.  Your bathing suit stayed dry all evening and your pigtails stayed in :)

 It has been a VERY hectic month for us because we moved (for the third time since you were growing in my belly) into our new house!  You love it here already, even now that we have furniture in it.  You have been a trouper dealing with all the packing, unpacking and boxes (which I haven't been able to bring myself to save for you this time around) and you've transitioned to being in the house rather well.  You've had a few rocky nights, and you're having a little trouble sharing your toys now that they are all unpacked, but you have plenty of good moments to make up for those.

The deck is your favorite "room" in the house, especially now that we have a (baby) pool on it.  I think you would live outside if I'd let you--though you might be eaten alive by the mosquitoes (unfortunately, you are at least as tasty as I am to them).  Water is your passion these days and it's rare that you are fully clothed and dry. We've been to the local splash pad twice and are going to check out our neighborhood pool soon.

Splash Pad Fun (at Jaycee Park)

Chilling out on the deck of the new house.

We don't have much of a regular routine of activities right now other than our weekly play group (which we hosted yesterday and had 11 mommas, 1 daddy and 12 kids under two attend!) and going to the Kids Klub at the gym a few days a week, but we've had fun showing the new house off to friends and family.  Hopefully we'll get back to the library (since you've now graduated to Toddler Story Time) and plan to check out Toddler Yoga at the library downtown soon too.

You are also becoming much more affectionate giving hugs, blowing lots of kisses and even giving a few kisses too if we're really lucky.  You have become a dancing machine lately and will start shaking your tail feathers to just about every genre of music and recently discovered The Jackson Five (I think you might have been born in the wrong decade!).  Your newest fan is our 85 year old neighbor who we go chat with and you give "five" to most mornings.  You're dying to see the inside of his house and love climbing the steps up to his porch to try to get a peek.

Animal sounds are still your favorite things to say, and gorilla has taken the lead as your favorite recently.  You are trying to say your name and right now it sounds a lot like "baby".  You say your own version of thank you and have used sign language for thank you a couple times.  You keep coming up with phrases of words you never just say like "do it" (I'll do it) and "got these" (I've got it/I'm taking care of it).  You're also starting to identify colors--you're pretty good finding blue, green, orange and purple when we play with chalk in our driveway.  You're still figuring out how to get into everything and my plan to just keep the doors shut to rooms and closets you weren't supposed to be in was foiled when you figured out how to turn the knobs to the doors nine days after we moved in!  So, as always, you're keeping me on my toes (I'm hoping you don't crack the code to the baby gates soon, though you've been studying them pretty intensely).

You've always been a terrific eater, but lately you haven't been liking much more than strawberries, cherries, sometimes tomatoes and LOTS of milk, but you seemed to be coming around to some of your normal favorites today (you had eggs for lunch and dinner today!).  I'm also starting to make you smoothies a couple times a week which you usually really like.

Vivie I love you so much and you surprise me everyday with what you know and how fast you learn.  I can't wait to see how much you've physically grown at your check-up next week...I'm guessing 34" tall (you were 32" at 15 months) and 28 pounds (you were almost 27 pounds two moths ago)...I wonder if I'm close this time?

Love,

Momma

P.S. I can't believe I forgot to add that you met almost all of your Schmidt great aunts and uncles who were in town from Minnesota for your cousin Jordan's graduation party and that we celebrated Father's Day by going to the Astro's game where you got to meet TWO of the Chick-fil-a cows!


UPDATE: You weighed in at 28 pounds 3 ounces, were 34" tall and your head circumference was 19" -- 90+ percentile in all three categories and nearly "off the chart" in height.  We're all starting to take bets on how tall you'll be as an adult :)

17 months

To My Sweet Genevieve,

You are ALL toddler these days, running, climbing, (almost) jumping, playing "pretend" in your kitchen, stacking blocks, riding your cupcake truck--our itty bitty baby is long gone, and though I miss being able to easily hold and carry you it's so fun to see you developing into a kid.

You have fully transitioned to one nap a day, which usually goes well and has allowed us to try new activities in the mornings and several afternoons we've visited the pool in our building which you love.  We really went swimming for the first time this summer last week and I could barely hold on to you because you wanted to try to do it by yourself.  I see many pool days ahead of us this summer--you love the water and are one of the only kids I've ever met who loves being sprayed and splashed in the face (silly girl!).

We have had fun going over to our new house during these days before we move our things there.  You and your cousins have loved running around the big empty living room and deck--I'm a little worried how you're going to take it when we fill some of the space with furniture.  We celebrated Mother's Day earlier this month and were lucky enough to have your Grammy come visit from Nebraska.  We had a terrific brunch at Bird and Bear and the next day we took Grammy on the tyke hike at Memorial Park.  Daddy even got to go with us on our hike the next week, though I think you did more riding in his arms than hiking that day.

You have been an excellent shopper this month and have been (mostly) patient with us as we've looked for furniture and appliances for our new home.  It's been a lot of fun to fill a space almost twice as big as our apartment and almost three times as big as your first home in New York (yes, that's three homes before you turn 1 1/2--I promise we'll stop moving for awhile after this one).

The biggest challenge this month has been sleep and teeth.  I've lost track of how many teeth you have now, they keep coming one right after another and you don't really like for us to try and count them.  With all of those teeth coming in you had trouble sleeping through the night again, and even more trouble getting back to sleep when you woke up--hopefully that is behind us, we were all pretty tired for a few weeks.

We're starting to understand more and more of what you're saying now and your new words include up, yes, car and cup, but your absolute favorite is "uh-oh".  You're picking up more sign language too and you can sign please and eat, but the best thing is that you use the sign for "more" to not only mean more food, but read the book again, more kisses, more playtime, more tickles and even to see a baby we were meeting for the first time "more".  You signed your first sentence/phrase when you were under the weather last week and signed more milk please--priceless!  You've added two new animal "noises" to your repetoire and will pound your chest and say "uhahuhah" for a gorilla and stick your tongue in and out for a lizard.

Strawberries are back as a favorite food, and you just had cherries for the first time and devoured them.  You weren't sure of watermelon the first few times we offered it to you, but ate several pieces on Memorial Day.  I've been surprised that two summer foods you loved last year, cantelope and corn on the cob, you have so far shown no interest in--we'll keep trying though.  Sunflower butter and banana or strawberry sandwiches are one of our go-tos for lunch right now.  You can also use a fork all by yourself now!

With the 90+ degree weather already setting in I have a feeling the next month will include a lot of time checking out the outdoor water spots and indoor play areas around Houston.  I'm also hoping that we can get back to the library more regularly for story time and yoga.

I love you, my sweet, growing girl!

Love,

Mum-mum

For the Love of...Chicken Salad

Really, I'm not kidding, I love chicken salad, well, when it's done right.  I'm pretty sure this food passion started shortly after college when I was a newlywed living in a new city with a new job.  I went with my colleagues to Kitchen Door (sadly, now closed I just learned) and was told that I MUST order the chicken salad sandwich.  Up until that point, I really had never liked chicken salad all that much and felt it belonged lumped into the same category as egg salad (gross!) and tuna salad (which I pretty much refuse to be in the same room as)--but a little peer pressure to try THIS chicken salad was all I needed from a group I was trying to impress and well, they were right, it was amazing.  You know it had to be good if I still have a food memory of it nearly a decade later and I even remember the name of the restaurant (seriously, I'm so sad that it's closed!).

I started dabbling in trying to create my own amazing chicken salad--something creamy, but not drowning in mayonnaise, with chopped, not shredded chicken and a little crunch.  I came up with something pretty good, then after moving to the DC area I had Booeymonger's chicken salad sandwhich and learned what the perfect accompaniments really are...avocado and alfalfa sprouts with a side of their house sauce--a creamy curry dressing (it's to die for).

I had almost forgotten how great that creamy curry dressing made the chicken salad until the other day when I decided to add a twist to my go-to chicken salad with a little curry (well, maybe a lot to some people) and tumeric--to my astonishment what came out was the closest thing I've tasted to a Booeymonger's house sauce and it was dressing my chicken salad.  After every bite was eaten, I thought it might be worth sharing with the world :)

Curry Chicken Salad
Chicken and "Crunch"
2 cups of poached*, chopped chicken breast (~3 chicken breasts)
2 stalks celery, sliced or diced

1 apple (Granny Smith is my favorite, but whatever you have on hand is fine), cored and diced
1 handful of nuts, chopped (I usually use cashews or almonds)

Dressing
2 heaping tablespoons light mayo
2 heaping tablespoons Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2-1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons curry (I used a strong curry from an Indian market, add a little at a time until desired flavor is reached)
1 teaspoon tumeric
fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1 teaspoon horseradish

Mix the dressing and toss the chicken and "crunch" in it--this will create a relatively lightly coated salad.  Serve over greens or as a sandwich, but don't forget the slices of avocado and sprouts.  Enjoy!

*Fill a large stock pot about 2/3 full with water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Add chicken breasts (whole or halved), 2-3 carrots (very roughly chopped), 2-3 celery stalks (very roughly chopped), an onion quartered, 1 teaspoon peppercorns and a bay leaf. Simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.