Holiday re-cap

Our Christmas was celebrated the Sunday before because that was Jimmy's only day off and he had to work on Christmas eve and Christmas day. We had peppermint hot cocoa, banana-nutella french toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs. What a brunch!!

The night before we opened our C.E presents from Jimmy's parents (p.j.'s) and we wore it all day! We loved, loved our p.j's. It's such a cool tradition and it's something we look forward to every year! Kai looks like such a big boy in his p.j's.

After brunch we opened presents and spent the day playing with them. Kai was having so much fun, even Cassia had fun watching him play with his toys (and hers). My sister bought Kai a train set and he went nuts for it and still is. He asks to play with it every day. He got a steering wheel toy from the grandparents that he likes to play with in the car. He carries around his farm truck that he got from his cousins.

Cassia got the cutest clothes from her stylish auntie and grandma. Jimmy surprised me with a big hat box of Lush products, yay Jimmy...what a way to make me feel like a person again. (For those who don't know me, pre-babies, my bathroom was a mini bath and body shop. I had to have a variety of scents to mach my many moods. Seriously, I had about 30 soaps, lotions and perfumes to choose from. After babies, I had like 4.)

I also surprised Jimmy with a gift box from Khiel's and a travel coffee press for him to use at work.

So, that's a brief of our holiday. I will post more pictures when I find the SD card that Kai lost.

gingerbread house

This is a bit late, but I finally have time after all the baking and package mailing to post some pics. These are pictures of this year's gingerbread project that Jimmy had to do for work. It's cute and kids loved it!

Roaring water

I just got back from the grocery store and Kai couldn't wait to try his new water so I opened a pouch for him and took a sip. That tastes like juice! I had to look at the ingredients and yep it had corn syrup and Splenda! Why did they put corn syrup and Splenda in a drink that is suppose to be water?!?

Ok, so I should have read the label at the store, but I had a coupon and wanted to try a new product. Plus all you parents know how hard it is to shop with kids in tow. So back to the water. I am very mad and disappointed that it has all that extra sweetener in it. I don't know why I was expecting only water in a product that has 'water' as the product name. I don't really want to give my son sugar in his water.

He drinks only milk now, he used to drink water, but now only Olvatine and milk. Occasionally, as a treat we give him 100% juice diluted with water. I will try giving him plain water again, but really if a product has high fructose corn syrup in it there is really no need for extra sweetener like Splenda.

snow, snow, snow

I'm all done making chocolate treats and cookie doughs are made. I let Kai play in the snow for a little bit today. He really loved it. I think he like the hot cocoa afterwards even more! I had a few minutes and thought I'd share some photos of the kids and holiday things.







This is Cassia enjoying her new car / walker...beep, beep.






















Kai having a little fun in the snow.












These are Jimmy's ornaments on our living room wall.

chocolate and 'buddy'

It has started to snow here. It's always so beautiful before people start to walk in it, then it gets dirty and ugly and makes you wish it would all melt and go away.

I've been busy making chocolate treats everyday, it's so much fun. I can't believe I didn't ever try making candy before. Jimmy taught me a few basics and I haven't stopped making chocolate things since he showed me how.

Kai has been sneaking chocolate from the advent calendar his grandparents sent him. I told him he could open one a day and he replied with 'my chocolate, two mommy'. We've raised a chocoholic! Ever since, I let him watch Open Season that is all he wants to watch. It's 'Buddy mommy, watch buddy", all day long! It's a good movie so I don't mind watching it everyday, I think we will have to buy it for him when they take it off of our cable's on demand menu. Now to figure out how to get the song "teddy bear pic-nick" out of my head.

Cassia had her 4 month check up on Monday and everything is good, except the shots that she got gave her a little fever. I hope it goes away soon. I'm not used to my babies getting sick from shots. Kai didn't ever get sick from any of his shots, I guess every kid is different.

On Jimmy's day off we finished our shopping. I will be baking like a mad woman this weekend to get the packages out on Monday. Last year we sent them out really late, so this year we want to send them early.
I tested out a new sugar cookie recipe that uses buttermilk and it's pretty good. Very buttery and does not have that eggy taste I dislike with most sugar cookies. Here it is(of course I made a few changes as always):

Simple Sugar Cookie

4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
11/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 sticks cold butter, cut into 1/4 cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.Combine the dry ingredients and pour into a food processor. Add cold butter cubes and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal.

2.In a small bowl, combine vanilla extract, eggs,and buttermilk. Pour into the dry ingredients and pulse until a dough ball forms.
The dough will be very sticky. Divide dough into two equal portions and wrap each portion with plastic wrap and flatten into a thick disk. Chill for four hours or overnight.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a floured surface to desired thickness (thicker the dough softer the cookie, thinner dough crispier cookie) and cut out desired shapes with your cookie cutters. If dough becomes too sticky put it back in the refrigerator. Bake on lined cookie sheet for 10 minutes.
Let cool before trying to remove from pan.

Shortbread cookies

While the babies are still sleeping, I made chocolate chip shortbread. It's the traditional recipe plus the addition of chocolate chips. Of course this might be old news to some of you, but I am exploring the flavor possibilities. I've tried ginger, pandan, green tea, chocolate, dried fruits, lemon, almond, lavender and even black pepper. Chocolate chip was tasty, but the chocolate I used might not be to everyone's taste. It was 53.8% Callebaut chocolate. Not at all milky or bittersweet. Close to semi-sweet but has a deeper chocolate taste and a fruity finish. I was skeptical at first out of the oven, but seeing as how I can't stop eating them...it works for this family. The classic is still the best so I will share the recipe. I don't know who originally wrote the recipe down but this one was handed down to me by my in laws.

Scottish Shortbread

1 pound of butter, soften
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of rice flour
4 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract*
pinch of salt *

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add the salt and gradually add the flours to the butter. The finished dough will resemble crumbs. Pour mixture into a 15 x 10 glass baking pan and press cookie dough into the pan. Poke the dough in several places with a fork and bake for an hour or until the shortbread is a nice golden color. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting it into squares.
(* the vanilla extract and salt are my recent additions)


Have fun testing out the recipe. If you can't find rice flour, corn starch can be substituted.

Bouncy, bouncy chair

So many parents go on and on about how the bouncy chair is a life saver. Not for us. Kai did not like it and Cassia does not like it! Both of our kids cried when put in the bouncy chairs, but they love the swing!! Thanks Tiff. My niece had purchased the swing for us when Kai was born and we kept it because it was my life saver. Cassia loves sitting in it, now that she can see better she can actually enjoy the lights and moving fishes. The only downer is the size. It takes up a good part of our tiny living room. I wish that it was a little smaller so that I can put it in the kitchen while I cook.
Which made me shop around for something that would do just that. We purchased a walker for her and it came today, but because I was in the kitchen I didn't hear the UPS guy knock on the window. For a while our doorbell was not working so all the delivery people knew to knock on the window to get my attention...I guess I should put a sign up for them to ring the bell. Anyway, I'm rambling. We bought her a Combi walker that is a mint convertible. I know Kai will think it's his. He already got to play with it at the baby expo we went to a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully Cassia will love it just as much as Kai. The website we got it from is so cool, they don't charge for tax or shipping on orders over $50. If you're interested in baby gear check it out at www.chitchatbaby.com.

Kai is already playing with one of his Christmas gifts. We couldn't wait to give it to him. It allows us to be on the computer undisturbed. What is it you wonder? We got him a Leapster with three games. It's a handheld educational video game system. The recommended age is 4 and up, but I knew Kai could figure out how to play some of the games and he has. He uses the drawing and coloring game alot as well as his Finding Nemo game. It teaches him colors and numbers. He still plays with his Little Touches Leap Pad which is also being enjoyed by Cassia. Go Leap Frog. I really like their products because it is a ton of fun for the kids and it teaches them all sorts of things from animal sounds to reading.

We have our tree up with lights. The ornaments still need to go on display. I love the MacMillan family tradition of picking out new ornaments for the tree every year. The kids have theirs, but Jimmy and I still have to find ours.
Our ornaments also do not go on the tree anymore because the kids like to take them off and play with them. Kai has already pulled off the pom-poms to his and Nick's ornaments from last year. So last year I hung up string high on the living room wall and displayed Jimmy's ornaments. They are priceless because he made some of them when he was a kid and I want our kids to have a collection like his and continue this tradition.
Another one that I want to continue is collecting nutcrackers for each year. We have one and hopefully it will survive the season because it is played with by Kai everyday.

The day after turkey.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was yummy. Jimmy brought home little pies (apple and pumpkin) and I tried out Paula Deen's recipe for Pumpkin Pecan pie. It was yummy, a combo of my two favs, but I think I still prefer the classic pecan pie...I am a southern girl after all. I roasted a turkey breast stuffed with cranberry-apple stuffing. Made my praline sweet potatoes, Jimmy's A-B- Alls or abios (no one knows how to spell it, but it's mashed potatoes and rutabaga), and tried a new thing with the green beans. I like the green bean casserole with the canned mushroom soup, but it's too rich and Jimmy doesn't really care for it. So I made up a lighter green bean side. I kept the fried onions as a garnish but made it from scratch. It's basically green beans stir fried with bacon, a little sesame oil and a splash of apple balsamic vinegar...yummy and light.
I burned my first batch of cranberry sauce, I didn't know it was possible but I guess cooking at 5 in the morning is not something I can do. I went back to bed and woke up at my normal time and made the sauce again. It came out great. I portioned some for dinner and added maple syrup to the little sauce I had left for Kai's waffles. If you've never made fresh cranberry sauce, you should give it a try. There are so many ways to flavor it. My classic cranberry sauce is 1 bag of cranberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup of orange juice, zest of 1 orange, and half a vanilla bean. Put everything in a saucepan, turn on the heat, bring to a boil and then simmer on low until all berries pop. Then turn of the heat and let sauce cool before transferring it to serving dish.

Since I didn't make a whole turkey we don't have alot of leftovers to make new dishes with but I can give you a few ideas. Turkey gumbo was something we always made when we had leftover turkey. This year I thought of Turkey and stuffing balls (a take on chicken and dumplings). Chop up the leftover crudite vegetables and a small onion saute until soft, add chicken or turkey stock and shredded turkey, bring to a boil. Ball up leftover stuffing and add to soup....mmm, great for a cold night. If you made mashed sweet potatoes, make sweet potato pancakes the next morning.

Shopping.....nope did not wake up to join the crowd. Not only is my shopping almost done but I realized that the sales are not all that great. Besides, if you watch the sales flyers for your favorite stores you know that they have sales all the time. Sure you might not be able to grab those DVD's for $2.50, but really is that worth waking up at 4 am for? I say no and if I really wanted a movie I wouldn't mind paying the $10 non-holiday sale price.

• Thanksgiving cards for family. Done.
• Test cookie recipes....still testing.

Okay, so now I have to mail the cards. Hopefully that will get done tomorrow. I tested a new cookie recipe from a magazine and decided that it will not be one for giving this year or any other year. It just wasn't our type of cookie. It had cream cheese in it which made me want to try it, but once made it wasn't as good as I thought.

I made the famous MacMillan family shortbread the other day and the whole pan is almost gone. Primarily consumed by yours truly. I forgot how addicted to those cookies I am! This year I added vanilla extract in the mix, which is not in the original recipe, and it tasted like those packaged Walker's shortbread!!!
Hopefully, the family will like my addition to the shortbread. I thought about turning them into turtle bars by adding caramel, pecans,and chocolate but they are just fine the way they are. It would be too sweet with all the other toppings (I made a batch and it's almost all gone).

I wanted to go to Toys R' Us today because they are having a 2 day sale this weekend on toys, but I don't think I'll get to it. It is so hard taking Kai out in public now, he just wants to do what he wants to do. I rather not deal with a toddler tantrum in public. I just don't have the energy right now.

Jimmy came home sick after his cake contest yesterday so I didn't make the beef stew (that is tonight's dinner). Instead, I made him a pot of chicken soup with orzo. He is a little better today, but still feeling under the weather.
We always get sick when the temperature goes up and down like it has been doing lately.

Tomorrow, I plan on making vegetarian moussaka and Sunday is junk food day....I'm thinking mini-sausages in the crock pot with bar b que sauce and mac n' cheese. Then to continue testing recipes.

Menu week of 11-12

Hmm...I seem to have trouble getting my weekly menu posted these days. Yesterday was spent shopping for candy for the gingerbread houses that Jimmy is working on for the hotel. Today, I did a little shopping for Christmas items.
So here it is a plan for the next few meals.

Tuesday: Orange-Apricot glazed chicken with sweet potato and butternut squash (cooked in a crock pot)

Wednesday: Pantry Pasta (pasta tossed with whatever is in my pantry)

Thursday: Beef stew (another meal made in crock pot)

That's all I have for now. Have I mentioned that the crock pot is my new favorite appliance? I've never used one until we moved up here. There are actually seasons up here! It's nice, I like the cold. Anyway, the crock pot- great invention.

Helpful Tips for the Week

1. Separate your silverware by type when loading the dishwasher. This saves some time when you have to put away the clean dishes. This is something I picked up from working in restaurants.
   
2. If you have children and want to control what they drink, have portioned out approved beverages in the refrigerator. Every morning, I fill two sippy cups with milk, one with water, and one with fifty-fifty juice (diluted juice: half juice half water) for Kai. We do not have a lock on the fridge so Kai can help himself and decide what he wants to drink.
   
3. Portion out cereal into bowls and cover it with saran wrap the night before. This is useful if you have school age children. For me, I portion out cereal into snack size bags when I get home with a new box. I use the serving size on the box as my portion guide. Whenever Kai wants cereal he just grabs a bag or when we are on the go I grab a bag and throw it in my diaper bag for him to snack on later. I also portion out his snacks this way.

I hope these are helpful, I will try to give my little tips every week.


Update on Cassia Bella.
My little girl just turned three months!! She's getting so big. I am so lucky that she is not colicky. She only cries when she needs something. She opens her mouth every time she sees us eat. I think she wants real food or maybe ready to have a taste of daddy's treats. I'm starting to use baby signs with her; hoping that when she is coordinated enough she will be able to sign her needs. I used baby signs with Kai and it really helped him communicate and he was less frustrated. She is doing so well.

Holidays are here again.

Oh me, oh my, how quickly time has passed us by.

All this time I've been thinking about Christmas preparations, Thanksgiving has crept up on me. It's less than two weeks away. I know I'll make turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes. Oh, of course Jimmy's must have blend of mashed potatoes with rutabaga. Now, to decide on the something green and dessert.

Oh, it should be so easy with Jimmy being the pastry chef, but it's not. I love it all. Pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, and again all those flavors in cheesecake form..mmmmm. I want a little of everything!! It's not such a hard decision when you are celebrating with all the extended family, but since our family members are scattered throughout the US it's hard to get together. So I have to shrink everything down for four.

Oh brilliant, just solved my own problem. I'll make mini-pies, that way I can have it all. I could freeze the ones we don't get to. You are probably thinking that I'm crazy, but it is the season of eating so that's my excuse.
If you ask Jimmy, he would say who am I trying to kid, I eat like that all the time. Yes, I love sweets, that's why Jimmy is my perfect match--he doesn't mind.

Then I have to make the Thanksgiving cards with the kids for the family. Every year, I outline Kai's hands to make hand turkeys. Last year was Kai's and Nico's hands, this year will be Kai's and Bella's.

After Thanksgiving is over, I have to start testing cookie recipes and decide on what all is going in our gift baskets. Stress, stress, stress!

Now, I'll turn on the radio and listen to the Christmas songs to help motivate me.

Until the next post, live, laugh, love and eat well.

Menu for the week of 11-05

Ok, so we cooked too much food last week and had leftovers that carried over for the next day. This week starts off with the Spicy Panko chicken that was planned for Monday.

Tuesday: Spicy Panko coated Chicken with rice

Wednesday: Chicken and Andouille sausage Jambalaya over rice(leftover from Tuesday)

Thursday: Italian Sausage with spaghetti squash

Friday: Penne pasta with bacon and veggies

Saturday: Take out from Greek Island

Sunday: Football day (every Sunday is until the big game) Most likely pizza, nachos and hot dogs.

My Spicy Panko Chicken

Ingredients:
For the rice:

1 1/2 cups of rice

3 cups of water

For the chicken:

2 chicken breasts (that would actually be 4 halves)

Salt

black pepper

1/4 cup of mayonnaise

3 tablespoons of hot sauce (we like Winston's hot sauce from Austin,Tx)

1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs

1 gallon size plastic bag with a zip top

The chicken is best marinated over night, but 15-30 minutes will do too.


1. I usually poke the breasts all over with a fork then season with salt and pepper. Place seasoned chicken in the plastic bag.


2. In a small bowl mix the mayonnaise and hot sauce together. Taste to see if it's spicy enough, if not add more hot sauce, then pour into the plastic bag. Squish everything around in the bag to make sure that the chicken is coated in the spicy mayo. Put back in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.


3. Put the rice and water into a 6 cup sauce pan. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Then lower heat to a simmer and cook for twenty minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for at least 10 before opening the lid.


4. Turn the oven on to 375 degrees. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator. Pour the Panko bread crumbs into a plate and season with more salt and pepper. Take one piece of chicken at a time and coat with the panko bread crumbs by pressing crumbs onto chicken. Make sure the chicken is completely covered with the bread crumbs. Finish coating the rest of the chicken this way.


5. Spray a sheet pan (cookie pan) with cooking spray. Place coated chicken breast on pan and put it in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes then flip the chicken breasts and cook for another 10 minutes. The internal temperature should be 165 degrees, if not cook longer. If you don't have a thermometer, cut one of the breasts in half to see if the chicken juices run clear.

6. Serve with rice, extra hot sauce and your choice of vegetable or a simple salad.



This is a picture of the tandoori chicken, mushroom korma, spinach and chickpea masala and brown basmati rice coconut pilaf from last week. Yes, I made everything.

the cooking toddler

I finally got Kai cooking on camera! Unfortunately for unknown reasons, the camera did not pick up sound so it's a silent video. Click on the media player above to see him in action. Yes, my two year old son is cooking all by himself- he was fully supervised. He insists on being allowed to do what he knows, I think it's alright as long as I know that he won't hurt himself. I do not let him cook unsupervised so please don't worry.

We went to the American Baby Faire today. It's a great expo to attend if you're a first time parent, not so much fun if you already have them. I totally forgot about it, but my dear husband was sweet to remember and take me! It took us two hours to go through the whole thing. We made out with a few samples and a better understanding of the new stroller we want, plus found an item that both kids can share for Christmas.
They could improve it by adding more info and products for people who already have kids and call it a 'Baby and kid faire' or something like that.

We saw the new Dodge mini van up close and I seriously like the rotating back seats! I never ever thought I would consider a mini van for a vehicle, but they've come a long way. I don't think we really need one for a couple more years. Hubby likes the Caddy SUV, but again we'll have to battle it out when the need arises.

More food and fun.

I started this blog as an attempt to keep a journal of sorts. I am terrible at the actual pen to paper, so I'm hoping this will last longer than one month (the longest journal kept). I am also going to do my best to write more about food and fun, so there will be weekly postings of my weekly menu, an original recipe if I'm using one during the week, and a post about my faves of the week or new findings.

This weeks menu starts tonight because we had Chinese take-out for dinner last night. After a trip to the grocery, I really don't feel like cooking since our grocery trips involve going to at least three shops for ingredients!

Thursday: Basic meatloaf with roasted sweet potatoes and roasted butternut squash puree.

Friday: Tandoori chicken, brown basmati rice, garlic nan, mushroom korma, and spinach and chickpeas spiced with garam masala.

Saturday: Mushroom lasagna with meat sauce.

Sunday: Football day- Husband's choice for game food

Monday: Hubby's favorite spicy oven baked crispy panko chicken with rice

What an ambitious menu. It's all fairly simple to make, really. Here's how I made tonight's meatloaf.

I got out my handy Cuisinart mini prep. Washed the following:

1 stalk of celery
1 small bell pepper

Then, peeled and roughly chopped one small onion and placed it in the food processor and pressed chop until it got to my desired size. No tears! Dumped the onions into a mixing bowl, then rough chopped the celery and bell pepper and tossed it into the food processor and chopped until the desired size was reached. Dumped that into the mixing bowl and added a handful of breadcrumbs, 1/2# of ground sirloin and 1/2# of ground chuck and 2 strips of smoky bacon that went through the same chopping process as the veggies, couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce, about a quarter cup of ketchup, and good ol' salt and pepper. Combine everything together with your hands, form into a loaf shape, place in pan and bake at 375 degrees until done. I check it after forty-five minutes with a thermometer. When it reaches 165 degrees it's done.

For the sides:

Roasted Sweet Potatoes
wash 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces, sprinkle on olive oil, salt, pepper and a little garlic powder.
put on a baking pan and place in oven. should take about 30 minutes to cook.

Roasted Butternut Squash Puree
Wash the squash and then cut in half length wise. Scoop out seeds, sprinkle some olive oil on it and put it on a baking pan cut side down. I added fresh sage leaves to these. So before you put the squash on the pan lay fresh sage leaves in the area that the squash will go, then top them with the squash. The two are a good combo and the squash gets scented this way.

Bake it for 30 minutes or until it gets soft. When cooked, scoop squash into a blender, add butter(as much as you like), salt and pepper and a splash of cream or milk, push the puree button on the blender. Voila it's done. pour it into a serving dish.

That's what we're having for dinner. I told y'all earlier that I'm not a professional chef so measurements and cooking times are approximated. If you really need exact times, temperatures, measurements, and a weekly shopping list so you can follow my menu, I can give those to you. Just ask.

Bon apetite!

Happy Halloween!

We wish everyone a fun and safe Halloween!

almost halloween

This is a picture of Kai's first Halloween two years ago. He was so cute. We had a Halloween party and those were the treats I was giving out. Kai was only six months at the time so he did not get to taste any of the candies, besides he had too much fun crinkling the wrappers.

Last year he was a duck. We took him trick-or-treating with Nic. Nic was a horse! We were going with the old MacDonald's farm theme, except the adults didn't dress up.

This year, Bella is a 'honey bee' and Kai is a skeleton with a painted pumpkin face. I am actually going to dress up too. I made myself a flower petal headband and bought a green wig. It looks absolutely ridiculous, but it's Halloween.
For two years Kai was something cute and cuddly and now he wants to be scary. I guess that's what I get for letting him choose his costume. When asked he said he wanted to be a pumpkin, but when at the store he said he wanted to be a monster. There was the idea to combine his two desires. I hope he likes it. It'll be a sight. Am I a little crazy for letting my two year old dress as a skeleton?

Play time.

Kai had his first play date yesterday with a little boy name Jack. Jack is six months younger than Kai but the two got along. When we first arrived to the park the two boys played independently for fifteen minutes. Then as the park started to fill with more children, the two boys began to play together. Kai sat down on a little car that attracted Jack to him. Lucky for Kai, Jack likes to push. The two then proceeded to the sand pit, which was a big mistake on my part to allow Kai to play in it. He was covered in sand by the time he was done with the pit. We can't wait for the next date.
I got to have an adult conversation with someone other than my family. It was nice and kinda strange. So that's what it feels like to be an adult again. You kinda forget what adult company is like when you're surrounded by babies all the time.
I think we are going to enroll Kai in some Gymboree classes so that he can learn other skills that I can't teach him at home. Plus, he'll make new little friends and his pediatrician also recommended it.

milk does a body good

Kai had his check-up and flu shot yesterday. I did remember to ask his doctor about his dairy intake and he said that it was alright as long as he doesn't go over 24 ounces of milk a day. Great, now to figure out how to get him back to unflavored milk. We made some progress on the vegetable consumption. Calling broccoli florets 'little trees' actually work! He gobbled them up like a giant! He also ate squash puree because we told him it was pumpkin (he's on a pumkin kick because of Halloween). Jimmy made sea bass and red quinoa for us the other night and surprisingly Kai ate everything. Go Dad!
Quinoa is a complete grain with a very high protein content. It is cooked like rice and it has a nice nutty flavor and some crunch like brown rice. I used the leftover quinoa to add to my black bean chorizo soup (recipe to be written; it's one of those put everything in the pot soups).
My menu planning for this week is going two days at a time. Last night we had chicken cacciatore with pasta and tonight I haven't decided yet.

begining of holiday madness

The retail stores have already started stocking their shelves with Christmas decorations. I started to feel stressed and unprepared as I walk by those isles. I realize that I still have two months to prepare, but Halloween isn't even over yet. When did retail stores start selling Christmas stuff before Halloween? I always remember the red and green decorations after the candy feast. I haven't even fully decorated my house with Halloween decor yet. We have the pumpkins (which Kai has already murdered one) and scarecrows, but not the bats and spiders or skeletons...they are still all packed away in a clear tote in my pantry.
A week has gone since my last post and I don't even know what kept me too busy from logging on. I really can't recall. Is there such a thing as post-pregnancy brain? I guess that would be the baby!! Little Bella has a new nick- name 'Cascabella' - she's not spicy but we think it's cute.
I do remember one event this past week. Jimmy was a judge for a local apple pie contest. I believe there were over 80 pies entered. Kai and I only tried two with vanilla ice cream of course. Of the two I liked the caramel apple pecan pie. I didn't care for the sour cream apple pie, it was a good idea- just poorly executed. There were so many people there. The organizers really did a great job of putting together the event. They had silent auctions, children's play room, and a separate room for all the pies. I wanted to sign up for a beautiful Petunia Pickle Bottom Boxy backpack diaper bag but I didn't bring any cash. I didn't know there was going to be an auction. Whoever got that diaper bag for $30 was very lucky! Those bags retail for $160. Crazy I know, but it's so beautiful it doesn't even look like a diaper bag. I came home on a mission to find that bag online then had to snap out of it realizing that I really don't need another diaper bag, so on a list to Santa it goes.
I did buy Kai new paints. I don't remember who makes them, (Elmer's I think) but they are awesome. It is like a marker, except it's paint in a paintbrush. We had so much fun painting with them at the apple pie contest that I had to get him his own set.

It's finally feeling like fall!

It's finally cooling off outside and the leaves are changing colors. It's also a time that I get a little sentimental. My husband and I started dating in the fall. The cold weather makes me think of my single days, without kids to separate us. We rarely have time to ourselves where we can sit on the sofa and snuggle. Kai doesn't allow it. He always has to be between us at all times. I miss going out with him to have warm drinks and desserts on our dates. Now, with two kids, it's very hard to go anywhere. So I've stocked up on hot cocoa, teas, and coffee for when we have a moment to enjoy each other's company.


Last night, Jimmy brought home a pumpkin cake that they are selling in one of his outlets and I absolutely loved it. It had the right balance of cake and spiced cream filling, plus it was glazed with caramel. We usually disagree on the cake to filling ratio, but this cake got no arguments from me. It was perfect. I wonder what new cake he'll bring home tonight.

Mo mote peas

My morning was full of cries from Kai saying, "Mommy, mo mote peas.", a request I can't deny except for when we have no more mote, I mean milk. (No matter how hard we try my husband and I can not get Kai to say 'milk'. His version is 'mote'. Mo = more and peas = please. His response to when we are out of something is ,"buy mo, buy mo." ) I usually have a back up gallon, but for some reason he wasn't drinking as much milk when Nic was here. Now, Nic has gone home and Kai has gone back to wanting to drink milk like there's no tomorrow. He also goes through yogurt tubes like water. I can't complain. I know he's getting his daily dairy and protein, but is there such a thing as too much dairy? Is it bad for him? I have to ask his doctor that on his next check up.
So, after planning this weeks menu I went and bought mo milk. Kai is happy to have milk again.

This week I am making:
Monday: Hamburger with ranch fries
Tuesday: Chicken Italian sausage and peppers with polenta
Wednesday: Chicken enchiladas
Thursday: Butternut Squash lasagna
Friday: Parmesan salmon with spaghetti squash (my own creation)
Saturday: Chicken marsala with angel hair pasta.

Mmmm...chicken marsala, so simple and yummy I don't know if I can wait until Saturday, maybe I'll make it tomorrow and have the burger for lunch.

We've been on vacation the past couple of days and now we are back at home. Today we took the kids to the zoo and yes these animals are about the only ones that they were interested in. The way they walked passed them all we could have sat down at home and flip through an animal picture book. They prefered the playgrounds over the animals.

Oh, yeah I forgot to mention that my four year old step-son is here. He's a good boy and it has been great fun for Kai. Kai has started speaking more and learning new words from Nic. Poor Nic has a hard time understanding him sometimes and it creates kiddie misunderstandings. Bella has also enjoyed meeting her big bro. Nic keeps saying how cute she is; it's funny. He hasn't learned any other words to describe her yet.

Tomorrow we plan on taking everyone to the farmer's market then maybe tour a local chocolate shop. Hopefully there will be pumpkins at the market for a photo op. We bought them two pumpkins, but since they are still too young to carve their own pumpkins we are going to get them the plastic pumpkin push-ins. I just saw them today at the drug store and thought how perfect. It's like parts for Mr. Potatoe Head, but made for pumpkins. What a great idea...I wonder if a parent came up with that idea. I'll post a picture once the boys decorate their pumpkins.

Shopping day

I received more surprises in the mail today from my sister and sister-in-law. My sister sent me a book about fruit and vegetable carving which looks really cool, but it's written in Thai-which I can not read. The only thing I know how to write in Thai is my first name and that's it. I can't read or write anything else. My sister-in-law sent Bella the cutest little Ugg boots, the Ugg for big people are so ugly to me, but the baby size is way too adorable for me to dislike.
I took the kids to Pottery Barn Kids to look at a few things because I got an e-mail about a sale, but the store was still charging full price for some of the items and the things they had on sale are more than what is on the internet. I found it unusual because the store's sale pricing is usually lower than the internet. Guess not for that store. I was on a mission to get Bella a thicker hooded towel. We received a Swanky Blanky brand towel from a friend in Houston when Kai was born, but no one carries it here in Chi-town. Which is too bad because it really is a wonderful hooded towel, probably nicer than the towels I use and it is a full size towel. The only con of the towel is the price, but it is worth it.
I then stopped in at our neighborhood Whole foods to pick up a few items for dinner. They were charging $2.49 for a carton of organic grape tomatoes-normal price for organic you might say, but at our neighborhood produce only store, the same product, is $.49 a carton. Makes you think doesn't it. Why can't the bigger store (Whole Foods) who has more buying power charge the same price as the mom and pop stand? Don't get me wrong, I love Whole Foods, I just don't buy produce there any more. They are also selling pink totes to support breast cancer, yes i bought one because $1 from the purchase goes to research and it's pink! I have a collection of reuseable bags that I take to the grocery store with me, not only do I get ten cents back per bag, it has cut down on the unneeded plastic and paper bags in the house. Plus I can use them for more than carring groceries. I love the insulated tote from Trader Joe's- it keeps foods cold for 8 hours and makes a great pick-nic bag. (yes, family we will be sending you the wonderful totes filled with goddies for christmas this year.) I really don't know why I didn't think of it before, much better than baskets that can only be used during the holidays, if you keep them.

A great day

It's a great day today, there are new shows tonight and I recieved so many things in the mail and in person. I got some housework done, washed the kids and even managed to squeeze in a shower myself. It's gross I know, but when you have a newborn and a toddler showers for mommy is something that if you're lucky happens everyday. If you're me occurs every other day. You see I can not leave baby alone with Kai, not even in her crib. He likes to hold her and will try to pick her up, which he can do and has done. The other day, he picked her off the floor and tried to put her on the sofa. So the only time I can shower is after dinner when Jimmy is home or really early in the morning like at 5. I choose sleep and after dinner is sometimes 11 pm or midnight in our house.

Our new blue Kitchen aid mixer arrived today. I am so excited and can't wait to use it. Holiday baking is going to be so much easier this season. So family and friends send in your requests now. I have a few staples, but still thinking about the new cookies that I will make.

I also got a bag of pastries from Jimmy last night. Kai and I snacked on it all day. He also brought home a new dark chocolate that we surprizingly like. I think it is 65%. If we have any left it will be made into chocolate chip cookies (if kai and I don't eat them all maybe we'll send you some Viv).

Last night's dinner of Greek inspired chicken and orzo was not a home run so therefore I'm not sharing that recipe until it has been fine tuned. Tonight I am making falafel wraps with hummus and baba ghannouj. An old favorite. The hummus is nothing special it consists of the basic ingredients of chick peas, lemons, garlic, tahini, olive oil, and salt and pepper. My baba ghannouj on the other hand is milder than most that is served at restaurants because I use roasted garlic instead of raw. In my opinion, it's easier to eat because it's not sharp and you won't have strong garlic breath afterwards. Tomorrow I will be making my favorite fall dish of pumpkin polenta with chorizo and black bean (this is a Rachael Ray dish and can be found on her website). It is awesome and I'm glad she came up with the dish. The rest of the week consists of more fall squash. I didn't even notice that until Jimmy pointed it out. I was like, 'what are you talking about', then I looked at this week's menu and notice I have planned pumpkin, butternut, and spaghetti squash for this week. I picked up a package of tofu at the store the other day and still haven't decided what to do with it yet because it was a spontaneous buy.

An explanation about the picture- Kai loves hats and wanted to share his passion with baby sister so he borrowed chef Snoopy's hat and that's how this picture came to be. See, it wasn't me. When you see a picture of her in a huge coffee cup- that would be my idea. Yes, I do have a coffee cup that big and I have a picture of Kai in it when he was her age.

I dream of Chocolate

I'm at home dreaming of the delicious treats at the gourmet market Jimmy (a.k.a. my hubby) is teaching a class at tonight. He's doing a Chocolate 101 class and I would be there but an hour and a half is too long for me and two kids. Kai gets too crazy around chocolate. He is only two and has tasted chocolates from chocolatiers like Vosges, Thomas Haas, Callebeaut, Valharona, Cocoa Berry, the Cocoa Room, Cocoa rouge, El Rey, Santander, and of course those that can be bought at the grocery store and department stores (hubby thinks they are too common to even list).
Fox and Obel also has the best baked goods in town (other than the ones Jimmy and I make at home ), so hopefully he will bring home a brioche tart for me. So while I sit here looking at a picture of one of his dessert tables dreaming of his freshly made grapa cream truffles Kai is dancing to the new Keisha Cole song. Too Cute!

Coffee doesn't work anymore.

I am exhausted today. Little Bella wanted to party all night and did not fall asleep until 6:30 a.m. The same time my husband's alarm sounded to wake him up for work. Which did not work because I still had to poke him and say, "Honey, it's 6:30." to which he just rolls over. Oh well, I think and put Bella in her crib then proceeded to pass out. Now I am on my second cup of java (don't tell the docs-I'm only allowed 1 cup a day) which is giving me a headache and making me sleepy. My two year old son, Kai, is making me play dough cookies and demanding that I eat them! "No, Kai do not put them in your mouth, just pretend to eat it." Oh how sad, my mug is now empty. what else can I drink?
Back to the baby Bella problem. Why is she so awake between the hours of 2a.m.-5 a.m.? When will she realize that it's the time when the rest of the family is suppose to be sleeping? Well, big brother can sleep with the occassional annoyed grunt and daddy saws logs with the occassional opening of the eyes to look at sleep deprived me and hungry Bella. That's another thing, she just can't get enough milk between those hours. Seriously, she wants to nurse every hour! Yep, I feel like a milk cow in those hours. During the day she wakes up every 2 1/2 to 3 hours to eat and get changed. I know it takes time for her to adjust to being outside the womb, but it has been almost five weeks. When will she adjust?!? And what's with all spitting up? Baby reflux? Over eating? And oh my goodness the poor thing is so gassy. I just remembered that the first month was the hardest, but I don't remember when it gets a little better.
Time to plan this weeks menu, off to get ideas from Martha, Rachael, and the folks at Food Network.

What's for dinner?

That's a question I ask myself everyday. Sometimes I take the time to plan a weeks menu in advanced and sometimes it's just too much work to do with a toddler tugging at my shirt and a newborn crying in her crib. But last night I was able to invent a new pasta dish that consisted of what I had on hand. Onions, garlic, bacon, mixed greens, grape tomatoes, sundried-tomato pesto, parmesean cheese and multi-grain pasta. A dish made in 10 minutes! I'm no Rachael Ray, but I have to cook lots of meals in less than 30 minutes so I have to be creative. The pasta turned out pretty good.

So this is what I did to prepare it. (just a note on how I cook: I don't measure things unless I am baking so it's usually an estimate when measurements are given. That way I have room for adjusting the flavor to my prefrence.)
Put water on to boil. Chop garlic, slice onions, cut bacon into 1 inch pieces and wash tomatoes. When water comes to a boil have the kid season water with salt and dump in pasta. While pasta is cooking heat up frying pan and add bacon. Cook until crispy and remove from fat and set aside. Drain bacon grease and let cool to discard later or save to use for frying eggs for breakfast. Into the pan goes a splash of olive oil along with the onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Cook until grape tomatoes start to pop turn down the heat. Save half a cup of pasta water for pasta then drain the pasta and add to frying pan along with 1/4 cup of sundried-tomato pesto, mixed greens and the pasta water. Toss to mix everything and serve with grated parmesean. This made enough for four.

Yes, my two year old sous chef gobbled up this pasta..so did the hubby. In my house watever my son helps prepare he eats. This kid is amazing. His palate goes beyond mac n' cheese. His favorite cheese at the moment is Gruyere. I'm not saying that he's the perfect toddler who eats everything, but he will eat what he cooks. At the moment he is going through that stage of toddlerhood where he eats well one day and not so much the next. He's testing his bounderies, so I had to teach him about compromise. Yesterday's comprmise was, "If you eat all your dinner you can have a cookie." I know it's a bribe but it's not a bad one. We both got what we wanted.
Now the baby is crying so rescue her I must.