Trains and Tacos: Summer Lentil Salad

I haven't been spending a ton of time with Thatbaby lately.  Thatmom spent last week picking him up from daycare and entertaining him since I was buried in trial.  I wanted to make it up to him this weekend.  Especially because I was going to be ditching him again on Sunday.  So on Saturday I planned a day of fun for us.

I had found a park in Poway with a real, honest to goodness, steam engine!  So Saturday morning we headed to check it out.

Thatboy fell asleep in the car on the way there.  When he woke up, he could hear the train and he chimed in with "choo choo" before he even fully opened his eyes.

He was so excited to see the train.  He kept pointing and saying choo choo.  When I asked if he wanted to ride it, he nodded emphatically.  He played with the train table while I bought our tickets, and sat nicely in line with me while we waited for our turn.  Once we got on the train he got very serious about it.  I asked if he wanted to kneel or stand on the bench so he could see out the window better, but he just wanted to sit in the choo choo.

Once we got started, he loosened up a bit and enjoyed the view out the window as the train went around the park.

I was worried he'd throw a fit when the train stopped and we had to get off, but he actually filed out, just like everyone else.  We headed for our next date - lunch with Horse Whisperer and Little HW.  Mr. HW was out of town, so Horse Whisperer suggested that we "single moms" get together for lunch (and margaritas) with our children (neither of which partook in the margaritas).  Instead, Thatbaby and Little HW had tacos, beans, and chips.

All in all it was a beautiful summer days - filled with parks and margaritas, as all summer days should be filled. It was too lovely to use the oven for dinner, so a salad was in order.  Thatbaby's not a huge fan of the green kind of salads, but he loves both lentils and rice, so I used that as a base.  For Thatbaby, I made a mild version, which just included the lentils, rice and cucumbers tossed with balsamic vinegar and oil.  I like spicy in the summer, so my version included some chorizo (one of my favorite ways to spice up a meal).

Summer Lentil Salad

1/3 cup canola oil

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1 chipotle in adobo

2/3 cup lentil

1/2 cup brown rice

4 oz chorizo

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

1 pasilla chile, roasted, peeled, and diced

1. Combine the oil, vinegar and chile in a food processor and puree until smooth.
2. Fill a saucepan with 8 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Add the lentils and rice and cook for about 20 minutes, until the rice is cooked through.  Drain and set aside.
3. In the same pan, cook the chorizo until cooked through.  Remove from heat.
4. Combine the chorizo, lentils, rice, red onion, cucumber, poblano, and dressing.  Tossing to combine.

More More More! (How do you like it?)

Remember when I found wheatberries?  And how excited I was?  I became a little obsessed  (I know - surprise surprise)

I've been using them in everything.  Which explains the wheatberry bread yesterday.  And it explains this lentil and wheatberry salad.

I first saw the recipe on Brady's blog.  She used it with Israeli cous cous and goat cheese.  Both excellent choices.  When I glanced back at the original recipe, I noticed it called for those elusive wheatberries.  It quickly got added to my "to make" list - just as soon as I could find them.  Or, as soon as I could find them and didn't have another use for them.

I had a bunch of perfectly cooked wheatberries left over from my bread making endeavor and I felt this was the perfect opportunity to make this dish.  The sweetness of the onions perfectly complements the saltiness of the feta.  The lentils give it a nice earthy flavor, and the wheatberries are perfectly chewy.

As per the suggestion we served it with lots of hot sauce (well, for Thatboy and I,  Thatbaby got his sans sririacha). 

Wheat berries with Carmelized Onions, Feta, and Lentils (from The Way The Cookie Crumbles)

¾ cup wheat berries
salt
2 onions, sliced about ¼-inch thick
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup lentils, preferably lentils de puy, picked over and rinsed
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
hot sauce (optional)
lemon wedges (optional)

1. Soak the wheat berries in water for at least an hour and up to overnight. Put them in a pot with enough water to cover by a few inches. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer until they’re tender, 1 to 2 hours. Add ½ teaspoon salt once they’ve started to soften.
2. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and ¼ teaspoon salt, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring somewhat frequently, until they just start to brown, about 8 minutes. Reduce to heat to medium-low and continue to cook and stir until the onions are evenly golden brown, about 20 minutes longer.
3. Put the lentils into a small saucepan. Add 3 cups of cold water and ¼ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer until tender but not falling apart, about 20 to 25 minutes Drain.
4. Combine the wheat berries, caramelized onions, lentils, and feta. Adjust the seasonings if necessary and serve with either hot sauce or lemon wedges, if desired.

A Day in the Life

I was reading through a new mom's blog the other day and she had detailed what a day in her life with a 3.5 month old looked like.  I thought it was kind of a fun idea, and gives a little glimpse of what life looks like over in Thathouse until I start back at work again.

24 hours with a 4.5 month old.

3:30am - Thatbaby wakes up for a bite to eat.  I use this time to read blogs on google reader (which is why many of you probably see my comments dated at odd hours), and snack on some cherry tomatoes.

6:45am - Thatbaby wakes up for the day.  He eats his breakfast and we do our first diaper change.  While he eats, Thatboy gets ready for work and brings his breakfast into the nursery to join us.

Someone has bed-head

 During the day, feedings take forever because Thatbaby likes to chatter.  He takes frequent breaks to tell me all about how his night went.  The first meal he is also distracted by Thatboy.  Subsequent meals he is distracted by the dog, his reflection, a lamp, a computer, the dresser, his bed, a shadow.......

7:35am - My turn for breakfast!  During meal times Thatbaby sits at the table with me in his highchair.  I want him to get used to the idea of what meal times are since we'll potentially be starting solids in a little over a month.  This morning he plays with his feet while I munch on a Luna bar, a blood orange, and fill him in on what we're doing for the day.

7:45am - Thatbaby does some tummy time on his playmat while I put up the laundry.

Thatbaby eating one of his friends.  Probably a reason why he doesn't have very many human friends.

8:30am - Thatbaby takes a nap.  Usually this is his long nap for the day, so I get in a quick On Demand workout, shower, do my hair, get dressed, and so on.  However, yesterday I had just stepped into the shower after my workout when Thatdog started barking like a madman.  Sure enough, moments later I heard Thatbaby through the monitor.

9:09am - Rock Thatbaby back to sleep.  (This entails sitting in the glider and singing him a lullaby.  This time it was James Taylor's Sweet Baby James)

9:15am - Thatbaby is back to sleep.  I get dressed and do my hair and makeup.  I backup my ipod Nano so I can send it in for the recall.

10:04am - Thatbaby's second meal of the day.  Then we do another diaper change and he gets dressed for the day.

Ready to hit the road!

10:49am - Errand time!  I have a bunch of stores I have to hit up - Staples, Ulta, Trader Joes, the UPS store, the Supermarket.  Luckily for me, Thatbaby does some really good sleeping in his carrier while I run errands.

Nap #2 is a "fieldtrip nap"

12:49pm - We're back home and Thatbaby is ready to eat again.  And another diaper change.

1:28pm - Lunch for me.  Thatbaby plays in his high chair while I have some paneer tikka masala I picked up at Trader Joes.

1:51pm - More tummy time for Thatbaby while I throw the laundry in the dryer.  He's still not anxious to roll over, but I try to coax him with the promise of my plastic straw in my water cup.  He loooooves that plastic straw.  And yet, he stays firmly planted on his stomach.

2:10pm - Thatbaby's afternoon nap.  While he naps I make Thatboy's lunch for the next day and our dinner.  I wash all the dishes and catch up on last week's Private Practice.  (We are woefully behind on our DVR).

Thatboy's lunch is a ham and cheese sandwich, carrots and bell peppers, grapes, biscotti, and gummy bears

Our dinner simmering away on the stove

4:00pm - Thatbaby wakes up from his nap and eats again.  I change his diaper and bundle him up in his warm clothes.  I wrap him in his moby and then I bundle me up in my warm clothes because the rain?  She is a comin' down.

5:00pm - Time to walk Thatdog!

5:15pm - Tummy time for Thatbaby while I fold the laundry.  Because he does such a great job with his tummy time, this last activity period of the day is where I throw in his favorite activities.  Which is his new favorite game.  It's modeled after those crane games in arcades.  Basically Thatbaby stands up while I help support him.  Then he squats down, picks up one of his toys, stands up, and drops it.  Then the whole thing begins again.  And again.  And again.  Sometimes the toys make it into his mouth.  Sometimes he can't quite get the toy up - which is the case with his large, heavy toys.  These variations add to the fun of the game.

What?  Your games are more exciting?

5:45pm - Thatboy arrives home from work.  Just in time to play the crane game with Thatbaby's stacking cups.

6:00pm - The boys head to the bath and I head to the gym!

Rub a dub dub - Thatbaby in a tub

6:40pm - Home from the gym, dinner is ready to go, Thatboy is putting the baby to bed.  Looks like it's just me, the computer, and a nice glass of wine. 

It's Me Time!

 7:00pm - Dinner with Thatboy. We start trying to make a dent in our DVR list.

 

Lentils and Potatoes with Curry (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Tenth Anniversary Edition)

1 cup red lentils, washed and picked over

3 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon curry powder

2 red potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

2 Tbsp butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the lentils, water, and curry powder in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat to a simmer, cover partially, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils start to absorb the water a bit, about 15 minutes.
2. Add the potatoes and cover the pan completely.  Cook undisturbed for 10 minutes.  
3. Stir, and add butter. Cover and continue cooking until the lentils are soft and beginning to turn to mush and the potatoes are tender at the center, another 5 to 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

8:30pm - Pump and wash bottles/pump parts.

10:00pm - Bedtime!