Soccer Star: Roast New Potatoes with Rock Salt and Rosemary

With baseball season over, it was time to pack up the mitt and move on.  For Thatkid, that means soccer!

JDubb's mom found a league that only met once a week that had 2 open spots and just like that Thatkid and JDubb became Pumas.

 Thatkid loves soccer.  And he's pretty good at it.  I say that with the objective awareness that he's my son and I'm probably biased.  But he's fast, he's aggressive, and he's dedicated.

Thatboy was in the right place at the right time (or maybe the wrong place at the wrong time) and ended up getting made coach of the team!

And, with the objective awareness that he's my husband and I'm probably biased, he's a pretty fantastic coach.  He does a great job of rotating the kids when he sees them getting tired, and ensures that everyone gets to play whatever position they want.

So right now, and for the next few months our Saturdays are soccer Saturdays.  But my boys wouldn't have it any other way.

Not only is it soccer season, but its now officially fall.  According to the calendar.  And the overcast clouds and rain have rolled in.  It's still pretty warm out, but the grey skies make warm cozy meals seem fitting.  I've pulled out the crockpot.  I'm roasting vegetables.  The nice thing about roasted vegetables is that they aren't labor intensive.  Toss them on a pan with some oil, salt, and herbs and let the oven do the rest.

I love the way roasted potatoes get crisp, and a pan of potatoes goes with just about anything.  We had these with crockpot short ribs, and then I chopped up the leftover and tossed them with some pasta.

Roast New Potatoes with Rock Salt and Rosemary

24 baby new potatoes

1/3 cup olive oil

3 tsp rock salt

5 sprigs rosemary

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Place the potatoes in a large roasting pan, drizzle with the olive oil adn sprinkle with 2 tsp of salt and some pepper. Bake for 30 minutes.
2. Add the rosemary, garlic, and butter.  Shake the roasting pan and bake for another 10 minutes.
3. Serve hot, sprinkled with remaining salt.

Bouncin' Around: Aloo Chat

Mother's Day weekend was incredibly busy for us.  Thatboy and I joked there was no way we could possibly fit more in to May 7.  It started with a race for me, then a baseball game for Thatkid, and then we headed right over to the birthday party of one of his friends.

Thatkid doesn't meet the kindergarten cutoff for this fall, but most of his friends do, including the birthday boy.  It's going to be so strange for him next year when his friends all move on.

Luckily his bestie J3 is also a late fall baby, so at least they'll have each other.  Although I feel sorry for the rest of the kids at preschool when these two are the BMOC.

We left the party and came home with just enough time to jump in the shower before heading out to visit H, who was at Disneyland for the week.  It was good to see H and her family, we haven't seen them since before Thatbaby was born.  But we didn't get home till late, after leaving the house pretty early in the morning.

I have such a hard time with balance.  Ideally, my weekends would be full of nothing.  Maybe sleep.  Or even some light house work.  But I just can't say no, especially with kids.  Which means that even when we are home, there's very little sitting around.  So our weekends are busy, and there is very little catching up on much needed rest.  One of these days I'll learn my lesson.

Until then, you can be sure that we have just as many quickly thrown together meals on the weekend as we do during the week.  Although I try to spice up the menu a little on the weekend.  Bringing in some exotic flavors, like chile and coconut, this is a vegetarian dish that is cooked in a single pot, making clean up really easy.  It also comes together in about 20 minutes.  So quick, easy, and flavorful?  Appreciated on a nonstop, go go go weekend.

Aloo Chat

1/2 cup ghee

1 onion, finely chopped

10 fingerling potatoes, peeled and cut in half lengthwise

1 small red chile, pitted and thinly sliced

1 tsp ground tumeric

2 tsps ground coriander

1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted

2/3 cup 2water

coconut shavings

cilantro leaves

1. Heat the ghee in a skillet, add the onion, and cook 5 minutes, until transluscent.
2. Add the potatoes, chile, tumeric, coriandwre, cumin, and a little salt and fry for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are lgihtly browned.
3. Add the water nad rbing to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed and the potatoes are tender.
4. Cool and scatter the coconut shavings and cilantro leaves on top before serving.

A Homemade Life: Burg's Potato Salad

It's that time of year again - time for me to cook through another book.  I mean, it's not like I have anything going on.  And everyone should take on major projects their last month of pregnancy. 

This time around it's Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life.  I have a little affection for Ms. Wizenberg, given that in my frame of reference she was the first food blogger to "go legit."  I mean, prior to the novel, I'd never heard of Julie and Julia.  But I knew Orangette long before it became a column in a real, honest to goodness magazine.

I'm only a couple chapters into the book, but so far it's very different than the other works I've cooked through.  The other books were memoirs or stories, with the recipes serving as call backs or punctuations.  This seems to be much more of a cookbook, with more detail before the recipes.   It doesn't read linearly each chapter really revolves around the recipe itself.  It's an interesting read in that it reads like a blog.  You can imagine each chapter to be a separate post.

The first chapter centers around Wizenberg's father's recipe for potato salad.  It was the perfect weekend to try it out, since it was nice and warm.  In fact, we spend a lot of it outside, getting sunburned.  Saturday morning we headed to a birthday party for one of Thatkid's school-friends.  We could see the bouncy house as we drove up, which was a good sign.

They also had all manner of balls to play with, which kept Thatkid ever so occupied.

And Thatkid is also becoming a pro with the pinata. 

But the hit of the party was the food.  It was a summer-fest, with sweet cold watermelon and otter pops.  The kids had a field day.  Thatkid might have eaten his weight in watermelon.  And Thatboy and I each took advantage of the pops - which I haven't had since I was in the hospital having Thatkid.  It was the perfect prelude to our summer night meal which featured pulled pork and potato salad.

The salad itself was good.  Different from my typical potato salad in that the star ingredient was ranch dressing.  I will say that the methodology for making it did not work for me.  The potatoes somehow ended up cooking unevenly, so they were either undercooked or falling apart mushy.  And boiling the eggs?  This is a terrible method.  Following the instructions I ended up having the eggs in water for an hour that never came to a boil.  So I removed them thinking that probably wouldn't be good for the eggs.  And it wasn't.  They had that icky grey color from being overcooked and shelling them was a big pain in the butt.

So here's the recipe, with my method for the potatoes and eggs - which works so much better!

Burg's Potato Salad (Adapted from A Homemade Life)

1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, scrubbed

4 eggs (room temperature)

8 green onions, finely sliced

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup mayonnaise

4 Tbsp ranch dressing

2 Tbsp finely chopped dill

1-2 tsp caraway seeds

1. Cut the potatoes into quarters and place in a large saucepan.  Cover with cold water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 15 minutes.  Drain and cool.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Add the eggs and boil for 12 minutes.  Remove eggs and place in icewater bath.
3. When eggs and potatoes are cool, chop and combine.  
4. Add the scallions and salt.
5. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, dressing, dill and caraway seeds.  
6. Pour over the eggs and potatoes, stirring to coat.  Refrigerate overnight.

Trail of Crumbs: Jansson's Frestelse (Swedish Potato Temptation)

Anchovies scare me.  I cannot even begin to explain why.  Every time I use them, I'm reminded how much I love their salty taste, the way they disappear into the food, that they don't taste like fish.

And yet, each time I see a recipe involving anchovies I get a little squeamish.  When I pull pack the tin, I have to take a deep breath and coax myself onward.  But in the end, it is always worth it.

Like these potatoes.  Kim Sunee mentions that this dish is part of the holiday meal in Scandinavia, and that makes sense.  It's rich and decadent - salty and creamy.  It seems perfect for a cold winter night.  Sunee was introduced to the dish when she moved to Sweden after finishing school, cooking recipes from her roommate's mother's cookbooks.  She calls it a "warm potato temptation" and that's a pretty accurate description!

Jansson's Frestelse (Swedish Potato Temptation)

1 1/2 to 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced

salt and pepper

1 onion, sliced

8-10 oil packed flat anchovy filets

1 container creme fraiche

1 cup heavy whipping cream

fresh nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Place half of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased baking dish.
2. Season with salt and pepper.  
3. Cover with onion.
4. Finish with layer of remaining potato slices and top with anchovy filets.
5. Add more salt and pepper, as needed.
6. Combine creme fraiche and cream in a small bowl.
7. Pour cream mixture over potatoes, adding more cream to cover, as needed.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
8. Cover with foil if potatoes begin to brown.  Uncover and bake another 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Going Dark: Stuffed Potatoes

When most people see Thatbaby they instant decry that he looks exactly like Thatboy.  While it's true that Thatbaby bears a resemblance to his father, I think the commentary comes from how very blonde Thatbaby is.  And how very not blonde I am.

Well,  I'm very not blonde most of the year.  In fact, my high school diving teammates referred to me as "Snow White" with my dark hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.   But during the summer, my hair undergoes a drastic transformation.  It gets really really blonde.  Obviously not as blonde as Thatbaby, but blonde enough where I was once in an October wedding where someone asked if I was wearing a fake bun, since my ends were such a drastically different color than my roots.  I wasn't.

Typically you can tell I've resigned myself to the fall when I dye my ends.  It's the opposite of how most people function.  Instead of dying my dark roots to match my light ends, I dye my light ends to match my dark roots.  It's less maintenance that way.   And I can do it at home.

This year I tried a new dye - Garnier's Color Foam.  If any of you dye your hair at home this is the way to go.  It's clean and easy and it doesn't run down your neck/face/ears.  So in 20 minutes I was back to my typical brunette.  And no one has noticed the difference!  Which is really the goal.  Just getting my hair back to a single, matching color.

And since I've decided it's officially fall, I can get back to making fall comfort foods.  Like stuffed potatoes!  These have always been one of Thatdad's specialties that make their way into our mealplan in the fall and winter.  Mashed potatoes are on everyone's idea of comfort food, so taking them and putting them in a potato skin and baking with cheese?  It's just as good as having single colored hair!

Stuffed Potatoes

3 Russet potatoes

1 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/8 cup buttermilk

salt and pepper

1. Pierce potatoes with a fork, coat with oil and bake at 425 for 1 hour, then cool until you're able to handle.
2. Slice off the top 1/3 off each potato, lengthwise, and hollow out with a spoon, leaving a thin layer of potato inside.
3. Combine inside of potato, butter, sour cream, 1/8 cup of cheese, buttermilk, salt, and pepper and mash until smooth.
4. Fill each potato skin with the "inside" mixture and top with remaining cheese.
5. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

Red, White, and Woo-hoo!: Sausage, Apples, and Potatoes

Last Thursday I got a break from trial which meant I got to spend the Fourth of July with my favorite little guy!

As I mentioned, Thatboy was out of town, so we filled our day with friends and family.

When Thatbaby woke up we had a very festive breakfast.

And because he's a toddler, he pulled off all the blueberries and raspberries (which he normally loves) and refused to eat them.  And then called his toast "pizza."

Then we headed out to meet up with our friends for a parade!  It's not your typical parade.  Instead of cars and marching bands, the parade was made up of children in the community, on foot, bikes, wagons, and strollers.

We were all decked out in our Fourth of July best.

Including Thatbaby, of course.

After the parade was jumping and dancing at the park, until we decided our children seemed to be getting tired and hungry. And then we all headed home for lunch and naps.

After nap, Thatbaby and I headed to the Happiest Place in...San Diego.  Legoland!

Thatmom and her beau, Not-Walter-White, met us there.  And we followed Thatbaby around the park as he rode choo choo trains and boats, dug up dinosaurs, played on playgrounds, and splashed in water.  My ulterior motive for going to Legoland on the Fourth of July was that they had the earliest fireworks in the county.  So at 8:30 sharp, the skies lit up and Thatbaby saw his first fireworks.  And he loved every minute of them.  And he fell asleep before we even left the parking lot.

Most of us think of fireworks in the sky, but we're also familiar with the fireworks that occur when you meet someone new that you're interested in.  And of course, there are the fireworks that happen in your mouth when you taste that explosion of flavors.  This dish falls into the latter category.  A combination of sweet and savory that tastes better than it looks. It's a classic combination.  Sausage and apples, sausage and potatoes.  They're flavors we're used to having together.  Something as familiar as fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Sausage, Apples, and Potatoes

• 1 package of chicken sausage

• 2 potatoes, sliced

• 3 apples peeled and sliced

• 2 Tbsp sugar

• 1 Tbsp flour

• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Heat a skillet over medium heat and cook sausage until browned and heated through.
2. Layer the sausage, apple slices, and potato slices.
3. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. 
4. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter, mixing to create a crumb topping.
5. Uncover  and sprinkle the crumb topping over the layered ingredients and bake for an additional 10 minutes. 

Call Me Potato

At some point this weekend, Thatbaby was letting me know he was done eating in his usual way.  Screaming at the top of his little lungs. 

I responded in my typical way:  "Oh.My.God.Baby...." to which I always end up adding "Look at her butt."  (What can I say, much of my youth was spent in the early 90s.)  I guess I haven't done this routine in front of Thatboy before, because it prompted him to start singing and soon a dance party of Sir-Mix-A-Lot was happening at our table.

Thatboy:  You know, I'm going to be sad when we have to start watching what we sing to Thatbaby because of the lyrics.
Me: Right, because we sing "Baby Got Back" so often?  Let's think about what song we usually sing to Thatbaby.
Thatboy: Call Me Maybe?
Me: Exactly.
Thatboy: You know, I really like that song.  It's catchy.  I was actually hoping to hear it on my way to surf yesterday so I could sing it in my car.

Our son isn't going to know what hit him.  Caught between songs glorifying the female form and songs glorifying....ummmmm....well, I guess just bubble gum pop.  But he loves both.  Or at least he loves his parents acting crazy.

He also love stuffed potatoes. They're also kind of a duality.  Because baked potatoes are one of the healthiest form of potatoes out there - but not when you stuff them with cheese, sour cream, and bacon.  They're the Carly Rae Jepson of the side-dish world.  Popular with folks of all ages, in that "I can't believe I like this" kind of way.  A guilty pleasure that you don't share with just anyone.

Twice Baked Potatoes

• 2 russet potatoes
• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Sour Cream
• 2 slices of bacon, cooked crisp
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 scallions, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Bake potatoes for 1 hour.  
2. Remove and let cool until you can handle them.  Lower the heat on the oven to 350.
3.  Chop up the bacon and stir together with butter and sour cream.
4. Slice potato in half lengthwise and scoop out the inside into a bowl.
5. Mash the potato with the butter mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add the cheddar cheese and the scallions.
7. Fill the empty halves, top with a bit more cheddar cheese.
8. Bake the potatoes for 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Passover Savories

Typically during Passover we eat the same things we eat when it's not Passover - we just cut out the starch portion of the meal.  Most of our meals consist of protein and veggies.  Like the grilled chicken and bok choy we had Monday night.  Or tonight's steak and salad.

But this year I've decided to branch out and try some different Passover recipes.  Tonight I'll hit up the main courses, and tomorrow I'll tell you a little about dessert.

When I first saw this Honey and Pecan Crusted Chicken on Bookcase Foodie I knew it would go over well in our home.  When Thatbrother and I were younger we were in charge of dinners on Tuesday nights, and baked chicken with honey and yogurt made a frequent appearance.  And baked "fried" chicken is a common visitor in our home now.

Fried chicken doesn't usually make it onto a Passover table - not with that flour breading!  But this potato starch and pecan coating is a nice substitute.

To go with the chicken I decided to forgo our usually veggie accompaniment and turn to our friend the potato.  One of my favorite Italian dishes is gnocchi with gorgonzola cream sauce.  This is not gnocchi.  It's much, much easier.  I call it - Potato Balls with Gorgonzola.

 Potato Balls with Gorgonzola

2 large yukon gold potatoes

2 Tbsp grated parmesean

2 Tbsp matzo meal

1/2 cup half and half

1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese

1 Tbsp melted butter

1. Peel and quarter potatoes.  Place them in a pot with water to cover.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Drain the potatoes and let cool slightly.
2. Preheat oven to 375.  Mash the potatoes and add in 1 Tbsp parmesean and 1 Tbsp matzo meal.
3. Form the mashed potatoes into small balls and place them in a greased baking dish.
4. Pour half and half over the potatoes.
5. Sprinkle the gorgonzola over the potatoes in cream.
6. Combine the remaining parmesean, matzo meal, and melted butter until crumbly.  Sprinkle over the top of the dish.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Every year I end up buying a bag of "Passover Pasta" to have on hand just in case.  For a quick meal, or a side.  Half the time we never end up eating it.  The other half, Thatboy complains about how much he hates it.  This year I decided to use it in a more creative way - making pastisio: a Greek lasagna-type dish that calls for round, hollow noodles instead of flat ones.

I couldn't find any Passover Pastisio recipes, so I decided to take a normal recipe and Passover-ize it.  I went with one I trust - Elly's.  (I pretty much trust anything she makes, but especially Greek dishes.)

Holy MOLY peoples.  This is going to become a Passover tradition in our house.  It would probably be good even not during Passover, but this is my new favorite Passover dish.  SO delicious.  And enough to have some for lunches throughout the week.  Thatboy even had seconds - not bad for someone who doesn't like Passover pasta.  He claims that the rest of it disguises the weird taste/consistency of the pasta.  Thatbaby's favorite part was the meat sauce - but I already mentioned he's quite a carnivore.

Passover Pastisio (Adapted from Elly Says Opa)

1 bag of Passover ziti, cooked
1 egg white
1 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup grated myzithra cheese
1 batch Greek meatsauce (recipe follows)
1 batch bechamel sauce (recipe follows)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 375.  Mix the ziti with the egg white, butter, and myzithra.
2. Pour half the pasta into a greased baking dish.
3. Place the meatsauce on top of the pasta.
4. Place the rest of the pasta over the meatsauce and pour the bechamel over all of it.
5. Top with the parmesan and bake for 45 minutes.  Let sit 15 minutes before slicing.

Greek Meatsauce 1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Add onions and saute until translucent.
2. Add the beef and garlic and cook until the beef is browned.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute, stirring.
4. Add the water, cinnamon, cloves, parsley, and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer, partially covered for an hour.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.

Bechamel
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup matzo meal
2 cups warm milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup parmesan
1 egg
1 egg yolk

1. Melt butter a saucepan.  
2. Slowly stir in the matzo meal, continue cooking until a bubbly paste forms.
3. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and continue cooking until the sauce thickens.
4. Add nutmeg and season to taste with salt and pepper.  
5. Remove from heat and whisk in the parmesan, egg, and egg yolk.

Easter Feast-er

When we traveled to Palm Desert we had to rent a bigger car to fit all of us and all of Thatbaby's stuff.  All of that "stuff" is one of the reasons we're trying not to do a lot of plane travel this year.  Which meant we got to spend Easter at home.

We started with an Easter Basket for the boys.

Thatboy's basket was filled with candy and a new t-shirt.  Thatbaby had less edible/wearable things in his basket.

We also dyed eggs.  I forgot how many eggs I go through at Passover, so we only had five left to dye.  

We made them count.  I always take the broken eggs to dye.  Thatboy was pretty impressed with how mine turned out.

As usual with the Catholic holidays we celebrate, I let Thatboy pick the meal.  Easter, however, has to obviously fit within the Passover restrictions.  Which means I don't make the rice that his parents serve, or rolls/buns/bread that they also put on the table every year.  And I don't make any pies like his mom does for each Easter.  

Thatboy requested lamb - either rack of lamb, or leg of lamb.  Since I made him rack of lamb for Christmas, I thought I would go with something different.  There was a miscommunication however, because he thought "leg of lamb" but he told me "lamb shanks."  So we had shanks for dinner.  In my very humble opinion, braised lamb shanks are the way to go.

 Pomegranate Molasses Braised Lamb Shanks

2 lamb shanks

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 garlic clove, sliced

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 cup pomegranate molasses

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Brown lamb shanks on all sides and remove from heat.
2. Add onion, carrot, and garlic.  Saute until lightly brown, about 10 minutes.
3. Add cardamom and cinnamon and cook for 1 minute.
4. Stir in pomegranate molasses and 1 cup of boiling water.
5. Place lamb shanks in a baking dish.  Pour the vegetables and liquid over the shanks.  Cover the dish with foil and bake for 90 minutes, or until the meat is falling off the bone.

Since we couldn't do rice, I roasted some vegetables and turned to the number one Passover side dish - potatoes!  I sliced them thin, tossed them with onions and melted bacon fat, and then roasted them in the oven.

But the piece de resistance was dessert.  I picked up a box mix of Passover Red Velvet Cake.  But I junked their frosting to make Passover Cream Cheese frosting (Passover ingredients, Sprinkles' recipe.) It was a HUGE hit.  Thatboy was sneaking pieces for the next few days.

 

I love being able to make Easter special for Thatboy, even when he doesn't get to spend it with his family.  And it's almost nicer for me to be able to eat all the dishes instead of watching everyone else eat food I can't!

Belated St. Patrick's Day

As usual, because of Thatmom's birthday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day a day late.  I was a busy girl on Sunday cooking and baking.  The plan was to our traditional corned beef and cabbage.  As we headed to the store on Sunday morning, I asked Thatboy what else he wanted with his corned beef and cabbage and he felt that maybe boiled red potatoes would be a nice addition.

We talked about the fact that this is Thatbaby's first St. Patrick's Day, but next year he'd really be joining in on our feast.  Thatboy posited that Thatbaby would probably like corned beef, but not cabbage, since no one likes cabbage.  I never really thought about it since Thatboy has always requested corned beef and cabbage, but it turns out he's not the biggest fan of the cabbage part.  "We don't have to have cabbage" I told him.  I suggested maybe making colcannon.  He'd never heard of it.  To be fair, I didn't have a firm grasp of what it was other than that it encompassed potatoes and cabbage.  I quickly googled and found a recipe - "It's potatoes, cabbage, and bacon."  Bacon was the magic word.  Thatboy was in.

I made my standby Corned Beef recipe under the "if it ain't broke" philosophy. Besides I was messing around enough with this colcannon stuff.  Using the basic idea of potatoes, cabbage, and bacon I decided to wing it.  I've made enough braised cabbage with bacon to realize that's the way to go.  Because bacon makes cabbage better.  And cabbage cooked in bacon fat is far more flavorful than boring boiled cabbage.  It was a hit, and will definitely become a constant part of our St. Patrick's day menu. 

We rounded out the meal with Pioneer Woman's Pear Crisp which was ridiculously sweet.  A nice change from the salty St. Patrick's Day feast.

 

Colcannon

2 slices of bacon

1 small head of cabbage, cored and finely chopped

3 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper

1. In a large saucepan, cook bacon slices.  Remove bacon from pan, but leave drippings.
2. Cook the cabbage in the bacon fat for about 5 minutes.  Add 1/4 cup of water to the pan, cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove cabbage from pan.
3.  Place potatoes in the pan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and boil potatoes for 20 minutes.
4. Drain potatoes and return them to the pan.  Roughly mash with a fork.
5. Chop bacon and add to the potatoes with the cabbage, butter, and milk. 
6. Mash the potatoes until the desired consistency is reached.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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!