The New Normal

As I mentioned yesterday, Thatboy went back to work last week. Leaving me to play parent all by myself during the day. While he was home we worked out a pretty good routine which involved us taking turns taking care of the baby while the other one got things like laundry, dishes, and meal prep done around the house. In the afternoon, we'd take a nice, long 3 mile walk.

Things are a lot different now. Now Thatboy gets up and heads to work and I have time to do nothing but take care of the baby. Pretty much nothing gets done around here until he gets home from work and we trade off. So dinners are not labor intensive. Especially because I like to head to the gym when he gets home so I can get some running in. I mean the half marathon I'm running in January is not going to take "I just had a baby" as an excuse for poor training.

And I don't get my afternoon walks anymore either - although we do go for walks to the supermarket to pick up things I realize we need. So I've decided to use this time I'm home with Thatbaby to do some exploring. We're going to try to visit a different farmer's market every week. San Diego has 51 Farmer's markets that take place 7 days a week. Obviously we won't hit every one, but it'll be fun to explore and get us both out of the house.

Last week we went to the Carlsbad Village Farmer's Market. It was a little disappointing. The highlight was my favorite apple vendor and loads and loads of summer corn. I picked up A LOT of corn. We'll be eating corn for days!

For $14 I got 7 ears of corn, 2 onions, 2 apples, 2 asian pears, 5 tomatoes a bag of thai chiles, and a bag of bell peppers.

My new weeknight meals are thrown together during bathtime. When Thatboy comes home he gives Thatbaby a bath, a bottle, a story, and a cuddle while I run to the gym and throw things together in a pot. However, just because it's quick, doesn't mean you can't dress up dinner. Like taking storebought ravioli and creating a rich, enticing cream sauce, loaded with herbs, tomatoes, and mushrooms.

And to further take advantage of the fall bounty I served it with some roasted squash tossed with spinach and some chestnuts. With this colder weather coming in, a warm dinner full of fall flavors doesn't take long to make or enjoy.

Tomato, Mushroom, Basil Ravioli
1 pkg ravioli
1/4 cup butter
4 oz cream cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp dry white wine
1/4 cup basil, chiffonade

1. Prepare ravioli according to the package instructions.
2. While it's cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the cream cheese and garlic and stir until the cream cheese is melted.
3. Add milk and whisk until smooth.
4. Add parmesean, mushrooms, tomatoes, wine, and basil. Heat through and remove from heat. The sauce will thicken quickly.
5. Stir the ravioli into the sauce and serve.
   

Creamed Chestnuts
1/2 lb of shelled chestnuts
1/2 cup of beef broth
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp heavy cream

1. Combine chestnuts, beef broth, salt and pepper in a pan. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Add butter and cream and stir to coat the chestnuts. Heat through.
   

Meet Our Muppet

One of the things I love about Thatboy is that we are on the same page about things more often than not. Like finding out the sex of our unborn child. Both of us wanted to wait until birth to discover whether we'd be having a son or daughter.

And not knowing made the whole pregnancy a little more fun. We got to envision what life would be like with a little boy or girl. We got to come up with two different name options. Many people expressed disturbance that we weren't finding out. Among other things, they told us we wouldn't be able to bond with the baby if we didn't address the child by name from the first moments of conception.

I blame my BA in theater, but I'm superstitious. Frankly, even if we knew the sex, we wouldn't have used a name until birth for fear of putting a kenahora on the health of my unborn child. Instead we lovingly used a pet name for Thatbaby all through the pregnancy and beyond. He was our Muppet - or Mupps for short.

The Muppets have always held a special tie between Thatdad and I. It goes alllll the way back to when I was a baby myself. There's a joke that for the first week I was home, I kept my mouth shut. Around week 2 it opened and I haven't stopped making noise since. I was queen of the colicky babies and the only way my parents could get me to sleep is if Thatdad kept me at a 45 degree angle against his chest. And so every night he would rock me to sleep while watching The Muppet Show. Our little nickname became a way of including Thatdad in the birth of his grandchild.

After Thatbaby was born we asked our friends to give us a couple of weeks to get settled before we'd start entertaining visitors. Last weekend we hosted an open house so that our friends could finally get a chance to meet the little guy they'd been hearing so much about.

It only made sense to theme our little get-together as a chance to Meet the Muppet. We chose to the host the party in the middle of the day so we could load our guests up with sugar instead of real food.

Don't worry - there were vegetables available too. Which is good, because Harvard informed me that he had a dentist appointment the next day.

And I once again enlisted the very talented services of Wan in creating the perfect Muppet-themed treat for our guests.

Since this was an open house, we weren't sure when the guests would leave, or when they would stop arriving - so I went with something easy for Thatboy and I for dinner. And you all know what that means, right? Pasta!

In this case a baked ziti is exactly what the doctor ordered. Since it only tastes better the next day and is quick to reheat. It also left lots of leftovers, which is important since Thatboy started back up at work last week. And having an easy lunch was such a nice thing to have when I was home alone with the baby for the first time.

Baked Ziti
1 box of ziti
3 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
1 lb of fresh ricotta cheese
2 cups fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook ziti.
2. When ziti is cooked, mix it with half of the marinara, the ricotta, mozzarella, egg, oregano, garlic, and pepper.
3. Spread ziti mixture in a large baking dish and top with the remaining sauce. Spread the parmesan across the top and cover. Bake for 30 minutes.
   

Addition of Apples

I think I've groused for months about missing out on apple picking this year. Obviously I'm upset. Mostly because I'm used to utilizing apples in many of my favorite fall dishes.

And I'm not just referring to baked goods (although I did manage to sneak an apple crisp into the freezer before Thatbaby's arrival) - apples are a welcome addition to many savory dishes. As you'll see this week, I especially love them with pork. The sweetness of the pork, the sweetness of the apples, they go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

I've been playing around a lot with conflicting flavors as of late - and this recipe is an prime example of that. I took my pork and apple philosophy and decided to apply it to sausage. Sausage and peppers is a fairly typical dish, but substituting the apples for the peppers is a more seasonal approach. I went with a really spicy sausage too, instead of the typical Polish sausage to give it a bit more kick. Spicy and sweet is usually a winning combination. So with the sweet and spicy taken care of, there was another flavor profile I wanted to include - something with a little bite. So I went with another stereotypical sausage pairing - sauerkraut.

To further emphasize my insanity, or my love for apples, I cooked the sauerkraut with apples too. Adding an ingredient to every step of the dish both makes you look like a looney and intensifies the taste of that ingredient. And I didn't want the apples to get lost in the spice and brine.

They didn't. What they did do was help to contrast the spiciness of the sausage - and boy did these things have some heat to them! They also helped to sweeten the sauerkraut and help to meld together the disparate flavors.

I thought long and hard for a creative name for this dish and came up empty. But maybe you'll have better luck. Or perhaps you'll be so busy eating that the age old adage "What's in a name?" will take on a more profound meaning for you.

Sausage and Apples with Sauerkraut
1/2 lb sauerkraut
1 apple, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
salt and pepper
12 oz Italian sausage, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced

1. In a large skillet, combine sauerkraut, half of the apple, beef broth, and caraway seeds. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. While the sauerkraut is cooking, cook the sausage in a separate to the skillet.
   
3. Add the onions and remaining apple to the sausage. Cook until the onions are lightly browned and the apple is tender.
4. Add the sausage mixture to the sauerkraut and continue cooking for whatever time is remaining on the sauerkraut.
   

Dinner Dictation

My friend Elly once told a story about her husband cooking something. The story entails her having to give him step by step instructions which led to more questions than he had originally and her doing far more work than she would have expected since he was doing the cooking. It was hilarious in that many of us could relate to the situation where a helping husband is more trouble than help.

Thatboy is always offering to help in the kitchen, but in truth, I rarely let him. I've tried on a couple of occasions which resulted in sriracha and spaghetti, and me having to walk him through dumping a frozen bag into a skillet. Usually I give him a simple job to do like shucking peas.

But throw a kid into the mix and you start turning to help in unlikely places. It was easy when we had frozen meals. Thatboy has become very adept at heating up frozen entrees in the oven. (Especially when his wife writes instructions on how to reheat on the foil covering it.) It's a little more difficult once those freezer meals are gone.

This is a dinner that was a complete joint effort, due in part to a fussy child. So while I took care of the baby, Thatboy asked if he could help get dinner started as it was getting late. I told him he could do the pork tenderloin if he was so inclined. Which really entails him running back and forth between the kitchen and the baby's room between each step as I dictated. Because of that, try to picture a 2-3 minute pause between each of these interactions.

Me: Turn the oven up to 375 and rub the pork with olive oil and seasonings
He: What seasoning should I use?
Me: You can use any seasoning you like. We have an entire shelf full of them.
He: I don't know what seasoning goes with pork.
Me: Well, I usually like rosemary. Why don't you use some rosemary, salt, and pepper.
He: We don't have any rosemary.
Me: I find that hard to believe. Did you check the spice shelf?
He: yes
Me: And the spice rack beside the oven?
He: Yes
Me: Uggh. I can't find it for you, I'm kind of stuck with the baby here. Why don't you use Cajun seasoning? We have two different bottles. The front one is unlabeled and that's the Emeril seasoning. The other is a giant bottle that says "Cajun seasoning" you can't miss it.
He: Which one should I use?
Me: Whichever you can find - I'm trying to make it easy for you. We've already been at this for about 15 minutes and the pork isn't even in the oven yet.

After that it got quiet for a bit, so I figured we were all good. Until of course the pork actually went in the oven and Thatboy needed advice on how long to set the timer for. And around this time I was ready to rejoin him in the kitchen and get to work on the side dish. So while the pork cooked, I tossed together some cabbage and bacon. But this time, I also added some apples. Sweet apples, bitter cabbage, salty bacon, along with some vinegar - all work together to create a sweet and savory dish. Better than coleslaw and a perfect fall dish. Especially served alongside some pork. And as for that pork? It came out delicious. I'm sure you're as surprised as I am. Although I think that I might be off the hook for cooking pork tenderloins. I might make them Thatboy's specialty for nights I want off!

ABC - Apple Bacon Cabbage

4 slices bacon
2 Tbsp sugar
1 onion, chopped
1 head red cabbage, shredded
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp caraway seed
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup red wine

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet. Remove the cooked bacon, but leave the drippings in the skillet.
2. Add the sugar to the bacon drippings and cook, stirring, for two minutes.
   
3. Add the onion and cook slowly until lightly browned.
   
4. Crumble the bacon and stir it in with the cabbage, apples, vinegar, caraway seeds, nutmeg, cayenne and red wine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Partially uncover the skillet and add 1/2 cup water. Cook for about 35 minutes.

Bringing back an old favorite

When I first got back in the kitchen I wanted to make use of the items I already had on hand. Because the induction was unexpected, when I went into the hospital we already had a fully stocked fridge. A fully stocked fridge which the inlaws refused to make use of and continued to bring over new ingredients every night.

One of the "uncooked" items in my freezer was ground pork. I used about half of it to make the meatloaf Thatboy enjoyed for many lunches in the first couple weeks. The other half sat waiting to be turned into.....well, see, now I can't remember. So when I went to use it I turned to my old standby with leftovers - ma po tofu.

I always have all the ingredients on hand for this dish and it is one of my all time favorite uses for leftover ground meat.

To make it "special" I decided to turn this classic standby into a dumpling. Thatboy looked at me with fear in his eyes - "I think you're taking too much on, that's going to be really hard." Which I didn't understand at the time. And as I was stuffing the potstickers, he came over and peered over my shoulder. "Wow - those look really good! My mom and I tried to make potstickers one time when I was little and it was a disaster. It took forever and we made a mess everywhere. Yours look professional." Which explained his earlier comment. But I'll share with you my secret. The hardest part of making potstickers is the stuffing. Sealing them so they don't pop open and creating a beautiful little pocket. Elizabeth has the best most fabulous video to show how to fold and seal these suckers and it makes anyone look like a professional.

Ma Po Potstickers
1 (1-pound) package reduced-fat firm tofu, cut into 6 slices
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (such as Lee Kum Kee)
4 ounces lean ground pork
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
won ton wrappers
1 Tbsp peanut oil
1 cup water

1. Place tofu slices on several layers of paper towels; cover with additional paper towels. Place a dinner plate on top of covered tofu; let stand 30 minutes. Remove plate; discard paper towels. Cut tofu slices into 1/2-inch cubes.

2. Combine broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chili garlic sauce, stirring with a whisk.

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; cook 4 minutes or until done, stirring to crumble.
   

4. Add ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
   

5. Add tofu; cook 4 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently.
   

6. Add broth mixture to pan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
   

7. Place mixture in a food processor and pulse a couple times to break down the mixture.
8. Spoon a scant tablespoon of the mixture into center of each won ton wrapper. Moisten edges of skin with water. Fold in half, pinching edges together to seal.
   
9. Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Arrange potstickers in pan in a single layer; cook 1 minute or until browned on bottom.
10. Add 1 cup water to pan; cover and steam 3 minutes.
11. Uncover and cook another 2 minutes or until the water evaporates.
    

Better with bacon

In Thathouse cabbage usually comes in one of two forms - once a year on the 17th of March you will find it boiled alongside potatoes and carrots and served with corned beef. The rest of the year it is shredded and tossed with vinegar in a decidedly slaw-like manner. (And sometime later this week I'll be sure to share my go-to slaw recipe with you.)

But honestly, there's a limit to how much coleslaw one person can eat. And a whole head of cabbage would make a ridiculous amount of coleslaw. So I usually chop it in half. And then have half a head of cabbage that sits around growing disgusting until I end up trashing it and feeling incredibly wasteful.

This time I vowed not to let that happen. Knowing that bacon is what initially won over Thatboy and brussels sprouts, it seemed like a natural addition to cabbage. Or if not natural, at least something that would impart a delicious flavor.

Thatboy was instantly won over. "Bacon makes cabbage taste really good!" And you know what? He's totally right. So with that in mind, here are two variations on a theme - bacon and cabbage.

Bacon and Cabbage (1)
1/2 head of cabbage, core removed
2 slices of bacon
2 Tbsp melted butter
salt and pepper

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil Tear cabbage into bite sized pieces.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, cook the bacon.
3. Place cabbage in boiling water for a quick minute and drain.
4. Toss together the cabbage, butter, salt, pepper, and crumbled bacon.

Bacon and Cabbage (2)
4 strips of bacon
1/2 head of cabbage, shredded (I did it here with bok choy, just because you can do it with any cabbage you love)
salt and pepper

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet and remove the bacon (leave the drippings!)
2. Add the cabbage to the bacon dripping, cover and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Crumble the bacon into the cabbage, season with salt and pepper.
   

Fright Night

Halloween. A time to revel in the spooky and weird. A time to be scared. Honestly? I don't really like being scared. I wasn't always this way - in fact, there's a running joke in my family that I didn't really "get" horror movies. Tales of me watching Poltergeist at a ridiculously young age. Stories of my parents walking in on me watching Candyman and crying about the sweet love story it portrayed ("He didn't want to leave her - even in death because he LOVED her!")

I blame The Ring. Honestly, that movie was the changing point for me. I spent a good portion of the movie on the floor of the theater, my face buried in the chair, hysterically crying. I'm fairly certain I remember Thatmom on the floor with me. Ever since that time I have been decidedly anti-scary movie. Or to be more precise, anti-psychological thriller scary movies. I'm totally fine with werewolves and vampires - as long as they don't glitter in the sunlight.

But during the month of October I give in totally and completely and let Thatboy go hogwild with the scary movies. Given that we're both currently home all day that means I have been treated to some real doozies. In fact, Thatboy has a new favorite - Satan's Little Helper which is basically the story of a child who must be mentally handicapped since he spends the entire movie helping a sociopathic killer choose and mutilate victims because he thinks the guy is Satan.

Today I got a small reprieve in the form of some much needed rest as I took a nap while Thatboy watched both the baby and his Halloween movie of choice - The Descent.

Of course, when I got up, that left me with a much more scary prospect - What's For Dinner? I know, words that can chill the bones of anyone faced with such a task. I decided to go with something Halloweeny and festive. A tribute to one of my favorite car songs as a child. As usual, the song was completely foreign to Thatboy, but perhaps you'll recognize it?

Great green gobs of greasy, grimey, gopher guts
mutilated monkey meat
little birdies' dirty feet
Great green gobs of greasy, grimey, gopher guts
and I forgot my spoon!

Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimey Gopher Guts (Chicken and Pesto Pasta)
1 chicken breast
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
8 oz spaghetti
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup pesto

1. Combine basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary and use this picture to cover chicken.
2. Cook spaghetti to your desired doneness.
3. As spaghetti is cooking, heat oil in a nonstick skillet. Cook chicken 6-7 minutes on each side until cooked through.
   
4. When pasta is done, don't drain it - use tongs to transfer hot pasta directly into serving bowl. Reserve the pasta water.
5. Chop chicken into bite sized pieces and add to pasta.
6. Toss pesto with the pasta and chicken, adding reserved pasta water to create a sauce of your desired thickness. (If you like your pesto sauce really thick, don't add any water. For a thinner sauce, add more water.)

A different Halloween

For the past few years we've celebrated Halloween by heading to a party hosted by Thatboy's friend Dr.P. It's one of those parties where we judge its success by how much of my costume I am still wearing when we walk through the door when we get home. (In the past I have left shoes, jewelry, scarves and other accessories somewhere on the path between the car and the door)

This year the party didn't sound like such a great idea - at least to me. Thatboy thought we should still go and make an appearance. Somehow I just didn't feel like bringing a baby to a party filled with really drunk people sounded like something I would be interested in.

In truth, we weren't planning on doing much of anything for Halloween. We didn't even get costumes! I told Thatboy back in August when we first discussed Halloween that I planned on going as a "mommy" and he could dress up as "daddy." However, we didn't want Thatbaby to miss out on his first Halloween pictures, so we picked up a unisex outfit for our future babe to wear. Not a true costume, but something comfy and seasonal.

But, as I've said before, this motherhood thing isn't nearly as difficult as I was prepared for it to be. Which was kind of my plan. As I told Thatboy, keep your expectations low and you'll never be disappointed. I had cleared our entire schedule for October.

Last week we got a call from one of the officers Thatboy works with inviting us to a "family Halloween party." He tried to entice us with the promise of a bounce house, beer, and soda. While I was pretty sure Thatbaby wasn't going to be able to avail himself of any of these things, I gladly acquiesced to the idea of the party. I mean, it wasn't like we had any other plans.

But of course that meant we had to figure out costumes. Since Thatbaby already had the skeleton suit, we thought maybe we should all wear skeleton costumes. We headed to Target to pick up said costume, only to not really like the costumes they had. And so we stood in the costume aisle trying to figure out what we were going to do.

Struck by inspiration, I suggested going as Labyrinth characters since Thatbaby has a red and white striped onesie.

Thatboy loved the idea and grabbed a blonde wig as we headed over to the women's section to look for poofy shirts. But on our way, Thatboy was struck with inspiration of his own.

Because Thatbaby also already has sleep & plays too. So we decided we could ALL wear sleep & plays since they had them in adult sizes. A far cry from most of the "sexy" style costumes, and far more appropriate for a family party.

We also picked up a little something for Thatdog who doesn't like to be left out.

Last night we got suited up and headed out.

I do believe this was the first year I haven't been freezing in my Halloween costume! And Thatbaby did great. He's fabulous at being held and he stayed nice and cozy and warm as well. And I have to say, it's nice to be able to have a drink at parties again! I missed that when I was pregnant.

It's a totally different experience celebrating Halloween as a grownup. And honestly, I have such mixed feelings about being an honest to goodness "adult." First, because I don't really feel like a grownup - I still feel like a kid playing house. But at the same time, I am now, without a doubt, a full fledged adult with a family I'm responsible to and for.

Thatboy must be feeling the same way, because he's starting to act a lot more grownup and responsible. Including the fact he's being REALLY good about eating his vegetables. Including those he's not too fond of. Like the other night when I made brussels sprouts. In general Thatboy doesn't like brussels sprouts. He'll humor me and have a few bites if I saute them with bacon or dijon mustard, but he certainly doesn't prefer them. With that in mind, I only made a few boiled brussels sprouts, so I could load my plate up and give him one or two little guys. Imagine my surprise when he told me he wanted more than one or two - that he actually enjoyed them! He claims these don't have the same bitterness brussels sprouts usually have. I can only assume I've either broken him down, butter fixes everything, or his tastebuds have finally caught up with his age.

Brussels Sprouts
1 lb brussels sprouts
melted butter
salt

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and trim the brussels sprouts.
2. Add the sprouts to the boiling water and boil 7 minutes. You want them to be tender, but still have a crunch to them. And they should be a beautiful bright vibrant green.
3. Toss the hot sprouts with butter and salt.

Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin

Anyone remember this picture from last year?

Well this year we decided to recreate it....just a bit:

Normally every fall Thatboy and I head to Julian for apple picking and pumpkin patching. Except this year Thatboy refused to go. Why refuse such fun you ask? Well it all goes back to the birth prep class we took.

The instructor gave us a very brief "what to do in case you can't make it to the hospital" lecture. In her example, she gave us the scenario that we were driving to or from Julian when all of a sudden baby was coming. Given that there is limited cell service, not too many emergency phones, and no nearby hospital, in this scenario dad would have to deliver the baby himself. After her example, Thatboy refused to make any trips to Julian with his 9 month pregnant wife. Just in case.

Obviously that wasn't a valid concern, but we were SOL when it came to apple picking this year. Thatboy was determined we wouldn't also miss out on the pumpkin patch.

Instead of heading out to Julian, we went to the patch that's a little closer to home. And dressed Thatbaby up in his finest for his first Halloween experience.

We picked up lots of pumpkins. Which we then turned in to Jack-o-Lanterns.

You can totally tell which jack belongs to Thatboy, which belongs to me, and which belongs to Thatbaby. (Although can I just say Thatbaby's is my favorite. He wanted something tough, but not too scary. I picked out the design and Thatboy carved it. A real team effort.)

In addition to carving, we also turned the pumpkins into food!

Last year I made a pumpkin soup in the pumpkin shell and it turned out impressive looking, but not as impressive tasting. This year I looked to a different source for my soup and found out Alton Brown had a recipe. Alton Brown hasn't steered me wrong yet, and so I decided to take on the challenge. I'm so glad I did.

This year my pumpkin shell didn't fall apart. The soup wasn't stringy at all. And bonus - it had goat cheese stirred into it! Even Thatboy thought it was far more flavorful that he would have expected. As usual Alton Brown comes through. And our Halloween starts off with a success.

Next up will be our fabulous costumes. Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween?