I have successfully completed week 1 of home cooked meals! This is a pretty big deal for me because, as I've written before, I hate cooking. Here's my week (note, I have no clue of measurements for this stuff. I have them all written down but not at my computer)
Monday - Stroganoff with parmesan meatballs (YUM)
Brown beef in skillet along with chopped onion and some garlic(throw pasta into pots. I like egg noodles, but they are not gluten free); add 1 can cream of mushroom (or mushroom soup. Progresso has a gluten free variety, score!); remove from heat, add sour cream until nice and creamy
Tuesday - Spanish Rice (ground beef, tomato sauce, worchestershire sauce, onion, garlic, rice)
Wed - Cilantro chicken with an avocado salsa and a side of brown sugar sweet potatoes
Mix a good bit of cilantro with the juice of 1 lime to use as chicken marinade; cook chicken in pan; dice avocado and tomato and toss with lime juice; put salsa on top of chicken; eat.
Chop peeled sweet potatoes into bite sized pieces. Add 3/4 C water to pan and 1/2 C brown sugar; bring to boil; turn down heat and simmer until tender
Thu - Tacos (with avocado added. I'm trying to get baby Bug to eat avocado which means I have to eat avocado. It's growing on me. OH and I used lettuce from my garden. Yay!)
Fri - something at mom's house. Whatever. It still counts!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Vroom vroom!
What is the best toy ever? An empty Pampers box of course! This was Kaylee's latest touch of genius :) She crawled (OMG) over to the Pampers box, then flipped it sideways and chilled out in her cave for a few minutes, then flipped it back. I had to help her in and then she started giggling and squealing in excitement. We added her ladybug pillow pet (it's a pillow, it's a pet, it's a pillow pet -mini) and off we go! With Scott and I making the appropriate car noises we took a full tour of the living room and playroom with a happy little girl smiling the whole way.Then she saw the playstation controller, and it came around with us, because the playstation controller is awesome.
I'm still in shock that my little baby is crawling already, and deciding what she wants to play with. She will regularly crawl to a specific toy, or pull a specific book out and turn the pages herself to look at the pictures.
I'm not ready for her to grow up!!!
Yum potatoes!
Last night was a good combination dinner night. We had some awesome GF battered fish the night before thanks to my husband, and had a few filets left over. While Kaylee was down for a nap I was able to quarter an acorn squash and cook it (400 degrees for 40 min with 1" water in the pan) and also popped 2 baking potatoes into the oven.
Once they were done I pulled out the squash and added some brown sugar, then set to making my potatoes even yummier.
First I cut each potato in half. Then scooped out the flesh from the middle and put it into a small bowl. I mashed that up and added about 1 tbs of sour cream, some chopped bacon, chopped green onion, and a little bit of cheddar cheese. Mix well and put back into potato, then back into the oven for 15 minutes. Yum!
Once they were done I pulled out the squash and added some brown sugar, then set to making my potatoes even yummier.
First I cut each potato in half. Then scooped out the flesh from the middle and put it into a small bowl. I mashed that up and added about 1 tbs of sour cream, some chopped bacon, chopped green onion, and a little bit of cheddar cheese. Mix well and put back into potato, then back into the oven for 15 minutes. Yum!
Friday, March 9, 2012
The big girl car seat
Goodbye faithful infant bucket. I will miss you. You were a wonderful companion for the first 6 months of Kaylee's life. Oh so convenient, especially when moving a sleeping baby from car to stroller, car to living room, or any combination imaginable.
I definitely am glad we went with the infant seat though, even if it meant we had to cough up more money in the beginning. With it we were able to take Kaylee everywhere! Shopping, restaurants, grandparents' house, etc. She would often fight naps unless we went to Target or Costco, at which point she would promptly fall asleep. Many a house cleaning was done while she was passed out in that bucket (in the house of course).
But, she had to outgrow it sometime and we recently made the switch to a Graco MyRide 65. We love it so far. The buckles adjust in the same manner as the Graco Snugride 30 so it was a breeze to adjust and install into the car. K seems much happier in the seat as well and loves to sprawl out her arms and legs and stretch. While I originally mocked the dual cupholders (really? Cupholders?) they are actually great for holding paci's or toys (soft) for the ride.
Here's my little angel, fast asleep on her first trip in her big girl car seat.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Yummy dinner 1
Well, I'm thinking my husband is not a fan of this dinner, but I loved it and will be eating it frequently. I found the recipe online and now cannot find it for the life of me, so I will write down what I did and link it to the originator as soon as I can find it again.
Mozzarella, tomato and avocado pasta
1/2 package Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta - garden pagoda
1 avocado - diced
1 tbs chopped garlic
1/2 C EVOO
2 tbs dried basil
1/2 lime - juiced
8oz mozzarella - cubed
6 vine riped tomatoes - cut to bite size
dash of salt and pepper
2 chicken breasts - diced
Boil water, add pasta
Add oil to pan, cook chicken
In a large bowl - combing evoo, basil, lime juice, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Then add mozzarella, tomatos and avocado and gently stir into evoo/lime.
Let ^ sit for about 30 minutes or until achieves room temp.
Put pasta on plate, put chicken on pasta, pour mixture on top. Nom!
Random note - I love using Ancient Harvest Garden Pagoda for room temp/cold pasta dishes. It is gluten free and the pasta holds its shape very well, even with multiple reheatings. I like to use the tri-colored because it gives a nice bit of color to pasta dishes.
Mozzarella, tomato and avocado pasta
1/2 package Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta - garden pagoda
1 avocado - diced
1 tbs chopped garlic
1/2 C EVOO
2 tbs dried basil
1/2 lime - juiced
8oz mozzarella - cubed
6 vine riped tomatoes - cut to bite size
dash of salt and pepper
2 chicken breasts - diced
Boil water, add pasta
Add oil to pan, cook chicken
In a large bowl - combing evoo, basil, lime juice, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Then add mozzarella, tomatos and avocado and gently stir into evoo/lime.
Let ^ sit for about 30 minutes or until achieves room temp.
Put pasta on plate, put chicken on pasta, pour mixture on top. Nom!
Random note - I love using Ancient Harvest Garden Pagoda for room temp/cold pasta dishes. It is gluten free and the pasta holds its shape very well, even with multiple reheatings. I like to use the tri-colored because it gives a nice bit of color to pasta dishes.
Enough of a pity party
Alright, I've given myself a few weeks of hemming and hawing and "poor me"ing and decided I was done. Granted my husband hasn't moved stores yet, so it may return, but I now have a plan!
The reality of the situation is just this - My husband will be out of the house from 6am until 7 or 8pm. This means I am in charge of the baby from 6am (when I will figure out someway to entertain her while I pump/get ready for work if she wakes up) until 8pm (when she goes to bed). This means I now have to take care of making dinner, giving her baths, and taking care of the animals. While this sucks and I still feel my heart race and my head goes "And just how exactly do you plan on doing all of this?", that's just the way it is.
Here is what is going to get me through this without needing a padded room (although that could be quite fun)
1) Infancy will not last forever. Soon enough Kaylee will wean herself (5 monthish until she's 1 year old!) and then mornings will not be bad. I may even be able to cut down to a 15 minute pump session instead of 30 or maybe drop it altogether, we'll see.
2) My job will be over in 15 weeks. Well, hopefully not over, but I will be out of work for the summer. Scott being at a far away store is fine if I am able to be at home, because I will then have from 8am (Kaylee's official wake-up time) until 10pm (when I go to bed) to get everything done, instead of 6pm -10pm (when I get home from work - go to bed).
3) I can cook dinner. Really, I can. The difference is I am a cook, whereas my husband is a chef. But you know, every meal doesn't have to be fancy. We may be eating chicken and rice some nights, or some old fashioned mac and cheese, but that's still dinner.
4) Prepping dinner on the weekend. This is going to be my saving grace. I tried it this weekend and it lowered my stress level by 50%, even though Kaylee and I are fighting a cold. I chopped everything that needed to be chopped for my planned meals and put them in tupperware containers, then stacked the containers into meal groups. Sooo much easier.
5) I will ask for help and not consider it failure. Yes, I am one of "those" moms. For me, asking for help equates to me saying "Hi, I suck and can't do this, so could you please do this for me?" Now I know in my head that me asking my husband to change K's diaper in the morning while I pack the car is not me failing, but that little voice still tells me that it is. I just need to get over that and say "Hey honey, can you do this."
The reality of the situation is just this - My husband will be out of the house from 6am until 7 or 8pm. This means I am in charge of the baby from 6am (when I will figure out someway to entertain her while I pump/get ready for work if she wakes up) until 8pm (when she goes to bed). This means I now have to take care of making dinner, giving her baths, and taking care of the animals. While this sucks and I still feel my heart race and my head goes "And just how exactly do you plan on doing all of this?", that's just the way it is.
Here is what is going to get me through this without needing a padded room (although that could be quite fun)
1) Infancy will not last forever. Soon enough Kaylee will wean herself (5 monthish until she's 1 year old!) and then mornings will not be bad. I may even be able to cut down to a 15 minute pump session instead of 30 or maybe drop it altogether, we'll see.
2) My job will be over in 15 weeks. Well, hopefully not over, but I will be out of work for the summer. Scott being at a far away store is fine if I am able to be at home, because I will then have from 8am (Kaylee's official wake-up time) until 10pm (when I go to bed) to get everything done, instead of 6pm -10pm (when I get home from work - go to bed).
3) I can cook dinner. Really, I can. The difference is I am a cook, whereas my husband is a chef. But you know, every meal doesn't have to be fancy. We may be eating chicken and rice some nights, or some old fashioned mac and cheese, but that's still dinner.
4) Prepping dinner on the weekend. This is going to be my saving grace. I tried it this weekend and it lowered my stress level by 50%, even though Kaylee and I are fighting a cold. I chopped everything that needed to be chopped for my planned meals and put them in tupperware containers, then stacked the containers into meal groups. Sooo much easier.
5) I will ask for help and not consider it failure. Yes, I am one of "those" moms. For me, asking for help equates to me saying "Hi, I suck and can't do this, so could you please do this for me?" Now I know in my head that me asking my husband to change K's diaper in the morning while I pack the car is not me failing, but that little voice still tells me that it is. I just need to get over that and say "Hey honey, can you do this."
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