A potpourri

I have been crazy busy at work this month and will admit that the blog was the first to be neglected since the weekends have been just as crazy busy since my work days have been long. I give major props to all the moms that work long hours and still keep the family in order. Here is a brief update on what has been happening in the Taylor house.

Malachi had minor surgery to have a growth removed and his healing process has been difficult to understate it. He messed with his stitches and did more damage to his back ankle as a result and now will be wearing bandages and an e-collar for about a month. His foot smells so bad as a result of the bandaging (which get changed regularly) that we can hardly stand it. If you ever had a cast and when it was taken off how your appendedge smelled because you couldn't wash it for however long. Its like that.

Holden celebrated his first Halloween. We didn't do any trick or treating but he dressed up for daycare which everyone was excited about. Jeremy celebrated his 29th birthday on Halloween by watching Nebraska football and fishing on Sunday with a buddy.

We are pretty sure he is teething and has been terribly fussy the last few days and waking up multiple times in the middle of the night inconsolable. I won't lie its been rough mostly because we can't seem to make it better.

We didn't have a meatless meal last week (hence no post) but are having potato and leek soup tonight. I have one more really crazy week at work and then we should be back to some normalcy.

Potato, Onion and Leek Soup

serves 6

4 tbsp butter

2 medium baking potatoes, peeled and diced

4 large leeks, cleaned and diced

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups milk

3 1/2 cups veggie broth

Melt butter in a heavy pot, add potatoes, onions and leeks. Cook on low heat, covered for about 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper, milk and broth. Increase heat to a simmer, cook approximately 20 minutes until veggies are soft. Puree soup in batches in a blender or food processor. If you have an immersion blender this is a great opportunity to use it. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a swirl of cream or some shredded cheese (we used Gruyere) and crusty bread.

Fall has officially hit the Carolinas

We have had weather in the 50s all week, and to enjoy our fall weather we hit the pumpkin patch this weekend. Holden was not too sure about the whole thing until we put him in the wagon with the pumpkins. We ran into some friends through the playgroup also, so we had an impromptu play date in the middle of the pumpkin field.

On a side note, we hit a couple developmental milestone this weekend. Holden rolls over both directions now and he can sit on his own. We put the boppy pillow behind him to soften the fall when he pushes back while playing. The face plants on the other hand are fixed with mommy's kisses.

Enjoy the photos.

Not so sure about the hay

Teething biscuits, great entertainment but quite messy

Look everyone, I can sit!

The sock monkey frequently ends up across Holden during nap time.

Meatless Supper Club-Week 4

I was much better this week and we actually had 2 meatless meals this week. It was chilly and rainy this week so we were excited to have soup and fall vegetables. So, we had broccoli and cheese soup one night, my mother-in-law's recipe. It is delicious. But the recipe I'm going to share is a new recipe I've been wanting to try and it was delicious also. As you might already know, one of my favorite shows is Top Chef, and they advertised a new recipe website, Cookstr.com. Which is where I found the following recipe. I modified it a bit based on what veggies I had on hand and what we can find at the farmer's market now.

Aromatic Vegetable Curry
cookstr.com

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 large leek, white part only, well rinsed and diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons best-quality curry powder
4 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1-inch lengths
3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds), cut into ½-inch dice
1 cauliflower, trimmed and broken into small florets (I didn't have so omitted)
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into ½-inch cubes (same here didn't have on hand)
2 cups cut green beans (1½-inch lengths)
4 cups Vegetable Broth or Basic Chicken Broth
2 tablespoons clover honey
4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick (3 inches long)
1 can (15.5 ounces) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, for garnish

Directions
1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and leek and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook over very low heat until the flavors are blended, about 3 minutes. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring, until the curry aroma permeates the kitchen, another 2 minutes.
2. Add the carrots, potatoes, squash, cauliflower, fennel, and green beans. Stir in the broth, honey, cloves, and cinnamon stick, raise the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Then add the chickpeas and simmer, stirring once or twice, to blend the flavors, another 10 minutes.
3. Shortly before serving, stir in the cilantro and remove the cinnamon stick and cloves. Sprinkle with the chopped mint and serve.


We finished dinner with dessert of course. Rice Pudding with cooked NC apples.

Rice Pudding
1 cup white rice
2 cups milk
3 tbsp sugar

Cook rice on med-low covered until most of the milk has been absorbed and rice is done. Add additional milk and sugar to taste and consistency that you like. Add cinnamon if preferred.

Cooked Apples
2 apples, cored and sliced (we used Honey crisp)
1 cup water
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cook apples in water with remaining ingredients until apples are soft.

Again, I forgot to take photos. If your still in the game with me and are looking for other meatless recipes visit, Enviromom, for some other ideas this week.

Meatless Supper Club-Week 3

Here is our meatless supper for this week. I was going to make a vegetable curry but realized too late that we didn't have any potatoes and it was a staple item for the recipe, so maybe next week. Needless to say, it kind of threw me off so this is what we had instead.

Mexican Mac & Cheese with Snap Peas and Carrots, and Baked apples for dessert.

Mexican Mac & Cheese

Serves 4-6

1/2 lb elbow macaroni

12 oz fat free evaporated milk

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 onion chopped

4 oz green chilis (canned)

1 tsp ground mustard

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

8 oz mexican shredded cheese

salt and pepper to taste

a couple dashes of picante sauce (optional-I used Tapatio)

Cook pasta in salted boiling water. Saute onions in butter until soft. Add milk, chilis and spices and cook until thickened. Add pasta and cheese. Salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.

Carrots and Snap Peas (Weight Watchers recipe modified slightly)

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup snap peas

2 tsp butter

1/2 Tbsp honey

1/8 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Cook carrots in boiling water for 8-10 minutes until softened. Drain water. Add remaining ingredients, cover and cook aproximately 5 minutes until snap peas are cooked. Serve.

Baked Apples (modified from Better Homes and Garden)

4 apples, cored and top cut off (I used Honeycrisp and gala apples)

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/3 cup apple cider (you can use water or apple juice also)

Preheat oven to 350. Place apples in a baking dish. Mix sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Divide up sugar mixture and put inside the core of each apple. Pour apple cider in baking dish. Bake 40-45 minutes until apples are soft, basting apples occasionally.

For additional meatless suppers this week please visit, Enviromom.

My mom would be proud

We started the weening from the pacifier this weekend. Well, I started the weening. Jeremy was in Ohio for the weekend. It has gone surprisingly well so far. We have just started with bedtime and we have only had about 10 minutes of crying before falling asleep at its worst. Next week I'm going to tackle nap time and daycare. Then we will be pacifier free!

For the mommies out there that love the pacifier, I will admit that I too love the pacifier at times (like the 5 hours of flights to Seattle). However, I wasn't thrilled that we had the pacifier at all, so now that he is more mobile and knows how to self sooth I don't feel guilty about taking it away.

Check back if we have a thumb sucker on our hands, I might have regrets then :)

7 months

Holden turned 7 months old on Friday. He's 16 lb 9.5 oz as we visited the pediatrician for a cough and a seasonal flu shot. Not too exciting of a month, but he sits on his own for about 30 seconds before falling one direction or the other. He has the grabbies all the time and we have been lucky to not have a drink spilled yet. Holden has his first plane ride, first boat ride and first cold this month. No crawling yet, but he can turn himself 360 degrees and reach for what he wants. He has started to take an interest in the pets, Malachi and Holden are beginning to get along. Malachi has a lot of patience for little hands pulling on his fur. He has also expanded his diet to include applesauce, peas, carrots, mango and oatmeal. Lastly, we have started to work with a sippy cup but I think its going to take quite awhile before Holden masters the cup, right now its treated like a toy pretty much.

Meatless Supper Club-Week 2

For week 2 of our meatless suppers we made black bean tacos with mango salsa and yogurt sauce. They were quite yummy and for the carnivores in your family it would be easy to make up some chicken, fish or pork to add. I apologize for not having a photo as the week back from vacation has been a hectic one.

Black Bean Tacos

Black beans
1 can of black beans rinsed and drained
1/4 c low fat milk
1 chipolte pepper in adobe sauce, chopped finely
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika (I used smoked paprika but regular will work fine)
salt and pepper

Add all in a sauce pan and cook until combined and milk reduces a bit.

Mango Salsa
1 mango peeled and diced
1 tomato seeded and diced
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 red or yellow onion, diced
1/2 Tbsp fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and refrigerate until use

Yogurt Sauce
1-6oz container of plain Greek yogurt (I used non fat but any kind can be used)
2 Tbsp of lime juice
1 chipolte pepper in adobe sauce, chopped finely

Mix all together and refrigerate until use

Serve in warm corn tortillas with shredded lettuce. You can add your favorite hot sauce to spice it up a bit more.


For more meatless supper recipes please visit EnviroMom