Discovery bottles

I am always on the hunt for something new and interesting for my Little Peanut to play/learn with. I found this idea for discovery bottles online, so I cannot take any credit for coming up with the idea.

So far I have one with rice and food coloring, one with baby oil and water with food coloring, soap and water with food coloring, and water and sequins.  I just super glue the lids on, and then wrap with electrical tape. So far, my a Little Peanut has been interested in shaking the rice bottle, and the sequin bottle seems to catch her attention. I am going to make a few more in smaller bottles that may be a better fit for her hands. I'll keep you posted when I come up with some more ideas. 

Infused Thanksgiving Vodka

I have had a rough experience with infused vodka before. My mom let pineapple soak for ages, and then we are the pineapple..... I'm mainly a beer person, so it was a tad much. And by a tad much I mean that I ate it an passed out on my parent's sofa shortly thereafter. Not a good scene. This time around, we are going to infuse for a shorter period.

Our plan is to mix with tonic as a post dinner treat once our Little Peanut is asleep. Our recipe is as follows:

2 cups pomegranate seeds

2 cups cranberries, halved

The skin of one orange

One vanilla bean, split down the length

750 ml of vodka

Mix it all together and wait 2 weeks. I'll keep you posted on the results!

Brie en Croute

Ok,so since out Little Peanut was born the hubs and I have tried to do a date night at home on Saturdays. This week we made Brie en Croute, which was shockingly simple but delicious and looks fancy (it would be great for a party.) our first step: thaw out a sheet of puff pastry (I just bought a box of Pepperidge Farm brand at the store) and lay out our toppings. I try to roughly shape them to the same size as the top of the Brie. I used 2 Tbs of raspberry jam, dried cherries, and walnuts.

I place the Brie on top:

And then fold the puff pastry over the whole thing:

The last step is mixing 1 Tbs water and an egg and mix together well.  Please the ends (the non-smooth side of the pastry) down and brush the whole thing with the water egg mixture. Bake that bad boy on 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. When it's done it will be a sweet savory melty bundle of goodness. Place on a cracker, slice of apple or pear, or just eat a chunk out of your hand. So good!!

Our travel high chair

Sorry that I fell off the planet fora while, our Little Peanut is teething so sleep is not happening I our house. Anyway, every time we go out, someone stops us to ask about our travel high chair. It's the Inglesina Fast Table Chair - Liquirizia (Black) from Diapers.com, and we bought it for $50. This past weekend, the Hubs, Little Peanut and I went out to lunch (a rare and special occasion in our house) and we were stopped by the parents of a 4 month old who was in her car seat and a grandmother to an older baby asking about our chair.  It hooks onto the table, and we use it on the edge of our island at home so when we go out it's familiar for our Little Peanut.  

It folds flat into a pouch that is hidden under the seat, and the back is higher for early sitters who need more support.  Best of all, you are putting your little one in a high chair that may have the spills and germs for the previous kids ( I'm a pretty hardcore germaphobe so this is a big deal for me). Awesome chair all around, I just wish I had given out my Diapers.com account info for the referral reward!  

Traveling baby, Part 3

So,we made another last minute trip home with our Little Peanut.  It wasn't really planned but the hubs had a work trip that would land him close to my parent's house so we figured we'd make a go of it.  This time our packing list was greatly reduced as my parents have a full nursery set up, so it makes our lives way easier. Little Peanut did much better in the cart his time now that she has a new car seat (more on that in another post). She did really well, and had a blast being spoiled by Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop. In addition, my parents have a French bulldog named Oscar who I am not really a fan of.   Our Little Peanut, however,seems to love hi and he loves her. The two of them just study each other and stare into each other's faces. Oscar is constantly trying to lick our Little Peanut which drives me crazy as I am a super germaphobe. Little Peanut certainly didn't get the message as she reaches outfor Oscar to lick her hands constantly. The majority of the trip was me wiping my child's hands before she put them back in her mouth.......  Lovely. Baby travel..... Mastered!

Ribs

My ribs....

I don't make ribs that often, but when I do I always wonder why not.  These were sooooo good!

Removing the silver skin (gross)

Adding the dry rub.  Grill over indirect heat for 4 hours at 250 degrees. I brush with BBQ sauce for the last 10 minutes.  So good, and super easy!

Traveling with a baby- Part 2

We made it!!!  We made it back to visit family 7 hours away and survived, all while our Little Peanut was teething (her 2 bottom teeth FINALLY broke through yesterday). My parents were of course over the top with a full nursery, and other than a small meltdown at the hotel, we did great. We did so well in fact, that we drove straight through from Grandma and Grandpa's house instead of splitting the drive and staying in a hotel.  It was so great to see family, but it really made me appreciate our little family of 3. I was never in love with Buffalo, and Philadelphia  will ALWAYS be my home, but it was great to get back here when the trip was over!!

Traveling with a baby

As our Little Peanut is now 8 months old, the Hubs and I feel somewhat comfortable visiting our families for vacation. It's about a 7 hour trip so we are breaking it up in two sections each way because we both feel like that much time in a car seat will drive our child crazy (and us crazy as well). I knew this trip would be an undertaking, but I had NO idea how crazy it would be. Here is a sampling of my planned packing list:

  

Yeah, this should be interesting.  2 nights in a hotel, plus unloading and reloading twice to go between both sets of grandparents.  What were we thinking?  Luckily we will have a few days of vacation left when we get back to slowly get back into our routine. I'm just praying that our Little Peanut will sleep with all the new surroundings!

Pasta Nicoise is Amazeballs!

As the Hubs and I are new parents to an amazing little girl, we have to work a little harder to keep the spark alive. We have established a Saturday night date night and we either do takeout or cook something special and watch a movie (I look forward to this more than you can even imagine each week!). This week, we decided to cook a recipe that I have had bookmarked for a long time and have been dying to make. It's a riff on salad nicoise which is something the Hubs and I both really enjoy.  The variation is that the meal is served hot as a pasta instead of a salad. You omit the potatoes as the pasta is your starch, and the hard boiled egg gets skipped because I think it would just taste weird with pasta. 

In the cooking process

I got this recipe from a chef on the Today Show, and it was phenomenal!  Great flavor, not overly saucy, excellent flavor. The roasted tomatoes are perfectly juicy and delicious. I will admit that I substituted kalamata olives because I couldn't find nicoise olives. This recipe is also great because everything but the tomatoes and the butter are pantry items so I can keep them around for any length of time. 

The Hubs was an awesome helper on this one and I would DEFINITELY make it again. Soooooo good.  The recipe is below:

 Recipe: Spaghetti Niçoise with tuna

Andrew Carmellini

Ingredients

2 pints cherry tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup sliced red onion

1 lb. spaghetti

1 jar confit tuna in olive oil

1 cup Niçoise olives, cut in half length-wise

1/4 cup capers

1/2 cup sweet roasted red peppers, chopped

Dried Sicilian oregano

2 tbsp. anchovy paste

1 tbsp. lemon zest

1 tbsp. butter

1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Preparation

1) Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, dress the tomato halves lightly in olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread them out evenly, with lots of room around each one, onto a baking sheet, and roast them in the oven until they're caramelized and very soft, about 30 minutes. Set a large pot of salted water boiling for the spaghetti.

2) In a large sauté pan, sweat the sliced red onion in olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Add the blistered tomatoes, the jar of tuna and it's olive oil, the olives, capers, peppers, oregano and anchovy paste and mix together over the heat to incorporate.

3) When the pasta is al dente, lift it into the Niçoise sauce, allowing some of the pasta water to cling to the pasta and make its way into the pan. Toss the noodles into the sauce to coat them, add the lemon zest and the butter, and stir together again.

4) Plate the pasta and garnish with toasted breadcrumbs and parsley over the top.

Serving Size

Makes 4 to 6 servings

My pumpkin beer OBSESSION!!!

Every Fall I have a annual tradition of drinking every pumpkin beer I can get my hands on.  Every. Single. One. I have searched far and wide to find new beers, different beers, but they must all be pumpkins. I have drug my husband into this madness, and he is mostly cooperative (he gets sick of it after a while) through the whole experience. Last night we had a solid sampling:

Ok, the Ballast Point was not a pumpkin, but the hubs earned at least one beer of his choice.  So tasty!!

Cooking again....

My Little Peanut is now 7.5 months old, and I feel like I am finally emerging from the new mom fog a little bit. I am measuring this by the fact that I am experimenting with some new recipes. I now feel confident enough as a mom that I can prepare something that actually requires a few minutes and some brain power (which has started to return with more regular sleep).  This time around I made panko chicken tenders with a roasted tomatoes and mozzarella accompanied by a bacon quinoa salad.

I will admit, I have never eaten quinoa in my life but have been hearing about the health benefits for a while. My Hubs is a good sport, so he said he was open to trying something new. The chicken was super simple, just dip chicken tenders in flour, egg, and panko and fry to a golden crisp. The grape tomatoes were halved (the hubs is my sous chef, and does an awesome job) then tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and broiled for 10 minutes on high.  They are then tossed while still a bit warm with mozzerella balls and spooned onto the chicken. 

I will admit, I had a bit of a snafu with the quinoa. I got the recipe from Huffpost Taste, and was supposed to add toasted slivered almonds.  Well, I toasted the almonds and didn't think they were toasted enough so I toasted them again, which resulted in blackened smoky garbage, so I omitted the almonds. I got the rainbow quinoa at Target, and I will admit that I really liked this recipe.  I also feel so good about trying something new and expanding my usual culinary routine. Here is the recipe for the quinoa:

Bacon Quinoa with Almonds and Herbs

Kitchen DailyOct 27, 2011

 40 mins |  0 mins |  Serves 4

Ingredients

1/3 cup slivered almonds

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 thick slices of applewood-smoked bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice

1 small shallot, minced

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

2 cups chicken stock

1 sage sprig

1 tablespoon(s) minced chives

1 tablespoon(s) chopped parsley

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the almonds in a pie plate and toast in the oven until golden brown, 4 minutes; let cool.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil. Add the bacon and cook over moderately high heat until the fat has rendered, about 2 minutes. Add the shallot and cook, stirring a few times, until softened but not browned, about 1 minute. Add the quinoa, stock and sage and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until the stock has been absorbed, about 17 minutes. Remove the quinoa from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Discard the sage and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Stir in the chives, parsley and toasted almonds. Season the quinoa with salt and pepper and serve.

Stay Saucy, 

   Emily

Moving sucks.....

Tomorrow is one year of living in our house in the Buffalo suburbs. As this anniversary is upon us, it makes me think about all of our moves.  Growing up, I lived in the same house my whole life until I went to college. After college, my hubs landed a job with the railroad and they love to move your ass all over the place. I will say the railroad takes care of you when you move.  It's pretty insane to watch a professional mover perfectly pack your entire life into boxes in a matter of hours.  This was not the case when my husband and I moved from our apartment in Cleveland to our house also in Cleveland. Cleveland was our first location and we started out in an apartment on the west side of the city.  Once the Hubs got a few promotions and we found that we were here for the long haul, we bought a house on the east side of Cleveland. That didn't last too long as we soon shipped out for the Hudson Valley. We went from the suburbs of a major city to the very rural of central New York State. We must have looked at 30 houses all while living in a slummy dump I found on Craigslist (bless our realtor.... He was so patient). We found a great house (it was one of the first houses we looked at..... Typical) and really settled in and felt at home there, so of course it was time to move again.  This move was extra exciting because we had just discovered that we were expecting our Little Peanut, so this move also meant finding a new ob/gyn ASAP in Buffalo.  Awesome.  This was by far our easiest move so far, I think just because we are getting the hang of it and the Buffalo housing market was a breeze for us to find a great house. 3 cities in 7 years..... Just leaves me wondering where we are going to end up next?

Cooking baby food..... Part 1

When I had my Little Peanut, I decided to make her baby food myself. My husband gave me the Beaba Babycook which is an awesome, idiot proof invention for cooking, purveying and reheating baby food. Chop the food, add water, and let it steam until you need to purée which is done in the same bowl.  Super easy, right?  I love it!  I have tried to be creative and mix up some interesting combinations.  Avocado, banana, butternut squash, peaches (My favorite!) and zucchini have all been a hit.  Carrots, parsnips, and summer squash have not really been So popular.  I have been building quite a stockpile since its summer and the best stuff is in season right now.

 My current stockpile of what's in the freezer. 

The thing we are struggling with is anything slightly chunky. The Little Peanut will gag whenever she eats anything with chunks in it, often resulting in a reversal of fortune (throw up). I will try again soon, I'm sure she will come around when the time is right......she is stubborn and wants to do everything on her own schedule....kinda like her mom.... She's stubborn just like me and I couldn't be more proud!!

The Family Truckster

It pains me, but we broke down and bought our family Truckster. Stuff for kids just consumes such a ridiculous amount of space. Trying to origami the stroller into the trunk of my sedan was just such a pain, and my daughter is getting too long and we have bumped her head far too many times loading her in the car seat. I will say I am thrilled with the new car, it's a Nissan Pathfinder and having this cavernous space behind me while driving is weird. My little peanut is still getting used to it because the tinted windows are confusing her, plus she's not used to having another row of seating behind her. My hubs is sad because we traded in his 7.5 year old pick up truck (known as the F*ck Truck because he didn't give a f*ck while driving it and banged it up like crazy) but I know he was satisfied with the new ride when he had to do the first diaper change. Not bending over to change the diaper in the trunk is such a back saver and you will be amazed how much you will do to save your back when you have a kid. 

 

Here she is! Not the best photo, but I post while the Little Peanut is sleeping so I don't want to open the garage and waked her!

So, I started a blog.......

Ok, so after much badgering and pestering, I have finally started a blog.  My name is Emily, and I am married and a new-ish mom to an awesome baby girl. I am from Philadelphia ( an outstanding home town) but have lived many places thanks to my husband's career on the railroad (ugh). I love cooking, fashion magazines, attempting to live a healthy life (most of the time), and figuring out this whole mom thing!  Stay tuned for some regular awesomeness.