happy christmas

What a perfectly perfect day. S woke up a little early, but that's okay. We had lots of fun checking out the loot from Santa and from friends. Then we decided to start a new P family Christmas tradition, and we took a walk just after we finished opening gifts and eating some Blueberry Cranberry Muffins, which were very yummy. The walk was great, and it was nice to be outside on such a quiet and peaceful morning. We only saw two people...a dad warming up the car and Max (a friend's son) trying out his new skateboard. For the record, he wiped out immediately. M and I had a relaxing middle of the day, slowly getting Christmas dinner ready. We pigged out at 3, and now we're chilling out with Mr. P while S takes a nap. It's been an absolutely wonderful day. I hope yours have been great, too. Here are some pics...

Santa only comes to see little girls with good oral hygiene.

The loot.

Playing the ladybug xylophone.

Wondering where it all went wrong.

Zoom.

Bundled up for a Christmas stroll.

for the foodies

A couple of recipes that have been requested:

BUTTERNUT RISOTTO

7C low-sodium chicken broth
3T olive oil
2C butternut squash, large diced
2C diced onion
2C arborio rice
3T butter, softened
3T grated parmesan
1tsp salt (or to taste)
black pepper to taste

• Boil broth and set aside.
• In large saucepan, heat oil over low heat. Add squash and onion, cook one minute. Add rice and continue cooking and stirring for 2 minutes. Add 2C of broth and simmer, stirring constantly over low heat until liquid is absorbed. Continue stirring and adding broth 1C at a time until all liquid is absorbed. (The whole shebang takes 20-30 minutes.)
• Combine butter, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Stir into risotto. Season as needed.
• Enjoy. Then enjoy a second bowl. Then a third. You get the idea.

CARAMEL PECAN PIE

1 refrigerated piecrust
28 caramels, unwrapped (obviously)
1/4C butter
1/4C water
3/4C sugar
2 large eggs
1/2t vanilla extract
1/4t salt
1C chopped pecans

• Prebake pie crust as directed. (400 degrees for 6-8 minutes)
• Combine caramels, butter, and water in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 5-7 minutes or until caramels and butter are melted. Remove from heat.
• Stir together sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Stir into caramel mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in pecans and pour into prepared crust.
• Bake pie at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 20 minutes. (You may want to shield the edges of the crust to keep them from over browning...does anyone have one of those pie crust shield gadgets? Are they worth it?) Cool on wire rack.
• Try to get a piece before anyone else. Otherwise, you may be out of luck. I will never, ever make any other pecan pie. It is so easy and always turns out perfect. Never too soupy and never too sweet. Just perfect.
  

There you go, loves. Happy eating. Tonight I'll be trying latkes for the first time. Wish me luck.

there and back again

So, we're back from another trip southward. We've got one more trip planned for this weekend, then we're home for the holidays. I think. It's tough having your entire family in other places. Lots and lots of traveling to see people during November and December. It's especially tough on S as she doesn't sleep well in other places and long car trips mess up her daytime schedule pretty badly. Oh, well. We've got a few days at home to recuperate.

Not much has been going on in the P household lately. Just getting ready for Christmas, which means I've finished up all the shopping and since the postage stamps came in the mail Saturday, I'll be dropping cards in the mail this afternoon. I'd like to get all the out-of-town gifts ready to go by the afternoon, too, but that may be wishful thinking. Besides, I am not sure I could get all the packages into the post office on my own with S in tow. I may have to make a couple of trips to the PO to get it all done. That sounds fun, right??

Now that all of that is out of the way, I can get down to the fun stuff- holiday baking and candy making. Scarlet Lily has been sharing 12 days of Christmas cookies lately, and I hope I get around to trying some of them. There is a whole array of things that tradition dictates must be made first, though. Like the Peanut Butter Kiss cookies I made last weekend and took to my Uncle Bret. I like this set-up. I get to eat a few of the cookies...then I take the rest to someone else. The PB Kiss cookies are my favorites, and I only let myself make them once a year as I'd sit down and eat the entire batch more than once. I also attempted gumdrop cookie bars for my FIL last night as they are his favorites. I made them last year, but I could barely read the recipe. I thought I had a better handle on them this year, but they are currently residing in my garbage can instead of in Mr. P's tummy. Despite passing the ubiquitous "toothpick test," they were still badly under-done. I didn't realize this until it was way too late to put them back into the oven. I'll try them again sometime this week.

To make up for the gumdrop cookie debacle, I made oatmeal, chocolate chip, and pecan cookies this morning. I wish I hadn't. I've already eaten four. Luckily, the recipe was from Cooking Light, and I made the cookies smaller than called for, so I don't feel as bad as I would if I'd eaten four PB Kiss cookies.

I've also got to get on the ball making M's favorite- Chocolate Mint cookies. I don't worry too much about getting fat off those. M eats them at warp speed.

I've also got to make chocolate fudge, peppermint chocolate fudge, English toffee, butter cookies, peanut brittle, and (hopefully) caramels. I'd also really love to try a Yule Log, but I wanted to do that last year, too, and I never got around to it. Of course, I'll also have to make a caramel pecan pie at some point. Mr. P ate an entire half of one over Thanksgiving. If you're looking for me during the next few weeks, I'll be in the kitchen. Obviously.

Alright, I have no other news to share. Have a great Monday, and keep your fingers crossed in hope that there will still be cookies here for M when he gets home.

Oh, and just in case you need some help getting into the holiday spirit, I found this reindeer who wanted to say hi...

yum yum and this bites

Firstly, a shout out to Toddler Tamer. I made her pumpkin muffins. Double yum. I did make them with half applesauce and also 1/3 whole wheat flour. The other yum was last night's butternut squash risotto. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know. Mr. P and I liked it, but M had his usual aversion to the texture of the risotto. He ate it, though, so I was happy.

Secondly, this bites. This being my child. She has taken to biting. I realize that she doesn't know what she's doing, so I can't get mad at her. We're trying to teach her. She bit a plug out of M's shoulder yesterday, and she's actually bitten my face a few times. It's somewhat less than pleasant. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Okay, Thanksgiving was a hit. S had turkey, which she devoured just like she devours everything we put in front of her. It's both comical and scary to watch the child eat. We took lots of fun pictures of her over the weekend, and I'll get them up on Flickr eventually. Now we're home, waiting until this afternoon to pick up Otis. I'm anxious to see how things will be when he gets home as we set up the Christmas tree last night, meaning the living room is set up very differently. I wonder if S or Otis will be the first to crash into the tree. I'll keep you posted.

Now I'm going to dry off. The munchkin and I got caught in the rain during our walk. She doesn't seem to mind the fact that she's soaked, but I do.

go back to sleep

I hate days when I have to be somewhere in the morning. I don't dislike going places in the a.m., but I do hate having to get up before M leaves for work to shower. I really need that 45 minutes of sleep that I get between his waking up and S waking up. I need it, and I just don't get it like this. It's giving me a headache, and the Tylenol is upstairs, which is where I don't want to be as I'm trying to convince S that she has no business being awake yet. For the record, that approach isn't working as I can hear her babbling away up there. I can't really stand the thought of laying down with her to play human pacifier so she'll sleep longer. I've had some pretty uncomfortable neck pain for three days now, and I think it's a direct result of her rediscovered love of falling asleep while being held. I've spent several hours during the past week with her snoozing in my arms, which, we all know, means that I tend to drift off, leaving my head dangling at impossible angles. Wow, I'm very Negative Nancy today. I'll stop. As soon as I get some Tylenol.

Anyway, we've got a busy day ahead of us, but I wanted to say "g'day, mates."

Oh, I almost forgot. If you're not doing anything super constructive this very second, go and make the peanut butter icing from Barefoot Contessa at Home. Holy, moly. It is so yummy that I want to lick it off the cake. For the record, I did not make the Barefoot Contessa chocolate cupcakes...I just made the chocolate cake from the recipe on the can of Hershey's cocoa.

FIVE SENSES FRIDAY
Sight: Otis and S playing
Sound: silence...if I ever get it
Smell: poopers in Target yesterday (yuck)
Touch: S in my lap for story time, the pillows, which is where I wish my head was right now
Taste: peanut butter icing

kid-tested, mother-approved

That's the slogan for Kix cereal for those of you not in the know. I read in one of my books that Kix is a great alternative to Cheerios for little ones, so when I got to DC last week, I picked up a box. I thought S might like a little variety. She devoured those little round puffs of corn. They are not, however, just little round puffs of corn. They are sweetened. Not Fruity Pebbles sweetened, but sweetened. They were like crack. She loved them even more than those flavored Gerber fruit puff things. She ate almost an entire box in four days (less the two bowls that I ate). It's all harmless, right?

Wrong.

She has been producing the nastiest, undigested Kix-laden poop that you can imagine. It's so gross that it's funny. Learn from my mistakes, new mommies, stick to Cheerios.

Beyond the great Kix experiment, the trip to Tennessee was good. S enjoyed her first pep rally and parade on Friday, and she got to ride the tractor for the first time. All-in-all it wasn't bad- except that she, once again, did not sleep well when taken out of her element. Luckily, it seems to have only taken one day at home to get her back into the swing of things. Almost. She is suddenly going to bed a half-hour earlier...and getting up a half-hour earlier, too. What am I supposed to do at 6:30 in the morning, anyway??Nothing new to report here...though I did make another new soup last night. (Actually, I'd made it before, but I'd never served it to M, so it doesn't count.) It's Giada's Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup. It's insanely simple, and a total cheater recipe, so you can probably make it any day of the year with the stuff that's already in your cupboard. It's yummy, so go ahead and give it a whirl sometime.

things that go bump in the night

...or in the afternoon.

Monday was a tough day for the wee one. She woke up cranky, which is completely unlike her. I could tell immediately that she wasn't feeling 100%. Fast forward to morning nap time. She took her diaper off in her crib again and peed. Then she tried to go to sleep, but her bed was all wet and cold with pee. I went to check on her and felt so sad for her. So, no morning nap. The middle of the day went okay, and she took a really good afternoon nap. When she woke up, we played in her room. We love to play. What we do not love? Smacking her little face into the edge of her bookcase, which, of course, she did. She screamed like you'd cut off one of her limbs. It was pitiful. I thought she'd have a bruise, but she woke up yesterday without one. She does, however, have a mosquito bite on her face. It's really fantastic. Needless to say, Monday wasn't fabulous.

Tuesday was better, however. I made sushi for the first time, and I was really pleased. I also made a little fleece jumper for S, but it's still too hot to wear despite the fact that the original plan was for her to wear it to the Homecoming parade in DC Friday. It's orange and it has a football on it. I'll post a picture soon, but for now, the camera battery is charging, and I don't have the energy to deal with it. My brother also came to visit yesterday, which was nice, and he's riding to DC with us today.Which means...S and I are out of pocket until at least Sunday. She is going to experience her first DC Homecoming, even though she won't be able to go to the football game because it's past her bedtime. I think she'll live. Have a great rest of the week, peeps.

go. now.

As in, "Now. Go make this. Now."

I think I mentioned that I was going to try a new soup from my Barefoot in Paris cookbook this week. Well, I did. And you must make this. For dinner. Tonight. Go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients, and get cooking because it was that good. Lentil Sausage Soup. It was so delicious, and it made the house smell so delicious, and I can barely even talk about it. Here's a link.

I will tell you that I didn't use leeks because there weren't any to be found at the grocery, I forgot to add the cumin, and I used Healthy Choice sausage. I added about an extra cup of onion to make up for the leeks. I'm not sure that the cumin would've added much to the soup...or real sausage for that matter because, I'm telling you, it was so good. In fact, I think I'll go heat up a bowl right now for lunch.

Other than the soup, the P family had a pretty productive weekend. We cleaned up the garden and added a little red fence around it to deter Otis from stomping through it. M also mowed and trimmed at our house and his daddy's. Then I repainted the trim on the front porch, but I never made it to painting the garage door. I'm hoping to get that done this week. It's loads of fun around here, people. Loads. Of course, we had to stay busy to keep our minds off the shellacking that Notre Dame and Tennessee took this weekend at the hands of Michigan and Florida. There are no words to express how devastating it was. At least the Colts won...and UK beat Louisville, which was cool, and it looks like M will win at Fantasy Football this week, which is a whole different breed of excitement.

New mum on the front porch.

I'm off peeps. Have a fantastic Monday. And enjoy the crazy colorful pic of S...just ignore the crusted mucus. We're still working on it.

the tide is high

I think the tide is finally turning. S seems to be feeling better, as evidenced by her lack of screaming fits when I bust out the booger sucker. Now she's back to just not wanting her face washed, which is especially critical when she has mucus smeared across her otherwise adorable face. She has, however, taken her naps today (nap #2 is in progress) without throwing any fits, and she seems to be in an excellent mood. Of course, I let her ride in the buggy at the grocery store today, and she thought it was a blast. It's getting a bit cumbersome to try to wear her while grocery shopping as 1) she's a lot of extra weight to lug around, and 2) having her strapped to my chest puts her within reach of everything I pick up, making my attempts at moving items from the shelves to the cart a constant struggle. So, today, I plopped her in the cart, and she loved it. Of course, I could wear her on my back, but I'm not brave enough to try that on my own the first time.

How did this turn into a recap of the day's grocery excursion? No idea. Anyway...

I am so frickin' excited about the weather. It is pleasant outside again. Plus, we've been sleeping with the windows open and it's just lovely. I'm trying to take advantage of the nice weather by getting the garden all in order. I dug up the dead zucchini plant this morning, and groomed the tomato plants a bit. I'd dig them up, too, but I can still see some little green tomatoes, and I can't bear to miss out on them. Soon enough, there won't be fresh tomatoes. I'm also trying to decide what to do about the basil. Should I make a truckload of pesto and freeze it, or would the plants survive if I put them in pots and moved them inside? I will miss my fresh basil terribly if I have to give it up.

Speaking of tomatoes and pesto, I picked up some fresh mozzarella today, and I'm planning to make tomato, mozzarella, and pesto paninis one day this week. Of course, I don't have a panini maker, but I heard somewhere that I can just use my waffle iron (or a skillet and a weight, but where's the fun in that?). My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I'm also going to try out a new soup next week from Barefoot in Paris and also Scallops Provencal. I'll keep you posted (as always). For now, I'm going to go make an apple cake. Yum. Have a great weekend, my peeps.

FIVE SENSES FRIDAY
Sight: S learning to get down the front step without landing on her face...hysterical
Sound: quiet.
Smell: apples with cinnamon
Taste: vanilla ice cream on warm apple dumplings, homemade chicken soup, tomato tart, spinach pastry, sweet tea (I've been a glutton this week.)
Touch: cool air at night

lord of the flies

So, I built the compost bin, right? Did I mention that I'd been hoarding kitchen scraps in a bucket on the back porch for a few days in anticipation of the compost bin? Probably I failed to mention that. Well, I had this bucket (a red bucket with hearts on it, if you were wondering) that I had been throwing apple peels and banana peels and egg shells and such in for a few days. I had noticed that there were flies flocking to the bucket, but I wasn't too worried about it. Then I noticed that the flies were getting a bit aggressive. That's part of the reason that I made sure I got the compost bin finished yesterday (as it was the first day it hadn't rained this week). The flies aren't on the back porch anymore, but they are creating what seems like a new civilization inside the compost bin. I'm not even sure how they're getting in there since there is a lid, but they're in there, and they are feisty. I'm not exactly sure how to get rid of them, though I did read a little blurb yesterday about killing flies by alcohol poisoning. The problem is I don't know where to put the alcohol...because I've got some banana liqueur that I'd be willing to sacrifice. (I only own banana liqueur because it goes in Bananas Foster, I don't drink the stuff. Barf.)

Any other brilliant ideas? I've already covered the food scraps in the bin with newspaper, so don't bother suggesting that.

Oh, and I had a couple of friends over for lunch today. I made the full-sized tomato tart, which was so yummy, that I feel the need to share:

TOMATO BASIL TART
1 piecrust
4-5 small tomatoes, sliced and drained
1-1/2C shredded mozzarella cheese
1C loosely packed fresh basil
4 cloves garlic
1/4C shredded parmesan
1/4C mayonnaise
1/8tsp pepper

Bake the piecrust according to Pillsbury's directions. (Why would you bother making homemade piecrust??). Sprinkle with 1/2C mozzarella and let cool. Arrange tomatoes over cheese. Process basil and garlic and spread over tomatoes. Combine remaining mozzarella, parmesan, mayonnaise, and pepper and spread evenly over basil mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until top is golden.

This is so yummy. I hope you all run out and make it. I also made the Spinach in Puff Pastry last night. It was delish, too, though M's response was, "I wouldn't call it my favorite thing." As long as he doesn't call it his least favorite thing, I can deal. He'll also have to deal because I will be making it again.

Have a great Thursday, peeps.

back in the kitchen

First and foremost, thank you all. You know, for all the friendly encouragement on my little green dilemma the other day. I'm feeling much better now (not that I was that upset), but a little encouragement never hurt anyone, right? I'm also especially pumped at the prospect of building my own compost bin. Hopefully, I'll get around to that on Sunday afternoon. Also, M pointed out that I'd forgotten to mention that we purchase renewable energy. So, there you have it. Moving on.

I'm back in the kitchen today. Do you do that? Somehow manage to not make anything new or spectacularly yummy for a few days and then you break down and decide to make anything and everything you have ingredients for? I'm sort of there. I did bake a cake last weekend (three layers of chocolate-y, chunky deliciousness with mint in the icing), but that sucker has been gone for days. Days. My FIL brought over some brownies last night that his neighbor had brought him, so I'm not making any desserts today. That will be tomorrow- after we go apple-pickin'. Yum.

Anyway, I've got two things going right now. The first is soy-fig butter. There is a recipe on the back of my bag of soy nuts that has been staring at me from its perch on the counter for weeks. I just never had any dried fruit around. So, today, I ventured into the dried fruit aisle of the grocery and grabbed a bag of figs. The soy nuts have now been roasted, and they are patiently cooling in the Cuisinart until I go add a little oil and the chopped figs. I'll let you know how it turns out. The second is bunny muffins. The recipe actually came out of a baby food cookbook that I bought forever ago. The idea of carrot muffins sounded good, though, so I'm playing with it, and I look forward to having bunny muffins for breakfast tomorrow morning. Oddly enough, S won't be able to eat them because I haven't allergy checked her for apples yet, and I won't until after the aforementioned apple-pickin'. So, despite the fact that the recipe originated in Well Fed Baby, S will have to wait. The carrots are steaming now so I can puree them for the batter. Again, I'll let you know how it goes.

Beyond that, I look forward to trying out my first recipe from Barefoot in Paris this weekend. Of course, it's Spinach in Puff Pastry, which sounds a lot like a little Greek dish I like...spanakopita. So, it doesn't sound French at all, but it does sound good, so I'll have a go anyway. Also, I'm trying to use up the last of the tomatoes in the garden, so I'll also be making a tomato tart this weekend. I am super excited about that. That's about all I know, peeps. Have a good one.

FIVE SENSES FRIDAY
Sight: the trees in the backyard, swaying in the breeze
Sound: S "zerberting" the couch over and over
Smell: roasting soynuts, basil
Touch: aching muscles from finally going back to the gym
Taste: mint chocolate chip ice cream, red peppers from the garden

under the weather

The past five days have been less than stellar. Much less. I've had some variation of a cold that has knocked me out completely. Luckily, M was able to come home from work last Thursday to watch S while I slept. Friday, I felt a little better, and I was supremely grateful for S's unusually long naps. Saturday, I felt pretty good, except for the nasty dry cough I'd developed, so we went about our business running errands and cleaning house and whatnot. Big mistake. Apparently, my body wanted another day of rest, which brings us to yesterday. I think I was awake a total of about six hours yesterday. Thank you, M, for taking such good care of me and baby girl while I fought through the plague.

Today is much better, but I'm planning on taking it easy anyway. That's hard for me. I know that things need to be done. However, I realize that taking care of S can be taxing enough, and I don't want to stay sick or be forced to go to the doctor. Wish me luck.

Not much going on around here other than that. I did make another yum-scrum dessert this weekend. Chocolate cobbler. The recipe is from a cookbook my Aunt O gave me recently. Holy cow, it's chocolaty. This dessert is not for anyone watching their waistline. I substituted half the sugar for brown sugar in a feeble attempt at being a bit more healthy, but I knew messing with this recipe too much would not work out. Besides, it's chocolate cobbler...how healthy do you really want it to be? Anyway, if you're wanting to go all out with a dessert, let me know and I'll share the recipe.

Happy Monday. I'm going to take a nap.

millions of peaches

Does anyone remember that stupid song by the Presidents of the United States of America?

Doesn't matter, but I hope it's not stuck in your head now...

I needed to bake something yesterday. Needed. I hadn't baked anything in days, and I was having withdrawals. Withdrawals from the use of wooden spoons and mixers and unbleached all-purpose flour and from the actual devouring of baked goods. To be honest, the toffee ice cream bars I bought last week had been placating my sweet tooth. I'd had all I could take yesterday, though. Besides, I had some peaches that needed to be used and I couldn't just sit and eat them all. So, I started looking around for recipes that would use up the peaches in the fruit bowl and not require me to go out for any ingredients. I found a recipe for a peach upside down cake, and I decided to work from that. All in all, it's a pretty tasty dish, but, man is it ugly. Seriously unattractive. Most of that can be attributed to the fact that the peaches were too soft to be neatly halved and pitted. A more accurate description of the peaches' fates would be "peeled and ripped by the handful off of the pit."

Anyway, I messed with the basic recipe and here's what I came up with...in case you've got some peaches hanging out in your kitchen and have a hankering to bake something in this ungodly heat.

Ouiser's Peach and Blueberry Upside Down Cake

1/4C Unsalted butter
1/2C Packed brown sugar
1/4tsp Ground nutmeg
1/8tsp Ground cinnamon
3 Peaches; peeled, pitted, and halved (or ripped apart into a mass of flesh that does not look anything like a peach)
1/2C Fresh blueberries
1/2C Unsweetened applesauce
1/2C Packed brown sugar
1 egg
1tsp Vanilla extract
1-1/4C All-purpose flour
2tsp Baking powder
1/2tsp Kosher salt
1/2C Milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a 2qt casserole dish. Add brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon to the melted butter and mix until combined. Arrange peaches and blueberries in dish. Combine applesauce and brown sugar until well mixed. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to applesauce mixture alternately with the milk. Pour over fruit and bake 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let cake cool for five minutes, then invert onto serving plate. (Watch out for the syrup that will inevitably pour all over your counters.)

The cake really needs some ice cream or whipped cream on top, but I have neither of those things in the house. Bummer.

Steak au Poivre?

Four years ago yesterday, hubby fell off a park bench and asked me to marry him. Because I've seen so little of him lately and to remind him how happy I am that he fell off of that bench, I decided to make him a fantastic dinner. I decided on Steak au Poivre since I'd seen Ina make it last week, and it looked so delish. I plunked down an obscene amount of money for the steaks, and set off to make the requisite French bistro fare.

Let me be the first to tell you: no matter what Ina Garten says, 4 minutes on one side of a 1-1/4" thick filet and 3 minutes on the other will not equal medium rare. It will equal "barely not crawling off your plate." So, what would have been perfect timing for rolls out of the oven-steak resting for 10 minutes- last batch of fried sweet potatoes out of the oil turned into "everything is cold and my steak is still just this side of raw." Total suckage. The brownie pie was even a bit much. Yummy, but too rich without ice cream. With ice cream it would have been divine. At least the wine was good and the table looked nice. On a more positive note, here are the recipes for the Lo Mein and Orange Biscuits. The Lo Mein is a no brainer. It's a half pound of angel hair pasta mixed with whatever veggies I have in the house. I always use onions and at least one bell pepper. Then I add whatever I can find. The sauce is a mixture of 3/4C of low sodium chicken broth and 1/4C of low sodium soy sauce. That's it. For the record, I do cook the veggies before I mix everything together. I wouldn't want anyone biting into raw onion in their lo mein and blaming me for not telling them to cook it. I saute the onions and peppers in a little olive oil. I blanched and shocked the peas, and I steamed the broccoli just a bit. I usually sprinkle toasted sesame seed on top. I forgot to this time, though.

Moving on to orange biscuits. So you know, the flavor is pretty subtle. If you want "kick me in the face orange flavor" you'll need to tinker with it. I liked the subtlety. I thought they were nice and light. Here goes:

For the biscuit:
2-1/4C Bisquick
2/3C Milk (I used soy)
1/4tsp ground cinnamon
4t sugar
Zest of one orange

For the glaze:
Juice from that zested orange
Confectioner's sugar

Mix up all the biscuit ingredients and turn out onto floured surface. Roll out to about 1/2" thickness. Double over and roll lightly to make it stick together. Cut those suckers out with a biscuit cutter. Bake at 450 degrees for about 8 minutes.

For the glaze, I'd start with a few tablespoons of sugar and add orange juice to it. I went the other way and ended up with something like a cup of icing when I really only needed a little bit. If you've ever made glaze like this, you know how quickly it can get out of control in the pursuit of the proper consistency. I let the biscuits cool for just a couple of minutes before I brushed the glaze on.

Hope the recipes don't let you down...especially the ridiculously simple biscuits.

I'm off. Baby girl and I are dropping sandwiches off at church for reading camp and they have to be there by 9. Then we have to figure out how to get rid of the ants that are creating a new country outside the back door.

Yuck.

Remember how I said I was going to try Ina's Brown Rice, Tomato, and Basil recipe? Well, I did. It was not fantastic. It's rare that I make something from a recipe and dislike it, but dislike it I did. Way too much flavor...if you can imagine. The basil was overwhelming. The house smelled great, however. Oh, well. The cowboy cookies I just made are making up for last night's dinner disaster. Hopefully, tonight's dinner will be good, too. I'm making pan-fried trout and grilled veggies. I've never made trout before, but I figure fish is fish, right? At least when it comes to preparation.

Baby girl is still happily spending her nights in her crib. Of course, she's such a drooler that she is sleeping in puddles of her own spit. Awesome. Totally.

Oh- my reusable shopping bags came in yesterday, and I used them when running errands today. I felt so great about it. Same as the cloth diapers. (Thanks to Jaynes Ave and Scarlet Lily for the recommendation on the bags.)

Funk nasty

What's grosser than gross?

My baby today.

The AC crapped out on Tuesday afternoon. I was so busy yesterday that I never got around to calling anyone to come fix it. I'm sure I sound like a huge wiener considering it's not even June, but it's been in the mid-80s all week, and the giant windows that face west make our living room unbearable on hot, sunny afternoons. Anyway, baby girl was all sweaty this afternoon, and she was, as usual, trying to drown herself in drool. Add that wonderfully sticky drool and sweat mixture to the stinky gas and poop, and you've got a winning combination. Grossest baby ever...

I love her and all of her grossness.

The AC is fixed now, and I'm not even going to complain about the fact that I'm already cold. I'll wait and fuss about that tomorrow.

In normal, non-mommy-related Ouiser-world, I've been on a baking kick this week. I made the obligatory "my bananas are too ripe" banana nut bread on Sunday. Homemade brownies on Tuesday. Today I made pita bread...or a hybrid Cosi-flatbread/pita bread. I've also got cupcakes cooling on the counter (baby girl turns four months old tomorrow!!), which I'll decorate in the morning.

I'd post the recipe for the pita bread, but I'd have nothing to send my dear friend S for the June edition of "Try This!"

Happy Thursday evening, peeps. Later.

This is my life

It's flat-out gorgeous outside. The sun is setting, so the neighborhood is basking in the orange glow. We are inside, however, much to Otis's chagrin. Baby girl is asleep in her daddy's arms. She's clutching the impromptu burp cloth (a dinner napkin) like the marble rye lady from Seinfeld. You'd think we routinely take things from her as she exhibits her mighty kung fu grip. Her dad looks to be in agony as he unwisely let her fall asleep while he bounced her on the Pilates ball. The dog is standing at the front door all but begging to go out. I am at the computer researching cloth diapers.

The diaper dilemma has me tearing my hair out. I feel GUILTY that I use disposable diapers even though we use "hippie diapers" according to our friends. By the end of the week I'd bet we've got cloth diapers on S's little butt.

I'm also delving into my newest project. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. 10 year class reunion. Yuck. Trying to find 400 people that I barely knew in high school doesn't sound fun to me in the least. Planning an event in my hometown sounds even less appealing as I'm used to big city, big budget soirees. Wish me luck. Better yet, send me your leftover Valium. I'll likely need it more.

Last thing. I haven't mentioned anything food related in awhile. So, here's a recap of last evening's meal. Cilantro Lime Chicken, spinach salad, and bread. I improvised with the chicken, using the ingredients I had in the house. I whisked together the zest and juice of one large lime, a few tablespoons of olive oil, a couple of cloves of minced garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, chili powder, and a healthy dose of chopped fresh cilantro and marinated a couple of chicken breasts for a couple of hours. They grilled up quite nicely. As for the salad- nothing fancy there. Baby spinach tossed in balsamic vinaigrette with chopped yellow bell pepper and tomato. The bread was a very disappointing multigrain "bake it yourself" concoction I picked up at the grocery. I made real fresh bread with dinner tonight. Significantly better option.

I'm tired now. Time to water the garden and watch Planet Earth.

Smiles.

Oh my yumminess.

I am sad that I didn't take a picture of it. "A picture of what," you ask. THE LEMON CAKE. All capital letters...it was that good.

We had friends over for dinner last night. The food was all very simple (salsa chicken over brown rice, black beans, and sauteed spinach), so I wanted something WAY delish for dessert. Ordinarily, that would've meant my "world's best chocolate cake." I wanted something lighter, though, so I decided to finally try out the Barefoot Contessa Lemon Cake recipe. It is worth zesting and hand-juicing the lemons. It was so, so good. I'm showing remarkable restraint by not devouring the two pieces that are left in the kitchen.

The recipe makes two 8" loaves, but I cut it in half to make one. I'm kicking myself for that one. Amazingly, the cake turned out as pretty as the ones pictured in the cookbooks, and that's a very rare thing. So, here's my ringing endorsement for THE LEMON CAKE.

Oh, yeah, we also bought a new car yesterday. The Hybrid Saturn Vue. M took it into the office this morning, but I'll post a picture of our shiny new toy soon. Until then, dream of THE LEMON CAKE.

For the record, I served it with fresh blueberries.

The other thing happening at the P house is baby girl's first cold. Poor thing is all congested and coughing. Plus her eyes are watery. She's so pitiful. We finally got Otis well, now the other baby is sick. Will all members of our family ever be well again? I'm beginning to think not.

The big salad

Remember that Seinfeld episode? I love Seinfeld. I've just recently rediscovered its hilarity after having my brain over-saturated with its nothingness through reruns for several years. This post has absolutely nothing to do with Seinfeld other than the fact that I chose to name the post after an episode. The post does have something to do with salad. Specifically, the oh-so-yummy salads that M and I just devoured for dinner. Nothing particularly special about them except that I made the croutons. They were delish and added a perfect touch of saltiness. The salad part of the salad was baby spinach tossed in organic balsamic vinaigrette, diced apple, and sliced chicken breasts. I meant to throw in some almonds, but I forgot until now. Didn't need them, though. The croutons were easy. I had the ends of a loaf of bread leftover after making BLTs (TBST'S, technically: turkey bacon, spinach, and tomato) at lunchtime. As I was about to throw them out, I remembered that I was planning on salads for dinner, so I decided to try out the homemade crouton thing. I cut the bread into 1-1/2 inch cubes and toasted them in a skillet with a generous drizzle of olive oil. When they were nice and toasty, I tossed them in a bowl with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. They were awesome and made a mundane salad great. I'm going to start making croutons with all of my leftover bread. Yum yum.

In other recipe news, I made one of our regulars Friday night: fried rice. After having made it myself, I can't imagine enjoying the peas-and-carrots laden junk they feed you with takeout. Here's the recipe:

FRIED RICE

4C cooked brown rice
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 eggs, beaten
2T low sodium soy sauce
Olive oil

Coat the bottom of a chef's pan with olive oil. Heat the oil over medium-high and add the rice. Cook until oil is absorbed (not long). Push the rice to one side of the pan. Add the peppers and onions and cook to crisp-tender. Mix into the rice. Add the soy sauce and mix well. Push all to the side of the pan. Add the egg and scramble. Mix everything together, and voila!!

The recipe makes a lot, but M eats until its gone, so we rarely have leftovers.

That's it from here for the weekend.

The princess and the pee

Baby girl is somewhat less than a fan of bath time. She's a trooper for part of it, but she really hates to have her tummy and neck washed. Legs, butt, head, hair- fine, but stay away from the chubchub. Last night after her bath, as we rushed her into the warm towel towards the bed to dress her, she decided to get us back for attempting to de-funk the rolls under her neck. How? By peeing. I think she'd been saving up all day because she soaked through her towel, a quilt that was folded into three layers at the foot of the bed, the bedspread, and the top sheet. I think it would've done some damage to the bottom sheet if I hadn't noticed it when I did. I had just washed the sheets the day before. Go figure. We ended up just throwing two quilts onto the bed last night, which didn't work out well because neither was big enough to provide ample coverage for me and M. Oh, well.

The other laundry chaos revolved around a wayward ballpoint pen that made its way into the wash yesterday. Of course, I failed to notice its presence when moving the clothes (M's work clothes) from the washer to the dryer. (Read: when I still could've really saved myself a lot of work.) We had to go to Target for heavy duty stain remover, and M had to scour the inside of the dryer with a MagicEraser. I'm still working on the clothes, but most everything was salvaged. It would've been easier if I'd done a more thorough job checking pockets before doing the laundry. Note to self...

Lastly, I was reminded by a very dear Dra sister that while I'm excellent at giving updates on baby girl and me, I've been remiss in reporting on how M has taken to fatherhood. He's been great, and I think he's enjoying being a daddy almost as much as I'm enjoying being a mommy. I think his only complaint is a lack of time to spend with her. I'm trying to let him spend more time with her on the weekends, but I start having withdrawals if I haven't held her in a couple of hours. Either way, M is doing great. In fact, he's sprawled out on the couch with S sprawled out on him as I type. They are precious, and I am so thankful for my wonderfully, beautifully perfect little family (including Otis).

Lastly, speaking of withdrawals...I must sincerely thank my sister-in-law for the aptly monikered "Magic Swing." S loves to swing, and I am actually feeling guilty that I put her down more than I used to. I don't think the "attachment parenting" thing is supposed to make you feel guilty...is it? Anyway, thank you M for the swing, which also provides me time to pee without having my child attached to me. You are a savior.

I'm out, peeps...except for the food thing. No new recipe really, but I have been making "homemade" calzones lately. It allows for pseudo-pizza night. I just put spinach in mine instead of cheese. Either way, here's the basic scenario: I use pizza crust mix, and I halve the dough. Both of our calzones get a healthy dose of turkey pepperoni and diced tomatoes (drained). M's then gets shredded mozzarella while mine gets about a half of a box of frozen chopped spinach. I've added green peppers and onions before, and you could clearly add whatever "toppings" you want. Then I make them fairly unhealthy by dressing up the crust. I saute garlic in butter, add basil, and brush/pour it over the tops of the calzones. Then I sprinkle each with kosher salt and black pepper. I'd add a little Parmesan if I could. That's it...oh, I bake them at 475 degrees for about 12 minutes, and I pour marinara sauce over mine. Presto.

Baby girl after church this morning. Check out those arm rolls!