Cooking - 2011

I've decided to keep a running list of the new recipes I try out during 2011 to help keep me accountable for my NY resolution. I think it will be nice to have one spot to track my thoughts and notes.

My goals: 1) 2 new recipes a month - one that's a crock-pot dish and 2) minimize restaurant outings - stretch goal of 12X/year or less.

2011 Plans: Lettuce wraps - recipe involves peanuts - so even though I'm anxious to try it, I need to time it well for Tucker, since he's still on the no peanut regimen. Quiche. Homemade pizza. Chicken Cacciatore. Thai Pineapple Fried Rice and Yellow Curry.

February:

Tortilla Soup- 5 stars! Excellent! It was delicious! (PW recipe). I ended up using store bought tortilla chips instead of homemade, but am anxious to try the homemade tortilla strips soon! I may also add corn next time.

Chicken & Dumplings - 3 1/2 stars. I have never had chicken and dumplings but over the last month I have heard or read about the dish from a few different sources and I became quite curious. Until recently, I always thought this was an Asian dish- boy was I off-base. I think I followed the recipe very well and the meal was very tasty. This was a PW recipe and she uses cornmeal in the dumplings rather than buttermilk. Next time I try this, I want to try a more traditional take on the dumplings by using buttermilk.

BBQ Chicken in crock-pot. It is quite possible that this meal hit the top 10 favorites for Owen and Tucker and also one of the easiest meals I have ever made. I used apple cider instead of water or chicken broth in the crock-pot with frozen chicken breasts. Cooked on low while I was at work. Came home. Added bbq sauce and served with veggies, fruit, and bread. All 3 of the boys had seconds. I can only imagine how good this would be with homemade sauce.

Roast Chicken with veggies- 5 stars! My hair stylist and I usually spend the majority of the time it takes to cut my hair - talking about cooking. She inspired me to make the Barefoot Contessa's roast chicken. It was out of this world. I have always wanted to make a full-bird recipe and I'm so glad I finally did it. It is easy and will become a a regular for us.

Smashed potatoes (PW recipe) - very good. I cooked a giant bag of potatoes so the timing was off and the portions required for the recipe were a bit off, but they were still very good. Next time, I'll try to actually follow the recipe to see if I can make it great. Kris enjoyed them more than regular mashed potatoes which is no surprise since the recipe called for bacon.

Chicken Fried Steak- "F" (PW recipe) The "F" grade has nothing to do with the recipe. Nope, it was all me. It may have something to do with the fact that I have never had it before - but let's be honest, that's just a poor excuse. I did consult my local resident/good pal/great cook/local PW (Kristi) after the fact and she reassured me by telling me that perfecting this meal is much harder than it looks. I couldn't agree more. She asked me what went wrong, and I wasn't exaggerating when I wrote- everything. I think I messed up on every step: the meat was not tender enough, I didn't use enough flour or seasoning for the flour or meat, and I didn't use the right pan and was very short on the amount of oil used. I also burned the second batch before the meat cooked through and that made it impossible to make a good gravy. I tried to switch pans to finish cooking the meat in a non-scorched pan so I could attempt the gravy - bad idea. It was just terrible- actually it was beyond terrible. Somehow, we managed to eat a few bites, but most of the meal ended up in the trash. Good thing I had a side of instant stuffing and some rolls and veggies for us to eat. Thanks to Kristi's encouragement, I will try it again, but I don't think Kris is very excited about me taking this one on again any time soon.

Other - I made a few other really nice meals during the month - sausage/tortellini/veg soup- batch was super - but in the future I will make it with diced tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes. Neither of us want to eat giant chunks of tomato. RR Pesto Pasta - why has it been so long since we made this dish? It's been a favorite for a long time, but it's probably been more than 2 years since we last made it. It's on the "standard" list again.

We did eat out twice during our vacation. Once was when we were actually on vacation - we grabbed fish and chips when we met up with Brian & Andrea and the other was on our drive home after we exhausted all of our snacks. The restaurant was an old diner with out of date decor but incredible, all natural home-style food served up in gigantic portions. Definitely a good choice for one of our few restaurant experiences this year. Kris doesn't want to count either restaurant trip in our "12" because he says vacation restaurant trips are separate. I kind-of agree since I was loose on my goal definition on purpose, but we'll see how we're doing as the year progresses. Really, I'd love to hit less than 12 for the year all-together.

January:

Apple Granola cookies - fun to make with Owen. want to try to incorporate whole wheat flour sometime. Will make again.

Pork Carnitas - easy and very yummy - topped with enchilada sauce to make it extra good. will become new standard for our pork carnitas meals.

I HEART Santa Barbara

Last weekend, we hit the road and made our way to Santa Barbara. My mom, Grandpa Lou, and Rod were house sitting for a dear friend of theirs who happens to live ON the beach in Carpenteria, just south of Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful location and a great trip.

It was the first time I have spent any time in Santa Barbara since childhood and even though I grew up only a few hours away from this beautiful place, I only visited there a couple times as a youngster. I fell in love. I am sure as a kid I would have enjoyed it but I'm also pretty sure I saw the town differently this time around. Now, I appreciated it for more than the pretty beaches and coastline, although they still captured my heart. I was wowed by the view of the Channel Islands and the serene green hills layered with history, wild flowers, and stunning mansions. I was able to close my eyes and dream of long hikes to the mountain peaks, boat rides to watch whales and dolphins swimming and playing, trips to the tide pools, fishing, playing and hiking on the Channel Islands, trips to wine and ranch country, and I can't hide it- hopes that if I stayed long enough, we would run into the Psych crew during a stroll along the boardwalk. I could go on and on, but I think the title of this post says it all.

While we were there, we took a few long walks on the beach, watched the boys play with their cousin Charles as they built sand castles and frolicked in the water. We played at the aquarium and we were also fortunate to meet up with our friends, Brian and Andrea, for a stroll along the pier and a lovely lunch in down-town. We did get caught in the rain a bit, but still managed to take Owen and Charles for a covered carousel ride across the street from the beach and a drive to see the Mission. The rain didn't bother us though. Some how, I think the cozy beach house, heavy music of the rain and roar of the surf combined with good company, happy kids, yummy food, Scrabble, and a warm fire just put us all at peace.

My fingers are crossed that we get invited back some time!

Here are a few pictures from our weekend..

Kristin showing how close we were to the sand

i think his sweatshirt should read: I heart SB

fun in the sand

proud builders

Kris & me with Gramps @ the Sea Center

Swimming lessons

A few weeks ago we decided to try a swimming class at our local kids' gym, so we switched Owen out of his gymnastics class and into the swimming class on a different night. We wanted him to get some practice in over the winter so that he's ready for the upcoming summer swimming season. Even though he loves playing in the water and swimming with us, he's still very terrified of getting his head wet, so we thought some practice and water time would help him.

He's loved the class from the start, but last week was incredible! They had a zip line set up for the kids to try towards the end of the lesson. I didn't think Owen would go for it, but he never hesitated or even looked to me for encouragement. He just went for it! I was so happy to see him excitedly try it out and was thrilled when he landed in his teacher's arms. He smiled at me once he was back in line for his second turn.

The whole scenario just melted my heart.

floating practice

even though this picture is blurry, i love it because he was so happy riding this whale

p.s. yes, yes, i did want to jump for joy, but instead i just played it cool by busting out a double thumbs up and a goofy smile on my face.One day soon he's going to figure out that his mom is a total dork.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

random updates:

I came home from work with my two sweet little valentine's to a clean kitchen and a beautiful bouquet of flowers- such a sweet an unexpected surprise!

The boys had a party at school and today was their Preschool Prom photo shoot. We wanted, but forgot, to get cute shirts for their picture over the weekend. Oh well! Their teachers told us they cooperated and that they got some great shots. Now I can't wait to see them.

Yesterday, we went to a kids Valentine's party at a friends' house. It was great fun. Cathy (the mom) had lunch bags for the kids to decorate and exchange valentine's, a scavenger hunt, yummy snacks and desserts, and all sorts of toys for the kids to play with inside and out! Our friend Miki took photos and the ones of Tucker were especially great!

2011 resolutions

Since my friend Stephanie posted her inspiring 2011 NY resolutions on her blog, I have been thinking about my resolutions. Even though it is mid- February, I thought I'd jot them down so I could look back on them at the end of the year!! My goals aren't perfectly measurable or very unique, but that's okay. Here's what I'll be focusing on this year:

1. Blog More Often - I am working on this now!

2. Cook at least 2 new recipes a month - one as a crock pot meal. I settled on this goal, hoping that it would be easy to accomplish. I hope I try many more than 24 new recipes during the year. I'm happy to report that I'm making solid progress. In January I made a new delicious oatmeal apple cookie recipe and a new pork carnitas crock pot recipe and in February, I have made Chicken & Dumplings (yum!) and Tortillas Soup (out of this world!).

3. Learn more about our camera, how to edit photos, & how to edit videos - I love taking photos, especially of our family and friends. I want to know more about our camera so I can capture and share the special and magical moments with more ease.

4. Rarely eat out - Last year, we managed to make every meal at home for one solid month during the summer. It's a stretch goal, but I'm hoping to eat out less than once a month, on average for the year.

5. Get stronger - It's been a long time since I have really worked out. This year, I hope to re-focus my energy and build strength. Family bike rides are a great step.

6. Embrace the chaos. - Have as much fun as possible and embrace our crazy schedule and messy house! Relax a wee bit on my "to do" lists and spend as much time playing outside as possible! Life is short.

First family bike ride

Last weekend, we went on our first family bike ride. We had a blast! Owen rode his balance bike and Tucker cruised in the bike trailer. We figured out a way to strap Owen's bike to the trailer so he could ride one way there and relax on the way back. It worked out perfectly. We loaded up with snacks and water, and rode to their school, along the Folsom bike trail. It was beautiful out and it felt wonderful to be out exercising and enjoying the unusual warm weather while being together as a family.

We made a picnic stop and arrived at our destination about 30 minutes later. From there, we decided to go check out the bike-skate park. Lucky, for us, we ran into one of Owen's best buddies, Aiden, and his family. Owen and Aiden practiced riding the balance bike down the hill and then they had a blast jumping off a rock.

We rode home, over the new Folsom foot-bike bridge, and really enjoyed the trail. It was the first time on one of the paths and we enjoyed the serene trail immensely. There are a bunch of hills, and I even though I had to use the lowest gears, I impressed myself by making it up every hill without walking (these are minor hills, but its been a LONG time since I have that type of work-out)! I figure- it helps to count the small wins!

Owen learns to ride a bike

For the last few months, we've been on the hunt for a bicycle for Owen. It's been a challenge because he's still on the smaller side and most of the standard 12 inch bikes don't fit him. Last weekend, our search ended. We stopped at a local bike shop for a helmet for Tucker and while we were there, Owen tried two of the small kid bikes. We didn't expect them to work out, but we were happily surprised to learn that both bikes fit him! We couldn't buy the one we liked best right away because it was purple and Owen simply told us that purple bikes are for girls. A few days later, we went back and bought the red one they pulled from their warehouse. We took the bike home Monday night, and he practiced pedaling with the back wheel up. Once he had that down, we took off the training wheels and started to count down the days until the weekend. We bought bike pads Friday night and chatted about his new bike all week. He was pretty excited, but the truth is, we were the super excited ones!

Saturday morning, after an early breakfast, we went out to the local school, and Owen learned how to ride a bike. We brought his orange balance bike because he wanted to start with that one. After awhile, he agreed to try the new one. He was a little nervous at first because he thought pedaling was hard, but within seconds he was going without Kris' help. He picked it up immediately. After a short but successful ride, he wanted to play on the playground. He took off all his pads and he and Tucker played for a long time on the slides and climbing gyms.

After awhile, he tried out his bike again. The second time around, something clicked, and he started to love it. He was making laps in no time and asking to ride down the small hill at the playground. From a balance perspective- he had it down perfectly. It really was absolutely natural for him. Pushing backwards on the pedals to brake and starting were a little harder, but by late morning he had made some progress with both areas. We were at the park for nearly three hours and after nap and a short snack, he couldn't wait to get out front and try it again.

The balance bike experiment worked exactly like we hoped it would. It's so cute to watch him on the bike. We need to practice a bit more with the pedal brakes and starting without help, but he'll have it down in no time. Soon, we'll be able to try out another family bike ride with Owen riding his bike instead of pushing/gliding on his balance bike! As I write this, Kris and Owen are outside - Owen couldn't wait to get outside today and try his new bike! WOO!

The first video below shows Owen's first try and the second video is a few tries later, after the playground break.

little Tucker on his bike!