Homemade pizza was on our meal plan for the week. Darin had made his delectable dough that morning and it was all ready to go.
The man has such patience in letting the girls help with dinner. He said it's because he hasn't been hanging out with them all day. I think it's 'cuz he's a super dad.
Daisy's job was sauce.
Dani's job was cheese.
And, of course, making sure it baked evenly.
Extra yummy dinner that night for sure.
Our Christmas eve dinner tradition is "Merry Margherita Pizza" after church. Darin perfected his dough recipe this year and it was spectacular. Even Daisy got to help!
We even try to have festive red & green drinks to enjoy with our pizza.
Daisy helped me mix up a batch of reindeer food and really enjoyed sprinkling it on the lawn after dinner.
Cookies, milk & a note left for Santa.
My Dad read "The Night Before Christmas" to me every Christmas eve, and it warms my heart so much to see Darin carrying on the tradition with our girls. (Too bad one was already in bed!)
We had a few unfrosted sugar cookies left, so I let Daisy help me decorate them, with plans to share them at church on Christmas eve. Once again, she prefered the "dump-as-many-sprinkles-on-as-you-can" method.
My sisters and I (and their mama, too) gathered to celebrate Debbie and her big day. Michelle & I wanted to do something special for Debbie's 40th birthday, so we put out the call for help to make a little tribute album. It was so fun to watch notes and pictures come in from all over the place. Debbie loved how it included people she's known her whole life, to people she's just starting to develop relationships with.
Debbie couldn't read the notes there at the table because she didn't want to cry, but I hope she enjoyed reading them at home later that evening.
We ate dinner at Matador, which may be my new favorite restaurant. I love "Tex-Mex" and my favorite in Seattle was the Cactus, and in Bellingham was Pepper Sisters. It was great that Debbie suggested this downtown Tacoma spot, and the happy hour deals were amazing. And they have the best tasting Sangria I've had yet.
I'm glad we were able to celebrate Debbie apart from Christmas. I know it must be hard to have a December birthday and Deb made a special point to thank us for making her birthday a special point. No problem, sis, you are a pretty special gal.
Time to decorate! I asked our awesome 3 camp interns over for some fun decorating and as Darla pointed out, you can really see personalities shine through in the decorating process!
Daisy came home from swimming when we were almost finished and she really enjoyed having her friends here, and getting to help with sprinkles!
Who doesn't love the rich, sweet, creamy taste of an Orange Creamsicle? Seriously, who?
Here's an easy & cheap way to enjoy the taste in beverage format.
Mix equal parts orange juice and lemon-lime soda over ice. Add a splash of vanilla coffee mate. Stir & enjoy.
(It looks a little curdled, but tastes so yummy you'll not be bothered a bit.)
Our day began with really yummy jack-o-lantern pancakes. I think this is a sign it's gonna be a good one.
Last week when I was looking around online for some recipes to add to my meal plan for the week I stumbled upon this easy recipefor Nutella rolls. 3 ingredients total. Looked delicious. So I added the ingredients to my shopping list and decided we needed to whip these up that very afternoon.
Now, I'm no Ree with her beautiful cooking photography, but I had Darin take a couple shots so we could share the fun here with you guys.
Ingredients:
Grab your ingredients, a baking sheet, and a toddler who is eager to dip her fingers in the chocolaty goodness.
On each crescent roll drop a spoonful of nutella and spread it out a bit. Do this quickly or impatient toddler will mutiny and stick her fingers in the chocolaty goodness.
Let toddler roll up those bad-boys.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar. (We forgot this step, but I think Daisy would have liked this part.)
Bake according to package directions.
And then the best part, licking the nutella spoon!
(Please ignore the post-nap hair!)
Interesting note: the toddler loved the nutella better than the crescent rolls.
Side note: kinda like chocolate croissants, but way less fluffy.
Question: when does said toddler officially become a preschooler?
Our dinner Monday night came together rather swiftly and was a big hit with the family, so I thought I'd share it here for y'all. And since there's nothing worse than cooking on your stovetop, or even "gasp" turning on the oven, on a hot summer day, we used the brilliant BBQ to do the cooking for us.
BLT Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Are you a sucker for those food magazines at checkout lines? I sure am, but have been trying really hard to use the ones on my shelf before I bring home any new ones. This recipe is from a 2005 addition of Everday Food magazine from good ole Martha. Since I love BLT sandwiches, this salad looked delicious.
First, let me link you to the original recipe. Then let me tell you how I modified it.
1. When we stayed with Daisy's godparents for an overnight visit last fall they cooked their morning bacon on the BBQ. Just layed it on an old cookie sheet and let the BBQ do the work. Brilliant! Because not only did I not have to use my stovetop or oven, but my house didn't smell like bacon the rest of the day either.
2. Martha, dear Martha. I love you. But you can buy delicious croutons already made for you right at your local grocery store. The only reason to make homemade croutons is if you have extra bread lying around. And don't you know that people with toddlers and ducks nearby never have extra bread lying around. Yup, folks, storebought croutons for us.
3. Since I don't like mayonaise I substituted Miracle Whip in the dressing. And since we never have scallions, I just left those out. The dressing was yummy (especially tossed, gotta do the tossing) but it was a bit tangy with the vinegar and the Miracle Whip. Darin suggested next time just using Miracle Whip. ANd I guess that would save me a trip to the grocery store for buttermilk!
Oh, and those grape tomatoes are a huge hit with the little one in this house. She pops them like real grapes.
4. I served a side of bread with this salad. We love these dark brown rolls you can get at Costco and then wrap individually in tinfoil and freeze. And now I know they warm up on the BBQ just as well as they do in the oven! (One good-sized roll is enough for our little family of 3.)
There's your yummy dinner. Let me know if you make it and how you like it.
Cosmopolitan Jell-O Cups
Feeling rather super-mom-ish on Monday, I even managed to whip up a special dessert for my family. Considering it took all of 5 minutes at naptime isn't much, but having two babies asleep at once is quite a feat around here!
This recipe is in the latest issue of Kraft Food & Family Magazine, which if you don't get, you really should. Having this guy arrive in my mailbox every few months definitely helps with that whole buying magazines at the checkout line issue.
Take a 3oz box of strawberry jello and stir in 1C boiling water. (Guess I did use my stovetop kettle to boil some water for this one.) Instead of stiring in 1C cold water as the package suggests, stir in 1C orange sherbert instead until it melts. Pour into bowls or glasses and chill. Serve with a dollop of cool whip. (I didn't have the fancy kind in a can, so we just dollopped away with the kind in a container.)
I did, however, bust out two wine glasses to pour servings into, making the whole thing seem a bit more festive. I would have used martini glasses, but alas, I don't have a set. They were on my Christmas list this year, and will likely show up again on Birthday and Christmas lists this fall...but until then the wine glasses did just fine.
Daisy's serving was in a nice plastic bowl, which she was just as impressed with.
Immediately after dinner Darin started rummaging through cupboards to see if we had any more strawberry jello. I think it was a hit.
There you go, friends. A nice, easy, summer dinner and dessert. Enjoy!
Here's a (late) holiday packing tip. If you have to send a package to someone and you're fresh out of packing peanuts, how about using popcorn!
This is an especially good tip if
1) the person receiving the package loves popcorn and would appreciate the joke
2) you have a huge costco-sized package of gross popcorn (don't ever buy this brand!)
and
3) you have a daughter who can help eat all the leftovers!
Like her mother and her grandmother (who, incidently, the package was for) Daisy loved the popcorn. Before you get after me, I know it's a choking hazard! But I was watching her closely, made sure she had no pieces with old maids, and this kid has such good chewing skills I wasn't worried.
She gulped it down so fast. I was trying to get a picture of her putting a piece in her mouth, but this was the best I could do.
Just wait until she tries the GOOD stuff, with butter and salt!
Last month we went out to dinner after a shopping excursion in Tacoma. It'd been a long day for Daisy, so let's just say she wasn't her normal happy self that night.
Finally, dinner arrived. Saved by food! We had ordered Daisy some chicken fingers and fries, which came with a honey-mustard sauce for dipping. Unfortunately, the sauce had spilled a little on her food, and when she discovered how wonderful and tasty it was, all she wanted to eat was "dip".
Check it out here, the fry is just a means to getting more sauce.
Since that night she has been obsessed with dip, or "di" as she says. She'll hold her food out to you asking "di, di" until you give her some. One night we were eating at camp and I didn't have any dip, so we pretended with the invisible dip in a coffee mug.
Most days I give her plain yogurt to dip in. Sometimes we'll mix a little ranch in, depending on what she's eating.
She really likes the yogurt, and the food as a means to the dip is soon abandoned in favor of her fingers, and face...
Anyone got any good & healthy dip recipes for me?
Ahhhh...I'm feeling that wonderful feeling after a really great day.
*Got a shower in before Daisy got up. I always feel better when I don't lounge in
PJ's until naptime.
*Made a batch of delicious (and easy) cookies from my Deceptively Delicous cookbook.
*Had a new friend over for a "playdate". She brought a chai latte with her for me! We had some wonderful adult conversation, and our littles had a great time visiting all the animals.
*Daisy played quietly by herself for 20 minutes while I read blogs and ordered Darin's birthday present.
*So blessed that I have a husband who can come home on his lunch hour.
*Daisy napped for 2 hours this afternoon, and besides having to unload a dishwasher, I didn't have chores! So after some quiet time I watched Smallville and made a card.
*Took a trip to Fred Meyer where Fisher Price toys were on sale. We now have a little puppy at our house. (But somehow the plastic mixing bowls, aka "hats", are still more entertaining.)
*Got home at 5:00 and dinner was on the table at 5:30. Yea for easy! And my, oh my, was it delicious. Our friends made this pasta for us a few weeks ago, and I promptly went out and bought my own copy of Cooking Light so I could have it too.
Doesn't it look good?
Seriously, SO EASY. And yummy. The husband was raving all through dinner.
You didn't think I'd leave you without a link, did you? Ziti with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes and Gorgonzola sauce. (The recipe is for 2, and we had no leftovers. So if your family is bigger, just double it. We have enough ingrediants to make again next week, so it should be easy for you. I also made with whole wheat pasta and it was just as delicious.)
If you come over for dinner, I just may make this for you.
*Oh yeah, Darin did the dishes!
*And relaxing on the couch into the night.
Thank you Lord & family for a wonderful day.
Look! My freezer is full of beautiful purees again!
Why? You ask.
Well, I finally purchased a new cookbook (on sale at Costco) that I'd had my eye on for months. Everything looks delicious and easy. So last week I pureed carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and butternut squash. I want to get back at it, but the blade on my cuisenart has busted. Hopefully Darin's attempts at fixing it will work today.
So far from the cookbook we've tried the potato soup and chicken salad, and both were hits. On tap tonight is sloppy joes. And I wanted to try the chocolate chip cookies, but couldn't find canned chickpeas in my grocery store.
After a summer of camp food, we've all got some catching up to do on our veggie intake. Hopefully this will help.
