Today was “Donuts with Daddy” day at Mother’s Day Out, but of course I had to crash the party because I love donuts we needed to document the big event:

This, my friends, is what you get when you ask a toddler to smile:

Not to toot my own horn, but I made the BEST dinner tonight. I was thisclose to suggesting that we go out for Mexican, too. One of my favorite standbys is this Real Simple recipe for Baked Spinach and Pea Risotto. I’ve always wanted to try some variation of it with goat cheese… and tonight was the night. It’s the perfect recipe because you get fancy risotto without sweating over the stove and stirring for half an hour. The lemon juice balances out the creaminess of the rice & cheese, and the chard and peas give it a little veggie boost.

Baked Goat Cheese Risotto with Swiss Chard & Peas

• 2 Tbs unsalted butter
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups swiss chard (leaves torn into bite-sized pieces; no ribs)
• 4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a Dutch oven (oven-safe), heat 2 Tbs butter until melted. Add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until onion is soft.

3. Add wine to pan and cook, stirring continuously, for 2 minutes.

4. Pour in chicken broth and rice. Bring to a boil, then cover with lid. Place pot in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

5. While rice is cooking, rinse chard leaves and place in covered microwavable dish (no need to add additional water). Microwave for 2 minutes to steam & soften.

6. Remove rice from oven and stir in peas, goat cheese and chard. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then squeeze lemon juice over the top. If rice seems dry, feel free to stir in 1/4 cup of hot chicken broth.

SO SO SO SO GOOD. I don’t care, I’m tooting my own horn. Toot toot.

Have a great weekend!

We woke up this morning to major rainstorms, which is awesome for curling up in bed with a good book, but not so awesome for being stuck inside all day with a toddler. By noon we were both going stir-crazy, having played with every truck, assembled every puzzle, “cooked” 3247897 combinations of wooden food… thank goodness tomorrow is Mother’s Day Out!

I had a major recipe fails today. Brian had a guys’ night out tonight, so I was super excited to make this recipe for Roasted Grape, Goat Cheese and Honey-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. Not really Bri’s style, but definitely mine. Unfortunately I think our oven must be off or something, because my grapes burned to a nasty crisp. Like essentially melted into a black, sticky mess.  Gross.

So instead I had a hummus wrap and tomato soup for dinner.

But. BUT. I found a recipe that I forgot to post last week! So all is not lost: Mango Blueberry Quinoa Salad with Lemon Basil Dressing.

All good things- quinoa, mango, blueberries, cucumber, dried cherries (which I substituted for the cranberries), lemon and basil. It would be amazing with chickpeas, too.

Anyway, we had it for dinner the other night along with the bean soup. I fully expected Brian to hate this salad, but he actually commented on how much he liked it. Will definitely be making it again!

And to cheer myself up from the sweet potato fail, I currently have No Bake Energy Bite batter chilling in the fridge. Hooray.

Oh, one more thing! Remember a month or two ago when I posted about the wedding dress sketch from my friend Debi? Well I got my sketch the mail yesterday and it is GORGEOUS. I can’t wait to frame it. Debi’s site is now up and running, so if you’re looking for an amazing wedding/anniversary gift, check out Illustrative Moments!

Short post tonight. I didn’t cook anything- we met my family for dinner at Meso Maya to share our big news.

We’re having a GIRL!!!!!!!!

Jack’s getting a little sister (or “mister”- as he says). I’m pretty much over-the-moon excited. I’ve always, always, always wanted at least one of each, and I think Jack will be so sweet with a baby sister. We had our appointment at 10 this morning, and of course the sonogram was at the very end. I was literally shaking through the whole thing. With Jack, I had an unexpected sonogram at 15 weeks and never thought they’d be able to tell us what we were having that early, so I didn’t get the chance to get butterflies. But everything looked great, baby is healthy and all appendages are in the right place.

So now the shopping begins…

And by begins, I mean ALREADY STARTED. Oops.

(Girl clothes are so much more fun than boy clothes.)

It’s rainy and gross outside and nothing sounds better than my warm bed, so this preggo is turning in early. Night!

I found this really cute lunch idea on Pinterest and had to test it out on Jack today:

How awesome is that? A little toddler buffet in an ice cube tray. It’s perfect because he only eats like 2 bites of any one thing anyway, so at least this way he gets a variety. I included: blueberries, grapes, broccoli, carrots, grape tomatoes, ranch dip, pretzels, crackers, shredded cheese, pasta, Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies, beans, freeze-dried banana slices, quinoa and clementines. He loved it and actually ate way more than I anticipated.

On to dinner. I found a recipe on Allrecipes for slow cooker pork tenderloin and doctored it up a bit. Served it over mashed potatoes- Brian was a HUGE fan. The “gravy” is delicious over potatoes, but I could see this making a great sandwich if served on rolls. Here’s the original recipe, and here’s my version:

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

• 2 lb pork tenderloin
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1 cup red wine
• 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 Tbs low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 Tbs minced garlic

1. Season tenderloin with seasoned salt. Heat a large skillet over high heat, then sear pork on both sides.

2. In crock pot, place sliced onions, then pork. Top with onion soup mix, wine, broth and soy sauce. Turn pork to coat with liquid.

3. Spoon garlic on top of pork. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low for 4 hours.

4. Remove pork from slow cooker and slice (or shred with 2 forks). Return meat to crock pot so that it can soak up some of the juices. Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.

Although the meat on the bottom of the tenderloin (the part that was submerged during cooking) was perfect, the top was a little dry. Returning the meat to the “gravy” after slicing helped soften it up. Also, the liquid is pretty salty- which I like but others might not. It tastes a lot like French onion soup.

Finally, on the side we had yet ANOTHER Pinterest recipe: Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Apples. I tried to follow the recipe exactly but immediately burned the bacon and had to start over. SO… what I suggest is to heat the oven to 400 (instead of 425) and cook the halved brussels sprouts and sliced bacon together for 15 minutes. Then add the cut-up apples to the baking sheet, stir, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Yum. Will definitely be adding this to the regular rotation… because what isn’t better cooked with bacon?? Also, I like my sprouts pretty caramelized (the crunchy leaves are SO good), but you don’t have to let yours get this dark.

So, TOMORROW is the big gender sonogram!!!! I don’t even know how I’m going to sleep tonight- already getting crazy butterflies. I really want to be able to tell my family in person, so if we can coordinate a time to meet tomorrow then I plan on posting the results here tomorrow night. If NOT then I guess I’ll wait and post it on Wednesday, though I have no idea how I’ll be able to wait that long. So feel free to place your bets now…

My friend Leigh Ann had a baby a couple of months ago and a group of us signed up to bring her meals. I was racking my brain on what to cook when I noticed the bag of Trader Joe’s 17 Bean Soup Mix in the pantry. I have to smuggle this stuff back from South Carolina in my suitcase since we don’t have a TJ’s here. Most people would probably be like, “What in the hell?” if you brought over a giant pot of bean soup. But I knew that Leigh Ann would be down. She and I bond over our love of beans. To me they’re the perfect food: Filling, healthy, full of protein and fiber (about that… my theory is that the more frequently you eat them, the less of an “effect” they have on you), cheap, easy to make. What’s not to like?

Luckily I was right. I got a text from her the next day:

I’m at the doctor with Sam and it’s taking forever. I just want to get home to my musical fruit.

Hahahahaha.

(Leigh Ann, please don’t be mad at me for sharing that story.)

Anyway, my TJ’s bean soup stockpile doesn’t last very long. Luckily Leigh Ann tipped me off to Central Market’s bulk bin of mixed-bean soup mix. It’s only like 13 beans- not hard core like Trader Joe’s SEVENTEEN- but we work with what we have. I’ve yet to try it, but the other day after a playdate Leigh Ann sent me home with a big tub of mixed dried beans. CM was out of the bulk mix, so she just bought nine bags of various beans and combined them in a make-your-own bean soup mix. GENIUS!

Aren’t they pretty?

So that’s what we had for dinner tonight… I use the recipe on the back of the TJ’s bag as a general guide but then throw in some extras. You could make this soup using 2 cups of any mixed, dried beans you like- garbanzos, black beans, limas, split peas, pintos, black eyed peas, kidney beans, lentils. The possibilities are endless. Oh, and you do have to soak the beans overnight.

This soup is pretty much the best meal ever. I could eat it, with crusty bread, every single day and be a happy gal. I throw in some diced ham steak to give it a smoky flavor and some heft, but you could leave that out. It gets better in the fridge and makes an awesome, easy weekday lunch if you cook up a big batch on Sundays. Which is what I did today.

Smoky Mixed Bean & Ham Soup

• 2 cups dried, mixed beans
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 28 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 2 x 32 oz cartons reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 small ham steak, diced
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp Liquid Smoke
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Chipotle Tabasco, to taste (optional)
• splash of red wine vinegar
• salt & pepper

1. Place beans in a large bowl. Cover completely with cool water and allow to soak overnight. Rinse & drain.

2. Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, pepper, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute until soft.

3. Add tomatoes, broth, beans, ham, Italian seasoning and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about an hour.

4. After an hour, test beans to see if they’re soft enough. Add Liquid Smoke, Worcestershire, Tabasco, vinegar, salt & pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

We had ours with Alexia whole wheat rolls. For Jack, I just used a slotted spoon to remove & drain some cooked beans and ham from the pot (BEFORE adding the Tabasco) and he gobbled those right up.

Thanks for letting me wax on about my love of the bean. We’ve had a busy weekend and I’m super sleepy, so I’ll catch you guys tomorrow.

PS: If you want to laugh really, really hard, read this. Now. (Potty mouth warning.)

It’s ironic that I’m most exhausted on the days that Jack has Mother’s Day Out. I think I just defer all of my errands/chores to Thursday because it’s easier to get stuff done when the little man is in school, plus he “naps” there so we end up with a loooooong afternoon once I pick him up. Luckily today was crazy gorgeous outside- we left our house to walk to the park at 3:15 and walked back in the door at 6:15. That’s got to be some kind of record. We met up with a big group of Jack’s buddies and he had a blast climbing, sliding, and (primarily) begging for snacks from the other mommies.

We ended up grabbing dinner at my old garlic-crazy workplace, Alfonso’s, so no dinner pics. However, I have my first MOPS meeting tomorrow and was racking my brain as to what to pack Jack for his lunch. My Mother’s Day Out lunches have been a massive fail lately. He’ll eat the grapes and chips and that’s it.

So tonight I took advantage of the Central Market salad bar fixin’s to throw together a pasta salad:

Barilla has this great Piccolini line of pasta that features tiny versions of their pasta shapes (penne, shells, rotini and wagon wheels, I think). It’s perfect for toddlers, because cutting up everything gets to be a whip sometimes. I just boiled some of the penne and then mixed it with chopped grilled chicken, broccoli florets, edamame and tomatoes (all from the CM salad bar). I drizzled a little Italian dressing on top and sprinkled on some parmesan. Easy.

Now we’ll just have to see if he eats it.

So here’s the rest of his lunch, if you’re interested:

Squeezable applesauce (he’s obsessed with these at the moment), grapes and Wheat Thins. Is it weird to give a toddler Wheat Thins? It’s kind of a geriatric snack. Oh well.

I’ve been feeling some crazy movement from Baby #2 lately. Like not just the little bubbles- actual kicks and rolls. We find out the sex on Tuesday and I can’t WAIT.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I’m going to go pass out now.

I bet you’ll never guess where I got tonight’s dinner recipe? Yep, Pinterest. How did I blog before it? The cookbooks gathering dust on my shelves probably have an answer to that. The recipe was for Bubble Up Enchiladas: ground turkey mixed with enchilada sauce and tomato sauce, stirred together with quartered biscuit dough, baked and then topped with cheese. Not particularly enchilada-like, but it sounded good (and quick!) regardless.

I altered the recipe just a little by adding black beans and corn, otherwise it’s pretty much the same as the link.

Ingredients:

Pre-baking.

Post-baking. See how the biscuits puff up?

Plated, with sour cream and green onions…

Enchilada Casserole

• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 10oz can red enchilada sauce
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can yellow corn, drained
• 16 oz can flaky biscuit dough
• 2 cups reduced-fat Mexican blend shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large skillet, brown turkey and garlic.

2. When turkey is cooked through, remove from heat and add enchilada sauce, tomato sauce, black beans and corn. Stir until well mixed. Taste and add seasonings as needed (I added seasoned salt).

3. Cut biscuits into quarters and add to skillet. Stir to combine.

4. Spray a large casserole dish with nonstick spray. Pour in turkey mixture.

5. Place casserole dish in oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese evenly over the top. Return to oven for about 5 more minutes.

6. Remove from oven and allow to set for another 5 minutes (mixture will thicken). Serve with sour cream, green onions, jalapenos, hot sauce, etc.

I was hoping Jack would be able to eat this, but even with the mild enchilada sauce it seemed a little too spicy. Luckily I set aside a little of the turkey-corn-bean mixture before adding the sauce, so I just melted some cheese on top of that for him.

On a completely unrelated note: If any of you are Greek yogurt fans, my Super Target had Chobani on sale for $0.50 today! I think it’s usually $1.30. Not sure what the deal is- they weren’t close to expiration or anything. I eat Chobani for breakfast every morning with blueberries, granola and chia seeds, so we stocked up:

The new blood orange flavor is REALLY good.

The kid’s Chobani was also on sale… that vanilla with chocolate chunk flavor was actually on clearance for $2 (it’s usually $3.50ish, and I had a $1 coupon so I got it for $1- win!). Tonight after dinner we gave Jack a cup of that topped with a few chocolate sprinkles and told him it was ice cream. He LOVED it.

We’re always worried that he’s not getting enough protein (or calories, for that matter), so I’m pretty psyched that he took to this. Hey, whatever works.

Hope everyone is having a good week! I’m off to pop one of my giant horse-pill antibiotics and enjoy a glass of margarita-flavored Crystal Light. Hey heyyyy.

(Update: Margarita-flavored Crystal Light tastes nothing like margaritas. Sad.)

Today was much less eventful, thank the lord. Jack and I headed over to my friend Allison’s today, and I wish I’d snapped a few pics of him playing with sweet baby Harper. Harper is adorable and happy, and in that super fun age- 7 months- that makes me even more excited for baby #2 (I choose to forget that the whole sleepless, breastfeeding 24/7, never-leaving-the-house newborn phase comes first). Jack was pretty enamored with Harper, though if you ask him if he wants a baby brother or a baby sister, he still changes the subject. We’re working on it.

Still feeling slightly crappy due to the tooth. The antibiotics seem to be helping a little but I’m ready for them to kick in full force. The rest of the day was thankfully pretty lazy- Jack and I both took a nap and then read books, played trucks and possibly watched an episode or two of Toddlers & Tiaras. We’re starting on his glitz outfit tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Kira gave me a foil-wrapped loaf and a mysterious looking freezer bag of white liquid- Amish friendship bread and a bag of “starter.” I’d never had Amish friendship bread before but now I’m HOOKED.

It’s delicious. Sweet and cake-y like a quickbread, but because it contains yeast you still get that amazing smell and light taste. I think I inhaled the first loaf in 2 days.

The whole process is interesting. You just mush the bag of starter for a few days, then add flour, milk and sugar. Mush for a few more days. On the 10th day you add more flour, milk and sugar and oil, then divide the starter into 4 bags (to give away- that’s the “friendship” part). Add a few more ingredients to what’s left of your starter, divide into two loaf pans and then bake for an hour.

Here’s my collection of starter on the counter… anybody want one? Seriously. I just want to keep one for myself but would love to give the rest away!

If you’re as intrigued by this process as I am, click here for a great blog with all of the detailed instructions. It makes an amazing breakfast… or snack… or dessert.

Alright, I’m itching to climb into my soft, warm bed (it’s COLD here in Dallas!) and dig into Cutting for Stone. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Is it great how once you’re like, “Okay, I got this!” everything hits the fan. Or maybe that’s just me. Yesterday the house was clean, laundry was folded, Jack was in a great mood, sunshine and rainbows and puppies all around. Hooray!

And then today. I finally made it into the dentist, just to get that sore tooth checked out. “I’m sure it’s just sinuses! No biggie! I just want a quick x-ray to make sure!”

Um, not so much. It’s an abscess, requiring a full round of antibiotics and a root canal. Except that my OB doesn’t feel that it’s safe to do that before Baby #2 is here, so we’re hoping and praying that the antibiotics calm down the inflammation (& pain) for a few months. Lawdy.

Then someone rang the doorbell twice and beat on the door this afternoon, waking Jack up from his nap. And the icing on the cake was when Brian was getting Jack ready for bed tonight and Jack suddenly (and with impressive projection) threw his dinner up ALL OVER the place. He has no fever and 2 minutes later was running around and playing, so hopefully it was just a fluke.

Soooo… short post tonight. I had a mushy dinner: Baked potato and soup.

The soup was a Pinterest recipe for Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili. The ingredients were some of my faves- black beans, chicken, cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, Rotel- so I had high hopes for this one. It actually was pretty good, but SPICY. And salty. This was definitely not a toddler-friendly dish (Jack had some pretty tasty Annie’s mac & cheese). Next time I might just use a can of diced tomatoes instead of the Rotel to tone it down a little.

Okay, I’m raising the white flag and heading to bed before the dryer bursts into flames or a tornado touches down in our yard. Night!

(On a happier and slightly less whiny note, Cutting for Stone is SO good. I was up until 1am plowing through it. Highly recommend!)

(Oh, and you know what’s always awesome? Babies in glasses. Or toddlers in glasses. Enjoy!)

Hehe. Night! For reals this time.

I feel like all I’ve done this weekend is eat, eat, EAT. On Friday we stuffed ourselves with hummus and pita at Ali Baba (Jack LOVED it), then Saturday night I attended a Girls’ Night In with friends- complete with popcorn, candy and tons of snacks & desserts, and this morning we met my parents at Blue Mesa for brunch.

For the girls’ night, I was debating between bringing buffalo chicken dip and cookie dough truffles. Guess what won?

I made these a couple years ago and for some reason (pregnancy?) had been craving them lately. They’re kind of perfect because it’s like eating spoonfuls of cookie dough without having to worry about annoying little things like salmonella.

The original recipe can be found here. I altered it just a little by adding salt, using reduced fat sweetened condensed milk (or Eagle Brand, as it’s called here in TX), semi-sweet mini chocolate chips instead of regular milk chocolate, and chocolate-flavored almond bark for the coating.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• 14 oz can reduced-fat sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
• 20 oz package of chocolate almond bark (to coat)

1. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until creamy. Let the mixer run longer than you normally would- this helps “melt” the sugar so your filling isn’t gritty.

2. Add vanilla, salt, and flour to the butter/sugar mixture, and mix until combined. Pour in sweetened condensed milk. Once milk is incorporated, add chocolate chips and mix until evenly combined.

3. Place cookie dough mixture in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

4. Scoop out dough (I used a cookie dough scoop) and roll into 1 inch balls. Place onto wax paper-lined baking sheet. Once all dough has been rolled, place cookie dough balls in fridge for at least an hour to chill.

5. Melt chocolate almond bark in a bowl according to package directions. Remove dough balls from fridge. Dip each ball into chocolate and roll to coat evenly (I used a fork for this). Place on wax-paper lined baking sheet and decorate with sprinkles if desired. Once all the cookie dough balls have been coated in chocolate, put baking sheet back in fridge and chill to set.

See? EASY. The key to maintaining the shape and not making a gigantic mess was chilling the dough before rolling and again before dipping in chocolate.

I was trying to get a good shot of the interior, but you can totally see my hungry little teeth marks here. So shameful.

That’s all I’ve got. My sore tooth has been KILLING me all weekend so I’m hoping to get into the dentist tomorrow. Tylenol and Anbesol are my BFF’s right now.