I’m in another yogurt rut. At least the fruit is getting switched around.

Plain yogurt, chopped peach, blueberries, walnuts, chia seeds and honey. Oh, and coffee made with my new Pumpkin Pie syrup!!! Though I need a pump for it… this morning I added too much and my drink was a little (LOT) on the sweet side.

Jack has his 9 month checkup on Friday, so since we’re missing our traditional Friday lunch with Brian, we decided to meet up today instead. Speaking of ruts, I think this is the 3rd time we’ve eaten at Lucky’s in the past month.

I had the chicken with mushrooms & swiss with broccoli and mashed yams.

Per usual, Jack ate all but 2 bites or so of my yams. He gets his appetite from his mama

So the list of cool finds goes on… look what we picked up at Newflower this weekend:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Larabar!!!! It tasted like a no-bake cookie (which I LOVE). My only complaints were the small size and the calorie count. It was 230 calories and 12g of fat- so in terms of calories, you’re basically eating a candy bar. On the plus side, the only ingredients are dates, peanuts, chocolate chips and salt. So I guess it’s a healthy-ish candy bar??

I also bought the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor, so I’ll let you know how that one pans out.

For dinner I marinated a steak (London broil) in a Stubb’s steak marinade for an hour, then seared it in a cast iron skillet for about 5 minutes per side and finished it off under the broiler.

Can I just say that I suck at cooking steaks??? This was way too tough. We need a new grill so that I can transfer the steak-cooking duties back to Brian.

While the steak rested, I added some sliced mushrooms and garlic to the skillet and sauteed for a few minutes- then deglazed the pan with some leftover red wine. Those simmered for a few minutes (reduced to about half), then I added a tablespoon of butter to thicken it up a bit.

Also on the side- roasted broccoli topped with lime juice and grated parmesan.

Am I the only one that feels like this week is draggggging? I need the 3-day weekend. NEED it, I tell you.

1. A clean house,

2. A napping baby, and

3. A big mug of coffee (or Diet Coke, or wine… depending on the time of day, of course.)

Throw in a couple magazines and I’m pretty much blissed out.

But today? Today I had ONE of these. My house looks like holy hell and Jack napped for a grand total of about 20 minutes. Things started looking slightly up when I found this at World Market:

Sugar-free Pumpkin Pie coffee syrup! I can (kind of) get my Starbucks Pumpkin Spice fix every day without shelling out $4! Hooray

Breakfast was yogurt with a chopped plucot and fresh blackberries, chia seeds, walnuts and honey.

The Arboretum ran a special through the month of August where admission was only $1 (it’s usually $10). It’s been hot as balls, though. Today being the last day, I decided to suck it up and head over- I figured Jack would enjoy the change of scenery and I could get some cute pics of him amongst the flowers. My mom met us there, which explains this photo:

See that crap on his forehead? Nope, not an unfortunate birthmark. Lipstick.

A few more shots from the morning:

It got REAL warm out there, but Jack was a champ. I can’t really say the same for my mom and I. I couldn’t get in the car and crank up the AC fast enough.

Jack was up at 7:45 this morning (early for him), and that plus the 2 hours outdoors made me anticipate a looooong nap. Um, not so much. I rocked him for FORTY FIVE MINUTES while he laughed, squirmed, tried to shove his pacifier in my mouth, and generally waged war against sleep. Finally I got him down, carefully laid him in the crib… and five minutes later he was up and ready to party.

What. The. Hell.

Needless to say, lunch was quick and to the point:

Chickpea salad with olive oil, lots o’ lemon juice, kosher salt, and fresh parsley.

Tonight Brian’s sister was in town for work, so we met her for dinner at Blue Fish in Las Colinas. I love Blue Fish (and sushi in general) but have kind of avoided it since Jack was born. Sushi restaurants seem kind of “adult” and I guess I was just afraid that he would scream like a banshee and disrupt the whole Zen vibe… but he was a perfect little angel, ate his dinner, loved on Aunt Maggie and flirted with the waitress.

My share of this platter = Alaskan Roll (fave) and Tuna Roll.

Brian’s at a fantasy draft right now, so I finally got Jack down (he’s already been up twice since I started this post) and now, NOW I’m going to have that glass of wine and watch some Teen Mom.

I guess the house cleaning will just have to wait…

And just a couple blocks before we were home, can I tell you what we saw in a front yard?

You’ll never guess…

A stuffed dog.

Like a real, honest to god, taxidermied Collie. Just sidled up to this big tree in someone’s yard. It was beyond disturbing. THIS is why I should bring my phone on walks… words just don’t do it justice. I’m going to have to do a drive-by tomorrow to make sure that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me in the dim light, but I’m 99.9% sure that it was a real (dead) dog.

Back to less creepy topics. Like breakfast.

Newflower has berries on crazy sale this week- all varieties are 4 for $5, so I stocked up. For breakfast I had my usual plain yogurt topped with a chopped peach, fresh blackberries, chia seeds, chopped walnuts and a honey drizzle.

After breakfast Jack and I went on a run around the neighborhood. We had rain in the forecast so I thought it might be a little cooler out. Wrong-o. The run apparently wore him out, though- he took a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon.

Last week I baked a few chicken breasts to eat throughout the week, and we still have a couple left. For lunch I decided to make an improvised quesadilla out of random ingredients in the fridge: Chopped chicken, baby spinach, leftover roasted eggplant, chopped roasted hatch chile and Mexican blend cheese in an Ezekiel tortilla.

Folded and cooked in a skillet for a few minutes per side. Proof that completely unrelated ingredients can result in quite the delicious creation.

Newflower also had pork chops on sale, so guess what we had for dinner tonight?

A Giada recipe, Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops, topped with fresh lemon juice. It’s super easy- you just dip the chops in grated parmesan,  then in an egg wash, then in bread crumbs. Sear in a cast iron skillet and then toss in the oven for a few minutes to cook through.

On the side is one of my favorite veggies, Swiss chard, sauteed in olive oil with sliced garlic and crushed red pepper, then finished off with a little buttah. I forget that chard is like spinach: You start with this huge bunch and then it shrinks to the size of your fist. Next time I will buy TWO bunches. Or three.

And finally, quartered cherry tomatoes with balsamic and garlic salt.

Hey, isn’t tonight the Real Housewives of NJ reunion show??? Gotta run…

1. We actually had a real, honest-to-goodness DATE on Friday night.

My parents graciously watched Jack so we could go to dinner and a movie. Oh, and my mom also watched Jack for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon so that I could do some house cleaning and actually take a shower. I told her the other day how long it had been since I’d had a shower and I think she was seriously creeped out.

Enough oversharing. We tried to eat at Fuzzy Taco but it was jammed (per usual) so we headed across the street to Sol’s instead. I had the Nieto Salad with beef fajita meat and too many chips.

Oh, and we saw The Switch. Very sweet movie.

2. Lots of family time.

On Saturday morning I was all set to head out for a run, but then my Dad called to see if we wanted to meet for lunch. The original plan was to meet at Zinsky’s… but apparently Zinsky’s went the way of Another One Bites The Dust in Dallas restaurant world. So we met my parents, Zach and Laura at Houston’s instead. Except that it’s not called Houston’s anymore; it’s Hillstone. When did this happen?

I ordered the Thai Steak  & Noodle Salad, but with rotisserie chicken instead of steak.

Lunch was delicious, despite that Saturday was officially Not My Day. Brian accidentally knocked a big glass of ice water into my lap at the restaurant, and then a few hours later Jack spit up ALL over me at the Galleria. Like picture a fire hose of milk. It was so heinous that Brian ended up buying me a new shirt to wear.

(And lesson learned: Always bring a change of clothes for Jack AND myself. Or at least a sweater.)

3. Jack has a new swing in the front yard- thanks to his Papa- which he loves loves loves…

… despite this photo:

That’s more like it.

4. I got to sleep in BOTH MORNINGS.

‘Nuff said. Thanks, Bri!

5. BBQ! Chopped brisket and beans at Peggy Sue BBQ on Saturday night.

And I got my first Pumpkin Spice Americano of the season afterward. Hello, fall!

6. Sonic Happy Hour trip with both the Furbaby and the Fleshbaby.

7. Quick, delicious and veggie-full dinner of spaghetti squash topped with roasted eggplant, roasted green beans, chopped chicken and mushroom sauce.

See? Not a bad weekend! And now I’m going to go take a shower and read in bed. Oh what an exciting life we lead…

It’s almost Fridayyyyy! Hooray! This has been kind of a trying week. You know my whole theory about getting Jack up early so he’d take a morning nap? Down the crapper. Today he was up at 7:30, then we went for a long walk with his friend Luna and her mommy, had some breakfast, and he started rubbing his eyes and fussing. Sweet! Naptime, right?

WRONG. It took me 20 minutes to rock him to sleep… and then he slept for 15 MINUTES. I basically had time to sneak out of his room, make the bed, then turn on the shower- and he was up and ready to par-tay. Sigh.

Oh well, I guess we’ll try again tomorrow. Breakfast this morning was a gigantic (think softball) peach with plain yogurt, sliced almonds, wheatberries and honey.

‘Twas delicious. I may be ready for fall, but I’m going to miss all of the awesome summer fruit.

For lunch I polished off the last of the wheatberry salad topped with goat cheese, along with Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips.

We’ve been sitting on a few Chili’s gift cards from Christmas so we decided to head there for dinner tonight. They were super crowded and it took forever to order and get our food, so I entertained myself with the crayons…

While Brian snacked on Jack’s Gerber Puffs.

“Dude, those are mine.”

Finally, food! I had the chicken fajitas, and they were actually pretty good. I got really sick of Chili’s back in high school because we ate there pretty much every weekend. I’m still not a huge fan, but it’s near our house and Jack can be as loud as he wants and no one notices.

Alright- I’m beat. Have a great weekend!!!! Any fun plans?

Jack wore his long britches today, too:

We’re excited.

I stopped myself from pulling out the cocoa and marshmallows this morning. Instead I had whole wheat toast topped with 2 sliced hardboiled eggs, along with cantaloupe (I am incapable of spelling cantaloupe correctly- thanks spell check!) and watermelon.

For lunch we met my parents at Garden Cafe. I love Garden Cafe, but they just didn’t have their stuff together today. I planned on ordering a veggie plate but changed my mind when I saw the list of today’s vegetables:

• Mac & Cheese
• Cheese Grits
• Mashed Potatoes
• Pinto Beans

Ummm…?

Plus there was a huge line and no cashier. We eventually ordered and everything was great after that little hiccup. I had a salad with grilled chicken and lemon vinaigrette, and a bowl of gazpacho.

Jack spent the entire meal grunting until someone (my Dad) would give him a bite of something. I’m pretty sure he ate all of Dad’s mashed potatoes. Sorry.

That kid is getting such an appetite!! He was pretty indifferent towards solid foods in the beginning, but now anytime we’re eating- HE wants to be eating, too. After being such a skinny thing for so long, he’s turning into a little chunkin punkin. I LOVE the chubby legs and feet!

Today Barefoot Contessa made chicken picatta, which sent me straight into the kitchen to make sure we had all of the ingredients to make exactly that for dinner. Well, not exactly that- I used Giada’s recipe. To lighten it up a bit, I used half the butter and oil that the recipe called for. I also deglazed the pan with a little white wine.

I wanted to lick the sauce off the plate. Lemon + Butter = Always Good. It would have been even better with fresh parsley, but I was too lazy to make a trip to the store.

On the side were green beans (tossed with olive oil, kosher salt and garlic powder and baked at 400 for 20 minutes) and leftover spaghetti squash.

We’re trying to get to bed before midnight, which NEVER happens… it’s already after 10 and the kitchen’s a wreck, I have laundry to fold, and I probably should shower at some point. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!

Hello, Captain Obvious. I just thought he was a late sleeper… how nice that it only took me almost NINE MONTHS to figure this one out.

Speaking of, here’s his 8 month pic. And just one week shy of his 9 month birthday!

Oh, he’s a squirmy one now!! It was so much easier to get good pics when he was just an adorable little stationary blob. Remember this?

Back to the eats. I did okay today, barring the Sonic Cheddar Pepper that somehow made its way into my belly at Northpark. Breakfast = my old friend, yogurt.

Topped with wheatberries (LOVE), a plucot, honey, chia seeds and almonds.

The whole 2 hour nap thing is amazing. I didn’t know what to do with myself! I kept it classy by catching up on my Real Housewives of NJ. Any by the way, where the hell is Teen Mom tonight?

For lunch I made a giant salad with baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers and chopped pork tenderloin (from last night’s dinner), drizzled with red wine vinegar and Annie’s Woodstock Dressing.

After lunch we headed to Whole Foods to wander the aisles. That place just makes me happy. I had Jack in the Bjorn and he actually pushed the cart in front of us.

We bought a bunch of exciting stuff (Crofter’s Superfruit Spread, cherry-cheddar cheese, giant peaches), but the best purchase may have been these:

Roasted hatch chiles. All the grocery stores around here are brimming with them. I had a little lightbulb moment in WF when I decided to add these to the meatloaf that we were planning for dinner.

The kicker was that I didn’t know how spicy hatch chiles are. Um, they have a definite KICK. So though this recipe is delicious, be prepared!!

Green Chile Turkey Meatloaf

• 1 1/2 lbs Lean Ground Turkey
• 5 oz Baby Spinach, Chopped (I used half a bag)
• 3/4 C Salsa Verde, Divided
• 1/4-1/2 C Bread Crumbs
• 1/2 C Reduced-Fat Mexican Blend Cheese, Divided
• 1/4 C Green Chiles, Chopped (I used fresh roasted hatch- you could also use canned)
• 1 Egg, Beaten
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire
• Chili Powder
• Cumin
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine turkey, spinach, 1/2 c of the salsa verde, bread crumbs (start with 1/4 cup- if it looks too “wet” add another 1/4 cup), 1/4 c of the cheese, green chiles, egg, Worcestershire, and spices to taste in a large bowl. Mix well and transfer to loaf pan.

3. Smooth the top with a wooden spoon, then top with remaining 1/4 cup of the salsa verde. Then sprinkle on remaining 1/4 c of cheese.

4. Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Along with roasted brussels sprouts (my fave) and spaghetti squash with butter and parmesan.

After dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood, put Jack to bed, and now Brian is in the garage doing P90x while I become one with the couch.

I’m pretty excited because the high tomorrow is only 88! I’ll believe it when I see it… but still. Exciting.

Night!

One of the big things I’m doing is trying to up the protein. Brian boiled a bunch of eggs last night, so this morning I had 2 hard boiled eggs with toast and watermelon.

I have to admit, this was ultimately more filling than the usual yogurt-fruit combo. Though I did miss my yogurt

Today was… boring. Like climbing the walls, get-me-outta-here Dullsville. It was 90 degrees by 9am (and 107 this afternoon- no lie) so I didn’t want to subject poor Jack to a walk. And we’re at Northpark so often that the Bath & Body Works employees give me special discounts (also no lie, sadly), so we just stayed home. I can’t wait until it gets just a smidge cooler so we can hang out in the yard, go for runs, basically anything outdoors.

While Jack took his usual 30-minute disco nap, I threw together a quick salad for lunch:

• Wheatberries
• Diced Chicken Breast
• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Vinaigrette (olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, dijon)

I learned a cool little trick yesterday: You can cook wheatberries in the slow cooker. Just throw in 2 cups of rinsed berries, 7 cups of water and a tsp of salt and cook on high for 4 hours (or low for 8 hours). Word to the wise, though- don’t let the wheatberries sit too long after cooking. Go ahead and drain them, or they get too starchy and gooey (but if that happens, just rinse them under cool water).

Oh, and I also had a handful of Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Chips. Not pictured, sorry.

Part of the whole “plan” is also to avoid carbs at night. I’m not sure how I feel about this, but I figured that I can give it a shot for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If nothing else, it forces me to eat more veggies. For dinner tonight I made a roast pork tenderloin using this Ellie Krieger recipe. I’ve had bad luck with her recipes in the past, but this was actually really good. You just rub the tenderloin down with a mix of spices (garlic powder, coriander, thyme, cumin, oregano and salt), brown it in a skillet and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. I made the whole process easier by doing the browning and baking in a cast-iron skillet. Anyway, it sounds overly simple but the flavor is great… just don’t overcook the pork.

How pretty is that crust?

Also on the menu: Roasted Broccoli (topped with lime juice and parmesan post-baking) and Roasted Cauliflower (tossed with olive oil, coriander, cumin and garam masala).

I just started our next book club selection, This Is Where I Leave You. I’m only a couple chapters in, but so far it’s really good… so good, in fact, that I’m going to climb into bed and read it right now. So I bid you adieu. And let me know if you have any suggestions for what to do with an 8-month old when it’s hot as Hades outside. If I have to listen to the jumperoo song one more time, I just might lose it.

Speaking of Jack, check out the compromising position I just found him in.

He’s obsessed with rocking in his carseat. It’s bizarre and I’ve never seen another baby do this… but it keeps him happy and makes people laugh (which probably perpetuates the whole cycle). The problem arises when he rocks too hard and THIS happens:

(Sorry for the crappy video. Brian took it using some video application on his non-video iPhone. And yeah, we’re totally laughing at Jack. Don’t worry- he’s fine.)

The highlight of our weekend- other than tax-free shopping for cute Halloween outfits!- was our Restaurant Week dinner at Hibiscus on Saturday. We really waffled back and forth as to whether or not we should go. You know, with that shiny new AC unit in our backyard? But in the end we decided to go for it. Restaurant Week is really the only time we get to try restaurants like this, and we’d heard nothing but raves about Hibiscus.

So we dropped off the kiddo with Uncle Zach & Aunt Lulu and headed to Henderson.

Apparently the theme of RW 2010 is Edison Bulbs.

Every restaurant does RW a little differently. At Hibiscus, you select one appetizer to share. We mutually agreed upon the Crab Dip. That’s why Brian and I work so well together: We both like stuff that’s really, really bad for you.

It was ridiculous. HUGE, rich and insanely creamy. I have a theory that any food item topped with toasted breadcrumbs will be delicious… which, coincidentally, brings us to our side item:

Deep Dish Macaroni & Cheese Casserole.

We could only manage half of this monster. Once again, delicious. I can’t even venture to guess how many different cheeses go into this recipe. There was definitely a sharpness to it that I loved.

This is me loving it.

My entree: Tenderloin with mashed potatoes and a sauce similar to Hollandaise (can’t remember the exact name).

Not to gush, but this may have been the best steak I’ve ever eaten. Seriously- it was like buttah. I could have cut it with a fork. I usually order my steaks cooked through a little more than this, but it was PERFECT. I’m tearing up a bit just thinking about it.

My sweet, sweet date:

And our sweet, sweet dessert:

I’m just not a huge chocolate cake fan. I know, I know. It’s just too much. Give me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting… or even a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. The ganache was damn good, though- as was the morello cherry drizzle.

We were done with dinner in under an hour (they really turn those tables during RW) so afterward we headed to Veritas for a glass of wine. We spent the majority of the time looking at old pictures of Jack on our phones and then showing them off to the waitress.

On a side note, now that I think about it- I’m pretty sure Veritas was our high school motto. Huh.

Today was not terribly exciting. Grocery shopping, more naps for the Jackster, KC pool with Joy and Chip, then to Mom & Dad’s for The Jack Show dinner.

Mmmm, brisket.

So big changes around here starting tomorrow. Brian is beginning P90X- both the workouts AND the diet, which seems insane to me. Seriously, like 20 daily servings of protein, but only 4 veggies, 1 fruit and 1 carb? How does anyone ever poop on this plan?

I’ve been reading Jillian Michaels’ Master Your Metabolism book. Though her meal plans are probably too low cal for a nursing mom, I like what she has to say about eliminating processed foods, trying to add more organics and laying off the after-dinner munchies. She also thinks that artificial sweeteners are the devil, which they probably are- but I’m not quite ready to give up my Diet Cokes. Baby steps.

So hopefully both of us will be eating a little healthier this week… though we probably need a 28-day detox from that crab dip.

Night!

It’s. Almost. FALL.

I think the anticipation of Fall is almost as good as the season itself. After more than 2 weeks in a row of 100+ degree heat, I’m chomping at the bit for pumpkins, Ugg slippers and hoodies. Am I alone here?

Jack and I had a busy day. I forgot to assemble overnight oats last night, so this morning I was stuck with plain old yogurt- topped with a plucot, chia seeds, honey, almonds and cereal.

We met my culinary school friend, Megan, for lunch at Purple Cow. Megan’s currently working as a pastry chef at Craft… and after tasting the sorbets she created at dinner last night, I can attest that she’s pretty amazing. And dedicated- she has to be at work at 3:30am!!

For a diner crawling with kids, Purple Cow has some seriously decent salads. I love the olive mixture on their Caesar, and the BBQ Vinaigrette on my Southwestern Salad today was amazing.

Jack is boycotting naps again. It suuuuuuucks. How did I end up with the kid that never sleeps? And that means that I get NOTHING done at home. I have 4 loads of laundry that need to be folded, the house looks like hell, and showering is an extra-special treat. Good thing that kid is pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread or we might have a problem.

Did I mention that his vocabulary is rapidly expanding? To date we’ve heard:

• Mama
• Dada
• Cat
• Cup
• Zach

And he waves bye-bye, (sort of) blows kisses and signs for “more.” Genius, I tell you. Genius.

(Oh, and for more gorgeous pics of my boy, check out Allison’s photography blog: Proof of Life. She’s an amazing photographer… I didn’t think it was possible to make Jack any cuter, but apparently I was wrong. Way to go, Allison!)

Tonight we met Jack’s friend Odysseus and his parents for dinner and swimming at the KC Pool. The menu there is pretty limited- typical snack bar fare. I went all crazy and ordered the taco salad, instead of my usual grilled chicken sandwich.

Not awful, but the bottom of the bowl held a good 1/2″ of grease. Yuck.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!