Last night I had the genius idea of making steel cut oats in the slow cooker. You just toss in a couple cups of oats, chopped pears, dried cherries, spices and water, set the timer for 8 hours, and wake up to cinnamon-y wonderfulness!

Or this:

Gross. Brian asked me why I was eating black bean soup for breakfast. Somehow it managed to be soupy while still burning a nice oat crust into the sides and bottom of my crock pot. And the best part was that when the timer went off at 6 this morning, Chloe went nuts- waking us ALL up. It’s especially annoying because steel cut oats are so freaking expensive.

Anyway. What did I do wrong?? Two cups oats, 8 cups water. It doesn’t taste horrible (Jack actually really liked it), but I hate the consistency. I saw another recipe online where they actually cooked the oats in a glass measuring cup placed inside a crockpot partially filled with water- kind of like a double boiler. I may try that next time.

Luckily, the day got better!

My dad was off for MLK, Jr. Day, so we decided to take Jack to the zoo. He just LOVED playing with the bears!

Okay, just kidding. Did you laugh at that? I almost peed my pants staging that photo for the blog. My mom thinks I have a weird sense of humor.

We did NOT go to the zoo, but we DID go to the Museum of Nature & Science in Fair Park. It was b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Luckily they had a nice little play area for kids under 2:

Omg, that FACE.

The crowd thinned out a little as the afternoon wore on, so Jack got to venture out into the big kids’ area.

He was a big fan of the water table. Who isn’t?? Splash, splash, splash:

By the time we got to the car, he was toast.

Poor guy passed out as soon as we walked in the door, so I got to work assembling dinner. Luckily this meal turned out much, MUCH better than breakfast. I set the bar pretty low, though.

Chicken Foil Packs: So ridiculously easy that I think they will be added to the regular dinner rotation. Basically I just chopped a bunch of veggies (onion, red potatoes, carrots, bell peppers and mushrooms) and tossed them with a marinade made from teriyaki sauce, Italian dressing and a little Worcestershire. Then I sliced three chicken breasts and seasoned them with S&P. Made 3 little foil “bowls” and divided up the chicken and veggies, then drizzled with more of the marinade. Wrapped tightly with more foil and baked at 400 for about an hour. The chicken was cooked through within 45 minutes, but the potatoes took a while longer.

Served over brown basmati rice:

Veggies, meat & sauce all in one happy little package. Love it.

OH- and I managed to squeeze in a run once Brian got home. It’s amazing how much easier it is to run without the jog stroller!! I looked down at the Garmin at one point and I was at a 7:50 mile pace (that’s like sprinting for me). Wheeeeeee…

See you tomorrow!

I’ve already informed Brian that once this post is up, I’m headed to bed. Well, after I shower off the baby barf and strained peaches. Yeah- it was THAT kind of day. And for the record, in terms of adhesiveness: baby cereal > super glue. Times infinity.

Jack had oatmeal for dinner; I had it for breakfast.

Cooked with 1/2 a banana and topped with fresh blackberries and a big ol’ dollop of apple butter.

Jack was uncharacteristically cranky this morning (yesterday’s shots?) and then took an also uncharacteristic 2 hour nap. He probably would have slept longer, too, except that I started making my lunch- which inevitably sets his baby Spidey senses tingling.

Veggie Sandwich: Hummus, spinach, tomatoes, avocado and jalapenos on whole grain bread. And more marinated cucumbers.

We spent most of the afternoon at Northpark. I’m looking for a dress to wear to a few weddings… no luck, though of course Jack made out like a bandit (this and this and a few more). I’m super bummed because I found out one of my favorite stores, Martin & Osa, is shutting down their entire line. BOO. But everything is 30% off right now.

Dinner was yet another Moosewood recipe: Black Bean Chilaquiles. I though that chilaquiles always included eggs, but apparently that’s not so- at least according to Moosewood. This version was basically a casserole consisting of crushed tortilla chips topped with sauteed veggies (black beans, corn, tomatoes and onions), topped with blanched swiss chard, topped with cheese, salsa, more chips and more CHEESE… then baked for 30 minutes.

In order to up the protein a little, we (well, Brian) poached a few eggs to put on top. He’s our resident egg-cooker.

I am so glad we have leftovers because this was awesome. Cheesy, crunchy, spicy, gooey. Good stuff.

Night y’all!

- SURVEY -

How do you like your eggs?

Don’t get me wrong; I love my guys but it’s nice to have some downtime… and I’m sure Brian is having much more fun watching the draft  (snooze) with his friend.

Back to the eats. Guess what? I didn’t have yogurt for breakfast. Number 2 favorite breakfast instead: Oatmeal!

Cooked 1/2 c oats, 1/2 c milk and 1/2 water and 1/2 a sliced banana on the stove. Once it was almost finished, I added some vanilla and cinnamon. Toppings = raisins and sliced almonds. Oh, and PB of course.

Jack and I mainly hung around the house today. He slept until almost 9:30. I Shredded. Lunch was the other half of last night’s salad along with a few extra ingredients:

• Baby Spinach
• Grape Tomatoes
• Broccoli
• Goat Cheese
• Edamame
• Wheatberry Salad
• Hearts of Palm
• Shrimp
• Sliced Almonds

The dressing was just olive oil mixed with blackberry balsamic and dijon mustard. And yep, that’s a mixing bowl.

After lunch we headed over the May’s to say hi. Jack LOVES these guys:

Dinner was fast and easy. Newflower had this ravioli on sale:

So we gave that a shot, along with this pasta sauce (my mom gave it to us- I think it’s from Jimmy’s):

Topped with- what else?- roasted broccoli. I bought that giant bag of broccoli at Costco so we’ll be having it for a while.

Okay, the boys are back and there’s good TV tonight. Have a great weekend!!

Since it is a morning post, here’s a shot of my breakfast. Let’s call it Bananaberrynut Oats:

Regular rolled oats cooked with bananas and topped with blueberries, raspberries and unsweetened coconut flakes. There’s a little peanut butter somewhere in there, too. Berries go bad so quickly so I’m trying to use them up- hence the massive pile on top.

Yesterday I met Brian for lunch at a place I’ve been wanting to try: Tio’s Tortas. A torta is basically just a Mexican sandwich served on a crusty sandwich roll. Brian likes this place and I had high hopes. I ordered the “Vegetal”: Herb-Roasted Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Carrots, Mushrooms and Roasted Peppers and Onion Mix with Pumpkinseed Mole, Refried Black beans, Cotija Cheese and Fresh Tomato.

It was a disappointment The vegetables tasted like they had NO seasoning at all, and I didn’t see any evidence of pumpkinseed mole (the part I was most excited about). Just kind of blah.

What was good, however, was the side of Elotes con Vaso. It’s a mix of roasted corn, cotija cheese, rancho sauce, crema and ancho butter. But seriously, how could this taste bad?? It’s obviously super rich though, so I only had about half of the cup. You can see it over on the right side of this shot, in all it’s cream and butter glory:

Enjoying the last couple of days before school starts! Actually, today and tomorrow I’ll be watching the kiddos. Then this weekend Brian’s headed to a bachelor party in Atlanta, so I’ll be a single gal. Watch out!

(Haha, that was funny. I’ll be on the couch watching TLC all weekend.)

I actually am a little nervous, but thankfully less from social anxiety and more just general logistics. I finish babysitting around 4:15 and then have to drive to the train station and take the rail downtown to be in class by 5:30. That shouldn’t be too big of a deal but I have no clue how long it will take to get there and where my class is held on campus.

Today was filled errands and cooking in order to get ready for the week. I’ll be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner (pre-class) while babysitting on Monday and Tuesday, so to streamline the process I made a bunch of stuff today. See?

I’m missing a lid, apparently. How embarassing.

First- Butternut Squash Polenta. I adapted this from a Rachael Ray recipe. Hers called for pumpkin and asiago cheese, but all I had was frozen pureed squash and parmesan. So I boiled milk, veggie broth and butter, then added the polenta. Once that thickened a bit, I added a 14oz pkg of thawed, pureed butternut squash, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, a couple Tbs of honey, and about 1/4 c of grated parmesan. It smelled so good that I had to have a small serving as a snack:

Second- a quadruple recipe of my typical old-fashioned Banana Oatmeal (recipe here on Kath Eats- the marshmallow technique). I’ll have this for breakfast for the next 4 days, topped with a tsp of PB

And finally, my proudest dish of the day: Mexican Quinoa Salad. I NEVER make up my own recipes but this was a Heather Bakes creation! I had some quinoa leftover from last week’s muffins, so I threw in about a cup of black beans, some chopped grape tomatoes, chopped fresh parsley (cilantro would have been better), a couple of green onions and some chicken leftover from my dinner tonight. The dressing consisted of: 2 tsp olive oil, a lot of red wine vinegar, 1/2 a lime’s worth of lime zest, the juice from one lime, a tsp of cumin, and salt and pepper. How pretty is this??

And it made about 3 servings’ worth!

Busy weekend! Friday night we headed to a wine tasting/b-day party, but when we arrived the venue informed us that the party would have to be rescheduled due to a power outage. Crazy! So we headed to a wine bar instead (and I have a newfound love: Grenache. Sorry chardonnay, I’ve been cheating on you). Saturday we did some stuff around the house, went on a bike ride and headed to Sangria for dinner (tapas- YUM) and La Duni for dessert. We split a slice of the Nutella Cake, which was delicious but not nearly as good as our Cuatros Leches Cake standby.

I have a bunch of stuff to do tonight- thank you notes to address, some bachelorette party emails to send out, and a train schedule to go over, a ginormous sinkful of dirty dishes thanks to my cookfest- so I gots to go. Wish me luck tomorrow!