i heart faces: oh so silly!

I. Will. Eat. The. Whole. Thing.

(chomp)

Check out more silly entries at I &hearts faces!

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

This post is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

(i couldn't help myself)

(sorry if that song is stuck in your head for the next 2 days)

(kind of)

We eat a lot of bananas around here, so in an effort to mix it up a bit, we tried a few new ways of eating them. Since they were pretty good, I thought I'd share.

1. Baked. We took 3 bananas and cut them lengthwise (but not all the way through). We then spread butter and brown sugar inside the banana and baked at 350 F for 15 minutes. Lincoln liked these, but I thought they were waaaaaay too sweet (and I LOVE sweet, so that's saying a lot).

2. Banana Ice Cream. This has made the internet rounds, so you may have already seen this. Basically, you take a bananas, cut it into slices, freeze it, then blend it up in the food processor. Voila! Ice cream. It really is the texture of ice cream, which is pretty cool. We've dressed it up by adding a scoop of unsweetened cocoa powder before blending which is good.

The version pictured above is actually the leftover baked bananas. I got all fancy and called it "Banana Brulee Ice Cream." Lincoln got all fancy and added Christmas sprinkles. He wins.

I thought it was delicious. As I said, it was way too sweet just out of the oven, but after being frozen and blended, it was great. So if you make the baked version, try freezing some and making Banana Brulee Ice Cream (with sprinkles). Definitely the way to go.

3. Banana Sundae. This was a simple way to appease Lincoln since we had no frozen bananas to use to make ice cream.

Melt some peanut butter, stir in some unsweetened cocoa, and BAM. Instant sundae topping.

Lincoln chose to add raisins to his sundae (after being told sprinkles weren't an option...)

Bananas topped with peanut butter chocolate and raisins. Toddler approved.

Enjoy!

Italian Meatball Subs

Lucas requested Italian Meatball Subs for his birthday dinner. We had never made these before, so I had to scour the internet for the perfect recipe. Found it! This recipe made enough meatballs for six meals--that's right, six! I made a full batch and froze about half of it for later meals. We will definitely be doing this again!

 The recipe is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I didn't make any changes, so just follow the link if you want to try it! We did add salami, pepperoni, and provolone cheese slices for some bonus Italian flair, but that's optional...

 I also made Lucas a cheesecake. This was my first time ever making a cheesecake--Lucas assures me it was delicious. I have tried and tried to like cheesecake, but just can't get over the fact that it tastes like cream cheese (which I hate), so I took his word for it. List of foods I also won't eat: sour cream, mayonnaise, ranch dressing. And mushrooms. And olives. (That's all I can think of...)

The cheesecake is also from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Great recipes there!

Nine is Fine

Another month older. If I think about how close his first birthday is, I will almost certainly break down into tears. Every day he seems older and older and less and less like my little baby. SOB! So, before we cue the water works, let's see what this little guy has accomplished this (very busy) month.

• I mentioned last month how much this guy loves his bath. Here's some blurry evidence. Please note how completely safe totally fearless he is. This is a pretty typical bath--Bennett attempting to cruise along the edge, Lincoln playing with some glow sticks, lights off (ok, maybe the glow sticks and lights off were a one time thing; but, the cruising is very much typical!). We recently purchased a non-slip bath mat for the floor of the tub to make things a little safer and to help bring down our blood pressure.

•  I already posted this picture, but c'mon. How was I supposed to leave it out of his nine month post? He is wearing bear ears, holding an American flag, and smiling with the chubbiest cheeks ever. Obviously, it belongs here.

•  I rarely clean the house during the day anymore, because Captain Destructo below pretty much just follows me with his path of destruction after I clean anything. Here he is systematically emptying my cabinet after I put the dishes away. It works better if you actually work from inside the cabinet, you know.

•  First Christmas! Since we were out of town on Christmas day, we had our family Christmas at home on the 23rd. We are pretty much swimming in toys, so Mr. B was the lucky recipient of this monkey towel. Look how thrilled he was! (note: the donut maker in the background? Grandma got that for Lincoln. Never too young for appliances!)

•  Climbs on everything. EVERYTHING. Dishwasher, stools, fireplace, stairs...we had to teach him to turn around to safely go down the deck stair after he dove head first off a few times (once landing in a wading pool full of rain water. yes, we should have put the pool away after summer. don't judge.). He can now go down one stair like a pro. He's never tried more than one, but I bet he'd pick it up pretty quick.

•  I also already shared this picture, but I find it hilarious, so here it is again. Lincoln really is giving Bennett a hug here. Awwwww! They are playing together a lot more. Lincoln does get frustrated since Bennett is instantly drawn like a moth to a flame to whatever toy Lincoln has. If Lincoln picks up something new, Bennett will drop whatever he is doing to check it out. It is cute, but I understand how it is frustrating to Lincoln. He is really good about offering Bennett a different toy, but Bennett is not really good about accepting it ;)

•  Yay, leaves! In the 5 years that we've lived here, this is the first time we've ever had enough leaves on the ground all at once to rake. Usually we kind of skip fall and the leaves just drop so slowly that we never really rake them (they just get mowed over or blow away). This year, we had about a week where we were raking daily (ha! by we, I mean our friend Kari's girls, who we paid to rake our yard).

•  Someone got some new teeth! Tooth number two (his bottom left) started coming in on December 30th. Tooth number three (his top right) is still working on breaking through, but we've been able to see the white since Sunday. Poor guy!

•  He loooooooved this tunnel at Luvie's house. Good times.

•  I think I mentioned he skipped over purees in favor of small bites. He's pretty good at feeding himself. Since these pictures were taken, he has figured out his pincer grasp. It is still at a rudimentary level, but getting better. Favorite foods are bananas, puffs, butternut squash, cheese (sharp cheddar), and avocado (by far his favorite...especially in broth). He has also tried (and some of this might be repeated from last month...): sweet potato, carrots, blueberries, applesauce, blueberry applesauce (blends!), broccoli, potatoes, black beans, northern beans, and oatmeal.

• AND! We have yet to catch it on video (well, kind of. I have one, but you can't see his feet, so it doesn't really count), but he took his first step on January 13th! He has done it multiple times, and once even took two, so we know he'll be walking soon. He is super sturdy just standing in one spot...he'll just stand and stand and stand, and usually fall down, but every once in awhile he'll take that step. Now I just need to be ready with the camera (and remember to keep his feet in the shot!).

happy 9 months, Mr. B! Love you!

Keema Beef Curry

We've been making more and more Indian dishes around here. Lucas got me this cookbook for my birthday last year, and we've been using Patak's curry pastes (found at most grocery stores) for when we want a quicker meal or don't have all the spices on hand to make our own blends. This recipe was found in the January 2012 issue of Food & Wine. It was good--a little bland, but that was probably due to me using the wrong type of curry. The recipe called for Madras curry; I used yellow curry. Also, though I remember buying fresh ginger, I could not find it anywhere and had to resort to ground ginger. But, we liked it enough that we'll give it another try! I served it with jasmine rice and homemade naan (using the dough from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. So easy...so delicious!). I also made homemade ghee that I used to cook the naan. If you haven't tried that, I recommend it! I'm no pro, so I'll just link to the tutorial I used instead of trying to explain it ;)

Keema Beef Curry
adapted from Food & Wine, January 2012


Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon ghee (or neutral oil, if you don't have ghee)
1 lb. ground sirloin
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
1.5 Tablespoons Madras curry powder
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 large or 2 small white potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
1.5 cups chicken broth
14.5 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes in their juices
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:
1. Heat the ghee or oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add ground sirloin and cook until brown.
2. Add the onion, garlic, curry powder, slat, and pepper. Cook until onion is soft.
3. Add the potato, chicken broth, coconut milk, and tomatoes with their juices. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat and continue cooking until potato is softened.
4. Crush some of the potatoes (I used a fork) and add the peas. Cook 2-3 minutes more.
5. Serve over rice and top with cilantro. Naan makes a great side dish!

Enjoy!

2012 Olympic Marathon Trials

We had the privilege today of attending the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in downtown Houston. I have never attended any type of Olympic event before, so I was thrilled when I found out the marathon trials were here this year. I was so glad to be able to take Lincoln so he could see first hand these amazing athletes who will be representing our country in the Olympic games this summer. The talent and dedication to the sport was so amazing with the field of runners today.

The weather was absolutely perfect, too. 42 degrees F at the start, warming up to mid 50s. Gorgeous. The course was modeled after the course they will run in London, meaning it was a loop. The runners passed by us a total of 4 times, which was so cool. In between passes, the organizers had set up a mini Olympic Village at Discovery Green. Lincoln was issued an athlete's badge (all free!) and participated in different events. He got a stamp after completing each event and then received an Olympic towel at the end. He loooooved it. Especially the table tennis. We could've easily spent hours there.

If you get the chance, please attend an Olympic trial event--or the Olympics. To see that caliber of athlete and know they will be representing the USA is simply amazing. What a great day!

Pictures, and lots of them:

1: Men's field, 2: Lead women's pack-Desiree Davila in front, 3: Women's field, 4: Lead women's pack

 Left: Balance beam balancing Right: high bar hanging--all by himself!

 Soooooo strong!

 The cuteness of this baby is more than I can handle.

 Left: it's a little big now, but he'll grow into it...Right: table tennis!

My superstar athlete!

 The finish! Meb Keflezighi was first (left), Ryan Hall second (right). Abdi Abdirahman was third, but our picture didn't turn out.

The women heading towards the finish: Shalane Flanagan (first), Desiree Davila (second), Kara Goucher (third).

A Day in the Life

This was an e-mail I sent to Lucas yesterday. He said I should post it as a blog entry. So, here it is. In case you were wondering, yes, we do have hard days around here ;)


here is our day thus far.

(Awwww, sweet brothers. The death grip means "i love you.")

6:58: MAMA! IT'S LIGHT OUTSIDE. I WANT TO GET UP. (Bennett is soooouuuunnnnnd asleep. He sleeps through this, and me yelling back to Lincoln to come into our room).

7:00: I manage to convince Lincoln to lay down with us until Bennett wakes up. I am amazed that he is actually under the covers and laying still.

7:04 We hear a strange ripping sound. I ask Lincoln to see what it is. He looks over the edge of the bed and yells "IT'S POOP! Wembley has a poopy diaper! Mama, get it."

7:05 We are all up now. Wembley is outside. I am cleaning up what is left of a poopy diaper from who knows when and where since bennett didn't poop yesterday. It is under our bed and the gel has all come out, so we are off to get the vacuum.

7:15 Our entire bedroom is now vacuumed, including using the hose attachment to vacuum under the bed. We decide to vacuum the entire house, since we are already vacuuming.

7:20 Bennett decides he is still tired and doesn't want to be up yet. I carry him during the rest of the vacuuming while Lincoln runs in front of me depositing pieces of lint he finds for me to vacuum up in front of the vacuum.

7:35 Done vacuuming. Then I find more places I missed, but Bennett is not having it. Lincoln has to poop.

7:40 Make Lincoln breakfast. He requests a show and I give in since Bennett is so grumpy.

7:45 Bennett poops. I go to change him and it's contained! A victory! I give him a toy to hold and take off the diaper. He flings the toy at my head and plunged both hands into the poop. I yell, "NOOOOO!" and try to move the diaper out of the way. He starts kicking and manages to get his whole leg in the diaper, so now he has poop from his ankle up to his pelvis. His hands are both covered in poop that he is now smearing on his stomach and he is beginning to reach for his head. I grab both of his hands, so now my hands are covered in poop, and try to begin to clean this mess and what's left of our dignity. Clean up ends, get the baby dressed, and go tell Lincoln I am putting Bennett down for his nap.

8:15 Bennett is asleep. I go find Lincoln, who is finishing his show and breakfast. We start playing the elevator game and get through 3 rounds before Bennett wakes up.

8:40 Bennett is awake. I was going to put him back to sleep, but Wembley decided to jump off the bed and shake instead. 

8:45 2 more rounds of elevator!

9:00 We decide to hang the pictures in the bathroom. Find the hammer, nails, and level and get it done. I am so excited because it was easy, no crying, and everyone is still happy.

9:10 Lincoln goes to put the level away while I straighten up the bathroom. Bennett follows him. The garage door slams and Bennett is screaming. I run out there and Lincoln is standing next to Bennett starting at him while Bennett pounds on the garage door. I ask Lincoln if Bennett's fingers got caught in the door. He says yes, but I determine they really didn't, Bennett was just upset he couldn't crawl around the garage. Lincoln is set on giving Bennett Thomas Ice (note: Thomas Ice is our ice pack for "owies") anyway, so we do.

9:20 Lincoln asks for second breakfast. I get him another bowl of cereal and raspberries, making this breakfast 2.5 since he also ate his own and half of mine earlier. Bennett and I play while he eats on the couch. 

9:28 Lincoln is done and asks to put his bowl in the sink. He spills the bowl and the rest of the milk in the kitchen before he gets to the sink and it splashes and now he has milk all over his face and hair. He is wailing, and I assume this is because of the milk everywhere. I help him clean it up and put his bowl in the sink and he is still crying and screaming something but I can't understand him. He finally calms down enough to say he wanted to carry the milk to the sink. I give him his bowl back and he screams nooooo, I was LOTS of milk to carry to the sink. Essentially, he wants me to pour new milk into his bowl to carry to the sink and dump out. Nope.

9:35 Tantrum over, we start the elevator game. Again.

9:45 I write this email while bennett plays and lincoln hangs from my neck. 

10:00 break while lincoln poops again.

10:10 We finish cleaning the bathroom. In the span of the 3 minutes it takes to vacuum, Lincoln manages to stuff the shower curtain into the tub 4 times. It is still in there since I got tired of fixing it. I try to put vacuum away but Lincoln insists he want to vacuum more. Bennett and I come to Living room and I start to finish this note. Lincoln vacuums about 30 seconds more then declares he is done and mama come put the vacuum away.

And that is how the first 3 hours of our day have gone.