Great weekend, great food

This past weekend I headed up to Grand Haven, MI to celebrate my sweet friend Brooke's bachelorette party!  We stayed in this wonderful old home that had been divided into suites and had so much fun.  We went shopping, relaxed on the beach and ate way too much food!  If you haven't been up to Grand Haven before I would totally recommend it!  It's the perfect place for a relaxing weekend get-away.  Here is a picture of all but one of her bridesmaids before we headed out for the evening.

Bridesmaids!

Of course while I was having such a great time, I was also missing my sweet little girl too.  Pat took her up to his parents for the weekend and sent me lots of pictures texts so I could still see her.  We even did FaceTime on Saturday evening which I think ended up being just as good for Lucy as it was for me!  Here are some of the pictures I got over the weekend.

Lucy hanging at Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Pat's house

Grandma Cindy played hair salon with Lucy!

After Lucy's bath she ran naked through the house right for her rocking horse!  Funny kid!

While it was great to get away, it was soooo good to come back home.  I tend to get pretty homesick, even if I am just gone for one or two nights.  So I thought some nice comfort food would make my return home even sweeter!  I found this recipe online and thought it was a great and healthy twist on classic mac and cheese.  I followed the directions pretty closely except I swapped out some of the cheese for vegan cheese.  But I'll leave that decision up to you.  I do think the whole dish could very easily be made vegan though.  However, vegan or not, it tasted awesome!  It was so good Pat almost ate the whole pan and Lucy kept asking for "mo?  mo?"  I am sure your family will love it too! 

Spinach and Cheese Quinoa Casserole

Adapted from Eat Live Run

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dry quinoa

3 cups vegetable broth

1 red bell pepper, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

5 oz chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and liquid squeezed out

1 tbs olive oil

1 cup milk (or soy or rice milk)

2 cups grated cheddar cheese (or vegan cheese)

1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese (or vegan cheese)

1/2 tsp dry mustard 

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In large saucepan over medium heat add the oil.  Once hot, add chopped bell pepper, scallions and spinach and saute for about four minutes-or until bell pepper starts to soften.  Add the minced garlic and saute for another 30 seconds.

Add dry quinoa to the pot, followed by vegetable broth, dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed.  Stir well.

Now add grated cheddar cheese and milk.  Stir to combine and then pour into a greased 9X13" casserole dish.  Sprinkle top with Panko and mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden.

Enjoy!

 I also made a quick watermelon and feta salad and tossed some asparagus on the grill for a bit.  This meal combined with hugs from my husband and sweet girl were just the welcome home I needed!

Sweet Summertime

Ahhh....summer is finally here.  The sun is shining, the windows are open and the air is warm!  Oh how I have missed you!

To kick things off this summer we took Lucy to the circus last night!  The small town near us hosted a circus for the evening so we thought it would be fun to take Lucy.  It actually was a pretty nice circus, however Lucy was less than interested.  The only two things that made her smile all night was the small baby sitting next to us (she LOVES babies!) and the disco ball prop they used for one of their acts.  She actually started chanting "Ball!  Ball!" And then "Mo! Mo!"  (more).  Soooo, let's just say it was a good thing this was a small local circus and she was a free admit!

Lucy was clearing not into picture time!

I also want to tell you about an amazing meal I made earlier this week that just sings summer!  I made a Key West Style Tilapia and let me tell you...it was amazing!  One of the local restaurants in town serves key west style fish and I have been thinking about how to recreate it.  I wasn't really sure where to start so I did a couple of quick internet searches and then sort of did my own thing, as I often do.  It's a pretty quick assembly and doesn't take that long to bake.  If you can't find any tilapia, this dish would work really well with grouper or any other white fish.  It does call to be baked with white wine but I always get nervous feeding food to Lucy that has been cooked in wine so I did two separate pans.  In one I added the wine and for hers I added the juice from an orange.  Both turned out really delicious, but honestly, I almost liked hers better!  So feel free to play around with what works best for your family.

Key West Style Tilapia

Source: Lyndsay Original

Ingredients

8-10 tilapia fillets

Good olive oil

Salt and Pepper

1 lime, zested and juiced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1-1 1/2 Tbs Lemon Seasoning (I used Weber Grill's Zesty Lemon)

3/4 cup white wine (or freshly squeezed orange juice)

8-10 pats of Earth Balance Soy Butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Pour a glug or two of olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish. Place tilapia fillets in the baking dish and salt and pepper them. Add a bit of lime zest and minced garlic to each piece of fish.  Sprinkle lemon seasoning on top of your fish and then pour in the lime juice.  Add your wine (or fresh squeezed orange juice).  Top each piece of fish with a pat of butter.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until fish is cooked through.  Enjoy!

 
I served our Key West Style Tilapia with some grilled asparagus and some roasted organic baby potatoes seasoned with thyme, garlic salt, rosemary and pepper.  Totally delish and totally easy!

Hope your summer is off to a great start too!

Out with the old....

Well, we are trying something new here at home.  You see, Lucy is a terrible sleeper at night.  I don't talk about it much on the blog, or anywhere really as we break billions of rules when it comes to toddler sleep.  Oh we have let her sleep in our bed (doesn't everyone love sleeping on 6 inches of mattress while your tiny baby manages to take up the rest?!?).  We rarely make her cry it out.  We gave her a nighttime bottle for far (FAR) too long and have always rocked her to sleep.  We even have made a small bed for her on the floor next to our bed, all in an effort to get her to actually sleep through the night.  So clearly, it's not entirely her fault that she has no ability to self-soothe....but encouraging this behavior has been trying at best.

Usually she never had a problem going to sleep but if she woke up in the middle of the night there was little we could do to get her back to sleep, hence the bed on our floor for her.  However recently, she decided that now she doesn't want to sleep unless she is in our arms. This kid truly is a diva in training.  She could be snoring away while we rock her and the second we even think about budging, she is crying.  Usually, we have just continued to keep rocking her and rocking her and rocking her.  And when that doesn't work, well, we cave and just bring her down to our room where she sleeps like a rock.  Hey, just cause she is a diva doesn't mean my heart doesn't melt for this little girl.  Most of the time.

Anyways we finally decided enough was enough and we were taking back the position of boss in the house.  Our latest effort starts with putting jammies on and then reading a few books on the couch during quiet time.  Then we head upstairs, snuggle on the rocker with a blankie and read one more book.  We say our prayers and then rock her for awhile.  Then we place her in her crib and but instead of leaving the room, we stay in the rocking chair.  She tosses and turns and cries for awhile but finally settles down.  She pops her head up every couple of minutes to make sure we are still here and then curls up again.

Here I am blogging while she is curled up in her crib

It's not a bad plan so far.  It's giving me time to blog or catch up on reading and when Pat puts her down he has plenty of time to check emails and surf the web.  So hopefully the means we are finally moving in the right direction!  Well, at least until our little stinker decides to mix things up again!  That's the great thing about babies....they can make you want to pull your hair out all day, but the second they fall asleep they are like a perfect slice of heaven.  Night, night sweet girl!

Keepin' It Real Fridays

Happy June everyone!  Can you even believe it?  Of course, it feels more like a fall day here but we needed the rain so I'll take it!

Today's installment of Keepin' It Real Fridays reminds me to be careful what I blog about.  You remember this post last week where I showed you a picture of Lucy's snack container on the ground, begging for ants to invade?  Well.....you guessed it.  The ants invaded! 

Tuesday night as Lucy and I were working on dinner I had to throw a few items away. We keep our trash under the sink and out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like crumbs in the bottom of the cabinet.  But crumbs they were not!  Upon closer inspection I discovered hundreds of tiny baby ants roaming ALL over the cabinet!  I immediately called Pat who was on his way home from work and begged him to stop and pick up something to kill the ants.

By the time he got home our house was basically a zoo.  Lucy refused to do anything but stand at the counter and "help" which really means she just made a huge mess.  Pat was cleaning out the cabinet and discovering MANY more ants than I had originally seen and spraying and setting out traps for them.  Meanwhile I'm trying to keep and eye on Lucy, keep the dog away from the spray and oh, try to make dinner.

Ca-Razy! 

Eventually we got everything under control, but for about 10 solid minutes I thought I might lose my mind.  Don't worry though, I of course documented the situation :)

Nothing like poisonous ant spray with your baby and dog close by....

Lucy taking full advantage of a distracted mama and a drawer full of goodies!

Doesn't everyone do this on a Tuesday night???

In spite of all the craziness, the rest of the night was actually pretty great.  Sometimes life is funny like that!

In addition to our crazy ant story, I always wanted to share a super delish and easy meal!  Last night we had a Quinoa Salad with Avocado and Black Beans.  We also had a Tomato Bruschetta a la the movie Julie and Julia.  I am a huge fan of quinoa and believe everyone should try it at least once.  It's a little weird looking but it's packed full of protein and nutrients and just oh so good for you!  It's sort of flavorless which means you can dress it up however you want!  And the best part is that it cooks in about 15 minutes flat!  And the bruschetta....oh my!  Anyone who has seen the movie Julie and Julia has to remember the scene where Julie is chopping those gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and frying up pieces of french bread.  My mouth waters every time I watch her husband bite into the crispy toast with the tomato juices running down his face and he finally says, "This is good!"  And trust me...it IS good!

Quinoa Salad with Avocado and Black Beans

Source-Lyndsay original

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rinsed quinoa

3 cups water

1 clove of garlic minced

2 lemons, juiced

1 avocado, cubed

1/2 can of black beans, rinsed

handful of cherry tomatoes

1 Tbs pine nuts

1 cup basil, juilenned

1/3 cup feta cheese

Good olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Handful of spinach for serving

Directions

Heat 3 cups of water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Add quinoa.  Bring back to a boil and then simmer until completely cooked, about 12-15 minutes.  You will know it is cooked when it has absorbed the water and you see the little quinoa "tails".

Once quinoa is cooked transfer to a large bowl (or your serving bowl) and pour the lemon juice over it.  Add the minced garlic and stir together.  

Add your avocado, black beans, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, basil and feta cheese to the quinoa and stir together.  Top with good olive oil and salt and pepper.  Serve on top of a bed of spinach.

***

Tomato Bruschetta

Adapted from the movie Julie and Julia

Ingredients

1 multi-grain baguette, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 clove garlic

4-5 Tbs Olive oil or vegetable oil

2 pints heirloom tomatoes, or any variety, chopped

1/2 cup basil, julienned

2 Tbs balsamic vinaigrette

1 Tbs good olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat oil in pan on stove.  Once the oil is hot, add baguette slices and fry until both sides are golden brown.  Remove from pan and place on paper towel.  Rub garlic clove on each slice.  Set aside

In a medium bowl combine your chopped tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinaigrette, olive oil a salt and pepper.  Stir together and let sit for 15 minutes.

Top each slice of bread with tomato mixture.  Enjoy!

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!  Oh, and watch out for those ants! 

 

Long weekend fun!

What a wonderful long weekend we just had!  The weather was gorgeous and we spent lots of time together as a family and with friends.  And to top it off, I actually had yesterday off of work too!  Yahoo!

Friday night Pat and I started the weekend off right with a campfire outside.  The night air had cooled off a bit and the fire was nice and toasty.  We were enjoying every second until I spotted a bat in the sky.  And then another one.  And then another.  Pat kept assuring me they wouldn't fly close to us but that didn't really make me feel much better.  I was basically freaking out.  And then out from the wood-line at the end of our yard came a deer.  And another bat.  I finally told Pat this was too much nature for me and ran indoors.  Hey I'm all for nature...but bats?!?!  No thank you!

Saturday morning we got up and headed out on a bike ride to a few garage sales in the area.  We ended up getting a small plastic red phone for Lucy from a free toy bin that was the best find of the day.  Pat and I laughed as we were biking since we could hear her babbling away on her new phone.

Checking out the park!

If you look closely, you can see part of her red phone by her feet :)

After the garage sales we decided to swing by few local parks for Lucy to play.  The one park had some really neat areas for little kids to play in.  It was so much fun to watch her run around and explore new areas.  At one point she caught sight of some birds in the area and freaked out with excitement.  This kid loves her some bird watchin' :)

A little nervous at first....

...but then loving it!

 Sunday after church we headed out on the lake with some friends for a mostly relaxing and sunny afternoon.  I say mostly relaxing as Lucy had a rough go for awhile.  I accidentally got some sunscreen in her eyes and from that point on her eyes watered the entire time we were out there. She also had missed her usual nap time but I did manage to get her to sleep on the boat for awhile.  The combination of new people and being on a boat made her pretty clingy early on, but she was a trooper.  And when she did finally fall asleep Pat and I were able to enjoy a cold drink or two and spend time with great friends.  The only disappointment is that I didn't get a picture of her!  She looked ridiculously cute!

To wrap up the weekend we headed to my parents lake house on Monday.  My mom took Lucy swimming in the lake and they had so much fun!  I think this will be a fun summer as she is really warming up to the water.  So much so that while I took her grocery shopping with me yesterday I was picking out some salmon at the seafood department and she saw the live lobster tank she started jumping up and down and shouting, "Wa-da!  Wa-da!  Wa-da!"  Apparently she saw all the water (wa-da) in the lobster tank and wanted to go for a dip!  Silly girl!

Fun with Grammy!

All that fun though does take a toll.  I peaked in on Pat rocking Lucy to sleep last night and found this!

Too much weekend!

This weekend I tried a few new recipes and among them was this one for Portobello and Summer Squash Lasagna and it was delicious!  Like all lasagnas, there is a bit of prep work involved, but it's so worth it in the end.  I of course didn't follow the recipe exactly and took a few short cuts (like not individually browning each and every piece of squash...who's got time for that?) but it still turned out great!  I also subbed half of the mozzarella cheese for the vegan variety and you couldn't tell a difference at all.  I know this because I snuck the veggie shreds "mozzarella" cheese in and Pat never noticed a difference. My pictures are horrible but I promise the results are worthy of your time.

Portobello and Summer Squash Lasagna

Adapted from Eat Live Run

Ingredients

3-4 tbs olive oil divided

4 zucchini or summer squash cut into thin rounds

3 portobello mushroom caps, "gills" scraped out and sliced into 1/4" pieces

1 15-oz container ricotta cheese

2 organic eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 24-oz jars marinara sauce

about 12 no boil lasagna noodles

6 oz vegan mozzarella cheese (any brand is fine, or you can just use actual mozzarella cheese), grated

6 oz mozzarella cheese, grated + 3 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Heat about a teaspoon of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Add about 1/3 to 1/2 of your zucchini/summer squash mix to the skilled and saute until well browned.  Remove and place on paper towels and repeat with remaining squash until all are browned.

Add more oil to your pan and then add your portobello mushrooms and saute until tender. Place all vegetables in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Combine the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper and eggs in a medium bowl.  Whisk until well combined.

In the same skillet you cooked your veggies in, heat your remaining olive oil, about 1-2 tbs.  Add the minced garlic and onion and saute until tender. Add the pasta sauce and season with salt and pepper as needed.

To assemble, place about a cup and a half of the pasta sauce at the bottom of a 9 x 13" dish.  Then on top, lay three no boil lasagna noodles flat, overlapping if necessary.  Follow this with a third of the veggie mixture, a half cup of the ricotta mixture, a cup of marinara sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese blend.  Lay another three noodles on top and repeat the process until all your noodles are gone, or you run out of filling like I did.  On top drizzle remaining marinara sauce and the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese mix.

Cover pan loosley with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.  Let lasagna set for 15-20 minutes...or gobble up immediately.  

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!!!

Keepin' It Real Fridays

I don't know about you but a lot of the blogs I read are wonderful...but sort of too wonderful.  Yes I enjoy their recipes and funny stories about their kids and cute pictures, sure.  However, they just never seem super real to me I guess.  I mean, is my kid the only kid that bucks the whole notion of "night night" and has to be rocked to sleep every.single.night?  Is my husband the only one who thinks spending 5 days straight laying mulch in our yard is a form of romance?

I get it, I do.  We want to put our best foot forward.  Show off our better side and make everything look all kinds of pretty.  And truthfully, most of the time life is pretty great. And I do appreciate the yard looking nice and getting in extra cuddles with my Lucy-girl.  But I feel like all these blogs I read live in the land of perfect.  Their house is always clean, their kids go to bed at 7pm and sleep through the night, beautiful and healthy meals appear on their table just in time for dinner and life is always wonderful.

Well folks, this just ain't that blog :)  Yes, life is wonderful...but it's also messy.  It's full of laughter, but it's also chock full of sleepless nights.  So here is the start of a new series, Keepin' It Real Fridays.  Mondays are for clean starts. But Fridays?  Fridays are for tossing in the towel and giving into the weekend.  Giving into the mess. Giving into poopy diapers and meals scrapped together from old popcorn and a bowl of cereal. 

I do want to preface that this new series may not actually run every Friday and you may see an addition on a Tuesday or none for like a month at a time.  Hey, I'm just keepin' it real.  So let's get started!

Does anyone's house look like a disaster after their kids go to bed?  Don't answer because if you say no I will cry myself to sleep tonight.  Our house very much looks like a category 5 Hurricane Lucy just passed through the area, leaving toys, blankies, sippys, snacks and books in her wake. Sure I could make her clean up her mess, and some nights I do try.  But honestly, I just want to get the kid in bed so I have 5 minutes to myself before I pass out on the couch.

Here is the scene at our house last night after Pat took Lucy upstairs to rock her to sleep.

This is the overview.  Please note the pile of stuffed dogs between the couch and the coffee table

Yikes...someone better fold those clothes!

The dog has all but given up and is now totally comfortable laying on a book and part of a baby shoe.

A rouge upside down snack container left in the kitchen for all the ants in the world to find.

 

 

Part of keepin' it real is trying to get dinner on the table each night too.  Whether you are a working mama or a stay at home mama or just a busy lady in general, mealtimes can be rough.  So here is a real easy, real fast and real healthy meal for you.  We made it last night and while I thought it could have used more of a flavor punch, I was totally happy with how quickly it came together!  Oh and did I mention it's vegan?  Shhh...no one has to know :)

Tomato Basil Cream Pasta

adapted from Oh She Glows

Ingredients

1 lb uncooked spaghetti

1 large ripe tomato

3/4 cup raw cashews

1/3 cup water

2 Tbs tomato paste

1 15oz can of tomato sauce

2 Tbs olive oil

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup water or wine (I would recommend wine if not feeding little ones)

Lots of salt and pepper

1 cup packed fresh basil, julienned

Directions

--Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Chop tomato and add it to a food processor (or blender) including skin and seeds.  Add the cashews, water, tomato paste, 2 cloves of garlic and tomato sauce.  Blend until smooth

--Add your pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente.

--Meanwhile add olive oil to a large skillet and heat to low.  Add the additional minced garlic and saute for a few minutes careful not to burn.

--Pour the sauce from the processor to the skillet and stir, bringing to a simmer.  Add salt and pepper as necessary.  Let it cook for 4-5 minutes.  Add water or wine to thin out a bit if you wish to achieve your desired consistency for the sauce.

--Remove sauce from heat and add chopped basil.  Once pasta is done cooking, rinse and drain.  Add drained pasta back to pot and gradually add pasta sauce until your desired amount is achieved.

--Stir and serve immediately

Whoops...I did add some Parmesan....so not totally vegan anymore.  But-totally yummy!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday weekend with lots of yummy food and time spent with the ones you love!!

 

 

Nap strike, dinner with friends and Shaka Salmon

Lucy held her own little Nap Strike this past Saturday.  Pat and I tried nearly everything to get her to take a nap and she just wouldn't have it.  She must have known we were having friends over for dinner and desperately wanted her to get a good nap in before their arrival.  She's a smart little bugger like that!  Pat and I both tried everything we could think of and she flat out refused.  I went into her room to rock her for a bit and when I realized she was wide awake I decided to take a few pictures.  Silly kid!

Even with no nap she still did pretty good that evening.  We had friends over for dinner who we hadn't seen in awhile.  They have a little girl who is just 2 weeks younger than Lucy and we were excited to get the girls together again since they are at such a fun age now.  Lucy was a bit possessive of her toys to begin with, but by the end of the night they were running around laughing and playing like old friends! 

One of the funniest moments to me was that our friends daughter loves to hug.  And multiple times throughout the night she would walk over and give Lucy a HUGE hug.  Lucy pretty much hated every second of every hug and would stand there, not moving a muscle, crying her eyes out.  I'm pretty sure there are worse things to cry about kiddo! :) 

For dinner Pat grilled some chicken breasts for himself and our guests and I made this delicious Shaka Salmon. The recipe is below and I promise you and you friends will love it too!  It's a cinch to make and tastes delish.  Our friends liked it so much I had to get them the recipe before they left for the evening!  Sorry I failed to get a picture before it was all gobbled up.  But that should just tell you how yummy it was!

Shaka Salmon

from keep it simple, keep it fresh

Ingredients

1/4 cup pineapple juice

2 TB fresh lemon juice

4 salmon fillets (6oz)

2 TB brown sugar

4 tsp chili powder

2 tsp grated lemon rind

3/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Combine first 3 ingredients in a zip-loc bag, seal and marinate in fridge for at least and hour, or overnight. Turn occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine sugar and next 5 ingredients in a bowl to create rub mix. Set aside.

Prepare a baking dish by lightly coating with cooking spray.  Remove fish from bag and place in dish.  Discard marinade.

Gently cover fish with rub mixture and then bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. 

 Hope you all had a great weekend too!  The weather was fantastic and we enjoyed lots of outside time!