This is my baby, and this is my baby sister.
(Holly, don’t be mad at me if you hate this picture for some reason. It’s fine, and you are more than fine.)
And this is the post my sister wrote for me on my birthday blog. It is my favorite blog entry so far and I want the world to know how happy this makes me.
Cash is 10 months today.
Here is how Cash was sleeping in his crib today.
We had a fun, active, outdoor day today. We went to church this morning – which was indoors – but they had a new automated sign-in system for the kids so that was cool. We came home from church and after I fed Cash, we took a family walk to Jewel to buy avocados for our lunch. Bauer rode his bike most of the way and Cash rode in the Ergo baby carrier. He actually fell asleep in it for the first time, but I dared not to let him sleep longer than a minute for fear of messing up his afternoon nap. Or am I the only one?
We had a yummy lunch of the Three Bean Salad with Quinoa and homemade pita chips dipped in smashed avocado. Cash enjoyed cauliflower, summer squash, and a wee bit of the smashed avocado as well. After lunch, the boys napped, TJ napped, and I tried to nap.
After naps, we were off for an outing to downtown Naperville and beyond. We drove downtown and parked because our ultimate goal was Trader Joe’s and I didn’t think we’d have the time (or energy) to make it that far with the boys in the stroller. But first we went to the library to return the Sports Night DVD set and to look for more Poppleton books by Cynthia Rylant. They only had one new one but we swiped it up, along with a few Little Critter books. Then we stopped by Jamba Juice to get Bauer a smoothie. He gets plenty of smoothies at home, but one can never get enough of a smoothie I guess.
Last was our walk to Trader Joe’s for a few things we needed, but mostly to have the exercise, fresh air, and sunshine. It took us over an hour to get there, get our goods, and get back to the car. Home by 5:30 and then dinner and nighttime routine. It was interrupted with a little more outside fun as Bauer and I went to do bubbles and then pull weeds from the garden. Then we got to wash our feet in the bathtub.
So I’m 143rd in line on the Naperville Library’s Website to get my hands on a copy of Elizabeth Berg’s newest novel Home Safe. TJ said I might get it sometime next year. I guess I found out about it a little too late.
In the meantime, I printed an interesting article on cell phone use by Lauren Winner to read. I am not quite sure I put that last sentence together properly. But you get the point.
Crazy Love and Cold Tangerines are keeping me as happy as a good book can at the moment. And I can’t stop thinking about reading my tattoo.
We’re heading to the city in a couple weeks for me to check out the tattoo place and talk to them about fonts. I might get the Ginger font.
Cash is going to be napping soon, and Bauer too I hope. Today was Naper Days and we got the boys all sweaty and worn out. We ate some pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw from Famous Dave’s, some little beef sandwiches from Hugo’s, sweet potato fries from City Club, and two huge cups of lemonade from somewhere. We met up with some good friends and enjoyed being outside, soaking up some Vitamin D.
Our summer has just begun.
TJ with the mayor!
Bauer obviously didn't want to look for this picture.
Me and Munchie.
Hot baby.
It could have just as easily been called Mooncoins, you know. And we wouldn’t think a thing of it. I do think a thing of this quote on my cup.
I enjoyed my favorite drink of the moment, a Decaf Tall Soy Latte, with my friend Debi this morning. She came over with drinks in hand and we had a great time catching up while Bauer was at VBS and Cash slept (eventually).
I am wondering if Cash is starting to get ready to give up his morning nap. On Tuesday, he only slept for 20 minutes in the morning. Then both yesterday and today it took him till 10:45 am to ever fall asleep. He has been sleeping a little later than 5:30 am lately, so maybe that’s helping him not need sleep as soon in the morning. Today he slept till almost 7 am. I think the cloudy weather helps, which means the blackout fabric that TJ bought at JoAnn yesterday should help too.
Bauer took two solid naps until he was 15 months old, and Cash isn’t even 10 months yet, but Cash goes to bed earlier than Bauer ever did. Wait, but Cash also wakes up earlier than Bauer ever did, so who knows? It’s all a big circus and it doesn’t even almost revolve around me, I’m learning.
In other news, I’m kinda hooked at the moment on the new Mat Kearney album, City of Black and White. Bauer is kinda hooked on playing CandyLand and he gets better by the day at abiding by the rules. Cash is hooked on smuggling his way through the gate so he can pull books off the shelf and eat them. TJ is hooked on Sports Night, which my sister put on a DVD for him a long time ago. We cancelled our cable for the summer and the rabbit ears are picking up not a thing.
Don’t mind me – I’m going to go catch some zzzz’s while I can.
Cash is eating like a champ these days! Every night at dinner, we give him raw veggies (celery, carrots, cucumber, red pepper) to chew on and I also feed him different baby foods I’ve been making.
In the veggie category, Cash likes zucchini, summer squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, green peas, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower. In the fruit category, it’s mango, banana, apple, and avocado. He wasn’t crazy about papaya, but I’ll try that again soon.
I wish I had tried making more foods for Bauer. A big thank you to my friend Amber for offering to help me make a few things recently. That was great, and Cash is benefiting from the variety.
I have also made the Super Porridge (from the book Super Baby Food) out of oats, millet, and barley. I think Cash likes the oats the best, or maybe I just find that the oatmeal is the easiest to get the lumps mashed out of. I have just started mixing some ground flaxseed in with his oatmeal.
If I’m making myself sound like Superwoman, well, I did just stock up yesterday on some of the Gerber organic baby foods that were on sale at Target. It will be easy to take these on our trip to the beach next week and it’s also a lot easier to leave for when the babysitter has to feed Cash (especially considering we don’t have a microwave, so thawing the food cubes means boiling water in a pot on the stove and monitoring the cubes as they thaw in the Pyrex dish in the pan of boiling water). I’m used to it, but it’s a lot to ask of a babysitter.
Munchie is also enjoying watching Bauer play in his pool. Today was the second day this week we’ve gone out into our backyard and had pool time with Bauer.
Let’s call it a day. I’m tired!
Now this is a real winner! This was our dinner tonight (wow – 2 new recipes in one week!). We loved this and Bauer enjoyed it too. I forgot to say he also liked the pizza from the previous recipe.
As you may have noticed, we are really into quinoa and it’s so great having the entire case of boxes of the pre-rinsed Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa that we purchased from Amazon a while back. Recipes calling for quinoa always grab my attention these days. I found this one in the Whole Foods Market coupon & recipe booklet (I think it’s called “the real deal” or “the whole deal”) that I picked up on our last trip there.
I loved how easy this recipe was to make. I took out the edamame from the freezer and put it in the fridge first thing this morning so it would be thawed by dinner time. I also cooked the quinoa this morning and had it in the fridge ready to go when it was time for dinner. I only had to steam the green beans and then mix all the ingredients together just before we ate. I think my friend Hannah is going to love this one!
Recipe 19: Three-Bean Salad with Quinoa
1 cup uncooked pre-rinsed quinoa
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed, cut into 2″ pieces, steamed, and then rinsed in cold water
1 1/2 cups frozen organic shelled edamame, thawed
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1 15-oz can organic kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup Newman’s Own organic Tuscan Italian dressing
1 tsp dried tarragon (I omitted this)
1. Combine quinoa and 2 cups of water with a pinch of salt in a medium pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until water is absorbed. Let quinoa cool uncovered or put in the fridge for several hours to cool even more.
2. Put cooled quinoa, green beans, edamame, peppers, kidney beans, dressing, tarragon, salt and pepper into a large bowl and toss well.
3. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Serves 4.
This is a recipe that I made a copy of a long time ago from some magazine that I don’t remember. I have been wanting to try it ever since I copied it. I finally pulled it off on Monday night. I made a few changes to the recipe (as usual), but it turned out well. I probably would have called it a Pizza Pie if I’d invented it due to the consistency of the crust being such that you can’t exactly pick it up. Or maybe that is why the name is deep-dish, meaning you need to eat it with a fork.
Recipe 18: Deep-Dish Polenta Pizza
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup polenta or cornmeal (I used Quaker Yellow Corn Meal)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 head radicchio, shredded
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced (I bought the kind that are air-packed and already cut in slices)
4 oz mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch dice (I used 2 oz of shredded part-skim mozzarella)
*1 vidalia onion, sliced into thin rings
*1/2 cup frozen sweet corn
*diced avocado for serving
*The starred ingredients are ones I added on my own (not called for in the recipe). The recipe does note that this crisp polenta crust can accomodate almost any pizza topping, and one idea given was caramelized onions and mushrooms, so that gave me the onion idea. I thought corn would be a nice addition since the crust is made of cornmeal and since I love the sweet onion/corn combination in the orzo dish I make.
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Coat a 9-inch springform pan, round cake pan, or pie plate with 1 T of the oil and set aside.
3. Place onion in a small skillet with a little water and saute until the onion is getting tender, 4-5 minutes. Add the frozen corn and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 1/4 cups water to a boil. Whisking constantly, slowly add the polenta or cornmeal. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, until the polenta starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, anywhere from 2-5 minutes. Stir in the salt, 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper, and the Parmesan. Remove from heat. Spread the polenta over the bottom of the prepared pan, using a spoon to form a raised edge.
5. In a bowl, combine the onion/corn mixture, radicchio, tomatoes, mozarella, and the remaining oil and pepper. Spoon the mixture over the polenta.
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Cut into wedges.
We’ll definitely be having this pizza again, and next time I’ll probably try some different toppings.
Today I am so thankful for how God made me, for how words, phrases, names, sentences, and turns of phrase mean so much to me. I am thankful for writers like Anne Lamott, Alexander McCall Smith, Marisa de los Santos, Elizabeth Berg, Kathleen Norris, Lauren Winner, Barbara Kingsolver, and Shauna Niequist – how their way with words is helping me find my way on the Way. I am so happy to be a part of the land of the living, even with a bruised wrist, a tired body and a mind that hears (and often believes) voices that are not true. I heard someone say recently that this life is worth living just to be loved by God. I feel very loved this morning, especially considering this.
Here’s the recipe I promised a few posts ago. This is from a recent issue of Kiwi Magazine. It turned out quite nicely and was flavorful enough for Bauer to enjoy. He especially liked it cold the next day for lunch. You can see I served it with corn-on-the-cob.
Recipe 17: Brown Rice with Edamame and Shiitake Mushrooms
1 1/3 cups short grain brown rice (I used 365 Organic)
2 cups brewed green tea, cooled (I used Celestial Seasonings Decaf Green Tea)
2 tsp. plus 1 tbsp. soy sauce (I used Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce)
3 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar (I used Nakano Natural Rice Vinegar, which is unseasoned)
1 tbsp. canola oil (I used vegetable oil)
3 1/2 oz. shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced
1 cup shelled edamame (I only had whole pods of edamame, so I cooked those, then shelled them)
1/2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds (McCormick’s Gourmet Collection has these, or you can toast your own)
1. Bring rice to a boil with green tea and 2 tsp. soy sauce in a heavy saucepan, then reduce heat to very low and simmer, tightly covered, until water is absorbed, about 40 minutes. Remove from heat and let rice stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
2. While rice is cooking, stir together vinegar and 1 tbsp. soy sauce; set aside.
3. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat. Add mushrooms and saute until tender, about 4 minutes; transfer to a large nonmetal bowl.
4. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add edamame and cook for 5 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and add to the mushrooms.
5. Once rice is ready, transfer to the bowl of mushrooms and edamame. Sprinkle with vinegar mixture, tossing gently with a large spoon.
6. Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds and more soy sauce, if desired.
We got 3 servings from this dish (I’m counting Bauer’s dinner and his lunch the next day as 1).
