A weekend of Lafayette leaves

I’m so behind in posting!!  Indulge me as I recap last weekend…

Thursday night we got a surprise visit from Kyle’s dad.  He was passing through Davis so he spent the night at our place.

He arrived during patty-cake’s dinner time.  More peas for P, please!

After we all played for a while, it was bedtime for the little guy.

We had called in a take-out order from Mermaid sushi earlier, so the boys went to pick it up while I nursed P to sleep.  Yes, that’s a sushi order for 3.  🙂

Love the soosh.

I don’t have many pics from Friday.  I made a nice breakfast hash, which I paired with 2 fried eggs and 1/2 an avocado.

Now that’s some yolk-age.

P had the same breakfast minus the salt.  His kidneys can’t handle the amount of sodium that my taste buds enjoy.

For lunch I made a salad.

 

Spinach, carrots, butternut squash, avocado, goat cheese.

These are 8 inch bowls.  I eat everything out of them nowadays because they are huge and perfect.

Kyle got home from work in the early afternoon and I had the car already packed so we could head to L-town.  We had a dinner date with my sister and her boyfriend in the books (from, like, July).  Kyle and I so rarely get the chance to go out without the babe, so this was fun.  My parents stayed home to “babysit”, but P was already down for the evening when we left so they didn’t have to do anything.

We went to The Door in Walnut Creek and had a fun night being adults.  No peek-a-boo, no spit up, no baby talk.  It’s an Asian restaurant with a small bites menu, so we got two rounds of eats.  And two rounds of drinks.  In the venn diagram of our diets, there weren’t too many things that fell in the center for all four of us, but being an Asian restaurant there were plenty of vegetarian, dairy free, and meat options. And since they were only $6 (on average) it wasn’t a big deal to try out lots of things.  Definitely a fun night.  We’re pretty happy to be living close to family (and babysitters!) here in Nor Cal.  I think they like seeing Mr. P often too.  😉

He’s such a good kid.  And pretty cute too, if I may be so bold.

Hello fall!  This what he does when you say “share with mama?”.

I promised Kyle I’d cook him brunch on Saturday morning (he stayed sober the night before so I could have a glass of wine with dinner).

   

I made him french toast on cinnamon swirl bread.

Topped with vegan buttah.

Next up, P!

I made him a little plate of greek yogurt, blueberries, and figs.  But he wasn’t into any of it.  This was his first time trying yogurt and he was so turned off by it, he didn’t even want the figs or blueberries (both of which he’s previously loved).  I guess the tang of plain yogurt isn’t a baby friendly flavor.  Ah well, we’ll try again later.

My turn!  Inspired by my breakfast the previous day, I made the same savory fare (fried potatoes and eggs) minus the avocado.

I guess the savory rut has returned!?  [I’ve been on a peanut butter oatmeal kick for the past week]

Leftovers scrounged from my parents’ fridge for lunch…to make a big ‘ol salad…including spinach, red quinoa, strawberries, goat cheese, and 2 egg yolks (my sister only wanted her whites and I couldn’t bear to see the yellow parts go to waste).

Topped in TJ’s balsamic glaze.

We went back to Davis in the afternoon (after P napped and we got caught up on Top Chef).  I love that it’s on demand because that way we don’t have to beg my parents to use up their precious DVR space to record it.  Oh how I miss you cable Bravo…

I snacked on granola and berries on the drive home.  And then nuts and kale chips once we got to our casa.  I’ve been downing kale chips like a fiend.  Alive & Radiant makes the best ones in my opinion.  I don’t really like the Brad’s naked ones – they taste stale or something.

After we went on a family walk we put P down to sleep, then scavenged the fridge for leftovers.

I made a big salad with spinach, quinoa, butternut squash, carrots, and avocado, but it didn’t fill me up so I had 2 slices of leftover (Vicolo) pizza on the side.

Still trying to get into Breaking Bad…

Sunday morning was leisurely.  I did Jillian’s shred level 3 and then treated myself to pancakes.

I should have written the recipe down for these because they were great.  Costco stopped carrying my fave GF mix (of course) so I made these from scratch.  In an effort to up the protein I added protein powder (Garden of Life brand) into the mix.  I’m not really a protein powder girl, but if the ratio is relatively low, the flavor isn’t very noticeable and it does hold me over longer.  This had oat flour, almond flour, and protein powder as the dry portion (plus baking powder, egg, and almond milk).

I topped it in peanut buttery sauce (peanut flour thinned with almond milk and maple syrup).  I’m loving peanut flour lately as an add in to various things.  Oatmeal, smoothies, soups, etc.

We all watched football together still in PJs.

Lunch was a simple hummus/avo/egg salad atop GF bread with carrots on the side.  And some chocolate Halloween candy for dessert.

While P took a daddy lap nap, I got to work on dinner.

OMFG.  This pot pie.

Why didn’t I write this down!?!  I used this vegetable and mushroom pot pie with rosemary biscuit topping from Bon Appétit as a rough guide, but of course didn’t really follow anything but the cooking time for the biscuits.

And I didn’t even use the same biscuit recipe!  Instead I made the salt & pepper biscuits from the latest (November) Bon Appétit mag.

Only a changed a ton of things.

1) I used GF appl purpose flour (from TJ’s) in place of wheat all purpose flour.
2) I used coconut oil instead of butter.
3) I used plain goat’s milk yogurt instead of sour cream.
4) I used almond milk instead of cream.

See?  Basically a new recipe.

Gluten Free Salt + Pepper Biscuits [lactose free, vegetarian]

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup plain yogurt (I used Redwood Hill goat’s milk)
• 4 tbsp plain almond milk (plus a bit more if needed)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
• 6 tbsp chilled coconut oil
• flaked sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.

In a small bowl, whisk yogurt and almond milk.

In another (larger) bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and pepper, then cut in coconut oil until the texture is that of a coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces.

Add in yogurt mixture and then gently stir until a shaggy dough comes together (be careful not to over-mix).  You may need another splash of almond milk (it should be a shaggy dough texture).

Form biscuit clumps and place dough atop hot pot pie filling.  Sprinkle with more salt and pepper.  Place in oven (uncovered) and cook for ~45 minutes or until tester inserted into center of biscuits comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes.

  

I’m not sure how these would work as (non pot pie topping) biscuits, but they were basically the best things ever with the delicious veggie pie filling.

I’ve never cooked with dried mushrooms before, but I’ve read up on how to rehydrate them and all that jazz.

I got them at TJs.  I’m not sure if they’re available year round, but I’m going to stock up now that I know they don’t taste as cheap as they were ($1.99 if I remember correctly?).  Especially since they last forever.

For the filling I used:

• 1/2 yellow onion
• 5 celery stalks
• 6 Yukon gold potatoes
• 4 large carrots
• 3 parsnips
• 1 rutabaga
• 1 oz dried mushrooms, rehydrated

I cooked the veggies in a splash of olive oil, then added in some veggies broth, and the mushroom water.

 

Sooooo good.

I was only back in Davis for Monday and then it was back to my parents’ house again this week.  Have I mentioned how GREAT it is living close to family!?!  Love it. 🙂