Check out that before and after shot of mini muffins I made for the stroller strides kiddos on Friday! I added beets to make them a fun pink color for no real reason other than I had some on hand and figured why not? The parents were thrilled that they were made with no added sweeteners besides the fruit in the muffin. They had a banana, some home made nectarine chia jam, beets, water, sunflower oil, oats, and baking soda. That’s it! And I just blended them in the bullet and poured them into a greased tray….and voila! They were a big hit and entirely gone by the end (because unlike the donuts, mom’s were encouraging their kids to eat them).
The reason I was bringing treats was because it was a fellow instructor’s baby shower, which we made into a themed class. It was hilarious and fun and reminded me how amazing this fit4mom community is.
Someone else made this bomb looking egg and veggie baked dish with butternut squash, potatoes, kale and mushrooms. I swiped a few chunks to bring home for lunch. Yes and yes.
I had a salad on the side too because I was extra hungry.
It had avo, candied walnuts, and chevre on green leaf lettuce with olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. Simple but effective. 🙂
That night we made good on our new year’s resolution and got a BABYSITTER to watch the kids for a few hours. We have had this dinner date on the calendar for a month and since it was with a few other couples (read: not easy to schedule) it really lit a fire under our a$$es to find someone. Our dry run over the Christmas break was so-so – Valley cried a lot so I didn’t end up leaving the house – but by the end of it she was on board. So I was hopeful that things would go okay this time. It had only been a couple of weeks…and we talked her up the entire time in between. And for the most part, it was a successful night! I fed the kids and bathed them before she arrived and they were immediately enthusiastic when she got there, whisking her away to play board games and read stories. The only downside was that V refused to go to bed until we got home, which forced us to end our night a bit earlier than we would have liked. Oh well! Baby steps. Now we just need to keep her coming around consistently so that we continue the momentum.
Lots of fun wine tasting games!
We kept things very mellow the next day, because, wine. I took the kids to our neighborhood library (at P’s school, not the city library) for a dinosaur craft, which was a huge hit and wound up occupying them for far longer than I anticipated (and then for the rest of the day!).
I made my usual Thai kale salad for lunch.
Then we biked around the neighborhood, stopping at a park along the way because the weather was AMAZING. It was in the high 50s and we were living for it. PS we had no idea V could do the monkey bars. We were both in shock watching her do it, while equally impressed and terrified at her determination. She is something special, that’s for sure.
So is he. My little puzzle buddy. We borrowed this 3D Paris scene from the library and it was so fun to do with him.
For dinner I cooked a whole chicken in the instant pot and used some of the chicken for a Caesar salad. Nothing fancy. I figured it had been a while since we’d had meat, so I figured a whole chicken would be good for a few different meals and some lunches throughout the week.
Dessert platter for my sweet tooth.
On Sunday I tackled a bit of kitchen prep in between football and church, which is basically my idea of a perfect day.
I had leeks in my CSA box and made Kyle a creamy pasta with them. I thought it would be enough for a couple of lunches during the week, but then he ate it all right away. I guess he liked it!?
I had smoked salmon and (lactose free) cream cheese on seedy bread for lunch…and since we were out of carrots I swapped in kale chips. It did the trick but I was still missing a veggie crunch big time. I haven’t bought produce in so long due to my dual CSA shares I’m getting, but the amount of carrots in those is definitely not enough to keep up with my carotene loving body.
Nap time prep included roasting Brussels and making persimmon bread with the LAST of the fruit.
I was really indecisive about dinner, but ended up making Danielle Walker’s curry chicken salad.
We didn’t have grapes, so I swapped in golden raisins.
The leftover chicken already came in handy 🙂
The kids’ version didn’t have green onions or cilantro.
To serve, I scooped it in corn tortillas layered with red leaf lettuce.
Like tacos.
Per usual, there were no leftovers whatsoever. This recipe is always a winner.
Miss V agrees.
Rise and shine for a Monday adventure.
Kyle’s work schedule is a little…hmmm…what do I call it…whatever. He started a(nother) new business, which I don’t think I ever mentioned here, and is no longer working at his old job, so we are kinda back to the start up life (again). I never know what I’m allowed to say publicly, so I generally just don’t talk about it, but as you’ve probably gathered, he travels a lot and while I’m used to it, it’s never easy. All this is to say, he was able to squeeze in some time to join us on our trip to Sonoma.
The kids didn’t have school (MLK Jr day), but it seems like most other places of business don’t get the day off?
Anyway, we had persimmon bread and then we set off to meet my sister at Cornerstone.
I’d never been before, but it’s very charming. They had a few different shops, a place for wine tasting, a restaurant, and lots of gardens for exploring.
The kids were occupied just enough to get us to lunch.
Park 121 is the cafe on site, and their menu is awesome. In nicer weather you can take the food to go and picnic around the grounds, but for today we ate inside.
Chris got the impossible burger, which I was sooo tempted to try out. I still haven’t had it!
But in the end, the avo and kimchi burger sounded too good to pass up. And I was right. It was SOOOOO good. The kimchi was heavenly mixed with the avo (I also asked for mayo on the side). The real highlight was the (GF) bread though. They get it from a local bakery in Petaluma and it was dense and seedy and pretty much worth driving to Petaluma for.
And even though I packed tons of food for the kids, they still ended up eating my entire salad. Healthy thieves are the best thieves.
After we got home, Kyle went back into work and I took the kids to a park for a tinkergarten class. I’d never heard of them before, but a girlfriend is getting her credentials (not sure what the process is called) to be a teacher and so she wanted to host a demo class.
My kids were among the oldest there and they were SOOO INTO IT. I think it made her class. It’s such a fun program…adventuring and open ended imaginary play are definitely my kids’ strong suits though.
I didn’t want to put in much effort for dinner, so I just assembled some snaky plates that covered all the food groups and called it a day. We finished off a bunch of random stuff so that’s good.
And then had chocolate. So that’s even better.
I love long weekends.
So my very very good friend has a six year old son and i live two blocks away and the kid is great so i’ll come over while they have a date night.
And he never wants to go to bed til they’re home. Never has since he was a toddler. So what we do is let him stay up. I turn iff most of the lights, there’s no TV, nothing interesting happening and he can sit on the couch next to me and “rest” until they come home. I just read my book or play on my phone and 100% of the time he falls asleep and then his dad carries him to his bed when they do get home.
Anyways, something to consider. You can’t come home by the time she should be in bed, that ruins the point of the sitter!
I actually don’t like the impossible burger because it tastes sooo much like what i remember of meat! Apparently it’s a mew recipe now too, smoother less crumbly texture. But avocado kinchi burger sounds insane!! Gotta try that myself at home
That’s so sweet of you! You are such a good friend, and how lucky that you are nearby. She was soooo close to dozing off (the sitter was just hanging out in her room telling her stories) and I think when the garage door opened it woke her back up. I think you are on to something there though. Because with V, it’s all about the rebellion. So if staying up and waiting for us is allowed, the allure is worn off.
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