The weekly menu

Yikes I’m behind!  Catching up…

Once again I find myself FLOORED with the kindness and generosity of our family/friends/neighbors.  I just can’t get over it.  The transition to being home with two kids has definitely been difficult but the fact that we have something as important as delicious home-cooked food taken care of means SO MUCH LESS stress for me.  Obviously we all know eating good food is high on my list of priorities (I have this blog for a reason!) so for such a massive thing to be essentially taken care of for me in these early days/weeks…it’s just…I don’t think I have the words.  I am beyond grateful.  Kyle is going back to work slowly, and this Monday was the first time he left the three of us to our own devices (encouraged by me).  It was tearful and hard for me and P as is expected, but I see progress every day and am just trying to stay positive.  If I think too much about it, it will break my heart, but deep down I know (and I know he knows) that there is so much love here for everyone.  Anyway, I don’t really want to discuss that further right now because my hormones will probably start raging.  Back to food.

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Saturday we had a birthday party and it was. THE. cutest.

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Priorities people.  These cupcakes were fudgy chocolaty heaven.  Oh and they were allergen free (for P) because my friend is amazing.

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The whole spread was adorable.

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I would have dominated all the yummies but my hands were definitely full.

That night our neighbor brought us the chicken, couscous, and asparagus meal I showed previously.

On Sunday we hit up the park in the am for a play date and then my parents came to visit in the pm.

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How do you like my pancakes?  Ha!  P requested Mickey pancakes…and then goofy and donald and every other character…so I just splattered batter in the pan and called them each a different character.  He seemed pleased enough and didn’t even question my artistic abilities.  🙂

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Check out dinner!

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I (err…patty cakes) got Kyle cedar planks for his birthday so he BBQ-ed salmon for us Sunday night.

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I soaked the planks for a few hours and then whipped up a simple marinade with ingredients from the yard (lemon, rosemary, honey, dijon mustard, salt and pepper).

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Before above and after below.

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Not too shabby!!

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We paired it with bread and corn because that’s what we had.

Like I mentioned above, Monday was my first dose of reality as I did the solo act mom-ing to two.  Kyle went into work late (after breakfast) and came home early (before “school”) so it was just enough for me to dip my toe in and test out the logistics of the balancing act.  They actually managed to overlap nap times (well, lets be real, she’s asleep most of the day right now) so that afforded me time to eat and recoup a bit before the afternoon.

My amazing girl friend brought dinner to us (we both are in the same parent co-op school with our kiddos, so she just brought it there for me to take home) so I didn’t even have to think about making food that night.  Praise.

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There’s garlic green beans under the drumsticks and that’s a quinoa salad on top.

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On Tuesday morning I squeezed in a Jillian Michaels workout before the day got off to a real start and I’m so glad I did because oh. my. gosh was it ever a rough day.  It’s all of us adjusting and there are definite highs and lows.  I took P to library – just the two of us – for some mother son solo time since I sensed we both needed it while Kyle stayed home with V.  He and I had a great time and it was definitely a good move, but after that the rest of the day kinda turned into a mess. Kyle went into work and nap times were skipped and blood sugar levels were too low and hangry meltdowns made the afternoon fly by…next thing I knew it was 2 pm and I was still lunch-less.  Fortunately Kyle and his parents got back home right as I finished feeding both kiddos so I could get some help entertaining them while I got food in my own self.

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After Kyle’s fam hit the road we snacked through the evening, but it was very fragmented due to the aforementioned bizarre  sleep schedule of P (or lack thereof).  He basically fell asleep during his dinner, which was at 4:30 since he was so out of whack.  Poor thing.

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Needless to say I ate a LOT of chocolate that night.

For every way that Tuesday sucked, I felt like Wednesday rocked.  I took both kiddos for a morning walk (ergo for V and BOB for P) on my own and then balanced my shower and all three of our breakfasts without any jealousy, crying, or meltdowns (!!!).  This may seem like a small victory but for me it meant the world.  It meant I could handle it.  We will have ups and downs along the way, but at least there will be ups.  Yay!  Go mama.  P napped like he normally does and I even did a quiet diaper change for her while he was down (their rooms share a wall so it’s always a little risky).

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Kyle’s parents met us at market that evening and we managed to stay a decent amount of time (mostly because we had four on one with P and V ate like a champ right before we left so she was a$$ed out in the car seat/stroller the entire time).

I got a pulled pork Caesar salad from Our House, which is what I’d been craving since the week before (when they weren’t there).

Kyle worked from home on Thursday so I had help with balancing both and made a rather luxurious pancake breakfast for us all.  Kyle’s parents came over for dinner so we cooked up a feast.  Kyle BBQ-ed fish and green beans and corn and I prepped everything and made two sauces and wild rice.

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Didn’t have onions on hand for this mustard sauce, but thanks to some Dorot coupons I previously cashed in, the freezer came to the rescue.  I used two cubes to sub for the 1/2 an onion the recipe calls for and it worked out great! Even easier than chopping onions!  Totally recommend Dorot’s products (they have chopped garlic, basil, ginger, and a few others).

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Here’s the final plate.  The halibut was amaaaaaaaazing.  Whole Foods has some seriously quality seafood.

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We used a big roasting tray on the grill for the green beans and this new grate thing for the fish.  Worked awesome and no fish was lost between the grill racks!

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Corn is almost in season.  May have jumped the gun with these, but they were still good.

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Here’s that finger lickin’ mustard sauce.

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And here’s the other marinade I made (capers, parsley, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, sugar, lemon juice, and I can’t remember what else…).

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Friday night we kept things mellow with burgers and a salad.

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I made a bunch of smaller patties (aka sliders) so they’d cook faster since I started cooking late.

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P ate more than I anticipated for!  Oops.  This family’s budget is going to be insane in a few years.

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Strawberries, spring greens, slivered almonds, and a home-made lemon mustard vinaigrette.

The weekend flew by and I hardly have any food photos to show for it.  My grandpa’s memorial was on Saturday at his vineyard and on Sunday my mom and sister came over to spend Easter with us (since my dad was working).  It was low key and perfect.  I’ll probably upload pics from all that soon.  🙂

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Comments (4)

  1. Katie

    I’m def. nervous about the transition from 1-2 kiddos in June!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂 & GO MAMA on a workout already! When I had drake I was in recovery mood from almost 7 weeks!

  2. Caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy

    looks like such a fun party! ((and delicious too!!))

  3. Elise (Post author)

    the first week was hard because i felt SO MUCH guilt about the time i couldn’t spend w P. the second week was harder because kyle was back at work and we had to sort the dynamic of three out. but every single day gets better and better and we are all really doing great now. P loves V so so much – it’s the sweetest thing. and he has realized the balancing act that I’m doing and doesn’t seem to be taking issue with it like he seemed to in the very beginning. it’s all totally individual but take heart in the fact that the adaptation by toddlers is super fast. they are such flexible beings at this age, so don’t worry, you can do it!!

  4. Elise (Post author)

    oh and the physical recovery was WAY different this time. much easier on my body for some reason.

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