This week was the week that needed very little planning because so many of our friends brought us food. So clutch.
Backing up to Saturday.
It was Picnic Day here in Davis which is a big deal. The whole campus has events all day long. And since it’s an aggie school, there were obviously tons of animals. We spent much of the afternoon enjoying time with friends and livestock.
And when we got home we had this on our front porch!
Roasted red potatoes, asparagus, and pineapple pork tenderloin.
Mmmmm…
I’m so thankful for all the asparagus people have been bringing us because Kyle doesn’t really like it so I don’t ordinarily buy it, but it’s definitely one of my favorites. And since it’s asparagus season right now I gotta take advantage! Related issue, artichokes. I want them in my life and Kyle will have none of it. It’s a lot of effort to steam one, but I may do a few this weekend as prep and have them all for myself. With as much mayo as each leaf can hold.
On Sunday I made Jessica’s BLT chopped salad, which Kyle has requested every week since V has been born (because I can have soft cheese again now).
We ate this one as a family (that whole experiment is going mediocre at best).
P likes bacon lettuce and corn plenty, but it took a decade for him to finish the meager pasta portion shown above. Thankfully we were eating alongside him so I didn’t care that it took him a lifetime to finish.
Dessert (round one). I’m not really that impressed with the chocolate sunflower seeds. I don’t even think I tasted sunflowers in them?
Another meal from friends! I swear my friends are in a competition to out-do each other with these recipes!
This meal included chicken, this rice (made with coconut oil instead of butter), and this guacamole salad.
Plus strawberries and blueberries for dessert.
OUT-freakin-STANDING.
Bar raised even more…with a lemon dijon salmon recipe and roasted broccoli. I had leftover rice already.
Kyle may never want me to cook again after tasting all this food from our friends!
How cute is the toddler art that accompanied the dessert (strawberries and dark chocolate). And ice cream ALL for Kyle! He was so very very happy.
I love broccoli but I don’t think V does. 🙁 I keep having the fussiest nights with her after I eat it. I’m not totally sure if the events are correlated though, since she’s had a few off nights when I haven’t had broccoli. Hard to tell really. For the most part she’s a happy kiddo so when she’s pissed at life (and gassy), it makes me think she didn’t like something I ate.
Wednesday night was market. My favorite night of the week! I always feel like it’s Friday all day because I’m looking forward to it so much.
Look at the headband!!!! Having a girl is so much fun!
Thursday was simple – burgers and salad. I pulled the meat from the fridge a few days before and made little patties (sliders?) on the stove. The salad was just spinach, strawberries, slivered almonds and olive oil with TJs balsamic glaze on top.
I wound up eating heaps and heaps of chocolate candy for dessert, which leads me to believe this dinner wasn’t nearly big enough. I’d had a big snack a bit before so I wasn’t too hungry but I guess I needed more carbs in this meal or something. Now I know.
Friday was mellow because we are all sick. I’m the worst off but I gave a milder version of my cold to P. Who gets colds in April?! What the heck? I guess sleep deprivation really does hit your immunity. So anyway, it was the perfect day to have a friend bring dinner.
Flank steak! So fancy!
Because my friends are all up to speed on the allergy situation they bring us amazing meals that P can eat too including this (jovial) gluten free brown rice pasta dish, plus grilled asparagus.
Are you impressed or what?! I think this is the first time I’ve ever had flank steak! It was cooked and seasoned perfectly. Quite the Friday treat for sure. I got seconds on pasta and that really helped curb my late night dessert cravings. I had a reasonable serving of chocolate and then called it quits. Go me.
As much as I miss cooking (I really really do) I cannot for the life of me fathom how I would have stayed afloat this first month without the generosity of our family and friends. With all the changes going on, the assistance has been invaluable. Each week I feel like I get more and more comfortable with a certain part of the day – first it was getting through breakfast with all the different meal schedules, then it was lunch and naps. So it’s been a huge blessing to have a community that supports us up to this point. Now that our meal train is nearly over, I’m get ready to tackle the dinner portion of the day (good thing I still have lots of freezer meals stashed away).
Im sure it was just loosened because you were out of the car, but I had to mention that her chest clip on your daughter’s car seat was a bit low. It should be at her armpits! I hope I’m not being obnoxious 🙂 She’s so adorable and I need to try those chocolate sunflower seeds!
yup! we were just at the park and she wasn’t strapped in for driving – but i appreciate the comment anyway because its important 🙂
Funny you mention the broccoli and fussy baby situation. I was just getting a pregnancy massage this past Friday and my massage therapist was telling me how she had someone bring her a broccoli, carrot, cheese rice casserole after one of her girls were born. As soon as she ate the broccoli, it made her baby fussy and gassy. I knew the cruciferous veggies had sulfur I probably would have still ate them anyway after baby knowing how nutritious they are. I’ll probably be staying away from them for a while now.
I’m due with my first baby in 8 weeks and I’ve been inspired by you (and others, but mainly you) to get my freezer ready to go. I’ve been making things for the past 2 weeks and feel good about it, but seriously, your friends need to move to central Illinois and make food for me! They are so awesome and those meals look amazing! It’s not cold here anymore so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock to move 🙂
Congrats again on your baby girl and P becoming a big bro! These are the best times of our lives 🙂
hahaha…ill tell my friends about the illinois proposal but i suspect they are pretty happy here in davis 😉
congrats to you!! are you having a boy or girl (or are you waiting to find out)? SO exciting! motherhood is definitely the best thing that ever happened to me.
Davis does sound pretty freaking awesome so I guess I would understand if they didn’t want to move to central IL. Haha!
I am waiting to find out the gender of my baby. I suspect I will be shopping online throughout my whole maternity leave. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime’s 2 day shipping 🙂
I was a little worried/scared about becoming a mom at first. Our baby was very unexpected, but I’m super happy now. It’s been really good for me mentally as well. Not only in pregnancy and birth, but for the rest of the baby’s life, you have the illusion of control but things just happen and you are forced to deal with the situations in front of you (kinda like P’s allergies and introducing meat back into your diet – you seemed to have done that very gracefully and without too much trouble). I really needed to learn that lesson because I’m too much of a control freak sometimes. Life happens and you do the best you can I guess.