It feels like summer around here. No, really. I think we may have just skipped right passed spring, which is sort of ok with me but our garden won't think the same, and neither will yours, so rain please do come, but maybe just at night??
This week we've got new recipes and a couple simple through together meals (like tonight's) which I don't have recipes for. It's best that way. I love trying new recipes (if you haven't noticed by now) but it's nice to have some no brainer nights too. ;) Especially since a good deal of dinners are happening after baby goes to bed. He is needy, needy, needy right now. I don't know if it's more teeth or his age…the whole separation anxiety thing, maybe both. He wants to be held ALL the time. But hey, I am getting extra snuggles and buff arms.
Ok, meals!
Week 18
Monday: Summer salad with salmon and strawberries
Tuesday: Salmon, coconut rice and sugar snap peas
Wednesday: Spring roast chicken (only my second roast chicken ever, hoping it comes out as good as it looks!)
Thursday: BBQ
Friday: Grilled "cheese" and greens (vegan cheese, but hey, it works)
Saturday: Dinner out. Woot woot!
Sunday: Ginger miso glazed eggplant and pork buns
Oh and here's a couple extras we've made this week:
Chocolate oatmeal flaxseed muffins, uuhh yum. I did add a couple teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa to get the dark color and it's gooood.
Lazy girl peanut butter cookies, but I think I will make the pie version because it has chocolate. ;)
And that just about does it.
Happy week 18 of meal planning! I love it.
What's your method? Are you a day-of kind of dinner person? And if so, how do you shop?? I would spin circles if I did that in the grocery store listless.
And to conclude our Oahu trip, which was actually over a month ago now….part III.
Holland fell in love with his great grandma (and great grandfather too). What a lucky little man he is to have two sets of great grandparents in his life and even a great-great-grandmother and grandfather. He also discovered wheel chairs are a whole lot of fun. Especially when the person in it loves you A LOT. He was mesmerized.
Followed by beach days. Glorious beach days where we pretty much dug holes and watched Holland have the time of his life. Sometimes, most the time, the simple things in life really are the best. This was such a good reminder of this. Give him sand, sun, and a hole to sit in, happy as a clam. And I thought the beach would be challenging. Boy did it melt my heart to see my little man out in the big, vast ocean with his daddy. I am in love.
And lastly..the restaurant photos, We were lucky enough to get to photograph our friends engagement. Which also meant indulging in a super fancy, delicious dinner. Could her reaction be any cuter? And yes, she said yes. :)
And well folks, that about sums it up.
Until next time Oahu!
It's Tuesday…maybe you still need to do your grocery shopping? maybe?
Last week, I discovered something wonderful. Schezwan eggplant. Chinese take-out you can make at home? Uhh, yes. And it's easy. Plus, it is basically my favorite dish and now I can eat it anytime. And so I will. We made it last week, we are making it this week. ;)
Sort of like the korean bbq chicken. It made a come back again too.
Meals! Week 16
Monday: Spring salad
Tuesday: Schezwan eggplant (definitely add the ginger)
Wednesday: Eggs over asparagus
Thursday: Community group (aka fend for yourself) ;)
Friday: Pork fried rice
Saturday: Korean bbq chicken
Sunday: Left-overs
and now for this week...
Meals! Week 17
Monday: Fried rice
Tuesday: Schezwan eggplant
Wednesday: Tempeh and stir fry
Thursday: Tom yum soup
Friday: Thai basil shrimp
Saturday: Beef short ribs
Sunday: Eat out
What are you eating?
So….Oahu, our trip wasn't only filled with beach days. Holland got to meet his Grandma and enjoy a lovely afternoon in the garden filled with crackers and fresh fruit, giant bubbles and sunshine. A couple even bumped him on the head. Pop!
I think more giant bubbles are in our near future.
I am pretty sure Holland also decided against hammocks. We tried a couple difference ones and each was met with the same reaction…a lot of uncertainty, a few frowns, and some squirming. I've got a feeling this will change though. ;) I remember playing on hammocks as a child to no end. Piling way too many people on them, flipping them over, climbing endlessly. You know, using them exactly how you shouldn't. And I am pretty sure the daredevil in my husband has gone straight to our son. As his momma, I have my concerns, so if he wants to take it easy on the swinging stuff, strung high above the ground, that's fine by me. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
Thanks for these sweet memories Lisa!
We are still at them. I'm just not very good at posting them. Anyhow, here is what we have eaten and will eat the rest of the week.
I am particularly excited for the Korean chicken and bean sprouts on the menu for tomorrow. Not because I eat the chicken, but because I think my husband will really like it. During our last couple days on Oahu, we went to a place that served marinated bean sprouts that were delicious. It was my first time trying them. My husband grew up eating them from time to time, and spotted them right away. I was shocked when he ordered bean sprouts, soy bean sprouts to be exact. My husband is…well, sort of a McDonald's kind of guy, though his diet is drastically changing. Just not a tofu and bean sprout kind of person, but funny how that works out, because he married me, and I totally am. So...I've been looking for a recipe to duplicate this dish, and think I may have finally found one. I have no idea what the "real" thing we ate was but we will give this one a go.
Monday: Mahi and stir fry (no recipe here, it was sort of plain and boring actually)
Tuesday: Peanut chicken and broccoli
Wednesday: Lentil soup (Thank you Trader Joes)
Thursday: Community group, I scrounged up fixings for a vegan cheese and avocado quesadilla for baby and I.
Friday: Spring salad greens and egg (inspired by this one)
Saturday: Korean BBQ chicken and season soy bean sprouts
Sunday: Sushi out :)
Did you eat anything share worthy this week? I've got next weeks menu to get together. Help a lady out. ;)
Woo! It's Friday. I am spending the better part of the afternoon cozy inside, baby napping. The housekeeping is done (or as done as it's going to get) there's a pot of tea on the stove and music in the background. Talk about mood changers. I don't know about you, but a few good tunes and a hot drink to sip makes all the difference for me. And right now I am enjoying every minute of this quiet time.
Our week was good. We celebrated our friend turning a big one year old last Saturday, Sunday we rejoiced in our risen Lord before my husband hurried off to work (I love that man and what he does for our family), so Easter dinner was spent with my parents, and this week we both worked, Will studied and went to school, I held down the fort ;) we planted some seed in our gutter gardens (and they've sprouted!) and seeded our tiny patch of dirt with grass seeds. I also went to the most insane baby sale of my life. A local baby store is closing and had what they called a "private sale" Wednesday morning. Two words, total joke. Every mom, grandparent, and a handful of unlucky dad's were there. Utter chaos. Clerks standing on registers yelling to customers, a line that wound around the whole place, herds of moms, babies in hand running across four lanes of traffic (because there was no parking anywhere) to get in the door, and for very unimpressive deals. After 20 minutes standing in line with a girlfriend and two tired babies up WAY past nap, we called it quits. The line to checkout hadn't even budged. We left our merchandise and headed for the door, which was another task in itself. And home to Amazon. I am not a crazy online shopper, but boy can I appreciate it. What.an.experience.
Anyhow, and now here we are, Friday. Friday at naptime. We have a weekend of festivities with friends and I cannot wait.
Boy are we blessed to call this our life.
The picture doesn't really have anything to do with this post. He is just plain cute and I cannot resist him, or flooding my blog with pictures of the little man. ;)
Now that we've been back about a week and a half (I don't know how that happened), I figured I'd share the first part of our photos with you. Mostly, we ate, but we also spent time visiting with friends and family, explored towns and neighborhoods around the island, did just a tad bit of shopping, and had a couple beach days. Tough life, right? We are blessed. Oh, and we snuck out for TWO dates nights, in a row. Our first real date or should I say dates out since baby was born…eight and a half months ago. Again, how'd that happen? Like worried new parents, we stayed close and only stayed out until ten. Funny how things change. And you know what, baby just slept, his grandpa close by. He didn't even know we were gone. All in all, I think my favorite evening of the whole trip was our family beach walk. We stopped in at a local coffee shop where it was open mike night, grabbed a couple lattes to go and headed to the beach. We front packed baby and walked two miles along the shore as the sun went down, just talking and walking, saying hello to passer-bys and snapping a few photos. It was heavenly. I love my little family so much. We gazed at gorgeous beach front homes and dreamed a little too.
We are lucky to have family where we do, lucky to be able to visit. And who knows, perhaps one day we will be there too.
Oh and funny thing, I have since learned, though my husband spent eighteen years on this island, and one would think he might know it like the back of his hand, that is so far from true! As we explored, I basically discovered, if it is out of Kailua, he basically didn't know it, or know it well. And I thought I didn't travel as a child! At least it left much to explore, and we didn't even make it to the North Shore this trip. Or the zoo! We still have to do that. It actually amazes me how much there is on this so-called "rock". I think we could spent years exploring this one island and not grow bored.
We also discovered Holland loves holes. We thought the beach might be hard with an eight month old. Think again. All we had to do was dig a hole and he was set. He ate in the hole, played in that hole, he might have *accidently* even pooped in that hole : / He drew attention from a whole lot of tourists too. A few even asked if they could take his snapshot, so…Holland, you may be in more than one persons vacation photos. ;)
