rhyme has no reason

The night I arrived in Arizona most of my local family came over for dinner. That included my ever-entertaining brother-in-law, Jay. As we sat around talking Jay mentioned that he had recently found a letter I had written him 14 years ago, when he and my sister were dating. Jay is an avid Star Wars fan and when Star Wars Episode 1 came out he took my younger brother, Marcus, and me to see it in the theater. The letter was a gem that he's kept all this time so he went all the way home to get it just to show it to me . . . and then, I laughed really hard.

As a thank you for taking us to the movies, I made this card. On the front, I obviously tried to write "From: Liz and Marcus" but ran out of room and had to settle for "Marc" (which he has NEVER gone by for the record).

On the back of the card was even better. I mostly obviously attempted to write "Thank You" in big, bold letters but ran out of room again and had to get creative with the "THAN" that I had already written out.

Inside this was a hand-drawn picture of Darth Vader courtesy of 11-year-old Marcus and a poem that I had written expressing our thanks. Here's what it says, in case you can't read the above pictures:

Jay, we think you're scores of fun,
We were sad when the film was done.
Millenium Falken's are the best,
and light sabers never fail the test.
The seats we had were perfect for us,
it felt like we were on a sloping bus.
The delicious grinders (sandwiches) that we had,
didn't have one ingredient in it that was bad. 
We love to hear your funny jokes . . .
in Alice's car that smells like soap.
We thank you for all that you do
and watching Star Wars is the thing to do!
Love ya lots, Liz and Marcus

We were all dying of laughter because I had tried so hard to make it rhyme. I can just imagine myself at 13, sitting there thinking, "Now, what rhymes with 'us' . . . bus!" It's so fun to look back at the things I did as a kid. I love reading through my journals. Even though it's really embarrassing and I kind of want to burn them, I know my kids will get a kick out of some of the stupid things I said and did . . . and I hope they can also learn from the serious stuff I wrote about too. Like that "watching Star Wars is the thing to do".

root beer floats for dessert

William and I are in Arizona this week visiting family and I'm loving it. Minutes after we arrived William made a bee-line for the "toy cupboard" at my parent's house. Then some of my siblings came over for a cookout (complete with root beer floats for dessert) and I laughed a good, deep belly laugh thanks to brother-in-law, Jay. It felt so nice. Bedtime arrived and GrandMary read stories to Beck and William and they listened, captivated. I told you - she has a gift.

We chatted with David tonight via FaceTime and William kissed the iPhone "goodnight" after showing Dad the new toys he found. It's nice to be here for a few days but we miss him. I have some awesome things to post about, which I'll do between shopping at my favorite stores, eating at my favorite restaurants and talking a lot with my sisters.

broccoli salad

Everyone has their own version of broccoli salad. Some people like cashews in theirs (not an option for me anyway), others like sunflower seeds, red onion, slivered almonds, tomatoes, grapes, raisins . . . the list goes on and on and on (just look at Pinterest if you don't believe me). This is how I like it though and I think it's the best. It's my sister's recipe and our tastes are pretty similar so I may be biased . . . nah, it's really just the best though I speculate some shelled sunflower seeds wouldn't be too bad in there to add a salty bite. Let me know if you try that!

6 cups broccoli, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
3/4 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated
2 small cans (5ish ounces) mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 (or more) cup real bacon bits*
8 ounces dried cranberries

Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined.

Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Mix dressing together and pour over salad. Stir to combine and refrigerate until ready to serve (best eaten within a few hours).

*I'm usually anti-bacon bits but I've tried this recipe using real crumbled bacon and it gets soggy really fast. If you use real bacon bits (and not that weird red chunk dust) you get really tasty results.

chicken avocado lime sandwich

One thing I do when I plan my menu for the week is look at the weather. If the high is below 65 and overcast, I'll often make soup. If it's above 70 and sunny, then I often use the grill for dinner. There's really not much variation here in San Diego with the weather so this week I made soup on Monday because it was cold and yesterday I filled up the kiddie pool for William and grilled up these chicken avocado lime sandwiches for dinner. No heating up the house and Will got to run around all day in a diaper. Win, win.

4 chicken breasts (I actually like to slice two breasts in half because they're so large these days)
4 slices Swiss cheese
2 avocados, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
4 Kaiser rolls (or hamburger buns)
1 lime
Dressing (recipe below)

Drizzle chicken breasts with canola oil and season generously with salt and pepper (you can also marinate the chicken in lemon/lime juice, oil and salt and pepper for a few hours but I often don't think ahead that far in advance). Grill chicken until almost done (this takes me about 10 minutes because I half mine). Place cheese slices on top of each breast for the last few minutes of cooking until melted and bubbly. Remove from grill and squeeze lime juice over the chicken. Toast the buns and spread with dressing. Add chicken, avocado slices and tomato.

Dressing:
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine all together in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside until ready to use.
*I served this with broccoli salad, which I'll share the recipe for tomorrow.

thoughts about my mom

She never throws away her spices,
her dishwashing is quick and efficient.
She captivates children with stories made up
and creates tea parties out of nothing.
There's always homemade bread fresh out of the oven,
bananas and honey for putting on shredded wheat.
She whispers "you're beautiful" when you look your worst
and you can't help but believe she's sincere.
She never misses an opportunity to serve
or a chance to stop and talk or smile at someone.
She's a francophile who loves fancy food,
and calls herself a "flexitarian".
Her patience is obvious when you learn
she had eleven children and
her physique is a wonder when you learn
she birthed them herself.
She's a true lady who does
housework with her make-up on.
She's kind to everyone and uses her example
as her best tool to influence the many people she has.

It's a little early for a Mother's Day post but I find myself thinking about my mom more and more these days (especially since I'm headed "home" to visit next week). She's wonderful and marvelous and everything in between.

one morning

On any given morning these days you can find Will and me in our big bed doing one of the following: snuggling, sleeping in or falling backwards onto the sheets while I wonder, "when did my baby get so big?"

Then you can find us in the kitchen enjoying one of the following: a breakfast of cold cereal, toast or sometimes pancakes.

After breakfast, you can find my bed in one of the following conditions: unmade but not excessively dishelved, unmade and excessively dishelved because a certain little boy found his way into it at 3 a.m. or very rarely, like this . . . (when I switched the pillows for Spring).

Life is about to change for this boy in a big way.

beef stroganoff

I mentioned yesterday that I made this for our Valentine's dinner as a surprise treat. I usually try to be a little more economical and healthy with my meals but this was an exception I had to make . . . and it was good. It takes a while to cook but if you have everything trimmed, chopped and measured it's a cinch to put in a skillet, cover and walk away for an hour.

2 pounds beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1/2" thick strips (against the grain)
1 stick (4 ounces) butter
4 green onions, sliced
4 Tablespoons flour
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can beef broth
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup Baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup white wine*
salt and pepper, to taste

Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Season beef with salt and pepper and add to pan when butter is bubbling. Brown beef strips for 5 minutes and then push to one side of the pan. Add the green onions to the beef juice and butter and saute for 4 - 5 minutes, then push to side with the beef.

Stir the flour into the juices and the melted butter until combined and thick. Slowly pour in beef broth, stirring continuously, and bring to a boil. Stir beef, onions and sauce all together along with the mustard. Lower heat and cover. Simmer for one hour over low heat, stirring occasionally.

After meat is tender (should take the full hour), stir in mushrooms, sour cream and white wine. Let simmer another 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

*if you don't want to use white wine, you can use a 1/4 cup of beef broth just to thin the sauce a little. We don't drink alcohol but our landlord gave us a bottle of white wine when we moved into our house so I thought I'd use it for this recipe. The only problem was we didn't have a corkscrew or know how to use one, so we had to knock on our neighbor's door and ask her to open it for us. Happy Valentine's Day to you, neighbor!

Adapted from All-Recipes

"I would do anything for love, but I won't do that"

I hate spending money on Valentine's Day. I love receiving flowers and I love making David a delicious meal along with something homemade. This year was no different. Except I had a sick baby and another one inside of me who, I think, wants to come out - at least that's the impression I'm getting from all these contractions! Keep on cookin' little boy!

I love that he bought tulips and not roses.

I made beef stroganoff that was really delicious. I'm not going to be humble here because it was really good. I'll share the recipe tomorrow, in a separate post. Served along side some sauteed brussels sprouts with caramelized onions, lemon and grated Parmiagiano-Reggiano cheese. For dessert we had my strawberry shortcakes with whipped cream and macerated strawberries with orange zest (the orange was a delicious kick!). I'd say it was a successful and delicious meal.

I bought David a pack of Diet Dr. Pepper because he loves it and I never buy it, so this is a treat! I also made him his very own rice krispie treat heart to take to work. Whenever I ask him what kind of treat he wants he either says rice krispies or snickerdoodles.

I also made a couple of playlists for us to listen to during dinner. One was a "David Playlist" and one was a "What I Wish David Wanted Me to Put On a Playlist". I've mentioned before that David loves Meat Loaf and basically any hair metal bands. So, if your husband is like mine and enjoys cheesy, rocker music from the 80's check out this playlist. Disclaimer: the Bryan Adams song is "our song" so while it doesn't really qualify as "hair metal", it stays.

If you're husband is the sensitive, indie, kinda nerdy type then eat your heart out on this playlist.

romance on the 14th

David and I spent last night in bed with a feverish, coughing, moaning two-year-old. When he wasn't coughing or moaning, he was saying things like, "Kipper! Arnold! Jake! Pig!" or "Ehhh, Ninnnne, Ten! Coming, ready or not!" It made me kind of laugh but it also kind of made me go, "William! Go to sleep!" We didn't get much sleep and when David left this morning at 4:30 like he usually does so he can go to the gym before work, he patted my foot over the covers so as not to wake up William who had his body draped all over mine . . . and that's how our Valentine's Day 2012 started.

one of my favorite pictures of my Sweet William.

I plan to make it up to him tonight with something simple but meaningful along with one of his favorite meals (shhh, it's a surprise!). I know everyone thinks they married the greatest guy but I really feel incredibly lucky. Something he does or says often makes me stop and wonder how I got so lucky to marry someone who suits my personality and needs the way David does. I love my tall, easy-going, handsome, ever-happy, Southern-California-loving, great-legged darling. If you can't be cheesy on Valentine's Day . . .

He's going to be so mad I posted this picture. So sue me if I think my man is attractive.

goat cheese and walnut wrapped grapes

My friend, Lela, had her baby boy and I am in love with him. Isn't he the sweetest thing you ever did see? I went over to her house on Sunday to snuggle the little peanut and never wanted to give him back. It made me so excited to have another baby around here soon! 8 more weeks!!!

It's pretty customary to bring a new mother some sort of gift but I knew she would be taken care of with meals (especially since she has her mom, grandma and aunt there at the moment) and, I assume, plenty of sweets since people love to bring cookies and such. I know when I was pregnant and nursing a newborn, I was hungry all the time! I constantly wanted something to snack on but didn't want to "make" anything and, of course, it's super important to eat healthy all the time, but especially while nursing.

A couple of days ago I saw on Pinterest some red grapes wrapped in goat cheese and chopped walnuts. I knew Lela has a great love affair with goat cheese so I immediately knew I had to make these for her. They are the perfect post-partum snack! I am blown away by these facts:

Grapes: High in Vitamins A, C and K and antioxidants.
Goat Cheese: Fewer calories and lower in fat than cow's milk cheese. High in protein and calcium. It's also easier to digest than cow's milk cheese, which may help while nursing a baby that has a lactose intolerance. Contains probiotics which also helps get rid of that post-partum belly fat!
Walnuts: There is a link between omega-3 fatty acid deficiencies and post-partum depression. Walnuts are one of the tastiest and safest ways to get your omega-3s without consuming high mercury (especially if you're a vegetarian).

Anyway, I am just fascinated about food (obviously) and thought this was so amazing. Isn't food wonderful? These were so tasty and really easy to make. All you need is a bunch of red grapes (washed well), a log of goat cheese (chèvre) and about 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts.

You simply take a piece of goat cheese about the size of a silver dollar and press it flat with your fingers. Place a grape in the center and fold the cheese around the grape until it's completely covered. Roll the cheese ball in between your hands until it's a nice, solid ball. Then roll in the chopped walnuts (you may need to press them in lightly with your fingers) and repeat! So easy!