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Nothing to See Here

We're busily going about our lives. Monday we had our good friends (and their awesome new minivan) over for chili and cornbread (I did not do the chili/cornbread jar thing – I DO think it looks darn cute – but I did use the cornbread recipe, Tabby helped and it was delicious). Tuesday night Tabby and I got haircuts and then we had to get the house picked up since our cleaning people came yesterday. We had lasagna for dinner which was pretty good.

Last night Matt and I had Lemony Crab Pasta for dinner and the kids had plain ol' spaghetti and meatballs. Then we proceeded to completely wreck the house (well not really) with projects. Ben, who was cranky and tired, went to bed early. Matt painted one of the picture frames he's been constructing in his shop and I worked on some sewing. Tabby flitted between Matt and I and her room, where she was playing go fish with herself and working on her alphabet workbook.

I am doing just fine with regular old sewing and made Tabby a cute quilted “blanket” for her stuffed animals. I actually feel moderately successful when I do those sorts of projects … but that freaking rolled hem thing? It eludes me. I get the concept. I can even make a go of it like 70% of the time … have 8″ of good rolled hem … but then I'll have ups and downs and I have no idea what to do at the corners. I think I will enlist my neighbor's help. She's an awesome seamstress.

All of this going on … but of course I have been LOUSY about taking photos.

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Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

from: Cooking Light

Ingredients
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1oz)
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup minced shallots
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
8 cups (3/4-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 2 1/4 pounds)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 (6oz) bags fresh baby spinach
9 cooked lasagna noodles (8 ounces uncooked noodles)
1 cup (4oz) shredded Asiago cheese
1 cup (4oz) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions
Cook milk in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat to 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge (do not boil). Remove from heat; keep warm.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Melt butter in a medium nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Reduce heat; add flour to pan, and cook 5 minutes or until smooth and golden, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add about 2 tablespoons warm milk to flour mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Gradually add remaining warm milk, about 1/2 cup at a time, until mixture is smooth, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and cook until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat. Cover surface of milk mixture with plastic wrap; set aside.

Heat oven to 425. Place squash in a large bowl. Add vinegar; toss to coat. Add 1 tablespoon oil; toss to coat. Arrange squash in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and thyme. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes.

Combine remaining 1 teaspoon oil, red pepper, and garlic in a Dutch oven over medium heat; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add spinach, 1 bag at a time; cook until wilted, stirring frequently. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook until liquid evaporates, stirring frequently.

Reduce oven temperature to 350. Spoon 1/3 cup milk mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Arrange 3 noodles over milk mixture; top with spinach mixture, 2/3 cup milk mixture, 1/2 cup Asiago, and 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano. Arrange 3 noodles over cheese; top with squash mixture, 2/3 cup milk mixture, remaining 1/2 cup Asiago, and 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano. Arrange remaining 3 noodles on top of cheese; spread remaining 1/2 cup milk mixture over noodles. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Info (1/8 recipe(
Calories: 445 (30% from fat); Fat: 15g (sat 8.1g,mono 4.2g,poly 0.7g); Protein: 20.7g; Carbs: 61.5g; Fiber: 7.3g; Cholesterol: 36mg; Iron: 4.8mg; Sodium: 758mg; Calcium: 599mg

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All About the Kids

 


 

Ben
Ben had his 18 month checkup last week. He is perfect, of course, tracking in the 50th percentile for weight and the 60th for height. Or maybe I reversed those. He also got three shots and barely blinked.

Anyhow, Matt (who took him this go-around) questioned the doc about his milk habit. The kid will go through 2 gallons of milk in a week if we let him. As in we bought two gallons of milk on Saturday and by the next Saturday they were gone. Now Matt uses some for cereal and I use a smidge for cooking, but he also gets milk at his sitter’s. That’s a LOTTA milk! So she said to cut him back drastically, 2cups per day. We decided to ease him into it, closer to 3 cups a day and daaaamn it’s been hard. He wants his milk. And he will stand in front of the fridge and bang on the door screaming “BA BAAAA! BAAAAA BAAAAA!” until he gets it or passes out, whichever comes first. It was not a stress-free weekend but it does seem to be getting a bit better. Maybe.

Tabby
My sister likes to point out all of the atypical things we do that our kids are “just going to think is normal.” Running all the time, cooking all the time, crafting up crazy projects (like Matt’s Halloween project, a silly-string-spitting spider) and having tons of computers and gadgetry everywhere. And we like it that way.

Another thing we do that’s slightly atypical (or so I’m told) is give scientific explanations for her questions. Honestly, I mostly do this because I cannot think of a better way to answer her questions. I don’t see why I’d confuse her with some whimsical poetic crap when I can just tell her what’s up. For example in spring when it was getting warm and things were greening up we talked about our side of the planet getting closer to the sun and the sun and chlorophyll interacting to make the grass green. She loves talking about these things and remembers them almost verbatim. And if we don’t know something we look it up on the internet and she knows to ASK about looking it up on the internet.

So when she asked me last week why her brother’s army truck didn’t go as far or as fast on the carpet as it did on the hardwood floor, I explained to her about friction. And yes, I pulled out the term “coefficient of friction.”

Am I making her into a mini nerd??

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Herb Spinach Bake

from: Miss Raena

Ingredients
1 – 10 oz. pkg frozen chopped spinach – cook & drain
2 cups cooked rice
2 cups shredded cheese
4 slightly beaten eggs
4 Tbsp. soft butter
2/3 cup milk
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp salt
½ tsp crushed rosemary or thyme leaves

Directions
Cook frozen spinach in the microwave – maybe 5 minutes on high then drain
Mix all and pour into greased baking casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (check center to make sure it’s not runny but don’t overcook – it will be dry).

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Our Weekend

Our weekend started early because Matt's mom flew in on Thursday evening for a visit. Here's a sampling of what went down … We:

• went to Apex center to get a workout in on Friday
• had a lovely dinner with my family
• took naps almost everyday
• checked out the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art
• found that Ben did not really cooperate but Tabby LOVED IT (the King Tut exhibit that is)
• tried out a couple of new recipes: Butternut Squash & Bacon Quiche and Spinach Dip with Bacon from the latest issue of Everyday Food
• went for a measly 2 mile run
• got to go to a couple of shops we hardly ever get to visit
• traded in Halloween Candy for kids' meals
• visited Bass Pro and bought two gallons of peanut oil plus 3 types of injectable marinate for next weekend
• pushed the kids to their absolute limits
• turned back the clocks and further goofed up everyone's sleep schedule
• absolutely exhausted ourselves

Matt's mom left last night and though we enjoyed our visit, we are all very ready to get back to regularly scheduled life … now!

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Just a Grey Day

It is a grey kinda day here in the Mile High City. We are super spoiled with over 300 days of sunshine a year (woot!). I don't really enjoy the grey days but it does kind of match my mood. I am not depressed or anything like that, but I'm just sort of BLAH. Ennui as they say.

I have tons and tons on my to do list, so much so that I'm completely overwhelmed by it and am having trouble getting started on ANYTHING. I don't like feeling overwhelmed and I like even less to get nothing done. I know what I need to do. It's just like running .. put one foot in front of the other over and over and pretty soon you've run 13 miles. Or that's the theory.

Speaking of running, I am still doing it, even with quite a bit of consistency. I've been concentrating on some speed work to try and improve my times, but I am feeling some malaise here as well. My next race is the Turkey Trot, just 4 miles and nothing at all scheduled after that. I run races because they give me direction and goals and purpose and right now I am short of those things. I need to find another half marathon to sign up for very soon, even if it's months away.

I've also hit a lull in cooking. We have been so incredibly busy lately that I've just been relying on the super easy things that I know by heart: fried rice, spaghetti, burritos, grilled cheese, etc. I'm quite bored of it all now but I can't seem to get off my arse and make some new and interesting things. That will be a personal goal for this weekend, especially on Saturday. Matt's mom is in town and we have not big plans that night, so we can enjoy a nice meal together.

Honestly just writing about it and having a plan of action improves my mood. I also think I might need a mug of hot chocolate. I haven't had one yet this fall. Hope you're not in a mid-week slump!

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Hello November!

Raise your hand if you blinked and October was over. Glad I'm not alone. The crazy Halloween Season is over and I'm sure before I can say turkey, we'll be in the throes of the crazy Holiday Season.

Things are relatively calm for the next few weeks and I want to keep it that way, but as always, there are some things on the horizon:
• Christmas Shopping! We've got to get our butts in gear since the Nashvillians (as I affectionately refer to our TN family) will be here on Dec 7 to celebrate Christmas with us. I want to be 90% done before the end of the month if possible. It's a tall order.
• Tiling projects: we still need to caulk and set the toilet in the kids' bathroom and then we've got to knock out the project all over again in our own bathroom. We'd really like this done before Dec as well.
• Wood floors: we've got to schedule our wood floor installation so that it can happen when we go out of town next year.
• To do list: I have an incredibly long list of neglected projects. I've got to get some of them done, things like sending out baby gifts and working on our investment portfolio.
• Swimming: Tabby is starting swim lessons at the end of the month. She'll be going 2x/week for 3 weeks. It seemed like a good idea at the time … but the good thing is that her lessons are at our gym so I get to workout too and they're the same time as Zumba even.