HOLY GUACAMOLE!

Food.  I LOVE food.  And so when my hubby and I come up with an amazing dinner, and something about it goes 'POW' in your mouth, I want to share. 

Tonight, we made fajitas.  It's an 'old standby' in our house when we are looking for tasty but healthy.  This was the view as I jammed these yummy suckers in my mouth...

The composition was as follows:

Marinated BBQ chicken breast
Sauteed red and green peppers with onion strips
whole wheat tortillas
low fat sour cream
salsa (this was homemade but whatever)
fresh cilantro
homemade guacamole
homemade 'fajita' special sauce

So, without further ado, here are the 'recipes'.

Chicken marinade (1 or 2 hours):
Olive oil
garlic
salt and pepper
fresh-squeezed lime juice
fresh chopped cilantro

Guacamole:
2 ripe avocados
fresh-squeezed juice of 1/2-full lime (to taste - I put about 3/4 of a lime via a fancy press)
chopped red onion (maybe 1/4 cup or so)
1-2 tbsp salsa
sprinkle of salt
chopped fresh cilantro (a good amount - 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup)
*Mango - tonight I added finely chopped fresh mango. OMG good...about 1/4 cup

- mash it all together et voila!

Fajita 'special' sauce
(something my hubby tossed together this afternoon that I CANNOT recommend enough!) You can char all of this on a BBQ or roast under broil in an oven, like he did this afternoon.

1 fresh poblano pepper, roasted and de-skinned
1 fresh orange pepper, roasted and de-skinned
2 cloves garlic, roasted
1 habanero pepper, roasted and de-seeded
1/4 red onion, sliced and also roasted/sauteed

- combine all the above in blender with enough olive oil to blend into nice, thick saucy consistency. Add a dash of sugar and salt and about 1/2 tblsp of white vinegar.  Ah...mazing.

Enjoy!

It's Crummy

and mushy

and gooey

and juicy

and sloppy

It's my babies on solid food, and it's quite a scene at times.

Like, for instance, yesterday's dinner.  A little bituh mostly pureed chickpea, mix in a bituh asparagus, then add some chunks of watermelon for dessert.  Seems innocent, right?

It was a gagalicious puking good time! Heads turning away mid-spooning, itchy nose hand smooshing and accompanying face smear, tight lipped distractedness, sideways grabbiness mixed in with take it in and spit it outtedness.  And that was just the chickpea/asparagus mix.  THEN came the watermelon and my continuing attempts at baby-led weaning. I cut a nice long piece of watermelon (seemed safeish) for them to try.  They still don't naturally bring food up to their mouths, and so I helped them, and they gnawed off small chunks.  Well, Hailey did, at least.  Alex?  Big, open, gaping mouth chompdown, baby.  Big girl pieces.

Which led to gagging and then...

it all came up, chickpea and all.

Flash forward to today. The girls both now in their full-body bibs, back to some nice, safe pureed green beans and mushed up banana and blueberry.  MUCH BETTER.

What say y'all? How the heck did you get your babies eating bigger, chunkier foods, or, especially for those who succeeded with baby-led weaning, how the heck did THAT happen?

Supreme sustenance - super solid foods!

You may recall that I introduced solids to the girls about two weeks ago - just a little rice and oatmeal cereal - and that we captured it on camera and video. It's such a BIG DEAL when you really think about it - these milestones are so emotional for Moms, aren't they? Hailey, as with most things, was so serious!

And today, I made their first real foods.  I'm excited to be able to make their food from scratch and there is so much to choose from!  What to start with?  Well, I thought we'd go standard and cook up some carrot and some broccoli.  We even have this cool little storage tray with inserts for baby-size portions.  Fun!

So colourful.  That's how you know it's healthy! 

And so I tweeted out my first forays into this new stage and posed the question - what else should I look at introducing? - and got great suggestions.  Banana, sugar-free apple sauce, avocado (yum), sweet potato, squash, peas, etc.  I also got a very funny link from my friend Dani who wrote a blog post about HER first attempts at making her baby's own food.  Thought I would share.  Nothing quite that exciting happened here, I'm afraid...

So.  What else did you introduce?  What are your suggestions?  Oh, and how did you all handle the new and fabulous olfactory-stimulating presents awaiting you at the other end?  Holy crapola (pun entirely intended)...!

Picky picky picky

It's the CDH. It has to be.  My little one, Hailey, is the most frustrating little eater. Just....arghhh! A little bit here, another 1/2 bottle there. Wasted breast milk all the time, since eventually you have to throw it out. I know I should be patient. She's doing okay, she's gaining weight, but MAN, it is so frustrating! And really, IS she doing okay?  Do other parents of CDH babies have so many issues with feedings?  I suspect they do...

Another trend that seems to be forming from this is fewer poops.  Yes, poops.  Doncha know that Moms do nothing but talk about poop?  Hailey has recently gone more than two days without a poop (twice now) and it just seems she's getting bunged up more often.  I'm not a worry wart, but you do wonder if it's a sign that things aren't functioning as they should in her - majorly reorganized - abdomen.

Sigh.

But in the meantime, let me put down the laptop and pick up the rest of the bottle to see if she'll now take it. It's what a Mom's gotta do.  That, and remain patient.

Desert by moonlight - A great anniversary

You know, with two little babies around 24/7 these days, it was pretty easy not to have given any thought at all to our 3-year anniversary. But, as luck would have it, the idea for a special night dropped in my lap, and I jumped on it.

Our recent trip to Mesa, Arizona was a study in orchestration (more on that in another blog post), and meant that for a good chunk of the trip, my husband was back in Ottawa.  However, on the evening of his return to Mesa for the last few days of the trip, a special phenomena was taking place; what they called the 'super moon'. I discovered that a nearby county park (one of the amazing benefits of my parents' location is their proximity to the nearby desert mountains for hiking) Usary Mountain Regional Park was putting on a park ranger-led moonlight hike that night, and it was free.

Now, I don't think there has been a single trip I have taken to Mesa yet that hasn't included a nice, sunny hike, but this time? No go. I was hoping to go with the girls in carriers on an easy hike, but, uh...you'll hate me for saying this but the temperature was too hot for hiking while we were down there!  So...enter moonlight hiking!

It was great, and so very romantic.  Just the two of us...and about 400 others. But really, it WAS great. Very cool to see the Saguaro cacti rising up against the night sky, and see all the funkier cacti, like the jumping cactus, lit up along the path. The iPhone even managed to capture the scene with the lights of Mesa and Phoenix in the background.

The hike was admittedly short (there were a lot of kidlets and seniors along for the ride), but I really enjoyed the evening, which started off wonderfully at a nearby restaurant which came highly recommended to us, El Rancho Tia Rosas. 

YUMMY.

I started with a margarita (of course) and we had the tomales for our appetizer. For the main course, Art chose the traditional fajitas, and I had the seafood enchiladas.  Sooo good.  Some pix:

And of course, we couldn't stop there. We ordered desserts, and those might have been the best part. We shared the churros (that had custard piped in them and were drizzled with caramel -OMG) and tried Sopapillas for the first time.  Soooo goood!

It was a great night. So lovely. So unplanned. Such a treat, with honey on top (of the sopapillas).

Bin 790 - A Mommy Review

So let's talk about something other than the babies. Well, kinda.  Because the only reason I even tasted Bin 790 food is because we had babysitters for the night - our first night out without the babies - and we wanted a nearby restaurant to hit, which in fact was plan B, since I am still dying to see Harry Potter, but the damn thing isn't playing on the weekends anymore. Boo.

But I digress. Bin 790, from a Mommy's perspective?  Great get away night restaurant. Fabulous ambiance. Small intimate tables (not great for large groups - in fact, impossible with so few tables). Okay, well, this Mommy had a tough time finding room on her table for the requisite iPhone display area!

Some cool things about the restaurant are that it is a Spanish Tapas restaurant, it has a good wine list and even a selection of wine flights (although no Spanish flights - I would have liked to see that).  They had an excellent Spanish Tempranillo/Cab Sauv blend that I ordered by the glass, and they accomodated that even though it wasn't offered by the glass. And, they even had one of my fave desserts - sticky toffee pudding - on offer!

The service was excellent, the prices tolerable (not cheap or overly expensive) and this particular Mom managed to occasional talk about something other than her babies. 

However she did NOT succeed in keeping her photos of the babies to herself...the waiter we had has now seen quite a few of them...

So.  I give this restaurant 4.5 out of 5 soothers. They lost points only on the slightly uncomfortable seats, a bit of a draft from the door where we sat, and because their Spanish wine list was a little lacking.

For the record, we had the following dishes:
Zambuca shrimp - yummy, creamy, sweet. 5 large shrimp
Bacon wrapped beef tenderloin - sooo good. 4 little bites with a bit of salad on the side
Green curry mussels - good portion size, very buttery and garlicy sauce, but in my books, that's great
Pulled pork areta - one of the best items on the menu; excellent
Ham croquetas - two of them, and delish!
And of course, the 790 antipasto platter.  Very frustrated that I forgot to get the names of the cheeses and one of the meats they served us.  Wanted to be able to look for them for our own presentation some day. May still ask...

In writing this post, I found this blog...looks to be an awesome source of recipes and info about tapas...

Although we loved our meal, and even had dessert, we were home within 2 hours, and when I took my daughter Alex into my arms, she promptly fell alseep, all cuddly-like. Tapa-what?

Slaphappy quiches and more breastfeeding woes

I want breakfast options...savoury breakfast options, and so this morning I quickly slapped together what I think are quiches.  No, folks, I have never made a quiche before - it's not my first choice - and I didn't have time to be painstaking.  Thus, I looked up 'quick quiche crust' online, slapped that together.  I doubled the recipe, ripped it in half, dumped it into a pan, and instead of rolling, pressed it into the pans.  I don't think I have enough dough (barely went up the sides) and it looked awful, but whatever, right?  Babies were fussing already in the playpen and I wanted to get it done!  Then, I 'guessed' at what the egg mixture should be, what the milk ratio oughtta be, and dumped a bunch of other ingredients in it.  Ham, asparagus, cheese, onion, mushroom and red pepper.  A real mashup. 

They are in the oven. I have no idea if they will work out.  Should be interesting.

Also interesting (or not, if you are sick of hearing about it) is the ongoing breastfeeding struggles.  Some days I wish I was just bottle feeding them.  Some days I hate breastfeeding. Some days I wish my baby hadn't been stuck in CHEO, stuck with so many tubes in her mouth, stuck until released to try learn to breastfeed after almost a month. And then other days I love breastfeeding.  As I've said before, it's the hardest job I have ever done.

Yes, I continue to struggle in two big areas.  One, I continue to have flow issues.  I don't have enough milk to satisfy my very voracious Alex, and certainly don't have enough left over for Hailey, whose suck is very light, very ineffectual, and who delatches if the letdown is too heavy, leaving Mommy to scramble and sop up the flowing milk pouring all over my clothes, the couch, the babies.  It's good times, I tell you.

And now, as you know from my last post, I have a baby who loves to hate breastfeeding. There's no telling if she will latch and when and for how long, and if she will instead freak out, crying that wailing "I'm so angry" way and beating her little fists against my breast.  It's NOT COOL when your baby is that upset. 

But still I persevere. And eat quiche. And ask for, and get, help.  Thank god for the help.  You are all fantastic resources and cheerleaders.

This morning, we had lovely skin-to-skin time in the ongoing effort to make this not only work, but make it enjoyable for all. It was lovely...pix to come.

Food Fights

I could say that husband and I toss marshmallows, paint chocolate sauce, and spray whipped cream on each other as foreplay.  I could say the title is about an Iron Chef-like competition with our neighbours. I could say a number of things, but what I am really talking about is an ongoing struggle each night to `deal`with what the heck to eat for dinner. 

You see, my husband is not a planner.  He is also not the visionary behind creative and yummy foods that come out of this kitchen.  He cooks it really well and is getting better at creative grilling techniques, etc., but if you are looking for the idea person in our household, it`s usually me (unless it's a Saturday and there's all day to play and plan a great dinner.  Then, my man rocks the hot rocks).

So, each night that my hubby comes home from work right now, he asks me one old, tried and true, and frustrating question..."What do you want for dinner?" Why is it frustrating?  Well, because throughout this ENTIRE pregnancy, I have been turned off cooking.  Putting aside how hard it is now to stand and do prep, and how bad my back is as a result of even 2 minutes of washing dishes or the like, the fact is more that just the idea of prepping food and cooking turns me off.  Just put something in front of me, ready to eat, and I'm good to go, but not before then.

It's frustrating because my man (who has been great about everything else related to this journey) has no ideas, and no clear ideas of his own about what he feels like eating and prepping.  Because, I guess, men don't do well with cooking as a chore, which is what it becomes when I look to HIM to plan, prepare and present food.

But. I'm still very, very hungry.

So every night that we have not planned anything (which happens more often than not), we have the same conversation, and he gets frustrated with me, and I with him. 

And we eat far more take out or delivery than we ever have in the past.  Which isn't great nutrition, folks!Tonight's meal was a shwarma platter for me and a meat pizza for him from the nearest half-decent restaurant.

What were the touchy issues during your pregnancy? When did your man get frustrated and/or struggle with the support you required? What was your 'thing' that threw you both for a loop? 

Oh, and by the way, I realize how sucky I sound, and lazy.  I just really can't get up energy/interest or the 'taste' for creating food.  It's a huge and mysterious struggle - and totally counter to my usual MO, ya know?

Growing something other than babies - it's harvest time

So my husband escaped from the inside chaos in our house for a little bit of time out in the yard this Thanksgiving weekend. Yardwork in the shape of mowing the lawn is his usual shtick, however gardening?  Not so much.  That said, I think he enjoyed pulling up what we had and 'closing out' what was essentially his garden this summer. 

I thought it would be a great year for the garden, but I think the lotus tree in the middle of the garden is finally sapping the nutrient levels too much, as most of our produce suffered.  That, or the fact that momma gardener was completely MIA this summer stunted the growth of the poor little veggies... However, we still got some great stuff.  Check it out....we still had a large pile of runner beans that taste great.

And although we have clay soil, I keep trying to grow carrots - of both the purple variety and the usual.  Love the look of purple carrots on a plate...

We, of course, have a myriad of various peppers - of the sweet, hot and VERY hot variety. 

And finally, a wider shot of the baby onions, other peppers etc.

So vibrant and lovely, fresh and fragrant.  Thinking we'll do some roast BBQ veggies with a nice big roast and yorkshire pudding this coming weekend.  MMMMMMMMM......delish!

On the eve of our next appointment - Chinese Food!

It has been a REALLY long week.  Ups and downs, and a lot of attention paid to my sometimes moving, sometimes not moving, belly to see if Baby B is going to kick.  Lost weight initially and have only just now gotten back to my weight over a week ago. Eating plenty, so that's worrisome.  Just trying so very very hard not to worry too much, but it's mentally exhausting.

I won't get into our issue with the new carpeting, which was supposed to be done yesterday and enable us to start decorating the nursery.  More delays at a time when we don't need them...

So yeah.  Ultrasound tomorrow followed by meeting with the doctor at the General Hospital, our new care location from now forward.  Have a LOT of questions and really hoping to have a way forward and a few answers, even though I know we won't have all.  We're tired and anxious and so happy this day has finally arrived.

Until then, our wonderful neighbours have taken pity on us, and have suggested we go for Chinese food for dinner. 

I.

AM.

IN!

Addendum from our meal:
I picked a fortune cookie with two fortunes inside, and hubby found a single packages fortune cookie with an accidental two fortune cookies inside...I'm liking those signs, my friends!

Growing things feels good

I can't say it much more plainly than that: creating things is fun, and growing a garden from seed is no different. A little over a week ago, I planted a wide variety of the 'early' seeds (meaning they don't totally love our short growing season, so we cheat it a bit and trick them in our little greenhouses inside our toasty heated homes). Heirloom tomatoes, romas, beefsteaks and yellow grapes. Sweet yellow and green pepper, jalapeno, poblano, serrano, habanero, fiery ember (we like things spicey!). Herbs - Lime, cinnamon, thai and sweet basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley, celantro....I'm sure I am forgetting some. And, of course, some Marigolds (they are great to ward off pests).

My camera is busted...warped the lense, so can't show you my baby sprouts, but each day I come home and there are new little plants coming alive daily in my kitchen, and not the moldy sporey kind.

Yay for spring. Yay for gardens. Yay for creating life. Good times.

Oh!  An idea...here's a shot of my garden from the spring of last year, just for visual interest....!

Hump Day - Whatever Gets You Through

Yeah....the collective 4 food group rating on my dinner tonight would be.... negative 45%. Ya know those days when your work day is tough, you are tired, nothing is planned for dinner, AND it's hump day....

It's a bloody boobie trap (ha - she said booby.  Well, if I grow, I tend to grow there too, so...). 

You get home, you collapse on the couch, your husband is already there, and you both look at each other and say "What do you want for dinner?"

Ultimately, you pick up the phone, order something nasty gooooood (tonight's devine mess was Wild Wings wings AND a side of poutine, folks.  I wasn't kidding -45%) and wait for indulgence to come to you...there...here....on the couch.

So sad.

But, it got me through!

Guacamole

This post is what it says...a recipe for guacamole.  Random, I know, but I have been exhausted recently and was rather rocked by news of a health scare last weekend in the family that could have turned out much worse, and it's been occupying my thoughts a lot.  Thus...GUACAMOLE!

So much healthier than any other chip dip around, and easy to make.

Here's what you do:

Scoop out 2 ripe avocados into a bowl
chop up a handful of fresh cilantro
finely chop some red or spanish onion (optional)
add the juice of a full lime
add a sprinkle of coarse salt
add about 1/3 cup of jarred or fresh salsa (or chop up some fresh tomato)
finely chop up 1/2 or a full jalapeno pepper (also optional)

squash and mix

It's not rocket science, but it tastes amazing, and because I made some tonight, I thought I'd share!

Want an amazing Chardonnay? Look in our back yards...

okay.  it's not the cheaptest wine you will ever have, but if you want a seriously lovely, buttery, toasty, nutty, balanced, fresh citrus peel, yummy yummy yummy chardonnay, you only have to go 2.5 hours from Ottawa and about 1.5 hours from Toronto to hit Prince Edward County and Huff Estates.  I can't say enough about how goooood this wine, the 2007 South Bay vintage, is.  It's LOVELY.

While you are on the site, take a quick look around.  They really get what they are supposed to be about down there.  My husband and I went and stayed there for their wine futures weekend, on a special package deal that included discounts on advance order wines and a tour and some barrel tastings with their very suave winemaker, Frederic Picard. Combine that with a great dinner deal that came with the package, home-cooked hot breakfast included, etc. etc., it was a really lovely, romantic weekend getaway.  Highly recommend.

Wine pairings:  This would go great with buttery lobster and any number of other meals, but our pairing tonight was with a blackened cajun chicken on a bed of white wine and cream linguini with peppers, garlic and onion.  Damn fine meal.

Here's to a great weekend - hope you all had some good times, great food and some time to relax.

AMEN sistah!

Yes. Well said. A blog I follow, written by a VERY smart woman, had this to say recently.

Eating healthy is not just hard to do, it is made more difficult by our culture, which is about all things unnatural, easy, lazy, convenient, and BAD FOR US. And it all tastes so damn delicious. sigh. The constant fight continues....

Putting it in reverse

I'm now on the official road to recovery. I found myself heading at breakneck speed to a big town called 'Heftyville', and so now I have firmly put the car in reverse and am heading back home to 'Big-Boned but Athletic City'!

I may not be able to move my arms, shrug my shoulders or scrub my back right now, but I'm back on the "Lean & Fit" way of life. The diet, however, is 70% of the battle, and in our current - Big Mac I'm Lovin' It' - world, eating lean protein, green leafy veggies, and avoiding salt, sugar and saturated fat (I mean, SERIOUSLY) is like asking a dehydrated man trapped in the desert not to drink when offered a big, icy glass of cold water. It's truly a mental and physiological feat.

So what can a gal do? Well, one thing that worked last time I dropped all my weight was to avoid night time snacking by indulging in a long, slow, full glass of red wine. I nurse this thing each night for as long as possible so that all of a sudden I will look up and it will be bedtime. Or at least that's the theory. But right now, I am really hungry and there is a big bag of nachos and some salsa SCREAMING my name.

But I digress. Some workouts, some beach volleyball and even some swim workouts at lunch, paired with some BETTER eating, and this should work.

However it feels like a prison sentence sometimes to know that my metabolism, as it slows down, means I can't just eat for desire and flavour and enjoyment. Eating is now a science to be studied and followed, and straying will result in other, less desirable outcomes. Sad. So brutal.

But I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna look HOT, right?
Right.

I want some chips...

Bloomin' ell!

Wha's that, then? It's my newly renovated garden, chip chop full of growing things. And it was my soul reviver in recent weeks. Nothing so cathartic as digging in the dirt and being responsible for helping plants and vegetables grow. Regret that I didn't take a 'before' shot, but the after are the real point, anyway, so here we are!



The grass still needs a LOT of work, but when doesn't it, really? While out there, I snapped a few shots of the early blooms, but there are many others on the way.




And more...




And so all that now remains is to see the veggies pop up. Cucumbers, carrots, spinach, beets, shallots, spring onion, three kinds of tomatoes, snap peas, snow peas, 8-10 various herbs, and pepper plants - loads of pepper plants! Sweet orange, green and red peppers, habanero peppers, hungarian wax peppers, serranos, poblanos...the list goes on.

So...salsa, gazpacho soup...fresh fresh fresh food is on its way - as long as we have some heat and lots of sunshine. So..BRING IT Mother Nature, just BRING. IT.

NOW is good.

Duelling Qs

You know that the summer has officially launched the first night that my husband and our next door neighbour get together to plan and execute an elaborate BBQ meal. It's not REALLY a competition, but they sure seem to try to step up their game constantly.

This Saturday was that night. Slow smoked pulled pork shoulder with a cumin spiced coleslaw, warm rosemary grilled potato and green bean salad for the main, and three different types of grilled dessert pizzas (with some cocktails and wine thrown in)... soooo gooood!

Great friends, great food and the great outdoors...fabulous.

My secret food addiction

I truly believe it is carcinogenic, but I LOVE a certain snack food, done up lovingly with melted butter (with just a touch of vinegar added to it), drizzled carefully over the popped goodness, and then generously and patiently coated with chemicals. Yup - I love me my popcorn with flavoured sprinkles. Made of nothing but bad stuff. And I put MUCH more on it than would generally be advisable.

So yeah...I may have had a big bowl of my secret food tonight. And I may have loved every stinkin' bad for me morsel of it.

So sue me.

Guilty pleasures

Okay. Admittedly, I like junk food. I like fast food. I like chips and popcorn and nachos and sometimes I like chocolate and candy and baking. And ever since I turned 30 and started to gain weight, when indulging in these empty calories, I have felt mild pangs of guilt at putting this non-food into my body.

But those light pangs are NOTHING compared to how I now feel every time I indulge now that there is a growing baby in my belly. I mean, damn...everything I put in there is going toward feeding the growing person inside of me, and if they are empty calories, then SHAME ON ME, right? But, it seems, cravings are VERY hard to ignore, and unfortunately, there ain't a single green, leafy vegetable on that list of coveted nosh day in and day out. Nope, momma to be wants Fudgesickles (and they had to be the real deal), and smoked meat poutine and ketchup chips and even bloody cotton candy (a shout out to my awesome husband for stopping at that sad little shopping mall parking lot fairground to pick up a fresh bag of spun sugar in Brockville last week...!), but uh...there isn't any asparagus or spinach on that list of 'must have's'!

So for Sunday dinner, is it okay to want (and have) chicken nachos?

Even if it's not, that is what I want and so that is what I'm gonna have damnit. And the guilt can just be damned. (Besides, I had three stalks of celery, plain, just now, so that's good, right?)