Tuesday, 3/1/2011

We went to Jen, Andy, and Jackson's home for PEPS tonight.  They served pasta with a puttanesca sauce. It was my first time eating that sauce, and I had to ask what it was.  It's a tomato based sauce that includes garlic, onions, chili peppers, olives, capers, diced tomatoes, and oregano.  It was pretty good, although I did avoid the olives.  Those of us contributing to the rest of the meal brought a caesar salad with great croutons, bread, doughnut holes and brownies.  I feel very fortunate that we were placed in this group two years ago.  What nice, caring, and funny people to know and see regularly!

The little boys ran back and forth through the house so much that they were sweating.  For a good 20 minutes, two of them ran while holding their shirts up and yelling "belly button."  They were hilarious:)  Katie ran after the boys, but was always about a half a length behind them.  I do think she is slower than they are, but she was mainly behind because she would watch them run away from her and then start to follow.  It is a delight to see them actually playing with each other. 

Tuesday, 2/15/2010

We hosted our PEPS group tonight for a "Make Your Own Tacos" meal.  We had the choice of soft or hard taco shells.  I made four pounds of taco seasoned ground beef.  All but one-half pound of the beef was eaten tonight.  We served Mexican rice, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and hot sauce with the taco meat.  Naomi brought chips and salsa that her mom made:)  For dessert, Sara & Aaron brought brownies, cookies, ice cream, and strawberries.  What a spread!  I definitely ate too much.

Tuesday, 1/18/2011

We met with our PEPS group at Sara, Aaron, and Ari's house tonight.  At our last gathering, we decided to move forward with the potluck format with a few adjustments.  We are no longer going to have someone bring snacks for the kids.  Each family will be on their own for feeding their kid. The last family to host doesn't have to bring anything the next time.  And, the non-hosting families will be on a rotation for who brings what.  That way we remove the race to pick a dish off of the Facebook event.  Anyway, it should remove some of the stress for the group.  

Tonight we brought a loaf of bread to go along with the gourmet mac and cheese with chicken Sara prepared.  Barb and Tadd brought a caesar salad that was fantastic.  The dressing and croutons came from Metropolitan Market and really made the salad.  Jen brought outstanding chocolate brownies.  Ben and I each had a small bite of Katie's brownie.  I definitely wanted more.  

Everyone stayed until after 8:30 tonight.  The kids were having a great time.  Ronan had fish crackers and was very nicely sharing them with Katie.  They definitely have a connection over food sharing:)  Jackson pushed Ari around on a toy, back and forth across the house, over and over again.  They giggled and squealed and had so much fun!  Oliver got in the mix a bit when his dad brought out a book to look at. 

Tuesday, 9/7/2010

We hosted our parent support group in our home tonight.  We served spaghetti with meat sauce, caesar salad, garlic bread, and giant brownies with nutella.  Oh my gosh, it was all sooo delicious!  The spaghetti sauce was Ben's family recipe--a secret.  I know enough of the recipe to make sure we have the right ingredients, but I could not tell you how much of each ingredient to add to the pot.  That remains a secret:)   The caesar salad came out of Fresh Express bags, with extra Parmesan cheese and black pepper added.  I got the giant chocolate hazelnut brownie recipe out of a Sunset Magazine.  Wow, were they ever a hit!

Katie has taken long naps this week, and it has been great!  I have been able to get my tasks done for work and get a few things done around the house too.  Today I was able to start and finish baking the brownies, which baked in muffin tins.  What a clever idea--no cutting!  The brownie batter was spooned into the muffin cups.  I then created little wells in the center of each brownie and filled the wells with Nutella.  I think this was the first time I have purchased that delicious spread.  It is too bad I didn't finish the jar off with the brownies; it is definitely at risk of being consumed by the spoonful this week;)  Ben's spaghetti sauce was enjoyed, but the brownies were devoured with smiles!  

After she woke from her nap, Katie spent the afternoon walking into the kitchen with her mouth wide open, asking for "cake".  I promised her that she could have some "cake" after dinner.  Lucky for her, I fulfilled my promise.  I would have willingly eaten her brownie:)

A couple non-food related highlights from the evening:

• Katie and Jackson gave each other a hug--arms wide open, cheeks touching.  So sweet!
• When Oliver left, he was asked to give Katie a kiss goodbye.  She puckered right up and got one right on the lips.  Cuties!

Tuesday, 8/24/2010

Tonight our PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) group met at Barb and Tad's house.  They put out all the fixings for chicken tacos--shredded chicken, guacamole, salsa, shredded lettuce and cheese, and beans.  We had brownies and blackberries for dessert.  The food was good, but the entertainment was great!  

Those kids were so much fun to watch and listen to.  Ronan has a small ball house that they all tried to get into.  I didn't think they all managed to get in at once, but Ben says there were a few seconds when all five where in there.  There were balls everywhere!  The normal sippy cup and toy stealing and food begging took place.  Katie definitely ate her share of Ari's cantaloupe.  I've got to say, I am so thankful that we were matched up with this group of parents and kids:)

Sunday, 7/4/2010

We were invited over to Chris & Larry's house for dinner tonight. They told us they would provide hamburgers and brats with condiments. Everyone else was to bring the sides. Ben's mom made a macaroni salad. Ben and I took chips, beer, and wine. Other than having to go back to Fred Meyer for more beer and wine, our contribution was pretty easy.

Spencer made a jalapeno appetizer. He sliced jalapeno peppers in half, scooped out the seeds, filled each half with cream cheese and wrapped them in bacon. They went onto the grill, cheese side down first, just long enough to cook the bacon. There was quite a range of hotness (taste not temperature) to each pepper. My mom had one that had hardly any heat to the pepper. Ben, on the other hand, had one that was soo hot that he frantically grabbed Katie's sippy cup after one bite, expecting it to have whole milk in it. He was sorely disappointed to find it had water in it. He suffered while the rest of us laughed at him:) Despite Ben's reaction, we all found them quite tasty. I think I will try to make this appetizer someday.

My parents took brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. No problem with the ice cream, but the brownies presented a challenge. My dad baked the brownies last night. When he started to cut them up this afternoon, he realized that they were super hard and would not be good to share. Thankfully, he had a 2nd brownie mix. Although our departure was delayed while the brownies baked, we were able to take our annual 4th of July family photo while we waited. A great use of time--if I do say so myself. I must thank Jennifer for suggesting we take a silly photo too. The shots below are priceless!

Sunday, 6/20/2010

Today did not turn out as we expected it to. For his birthday, I gave Ben tickets to go see the U2 concert this evening. Unfortunately, Bono had to have emergency back surgery about a month ago and the concert was delayed. So, that was the first crack in our plans.

Our back up plan to the concert was to go out for brunch at Swinery Meats. We've been reading about the Swinery's Inner Sanctum, a courtyard in which they serve deliciously prepared brunch and lunch items, on the West Seattle Blog and Facebook for weeks now. Father's Day seemed like it would be the perfect day to visit the Inner Sanctum. But no, it rained all day. We weren't thrilled with eating outside in a courtyard in the rain. Plus, Katie fell asleep in the car between church and the Swinery. Second crack!

We decided to head home so that Katie could finish napping. Ben exercised, I did finances, and Katie did not sleep in her crib. She chatted away for an hour or more. Finally, we took off for Renton to have linner (lunch/dinner) at The Rock- Wood Fired Pizza. It was super tasty. Katie enjoyed blueberries, cheese, and animal crackers while Ben and I shared Inferno Chicken Strips--boneless chicken strips, seasoned, deep fried, and tossed in hot sauce. YUM! Then we each had personalized pizzas. Ben had the "My Generation" pizza--cream sauce, peppercorn ranch dressing, tender pieces of chicken, thick bacon slices, swiss and mozzarella cheeses sprinkled with fresh parsley. I chose the "Slow Ride"--chicken, hot sausage, dry-aged pepperoni, roasted peppers and crushed garlic in a cajun cream sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese. Thankfully, no more cracks:)

I made ghirardelli dark chocolate brownies for dessert. Ben nuked them a bit, right before serving, and topped them with dark chocolate mint and vanilla ice cream.

The day didn't end up playing out the way we planned it to, but it still ended up being a good Father's Day.

Tuesday, 6/15/2010

PEPs was at Jackson's home tonight. Jen and Andy made grilled up delicious jalapeno cheese burgers with grilled buns. I heard Jen say the recipe came from a Weber cookbook. They also had a few small, unseasoned cheeseburgers for the kids. There was a big bowl of potato salad, which Katie liked, and corn on the cob. For dessert, we had warm brownies with vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Highlights from the evening included Ari and Katie giving each other fist bumps. Katie, Ari, and Ronan did some dunking at the basketball hoop. All of the kids taking turns on the wooden rocking horse. Boy, can they rock!

Saturday, 6/12/2010

Wow, tonight's meal was FANTASTIC- easily the best meal I've had a long time. In May 2008, we went to an auction at our church to benefit a mission trip to Mexico. Along with our friends Laura and Bron, we purchased a dinner for 12 people at our pastor's home. He and his wife Lyn, well known to be a great cook and entertainer, offered an un(wine)d party where they promised to serve mojitos and arepas. An arepa is a bread made of corn, popular in both Colombia and Venezuela. We were not disappointed. So, here's what we had tonight:

Beverages: Mojitos- fresh squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, tonic, rum, and mint. Wine and sangria were available with dinner.

Appetizer: toasted baguette slices, spread with cream cheese, and topped with a cherry, onion, jicama mixture. Lacking a better description, it was like a sweet bruschetta.

Dinner: grilled chicken breast that had been marinated in a heavenly orange-flavored marinade. A salad made of sliced naval oranges, jicama, and thinly sliced red onion. And, then, the arepas topped with: white rice flavored with onions and finely diced peppers, black beans, and an amazing salsa. I'm not sure what all went into the salsa, but it definitely had avocados, tomatoes, and onions in it. I helped to slice the avocados and tomatoes:) The flavor combination was soo good. I just can't say enough about how good it tasted!

Dessert: chocolate brownies with Full Tilt ice cream. Lyn and David offered us either coconut or salted caramel flavors. Ben had coconut, and I had the salted caramel. Both paired perfectly with the brownies.

Well, it goes without saying that we were quite stuffed when we left their house. But, it was totally worth it. We had a great meal with some of our favorite people. Thank you Lyn and David for hosting such a memorable evening!

EDITS FROM LYN:
Lyn, our wonderful cook, looked at my blog and sent some updates to the ingredients I listed for the meal she prepared. Here they are:

1. The mojitos were made with club soda, not tonic. And, they included triple-sec and lemon juice.
2. The cheese spread on the bruschetta was a blend of goat cheese and ricotta. Mint and cayenne were mixed into the cherry topping.
3. Dijon mustard is the special ingredient in the salsa. Good thing I didn't know that ahead of time. Mustard usually turns me off. But, I will embrace that I liked it in this dish!