July 18, 2011- Hot Dogs and Cheese Puffs

Tonight I will not win any awards for feeding my child the healthiest foods.  But, she ate well, and we were both happy at the end of the meal.  I grilled Hebrew National hot dogs and served them with Cheetos Puffs.  I sure do love those!  She also had a little bit of cheddar cheese and a bowl of fresh berries.  She didn't nap today and was definitely looking tired while she ate.  Just when I thought she would say she was finished, she asked for more food.  I'm glad I stalled for a bit, but she did end up saying she was done.  

Ben called a little after 6pm, and we got to talk with him for a while.  His first meeting, the big one, went very well.  Whoo hoo!  After the call, I read Katie one more book and took her up to bed.  In less than five minutes she was out.  I'm so thankful that her lack of afternoon nap didn't turn into a terrible bed time.  And now, it's 7:10 and I have the whole evening to myself.  Hmmm, perhaps I have time for a little crafting, reading, TV, ice cream, and extra sleep:) 

Sunday, 4/3/2011

Happy 3rd Birthday to my niece Braelyn!

Braelyn celebrated her birthday in Spokane, surrounded by friends and family.  We will celebrate with her over the Easter weekend.  

When I started to think about tonight's dinner, I couldn't remember what was on my menu for the week.  After a quick glance at my grocery list from this week, I could see that I didn't make a plan for tonight's meal.  Oops!  With very little to eat in the house, we headed to Duke's Chowder House on Alki Beach.  We were seated right away and had a nice meal.  Ben sampled all five chowders available.  He said the best was the Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder.  That's the one I chose to have a bowl of for my meal.  Katie had fish and chips, but didn't eat much.  I think she drank too much milk to have room for her food.  The best part of the meal was that our friends Laura and David, and Laura's parents, walked into the restaurant while we were waiting for Katie to finish eating.  We got to chat with them for a couple minutes before they went to their table.  How nice to see friends while dining:) 

Tuesday, 1/11/2011

We finished the marinated flank steak tonight with a Southwest salad on the side.  I made the salad with leafy romaine lettuce, corn, crushed Tostitos Artisan Fire Roasted Chipotle chips, and Marie's creamy chipotle ranch dressing.  I've been looking for this dressing for months and finally found it at the Fred Meyer's in Redmond.  What a lucky find!  The salad was very tasty.  The only thing that could have made it better was bacon:)

Tuesday, 12/21/2010

Whoo Hoo!  We're on vacation!!!  Our taxi arrived promptly at 5:30pm to take us to the airport.  The driver patiently waited while we installed the car seat and got our six bags, stroller, and selves into the car.  We got the car seat and one bag checked for our flight and sailed through security with no issues.  And, for those who are curious, we did not have to pass through the full-body scanner.  

We ate dinner at the Seattle Tap Room, past security at the entrance to Concourse B.  Katie and I shared a basket of fish and chips.  Ben had a grilled chicken and bacon sandwich.  We were starving by the time we got to eat.  So, we ended up eating too much.  Thankfully, Katie is now old enough that she is required to have her own seat on the plane.  I'm very glad she wasn't on my lap during the flight:)  

The plane departed relatively on time and landed in Spokane, where we will spend several days with my family.  Life is so very, very good.

Monday, 11/1/2010

I stopped by the seafood counter at Fred Meyer this morning, just to see what was available.  I was pleased to see talapia fillets crusted with crushed tortilla chips, chili, and lime.  They looked good enough that I purchased three fillets for tonight's dinner. 

I heated olive oil in the bottom of a "stick" frying pan.  Once the oil was hot, I put the fillets in the pan.  Only one side of each fillet was coated in the tortilla crust.  I put the non-crusted side down in the oil first.  I cooked them for 3-4 minutes on the first side, flipped them, and then waited until the crust started to turn golden brown before I removed them from the pan.  It was an excellent preparation for talapia, which is a pretty bland fish in my opinion. 

We had sauted bell peppers as a side dish.  Ben got me a mandolin for my birthday, and I used it to slice the peppers.  It wasn't the best application for the mandolin, but it was fun to try it out.  I can't wait to make potatoes au gratin with it!  Anyway, I used a non-stick pan for the peppers.  I heated olive oil with a touch of sesame oil in the pan until it was hot.  I then added the sliced peppers and a teaspoon of minced garlic.  They cooked in the oil until the peppers started to char a bit.  

Katie wouldn't eat the fish, but she did eat several slices of pepper.

Sunday, 9/5/2010

Before I get there, I have to mention that we had a lovely brunch this morning with Matt, Jenna, Braelyn, and my Aunt Margie, Uncle Bill, and cousin Katie.  Margie brought a tasty french toast casserole, and we made a cheesy potato and ham casserole.  Sweet and savory!  It was also the perfect opportunity for family photos:)

Matt, Jenna, and Braelyn hit the road for Spokane around 11am.  We were able to put Katie down for a short nap before we went out to celebrate Spencer's birthday.  After a frantic 10 minutes at 1pm, we got out the door with a very sleepy Katie and headed to Pike Place Market, downtown Seattle.  We met Jennifer, Spencer, Karen, and Michel for a Savor Seattle food tour of Pike Place Market.  Yes, we did go on this tour when our friends Thad and Shannon visited last month.  It is that good:)  We stopped at the same places on the tour, but had a few different food items. Check out my previous post for descriptions and photos of most of the food.  Here are a few photos from today's tour.

Me and Katie sampling mini donuts at the market.

Waiting for our chowders.

Spencer, Jennifer, and Ben at the end of the food tour.

After the tour, we did a little shopping at the market and ended up at Mexico Cantina Y Cocina at Pacific Place Mall for dinner.  Ben and I shared a wonderful sandwich-- the Torta de Mexico.  It was a slow-roasted pork sandwich with smoky chorizo, melted provolone,and chipotle sauce.  It also came with a black bean spread which we ordered on the side so that Ben could use it.  The combination of the pulled pork and the chorizo patty was amazing!  We ordered a plate of fish and chips for Katie.  She didn't eat much, but I can honestly say I didn't expect to have such great fish and chips at a Mexican restaurant.  What a great day!  

Happy Birthday Spencer!!!

Thursday, 9/2/2010

This evening my brother Matt, sister-in-law Jenna, and niece Braelyn arrived from Spokane.  They are spending the holiday weekend with us.  What fun!!!  Braelyn has been a pretty sick kid since she was born, but she is looking great now.  She has a beautiful smile, gorgeous hair, and gives wonderful hugs.  Can't wait to get to know her more this weekend!

For dinner, we made up hamburger patties and threw them on the grill.  I purchased ground beef with 20% fat instead of our usual 5%.  What a difference that made.  We didn't need to add an egg to help keep the patties together and the burgers didn't stick to the grill at all.  Ben added our standard seasoning to the meat--A-1 steak sauce, Johnny's Seasoning, and freshly ground black pepper.  We all topped our burgers with cheddar cheese, and Jenna and I added dill pickles.  Together with beer and Doritos, we were happy campers:)

Tuesday, 8/10/2010

Katie and I were gone most of the day today.  I took her to Waterbabies swimming lessons this morning.  She is doing great!  She doesn't mind going under water at all anymore:)  She jumps off a platform in the water, goes all the way under, and comes up blinking and asking for "more".  Swim suit, or shee shee as she puts it, has become a frequent word in the house.

After swimming we went to Red Robin for lunch, Bellevue Square for an hour of shopping, the chiropractor, and then Redmond Town Center for more shopping. She did pretty well during the day, considering she only napped 5 minutes in the car, just before we got to the chiropractor's office. After all of our shopping, we drove back to Seattle to pick Ben up from work. Thankfully, she fell asleep on the way and had a good nap before we got home.

I planned for us to have a Southwest salad for dinner tonight. But, at the last minute, we decided to have chicken nachos instead. We took a plate of tortilla chips, topped it with shredded rotisserie chicken I bought at the grocery store, hot sauce, and cheddar cheese. After being heated in the microwave to melt the cheese, we dipped the loaded chips into salsa. It was a very satisfying dinner.

Katie ate deconstructed nachos for dinner--shredded chicken, cheese cubes, and chips. She is soo funny. She really likes to dip her food into condiments. So, it makes sense that she would want to dip chips and chicken into the salsa. But, she wasn't so fond of the salsa itself. She kept sticking out her tongue to taste it, but would shake her head "no" just before actually tasting it. Then, she would so kindly offer her food to us. I didn't mind so much when she decided not to eat the loaded chip I gave her and gave it back to me. It was like finding an extra fry in the bottom of the fast food bag. Thanks for sharing Katie:)

Saturday, 8/7/2010

I had another wonderful day visiting with Nancy today. I am so thankful that we still keep in touch after all these years. My family moved to Spokane, Washington, from Gresham, Oregon, in 1989. Who knew at that time that I would love to get together with Nancy 21 years later:) After eating breakfast at Anita's Crepes in Ballard, working on a birthday party game, and lots of playing with Katie, we took Nancy to Federal Way to catch her ride back to Portland with her daughter Sonya.



We passed The Rock in Federal Way on our way to drop off Nancy. It seemed like a good place to stop for dinner on our way home. We started off with an order of potato chips with a bacon cheese dipping sauce. O.M.G. they were sooo good. We polished off that basket. Ben chose the "It's Your Thing" pasta dish--A flavorful red sauce with ground pork and beef, tossed with fettuccine and topped with Parmesan cheese. I chose the "Born on the Bayou" pasta dish--Pan blackened chicken, hot sausage and dry-aged pepperoni with crushed garlic and roasted peppers in our cajun cream sauce. Tossed with penne rigate and topped with shredded Parmesan cheese. Both dishes were delicious. We each managed to restrain ourselves so that we could take home leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

For dinner Katie ate animal crackers and drank milk. She tried our pasta dishes, but wouldn't have more than a bite. I think she was too distracted by the television directly over our table showing the Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony;)

Saturday, 4/3/2010

We ran a couple errands in Tukwilla this afternoon and stopped at Duke's Chowder House Southcenter for dinner. We've been to that location twice and so far we have not had to wait to be seated. That is a really good thing when dining with a 15 month old. All four of us, Ben's mom and brother joined us, had a fish & chips & chowder combo. Ben and his mom had halibut and his brother and I had the cod. His mom had a cup of the Dungeness Crab & Bourbon Chowder while the rest of us had the Cajun Chicken Corn Chowder. Those chowders are delicious. We only wish we had the time to figure out how to make them. YUM!

We ordered chicken fingers for Katie with a side of ranch dressing. She seems to really like dipping her food into sauces and purees, so I thought it would be fun to let her dip her chicken in it. NOT a good idea in a restaurant setting. First the hand holding the chicken was dipped in so far that her fingers were coated with it. And when that wasn't good enough, the empty hand was plunged in. Thankfully we brought a washcloth and were able to get her cleaned up and the ranch removed before she made a real mess of the place.

If you live near Seattle and like chowder, I highly recommend you check out Duke's. The chowder truly is the best I've ever had.