July 5, 2011- Pasta at Pallino's

We left Redmond, OR, at 11am today.  After stops for coffee and gas, and then lunch in Madras at Sonic Burger, we were really on the road at noon.  It wasn't not a quick trip, but we did get home by 8pm with a stop at Pallino's pasta restaurant in Issaquah.  I had pesto genovese with penne and chicken.  The pesto was really good-- not too garlicky or sweet.  Ben had Mama's Meat Sauce with Rigatoni and added sausage.  Katie had a few nibbles on her cheese pizza.  Boy, it was a long day. I'm glad to be home!

July 2, 2011- Brickhouse

For a couple months, Jennifer has been talking about a great steakhouse in Redmond, OR, called Brickhouse.  Tonight we got to eat there.  The ambiance was very cool, and yet, it didn't make us feel odd by having a toddler with us.  Katie behaved quite well as long as she was allowed to watch The Princess and The Frog on my iPod.  She had fish and chips.  Jennifer and I each tried the halibut encrusted in parmesan with asparagus.  She had mashed potatoes while I chose the rice.  The halibut was cooked perfectly and was a large portion.  Kate had the pork rack with apples, onions, and a maple bourbon glaze.  Spencer had salmon, which said was just alright.

Ben had the best meal of the night.  He ordered the Dungeness Crab Fettucine.  It had lovely, big chunks of crab on top of the pasta.  There was a good amount of shredded crab in the cream sauce while really made the dish.  I usually don't order meals with crab in them, but I would order this one again in a heartbeat.  If you find yourself in Redmond or Bend, Oregon, I highly recommend eating at Brickhouse.  You won't be disappointed.

June 29, 2011- Aglio Et Olio with Grilled Chicken

Our friends Laura and David had us over for dinner tonight.  David was in charge of grilling the chicken breasts, tomatoes, and summer squash.  They were all delicious!  Laura made an amazing and simple flavored oil to toss the pasta with.  The pasta dish, Aglio Et Olio, is basically pasta with oil and garlic.  I didn't see the exact recipe she followed, but it included simmering minced garlic and red pepper flakes in oil until the garlic was crispy, but not burned.  She removed the crispy garlic and pepper flakes and drizzled the infused garlic over the pasta.  The crispy bits were served on the side for more kick.  

We brought a green salad with pears, Craisins, and a balsamic vinaigrette to go with the meal.   For dessert, they offered us David's mom's famous mint, chocolate brownies.  We were fortunately to be introduced to these brownies almost a year ago when they got married.  Our eyes lit up when we saw them on a plate:)  Tonight, after dinner, they introduced us to Kinect.  What fun!  We plugged holes in a glass box, jumped in a large river raft, and looked ridiculous doing it.  Katie even got into it, jumping for everything. 

June 28, 2011- Chicken Alfredo and Corn on the Cob

It was our turn to host our PEPS group tonight.  Usually I make something from scratch, but decided I just couldn't add that to my schedule this week.  I opted to purchase chicken alfredo with penne noodles from Costco for our main dish.  It was delicious and super easy.  Preheat oven; bake for an hour; serve.  How nice not to be stressed about getting the food done in time!

We also served corn on the cob for the first time this season.  I think Katie ate 1.5 ears of corn!  The other families brought a green salad and Klondike bars:)

June 12, 2011- Penne Rustica

Jennifer, Ben, Katie and I drove up to Lynnwood this afternoon to help Kate and Spencer unload their U-Haul trailer.  The trailer was completely unloaded 25 minutes after we arrived!  We all got to meet Kate's dogs Ana and Sota, named for Indiana and Minnesota.  Katie did pretty well with them, but was definitely too nervous to be left alone with them yet.  They are much bigger than she is and would have just knocked her down out of excitement.

After the trailer was unloaded, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner.  I had Penne Rustica-- roasted chicken and aged prosciutto tossed with Parmesan cream sauce then baked until golden.  Ben and Jennifer shared the same dish, but did not opt out on the shrimp like I did.  We all agreed that they have made their portions a bit more reasonable.  In the past the dish was overwhelmingly large.  Katie had spaghetti with meatballs. While it didn't seem like she ate much, she did keep herself occupied during most of the meal.  Kate and Spencer shared a dish of Pollo Limone Rustica-- roasted chicken sauteed with imported penne pasta, lemon-basil cream sauce and fresh spinach, then baked until golden.

Wednesday, 3/30/2011

I got a coupon online to get a pretty good discount on a haircut at my favorite salon, Gene Juarez.  Since today was the last day to get the discount, I made an appointment.  Ben met me at the salon after work, and took Katie out for dinner while I had my appointment.  After I finished, I met them at Gordon Biersch for dinner.  They were already done eating.  Katie polished off her chicken strips and carrots with gusto.  She was ready to leave when I got there.  Ben had a pasta dish with shrimp in it.  He ordered me garlic fries and a Southwest chicken sandwich-- a grilled chicken breast, pepper jack cheese, roasted red peppers, and a chipotle mayo.  

Ben and I didn't communicate very well about the timing of dinner.  I asked him to text me when they decided on a restaurant.  Then it took me a while to reply to his text.  I asked ask him to order me something yummy.  He thought that I meant I was on my way.  I only replied because it was a good time to text during my haircut.  I figured it would take a while for the waiter to stop to take the order and that it wouldn't be out right away.  And, I was okay with knowing it might be a bit cold.  Well, the reality is that waiter stopped to take my order as soon as Ben got my text, and then the food was to the table in a couple minutes, way before I arrived.  They ended up putting my plate under a heat lamp for a while and eventually remade it. I felt really guilty about the waste of food.  But, the waitress was kind and said it gave them something to eat:)  What great service! 

Thursday, 3/10/2011

Tonight was a repeat of Tuesday's pasta dish of Spicy Tomato and Basil pasta sauce, whole wheat penne noodles, and hot Italian sausage.  I am very pleased that Katie was willing to eat the noodles.  I know it seems strange to encourage my two-year-old to eat noodles, but sometimes it is the easiest thing to feed her and she doesn't have a history of eating them well.

Tuesday, 3/8/2011

Ben is a big fan of Fred Meyer's bulk hot Italian sausage.  I like it too, but it's Ben's favorite.  Tonight we cooked up a pound of it and used it in a pasta dish.  We like to put it in breakfast scrambles and omelets too.   We had cooked, whole wheat penne noodles left over from last Friday in the fridge.  I tossed the noodles with Classico's Spicy Tomato and Basil pasta sauce and heated it all up in a sauce pan.  Knowing that Katie wouldn't like the spicy sausage, I only added it to the bowls for myself and Ben.  Such a simple and satisfying dinner!

Friday, 3/4/2011

Our church's women's retreat began tonight with a potluck at one member's home.  I made a chicken and pasta casserole to take.  I started with sweet Italian chicken sausage, sliced thin and then pan fried it until a little brown around the edges.  The sausage was mixed into a store-bought, creamy, four-cheese alfredo sauce with rotisserie chicken.  Once it was all hot, I added some cooked penne pasta, and stirred it all together.  There was enough to make two small dishes (see photo) for Katie and Ben and one medium casserole dish for the potluck.  We topped each dish with shredded mozzarella cheese and put them in the oven to let the cheese melt.  

I was running a bit late, so I didn't do any more with my dish other than cover it and transport it to the potluck.  Ben had more time; so, he turned on the broiler and got the cheese a little crispy and golden brown on top.  I wish I had had more alfredo sauce for the dishes.  Although very tasty, they were not as moist as I hoped they would be. 

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. 

Saturday, 2/5/2011

We spent today at Stevens Pass.  Ben, his brother Spencer, and our friends, Karen and Michel, skied most of the day.  Katie and I hung out in the snow-- walking around, throwing snowballs, and watching all the people come and go.  Spencer spent some time with us in the later afternoon since he had a headache and his feet were hurting.  We finished up around 4:30 and drove to Karen and Michel's house to change our clothes.  We tried to eat dinner at the Red Hook Brewery, but ended up at Red Robin when the wait at the brewery was 1.5 hours. 

I had the grilled chicken pesto pasta, which was really tasty.  Ben had three steak sliders.  Katie did a fair job eating her ketchup only burger with fries.  Red Robin is always pretty darn good.

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. 

Wednesday, 12/29/2010

Spencer's girlfriend, Kate, arrived from Chicago late last night.  It was nice to finally meet her this morning!  The six of us, Jennifer, Spencer, Kate, Ben, Katie and I, went to Zoolights at the Portland Zoo this evening.  It was very cold and we even had some snow:)  We all got hot cocoa or coffee as we entered the zoo to take the edge off.  Katie did great with her cocoa.  I don't think she spilled any of it.  It was true progress for her!  What a spectacular light display!  I was really impressed.  There weren't many animals out to see, but we did see a momma elephant and her baby Sam, otters, monkeys, snakes, penguins, and fish. 

Kate, Spencer, Jennifer, Ben, and Katie

After the zoo, we drove to Montage, a restaurant which serves Cajun comfort food.  We've tried to go there several times and have been thwarted each time.  We thought we would be home free tonight since it is a Wednesday.  Nope.  No such luck.  There was an hour wait when we arrived.  We ended up going to Gustav's, very close to Jennifer's home.  It was actually a much better option for us in the end.  Katie didn't nap today and fell very asleep on our way from Montage to Gustav's.  She didn't wake up as Ben got her out of the car, into the restaurant, or as we laid her down on the bench of the booth we were seated at. 

Ben and I shared a small order of chicken alfredo with penne noodles.  It was really good.  Jennifer had Königsberger klopse-- poached pork and beef meatballs, caper sauce, and spätzle noodles.  Kate and Spencer shared a plate of rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts.  I don't think they ate many of the brussel sprouts.  Ben, Spencer, Kate, and I all enjoyed Hacker Pschorr Dunkel Weisse-- a true dark, German hefeweizen.  Yum!!!  

Katie woke up after the bill had been delivered to the table.  We think she thought we were just sitting down.  She acted like she should be getting her dinner soon and was not happy when we said it was time to leave. 

Tuesday, 12/28/2010

Jennifer and Spencer were kind enough to watch Katie tonight while Ben and I went out on a date!  It was so nice to talk with each other over dinner without constant interruptions. We talked about our goals and hopes for 2011.  How nice to do that before the year is half way over:)  We went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner and then saw the latest Harry Potter movie.  

We started dinner with a couple drinks, and then we shared a caesar salad and an order of Penne Rustica, without shrimp and double chicken.  Ben loves shrimp, but he was okay with adding more chicken in order to share with me.  We definitely didn't need our own meals--sharing left us both full.  We had great wine with dinner too.  I wish I could remember what kind it was.

Wednesday, 11/24/2010

Ben's mom and brother will be spending Thanksgiving weekend with us.  This has been the plan for months.  The menu for the weekend has been planned, and the food has been purchased.  I am not sure why it took me until 3pm today to realize they would both be with us for dinner tonight too.  Ack!  Ok, what's in the freezer?  Thankfully, I found the big container of spaghetti sauce that I froze after the comfort food throwdown.  Oh, but we didn't have any noodles to go with it.  Spencer came to my rescue.  He kindly added spaghetti to the list of ingredients he needed to pick up at the store for tomorrow's cornbread.  For a side dish, I just happened to have a caesar salad in the fridge that was still good.  Phew!  Dinner was saved!!!

Katie must have been hungry, because she ate a lot of spaghetti. 

Saturday, 11/13/2010

We finished off the rest of our spaghetti sauce tonight.  Katie took a super long nap this afternoon and woke up in a fun mood.  When we got downstairs, she asked for her mittens, hat, and sunglasses.  The resulting outfit was hilarious.  It inspired Ben to set up a mini photo shoot while I cooked up the spaghetti noodles.  Unbelievably, she was a good sport and stood still so that he could take her photo.  Here are photos from her photo shoot, followed by a couple from dinner.

Thursday, 11/11/2010

Ben got back from his trip to Huntsville really late last night.  I think he was in bed by 3am.  And then the smoke detector in our room started chirping at 4:30.  UGH...poor Ben!  He got up for a 7:30 conference call and then went back to bed for an hour and half.  It is not a surprise that he didn't feel well today.  We kept dinner really simple so that he could eat and rest.  We finished off the rest of the Lemon and Herb Chicken Helper and then watched Elf with Katie. She thought Buddy the Elf was funny and really liked the singing. It's a good thing we watched it after dinner.  If we had watched before dinner, she might have expected syrup on her noodles;)

Wednesday, 11/10/2010

My friend Lauren came over for dinner tonight.  We haven't seen each other since her wedding in May.  It was so nice to catch up:)  We had spaghetti with a side salad for dinner.  Katie barely ate anything.  Dinner is definitely not her favorite meal of the day.  I've still got enough spaghetti sauce to last a couple more meals.  Sorry for the repetitive posts;)

Katie entertained us for an hour or so after dinner.  When it was time to put her down to sleep, she let Lauren read her a book.  It was very sweet.  Hopefully Lauren and I won't take so long to catch up the next time. 

Tuesday, 11/9/2010

I had left over lemon and herb chicken helper for dinner.  Katie wouldn't even taste it.  Surprisingly, she would eat applesauce with cinnamon in it. That is usually something she won't eat either.  Not much else to say about our meal, but here is a cute photo of my girl:)

Monday, 11/8/2010

Katie and I made Lemon and Herb Whole Wheat Chicken Helper for our dinner.  Well, I made it and Katie observed.  She wants to "see" everything I am doing when I am cooking.  When I am patient enough and when I remember, I show her what I am doing each step of the way.  Ben flew to Huntsville, Alabama, this morning for work, so it was just the two of us tonight.  Here are a couple fun photos of Katie from dinner tonight.