Friday, 8/27/2010

Ben, his brother, Spencer, Katie, and I drove down to Clackamas, Oregon, today. Their mom's birthday is tomorrow and we are throwing her a big party. We needed today to purchase the food for the party and start the general preparations. Our hope was that we would be done with all of our shopping and prepping before Jennifer got home from work. Nope, that didn't happen:) With a late departure from Seattle and shopping that took longer than expected, we weren't even close to finished when she got home. Instead of going out to eat, we ordered pizza from Garlic Jims. Boy, did that hit the spot! Spencer ordered a large, pepperoni and sausage pizza.

Katie wanted to eat it, but has recently decided not to like anything spicy. She takes one little lick or bite and then says "hot" or "yuck." It cracks us up! She ended up eating some vanilla yogurt and half a banana, chocolate/butterscotch chip bar. I admit--it wasn't the healthiest of dinner options for her.

Here's looking forward to the party tomorrow!

Thursday, 8/26/2010

Ben and I had left over pasta tonight.  Katie gave it a try, but quickly pushed her plate aside.  Instead, I chopped up some left over pork tenderloin, nuked it, and then told her it was a burger.  It worked really well the other day when I gave her some ketchup to dip it into.  Today, despite the ketchup, she seemed to be wise to my "little white lie". 

I did make some cheese straws tonight, following a recipe from my Williams-Sonoma cookie press.  They turned out pretty good, but a bit on the salty side.  I used Parmesan cheese instead of the Parmigiano-Reggiano that the recipe called for.  I went for the cheese that was on sale.  Here's the recipe.

CHEESE STRAWS

Ingredients:
8 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
12 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Directions:
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the cheese, butter, egg, flour, salt and cayenne pepper and process until mixed.

Pack the dough into a cookie press according to the instructions and fit with the star-shaped cookie disk.  Holding the cookie press at an angle on an ungreased baking sheet, press the trigger twice, dragging the press away to make a 3-inch-long straw.  Space the straws 1 inch apart.  To make straws the length of the baking sheet, continually press the trigger and drag the press away, spacing straws 1 inch apart.

Bake until straws are lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes.  Transfer straws to wire racks to cool.  Straws may be sotred in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Makes about 60 three-inch straws.

Wednesday, 8/25/2010

It was a simple pasta night for us.  I browned a pound of Fred Meyer's hot Italian sausage in a saucepan.  After draining off the grease, I added a jar of Classico Spicy Tomato and Basil pasta sauce.  Instead of our usual Dreamfields low carb pasta, I chose Barilla's Whole Grain Penne Pasta.   Ben and I each dished up our own bowls of pasta and added sauce.  Oh, it was good:)  We had caesar salads on the side.  

Katie was not an eater tonight.  Although she had two big snacks of watermelon this afternoon (her choice), I was surprised she wasn't more hungry.  She ended the day with a big melt down while Skyping with her grandma, immediately followed by bed time.  Hopefully, she will wake up in a better mood tomorrow morning.

OH! I have to let it be known that she is now trying to sing the first four letters of the alphabet song:)  How fun!!!

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:)

Monday, 8/23/2010

It's nacho week at the Ackers home.  Well, really, it will only be nacho Monday and nacho Thursday.  Anyway, I covered two plated in tortilla chips, added a layer of shredded cheese, a layer of taco seasoned lean, ground beef, a little hot sauce, and then another scant layer of cheese.  Popped in the microwave and dipped into salsa, these were pretty good nachos:)  

I tried to give Katie some left over pork, grapes, and cheese for dinner.  She wanted nothing to do with them.  She was only interested in dipping things into the salsa.  The catch was that she really didn't want to eat any of the things she dipped into the salsa.  So, she would whine and grunt and point and make awful sounds to get something like a chip and then continue that noise until she was given the salsa to dip into.  She would dip in, lick it, then give it back to me.  I will admit it--it got quite annoying after a while.  Sorry Ben, I wasn't very patient with that tonight. 

Sunday, 8/22/2010

For a brief moment this evening we considered ordering pizza. We got a late start on grilling our pork tenderloin and kind of hoped that it would be much faster to order a pizza. But, when we finished adding up the grill heat up, cooking, and resting time it would only take a few minutes longer than it would take for a pizza to arrive. So, we grilled our pork tenderloin. It was our first time trying a Farmland Extra Tender Boneless Southwest Peppercorn Dry Rub Seasoned Pork Tenderloin. All three of us really enjoyed it. We had corn on the cob as a side dish.

Katie couldn't wait for dinner, so she had a watermelon and cheese appetizer.  What a good corn eater:)

Saturday, 8/21/2010

A couple weeks ago our friend Laura forwarded us an email for a "Groupon" to Zippy's Giant Burgers.  I had never heard of a Groupon before receiving that email.  It is basically a daily email that is sent out, featuring something cool that you can purchase at a really cheap price.  So, for instance, the Zippy's Groupon allowed us to purchase $15 worth of food for $7.  Here, in Seattle, the link for Groupon is: http://www.groupon.com/seattle/.  I'm now signed up for the daily email and look forward to the next unbeatable deal. 

Tonight we used our Groupon for Zippy's Giant Burger.  How nice is it that "Seattle's Best Burger", as crowned by the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, can be found only 3 blocks away from our house?  The answer: really nice!  We loaded Katie into the Ergo Baby backpack and took off on foot.  It looks like a local fast food joint, but it isn't.  Expect a wait for these delicious burgers--the shop is very small with only a few indoor seats. 

Ben had a Zip Burger with bacon and cheddar cheese, no veggies or sauce, but with mustard added.  I had a Zip burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, pickles, and their special sauce.  Katie had her very own Little Zip--a small burger with special sauce and pickles.  I ordered her burger plain, but she didn't seem to mind the special sauce:)  We shared an order of fries, and Ben and I had chocolate milkshakes.  We sat outside at a picnic table, and Katie sat on the bench next to Ben like a big girl.  I was sure she was going to sit in one of our laps.  She reached up for her burger and ate it just like we eat ours.  So fun!  Ben was kind enough to share some of his milkshake with her.  He didn't think she would be able to get enough suction on the straw to get much.  Boy was he wrong.  She really put a dent into his shake.  

Ah, what a super way to end a pleasant Summer Saturday in Seattle:)