Mom's the Word!: May 2006

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Lazy!

We had a great trip! It's great to be home, too! Pictures to the right on flickr. Real update to follow later!

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 12:20 PM 0 comments

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Well, look at that!

Well, we got our rental car today. The bad news is that Enterprise was out of full-size cars. Lame! But the good news is they upgraded us to a MERCEDES C CLASS!! It's got leather, sunroof, cd changer, the works! for less than $200 for an entire WEEK! Love it! Looks like we're rolling to Hollywood in style! :) The weird thing is the car key. It's entirely plastic, and it clicks into the ignition almost like a Lego. Wacky!

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 12:18 PM 1 comments

Another yummy Giada Recipe!!

Yum! I made this Monday night, and am having the leftovers right now for lunch. It's SO GOOD! Even Jeff, who really doesn't care for the texture of sun-dried tomatoes loved it. (I cut them up into little tiny pieces). I know I've become a walking advertisment for this cookbook, but, seriously? EVERY RECIPE I've tried just rawks my socks! I swear, at this rate, I'm going to GAIN weight before my friend's wedding! Thanks Laura! ;)

Penne with Sausage, Artichokes, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Prep Time: 18 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

3/4 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, sliced, 2 tablespoons of oil reserved
1 pound Italian hot sausages, casings removed
2 (8-ounce) packages frozen artichoke hearts
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
16 ounces penne pasta
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan, plus additional for garnish
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
8 ounces water-packed fresh mozzarella, drained and cubed, optional
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil reserved from the tomatoes in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and cook until brown, breaking up the meat into bite-size pieces with a fork, about 8 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a bowl. Add the artichokes and garlic to the same skillet, and saute over medium heat until the garlic is tender, about 2 minutes. Add the broth, wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Boil over medium-high heat until the sauce reduces slightly, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the fusilli in boiling water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Drain the pasta (do not rinse). Add the pasta, sausage, 1/2 cup Parmesan, basil, and parsley to the artichoke mixture. Toss until the sauce is almost absorbed by the pasta. Stir in the mozzarella. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve, passing the additional Parmesan cheese alongside.

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 12:07 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Heading out soon!!

Just got back from the laundromat. We did 16 loads of laundry. Well, 8 loads in the huge washers. I'm NOT kidding! Yikes! And Travis managed to hit his head on the car door while in the pouch sling. :( He did his lame backflip thing. RIGHT into the corner of my car door. Bleh. It's only a little TINY boo-boo, but I felt terrible. Even though it's barely noticable now.

So, we're getting ready to go on our trip to LA this weekend. YAY! It should be nice getting away for a few days!

We're picking up our rental car tomorrow morning. We're leaving early Friday, but it only cost $30 to keep it a week, and we can get some errands done tomorrow with the rental car.

Jeff's FINALLY getting his thing installed in his car tomorrow so he can play his iPod in the car! I mean, we've ONLY had the part since before Christimas! Mine was easy enough that we did it ourselves the same day we got it from Crutchfield. But, of course, his receiver is in his trunk, so we've got to call in the pros to do his. Do you think we procrastinate, or what? ;)

Oh, and one more thing. SInce the beginning of our relationship... it(almost) NEVER FAILS that I will start my period right before we go on a trip. And guess what? I started this morning! Like clockwork, I tell you... Damn it! Well, it gave me a perfect excuse to treat myself to an ENTIRE bar of Scharffen Berger today, totally guilt-free!

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 2:39 PM 1 comments

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Brit-Brit needs a Mei Tai!

Seriously, between almost dropping her kid (again) and lugging him all over the earth... she REALLY needs a carrier, STAT!!

I'm just sayin... with all her $$ she could have a BabyHawk in EVERY print! Not to mention all the silk Oopas that money can buy...

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 11:18 PM 3 comments

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Because he is just THIS CUTE!

There's not much Travis loves more than to go out on our balcony and romp. He usually yells and screams so everyone knows he's the King of the Balcony!

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 8:53 AM 5 comments

YUMMY!

Last night I made this FABULOUS red wine risotto from Giada's cookbook. It was SO freaking good!!! Even Travis loved it! I also made italian breaded chicken tenders, and roasted asparagus. Seriously. Yum! I doubled the risotto recipe so we could eat LOTS! ;)

Red Wine Risotto with Peas

3 1/2 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup arborio rice, or medium-grain white rice
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/3 cup frozen peas, defrosted, optional
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus additional for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring the broth to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover the broth and keep it warm over very low heat.

Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the rice and cook for about 2 minutes until the rice is toasted. Add the wine and stir until it is absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup of hot broth; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 6 minutes. Repeat, adding 3/4 cup of hot broth 2 more times, stirring often, about 12 minutes longer. At this point, the risotto can be made 4 hours ahead. Refrigerate the risotto (the rice will still be firm) and remaining broth, uncovered, until cool, then cover and keep them refrigerated until ready to proceed.

Bring the remaining broth to a simmer, then cover and keep it warm over very low heat. Stir 3/4 cup of hot broth into the partially cooked risotto over medium heat until the broth is absorbed and the risotto is hot, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining broth and simmer until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the peas and parsley. Add the 1/2 cup of Parmesan. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Spoon the risotto into bowls. Sprinkle additional cheese over and serve.

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 8:46 AM 1 comments

Monday, May 15, 2006

Weekend is over! :)

I had a great weekend, but I'm also glad it's over!

Saturday was the Bachelorette Party for my friend. A great time was had by all! Lots of drunken girls playing phallic party games... wow!

We spent Mother's Day together as a family. :)
We went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and took Travis on a few kiddie rides.

Then, we drove home, went grocery shopping, and out to Chinese with friends for dinner. It was great!

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 12:37 PM 2 comments

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Incognito Veggies!

I made this today. Even though I changed a buncha things, it still turned out really well! Travis LOVES it! I made 1 large loaf & 12 muffins. (I baked the muffins for 30 minutes)
1/2 the muffins are already gone! :) This is the kid who won't eat anything green, except for pesto. Heh. Mom - 1, Kid - 0 :)

Paula Deen's Zucchini Bread (with liberties taken by me to make it healthier)

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour(I used 1/2 whole wheat & 1/2 AP Flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used about 1 1/2 t. freshly ground nutmeg)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I think I used 2 t. cinnamon)
3 cups sugar (I used 1 3/4 cups + 3 packets of Splenda)
1 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce & 1/2 c. oil)
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water (I used a few tablespoons extra water, because of the Wheat Flour)
2 cups grated zucchini (I used about 2 1/2 cups, and squeezed out the excess moisture with my hands before adding)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (I didn't have any, so I used orange juice instead)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (omitted, Travis hasn't had any nuts yet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 5:06 PM 2 comments

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Bitch, moan & kick-ass! :)

The last few days have sucked a bit of ass. Travis and I both contracted some eye infection this weekend from the pool at the gym on Friday. I locked my keys (and cell phone) in the apartment on Thursday. Yesterday Jeff had a huge issue at the office, where his servers were not connecting to their T-1 lines. AND I have shitty allergies. AND Travis had to get a shot at the Pediatrician's today.

I had these candy-wrapper favors I made for the Bachelorette Party printed today - and they couldn't do them the size I needed because they were all pixilated. They didn't look that way on my monitor... WTF? So I had them shrunk down a bit, and now they will not fit the 5 oz $1.00 Hershey candy bars... only the super-gourmet and expensive 3.5 oz ones. They are like $3.00 a bar, and I need 20. Bleh. Of course, I also bought the nice, expensive, glossy $15.99 presentation paper (pack of 100) and I really only needed 20 sheets. The color laser copies were $18.00 Grr. So, I'm thinking about how possible it's gonna be to wrap King-size bags of M&Ms at the moment. So, whatthefuckever.

But, with all my bitching and moaning aside for a sec... My mother-in-law kicks SERIOUS ass, you guys! She stood in line at the Giada De Laurentiis book signing for 2 hours! Why? Well, apparently to make sure she got Giada's new cookbook signed for me PERSONALLY!Isn't this a great Mother's Day gift?!

See? Kick ass!

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 6:19 PM 2 comments

Friday, May 05, 2006

One perfect moment....

I am very proud of us today... we've been doing this for 18 months! :)

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 9:38 AM 3 comments

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Yay!

Sigh of relief.... Travis is cavity-free. It was just tartar... easily scraped away... while he screamed at the top of his lungs the entire time. So much so, he broke a bunch of capillaries all over his face and eyelids from the force of his crying. Sad, sad mommy. :(

But, besides that, everything looks good. We were instructed to switch to a flouride toothpaste, and wash. No biggie.

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 8:58 PM 2 comments

Monday, May 01, 2006

la la la...

Yawn. I've had NO energy today. Bleh. And I'm desperately in need of a shower. Couldn't take one 'cause the water sling still needs to be laundered from swimming on Friday.
I had every intention of doing laundry today... but Travis had other ideas. He flipped out when I tried to put him on my back in the Mei Tai. Usually he LOVES to go on my back, he thinks it's super-kick-ass. But today? Notsomuch! So, no laundry, no shower... the dishes have piled up in the kitchen. I am feeling drained. From doing what, exactly? Certainly not cleaning all day, LOL!

So, tomorrow we go to the Ped. Dentist to assertain whether The Boy has a cavity. Hopefully it's just tartar.... but how the eff do they clean his teeth? I mean, the kid's scream can break glass. So, good luck to them. Heh.

Cross all appendeges that it's NOT a cavity, ok?

Travis is walking all over these days. I'm relieved, because it took him almost 18 months, but he's finally doing it. He's also figured out how to get into a standing position without "launching" off of some random piece of furniture, or our legs. He's also mimicking speech more. He said "walla" the other day while watching Baby Einstein when they showed and said koala. How cute, huh? He also says: "mama", "dada" "Bubba" (our nickname for him), "Baby" and "My Baby", "shh" (for fish), "dog" (he says it like dog-uh - enunciating the g, like I always do, LOL!)"Hi", "bye" and "ya ya" (for banana) He also does "muah" for kisses. Aww. He does these signs: diaper change, banana (he has a 2 banana-a-day habit..), bird, fish, dog, rain,and shakes his head "no".

I think it's sweet he's starting to talk now. We went to our friend's 2 year old's b-day over the weekend, and he's not talking as much as Travis, and not doing signs, either.

As for the weight loss front... well... I've stalled for the moment. Which is okay, really. I had the bridesmaid dress assessed... it already DOES need to go down 2 sizes... and that was the max the bridal store said it could be altered. So, as long as I don't gain in the next 6 weeks, I'm okay with it right now.

Next weekend is the Bachelorette Partay. I really need to get my ass in gear this week and make these candy wrapper favors I said I'd do. Bleh. Well, maybe I can sweet-talk hubby into "helping" me out with them. :)

We've decided to head down to L.A. for Memorial weekend. Should be nice.... I can't wait to get outta here for awhile. 3 days isn't a whole lot of time, but at least it's something.

posted by T.J.'s Mommy @ 7:58 PM 0 comments

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