I sat down last night and wrote a long blog post. It started out all well and good, I talked about cooking and gardening. Then I started talking about work, which was frustrating last week, and about computer troubles, and my inability to make a decision about a new car seat. About 1,500 words into my post I realized that I was not going to actually post it. Too negative and ranty. So I wrapped it up with another 500 words, allowing myself to get fairly personal, and went to bed...
I thought about it on-and-off all day today. There was plenty of public-friendly info in my ramblings. So I figure I can at least share parts of it -- probably not the section where I grouse about work or rage about computers malfunctioning, but certainly the food bits, and maybe an abbreviated part of the car seat ramblings...
COOKING & BAKING
The one-semester cooking class I took in the seventh grade came in handy Friday night. I made chili for dinner, a dish which typically goes well with some chips on the side. Unfortunately, despite making three trips to various grocery stores during the day, I did not have any chips in the house at the time I was mixing the final ingredients into the chili. Thankfully I had half a package of leftover tortillas in the house. So I turned the oven to 400 degrees, sprayed down the stack of tortillas, sliced them up with my pizza cutter, and tossed them on to baking sheets in the oven. (I googled a recipe just to make sure I used the right cook temp and time.) They were quite yummy -- I think Nate was pleasantly surprised. Many thanks to "Ms. R" for her excellent class, so many years ago.
(Side note: The recipe I used for my chili comes from my quinoa cookbook. I use ground turkey, although I've been meaning to try it meatless. This time I added some sliced carrots during the simmering step. You could also or alternatively add corn; I like to use about 1 cup for a batch this size. Nate loves this chili, which says a lot.)
Last night I made a chicken enchilada casserole for dinner. I used our new-ish slow cooker recipe book, even though it often annoys me. For instance, when I reviewed the recipe yesterday morning, I realized that basically you make the whole casserole and then just put it in the slow cooker for four hours so that it heats through. Pffff. That's silly. If I have to cook and assemble everything in advance, why not just put it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes?
That's exactly what I did, and it turned out fine. The recipe called for too many layers of tortillas between the saucy chicken layers, so I will have to "fix" that for next time. The recipe is also a bit long and involved, so I need ponder what I could do to make it less labor-intensive. I really don't have time for all of these hours-to-prepare, dirty-every-dish-in-the-house meals. If the end result is an amazing meal, then it's worth it, but usually the end result is just a really good meal. More (cooking) shortcuts, please!
Right at this very moment I am making chocolate rolls. (Wait... rolls? Yes, rolls!) I've been thinking about making chocolate bread (not cake, bread) for months now. Awhile ago I found a promising recipe and a couple of weeks ago I tried to make it. Something went wrong in the process and the bread didn't rise, and it was a disappointing failure. I have a (yeast) dinner roll recipe that is pretty quick and never fails me, so I thought I'd try adapting it toward chocolate. So far it's going great; I'm waiting for the oven to heat up and then I will bake the rolls. Mayhaps by the time I am done writing this post I will be able to tell you the outcome... Stay tuned!
GARDENING
There are some plants sprouting up in the garden! The lettuce is popping up, as are a couple of the kale seeds. Yesterday morning Nate noticed a couple of leeks and a few carrots finally poking through. I expected more kale by now, so I might have to go plant more seeds. We'll see how the week goes. There are also lots of weeds, so I hoed a bit this evening, and we have a couple of volunteer squash! I don't know what they are, but I will transplant them in a few weeks and we'll see what happens. (I love volunteer plants, they are the most exciting kind. So much mystery!)
I expect to see some signs of life from the onions this week, cross your fingers. I am looking forward to the relief on our weekly budget that the onions will provide. Saturday I bought six onions (almost 4lbs worth) for this week's recipes. Thankfully, one of our regular grocery stores was having it's annual "Founder's Day" sale so onions were only 68¢ a pound. (Oh, but then last night, right after I diced two onions and put the pieces in a bowl, I knocked the bowl off the counter and lost everything. There goes $1 of food and a bunch of hard work. Sigh.)
This last week we planted bell pepper seeds in the ground. I also put in a few squash seeds, as test. (It might still be a little early -- i.e. cold -- for squash; we'll see.) I put seeds for squash, zucchini, pumpkin, and tomato seeds in transferable containers. They will spend the week in the greenhouse, since the temperature has dropped and it's rainy. Maybe next week the sun will be back and they can sit outside again. Either way, all of our seeds should sprout by the end of this coming week, or else I will need to plant more seeds.
Seeds still to plant include corn and sunflowers; both require consistently warmer weather prior to planting. (Someday when I have an awesome greenhouse -- i.e. after we tear down the current one and get and new one -- I hope to do lots of seedlings early in the year; as it stands, the current greenhouse isn't useful for very much. Too old and broken, unfortunately.)
CAR SEATS
If you're screaming at me that I should just make up my mind already, you're right! I'm still dragging my feet and it's silly. If it's any consolation, I am closer to making a decision. We are leaning toward a Britax...
My co-worker came over last week and let us test out his Britax Boulevard car seat. We got to put it in our car, take the baby in and out, play with the various moving parts and everything. It fits really, really well in our car -- it's not too big to fit behind the passenger seat. It latches down tightly and easily. It's easy to get the baby in and out. The tether on the crotch buckle is definitely a little bit short so it's hard to buckle down the shoulder straps, but I think that was the only less-than-ideal thing about it. The particular model we played with has a "click safe" feature, which means it makes a little clicking sound when the shoulder straps are tight enough. It's a neat feature and only adds a few dollars to the price.
A very good friend of mine in Eugene just got the Peg Perego convertible seat for her son, and she says it's great. Fits well in her little car and is easy to install and adjust. Still, I can't get my head around that price. Is it really that much better than the Britax, enough to justify the price jump? I don't think it is. I think I just need to cross it off my list... I'm almost ready to cross it off...
Really, I need to sit down and take a closer look at the options with the Britax, since I know we like it (almost love it). I need to carefully compare the Marathon, Boulevard, Boulevard CS, and the Advocate. What are the biggest differences? What matters to me? Do the added features justify the additional cost?
...And what color(s) do I like? :o)
BABY GIRL!
Not a lot to say about our darling daughter. I think she's working up toward tooth number 6 (!) because she's been salivating and had a bit of a runny nose, and maybe some pain in her gums. It's hard to tell if she's just being fussy or if she's hurting; when in doubt I sometimes give her a teething tablet just in case. They're homeopathic so no biggie.
"Cry-it-out" seems to be done now (knock on wood). I put her down in her crib at bedtime and she goes to sleep without a sound. Even tonight, after she had a rough day and had to go to the baby sitter (translated: mommy separation anxiety filled evening) and didn't seem sleepy when I put her in her crib, she just smiled up at me, cuddled her blanket, and was quiet. I don't know if she went to sleep instantly or lay in her crib for awhile, but she didn't make a sound. I checked on her after half an hour and she was out, so at some point she definitely went to sleep (I like to think it was right away but I don't know).
The downside of her new, independent sleeping ability is that she gets up early in the morning. She pretty much usually sleeps all night, but only for about 10 hours. Her bedtime is 7pm... You do the math...
Yeah. She gets up at 5 or 5:30. She let us sleep in until almost 6am one time last week. It's not too bad when it's sunny outside but man oh man, if she could just hold off until 6am it would make such a difference! I tried putting her to bed a little later (7:30-8:00) but it seemed to have the opposite effect, she got up at 4:30am! Ahhhhh! So now I need to be strict about my own bedtime (in bed at 9:30, Brooke!) or else I'm a bit cranky in the mornings.
Coming back to those ROLLS again...
Just took them out of the oven. Haven't taken a bite yet, they need to cool a little. They look and smell great so I am excited and hopeful!
FINALLY...
I would like to ask that you please pray for Nate. He has been looking for a new job for a year now. There have only been a couple of interviews, despite frequent applications. I help him find job listings and sometimes edit his materials, so I know he's putting his "best foot forward" but still we're hitting a lot of dead ends. So please say a prayer, or think good thoughts, or whatever method you use to send us some good mojo. Thanks.
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