Green Smoothie

Green Smoothie

I finally gave in and tried the green smoothie trend.  This was perfect as is for me, but if you like your smoothies on the frozen side, blend in a cup of ice cubes also.  You can't taste the spinach at all, it just tastes sweet and refreshing.  You could throw in any fruit that you desire, this is just what I had on hand.  This recipe will make 2 smoothies.

-2 cups spinach

-1 frozen banana

-1/2 cup liquid (juice, milk, or water)

-1 apple, chopped (peeled if desired, but I didn't)

-1 Tbsp honey

Blend ingredients and serve.

Thai Banana Pudding Cake

I made this cake for dessert for an Eastern Asian dinner that we had with friends.  The texture was dense and moist, like a bread pudding, and the flavor was wonderful.  I also really love that it's a smaller cake, so after serving 4 adults and 2 kids we didn't have too many leftovers to be tempted by.

Tangy Tomato Salad Dressing

I made this knock off of the Outback Steakhouse Tangy Tomato Salad Dressing.  I followed the recipe, except omitted the pinch of salt, and upped the thyme to 1/4 tsp.  This was delicious!  I served it over spinach tossed with mushrooms, hard boiled egg, and cheddar cheese.  For the classic Outback salad I'd serve it with sliced red onion, big garlic croutons, cucumber, and tomato slices also though, but I had to work with what I had on hand.  The dressing does come out a tad spicy, so if you don't like heat either omit or reduce the cayenne.

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

Recently I've seen several versions of these all over the blogosphere, so I gave in and decided to give them a try.  This is my much more healthy twist on the recipes that I've seen floating around.  You could eat these with syrup, but the glaze is what gives them that real cinnamon bun flavor.  These are super yummy!

-1 cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup all purpose flour

-3 Tbsp sugar

-1/2 tsp salt

-4 tsp baking powder

-1 Tbsp cinnamon

-2 eggs, beaten

-1 1/4 cups skim milk

-2 Tbsp maple syrup

-2 Tbsp butter, melted

-1 Tbsp vanilla

Glaze

-1 cup powdered sugar

-2 Tbsp skim milk

-1/4 tsp vanilla

In medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.  In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, syrup, butter, and vanilla.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Drop 1/4 portions into a hot, greased skillet.  Once bubbles appear flip, and cook for an additional minute.  While cooking pancakes, whisk together glaze ingredients.  Pour glaze over pancakes and serve.

Wilted Spinach Salad

Wilted Spinach Salad

One of my favorite salads is the Wilted Spinach Salad at Macaroni Grill.  Since I haven't lived near a Macaroni Grill in years, here is my at home version of the dish.  I think the Macaroni Grill salad had roasted garlic cloves, rather than minced garlic, which tastes better, but is more time consuming.  For some additional flavor you could add a splash of lemon juice, a dash of red pepper flakes, or a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

-1 lb spinach

-2 Tbsp olive oil

-4 cloves garlic, minced

-1/2 tsp nutmeg

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp pepper

Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add spinach, tossing with oil until wilted, but not cooked completely.  Stir in salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Serve immediately.

Smoothie

Smoothie

In this case it was a blueberry banana smoothie, but any fruit, or combination of fruits works great here.  You could easily add some tofu in here to make this a meal, tofu add protein, a silky texture, and doesn't mess up the flavor at all.  I always use frozen fruit in my smoothies instead of ice cubes, I find that the fruit breaks down better than ice cubes do to give the smoothie a thick texture.

-1/2 cup skim milk (or you could use juice, the idea is just to add liquid)

-1 cup plain or vanilla fat-free yogurt

-1 banana

-2 cups frozen fruit

-1 Tbsp honey

Process ingredients in blender until smooth.  Serve immediately.

39 weeks

Here is what is going on with Noah this week according to babycenter.com;

Your baby's personality is really emerging now. She may be very social, granting broad smiles to everyone she meets, or a little more shy, hiding her face when well-meaning strangers try to engage her. Your baby may charge ahead boldly or assess the situation carefully before accepting others. She might be even tempered or switch her moods quite dramatically.  She'll gesture for your attention and may even wave goodbye when she sees you head for the door. She's also developing a mind of her own, which you may run up against when you try to put her in her car seat or stroller.

 

Noah loves playing with his buddy Luke, who as of August I'll be watching 3 days a week now rather than 2

Noah keeps getting closer and closer to walking.  Now he can walk around the room only grasping one of our hands in his (rather than holding on with both hands).  He keeps testing himself by standing up without holding onto anything for several seconds at a time, before plopping down on his rear.  He is getting a lot more inquisitive, and rather than just playing with what is out in the middle of the room, he is starting to dig in drawers to see what else he can find.  He loves (much to my dismay) opening up the pantry and pulling out coffee filters, tuna cans, and plastic bags.  He also loves pulling all of the tupperware out of the cabinets.  He seems to be able to spot an electrical outlet immediately upon entering a room and becomes obsessed with it.  He also LOVES trying to grab and unwind rolls of toilet paper.  He also loves bath time, and playing with his toys and splashing the water.  And he recently has discovered the fun game of dropping all of his toys and his cup from his high chair and watching them fall, and watching mama retrieve them.  He hasn't purposefully started dropping his food yet though, I think he's scared that I won't give it back. 

Noah is becoming increasingly attached to me, and often won't let anyone other than me hold him if I'm in the room, especially if there are strangers around.  There is a certain side of Noah that only Jeremy and I get to see.  Around others he is usually shy at first, and then warms up and will be fun and goofy.  But there's a certain side to him that only comes out when the three of us are all at home together.  There's a silliness and comfort that he just doesn't show around other people.

I never really thought much about the fact that Noah doesn't watch cartoons, movies, or TV until a friend came over and was surprised at that.  It's probably a little more work for me to entertain him all day long without letting him watch TV, but it works for our family, at least at this point in time.  I'm sure eventually in the future we will let Noah watch a show or movie here or there, but that is probably still a ways down the road.  It really wouldn't even be convenient, because our only TV is so small, and so high off of the ground that I doubt Noah would even be able to see it well.