Thanksgiving

Pumpkin Mufflette. Just made that up on a challenge from Joe. It's a mini pumpkin pie made in a muffin tin. 1 can pumpkin, 2/3 cup soymilk thickened on the stove with 2 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs, the usual spices. 1 premade pie crust. 400 degrees, then 350 til set.
We had a turkey breast instead of the whole bird. I was pleased with the results, even though supposed turkey popper never popped (because there wasn't one). But this bird was actually tender and juicy. We used the left over bones for soup.
Our meal included turkey (me), spinach salad (mom tilsch), homemade dinner rolls (mom parrino), zuchinni casserole (mom tilsch), green beans (mom parrino), roasted veggies (mom parrino), baked sweet potato mash with apple sauce (mom tilsch), cranberry sauce (can), dairy-free pumpkin pie (me)and apple pie (dad tilsch, from the tree in their backyard)
Everyone's so enamored with Munchie that there's always eager volunteers waiting to change his daiper. *Sigh*, must this alternate universe come to an end?

Who eats whom?

Just a little series of Stephen v. plush lion from Bill and Kaye Munday.

Lovable laughter

This one has sound, so get your headphones ready.
In case you're wondering, I had to jump up and down and flail my arms like a muppet to get this footage.

Belated 3 months

I've been so busy with the freelance project for the New Era that I failed to commemorate Stephen's three-month birthday yesterday :-(

I only took one photo of him... so this is what's going up.
Some milestones in the last few weeks:
1. discovering and sucking on his fists
2. Full-out laughter
3. Lots and lots of cooing, to himself
4. scooching out of his crib bumpers up to the corner of his crib
5. Learning how to take naps *gasp* in the daytime!!!

A video of the adorable giggler is forthcoming.

Panettone

It's the Italian's version of fruit cake, but way better :-) So says my friend Kai, and I agree.

Though it looks like it'd be a dense cake, Panettone reminds both Joe and I of the spongy sweet bread sold at Chinese bakeries. It's like the angel food cake of the yeast bread world. And the raisins and orange peel are much yummier than you'd expect.

Hananoki or Hanoiko?

Joe and I celebrated our unofficial anniversary yesterday. We left the munchie with our neighbors, Beau and Rachel, who are expecting their own baby girl :-) Then headed to Clarksville's Hananoki restaurant for sushi. Joe ordered these flowers as a special surprise for me... alas, they didn't make it to the restaurant until our meal was finished. I suspect that the butchering of the name of the restaurant on the tag might have had something to do with it? Joe and I joked that Hanoiko would be a Greek-Japanese place serving teriyaki moussaka or tempura in titziki... Well. The flowers were lovely. Hydrangeas are my favorite flowers and I really like the little inchworm-green mums and what girl doesn't like red roses. Also the square vase with marbled stones is very classy, don't you think? When the flowers die, I want to put some guppies or a beta in the vase. Haven't had pet fish in a long time.
OK, shifting gears. Let's eat fish. We shared a spider roll, "spring" roll with seaweed salad and dabs of sriracha on top and the volcano roll with spicey imitation crab shreds with torched edges. After dinner with perused Books-A-Million and bought another Leo Lionni book --Swimmy--for the Munch. I've been trying to collect them because Stephen really seems to gawk at the illustrations whenever I read them to him.

Quesadillas, cake mix cookies and anniversary

After having the chicken quesadilla at Coffee And... the other day, I decided to make my own with shredded chicken breast (baked in the toaster over in olive oil and lemon juice) and diced red bell pepper, tossed with salsa and sprinkled with cheddar.
And I've been craving both chocolate and cookies lately with the weather starting to act like it should in November. These are uber easy... inspired by Kai, who first turned me on to cake mix cookies. Just dump a chocolate cake mix in a bowl (on sale at Kroger for $1!) add two eggs, 1/2 cup oil and mix. Then plunk heaping spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bakeuntil the tops look set at 350 degrees. I ate three of these soft giants before Joe got home from work to take me out to dinner for our unofficial anniversary.

Canelini Bean Soup

Got this out of my 3 and 4 ingredient cookbook that I bought to read while I was in labor (and didn't read while I was in labor)

Simmer:
4 cans diced tomatoes with herbs
4 can canelini beans
small head savoy cabbage
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper to taste.

Add the beans last so they don't fall apart too much.
It was pretty tasty and very healthful. I ate it for breakfast before toting it in a crockpot to church.

Coffee And... Stephen

Stephen had another checkup today. He weighs 10 pounds, 2 ounces! He gained more than 2 lbs in a month. Woo hoo! and is 22 1/2 inches long.

I've been doing a little freelance work for the New Era this week. So after his check up we went downtown to scope out some gift ideas for the New Era gift guide. Stephen eventually got hungry for lunch, so I fed him at "Coffee And..." Then I fed myself :-) Chicken Quesadilla, hold most of the cheese. The tortilla was really delicate and packed with tender chicken, tomato and a little green bell pepper. Really yummy.

I also found a copy of Leo Lionni's Fredrick at Books On Main. Since Stephen is starting to seem like he enjoys me reading to him, I decided to buy it. He loves looking at my other 2 Leo Lionni books.

All in all, a nice morning for us.

Happy in the morning

This is for you, Mom.

spinach pies

Inspired by the yummy snacks at a middle eastern bakery on the west side of Cleveland. Recipe and words to come.

Stevercize

When I came home from the grocery store this morning, this is what I found.