"Honey, help me out and please cut the carbs"!

Cut the carbs?  Lord help me!  So, this may sound like an easy and simple request, but for this carb loving, and 4 months preggo, girl, this could be difficult!  My sweet sweet husband is trying to lose some of the lbs put on during my first extreme carb craving period of life, that would be prenancy numero uno and thus his time each night spent with P90x alone will not suffice.  I have to help him cut the carbs and in addition, quit adding to the issue at hand and tempting him with yummy desserts.  Unfortunately, eventhough I did chose a light and healthy main meal, I had a weak moment and used the leftover sour cream pound cake cupcakes I had made this past weekend to make a mixed berry trifle spiked with amaretto for dessert!  Does dessert really count as a carb?  nahhhh......its just the pefect ending to a almost carb free dinner!  Poor guy, doens't have a chance in this household!  Hey, I did share with  three of our neighbors so that we would only have one serving each in the house. 

Birthdays, Blogs and Bacon

What do birthdays, blogs and bacon have in common?   Not much beyond the fact that I love all three and that it is a lame attempt at having a catchy post header.  Let me see if I can string the three together.  Last week I was recovering from a wild weekend/start of the week celebrating this wild man's second birthday.

Yes, that is a Peter Pan collar.  Yes, he was wearing shorts.  It was an unusually warm day.  Neither of the aforementioned articles of clothing will be worn again during the month of February and, if Patrick has anything to do with it, the former will never be seen again.

We had a big time.  Family came to town.  We borrowed a bounce house.  Jude was given a play horse that takes up our entire family room.  Happy Birthday was sung over a police mega phone.  Muffins and smoothies and some cupcakes were consumed by Jude and friends.  Suffice it to say by the time Jude's actual birthday rolled around, I was wiped out.  I had worked it out with Jenny beforehand to switch our Tuesday night swap to Thursday.  I was feeling low on motivation about what to cook for my family and share with hers until I stumbled upon a blog boasting about a baked potato soup.  Please welcome the third part of this post's alliteration...bacon.  

Bacon, chives, sour cream and cheddar cheese debut as toppings for the soup.

Swiss Chard and Sweet Pea Manicotti

I have had this recipe for over 9 months now and just haven't felt quite inspired enough to make it.  However, after a few relaxing days in warm sunny Puerto Rico last week followed by a blustery cold snap back to reality, this manicotti dish felt oh so appropriate!  Not to mention, I am ready to jump back in the kitchen after having a full week off from cooking!  Sure was a pleasure/vacation in and of itself, not having to cook!  Don't get me wrong, I do love to cook, but anyone who does it for a family, knows that its not just a matter of throwing something edible into the microwave 15 minutes before the hungry mouths start crying!  "Cooking" actually is the final product of a sequence of many small events.   First comes the menu planning, then the grocery list, then the actual grocery shopping, followed by unloading the groceries and organizing the refrigerator (yes - this is an important step - you gotta see whatcha' got - and throw away what is sprouting legs and eyes and is about to talk back to you!)  Then as the week progresses, you are thawing, prepping, washing, chopping, marinating, and then of course, the actual cooking.  This is an art form I'll have you know!  One I love, but one I always will  welcome a small vacation from.  We never eat out and I mean NEVER, so this Puerto Rican vacation was all kinds of a vacation for me!

Portobello Mushroom Lasagna

Moving a bit slowly over here. We awoke Monday of last week to a blanket of snow.  It was gorgeous.  A tree-branch-bending-with-the-weight-of-the-snow, hushed stillness kind of gorgeous.  We sat watching from the front window.  We gobbled up blueberry pancakes.  We eyed the snow some more.  We put on long johns and sweaters and snow pants and boots and jackets and mittens and hats and more socks and headed outside.  We threw snowballs and went for a walk and took a few trips down our neighbor's front lawn on a cardboard box.  It was a great snow day.

By the time Tuesday rolled around, the snow had turned to ice and cabin fever set in. Instead of dropping off dinner, we invited Jenny and her crew to join us.  Lizzie and Jude got to grab toys from each other play and the adults got some much needed human interaction.  In between cries of, "no, mine", we did manage to catch a shot of the little sous chefs amicably and enthusiastically supporting our mealtime efforts.

Appetizer for the night was the crowd pleasing clementine. 

Pasta with Spinach, Tomatoes and Cannelini Beans

So, truth be told, I'm still not feeling up to snuff these days and once 4 pm rolls around, firing up the stove and cooking dinner seems to turn my stomach just a bit.  But, this recipe is one of our old stanbys.  One of Brad's and my mom's too.  It is oh so easy and healthy!  You can add whatever you like to it, we just always have beans, tomatos and spinach on hand.  Actually, we have a healthy bounty of spinach in our garden this fall/winter - so spinach is always plentiful.  That is, if lizzie hasn't picked all the leaves and eaten them straight from the garden!  

Big Blue Pot ~ Feeling Lazy

Ahhhh, we made it through the Christmas celebrations and my husband's birthday (which he notes is the reason for the season) unscathed.  After polishing off Patrick's birthday cake (Barefoot Contessa's Mocha Icebox cake)  on Sunday night, I felt the warm and heavy weight of fatigue start to settle in.  I didn't think I would ever want to cook again or eat for that matter...let it be noted that I would make an exception for the cake as it was damn good...but I digress.

Thinking ahead to my work week and meal making for my family left me a bit uninspired.  I decided to go with my lazy outlook and plan some meals that were easy.  Let me introduce to you Baked Vegetable Rice.  Wait, wait, before I introduce you to the main dish, let me first pay homage to the Big Blue Pot.  Doesn't she look lovely out there in the snow on our back deck?  I placed her so because I have discovered that I really have a crappy camera when it comes to indoor picture taking.  Anyway, here she sits all big and blue.  I used to dread the sight of the Big Blue Pot growing up.  Whenever my mom would pull it out from the cabinets, I would respond by rolling my eyes and quickly trying to steal a snack so I wouldn't be hungry come dinner time.  My mom would use the offending pot for coq au vin and beef bourguignon and other such dishes repugnant to a teenager.   I think my sister also shared my dread of the Big Blue Pot which makes the fact that she gave me one for Christmas a few years ago all the more curious.  Did she do this because she loves me and knew I would appreciate it with my more adult palette or was it some sort of evil joke akin to her "fun" games of holding me down and spitting on my face and other various forms of torture from growing up?  Oh, but I am getting off track again.  Let me get back to the Big Blue Pot.  I now love her and use her great ceramic cooking talents quite often.   I knew she would be just perfect for the veggie rice.

Pizza Pockets

Wow, I feel I've neglected our blog...and so soon.  I apologize.   I've been a little under the weather with a cold that hung on for over 26 days and well.....(guess this would be an official announcement) with this new little one on the way my appetite has been severly under the weather.  With all this said, cooking just hasn't doable.  With all the aromas that are a product of cooking, I would have spent more time in the Loo than in the kitchen had I even tried to attempt it.  And lets be honest, cereal is yummy!  Brad was a trooper, cooking what frozen left overs we had stockpiled and improvising other nights, he kept himself and Lizzie satisfied.  But, I'm back to it now and am sure Brad is glad to hand the kitchen back over. And what did I get back into the groove with?  Pizza Pockets - one of our go-to recips for weekly dinners.  I always have homemade pizza dough in the fridge and the other ingredients are staples in our household.  If I don't have arugula, or can't seem to find it on its own (vs. mixed with radicchio and frisee) I use baby spinach.  These pizza pockets are fun, easy and very good with many meats.  I used Italian chicken this time around, although the recipe calls for Italian ground Turkey.  But if you really want to know what i use most frequently, its ground italian venison which makes the ultimate healthy organic and lean pizza pocket.  And this meal, comes with a side of dipping marinara and what kiddo doesn't like to dip their dinner?!?!  This recipe feeds 3 adults so double if making for more or if you want leftovers.  They can easily be reheated in the toaster oven!