I love this recipe. LOVE it. Warm or cold and it can stand alone or be served along something else. It takes no time to whip together and you can make it as spicy as you want.
Whisk together honey, peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar and red pepper and set aside. Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Julienne the green onions, carrots, and bell pepper; and mince the garlic. Heat the seseme oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the carrots, saute for a minute or two, then add the garlic, bell peppers, onions, and garlic. Saute until crisp tender. Add the liquid ingredients and heat through, stirring gently. Then add the pasta and toss until coated. Garnish with the chopped cilantro.
This popular middle eastern salad is made with Tabbouleh instead of bulgar. I like the substitution because I have a big Costco size bag of Quinoa in my pantry all the time. I could eat this once even twice a week, it’s just so easy to throw together. This light and tasty dish and pairs well with any meat.
Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat; fluff with a fork. Stir in tomato and remaining ingredients. Cover; let stand 1 hour. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Christmas came early for little Miss Kaili. As we were heading out this weekend, Shane spotted a garage sale with some children’s toys. We stopped and needless to say left with a couple of things for her.
We are starting her young folks, soon she will be washing dishes, unloading the dishwasher and helping me with meals.
We also picked up a little play structure for her. She has already figured out how to climb up the slide and get down the big step feet first. She’s a quick learner.
Our vacation date is closing in and besides being super excited I am also anxious, a little nervous and realizing how much there is to think about this time around. In the past, meaning pre-Kaili, trips were a breeze to go on a blast to plan.
Our, meaning Shane and my last real vacation was 4 years ago when we went to Beijing for the 2008 Paralympics. Since then we have taken a few getaways to Santa Barbara, Arizona and Washington but the past few years we have been stuck close to home while going through our fertility treatments. Once Kaili came we have been on the go, but as all of you who have kids know, a vacation with a young baby is not a real vacation. Gone are the days of sleeping in late, lounging on the beach, late night dining and dancing til dawn…and that is fine. But once in a while I think parents need to escape, enjoy each others company…alone and recharge their batteries. That is exactly what I..ahem, we plan to do.
This time we have 9 glorious days to do whatever we want in Rome and Paris. We might even dance til dawn because we will be able to sleep in as long as we like, how amazing does that sound? Packing for a long trip like this calls for some thinking ahead. There are a lot of things that are easy to grab while you are at your destination but others are just easier to bring with, like an outlet converter and face paint { GO USA } and the obvious red while and blue gear for the Paralympics. Where does one buy face paint anyhow?
Since we will be leaving the little Miss with family while we play in Europe {THANK YOU} I am realizing how much more preparation needs to be done before we leave. There are things I didn’t even think about like filling out a medical release form and leaving medicine dosages. I know I will go overboard on information for her caretakers but I don’t care. I spent my entire pregnancy being told to not worry but my gut was right 99% of the time, so I am going to go information overload for my own piece of mind.
Our parents are flying with Kaili to London where we will meet them for the second leg of our vacation. So I also need to get Kaili’s suitcase packed with her passport inside so it wont be forgotten and make sure all the little things are ready for them to go before we walk out the door. What all that is, I am not quite sure yet, my head is spinning.
All I know is this trip is overdue and I can’t wait to escape with my husband for alone time. I also can’t wait to spend an amazing time in London with our family but the best part of it all will be watching the Paralympics and cheering for our friend in his quests for two gold medals.
We spent a fun day visiting a couple of wineries this past Saturday. Our good friend Kristi drove from Arizona for a quick visit and we knew where we wanted to take her.
Cordiano Winery sits perfectly perched in the hills of San Pasqual Valley and the atmosphere is priceless. We sat, ate pizza, drank wine and watched Kaili walk around and around making new friends, with humans and dogs. If you are ever in the neighborhood, stop in for a visit.
not everyone drinks wine at a winery
Kaili has gotten this walking thing down pretty well now. She likes to get a toy and then walk up and down the hallway with it in her hands babbling to herself. You can really see the confidence oozing and it wont be long before she is running. I tried to get her to walk her “puppy” down the hall but getting her to do what I want while the camera is out doesn’t work very well.
One thing I like to do at night is watch Americas Test Kitchen while laying in bed. The great thing about watching it at night is I sleep off the desire to make all the delicious food. One of the last episodes I watched was how to make perfect thin crust pizza. It looked so good I had to try it out. The secret to the crust was to let is slowly rise in the refrigerator over night.
I prepared the dough a day ahead so it was all ready for Shane to make his famous BLT pizza on Friday night.
It was a little time-consuming to make but I will do it again, just next time I will do it when I am not alone with baby girl. The final product was delicious!
BLT pizza, minus a few bites.
Along side the pizza I made a chopped salad loaded with green beans, radishes, onions, heirloom tomatoes, peppercinis and topped with blue cheese.
Ingredients
3 cups (16 1/2 ounces) bread flour, plus more for work surface (see note)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/3 cups ice water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for work surface
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
Directions
In food processor fitted with metal blade, process flour, sugar, and yeast until combined, about 2 seconds. With machine running, slowly add water through feed tube; process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let dough stand 10 minutes.
Add oil and salt to dough and process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball that clears sides of workbowl, 30 to 60 seconds. Remove dough from bowl and knead briefly on lightly oiled countertop until smooth, about 1 minute. Shape dough into tight ball and place in large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.
One hour before baking pizza, adjust oven rack to second highest position (rack should be about 4 to 5 inches below broiler), set pizza stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and divide in half. Shape each half into smooth, tight ball. Place on lightly oiled baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart; cover loosely with plastic wrap coated with nonstick cooking spray; let stand for 1 hour before topping and baking.
These stinkin molars have been a pain in her ass the past few days. Today she has had a low grade fever and no appetite but that didn’t stop her from trying out this walking thing. I may or may not have been luring her with the ball to get the video.
Favorite DIY- I had to post both of these because they are such great ideas, well the marker one is pure genius. I can’t believe I am just seeing this now.
Kaili doesn’t drink juice very often, well actually never. I bought a carton of OJ for a recipe and since no one is going to drink it I thought I would give her a little watered down juice as a treat.
At first she was all…”Mmm this is good.”
And then she was all…”WTF is this?”
This went on a few more times and then she handed me her cup. The moral of this story, “you won’t miss what you’ve never had.”
I don’t pull out my crock pot for much these days but this my friends is a good reason to. See recipe here. The only thing I did different was I used a couple serranos in place for the jalapeno. I also found the amount of coleslaw to be way too much, so I just used half a bag and guesstimated the sauce ingredients. I regret not trimming away all the fat off my roast which caused it to be a little greasy, next time I will take the extra time to do that.
Over all this was very good and I will do it again…soon. Don’t forget to top it with Sriracha!
The Art of Thyming 