Playdates are for Mommies

As much as I'd love to say Colin thoroughly enjoys playdates, he could care less. Of course since he does have one of his mother's traits, his nosiness, he does at least stare at the other child and insists on staying awake the entire time the other child is present. But does he have fun? I mean what is fun to him besides filling up a diaper or taking a good, long nap? Whether he has fun or not, I do! I thoroughly enjoy watching him interact with the other child and of course I enjoy the time I get to spend with my friend, the mother. I must admit that I do look forward to the day when playdates are a little more than watching the kids roll around on the floor. Ah, the days when they can actually entertain themselves and I might actually get to leave the room to do something else. What? There are other things to do other than chase after babies?! Yes, there will be a day when I get some part of my life back...at least there better be. Below are some pictures of Colin and John (Mary Farris Browning's little boy who is about 3 months older, and by the way I'm holding John and Mary is holding Colin) and Colin and Sidney (Brooke Johnson Hiltz's little girl who is 6 days younger than Colin). At least Colin does seem to be more interested in the ladies. First he's trying to hold her hand and by the end he's hugging her?! Oh this is moving too quick for me.

Open Sesame Chicken with Bok Choy Salad

I may not have Rachael Ray's knife skills, but I can still cook a mean dinner! Let me first thank my friends who have gotten me hooked on this darn blogging thing. Thank goodness I have spare time at my office to scan the mulititude of blogs out there, or I think I would get the d.t.'s! This is seriously addictive and not for the time challenged person. With that said, I have found so many wonderful blogs (as you can see listed under my favorite blogs). One such blog, Closet Cooking, I found an easy and delicious recipe for Sesame Chicken. I needed something to go with it and Wes had mentioned Bok Choy a week or so ago - who knows why - so I did a search and came up with a fabulous salad from Southern Living. If you've never had bok choy before, don't be afraid! This is a great recipe to give it a try. Honestly, it tastes just like a salad green in this recipe. I'm stealing the pictures from Closet Cooking and Southern Living just so you can get an idea of what it's going to look like. I thought I'd start with something easy that ALL of you can try. Stick with me and you'll be cooking creme brulee and beef wellington before you know it! Without further ado, here are the recipes:

Sesame Chicken
My rating: 5 stars for ease and taste


Ingredients:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons pineapple juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons ginger (grated)
1 pound chicken (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 teaspoon peanut oil
4 servings cooked rice
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
green onions to garnish

Directions:
1. Mix the soy sauce, pineapple juice, honey, sugar, ginger and chicken in a ziplock bag and marinate in the fridge for about an hour.
2. Heat the oil in a pan.
3. Add the chicken and marinade to the pan and saute until the chicken is cooked and the sauce begins to thicken, about 10 minutes.
4. Serve on cooked rice and garnish with the sesame seeds and green onion.

My notes: This was so easy and quite tasty! I didn’t use the sesame seeds. The taste was very good and there was plenty of chicken for 4 servings using 1 double chicken breast (about 1.5 lbs). I served this with Bok Choy Salad and brown rice. Next time I could add some veggies with chicken (water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, peppers).

Bok Choy Salad
My rating: 5 stars, again for ease and taste


(Courtesy of Southern Living)
Ingredients
2 (3-ounce) packages ramen noodle soup mix (I only used 1)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons slivered almonds, chopped (I didn't chop)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 bok choy, shredded
6 green onions, chopped

Preparation: Remove flavor packets from soup mix; reserve for another use. Crumble noodles. Combine noodles, sunflower seeds, and almonds. Spread on a 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown; set aside.

Bring sugar and next 3 ingredients to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; cool.

Place bok choy and green onions in a large bowl. Drizzle with sugar mixture. Add ramen noodle mixture, tossing well. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 decent servings

Rachael Ray, I am not!

I hate to disappoint everyone but apparently I won't be the next Food Network star - well not without some more cutting skills! After reading Kitchen Confidential, my thoughtful husband thought he would expand my chef skills and get me some super duper knife that Tom Colicchio swears by. For those of you who are not aware of Tom, he's one of the judges on the reality show Top Chef and he also owns several of his own restaurants. I could go on with his credentials, but you get the point. Back to this knife...Wes had to order it online because he couldn't find anywhere around here that sold that brand. Like a typical male, he didn't place the order until 4 days before Christmas. Needless to say, it didn't arrive in time for Christmas. As a matter of fact, he had to send a somewhat stern email to the company after not receiving it for almost 2 weeks. He was so excited when it came. I was too because as much hype as he had given to this gift, I thought it was bound to be something spectacular. You can imagine my surprise when I open the fairly large box to find a knife! Whoopee! I had to look past the awkwardness and appreciate the thought. He knows how much I love to cook and my desire to be a "Top Chef". With that in mind, I thought the gift was great. After it had laid on the counter for several days, I thought I should probably wash the thing and put it to use before Wes got his feelings hurt. So off I go. First I chopped some celery and some carrots. It worked pretty well so I thought this would be a good time to try to master my knife skills and try something I always see the TV chefs do - slice an onion horizontally before cutting it vertically. Well 2 slices in and I got to feel for myself just how sharp the knife was! Yes, right across my left thumb. I immediately put my hand under water and tried to apply pressure. Wes ran up to get me a band aid. Well to make a long story somewhat shorter, after an hour of applying pressure, holding my hand above my head, putting a band aid on it, it still wouldn't quit bleeding. Of course Colin had a major tummy ache and was screaming his head off! It was about time for him to eat so that meant Wes couldn't leave. I call my always-there-for-me-Mother and she comes to take me to the Urgent Treatment Center while Wes feeds Colin. Again, I'll spare all the details but they had to stitch my finger. Here's the best part, I let them do it without any pain meds! I guess child birth has made me a new woman - this coming from the girl who couldn't even listen to someone talk about anything medical without getting light headed! Of course I couldn't get away that easy, because it was a knife I cut myself with I had to also get a tetanus shot. The shot itself didn't hurt at all, it was that venom they injected into my super-sized muscle. So that's it, that was my Sunday afternoon. For those of you that are wondering, yes I did finish cutting the onion and I did finish cooking dinner. The meal was actually quite tasty. I have learned to appreciate each of my 10 digits. I've also learned it's not necessary to cut an onion fancy, my old way is just fine and causes a lot less pain and agony.

Katy bar the door!

Heaven help us, Colin has found his knees! Could it be, the event we've all been waiting for?! CRAWLING!! We all know how quickly kids grow (and you realize this even more once you become a parent and watch your own kids grow) but the past 6 1/2 months have flown by. I remember several months ago joking about Colin crawling and thinking that would be eons away. Granny has been wanting Colin to crawl since he was about 4 weeks old and Mom and I have to slow her down and tell her not to rush things. Apparently it doesn't matter what I do or say, I can't stop him from growing up. I know, it sounds like he's going off to college or something but this is a big milestone for us. I'm probably still jumping the gun a little because the poor kid is just now getting up on his knees. It will probably take him another month to figure it all out and how to move his knees and hands at the same time. To date, his current progress is as follows: push-ups (which he performs on Daddy's command), rocking while doing his push-ups, scooting backwards using his arms only, and most recently he has gotten up on his knees and held himself up with his arms. Oh, it's only a matter of time before the little booger is going to be mobile and look out! If his past actions are any indication of his future, he'll be running through the house never to be seen again. From the time I first felt him kick (around February of last year), he has not stopped moving his legs. No wonder his fat little legs are as solid a rock. He's going to be a mover and a shaker and I just don't know if I'm ready for that. Ready or not, here he comes!

Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold

The lesson of the day, peas are better to eat than they are to wear. My mommy must have some obsession with these green round things. First, I have to dress up as one for Halloween and now I have to eat them. I think my mommy needs to get out more and learn there are other things out there besides PEAS! Funny, I never see her eating these green balls. So I admit I was pretty excited for the first bite. I opened really wide so the mommy couldn't miss. They felt really funny on my tongue and it didn't taste like the white stuff I've grown to love, but I thought I'd give it another try. I didn't want to run the risk of not being offered another bite so I quickly opened wide again. This time I was ready for it and I realized these things weren't so bad. Don't get me wrong, I'd still choose the white stuff any day over the green stuff but I'm afraid if I don't eat everything that's put in front of me I might never work my way up to that luscious piece of pie Daddy was eating that one day! I still have dreams of that pie and I was so close to getting it. Darn my hand eye coordination - I bet I could get it now! Since then I've also tried sweet potatoes and those aren't half bad either. What's with these picky eaters? I don't get it. Next up are carrots - I hope I don't turn orange. Although I could use a little color.