School Pictures

I thought it might be a good idea for Colin to practice his smile before his school pictures this year.  I'm not sure why I decided to fight that battle, I mean how many pictures of him do I need with that Olan Mills-esque baby blue cloud background? If anything, I'm persistent, so I pressed on.  It didn't hurt that he looked devilishly handsome!

So I present to you "the smile."  Don't be jealous, it's pretty spectacula!

Happy weekend and GO CATS!!

The Dresser Reveal

I apologize for making you wait so long for the big reveal!  I had no idea I was creating such suspense.  It was honestly because I hadn't taken a good enough picture yet!  So without further ado, here she is in all her glory.

And since everyone likes a good before and after, here's a refresher.

Before:

After:  

So what do you think?  I love the way it turned out, especially those feet!

Veggie Pot Pie with Potato Biscuit Crust

I thought it would be fun to participate in Kicthen Play's Progressive Party this month and recreate Versatile Kitchen's Vegan Potato Pot Pie.  Kitchen Play is hosting a fun contest where you can recreate one of that month's party entries, blog about it, and be entered in a drawing.  Normally I pass on these type of things but when I saw her recipe, I decided, contest or not, I wanted to make those pot pies!

One of Wes' favorite meals is chicken pot pie.  However, I'm making an attempt to minimize our consumption of meat as of late, so I was excited to find a pot pie without meat, vegan even.  Since we're still in the beginning stages, I haven't jumped on the vegan train full boar just yet.  We still consume quite a bit of dairy and have chicken or fish at least once a week.  We're definitely making strides though.

I was a little skeptical when I started this recipe that it would lack flavor.  I wanted so badly to revert to my tried and true chicken pot pie recipe but I pushed on and I'm so glad I didn't deviate...that much.  I am a new fan of potato biscuits!  I cannot wait to try to recreate these for breakfast one morning.  Plus, no butter?!  Amazing.  Who knew that was even possible?!

The only modification I'd make for next time, and yes there will be a next time, would be to amp up the vegetable content and overall quantities of filling.  I know I used larger ramekins than Champa did but she got 8-10 and I barely managed to get 6 - and 2 of those were child-sized. 

Just one last interesting tidbit or food for thought, if you will.  Did you know one medium potato (skin on) provides nearly 1/2 of your daily Vitamin C requirement?  Plus it's only 110 calories! 

Veggie Pot Pies w/Potato Biscuit Crust
adapted from:  Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen

For the filling:

2 T. olive oil
1/3 cup diced red onion
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 medium red potatoes (with skin), diced into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 small white potato, peeled, boiled, and mashed to get 1/2 cup mashed potato (you'll need another 2/3 cup for the biscuit topping)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 T. butter
2 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

For the biscuit:

1 cup plus 1 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup 50/50 blend flour, or more all-purpose
4 tsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup mashed white potato
4 T. olive oil
2-6 T. almond milk, as needed to make the dough


For the filling:  Heat oil in a pan.  When hot, add garlic and red onions.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and cook until the onions are translucent, about 4-5 minutes.  Add carrots, potatoes, and peas.  Add remaining ingredients (spices, butter, and stock) and stir to combine.  Cover and cook on medium until the potatoes are soft but not mushy, about 10-15 minutes.

When the vegetables are done, remove a few tablespoons to mix into the 2/3 cup mashed potatoes.  Pour the mashed potatoes back into the vegetable mixture.  This acts as the thickener instead of the traditional flour roux mixture.  Bring to a gentle simmer and add more stock if necessary to achieve a gravy-like consistency.

Pour into 1 or 2 cup ramekins, filling 3/4 of the full.

For the biscuits:  Preheat the oven to 400.  In a medium bowl, add all of the biscuit ingredients, except for the milk.  Using a pastry blender, mix until the potato is well incorporated.  Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it makes a soft dough.  Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2" thick.  Cut to fit the shape of your ramekins.

Top the ramekins with the dough and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until the biscuit is golden brown.

Weekly Recipe: Broccoli Salad

Five posts in one week?!  Will wonders ever cease.  I think these beautiful rays of sunshine have injected something magical in me (:

If you live in an area that has Kroger grocery stores (or their subsidiaries), you may recall one of their recent marketing attempts whereby they assigned ratings to various fruits and vegetables.  We don't really shop at Kroger but Colin, for one, found those commercials very educational.  The thing I took from it was that broccoli, which receives a 100%, is one of the healthiest fruit or vegetable you can eat.  No lie, since then, I think we've had broccoli once a week since then.  We had it a lot before but now I can't even think about broccoli without thinking 100%.  I guess Kroger's ad campaign worked for our little family.  Now if they could just get me into their store.  That's another story.

This salad is one of our favorites.  I love it because it adds some extra depth to the broccoli.  It also adds additional textures and flavors to the sometimes bland broccoli.  The original dressing makes more than I need, so I've scaled it back a bit.  I also don't cut up the stem, as the original recipe suggests.  My kids love broccoli but I think the stem would be pushing it.  Heck, it'd be pushing it for Wes and I too! 

I love to make this either the night before or the morning of to allow the flavors to really soak into the broccoli.  Plus, having one less thing to do when I get home is always helpful as well.

Broccoli Salad
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 3-pack of broccoli
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup diced red onions

Buttermilk Dressing:
1/4 cup almond milk, plus 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar (allow to rest while you combine the rest of the ingredients)
1/4 cup olive oil mayo, plus more until you achieve your desired consistency
1 T. cider vinegar
1 T. sugar
1 T. diced red onion
salt and pepper to taste

Trim broccoli and cut into bite-sized chunks.  Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds, cranberries, and red onions.

In a separate bowl, combine dressing ingredients and whisk to combine.  Pour the dressing over the broccoli and toss to combine.  Season with additional salt, if desired.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 2 hours.  


Linking up to It's a Keeper Thursday, Tastetastic Thursday, and Lady Behind the Curtain.  

A Dresser Transformed

One caveat of moving is that all of your furniture might not fit.  I had considered the spacing element, but what I failed to consider was the height limitations of our stairs.  Unfortunately, 2 of our bedroom pieces (along with our box spring) were not able to fit up our stairway.  Our closet is large enough to compensate for the missing pieces but we were left with an open space that needed to be filled and we were missing a place to house our tv.

I wasn't so sad about losing the pieces of furniture, I was sad because I'd have to sell them, knowing good and well I wouldn't get anywhere close to what I paid for them.  Luckily, my mom was able to use our dresser as a buffet/storage piece for her dining room, leaving us with only the armoire to sell.

So I wasn't real excited to throw down a big chunk of change on another piece of furniture.  I looked at IKEA but I wasn't impressed with the quality.  Sure it was inexpensive, but if I was going to spend $300, I would rather buy something nice.  I had in my head that I wanted a piece that I could paint.  I had seen so many inspiration pictures floating around of transformed pieces and I wanted one too!

Exhibit A:

Not really my style but you get the point.

Exhibit B:

 Only a mere $1350 on Joss & Main!  

So I began scouring Craigslist and various consignment shops around town.  I kept coming up with nothing.  I got frustrated because I saw so many awesome finds of fellow bloggers and wondered why my city didn't have more thrift-type stores.  Determined, I looked in the yellow pages online and discovered a thrift store minutes from my office.  

I remember pulling in, talking to my mom, telling her I was about to go in a thrift store but I wasn't going to tell her where it was because I knew she'd be nervous.  Somewhat reluctantly, I went in, totally expecting to find nothing but old, stained, smelly furniture.  Wrong!  I found this beauty.

What?  You don't think it's beautiful?  But look at the bones!  It looks identical to the black one above from Joss & Main but the difference?  It was $20!  And an added bonus, it's Bernhardt!

I had read a lot about Annie Sloan's paint and was enticed by the no sanding, no priming, just paint technique.  For someone who likes instant gratification and is otherwise very impatient, it seemed like it was meant to be.  With paint and wax in hand, I was ready to tackle the project.  

It wasn't long before I was cursing all the hardware on the dresser, the very same hardware that had attacted me to the piece in the first place!  I was determined to keep it in tact, so I removed the removable ones and painted around the corner pieces.

 

One thing I didn't like about the dresser from the beginning was the height.  I wanted it just a tad higher so the top was above the height of our bed, not below or even with it.  I got the idea of attaching some feet or legs to the bottom of.  Upon searching, I found that I would really escalate the price of my cheap find if I bought these legs I found online.  Dang it!  

I thought all hope was lost until I hired a handyman to do a few odd jobs around the house.  He also repairs furniture and didn't even blink an eye when I mentioned adding legs to the bottom of the dresser.  His only question was, "How high?"  

And just like that, the dresser had a whole new look.

Dying to see the finished result?  Tune in later this week for the big reveal!

A Little Update

Being the type-A personality that I am, it pains me to show you this work in progress.  In the same vain, I also can't stand to keep it from you anymore.

You may recall that we hired Abby, from a Delightful Design to help us tackle our decorating delimmas for our new living room space.  She has been a delight to work with and I can only assume she got her moniker for her carefree spirit!
 
Let's bring you up to speed.  Our original space had great bones.  After all, something had to attract us to this lovely home.  I assure you it wasn't the appeal of packing up, moving, and losing some favorite pieces of furniture due to size!  So here was our living room before we moved in.

Before:

This is the before of the bookshelves.  

The bookshelves cover the entire length of the longest wall and are the main focal point of our living room.  While beautiful and great for storage, they were a bit underwhelming on design.  

Abby proposed that we wallpaper the backs of the shelves with grasscloth.  Yikes!  I hate wallpaper and I've never used it (the primary reason I hate it).  It's so permanent, what if I don't like it, isn't grasscloth outdated?  These were the thoughts running through my little pea brain.  After going to a local shop and discovering it was very much back in vogue, I began to be able to breath a little easier.  Maybe she's not crazy.  Maybe she does know what she's talking about, I thought to myself.  Wes, who was also skeptical at first, began to turn the corner as well.  We finally bit the bullet and ordered it!

When it arrived, I was still so nervous about tackling the installation.  It haunted me on the kitchen counter for over a week before I finally opened the package.  I had read somewhere about using a hot glue gun to hang fabric in the back of kitchen cabinets, so I thought that might be a less permanent solution for me as well.  I began my internet search and found a blogger who used spray adhesive for the very same grasscloth project.  I scampered to the dredges of hell Walmart to buy my supplies.  Of course there couldn't just be 1 type, no there were 4.  I grabbed the one that said semi-permanent because of my aforementioned phobia.

Fast forward to my weekend project.  Silly me, I thought I could tackle this job alone.  I also thought I could knock it out while Sawyer took his 1 1/2 hour nap.  Wrong on both accounts.  Long story short, the spray adhesive did nothing.  Nothing!  Probably shouldn't have gotten the semi-permanent for such a heavy material.  1 lesson learned.  After yelling at Wes, spraying myself with adhesive, burning myself with the glue gun multiple times, running out of grasscloth and having to piece it, and taking 3 days to finish the installation, I present to you the final product (minus the shelves being styled, of course).

After:

 

 

And here's a before and after, side-by-side.  (Note:  Yes, that is the UK game on the tv!  Go Cats!)

What an amazing transformation!  We are beyond pleased with the way it turned out and feel it adds so much warmth to the room.  It really brings the shelves to life and now we're anxiously awaiting Abby's design touch so that we can style away!

And as an added bonus, here's a picture of our drapes that were finally hung a couple of weeks ago.  If I've learned one thing in the 2 months we've lived in this house, you don't mess with plaster unless you know what you're doing!  I'm happy to say we've found an expert and it's neither of us!

Stay tuned for more reveals!  Next up is the new sofa with fun pillows that tie the space together!

The Secret Recipe Club: Thai Shrimp Bites with Peanut-Lime Dipping Sauce

It's time once again for the Secret Recipe Club.  Today I'll be outing my secret.  Sounds dramatic, huh?  After holding it in for a month, I finally get to reveal my new blog crush, Inquiring Chef!

As always, I could not wait to start my assignment and I quickly delved into her recipe index.  I'm very thorough when I make my selection because I have to make sure I'm choosing the perfect one for me.  That means I read through EVERY single recipe!  I'm not looking forward to the day that I'm assigned a blog with thousands of recipes.  Who am I kidding, I'm always up for a good challenge.

Being rather indecisive makes selecting just one recipe a little challenging.  I swear I don't remember always being this indecisive but as of late, I can't seem to make a single decision on my own!  Well to add to it, I literally wanted to make every recipe I came across on the Inquiring Chef's site.  Maybe I was hungry, maybe her pictures lured me in, or maybe I've just been having a hankering for Asian-inspired food.  You see, Jessica was has been in Bangkok for about 2 years (I think she's home now) and has been inspired by the culture around her.  If her recipes are any indication of the food scene in Bangkok, sign me up!  The flavors, the produce, the varieties are just endless.

I bookmarked no less than 10 of her recipes in a matter of minutes.  I know you'll be surprised to hear that I passed up her Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies!  It was hard but when you see all the rest of her recipes, you'll understand.  Once again, I chose 2 recipes to try.  The first, and the one I'm entering this month, is her Thai Shrimp Bites with Peanut-Lime Dipping Sauce.  Holy wow!  These little gems were de-lightful!  Wes, my mom, and I could not keep our paws off of these.  Thankfully we had around 30 to share between us and we easily could have gobbled them all up in one sitting.  They had so much flavor on their own but the dipping sauce amped it up even more.  Wes couldn't say enough about them.  I'm already thinking of new additions to change them up next go-round.  And there will be a next go-round!

Thai Shrimp Bites with Peanut-Lime Dipping Sauce
by:  Inquiring Chef


for the sauce:
1 cup (235 mL) coconut milk
1/3 cup roasted peanuts (unsalted), roughly chopped
2 tsp. light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
juice from 1/2 lime
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 tsp. siracha (more or less, to taste)


for the bites:
1 Tbsp. roasted peanuts (unsalted)
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
3/4 pound (340 g) raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined (I used precooked)
24 wonton wrappers (I think I got more like 30)
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil


Make the sauce.  Combine coconut milk and peanuts in a small saucepan over medium heat.  When the coconut milk begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until thickens slightly (mine never really got thick, so I just cooked it for about 7 minutes).  Pour coconut milk into the bowl of a blender or food processor.  Add remaining ingredients and pulse until mixture is smooth and creamy.  Pour the sauce into a small bowl and leave the blender out to use for the filling.
Combine the filling.  In the bowl of a food processor or blender, pulse the peanuts and garlic until they form a paste.  Add green onions, cilantro leaves, soy sauce, and shrimp, pulsing until only very small pieces of shrimp remain and the ingredients are evenly incorporated.  Transfer the mixture to a small bowl.
Assemble the bites.  Working with one wonton wrapper at a time, place a heaping teaspoon of shrimp filling into the center.  Dampen the edges of the wrapper by dipping a finger in water and running it along the edge.  Gather the wonton wrapper at four points, pressing them together to enclose the filling.  Put the filled wrappers on parchment paper and cover with a slightly dampened paper towel (to prevent them from drying out).

Cook the bites.  Place a large saute pan (that has a tight-fitting lid) over medium-high heat.  Add vegetable oil, swirling it to evenly coat the bottom of the pan.  When the pan is warm, place the shrimp bites in the pan, close to one another, but barely touching.  Cook until the bottoms of the bites are crisp and golden brown, 5-6 minutes.  Gently pour 1 Tablespoon of water down side of pan and cover with the lid.  Reduce heat to medium and allow to cook, covered, for another 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.
Serve immediately, with Peanut-Lime Sauce on the side.
–
Make Ahead. The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a day before serving.  It will need to be gently heated in the microwave or on the stove in order to return to a smooth consistency for serving.  I did make mine a day ahead but did not reheat it the next day, I just served it cold.  It was still just as tasty!

The bites can be assembled up to four hours before cooking.  Store them in the refrigerator on parchment paper that has been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Cover them with slightly dampened paper towels to prevent them from drying out.  

I also tried her Salmon Tacos Avocado Salsa and Cilantro-Orange Slaw.  As many times as I've made fish tacos, the thought never occurred to me to use salmon as the fish!  The lightbulb went off when I saw Jessica's recipe and it was a delicious combination.  I think I might actually prefer the salmon to plain white fish because it packs more flavor and add a little more meatiness to the tacos.  I did jazz up her the salsa a bit by adding a little cumin and chili powder but that's a personal preference when it comes to guacamole inspired things.  I also let the slaw marinate overnight to allow the flavors to soak up a bit more.  Overall, a great recipe that we'll surely be repeating.

Thank you!

Thanks to your incredible support and willingness to vote for me, I came in  

2nd in the Iron Baker Challenge.  

I can't thank you all enough for casting your vote.  I couldn't have done it without you!

Black and White Dulce de Leche Bars with Roasted White Chocolate & Iron Baker Challenge

Remember this post where I introduced you to the Iron Chef-like challenge?  Well the entries are in and the voting has begun!  There are 10 great entries but only one of them is MINE.  I'm asking for a simple favor.  I don't ask for much, I just need your vote.  You don't have to sign up, register, be a fan, or anything fancy, just leave a comment to vote for me.  I'd really appreciate it!  You can go here to view the entries and post your comment.

Here's what I entered:

Black and White Dulce de Leche Bars with Roasted White Chocolate

Is your mouth watering?  Why are you still here?!  Pop on over to 20 Going on 80 to get the recipe and cast your vote!  Please.  Pretty please with sugar on top!!  You have until midnight Sunday to vote.  Thank you for your support.

Black and White Dulce de Leche Bars

with Roasted White Chocolate

For the crust:

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup white-whole wheat flour (50/50 blend)

5 T. butter, cold

For the filling:

1 T. butter

1 can reduced-fat sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

For the topping:

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

6 oz good quality white chocolate

1 T. almond milk

To prepare the crust: Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor or Vitamix, process the walnuts and oats until they resemble coarse meal. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and processed nuts and oats. Cube the 5 T. butter and add to flour mixture. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, blend until the butter is the size of small peas. Press into the bottom of a greased 8- or 9-inch square baking dish. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until edges just barely start to brown. Set aside. Reduce oven tempera­ture to 350.

To prepare filling: While the crust is baking, melt 1 T. butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add condensed milk and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour the condensed milk mixture over the prepared crust. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

For the topping: Melt 1/2 of the chocolate in the microwave with the tablespoon or almond milk or regular milk in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval.

Remove the pan from the oven and quickly scatter the chocolate chips on top. Allow to sit for 1-2 minutes, then spread with a butter knife. Add the melted white chocolate by spoonfuls and swirl with the chocolate.

For an added punch, increase the oven temperature to 400 and place remaining white chocolate in a glass dish. Roast for 10-15 minutes, or until the top starts to turn brown. Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes or until it’s cool enough to touch. Crumble the white chocolate over the top of the dish.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours before cutting.

Also linking up to Lady Behind the Curtain, A Little Nosh's Tastetastic Thursday, and It's a Keeper Thursday.

Design Dilemma

I need your help selecting the lamps for our bedside tables in our master bedroom.  I bought some that I loved in the store (not telling which ones) but once I got them home, Wes wasn't so sure.  In an effort to be a good wife and respect his design choices, I looked for another option.  I found a similar style, similar color, just a different base.  I think we both have our winners but I wanted to gather your opinion.  Which do you prefer?

the glass base?

or

the ceramic base?

Thankful Thursday

It's time for another long overdue Thankful Thursday post.  In my ever hurried life, more often than not, I forget to stop and smell the roses.  I forget to enjoy the small things, be thankful for all that I've been blessed with, and most importantly, I forget to cherish the time with my children.  So I dedicate this post to my sweet boys.  I want to give a small list of thankfulness for each of them.

Colin, my first born, my oldest, my big boy

1. I am thankful that you not only still let me hug and kiss you, you melt into my arms every time.  Sometimes it makes me think I don't do it often enough, but I'm convinced I could hug you for 24-hours straight and it still wouldn't be enough for you.  You are just a sweet, sweet boy and I love you dearly.

2.   I am thankful for your polite manners.  You may not always use your best manners (yell much?) but when you do, it just makes me smile from ear to ear.  When you adamantly say, "Yes, ma'am" without complaining, I am so proud that I've at least taught you one good thing in life.

3.  When you talk in a little voice to your brother and call him "baby" is just the sweetest thing.  There may only be 3 years between the two of you but the way you talk to him, you'd think he was a newborn.  You practically goo and gah over him and even though he doesn't generally like it, that doesn't stop you.  You can tell how much you love him!

4.  I am thankful for your funny little ways of saying things.  You cannot get the concept of tomorrow or yesterday, instead you refer to them as the other day (yesterday) and the next day (tomorrow).  It doesn't matter how many times I've tried to explain it, you just have your own way of speaking and thinking.

5.  I am thankful for your healthy eating habits.  The boy loves to eat and eat a lot.  You think about food every waking minute.  When you finish a meal, you begin to ask when snack time is.  When you're not familiar with something on your plate, you ask if you've had that before and whether or not you like it.  If I say you have and that you did like it, you just eat it without even thinking about it.  You will almost always clean your plate if there's a dessert involved!

Sawyer, my baby, my little biscuit, the grand finale

1.  I am thankful for your uncanny ability to use one word, "uh," to communicate nearly everything.  Your one word grunt is more powerful than an entire dictionary of words.  Despite your one-word vocabulary, you are still learning more and more words every day to add to your repertoire.  I have no doubt, you're vocabulary will be just as extensive as your brothers in no time!

2.  I am thankful for your devilishly good looks.  Vain much?  I'm allowed to be because I'm the mother and I had a hand in making you!  Your white blonde hair that is long enough to put in pigtails and your big blue eyes are just too beautiful for words.  You are a show-stopper for sure.  Daddy says it's a good thing you're cute because you need it to counteract your wild behavior.

3.  I am thankful for your sense of humor.  You are a clown and love attention.  You love to laugh and you love to be laughed at.  You love to laugh at your brother when he does silly things - the sillier the better in your book.  Tickling is your favorite, at least for a while before you start shaking your head and saying, "naoh, staap" (no, stop) in your highest pitch.

4.  I am thankful for your ability to entertain yourself.  You can play by yourself for a good 20 minutes before even realizing someone else is in the room.  We can put you outside with a pile of toys and you're good to go.  Your brother requires more hands-on 'help' playing but not you, you're perfectly content just playing by yourself.

5.  I am thankful for your 'humpy' hugs.  The way you tuck your little hands down into your stomach and nestle your head on my shoulder, just makes it feel like you're melting into my chest.  I could snuggle just like that for hours on end (if my hyperactivity would allow it).  You are such a sweet boy.

I am blessed beyond belief with 2 of the sweetest boys.  Sure there are times when they are wilder than bucks but I'm trying to direct my attention away from those negative thoughts and more towards the good times.  I want to remember this stage as a fun time, a time when I wasn't a maniac mom.  I'm working on it.  As much as I wish it did, it doesn't just happen for me.         

Weekly Recipe: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burgers

Don't let the title deceive you, these burgers are mighty tasty.  Now it's doubtful you could pull them off as traditional meat-based burgers, but even a meat-lover like my husband found these very good.  

I always hold my breath when I serve a vegetarian meal as Wes tastes his first bite.  I try not to make it obvious that I am seeking his approval by not staring at him, but I'm definitely watching his every expression.  He's either getting used to my non-meat selections or he genuinely likes them because more often than not, he deems the dish to be (surprisingly) "really good."  

These burgers definitely benefit from being made ahead and given time to meld together in the fridge.  I actually prepped them the night before and covered the entire baking sheet with cling wrap.  Then when I came home from work, I just set them out on the counter while the oven warmed up and then stuck them in.  I flipped them halfway through the cooking time to allow both sides to get a little crunch around the edges.  

Sawyer scarfed them down and Colin is still into deconstructing his food and didn't appreciate everything being smushed together.  He reluctantly ate them despite this blatant oversight on my part.

Just look at all that wholesome goodness!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burgers

by:  Ashley at the Edible Perspective

• 15oz black beans, drained + rinsed
• 3c cubed sweet tater, cooked + skin on [~1.5lbs]
• 1/2c frozen or fresh corn
• 2/3c finely chopped onion [1/2 medium onion]
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/2c cooked quinoa
• 6T rolled oats, partially ground
• 2T sunflower seeds
• 1/2t salt
• black pepper
• 1t cumin
• 1t oregano
• 1/4t coriander
• 1t chili powder
• 1/4t cayenne [optional]
• 1T olive oil

1. Preheat your oven to 375 once you finish cooking the quinoa + potato.
2. Mash half of the beans in a bowl until paste-like.
3. Add in the rest of the beans and give a very light stir/mash to combine.
4. In a large bowl, mash the sweet tater.  Each cube should be mashed, but you don’t want it creamy.
5. Stir in the salt, pepper, oregano, coriander, chili powder, cayenne [if using] and olive oil, until combined.
6. Mix in the onion, garlic, corn, black beans, quinoa, sunflower seeds, and ground oats, until just combined.
7. Taste, and adjust seasonings to your liking.
8. Form into balls, between your hands and flatten into 1/2”-3/4” thick patties.  This should make 8 medium/large patties.
9. Place on a pan lined with parchment paper [or lightly greased pan] and bake on each side for 15min, flipping once, half-way through.  Remove from oven + serve! 

**Linking up to A Little Nosh's Tastetastic Thursday!

The Next Iron Chef

Will it be me?  Stay tuned to find out! 

Think you're up for the challenge?  You can join too!  You have until next Monday to get your submissions in to 20 Going on 80.  I decided to really push myself and I've come up with an original recipe.  I'm not sure that you have to, I just wanted it to be as close to the real Iron Chef Challenge as possible!  

Stay tuned to see what I've cooked up.  I'll give you a hint, it was inspired, in part, by one of the dishes in the Top Chef finale. 

Book Worm

I do not enjoy reading.  Never have but I have hopes that one day I will.  That was one trait I didn't want to pass on to my children.  Wes loves to read and I knew he'd be on board with making sure books were an integral part of our kids lives.

Ever since we were coherent enough to sit upright for longer than 5 minutes (say around the 6-week mark), we've been reading to our boys.  Our nightly routine consists of curling up in Colin's bed, me reading 2 books, then Wes takes a turn reading 2 more.  Colin looks so forward to this time and gets so upset if he gets a book taken away from him (at least we know one punishment that is effective).

The child has a bigger library of books than Target.  He can recite most of them verbatim and doesn't hesitate to correct me if I accidentally say the wrong word.  He has started 'reading' them to himself and it's nothing for him to fly through 10 books, just flipping away.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, Colin asked if we could read an extra book tonight.  Of all the requests I get, most of which I try to weasel out of, I gladly agreed to this one.  Apparently his teacher had told the students to ask their parents to read a book to them that night.  The very thought that a teacher has to tell a parent to read to their child is mind boggling to me. 

I may not know much about parenting and I may struggle with discipline from time to time but I think I can cross the 'read to your children daily' thing off the list.  Ah, it feels good to know at least I'm doing one thing right!

By the way, in an effort to set a better example for my children, I'm taking advance recommendations for a good book for the beach.  It can't be one that I have to concentrate too hard on since I'll be trying to keep 2 toddlers from drowning, but something that will still keep my attention.  The field is wide open because I literally haven't read a book since reading The Devil Wears Prada 5 years ago! 

"The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you learn, the more places you will go."

-Dr. Seuss