Seriously delicious dessert

Thai food is one of my favorites. A few years ago Greg and I were enjoying some authentic Thai cuisine in an itty bitty restaurant in the North Park area of San Diego when I felt the need for dessert. We went with a wild suggestion from the waiter and ordered the "Mango Sticky Rice"...o...m...g.

Who would have thought rice could be so heavenly? I like mangoes as much as anyone else, but I never would have thought to order a "rice" dish for dessert.

Anyway, over the weekend I was browsing Pinterest on my phone, like the crazy obsessed person I have become, and lo and behold a recipe for Mango Sticky Rice. To my pure delight it was a super simple recipe, 4 ingredients, 20 mintues, Thank you Pinterest!!!

To keep with my Asian theme I made this chicken and shrimp dumpling soup for dinner. It was a restaurant quality recipe for sure if not better! Both recipes are here.

Yogurt Cakes and Play Dates

Last Saturday Gwyn and I got together with all our mommy and baby friends for our monthly play date. We always look forward to this event. The babies change so much every month and they are all starting to interact with each other so much more now. This event is held breakfast potluck style and I decided to try out my new Strawberry Yogurt Cake recipe. I am happy to report it was a big hit!

The recipe was a little labor intensive (by my standards). Things like creaming butter and sugar, sifting flour, and zesting lemons are somewhat time consuming and did't sit well with my antsy little munchkin who is having serious separation anxiety these days! I also made a blueberry version during the week for Greg who didn't get to enjoy the strawberry cake before it got whisked away to the play group.

In my opinion, the strawberry cake was better and I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the recipe calling for butter instead of oil which was used in the blueberry cake. I ended up having to bake both cakes significantly longer (an additional 10-15 minutes) than what was suggested in the original recipes. These probably won't be go to recipes for me but I will keep them around on my pinboard for special events.

In other news Gywn started crawling this week! Woohoo! So proud of my little lady! She began with a few shakey "steps" on Saturday and has quickly built up her speed. She will now chase after me if I attempt to leave the room even for a quick bathroom break! Along with the crawling has come pulling up and standing. So after waiting until the very last minute, we finally baby proofed the house...how about that for procrastination! If any of my mommy friends have helpful tips for dealing with separation anxiety I would love to hear them.

Lazy cook finds success

I love easy recipes. Pinterest has been a great tool for finding new recipes but some of my finds have been better than others. The pasta below is last night's dinner and will be going on my new "Success" board see it here .

I experiment with Pinterest recipes at least once a week and have decided to share my success stories with useful commentary here in blog land. Maybe a fellow busy mom will appreciate my recipe CliffsNotes and avoid having to make 5 different versions of Pinterest's "best chicken enchiladas".

I will not be creating a "Failure" board, who likes to dwell on a recipe gone wrong. Failed recipes will mysteriously disappear from my "Eat" board...nuff said.

Pesto pasta with chicken sausage and roasted brussel sprouts

The gist:

This meal is easy. Which means I can make it in 20 minutes or less, the ingredients are readily available (no crazy scavenger hunt at the grocery store) and kept to a minimum (less than 10 ingredients). It is also delicious and incorporates brussel sprouts (one of my favorite veggies).

I substituted trottole, a lovely curly pasta, for the orecchiette that was recommended in the original recipe. This recipe could easily feed 4 people, I had left overs that reheated beautifully for lunch. I will be making this again.

If you are not on Pinterest (you should be) and can not see my "Success" board, you can still find the original recipe here.

Last week I made this...

...in a crockpot. It was divine, and insanely simple. I will never go back to Olive Garden for soup ever again.

Not so little anymore

Something about Gwyn's new top teeth make her seem so much older all of the sudden. My baby is looking more and more like a kid and I'm not sure how I feel about that! Today we had Gwyn's 9 months appointment with the pediatrician. She has grown longer and leaner. I am so thankful to have a happy healthy little girl that is growing right on track but a part of me wishes she would stay little forever.

How did this happen so quickly? The holidays are over and soon I'll be planning her 1st birthday, it just doesn't seem possible.

At nine months Gwyn is enjoying food. She loves to feed herself. She is still the happiest smiley-ist baby I've ever met. She loves the camera and doesn't hesitate to flash her big smile whenever I pull it out. She is on the move but not in the conventional "crawling" sort of way. Gwyn uses lots of maneuvers to get around the house...scooting, rocking, lunging/face planting and rolling to her destination of choice. Around 8 months she mastered maneuvering herself into a sitting position and loves to hang out on the floor with a good pile of toys or lunge after her zhuzhu pet (battery operated hamster).

At 6.5 months she sprouted her 2 bottom central teeth and just this week the 2 top centrals have cut through. I'm telling you there is something about those top teeth that make her look so much older and wiser! Her hair is coming in slow and steady and is still a sandy blonde color with a touch of red. We are now completely certain that those baby blue eyes are here to stay.

Gwyn is a very talkative little girl and loves to babble "mama" and "dada" all day long. She is also extremely ticklish and has a hearty yet girly laugh that is very contagious. We just can not get enough of this sweet girl. I can honestly say I cherish every moment and love being a mother more than any other job in the world!

Three Christmases

One of the best parts of being a parents is getting to enjoy the holidays via your kid! Christmas was such a joy this year. Watching Gwyn play with wrapping paper and boxes (and the occasional toy) was more fun than I ever could have imagined!

Out little family celebrated Christmas in Naperville, Mesa, and Tucson this year. This 2 week extravaganza included so many fun events: a 1st birthday for our new nephew Cole, a trip to the Tucson Zoo, a reunion lunch at Rosa's with my favorite girlfriends, a new Polheber Family portrait, a spa day at the Camelback Inn, a picnic at the Farm at South Mountain, a surprise invite to be a bridesmaid in my oldest friend Colleen's wedding <3, and probably one too many burritos from Filibertos/Nicos/LosBetos...yes, we made all 3 stops...I know, but the Midwest has no idea how to make a burrito.

Gwyn thoroughly enjoyed playing with all her new cousins! She has lots of new playmates on both sides of the family (ages 8mo, 10mo, 10mo, 12 mo) and watching all the kiddos interact was pure entertainment. I literally took hundreds of pictures with my new fancy camera (thank you hubby) that now need sorting. So many precious moments captured!

We were thrilled to share Gwyn's first Christmas with all our family and friends. Gwyn received so many lovely gifts that we filled our extra suitcase and still ended up shipping 2 large boxes with FedEx! Holy cow!

We are so fortunate to have such generous and loving friends and family. Thank you all for making this first Christmas so special!

Another Saturday Breakfast

This was so easy and super delicious that I had to share. Of course, I found this recipe on Pinterest, the are called Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups. It is a Martha Stewart recipe that you can find here. Let me tell you these are ridiculously simple to make.

Originally, I thought I'd use this recipe for guests because you can make a large quantity (just prepare a few muffin tins) and serve a warm traditional breakfast to everyone at the same time. No worrying about cold eggs, toast, or bacon. It is all ready at once and comes in a nice little package. But Greg enjoyed these so much that I might just have to make them for the two of us every now and again.

Enjoy!

Oh my heavenly pancakes

I was never a big fan of breakfast...until I got pregnant. Weird right? Most women can't keep their breakfast down and I just couldn't get enough. During my pregnancy I developed a strange addiction to pancakes that decided to stick with me.

I. love. pancakes.

Since pinterest has taken over my life...and my kitchen. I knew this recipe would be number one priority for my Saturday morning. Lemon Poppy Seed pancakes with macerated strawberries, yes please. This recipe doesn't disappoint!

Lets have a close up, shall we...yum.

And my two favorite people to spend Saturday morning with.

I am a lucky lady!