Friday, September 13, 2013
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Flamingos!
Here is the beauty at the zoo, enjoying her lunch next to the flamingos. Listen carefully...
You may also notice that she has created her own sign for "hot", and uses her fork like a big girl. Me oh my.
You may also notice that she has created her own sign for "hot", and uses her fork like a big girl. Me oh my.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
We're Back!
As you may have noticed, we've been on a little summer hiatus over here at the Bunny Corner. Not to worry, we didn't lose the bunny! We've just been having a relaxing summer with said bunny, who is now a full-fledged TODDLER, by the way.
I'm back today to share with you the most delicious meal you have ever heard of. Ok that might be a stretch, but I'm pretty thrilled that my Huevos Rancheros came out very similar to the ones at our favorite diner here in Peekskill. Millie Bea is ever the adventurous eater, so she and I are trying new recipes all the time. I dare say I'm getting pretty good at making delicious meals. We have turned into quite the old-fashioned type of family around here and I try to have dinner on the table when Brady gets in from work at 7. However, next week he starts classes again (twice a week) and we'll be adjusting Millie's day a little bit so she can eat earlier and get to bed earlier, both of which her body seems to need now.
We also have a weekly dinner rhythm which helps bring order and predictability to our days (for her and us!). Sticking to our daily and weekly rhythms is going to be very important as she grows and becomes more and more aware of the world around her. Our main goal is to help her feel secure and confident. We're having a lot of fun analyzing our options and making deliberate parenting choices... seriously, more fun than I imagine is normal. Along with resurrecting my knowledge from school (Erikson was my guy) and teaching (when I focused on Reggio Emilia), I have been gleaning insights from Steiner (Waldorf) and Montessori child development theories. It's all very fascinating!
Anyways, here is our weekly dinner rhythm, for anyone who is interested. We have a main "theme" for each day and make different recipes every week that fit the theme (examples of things we've had lately are in parentheses). This helps with planning and shopping. Theoretically it should help with budgeting, but that's a different issue.
Sunday ~ pasta + salad (speghetti and "meatballs" w/ homemade breadsticks)
Monday ~ breakfast for dinner (huevos rancheros, soy chorizo quiche)
Tuesday ~ wild card, doubled (spinach pie, asian stir-fry)
Wednesday ~ leftovers
Thursday ~ Mexican-ish (super nachos, burritos, etc)
Friday ~ pizza (pineapple/feta, peppers + onions, taco pizza!)
Saturday ~ soup +/or sandwiches (moz/tom/ homemade pesto)
We are so grateful that Millie Bea loves food. I can count on one hand the number of times she has refused something, ever. We are also lucky that she doesn't have any allergies or restrictions. She eats 3 full meals a day, at least 2-3 snacks, and nurses at least 3 times a day (more if she isn't feeling well for any reason).
Huevos Rancheros (3-4 servings)
In a skillet, heat:
- 2Tb. butter, when melted add:
- small handful of flour (about 1/8-1/4c)
- 2Tb. tomato paste
When combined, add:
- 10oz. organic plain tomato sauce (almost 2/3s of a 15oz. can)
- Italian seasoning, to taste (whatever you have, I only had oregano, basil and celery salt, but majoram and thyme would be good too)
- pinch of pepper
Cook on medium-low while you get the veggies ready.
In a separate skillet, heat some olive oil and add:
- 1 onion, cut into big slices
- 2 peppers, cut into big slices
(next time I'll add baby spinach, I guess here?)
When they have softened, add the sauce from the other skillet and cover. Simmer on low heat for about 20-30 min.
If you're sharing this with a baby, scoop out their portion about half way through cooking and set aside. Add:
- 2 jalapenos (I had 1 plus some jarred slices)
- a bunch of hot sauce (to taste)
Ok, sauce is done. At this point we let it sit in the skillet, covered, for an hour while we went to the riverfront to play and pick up Dada from the train. When you're ready to eat...
Per-person, cook 2 eggs over-easy. Top with a handful of cheddar at the end of cooking. Put the eggs on a plate and top with the sauce/veggie mixture. We make Millie's eggs scrambled (with cheese) just to be extra safe. Serve with home fries, sour cream, and toasted bread. Avocado would also be delicious. For our home fries we used red potatoes with garlic and onion. MB was devouring them right off the stovetop. Smart baby.
So I probably don't have a future in recipe-writing, but you seriously need to try this if you can follow it.
Here are some random pictures of the perfect bunny from the past few weeks:
I'm back today to share with you the most delicious meal you have ever heard of. Ok that might be a stretch, but I'm pretty thrilled that my Huevos Rancheros came out very similar to the ones at our favorite diner here in Peekskill. Millie Bea is ever the adventurous eater, so she and I are trying new recipes all the time. I dare say I'm getting pretty good at making delicious meals. We have turned into quite the old-fashioned type of family around here and I try to have dinner on the table when Brady gets in from work at 7. However, next week he starts classes again (twice a week) and we'll be adjusting Millie's day a little bit so she can eat earlier and get to bed earlier, both of which her body seems to need now.
We also have a weekly dinner rhythm which helps bring order and predictability to our days (for her and us!). Sticking to our daily and weekly rhythms is going to be very important as she grows and becomes more and more aware of the world around her. Our main goal is to help her feel secure and confident. We're having a lot of fun analyzing our options and making deliberate parenting choices... seriously, more fun than I imagine is normal. Along with resurrecting my knowledge from school (Erikson was my guy) and teaching (when I focused on Reggio Emilia), I have been gleaning insights from Steiner (Waldorf) and Montessori child development theories. It's all very fascinating!
Anyways, here is our weekly dinner rhythm, for anyone who is interested. We have a main "theme" for each day and make different recipes every week that fit the theme (examples of things we've had lately are in parentheses). This helps with planning and shopping. Theoretically it should help with budgeting, but that's a different issue.
Sunday ~ pasta + salad (speghetti and "meatballs" w/ homemade breadsticks)
Monday ~ breakfast for dinner (huevos rancheros, soy chorizo quiche)
Tuesday ~ wild card, doubled (spinach pie, asian stir-fry)
Wednesday ~ leftovers
Thursday ~ Mexican-ish (super nachos, burritos, etc)
Friday ~ pizza (pineapple/feta, peppers + onions, taco pizza!)
Saturday ~ soup +/or sandwiches (moz/tom/ homemade pesto)
We are so grateful that Millie Bea loves food. I can count on one hand the number of times she has refused something, ever. We are also lucky that she doesn't have any allergies or restrictions. She eats 3 full meals a day, at least 2-3 snacks, and nurses at least 3 times a day (more if she isn't feeling well for any reason).
Huevos Rancheros (3-4 servings)
In a skillet, heat:
- 2Tb. butter, when melted add:
- small handful of flour (about 1/8-1/4c)
- 2Tb. tomato paste
When combined, add:
- 10oz. organic plain tomato sauce (almost 2/3s of a 15oz. can)
- Italian seasoning, to taste (whatever you have, I only had oregano, basil and celery salt, but majoram and thyme would be good too)
- pinch of pepper
Cook on medium-low while you get the veggies ready.
In a separate skillet, heat some olive oil and add:
- 1 onion, cut into big slices
- 2 peppers, cut into big slices
(next time I'll add baby spinach, I guess here?)
When they have softened, add the sauce from the other skillet and cover. Simmer on low heat for about 20-30 min.
If you're sharing this with a baby, scoop out their portion about half way through cooking and set aside. Add:
- 2 jalapenos (I had 1 plus some jarred slices)
- a bunch of hot sauce (to taste)
Ok, sauce is done. At this point we let it sit in the skillet, covered, for an hour while we went to the riverfront to play and pick up Dada from the train. When you're ready to eat...
Per-person, cook 2 eggs over-easy. Top with a handful of cheddar at the end of cooking. Put the eggs on a plate and top with the sauce/veggie mixture. We make Millie's eggs scrambled (with cheese) just to be extra safe. Serve with home fries, sour cream, and toasted bread. Avocado would also be delicious. For our home fries we used red potatoes with garlic and onion. MB was devouring them right off the stovetop. Smart baby.
So I probably don't have a future in recipe-writing, but you seriously need to try this if you can follow it.
Here are some random pictures of the perfect bunny from the past few weeks:
Friday, July 12, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
9/52
A portrait of Millie, once a week, every week, as a one year old.
Please Note: This is from last week.. tomorrow I am finally going to catch up and post the appropriate week (10)! We are 1/5 of the way to 2-years-old!!! Holy moly.
Farmer's Market, Gardening, and Zoo, OH MY!
Busy baby week around here. We've all been enjoying the Saturday morning farmer's market downtown. Millie helps put fruit and vegetables in the bags, pick out bread, and sample cheese.
We planted a sensory garden for her at the end of the patio. Her favorite plant was the dill (see above). She spent a very long time carrying it around, putting it on the chair then taking it off. Lately she loves to carry heavy objects, so the planting was just a perfect toddler activity. She also loves to push things with wheels, so below you can see her helping with the wheelbarrow.
Today Millie spent the day with her baby friends Adeline and Emma (all the Daddy's had the day off!). We all visited the Bronx Zoo in the morning, which was tons of fun. In the afternoon the girls played in Adeline's baby pool and sprinkler, and we grilled some tofu dogs and veggies. We had such a wonderful time!
In the photos below you can see Millie being a bumble bee and visiting the butterfly garden, standing with Mama by the giraffes, and playing with Dada in the Congo. Her favorite parts of the zoo were the ducks, sparrows, pushing her stroller around, and pointing to people's iphones when they took pictures. Please don't tell Daddy that we could have done all that for free in the park! Just kidding... we all had a really great time and we hope to go back soon. Millie was wonderful for the whole trip (as were her baby friends). We had a lovely picnic, saw tons of animals, and did lots of big girl walking. A very happy day :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)