Goings on

SO....First we went to Utah so Cory's sister Lindsay could marry Tanh Nguyen and go live a crazy life in vietnam soon. Harrison had some apple juice on the airplane.

New favorite family self-portrait

After being chased around temple square by Lindsay's kind friends, Harrison decided he needed to drive the rental car-- (a ford flex....aka pretty cool big silver box)

before the luncheon we drove around the capitol and I told Harrison all about how the utah legislature works and how his mommy worked there for a few blessed months in 2002

Apparently he found Utah politics boring ...

Harrison and his new uncle quickly became BFFs at over sandwiches and giant cookies at the Blue Lemon

Tahn's making a mental note to tell Lindsay they should definitely wait awhile before having kids....

After a few FANTASTIC hours in Mapleton with our favorite Utah Wheeler's (which unfortunately were way too much fun to document) we went to the reception in Alpine. Which was great!! Cory and I got to actually enjoy some cheesecake and talk to family members...Harrison stayed on this trampoline literally the WHOLE TIME (like 2 hours)...first he jumped with daddy

Then he made friends with some random young single adult types

and then of course kids got involved....

and the whole time I sat happily watching from my chair...we need to get one of these things STAT

The next morning we left Harrison with his loving O'Ma and O'Pa for a week of fishing, parks, water fun, airplane museum, charming family members, petting zoo, and generally getting doted on while exhibiting perfect behavior (right??) So we could board the Norweigan Sky out of Miami for 4 nights in the BAHAMAS . It was great!! We swam, beached, snorkeled, kayaked, conversed without distraction, ate lots of food. BLISS!!!

I tried to upload some pics but photobucket is giving me issues so for now, see facebook :)

Now that we're back I've been busy putting off moving...

Monday I made Rachael Ray's mozerella stuffed spaghetti and meatballs. Harrison approved.

And then yesterday Harrison and I made awesome cookies

Seriously YUMMY...I improvised the recipe from a few I've stumbled on lately.... here goes from memory:

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

salt

1 cup ish oatmeal

1/2 cup ish chopped pecans

1/2 cup ish toasted coconut (and watch it while toasting...TRICKY)

1 bag chocolate chips

bake at 350 for about 8 min

YUM YUM YUM

I made them to give to my visiting teachers (oops..yesterday is the last day of the month ALREADY) and mail as a b-day gift, but I'm thinking either someone will get slighted or I need to make some more :)

Food blog?

Seriously, starting to feel like that...I promise I will get back to posting cute pictures of my cute kid, we've just been super busy getting ready to head out to Utah for Cory's sisters wedding and a (sans Harrison :)) cruise to the BAHAMAS!! Beyond excited!!! Also, as of tonight we will sign a lease on a new place-YAY!!! This may mean nothing to those of you out west, but it is 1900 square feet, three levels of townhouse awesomeness...we give up the big yard and all that mowing, not that I did it... (still have a patio and enough space for a little tiny garden:)) but beyond more than double the space, a rec room, and an extra bedroom, we also get a kitchen without paint peeling off the cabinets that can actually fit more than one person--plus a dining room that actually will fit our dining room table expanded at it's six person capacity..like permanently!!!OH YEAH...and THE WASHER AND DRYER IN THE SAME PLACE!!! ACTUALLY NEXT TO EACH OTHER!!! We loved the place and it seemed like bad timing was going to steal it away from us but it all came together over my VERY busy lunch hour yesterday..YIPPEE!!!! Move in August 1 (which also means I get the privelege of not moving while 9 months prgengant as I had originally planned :).

Anyway--enough about that, just rest assured more traditional blog posts with pictures are forthcoming. In the meantime though I devoured these tacos last night..I absolutely LOVE food with lots of different flavors and textures and they literally take like 10 minutes to throw together. For real. Definitely less than 30 minutes. From someone who takes at least an hour to do Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals that's quite a feat. And I'm sorry but I've posted this one before but I thought I'd paste the whole thing over here just in case you don't understand how much I LOVE them :)

(This is copied directly from smitten kitchen--great site for deserts and vegetarian ish dishes--PS--it might serve two adults and two toddlers, but we finished it between Cory, Amber, and Harrison...and that's with me eating most of Harrison's because, please he would rather have apples, crackers, and milk all afternoon and then tell us repeatedly that "mommy all done" "daddy all done" "Come on, I show you.." while we're trying to eat anyway...)

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw
Adapted from Bon Appetit, February 2009

There are dozens of ways to tweak this. Next time, in keeping with the shortcut vibe, I might just use Goya’s canned black beans in sauce (which I’ve confessed to loving more than once) instead of mashing a can with what seemed like not enough seasoning next time. And, with the minutes that would save, I’d much rather use my favorite green onion and red cabbage slaw instead of the suggested one. If I felt like adding some extra protein, it would only take a couple additional minutes to saute some ground meat in a pan with onion and stir it into the beans — especially the saucier ones. But really, the possibilities are endless, so use the recipe as a loose guideline and have fun with it

Serves 4, or so I hear

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons (or more) fresh lime juice
2 cups coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 white or yellow corn tortillas
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Hot sauce

Place beans and cumin in small bowl; partially mash. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl; add coleslaw, green onions, and cilantro and toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas in single layer. Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture onto half of each tortilla; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Fill tacos with feta and slaw. Pass hot sauce alongside, or if your name is Alex, drown your taco in a puddle of it.

a forgiving recipe

I know a recipe is a good one when I can mess it up and it's still delicious. Last week I made these turkey burgers with black beans and mushrooms...I was halving to recipe and then didn't half the amount of black beans, I also turned half of the mushrooms and onions to soup in the magic bullet (FYI ONLY good for baby food) before chopping up the rest...and then I put them in before realizing I was supposed to cook them first, so I scooped them out and cooked... most of them...This led to a burger consistency that was really hard to actually cook on the grill. But we managed two to survive the grill and cooked three in the oven. And we put them on toasted ciabata rolls with green salsa, avocado, monterary jack cheese, and arugula...seriously delicious. Cory gave them an 8 or 9 despite the mishaps. If a recipe can survive me you know it's a keeper. I even took a picture of how cute they were but of course don't have it here at work at 6:26 a.m. Oh well, I'll get on that soon. Enjoy!!!

Ultimate Turkey & Black Bean Burgers (from the Family Kitchen)

16 ounces cremini mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1/4 yellow onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup refried black beans
2 pounds turkey
1 teaspoon sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Directions:
Place mushrooms, garlic, and onion in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is finely ground. In a large skillet, melt the butter and cook the mushroom mixture until very soft, about 5-7 minutes over medium heat. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl, add the refried black beans, ground turkey, salt, and pepper, and mix all together until very well combined.

Split the mixture into 6 even portions. Roll into balls and flatten into thick burgers. Cook in a skillet or on a barbecue grill until cooked through. Serve on ciabatta buns with your favorite fixin’s. My favorites? Avocado, fresh pico de gallo, a touch of grated cheddar jack cheese, lots of mayo, a kiss of mustard.

ALERT!!!!

This is silly, but it's been bothering me, so here you go: IN THE DR PEPPER PORK RECIPE FROM A FEW POSTS BACK....you cook the meat with an onion. Just chop up roughly and put in the pot before it goes in the oven. PHEW--that was close..I hope no one cooked this to disastorous results.

It's days like these.....

Today (well mainly from about 330 on...) has been a bit of a rough one. Harrison is a whirlwind of potty accidents and terrible twos. I spent way too long doing something that turned out to be totally unnecessary. And then I locked my keys in the car. Of course- pregnancy brain has definitely tdken over (something to blame anyway :)) And now I am forced to slow down and wait. For AAA. For 90 minutes. It's days like today that it's important to take solace in the little victories- I made my favorite Rosemary/potato/fontina pizza. And I used my new spendy $13.99 cookie sheet. And it turned out perfect. The pizza literally slid off leaving no mess to clean up. yum. I actually took a picture to capture it. And also we broke through '97 feels like 105' with some rain and thunder that I got to watch Harrison get really excited about- gotta love a summer storm. Some quiet time alone is good anyway, right???