You Say Goodbye...

2013 is coming to a close.  It has been a whirlwind year - filled with some important goodbyes.  Yet every goodbye is followed up by a new hello.

Our goodbyes this year:

• Command of Delta Battery 1 - 5 FA
• Our First House - and the mortgage and all that jazz!
• Family Readiness Group Leader
• Webmaster of the Fort Riley Our Community Spouse Club
• Kansas
• Our fantastic wonderful friends (many of whom also moved)

Our hellos this year:

• The Foreign Area Officer functional area
• New Stomping Grounds in CA
• India - culture, history, food!
• Graduate School life at the Naval Post Graduate School
• Making new friends
• Thomas Jacob (This is my favorite hello this year!)

I hope your 2013 has been satisfying!

Cheesy Gnocchi Casserole

I know I have been a bit quiet lately.  We have had some visitors and the end of the first quarter of graduate school is taking some adjusting.  I shall regale you with a new recipe that I have tried.  This one comes from the Food Network.  I bookmarked it one day while I was trolling through posts on Google+.

Cheesy Gnocchi Casserole with Ham and Peas

from The Food Network

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
One 8-ounce piece deli ham, diced
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
One 17.5-ounce package potato gnocchi
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded Swiss or Gruyere cheese

Steps

1.  Preheat the broiler to high heat.
2.  Melt the butter in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.
3.  Add the ham and thyme and continue to cook until the ham is lightly browned.
4.  Add the chicken broth and 3/4 cup water and bring to a simmer.
5.  Add the gnocchi, stir well, cover and cook until the gnocchi is slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
6.  Uncover and stir in the peas, cream, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
7.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top and broil until golden and bubbly, about 3 minutes. Serve.

The Final Product

This turned out pretty tasty and was fairly easy to put together.  Some notes - I had a bit more that 17.5 oz of potato gnocchi - I think I had two 10 oz packages.  So I don't think they cooked as evenly as they should have.  Unfortunately the "cream" sauce that was supposed to form never really did.  It was definitely more soupy than creamy.  It might be user - I thought my chicken broth and water was at a simmer but maybe it never made it there.  Not a bad first run for it.  I would definitely do it again and incorporate some of the reviews others had made on the dish: use a hot italian sausage instead of ham, try some different veggies (broccoli, carrots), use a mixture of cheeses besides just swiss, and I may try using an alfredo sauce to get more creamy texture.  Definitely a quick weeknight meal!

Thanksgiving

As we sat down to our Thanksgiving feast, the hubby and I discussed Thanksgivings past.  We had one at his parent's home and several with a very good friend in Kansas.  I have not had to make the entire meal by myself in a very long time.  With two boys who have not had stellar behavior as of late, we decided to keep our affair at home.  With that, I decided to try a new recipe.  Normally, I have done my birds (on occasions other than Thanksgiving) in a roaster oven which is a fantastic tool.  As it was only the 4 of us, (well 3 of us because Thomas is not eating solids yet) I made the call to not cook a full bird.  I decided on turkey breast roasts instead - in the slow cooker!

Bacon Turkey Breast

from Crockin' For the Holidays

Ingredients

1 bone-in turkey breast (or at least 5 pounds with or without skin)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 - 1/4 tsp pepper
1 can turkey gravy
2 1/2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 - 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 tsp rubbed sage

Steps

1.  Rub turkey with garlic, salt, and pepper.
2.  Place in slow cooker.
3.  Mix gravy, flour, Worcestershire sauce, bacon, and sage together.  Pour over turkey.
4.  Cook on LOW for 8 hours.

The Final Product

The entire meal was yummy.  Son number 1 would probably tell you the biscuits were the best part.  The turkey turned out really well.  Next time I might only cook for 7 hours as it was not as moist as I like.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't dry when it came out - just after it was cut it lost a bunch of juiciness.  You can not quite tell from the picture but I complemented our turkey with a green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and biscuits.  Even better, everything came out at just about the same time.  It made me feel great.  It also got me thinking to a couple of years down the road - will I be able to put together a yummy feast in India?  I guess I will find out in a few years.  This Thanksgiving post is not complete without my two hams:

 

Slow Cooker Blue Cheese Flank Steak

Yesterday, I tried out a new slow cooker recipe in the hopes that it would become part of our regular rotation.  Here is the recipe:

Slow Cooker Blue Cheese Flank Steak

from Crockin' for the Holidays

Ingredients

2 pounds flank steak
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 onion, sliced
1 package sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup beef broth
1/4 cup red wine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup blue cheese

Steps

1.  Sprinkle both sides of the flank steak with salt and pepper.
2.  Dip both sides of flank steak into a plate of flour.  Lay as flat as possible on the bottom of the slow cooker.
3.  Place onion and mushrooms over the flank steak.  Pour beef broth, wine, olive oil, and vinegar over the meat.
4.  Cook on LOW for 8 hours.
5.  Before serving, add blue cheese and stir until mixed.

The Final Product

I can not give a totally accurate review of this recipe.  Why you may ask - you even provided a little picture?  Well, I spent about 2 weeks on the look out for flank steak in the supermarket.  I had seen in the last month or so but all of a sudden it was MIA. So I substituted a 3 pound London Broil.  The long cooking time would have made a flank steak much more tender.  The london broil got a bit dry.  The juice had a nice flavor and I enjoyed the blue cheese addition.  I hope to get my hands on a nice flank steak to try this recipe in its proper for.

Slow Cooker Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

It is a Monday - so it is a slow cooker sort of evening.  We are trying out a new recipe for pork tenderloin.  This is supposed to be a special occasion slow cooker recipe.  Hey, Mondays are rough - so why not make dinner a special occasion!  Okay, maybe that is a stretch.  My thought process is if it is really good - then making for a holiday meal will be a snap.  Here it is:

Slow Cooker Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

from Crockin' for the Holidays

Ingredients

1 package pork tenderloin (2 loins to a package)
1 package bacon
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup white sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tsp white vinegar

Steps

1.  Wrap tenderloins with bacon, trying to cover the loins completely.
2.  Mix remaining ingredients for marinade.
3.  Place meat in a pan, pour marinade over it, and cover with plastic wrap.
4.  Refrigerate at least 3 to 4 hours (or overnight).
5.  Place in slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

The Finished Product

I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe.  I honestly thought that the bacon would come off of the tenderloin while cooking.  But as you can see - it is still intact.  The marinade added a nice tanginess to the pork.  Next time, I plan on using the low sodium soy sauce to make it a bit healthier.  I will be keeping this one in mind when we have guests over.

Potato and Pesto Soup

Yesterday, I decided to pull out a recipe that I have not made in a very long time.  Long time - you are probably thinking, oh the past couple of months.  Not even close!  I pulled this one out from before the husband and I got married.  I did not think I had any "unknown to hubby" recipes left.  I found it while trying to map out our monthly meal plan.  Here it is:

Potato and Pesto Soup

from the past

Ingredients

3 slices bacon
1 pound potatoes
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
2 ½ cups chicken broth
2 ½ cups milk
¾ cup macaroni
⅔ cup heavy cream
parsley, chopped
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese
Pesto Sauce

Steps

1. Finely chop the bacon, potatoes, and onions. Fry the bacon with the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat for 4 minutes. Add the butter, potatoes, and onions and cook for 12 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Add the stock and the milk to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the macaroni and simmer for a further 10-12 minutes.
3. Stir in the cream and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the parsley, salt and pepper, and 2 tbsp of pesto sauce. Transfer the soup to serving bowls and serve with parmesan cheese and fresh garlic bread.

The Finished Product

I was a little tentative about making this blast from the past but I was not let down.  The hubby enjoyed it and JT, my toughest critic, decided he wanted to try some (lately he has been rather unwilling to eat our dinners).  JT ate the pasta and sucked the cream broth off of the potatoes - weirdo!  For your knowledge, 1 pound of potatoes is approximately 2 medium/large potatoes.  I chopped up three and that was clearly too much.  I also forgot about 1/2 a cup of chicken broth.  Don't forget it as it will yield more "soup" at the end.  I also used campanelle (they look like flowers) but I would recommend using a shorter/smaller macaroni than that - cavatelli, radiatori, orecchiette, or a gnocchi - but not as short as orzo or ditalini.  Enjoy!

Comparison

With two small children, it is hard to keep myself from comparing them.  They are so close in age that I can remember their infant time easily.

JT at 3 months

Thomas at 3 months

I catch myself saying "wow, Thomas, you are huge!" on a very frequent basis.  I have to keep reminding myself that Thomas was 50 percentile across the board.  He is average while JT had a bunch of hurdles to overcome.

When I think about the first few months of JT's life, I am grateful that we have had very few issues with Thomas.  Those first couple of months were a hellish experience with JT and I am glad I kept my mind open to the option of having a second child.  We are so blessed to have giggly Thomas.  That is not to say that we are not blessed to have JT - just that JT's beginning makes me cherish the "normalcy" of Thomas's entrance into the world.  Little or big things like pumping to help keep JT healthy in the NICU to Thomas eating cool formula from the fridge; waiting for JT to put on enough weight be big enough to sit in the bouncer to Thomas growing out of clothes like it is his job; or how it took nearly 6 months to get JT to sleep through the night whereas Thomas sleeps 9+ hours at 3 months.  I think the pictures below are a better match then their monthly age:

Thomas at 3 months

JT at 6 months

They are totally brothers.  There is no doubt about that.  Also no doubt - that I love them to the ends of the earth!

Chinese Food

We have had a rough time finding reliable inexpensive Chinese food out here.  Luckily, my mom shared a recipe with me a few weeks ago that I think will cover our Chinese food urges while we continue to hunt for "the chinese food place".  She sent along this great slow cooker recipe.

Slow Cocker Sweet Garlic Chicken

from Six Sisters' Stuff

Ingredients

4-6 chicken breasts
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon-lime soda
2-3 Tablespoons minced garlic
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 Tablespoons corn starch
2 Tablespoons water
Rice or noodles, cooked
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Steps

1.  Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken (frozen, thawed or fresh) inside slow cooker. Mix together brown sugar, vinegar, soda, garlic, soy sauce, and pepper together. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.
2.  Take chicken pieces out of slow cooker (mine basically fell apart) and pour remaining sauce into saucepan. Place saucepan over high heat. Mix together corn starch and water, pour into saucepan, and mix well. Let sauce come to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, or until it starts to thicken and turns into a glaze. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute or two (it will continue to thicken as it cools down).
3. Sprinkle red pepper flakes on top if desired. This can be served over rice or noodles, I also like it with a baked potato on the side (It's good on top of the potato too!)

Finished Product
This was really tasty.  A few things to note - I used 1 pound of thawed chicken tenderloins and cooked on low for 6.5 hours.  This left my chicken pieces dry.  I would really recommend using some big chicken breasts so that they stay moist.  The sauce was super yummy.  I think next time I might switch out the lemon-lime soda (I used 7up) for an orange soda.  I did not sprinkle the red pepper flakes on at the end.  The hubby likes his spicy - so we just add to our individual servings.  I served the chicken over basmati rice, which I have taken a real liking to lately.  A definite keeper and big thanks to my mom for passing this one along.

Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potato Soup

With long class days on Mondays and Wednesdays, I have really come to rely on my slow cooker.  So is have been adding new recipes into my rotation with success.  This week I decided to try baked potato soup from the Crockin' Girls.

Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potato Soup

from Crockin' Girls

Ingredients

6 Large Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 Large Onion, diced
1 Quart Chicken Broth
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
1/4 Cup Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Cup Cream (Half and Half Okay)
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Steps

1.  Combine all ingredients except for cream/ half and half, and cheese.
2.  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours (potatoes should be tender).
3.  Then you will need to mash potatoes until coarsely chopped and soup is slightly thickened.
4.  Stir in cream and cheese. Garnish with toppings (bacon, chives, sour cream, cheese).

The Final Product
I apologize that I am lacking a picture.  The soup was good.  But I could tell that is was very different from usual baked potato soup.  First, it seemed to not be on the really creamy side.  It may be due to the fact that my 6 potatoes were not all large but I also used less chicken broth that specified (two 14.5 oz cans of chicken broth).  I also used about 8 oz of cubed velveeta cheese - next time I plan on using a mexican shred mix.  Give it a little more flavor that just cheddar.  At the end, since it lacked thickness, I put the slow cooker on high for another 15 - 30 minutes.  This helped a bit.  It turned out to be a good alternative to my usual baked potato soup.

Personal Goals

I have been spending a lot of time getting the boys - JT and Thomas - into a reasonable routine.  While Thomas naps throughout the day, I can expect to get both boys down for sleeping for up to an hour and half in the afternoon everyday.  A glorious hour filled with  letting the dogs out, prepping dinner, and everything else I didn't get done before.  That being said, I am starting to get antsy that I am not in great shape anymore (and I still have preggo weight laying around my joints).

So I am committing myself to a couple of things-

Short term: 30 Day Plank Challenge
After 2 c-sections my abdominals are a mess.  My core is more aptly a bowl of jelly.  So to whip my belly into shape, I am following along

I have done day 1.  My abs could manage the 20 seconds barely.  My arm muscles on the other hand, ouchies!  I thought my mommy arms from lugging around my 12 pound and 25+ pound children would have helped me out here.  I hope completing this will help my two longer term goals.

Long term: Pilates
Pregnancy really messes with your joints.  So I have slowly starting doing my old floor routine again.  I am only doing about 5 exercises right now but every week I start to add another exercise into the rotation.  It provides a good stretch and allows me to strengthen and tone my entire body.

Long term:  Disneyland Half Marathon (August 2014)
After JT was born, I chose to work my way to completing a 10K (6.2 miles) race, which boasted free beer and pizza at the finish line for participants. It was a lot of fun and it kept me motivated to work out - even through the 6 mile workouts pushing JT in the stroller.  This time I have upped the ante.  Maybe someday I'll even try a full marathon.  Thankfully this one is about a year away.  I have a bit more time to get mileage under my belt and ensure that I don't injure myself.  Right now, I have a 1, 2, and 3 mile walking route with the boys and there are still 3 more months before I can safely run with Thomas in the double stroller.

Just keep plugging away!

Pork Loin with Italian Herbed Pepper Rub

I found another nice rub recipe for pork.  My fondness for pork is growing because of this.  I did a slight adaptation to the original recipe which comes from the Pork be inspired website.

Pork Loin with Italian Herbed Pepper Rub

adapted from the National Pork Board

Ingredients

3 pound pork loin roast, boneless
2 tablespoons black pepper, cracked
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
4 - 6 tsp Penzey's Italian Seasoning Mix
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Steps

1.  Pat pork dry with paper towel. In small bowl, combine all rub ingredients well and apply to all surfaces of the pork roast.
2.  Place roast in a shallow pan and roast in a 350 degrees F. oven for 1 hour (20 minutes per pound), until internal temperature on a thermometer reads 145 degrees F.
3.  Remove roast from oven; let rest about 10 minutes before slicing to serve. Serves 6-8, with leftovers. 

The Final Product
As a note to the reader, I had 2 loins that together weighed just over 2 pounds.  The hour in the oven was more than enough.  I used grated pecorino romano cheese instead of parmesan.  For the heck of it, I also added in a handful of Sargento's 6 cheese Italian shred.  This provided a neat crispy top to the roast.  Another yummy addition to my cookbook.

Pasta with Turkey and Broccoli

We are on our way to somewhat healthier less costly eating.  I have been trying to cut down on the red meat (I'll be honest - I still love a good steak) by incorporating leaner protein.  We tried this recipe from Real Simple in the past couple of weeks.

Pasta with Turkey and Broccoli

from Real Simple

Ingredients

3/4 pound orecchiette
2 cups broccoli florets
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground turkey
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
kosher salt
Parmesan, for serving

Steps

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, adding the broccoli during the last minute. Drain and return the pasta and broccoli to the pot.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey, garlic, fennel seed, and red pepper and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes; season with ½ teaspoon salt.
3. Toss the turkey mixture with the pasta and broccoli and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Serve with Parmesan.

The Final Results

I was surprised at how tasty this turned out.  The turkey was flavorful and the broccoli not to soggy.  I think the fennel seed and the red pepper really made this dish.  I was tricked into thinking I was having sausage with the pasta but it was turkey.  Definitely, try this one out for a quick meal.

Big Brother moments

Since Thomas joined the crew, I have noticed a few cute little things happening:

• JT will bring a binky to Thomas if he is crying.
• If Thomas is out playing, or more aptly laying on his tummy, JT will bring over his taggies to share with Thomas.
• When we are in the car and Thomas gets a bit cranky, JT goes "shush" and puts his finger over his mouth.
• If I ask JT if he wants Thomas to come play with him, JT pulls down Thomas's play blanket and gets it set up on the floor.

I love my big boy.  Here he is getting ready to feed his prairie dog breakfast just like mommy feeds Thomas breakfast.

Duty for Dooty

I'll be totally honest. There are very few days in my home where doing "Number 2" is not subject number 1 of our conversations. With Thomas' arrival, the boys' closets look like an aisle at Target - Cruisers size 5, Overnights size 6, a half plastic sleeve of Swaddlers size 1, a box of Swaddlers size 2 (for when the 1's are done), a box of Swaddlers size 3 and Overnights size 3. (You may think I am crazy to have 3s all ready to go but when you find a sale for these big boxes -$20 is awesome!- you might as well buy them early.). It is a little depressing, not to mention the extra costs.

So, we are slowly trying to get JT ready to leave the diapers behind. We have done a couple of things to get the process started:

1. I plan on reading Potty Training for Boys. I am almost done with the second book on India that I purchased many moons ago and this book is next in the queue. I am hoping this short little read will provide some insight into getting this done quickly and with as few messes as possible (HAHA!).
2. I have been trying to get JT to be more proactive in dressing himself. It is somewhat frustrating though. What I know will take me three seconds to do has now become a ten minute charade. I hope that as he becomes more adept at getting clothes on and off it will make the "pulling down my pants to use the potty" action easier.
3. Another hurdle is getting JT to use his words. He has a growing vocabulary but is torn between using them or screaming to get what he wants. I have been trying to convince him to use the words "poop" and "pee" as preludes to changing his diaper. Then he will hopefully use them to know when he has to go to the bathroom.
4. Wet vs Dry: another battle is trying to get him to recognize the difference between wet and dry. Right now I have been using all the instances when JT is drooling, or sticking his hands in his mouth to indicate wet. I hope it will help.
5. Easy Ups: On our recent diaper buying spree, I picked up a small box of potty training pants.
6. Got a potty. We bought a simple potty at IKEA. JT seems intrigued by it and has on a couple of occasions gone to just sit on it. Trouble is we have 2 bathrooms. Doi - silly mommy moment. We need to get one more before we begin this...adventure.

I'll update if we or when we have success. It might be a while. :-/

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Early Morning Feedings

Getting up early in the morning leaves me with a good half hour or so of quiet quality time.  I have been keeping myself and Thomas in the dark during these feedings to make it easier for him to get right back to sleep once he is done.  In the dark, my mind wanders:

1.  How much stuff can you stuff in a stuffies til your stuffies stuffed enough stuff?
We have started watching PBS' Sprout network in the evenings with JT.  Inevitably this commercial comes on at least 2 times during our viewing.  It has caused much pondering.  So much so that we have even considered buying a Stuffie just to answer this question.  Thankfully on their website provides this useful diagram.

2.  Michel Mercier
Yet another commercial on Sprout that has garnered a bit of my quiet time.  This professional hair stylist has come up with a special detangling brush.  It has 428 bristles of varying sizes.  This apparently is source of great pride - 428 is the exact right number of bristles to detangle hair and not have your hair end up on the brush.  My mathy brain wants to know how this guy chose 428.  Does the efficiency of the brush decrease significantly if you add just one more bristle?  I'd love to read a study if they did this.

3.  Minivans are more "Sucky"
Totally in a good way.  Now I am the first person to say that I hate minivans.  But the Honda Odyssey comes with a built in vacuum cleaner.  Every time I see the commercial it makes me want to drool.  Why did it take the minivan people so long to come up with this awesome feature?  I want a minivan now!

4.  Volvo
I want this concept coupe!

Grilled Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin

We are settling into a rhythm here.  But it has been a month from Thomas' arrival and I got the urge to try something new.  Now it isn't anything super crazy.  It didn't take me hours to prepare - actually, I got to bring in my heavily underutilized hubby to do the cooking.  I had a pork tenderloin set in our meal plan but I didn't want to do the old lemon herb marinade or do all the cooking in the house.  So, I did a quick search and found this intriguing recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod.

Now, I am not a huge fan of honey mustard sauce.  As an option for chicken fingers at a restaurant, I would rather eat them plain then get honey mustard sauce.  Why not try something a little different?  So we did and the verdict was very pleasing.  There was just enough sweet and peppery to make it work.  We both enjoyed it very much.

Grilled Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin

from Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper
2 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin

Steps

1. In a large bowl, whisk together apple cider vinegar, olive oil, honey, mustard, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, and pepper.
2.  Place pork tenderloin in zip top bag.  Pour mixture into the bag.  Seal the bag and make sure the pork is covered in the marinade. Chill in the refrigerator overnight, turning occasionally.
3. Remove the pork from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature before grilling. Discard marinade. Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Grill tenderloin, covered with grill lid, 8 to 10 minutes on all sides or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 150° to 155°. Remove tenderloin from grill, and let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Feedings

I feel like I need to share my experiences regarding the early feeding choices I have made with Thomas and JT.

With JT, I felt like I had my hands tied.  I did not get to see him much during the first 2 weeks of his life since he was in the NICU.  This was due in part to having to drive an hour both ways to get to the NICU and my very slow recovery from the emergency c-section.  I spent almost 4 days in the hospital.  The only thing that got stuck in my head was this bit of info from the nurses and lactation consultants - breastmilk will be the best thing for JT to get him big and healthy.  So to get my baby strong as quickly as possible, I made the decision to pump.  I had no problems producing - heck the NICU ended up sending a bunch of frozen milk back home with us.  When we got home, we got the green light to try breastfeeding.

And then the trouble began.  We tried for almost 4 weeks (and yes, I continued pumping this entire time).  I had no problem with any of the holds.  It just was not working.  Our breastfeeding experience ended with an excruciatingly painful bout of mastitis.  Once I got over that, I continued pumping for another 2 months.  The milk lasted through until JT was about 6 months old - when we made the switch to formula.

While pregnant with Thomas, I told myself that I would take another stab at breastfeeding again.  New baby, whole new start.  Again, I had no issues producing.  I guess I was an oddity because all the nurses just seemed so impressed.  But during early those days at the hospital, I could tell something was not right.  I think I must have called in every lactation consultant the hospital had on hand.  My holds were perfectly fine, latches were great!  (I had had quite a bit of practice, right?)  The nurses would come in and check my pain level from the c-section - no issues there.  What was totally painful was the breastfeeding - and it took me right back to my frustrations with JT.  I knew it was all wrong.

I told the nursing staff I could not continue this route - I've already done this once.  I knew what was in store.  Can we please get Thomas on formula?  Then I got read the riot act - well, why don't you pump?  It is so much more beneficial.  Yes, I know that it is.  I did it with my first son.  So why go formula?  Because I know the commitment of pumping and I know that the breastfeeding was not going the right way, but most importantly, I need to be able to be mom to both of my boys - not neglect one for the other.  I was a hot hormonal mess and that probably didn't come out quite as artfully.  After the hubby, stepped in to say this is what I want and is best for us, we got some formula.

You may ask yourself now that we are 3 weeks out - do I regret this decision?  No.  I am in such a better place mentally and physically than I was with JT.  Okay, I will not deny that I am exhausted.  Thankfully, we didn't have to wait near 3 months before some started sleeping for longer than 2 hours at a time overnight.  I can get about 5 hours of sleep at night and it feels glorious.  Not to mention, I have time between feedings to hang with JT and not be hooked up to my pump, or be cleaning pumping pieces.

So, I won't judge anyone about their baby feeding choices - so long as their baby and mom is happy and healthy - who cares!  Just my take on the formula vs breastfeeding wars.

Family Update

Well, family life has changed. "Rampage" decided to join us earlier than his scheduled extraction date but not by much. On August 9, 2013, we welcomed Thomas Jacob into our family.

We are now trying to settle into a new routine. Thankfully, Thomas has been sleeping from about midnight to 5 - 6 am. I still feel exhausted but not nearly the extreme that we dealt with getting JT settled. Not much more to report - I will try to post a bit more but no guarantee on new recipes.

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Rosemary-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Always on the look out for good pork tenderloin recipes, and this one fits the bill.  I did make some slight adjustments to the recipe marked in the link.

Rosemary-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

adapted slightly from Real Simple

Ingredients

1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
kosher salt and black pepper
1 1 1/4-pound pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound green beans
1/4 cup pitted black olives, halved

Steps

1.  Heat oven to 425° F.
2.  On a large plate, combine the bread crumbs, garlic, paprika, rosemary, and ½ teaspoon salt.
3.  Rub the pork with 1 teaspoon of the oil, coat with the bread crumb mixture, then place on a rimmed baking sheet (I laid a sheet of aluminum foil down on the sheet to help contain some of the mess).
4.  Roast the pork until cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes (For some reason, pork never seems to cook that quickly for me - 40 to 45 minutes seemed an accurate cook time.). Let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
5.  Steam the green beans in a steamer bag in the microwave (approximately 4 minutes).
6.  In a heated pan, add remaining tablespoon of oil.  Add to it the steamed green beans, the olives, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.  Fry for 2 - 4 minutes and serve with the pork.

The Finished Product

The tenderloin had a good crunch and a nice light flavor to it.  The green beans and olives were a great combo - I would definitely pair that again as a side to almost any other meat.  A keeper!

Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemon

Not that we do not try to eat healthy all the time but I really like to put an emphasis on it when the hubby has PT test coming up around the corner.  So last night I tried out a new recipe for tilapia, which I really enjoy as a nice light alternative to chicken.

Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemons

adapted slightly from Real Simple

Ingredients

1 pound mini red potatoes (about 12), halved
upto 1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground thyme
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup pitted black olives
4 6-ounce skinless tilapia fillets
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Steps

1.  Heat oven to 400° F.
2.  On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, lemon, thyme, 2 tablespoons oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer.
3.  Roast, tossing once, until the potatoes begin to soften, about 20 minutes.
4.  Toss the olives with the potato mixture; nestle the fish in it. Drizzle the fish with the remaining oil and season with paprika and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
5.  Continue to roast until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp and the fish is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.

The Finished Product

The fish was nice and light with the paprika giving it a little kick.  The mini red potatoes helped fill our tummies with their starchiness.  The olives provided that little shot of tanginess to complete the meal.  This meal was pretty quick including prep time - we sat down within the hour.  Definitely keeping this recipe around for more fish nights.

Royal Baby

Never thought I would write about pop culture but in this instance it really hits home.  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge just welcomed their first baby boy into the world.

Congratulations to them!  It gets me excited for Rampage's arrival.  It also gets me riled up a bit.  I really hope they do not choose anything close to the name we have for Rampage.  It's taken months to come up with a name and coming up with JT's name was just as difficult.  I wouldn't want to be one of those people who names their kid because someone famous did it.  Silly nonsense, I know, but I feel strongly about this.  We have already chosen Rampage's name so don't you all think we named it after some royal kid if William and Kate choose the same name.

As a side note, I am pretty sure it is wishful thinking - but I would love to be up and walking (let alone looking that good) the day after Rampage arrives.  A girl can dream right?

Lemon-Thyme Orzo with Green Beans

I really like my go-to Orzo pilaf side with steaks but recently I felt like it needed a little update.  While we lived in Kansas, I took a couple of cooking classes at the local supermarket from this great down to earth chef - Chef Alli.  I recently noticed she had posted a few new recipes on her blog and one in particular using orzo.  So I said what the whooey and gave it a whirl.  Click on the link for her recipe, what I have provided are my adjustments.

Lemon-Thyme Orzo with Green Beans

by Chef Alli

Ingredients

2 cups chicken broth
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ - ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 cup water
1 cup orzo pasta
1 package frozen steamer green beans, prepared
splash of lemon juice
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. black pepper
Freshly shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese

Steps

1.  In a deep skillet, bring broth, garlic, red pepper flakes, and water to a boil over high heat; stir in pasta and reduce heat to medium-low.
2.  Simmer until nearly two-thirds of liquid is absorbed by pasta and orzo is beginning to look creamy, stirring occasionally, for approx. 10-12 minutes.
3.  Stir in green beans, lemon zest, thyme, salt, pepper, and cheese.  Take off heat, allowing mixture to thicken.

My apologies in not have a picture to end with.  The side really hit the spot for us.  Not to mention it added a quick veggie to our meal (since I am always bad about including the veggies).  JT liked it so much - he actually preferred to pick out the green beans to eat first.

Enjoy!

Chicken With Potatoes

We are settling into a routine, so my hubby thought it would be a good time to get back into the Indian food rhythm.  Since we are now in the "baby could arrive whenever he feels like" time frame, I requested something that would not be too spicy.  The hubby wanted to do a bread as well but one that was not so intensive as naan.  So we decided to make Chicken with Potatoes and Paratha.

Chicken with Potatoes

adapted slightly from An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 inch cube of fresh ginger
1 1/2 pounds of chicken (we used 1 pound of tenderloins)
5 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
4 whole cardamom pods
1 tsp of red pepper flakes (I can't remember the exact measurement but it was less than what Jaffrey calls for)
2 whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt

Steps

1.  Clean the potatoes.  Place in steamer bag and cook in microwave.  Let cool completely.  (Jaffrey says to boil the potatoes, we just found this to be much more convenient)
2.  Blend onion, garlic, and ginger with 5 tbsp water to a smooth paste.
3.  Heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, red pepper, peppercorns, and chicken.  (We use a mortar and pestle to break down the cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, and peppercorns prior to heatings.)  Fry chicken until golden brown on all sides.  Remove the chicken and set aside.
4.  Add the paste to the pot and then the turmeric.  Fry for about 3 minutes.
5.  Add the tomato sauce and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
6.  Meanwhile, peel and quarter the potatoes.
7.  Add the salt, chicken, and potatoes to the sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 - 25 minute or until chicken is tender.

Paratha

from An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup whole wheat flour for dusting

Steps

1.  Combine the flour, oil, and salt in a bowl while slowly adding 1/2 cup of water until all the flour adheres together.
2.  Knead for 8 - 10 minutes.
3.  Form into a ball, cover with damp cloth and set aside for 30 minutes.
4.  Divide dough into 8 balls.
5.  For each ball: roll out until it is about 5 inch in diameter.  Brush lightly with the melted butter.  Fold in half.  Brush again with butter.  Fold in half one last time.  You should have a triangular shape.  Roll the triangle so that each side is 5 inch long.
6.  Add butter to a griddle that has been heated over a medium heat.  Place the paratha on the griddle.  Once it is golden brown, add more butter to griddle and flip.  Cook until golder brown.
7.  As each paratha finishes, place on an aluminum sheet and cover tightly.  When ready to eat, preheat oven to 300 and heat covered parathas for 10 minutes.

Finished Product

I really enjoyed this meal.  We served it over some basmati race.  The chicken and potatoes were not spicy at all but had a wonderful smell.  The sauce was nice and thick from the potatoes giving off their starchiness.  This recipe also seemed to move along a lot quicker than some of our other recipe attempts.  A definite keeper especially because I like "Aloo" - Hindi for potato.  We also liked that the bread was not nearly as time intensive as naan.  I enjoy naan a bit more but for the time - parathas are so much easier. I encourage you to try this one out.

Broccoli Concoction

So, last Wednesday evening I was planning on making some lemon pork chops and braised broccoli.  That morning I woke up, with an ugh, I don't want to make braised broccoli.  I really want something cheesey.  So, I came up with this little cheesey broccoli side dish.

Cheesey Broccoli

Ingredients

2 bunches of broccoli
4 oz Velveeta Cheese, cubed
1/4 tsp ground dry mustard
splash of milk
sprinkle of ground black pepper

Steps

1.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees (this will keep dish warm while I finished working on the pork chops).
2.  Cut the broccoli so that you just have the florets.
3.  Steam the florets (I love the Ziploc Zip and Steam bags - fill it up and put your broccoli in for 3 minutes in the microwave.  Perfect!)
4.  In a microwave safe bowl, place cheese, mustard, milk, and pepper.  Place in microwave for 30 second increments up to 3 minutes, stopping to stir and combine ingredients until smooth.
5.  Place steamed broccoli in a small casserole dish.  Pour the cheese mixture over top.  (I added some bread crumbs on top to give it a little crunch.)
6.  If the rest of dinner isn't ready, place in preheated oven to keep warm.

The Finished Product
My apologies in not taking a picture.  It turned out pretty yummy, plus it was quick and easy to make.  Next time, I would consider adding a bit of "heat" - either making an addition of chili powder, paprika, or red pepper flakes.  Pretty sure I can make almost any veggie side become cheesey now!

35 Weeks

Yes, we are in the home stretch!  I am ready to evict Rampage as early as possible.  Well, no, scratch that.  He can be evicted once I do a load or two of newborn clothes, get the bassinet ready, check/sterilize all the bottles and nipples (if breastfeeding doesn't go down so well), wrap up his birth plan, install the car seat base, and pack my hospital bag.

I definitely feel a bit easier this time around - probably because we have all of the stuff and know how to use it.  The only new things we got were a stroller, diaper bag, and an carrier.

Even more exciting, I walk in for my OB appointment to hear that the office just got a brand spanking new 3D Ultrasound machine.  After getting all my vitals done, the doctor comes in and says - do you want an ultrasound today?  I say sure, we haven't seen baby in while.  The doctor replied - you'll be the first baby that I get to do a 3D on - with a great big grin.  Happy doctors make for good appointments.  :o)

Here you see a face frontal - upper left is Rampage's eye, and the black spot in the center is his mouth all wide open.  He was just getting ready to stick his hand (yeah those are fingers to the right of black center) in his mouth.

I like this one even better!  Side view of his face and cute little nose.  Guess what - already sucking on his fingers.

We took a bunch of measurements as well.  To be honest, my biggest worry so far has been whether or not Rampage will have a low birth weight/size like JT did.  Well, he is measuring in between 35 and 36 weeks.  He is 50th percentile for head and femur.  Rampage is already weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 9 oz.  Incredible!

So now I look forward to taking the next few weeks easy, with the exception of getting those things I mentioned at the top of the blog completed.  Plus, I am trying to get in all the sleep I can.  The pregnancy has been brutally hard on me with lack of sleep.  So I will continue to prioritize and only do the things that most desperately need to get done - you know like making dinner in the evenings.  Everything else can wait.

Hopefully it will continue this way until our scheduled eviction date - August 12, 2013.  8/12/13 seems a good birthday right?

Foreign Cultures and Languages

As you may recall, the reasoning behind our big move is for the hubby to attend language school.  In particular, he will be immersing himself in one of the harder languages - Hindi.

When we learned this, I decided that my gateway to India would be through food.  But low and behold Baby 2.0 made it impossible for me to handle any really strong spice smells.  So the hubby took over cooking the Indian food.  With all the moving, packing, and unpacking, I hope to get back into testing out some new Indian recipes in the near future.

So I have been trying to acclimate myself to Indian culture and Hindi through other means - history and learning the language.

We all know that history is not exactly my strong suit.  I have never really been able to make that sort of information stick in my head.  In support of this new job, I have taken the plunge into India After Ghandi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy.  It is a tome - weighing in at over 800 pages.  I began reading it nearly 6 months ago and I am still not done yet.  It discusses Indian history from Independence (1947, and a little earlier) onward.  While I have a difficult time with it (historical writing in general), I am making progress - I reading about the 1960's and am about halfway complete with the book.  I also purchased In Spite of the Gods at the same time - I am hoping that all this in depth reading will make this shorter book fly.

If we all thought my issues with history were rough, learning a language pales in comparison.  Sometimes I have a hard enough time with english (partially because I know these babies are taking all of my good-hardworking braincells).  I stayed away from spoken languages in high school and college, opting for the very dead Latin.  It served me well in avoiding having to provide conversational proficiency.  But here I am stuck.  I definitely need to obtain a working knowledge of Hindi.

So, we got Rosetta Stone.  Pregnancy and Rosetta Stone do not mix well.  After sitting through the first couple of lessons, I had an emotional breakdown.  My brain couldn't seem to keep straight the differences for boy, girl, man, woman, eat, and drink.  I was beyond frustrated and left a trail of tissues all around my computer.  So I have taken a break from Rosetta Stone for the time being.

In the meantime, I know I work well independently - just me and a textbook.  So I have picked up Elementary Hindi along with it's corresponding workbook.  I plan on cracking this open (yeah right - like I have time to crack any book open once Rampage arrives) on I complete my history reading (shouldn't take more than...6 more months right?).  I also picked up several workbooks geared towards children (cause that is my working level right now) on the alphabet, writing, vocabulary, and grammar.

For JT and Rampage, I picked up some children's books of which there do not seem to be many.  Bindi Baby covers numbers and animals in Hindi, as well as, several other linguistic states in India.  I also picked out Aamoo the Mango, which has stories with simple sentences that introduce colors, counting, food, shapes, etc.

But I am making the most progress with, of all things, Dino Lingo.  Oddly enough, my brain really seems to have taken to this language learning system for children.  After just a couple of viewings, I have my numbers through 10, colors, a bunch of animals, and some foods in my vocabulary. (As a mathematician, or well I used to be, it irks me that they do not provide the word for zero as it happens to be a construct attributed to the Indian number system.)  I also understand the short conversations and am starting to pick up on the grammar and genders of words (gender not being something I think they intend children to consciously pick up on).  There are 5 episodes - the last seeming to contain most of the information that Rosetta Stone throws at you in the first 10 lessons.  I did not walk away from the final episode teary-eyed, which made me feel a lot better.

Calling Cards

The Hubby's move to a functional area - Foreign Area Officer (FAO, pronounced "fay-o") - has brought along a load a new learning experiences for the both of us.  It has put a new spin on the Army experience.

For me, it means a couple of things (learning a language(s), upping my game in conversation settings, etc.) but I really only want to focus on one aspect of courtesy and protocol - the Calling Card.

In this day and age, literally everyone has a cellular device.  I find it easiest to just add a person/business contact right to my phone as I meet them.  I know I won't forget it if it is on my phone already.

Thus far in our army experience, I have had very few encounters with people using calling cards.  The spouses club at Fort Riley had cards made up for the board members. I rarely used mine but I did hand a few out or use them to jot other useful information down for people (webaddresses, etc since I was the webmistress for two years).

We attended a mock embassy reception as part of the introduction course.  This was the first event that I have gone to where the calling card really got put to use.  For nearly two hours, I did not see a cellular device out at all (okay, I snuck mine out of my purse to check a text from our babysitter).  There was a lot of mingling and I noticed a lot of exchanging of cards, well more so than I usually do at a military event.  I even received a few cards from spouses and I felt rather behind the times because I had no cards.

I feel the need to rectify this situation but I am somewhat at a loss.  What exactly do I put on my personal calling card?  Clearly, my name but what about other information?  I do not have a home business (which I think would make this much easier to deal with), I am not volunteering, and I am no longer actively working as a licensed teacher (although my license is still valid for a few more years).  I work hard at home with my son, well soon to be, sons.  Having a relatively blank card with just my name is somewhat ridiculous and I don't feel adding "Stay-at-home mom" or "Homemaker" really makes the situation any better.  I feel I should put some method of contact - be it phone or email - on the card but I am uncomfortable just giving that information out unless I have had some in depth conversation with a person.  Maybe I should create a separate email address just for my calling card to keep my FAO acquaintances in area that won't overlap with my personal/family correspondence.  If you have any tips, I would appreciate them. Or I might just have to go with the blank, name-only style calling card.

Prepping for Rampage

With the hubbub of moving coming to an end, I have the chance to start preparing for the  onslaught that is Rampage, baby 2.0.

On the stuff side of preparedness, the major relief is that Rampage is still indeed a boy.  There is no need to run around buying a whole new baby wardrobe for little miss thang. Being able to pull out all of JT's old clothes has been a comfort after all the traveling and spending money to reset our home.  We also have all the bottles and my pump - they just need to go through some sterilizing.  We tons of burp clothes thanks to JT's consistent spit up for the first 9 - 12 months of life.  We have the bassinet and the pack-n-play.  I hope to transition JT to a big boy bed when Rampage does the move from bassinet to a crib.  We have the infant car seat and 2 bases - it doesn't matter which vehicle we are driving.

But there are/were three big things I really felt I would like for Rampage.  The first was a new (re: larger) diaper bag.  JT is to the point where we do not have to change him every five seconds but we still need to have some back up diapers to carry around.  But the kid loves his food - so I need something to carry around num-nums and his sippy - not to mention his cars and blanket.  But I know I will need something will accommodate his needs plus Rampage - his set of diapers, burp clothes, extra clothes, and any bottles.  I just recently scored a sale pattern of the Make a Change Baby Bag along with a $20 off coupon.  I am impressed with it's size and feel confident that it will meet our needs - well maybe not Hubby's needs for it to look more manly (I did get a blue pattern!).

Second on my list is a double stroller.  I love my BOB single stroller.  JT is not big enough to be out walking on his own (have a little stroller tag along strap for when he hits that point) while I walk.  Oh, and I want to walk.  It is too beautiful here to not take a walk everyday.  That is the plan - Rampage arrives and we go out for a family walk every day.  So I have been looking into getting a BOB duallie stroller with a car seat attachment.  I felt bad missing the boat for the REI garage sale - just a few minutes to late to score a refurbished one for really cheap.  I then noticed that Amazon is running a sale on the Revolution SE Duallie - at near 25% off, plus Prime membership means no shipping fees.  So I snagged one up along with the car seat adapter and the handlebar console (I love putting my water bottle, keys, and phone somewhere accessible) all for less than the regular price of the Duallie. I think that deserves a pat on the back.

The final thing on my list is a new carrier.  I really like the ERGO Baby carrier.  I have a Moby which is good for around the house but I hate having to tie and retie the thing when we are out and about.  I want to snap and go with Rampage.  I have not found any at a reduced price yet but I am still looking.  I do know that I want to get it in the next few weeks so that I am prepared for Rampage.

Outside of the "stuff",  I can not tell if I am mentally prepared for Rampage.  Thankfully, I have no commitments (volunteer/otherwise) to really worry about.  Just need to find a balance of keeping Rampage, JT, Hubby, and Myself happy - on what will probably be very little sleep.  Good thing I don't get much of that now, right?  I think I am prepared for the hospital part - it can't be any worse than what happened for JT's arrival - although JT's arrival always seems to blindside me at the most inopportune time.  But for now at least, I am healthy and Rampage is healthy (and kicking like a maniac).  So I can't ask for much more than that.

Relearning How To Cook

The moving process gives you a chance to really take a good look at the things you have in your home.  There is quite a bit of assessing and reassessing the value and condition of all of your items.  Is it coming with us, should we drop it at the Goodwill, or has the item run hit the end of its lifetime?

When it came to my pots and pans, well, we need those to cook and not eat out every meal of the day.  So there was no question in my mind that they would be making the trek to our new home.  But upon arrival, I took a good long look at them.

The cookware set is as old as we have been married.  It has been a very reliable set over the years.  I have gotten used to knowing just how quickly it will take for them to heat up  and cook different types of meat.  As I pulled them out of the packing paper, the nonstick coating jumped out at me.  Almost literally.  My more heavily loved pans were showing signs of scraping and peeling.  I wasn't planning on serving my dinner with a side of Teflon.  Yuck.

So, I was on the hunt for a new set of pots and pans.  Not that I really wanted to - but I guess the day had come for our wedding set to hit the road.  I began thinking about what type I would like now.  If I get a similar set, I will probably be having the same dialogue again in a few years.  We enjoy making meals at home (besides the fact that it saves us a bit of money instead of eating out).  I want pans that will have a longer lifetime than 5 years and be able to stand up to our everyday use.

It really only left me with one choice - stainless steel.  We would be taking a big wallet hit in the beginning but if we took good care - we could have them for 20 + years.  No need to worry about the nonstick coating peeling off into my cooking.  My other issue was I know need to readjust how I cook.  I have always been scared of stainless steel.  Everyone warns you about the sticking and the pans warping on high heat.  Do I trust myself to not do anything dumb to seriously ruin this investment in our cooking?

After taking a look at a couple of sets, asking some questions (the one salesperson said they are still using the set they bought 28 years ago), and debating it over lunch, we took the plunge.  We got a 10 piece All Clad Stainless Steel set.

And seeing as we went all in, why not test my skills doing our favorite - spaghetti and meatballs!  I create the sauce in a Le Creuset stock pot but I would be frying up the meatballs in a brandy new and super shiny fry pan.  I don't know when I have been more nervous.

As per the salesperson's instructions, I placed the pan on the stove and set the heat (we have gas in our new home that is a whole other challenge to get used to after having electric) to medium/medium high to warm the pan.  Once I could feel the warmth from the pan, I lowered the heat to medium-low and poured in some oil.  Once I saw the oil shimmering, I said a little prayer and dropped my meatballs in the pan.

And then I waited.  I heard the sizzling and got excited.  I got a hold of my emotions and remembered - "Do not flip the meat early, it will not brown, and you'll probably be left with a sticky burnt mess."  So I waited a bit more.  This was Christmas-opening-presents level of anticipation here.  I honestly did not know what to do with myself.  When I just couldn't take the pressure any longer, I caved and started flipping those balls.

Ugh!  Not as nice crispy brown as I normally liked but I did not have any issues flipping.  So it was partially a success.  Next time, I know to leave them for longer.  It is still something I keep telling myself over the past weeks.

But you know what, I am really happy with these new pans.  I am also glad that my hubby agreed to take the plunge.  It may be taking us a bit longer to make our meals while we adjust but there are no more worries about "Hey, I didn't add pepper to this dish!"

Chicken Stir Fry

For one of the first meals in our new home, I decided to fight the urge to make the same old same old.  New house, new recipe!  Now that we are out on the west coast, everything seems to have a more asian flair to it.  So, I decided to try a chicken stir fry.

Basic Chicken Stir Fry

from The Everything Chinese Cookbook

Ingredients

1 lb chicken meat
2 tbsp oil
1 garlic clove
2 think slices of ginger
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Steps

1.  Cut chicken pieces into cubes or slices - get them to be all about the same size, so they cook at the same rate.
2.  Add oil to a preheated wok.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic and ginger.  Stir fry until they become aromatic.
3.  Add the chicken and stir fry until it changes color.
(4.  Since I had some veggies laying around, I removed the chicken and added the veggies.  Stir fry them for a few minutes.  I added the chicken back in after step 5.)
5.  Add the chicken stock, rice wine, sugar, and salt.  Mix.
6.  Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through.

The Finished Product

It turned out pretty yummy.  I wish the sauce had gotten a bit thicker.  Nonetheless, the sauce was not overpowering, which I was a little worried about.  The veggies came out tender and not wimpy. (I have made stir fries where I let the veggies go a little too long.  Wimpy veggies just are not fun.)  I look forward to trying it again - not sure what I would add to the sauce to make it thicken but it is something I will look into.

Food Fodder

In an attempt to become more of a local, we have taken to listening to the area radio stations instead of satellite radio while we are driving around town.  One fateful lunch hour, we stumbled across Food Fodder on KRML (it's a cute call name since the radio station is in Carmel, CA). 

One of the regular contributors was on a whirlwind East Coast foodie trip - hitting up the big cities by checking out the food scene.  The topic of discussion that lunch hour was to compare and contrast some of these larger cities to the food scene here in Monterey.  A statement that came out really hit my funny bone - or more like my sarcastic bone.  They were comparing the food scene in New York (they snuck San Francisco in there as well) to Monterey.

"You know you just can't get Peruvian food here.  I mean to get something decent you need to drive to at least San Francisco."

PALM to FACE.  Oh goodness.  I couldn't help myself - I nearly spit out the water I was drinking.  I wish I could have called the station right then and there.  After four years in the middle of Kansas, I am pretty much in food/restaurant heaven here.  In Kansas, we were all excited for the arrival of the Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse.  I would have to plan special trips to Topeka to get some seafood at the Red Lobster.  (There were a couple of great restaurants - like Harry's, Della Voce, or Little Apple Brew Co., Umi's - don't get me wrong here!)  But here, you have a long list restaurants that are American, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Thai, etc.  Hell, if you can't find a good Seafood joint, I am pretty sure the fish will jump out of the bay and give you a good fin-slapping.  I am not quite sure how these contributors would have fared in Middle America.

But I did learn something - I won't get Peruvian food here, I'll need to drive to San Francisco.

Moving

It is that time of the year in the military - the time for PCS-ing or moving to a new duty station.  This is the first year in a long while that we have had the chance to participate in the spring/summer move bonanza. After four years in one location, it really is quite a shock to see how your family has grown roots in that spot. 

We forged so many new friendships.  It feels overwhelming to be back at square one again.  Not that we are really back at square one, just that new location means finding new "here" friends. With all the moving, I am pretty sure we will run into our "Ft. Riley" friends again at some new locale.  Not to mention all this great social media lets us interact across the miles.

All the "stuff" we have.  The packers and movers transported nearly 11.5 thousand pounds of stuff.  Plus, we loaded almost another thousand into our two vehicles.  I thought I had done a decent job of purging but now that we are settling into our new home - it might just have to happen again.  I don't know how we managed to squirrel away all of it.  Given the hubby's new job, I think I might spend the time we have here in a constant purge state - there is no way all of this is coming with us to a foreign country!

The paperwork - and I don't mean the paperwork for selling a house, that is a different can of works.  The paperwork, phone calling, documenting of every service - utilities, magazines, banking, credit cards, heck online ordering - that needs to get updated with new addresses or to get cancelled.  It is one heck of a storm.  I am so glad it is over.

The uncertainty of your new location.  None of the roads are familiar - when getting from point A to point B, you pray you don't cut off the wrong the people because you just don't know that that turn comes up so quickly, or that a merge lane ends in 20 feet and really should not be considered a merge lane.  Not being able to get a pizza from your go to pizza place.  Okay, I guess that is a function of being pregnant and tired - but trying out different pizza joints and their pricing can be daunting.  I need a good pizza joint.  Thankfully, it only took two attempts to find our place!

Resetting a new home.  You need to go out and get all those essentials - like soap, toilet paper, towels, salt, tea, coffee, etc - all those things we had in our old house.  The whole system needs to get restarted. Not to mention the usual daytime routines - getting the dogs used to a new yard and especially, JT getting used to his new surroundings.  Things are just not quite the same as they were in KS.

Now that we are here, life is returning somewhat to normal.  I won't lie - moving was a big time stress for me, especially while pregnant.  I did not get much sleep.  I get a bit more now that we are settled.  I would avoid doing this ever again while pregnant.  We have begun exploring and are very happy that our new home is situated where there seems to be events going on all the time.  There is more to come - and probably a photo dump too.  Unfortunately, my computer is still sitting in it's box. We have ordered a new desk for it.  When it arrives, I can hook up the nice camera a put up some photos of some beautiful places.

Rampage

Before we begin the relocation process, I got a chance to see Baby 2.0 - lovingly dubbed "Rampage" by his grandpa - one last time.  It eases my mind as we get ready to move and travel across the country.  Rampage is growing nicely and it super duper active.  Let's say that sleeping is nigh impossible because every time I take a load off he decides it is time to tap dance and move around.  Here are pictures from the photoshoot:

I like this cute little profile picture - my favorite.

This does not leave us much doubt about whether or not Rampage is a boy.

Assurance

That sign right there - that is the sign of Assurance.  One of the biggest things I have been worried about this whole move, was what are we going to do with our house.  Do we rent it?  Do we sell it?  If we try to sell and things don't work out by the time we leave, do we try to rent it then?  Big level of uncertainty.  But this little sign says it all.  Granted we have a few things we need to get done before all is said and done, but just knowing that this won't be a worry while we move has lessened my anxiety level.

Now if only this house would pack itself, move itself, and magically find a new home that would be awesome!

Running in the Yard

It has been unseasonably cold through all of March here.  But yesterday we finally got a blast of nice spring weather.  It got to be about 60 - 70 degrees out and the sun was shining.  The perfect time to run around outside in the yard with the pugs!

Here are some still shots:

I hope we have more days like this in store for us!