Weekend Recap

We had a pretty low key weekend, which was nice. Saturday we went to the farmer's market and got fresh strawberries, kale and swiss chard. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and Target and to lunch at Casa Manana (who puts milk in their quacamole. Really? Is that necessary?). Then we took Lucy to the park to play, then to one of our friend's daughter's 2nd birthday party. Lucy had so much fun all day, and she was worn out by the time we got home. Sunday Rich golfed and Lucy and I just hung out around the house and did fun things like laundry.

I tried to fix the kale a couple different ways. I tried baking them to make Kale Chips, which I've read are wonderful. I must have cooked them too long or used too much heat, because they turned into a disintegrating burned mess. I like the idea of them though, so I'll try again next time. My 2nd kale fail was steamed kale using those steamer bags. Again, wound up with dried out greens. Finally, my 3rd attempt was a hit! I used a mixture of kale and swiss chard.

Bobby Flay's Sauteed Kale

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock or water
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft, but not colored. Raise heat to high, add the stock and kale and toss to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add vinegar.

I much prefer greens fixed this way instead of boiled and soggy. Plus, another great thing about sauteeing instead of boiling is that you don't lose those wonderful nutrients into the cooking water.

I also fixed Wild Rice and Broccoli as our main dish. It took about 15 minutes longer than the recipe stated to get the broccoli tender, but other than that this was an easy and good recipe.

Yesterday was Lucy's 11 month birthday. I say this every month, but I canNOT believe she's 11 months old. She's pulling up and cruising around getting into everything. She crawls with her right leg out sideways like a crab. Now when she holds onto our hands to walk, she can do it with only holding onto one hand instead of both. It's exciting, but I'm not ready for her to be a toddler. She still takes her naps wrapped on my back, and sleeps with us at night. Once we move into our own place (hopefully in the next couple of months!!!) we'll try to start getting her to sleep in her room at least some of the time. Her only "word" if you can call it that is Dada but I'm still not convinced she associates it with Rich. She also says "adah" all the time like she really is saying something important, but of course we have no clue what she's trying to tell us.

This is what she does when she doesn't want to go to bed, or is ready to get up in the mornings. She pulls up on the headboard and bangs on the wall.

Some of my favorite moments, her wrap-naps.

Dickson is the only dog that really seems to enjoy being around her at this point. He is also the most hyper and spastic one that licks her incessantly and knocks her over, but she doesn't seem to mind.