A Treat

We always look forward to parent/teacher conferences. We get a chance to observe the kids at work in their classroom, and always have a wonderful snack served to us :)

Unfruity Smoothie

Stumbled upon this 'frosty light' recipe on Pinterest - a chocolaty treat, and a nice break from the traditional fruit smoothie. May be hard to guess the ingredients - almond milk (I substituted vanilla soy milk), cocoa powder, chia seeds, and a frozen banana. Lots of other good smoothie recipes on her site too.

Fresh and Delicious

Pita Jungle in Ahwatukee, is my new favorite restaurant. Love the $1 Happy Hour tapas, hummus trios, margaritas/sangria, 'choose your own' kids meals, and the large variety of entree options.

My entree of choice is the wood-fired salmon salad, or over potatoes and sauteed spinach (shown).

And I love the restaurant's nice open space, and eclectic decor. Seems they also do a large take-out business - we tried that this past weekend. Yum.

Just Peachy

Skipped the frozen berries in this smoothie... :) Just frozen peaches, some frozen mango, orange juice, coconut milk, and a bit of fresh grated ginger. The texture was very Jamba Juice-like.

The Farmer's Market

We visited the Ahwatukee Farmer's Market a couple weeks ago - haven't been in a while, and it seems to have grown, with several new vendors.

We bought a loaf of delicious ciabatta bread, an acorn squash, some tomatoes, some savory breakfast pastries, and two of these cute potted succulents.

But what the kids enjoyed most, was playing on the playground located behind the farmer's market :)

Fresh from the Oven

My first loaf, from my new book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Used the basic boule 'master recipe', and it was so so easy. Haven't tasted it yet, but several reviewers say their loaves taste even better than they look. And I have more dough in the fridge :)

Mid-Sabbatical Crisis

Only 4 weeks left, and I'm actually starting to feel a bit of panic set in. So much to do, so little time. Our biggest projects - remodeling our backyard, and decorating our master bedroom - are still in the early stages, but we've been doing a lot of research. In any case, here's a look back at our 6 weeks so far. We've....

Traveled.

Explored.

And explored some more.

Indulged.

Nursed a sick cat back to health.

Tried new recipes.

And modified some of the kids' favorites.

Shopped.

Played.

Exercised.

Baked.

Encouraged.

And relaxed.

Healthy Pasta

We make this pasta primavera dish, from Giada's Everyday Italian cookbook, pretty often. I love flavor of the roasted veggies, and we add in plenty of fresh grated parmesan. Only drawback is the chopping.... takes me about 30 min!

All the veggies, chopped up and ready to go. This time, used red onion, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots and mushrooms.

The final product, with plenty of the leftovers, since still can't get the kids to eat vegetables that look like vegetables..... Also, it always amazes me how much the veggies shrink during roasting!

Pizzeria Bianco

After several years of reading/hearing about the nationally acclaimed Pizzeria Bianco, we finally had the opportunity (and time) to visit. It was a Saturday, we arrived at 5pm, and began our 2 hour wait. We walked around Heritage Square for a bit, then ordered a glass of wine and goat cheese crostini at the adjacent Bar Bianco, which we enjoyed at a table just outside the restaurant. With good company and tolerable evening temps, it is actually a very pleasant wait :)

We were eventually seated just after 7pm, and we had a very polite and attentive server. We ordered a glass of wine each, the antipasto plate, which was delicious, and 2 pizzas: the Sonny Boy and the Wiseguy... They were both very good, but my fave was the antipasto plate (and the goat cheese crostini app).

I would go back again, but definitely not in the heat of the summer. Next time, we might actually try Nobuo at Teeter House, just across the brick path. The menu looked really good, and it didn't appear to have any wait :)

A Long Day

Day 2 of my vacation week started out well - a good mix of productivity and fun: eye doctor appt, Starbuck's coffee stop, grocery shopping, lunch with Stew at the newly opened My Big Fat Greek Restaurant, and off to see a matinee of The Hunger Games. But not 2 (!) minutes into the movie, I got a phone call from Cole's teacher saying that he'd woken up from his nap, and had thrown up - and needed to be picked up. And the (not so) funny thing, was that Stew had taken off the afternoon so we could go see a movie. So we left.

Poor timing, and poor Cole... He's definitely got some stomach bug or something because he's got a fever, and there were a few more vomiting episodes, including one in Stew's car (Stew is really glad he decided to take the afternoon 'off'). After a bath for Cole, and following me around the house for a short while, he told me he wanted to do a [hula-hoop] contest, and next thing I know he's asleep in the middle of the purple hula-hoop. Poor Cole :(

Alas, lunch was tasty (assuming I didn't ruin that for you with my talk above) - they have a $5 lunch special, with your choice of pita (I had chicken souvlaki), and fries or salad. Will definitely be back, hopefully on a less eventful day.

Produce Aplenty

We decided to try the organic basket this time, from Bountiful Baskets. We got oranges, apples, blueberries, pineapple, cabbage, green beans, and (not shown), carrots, artisan lettuces, green onions, celery, and bok choy. A few of the items were packaged, from Earthbound Farm. Next week I think we'll try local - considering signing up for a CSA (Love Grows Farms) with pick-up location at work (how easy is that?) Someone also recommended chowlocally.com which looks a neat option as well.

Baked Fries

We don't make these that often, but the kids love them when we do. Slice up some sweet potatoes, toss with olive oil and kosher salt, and roast in the oven (~425 deg or so). I've found parchment paper works best for preventing sticking.

I eat mine plain, but the kids still like to dip in ketchup....

Determination

Stopped off for some dim sum at Golden Buddha last weekend after visiting the Big Bugs exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden.  The server brought Cole and Lauren a fork, but they were both determined to make the chopsticks work.


And they had my favorite dessert - custard buns.

Whole Grains

My favorite snack of the moment - and the kids are crazy about it too. Pretty healthy, although I do add a wee bit of butter and salt....

Sticky Fingers

There's nothing like your first s'more.....


The oozing marshmallow was so intriguing.


But oh, so good.

Waste Not

We went to Yollipop yesterday - free frozen yogurt for all dads for Father's Day! Cole was not about to let one drop of his go to waste. They also had a new refreshing citrus flavor called 'summer'. I was tempted to get an additional taster cup even after I'd finished :)

Frappe Happy

Safeway's Starbucks had $2 grande frappuccinos this past weekend... Yum.

Party Time

Operation Cupcake complete, it's party time!

Happy Valentine's Day!

On Sunday we decorated chocolate covered pretzel rods as a Valentine treat (I learned that Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips don't contain milk - chocolate for Cole, yay!)


Lauren's approach was to put a little of every topping on each pretzel.


Cole's goal was to dump out the toppings, so we had to limit his topping amount. And all was well until I put the pretzels in the fridge to let the chocolate harden. He went ballistic, and was so upset that I took his pretzels away.... It took a lot to calm him down.


A glimpse at the final product. Very yummy.

Lunch du Jour

Weekend lunch usually consists of a grilled cheese for Lauren (her recent fave), and jelly sandwich, chicken nuggets, or pasta for Cole (he's a little trickier b/c of his egg/dairy allergy). Add some fruit, and a wee bit of veggie (always a tough sell), and we're good to go. These kids don't really eat a whole lot....