Greg and Angie Cole

For all of you that have a chatty kid (or 2 or 3…) we’ve implemented a new strategy at dinner that you may want to try. At the start of the meal (right after we pray), we set a timer for a few minutes and Johnny knows it’s a no-talk time where he must focus on eating. This tackles multiple issues for us: 1) Mom & Dad get to actually talk uninterrupted; 2) Johnny eats; 3) Dinner is a lot less hurried & stressful. When the timer is up, he can converse with us and share about his day, too. It definitely helps us focus better on him once we’ve had a chance to download and catch up as a couple first. Just thought I’d share!

Have you ever had one of those days where you ate really well and just wanted to tell someone about it? Or is it just me (and I lead a very small, uneventful life)?

Maybe I should back-up a minute and tell you why this is a significant milestone for me. I’ve never been much of a food person. Now I know it’s critical for sustaining life, but other than that food has never been very important to me (except on special, rare occasions). When I was a teenager I used to *wish* I could just swallow a pill and not have to eat real food. When I was in my 20s, I would get so busy with school and work, I would literally *forget* to eat. Sounds crazy, I know, but it’s really true.

For the last 4 years, however, I’ve been continuously pregnant, nursing, pregnant and nursing and I no longer forget to eat. Trust me!

If it were up to me, though, I would be completely fine eating a very basic menu, such as eggs & toast for breakfast, turkey sandwich for lunch and grilled chicken salad for dinner. I don’t need a lot of variety or fuss. Plain and simple.

My husband is a different story! He loves food…fussy food. He’s not picky, so-to-speak, he just doesn’t appreciate the same menu as last week. So since one of my main responsibilities is to plan a menu and cook, it’s essential I add some variety to our culinary life or pay the consequences…a grumpy husband!

That being said, here’s what we ate yesterday. And might I say, everything made from scratch using whole-food, primarily organic ingredients (which I know can sometimes be pricey, but you either pay now or pay later, in my opinion!) I’ve linked a couple of the recipes to other posts, in case you’re interested. Oh, and Johnny ate and loved everything, too. He’s such a good eater…and it shows!

Breakfast:
Orange-Cranberry Scones
Cottage cheese
1/2 Grapefruit
French-press coffee

Snack:
Raw almonds

Lunch:
Ham, turkey and melted cheddar wrap
Veggie smoothie (a la Vita-Mix) for me
Strawberry/Apple smoothie for Johnny

Angie’s indulgence:
Iced caramel machiato (homemade)
2 Dark chocolate truffle hearts…YUM!

Snack:
Blueberry frozen yogurt (homemade – gotta love that Vita-Mix!)

Dinner:
Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Sailor Man – Green Smoothie (spinach, apple, banana, pineapple, mango)

Bedtime Snack:
Freshly baked blueberry muffins – from my sister – how sweet!

This recipe is from my mom…an amazing whole-foods cook that I admire and aspire to be like. The original recipe is for Date-Maple Scones, but I’ve modified it to include cranberries instead. The scone base can be used for pretty much any fruit (apples & walnuts are also yummy), so experiment and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 Tbl baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup cold butter
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)
• 1/3 cup light cream
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional)
• 1 tsp orange zest (optional)

Combine flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In small bowl combine egg, maple syrup and cream; stir in cranberries, nuts and zest (if using). Add liquid mixture all at once to dry ingredients. Stir just till the mixture clings together.

Drop scone batter onto greased baking sheet. (I preheat my baking stone in the 400 degree oven.) Bake 12-15 min. Makes 16 scones.

Rarely do I ever follow a recipe to the letter, and this one is no exception. It’s not because I’m altogether an amazing chef, substituting ingredients with great purpose. I just seldom have the exact ingredients on-hand to make every recipe!

This particular one was originally intended to be a vegetarian main dish, but that doesn’t fly very well with my boys, so I added leftover chicken and bacon. You could certainly do without and still have a great dish by itself! So here’s my version…(which was a big hit, by the way!)

Ingredients:

• 6 oz whole wheat noodles
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 small can dice green chiles
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1/4 milk
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• 2 Tbl chopped cilantro
• 1 cup grilled chicken strips (optional)
• 4 slices cooked bacon (optional)

Cook pasta until barely tender. Drain and set aside in oven safe casserole dish.

Saute red pepper and onion in oil. Remove from heat and add chiles and white pepper. Add to pasta and toss to combine.

Add sour cream, cottage cheese, milk and cheese and mix thoroughly. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bake uncovered at 350 for 25-30 min until heated through. Sprinkle with cilantro. Voila!

…there’s a great blog giveaway happening that you need to check out from Diaper Style! There are tons of ways to enter and the giveaway is pretty cool, so take a gander here.

PS One of the prizes is an AppleCheeks diaper, which I’ve been wanting to try for a long time, so I hope I win!!

Can’t believe it’s already time to start Lucy on solids…but here we are. She seemed to enjoy it! And Johnny loved feeding her, too.

Last time on bed washing day, we let Johnny do what every kid wants to do — jump on the bed! Lucy sure has an exciting life, watching this crazy man every day/night from across the room.

I’ll know exactly where to start looking.

…she’s 6 months old
…she weighs 21 lbs
…she’s 26.5 inches long
…she’s wearing size 12-18 months
…she’s sitting up all by herself
…she’s got two teeth
…she’s sleeping through the night (gotcha! wouldn’t that be nice?!)
…she’s finding her voice
…she thinks big brother hung the moon
…she’s Daddy’s little princess
…she’s the little girl I’ve always wanted and can’t imagine life without

We love you Lucy Renae! You fill our lives, home, and family with so much joy, laughter and love.