Chicago Hot Dogs

So a few summers ago I went to Chicago with my bestest friends Katie and Stacy. Here we are at that big globe thing downtown.

Let me tell you...if Chicago wasn't the most miserable place during the winters and if I had more money, I would live in downtown Chicago, cause it's that awesome.  I have yet to see any other place (except maybe Europe) that has more local character, flavor and just plain good stuff. The food, the sports, the people, the atmosphere, just everything is awesome in Chicago.  I love Chicago. 

The best part of Chicago...is a chicago hot dog.  Poppy seed bun, hot dog, onions, sweet relish, mustard, hot peppers and a whole pickle.  (I think that's close, I might be missing a few ingredients.)  Last night for dinner...I made my own little version of the delightful Chicago dish.  See?

 And by "made"...I mean I drove to Sonic after work and ordered four of them with french fries. 
 

Spaghetti Face

So, what's the best food ever for a toddler to eat?  Spaghetti.  Hands down.  It ALWAYS wins in my house with the little girl.  She used to eat everything and anything I gave her.  Not anymore.  She definitely likes what she likes and throws everything else on the floor.  We're working on that one...

Anyway, here's my trick (and being a working mom, you have to have tricks)...  Make a BIG batch of spaghetti...or really, any pasta combination for that matter.  Save the leftovers and voila you've got a surefire dinner for a toddler any night.  Just mix up the side dishes and vegetables that you serve with it and it works great.  Also, have a spaghetti faced baby is pretty cute too...as long as the cleanup doesn't get TOO out of control...

Still trying to figure out that fork thing, though.  I think she's getting close...

My version of de-boning a duck.

You know how in the movie Julie&Julia, she's ALWAYS complaining about having to "de-bone a duck" because it freaks her out? Well, that's how I feel about cutting a whole chicken into it's eight segments...2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs and 2 wings. One of the things that I never learned (although my father was a meat butcher at our family grocery store for many years)...was how to cut a whole chicken. I've avoided it, to say the least.

Now, I have cut a whole chicken after cooking it and served it that way.  But, cutting it when it's raw?  No...that's gross. You know what it is... (and maybe you want to stop reading if you're squeamish about raw chicken)...it's the crunching of the knife through the chicken bones.  That's what it is for me.  It's pulling out the slimy liver from inside the body cavity and the crunching of the bones when you have to cut through it.  Seeing the bone marrow is pretty nasty too.

But, recently I've been playing a little game with myself.  I have been trying to save as much money as possible when I go grocery shopping.  (I blame watching the previews for Extreme Couponing on TLC).  Anyway, last weekend, I planned my weekly shopping trip a little differently.  I pulled out the weekly sale ads for both Tom Thumb and Kroger.  Circled the things that we usually buy that were on sale at both locations, checked what coupons I had and then did my shopping at both places.  Guess what?  Just by doing that...I saved $65 with coupons and sale items.  Holy crap!  Anyway, this is a topic for another post...the point is whole chickens were one of the sale items that I purchased.  That meant I had to quickly get over my fear of cutting a whole chicken. 

So, I watched a few YouTube videos (I found THIS ONE to be the most helpful) and turned the above whole chicken into this...

I dont' know how good I did with the technique...but for the most part, I had eight distinct pieces of chicken.  Not as bad as I thought. The key...is a really sharp knife.  Chicken bones are strong.  And very, very crunchy.

Okay, on to the good stuff.  I seasoned the chicken parts and put some buttermilk and a little hot sauce in a big bowl. 

Threw the chicken in, let is soak for about an hour, then coated it in flour, fried it in vegetable oil for about 2 minutes on each side.  THEN put it in a pyrex dish and baked it for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  The result was this...

I MADE FRIED CHICKEN!!!  Okay, so fried/baked chicken.  But really, it was pretty good.  I liked it.  JC liked it.  And Mia was giving us a preview of what I can only guess "the terrible twos" are and threw everything on the floor at least 4 times.  Not very fun. 

But, in other news...I MADE FRIED CHICKEN!!! 

Mia's Very First Haircut (she didn't cry)

This kid amazes me every day.  Not only did she sit still and just be adorable all through her haircut, she didn't cry.  Not once.  How is that possible?!?  Don't all kids cry during their first haircut?!?  The only resistance was shaking her head and saying "no" when I sat her in the chair and once I told her it was okay, she was fine. 

Oh man, as you know...her bangs were looking pretty shaggy.  In her face all the time and rarely does a "BOHHH" (as she calls them), stay in her hair because she rips it right out. 

Case in point:

Cute, of course.  Too shaggy, absolutely.  So, I made an appointment at SnipIts...once of those cute specialty kid's haircut places.  I totally could've done this by myself, but I was too chicken.  I was afraid I'd mess it up.  I'm so glad, cause they did a great job and oh my goodness, she looks so big! 

To celebrate, we went out and had her favorite food for lunch.  French fries.  (and some other stuff too)

Perspective

Here is what I'm sharing today...enjoy a laugh as well as a new perspective on just how bad my problems are sometimes. 

White Whine

Why I learned to loosen up.

Here's why I like Texas.  90 degrees in March.  90 degrees in March means we get to go on a boat!  Well, not our boat...JC's parents got a new fancy boat and we traveled to the lake this weekend to test it!

This weekend made me realize that I have definitely "loosened up" as a parent.  Last summer, I wouldn't let Mia anywhere near the boat.  Nope, no way.  Too scary.  I always said, "I'm in charge of her life and well-being and so I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that life stays intact."  Well, that hasn't changed at all...but now, I'm actually letting her experience things. It's actually fun! Maybe because she's older, maybe because I'm a more confident parent, maybe I've finally gotten tired of worrying all the time.  Who knows. All I know, is that someone got a hot pink life jacket and had her first boat ride.

She loved it. Well, at first she stayed really close to me and just seemed really confused. That lasted all of 5 seconds and then she wouldn't sit still.  We didn't go any faster than 10 miles and hour and the traffic on the lake was very slow so all was good.  She kept pointing and saying "wah wah."  Then it got really interesting...she drove the boat.  Okay, just kidding.  But she did sit on her dad's lap while he drove the boat. 

Reason #2 I have loosened up as a parent.  I let Mia have a sucker at a parade we went to this weekend.  Okay, so I let her have it for about 5 minutes until it got too small and then I got a little freaked out. Still...I think it's a great start!

Also, that snack cup thing that she's holding in the boat pictures is something that everyone with a child should have.  You can put goldfish crackers, cheerios, puffs, animal crackers, or "snacks" as we call them in them, the kid can pull them out but when she carries it around, it doesn't dump all over the floor.  Genius.  Changed my life when I bought it two days ago.  Today, we went to the grocery store and Mia had her snack cup with her in the cart.  She kept offering it to everyone in the aisle saying, "nak, nak." Then I smothered her with a million kisses cause she wins the cute contest.

I think it's almost time for a food post.  Hmm....

The baby who won the cute contest

Okay, so she didn't win the cute contest...but I think she could.  This little thing is all over the place now...practically running from one thing to the next.  No time for pictures...and the answer to everything is "No".

And the pigtails! Oh! They kill me...when I'm home, she's in pigtails.  I can't get over it.  Although, they usually come out later in the day when she realizes they are there.  She yells "BOH" (as in a bow in your hair) and pulls them out.  She thinks everything I put in her hair is a bow.

I got out the camera this week to practice my shooting abilities and here's what I got:

Golly gee, I love her.  Here's why.  Click on this picture and look at her face.

Look how excited she is to be walking with her golf club.  From now on, I'm going to try to be this excited about things that make me happy.  That kind of excitement and pure happiness is contagious!

A DIY Project (are you reading this HGTV?!?)

This past week was the week of projects.  Most of it done by my dad who helped us switch out a good part of the yucky, nasty, gross and disgusting gold light fixtures that plagued all homes built in 1997 (which ours was).  Gross.

For example...this atrocity...

Turned into this...

Oh, so much better.  But that's not really the big story of the day.  The big story is what my mom and I did with a piece of 3/4 inch plywood, some fabric, buttons and a staple gun.

A short DIY Story...

One day, a girl and her mom were tired of a creaky, metal headboard on a bed that should probably just be donated to Goodwill, but it's owners continue to use as a guest bed.  So they had an idea.  It's starts with a big piece of 3/4 inch plywood:

They decided that plywood wasn't particularly cozy and it was hard to match with other surfaces, so it had to be covered.  First...to work on the cozy part...they covered it with foam using a staple gun.

Next...they needed to cover the foam with something pretty.  They decided red was a good choice.

Once it was covered...a little girl wandered over and thought it was a new play toy for her.  So, work stopped and it was just that for a little while...

Next, the pretty red, soft board needed some "pizzazz"...something that made it special.  Buttons!

Here's how you make your own fabric covered buttons...told in pictures...

From here, the buttons were placed evenly on the fabric and foam covered board, stapled and then hot glued on. The project was completed and it was as fabulous as they thought.  Much better than a creaky old metal headboard. The two stepped back and admired their work...

Then stepped to the side and admired it some more...

A true happy ending.  It was decided that this was the best DIY project they'd ever completed.  A beautiful fabric headboard for about $50. 

This headboard took about 45 minutes to complete with 2 people working on it.  I think HGTV should hire me.  Seriously.  Let's go, people.

Corned Beef and Cabbage!

I'm not Irish. At least I don't think so.  Well, now that I say that...my mom said that in her dad's (my grandpa) heritage, there was one guy who came to the US from Ireland.  But that's not the point.  The point is that on St. Patrick's Day...everyone is Irish.  It's an excuse to drink beer and eat Irish food, all in the name of a holiday that we all claim as our own personal heritage day. 

I am no different, because I have done plenty of celebrating, none of it actually ON St. Patrick's Day.  Last weekend, JC and I went to the Dallas St. Patrick's Day parade in Lower Greenville.  We ended us missing the parade...but we got there for the fun part.  The after party...and oh dear lord...was it fun.  Definitely got a little "flavor" for Dallas.  It's something I've been missing since I moved here and so it made me feel a little more connected to this huge city I call home.

So, today is actually St. Patrick's Day and last night (in honor of my parent's last night visiting in TX), my mom made the annual Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner that my dad requests every St. Patrick's Day.  I can take no credit in this meal.  I worked at my office while my mom slaved in the kitchen.  Turns out...she actually didn't slave...because this little beauty...

Seemed to be really easy to make.  Recipe Time...

Ingredients:

2 Stalks of Celery
4 Carrots (or a bag of baby carrots)
1 Medium yellow onion
4-6 Red Potatoes (peeled)
1 head of cabbage (cut in large shreds)
1 12 ounce can of beer (we prefer Miller Light or Shiner Bock in our household)
1 big piece of Corned Beef with spice packet included (it contains coriander and other things)

Put celery, carrots, onions, cabbage and potatoes in the bottom of a crockpot.  Rinse the beef and sit on top of the veggies.  Add beer and spice packet and enough water to cover meat.  Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Okay, want to hear how it really went?

So, my mom wasn't satisfied with how the crockpot was cooking the meat.  She didn't "trust" it, she said.  So, here is how the cooking steps were modified...

About halfway through crockpot cooking time, take it out and put it all in a roasting pan...cover with tin foil and put it into a 300 degree oven until you think it's done.  (Usually just test the meat and make sure it falls apart.)

It was SO good.  So, really, no method to the madness...whatever works, I guess.  To finish up our fine St. Patrick's Day meal, we had a true Iris traditional dessert.  Ready to see it?!? 

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.  I hear it goes way back to Irish traditions in the 1600's.  Okay, just kidding.  But I'm all about making this MY holiday, so...why not? This cheesecake is homemade all the way by my mommy dearest.  Here it is in ALL it's glory:

Just beautiful.  Here's the recipe:  Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

In other news, I finally figured out how to get Mia to drink more water.  At the moment, she's all about apple juice...and that concerns me just a little.  So, the key to getting her to drink water...is to put ice cubes in it.  It's novel enough now to work.  And everybody knows...that novelty is what works in parenting...right?

A new babysitter and playfriend

One of the toughest things about having a child (I think)...is dealing with the daycare "thing" if both mom and dad go to work.  Before I had Mia, I thought I could EASILY do the 6-8 weeks with her and then find a loving and safe place for her to play during the day while I was off being a career woman.  Boy, was I wrong. So very, very wrong.  Stuff happens when you have a child, stuff you never ever thought would ever happen.  Things like...always being a "career" minded woman but then changing your mind and being A-OK with throwing that all away to stay home and take care of my child and family.  I'm a feminist...period. But that doesn't mean there is shame is staying home and taking care of your family.  To me (and this is purely my opinion), I think life is much, much easier when one grown-up in the family can make money (doesn't matter who) and the other grown-up stays home and takes care of everything there...cooking, cleaning, watching kid(s), paying bills, etc. But, life isn't always that easy...

About 8 weeks after Mia was born, I had made a decision...I couldn't go back to work full time and leave my baby to her own devices (or anyone else's devices for that matter), but I wasn't ready to give up a job that I liked and frankly, we needed the income too.  So, since then, I've been coming in to work three days a week (unless I've got something big going on) and work at home the rest of the time. I am so very fortunate and I know that.  Up until a few months ago, JC took care of Mia the three days while I was at work while he worked at home.  So, you can imagine what life has been like.  We both work AND take care of Mia without much help. It's like we couldn't decide which to do so we just said, "Heck! Let's do it all."

Yes, a nanny that could come into our home three days a week would be great, but that's not exactly in the budget either at this moment.  So, the days I work from home mostly mean I work at night after Mia has went to bed. We have very little room for anything else, but it works for us.  We feel very, very lucky to be able to spend all of this time with her.  It's worth it!

Well, babies do a funny thing.  They grow up and as they do that...they become more active and want to play more and want to crawl around much more.  So, we made a decision...we needed help.  Just a little.   So, in October 0f 2010, we found a "Mother's Day Out" Program at our church that could keep Mia 2 days a week from 9am-2pm and that fit our budget and situation perfectly.  She could play with other kids and get some interaction while JC had some time to work during his days with her.  It was great...until our previously "stay home baby" starting catching every little bug and virus around.  2 bouts of croup, 2 stomach viruses,1 bout of RSV, 2 ER visits, multiple chest colds and many sleepless nights over the next 4 months made us quit that business.  We were paying for a daycare service that she could never go to. And the HUGE doctor bills from all of this sickness just made it impossible to continue.  So we went back to our routine...work and watch the baby simultaneously.

Well, we knew we needed to find a different remedy.  Mia needed interaction with kids...at least a little bit. Now, we have a great situation, a wonderful family friend (who is a stay at home mom and has a little boy a few months older than Mia) has offered to watch her 2 days a week from 9am-2pm.  And it's working out fabulously!  She gets all of that playtime and none of the rabid sickness that abounds in daycares.  Yesterday...they went to story time at the local library.  She loved it! 

This is something all parents go through.  Do I keep working? Do I stay home and take care of my family? Can we afford to live on one income? And that's not even dealing with the physical emotions a mom goes through in handing her small child over to someone else's care.  There is guilt involved in that, and anger in "having" to give that time up for work and fear that something will happen and just all kinds of crazy hormone-induced emotions.

Like I said, we are very fortunate with our situation...and it works for us.  And now that she's 15 months old, I LOVE that I get to have the best of both worlds.  I get to wake up, get ready and go to my office three days a week.  And then the other 2, put on my yoga pants and hoodie and play at the park and then pull my laptop back out at night.  Yes we're tired all the time but that's parenthood. And having this little girl in our lives far more than makes up for losing a few hours of sleep.  

Her newest favorite word (other than "no") is shampoo.  Here is the face she makes when she says it:

I mean...how does it get any better than that?

Plain ol' Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have I mentioned that Mia loves Sesame Street?  It all started with a healthy obsession with Elmo (or La-La) as she calls him.  Then we moved on to Big Bird...now...it's Cookie Monster.  I bought her a cookie monster book and do the cookie monster voice when I read it to her.  She loves it!  She giggles and just wants me to read it over and over!

Well, all of that reading about cookies...made me want some.  So...

Tollhouse. Cookies.  Need I say more?  Except maybe that I didn't have enough tollhouse chocolate chips so I had to use 1/4 bag of Tollhouse chocolate chips, 1/4 bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips and 1/4 of Whole Foods brand dark chocolate chunks.  I think it improved the classic recipe.

Like I've said before...I'm not a baker.  It's too much responsibility.  I like to change my mind sometimes when I cook and when you bake...that's not really an option.

Well, today...my mom would be proud.  I followed the recipe perfectly (except for adding a few of the different chocolate chips as mentioned above)...I made sure each cup of flour I added was leveled off, I made sure my butter was actually soft as the recipe calls for and I EVEN TOOK THE TIME TO ADD EACH OF THE EGGS SEPARATELY!!!  I feel very accomplished.

Let me tell you...I get why baking matters.  This is the first time I've ever made cookies and they actually came out perfect.  They didn't stick to the pan...they weren't too "greasy" or too "cakey", they weren't burnt...they were perfect!

First, I had to spend a little time with the dough. 

Even the dough tasted better with all of the correct measurements and all.  But the real proof...is here:

Perfect!  The bottoms aren't burnt either! Seriously, I may have to file this under the "Best Thing I Ever Made" category...and they're just boring old chocolate chip cookies!

So now, I have a pantry full of girl scout cookies AND homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Awesome. I mean, Awesome!!

And the little girl got a great surprise when she woke up from her nap!  Her afternoon snack was a cookie, milk and grapes instead of grapes and cheese or something boring and healthy like that.  She loved it.  Of course.

Also, I don't give enough attention to my cat.  He's repaying me by clawing at all of the furniture.  Today, he was sleeping in the chair like this.  I couldn't resist.