Mommy Bistro Kids: Baked “Fried” Lemon Chicken with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
I had a horribly epiphany over the weekend. I realized that in about three years time, my girls will be off to school all day long. Which means they are growing up tooooooo fast for me. I want them to stay little and cuddle with me and still need their mommy. I know it sounds crazy, right? Three years is a long time away! But then I think about Pixie turning FIVE this year and it makes me realize that time is literally moving in fast forward for me. And school is really long. They will be in school for the next 18 years of their lives! I know we all did it but I’m just having a hard time letting my girls get so big. I’m sure our parents felt this way too. But they’re my BABIES!!
Sigh…
Fig and Goat Cheese Bundles
I haven’t slept for about a week. No, the children haven’t been keeping me up with horrendous stomach flu. No, my new thyroid medication isn’t making me crazy (not a word from you hubby!!). And thank goodness, it has not been the wind for a change. You know what it is? I mailed in all of my paperwork to our accountant for our taxes. I checked all of my numbers over and over and couldn’t find one single penny more to deduct so with stomach acid creeping into my throat, I mailed it. And then I started frowning more, and my laugh lines softened because I was too busy scowling. A few days later, an e-mail from the accountant with a question. Before even opening the e-mail my stomach was doing queasy flips. Just a simple question about the paperwork followed with a, “We are working on it and will get back to you soon!”
For the weekend, we went camping at Lake Casitas with a great group of friends. Good food, good friends, and cocktails made me forget about the dreaded call for a few days. We had such a great time hiking, playing outside, playing inside the three trailers, and enjoying conversation around the firepit – with s’mores of course.
Mommy Bistro Kids: Pizza Roll-Ups
My new goal is to release one kid friendly recipe per week. I am sure I am not the only mommy out there who is frustrated on a daily basis with the near impossible task of getting her darling little kiddos to eat their dinner. When Buggies and Pixie were babies, they ate everything I put in front of them. As they have gotten older (and more independent), I feel like I’m losing the food battle. I insist on vegetables with their meals (fruits are easy peasy to get these little monkeys to eat). Even if it is just one bite, it’s a step in the right direction. On the other hand, I’ve never met a 45 year old man or woman who only eats mac n cheese. Which makes me feel like there is a ray of sunlight at the end of the tunnel.
Hubby’s Note: When it comes to our kids, my wife is the Food Whisperer. If I am left in charge of dinner for them, it’s gonna be Mac N Cheese, or eggs, or snacks. Or Del Taco. I’m not ashamed of this, I’m just a realist. I know my limitations.
Curried Chicken Sliders
Pay no attention to the little Meatball Slider next to the Curry Slider. He will be the star of his own post. I figure it’s a “he” since, you know…he has balls.
This past weekend I spent a whole day with my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law. We had lunch, tackled some wedding stuff (for the S.I.L.), had pedicures, taste tested cupcakes and window shopped for hoochie dresses for Vegas. Yeah, you heard me right. We shopped for totally trashy dresses for our upcoming trip to Vegas…with my mother-in-law. And I mean sequined-gaudy-barely-covering-your-butt dresses.
Blissful Chocolate Cake
I want to cry with chocolate covered tears because of this cake. This is one of those recipes that you file under top secret in your recipe drawer. Because if you ever want to make dinner party guests, friends, family or a man swoon – this would surely do the trick. In honor of V-Day tomorrow, I thought the ladies (and gents too!) would need this to add to their arsenal.
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Martini
I hear it’s Valentine’s day tomorrow. All the parent’s of the world understand how this day means a romantic dinner at home because who wants to babysit on Valentine’s?? Honestly, I would rather be home. We can whip something delicious up, play a board game and….ahem…enjoy each other’s “company.”
Mixologist Molly: Mai Tai Party Punch
This is a BIG drink. And I mean big in many ways…big in size, big in booze and big in fun. My dad had a HUGE Super Bowl party every year as long as I can remember. He stopped a few years ago, but this drink has always stayed on my mind. Maybe its because it makes me feel like I am on an island, maybe it’s the yummy pineapple that sits on the side, but I really think it is the floater of Meyers Dark Rum.
Mixologist Molly: The Hand Shaken Margie
First things first. I LOVE a good party…hence, the party margarita. I also have a crazy obsession for cake plates, stands and vintage platters…but I’ll save that story for another day. Often times it’s just me and the hubby-to-be and a HUGE batch of the Moorpark Maier Margarita is a little much. Well, not always. but if we are being responsible adults, I will make a batch of Fresh Hand Shaken Margaritas. These are TASTY!!! You can change them to suit your need for lime or tequila…I usually start out with more lime and less tequila, then more tequila and a ‘splash’ of lime (you know how that goes).
Chipotle Cornish Game Hen Chicken Tacos
Wednesday is our busiest day here at the household. Pixie has school and Buggies and I go to a Mommy and Me class. But today, being February 1st, also means that enrollment for the next school year has begun. Here in California, our school systems have decided to align the age/start date for school with the rest of the country (it’s about time!). But rather than change that date from December 1st to September 1st in one fellow swoop, they have decided to pull the band-aid off one arm hair at a time. Starting the 2012-2013 school year, the new cut-off for starting Kindergarten is age 5 by November 1st. My sweet little Pixie turns 5 on November 2nd. Awesome. The district then announced that they would have a “transitional kindergarten” just for the little monkeys who fall between November 2nd and December 1st. I’m sure you see where I’m going with this….
Spicy Dr. Pepper Pork Tacos
Obviously I was having a rough week last week. Buggies had pushed me over the edge of sanity and right into the Grand Canyon. Come to find out, poor little miss needed some antibiotics and is doing much, MUCH better. I, of course, feel like “parent of the year” for allowing myself to get so frustrated with her. So, after hugging and kissing her a million times, we packed up our trailer and headed to the beach to do some beach camping. Thanks to global warming, Los Angeles has been 75 degrees for the last week. So, an impromptu camping trip sounded like a great idea. And it was! Three families, six kids and the beach? How could we go wrong! We sat by the campfire, had s’mores and the kids played and played and played. They came home covered in splinters, dirty as could be and totally exhausted. Which means it was a damn good trip.