Jump!

One of my all time favorite songs is "Jump" by the Pointer Sisters.  I particularly like watching Hugh Grant dance to this song in the movie "Love Actually".  Anyway, that's not what this post is about.  We recently bought a jumpy thing for Sophia so she could start working her legs a little more.  She really liked all the toys and had a good time...

Unfortunately her legs don't quite touch the ground yet...oops!  

I was surprised that her legs weren't long enough seeing as she is getting too long for her six month sized pajamas!  

So-cute So-fat So-phia

I just had to take a picture of Sophia today...she just looked so cute today!  Here she is in all her chunkiness!

Roasted root vegetable quinoa salad

I recently read a blog post on Our Best Bites that expresses the authors annoyance when people name their recipes something that is not at all indicative of what you're about to eat.  I rather agreed with her and thus have named the following recipe very plainly.

In a previous post I mentioned the delicious meal I had on Bainbridge Island and how I'd made a copycat of the salad I had there.  My mother then immediately reprimanded me for not sharing the recipe I made up.  I actually never follow a recipe exactly so here's approximately what I do when I make this.

Ingredients:
Cooked quinoa*
1 medium sweet potato
2-3 carrots
2 red or new potatoes
EVOO
1/2 C balsamic vinegar

Reduce balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan - make sure to do this first since it takes an hour or so. To speed this process you can add a touch of sugar or agave, but this is only to speed the reduction...without the sugar the reduction with still be plenty sweet.
Cook quinoa and set aside - about 1/2 cup uncooked should be good for 2-3 servings.  Peel sweet potato and carrots.  Cut root vegetables to bite size pieces and toss lightly with salt and EVOO. You can add pepper too, but I don't like pepper so I don't.  Roast in oven for at 375 for 20 minutes or until tender.  Top quinoa with vegetables and drizzle with reduced balsamic (caution: a little goes a long way with the balsamic dressing).

In case you're worried what your meat loving husband may think of this recipe - Jeff really likes this salad and we eat it as a main dish.
 
*I get my quinoa at Costco - I love Costco!  I measure it into a fine mesh strainer then put the strainer in a large bowl of water to soak (this prevents a mess to soak in the strainer).  I soak it for about 5-10 minutes depending on my hunger level then do a final rinse and cook according to the package directions.

Sophia's First Job

Sophia started her first job last week.  Jeff and I want to teach our kids the importance of hard work so we decided to start early - really early!  Soon after Sophia was born the University of Washington contacted me about using Sophia as a guinea pig - I mean participant - in some of their research studies.  Being the science lover that I am, I said yes.  So last week I took her to the "Infant Hearing Lab" for testing three separate times.  

She performed really well!  The graduate students running the lab couldn't believe 1) how big she was compared to the other 3-month-olds in the study and 2) how she looked directly at the girl with every cue.  Apparently most babies just open their eyes really wide.  Anyway, turns out she's perfect, but of course, we didn't need a hearing lab to tell us that!  Here are a few pictures from her first job!

With the money she earned at her first job, Sophia decided to purchase a Bumbo seat!  Unfortunately she experienced immediate buyer's remorse!  Extreme buyer's remorse! Shucks.

   

Flour mishap

I love making bread!  Not just because it's yummy, but also cause it's delicious!  And it tastes good and I like it!  A lot!  Homemade bread is definitely my one true comfort food; the one food I'll never give up no matter how much people say carbs make you fat or yeast bread isn't good for you.  I just simply ignore those claims and keep on baking.  My favorite way to enjoy homemade bread is fresh out of the oven.  My second favorite way is toast spread with coconut oil and honey.  My third favorite way is scones...or at least that's what my family calls it.  It's really just fried bread dough served like a pancake.  So yeah, I love homemade bread.  

I mill my own flour when making bread because I like to make life more difficult.  Oh wait...that's not why.  It's because whole wheat flour is expensive and it's much cheaper and tastier to mill your own.  I've gotten in the habit of milling LOTS of flour all at once and just storing it in large tupperware so I only have to get the mill out once every 3 months or so.  Whilst milling a couple weeks ago, I loaded the mill a little too full and...it exploded on me!  Flour everywhere!  Whoops, that'll teach me to load the mill too full.  In case you're wondering, the bread still turned out delicious as always!