When Mexican meets Italian

I'm talking about food here...

I tried a new recipe tonight and it did not disappoint.

Meet the Taco Pizza.

Seriously awesome.

Here is the recipe:

- 1 Pizza crust (I love the Whole Foods pizza dough...can't beat $2.50 for the taste)

- apx. 1/2 cup Tomatillo Salsa plus more for serving. Matt picked up the Salsa Verde in a jar and it was perfect.

- Mozzarella cheese - apx. 1 cup...not too much

- 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained

- 1 cup corn, drained

- cooked chicken breast (shredded) to sprinkle

- cherry or grape tomatoes halved

- apx. 1/4 cup chopped red onion

- apx. 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

- mixed taco cheese (the white and yellow kind) to sprinkle on top

How to:

Preheat oven to 425 and pre-bake the pizza dough for about 10-12 minutes (I hate hate hate a soggy home made pizza!) Spread salsa over crust (this is the sauce of the pizza) and sprinkle the mozzarella cheese. Top with beans, corn, halved tomatoes, onion, chicken (recipe only called for beans, corn and chicken...the tomatoes and onion were my idea...so go crazy, add whatever.) Top with remaining taco cheese. Bake until crust is crispy, cheese is melted...about another 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro before serving.

I mean....it's awesome. Hope y'all enjoy!

17 Months and a Yuh-Yuh Story

Let me introduce you to Yuh-Yuh. We have 5 of them so as to make sure we always we have a clean one and that they all stay the same age (read: smell the same.)


The spotted dog came first, then the tiger and the elephant. We later found the monkey and the dinosaur. The tiger is by far G's favorite. It's funny that he has a favorite despite the regular rotation. When he finds a second one (they stay put away so that he only has one at a time), he runs to us and thinks it is so funny that there are two at once!


Ok, the Yuh-Yuh story. Well, recently Yuh-Yuh has developed a personality. Quite a mischievous one at that. See, if G is not supposed to go into the kitchen (or into Baxter's room, or get into a cabinet, really anything he's not supposed to do), somehow Yuh-Yuh ends up in there. And G runs to us, points in Yuh-Yuh's direction and tattles on him. If it had happened once, that might be one thing...but Yuh-Yuh just keeps getting into things he's not supposed to. We aren't sure how to keep him from getting into trouble! All the while, G just thinks it's funny. He thinks Yuh-Yuh is funny. He loves those silly Yuh-Yuhs...

Ok, some other adorable 17 month developments:


- Our little G now has 10 teeth through with 6 more coming through. He was late to start getting teeth, now they're coming in in pairs. Poor little baby.
- Recently our little non-sleeper started sleeping all night all on his own! It was a total surprise but a welcome one. He did it for a few weeks but has started waking up again around 4 as of this week. I'm sure it's because those darn teeth are tearing up his gums....so it's nice to know that once they're in he'll likely go back to sleeping for us.
- It also seems as if we have a little musician on our hands. G loves to sing (read: melodic sounds and hums), walk around drumming his drum (an empty oatmeal can turned up side down), play any and every guitar that he sees.... and pretty much any musical instrument he can get his hands on. Uncle B released his first album (a separate post coming) and we've been listening to it ALOT. Graham knows it is B and loves to be as close to the speaker as possible while tapping his leg and humming along. Pretty adorable.
- He is still a very picky (and frustrating) eater. Still refuses to even try veggies of any kind or any meat. He still loves yogurt and any and all fruit. But recently he also can't get enough of whole wheat mini pitas. That's right, plain old wheat pitas. He loves them. We can't figure it out because they're so plain and gross tasting! We've also introduced him to the wonders of Kefir. I've been drinking it for a while now and thought G might like a try. Oh my, I had no idea how much he'd love it! He asks for it every morning and sucks it down. It is basically a yogurt smoothie, so what's not to love right?!
- Speaking of drinks... this is super cute. Graham can't say "drink" so we've been working on him saying "cup" instead. Well, we realized that he actually does say cup, just in his own way. It is sort of a kissing sound. We think it is his way of trying to say the "p" sound at the end of cup. It is probably the cutest thing he is saying as of yet. It's hard to explain, but we're trying to get it on camera so that we can always remember the cuteness.


Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. G is such a tremendous joy in our lives. His smile and laugh are contagious. We are enjoying these months with just him....and look forward to seeing how he is as a big brother, wow!

Hello...anyone there?

Dear blog,

I apologize for my absence. I feel like my excuses are legitimate. I am very busy with my crazy and into-everything-toddler. Oh, and I'm also growing another little baby, lest we forget about that one...

It is almost spring and summer, and we couldn't be more excited about all of the outside activities we're going to do. G is really into animals and we can't wait to take him to the zoo!

Here is a glimpse into what we've been up to around here...

G loooves the tupperware. I know most kids do. He likes to stack all of the lids together. I think he *thinks* he's doing it like I do when I use them.

He didn't take that pink necklace off all day....

This is a picture of G's favorite toys these days. Missing from the picture is Matt's old cell phone. He left it in his car seat that afternoon. He insists that Matt walk the dog around while he just follows him. Super funny.

These keys.... oh my gosh. He carries them around EVERYWHERE. He likes to sit in his car with them but mostly he likes to walk around the house inserting one key into every key hole on our doors as well as any exposed screw (like on hinges) and any other mechanism that might need a key in his mind. Thankfully all of our outlets are covered, but he hasn't thought to try that one.

And this watch. See, Matt is a surfer. And this watch is meant to endure the most extreme weather conditions (if you know my husband, then you know how bullet proof this watch is supposed to be.) Apparently one too many big storms up in Rhode Island though...this watch kicked the bucket. G found it recently in a drawer that he wasn't supposed to be playing in (obviously) and hasn't put it down since. He walks around "wearing" it on his wrist and checking the clock. When I tell him it's time to go, he usually goes and finds the above pictured keys and Matt's old phone along with this watch before letting me put his jacket on.
He's such a realist.

And so much fun!

a sign of my love

True valentine story.

Matt and I decided to not do valentines this year. We decide this every year.

However, we still do cards. Matt likes cards.

Also, some back information: Matt recently *lost* his goggles at the gym. This is like the 3rd pair, but, whatever. I was at Target the other day picking out his card and thought I'd pick up a pair of goggles for him and give it to him for his little Valentines gift. I was also picking out some candy for myself and saw some dark chocolate raspberry things that I just knew he'd love. So I got them too. Now, I don't consider those two little things to be huge celebration items. More like "I know you need/like these and so I thought I'd call them a gift for valentines day."

Fast forward to Friday night.

We had just finished watching some show that we recorded during the week and were about to go to bed. I told him that I had some valentine things under some clothes on the bed and asked him not to look. He was like "ok, did you get me goggles?" Of course I denied it. "Good, because that would be the lame."

I had started to giggle at this point... "What if I did get you goggles?"

"Did you get me goggles? Seriously?"

"Maybe..."

"Now I feel like a jerk."

"It's ok, it's not like I got them because they were the perfect thing to represent how much I love you....I just knew you needed them."

We were both laughing so hard...

Then I said "it's ok, at least you don't know what else I got you to go with your chocolates."

Wham. Valentines surprises ruined. What's wrong with my words?!? Good thing neither of us really cared about any surprises....

So there you have it folks. My love for Matt can be summed up with goggles and chocolates.

Not really, he's pretty awesome. Some electric blue goggles just can't say "I love you" as much I actually love him. He is the love of my life after all.

No one can say that about anything that is electric blue.

"helping"

a wet dog

There may be nothing sadder in the world than a wet dog.

They look so helpless.

So humiliated.

Matt couldn't believe how skinny Baxter is when all wet. Then we had a good laugh at the thought of Mable wet. She'd practically be all bones.

Of course G had to help with the bath...

But now he smells oh so good again!

using a spoon has a learning curve

We gave G his spoon and yogurt the other night. Mainly it was because I was starving and wanted to finish fixing our dinner and G was being difficult to feed. But oh man, he loooved it! Not only did he eat all of his yogurt - wait, the bowl was empty but no, not half of it made it into his mouth - but then he ate a bowl of applesauce as well. I think we may be on to something. If he can feed himself maybe he'll eat it?

Gosh he's so adorable.

Even when his whole bib, neck, shirt, hair, and feet were covered in yogurt.

He'll eventually get the whole "tilt the spoon to get it in your mouth" thing....