Baked Eggs

I remember my mom making this when I was young - it was my great aunt's recipe, a yummy one - great for brunches.

Recipe:
12 eggs, beaten

salt, pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups shredded yellow cheese (I used a mild cheddar)

3/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)

Mix together all ingredients. Pour into greased oblong pan (9 x 13). Bake 1 hour 350 degrees.

Cut into squares.

Sweet Potato Chips

My family has been eating these easy sweet potato chips, or fries a lot lately - for dinner, for breakfast, for in-betweens. They're so easy: you just wash and slice up a sweet potato, put them on a lightly greased baking sheet, add salt and/or spices, and put them in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 or so minutes. Delish.

And now, here's something to warm your heart on a cold day. My sweet girl...

Flaxseed Squares

This is another mother-in-law recipe that my family deemed "Shirley Squares." It's the kind of recipe that changes each time you make it, but this is the current version:

2 cups oatmeal
1 cup flaxseed (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 (small) container of egg whites (or egg substitute, to make this a vegan recipe)
1 cup Splenda (or sugar or raw sugar if you like it less processed)
2 tsp cinnamon
4 dallops of applesauce

Spray baking dish with Pam or butter spray - mix ingredients and put in dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Yay for fiber!

Vegetable Soup, How I Adore Thee

The past few days my mother-in-law and I have made vegetable soup twice - so yummy. I don't have photos yet, but I will post one soon.

We've been using chopped and diced leeks, sweet potato, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, celery and vegetable stock. I could eat this every. single. day. And not tire of it.

We've also been slicing up sweet potatoes and making sweet potato fries. We've also been playing nursery songs over and over and over again so much that the lyrics get into my head at night and make it harder to fall asleep.

Happy February friends. xo

"Homemade" Pizza

Boy, Trader Joe's really does make it easy sometimes. Today I bought their ready-to-bake pizza dough, pizza sauce, organic mozzarella, and sliced mushrooms. After Rebecca went to bed, I simply rolled out the dough, added the sauce, cheese, and mushrooms, threw in some Morningstar tofu crumbles and leftover broccoli, and put it in the oven for 12 minutes. I like that so many products at Trader Joe's boast "no artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives."

This pizza is the first meal I've made at home in a while - we've been out of town for 8 days, hanging out with dear friends outside Boston and then visiting Smith College in Northampton where I did some research for the diss. We did a bit of cooking in Northampton - including a lovely spinach frittata out of one of James Beard's cook books that I will have to try again soon. I also fell in love with a new recipe for yogurt sorbet, drank a glass of wine every night and read a great book while there. I am going to try to keep this drinking, reading and cooking up as a recipe for more happiness;)

In other news, we're still experimenting with Rebecca's diet. She did not do well with the carrots, and applesauce is still not appealing to her, but she's gladly accepted peas, pears, bananas (finally) and sweet potatoes, along with a few kinds of cereal and some flat rice crackers. I'm using this baby cook book for inspiration, and I will try butternut squash next.

She turns seven months old in two days and I can't believe she's so big already. She's been waving lately, getting on all fours but not yet crawling, and I think (hope!) that she recently said "ma". She still thinks books are chewing toys, and she likes to dance when I play tunes on youtube. Her naps are still not on a "schedule" but I'm more okay with it now. Tonight I sang to her a bit and played with her feet before bed and it was the sweetest part of my day.

Otherwise I'm back to working on the dissertation. With gusto! I haven't written this much since before I gave birth, and, well, it's about time. Here's some dissertation humor for you: A few months ago I thought it would be wonderful to interview the doctor who ran the first clinical trial of the birth control pill in Puerto Rico. Well, what do you know - Harvard thought so too and did so through one of their oral history projects in 1987. I wound up reading the transcript at Smith, which has helped me start off a new chapter.

Anyway, that's all my news these days. To anyone out there reading, I hope you have a lovely night, and here is a recent photo of Rebecca as she was eating a cracker:

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year at home with red wine and Greek takeout from here. Our baby fell asleep at 5:30 and Jake came home at 6ish. I wasn't wearing heels and glitter, but we watched The Town and talked about the past year together - one of the most amazing years of my life, I must say. It wasn't an easy year, but it inspired awe.

Then this morning I used our new Baby Pro baby food maker to make a very simple carrot puree, which, thank goodness, our fairly particular baby actually ate. I'll spare you the photo of the carrot puree -- which looks identical to the photo of the sweet potato puree. Instead I'm leaving you with this, my current favorite pic of Becca lounging on my in-laws' patio. Sigh, La Vida Miami:

Sweet Potato Puree

In her short introduction to solid foods, this is Rebecca's favorite and quite simple to make - I just bake a sweet potato at 400 for 45-55 minutes, remove the skin, mash it, and add milk.

Baby Applesauce

I'm approaching a new era of cooking here by making our own baby food. So far this has been very simple since my 6-month old baby is only eating breastmilk, rice cereal, and sweet potatoes. So today I made applesauce to add to her diet.

I peeled, cored and chopped up 4 Red Delicious apples, put them in a large pot on low with 1/4 cup water and let them simmer with the lid on for 45 minutes. I then mashed them to a very soft mixture and froze most of it in an ice cube tray.

I tried introducing her to bananas, but this is the face she made:

Carrot Soup

Lots of cooking with carrots this month!

Ever since a friend of mine mentioned carrot soup a week or so ago, I've been wanting to make it -- the recipe I found is surprisingly easy too - only calling for a few simple ingredients: olive oil, carrots, a yellow onion, minced garlic, vegetable stock and a lemon. This I can do!

My friend also mentioned how much she loves her immersion blender. A fan of gadgets, I decided that I, too, need this blender. Perhaps I will start making soups every night!

Peanut Butter Brownies

Ever since my friend, Chava, made this enchanting recipe, I've been wanting to try it. Chava does interesting things with peanut butter - here is another of my favorites, a recipe she taught me to make when I saw her in Atlanta last year. Speaking of peanut butter, I've been realizing that I need more protein lately, so I've been munching on these awful-tasting protein bars the last couple days. So perhaps a peanut butter recipe or two will serve me well. Also, since my not-so-sweet-tooth husband has been asking for cookies or brownies lately, I thought it's about time I make this recipe. I might get to the peanut stew later this month... Plus, the 5 degree weather makes me want to bake and warm up our freezing home.

On that note, my baby and I have been indoors for the last three days - I'm getting cabin fever, so I hope it warms up soon. We've been singing, reading, playing with toys, eating cereal, napping, rinse and repeat. I have to get out tomorrow to drop off student papers, so at least we'll be heading out once. I just really feel for her all wrapped up in her enormous snowsuit:

Seriously mom?