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April 2, 2012

Chicken Chile Verde

Get ready for another famous dish from Slaed’s recipe files. Back in the mid-90’s Slaed found this recipe as he was clipping coupons. The recipe is modified from the “Las Palmas” brand of Mexican food. It’s one of his go-to meals, and combined with cornbread, definitely one of my favorites. Oh, and it’s SO easy!

Ingredients:

3 cups cubed, cooked chicken
1 (28 oz) can green chile enchilada sauce (we use Las Palmas)
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed (next time we’ll be using the black beans that I cooked up from scratch–thanks to “emmycooks“)
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
1 1/4 cups frozen corn
1 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in Dutch oven or large saucepan; bring to a boil

2. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 30 to 40 minutes.

3. Serve with corn bread, top with sour cream & enjoy!

Makes 10 (1 cup) servings.

April 2, 2012

Spring Training in Scottsdale, AZ

A week of fun and sun was just what we needed to break up the days of rain and cold here in Seattle. One of our first stops on our sunny adventure was Scottsdale, AZ to see the Mariners take on the San Francisco Giants at the Giants’ “home field”. We made a day of it; first checking out downtown Scottsdale, finding a spot for lunch, and finally heading to the game.

We didn’t have a lot of time to explore, but we took in some noteworthy sights.

I highly recommend breakfast, lunch, brunch, etc… at Distrito. I had the Torta de Huevos. Excellent.

Now on to the main event: the baseball game. I have to shift my focus when attending sporting events with Bergen. The overall experience is still a whole lot of fun, but there is a lot more focus on exploring the venue rather than actually paying attention to the game. We spent very little time in our seats, so I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of money on those. With B strapped into the ergo, we did several laps around the park; stopping for a beer, taking in the game at all angles, checking in on the practicing pitchers, and of course lots of people watching.

A great ballpark, super family-friendly, everyone was having a good time…AND the Mariners won!

March 7, 2012

adventures in empathy

Our little Baby B is a teacher. Yes, that’s right a teacher! Since he was 2 months old, B has been teaching 2nd graders how to understand how others feel. He is a Roots of Empathy baby. Roots of Empathy raises social and emotional awareness in youth from kindergarten to eighth grade. It’s a program that was created in Canada by Mary Gordon. When the program began, she worked with just 150 students in Ontario. Over the years it has grown tremendously, and is now touching the lives of kids across Canada, the United States (just Washington State right now), and several other countries.

Through observation of Baby Bergen, and our interactions and reactions with him, the 2nd graders learn skills in empathy. They gain an understanding of how a baby develops, milestones to expect, and how a baby should be treated. Bergen is teaching these kids to be better friends, siblings, and maybe even parents!

Our monthly visits are centered around a topic. Topics like teething, eating, sleeping, safety and milestones like rolling over and eating solid foods. A week or two before our visit, the 2nd graders learn about the topic, and make predictions for what they see when Baby B comes. Then they get to see B in action, and ask Slaed and I questions about his latest developments. We love getting to share his exciting accomplishments, and the 2nd graders love to notice how B has changed. Also, the same toys are shown to Bergen during each visit so we get to see how his reactions to the toys change. A little baby experiment.

Since the 2nd graders (and teachers) only see Baby B once a month, they notice changes differently compared to Slaed and I who see him everyday (and me all day everyday). During our visit yesterday, one of the little girls exclaimed, “Baby Bergen has a lot more hair!”. Indeed when I looked more closely, I realized that B is finally starting to sprout some peach-fuzz!

I wonder what B will be up to by our next visit…?

month one (almost 2 months old)

month 6 (almost 7 months old)

March 4, 2012

Seattle Area Adventure: A Walk Around the Center of the Universe

Inspired by the Seattle Walker, we hit the ground running, or walking I guess, this morning with dog and baby in tow, and logged over 5 miles! We ventured over to the Fremont area in Seattle for this walk. Fremont, known as the “Center of the Universe” is located north of ship canal between Ballard and Wallingford. It’s home to many famous Seattle landmarks including the Fremont Troll, the waiting for the interurban sculpture, the rocket, and the Lenin statue. Fremont is famous for many activities as well. The Fremont Fair and Solstice Parade kick off every Seattle summer, brews are enjoyed by many at the Fremont Oktoberfest, and treasures and delicious eats can be found every weekend at the Fremont Sunday Market. We noticed today it is also home to way too many Thai restaurants.

For our walk today, we started and ended at the Sunday Market. Beginning with two tasty mochas, and ending with two tasty latin inspired lunches. In short, we walked across the Fremont Bridge, along the south side of the ship canal, over the Ballard Bridge, and back along the north side of the ship canal/Burke Gillman Trail.

could have been ours for $500.

ready to cross the Fremont Bridge

beginning the south ship canal trail

ballard bridge

beautiful boats

As we made our way back to Fremont, we passed Theo Chocolates, and decided it was worth a stop in, and boy were we glad we did! I’ve now updated my free baby outings post. We sampled chocolate after chocolate from dark chocolate to mint chocolate to chai & hazelnut. Amazing.

Finally back to the market for lunch.

arepas (corncake filled with black beans, avocado, cheese, beef, etc…)

I hope our next walking adventure is this delicious!

Fremont on Dwellable

March 3, 2012

a walking inspiration

My husband, B, and I are pretty active. We like to think we get around without our cars a lot. We walk, Slaed cycles, and I run. We feel like we know our neighborhood well because of all this activity. I also can’t leave out Norman the dog. He’s a huge reason and motivation for our daily walks. I thought we were doing pretty well until I read an article in the Seattle Times this morning.

Peggy Burns walks a lot more than we do, and she’s also a lot more focused than we are. She has made it her mission to walk EVERY single street in Seattle proper. Yes, every street. She has kept track of the mileage, and so far since June 2010, she has walked over 1,150 miles. She documents her journeys including photos, notes, and maps of each street covered on her blog: walkingseattle.blogspot.com.

I’m so impressed with her, and inspired by her story. Inspired to possibly be more goal oriented in our walking; more focused. While I can’t realistically make such a goal of walking every street in Seattle at this point in my life, I can make the goal of being more adventurous in our walking. We tend to walk the same few routes; frequenting the same few coffee shops. I’ve resolved to map out new walks. I also like the idea of finding out the streets we have covered in our adventures around Seattle (by foot only) so far. I’m sure there are areas we haven’t even come close to getting to know. There are hidden treasures and surprises waiting for us to discover them. There are also hidden treasures and surprises that need to be photographed.

some treasures and surprises, we’ve discovered so far…

tons of windmills near green lake

beautiful lawn decorations near the international district

spring time in seattle

March 1, 2012

a baby food party!

Instead of our usual meeting last week, our mom’s group decided to pool our resources, and cooking expertise, and have a baby food making party! It allowed for some great discussion. Some moms also brought books and recipes to share. Even though our babies are all around the same age (from 6-7 months), we are all over the place in terms of starting our babies on solid foods. Some were well into the process with their babies eating solids for over two months, some had dabbled in it here and there offering their baby bites from their own plate, and some had yet to begin their solids adventure.

Each member of our group chose a food to bring, cook, and share, and everyone brought containers to transport the delicious food back home. One of our members lives in a large apartment building downtown, so we were able utilize her large common space, which of course includes a kitchen. We took turns cooking, and watching the little ones as they enjoyed tummy time or napped.

a happy tummy timer

Some of the necessary tools included, several pots and pans, knifes, peelers, steam baskets, a stick blender, and regular blender for easy pureeing. This party was such a success as each of us ended up with 8 foods prepped and ready to be gobbled up by our babies.

The food: apples, pears, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, zucchini/carrot/apple mix, spinach, and not pictured a broccoli mixture.

Some of the foods, B was able to try right away (within a few days of each other). I was happy to see he could tolerate carrots & green beans. Some we will wait a month or so, like the broccoli mixture, until he’s a bit older. When we got home, I transferred the purees into ice cube trays for easy, ready to eat (after thawing) portions.

We hope to have another “party” in a month or so. An easy, fun way to provide great nutrition.

Book Suggestions:

The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet by Karin Knight and Tina Ruggiero
Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair

Website:

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

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