Meals for 2/27

I'm trying to get back into it because it makes life happier.

Monday 2/27 - Cheeseburgers with avocado, frozen butternut squash
Tuesday 2/28 -  Chicken stir fry(I have yoga)
Wednesday 2/29 - Mini mexican pizzas
Thursday 3/1 - Something from the cache of Indian food Megan gave us, plus naan
Friday 3/2 - pizza or going out or leftovers
Saturday 3/3 - Lentil soup
Sunday 3/4 - steak and baked potatoes

Happy Birthday, Callum!!!

Today my baby turned 1 year old.  Here's a link to the facebook album of pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.654859783985.2105810.40401675&type=1&l=7cb1ca4436

Natural Red Velvet Cake

So I decided that I wanted a red velvet cake for Callum's first birthday.  Besides it fitting perfectly with a sock monkey theme, red cake will show up great on his face for pictures!  Well, there's no way I was feeding my baby a bottle of red dye #40 (A BOTTLE!), so I started researching natural options.  The consensus?  Beets.  So I looked at a bunch of recipes for red velvet cakes made with beets and ended up squashing them all together and making my own.
Here's the result.

3 organic beets, boiled for 40 minutes, and then cooled, peeled, and chopped coarsely
1/4 cup organic applesauce
1/4 cup organic butter, softened
3/4 cups organic sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. organic vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tb. lemon juice
1/2 cup organic plain yogurt
1 ½- 2 Tb. organic cocoa powder or organic raw chocolate powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cups all purpose flour or cake flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Trim greens and roots off beets, slice in half, put in saucepan and cover with water.  Boil for 40 minutes until you can poke with a fork.  Let cool and peel skin off beets.

Puree beets and applesauce until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl in an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and beat. Add vanilla, and then add the beet mixture, mixing well. Add the lemon juice and yogurt and mix well again.

In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa, baking powder, flour, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until well blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing from pans and allowing to cool completely. 

I made Callum's in a small Pampered Chef batter bowl and baked for 45 minutes at 350.  I should have added all the batter to the bowl, but oh well.  The taste result- not horrible.  :)  It has a really zingy after-taste from the beets which could probably be helped with a little extra sweetener, but since it's for a baby 1 year old, I don't think he'll mind too much.  I hope.
For the sake of party guests, I also made a boxed devil's food cake in cake balls and mini cupcakes.
Will update this weekend on the partay!

The last week of babyhood

While I am still in denial that my little Cally-bug will be a whole year old this weekend, I won't let that keep me from updating on his last few days of babyhood.  As I previously mentioned, the boys got a nasty cold last week; though there was a silver lining to it.  Being sick convinced my wild little boy that he needed snuggles and nursing.  He's all better now, but he apparently remembered that nursing isn't all bad, and he hasn't refused once since.  This means that I don't have to feel guilty about refusing to pump all day once he turns one because he'll just nurse instead.  I'm a big proponent of "extended breastfeeding" because it has proven benefits for mom and baby.  I loved that Everett was able to self-wean at his own pace and I want Callum to be able to do the same.
Right now, Callum can:
-walk
-run
-wrestle with his brother and nearly win
-use his 2.5 teeth to eat anything you put in front of him
-use sippy cups
-say bye-bye, dada, uh oh, all done
-show his enthusiasm when you ask if he wants food, a diaper change, a bath, or bed by panting and shaking his arms
-open the one not-child-proofed drawer in the kitchen and steal the mixer pieces and funnels before you even notice he's gone
-find any open bathroom and make a mess
-chase cats with great speed
-show his frustration with his brother my smacking him in the head (oops)
-climb on chairs, boxes, toys, etc.
-absolutely destroy mini-blinds that are left within his reach
-imitate blowing raspberries whenever his brother does so on his belly
-go up and down the stairs
-snuggle like a pro
-mess up any folded laundry
-smile for the camera
-bang on any glass he finds (fish tank, windows, doors)
-steal items from the dishwasher (think he likes getting into things and making messes???)
-work all toys that make noise
-look at board books
-dance to any music that so moves him
-help you dress him
-identify the exact moment that his diaper is off and bum is clean and take off like a shot across the room
-give hugs to his mama, dada, and brother
-sit in the seat of a shopping cart, turn himself sideways to better observe everything, and stay perfectly happy and well-behaved the entire trip
-use a stick or spoon to stir things (grass, snow, toys)
-be put into his crib and immediately snuggle up into his pillow and wait patiently for his blanket and stuffed giraffe

G is for

girly knitting!  For our buddy Sawyer who had her first birthday party today!

Photo 52: ABCs - A, B, C, D, E, F