Healthy Meals for the kiddos!

I don't know about you fellow moms out there in Blogland, but I was in a very serious rut when it came to cooking healthy meals for my 15-month-old. There are only so many eggs, green beans, carrots, chicken nuggets, grilled cheeses, pasta, yogurt and oatmeal a kid can eat. Talk about a boring menu! Heck, she ate more variety when she was on the pureed baby food!

Over the weekend, a friend of mine told me about a cookbook she used for her son: First Meals by Annabel Karmel. This is a FANTASTIC cookbook!! It has recipes broken out by your child's age: 9-12 months, 12-18 months, 18-24 months, 2-3 years and 3-7 years.

Tonight we made Orzo with colorful diced vegtables for Alaina and she LOVED it! Here are some of the other recipes we're looking forward to making for her:

• Bow-tie pasta with ham & peas


• Bow-tie pasta with spring vegtables


• Pasta & sauce with hidden vegtables


• Zucchini & tomato frittata


• Pasta cartwheels with cheese & broccoli


• Rosti salmon cakes


• Scrambled eggs with cheese & tomatoes

Bon appetit!

Valentine's Weekend

It's not often that Rob and I get to go out on a "Just the Two of Us" date so when we noticed that Valentine's Day fell on a weekend, we were quick to line up a sitter for Saturday evening. Miss Jamie came over to watch Alaina so Rob and I headed out to paint the town red!

First stop: Bonefish Grill on West 7th Street. We had luckily made a reservation several weeks ago so instead of waiting 80 minutes for a table, we only waited about 10 minutes. We had just gotten our drinks from the bartender when our buzzer went off. Sweet! We started off with a few cocktails and then both had Caesar Salads for our appetizers. Then it came time for our entrees and while Rob opted for the Chilean Sea Bass with Pan Asian sauce, I had the Bang Bang Shrimp. This is my favorite dish at Bonefish so I of course had to get it! Yumm-o!

After we had finished our dinners it was time for dessert. I indulged in the sinfully decadent Chocolate Creme Brulee (made with just a hint of Grand Marnier) and Rob enjoyed their Key Lime Pie.

After dinner was over we decided it was too early to call it a night so we waddled out to the car and drove to the Dutch's Dungeon. While this sounds like some sort of S&M place, it's really not. It's the lounge in the basement of one of Frederick's finest restaurants, the Dutch's Daughter. We really enjoyed our Date Night and are looking forward to going out again soon.

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Valentine's Day itself was very quiet. We gave Alaina a little Valentine's teddy bear and some colorful headbands. We thought for sure she wouldn't wear the headband but she surprised us and wore it all day!

A look back...

In honor of Valentine's Day, the Facebook challenge this week was to post as your profile picture a special picture of you and your significant other. I selected one of our wedding pictures and thought I'd share it:

Rob and I have been together for nearly 7 years and will be celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary this coming September. We are each other's best friends and not a day goes by that we don't thank God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us. The biggest blessing being, of course, Alaina. She amazes us every day with her sense of wonder and her unbiding love.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

I love snow. I really do. It brings back great memories of sledding and building snowmen with my parents, sister and dog when I was little. But enough is enough. The mid-Atlantic region has gotten nailed with two major Nor'easters in only 2 months: our first was on December 19th and now we are currently in the middle of the second storm. ABC7 News has reported that Frederick, MD has received 26" of snow as of 11AM and it's supposed to keep snowing till 10PM! Another 11 hours of snow?! The good news is that the heavy snow is almost over and after 12PM, it's supposed to taper off to just light snow.

Rob has been shoveling like a champ since last night and has just gone back outside for the 5th time to dig us out since the plow just came through and blocked our driveway. He said it's a very heavy snow and he is extremely sore from all the hard work.

I'm taking advantage of being snowed in by sharpening my culinary skills. Yesterday I made baked mac & cheese and then last night I made apple cinnamon bread. It's more like a coffee cake than bread but it's darn good and made for a yummy breakfast this morning. On the agenda for today: making Chex mix for the Super Bowl. This snow storm is going to make me FAT. :)

Remind me next year to bribe Punxsutawney Phil to NOT see his shadow. This 6 more weeks of winter thing stinks! C'mon Spring! Enjoy the pictures!