Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tidbits

1. Look at how cute Margot is riding her rocking Moose in her conductor overalls!

2. Chris and I have both been super busy at work. This means our life feels kind of chaotic right now and there may be a pile of folded laundry (or 6) that needs put away and has been there for an entire week!

3. Margot is officially a toddler. Although she took her first steps on New Years Eve she didn't really start to walk around until this past week. Now she pretty much walks everywhere. She is so proud of herself and giggles incessantly as she walks. 

4. In honor of having an official walker I took Margot to Fletcher's (the fancy pants baby store in town) to buy her a real pair of walking shoes. It was so much fun! When Margot got to the wall of shoes she went "ooh" and started to clap. She had so much fun pulling down various shoes and trying them on and walking while laughing. We finally picked a pair of soft soled shoes made specifically for early walkers. They are black Mary Jane's with red and orange flowers on them. She LOVES them.

5. Now that Margot has mastered the art of walking she seems to be focusing her mental energy back onto talking. She as picked up two new "words" this week, bye bye and ba ba (as in the sound a sheep makes).

6. I have really been slacking on cooking and sharing recipes. I have been cooking but usually it's just the same old quick easy rotation. I did make wonderfully delicious and simple stroganoff last night, which Margot inhaled along with garlicky sauteed kale. I was so excited to see Margot eat Kale! I hope her adventurous eating continues.

Quickly Easy Stroganoff*

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion diced
3 cloves garlic diced
1 cup of cream of chicken soup**
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 Tb butter
drizzle of olive oil
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
Fresh parsley
cooked rice or noodles

Cook ground beef in skillet with onion. Season with salt, pepper and add garlic. Add cream of chicken soup and water. Stir to combine, simmer on med low stirring occasionally 15-20 minutes. While beef is simmering melt butter in second skillet. Add drizzle of olive oil and saute mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. After beef has simmered for 15-20 minutes add the mushrooms and sour cream. Cook a few minutes on low (you don't want sour cream to boil) then season to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley if you'd like. Serve over rice or noodles.

I like to serve this over brown rice with a side of sauteed kale with garlic. I think the flavor of the kale balances out the creamy beef and mushrooms really well.

*adapted from the 1980 edition of the Betty Crocker cook book, hence the cream of chicken soup**I know not the most gourmet of ingredients but it adds a lot of flavor and depth. Plus you can buy the organic natural brand which doesn't have all the crud in it. Or, as my Mom once did, you can make your own. If you are really opposed you could probably ad 1 cup of chicken broth, two table spoons of flour and a chicken bouillon cube and it would work okay. You would have to add the flour to the beef and cook for a minute or two before adding broth and bouillon. In this case you'd omit the 1/3 cup of water.

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