Good Burger (and pasta)

Ok, last food post. For awhile, at least.

Last night I made another old stand-by that I forgot about in the last few months: Buffalo Chicken Burgers. YUM. They feel bad for you, but really, not. They are from a new fave blog of mine - How Sweet It Is. If you have a sweet tooth, you should check it out.

I always make sweet potato "fries" to go with it. I use a Cook's Illustrated recipe, a technique really, that works for pretty much any roasted veggie, broccoli in particular. They say to preheat the oven to 450, with the roasting pan in the oven, so it gets super-hot. Cut up the veg of choice, season well with s&p and olive oil, then dump into a single layer on the screaming-hot pan. It will sizzle, which is fun. Then back to the oven for 15 minutes. That's usually enough for more tender veg like broccoli. For harder veg, like the sweets, turn them over and give 'em another 15 minutes. Ta-da, you're done!

But here is a stupid easy pasta that taste like a super-gourmet restaurant's mac-n-cheese. The key here is buying good cheese, and the real thing. A good motto for all cooking, and crucial here. This is also from Cook's Illustrated, which if you are serious about learning how to cook well, is a great resource.

PASTA CACIO e PEPE

4 oz real Italian Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated (with extra for sprinkling on the finished dish)
2 teaspoons EVOO
1 1/2 teaspoons finely (and freshly!) ground black pepper
2 tablespoons heavy cream (or half&half)
1 1/2 teaspoon (or more) salt
1 lb. spaghetti (I use the Barilla brand, rigatti kind)


1. Place finely grated Pecorino in medium bowl. Set colander in a separate large bowl.
2. Bring 2 quarts water (and yes, you need to use this exact amount, so measure!) to boil in large Dutch oven. Add pasta and 1½ teaspoons (or up to 1 tablespoon) salt; cook, stirring frequently, until al dente, about 6-ish minutes. Drain pasta into colander set in bowl, reserving cooking water. Pour 1½ cups cooking water into liquid measuring cup and discard remainder; return pasta to now-empty bowl.
3. Slowly whisk 1 cup reserved pasta cooking water into finely grated Pecorino until smooth. Whisk in cream, oil, and black pepper. Gradually pour cheese mixture over pasta, tossing to coat. Let pasta rest 1 to 2 minutes, tossing frequently, adjusting consistency with remaining ½ cup reserved pasta water. Serve, passing extra grated Pecorino separately.

Seriously good, and takes about the time it takes to cook pasta. Try it!

Back to baby stuff next time!

Food update - Turkey recipe

With all this sleep I'm getting (that Critter Girl slept 9.5 hours straight last night!!!!), I can begin to think about cooking again. So after bitching about the food rut we've been in, and your lovely suggestions, I've done some yummy things over the last few days. Here's one recap for those of you that may be looking to cook too.

I'll preface this by saying I'm not big on following recipes exactly or using exact measurements - I believe in learning cooking techniques and making a "recipe" your own.

First, the turkey breast. I bought a whole breast, so 2 big lobes on the bone. Like a 6 lb thing. I broke it down, into 2 boneless lobes of about 1.5 lbs each, and the bones. I made roast turkey with one lobe, which for all you turkey sandwich lovers should be required versus that yucky deli stuff.

To roast in a 400-425 oven, I tie up the boneless breast, just so it is more compact/even. I put the breast in an oven-proof pan (a big frying pan is good, but not non-stick!) on top of veggies (potatoes, sweet taters, onion, celery, carrot - really whatever you like or have around) tossed in a bit of olive oil and s&p. Lots of s&p on the turkey breast too. I'd say it takes about 1 hour 15 - 30 minutes. I swear by the fancy-but-worth-every-penny instant read thermometer I have, you're looking for a temp of 160-ish, and the juices should run clear/yellowish.

Take out the breast, put it on a cutting board (or something with sides to catch the juices) to rest, stick the veg back in the oven for 5-10 minutes to brown up a bit more, then remove the veg from the pan. Put that pan with all the browned bits of goodness on the stove on med-high heat, throw in a pat of butter or more olive oil if the pan looks dry, a sprinkle or two of flour, stir it up (it will look lumpy and scary) and then add some chicken broth/water to deglaze. Maybe a cup, cup and a half. Whisk together and scrape up all the browned bits, stir it all up let it boil til it thickens and yum - gravy. Don't forget to add any accumulated juices from the resting turkey breast!

Seriously, this was so good! And very little hands-on time, so it could cook while I'm doing baby nighttime routine stuff. And leftovers were great!

Tomorrow, a yummy new pasta recipe to share. With only 5 ingredients.

IT happened

OMG, IT happened. But shhhhh...I don't want to say anything too loud, for fear of jinxing all of us.

But IT happened.

She slept through the night last night. All the way through. Like not getting up for a feeding. Like from 8pm til 7am. All the way through. OMG.

Granted, Sunday was a busy day involving 2 boys under 6, her 3 and a half year old cousin, and a dog. Lots of stimulation, that led to overstimulation. And when we got home, she had a bad poo blowout, and that was the final straw - wiping her legs down with cold wipes, well that led to complete overstimulation meltdown. She screamed and cried like I've never heard from her before. It broke my heart into shreds and it took both me and Mr. P nuzzling her to get her to calm down. She took a nap after that, woke up at the usual bedtime routine time, crying of course, had boob and snuggles, and went down around 8pm.

And she slept. All night. I heard a few murmurs around 1am, and again around 5am, but she went back to sleep quickly both times.

My boobs of course were very concerned about this, and were leaky over-engorged messes by 4am, but I forced them to tough it out. And I think this will help with weaning too, forcing those boobs to go longer and longer between feeds.

And me? I feel like I maybe got too much sleep last night. OMG, is that even possible? It does feel good.

But shhhhhh....let's pretend this was never discussed. Don't want to jinx us. And knock on wood too. Just in case...

And so it begins

Thanks for the comments on the last post about new food ideas. I plan to make a baked ziti this weekend, and soup will be on very soon. In fact, yesterday I got a whole turkey breast, boned it into 2 lobes, froze one, roasted one with veggies (yum! and super easy!), and made turkey stock with the bones. So turkey noodle soup is coming up. Yum! Keep the ideas coming!

So in Critter news, very big Critter news...it has begun. The wean has begun.

I fed her 4 oz. of formula for the late afternoon feed yesterday. And miracle of miracles, she did not sprout horns or a tail, turn into a gremlin or any other horrible thing that some would have you believe comes with formula. In fact, she seemed to quite enjoy it, burped well and barely spit up. And seemed...downright content afterward. Huh.

She wasn't even fussy after, as she can be before bedtime. She just took to the boob for her last feed, ate some, and then was finished. Rather than her frantic feed style that is usually the last feed of the day. Huh.

She slept 8 hours in a row last night. A record for her. Huh.

So to summarize, no evil sprouted from her after formula. Good things happened after formula.

This may just turn out ok.

Food Rut

Enough about boobs, and poop, and sleep. At least for one post :)

Anyway, I've realized I'm in a major food rut. I've not had a ton of time to think about new things to cook for dinner, so I've fallen back on the same few things I can make with my eyes closed: tacos (ground beef/turkey/chicken or black bean), stir-fry, pot pie, pan-seared meat (chicken breast/pork chop/steak) with veg and starch, pasta with variations on tomato sauce. Maybe a mac-n-cheese here and there.

So I need inspiration. What have you made recently that's good? And fairly easy or can be prepped ahead of time (like when someone critter-like is napping)? My only food no-no is fish, which I'm not a huge fan of cooking at home. And I don't do the crock-pot thing. Links to recipes or descriptions in the comments are welcome.

Help!

The Girl knows her Daddy

So last week, the week that Mr. P was away on business, was the first week me and the Critter Girl were on our own.

And the single message I've taken away from that week is this: The Girl knows her Daddy.

No question about it, she missed him. She was out of sorts while he was gone, didn't sleep well, was much more fussy than usual, and I swear by the end of the week looked at me like "I'm so bored with you. Where's Daddy?"

It was a tough week. Lack of sleep, plus fussy baby, plus no break from the baby care equals a tough week. I was teary when Mr. P got home, and feeling like a parenting failure. Especially after he puts her right to bed without a hitch, and she's been on track ever since.

But, with sleep comes perspective. It is less of a parenting failure on my part, and more of a parenting success for the team of Pie-n-Mr.P. She is used to both of us, we are both important parts of her day, of her life. And when one of us is missing, well, it's just not the same. Hey, I feel that way too when Mr. P is away - I miss him.

And so does she.

One last weird pregnancy thing

Last week I got rid of one of the last remaining odd pregnancy side effects. No, not all the weight, that is still with me. I got rid of my pregnancy tumor.

Yup, that's what it is sometimes called. Pregnancy tumor. Yuck, right? Formally it is called a pyogenic granuloma and it grew on my forehead around 35 weeks. At first I thought it was a pimple, it sort of began as a whitish bump. Then the bleeding began. Oh my, did this thing bleed. Every time I washed my face, or even absent-mindedly touched the thing - big, fat drops of blood comes gushing out. Running down my face. Lovely.

After a few weeks it sort of toughened up, and the bleeding pretty much stopped. But I was left with this red, fleshy growth thing on my forehead, right above my right eyebrow, near the center of my head. Great.

But as you might imagine, things got busy around then, and I sort of forgot about it. Well, not forgot, but didn't have time to dwell on it too much. Of course, all pictures of the Critter as a newborn include this lovely growth on my head. Very attractive.

So I went last week to the derm. Finally! She cut it off, but then she decided to laser it too. Damn, that laser hurt! I don't know how people choose to get lasered for cosmetic reasons, ouch! It was like getting lashed with rubber bands on fire. Ouch.

Now I'm left with some nasty bruising on my forehead. Almost black-purple circles, each about the size of an eraser head, about 5 of them total. The derm said they'd heal within 2 weeks, and boy do they look scary now. I cover it up with a band-aid when I go out, so as not to scare unsuspecting people.

Just so you know, weird things can happen to you when you get pregnant. Here's another one for ya. Who knew!