Earth Day Dinner-Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups

Our lettuce cups runneth over so to speak in our garden, so I thought: Asian lettuce cups for dinner. I bought a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and since D was already grilling BBQ chicken on Sunday, I suggested we set aside a few thighs specifically for another meal. He brushed on the Ken's Asian Sesame dressing while grilling, then we threw them in the fridge for another night. 

Three reserved boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Bibb lettuce, freshly plucked from the garden that day.

Topped with chopped, slightly warmed chicken

Sprinkled with a quick homemade slaw of sliced cabbage, shaved carrots dressed with rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, the tiniest dash of chinese 5 spice powder, a splash of fish sauce and a shake of ginger.  This "marinated" for 5-10 minutes while I prepped the lettuce, chopped the chicken and sauteed the kale.

I sprinkled on roasted, slivered almonds for extra crunchiness.

I served our light and healthy lettuce cups with sauteed spicy sesame kale.

I sauteed two bunches of torn kale in a large skillet with vegetable oil and roughly 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper. Seasoned with salt and pepper, I let it wilt and soften.  I tossed it with sesame oil and toasted seeds. 

This particular lettuce made it a little difficult to eat without making a huge mess, but messy food is usually really delicious.  This was the case here and something I'd definitely want to make again since it was quick and healthy.  If you don't make the kale, you don't even have to turn on the stove.   

Guinness Book, wedding shower, softball & date night

Yes, it's been a busy weekend, but a very good one. Saturday morning, Stella and I participated in The Great Cloth Diaper Change at 11 am to set a Guinness World Record. Afterwards, Stella did a mini photoshoot promoting cloth diapering and totally hammed it up for the camera. The little boy, Cannon, who had his picture taken prior to us, decided he wanted back in the spotlight so he walked back in on the backdrop. Stella and him held hands, touched faces, grinned and look all around adorable all the while, the photographer just snapped away. His chocolate skin next to Stella's creaminess was just beautiful. She remarked, "Uh, I think we have our promotional pictures for next year's event." His mom commented on how we needed to get them together again for a play date since they were so happy with each other. We got Stella alone again and she did good. I can't wait to see the photographs. 

Early that morning at 6 am, D got up to put two huge pork butts on our smoker. We helped host a couples shower for Laura and Erik. I made Jim 'N' Nick's biscuits (Bisquick knock-off) and a huge salad since our lettuce is doing so well in the garden. I made jar of French vinaigrette and roasted garlic balsamic. We had such delicious food: smoked chicken legs and thighs, macaroni and cheese, 3 bean "baked" beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw and lemon cupcakes with blackberry icing. Alex and Melissa rented a bouncy house for the kiddies since we have so many between us all (7 with #8 on the way). The little ones weren't so convinced it was awesome in the beginning, but it grew on them. All of our kids get along so well together which is also awesome. And kind of amazing especially considering Stella can be a bit intrusive with her paci snatching and snack stealing whenever Lily is around. 

Sunday, D's fraternity had a softball tournament at SPSU. The kids got together again underneath the umbrellas and we all hung out in the sunshine. It really ended up being just one game and our husbands kicked butt. 30 to 11, was the final score I believe. Guess those boys didn't want to get beat again so they kept it to just one game. Afterwards, we went over to the fraternity house for lunch. They'd also smoked a ton of pork for everyone to have. The doors were open along with the windows and the kids ran around like maniacs which was fine because we didn't have to worry about them breaking stuff or messing anything up since it was at a frat house. 

There weren't any screens on the front windows and the kids were crawling thru them and even I used one as a door when the front door was blocked by a bunch of people. There was such a nice breeze and the littles loved hanging out in that spot. 

On the way home, we stopped by to pick up our babysitter, Abi. I'd purchased a Groupon to Loca Luna and set up a date night for me and D. We showered while Abi fed and bathed Stella (ugh, she was so disgusting after two days of being outside) and then we headed out. I guess Stella was savvy to what was happening and got pretty clingy right before we left. She cried as we walked out the door = heart breaking. Thankfully Abi said it didn't last long. 

Unfortunately, after a bad route decision and a sudden, torrential downpour, we ended sitting in traffic for a while. It took us an hour to get from our house to the restaurant. Fortunately, the place wasn't very busy. I'd wanted to leisurely walk around Piedmont Park after dinner, but the rain deterred us. I'm sure if it had been nice out still, the restaurant would have been slammed, so everything worked itself out. 

Tapas are one of our favorite things to eat and we went all out. I immediately ordered a strawberry mojito and D ordered the chicken skewers over fried sweet plantains and rice noodle fried shrimp with a mango and jicama slaw. We devoured those, then went for fried goat cheese balls with caramelized onions and honey, seared sea scallops with a tamarind chile sauce and grilled corn salad and fried oysters in a coconut curry sauce.  We took a few deeps breaths, then drove into Ahi tuna with orange and avocado segments and lamb chops with this amazing Mediterranean salsa. I ordered another mojito but one called a Loca Luna with pineapple juice and seltzer water. It was so good. Donald then ordered fried calamari and I got more fried sweet plantains (because they are super yummy) served with warm condensed milk for dessert. It got pretty tipsy and giggly and really enjoyed the evening. We came home to a super clingy baby who wouldn't let me sit her down. Donald brought Abi home, I put Stella to bed, then we crawled in bed and turned off the lights.....at 9:40 pm. Donald didn't get much sleep the past two nights and I've been having bouts of insomnia a few times a week so we decided to catch up. After a wonderfully busy weekend, we deserved it. 

52 Project; Week 17

My Sun baby. We've been living outside a lot lately. She escapes naked multiple times a day & prefers it over most other things. She is my child. Also , I no longer have a baby, she's officially a toddler now. 

52 Project, week 16

This was egg hunt #2 of 4 for my little snuggle bunny. She caught on to finding them, picking them up and placing them in her basket quite quickly. After hunt #4, I realized that finding things to put in a basket is a lot like putting away toys for the night. Maybe I can convince her of that. 

Easter Grammy and The Easter Bunny

My parents came to visit Monday. Before they left on Wednesday, my mama (Grammy) dressed up like The Easter Bunny for Stella and they had an Easter egg hunt in the front yard.  I told mama it would be good practice because she had three other hunts to attend.

She caught onto finding them, picking them up and placing them in the basket quickly.

 My parents brought up the Cozy Coupe for her. It's another fantastic hand-me-down which we are pleased to have. She instantly loved it. Donald has her opening and closing the door and it has cup holders in the back. Brilliant!

Move over Daddy. This is my parking spot now!

The all too famous plastic play thing hair static!

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This was Egg Hunt #2. At a ladies house from Mom's club.  Donald says she looks like a Grandma here. I disagree. I think she looks precious.  We brought her Donald Duck who is dressed up like a bunny and holds a blue egg. 

He sings and waddles and was a huge hit at the party.

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On Saturday, we went down to Brooks to have a family Easter gathering.  I brought green bean bundles ( I had a major lapse in judgement and baked them on a non lined pan. Ugh, horrible idea. Baked on bacon grease mixed with brown sugar is not good) and fruit salad with flecks of mint sprinkled in.  Donald popped a huge bowl of Old Bay popcorn for everyone to munch on.  
I tried to take a cute picture of her before leaving to send to Uncle Mikey and Aunt Jessica and this is how she cooperated.

Finally, I was able to get these. She insisted on having bunny cover her face though. Whatever, she's still grinning like crazy behind her.

The rain stopped briefly for the little ones to do an egg hunt.  Stella's cousin, Kallie ran around in her pj's searching for eggs and only picking up ones that were pink or pinkish-purple.  

 This beautiful and adorable dress was given to Stella by her Uncle Mikey and Aunt Jessica. I'm so glad it fit and she was able to wear it for Easter. It was so muddy and she fell down (since she's still a novice at walking), but the stains came right out.

Yeah, this is a red Christmas ornament, but she didn't know any different.  I don't even know how it ended up with the eggs, but she was so excited to find it.

I sat Stella down with her Great-Grandpa and she didn't move for 30-45 minutes. I couldn't have been happier and I don't think Grandpa could have been either.  Her sitting still for more than a minute is unheard of, so this act right here was a miracle.  An Easter miracle. They watched the Braves game and she sucked her thumb. They shared a few laughs.  

Such a perfect moment .

Stella basically starting walking Saturday. I mean, she took her first 3 steps alone Monday night. A few more Tuesday and the rest of the week, but when we got down to Jamie and Carla's, she just felt so confident. She had her older cousins and Donald got her walking about 8 feet or so on his phone. From then on, she'd push herself up, walk a little, fall down and start back over again.  She still crawls but seems to be walking about half of the time.

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For Easter morning, I combined three things you must have for Easter and made it one dish: eggs + asparagus + ham = Fritatta. I topped my portion with crumbled goat cheese because I'm obsessed with it. I warmed up a package of the Sister Schubert's Cinnamon Yeast Rolls (so good!) and we had the left over fruit salad.  Donald commented that we should have mimosas. We didn't have champagne or prosecco or OJ now that I think of it, but he made a drink with mango juice, peach schnapps, a little vodka, club soda and muddled mint. We had brunch on the porch since it was so wonderful out.

I really didn't get Stella much for Easter. I mean, she's 10 months and already has so much stuff.  I did search high and low for the perfect Easter basket. I wanted something that she could grow with and I just love this basket. Thank you, Target!  Basically, I took all applicable Easter stuff that she had and placed it for her to see. Really the only new stuff in the pictures is the rainbow unicorn light projector, white Easter bunny felt bag, and a few things in the basket.

Grammy got Stella the unicorn, the felt bag, a whoopee cushion (which kinda freaked her out), the butterfly bowl, the solar flower (it sits in her west facing nursery window), edible Easter grass and flower lollipops.  I found the Easter Egg book either at Goodwill or the used book store we shop at and I got the plastic eggs at The Dollar Tree. The two bunny shaped suckers were made by a friend in garden club. Obviously, the grass and suckers will be enjoyed by Daddy.  The eggs were the biggest hit of all. If she ever seems bored, I'm sure I could just drag them out and dump them all over the floor and she'd be amused for hours.

Later in the afternoon, I did a little Easter photoshoot.

My God, she looks so grown here.

 On the left, she's holding a perfect bunch of 4 leaf clovers. The right is a clover flower which she picked herself.

Stella hanging out with her bunny friends.  

I love how joyful she looks.  

I got the craving for BBQ chicken the other day, but not BBQ'd wings or even a whole chicken like Donald does on a beer can (which is spectacular), but just good ole legs and thighs.  We had that with cabbage and grilled red potatoes.  I scarfed down everything.  Again, we had dinner outside and afterwards we did egg hunt #4.  Growing up, we always had an egg hunt on Easter morning. The hard boiled eggs were hidden inside and the plastic eggs were hidden outside.  We only did half of this hunt because Stella got pretty sleepy and no longer seemed interested. This is her staring off into space here.  It ended shortly thereafter.