Paaar - taaay!

Our little girl is not so little anymore. This past weekend, she turned 3! To mark the occasion, we hosted two parties: one with our family and one with some of Syd's friends. The family party was Sunday morning and included mostly adults. We were especially lucky to have Damare and Kenan as surprise guests! We ate waaay too much food, Syd enjoyed waaay too much cake, and there were plenty of presents. A perfect, civilized birthday celebration.

Civilized is not the word I would use to describe Monday's party. Monday's party was for Syd and some of her friends. Unfortunately, there was a limit to how many guests we could host, so we couldn't invite all our friends, but we still had a blast! We ended up hosting 22 toddlers at a local bounce house. Wow - was it fun and loud and crazy! Syd couldn't stop talking about all the fun she had bouncing and sliding down the big slides. She was a maniac while it lasted.

Happy birthday to our perfect little girl! We love you more than you'll ever know.

Peanuts and Bananas and Milk - Oh My!

Well, we got the blood test results back from the allergist. Cole is officially allergic to peanuts, bananas, and milk. We had previously had him tested for peanuts, and the good news this time around is that his peanut numbers went down. So - we're crossing our fingers that he'll outgrow the peanut allergy (according to the allergist, he has a 20% chance of outgrowing a peanut allergy). We figured he had a banana allergy based on his anaphylactic episode a couple months back, but these results confirm that it was in fact bananas and that there was no cross contamination (with peanuts - for example). Finally - milk. Ugh. I had really thought there was no way he could be allergic to milk. He had been eating cheese quesadillas for a while, but he had also been having unexplained cases of hives. Anyway, the milk is a positive, so our boy is dairy free for now. He has an 80% chance of outgrowing the milk allergy - so that's something to hope for. In the meantime, my friend, Jen, just informed me that there's soy yogurt that he might like. I had incorrectly assumed that yogurt was off the table, so I'll have to do some research to see what other options are out there.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Wing Sandwiches

Tom claims that I should be able to win some sort of contest with this combination. Needless to say it was a huge success. It is not kid-friendly - way too spicy! Here's the plan: slow cooker buffalo wing sandwiches with homemade ranch dressing and french fried onions.

Boneless chicken breasts
Frank's RedHot buffalo wing sauce

Put chicken in the slow cooker and cover with wing sauce. Cook on low for 3 hours or until done. Remove chicken and shred with two forks. Pour remaining sauce through a sieve to separate out any leftover chicken fat or other drippings from the sauce. Return "clean" sauce to the slow cooker along with the shredded chicken. Keep warm until time to serve.

1/2 T Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 c buttermilk
1/8 t cracked black pepper
1/16 t paprika
1/16 t garlic powder

Combine ingredients to make ranch dressing.

To make sandwiches, put the chicken on rolls, then top with extra hot sauce, ranch dressing, and French's Fried Onions. Yummy!

Updates

I can't believe it's almost the end of February and that I'm going to have a 3 year old on my hands a week from today! Here's some of the latest news:

Sydney is really improving at the pool. For the last several weeks, she's been "swimming" with just a noodle. In March, she'll start classes where she goes in to the pool on her own! In the meantime, she's been spending some quality time with Papa while in the pool.

In other Syd news, she's signed up for preschool again next year. She'll be going 4 days a week!

As for Cole, he seems to be doing better lately. He's been on formula for about a week, and he's been sleeping through the night pretty consistently. We're still waiting for his blood work to come back to confirm his allergies, but I'm hoping we'll get that sometime this week. In the meantime, the big news of yesterday and today is that he has a new tooth! He's been pretty snotty lately, and we thought it might have been a cold, but it turns out it's a new tooth (or possibly a couple)! Yesterday morning, he only had two teeth on the bottom. Today, he has three! His bottom right middle tooth broke through sometime yesterday or last night. There are several that look ready to break through on the top too. Poor baby has been suffering with snot and lots of drool. At this point, I'd almost rather just get it over with - maybe the next four will all break through this week? I tried to get a picture of his cute toothy grin today, but no luck (the new tooth is just barely there, so it's hard to catch in a picture). Stay tuned.

Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

1.5 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1.5 stalks celery, finely diced
1.5 carrots, peeled and diced
1 T fresh minced garlic
1 c shredded, cooked chicken breast
1 c steamed white rice
1 c prepared wild rice
1 t kosher salt
1/4 t black pepper
1/8 t garlic salt

Cheese Sauce
2 T butter
1/8 c all purpose flour
1/8 t kosher salt
1/8 t black pepper
1 c chicken broth
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Top with 3/4 c shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat oil into a medium dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Saute onion, celery and carrots until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in chicken, both rices, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Reduce heat to low.

To prepare cheese sauce melt butter into a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Whisk in flour, salt and pepper then slowly pour in chicken broth whisking continuously. Whisk until thick and nearly boiling then stir in cheese until melted. Pour cheese sauce into rice mixture then transfer to a 8 x 8 inch baking dish. Top with additional cheddar cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted through. Serve.

Original source: www.picky-palate.com

Ricotta-Stuffed Spinach and Broccoli Pizza Pie

Mmmm... This was easy to make and eat! I think I'll try a meat version next time around.

16 oz whole wheat or white pizza dough (I used Pillsbury in the tube, but I may try a circular version next time around)
1 Cup ricotta cheese
¼ Cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 Cups fresh spinach leaves, chopped
2 Cups fresh broccoli florets, steamed until fork tender, about 3 minutes in boiling water
Pinch of salt
½ Cup Roasted red bell peppers (I used the jarred version)
1 ½ Cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Spread and press one piece of dough into the bottom and sides of a 9-9 ½ inch round cake or tart pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. (I used a 9 ½ inch round cake pan that worked perfectly) In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta and Parmesan cheese until well combined. Spread into pressed pizza dough.

Place olive oil into a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute spinach until wilted down, about 3 minutes. Place evenly over ricotta cheese layer. Place steamed broccoli florets over spinach and season with a pinch or two of kosher salt. Layer roasted red peppers, then mozzarella cheese over top. Press out remaining piece of dough and place over filling, tucking edges inside of pan. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cooked through.

Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan or cutting into wedges.

8 slices

Original recipe: http://www.picky-palate.com/

Impromptu Dance Party

I love judging meets at Park View High School. The family that runs the meets always has things very well organized, and I usually have a good time. My favorite part - though - is the DJ. Unlike other schools, Park View usually hires a DJ to play music between rotations and at the end of the meet while scores are being finalized. That's when the dance party starts. The DJ usually plays the song for whatever group dance is popular at the time. Over the years, I've seen the gymnasts dance to everything from the chicken dance to the macarena to the cha cha slide. This year, it was cupid shuffle. I didn't actually judge the meet this year, but I was there to present an award. Anyway, I brought the kids with me, and Sydney ended up participating in the dance party!