Archives for August 2012

Pink Lemonade Bars

Aug122012

Are y’all as addicted to Pinterest as I am? I could totally just browse for hours, and at the end, I actually kinda feel productive. Unlike just cruising facebook or some other time sucker website, I have something to show for my time wasting – fabulous new ideas for organization, recipes, outfits, decorating, etc. I even know 100 uses for baking soda! Granted I will probably use only 1% of these, but who cares, the other 99% are there just in case. Like the recipe pin I found for pink lemonade pound cake. It ended up the actual recipe sounded not-so-fabulous, but as fate had it, Deb had just posted a recipe for these pink lemonade bars. It was meant to be.

These are like your typical lemon bar, but with a slight berry flavor and this really pretty magenta-like color. When I originally made them I decreased the lemon juice and increased the raspberry, thinking it would make them less tart and therefore, more appealing to my toddler. I wish I hadn’t, as I missed the tart, so I’m posting the original recipe’s proportions below. If you like your lemon bars on the gooier side, decrease the flour by a tablespoon. As is, they are delicious, it’s totally just a preference thing. These would be absolutely perfect for a girly party (baby/wedding shower) or any hot summer day when you want something rich but refreshing. They are just too pretty to pass up!

Pink Lemonade Bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For cookie layer:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup flour

For the lemonade layer:
1 cup raspberries
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup AP flour (1 T less or more if you want them gooier)
confectioners sugar

Cookie Layer:

Preheat oven to 350°F and coat a 8×8 in . baking pan with nonstick spray (or line with parchment).
In food processor pulse together the sugar, zest, and salt.
Add butter and pulse until evenly dispersed.
Add flour and pulse just until mixture is combined.
Press dough into pan.
Bake for 15 minutes, then set out to cool slightly.

Lemonade Layer:

Rinse out food processor and puree raspberries.
Pour puree through a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl (you will need to press with a spatula to get out all the juice).
In a bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until smooth.
Whisk in 3 T of puree, then stir in flour.
Pour on top of crust and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until bars barely jiggle and the edges are slightly golden.
Cool completely in fridge then cut into squares.
Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

· Filed Under: Recipes, Sweets · Tagged With: bar cookie, cookie, pink lemonade

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta

Aug82012

Craving something cheesy, salty and carb-coma inducing? Well, look no further! This dish is like restaurant style mac and cheese taken to the extreme. It has pretty much anything you could ask for at the end of a long day – bacon, cheese, pasta, ham and even a little chicken for good measure. You will eat it, your kids will eat it, then you’ll all eat it again for lunch the next day because it’s just darn addicting (isn’t all mac & cheese?).

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta
Adapted from Chef in Training —-> head on over and check her out!

12 oz penne pasta, cooked
2 cups heavy cream
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese (separated)
3 chicken cutlets, cooked & cubed
4 strips bacon, cooked & crumbled
1/2 cup ham, diced
bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Over medium low, heat cream cheese until melted, then stir in heavy cream, onion salt and garlic powder. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Stir in 1 cup cheese until melted and smooth.
In a 9×13 in. baking dish, combine pasta, cheese sauce, chicken, bacon and ham. Top with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.
Bake for 15 minutes, until hot and cheese has melted.

· Filed Under: Dinner, Recipes · Tagged With: cheese, chicken, cordon bleu, Pasta

Rylan 5 Month Summary

Aug52012

Oh, my happy little boy! Rylan really seems to be growing up so fast, some part of me wishes he could stay this precious little baby forever. Having the experience of already having a baby has taken a lot of the pressure off this time around. You aren’t questioning every decision you make, or stressing about the little details like you did with the first. It’s quite a relief actually, and I find I’m truly able to enjoy Rylan at this stage.

This was a pretty exciting month for him. He went on his first plane ride down to Georgia to see my family (was excellent and slept most of the way), then was showered with attention once we got there. I feel bad that he might not be getting as much attention as he should when we are at home, but I guess most parents of multiple children feel that way. If he is starting to fuss, usually all it takes is for me to look at him and he breaks into a huge smile, like “Yay, you’re still here!”. I hope he’s just as easy to appease as the years go on!

Rylan is a determined little fella. I’ve called him my little snapping turtle since he was born, as he has a way of inflicting serious pain on any appendage he can get his mouth on. Most of the time he can be found with his two right fingers in his mouth, happily sucking away. He finds ways to grab a hold of things (hopefully toys) that I would have thought far out of his reach. The other day he grabbed Brandon’s cereal bowl and yanked it out of his hands. Not an easy task stealing cheerios from a 2-year old.

“Please share!”

Sleeping has been stellar. Still 12 hours a night and 3 naps. He’s super attached to his lovey and generally doesn’t cry at all as long as he can get his hands on him. He’s been rolling over from stomach to back for some months now, but found he had rolled from his back to his stomach in the night after waking him up one morning in GA. A side note for new parents – try not to freak when your baby does this the first time. If they are able to get to their stomach on their own, then they will be fine once they are there. Try and work with them being able to consistently get turned over to their backs during the daytime, so that they will have this ability (and you will have the reassurance that they can) during the night.

I totally stopped breastfeeding in the last couple of weeks. I had wanted to make it to 6 months, but it ended up being time for both of us. Rylan is a big boy and seems to get hungrier everyday. We’ve even taken to adding rice cereal to two of his bottles. He got some cereal on a spoon one morning while on vacation, and I will start him on more solids soon (much to the horror of my pediatrician – they strictly believe in waiting till 6 months). His reflux is rearing its ugly head again, and we are back to wearing bibs for most of the day, even after increasing his medicine dosage. It’s no fun – let’s just say I have a love/hate relationship with my washer dryer.

Here’s a typical rundown of his day:

7:30 am – wake-up, get dressed and bottle (8 oz with 1/2 tsp rice cereal)
7:45 – sit in bouncy chair as we have breakfast
8:15 – watch mommy do laundry/chores
8:30 – playmat time
9 – out and about, will sleep on & off in the stroller (at home naps from 9:15-10:45/11)
11 – “play” with Brandon
11:45 – bottle, then hang out while we have lunch
12:30-2:30/3 – nap
3:15 – bottle
3:30 – “play” with Brandon (tummy time)
4:30 – nap
5:30 – independent play in play pen
6 – dinner with family
6:40 – bath
7 – bottle (8 oz with 1/2 tsp rice cereal)
7:30 – bedtime!

Happy 5 months sweetheart!

· Filed Under: Baby Summaries, Our Family · Tagged With: 5 month old, Baby

July Restaurant Round Up

Aug22012

Here’s where we visited this month:

Boulud Sud

Daniel Boulud has a whole slew of restaurants all over NYC, and this is his newest addition. It was so thoughtful of him to locate it just steps from our apartment on the UWS. The menu is mainly Mediterranean, but it’s pretty extensive so I’m sure anyone could find something they liked. The atmosphere is modern/minimal, and is more appropriate for a business dinner than a romantic date. The food was absolutely spot on. You must, must have the fried artichokes – I’m still dreaming about them. We all (there were 4 of us) had different fish dishes and they were all exceptional as well. Do yourself a favor and forgo dessert and just go around the corner to Epicerie Boulud and have the most incredible chocolate chip cookies (or one of their other amazing treats) and enjoy the views of Lincoln Center at night.

The Dutch

I don’t have too much to say on this one – it just didn’t live up to the hype for me. The restaurant is pretty large, and was only half occupied when we went. Granted it was on the early side (7ish), but the people there seemed like tourists – not a great sign for a NYC restaurant. We found shell (lots) in our crab appetizer, the entrees were so-so, and the dessert pairing of peanut butter pie and lemon granita was just gross. On a positive note, the fries were pretty awesome (they waiter told us they’ve actually won awards for them). Don’t think I’ll be rushing back anytime soon.

Telepan (brunch)

This is an awesome “white tablecloth” brunch. It’s not necessarily where you want to be nursing a hangover, but it is delicious, fresh and just fancy and fun for a weekend morning. There is a price fix menu that lets you choose 2 courses. I think this is just plain genius since I usually spend a lot of time trying to decide if I would rather have something sweet or savory for brunch – now you get both! Do not miss the bread basket, it’s probably the best selection I’ve ever had.

Milos Estiatorio

Oh Milos, how I love thee! We have been going to Milos for years and years, and it’s still my most craved restaurant – and that’s saying a lot! The restaurant is this beautiful open space that makes you feel like you’ve been swept out of NYC and dropped right onto the Greek coastline. The food is well, crave worthy. If you like Greek food, you must try this place. They are known for their tomatoes, so start with a tomato salad (it’s seriously bizarre how their tomatoes taste amazing even in the dead of winter), then have the Milos special to share as well. It’s thinly sliced/fried pieces of zucchini and eggplant piled high around the most delicious tzaziki. Oh, and the chunks of fried cheese on the side aren’t bad either. Then you have your choice of seafood, which is all laid out beautifully on ice for you to see. My husband and I generally split one serving of dover sole, which is plenty when paired with everything else. Finish with a piece of chocolate mousse and you have the most scrumdidliumptious dinner ever.

A bit of warning though, that the seafood portion of the meal will not be easy on your pocketbook. And the waitstaff definitely errs towards the pretentious side. Just be aware of this going in. Not necessarily rude, but not overly nice either – unless you are ordering for 10, expensive bottles of wine included. None the less, this is probably our most frequented restaurant in NYC and would be a great place to go to before a show as it’s not too far from the theater district.

Quality Meats

Steakhouses in NYC are practically as rampant as bodegas, but in truth, most are pretty excellent and will put your local Ruth Chris to shame. QM has a great decor – walls of wine bottles and a labyrinth type layout that is rather interesting to navigate. It has a trendy edge, but given the location, it will be packed with suits at 7pm on a Tuesday. The steak we had was amazing, and they make the steak sauce table side (it was excellent and unique as well, but the steak on its own was so good I didn’t even think it needed any sauce). They really pay ice cream its due in the dessert section and offer a ton of different flavors as well as house made ice cream cakes. Yum!

· Filed Under: Restaurant Reviews · Tagged With: New York City, Restaurants, Reviews