After our leisurely morning and afternoon at home, we drove down to Livermore for a celebration with my in-laws. We had lots of fun, and SO MUCH good food!

For my contribution to the feast, I brought along two wheels of double-cream Brie that I’d covered in Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough.  I sprinkled the dough with pecans and brown sugar. Baked at 350 for 10 minutes (just enough to turn golden), drizzled organic honey over the warm dough and served with the Keebler Club crackers. Totally delicious! I ate far too much of it.

In addition to that, there was prime rib (not for me, obviously! LOL), mashed potatoes, a great pear salad, and jell-o salad (butter-pretzel crust, cream cheese with whipped cream, and strawberry jell-o, layered). For dessert, we had cookies, rum cake, pecan pie…and even more!

Dad and Debi gave Tim a new drill (his old one JUST died, it was perfect timing!). I received some beautiful silver earrings (which I put on immediately), a cute headband, and a copy of An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin (WIN!). Marco received lots of books and toys from his Grandma Debi and his Great-Grandma Judy. Spoiled!

Merry Christmas <3

Marco and Aunt Chloe

Me and Cameron

We drove home in comfy, relaxed silence (Marco slept the whole way), and snuggled into bed late. It was a wonderful Christmas! I can’t wait for next year, when Marco is walking around!

Interesting week! I spent most of it snacking on this crumb coffee cake that I made Sunday morning. I made the low-fat version, but I think next time I’ll use the full amount of butter in the cake batter (I used plenty in the crumb topping, heh heh). It was good, but could be better. I snapped pics with my iPhone:

We’ve been watching the World Series as well, and Game 1 and 2 were fantastic! I am so excited with how well the Giants are playing (okay, and how not-so-good the Rangers are playing, ha ha). Marco likes baseball, and was enjoying himself watching the first few innings (but then had to go to bed).

Marco turned 5 months old this week, so I took some pictures of him to document the milestone.

More pics here.

Ooh my my giveaway prizes arrived from Kami! It was fun to receive something from Canada – I never get mail from outside of the U.S.

She snuck in one of her rose rings for me; I was bummed when they went out of stock in her etsy shop. I love this ring!

FYI: Kami just announced her pregnancy! Go to her blog and congratulate her on this momentous occasion.

What else…hmm…I work tonight, but I have the whole weekend off. Tim and I have fun plans for Halloween weekend. Marco will look so rad in his Darth Vader costume.

May the force be with you!!

I found a recipe in October’s Food & Wine magazine for Eton Mess, a dessert often found in Windsor, England. It sounded good, so I went ahead and tried it out.

It’s a really simple dish, not too sweet and very tasty! I left out the pistachios, and started with vanilla meringues purchased at Trader Joe’s, instead of making my own as the recipe suggested.  I love fresh meringues – the bit of crunch and sweetness, and zero fat!

Anyway, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 C Heavy Whipping Cream
3/4 C Confectioner’s sugar
1/4 C thinly sliced mint leaves
2 pints Raspberries
3 Vanilla meringues (as I said, you can make your own – but this dessert was perfect with the Trader Joe’s version)
1 vanilla bean pod (I used 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract, as I did not have a bean pod on hand)

In mixing bowl, whip the cream into soft peaks. Add the vanilla extract and 1/2 C of the confectioner’s sugar to mix, and blend to thick peaks.

In separate bowl, mash about half the raspberries with remaining 1/4 of sugar. Leave the remaining berries whole. Fold mashed berries into whipped cream mixture.

Coarsely crumble 2 of the meringues, and stir into cream, along with the mint.

Spoon into cups/bowls, top with remaining berries and crumble the last meringue over the top. Enjoy!!

If you want to add the pistachios, take 1/2 C shelled and chopped pistachios, and sprinkle over top of dessert.

This week I also undertook to making up some butternut squash for Marco. The Beaba Babycooker finally made its debut! This thing is awesome, and super-easy to use. I put the squash into the steam basket, filled the steamer with the appropriate amount of water (handy chart included) and it steamed itself to perfect tenderness (automatic shut-off when finished!).

Then I just dumped the squash directly into the blender part (along with the cooking water) and blended it for 10 seconds.

Voila! The perfect puree for Marco! It tasted so good; I hope Marco likes it. Might have to use some of the extra for a soup.

Have you entered my giveaway yet?! Winner will chosen at random and announced on Monday, October 25th!! Go HERE to enter!

I decided to pinch a few pennies this year and make the cupcakes for my birthday dinner, instead of buying them from Icing on the Cake like I normally do (best cupcakes, but at 3.25 apiece, and around 10-15 people to feed, it adds up!).  So, I went to the store and stocked up on white cake mix, strawberries, Hershey’s chocolate and Scharffen Berger unsweetened natural cocoa powder. I chopped up the strawberries and mixed them into the white cake mix along with 2 drops of pink food coloring.  Then I poured the mix into cupcake cups (a little over 2/3 full) and added a slice of strawberry to the top.

Bake as directed on the white cake mix (350 degrees for 16 minutes) and let cool.

For the chocolate buttercream, I started with the buttercream recipe on the back of the C&H powdered confectioner’s sugar box.

1 lb box of Powdered sugar
1 stick of unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C milk

Mix all ingredients together in an electric mixer on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. After that, I added 1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate powder, and Hershey’s syrup to taste. You may need to add a little more milk to get the desired creaminess.

Mmm, the best part!!

I don’t have any icing bags, so I took an extra larger ziploc bag, filled with the frosting and cut a small tip off the corner.  It doesn’t make the frosting pretty, but it gets the cupcakes frosted much more quickly.

I used candy Pearls and chocolate chips to make them look cute, and wrapped some Wilton’s cake wraps around them. I found the wraps at Target in the Halloween section. They were supposed to be some kind of cemetery design, but I thought they looked a little like crowns, hee hee.

My experiment worked! The cupcakes tasted delicious YAYYYY!!!

Potatoes are just an awesome food, and I eat them quite often. I know, starches aren’t good for you…but they are so darn tasty!

Here’s any easy recipe for roasted red potatoes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash potatoes well, and slice into quarters.

Coat in extra-virgin olive oil. Season to taste with black pepper, rosemary, and a pinch of salt.

Place potatoes into a roasting pan, or onto a non-stick cookie sheet. Make sure the potatoes are skin-side up. Cover with foil.

Roast for 15 minutes, and turn potatoes to roast evenly.

Continue baking for 15-20 more minutes, until tender.

Enjoy!!

Our weekend was pretty rad-a-riffic. Marco and I chilled at Starbucks, and Tim started painting the library! We visited with his Grandpa Keith and Great-Grandpa Jack on Saturday, and then had dinner with the Dempseys and Almonds.

Marco and I like to chill with a non-fat Chai latte.

Me and Erin

Me, Jacqi and Caleb (half asleep!)

I slept in on Sunday, helped Tim paint the library ceiling, and watched the rest of Season 1 of ‘Dexter’ (AMAZING SHOW!!).

This is all I can show you of the library right now…once the shelves are in I’ll post more.

In other news, we’re now 90% sure of the formula situation with Marco. I’ve basically stopped pumping and we’ll finish up some of the breast milk we’ve got left (yes, we froze it – is there anything weirder than breast milk in your freezer? I think not). He’s responding SO well to the soy formula that it makes so much more sense to continue. We’ve had him on a schedule of evening/night feedings of soy, and morning/afternoon breast milk – but I think he seems much more relaxed after the formula. Go figure.

Last night, Adrienne came up to Napa. We’d both read Eat Pray Love , so we decided to see the movie. I made sandwiches for dinner (grilled chicken breast on a toasted baguette with basil pesto, mozzarella, tomato and red onion), and we had just enough time to enjoy them before heading out. The movie was good, but not great. So much happened in the book, and it was impossible to fit all of it into a 2 hour flick. Unfortunately, the filmmakers sacrificed some pertinent parts of the story. They left out details about Elizabeth Gilbert’s struggle with her marriage, and her desire to understand God was merely glossed over. But it was enjoyable, and Richard Jenkins was a perfect ‘Richard from Texas’!

Yesterday Tim and I had some friends over for a BBQ to celebrate his birthday, and I made some fresh guacamole. Here’s a quick and dirty recipe for this delicious snack:

Michelle’s Fool-proof Guacamole

3 ripe Hass avocados, halved
1/4 cup cilantro, torn or chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 lime
Fresh black pepper, to taste

Using a spoon, scoop avocado into a bowl, and add the cilantro and tomatoes. Stir together.  Cut lime in half and squeeze juice into mixture. Stir, and add black pepper to your liking. Good with tortilla chips and fresh veggies. So easy, and very tasty.

One of my favorite fruits is the lovely, the delicious, the incredible AVOCADO. I could eat them every single day. I love them naked, but on a sandwich? OMG. Guacamole? HOLY GUACAMOLE. I bow down before this almighty fruit.

Last night, Tim and I were trying to figure out what to make for dinner (his idea at this point: Annie’s Organic Shells and Cheese). Luckily, I remembered we had 3 avocados and some cherry tomatoes, so I decided to make what we call our “Guaca-Pasta” dish. We had a version of this at the Calistoga Inn, one of our favorite restaurants in the Napa Valley. I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit at home, and though I’ve never written down measurements, I think I can approximate it for you:

The Dickson’s Guaca-Pasta (serves 2)

2 Hass avocados, sliced
2 1/2 cups cooked pasta (I prefer Barilla Whole Grain spaghetti for this recipe, but a thick fettucini would work equally as well; however, I wouldn’t recommend going any thinner than a regular spaghetti noodle)
approx. 1 cup cherry tomatoes, in quarters
2 tbsp cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil (don’t be fooled by oils that say “100% pure olive oil” - it’s not the same thing!!)
1 tbsp I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! (substitute unsalted butter, if preferred)
approx. 2 tbsp freshly shaved Parmesan Reggiano – add more as desired  
2 tsp fresh lime juice
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Stir all ingredients together in medium-size bowl, serve, and enjoy!

I’m sorry I don’t have a picture! We ate everything before I realized I should post the recipe. Whoops.

I have 1 avocado left, and it’s lunchtime! Break out the spoons!

I was reading a recent blogpost by Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere, and she’d made some caramels from a recipe on the New York Times website. They sounded tasty, so today I decided to make some of my own. I followed the recipe step by step, with two exceptions: I used three big pinches of regular salt instead of just one, and while it cooled I sprinkled coarse sea salt over the top. I ended up with enough for 48 pcs, which I then wrapped in wax paper.

They taste AWESOME. Yay for caramels!

BTW: if anyone pronounces caramel as ‘car-mull’ in front of me, I will give you a dirty look. There is no such thing. There’s Carmel (car-mel), as in the seaside town, and there’s Caramel (Care-uh-mel), the sugar-butter-cream substance.

That is all.

Here’s a recipe for a quick, delicious GREEN smoothie. Instead of dairy products, use green leaves (spinach, arugula, chard, kale, etc.), fruit, water and 100% juices (Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have a good selection).

1 C baby spinach, stems removed
1 C 100% tangerine juice (no sugar added, not from concentrate)  You can use just water, and add more fruit as desired.
1 banana
ice

Put water or juice into blender, then add leaves, fruit and ice.  Blend well!

The green leaves are an excellent source of vitamins, and are naturally low in calories and sodium! I swear it tastes delicious.