Big Girl Seat

 So you should take note of a few things for the following pictures:  First, Eliana is sitting at the big table with the grown-ups!  She has been asking for a while now to sit in the chair (and frequently climbs into it herself), so I have put her booster seat on one of the chairs and she hasn't looked back since.  She doesn't like the "high cha" any more.  Second, Eliana has started calling all meat "bawk bawk" - as in the sound that a chicken makes.  You know you are raising a country girl (despite living in the middle of the city??) when she can recognize the connection between the chickens that run around Grandma's backyard and the chicken that you eat off of your plate.  Tonight we were having salmon, but she kept referring to it as bawk bawk.  And third, Eliana decided to do an experiment to see which utensil works best for eating yogurt: a fork or a "poon" (spoon).  The second picture may lead you to believe that she chose the 'poon.  Actually however, she decided no conclusions could be drawn from the test and she would have to continue to use both.  Sometimes at the same time. 

Zucchini fritters

Broccoli Cheddar Nuggets

I have been trying to get creative in serving vegetables to Eliana.  She actually is a very good eater and will usually eat a wide variety of plain veggies such as green beans, peas, cauliflower, and broccoli.  However, she also loves carbs and is always asking for bread a crackers.  So I have been trying out different ways to make veggies into bread like snacks.  First I made this cauliflower pizza crust.  I wasn't actually making a pizza.  Eliana was constantly asking for crackers, so I thought I could make this without toppings and cut it into squares as a cracker substitute.  I forgot to take a picture, but it mostly looked like bread.  I must have had a larger head of cauliflower because my dough turned out so dry I couldn't form it together into a crust.  I added an extra egg, but that was too much because then the dough was too soggy.  So my particular pizza crust came out pretty soft.  It didn't crisp up like I wanted it to (and I cooked it much longer than the recipe suggested, like maybe 20 min).  But it held together and Eliana liked it.  So I consider that a success.  Next I made broccoli cheddar nuggets.  Those were a big hit!  Eliana would eat them warm or cold, so they were a great snack, especially when I needed something quick.  The cheese to broccoli ratio seemed a little heavy on the cheese to me, but that probably made them more appetizing. And the vegetable experiment that was by far my favorite was the zucchini fritters.  These things were good!  Of course, what isn't good when it is fried in oil?  The zucchini fritters were really light and fluffy.  I called them zucchini cakes, and Eliana would ask for "more cake!"  I ate them with a dollop of plain yogurt on top, which was very tasty.  In conclusion, I have found that making vegetables into something is a good way to get Eliana to eat them.  However time constraints usually prevent me from making these types of things very often.  Frozen pea popsicles it is then!

Eliana pushing her stroller

I wish I had gotten a picture of this, but, alas, I did not.  So you will just have to use your imagination and hopefully you can picture this as funny/cute as it actually was.
Yesterday I took Eliana and her teddy bear out for a jog in the stroller.  That was the plan at least.  Once we got outside, she didn't actually want to ride.  Eliana insisted on carrying her bear and walking next to me while I pushed an empty stroller.  While I was a little bummed I was not getting in my planned workout, I did appreciate how enthusiastic Eliana was about exploring the neighborhood.
After a couple of blocks, she decided to put Mary, the bear, in the stroller.  Deciding she was the momma, Eliana then insisted that she push the stroller.  Except this is our giant jogging stroller.  Eliana could not reach the handles, so she started crying about not being able to push the stroller.  What could I do? I can't change the size of the stroller or make her taller.  I tried not to laugh at the silliness of the whole thing and instead put on my mom thinking cap.  So I told her to push the bottom rung of the stroller instead.  It took a little convincing, but finally Eliana believed me that the bottom rung was just as good as the handles mommy uses.  Except this rung hits her at about knee height, so she had to bend in half to push it.  This is where your imagination is important: here goes Eliana down the sidewalk, bent in half pushing a giant stroller towering above her, with her face basically buried in the under seat basket, with a teddy bear sitting where she usually belongs.  She looked like someone trying to push a very heavy boulder uphill.  It is not that the stroller was heavy and she couldn't do it.  It was just her posture was that of a person using all of their might to do a difficult task.  I was cracking up!   I followed behind her as she raced down the sidewalk.  Sometimes she would be pushing so fast her little feet could not keep up and she would stumble, but she quickly got back up to race along again.  Occasionally she would look up and back at me and say "Come!" like a person scolding a wayward puppy.  Oh what a sight we were!
Eventually she tired of this activity and was willing to ride in the stroller with Mary.  So I got my jog in after all, in case you were worried.  Eliana just made sure she got her exercise in too.  Adventures of motherhood.  Never a dull moment!

Kaiserschmarrn

This picture cannot do this delicious dish justice.

David proudly holding his favorite breakfast

Lately David has been checking out lots of cookbooks from the library, varieties including Mexican, quick weeknight, "How to cook without a Book," etc.  One of  his most recent favorites is Grandma's German Cookbook by Birgit Hamm and Linn Schmidt (picked especially for me, despite the fact that I do not typically like German food...).  Although most of the recipes did not appeal to us (too much sausage and sauerkraut) we did find one of the most amazing things we have ever eaten - Kaiserschmarrn!  It is an Austrian dish described as a topsy-turvy pancake.  Since David has gotten the cookbook, we have made it almost once every week for breakfast.  This dish is personally responsible for doubling our egg consumption.  It is so tasty - like a pancake only not quite as sweet.  Then topped with fruit and powdered sugar.  You should probably make this for breakfast tomorrow.  You won't regret it.  It is actually pretty fast and easy, as long as you know how to whip egg whites.  Here is the recipe:
 Kaiserschmarrn
5 eggs
1 cup heavy cream (I actually like it better with buttermilk or half cream, half milk)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 3/4 oz raisins (a handful or two)
7oz flour (about 1.6 cups)
1 pinch of salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
confectioner's sugar

Separate the eggs.   Mix the cream, egg yolks, sugar, raisins, flour, and salt together in a bowl.  In a second bowl, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks.  Fold the egg whites into the batter.  In a large frying pan, melt 2 Tbps of butter over medium heat.  Pour in half of the batter.  As soon as the batter starts to set, chop it up coarsely and turn it in the pan.  Tear apart the pancake into bite-sized pieces and continue cooking until it is golden-brown.  Repeat with the rest of the batter, dust with confectioner's sugar, and serve. 

We have added pecans to the batter, which David liked but I did not.  We have served it with applesauce, peaches, plums, or raspberries.  All fruit seems to be a good choice.  Hope you like it!

Sidewalk Chalk

Does that chalk girl look like anyone you know?

Note the shoes.  Eliana was obsessed with these shoes.  She showed everyone who would listen to her how the sidewalk chalk girl had shoes one.  Already at the young age of 20 months, Eliana is a shoe lover.

Summer days spent outside.  We were out front a couple of weeks ago drawing on the sidewalk.  I decided to trace Eliana's body, which she was not a fan of.  But once the girl was drawn, she really really liked her!  Eliana liked to point out different parts of the girl, including her hair or nose or most especially her shoes.