Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork, Chocolate Pumpkin Cake, Shrimp and Veggie Pasta, and a Healthy Kid!

On the plate:  Brown sugar and balsamic glazed pork tenderloin, chocolate pumpkin cake, and shrimp and veggie pasta

Soundtrack to cook to:  '90s Mariah Carey and Old school Whitney Houston - such a tragic end.  I have fond memories of sitting on the porch in the spring, being very pregnant, and listening to Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and Alexander started kicking like crazy.  The little guy loved kicking and dancing to her music...and still does! :)

FINALLY!  A healthy house!  I opened up all of the windows for a couple of days in a row to get out all that germy and gross air and bad juju in hopes to let in some clean air and positive chi.  Thankfully because of the nice recovery, we were finally able to get out and about!  (I no longer felt like Rapunzel up in her castle!!)

Alexander playing in his music class on Monday.

Alexander with one of his teachers during his P.E. class

on Wednesday.  This kid is quite coordinated!

Alexander during his "Mother Goose on the Loose" class

at the Brookline Library on Wednesday.  This kid likes to shake it!

Alexander, clowning around in his carseat.  It's so nice
to see him happy-go-lucky once again.

Cheesing for the camera. :)

*Sigh!*  It was so nice to get back to our regular schedule and to no longer be quarantined in the house.  Because he was feeling better and I was able to get a break, I got back into cooking!!  I got QUITE inspired and must have had a fire lit under me because in one day, I made three different recipes!!  The first one that I took a crack at was the brown sugar and balsamic glazed pork.  I haven't really cooked with pork that much until this year, but it's actually quite a healthy meat (if you get a lean cut) and has a nice and sweet flavor to it.  Plus, I'm also becoming quite obsessed with finding slow cooker meals.  It's very exciting to throw something together, put it in a pot, and then a few hours later, you have dinner!  Genius!  And I don't even have to babysit it!

Trim the fat off of a 3 lb piece of pork tenderloin.  Season both
sides of the pork with salt and pepper.  I took 4 cloves of garlic
and sliced them, and a large handful of fresh sage (because I really like
the flavor) and thinly sliced it as well. and put half of the garlic and sage
on each side of the pork.  Then place it in a slow cooker along with 1/2 cup of water
on LOW for 6-8 hours.
During the last hour of cooking, make the glaze mixture (comprised of
brown sugar, cornstarch, balsamic vinegar, water, and soy sauce) and
glaze the meat 2-3 times.  Serve the remaining glaze alongside the pork.

Look at that beauty!

Fantastic dish!!  The pork just falls apart and the sauce is a deliciously
sweet, sour, and tangy concoction that pairs beautifully with the
earthiness of the sage.  It was a huge hit at the Franses household!
(Personally, I think I like this pork dish even more than the apple cider
pork tenderloin - the sauce in this dish really makes it spectacular.)

Here's a fun video of Alexander playing "nicely" with Oscar.

Here's another one of him just being plain ol' silly.

Now onto my next dish - Chocolate pumpkin bundt cake.  We finally finished our last chocolate chip oatmeal cookie and this family needed something sweet at the end of our meal.  I absolutely love pumpkin flavored anything and was so excited to find a recipe with chocolate AND pumpkin combined!  Here's how it played out:

Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 

Using an electric mixer, mix together 1 can of pumpkin puree,
buttermilk, and brown sugar.  After they are combined, beat in eggs -
one by one.  Then reduce the speed and mix in the oil, vanilla, and
honey.  Once combined, mix in the dry ingredients.  Then place the
batter into a greased bundt pan and cook in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees F.

The beautiful, chocolatey, glistening batter.

Isn't it beautiful??  The result was a very interesting take on a
chocolate cake.  As you take each bite, you're definitely reminded
that there is pumpkin in it - as there is a bit of a pumpkin after taste.
Thus, don't be surprised when you bite into it and don't taste an
overwhelming flavor of chocolate (I was at first, and that's why I
decided to include this disclaimer).  I enjoyed this cake with a nice
cup of coffee for breakfast each morning - what a great way to
start the day, huh?  

Alexander playing around the house.

Alexander walking around and modeling his awesome

new light up shoes.

Alexander coloring in a very silly way.

Since the weather wasn't too cold outside, I decided to take Alexander to the nearby playground to run off some of this steam.  Here's a few pics of Alexander playing around:

Alexander, kicking up dust, and literally running to the playground! 

Alexander holding his stick (at all times when we take walks now)
and not wanting to make eye contact with the camera.  He's wise to me now.

"Hooray playground!!"  

"Hi mommy!!"  YES!  I finally got him to look and smile at the camera!

I decided to include this picture anyways, because it makes me
so happy to see him so happy.

Alexander modeling his new shoes.

Having a "swinging" good time! 

It's so uplifting to see him get so much joy out of such a simple
thing as a swing.  Definitely brings you back down to earth.

Now that this little guy has so much energy - I'm barely keeping up with him and he's got me completely pooped out by the end of the day.  Thus, I am definitely not above using a prepared marinara sauce and making it a spaghetti night.  Therefore, I looked in the fridge, grabbed some vegetables that seemed to make sense in a pasta dish, and noticed that we had a bunch of frozen shrimp that needed to be eaten as well.  Creation - shrimp and vegetable pasta!  Ta-da!  A semi-homemade meal with plenty leftover for the next dinner - now that's my kind of cooking!

Baby bella mushrooms, 1 red pepper, and 1 zucchini - sure, why not? 

~1 lb of frozen shrimp with their tails on.  I throw the shrimp in some
warm water to partially defrost them, so that I can easily remove the tails.

The secret to this dish's success - a REALLY good jar of REALLY
good marinara sauce.  Although this marinara sauce is a little  on
the expensive side, it's definitely worth it, as it makes your dish
taste like you got it at a really great restaurant.  Plus, a can of
artichoke hearts - I cut each heart in half, but you could also cut
them into fourths.

After the vegetables have cooked down (~8-10 minutes), put in
the shrimp and cook them for about 8 minutes or until the shrimp
are almost fully cooked.

After the shrimp has cooked, put in 1 lb of cooked pasta (I chose
whole wheat penne), the artichoke hearts, and the marinara sauce.
Stir the pasta around for a few minutes, until everything is coated
in the sauce.  The result is absolutely fantastic!
I was immediately whisked away to Little Italy in Boston's North End
with each delectable bite.  So.freaking.good.

Alexander absolutely LOVED this dish and even
said, "Hooray shrimp!!"  He ate 10 pieces of shrimp
AND a whole kid bowl of pasta and vegetables as well.
That's when you know that your dish is a hit. :)

Alexander making a funky face while eating his snack.

Since this weekend was pretty chilly outside, and Joseph had an overnight call at the hospital, I decided to take Alexander to Watertown's "Inside Playground."  Which is just exactly what it sounds like - an indoor playground.  Alexander seemed to enjoy himself, but I think I'll go back there when he's a little bit older and can enjoy the bigger things to play with like the indoor inflatable jumper and playground equipment.

It was such a great week and was SO nice to finally get out of the house.  Here's hoping that we can remain healthy for the rest of this season!  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki