New Park, Nantasket Beach, Green Onions, and Lots of New Recipes!

On the plate:  Leftover steak, caramelized onion, and goat cheese pizza, wheatberry salad, goat cheese-stuffed turkey burgers, home-made s'mores, and BLT pasta

Soundtrack to cook to: India Arie's Voyage to India.  There's so many upbeat and soulful songs that make you want to get down with your bad self and sing out loud.  I used to play this CD all the time during college.  It's all about love, being in love, and celebrating the one you love.

Speaking of things that I love, this post is chocked full of recipes that I personally loved while I was making and finally eating them. :)  I would just like to say that I am sooooo happy that I am feeling back to normal, can cook in the house, and have enough energy to actually cook again.  My first trimester and half of my second were pretty brutal and it's so nice to feel normal again.

One night, Joseph made some beautiful filet mignon for dinner.  We had one little steak leftover, but it wasn't enough for either of us to make a meal out of it.  Thus, I had an "AH-HA!" moment, took the steak, cut it up into small pieces and made a steak, carmamelized onion, and goat cheese pizza.  We had leftover goat cheese from Alex's birthday party that I had frozen, and I had bought some whole wheat pizza dough from the grocery store.  I felt like these ingredients were just begging to be played with.  In my quest to get rid of old vegetables and make a tasty pizza, I came across a pepper, and even found some canned artichoke hearts that I cut into fourths.

Ingredients needed:

• 1 ball of whole wheat pizza dough (check the bakery or deli section of your grocery store)
• 1 pepper, cut into chunks
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 1/2 logs of goat cheese
• 1 can artichoke hearts in water, cut each heart into quarters
• Rao's marinara sauce (sooooo stinking good!)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (it was leftover - you don't have to include it if you don't want to)
• Italian seasoning
• Pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Cut the pepper into chunks and slice the onion - you can really use
any vegetable that you have leftover in your fridge.
Spread the pizza dough onto a greased pan so that the dough meets
in every corner of the pan, top with sauce, assorted toppings, cheese
and end with seasonings.  Place the pizza in a 400 degree F oven for
20-25 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly and the crust
is golden brown.

Voila!  I don't mean to toot my own horn, but *toot toot*, this was
a fantastic dish made entirely out of leftovers.  So delicious and satisfying.
Even Alexander loved this dish and gobbled it all up.

This month has proven to be a very busy one for Joseph.  The poor guy had his rotation at Mass General (which is a great hospital, just not as close to home as Brigham and Women's) where his days would begin at 6 a.m. and ended anywhere from 8-9:30 p.m.  Thus, I got used to making meals and eating with just Alex, while portioning the leftovers onto a plate for Joseph to have later.

This fourth of July proved to not be so great, as Alex was just getting over his hand, foot, and mouth disease, and Joseph had a late night that evening.  I still wanted to have a nice fourth of July dinner and decided to get a little creative with the menu.

A friend of mine had made this absolutely delicious wheatberry salad at a party of hers, and I thought that would be a nice addition to our meal.  I absolutely love the texture of the wheatberries - they're delightfully chewy and almost pop in your mouth.  I searched high and low for these little guys, and could only find them at Whole Foods.

Measure out 1 cup of wheatberries and cook them in an uncovered pot
in 3 cups of water on low for 45 minutes.  Do this step first, because
by the time you're done cutting everything and measuring out
the rest of the ingredients, your wheatberries will be nice and chewy.

Dice the carrots, red pepper, onions, and slice the green onions
so that they're about the same size as the wheatberries themselves.
(This part took the longest for me, but the effort is well worth it for the perfect bite.)

Cook the onions until slightly translucent, and then add in the
balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

This is what the wheatberries looked like when they were done cooking.
Note that they have plumped up nicely and almost touch the top of the water.
Drain these in a colander.

Mix the wheatberries, cut up vegetables, and onions marinated
in olive oil and balsamic vinegar together in a medium bowl.
Then try to restrain yourself from grabbing a spoon and eating the entire
bowl by yourself. :)
It's a delightfully sweet, tart, crunchy, and chewy salad that is very healthy
and hearty at the same time.  

I felt like no fourth of July dinner would be complete without a burger.  Unfortunately, our condo doesn't allow us to have our grill out on our little porch.  Thus, if we want to grill anything, we have to wheel our grill out into our parking space - not ideal when you're by yourself and your child is playing in the parking lot.  So, I had to get a little creative and whipped out our little George Foreman grill  to cook up our burgers. :)

I chose to make turkey burgers and had a little bit of goat cheese leftover from the previous day, so I decided to make goat cheese-stuffed turkey burgers.  

Ingredients needed:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 onion, grated (it adds moisture to your burger so they're not all dried out and still have a nice flavor)
• 1 green onion, sliced (because I had it leftover)
• Pepper
• 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 log of goat cheese
• Montreal steak seasoning

In a mixing bowl, combine the turkey, onion, green onion,
pepper, and worcestershire sauce.  Mix well and form into 8 patties.

Take 1 patty and put a small amount of goat cheese into the center.
Then form a patty around the goat cheese so that the goat cheese
is hidden inside the center of the burger.

Season the patties on each side with Montreal Steak seasoning
and grill until the juices run clear (about 4-5 minutes on each side).

Mmmm!  Beautifully charred and crunchy on the outside with a
deliciously salty and creamy inside.  I like to top my burgers with
lettuce, a slice of tomato, and pickled jalapeno slices (because I loooove spicy food!)

My happy little guy, about to dig into his fourth of July dinner.

I wanted to make a traditional dessert for our fourth of July dinner.  I kept thinking back to when I was a kid and my family and I would toast marshmallows over the grill and make s'mores.  Alexander hadn't ever had this treat, and whenever I start thinking of something and craving it - I have to have that one certain thing and nothing else will do.  So I gathered low calorie graham crackers (because you have to save your calories somewhere, right?), Hershey's chocolate (I feel like you just cannot substitute and have to go for the traditional), and jumbo marshmallows.

Very complicated dessert preparation - LOL!

I really wanted the toasted marshmallow flavor and had to get creative
once again.  Thus, I had another "Ah-ha!" moment, took the grates off
of our stove, and toasted the marshmallows on the open flame.

Alexander holding his S'more like a big boy and relishing each
deliciously sweet and gooey bite.

Alexander digging in!  He absolutely loved it (and who wouldn't?)
and was covered in chocolate and marshmallow at the very end.
A very successful fourth of July dinner if you ask me. :)

Joseph had a full weekend off (what a treat!!), so we took Alexander to a park and brunch one day, and  Nantasket beach the next day.  Whenever Joseph has time off like this, we really try to make the most of each moment together.

Alexander playing around at the new park (i.e. not 

the one across the street from us, so we called it a "new park").

Alexander singing to himself at the dinner table.

I was catching up on my DVR'd shows the other day and came across a Rachael Ray show episode where she made meals out of leftovers (my favorite!).  She made a BLT pasta dish.  The "b" for bacon, "l" for leeks, and "t" for tomatoes.  It looked simple enough to make and seemed like it would be yummy.

Cut 5 slices of turkey bacon into small bites.  Then put in your
cooking pot and brown the bacon pieces.

While the bacon is cooking, cut up the red pepper, garlic, and leeks.

After cutting the leeks, soak the leeks in a water bath in order to
get out all of the sand and dirt from the various layers.

Once the turkey bacon has browned, remove it from the pot and
set it to the side.

I had some mushrooms and wanted to add them into the mix as well,
so I sliced them up very thin.

Throw all of the vegetables into the pot and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Then, add cherry tomatoes and wine, and put the top on the pot
for about 10 minutes.  The cherry tomatoes should be busting out of
their skins.  Once the cherry tomatoes have cooked, use a potato
masher and mash the tomatoes.  Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste.

Mix together fresh herbs (I used basil and rosemary) with creme fraiche.

Add 1 lb of cooked pasta, reserved turkey bacon and herbed creme fraiche
to the vegetable mixture and mix together well.
This dish was a big hit in the Franses household and made a HUGE amount
of food.  Therefore, if you're cooking a meal where you want leftovers
or are feeding a bunch of people, then this is the dish for you.
I'm sure that this dish would freeze and reheat well, too.

On Joseph's weekend off, as I said before, we ventured out to Nantasket beach.  It's a lovely beach and is perfect for young families because they have on-sight bathrooms, a little boardwalk with a carousel and games, and delicious fresh seafood.  Here's a few pictures from our day in the sun:

Joseph, getting Alexander all suited up for some fun in the sun.

Alexander didn't quite like the feeling of the sand beneath his toes.

Our little playboy, posing for the camera.

Getting set up at the beach.

Alexander clinging onto me as we play in the waves.

Joseph and Alexander making a little pile of sand together.

Me and Alexander playing in the waves!

In the wave aftermath :)

Drink break!

Alexander enjoyed digging up the sand and putting it
into his bucket.

Daddy and Alexander playing in the sand.

After we had cleaned up and dried off, we decided to have lunch at a local restaurant that boasted its fresh seafood.  A perfect way to end our morning at the beach if you ask me. :)

The Franses men, patiently awaiting their food.

Here's a few other random videos and pictures from that week:

Alexander enjoys cleaning...he's clearly my kid. :)

It's incredible how big he's gotten!

Alexander being silly in the car with my sister's bracelet.

Alexander just hanging around during gym class.

I was preparing a dish and noticed that my green onions

kept disappearing...then I saw the culprit. :)

We've had a busy, but great summer thus far in the Franses household.  Thankfully Joseph's got the next month off and will be able to be home so that we can go on a few more little day trips together as a family of three (plus one if you're including Oscar).  I can't wait to see what other little adventures we'll go on together!  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki

Salmon Burgers With Avocado Yogurt Sauce, Yogurt Banana Blueberry Bread, and Field Trips

On the plate:  Salmon burgers with avocado yogurt sauce and yogurt banana blueberry bread

Soundtrack to cook to:  Ben Folds Five album titled Ben Folds Five.  *sigh*  Every time I hear this album, it takes me back to the summer of 2001 - that was an awesome summer filled with waiting on tables at a family restaurant, taking summer classes (due to necessity - I dug myself into a HUGE hole my freshman year and spent the remaining years of my college career digging myself out), hanging out at the Waterfront apartments, Rossville, Laporte, and other various places around Indiana.  A perfect summer soundtrack!  Plus, Joseph and I are huge Ben Folds fans and this was my first album that I ever got.

I absolutely love the summer and have totally enjoyed getting out of the house and taking Alexander on little field trips.  We have had a lot of fun over the past few weeks seeing what the Boston area has to offer.

We went out to dinner at a local restaurant and Alexander
insisted on wearing his sunglasses to the restaurant
and wore them during the meal.  He's just cool like that. 

On top of that, I've been totally into summer food.  Light and tangy dishes full of fresh vegetables and yummy treats filled with fruits are things that I've been craving lately.  I came across this recipe recently and it sounded pretty delicious - plus, we had just gotten a huge piece of salmon and I needed to do something with it. :)

Cut up half of a red pepper and slice up an avocado

Mash the avocado with a potato masher.  Then mix in 1/4 cup sour cream
and 1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I used this instead of mayonnaise), vinegar,
milk, and salt and pepper.  Mix them together well and refrigerate.

Grind the red pepper and salmon in a food processor until the pieces
are coarsely chopped.  Then, put the mixture into a bowl and combine
with bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and an egg.
*If I were to do this over again, I would have put some onion,
sliced green onion, and maybe a little jalapeno.  I feel like it needed
a little bit more flavor in the burger.

Form the salmon mixture into patties and cook them in a pan
for 3-4 minutes on each side.

I loved the nice and crusty texture from cooking the patties on
a hot pan.

Finished product!  I served this alongside some green beans and couscous.
I tried to do the low calorie version and not eat it as a burger, which was a mistake.
When I heated up the leftovers the next day, I definitely ate it as a burger.
For some silly reason, it really tasted better between two pieces of bread.

 I loved the idea of making the salmon burger, but even when topped with
the sauce, it still needed a little something.  My suggestion is to possibly
top the burger with some pickled red onions or pickled jalapenos.
I feel like it needed a little bit more acid and a strong flavor as well
to jazz up what was somewhat of a bland burger.

I needed to walk Oscar one afternoon and Alexander absolutely

did not want to come.  Thus, I bribed him by allowing him to

splash around in the nearby puddles if he would come out with me.

It worked like a charm!

I was trying to make a quick breakfast treat for Joseph to grab on the run in the mornings, since he's in a new rotation, has to leave early in the mornings, and doesn't have time for a nice breakfast.  I fell upon this other recipe from pinterest that was pretty healthy, incorporated fruit, and had yogurt in it as well.

Incorporate the dry ingredients together with a whisk.

With a mixer, beat the bananas on high and then incorporate the
eggs and vanilla.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and stir well.  Then, fold in
the blueberries delicately into the mixture, so as not to mash the
blueberries while stirring.

I had my little helper alongside me observing and handing me
various tools.  He loves to help in the kitchen. :)

Before baking...

...and after baking.  I love how the blueberries burst in the oven
and ooze their yummy juice out and all over the muffies.  This mix
makes 1 loaf pan or 12 muffies.
*These are not incredibly sweet muffies, but were still nice
accompanied with a good cup of coffee on the run.  They are
incredibly moist, so make sure that you put them in a sealed container
and refrigerate once they've cooled to room temperature.

Joseph has been on Q4 call (which means that he has to stay overnight at the hospital every 4th night).  The days that he is on call, he doesn't have to leave for work until 11 am, but then stays overnight at the hospital, and comes back home at around 11 am the following day.  Needless to say, we've been missing our quality Daddy time and take what we can get.  

I decided that I was going to take Alexander to Frog Pond in Boston Common to splash around.  Since Joseph had just gotten off call, he decided to surprise us and met us at Frog Pond to hang out for a little bit before he had to go to a lecture.

Joseph and Alexander enjoying lunch together at the Frog Pond Cafe.

It was a perfectly sunny day and wasn't too hot.

Alexander splashing around in Frog Pond.  He
absolutely loved running around in the water.

"Hi-ya!"

This picture cracks me up because it looks like
he's dancing and getting down with his bad self. :)

He was feeling adventurous enough to approach the fountain.

"Hooray water!!"

Our little smiley guy :)

Playing in Frog Pond

Splashing around :)

This little guy LOVES to sing all of the time.

After Frog Pond, we bid Joseph adieu, and this pregnant mama was craving a milkshake.  On the way home, Alexander and I stopped by Tasty Burger and got a small fry and mint chocolate chip milkshake (that we shared).  On this sunny day, it was the perfect treat that hit the spot! :)

Alexander, waiting patiently, for his fries and milkshake.

"Smiiiiii!"  (Alexander's version of "smile)

This little guy knows how to work his eyebrows...too funny.

"Like milkshake mommy?  Yes!!"  (That's
what Alexander has been doing for the past
few months is that he asks us if we like something
that he likes in order to encourage us to ask him so
that he can answer enthusiastically.)

He was really digging his milkshake.

Look at the absolute focus and concentration.

Our little field trips are starting to get much more fun, as Alexander can do so much more than he was able to do last year.  I took him to the Museum of Science and decided that I would take him to a little 3D movie about dinosaurs (whereas last year, I wouldn't have even considered it).  He absolutely LOVED it!!  It was so much fun to watch him be so enthusiastic about the movie - it's amazing what a difference a year makes.  He's progressed so much.  

Little man, posing with his 3D glasses that he insisted
on wearing even before the movie started.

Sipping some water and petting a bear - no big deal.  :)

Our little guy being silly.

We've been so fortunate this year to have been able to meet some great friends in our condo association that have children that are Alexander's age.  It's been a lot of fun meeting up at our local park and having our weekly playdates.  

Here's Arhan and Alexander, holding hands
as they were walking back from the park to our
respective homes.  Aren't they absolutely adorable?
Arhan's mother, Roshni, is in the background -
playdates are also a great time for mothers to chit chat
as well.  LOL!

That's all for now.  I'm sorry that it's been so long, but I'm working on catching up (yet again).  I've cooked lots of yummy things since this post and cannot wait to share them with y'all!  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki