What's for Dinner?

Today I actually made it to Playgroup. You see, last Tuesday, Ed helped me get the kids all ready (it takes two to make it on time). When we arrived, there was a sign on the door saying that playgroup (for that day) was cancelled. Here I'd gone to all the effort of getting us out of the house and I wasn't going to let it go to waste. So, I took the kids to the park and we all had a great time.

At playgroup today, Artemis set herself up to paint and did a pretty good job (except the one swipe where she touched her top and pant leg with RED, NON-REMOVAL paint). She really enjoys drawing, doing puzzles and reading.

Both of them sat through circle time for the first time (the entire 20 minutes). Max even got up and was doing some of the motions. Max loves music. He loves to listen to the radio (rock or country) and play along. He also loves to read.

Both kids are talking up a storm and Artemis has been using two words "sentences" for the past few weeks (Max has for a while, usually "More" followed by a food). Today, Artemis handed me my shoes and said "shoes Mama".

For the past few days, Artemis has dropped her one and only nap (this could be why she was in such a bad mood today, probably her first day ever!). Maybe it's the change in season?

Ed has been really busy with work so we haven't had a chance to watch the final two Bond movies. It's probably a good thing as Ed thinks that we're losing our readerhip with all this "Bond Talk" (what is one person less than zero?).

Tonight I made "Shepard's Pie" for the first time. I basically followed this recipe with the following changes. I didn’t have any beef broth but found that the hamburger was moist enough. I added an egg and oregano to the hamburger (before frying it, as if I was making hamburgers). I used carrots and corn. I ended up broiling the pie for a few minutes at the end although it was starting to brown. Afterward, I thought that a few strips of fresh parmesan cheese on top (under the broiler) would be good. We’ll try it on the leftovers. I served it with a cucumber and yogurt salad (garnished with crushed garlic).

Overall, it turned out really well. That's saying a lot because; I'm no cook (until the kids came along, I'd never baked a chicken), I don't like mashed potatoes (like at ALL), I don't like ground beef (as in pasta sauce, hamburgers are okay, if you try and tell me that it's all the same, it's NOT), and to top it off, I don't like Shepard's Pie. I'm currently eating the rest of my dinner, cold while I'm typing this and it's really good.

So, why would I cook something that I didn't even like? Well, because Ed really likes it and I want to continue to offer the kids different food options (especially foods high in iron). Speaking of kids and food, for the past few weeks, they've been feeding themselves almost all of their meals even ones that require spoons and forks. We still give them their (pureed) vegetables except for beets. This week, they've been devouring (small pieces of) beets from our own garden. I've got another pot left and then we're done for the year.

Anyone have any secrets to baking a chicken that; comes out cooked (kind of key), golden brown and is easy to prepare/cook when two kids are running through your legs (literally)?

Next time, I'll take pictures of the kids and not dinner. Really, there isn't time for both.