bexcaliber: Spring Floral

Well we have hit the beginning-of-summer-super-content-to-do-nothing phase of the year. Once the heat starts and we are running from gym to park to beach all morning, my afternoons are pretty lethargic. The sun sure knows how to drain all my energy. I am struggling to be motivated to do anything beyond simple keeping our life together tasks. This week is the first in over a month where I rocked it out Monday so I could party and work on other things the rest of the week.

 I did however pull myself together and recreate a bright spring floral with one of my favorite color combinations. The Garden Walk fabric is now available in spring colors. You can find it here in the shop.

We'll see if I can keep it together enough to make it through the next few months without completely giving in to a lazy summer.

eaten: citrus and soy-marinated grilled pork tenderloin

 If there is any sign of a good recipe, its that your husband has mentioned it more than once since you served it. And he deemed it the best pork he had ever had.

This pork was delicious and another grill success to add to my increasing arsenal. The flavor is tangy and then add the smoky grill and it is pure bliss. I served it with hash brown potato cups that were a little heavy on the pepper-more on that later! and black bean and corn salsa. We didn't even need the potatoes, I could have just eaten pork for dinner. 

I served the leftovers shredded and cooked up with a can of green chiles as tacos. Also good but it was better served as it the first day. We will be making this again. 

Citrus and Soy-Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Picture and recipe from Mels Kitchen Cafe

Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2-3 pounds pork tenderloin
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 1 lemon)

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients except the pork and mix well. Pour the marinade into a ziploc bag or baking dish and add the pork tenderloin, making sure the marinade completely covers the pork. Marinade for 8-10 hours.
2. Preheat an outdoor grill (charcoal or gas). Grill the pork tenderloin about 3-4 minutes on each of its four sides (the exact time will depend on the temperature of your grill) or the internal temperature is about 150 to 155 degrees. Remove from the grill, tent with foil, and allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

eaten: grilled pizza

Since we were gifted the grill, I have been utilizing the wonderful ease of dinner preparation. It has kept me from really trying new things as I have been resurrecting old favorites like sprite chicken and lots of hot dogs. Now that we have gotten all the classics out of the way, it is time to experiment again.

I have always been intrigued by grilled pizza. I love making homemade pizza not only because it is cheap and easy but because it is delicious. Its also a great way to use leftover veggies and can be readily adapted to any mood or craving. Lately Steve has been tired of my old crust recipe so I thought I would try a new one to christen the grill. I found this recipe and a great tutorial on grilling pizza over at Mel's Kitchen Cafe. She is the best!

The dough came together really easily-you just have to remember to make it in the morning. I also liked the flavor and it was a durable dough I would say its perfect for beginners. Tips on grilling below the recipe.

One of our pizzas turned out really well. Man, it was delicious. The other one got burnt so we had to selectively slice around the charred bits. Still good though. I am excited to perfect this for the summer.

Homemade Pizza Dough
Recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Yield: Makes 2 12-inch pizzas or 1 large 16 to 18-inch pizza

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Directions

1. Make the dough the night before or early the morning on the day you want to make the pizza. In a large mixing bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), mix the water, yeast, sugar, honey and oil. (If using active dry yeast, increase the amount of yeast to 2 3/4 teaspoons and proof the yeast in the water until foamy before mixing in the sugar, honey and oil.) Then mix in 1 cup flour and the salt. Continue mixing in all the remaining flour until you get a nice, soft dough. Knead until dough is soft and smooth, about 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes with a stand mixer.
2. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl and cover tightly (with a lid or plastic wrap). Place the dough in the refrigerator to slowly rise until three hours before baking. Three hours before baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature, keeping it lightly covered.
3. 45-60 minutes before baking, move the rack to the lowest position in the oven (if the lowest rack in your oven is nearly touching the oven floor, move it up one notch - you don't want it that close or the bottom of the pizza will burn), place the pizza stone on it and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Don't be nervous about a hot oven! I used to be scared to death to cook anything above 400 degrees but I promise 500 degrees is the only way to go when cooking pizza. If your oven is a bit sketchy at that temperature, bake at 475 degrees. Also,I think a pizza stone makes all the difference in good versus great pizza. I have this pizza stone and I love the rectangular shape. I have baked many a pizza on this stone and it is awesome. 

Time to grill your pizza:
She has an awesome photo-tutorial on how to grill your pizza. You can find the whole thing here but I brought her pictures over for reference.

• My advice would be to prepare and be organized before you start or you will be super frazzled because the pizza cooks in less than 10 minutes and you don't want it to burn. I had Steve help me with the toppings and since I am still trying to figure out our grill, one corner of one of our pizzas got terribly burned. We will try again though! 
• Also make your pizzas smaller and make sure the dough isn't too thin as it will surely burn. 
• I found it helpful to rotate the dough as it was cooking to make sure it cooked evenly. I haven't mastered even cooking on our grill yet so this might not apply to you.
• You also only leave the toppings on for a short period of time-like 4 minutes-not really enough time to cook vegetables so I sauteed our supreme toppings in a pan before putting them on the pizza. I figured anything other than melting cheese and heating pepperoni would need more time.
• She says to brush oil on the crust but I just sprayed it with cooking spray because I am lazy and hate cleaning the basting brush thing. It worked perfectly. I guess just be careful of aerosol by the open flames of your grill.

 

 

Henry, Lately

 Here are some of the things Henry is up to these days.

• The above picture is Henry finally asleep after crying it out and also after attempting to build a barricade in front of his door. I literally could only open the door a few inches. I also had no idea he was strong enough to lift his basketball hoop which is normally in the far corner. The first night this happened he had also dragged his mattress off his bed and was curled up in a ball naked. I had to slip a pullup on him without waking him. We're working on getting back into a regular sleeping routine...
• Henry loves stories. He loves the ones Steve makes up for him at bedtime and also loves to make up his own. My parents had him drawing pictures and then telling a story about it. Often the picture didn't match the narration but he was trying and seeing it himself. 
• Whining. Henry whines all day long. He especially loves it when we whine back at him like the mature adults that we are :)

• He also loves singing and is very happy to sing for you at the top of his lungs. 
• Loving (and nagging us) to play games on our phones. Steve's especially since he has Angry Bird Star Wars. Sometimes Steve has just barely walked in the door from a long day on campus and Henry is already badgering him to play with his phone. I even have to hide mine in the cupboard so he won't try and steal it. He sure is persistent.
• Potty Training. I was worried that it would be a total failure but it went surprisingly well. He was definitely ready and willing which I understand makes a huge difference. After spring break, we headed to the store to pick out underwear and he chose Batman and Mickey Mouse ones. I also added a pack of pirate ones so I wouldn't have to do laundry every 30 minutes. He was so excited about his underwear that he opened them as soon as we got home and he couldn't wait to chose a pair to wear. He also lined them all up and spent hours stacking them, organizing them and lugging them all over the house. Once he took them into my room and when he came back he said "I am back and so are the underwear!" We had originally planned on starting Monday but did a "soft start" Saturday and Sunday using a pullup at church. Monday morning we went full steam. Only underwear and no pullups or diapers except at bedtime. We also made a sticker chart and showed him his prizes for peeing (candy or marshmallows) and pooping (small $ items like mini flashlights and nerf guns). He caught on to peeing quickly. He wasn't afraid to pee on the toilet and while he did have accidents he seemed to feel bad about them. Pooping was a different story. He went once and then the second one took a few days. Is there anything grosser than cleaning poop out of underwear? Once he got the second one though, he seemed to lose all fear and he had no problem telling us he had to go instead of hiding behind the furniture to poop-or worse, the times he pooped in the dark bathroom feet from the toilet. "Leave," is a common thing to here as he likes to do his business in private-ironic, as he doesn't seem to understand I feel the same way. Its fun to see how proud he is with these accomplishments, "Mommy come over here and see this poop!" He also is a little scared of the loud public toilets that flush so violently but we compromise by having him wait outside the stall while I flush. Now he is doing great during the day, we'll try nighttime training once all the pullups run out. I have to say I love little boy underwear, they are so cute and I love that he just runs around the house in a t-shirt and undies. So adorable. 
• Anything active. He is all boy and all energy. He can play catch with larger balls and also likes to kick them back and forth. He also loves playing tag and hide and seek in the apartment. When my parents were here they got him a simple Lightening McQueen kite and he probably ran over a mile of circles in our small field keeping it in the air. He has also started playing with other kids at the park. Sometimes we'll go just the two of us and he is always willing to tag along with anyone. He usually ends up following bigger kids around. He is also fearless in climbing allover the place which makes me so nervous. Whoever designed some playground ladders and stairs did not have small little legs in mind. But he can handle it.

• Henry has been struggling with transitions. Like any 3 year old, going from one thing to the next is a challenge. He loves to go out and do things but getting him dressed and in the car is so taxing sometimes. But once we get wherever we are going he has a great time. And it all starts over again when we have to leave. He also puts up a fight getting settled for dinner, putting on pjs and getting into the tub. Sometimes I question if going to the park for one hour is worth the 15 minute escapade to get ready and then the 15 minute drama scene when its time to leave. 
• The Wii. Henry loves Wii Sports and has greatly improved in most of the games except boxing. He also loves to create new Miis. We now have over 20 and they all have interesting names like "jhgdlufy8085." 
• He also loves playing with playdoh, creating felt food lunches for me and any art project. His attention span is growing and I am finding it more worthwhile to do these activities now that he wants to do them for more than 10 seconds. And while he does often quit things (we're trying to teach him to follow through) he can finish puzzles and sit through stacks of books.
• We're taking a hiatus from library story time and replacing it with the beach. Yes, it is hot enough here and already I am loving it. Henry has so much fun on his own just throwing sand in the water or vice versa. He also doesn't seem to remember he used to be afraid of the water which is nice too. Hooray for Sandy Creek!

Overall Henry is a super happy and bright boy who makes us very glad to be his parents.
Most of the time... 

Parent's Visit

 My parents came to visit us last week. During their visit we ventured out to Madison to get a taste of some old southern charm. We toured this huge mansion and got a fun history lesson about life in the 1800's. Henry did pretty well and didn't touch anything but by the end he kept whispering to me "I don't want to be in here." So we ditched the tour, looked for a bathroom and then took some pictures.

 Henry with a display of ladies spittoons.

 On the grand staircase...

We also walked around the historic district and had a fun afternoon out.

 We also celebrated the library turning 100 years old. Grandma came with us to see an exotic petting zoo. Hello evil bird from Rio. They had a sad camel, some donkeys, baby goats, a hedgehog, a porcupine, a baby kangaroo, a lemur and a monkey. Henry wasn't too interested in the animals, probably because they were in cages. He preferred to blow bubbles and draw with sidewalk chalk.

 Grandma helped Henry decorate a party hat before we attempted and failed to watch the puppet show. For some reason he freaked out and didn't want to stay. Lucky for us, it was super crowded and way hot. But Henry did get and love a dragon tattoo.

 Between conference sessions we also walked around north campus at UGA. The weather was beautiful and it was the perfect way to get everyone's wiggles out. UGA has lots of fountains and Henry enjoyed tossing pennies, sticks and leaves in all of them.

We also managed a few photo ops. 

Overall we had a great week. I already miss their help with Henry and their willingness to play with him and keep him entertained. They also spoiled us with a fun trip to Sam's Club, a new grill and lots of fun new toys for Henry.

Easter Egg Hunt

 Every year our ward hosts an Easter Egg Hunt. They divide the yard into three levels of capability-nursery, junior primary and senior primary. Henry was in the junior primary section this year and with a little help from Steve and I, he was able to get a few eggs. Before the egg hunt, the YW were making balloon swords and flowers. A blue sword sent Henry into a fighting frenzy. Luckily the egg hunt distracted from the tragedy of his sword popping.

 Finding the eggs. The YW had hidden all the eggs and they did a pretty good job except that they threw a few in the rose bushes which us unlucky parents had to dig out.

 Look at my full bucket!

A successful family picture. I almost don't believe it.

Happy Easter

Its over a week late but here we all are on Easter. My parents came to visit for a week and we had a lot of fun and got spoiled like crazy. Henry loved having constant attention and I loved taking naps and going shopping alone. We will miss them. More to come.