New state, new home, new start

And, just like that, months pass us by. Since I last updated, we packed up our home in Memphis and moved to Virginia, to a suburb just outside of Washington D.C. As one would predict, moving cross country, over Christmas, with two toddlers, was nothing short of pandemonium.

Two of my favorite three year olds in the learning tower. 

Claire has started to develop an interest in cooking and it makes me so happy. We bought a learning tower, and she pretty much lives in it while I am in the kitchen. I really hesitated on this purchase because of price, but if we are going to calculate cost per use, then I can tell you that this item was a bargain compared to some of the toys I've purchased that were played with once. She loves to mix, pour and ask a lot of questions.

The only cooking Connor enjoys

Connor, on the other hand, really has enjoyed screaming during dinner preparation, and that has only gotten better in the last couple weeks when I can let them out on the deck to play while I prepare meals. As most toddler parents would agree, dinner prep went from a pleasant ritual of my day to one of the most stressful. I relied heavily on freezer meals (always making double of a meal so I have a meal for another day), prepared frozen food, wearing him in a backpack while I cooked.

Needless to say, gourmet meals out of our kitchen have been few and far between. I flip through my cookbooks wistfully and regularly and know that one day my kids will be too busy playing to even think about what I'm doing in the kitchen, and I'll miss then, but for now, it is a careful project best done earlier in the day.

So, I bought the Slow Cooker Revolution Easy Prep cookbook and I've been using it a lot. Connor is much more patient with meal prep earlier in the day. There is an apricot chicken in there that is lovely.

Connor has ended up being a picky eater. So, sometimes in lieu of making dinner, I make a muffin or bread that has all sorts of veggies hidden in there. Pinterest is great for this kind of stuff. He won't drink milk, eat yogurt, eat fruit, the list goes on. These veggie packed muffins turned out really well and I did a lot of substitutions. You know you are a mom when you are baking broccoli into muffins in your very limited spare time.

I did discover a local Asian grocery store here where I walked in and the smells of Singapore hit me hard. I proceeded to then purchase about 12 different fun frozen items like dumplings and Korean rice cakes for added easy prep meals. Connor LOVED the frozen dumplings that I found there.

My biggest discovery this spring was finding out that my garlic press is apparently a fancy one and I don't need to peel the garlic before pressing it. WHO KNEW? It was a life changing discovery. Here it is.

I'd like to think I'm back to cooking! I have a big kitchen, kids that are getting older and self-entertaining better and I have more ideas on how to cook with two little ones around.

Happy spring!