Baby Engelke!

It's super official, we're pregnant! We had our end-of-first-trimester checkup this week, and everything looks great. We've been keeping the baby under wraps a bit until now, so it feels great to be able to tell everyone. I can't wait until I start to show so I can get some good pregnant lady perks! More soon :)

Comfort, Texas

Comfort, Texas. Not too shabby. Neddie and I have been in Texas, visiting fam and friends and we've taken a two-day sojourn into Hill Country. We're treating ourselves with two nights in Comfort, a small town outside of Austin. Pretty much the cutest place ever. The B&B sits creekside, and we've spent the last few hours either swinging by the water or on the porch admiring the bougainvillea and watching the (nice) locals drive/walk by.
Our Texas trip has been great. I love visiting with Neddie's parents and we even managed to coordinate with Uncle Solly and Aunt Bets for a delicious dinner in Houston. And the weather in Comfort right now? About 75 with a light breeze. Um, yes please.
Each time I'm in Texas I like it more and more. And, I've realized that Texans are right - Californians have NO IDEA what real barbecue is. :)

the landscaping projects begins; happy fourth!

Ned and I have taken the first step to our new, fabulous yard! On Saturday a landscape crew came out to clean out almost everything in the backyard and trim down a ton of other stuff. In the 3+ years we've lived here, we've never really addressed the yards before; other than mowing and some minor planting/weeding. Things had gotten out of control! Messy and out of control.
Here's an a before/after shot:















I LOVE the rock wall! So cool. So we're going to start drawing up some plans and figure out what to do to make over our yard. Exciting! we can't wait to spend some more time back there with the boys.

Also, today is the Fourth of July! Weeee! We started off the morning with some salmon for the doggies and some homemade blueberry pancakes for us. They were bomb! I had never made pancakes from scratch before, super-easy and just about as fast as using a mix. Later, we hung out with the fam at Uncle Jeff's place and played horseshoes and drank tequila. Awesome. Hope to catch fireworks tonight off the deck. Double Awesome.

happy faja day!

To celebrate Father's Day, we're having my parents over for dinner. I made arroz con pollo, one of my pop's favorites, and for dessert - lemon bars! I hadn't realized as I never made them before, but lemon bars are almost entirely butter and sugar - escalando!
So I found a solid recipe and just kinda winged it, left out a bunch of butter (a whole stick!!!) and some of the sugar. They came out awesome - a little sticky, but super delish.
I have to perfect my arroz con pollo recipe and then I'll add it here. Right now it's kinda from memory, which means it's a bit different each time, ha!
Happy Father's Day!

our estate sale find of the year (probably)

On Fridays, Ned and I have been nerding out and hitting up the local estate sales. We're mainly looking for records, but of course we sometimes see cool stuff we have to have. I've found a few small art pieces, retro kitchen stuff, mid century knick knacks, that sort of thing.
Well, a cool bar has been on our want list for about three years now - and we finally discovered great one at an estate sale just down the street. It was a total score, complete with all the glassware (that fit in custom-made niches) and in great condition for just $140. We were stoked! Our record room is really turning into a hip, pulled-together space. Haha it's only taken us like 4 years to do it.
Also this weekend we went to Antiques Roadshow! How funny is that? They were filming in San Diego and my parents won the ticket lottery - they would have totally gone, but they had a vacation this wknd, so Ned and I got the tickets!
I have to say we had fun, but it was a lot of waiting - I mean like Disneyland-in-Summer-want-to-go-on-Splash-Mountain kind of waiting. We had to queue to get into the event, then again to get into the main room, then again in the individual item line. But, I did get the see a few of my favorite appraisers, and there was definitely some good people watching, so we had a really fun time.
Have to run and do some housework, then we're making some BBQ!

flag day

Summer is finally here and we did so much cool stuff this weekend. Chad, Esther and Sylvie came in on Friday night as my braja was going to work on his car with my dad. We got to stay up late that night drinking on the jazz deck and chatting while Sylvie killed hundreds of noobs playing Call of Duty online.
Saturday Ned and I took Sylvie to the La Mesa Flag Day Parade and met up with Tina nd Robby. If you haven't checked this parade out, I highly recommend it. It's a very cute small-town American type event - with high school marching bands, Girl Scouts passing out flags and Tootsie Pops and a salute to veterans. Totally cool. We also took Lucky and Boo and everyone had a great time!
Later that night we met up with everyone at the Ranch for dinner - my mom made some amazing oven-fried chicken, I have to get the recipe! All the activity led Neddie and me to just chill at the house today - lunch and a beer on the deck followed by some NBA Finals. A really great start to summer!

memorial day vacation

Wow - this has been a great Memorial Day! My new work schedule has me off on Fridays and Ned's schedule this week was pretty light so we started our three-day weekend early :) I finally made it out to Mission Hills Nursery (had a Groupon for 50% off, woohoo!) and we picked up new pants for the deck and the cute planters outside the guesthouse. All drought tolerant - so if I forget to water every one in a while it won't kill them. Let's hope at least!
We also did some good cooking. I had been wanting to try a homemade onion dip, and I found a recipe online that was quick and easy. Um, if you're ever doubting whether or not it's worth making your own, it is. So tasty and healthy, we had it with pop chips and veggies. Also made some cookies - a new chocolate-cherry combo. Also ridiculously good.
Going to watch a funny movie tonight and hang out with the doggies on the sofa. Good times.

Here's the recipes! Happy Sunday!

- Caramelized Onion Dip from Southern Living
On this one, I added in my Kitchen Stories french herb blend and I also did a slightly higher onions-to-sour cream-ratio, cuz I cannot get enough of them.

- Chocolate-Cherry Heart Smart Cookies from Cooking Light
A really yummy healthy-ish cookie. I did all whole-wheat flour, mini semi-sweet chips instead of bittersweet and took the sugar down to one half-cup, lightly packed. Tasty noms.

la getaway!

Wow! We are having a blast in LA. We planned a short trip up to the big city for a Sonny Rollins concert and we're having so much fun knocking around. This morning we had brunch at Real Food Daily in West Hollywood - a fab vegan place I found. Above is a pic of my super-yummy tofu benedict (grilled tomatoes and spinach topped with tofu and corn hollandaise, with tempeh (bacon substitute) and fresh fruit. It was awesome to eat something on vacay that didn't make us feel fatty bo batty. We even had a carrot-apple-beet-celery juice for breakfast dessert, so it was just like home :)
Today we'll be doing a bit of window shopping, heading back to Amoeba for some more music (scored some good stuff there yesterday afternoon) and then tonight - steak at Taylor's and Sonny Rollins with Chad, Esther and Sylvian. Ned wanted to share the concert with them so we're all going together, should be fun!

Baking and More Records

This was an awesome week. We both had good work stuff going on and we did all kinds of fun stuff this weekend. Ned put together some new furniture for the production room, we hit a couple of really good estate sales and today I did a ridiculous amount of baking.
The records of the estate sales were great finds - I think we ended up buying about 100 total or so, lots of stuff we hadn't seen before, a few we'd been looking for, and more than one that would be sellable online or at the record store - woohoo! It's fun for us if we just break even.
As for my baking, today I made some banana-blackberry bran muffins for the week, Italian herb crackers (sooo good), banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and also some chicken to shred for chicken salad tomorrow. I got to use my new French herb blend from Kitchen Stories. I just love that shop!

Crazy Productive Sunday

I love it when you get a great burst of energy to do housework. Sometimes I feel bad when Sunday rolls around and all I want to do is play computer games or go to a movie and take a nap. Well, not this Sunday! This Sunday we attacked our house - and Ikea. we spent 35 minutes there and emerged with record storage, office storage and deck furniture. And everything fit neatly in the Scoobie. Awesomesauce!

After Ikea, we popped a turkey in the oven (hopefully some video coming soon) and put our new stuff together, I made some spiced peanuts and then we organized our entire record collection in the new bookcase. Now all of our estate sale gems are categorized and easy to review. Totally cool, it's been on our list for like six months.

Productive Sunday Hurray!

happy easter!

Today Ned and I hosted some friends and fam for Easter - it was so fun! We dyed eggs (I had a big Martha Stewart egg decorating plan that didn't quite work, so we settled for making goofy-looking but bright and cheery ones instead!), hunted for candy and cash-filled eggs in the yard, made awesome mojitos and ridiculous carne asada burritos - and had an earthquake!

It was Ned and my first earthquake since living in San Diego together, and I immediately picked up the doggies and ran them over to a door frame. Not sure if that actually helps, but it's what they teach you when you're in first grade :)

It was a 7.2 down in Baja and thankfully it doesn't sound like anyone was hurt - which is the BEST kind of earthquake. Just some shaking and rolling to remind you that you're still alive.

Also I got to use my new video camera! I'm still a total noob so it's just a little close-up of our cute Easter cookies I bought from my fave etsy store, TS Cookies. I hope to get better at taking vids and hope to post some cool ones soon! Happy Holidays!

Antique Fair, La Torta and Spiced Pecans

Today Ned and I hit up the La Mesa antique fair. It was so gorgeous, a little warm, but a perfect day for an outdoor fair in cute little La Mesa Village. Nothing too exciting for sale, but I did pick up a vintage party cookbook from Betty Crocker, I just love those old hand drawings and old-fashioned recipes (hot cross buns!). We also visited with our aunt Tina and had a quick lunch at the newly-reopened La Torta. So good, Ned and I hadn't had tortas before - I know, how retarded are we?

I've been cooking a lot on Sundays, and today I'm trying some spiced nuts! My neighbor Cyndy gave me the recipe over the holidays but I hadn't got around to making them until now. It's one of those fabulous low effort, highly yummy recipes that's also semi-impressive. I thought they'd be a great dessert to have on hand, as I realize I have to cut back on my Godiva habit. Recipe follows, I adapted it a bit. I only had pecans and peanuts, but I think you could use just about any nut. (Peanuts didn't taste good until the next day, needed time to get crunchy again.)

Spiced Nuts
1 large egg white
2 Tbsp water
3 to 4 cups nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
sprinkling of salt

1. Preheat oven to 250.
2. Beat egg white with water. Add nuts and stir until moist.
3. Combine dry ingredients, mixing well. Add nuts and stir until coated. Spread nuts on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (your time may vary, so check on them). Cool completely before storing.

Check out the original recipe here.

They can also be frozen, and they thaw in only a few minutes! Enjoy and happy Sunday!

Asparagus-Heirloom Tomato-Goat Cheese Pizza. Bam!

Had to share, Ned and I just finished dinner. Had an idea to try pizza from scratch. It was a flippin good idea! Neddie and I made the dough (first time I used yeast, much easier than I anticipated) and he made the pesto we used. I threw on some fresh goat cheese, heirloom tomatoes from the La Mesa Farmer's Market and some sauteed asparagus. Topped with mozzarella and Parmesan, then good to go. I don't know if I've ever made something that just looked so pretty - I heart making pizzas!

Basic Pizza Dough recipe from Cooking Light

Basic Pesto recipe from Sunset

Definitely going to try a BBQ chicken variation soon!

Low Sugar Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from a Cooking Light recipe, we made these this week and were happy to discover a "healthier" cookie recipe that satisfied our need for some good nummie after dinner. My only changes from the original recipe were to eliminate the white sugar (the banana is such a good natural sweetener on its own), add a bit of cinnamon and use whole-wheat instead of white flour. Also, like some of the reviews said, mine only needed 12 minutes or so, not 18.

I froze some and kept a few in fridge, even good a little cold :) I think we'll make these again soon!

Strawberries

Our first berry of the season is growing day by day! I made some strawberry-banana-pecan muffins today, hopefully I'll be able to use some of our own in the next batch.

I'm looking for another tiered plant stand, I love growing nine different things in one small area. So far this spring we have two different strawberries, basil, Italian parsley, peppermint, apple mint, chives, green onion and a yellow bell pepper!

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal

Perfect for our Lent challenge of eliminating processed foods, I found a super-simple oatmeal recipe in my new favorite cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, and was intrigued not only by the prep time (about 25 seconds) AND the idea of having a hot breakfast ready to go in the morning.

Supposedly, steel cut oatmeal is is best - if you go by the theory that the less a food is processed, the better. They're just cut up and thrown into a package, versus more traditional rolled oats, which are rolled and dried. I really like the steel cut oats, and with this recipe you really can't go wrong - but I'm sure any oatmeal is fine.

Put this on low right before you go to bed to have it ready for your morning - or for lunch or a snack, put it on high for 3-4 hours.

Slow Cooker Oatmeal - Serves 3-4
1 c steel-cut oats
4 c water
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Grease the slow cooker with a bit of nonstick spray or butter.

2. Combine all three ingredients in slow cooker, turn on low for 8 hours (if you don't have a timer, don't worry, just leave it on low and it will be fine).

3. In the morning, stir oatmeal and spoon into bowls. We top ours with fresh fruit (blueberries and bananas are awesome), a half-teaspoon of brown sugar and a couple tablespoons of lowfat milk.

Very easy to double and make extra to pop in the microwave the next morning!