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Aimee's nursery is famous! Well, sort of. The delightful folks at Hellobee (my favorite parenting/baby/kid website/blog/community) posted a write-up of Aimee's nursery as part of their "Real Nurseries" series. Pretty cool.

Check it out: http://www.hellobee.com/2013/04/05/aimees-gender-neutral-nursery/

And for real, I am a big fan of Hellobee...so helpful to have so much real life tips and tricks at your finger tips (and to know that you are not alone in experiencing the many trials and triumphs of parenting).

Spring Quiche

Spring is in the air—finally! Despite the lack of snow (I guess Aimee’s official “first snow” pic will have to wait until next year), winter seemed to linger later than usual this year. But the temperatures finally seem to be rising (for good this time?) and I am ready for spring produce. One great way to use it is in a quiche. Quiche is a great weeknight meal, it doesn’t take that long to put together (particularly if you use a pre-made dough for the crust) and it always seems fresh. It is also open to endless flavor possibilities. Just mix in some sautéed veggies and a little cheese and you are good to go. I like to get it ready and stick it in the oven right before I start Aimee’s bedtime routine so it is ready to go once she is down for the night. Easy and delicious (and if you happen to use a tart pan, pretty to look at too!).

Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Quiche

Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 prepared pie dough (Trader Joe’s has the best but any frozen/refrigerated pie dough will work)

1 bag of baby spinach

½ yellow or white onion, diced

1 whole roasted red pepper, cut into strips

½ cup of shredded cheese (I am partial to swiss or gruyere)

4 eggs

1/3 cup half and half

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 425. Press pie dough into 9-inch tart pan (or pie plate). Sautee onion in 2 TBL olive oil until translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Add in spinach, tossing until wilted. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. Meanwhile beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in half and half and eggs until well mixed.

3. Spread onion/spinach mixture onto bottom of the dough. Top with roasted red peppers and cheese. Pour egg mixture evenly over the top.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

Catching Up

Wow—that was one long (unintended) hiatus! Somehow I thought that maternity leave would mean having more time to devote to the ol’ blog—you know, while my angelic baby slept for hours at a time during the day and I, well-rested and organized, would have plenty of time to read, cook and post thoughts about life and my newfound motherhood.

Ha!

In reality, my four months of maternity leave went by in the blink of an eye and my baby, while sweet and adorable, was not the world’s best sleeper during the day or at night which meant that a large part of my daily schedule consisted of trying to get her to sleep, thinking about how to get her to sleep, reading about how to get her to sleep and/or trying to get some sleep myself. Add in the busy holiday season plus some additional worries about finding loving and reliable child care (for when I went back to work) and weight gain issues and that was that. Now I am back at work and things seem to be going well. As Aimee gets older, all the things I worried incessantly about while on maternity leave seem to be finally falling into place—while not the world’s greatest sleeper she is sleeping most, if not all, of the night now, she’s gaining weight (thanks to a combo of breast milk and formula) and at seven months (!) is so active and fun to be around. 

I have lots of stories to share about all of it—and hopefully, I’ll be able to do that on a somewhat more regular basis now (famous last words....). I’ll be honest—there’s not a whole lot of interesting cooking going on these days but when  and if I find that secret to cooking dinner during the week while working full time and spending quality time with my baby and husband…I’ll be sure to post about it :) In the meantime, I hope the two of you who still check this blog on a regular basis will find the baby related stuff of interest (or at least enjoy the pictures) and you’ll stick around for the rare occasions where I try a new recipe, like the results, and actually remember to take a picture of it to share !