I have teeth!

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Originally uploaded by stacy's plate.

And I know how to use them.

A post about food? Nah, couldn't be.

For my more recent readers, you may not know that this blog used to be primarily about food. I used to try lots of recipes and write about the results here. Then, along came a baby...

I haven't done a whole lot of cooking during the past 9 months, and when I do, I don't feel inspired to write about it. But I'm feeling a little inspired tonight. That's because I have a new toy. My mom got me a slow cooker (Crock Pot for those of you who remember the '70s). With the slow cooker, she gave me a cook book called Fix it and Forget it. This book has 8,000 different ways to make beef stew and pot roast using onion soup mix and a can of Pepsi. While we're not vegetarians, I rarely cook meat and I'm not a big fan of using highly processed ingredients in my recipes.

So, I've been searching for some good, healthy, but hearty vegetarian slow-cooker recipes and I tried this one that I found on-line and modified it slightly:

Greek Crockpot Stew

• 4 cups cubed butternut squash


• 2 cups chopped carrots


• 2 cups chopped zucchini


• 2 onions, chopped


• 4 garlic cloves, pressed


• 2 14oz cans diced tomatoes


• 1 14oz can vegetable broth


• 1 15oz can chick peas


• a little extra water from the tomato cans


• salt, pepper, cumin, allspice (a little more of each than the original recipe calls for)


• dried oregano


• cooked cous cous


• crubled feta cheese

The night before you want to eat this, throw everything except cous cous and fete into the ceremic slow cooker insert and mix well. Refrigerate over night. The next day, turn on the slow cooker 9 hours before you want to eat dinner. Come home to a yummy-smelling house. Serve over cous cous and top with feta cheese.

My measurements were different than what the original recipe called for, so I was a little nervous, but it turned out pretty well. There are enough left overs for a couple of dinners, which is important when you have a baby.

Sweetness

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Originally uploaded by stacy's plate.

Enough said.

Big City

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Originally uploaded by stacy's plate.

Sam had his first visit to Boston this weekend. Friends of ours were in town and we met them at Boston Commons and enjoyed the day.

Our friends have a two year old daughter who I haven't seen in person since she was one month old and they had never met Sam. Sam did really well and was all smiles and energy until he crashed around 5:00.

Sam is also experiencing his first cold. It's pretty minor -- just a little congestion and some coughing and sneezing now and then. We wouldn't have taken him out, but he seems to feel just fine and still wants to run around all over the place (with someone holding his hands of course). Besides, I think a little fresh air is better for him than being cooped up all day.

That's all I have to report for now.

Don't try this at home

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Originally uploaded by stacy's plate.

This is the WRONG way to wear your baby in a Kozy Carrier.

8 Months Old

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Originally uploaded by stacy's plate.

Sam turned eight months old on Sunday. We celebrated with our friends Devon and Kelda and their baby, Finn, who was born in April. They were up for a visit from NJ and we were one stop on the Northeast Finn tour.

At eight months, Sam is very into "walking" while someone holds onto his hands. He doesn't like to sit still for very long and definitely prefers being upright, which is difficult since he needs one of us to keep him in an upright position!

The food repetoire hasn't increased much, but he is up to three meals a day on most days.

Sam had also started sleeping through the night (going down at 8:30 and waking up at 5:00 for a feeding and then back to sleep until 7:00 or so), but then he started teething again and that was that! His two top teeth will break through any day now. I can see them under the gums and it looks rather painful.

Here is a picture of Sam at our local playground, just chilling out on the swing. Click the picture to view many more that I recently uploaded. I got so caught up in the videos that I started to neglect Flickr.

There's something on your face

Sam has started eating veggie puffs. They're like very airy corn cereal and they're good first finger food for babies because they pretty much melt in the baby's mouth. Sam is pretty good at picking them up and getting them in his mouth. We've been giving him a handfuls to eat while we're eating our dinner. This new development has allowed us to eat dinner at the same time and at the table! This is revolutionary. The one drawback of these veggie puffs is that once they become wet, they stick to everything.

In the following short video (about 30 seconds), Sam is caught with one of the veggie puffs stuck to his face. He was also distracted by the dining room light fixture, which is why he keeps averting his eyes from the camera.

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