Lady's Brunch at Country Cat

Last Sunday my friends Amanda, Liby and I went to brunch at Country Cat (a great restaurant in the Montavilla area).   I'd never been to brunch there and was impressed!  I got the grilled cheese and smoky tomato soup.  Amanda got (I think) the corned beef hash and Liby got the hazelnut pancakes. 

Liby brought her beautiful little darling, Hazel.  What a cutie pie!  I just realized that hazelnuts should be Liby's favorite!!

After brunch Amanda had to take off, and our friend Thea joined up with us.

We all walked up to the antique mall on Stark.  I ended up buying my Mom a really cool succulent arrangement in a vintage white planter and a set of moose antlers that Julian will paint for our baby's room.  These both turned out to be big hits - I gave my Mom the planter yesterday for Mother's Day and she loved it!  I knew she would since we both love succulents and I wanted to keep it for myself.  Good sign.  The antlers turned out to be perfect too - they're a perfect size for a space above one of the windows.  I can't wait to see what Julian does with them!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!! Recipe - Mexican casserole

Here's a recipe for the casserole we made last night.  I didn't even think about the fact that it was Cinco De Mayo today. 

It goes a long way, tastes great and is actually somewhat low in fat.  We ate this with a green salad of diced mango and avocado.  I made a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon and lime juice, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and cumin.

1 package corn tortillas
1 can of beans (we used pintos)
1 diced onion
salsa verde (probably 1 cup total)
1 diced chipotle pepper (I scaped out most of the seeds, but you can leave them in for more heat)
2 cups pepper jack cheese
1 can of diced tomatoes (undrained) - preferably with chiles
1 pint light sour cream
1/2 cup milk
cilantro (I just chopped up what we had left, probably 1/4 cup)
smoked paprika (1 tsp)
cumin (1.5 tsp)
chili powder (1 tsp)
salt
1/2 lime

Saute the diced onions in oil w/some salt.  Add about half of the spices, the drained & rinsed beans, salsa, tomatoes, chipotle pepper and cilantro. Squeeze the 1/2 lime into mixture.  I meant to add corn to this too and just forgot.  Then make your sour cream mixture in a smallish bowl - wisk sour cream with the milk and other half of the spices.  Spray a 13x9 pyrex and start layering with the corn tortillas, then the bean mixture, sour cream and finally the cheese (but any combo works just as well).  I made I think 3 layers, ending with the corn tortillas and I topped it with some more salsa and the rest of the cheese.  Cover with tin foil and bake in 375 degree oven until bubbly.  Enjoy!

A few things I made this week....

This week I actually remembered to take some pics of a few dishes that I made.  On Monday night I made a smoked trout pasta salad for our work lunches.  It was farfalle pasta tossed with a dressing made of light sour cream, some whole milk to thin it out, a little horseradish, salt and pepper.  I tossed in some fresh dill and fresh oregano.  Then 2 cans of smoked trout from Trader Joe's, grape tomatoes and capers.  Oh, yeah, the zest of one lemon and some of the juice.  It turned out great.

This morning I made chai muffins with pistachios.  This was a recipe from Cooking Light magazine.  I made it partly because it sounded good, and partly because I already had everything and could make it first thing in the morning.  They turned out so good - there are actually 2 chai tea bags in the batter.  You top them with the chopped pistachios and make a glaze to go over the top.  I'll make them again for sure - they'd be perfect for the fall, too, with all of the spices and nuts.

Nursery ideas

This will be my first of many posts about the baby's room/nursery.  I hate that word "nursery".  It's like "fiance".  Anyway, I shall get past that.  Our theme is going to be vintage kid's books.  Lots of colors, mostly primary.  We decided this before we found out the sex of our baby, and loved it for either a boy or a girl.  The walls are already painted a nice, soft green (more on the pastel side), but it'll be a good palette.  Julian is going to paint some murals/pictures on the walls - this I cannot wait for!  I was a huge Richard Scarry fan as a kid, and we both love his artwork.  So lots of Richard Scarry on the walls!  We're trying to buy as much used/vintage as possible - so far we bought an old bookcase, a vintage wall shelving unit and we already have an old rocking chair - all to be refinished.  We also have the crib.  That's about it.  Here are my fabric ideas for curtains - there are 2 windows in the main baby room and one in the smaller room that will be the "playroom" or flow-over room.  I plan to have the curtains made by Hubbard's Drapery on Foster - they made our kitchen curtains and did a really fabulous job.  The top one is a Little Golden Book fabric that I plan to use for the 2 windows in the main room.  The lower is of The Saggy Baggy Elephant that will probably go on the one window in the playroom.  Cute!