What's for Dinner? Smashed Red Potatoes

My family likes potatoes so I am always looking for different ways to make them to keep them interesting.

I came up with this really simple base recipe easily customizable either on a whole or by each person at the table.

What you will need:
2 pounds red potatoes cut into small wedges
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup minced parsley
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp pepper

Place potatoes and garlic in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, cook uncovered until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and place back on pot or in a large bowl. Coarsely mash with a potato masher or a fork. Add parsley, oil, salt, and pepper. Toss and serve warm.

Provide shredded cheese, sour cream, even crumbled bacon for everyone to customize.

I really liked them as is but some may say they are a bit dry so a dollop of sour cream or butter would fix that right up.

Enjoy!!

My 33rd Year

Today I begin my 33rd year.

I think that's right. Hold please...

Yes, that's right. I was born in 1979. If I am wrong, please correct me.

Really, please correct me because I am never sure how old I am and 33 seems like one to many years.

No, I checked it on a calculator and that seems right.

Funny. I don't feel 33.

Okay, I confirmed it with Emilie. It is 33. Sigh.

It's not that I think 33 is old. It is more that I must have forgotten to be 32.

My 32st year was so full of ups and downs I don't even know where to start. But the major highlights are:

I lost my lovely Grandma. My dad's mom. She was a very special woman and I sorely miss her.

I lost my Pig. The single most important bulldog in the history of bulldogs. This guy was a champ and he taught me how to love with my entire heart. Our lose of our Pig was quick and very painful which is why I have not posted an update on his last days. I will do that at some point, not now. Here are posts One and Two of how things went down with the boy.

I lost my Daisy. Losing Daisy Mae was and still is painful. I deal daily with her loss and our new status as a dog free household. I have written extensively about Daisy and invite you to read about her. She was an amazing dog.

I gained a new niece! My brother and his fiance Dawn welcomed Eliette Mae into the world after a long, anxious wait. She is beautiful and I love her so much!

I lost 45 pounds. I plan to write more in the very near future about how I lost this weight. And we will also have to discuss my daughters hair at some point...

I made a wonderful new friend. This crazy woman came into my life full force about one year ago. She has made an impact and I know she is here for a reason. We are having a blast finding the reasons we were brought together.

The goons came home!! A major highlight was having Ryan, Jess, Willy, and Emily move back to Minnesota.

But I made it through this rollercoster with these two by my side.

And these two (my favorite brother Justin and his Dawn). Man, that was a great vacation. We need to do that again very soon!

And my parents, Gary and Terri. These two know how to have a good time!

And my BFF, Shanny Shan Shan, Shannon. She is my chosen sister and I think I chose well! Please excuse my daughter with the crazy eyes. And Shannon's step-son with the devil eyes in the back! HAHA!!

I am ready to put all the bad stuff behind me, continue to celebrate the good, and move into my 33rd year by acknowledging who I am and what I like to do with my time.

I will take the time to revisit the goals I made for myself at the start of 2012 and adjust as needed to fit who I want this 33 year old Kara to be. And I have recommitted to this blog so you can follow me in my continued quest to Read more, Write more, Find my ideal body weight, strengthen my personal relationships, and continue to move aggressively through my career.

And I will end my 33rd year with a trip to Hawaii with the two people I love the most.

Please raise your glass to wonderful year!

It's Not A Hair Cut...

I recently have lost about 45 pounds. I still have 30 or so pounds to go but I really like what I am seeing right now.

This is what I looked like last July a few weeks before I started my new lifestyle.

This is what I look like now.

What is the number one comment made to me by people who see me occasionally?

I am taking about my daughter's friends parents or co-workers from other offices or neighbors I run into at Target.

They say "I like your hair cut!"

At first I would hear this and say, "Thanks! But I didn't get my hair cut."

Then one day it clicked. 

They notice something is different about me but they can't pin point it so they conclude I have changed my hair style.

I love it!

Now I just smile and say "Thanks!" then run home and tell Shawn I got another compliment on my hair.  We both smile and know it's been a lot of hard work but we both like the new Kara.

My Birthday Present!

We are sort of looking for a loft bed for Heidi. I am not sure if we are going to get her one or not but we are looking. We are also looking for a bed for the guest room. I am not sure what we will end up with but I am having fun looking.

This weekend we ran out to Ikea to look at the loft bed I saw on their website. Then, on recommendation from my brother, we went to Dock 86. I had never been there before and was in love the minute I walked in the door.

I saw this adorable owl I am totally in love with but it was way out of my price range.

 Oh, but how I do love it. It just screams Kara! I could not justify that much money... Could I?

Heidi loved these chairs. She was like The Princess and The Pea up there. I think I could have talked her into taking a nap.

But then I found this. If the Owl Picture screamed Kara, this chair was shouting it from the roof tops. I fell quick and I fell hard.

Waiting for me at home was this over sized chair. I used to be in love with this chair but that was at our old house when it was angled in the living room with it's friend the ottoman parked at it's feet. It was like a full sized bed in my living room. I lived on this couch when I was pregnant and then the months following.

But it never really worked in this house. While it fit in the nook off the living room the ottoman had to go in the basement and it just wasn't the same.

Then last weekend our neighbors gave us their couch and the over sized chairs massive brother, the giant couch, went out to the garage leaving the chair alone in the corner.

These guys make me happy like the over sized chair did 8 years ago. Do they not look amazing in that same corner? I need a small table to sit between them but the chairs themselves are perfect.

 And most importantly, they are Peter approved.

What's for Dinner? Pancakes Pals

It is Saturday morning and I am sitting on the couch drinking coffee, watching the news, flipping through a cookbook when Heidi stumbles out from her bedroom.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"Well, I really want to start updating my blog regularly again so we should start cooking new things and taking pictures again." I replied.

Too that she jumps up and sprints to the bookshelf in her playroom returning just as quickly with her cookbook and asks if she can help. We spend the next ten minutes flipping through this kid friendly cookbook when she exclaims she is STARVING and that I need to make her pancakes RIGHT NOW.

I deserve this. This is exactly how I treated my dad when I was Heidi's age. Stumble out of my room demanding food RIGHT NOW. My dad still will say "feed me, I'm hungry!" any time I start to have a blood sugar meltdown in his presence.

By this time I was on my third cup of coffee and feeling pretty pulled together so I said, "It's your cookbook, why don't you make me some pancakes. I will help you but you will do most of the work."

She was all over that and strapped on her super cute apron we picked up at the State Fair last year.

We used the recipe out of her book. I was worried they wouldn't be very good but they turned out fine. And I realized that I have never posted my pancake recipe here so I will have to do that in the near future.

Here is what you will need, but totally feel free to use your favorite box mix or recipe.
2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
a dash of salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups milk
2 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the oil, eggs, and milk and stir until most of the lumps are gone.

Just call her Heidi Childs! I had her measure out all the ingredients and put them in the bowl. The only thing she had trouble with was the flour so I poured more than she would need my small batter bowl and showed her how to level the measuring cup out with the handle of her wooden spoon. I also had her crack her eggs in a small bowl, not over the batter, to prevent shells in our pancakes. She did a great job!

Next pour the batter on to your hot griddle or a preheated pan. Make a medium size pancake for the head and two smaller ones for the ears.

Heidi poured the one on the left and mine is the one on the left.

Cook until the edges are brown and the batter bubbles. The very carefully slide the spatula around all edges to make sure it is completely lose from the pan. Flip in one quick motion to keep it from folding up on it's self.

Cook the other side until it's golden brown.

The cookbook suggested to use blueberries for the eyes but we did not have any on hand so we improvised and used M&M's. The M&M's were kind of fun because when we took them off to eat the pancakes they had stained the eyes and nose on the face.

Heidi sliced strawberries for the mouths.

How fun is that?!  I think the top two are Heidi's and the bottom two are mine. Then I made regular pancakes with the rest of the batter. We ended up with four Pals and five regular pancakes.

She had so much fun making these pancakes. It was her first time taking the lead and having me be her sous chef. When her auntie came to pick her up a bit later she was so excited to tell her all about the pancake pals.

She wanted to name them but I told her I didn't think I could eat them if they had names.  But this one looks like a Bob to me. I guess I can name him now, since I already ate him...

In the end, the pancake pals were pretty good. I do like my recipe better but this was Heidi's meal and she was pleased. I hope this is the beginning of her joining me in the kitchen and a chef and not just a helper. It was a lot of fun.

Where to Eat: The Lodge of Robbinsdale

One Saturday night a few weeks back we found ourselves kid free at dinner time. When this happens we try not to miss an opportunity to open up our dinner options to include restaurants we may not want to try with a slightly picky seven year old in tow.

After asking for recommendations on the trusty old Facebook and searching yelp we ended up at The Lodge in Robbinsdale for Prime Rib night. Those of you who know me, I mean really know me, know I am always on the lookout for a restaurant who serves a trusty Prime Rib. One that is good every time. One where I can order my medium rare slice and it comes out medium rare. One where it comes out warm but does not have grill marks on it. I cannot begin to tell you how much of a disappointment grill marks on a Prime Rib are!

Oh, sorry, where was I?

Yes. The Lodge of Robbinsdale. The Lodge is located at 4080 W Broadway right next door to Bill's Gun Range just off County Road 81 and Hwy 100 in Robbinsdale.

They offer a sports bar style menu with a good variety of food, reasonable prices, and a full bar. The dining room is split into a bar side and a dining room side. If you are there for dinner, not pool or drinking, I highly recommend the dinning room side. The bar side is rather loud.

Like I said, we went in with the intent on ordering Prime Rib but for no real reason I changed my mind and decided to order off the menu.

We ordered the Lodge Wings with Buffalo sauce. They had the perfect level of spice for me and surprisingly they were not too hot for Shawn either.

We also split The Cowboy Burger. The Cowboy can be ordered as a Hamburger or a Chicken Sandwich. We opted for the burger since we also had the wings. We ordered it Medium and it came out with the right amount of pink. I was pleased with the use of thick cut bacon as I am easily annoyed with the microwave bacon some restaurants have switched to. And as a BBQ sauce connoisseur, I was impressed with the smoky flavor in the sauce. Overall, this was a solid burger and I will order it again.

Next time I will remember to take a picture of them food. I had just gotten home from a work trip the day before where I spent the week suffering from seasonal allergies. I developed this insane cough that hung around for about a week. My friend and I called it My SARS (Stupid Atlanta Respiratory Sh!t). Well, the short story is that it took all my focus to keep my cough under control and I had no capacity left over to remember to snap off a few photos. So for today, you will just have to take my word!

Can you do that? Will we be okay?

Okay, moving on.
The Lodge also had a decent sized dessert menu that just appeared on our table sometime during our dinner. Everything looked great and we opted for the Apple Pie with Cinnamon Ice Cream. The pie was good but wasn't anything special. Next time I will try something different.

Shawn had a beer and I had a glass of wine and our total was just under $40. I thought this was a fair price for two dinners, one dessert, and two drinks.

While this is a place we tend to end up at when we do not have Heidi, I will bring her along on our next visit. But I will take care to check the Events calendar on their website first. Monday night is kids eat free night and Sunday they have a brunch. Saturday is the only night they offer Prime Rib. They have specials almost every night and a huge stage where they have bands most Saturday nights.

Our waiter was very friendly without being overbearing. He checked in with us at appropriate times and even though it seemed most of his tables were on the bar side he never made us feel like he forgot we were there.

We plan to check out their brunch and when we do I will let you know what we think. I recommend The Lodge of Robbinsdale to anyone looking for a good sports bar style dinner, with or without kids!

(The Lodge of Robbinsdale did not ask me to write this review, I paid for the products received, their staff doesn't even know I exist, I just really like their product and wanted you to know about it.)

What a Good Sport!

Now that we are down from four pets, my required amount of pets, to two cats, Peter has been told he needs to step it up a bit.

I really does take four animals to keep me happy. This way they are able to take turns being the one who is being picked on by Mama.

It's good to see that Peter is being a good sport!