New (to me!) recipe: Black bean brownies

Ok. These sound pretty weird, but healthy, protein filled brownies??? Sounds like they're worth a try...

I generally don't like busting out the food processor (unless it's to make baby food) but I think that this recipe will be worth the searching around the cupboard I'll need to do to find it. And... Judy and Brian are bringing dinner over and playing Hearts with us (I've been practicing!) on Thursday so I think that'll be the perfect occasion to try these out:

Black Bean Brownies

Here's the link (in case you don't read our blog with a magnifying glass.)

**Tomorrow I'll post my new goals for February... Woah. Is it really already FEBRUARY?!?!?!

***MAKE THESE! They're good! And, this recipe makes a ton. I have some ready for dessert tonight and a dozen in the freezer as a just-in-case-people-stop-by treat. Thanks Vanessa for helping me with them. :)

5-month-old Penny!

Good morning! This is breakfast time at the Locke home. We wear robes, eat cinnamond toast, and give each other kisses. Sweetness abounds...

Today Penelope True is 5 months old!

We really like 5-month-old Penny. She likes to play and laugh (see video below), she LOVES when I take off her clothes, takes 3 naps, sleeps around 9 to 10 hours a night, enjoys reading books with Daddy, is growing some more hair on the top of her head (though she still has quite the bald spot on the back), and is just lovely.

Here she is laughing at Daddy:

Baby Penny, we love you!

Edit: I have no idea why, but our one-minute video keeps getting condensed to the 22-second video above. Sorry about that!

Chatting with Penny

This week's new (to me!) recipe

So so so good and easy. Especially when you use Trader Joe's whole-wheat ready-made pizza dough. :)

Prosciutto and Caramelized Onion Pizza

• 1 whole Pizza Crust
• Olive Oil, For Drizzling
• 1 Onion, Halved And Thinly Sliced
• ¼ cups Brown Sugar
• Kosher Salt To Taste
• Parmesan Cheese, Grated
• 10 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Thinly Sliced
• 8 slices Prosciutto (more To Taste)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add onions and brown sugar and toss/stir for several minutes, or until onions are brown and cooked. Set aside.

Roll out pizza dough to a rectangular shape. Drizzle on olive oil, sprinkle on a little salt, followed by a little Parmesan.

Lay slices of mozzarella evenly over the top of the crust. Arrange caramelized onions over the top of the mozzarella. Randomly lay slices of prosciutto over the onions.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the lower half of the oven, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and cut into squares. Serve immediately.

Progress during the 10th hour.

Today, after Jonas's room time and before we go out for a walk, Jonas played with legos*:

And I made progress towards my monthly goals with a doll for Penny, totally handmade with uneven and crooked arms and pigtails:

*Totally cute Jonas fact: He calls anything tall and tower-like, like the monochromatic lego towers he made above, the "Eiffel Tire". He told me that he made "lots and lots and LOTS of Eiffel Tires!"

Instead of Indian Butter Chicken, my new recipe this week ended up being a mix of lots of tea with honey and lemons, cold medicine, and loads of chicken pho. Being sick is NO fun...

So, I'll be trying 2 new recipes this week. Tomorrow, I'll make the Butter Chicken recipe below (to make up for last week):

Butter Chicken

• 4 pieces Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut Into Bite Sized Pieces)
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
• ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Coriander
• ¼ teaspoons Cumin
• ¼ teaspoons Cardamom
• 1 whole Lime, Juiced
• 1 whole Onion, Diced
• ¼ cups Butter
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Tomato Sauce
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes
• 1 pint Whipping Cream
• 1 bunch Chopped Cilantro, to taste
• 2 cups Basmati Rice (or However Much You Want)

Preparation Instructions

Combine first 9 ingredients and marinate overnight.

Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Add marinated chicken and cook about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. Add the whipping cream (I have used light cream or half-and-half also) and cilantro just before serving over Basmati rice.

Note: this is a little spicy, but you can cut back on the cayenne if you want.

I'm also hoping to work on something crafty for Penny this week... Hooray for not being sick!

Update: this was yummy yummy!

Something other than the kiddos: Monthly goals!

I recently realized that though this blog is about the adventures of Jeff, Kathy, Jonas and Penny, my posts have mostly been about Jonas and Penny (they photograph much better than Jeff and me.) And though I know that people LOVE hearing about Jonas and Penny and seeing their beautiful faces on this space, I thought that this year, 2011, would be a good year for me to start sharing some of my "adventures" as well.

In an effort to prioritize projects and all the things that can keep me endlessly busy, I've decided to start monthly "goals" to help me focus on specific things I can accomplish, rather than having a ridiculously long list of projects I'd LIKE to accomplish. Does that make sense? Basically, I'm really scatterbrained and that's not good when you have a 2.5 year-old and 4 month-old who need their mommy to be more focused and attentive.

A little late, but here are my January goals:

• drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
• share 1 "freezer meal" with friends at random/need
• make Jonas and Penny each a toy or doll
• try (and blog?) at least one new recipe a week

Nothing too ambitious, but just enough to help me avoid taking on too much, especially after the busy/stressful holiday season we've had. And I thought about adding some more "spiritual" goals (reading the bible every day, praying for specific things, etc.) but I realized that those are constant and wouldn't really change each month, and are less likely to be the kinds of goals that I find my mind wandering to when I'm preparing lunch for Jonas or trying to fall asleep in the afternoon for a nap.

So far, so good. I've been drinking lots of water starting yesterday (ha!) and this week my new recipe is Indian Butter Chicken.

4-month-old Penny (late! sorry!)

We unexpectedly had to extend our trip to LA for Christmas and amidst all the craziness that is my family, I forgot to post an update for Penny turning 4 months old. And now, we're back where it all began 4 months ago: San Diego! (Actually, we're in Oceanside, vacationing with my sister, brother-in-law and niece, Nora.)

Penny is growing much too fast. She is all rolls and chub, definitely not newborn skinny and she doesn't look like she was 4 weeks early at all. This past month, she's started to giggle and laugh, especially at Jeff, and she loves to interact with people. She loves Jonas. And Jonas loves her. It's quite wonderful.

Oh. And I just put her in her first pair of jeans. Growing up too too fast!!!